When It Rains, It Pours

Once again, it's been awhile. I'm sorry! But aren't my nails fun?

I suppose I'll start from last weekend! After my run last Saturday morning I had a relaxing day. I went for Korean lunch with Karen and was THRILLED to be able to read the entire menu! There are dishes on the menu that I didn't even realize they had, so I was quite excited to order something new. After that, I hung out on my roof, soaking up the sun, reading, writing, studying my Korean alphabet. I had a quiet evening in and watched the film "Happy Thank You More Please". It was very feel-good and light. "Go and get yourself loved" was the best line. If you need a smile, watch it!

I ran again on Sunday morning, then met up with Melissa for coffee. I grabbed a kimbap lunch, ate it along the river, did some errands, then headed home. And then came the "near-sighted date"...which really wasn't a date at all! There is a group of Koreans that meet up on Sundays to practice their English...so I was basically just a participant in the discussion group. It was really fun!! I met a lot of awesome people. Most of the people in the group have lived abroad - Australia, Canada, Dubai, the U.S. - so their English is actually fantastic. When doing introductions, there was no hesitation for both the guys and the girls to ask if I was single. Haha A few of the guys made it pretty clear that they were single too. After the "study" session, we headed out for dinner and drinks together. Pretty awesome to be the only foreigner among a group of twelve! They were putting me on the spot a few times, asking me to pick out any guy from the group and silly things like that. We played a couple drinking games too. In one game, everyone starts with five fingers up. Going around the group, everyone has to make a statement, like "put one finger down if you are wearing glasses". The first with all five fingers down has to take a drink. Most rounds I had only one or two fingers left, while everyone still had four! And I got out first during the first round. Everyone was picking on me! "Put a finger down if you don't have black hair, if you are not Korean, if your nails are painted, if you have a tattoo, etc." When my turn came around, I said "Put your finger down if your eyes are not blue!" I had to get them back. A really awesome group, and everyone was between 25 and 29, so that was nice, too. (Because obviously, being in Korea, age is the question asked right before relationship status.)

I got on really well with one of the girls, Kammy, so last Sunday, we had decided that we'd like to be regular partners at the Tuesday language exchange. And actually, the guy I thought was cute, well, he's still cute and fun, but I ended up getting a crush on one of the other guys instead!

When I went to the language exchange on Tuesday, Kammy wasn't there yet, so I was paired up with someone else. Kammy joined us when she arrived. Anyways, I now know the days of the week, and some key classroom phrases! Since then, however, Kammy and I have decided to meet on a weekly basis on a different day. So I probably won't go to the Tuesday group anymore. That way Kammy and I have a bit more freedom, and we can go different places! We have a bookstore trip planned for Saturday morning!

This past weekend was wonderful. Friday evening a group of us went out for Indian dinner for my coworker Colin's birthday. A guy from our gym joined us last minute, and well, let's just say I'd be okay if he asked me for my number too! Haha After dinner, Elly, Selina, and Jerry taught me this crazy Korean card game. I can see that it would be really fun once you get really good. It takes some time getting used to the cards and the points system though.

Happy Birthday, Colin!

Saturday I finally had a reason to have a lazy day inside, as it was rainy. I went to the gym and did a nice easy jog/power-walk (7.5 km!), and a bit of weights. Then I went to a little Korean restaurant near my place for some bibimbap. Mmmm. I like going to that restaurant, because they have a big menu, and it's good for practicing my reading. So I just sit and read the menu as I wait for my food, and while I eat. Now I have a little list of new things I want to try! After that I watched a movie, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DAY. I never do that. But I did it, and guilt-free! I watched "Nine". It wasn't what I was expecting, but I did quite enjoy it! Then came Saturday night - MOTOWN PARTY IN HONGDAE!! Man oh man. I danced the night away. It was a super fun group of us: Elly, Jerry, Selina (and some of her Korean friends), and Magda. Then Hunter and some of his friends met up with us. SO GOOD!! And two of my three requests were played. (Last time was three for three.) A really solid night with amazing people. Magda and I shared a cab home and fell fast asleep at 4am...and didn't wake up until 1pm the next day!!

Jerry and Elly, twisting and shouting

Lovely Magda and me!!

Rave on

Selina!

I HAVEN'T SLEPT THAT LATE IN, probably, TEN YEARS! I guess I needed it? Met up with the Sunday language group again, and my crush was there. We chatted tons at the post-meeting dinner, and he asked for my number (!!). I don't want to get ahead of myself though. Perhaps he is looking for a language exchange buddy, or just a foreigner friend. Everyone was saying that we should date though, and then my Korean will really improve! Haha It was another fun evening with my new Korean friends!

View from Minto Cafe (16th floor) - Sunday language group meeting place (you can see my apartment building!)

Work is work. I still love my kindergarten kids. I like three of my five elementary classes, so I really shouldn't complain. They workload just seems crazy, and has felt that way since March, since one less foreign staff was hired. The days always go by in a whirlwind, and I am relieved that there are only three months of the job left. I am really sad to be leaving Korea though!!! I am thinking about coming back after school, if I don't get a job elsewhere. But, if you know me, you know my plans can change very easily and quickly!

Hope everyone in Canada had a nice long weekend!! And for everyone else, hope the regular weekend was good too!

OH! DUH! LINDSAY ARRIVES ON SATURDAY!!! She is staying for 10 days...so I'm not promising any posts while she is here. See you in June!

I'm Turning Korean

Check out John's new glasses and haircut!!! SO CUTE!

Never in my life have I had such an obsession with painting my fingernails. As in, they have been a different colour every week or so, for the past month. My left hand is currently bright pink, and my right is lime green. Five of my nails have a black layer overtop of the colour. The black layer has this crackle effect so you can see the colour underneath. The five fingernails painted like this are in no particular pattern - two on my left hand and three on my right.

I'm obsessed. Is that a little strong? It's a new hobby, perhaps? All the Koreans are doing it. They change their nails WAY more frequently than I do. Perhaps this is my "make-up", since I don't wear anything else. The colours out right now are just so fun, too.

I also wear bow and flower headbands, as the girls do here, and order from the "I'm Korean" portion of the drink menu at zoo coffee. I've picked up Korean mannerisms and little expressions from hanging out with Elly. So much so that my students think I'm speaking Korean, the way I say "mmm" instead of "yes".

Moving on...

My produce vendors continue to amuse me. The guy I go to still continues to ask me the same questions EVERY time I buy fruit from him (after telling me I'm beautiful haha): name, age, relationship status. The woman I go to continues to treat me like a rock star. Earlier in the week I was buying tomatoes from her. There was a crowd around. She threw in a cucumber and made sure I put my wallet away first before taking the bags from her (can she sense my spazziness? that I always try and do this walking, with a million other things in my hand?). Then she turns and says something to the Koreans there, what I can only assume is "she's my most regular customer". Haha. Anyways, it was super cute. And she always gives me this great smile every time I pass her.

Speaking of produce, all things red here are so delicious. The strawberries and cherry tomatoes are SO FULL OF FLAVOUR. And of course, RED BEAN. Have I mentioned my love for it before? Only about 65 and a half times, eh? Ok. So that's three things that are red and delicious.

I started composing this on Wednesday evening, however the site has been down and I haven't been able to finish writing until now (Saturday morning).

Monday morning the weather was quite overcast, so our zoo and picnic field trip was scrapped for a trip to the Coex aquarium in Seoul (which I went to last September). It was fun to see the kiddies all excited.

Julian

John and Sunny having nap time with Elly teacher on the bus ride back. (In fact, about half of the bus fell asleep!)

Monday evening I went out for Jerry's birthday (Jerry is Elly's boyfriend, and Tuesday was a holiday). It was a FANTASTIC night out. I was in the mood to go out dancing. We started at Flair bar. The bartenders do lots of cool tricks. Shortly after I arrived, Elly was entering me into a kai-bai-bo tournament, against some Korean guys. I had to go behind the bar with them, and was fed intructions all in Korean. Before the little tourney started, I had to have a staring contest with one of the guys. They held a piece of cardboard between us, our faces up close, and pulled it away when the music started. This guy cracked and totally lost. He looked away within seconds. I continued to stare, as I wanted to be sure I won. Meanwhile, the music that started playing was some romantic Korean ballad. Only after-the-fact was I informed that they actually asked us to stare lovingly into each other's eyes. Haha Anyways, I was out after the first round (I guessed that I had won too many kai bai boy games at school that day, against my kids.)

I know you are wondering...kai bai bow is rock, paper, scissors. EVERYONE here plays it. It is used to solve any problem or conflict, I swear.

The male bartenders dressed up like girls and brought out Jerry's birthday cake. It was pretty funny. My favourite K-pop song came on (that is, Korean pop), and I rocked out. Some of the bartenders joined me. The party moved from Flair bar, to Turn bar, to Slang.

Happy Birthday, Jerry!


Selina and me

Yesterday (Friday), was Teacher's day. I received some nice gifts from some students - some high-end make-up, some really nice hand creams, vitamins...wait a minute. Should I be offended by this gift? Haha My favourite part is receiving cards though.

"Leah Teacher,

You are very hard and teach me. I will work hard. Thank you. I love teacher.

From, Eddy"

A.DOR.A.BLE.

And speaking of adorable, I was practicing morning speech with Venus earlier in the week, and one of their sentences for this month is "I love my parents". Then they all started saying, one after the other, "I love my Leah Teacher" (I think Sunny started it). To make matters worse, right after this we had storybook class, and the book we are reading right now is Robert Munsch's "Love you Forever". Talk about needing to pull out the tissue box! *Phew!*

Magda and I had coffee on Thursday evening. She is the Polish Canadian gal I met on my bike trip. I really love spending time with her. We met around 8:30. When I checked the time it was already 11 and we decided we should go. When I checked the time again when we actually DID leave, it was almost midnight! Apparently we can't get enough of each other. She is so awesome.

I'm going to another language exchange tomorrow (Sunday). There is a Korean guy I'm interested in talking too...he was at Jerry's birthday party. Jerry and Elly are sort of setting us up? It will be a group setting...and we've both seen each other before, but just never spoken. A near-sighted date/meeting? Haha

Time for a run! Happy weekend! xo

More than a patio lantern

Here are some more lanterns! Most are from the Magoksa Temple stay...it's just easier to post them like this than to post them in my previous entry!

Central Park in Anyang

The rest are in Gongju, at Magoksa Temple.

Night and Day

EE-ah-dah-ho poh-ah-tay-to...Idaho potato! I have to say I'm having lots of fun reading anything and everything, now that I know the Korean alphabet. It's even more fun coming across English words written in Korean...like pizza menus. I'm still a slow reader, but Elly assures me I'm a fast learner. Last Tuesday I went to a language exchange and I was so grateful for my partner. He was very patient with me, and taught me numbers. Once you know up to ten, the rest is easy. Twenty is two tens, thirty is three tens, eleven is ten and one, twelve is ten and two...it's just learning the hundreds, thousands, etc. Very logical. Makes sense. I like it.

Last Wednesday at school we had Market Day. All the kids brought in old clothing, toys, and books, and we set up the classrooms like different shops. We taught them conversation and vocubulary related to a marketplace. Each class took a turn as shopper and vendor. It was so cute to hear the 5-year-olds asking the 7-year-olds "How much is it?" Some of those kids drive a hard bargain!

My days off last week were well spent. Thursday I started my day with a run, and the rest of the day I lounged at central park with some friends, along with the entire population of Anyang and their goats, enjoy the summer-like Children's Day. Friday I took Elly out for lunch for her birthday. We went for tea after, and I had brought her a mini dessert. The people at the shop gave us candles, a match, two forks, and a knife. It was really sweet of them. Then we did a little shopping, and her sister (Selina) and boyfriend met up with us, too. Yey!

I have to say that I had two VERY different experiences that past two weekends. Both tired me out in different ways. I am currently quite exhausted because I've been up since 3am! I was at Magoksa Temple for the weekend, for a twenty-four hour temple stay. We arrived Saturday around noon and had a bit of time to explore the area. Then we had to change into our temple garbs - very comfortable and roomy. Lots of big pockets too! We were introduced to the different types of bows and the chanting that we would perform for the early morning ceremony on Sunday. After a tour of the site, we participated in a "caring hearts" exercise. Each of us had a partner, and in turn, we had to guide our blind-folded partner across the river on stepping rocks.

I was SO nervous and shaking when we first started, but very soon after my partner started leading me and using her words to explain my each and every move, I relaxed and just trusted her. She did a good job and I felt safe in her hands. I think she felt the same way when I lead her!

The next portion of the program was arts and crafts. We made beaded prayer bracelets, and lanterns. Making those lanterns made me wonder how I am actually qualified to teach arts and crafts classes twice a week to half the students at my school! Hahah In the end, I think my lantern turned out quite well and I ended up being very proud of it. The girls I was sitting with were feeling the same way as me, so we were very good at cheering each other on, and complimenting each other's projects. Every one turned out so differently...all very beautiful!

Dinner was modest but delicious - rice, soup, and some typical side dishes (kimchi, radish, spinach, sprouts). Of course, there was the red chili paste that is so popular here, so when it was put all together, it was practically bibimbap, without the egg, one of my favourite staple meals here. I had read somewhere that we weren't supposed to talk during meals, so I didn't. I felt so rude as others conversed, because we are so used to meals being the centre of a social gathering, a time to be chatty. It's not that I didn't want to participate, I was just trying to respect the temple ways.

After dinner we had the chance to bang this GIANT drum. This is a wish to all things living. Then we each had a turn to ring the GIANT bell. This is a wish for the dead. These areas are usually closed off for visitors and tourists, so it was neat that we got to experience it.

Next we had an evening ceremony in the main temple. This involved some chanting and bowing. Afterwards we walked around the five-story pagoda, as a sort of meditation, focusing on a personal wish. The last activity of the day's program was having tea in the tea room with one of the monks. It was an opportunity to ask questions as well. 9pm was bed time...I was pretty fast asleep even before lights out. The males and females were in separate rooms. We slept on the floor. I actually had an amazing sleep!


We were woken up at 3am on the nose, no earlier and no later. It was surprisingly easy to get up. The morning ceremony started in the main temple at 3:30am. This involved some bowing and the chants we had learnt the previous day. After this we did our 108 bows. This took about 45 minutes. In Buddhism, there are supposedly 108 distractions, so we must clear our minds of these, let them go.

The bowing movement involves standing with your hands in a prayer position, feet together. The the bamboo stick is hit, you bend down on your knees and bow such that you make five points of contact to the floor: your forehead, your two elbows, and your two palms (face down). Your left foot is crossed over your right foot. Then you raise your palms, face up now, to your ears. This symbolizes touching Buddha's feet. When the bamboo stick is hit again, you return your hands to prayer position and stand up, using your leg strength. I definitely got into a rhythm, and it went quicker than I expected, but for the remainder of the day (and now) I can still feel all the work my legs did. That repetitive motion with muscles I am not used to using was a challenge! Not being fully awake helped, I think.

Before breakfast, we did a half hour meditation, focusing on "Who am I?". This also went quickly.

The breakfast ceremony is different from other meals. No speaking is strictly enforced, and there is very specific etiquette. You have four bowls - the biggest is for rice, the next is for soup, the third if for cleaning water, and the fourth is for side dishes. You cannot mix anything in the rice bowl. You must always raise your bowl to cover your mouth while you eat. You must keep one piece of kimchi at the end, to help wash your bowl. Of course, I dropped by bowl as I was drying it, and it made a huge clattering sound. Haha

After breakie, we had free time before our meditation walk. It was still very misty at this point. It cleared into a lovely day though (Saturday was great too). I accompanied a guy on a walk, so we actually got two morning walks in! The site really is beautiful...very lush, fresh, and peaceful.

After our walk, we helped out with some gardening. We planted peppers! We had a final debriefing session with the monk, had some free time, changed out of our monk garbs, and had lunch. (Same food as dinner the night before.)

The weather could not have cooperated more, especially since "they" were calling for rain. Also, Tuesday, May 10 is Buddha's birthday, so there were lots of extra lanterns and special decorations up that usually aren't there. A very cool experience for sure.

There are actually lanterns set up EVERYWHERE in Korea. It's pretty nice!

The PREVIOUS weekend involved a trip to Gwangyang, to visit my friend Laura from high school. We were

also awake on Sunday at 3am, but it's because we were at noraebang (kareoke). It was a fun trip. We went to a rugby game in the afternoon (two foreign teams from neighbouring cities), and then everyone just hung out for the rest of the day: at the local bar, bowling, dinner, another bar (a SOJU bar where we played many drinking games...), and finally noraebang. A very silly night, indeed. Sunday was relaxing - sleeping in, hanging out, and watching Laura's boyfriend's soccer game. It totally felt like I was a university student, partying without a care in the world. I can count the number of times I've consumed that much alcohol...it's not many! I survived though, and didn't pay for it too badly either! And of course, it was fun to see Laura. I'll definitely have to return before I leave Korea.

Oh! The bus fiasco continues. So the direct bus from Anyang to Gwangyang was sold out, so this meant I had to go into Seoul early Saturday morning (which is north) just to come back south. Anyways, that worked out. I got to Laura's in about three and a half hours, which was two hours faster than the projected time. Perhaps because there were only four of us on the bus? Who knows. RETURNING however, I arrive at the bus station to have everyone tell me the bus is gone, and that I'm actually at the wrong station. I've missed the bus, and there are NO MORE LEFT. Obviously, I panic right away. I call Laura and she calmly reminds of the English tourist phone line. I call it and ask the best solution. Turns out there is a bus (leaving in 10 minutes) back to Seoul, just a different bus station than the one I came from. SOLD! Last ticket. Perfect. So it all worked out. Five and a half hours door to door, including the subway from Seoul to Anyang. Not too shabby!

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. I hope it doesn't, as we have a field trip scheduled to Seoul Grand Park - there's a zoo we;re to see, and then we're having a picnic! Can't it be like the weekend? 24 degrees and sunny? (Yes, Canada, I'm rubbing it in.)

Never again will I leave this much time in between blogs. This took WAY too long to put together! I've just been SO BUSY! I've been going in for work early most days, as I feel there is a constant surplus of things to prepare and get done. It's a very high-paced job, especially since March with only three foreign teachers. I can really feel the absence of a fourth teacher. It makes a huge difference, in terms of numbers of students we are accounted for. Enough. BED TIME!

Loving life

Elly and me

Last Tuesday I ventured into Seoul for a concert. I met up with Hunter and we went on our excited way to the venue. We arrive to the completely unexpected announcement that it is SOLD OUT. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. We had done everything we could have, so there was no one to blame. Leaving disappointed and slightly heart-broken, we wandered around the area for a little. Then Hunter was struck with an idea, so we hopped on a bus. We boxed out our frustration at a Wii bang - a Wii room, that is. We rented a room, Wii sports, and played boxing, golf, and bowling. It was still a very fun evening.

Bang = room. Norae bang = singing room = kareoke. There are DVD bangs, PC bangs...

It is a rainy morning as I write this. I've been lucky that the little rain we seem to get happens during the week. Weekends are still sunny. Saturday morning I went running along the river, out for Korean lunch, then hung out at Central Park with a group of about 8. It was a beautiful day to sit outside. Oh! We went for ice cream too. I ended up getting two flavours (which I don't usually splurge on) because I couldn't decide...they were both such Leah flavours: blueberry aloe, and honey granola. YUM! Sunday I had two coffee dates and a dinner date. Melissa was up first. We went to Zoo Coffee and then on a nice walk. Then I met up with Elly at this new coffee place across the street from a new piercing and tattoo studio that opened just over a month ago. I go into the studio every weekend to look at the jewellery and have bought a couple pairs of earrings there. I always chat with the two females that work there. They are so nice! So when I was at coffee with Elly, they saw me and came over to say hello. With Elly as my moral support, I went into the studio and asked the girls for their phone numbers so we could hang out sometime. Success!!

Elly and I had some extra time before we went on our respective dinner plans, so we wandered around and did a little shopping. (Bright green nail polish? Yes, please!) Then I went to Christian's for dinner. He made a most DELICIOUS spaghetti bolognese. We had a great visit, as it had been a while.

I love Korea. I really do. Here are a few more reasons why:

-on Saturday when I was waiting for a few friends, a boy of about 15-years old came over and said "Excuse me, can I help you with something?" So sweet! (In retrospect, I did have my agenda open, pen in hand, and I'm 98.5% sure I was sporting my concentration face that some people confuse for confusion.)

-When I was buying produce from one of my regular vendors, I wanted some cherry tomatoes and a cucumber. She gave me about a pound of tomatoes (about $3), threw in a GIANT apple, and gave me THREE cucumbers. Grand total was less than $4.

-I am going on a Temple stay a few weeks from now!! I am SO LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

-I am meeting up for dinner tomorrow with a Canadian/Polish gal I met on my bike trip who went on a temple stay this past weekend.

-At the buffet in Gyeongju, I tasted this refreshing persimmon/cinnamon flavoured drink. I found it at the grocery store here on the weekend. This may be up there with red bean.

Continued...Friday morning.


Elly and Selina

Man oh man. This has not been a normal week for me. I've been a social butterfly. Wednesday evening I was out with Elly and Selina (sisters) for a couple drinks. Selina used to work with us, but she left at the end of February, so it was nice to catch up. She took us to this REALLY great place...relaxing atmosphere. We sat on cushions at a table beside the pond that it is in the middle of the restaurant/bar. I will definitely be back! For whatever reason, I decided around 10pm that night that it was time to start learning the Korean alphabet. Selina and Elly wrote out the characters for me, and I made my notes on the sounds. Then they were giving me words to write out...I did a pretty good job! Now it's just a matter of memorizing the letters, so that when I'm out I can actually read, rather than have to refer to my cheat sheet. I plan to study on my bus ride to Gwangyang this weekend. And the brings me to the bus.

Before Elly and I met up with Selina, we went to the bus station to get my ticket. The Saturday morning bus I wanted was sold out. I wasn't expecting that.

NOTE TO SELF - THIS IS THE SECOND TIME SOMETHING HAS BEEN SOLD OUT. PLAN AHEAD.

Anyways, what could have been an easy roll-out-of-bed on Saturday to catch an 8:20am bus (a 4-hour ride) is now an early-get-out-of-bed-and-get-to-Seoul for the 8:20am leaving from there...which is 5 hours, because it's north of here, and I'm going south. Oh well. Lesson learned. I'll know for next time. I don't know what I'd do without Elly. Most of the phone lines and websites are in Korean. She is SUCH A HUGE HELP ALL THE TIME. The best. I owe her my life. Haha

I had a LOVELY LOVELY evening with Magdalena last night...my new Polish Canadian friend that I met on the bike trip. We went out for Indian, and then for tea, as we both did not want the night to end. It's amusing and strange at the same time, how ALIKE we are in so many ways. We had SO MUCH to talk about. We really really enjoyed other's company. It's great she lives only a ten-minute walk away!!!

Ok. I really must be getting ready for work...what to wear today?! I haven't had two seconds of NOTHING in the past couple weeks. I am actually looking forward to my long bus rides for some me time!! Happy almost-weekend!!