Umbrella Season

Actually, the title is misleading. Umbrellas and visors are used and worn quite liberally here, at ALL times of year: rain or shine, snow or fog. Of course, what I'm refering to is the rain.

Yes, indeed. It has been raining quite steadily since Wednesday. In fact, when I asked the about the weather in Venus class today, Julian confidently stated, "It's raining heavily". Wow. Some 6-year-old. He surprises me every day.

Magda and I embraced the rain with open arms on Saturday night, venturing to Hongdae to celebrate her birthday in style, in matching blue ponchos. We had a grand time - good tunes, good company. We even brought extra clothes as we had intended to have a puddle fight. Unfortunately we forgot about it. Rain check? Or would it be sun check...? Hmmm...

Karen and I met at the gym on Saturday morning. After completing my running intervals, some free weights, and stretching (and having been to the gym the previous evening) I was looking forward to my shower just minutes away. But no. Then the lady that works the front desk on Saturday mornings FORCED Karen and me on the bicycles. In Korean (I could understand) she demanded, "20 minutes!" She was pointing at our legs. I guess she thinks our legs are fat? She even held my iPod hostage. It's good for us, we know. So this is what we came up with as we biked, a limerick:

There was a bossy lady at the gym
Who wanted to help us get slim
She made us ride bikes
Which neither of us likes
But now we are fabulous and trim!

Last Wednesday I met up with Hunter for dinner. It was great to catch up. He took me to a nice little Italian spot that makes pizzas out of focaccia bread. Perfectly simple, light, and satisfying. Especially since my mom and I have had Italy on our minds, our trip having been a year ago at this time!

I find it terribly hard to believe I have only EIGHT TEACHING WEEKS LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where did the time go, eh?

Sorry for the lack of photos. Will update with a few as soon as I get them on my computer! I've been busy with work and school stuff. It will get done though!

That's all for now...!

Summertime...and the living is easy

As promised, some pictures from my previous Saturday out with my (at-the-time-but-has-since-turned-platonic) crush! Biking and rowing and BBQ, oh my!


We had smoked duck BBQ...possibly the best BBQ I've had here.

View from the restaurant

Swinging in the park

Rowing our boat

We came across this little band playing on our ride back to town...we stopped to listen for a bit

Things are good between us. We've been talking, and we're going to hang out on Sunday so he can help me with some stuff...not that you were worried!

In case you missed the kiddies, here are a few snapshots from our field trip last week to see an "English" musical: Tom and Jerry in New York (it was still mostly in Korean...but hey! I got the gist of it)!

Pluto - Fiona and Chloe

Pluto - Kevin and Alex

Pluto - Thomas

The elementary students had a speech contest last week. I was so proud of them! They worked so hard and did a great job (as nervous as some of them were).

Jason, talking about Van Gogh, and how he wants to be an artist like him

Antony - this kid is ACTUALLY a monkey. He climbs on me every day.

I've still been meeting Kammy on a weekly basis for our language exchange. Between that and going out a few times with a Korean guy, I feel like my learning curve over the last month really spiked. Reading is coming a lot faster to me, and my vocabulary is growing. Yey! Kammy wants to simply work on her conversation and pronunciation. Last week she started reading "The Time Traveller's Wife" aloud to me. I was hooked by the first page! I haven't read the movie or seen the book yet, so this is really fun for me. I just help her with some words and explain anything she gets stuck on. The week before we actually went to see X-Men. Please don't judge me, but this was my first X-Men film. It had Korean subtitles, but for the parts where the characters were speaking French, Spanish, German, and Russian, the subtitles were STILL Korean. French and Spanish were fine; German and Russian were iffy. I recognized a few words, although the action was pretty explanatory! Anyways, I really am enjoying the language and cultural exchange.

I've also been meeting up with Magda on a weekly basis. I can't get enough of this girl (we met on the Gyeongju bike trip in April; she lives in Anyang; Polish-Canadian from Toronto). We just REALLY get each other, and thoroughly enjoy each other's company. I hadn't really really clicked with anyone here until we met. It's nice to have her around. We have a few upcoming things planned...this weekend is her birthday so she and I will celecrate that together in Seoul. The second weekend of July, there is a specific park we want to check out, then we'll spend the rest of the day at the beach. We'll feel it out if we want to stay the night or head home the same day. Then...! I have the last week of July off. I will be going to Jeju Island for five days. The second weekend overlaps with Magda's holidays so she is going to meet me at my hostel, and we'll spend the weekend hiking and touring together. Yey!! It will be awesome. I can't wait. I plan to have some relaxing beach days, explore some parks, and savour the beautiful Korean island. I really want to take advantage of the country while I'm here. I am suddenly feeling the crunch of "oh-my-goodness-I'm-leaving-soon-and-there-is-still-so-much-to-see-and-do!"

I started working on that this past weekend. Early in the afternoon on Sunday, I thought to myself - hmmm...I have never spent any time in Hongdae during the day. I think I'll go get lost there! So off I went. Hongdae is a popular clubbing area in Seoul so is often a nighttime destination. However, there is an art university there, and it's a really groovy little neighbourhood. Lots of quirky shops and cafes, art, young people, music...I enjoyed my aimless meandering. Anyways, I'm going to start taking little afternoon weekend "trips" into various parts of Seoul and greater Seoul, just to check out some neighbourhoods that I haven't seen yet!

Hongdae

Charlie Brown Cafe in Hongdae

Hope Market in Hongdae - AWESOME handcrafted jewellery and things

Hongdae graffiti

Barrow boys, vintage clothes, coffee and chocolate shops

It was right around here that some giggling tweens asked me to be in their school projects. I had to wear this big read flower in my hear and say "hello" in Korean, two times, in a specific sing-song way, while the girls recorded me. I was a good sport. It's not the first school project I've participated in, although most involve surveys, and no on-screen time.

A couple weeks ago I bought a pair of Birkenstock sandals, for all the walking I do. I was the worst customer. I tried on SO many pairs and colours and styles and sizes, and FINALLY made up my made. The salesman (salesBOY) was asking my name, where I'm from, how old I am, the usual. He rung in the sandals $5 less than they should have been. I pointed this out to him, and he said "It's okay, you have beautiful eyes". Then he GIVES me a $5-off coupon for another purchase, AND a t-shirt (that I later check is labelled at about $35). SWEET! He made my day. Thanks, ABC-Mart salesboy.

And...drum roll please...I HAVE CONFIRMED A PLACE TO LIVE IN OTTAWA!!! What a relief it is to have that settled!

I'm outtie 5000. Night night!

What the SHREK?!

One of my students was wearing a t-shirt that said above expression. I thought it was hilarious. I think he's on to something.

Another funny tidbit: during arts and crafts last week, balloons were involved. I am not very good at tying balloons, so I told this to my students. No kidding, Buddy says, "But you're a teacher! Teachers can do anything!" He said it again that same week about something else I was struggling with. Haha

I still love my produce lady. On my way home this evening, I wanted my usual cherry tomatoes and a couple cucumbers (this should cost me about 4000 Won, just under $4). She gives me FOUR cucumbers, a bunch of lettuce, my tomatoes, and a few hot peppers. 4000 Won. She loves me. I love her!

It's nice to be back in my regular routine, although with the nice weather it's harder and harder. My social calendar always feels booked to maximum capacity. It was AMAZING having Lindsay here with me though. I miss her! It was a nice change in routine, to see her each evening. She had a lovely time during the days while I worked, venturing into Seoul - shopping, spa, site-seeing. She was little Tina Tourist! She met a lot of my friends at some group dinners I planned, and we had lots of girl time/catch-up time for ourselves, too!


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LINDSAY IN ANYANG!!!



Dinner with my Sunday language group





Korean BBQ with coworkers and friends

...and drinks after!

Lindsay and Leah

Spicy chicken soup. SO DELICIOUS! I had only ever had my school's version of this at lunch. At a restaurant?? WOW.

Enjoying our soup!

Lindsay and Leah date night at 2nd

Mmmmmm Chinese dumplings. Delightfully delicious broth leaks out of them as you poke them. I would seriously go to this place just for the broth. THAT good.

Evening in Myeong-dong (post dumplings)

As you can see, I could probably do an entire blog on the food that we ate. Some of the meals were a first for me as well! I'd like to thank Christian (our mutual McGill friend) for bringing us to these wonderful restaurants! I should mention...on Lindsay's first night, we had RAW BEEF. Christian had suggested it to me before, but I politely declined. Well, we actually did it. IT WAS SO TASTY! And clearly I'm alive to tell the tale. Whatever marinade you dip it in is lovely - sesame and green onions. You don't eat a lot of it, but WOW. Yum!

Friday evening (June 3) soccer game at World Cup Stadium: Korea versus Serbia!

Victory!!! 2-1 for Korea

Post-game celebrating in Hongdae, with new friend Alice!

Lindsay and I went to Busan from June 4-June 6! We arrived Saturday evening and went straight to bed. Our hostel was REALLY cozy, clean, and fantastically located. We were on the second floor of a building, RIGHT IN the Haeundae Market. Haeundae beach was a three-minute walk away!!

The market

Because of the long weekend, there was a sand festival going on. Yey for sandcastles and sculptures!

LOVING the beach

Prime beach territory

Ahhh....soooooooooooo nice

So many foreigners from Seoul migrated to Busan for the weekend. I ran into some people that I know, and Linds and I met up with one of her high school friends!

Sunday evening out: tex-mex at the Fuzzy Navel!

Love.

Monday stroll around Busan (Wendy Walkabouts!)

Gwang-il Beach

Fresh fish

We had so many laughs. I feel so lucky to have had a visitor!!

In other news, my crush joined some outings when Linds was in town, and we've since gone on a few dates. I'll post pictures from our lovely Saturday - tandem biking, a row boat, and a great late lunch at a beautiful restaurant. I've since decided it's best if we just stay friends. It was fun while it lasted, and I do think we'll be friends. These things don't always work, right? It's all life lessons, learning experience, shaping exercises.

More news - I've 90% solidified a place to live in Ottawa!!! Fingers crossed for me that it all works out...!!

It's good to be back. I'll write again sooner! Just not now. I'm wiped! Miss you and love you! BACK TO CANADA IN LESS THAN THREE MONTHS!

Oh! Heather! You commented about the "Korean menu" that I like to order from at Zoo Coffee. This menu has red ginseng and honey teas and lattes, persimmon drinks...just ingredients more typical to Korean foods and drinks!

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!