Pink Stuff...

I had a White Christmas...

kind of...  I got back from the teacher's trip on Friday around 5.  Luckily, they bus dropped me and a few other teachers off at a subway station that happened to be on my line!  I had enough time to run to a couple stores to scoop up a few gifts for 2 of my friends so we could do a gift exchange, run home, drop my things off, and head off to Western Seoul, Banghwa, where my friend lives (over an hour away).

We had a nice night eating Pizza School pizza, drinking wine, exchanging gifts, and watching Love Actually.  Sometimes it's nice to just hang out at someone's house.  We rarely do that because our homes are not very big and people live all over the city so it's easier to just meet out.  I left around 11:30pm and caught the last train home, arriving at my station at right around 12:45am.  It was snowing as we left and was snowing when I got home..so it was a white Christmas Eve Eve.

On Christmas Eve, I just went out to meet a couple of friends in Hongdae.  On Christmas Day, I went to SH's brother's house for a traditional Korean Christmas dinner (and when I say traditional, I just mean Korean food).  It was cute though because they had decorated a large potted plant with some Christmas lights so it felt a little like Christmas.  We also had a "Christmas cake" because Korean bakeries sell cakes for all occasions.  They couldn't find the cake candles so we lit a single candle, turned off the lights, and sang "Silent Night" in Korean.  Overall, it was a nice Christmas in Seoul ^^

at the motel..

just updating from the motel..since it's cold outside and we have some free time.  this is legitimately kinda like a love motel.  they even have the attendant behind a window and lotion bottles and robes in the rooms.

they actually rearranged it so that the room I'm in has a bed.  however, I have to now share a bed with my coteacher which is slightly more awkward than sharing space on the floor.

currently sitting on the floor in one of the rooms with no bed with 5 other female teachers flailed about talking in korean about students..I think.  hope they don't mind my typing up this post on my phone.

thank god for smart phones..last time I took a trip like this, I had my old flipper.  at least now, I can be messing around on my phone to make the times less awkward.

**update..moved rooms to where all 8 of the males on this trip are playing cards, drinking, and betting money.  the afternoon just got more interesting I think.

Happy Winter Solstice

I may have said this before, but winter is really here this time..not getting above 40* for the duration.

Today is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year.  I'm hoping this means our teacher outing doesn't last too long, and I can escape into my shared room to the floor early tonight.  I brought 2 new Cosmos to keep my occupied during any down time I have.  For some reason, I haven't found any time to read them while I'm at home so it works out perfectly for the long bus trip.

Late to work

Today, I was late to work because I (stupidly) took the wrong bus.  I swear I thought I read the number on the bus correctly, but I must have just been hallucinating.  Anyway, the bus I got on does go the same route as my normal one for about 10 minutes or more so I wasn't really paying any attention.  There was one point where we were going under some bridge that felt really unfamiliar, but then I looked out the window and it looked like the road was blocked off or something.  So..I thought for some reason the bus was taking an alternate route around construction.

It wasn't until people were still pressing the stop button that I semi-realized something was weird.  How could they know where the stops were on this "alternate route?"  I finally glanced up and realized (to my horror) that I was NOT on #103, I was on #152, which I have never taken and have no idea where it goes.

In order to save myself from embarrassment, I decided to just stay on the bus until I reached the next closest subway station, where I could just take the subway to school instead.  Well, what do ya know?  There were no more subway stations along the entire route.  Oh yes, I rode the bus all the way to the end of the line as we just kept making turns higher and higher into the mountain area of Seoul.  When we pulled into the parking lot, I realized I was going to have to get off and go back the other way (as the only other buses I saw around were local buses).

It did cross my mind to just take a taxi, but at that point, I literally had no idea where I was or how expensive it would be to get back to my school.  So, I called my coteacher to tell her I'd be a little late because I accidentally got on the wrong bus this morning.  Luckily, I didn't have any classes today so she just said to "take it easy."  Soo, yep.  That's how was I was 50 minutes late to school.

Kim Jong IL is DEAD!

I was kinda behind on the news so I discovered this news this afternoon right after lunch via fb status updates.  I say to my coteacher: "OMG Kim Jong Il died?!"  She just glanced up, shook her head, and kept writing whatever she was working on.  I guess it's not big news afterall?  

Winter Break

PS. I booked my winter vacation to Thailand.

...will be here in a month!!

We haven't decided on any specifics except a return flight to Bangkok.  So many options, but not enough time to do them all...Chang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui??

Drinking culture

I got this nice little message the other day from kbf.  The "he" in the message is the CEO of the school he works at.  They went out after school, 10 pm-ish until 5 am.  This made me think about the drinking culture in Korea and work-related meetings.

It's totally common and acceptable to go out drinking with co-workers and bosses.  You will be encouraged to drink a lot and potentially sing a terrible song at a norebang with them.  You must accept any shots that are poured for you, otherwise, you are rude.  (I have seen some of the female teachers at my school just pour the shots out into an empty water glass when the person who poured it isn't looking)  In fact, these meetings have a name in Korean, 회식 (hweshik), and you are expected to attend (even if you already have plans).  

However, as a foreigner in Korea, I often  try to wiggle myself out of these and (I think) it's not looked down upon as much as if a Korean person were to refuse to attend.  A lot of times, they tell me about some dinner with very little notice so I am usually not lying when I timidly say I already have plans.  Sometimes, I just don't want to go so I just act strange about it..like "oh, I didn't know..." or "oh, nobody told me.." or "I forgot.."  These dinners are not really all that fun for me.  For one, everyone is just speaking Korean which is fine during school, everyday, but do I really want to be spending my time outside of school sitting alone looking at my phone while everyone talks to each other?  Granted, my main coteacher does usually sit next to me so sometimes she will translate something for me, but still, I mainly feel like a burden to her and it's just uncomfortable all around.

My friend posted this as his status yesterday, "Sometimes I miss my old job where I was only forced to socialize with coworkers once a year."  This is so true life.  At my job back home, I never hung out with coworkers (except for like maybe 2 who were my age, and not really all that often).  The only time we did anything outside of work together was maybe a holiday party/retirement party, and actually, these were usually in the office anyway.

I've already committed on going on my 2nd overnight trip with school next week.  It usually goes over like this...coteacher: "can you join us on the teacher's trip?" me: "where are you going?" cot: "we haven't decided yet.." me: "oh.." cot: "so can you come?" me: "I guess so.."  And, there you have it.  I don't know why they think an overnight trip is necessary at all.  Like couldn't we just go eat dinner somewhere in Seoul and then go home to our own beds (or floors for some)?  Instead, I'll most likely have to go on some outdoor adventure in negative degree weather, eat dinner sitting on the floor, drink soju, and then sleep on the floor with 4 other Korean ladies who don't really talk to me.  Awkward.  Can you tell I'm excited?

Santa U Are The One

YouTube Challenge - I Gave My Kids a Terrible Present

Public bathrooms

I think I may have mentioned the mass availability of public restrooms in Korea before.  It's awesome...seriously, better than any other country I've ever been to in offering toilets to the general public.  Most of them are even cleaned and kept up by ajummas on the daily.

Toilets are actually more common than trash cans.  For some unknown reason, there is never a trash can in sight when you need one.  I've heard this is because  after 9/11 and other terrorist activities, the government felt that trash cans could be used for terrorist attacks...which really is just crazy.  Anything could be used in a terrorist attack.  Anyway, I'm getting off track...I have two complaints about public restrooms.

1.  Since toilets are so widely available, this means that some public establishments (ie: restaurants) don't have their own bathroom.  This means you have to go outside to some alley to use the bathroom which can be very cold during the winter.  These are also the ones that probably don't have toilet paper (this complaint is not that major).

2.  (not really a complaint about the toilets themselves..) but the obnoxious Korean girls who are either taking forever or throwing a fit because somebody else is already in there.  I was reminded of this 2 times in the past week, which is why I decided to write about this.

Example:  I was in the bathroom in a restaurant.  It only had 1 stall and a small area to wash your hands and/or wait.  I was audibly peeing when I heard someone come in.  I figured she obviously knew someone was in there, however, a few seconds later, she tugged on the door (luckily it actually locked).  I didn't do or say anything in response because, again, I thought it was obvious that I was busy in there.  Then I flushed the toilet and was, ya know, buttoning my jeans and belt when she said something and then knocked on the door and yanked on it AGAIN.  Come on, girl, really?  When I opened the door, I just gave her a death stare.

This kind of stuff happens ALL the time.  I will say it is usually alcohol induced at like bars or restaurants, but still, why?  Even if people are waiting in line, it's almost guaranteed some Korean girl will walk right up to the door and try to open it and then knock on it as well.  The only thing that does seem to work (at least for a few seconds) is if they knock, you knock back...from the inside.  This lets them know somebody is in there (because obviously the locked door or audible business doesn't do the job).  Certainly, not all Korean girls are like this, but a lot of them are, and I just don't understand.

where's the TOLLET?

Skyping from school is cold..

Spotted: snowflakes.

Unfortunately the photo I tried to snap out my classroom window didn't pick up the white specks in the air.  Anyway, enjoy the view of the soccer field and apartments behind my school.  and Happy Friday^^

School toilets

Now that it's winter, I have a new favorite stall in the bathroom at school.  Normally, I opt for 1 of the 2 "western" style toilets (they have seats).  However, the seat is COLD because, of course, there is no heat in the hallways or bathrooms.  Also, unfortunately I have never really mastered the "hovering" technique.  It's either sit or squat for me.

THESE DAYS, I choose squat.  I also like to choose the stall all the way at the end of the row because in the mornings, a lot of sunlight shines in and makes it a little warmer (or so I like to think).  Anyway, thank you "college" for preparing me with the skills to "pop a squat" when necessary.

Miracle on 42nd Street

My experience with 족발

I've eaten 족발 (Jokbal) a couple times before without knowing what it was.  If I had known first , I probably never would have eaten it.

I was once asked, "Can you eat pig's feet?"  Of course, I was like..."What!  No!"

found this on wikipedia..ew 

The first time I ate it was at some random "celebration" for re-arranging the auditorium at school.  I'm pretty sure they told me it was just pork so I had some of it.  The second time was with a Korean family who told me it was pork that many Korean women like to eat because it is not very fatty.

I had it for the third time this weekend, only this time, I finally realized what I was eating...pig's feet.  Luckily it comes sliced up so it doesn't actually look like it comes straight from the pig (until you get to the bottom of the platter where the hooves are?).  It's actually pretty delicious.  I also had some leftover the next day, and it tasted strangely of turkey as cold leftovers.

this is the 30,000won portion which I'm pretty sure is meant to serve 4 people...comes with  spicy buckwheat noodles service

wrap it up with some shrimp sauce, ssamjang, and a pepper in a lettuce leaf...enjoy in preferably 1 bite (1 shot!)

It's time.

There are 2 videos regarding gay marriage currently circulating the internet (I'm sure some of you have seen in the past couple of days)...



and this one..for 19 years old, this kid makes an amazing speech.



This fight for equality has been a long battle in America, and it makes me think, will it ever even become an issue in Korea?  The Korean population, especially older people just ignore the fact that there are same sex relationships, if not downright look down upon them.  While there is certainly a gay population, most gay Koreans feel they have to hide it from their family (and maybe friends?).

United Colors of Benetton just did an UNHATE campaign using pictures of various leaders from various countries.  It was very strange...but still, I wonder what Korean people think when they see this image.

Kim Jong Il and Lee Myung Bak sharing a moment

Hu Jintao and Obama

a little Sunday adventure...

On Sunday, it was pretty warm outside compared to the rest of the week so we decided to do something that I knew could be done, but that I have never tried before.

Although, it was totally not planned.  At first, we thought we'd just take a walk along Seongbukcheon, the stream near my house, which we've done on many occasions.  But then we kept walking when we got to Cheonggyecheon (about a 20 minute walk).

where the 2 streams meet

We kept walking past Dongmyo and Dongdaemun all the way to Jongno!!  It took about an hour and half to get to the Jonggak area.  I have no idea how far the actual distance was, but we def took the subway home from there (which only takes about 15 minutes total even with 1 transfer).

the path from start to finish

'Tis the season..

Even though Christmas is not a really big holiday here in Korea, it still gives the city an excuse to decorate.  Decorations are showing up all over town these days.  Everything looks so pretty!  Yesterday I put out the tiny Christmas tree I bought at Artbox last year.

decorations on display at the local Daiso

entrance at COEX

Myeongdong stage photo op

Christmas tree at COEX Intl. Lobby

display at Spao..fair aisle is all the rage this year

Thankful.

lots of be thankful for this year...

-family
-friends of 15+ years
-friends of 1 year and 4 months (my family in Korea)
-kbf
-good health
-a steady job
-a steady income
-a free house
-heated floors
-time to travel the world
-the means to travel the world
-my galaxy s2 to enable me to call my family on Thanksgiving from Korea
-skype
-only about 4 more weeks of teaching my 6th graders before they leave forever (!!)
-puffer coats
-ugg boots to keep my tootsies warm at school
-living in a city I love
-non-rainy season in Korea (gotta look at the bright side of winter)
-waygook.org
-heat in the English room

...and of course 2 lovely friends for putting together a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner party once again this year. (plus the US army guy who was nice enough to bring the turkey from the base!)

the table

the spread

the plate

the pumpkin pie & homemade whipped cream

the lovely hosts breaking the wish bone (from last year)

"you should wear clothes like bear"

sometimes when it is going to be cold outside, my kbf will send me messages to warn me or tell me to take care of myself...they always make me chuckle, especially this one..

Baby it's cold..

..like seriously FRIGID.  It's not even December yet.  What the heck.

on the plus side, I got to wear my new scarf today.

School pictures (and my digital perm)

I just received a copy of my school photo via cool messenger.  This photo was taken back in September or something and, of course, nobody told me about it.

I was just sitting at my desk getting ready for class to start when my co-teacher was like..."Let's go downstairs to have our picture taken."...and I'm like..."for what?"  I thought it was just going to be someone with a digital camera taking a picture of the two of us together...but once we got down there, I realized what it was.

Therefore, I didn't have time to even check myself in the mirror or even put on chap-stick.  I had also gone to bed the night before with wet hair so it was slightly out of control.  All I could do is stand there and twirl and tame my hair before my turn came up.  (*for those of you who are curious about my perm..this is around the 2 month mark and what it looks like after applying mousse on wet hair and then sleeping on it).

Anyway, I guess it turned out fine...even though, it does seem they may have photo-shopped it to give me a slightly bigger face once again this year, but what can you do?


602  >>
I send your gorgerous photo.


441 Sonya >>
haha thank you!

602 >>
Oh my god! Not gorgerous but gorgeous

And also, here's a nice little selca (self-camera/cam whoring/korean style if you will) picture of my hair today.  It basically looks the same 2 months later, styled the same way (washed last night).  [see what I mean...my face is totally rounder in the school photo...I don't get it]

4 months after digital perm

Socks & Crocs :(

Currently sitting at my desk in my freezing classroom because the heat isn't working.  Winter officially made his presence known on Saturday night.  I made the poor decision of wearing shoes without socks today but grabbed some socks on the way out the door.  It's come down to wearing the socks with my school "slippers" aka crocs (which I don't actually wear everyday..only if I feel like the crocs would be more comfortable than my real shoes)..and it's still cold.    

안아고

Why are all of my updates food related lately?  Since being in Korea, I find myself eating a lot of things that I normally would not eat in America..and liking it.  For example, squid, both cooked and dried, among other random stuff that I don't actually know what it is. 

I tried 안아고 (anago=sea eel) in it's raw state for the first time.  I once saw some adjusshis frying up some live eel while it wriggled around on the grill.  I was pretty much mortified.  They also look totally sick in the fish tanks in front of restaurants...

I found this picture on the internets, but isn't it gross?

The only way I've ever previously eaten eel is cooked and in a sushi roll with that delicious black sauce.  I don't think you can actually taste the eel at all.  Anyway, it was actually pretty good..minus the weird bones that were in them.  We got it all chopped up and ate it with 쌍추 (big lettuce leaves) like you do with Korean barbecue.  

Here is what it looked like:

of course with some regular sushi too just in case the eel wasn't good!

Hello mozzarella.

My dinner last night was a salad from Paris Baguette.

I haven't had mozzarella cheese in who knows how long.

고구마!

Last night I made some 고구마 (goguma) fries!  고구마 is Korean sweet potato, but it's slightly different from the sweet potato that I'm used to.  It's more yellow than orange and a little less stringy?  I've also been told by a Korean person that they match well with kimchi..ew?  It's eaten by Koreans as a snack after dinner or in between meals rather than as an actual side dish with a meal.

Either way, my fries turned out pretty good even though they would have been better if I had an oven..

A Friday Off Work..

Last Friday, I didn't have school.  I don't know why...school anniversary/birthday...I don't ask questions.  I decided to spend the afternoon at Seoul Forest (서울숲).  [you can get there by going to Ttukseom station and following the signs from exit 8 I think...it's probably about a 10 minute walk]  I have been meaning to go there sometime this fall, but hadn't had a chance yet because of rain or other plans.  It was kinda gloomy that day and actually started raining a little bit as I was walking there, but overall, it wasn't too cold and ended up being a nice little day trip.  Actually...a lot of trees have already lost most of their leaves, but some of them were still alive!

I climbed into this sculpture thing rather easily only to tumble out of the small hole and terribly bruise both my knees.

in the sculpture park

one of the only pretty trees left

love how in Seoul, there are parks in the middle of high rises..those apartments must have a great view

there was also a playground for children (and for handicapped people?)

oh! and they keep bambi in a cage here

Korean Chicken Noodle Soup

Last week, after a Saturday night out at Club Holic, I came down with my first cold of the season.  I was actually just thinking to myself that I'm lucky I haven't gotten sick yet.  I thought that maybe I would avoid getting sick in Korea this fall because maybe my body has gotten used to the viruses here.  I got over it pretty fast by taking dayquil/nyquil, going to bed at 9:30pm for 2 nights in a row, and picking up some porridge from Bonjuk 본죽.

Korean people like to eat this rice porridge called juk when they get sick.  It definitely doesn't sound as appetizing as chicken noodle soup, but it actually really does hit the spot on a sick day.  It all comes nicely packed in a bag with handles and a nice re-usable tupperware which I have collected a few of already.  It also comes with a side of marinated beef which I really like and haven't had anywhere else except with juk.

야채죽 vegetable juk

Shufflin.

How to shuffle if you are a Korean high school student:

Cheetos

I love cheetos.  In particular, I like CHEEZ flavored cheetos.  In fact, they might be my favorite snack.  This kind...

For some reason, Korea thinks that flavors like hamburger and barbecue are better.  I can only find cheese cheetos at the foreign food market and pay 5,000won per bag.

wtf spicy barbecue!

You can imagine my excitement when I spotted a bag of 치즈 (cheese) cheetos at the mart near my house.  Sure, the color of the bag was a little off, but I held out hope that I finally found regular cheetos for a mere 2,000won.

strange LIGHT orange color

WRONG!  Dang.  They taste strangely of cheese, but still, it's not right.  At least they came with a free K-Pop trading card.  I think I got T-ARA.

new nails

Currently really liking my nail polish selection.  Blue polish from Skin Food under black crackle polish from the Face Shop.

I've always liked painting my nails, but I really LOVE the availability and price of nail polish in Korea.  Every time I pass a cosmetic store, be it Skin Food, Face Shop, it's Skin, etc. I am lured in by the new polish displays.  The most expensive polish I have bought in Korea was maybe 5,000won which is still significantly cheaper than brands like Sally Hansen Salon Effects and OPI.