Doctor's Orders

• Happy Birthday Bestests, Carlee and Krystle! 
• Had my first experience at a Korean doctor today. He was very helpful/nice and spoke some English, which was great. But I also was overwhelmed for many reasons. He talked quickly in both Korean and English (thankfully Winter was with me), describing my symptoms as a disease called Otitis Media. That’s fancy speak for an ear infection. But the word “disease,” coupled with Latin and the phrase “much worse than you thought” (I originally thought I just got water stuck in my ear from a shower), made me pretty freaked out. And then was coming towards me with a pointy metal thing! (Because, in Korea, the doctor’s offices are filled with metal instruments, not plastic stuff – reminiscent of old-time dentist offices...) I finally had to say “Wait wait wait, what’s he doing?” I had a 6:00 pm apt, so I think the doctor might have just been ready to go home. And he did re-explain things when I asked him to. The nasal treatment he gave me was very interesting and I have to get it every 2 days for the next 2-3 weeks. I’ll also continue to have my echo-y ear and dizziness for at least 10 more days. Joy. Hopefully it will go away after all the treatments and meds are done. They don’t mess around here! 
• Kitchen disasters abounded tonight – an unexpectedly broken plate (and cut finger), too much rice, spoiled food (meat, pineapple, anchovies, lemon, pears – oy), and rice cooker brownies, but those turned out pretty good, despite the batter looking like poop as I poured it into the rice cooker.

New Girl Now (Apr 28)

• Since I felt terrible today, I spent the whole day watching New Girl episodes (and also some Big Bang Theory). They were fantastic! I love that show and the more recent episodes are fantastic. I particularly loved #15 ("Injured") and #17/18 ("Fancyman" Parts 1 and 2). I can't wait to rewatch them with my friends at home this summer :)
• 300th post!

History Chimes (Apr 27)

• Seeing historical sites with 18 6/7-year-olds is totally different that seeing them with your peers. This is what I learned today on our school trip to Gyeongju. Winter and I accompanied all 5 grades on the trip, but we rode the bus with the first and second graders and were in charge of helping corral the first graders. It was fun because most of the students in our English class are first and second graders. However, that class is CRAZY and so was being with them ALL day. They were definitely cute: wanting to hold my hand and carrying their little backpacks. The first place we went to was a Buddhist temple. Seems like all of the schools around us had a field trip today and they all went to this temple! TONS of kids around. I got several (older students) coming up to me and asking to have their picture with me (I love that I’m “famous” here) and a few were doing an “English Mission” so they needed to ask me questions too. It was fun :) The temple was really beautiful and I was amazed at the people who were actually worshiping, despite the noise of hundreds and hundreds of students milling around. I’m sure normal visitors are much quieter and more respectful.

After wandering for a while, we sat down to eat lunch. I think the first grade teacher was desperate to find a place - the kids were whining - because we ended up plunking down in the middle of a wide walkway, instead of the really nice park just another few minutes’ walk away. Oh well. I found out, though, that when Korean children pack a picnic lunch, they all eat kimbap and fruit and chips and sit on these little mats! 

This is a Korean sack lunch :) And this little boy
shared some of the stuff on the left with me.

It was so adorable. And also really yummy – our mentor teacher had bought us kimbap, but the first grade teacher urged us to share hers with her first, as it was homemade by one of the students’ moms. It was so good! And there was lots of fresh fruit packed with it, and I tried a kumquat!

You have to eat the peel too!

Even after lunch, we were all pretty tired…but there were 3 more places on the itinerary to visit. The next one was a commemorative temple that had an outdoor museum, with paintings illustrating several important events in Korean history. We spent only about 20 minutes there – about enough time for the students to run up the stairs, around the museum, down the stairs and then go to the bathroom.

Then we went to a site that is famous because it is where the last king of the Silla empire was before it fell. There wasn’t much to see here so the kids basically ran around some more. I wandered off to see what else was there. Not much – it would probably be a nice picnic or reflective spot if there weren’t 75 students wandering and yelling.

Finally, we went to a site where 5 important people are buried.

There was a guide who was trying to explain things to the kids…but they were tired and not into listening. And then a “parade” of 3-year-olds walked by in a line, singing and they were totally distracted. So we walked around a little bit and then got on the bus home. You’d think that with all the walking, the kids would be really tired – but no, my little heathens yelled and hit each other with their wooden swords the whole way home. Oh so tired after getting off that bus. Props to their homeroom teachers who teach them for 6 hours a day.

• Tonight friends met up in Gumi to see The Avengers. Yes, it was out in Korea before it was out in the US! Woo! And it was AMAZING. Robert Downey Jr. made the movie fantastic (yes, I love him and how he delivers his lines but he really did a great job) and it was so well-done. I would post more details but I know I have lots of friends who want to see it XD I’m very excited for the next one!

Jeanette, Deanna and Abby pointing to their fave boys ;)

• After the movie, we went drinking. It was fun but I found my soju limit...the rest of the weekend was spent recovering :(

The Visit (She Was Here)

• Dr. Koh Day!!! I got to school and was wondering how I would know when she arrives – and when I went to say hello to the vice principal and the head teacher, her and her husband (Dr. Shin) were sitting with the head teacher! I ran over and hugged her. It was really comforting to have someone from home there in my school, who had worked to take care of me and make sure I was in a good situation, and knows the culture and language of the crazy foreign place I live in – it was practically like seeing my own parents. After listening to Dr. Koh, Dr. Shin, my head teacher and, eventually, Winter talk in Korean for a while (it’s so pretty to hear native Koreans speak, especially when I don’t need to be understanding what they are saying), we went to lunch. I told Dr. Koh that my school’s lunch was really good, so she made sure to make time I her schedule to eat with me. And she liked it! She even said that she used to eat one of the dishes all the time as a child, and hadn’t since then. Cute! We (they) talked with some other teachers/staff and then just between us for a while – until we were the last ones in the cafeteria. Oops. After lunch, we had tea/coffee with the principal, met with my mentor teacher (Dr. Koh even thought she was talkative and little strange...ah well), and then went up to class. My grade 1/2 students were surprisingly good today! (When I told Dr. Koh that they were good today, she was like, “Really? Oh...”) Granted, I only had them for 20 minutes because of an earthquake drill, but still. The principal and head teacher came in to watch, along with Dr. Koh and Dr. Shin, and no one threw anything at me (students) or told me to stop teaching and leave (adults) so it must have gone okay :) Dr. Koh and Dr. Shin had to leave quickly after class, to make it to Ashley’s school, but I didn’t have to say goodbye, thankfully. After hanging out at school for a while (no 6th graders means sitting and doing nothing for an hour before I can go home) and several changed plans, I ended up at an Angel-In-Us coffee shop in Idong, to wait for Dr. Koh, Dr. Shin, Ashley and Abby (I had to ride the bus there, Ash and Abby got to ride with the doctors...jelly). I got a lemon tea (DELISH) and sat down to wait for them...and then they showed up haha. We walked around the building, looking for the entrance to Partys Seafood Buffet, and then found it and entered HEAVEN. It was a beautiful restaurant with TONS of dishes that all looked fantastic. Dr. Koh noted that they had a lot of carb and fruit options, along with free beer, to fill you up before you could eat too much actual [expensive] seafood – how tricky – and checked our plates whenever we brought one back to the table. But everything was fantastic. And Abby, Ashley and I ended up impressing her, with both the number of plates we returned with and the types of things we tried. I had pizza (with CHEESE) and a variation of tomato and mozzarella salad (CHEESE), but also SUSHI! Never had it before but I popped my sushi cherry with whelk, squid, eel, crab and scallop (or some kind of shellfish) sushi. They were yummy. Ash, Abby and I have already made plans to go back at least once before leaving Pohang. During dinner, we were able to talk to Dr. Koh and Dr. Shin about lots of things – TaLK, our schools, plans for after July, etc. – and I even talked with them about dating (Korean boys and otherwise) and how they met (used to study at his university’s library, because hers was too far away, and one day he came up to her and talked to her...”I’m so lucky” he told me...SO CUTE!). We stayed at the restaurant for almost 3 hours. After that though, we had to say goodbye :( She has 3 meetings, all over southern Korea tomorrow, starting at 8:30 am! She’s so Korean (works 8 days a week). I gave her a hug and made Ashley promise to give her another one before they parted. I can’t wait to see her when we get back. 
• I wish all of Dr. Koh’s students had the opportunity to understand her in a Korean context. I have known a lot of people who’ve taken her for an intro special ed class at Eastern and have really disliked her. If they knew how hard she works, how much she cares, how professional, protective, forceful, no-nonsense but also flexible she is – and how all of those qualities are related to her life events (she mentioned tonight that she remembered eating those silkworm bugs as a child, because they had no other way to get protein) – they would not dislike her ever. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to dissolve my first impression of her and replace it with actually knowing/understanding her.

"A" You're Adorable (Apr 25)

• Today was a rough day with the children. Complete lack of listening - and caring, really - on their part, so I was frustrated by that. But then overwhelming frustration washed over me; the kind that makes me question my effectiveness as a teacher, both here and in general, what to do about teaching my current students and my decision to be a teacher. It was not good and tears definitely happened.
• I did have a cute conversation with Do Hyeon about the rain on my way home. The after school care class lets out at 5 pm, which is usually when I'm headed home. Today, I "taught" him the words "rainy" and "wet", as it was drizzling and there were puddles everywhere. Also, I told him to watch out as a car was coming behind us and he said "Thank you!". That was kind of cute.
• Nonetheless, after school, I hopped on the bus to Gyeongju. This may sound a little extreme but, being the next town over, it's only about 30 minutes from the Intercity Bus Terminal (the same amount of time it takes me to visit Abby/Joe in Heunghae - and less time than to visit Ashley in Wolpo - and they are technically in the same city as I am!). I ended up meeting Nia, Nate and Jeanette at THE most adorable cupcake shop in the world. I guarantee that it is. Of course, I didn't bring my camera with me. So we'll go back. Nia and Nate left to go to dinner and Jeannie and I just relaxed in the adorbz atmosphere. I ate a tiramisu cupcake and drank a caramel macchiato, and then we shared a cookies n' cream cupcake. (My stomach was whining a little bit throughout the evening, from all that sugar.) It was fabulous. We also discussed our devil children, the pointlessness of the letters C, X and Q, and the idea of having our own cupcake shop (called "Adorbz Cupcakes", of course). When the shop closed, we went looked through the boutiques in the area...and made purchases. It IS payday, after all :)

New shirt :)

Then, we met up with Sai at HomePlus. I purchased some fun prizes for my kids, Sai bought groceries, Jeannie bought a shelf thing, and we saw adorable bunnies and a LIVE GIGANTIC BEETLE. EWWWW. We ran away. It was my favorite kind of grocery shopping, roaming almost all of the aisles. I like my HP (it's bigger and makes more sense to me) but the trip succeeded in making me feel loads better. After a short trip to Jeannie's apt (in which we managed to squeeze a few minutes of She's The Man), I made my way to the bus station and successfully (with the help of a driver) boarded the last bus home to Pohang. I appreciate my friends :)

Punch You In The Jeans

• My students like to punch each other. For fun, if the they're bored, if they're angry, if they're annoyed - mostly if they're angry. It's so frustrating! Especially because I can't tell if they understand me when I tell them that that is not an okay response, even if someone punches you first. Ugh. #englishteacherproblems
• Had really yummy pizza with Winter, Liz and Sai tonight and then went shopping with Abby. It was really fun (I love Pohang's downtown) and I decided that I might buy myself a new dress every payday...
• Sai, Winter and Liz went to Mundeok after dinner, so I had people to ride home with, which was a nice change :) I've had way too much time to think/stew over the last week - nasty side effect of living alone - so it was really nice to have facetime with friends tonight.

Recipe (Stir It Up)

• Spent most of yesterday sleeping. It was good (and needed, to kick this cold) but also made me very tired today.
• In order to fight the tiredness/try to achieve a decent bedtime, I tackled some recipes. Winter and I went to HomePlus to find heavy cream, so I can try my hand at caramel. Then I decided to make a juice cocktail because I have a bunch of different juices in my fridge: equal parts strawberry, plum and apple juice, plus juice squeezed out of 1/2 a lemon. Mmmm :) After that, pear problem-solving time. I cut up a Korean pear to eat the other day only to discover it was way too bland for me to enjoy plain (tastes much more like an apple than a pear). I bought the cream to make a caramel dip, but I've been itching to make another cake. Shinshine.com provides a great recipe for pear upside-down cake (which Abby verified this weekend) but ginger powder at HomePlus is 9000+ Won! That's too much, Bob - I'll wait to buy it at the market. So I found a pear bread recipe instead (included at the end of the post). I was worried that it might not turn out - it's for a regular oven, and I only have my rice cooker - but it's fantastic! Smells so good and yum yum yum. And since it has pears AND raisins in it, that means it's healthy, which means I can eat it for breakfast every day until it's gone without feeling guilty :D

Pear-Raisin Bread Recipe for Rice Cooker

Ingredients

(I made 2/3 of the recipe so I wouldn't have to waste batter.)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter, softened (may substitute 3/4 cup vegetable oil)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups peeled and finely grated ripe, firm pears
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup raisins, other dried fruit, pecans, walnuts, etc. if desired

Directions

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder,
salt, and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs,
sugar, pears, and vanilla.

Add the pear mixture to the flour mixture,
stirring just until flour disappears and
batter is evenly moistened.
Stir in raisins, nuts or other add-ins.

Grease rice cooker pot. Pour the
batter into the rice cooker pot. Cook 
in rice cooker for 2-4 cooking
cycles. Check after each cooking
cycle to avoid overcooking.

Once cooked, let it cool, and remove the
cake by turning the pot upside-down onto a plate.

Enjoy!

Watching You Watching Me

• Jeanette and I opted to stick closer to home tonight (rather than go to the meet-up in Daegu), because I am sick and she didn't feel like going that far. So we met up for a "date" in Pohang instead :) We had planned to see Titanic - but it wasn't showing at the first theater we went to (like we thought) and we didn't make it in time to see it at the other theater, even though we tried REALLY hard to get there quickly. So we went to the buffet named Ashley's across the hall from the theater instead. 

(Note: Since Korea builds up, instead of out, there are often lots of businesses in the same building...one complex near my apartment is laid out like this: 1F - a bookstore, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, KFC, Baskin Robbins, phone store, another coffee shop, a bunch of independent vendors; 2F/3F - HomePlus; 4F/5F - independent, kind of expensive, vendors; 6F - food court, independent vendors; 7F/8F - movie theater. This one was similar: 1F - Starbucks, a fast food place, an arcade; 2F - Mr. Pizza, nail salon, other places we didn't see; 3F - movie theater, Ashley's...and I'm not sure if there were more floors in this one...)

It was a fantastic way to spend the $14 we would have spent on Titanic tickets. The buffet advertised that it served American food - but it was Korean-ized American food. I mean, yes, there were mini corndogs (which Korea must think Americans eat all the time - they are everywhere here!) and cheesecake and soup...but there was also ddeokbokki (short, thick rice noodles) in alfredo sauce, seaweed-wrapped rice in chili sauce, nachos with cheese-colored-but-not-cheese-flavored cheese, and a meat whose sign literally read "Real" meat, with the Real in quotes. And the drink we had was called non-alcoholic fruit wine black tea - is it wine? Is it tea?? Is it juice??? There was a really good salad and fruit bar though, plus ice cream and coffee. And all the people-watching we could want! The waiter happened to seat us near the beverage station, which meant we were able to gaze at the lovely backsides of all of the young, attractive Korean men who dined there this evening, even if they came there with their girlfriends. There was also an adorable little girl at the table next to us; I tried lots of times to wave at her and she just stared at me, until we got up to leave and then she waved back! So cute. And, of course, we had to stare down anyone who left in order to figure out how/where we should pay. Ohhh the life of people who don't know the mother tongue of the country they live in :D After dinner (we did figure out how to pay), we went downstairs for Starbucks and seated ourselves neatly next to the giant window, to facilitate more people-watching. It was so fun and we were able to stave off getting soaked for another hour or so (so much rain in Pohang today). After that, we almost went home...and then I remembered there is an ArtBox downtown. And we had to go. We just had to. And then we bought things. But that's okay because they are adorbz :D :D Anyways, it was a great way to spend a Saturday night and I'm so glad Jeannie lives close and we've gotten to be such good friends :)

Sickness Within

• Happy Baby Day to John and Katie! (Not actually though, because Baby Bateman is stubborn. How rude.)
• Took my first sick day at work. Sick days aren’t really something that people in Korea do, but my body has not been groomed for that kind of rigor. I might have still been able to be there, but seeing as my plan would have been to show a movie because my head is so stuffed I can’t handle teaching, no one would be learning any English today anyways. And it’s Friday. Winter is so awesome for helping me call in and for taking care of me, even though I know she needs this rest day as much as I do. 
• Walked down my street in search of a health store (where you buy over-the-counter drugs here) and found that, among all of the closed storefronts and creepy areas, there is just about everything you need. Phone store, clock store, health store, grocery stores, a few restaurants, a few clothing stores (not just ajumma clothes either), a bakery, a stationary store. Cool!
• I made cookie in the microwave tonight, thanks to a recipe in my care package from Carlee :) It was pretty yummy too! Not as good as Betty Crocker mixes, but that lady’s a genius...and doesn’t sell her mixes in Korea. 
• I felt like an old lady tonight – I licked my thumb to pry apart some stubborn plastic bags.

Another Day In The Office

• In surprising contrast from when I last tried to show a movie to my students, today they were quiet and couldn't take their eyes off the screen. Woohoo! I could actually work on things and know that they weren't going to kill each other.
• Also, I managed to keep my older students busy, engaged and interested for 75 minutes! We learned a little about Chinese culture by playing games and doing some activities. They were good (energetic, but good) and tried to speak English when I asked them to. I gave them Rice Krispie Treats that I made and, though being skeptical at first, they loved them (and loved learning how to say "Rice Krispie Treat"). They were also really amused with teaching me Korean words for things in the classroom - they tried to teach me about 20 different terms. I don't remember any of them.

Memory

• Baking often isn’t as easy when one doesn’t have biweekly bake sales to contribute to and 2 roommates who will eat the extras. Meh, I made rice krispie treats anyways ;) 

• It’s amazing how much our memories are triggered by our senses. All my friends make fun of me for how much insignificant smells remind me of events and memories. And when I listened to Mumford & Sons tonight, I was flooded with memories of driving to Farmington, fall sunshine, working at Macy’s, and living at Cara’s/in Ann Arbor from this fall. Despite the stress leading up to September 2011, I actually really miss that period in my life. 

American As Apple Pie

• Mmmmmmm American food. Dinner tonight was burgers, french fries, pop, pizza (yes, it may have been on a tortilla instead of real dough, but whatever) and ice cream. It was soooooo needed. And soooooo delicious. Oh and it was with Liz, Winter, Abby, Sai and Joe so it was fun too ;)
• Played Hangman with my older kids today and they were quiet AND enjoyed it for 45 whole minutes.

Just A Phone Call Away (Apr 15)

• My day was pretty uneventful and I was even going to go to bed at the lame hour of 9:30 pm...when Charlie Hunt Skype-called me! Good thing I was decent, because it ended up being his Sunday School class. They were sharing Happies and Crappies and asked me to join. It was so cool! And we got to talk about camp a little, hopefully convincing some on-the-fence-ers that they should go.
• Then, Anna called me from Convention! I was able to hear Carolyn's last Counselor Report (including her advice, "If you get the opportunity, marry your brother or marry your sister. It's a good time.") and say hello to Kim, Carter, Sky, Chris, Kevin, Jess, Alex, Carrie, Cassie, Richelle, Anna's new friend Hannah, Carolyn and Trudy. Trudy was so surprised, waved vigorously and then ran to Anna, hugged her and said, (I'm not joking) "I think I just had an orgasm." I can't wait to be an alum at Convention next year :)
• After that, Ben/my mom called! Ben told me about his birthday (yes, he really is 14) and I told them about the festivals I've gone to. It was fun to talk to them.
• I really needed all 3 of these calls tonight, as I have been getting homesick this week. Thank goodness for not going to bed early.

Strawberry Fields Forever (Apr 14)

• Strawberry festival in Nonsan today! I had heard about this festival since we arrived in Korea so I was really excited that we got to go. It was a beautiful day and we found the festival without any problem. There weren’t any strawberry plants at the festival site (you had to take a shuttle elsewhere to pick them) but there was lots of other yummy stuff: strawberry pancakes, strawberry ice cream, strawberry jam (you could make your own), strawberry cake (you could make that too), strawberry juice (bought a bunch to give to my teachers), strawberry rice cakes (not the same as the Quaker rice cakes in the US), strawberry 막걸리 (makkeolli – rice wine), and strawberry bean burgers! 

I didn't like it that much :/

There were a lot of crafts (mostly for kids though, much to Sai’s and my chagrin) and opportunities for pictures:

And we found lots of other TaLK scholars there! It was fun to see faces we hadn’t seen since Orientation. We did NOT get stuck at the festival site this time…woohoo! And on our walk back to the bus station, we found Joey-dancing strawberries: 

• We still sing Fantastic Baby all the time :) Which is extra fun because it’s played EVERYWHERE. 
• Sai came up with a fantastic way to say my name. I don’t think there’s a way to properly convey it in writing but it’s pretty much awesome. 
• Since we left the festival so early, we had lots of time to rest before going out for the evening. Our hotel room computers were connected to the sound system soooo…I watched Boys Before Flowers for a while! It was awesome. 
• Once we all got ready, we went in search of food. We tried TGI Friday’s and Pizza Hut, but it was too close to closing time for them to let us in. Finally, we ended up at this really nice samgyeupsal place. (picture) After that, we went to a club called Cocoon, where we ended up seeing some other TaLK people and dancing with a lot of Koreans. Before, we ended the evening, we stopped for McDonald’s. It was a good night :)

Born To Be Lively (Apr 13)

• Happy Birthday to my wittle brother Ben! He's 14 today, oh my goodness.

• Joe and I took the bus to Daejon together tonight. It was fun to have someone to travel with – but even though our seats were 24 and 25, we weren’t next to each other! :/ I ended up next to a Korean man. When he started to talk to me (in English), I thought he was a lot older than me (30 or 35 at least) but he said that he was still in university. (All Korean males older than 18 are required to serve for at least 3 years in the Korean armed forces – so he could have very well been 26 or 27.) We talked for a little while - and then he asked for my number! Oy. I mean, flattering, yes. But also, oy. We exchanged numbers but I don’t plan on contacting him in the future. When the bus stopped for a bathroom break, I moved up next to Joe. I hoped the guy wasn’t [too] offended – Joe and I were talking a lot before this guy and I started talking – but it was just too hard to try not to do anything awkward or not give the wrong signals in those tiny bus seats. We arrived at the Daejon bus station a little while later (it was so clean/new/pretty!) and found everyone and then headed to dinner. We had yummy food and even got to celebrate Deanna’s birthday! 

Outside of the bus terminal

Sculpture outside of the bus terminal

Mmm 삼겹살

Happy Birthday, Deanna!

• After that, we dropped our things off at the hotel (the first arrivals managed to find a decent hotel near the bus station at a good price – woohoo!) and took taxis downtown to explore the nightlife. We ended up at a bar that was kind of loud, but had a lot of nice seating (couches and big booths) and there weren’t many people there. 

It was fun and a good way to end the evening :)

Still It Takes Me By Surprise (Apr 12)

• At lunch today, Office Guy gave Winter and I some information: Surprise! Class is done early and we’re going to dinner in Gyeongju on the school’s bill tonight! Okay...
• So after teaching only one class, we met the 2nd grade teacher downstairs and she drove us to Gyeongju (along with one other staff member). We arrived earlier than most everyone else, so we were able to stroll along one of the lakes and enjoy the cherry blossoms. They were beautiful and the weather as fantastic.

Taken with Winter phone...omg right?

We eventually met up with some other teachers, wandered a little more and then had pre-dinner (vegetable and seafood pancakes) and makgeolli (막걸리 – Korean rice wine) at a very traditional restaurant. 

After that, we met up with everyone else at the main restaurant. Dinner was really good (there were a million side dishes – the vice principal chuckled when I tried to finish them/when I told him I hate to waste/leave food) and it was nice to finally talk to the staff outside of school. I mainly spoke (through Winter) to the principal, vice principal and head teacher, because we were sitting near them. But Office Guy kept checking in on us, making sure we had beverages and were eating well :) And the VP unofficially invited me to his house sometime! I hope that actually happens. He said it more like, “If I invited you, would you come?” (to which I replied, “Of course!”) rather than an outright invite so we’ll see. Oh and the head teacher was impressed with my ability to drink soju shots ;) Most people are actually...Anyways, it was a good night and I hope we have another dinner soon. 

Got The Hunger? (Apr 10)

• Found out that the meat that my favorite Street Meat Guy sells is actually chicken hearts! AHH! Smh, only in Korea. I will [probably] keep eating them though. Apparently, they are good for you. And they're yummy.

• I finally got to see Hunger Games! And I didn’t have to wait as long (only 3 weeks) or go as far (15 minute bus ride!) as I thought I’d have to. Woohoo! Oh, it was good :) Here are my thoughts (I don’t think they will give any of the movie away):
• It was a really good portrayal of the actual Hunger Games and the world of Panem. The costumes/make-up/hair were amazing (the Capitol clothing actually reminded me a LOT of the people of Oz, in Wicked), the buildings/atmosphere of both the Capitol and District 12 were just like I imagined and the people that were selected to play the characters were great actors and acted/looked as I expected (none of this “Rue was black so her death was less sad” business). However, it did fail – as I think most book-to-movie-productions do – to convey the depth of emotion felt by the characters throughout the story and to fully inform the audience of the history of Panem and the gravity of the Hunger Games situation. I don’t think that’s a bad thing though. The best things about books-to-movies are they give readers a more tangible world to imagine as they read and they get people who wouldn’t necessarily read those books more of a reason to. This movie definitely did both of those. Sai and I just had to explain a lot of things to Abby, Ashley and Jeannie afterwards :)
• The COOLEST (and most ironic) part about Hunger Games being a movie though, is that the people who see it who haven’t read the books literally become the citizens of Panem, watching the Hunger Games as the Gamemakers want them to see it, in a public venue. Whaaaaat. I mean, there are some parts that were in the movie that citizens wouldn’t see, but overall...woah. I wonder if the possibility of her books becoming movies influenced any of what Suzanne Collins wrote.
• Also, I thought it was really weird that no one in the Capitol was dressed in green, and I don’t believe that that was an accident – so I’m really curious why the costumer/director/producer/Suzanne Collins chose to do that.

I Can't Even Fold It

• Zested a lemon for the first time!
• Found out that there actually is a difference in your baked good if you don’t fold in the ingredients when it tell you. Guess I should aim to be LESS like Fauna...

Fantastic Baby (Apr 7)

Yes, this blog post is INCREDIBLY long. I promise it won't happen again. But every detail of this epic journey to and (especially) from the Jinhae Cherry Blossom festival needed to be documented. You will not regret reading this. (But if you do, I'm sorry I told you that you wouldn't.)

So we woke up and finished watching Freaky Friday (heartwarming) while eating a fantastic breakfast laid out by Jeannie :) And Deanna and Jeannie convinced me to wear my pink dress outfit. And I’m so glad they did! I felt so Korean-adorable all day and they get full credit. We got out the door with just enough time to grab a taxi to the bus station to catch our 10:40 bus – only to find out that no taxis were going to the bus terminal this morning because of the marathon that was going on! What??? The group staying at Sai’s apartment was having the same problem (and so began our travel troubles for today...). Luckily, Jeanette lives close enough for us to walk – but she wasn’t exactly sure how to get there, so we wandered in and out of market stalls (and runners). And got seriously distracted by pet stores along the way (some ajummas snickered at us when we yelped, “oooh”ed and “aaah”ed over some puppies that walked towards us and tried to play through the window). We finally found our way to the bus station, where we found all of our friends too. Before we got on the bus, Deanna and I really had to pee...so we braved the squatters. AH! But we survived. Then we all headed to line up in the boarding area – with 12 of us, we had to do everything we could to make we were all on the right bus. Once the bus arrived, Sai inconspicuously body-blocked the other passengers so that we all got on and could get seats :D We only had a slight problem at the next stop – Hwan got off to use the bathroom and a guy took his seat! :( So he, Darryl and I had to resort to squeezing 3 people into 2 seats. Once we got over being angry, it wasn’t that bad. Finally, we arrived in Masan...but we still had to figure out how to get to the festival site in Jinhae. On our way to finding the right busstop, we ran into a group of TaLK scholars! It was so random! I love when that happens though. After that, we found the right busstop, waited for a long time (or, what felt like a long time...we would learn about long waits later), took pictures and finally boarded. It was so crowded!

Or, what felt crowded...we would learn about crowded later... 

There was a ton of traffic into Jinhae (the official festival site) so our bus ride was long. When we finally arrived, we were really happy to see that the predicted 10% of blossoms blooming was a very low estimate. The trees looked so beautiful.

(Photo courtesy of Darryl)

(Photo courtesy of Ruby)

The weather was completely gorgeous and we wandered, ate, took photos, and bought stupid souvenirs. OH and I tried silkworm pupas!

Yeah it was weird and I didn't like them, but hey, I tried them. Around 5:45, we started heading back to the busstop. And so began our adventure getting home...

We walked back to the busstop and waited for the bus numbers we knew would take us back to Masan (so we could catch the 8:30 bus back to Gyeongju). But as we were waiting, buses that were supposed to stop just kept driving past – because they were completely full! People standing-in-the-doorway full! We started formulating...

Plan B: Take taxis to Masan...but there were none coming. And when we called the cab companies, they said they wouldn’t send anyone! How rude. Onto...

Plan C: We would walk to the train station and try to catch the last train to Daegu, where we would then take a bus to Gyeongju. So we started walking and eventually made it to the train station...where we discovered that we had missed the last train by about an hour. Sooo...

Plan D: Find a taxi near the train station – we figured there were probably more around there anyways – and take the taxi to Masan to catch that 8:30 bus. Well, as it turns out, the taxis didn’t even think the traffic was worth the money, because there were none out and none would come get us. So we stood in the street for a little while hoping against hope that we’d find one (and seriously considering paying a normal Korean to drive us somewhere...anywhere at that point). Especially because we’d heard that motels/hotels/jimjilbangs were either full or too expensive. Ahh running out of options! Sai and Hwan even ran back over to the train station to see if there were ANY trains left that night (even one to Seoul) – but there weren’t. Eventually, we decided on...

Plan E: Take the next city bus, no matter what number it was – we’d figure out where it was headed once we were on it and finish the Plan from there. Finally having somewhere to go and a plan that didn’t involve waiting got us pumped up again...enough to do a cheer right in the street in front of about 100 Koreans. We circled up, put our hands in the middle and shouted something – and when we turned around, literally all 100 of those Koreans were staring at us. Not inconspicuously either...flat-out gawking. We all burst into laughter. Our adrenaline was pumping but I think it would have been hilarious under any circumstance. So bus 315 arrived and most of those Koreans had the same idea that we did. But no way were we getting split up. I ending up being in the position to allow our whole group to get on the bus...so I blocked anyone else from getting on with my long arms until our whole group was in. There were some grumbling Korean men but I didn’t care. We were all going to be on that bus. And we were...it was soooo crowded though.

Since everyone was a little stressed out, I played “Fantastic Baby” on my ipod, so that everyone could hear it.

After playing it several times throughout the day, that song kind of became our theme song and it was more and more helpful and hilarious as the evening progressed. At the playing of it this time, we all said “Wow...fantastic baby” at the appropriate time and the Koreans around us just smiled. Hey, at least they weren’t throwing or shouting things at me :) After that, Hwan, Chanda and I started forming a new plan...

Plan F: It seemed like this bus was heading towards the Jinhae bus station...awesome! Catch any bus out of here, preferably to Gyeongju, Pohang or Daegu but we weren’t going to be picky. Then we found out this bus was actually headed away from the bus station. Oh. So with the help of the bus driver and an아주씨who turned out to be an off-duty bus driver, we found out we were actually on a bus that would take us to Busan. Seriously??? We happened to board a bus that could actually get us out of the God-forsaken, black-hole-of-public-transportation that was Changwon/Jinhae??? Lucky is too insignificant a term. The bus drivers gave us all the information (in Korean, so thank goodness we had Hwan, as well as Liz, Joe and Sai) to form...

Plan G: Take this bus to the outskirts of Busan, then follow some students who will be going the way we need to go (yes, kind of weird) onto another bus, to the subway or taxis, that will take us to the train station, where we will board a KTX (express) train to Gyeongju. Great! When we arrived at our stop, the bus driver told us to get off and we all cheered as we exited the bus. I’m sure we confirmed for MANY Koreans that foreigners are 미쳤어that night. So we’re at the bus stop.

But the bus is taking forever to get there and we were getting antsy, partly because we’d been trying to get home forever and partly because we weren’t sure what time the last train was – waiting anywhere was dangerous. So along came...

Plan H: Take taxis to the train station (it can’t be that far, we are in Busan after all, and there should be more taxis around here anyways)...but nope, talking with the students we were told to follow confirmed that the bus was the best option as there weren’t actually many taxis in this area (yeah, we had only seen like 2). Eventually the bus did come so we reverted back to Plan G and followed the students. On this bus, we relaxed a little as it went through several outlying neighborhoods on our way to a subway station. We were very amused at one point because Hwan was telling us the next part of the plan and he turned behind him to tell that person – except it turned out to not be someone in our group and he scared her so she scared him...and we all burst into laughter because everything was funny at that point. The bus driver yelled at us (in Korean) to be quiet. Okay, so then we got off the bus, enjoyed Busan for about 3 minutes and disappeared underground to buy subway tickets (which you can purchase with your TMoney card – cool!).

Our 3 minutes of Busan

After a quick bathroom break, we made our way deeper down to wait for the train and buy cheap vending machine coffee. We had to wait a long time for the train and now we really started to question whether we’d make the train. Another option had been to get taxis when we got off the bus but as we were debating whether to ditch the subway go do that, it showed up. We piled in and all got seats (woohoo) and started charting out our timetable for the rest of the evening. After some quick math and a conversation with a Busan native, we realized we were not going to make the last train. So...

Plan I: Take this subway line to the Busan bus station (the end of the line) and catch the 11:30 bus (the last bus) back to Gyeongju (it was going to be tight, as our subway was expected to arrive at the station at 11:15 and we’d have to buy tickets).

(Photo courtesy of Darryl)

Many of us slept most of the 59-minute/32-stop ride, but as we approached the last stop our adrenaline got pumping again because we realized the only way we were going to make it on time was if we literally ran. So we stretched our muscles (yes, we actually did this) and stood near the doors and when they opened, all 12 of us booked it. We were slowed on the stairwell by other people who were not in as much of a hurry but after that, we were unabashedly sprinting through the subway and bus stations (which, thankfully, were connected). Hwan bought the tickets, I peed REALLY fast, and we ran out to the platform. We arrived at 11:25 and even managed to all get seats (much to the chagrin of a few 아주씻). WHEW!!! We were so happy and seriously couldn’t believe it. When we arrived back in Gyeongju (only about an hour later), I practically kissed the ground. Most of us were starving so we took taxis back to the restaurant area of town (near Jeannie’s apt) and Sai took us to a Chinese place he knew of – but they wouldn’t seat us because there was 12 of us. How rude (but isn’t that kind of how our night had gone?). So then we went to a 삼겹살 (samgyeopsal – Korean barbecue) restaurant...and as we walked in they were playing “Fantastic Baby”!!!! Ahhh, more perfect timing could not have been planned! It was dubbed the perfect place for our victory dinner (plus, it was called “Beef Before Flowers”...AHH!) and we thoroughly enjoyed the food and drinks that followed the incredibly unpredictable, unforgettable, unifying day that was April 7, 2012 :)

Mmmmm

Beef Before Flowers!

Jeannie, Sai, Christian, me, Darryl, Hwan, Chanda, Julian,
Joe, Deanna, Ruby and Liz...we survived!