Talk Back Trembling Lips (June 28)

• I talked back to a bus driver for the first time today. I saw the 107 far down the road but was still quite a ways from the Jukdo market stop, so I knew I had to run if I wanted to catch it. So I did. Two and a half city blocks - which doesn't seem that far but I don't work out ad I especially don't run. Despite my running, the bus passed me when I was about 15 ft from the stop and started pulling away as I approached the door! Nuh-uh, I did NOT run all that way to wait for the next one. I pounded on the door and the driver stopped and opened it, and yelled at me in Korean - considering the context, I gathered it was something to the effect of "Get here before I start pulling away!" So I said back to him, "I ran the whole way!" even though I was quite sure he didn't know what I was saying. I think a Korean passenger or two might have laughed at me - in my favor or not, I have no idea. Nida, who ran to catch the bus at the previous stop, also giggled at me. She had to apologize to him as she boarded at the last second too. Maybe that's why he was so ornary. Crazy waygookins.
• Plum/pecan bread. I bought too many plums at HomePlus the other night - but I got like 15 for less than 3000! So Carlee helped me figure out what to do with them.

Looks good!

COOKING UPDATE #1: So far, the topping has sunk into the batter - so that's annoying. But the topping is made of sugar, butter, cinnamon and pecans so it shouldn't end up too badly right?

COOKING UPDATE #2: My rice cooker died. Uhhh... 

Yeah, I think I'll have to wait until I have a real oven to try this one again :/

I'll Make a Man Out of You

• My kids LOVE watching Mulan. The 3rd graders even cheered for her after the "I'll Make a Man Out of You" scene. 2 stickers to Winter for starting that with them on Monday - it will definitely last all week.
• Dinner with Abby :)
• Walking home from the bus stop, an upper-elementary boy stopped up the street and waited for me - it was the son of Garden Lady! We talked in English until I got to my apartment. It was soooo cute. I swear, sometimes the older ones are more adorable than the ones in grade K-2. (In fact, the first grade girls who called "Teacher! Teacher! Teacher" at me during lunch just to say "HI!", when I was both eating and talking to another teacher, were downright annoying.)
• Lazy, lazy night. I blame the weather. And loved every minute.

Alone But Not Alone (June 26)

• Had a rather rough day at school - with the kids, ourselves and MT - but Winter and I pulled through and at the end of it, we were still on the same team, which was a great feeling. And we chilled at my apt after, snacking on chicken, cookies and plums.
• Had bibimbap for dinner at the HomePlus building. Look how much food I can get for 5k won (about $4)! I love it!

• I wandered around the 4th floor and HomePlus for a little while. I really just love being there and I don't know why. All my friends know how much time I spend there and think it's really funny. On my way out, I ran into Ashley! I don't know how we managed that but it was great. I just saw her on Sunday but I missed her already :)
• It's amazing how much more comfortable I am doing things alone since coming to Korea. Sometimes, I actually prefer it. I don't have to be accountable to contribute to coversations and I can move through meals or stores at my own pace. However, no way could I do it forever or all the time...I love my friends and family too much.

Day of Celebration (June 25)

• This morning, I participated in a ceremony (which, until I got there, I thought was going to be a parade...oh Korea) to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. Along with other foreigners (including Abby, Nida, and Ingrid), I represented one of the 16 countries, who were a part of the UN at the time, that helped Korea during the war. Now, you might think I carried the US flag, since I am American. No no, today I was a Luxembourger! Woohoo! It was fun. And I got to use my color guard skills for old school color-guarding! (I definitely held the flag the best ;)) The best part was meeting the other foreigners that stuck around for coffee afterwards. I think it is so cool that I'm still meeting new people!
• Afterwards, Pastor Richie kindly drove many people home. And he said to Abby, Ingrid, Nida and I, "Do you guys have time to celebrate my birthday?" They kind of needed to get back to school but we silently decided we should celebrate with him, so Nida replied, "On one condition...you let US buy the cake!" You could tell he was really deciding! Haha but he let us and we had a very yummy chocolate one from Paris Baguette, to celebrate his and Ingrid's birthdays :)
• I took today off because I wasn't sure what time the events would be over this morning. So I took the afternoon to apply for jobs. I finished my applications (including cover letters, which are really hard for me) for Kalamazoo, Oakland and Washtenaw counties. Woo! Then, about 6 hours later, I got an automated email saying they'd filled all of the Kindergarten positions in Portage. Since this is the vacancy I was most qualified for, I now have very low hopes for the results of the rest of my teaching applications. This definitely brought tears. Oy.
• Tonight, I met Ingrid and Nida for final Ingrid-can't-be-alone-in-her-apartment-for-her-birthday celebrations...haha that sounds a lot more pathetic than it was! We met at HomePlus (of course) and I got them really excited about Mom's Touch chicken sandwiches and fries...and then it was closed! I guess they don't think people eat dinner at 9:30 pm. Boo. But the hotdog place was still open and the ajumma who runs it was really friendly and seemed excited to have customers so late. We ate some yummy/unhealthy food and then went to - surprise surprise - HomePlus! Our favorite store :) It was fun exploring the aisles (Ingrid shops just like I do - aisle to aisle, front to back to front), even though we've been a million times, and trying to find a suitable replacement for Lindor chocolates with Nida. I'm so so glad I met them and that we've become such good friends :)

Last Leaf

• Today we woke up very lazily, watched a funny spy movie with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in it, called Knight and Day, and ate toast with peanut butter :)
• Then, we dropped Julie at the terminal and headed to church for Amos’ last service. It was sad to see him go, both as a friend and as a big part of the church. It was also the last time that I was able to see Cordelle, as he is going home to Missouri for the summer and won't return until after I leave. I’m praying it's "See you soon" and not “Goodbye” for both of them.

• And I played with Lynn, which is always fun.

 

 

Oh, and I have beautiful friends :)

• After church, we went to a fabulously hidden Italian place downtown to celebrate Ingrid’s birthday. It was ADORABLE! And the food was really good. Too expensive for every day dining but great for a celebration. 

Hands Down (June 23)

• We got up and rendezvous-ed pretty late and then Julie, Abby, Ashley, Winter and I headed to Homigot, the site of the famous hand statues on the edge of Pohang. It was a nice, chill way to hang out and would have been really beautiful in the sunshine. Plus, there’s lots more to do there than people make it seem – I’m glad we went :)

Endless :)

• Afterwards, we headed to Bukbu for Amos' goodbye gathering. He’s headed back home to Burundi :( But we got to sing together on the beach (it's amazing how much some songs remind me of camp, and can take me back to sitting at Firebowl at Crystal Springs or Lake Louise) and it was great to spend time with that group of people. It’s so sad because I feel like we (Ingrid, Nida, Amos, Pastor Richie, Cordelle, other attendants of PICC) are really starting to get to know each other, and now we are being separated :(
• And then Ashley, Julie, and I ended the night with frozen yogurt and You've Got Mail :D

Island In The Sun (June 22)

• I couldn’t sleep on the morning bus ride to Nami Island (the 2nd part of our culture trip) – but that means I got to see the beautiful mountains and valleys that we drove through :)
• Once we arrived at Nami Island, we had a chance to explore by ourselves. Abby and I took our time walking around the less populated areas and it was so pretty. It kind of reminded me of Mackinac Island, because it has some historically and culturally significant things, as well as gift shops and a hotel. Afterwards, we met at a restaurant back on the mainland before heading our separate ways. Even though a lot of this trip was spent on a bus it was nice to see/hang out with friends and meet/hang out with new people.
• Originally, one bus was going to Seoul and 2 buses were going back to Daegu. At the rest stop, they told us that one would be going straight back to Pohang instead! Yay! Free charter bus home? Yes please! And there were only 6 of us on it, which was fun. Thank you, POE.
• After we arrived back in Pohang, Abby, Ashley, Julie and I went to my apartment, rested and then went to a party at Tilt. Nothing spectacular, but a it was a fun way to spend a Friday night. Plus, we ran into a girl that Abby and I each had a class with at Eastern! She teaches with EPIK in Boryeong and knows a girl we know in Pohang from their orientation – wow, small world!

Bus Driver Blues (June 21)

• Today I spent SO many hours on a bus! Up way too early to go to Daegu (1 h 15 m). Then we rendezvous-ed at the POE office and boarded our chartered buses, which we rode to Pyeongtaek (4 h). This is a naval base that has been classified as a city, because of the number of servicemen that live there. We went to a memorial and a museum – which were both pretty cool, BUT 1) it was extremely hot, 2) the museum was all in Korean, 3) we weren’t really allowed to take pictures and 4) we kept getting shuffled on and off the bus to different areas around the base, which was annoying. After all that, we went to the Cheonan Ship. This was actually very cool. The ship was destroyed by a North Korean torpedo in 2010, but the pieces were recovered in the months following. What made this visit interesting for me is that this happened so recently…the conflict between North and South Korea is still a real threat. And the remnants of the ship are very jagged, crude and tangible. In a weird way, the colors of the rust and twisted steel were quite pretty. So after that, we got back on the bus to go to another military place (1 hr 30 m). This one was kind of weird. We arrived and were shuffled into an auditorium where we watched a slideshow/video about helicopters and weapons, which was totally in Korean. And before it started we were warned not to repeat anything we heard…good thing I wasn’t really paying attention or I could spill Korea’s military secrets all over the internet. After all that, we did get to go in some helicopters that they had out for us to “play” in, which were pretty cool. Though one of the military guys described one of them, which was made in 1988, as being almost 30 years old…um, NO SIR THAT MACHINE IS NOT ALMOST 30. After this place, we climbed back on the buses, rode to the hotel we were staying at (2 h), and ate dinner. And then we got started with the after-party :) It was so fun because there was just enough drinking, many new drinking games and it was a fabulous way to get to know new people. I just wish we’d had his trip earlier this term so we could have had more time to spend with new friends. But it was fantastic to hang out and the weather was perfect, so we partied outside, where no one could tell us to be quiet.

Shower Melody

• The water in my shower stayed hot for the whole shower tonight! About halfway through, it always poops out for a few minutes, becomes extremely cold and then slowly gets hotter. It's so obnoxious, especially because I turn it off when I'm lathering, so I'm not even using that much water. So rude. But tonight - goodness.
• I'm trying to save money by not eating out as much and not buying as many groceries - so I'm in the process of eating almost everything in my apartment (except for the chocolate...that is reserved for what is sure to be a very emotional day going home). It tastes like being in college.
• My favorite Katie has a blog. Read it.

I'm On A Boat (June 19)

• I flipped to me the Style channel tonight, hoping to catch a Sex in the City or Top Model episode. It was SNL. On a Tuesday night. In Korea. In English. Sweet. Then all of a sudden, I WAS WATCHING "I'M ON A BOAT"!!!!!! :D :D :D It was the original 2009 episode that it aired on! (Here's the link, in case you are crazy and haven't seen it.) I was so excited and sang along with the whole thing - of course including the expletives that were so gracefully censored out. After that, there WAS a Sex in the City episode on :) I can't decide if I like that show, but it's nice to have something so American to watch in the early hours of the morning.

Cupid Shuffle (June 18)

• I was slightly stressed going off to and at the start of school this morning - but things totally improved after that. First and second graders were quite adorable today! Se Hyeong and Hyeok Jin (my 1st grade trouble-makers) not only arrived semi-on-time and participated quietly, but high-fived each other when they got special stickers for dancing well! (Their interactions are usually limited to punching each other or shouting across the classroom.) The kids were all good sports when they all lost Simon Says - i.e. Teacher Emily wins. They cheered when Winter gave me a sticker for winning and some even said "Good job!" It was very cute. Also, before we watched Peter Pan, I reviewed the characters with them - and all I had to do was say, "In Peter Pan, who? Who?" and start them off with Peter Pan, counting with my fingers, and they totally got what I meant! They all started shouting answers but when I put my finger to my lips and raised my hand, they all knew that to mean they needed to raise their hand to answer...and that's what they did! And they got all the characters right, to boot. And they stayed completely quiet during the movie. During my 3/4 class, we had a great game of Uno and then the kids did a dance without the video, only the music. At first, they were like, "Teacher!" in a tone that clearly meant, "Please turn the video on!" But after a few minutes, I went to pull the video window up and they were like, "Teacher!" in a tone that clearly meant, "No! What are you doing???" And after that, they watched Peter Pan, completely captivated. I think they would have stayed after class to finish it - but I need something to do tomorrow in class too! Haha :) Finally, during 6th grade class time, only Woo Seok showed up. Winter worked with our English competition kids and Woo Seok and I played Uno - he beat me in every game. Oh and we made this little gem:

• After school, Winter and I hung out at my apartment for a little while, until I could no longer avoid my doctor's appt. So we went down there and afterwards got dinner at a SUPER yummy chicken place near her house. It was so good and had a fantastic conversation - which is basically what always happens when we have dinner or coffee. I told her about my best friends; so she's practicing remembering your names, Carlee, Krystle, PP (well, Jennifer), Anna, Cara, Carrie and Katie! :) Oh and then I went to HomePlus :D
• I'm finishing the night with frozen yogurt and Florence. It turned out to be a great day.

Down At The Beach

• Happy Father's Day, Daddy!
• After waking up at noon and then eating a yummy brunch, I took the bus to the beach, because it was too beautiful (and hot) out not to. I walked along the shore, in the water, with Florence in one ear and the ocean in the other.
• After that, I headed to church, where we got a great message from Cordelle about being a follower of Christ. Then we went back to the beach for a picnic dinner! I had a fantastic "conversation" with Lynn, Pastor Richie's 2-year-old daughter...she talked to me in a mixture of Korean, English and baby-speak for at least 15 min! It was so cute. Jun, her mom/Richie's wife, was like, "Ah, Emily is giving me a nice break." And both Nida and Pastor Richie said, "You are so good with her!" That was nice to hear, in general, but also because sometimes I feel so anti-child when I deal with my students. I still like children, yay!
• I got a free coffee cup when I bought a big box of instant coffee!
• I had to BUY floss tonight, because I used up the 2 that I brought with me. I've never flossed this consistently in my life - go me!
• LMFAO songs are fun to dance and sing to. But I'm even more grateful for the covers that people do of them:
• Sexy and I Know It (my FAVORITE)
• Party Rock (violin)
• Party Rock (bottles)

Top Of The Roller Coaster (June 16)

• Today, Jeanette, Christian, Joey, Sai and I went to Gyeongju World to continue celebrating Jeanette’s birthday. The bad thing – it’s not as good a deal as Michigan’s Adventure (or even Cedar Point, for that matter)...Gyeongju World and California Beach (the water park) are separate and you have to pay for them separately. GJ World was 26K and CB would have been 46K! Oy. BUT the good thing – we had a lot of fun! We rode a bunch a different rides and – GET THIS – I rode roller coasters! BIG ones! Okay, one big one. But that was all the park had so it’s not my fault. And I rode this ride that was a giant swing AND spun you at the same time (that one was terrible and I would never do it again). But the big roller coaster was fun! :) It was one where your feet dangle and has twists and loops. I did close my eyes the whole time (except for 1 second when I peeked and the sky was under my feet...) but it was a BIG step for me. I honestly think that being in Korea changed me, even in this little instance. Here, I’ve been very open to trying anything at least once, and this counted. And it was awesome! I’m not saying I’m ready to bungee-jump or anything…but the next time I go to Cedar Point I will definitely have more fun. Now, if only the incredibly long lines of people would go away...

• After GJ World, we went to the Love/Sex Museum. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. And yes, that’s all I’m going to write about it. 
• At one of the stops on the bus route back to downtown, I caught a couple of teenage girls looking at me and pointing when they saw me through the bus window. So, I waved back and they literally shrieked and giggled like I was a hot famous guy. It was fabulous :) 
• After dinner at a buffet, we decided that we wanted to end the night with coffee instead of alcohol. So we went to this new coffee shop that Sai has been eager to try. It was adorable. I’m very glad that I live close to GJ so I’ll be able to visit it more often. (I also love that I keep finding amazingly cute coffee places near me. It will be my mission to find these when I get back home.) 

Our group in the loft we chose

View of the cafe from our loft area

 

I love the decorations :)

• Happy birthday to my blog – it is one year old today :)

Blessed Assurance (June 14)

• Today Winter and I visited Garden Lady again. I love just talking with her. Her facial expressions are fabulous and she's so sweet, and quite smart. And she tries to use English every once in awhile. I think she knows about the same amount of English as I know Korean...maybe a little more. After a little while, we headed back to my apartment for the bathroom and a sweatshirt (it's really cool here lately!) before going to search for dinner. I remembered that I wanted to give her some banana bread so I put some on a plate and we headed back there. She wasn't outside when we arrived, so we wandered into the shop. When I said "Hello!" she shouted back from the back room for us to come in! (There was a little kitchenette, office and another small room for her and her children to hang out in when business is slow.) I showed her that I brought bread - she said "Anja! Anja! Anja!" (Sit down! Sit down! Sit down!) and started bustling around to make tea (we had strawberry tea). She and her daughter loved my bread (!) and we got to talk even more, about crocheting, making tea, Korean schools, individualism vs. collectivism, and other things. It was really wonderful. A little while into the conversation, she said she thinks of me as her niece because I live alone and have no one to take care of me. I am so glad I decided to buy a plant from her!
• As Winter and I headed to the bus stop later, I encountered another first in Korea - we saw a woman peeing in the grass near the bus stop! Now, this is not tall grass, nor do I live on a deserted road. But there she was.
• The Heart of Music service tonight was really great. There are a lot of things I love about this Thursday night service - the regularity, the music, the people, the opportunity to shut everything out (and to PRACTICE shutting it all out). But tonight we did more sharing with each other and I loved it. I realized that there are a lot of things that I could/should be praying about right now, and that I need to make time to remember to lift those concerns up. But it also helped me remember/realize that, even though I haven't gone bungee-jumping or white-water rafting or anything else crazy or traveled to a ton of countries, I have had - am having! - an amazing time here because of the truly wonderful human beings that I have met. I am truly 축복받은 - blessed.

Hope Has A Place (June 13)

• Started the day off with coffee with Ingrid. And we were pleasantly surprised to find Abby at the HomePlus Starbucks when Cafe Enchante across the street was closed! Yay :)
• I relieved some stress tonight by baking banana bread (new recipe + 1 extra banana) and submitting 2 job applications. They would both be great jobs so here's hoping that I get a call from one! (I know, I sound like a total noob, but a girl can hope, right?)

No Sleep Tonight (June 12)

• I really think that the bus drivers in Pohang (at least some of them) definitely go fast (especially over the bridge by my house...I flew in the air this time!), stop quickly and make people run just for the fun of it sometimes.
• I wish I didn't have to sleep. While I enjoy a long sleep every once in a while, more often I wish I could just keep talking to friends and family or working on projects or watching movies instead of wasting several hours doing nothing. What's worse is I can't survive on as little sleep as I used to. I can generally function alright if I wake up after 3-5 hours of sleep - but the problem is actually waking up. I've done it a few times here but not when I really needed to or as often as I'd like too. I think I have to just start accepting that I need 7+ hours of sleep. Boooo.

Open Up The Door (June 11)

• Today was my Open Class. This is when students’ parents, other teachers and administrators come into my classroom to see how I teach and what my students have been learning (these also happen for Korean teachers). A lot of TaLK scholars do special activities for their Open Classes, like games, cooking, projects, etc. It can definitely be nerve-wracking. Winter and I decided though that we weren’t going to do anything special – no way could I imagine trying a cooking project with my first and second graders! So anyways, we got to school early today to get everything ready. After lunch, we went back up to the classroom and, for awhile, I legit didn’t think anyone (including my students) would show up! (Even my mentor teacher said that she wouldn’t be able to come.) But all the students eventually came in and we had an audience of teachers (including my MT...oy) and parents by 1:25. I just did my normal routine with the kids – intro songs, Simon Says, dancing, phonics, special topic (days of the week), game. The kids were pretty good (I was actually happy they weren’t perfect angels, so their parents could see that they weren’t) and I also felt it went well. Afterwards, we were able to have a reflection meeting with some of the parents and teachers. My MT and the gym teacher both said that they got some ideas about teaching in non-traditional ways from me today. One of my first grade girls’ mom was told me that Yeong Che really enjoys our class and comes home speaking English – so she’s trying to learn some now too! Min Ji’s mom (another of my first grade girls), who also teaches at my school, said that she never thought that Min Ji would be taking English classes and now Min Ji loves our class – she gets really upset if she has to miss! Yeun Ju is one of my second graders and her mom said several things that touched me. First she said that She didn’t think Yeon Ju would ever be able to learn English and now she wants to try to get her into a hagwon (private school). Second, she said that Yeon Ju wants to be an English teacher when she grows up! Third, she told a story about how she saw us interact with Yeon Ju outside of the school one day – Yeon Ju hugged both me and Winter and when her mom saw us hug her back, she almost cried! It was so sweet to hear this positive feedback. It was also really empowering (maybe in a weird way) that Winter and I have been able to continue teaching well and make a positive impact, despite many negative feelings towards our school and our situation. Winter also said she thinks a lot of the teachers respect us a lot more now that they’ve seen us teach. Overall, it went really well :) 
• After school, Winter and I had dinner my head teacher. We went to a restaurant down my street, had samgyupsal (not as good as Beef Before Flowers though), and just talked for a while. I really enjoyed it and, hopefully, I can meet up with him and other staff more before I leave. 
• Winter gave a saleslady a piece of her mind, on my behalf, tonight. Even though it made Winter feel a little bad, it really was awesome and I felt very grateful (again) to have her as my friend and co-teacher. 
• I got some great deals at HomePlus and I was very excited. (I feel like I don’t really get to use my deal-finding skills here because there really aren’t clearance racks and there definitely aren’t yard sales.)

Pho! (June 10)

• Had Pho for the first time today – Liz, Darryl, Joey, Christian and Sai love it so I was happy to try it. It wasn’t awesome - Liz said the restaurant wasn’t that great - but I could see how it would be good comfort/hangover food :)
• After that, I went to church, which was on the beach today :) It was a fabulous way to worship. It was good to be back too – I’ve missed the last few Sundays. Memorable quotes from the service: 

“We love not to convert but just because we are converted” - Pastor Richie

“You don't need to change to be a Christian. Jesus will change you.” – Mario

Plus we had burgers from King Kong. And I met a great girl who lives in Canada but is from Grand Rapids! (I’ve met her brother at church before.) She was really friendly and it was great to hear her say that her heart is definitely in MI :)

 

After the service, I got to talk with Ingrid about lots of faith things. We both seem to be at a similar point in our journey and it was really good to realize that.

• And then I had 2nd dinner with Sai and Liz – we talked about Disney movies and Sai read our palms.

No Wedding Cake (June 9)

• Today I went to my 3rd Korean wedding. And it was different from the other two! This one was for the Office Girl at my school, Hye Sun. Out of the 3 weddings I’ve been to, I know here the best so I was excited. It was a very interesting experience. They held it at one of the big wedding halls that I see all over the city. We arrived and went up to the hall they had rented on the 6th floor. Since the wedding scheduled before Hye Sun’s wasn’t finished yet, her guests hung out in the back of the room while the other people finished their ceremony and pictures. That was the start of the very business-like structure of the hall. I went into the “bride room” to see Hye Sun. She was sitting under a tree and looked beautiful :)

  

  

After that, Mi Hye and I went to find a seat (many people stayed at the back of the room – but I wanted pictures!). The wedding started and the family was directed/led in by 2 bridesmaids – but they weren’t Hye Sun’s friends, just girls who work at the hall. They basically wear a cute dress and show the family of each wedding where to stand and what to do. Business-like. The ceremony was nice, but not necessarily catered to Hye Sun or her husband’s wishes – just whatever was available from the hall. And the room never got completely quiet because soon after we started, guests from the next wedding started arriving! And since they didn’t know Hye Sun, they didn’t bother to keep quiet :/ Friends of Hye Sun and her husband did perform for them, to make the ceremony a little more personal (which is actually something that has happened at all 3 weddings I’ve been to). And she looked so beautiful, so the rest kinda didn't matter :)

• After the ceremony, we headed to the dining hall – but we had to wait to get in, because there wasn’t enough seats for us at the moment, what with the guests from the previous wedding still eating and all. I thought this is where the party would be...but nope, it was literally just eating. And it wasn’t even a very social meal – by the time we got there, the only other people we knew at the wedding (the staff from my school) were finished eating and getting ready to leave. So Mi Hye and I enjoyed our meal (the food was pretty good) and waited for Hye Sun and her husband to come greet everyone. There was no big announcement when they arrived, they just slipped in and started thanking their guests. It was really nice to meet her husband. He spoke English and was very sweet – he even said he’d like to have me over to dinner before I leave! It was so cute. Overall, I’m definitely glad that I went and that I’ve gotten to experience 3 very different Korean weddings. I’m excited to go to my next American wedding and actually party though :)
• After the wedding, I met up with Winter and we met Liz, Ruby, Darryl, Tony, Joe, Sai, Christian, and Joey at the beach. We had dinner and coffee downtown, and even played at the arcade! Haha :) Then Sai, Liz, Christian, Joey, Darryl and I went out in Mundeok again. It was fun that it was the same crew as the night before and we drank, played drinking games (well and not-so-well), and briefly went to norebang. Fun times :)

Up On The Rooftop (Jun 8)

• Tonight, I met Sai, Darryl, Liz, Christian, and Joey in Mundeok for dinner. After that though, we went back to Liz’s and hung out on the rooftop for hours. We played games, drank a little, experimented with balance and gravity and learned a lot about each other. And there were numerous references to Friends (Sai is also an expert on the series :D). I was so glad to see them…it had been over a month since I’d hung out with them. I missed my friends. And I realized how lucky I am to have met the friends I have here. Before now, I have recognized how fantastic they are but I’m finally realizing that they have accepted me for who I truly am, faults/weirdness and all. I’m so happy and lucky to have them in my life and hope that post-Korea distance will not prevent us from sustaining our relationships.

Hot N Cold

• All I have to say today is THANK GOODNESS my room has 2 different air conditioners and 4 fans and that Office Guy said I could turn them all on. There are perks to being on the 4th floor. Sometimes.

Market Girl

• Today was a national holiday so we got the day off...WOOHOO!!! I working to cross as much as I can off my Korea To-Do List, so today was devoted to visiting Jukdo Market, which I pass whenever I go downtown but have never been to. It is a HUGE traditional-style market where you can buy clothes (mostly geared towards older people), bedding, fabric (!), dishes/kitchen things, pottery, plants, and FOOD. Fruit, vegetables, seafood, chicken/other meats, grains, rice cakes, prepared side dishes. Everything! Abby and I were marveling (even though she's been before). It was amazing. And, quite honestly, overwhelming. We don't know what a lot of the things are, let alone how to cook with them - and forget trying to cook Korean dishes with them. It really was incredible. The seafood selection was crazy - dried fish, live fish, octopus, shellfish, crab, sea squirts, sea slugs, and WHALE. Yes, you could buy whale. For eating. And yes, people were buying the whale. Besides the dried fish, most of the products were moving. It was very strange! And we must have been the only foreigners to pass by for awhile - or we just looked incredibly vulnerable, being women, and snapping pictures at everything - because ALL of the fish salesmen tried to sell us things. Coming up behind us, shoving things in our faces, speaking English to us (to try and impress us), saying we were beautiful...yep. At one point, I said to Abby, "I'm so glad we speak a little Korean. And aren't stupid." After that, we managed to get dinner at one of the stalls. The woman told us (by pointing to the bills in my wallet) that it would be 26K for both of us to eat. We hesitated for a few seconds and she dropped the price down to 21K (yay for bargaining on DINNER without words!) and basically shoved us into the restaurant. With our restaurant lingo (which I feel the most accomplished at) we got rice, kimchi and soup, in addition to our fish, and they didn't charge extra for any of it! We were very full and happy :) It was a day well-spent.

I would like that one...on the bottom...

 

Since every piece looked different, we could only assume
they were all handmade.

 

GREENS!

Dried fish of all shapes and sizes (many stalls also had
these fan contraptions, with streamers on them, going -
to keep flies away!)

Sea slugs. They were still moving.

Shellfish. They were also still moving/snapping.

Aaaand the whale stand.

Octopi. Complete with handy carrying handles.

Goodnight Jukdo :)

Haircut And Attitude (June 5)

• Today started out great because Winter and I met up before school for coffee. We went to one of our new favorite places, a shop called "Coffee Enchante", across from the HomePlus. The owner is really nice (he bowed to me later tonight when I saw him through the window) and the coffee/tea is really good. I brought some cookies along with me and we relaxed in the air conditioning before heading to school. We even considered just staying there all day. Not really. But kind of.
• Ashley and I got haircuts tonight. This has been on my to-do list since I came to Korea, because I wasn’t able to get one before I left. This last week or so, my hair just started bugging me – and it was so hot! – so Ashley got a recommendation for an English-speaking hairdresser (named Happy!) near Bukbu beach. We went there tonight and it was great. Happy was so nice and spoke English really well, so I could tell her exactly what I wanted. She wasn’t the one who cut my hair – but the girl I got was SO good. She just snip-snip-snipped but it was so skillful and she made it look so easy. She also pulled down on my hair on both sides every once in a while, to make sure she was cutting evenly. THANK YOU. Oh and she was rocking 4-inch+ heels that I’m sure she had been wearing all day. She cut my hair all short-ish (same style as when I got it cut last summer, but a little shorter) and then I got a shampoo AND she styled it...all for only 20K! (Which, if you aren’t keeping up, is only about $17.) I wish I needed my haircut again before I leave! Or that I could go to her for all my haircuts! Now I have to find a stylist at home who will do all this stuff for cheap – because I realized that part of the reason I’m always insecure about my new haircuts is because, since they spritz it with water to cut it, my hair is poufy and unstraightened and I don’t like it that way. I mean, she cut way more off this time than normal and I still love it! :D :D :D 

• After our awesome haircuts, we met Abby at HomePlus – we spent almost 2 hours shopping and browsing, looking up and down almost every food aisle. And fighting with Ashley about Tesco brand cereal. And when I checked out, the cashier handed me my receipt, circled the bottom where my points balance was, said stuff in Korean and motioned to the Customer Service desk. I went over there, they handed me a scratch card and a 10-won piece, so I scratched it away and then they handed me a new folding-pully-cart thing! I don’t know how I won it but I/we were so excited! The sales ladies were looking at us a little strangely – I don’t think they usually get that reaction. It was really funny :) 
• After HomePlus, we dragged our bags, ourselves and my new cart onto the bus and went to Tilt – mostly because Happy told us we needed to go somewhere more fun/cool than HomePlus, with our new dos. We don’t have school tomorrow, so we were all game. Plus, I got to cross “Go to Tilt” off my Korea To-Do list. Tilt is a bar owned by a couple foreigners frequented by MANY Pohang foreigners ALL the time. They even have cookouts and game nights. But I’ve never been before! We walked it and it wasn’t sketchy at all, which was a fantastic surprise. There were lots of people, lots of fun, and pretty good drinks. The bartender was really nice and fun - he thought we handed him 21K (two 10s and 1 one), instead of the 30K (3 tens) that we actually gave him, so he offered us the 9K change or a free shot each. We decided the shot would be fun and he took it with us! Fire Water is kind of good ;) He also brought us another shot later, so we basically got 2 shots and a mixed drink for less than $10, which is pretty good. We also found Nida and Ingrid and got to hang out with them for a while. Ingrid hadn’t met Ashley yet, so when Nida introduced her she said “And this is the third one!” It was so cute. I’m very glad we went!

The Secret Life of Plants (June 4)

• I'm so happy and lucky to have Winter on my side. She said exactly the right thing to MT today - basically what I would say if MT spoke English or I spoke Korean :)
• After school, we got ice cream bars. We were hoping for walnut ice cream - no such luck but still had yumminess. We also stopped and said hi to Plant Lady - whose real name is Eun Jun. She told us that the Chinese characters of her name mean silver, gold and pearl. How cool!
• I decided to make pizza for dinner. I needed some things from the store and passed by Eun Jun's store again. I waved and she introduced me to her children, who knew some English. She asked what I was doing for dinner and I told her I was headed to the store to figure it out. On my way home, I saw her again and told her I was going to make pizza and showed her what I bought. Then she said something about melons and disappeared into her shop. She emerged a few minutes later with 2 Korean melons and a small bag of dried chamomile, for tea! It was soooooooooo cute. I'm so glad I met her!

Ingredients

So colorful!

Cheeeeeese

Nom nom nom :)

• A giant bug came out from behind my wardrobe to freak the hell out of me tonight. I trapped it under a cup and left it there for a couple hours. Then I decided that I needed to get rid of it because otherwise it'd stress me out as I fell asleep and then I'd forget about it in the morning and probably trip  over it and tip the cup over and set it free. AHHHH. Couldn't let that happen. So I mustered up some gumption and threw it out my window. Woohoo!

Scooter Chase (June 3)

• Happy Birthday to my lovely Mama!
• I got to talk to Shelby's parents with her today. They seem so awesome and down-to-earth; I think it would be cool to meet them in “real life”.
• I decided to stay in Andong today and go to the historic Hahoe village with Shelby and her friend Leozanda. It was a really hot day but it was also really neat to go to the village. We saw a traditional Andong Mask Dance, bought some awesome cheap souvenirs and – best of all – rode 3-wheeled stand-up scooters around the village for half an hour! They were 10K for 30 minutes but it was so hot and we needed to get around fast that we didn’t care. And they were soooo fun! And lots of the Korean people we passed (who were also sight-seeing) smiled or laughed in a “Oh the foreigners are so cute” kind of way.

My favorite character in the mask dan

On the train ride home :)

•  We got back to Andong city in time for me to catch the train. It was actually cheaper than the bus and way smoother. I technically had a standing-room ticket but, luckily I found an empty seat and grabbed it before the Korean teen girl got to it. I also successfully got a small refund on my ticket when I decided to stay in Gyeongju for a little while to get dinner with Jeanette. We ate at Beef Before Flowers and it was yummy – as always.