Winter class SUCCESS!

My 3-week winter music class was easily my favorite class so far. I'm pretty heartbroken that we won't be meeting every Tuesday and Thursday to sing obnoxiously loud and annoy the lunch cook in the next room. On our last day, they chose 2 songs to sing for some of the other teachers. They managed to memorize "You Are My Sunshine", but only got the chorus down for "Country Roads". Regardless, it was fun and they are adorable. Enjoy...

Also, these kids had hands-down the best chosen English names. Sunny, Lala, Noah. Killin it in the name AND cuteness department.

Apple wine, sleigh riding, and naked spas...

make for a fun, relaxing weekend. This weekend, 2 friends and I decided to do something different and get away from the city for a little day trip. Not that I live in the city, but I spend every weekend there. So, we booked a trip to Yesan, a province just south of the one we live in.

We set off at 5am (on a Saturday!) to head into Seoul where the bus left at 7:30am for Yesan. Lucky for me, I've gotten used to sleeping on buses, planes, etc. I snoozed most of the way there. Our first stop was an apple winery (i didn't know they existed either!) where we took a tour, tried some samples, and made some homemade apple jam to take home with us! It was a cute, quiet, peaceful place. I even got to see a big, white, fluffy dog which may or may not have made my day!

Next, we drove to Seoduksa temple. We walked through a cute little village and up a small mountain/hill to the temple, stopping along the way to take pictures. The whole area was beautiful. I was, however, briefly overcome with a bit of sadness when I realized that the entire thing had been rebuilt not too long ago. Tragically, most of Korea's beautiful, ancient temples and monasteries were destroyed during the Korean War. Very few were spared, and those that were are in the southern-most provinces. It made me feel very grateful to have grown up in an area with so much preserved history. I may have moaned and groaned about trips to the Liberty Bell and Smithsonian when I was a kid, but one of my favorite things to do when I'm in a city now is walk around and see all of the old buildings, churches, statues, etc. I grew up in "Historic Newtown", just miles from Washington's Crossing, Trenton, Philadelphia...places full of history that dates all the way back to the American Revolution and before. It makes me sad to think that the kids I'm teaching now and generations to come will have nearly no authentic evidence of their beautiful country's history. That being said, I took pictures of the temple that is there now. Ancient or not, it was still a sight to see and reflects the peace that radiates from all things Buddhist.

Our next stop was the Duksan Hot Spring Festival. In spite of its name, it seemed to be more of an ice festival to me. There was a giant hot bath you could soak your feet in, but the main attraction was a huge man-made ice rink where people were playing games and "sleigh riding" on the ice. We gave it a go!

Last but NOT least, was the most interesting and best part of the day! We headed over to the Duksan Spa! For those of you who I haven't told, a "jimjilbang" is a large, public bath house furnished with hot tubs, showers, saunas, massage tables, etc (thank you Wikipedia). It is a heavenly place of relaxation. The only drawback for some foreigners is that you must go naked (don't worry, it's gender segregated!). Once you get past this little detail, it is like I said, a heavenly place of relaxation. This one in particular was huge and quite crowded as it's attached to an indoor/outdoor water-park so it's a popular tourist destination. My friends and I got right on the bandwagon and went straight for the hot tubs in our birthday suits. It was great! They had bubbly hot tubs with chairs and massage jets, a green tea hot tub, several steam rooms, a dry sauna, an ice bath (yes, I even did that!), and a ton of showers to use before and after you indulge yourself in pure bliss for hours. We stayed for hours. I haven't felt that relaxed in ages...even after my weekly Steve massages (that I miss so much). Obviously there are no pictures from this part of the trip. You're welcome.

Afterwards, we hopped on the bus and got back home in time for some delicious Korean BBQ! It was a fantastic, relaxing day with two awesome girls. I'm looking forward to more trips just like it!

On a different note, my friends and family will all be amazed to hear that I've officially adjusted to the cold! After walking to the grocery store and realizing it was a "WARM 38 degrees", I decided to go for a nice run...outside. I kid you not. This girl, who thinks anything below 50 is cold, ran outside in 30-something degree weather. I was shocked too.

One last thing even though this is already a ridiculously long post. I've started using Picasa and Google+ to share my photos because I don't post them all on Facebook or this blog. If anyone wants to see the random pictures of buildings and signs and funny things and animals (if I ever see any) in addition to the pictures with humans in them, this is where you can find them: http://plus.google.com/photos/114810979859376257861/albums

Much love!

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be

Being a teacher is something I have always considered for my potential career (I use this term lightly now, as I'm not so sure I believe in a person having one career in their lifetime. Especially not me!). I've always enjoyed kids---babysitting was my first "job", if you can call it that. In college, I chose a path that would lead me to someday become a Spanish teacher in American public schools. This made sense as Spanish was a subject I excelled in greatly, not to mention the fact that I enjoyed it. There has always been something special and inspiring about learning to communicate with a person from a culture and a world completely different than your own. Learning a new language has opened my eyes to so many things. Clearly, I'm not inspiring our nation's youth to explore the world and become global citizens like I once planned. However, what I'm doing now inspires and fulfills me just as much. Teaching English to people from different countries makes the world a smaller place for me. It has enabled me to connect with people from all over the world in a way I never knew was possible. In Peru, I found great joy in knowing that my students' success in my classroom enabled them to get better jobs so that they could provide for their families. In Korea, I'm helping these children solidify their future. Learning English is a very valuable tool in a culture where education is held in such high regard, where acceptance into a good university is so extremely competitive. I may not agree with the academic culture in this country (see: children are slaves to their books and their test scores. sometimes in school until 10pm), but if learning English will help them get into a good university where they will become someone or something important, that makes me happy. Heck, maybe one of these tiny, adorable, geniuses will become a scientist or some sort of engineer and cure cancer. Even better, maybe one of my beautiful little girls will become a K-pop star! (hey, at least she wouldn't succumb to the house-wife standard). 

Back to my point. A few years ago when I said I wanted to become a teacher, if someone had asked me what I wanted to teach, I can pretty much guarantee that "music", "science", or "grammar" would NOT have made the list. Low and behold, here I am in South Korea of all places teaching just those things. "Science" is not exactly science. Most of the times it is closer to arts & crafts, but a few lessons have touched on things like static electricity, the phases of the moon, balance, etc. Music is a new class that I'm teaching during winter vacation (vacation for kids in Korea means EXTRA classes, poor kids). Every Tuesday/Thursday I teach a bunch of 8-9 year olds classic American songs like "Let It be", "I'll Be There", and my personal favorite, "Country Roads" (video coming soon!). I am a horrific singer, but I have an absolute blast playing the air guitar and singing (shouting) LET IT BE, LET IT BE at the top of my lungs. Grammar lessons aren't very common as most of my students are under the age of 10 and focus on speaking and writing more than perfect grammatical structure. Still, I have several higher level classes and get to use the Grammar Nazi skills i acquired in my TEFL class in Peru. I actually have found that I miss teaching grammar (in Peru that's ALL I taught) because it really is crucial to proper communication in our complex language. 

Anyhoo, I realized I hadn't written in quite a while and this is what came to mind. I apologize if anyone was hoping for a more lively post. Work and the weekends have been quite uneventful lately. I've had a few nights out in Seoul, a few hungover days at home. Don't worry, I'll leave you with at least a few pictures!

Bow&Arrow day in Science (with 6 year olds, lucky me!)

Jeungyeun

Mad-Libs has become a favorite in my night class.

A New Year's to Remember!

A happy, healthy 2013 to all of my friends & family! I hope everyone's holiday was well spent.

Mine was spent climbing this mountain!

Seoraksan, taken from Google

Just picture that with a lot more snow and ice...and wind. Then, picture me on top of it!

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I were discussing New Year's Eve and decided that we wanted to do something different than the typical drunken debauchery that everyone seems to indulge in for the holiday. It's Korean tradition to watch the first sunrise of 2013 and many Koreans choose to do so from the peak of a mountain. We though it sounded like a great idea. We're only here for one New Year's (most likely), why not?

A group of 6 of us ended up going. The bus left at midnight, so the turning of the New Year was pretty anti-climatic. Around 4:00am we arrived at Seoraksan National Park to being our hike. Sunrise was at 7:45(ish) so we had just under 4 hours to reach the summit. It was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit at the bottom of the mountain, only to get colder and windier as we ascended. The hike proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. Very steep, very icy, and very difficult to control one's body temperature and avoid sweating (and subsequently freezing once it got colder towards the top). The group separated for the most part, but I was able to stick with at least one person for most of the way. It was too cold to stop for long periods of time so I wasn't able to rest/snack/hydrate as much as I would've wanted, but I certainly didn't want to be on that mountain any longer than I had to. After a long, exhausting several hours, I finally reached the top with two of the guys I was with. We took our hands out of our gloves long enough to take a few pictures each (and to feel the stinging pain of frost bite setting in). Oh, remember how I said it was tradition to watch the first sunrise from the peak of the mountain? Welp, we hiked in a snow storm. A very cloudy, white snow storm. No sunrise :( I was definitely disappointed, but it was so cold that I don't know if I would have stayed at the summit long enough to watch it anyway! It was -18 degrees up there. Never in my life have I experienced such temperatures!

Jordan and I 

There is nothing real about those smiles. SO. COLD

Finally, we started the trek down the mountain. I knew it would be difficult because it was steep on the way up, but it had been dark so I didn't realize just how steep it was. My fingers were burning from the cold, my legs and especially my knees were already exhausted from the ascent, and my spirits were pretty low thinking about the 2-3 hours we had left on the mountain. I needed some cheering up. Luckily, I was behind two special guys who just could not manage to stay on their feet. Minutes into the descent, both of them were sliding and rolling down the mountain like tumbleweeds. I did fall once or twice, mostly because I was laughing so hard. It was exactly what I needed to keep me going. We also had the pleasure of meeting some very kind Koreans on the way down. I think most of them felt bad for us as we probably looked like fools slipping and sliding our way down. Two men called us over and offered us hot (HOT!!!) coffee and some chocolate. They also offered some strange booze, which I did not try once I saw Jordan's reaction. A while later, the nicest man in the world may or may not have saved our lives. Cameron's crampons (the spikes you put on your shoes to hike in the snow/ice) were malfunctioning and this man took the chains off of his own shoes and put them on Cameron's. He also gave each of us one of his walking poles. He continued down the mountain, but didn't get too far ahead of us so he could keep an eye on us the whole time. When he stopped for a break, he gave us chocolate and oranges and whiskey, which we gladly accepted. It was truly a selfless, random act of kindness and I wished I had something more to offer him than a hug at the bottom of the mountain. That man has some seriously good karma coming his way! We finally made it down the mountain, but I spent the better part of the last hour cursing, moaning and groaning as my knee and ankle were in bad shape. I had been knocked over twice by eager hikers, landing on my right knee both times. I also rolled my ankle at one point. It wasn't pretty, but I made it! I had a few low points during the day, but overall I got to start 2013 with a sense of accomplishment and some new friends. Oh, the sun DID come out eventually and it was beautiful :)

Halfway down the mountain, first glimpse of sun!

Compliments of Jenny's camera. I stayed on the bus at this stop.

The trip home got delayed due to snow and a few stops. This made for some rather grumpy people (I was definitely one of them...shocker!), but we made it home eventually. One of the stops was in Sokcho, a town that lies north of the 38th parallel, aka is basically on the DMZ. It used to belong to North Korea, so many of the locals have relatives who still live there. It was a small town, not too impressive. But, I did get to see the ocean and it smelled of salt water which reminded me of home!

Overall, it was a great experience. I teach English abroad so that I can see the world and try new things. I'm glad I chose this instead of celebrating NYE the same way I would have in the states. That being said, I miss everyone tons and definitely thought about you all boozing the night away in a WARM bar while I was nursing my wounds at the bottom of the mountain :)

Much love & luck for 2013! 

메리 크리스마스

Google Translate tells me that's Merry Christmas in Hangul (Korean alphabet)!

NOTE: I have a lot of free time on my days off so I played with my blog layout. Click the title of the latest post to read the whole thing! Sorry to some of my not-so-technologically-advanced family members :)

Like I said before, I had to work Christmas Eve until 7:00pm. I went into work with somewhat of a bummed mentality, but it turned out to be a great morning because....

I WAS SANTA CLAUS!

Yep, that's me in the Santa suit! Bet you never thought you'd see the day where a 5'3" blonde female would dress up as the big guy! Of course all the kiddos knew it was me, but I still had a blast. I got to sit in the gym for an hour and call them up one-by-one to give them a present and take a picture. They were all so excited. It definitely got me in the holiday spirit :)

I also got a ton of goodies like cakes and cookies from some students. Very sweet. A lot of my classes had exams so it was an easy day. I promised Blue class new balloons this week after most of theirs popped during science last Monday, so that was their Christmas gift from me. I got to snap this gem...

Seriously, be cuter.

Christmas Eve after work and Christmas Day were spent in Incheon watching Christmas movies, hanging out with new friends, and eating Chinese/Indian food. Not the most traditional of holidays, but that will make me appreciate it so much more when I'm home next year :)

The one good thing about my Christmas in Korea was that it SNOWED! It snows all the time here, but I couldn't tell you the last time I had a White Christmas. YAY!

I've told some people my plans for New Years Eve, but I'll wait to reveal it publicly once I have some pictures. I hope everyone's holiday was wonderful! Much love<3

I'm letting myself be homesick...

...for a few hours, and that's IT! As much as I'm enjoying Korea, it's hard not to get a little homesick when Christmas is a few days away, especially since it's my second one away from home (sorry family!). No Christmas lights, wreaths, trees, bells, cookies, etc. No neighbors with insanely tacky inflatable Santa displays. NO YULE LOG :(

But, on the bright side of things, I've made some awesome friends who I'll spend the holidays with and make the best of it. The kiddies at school are fun too as they all still believe in Santa and are learning Christmas carols and are very eager to sing them every chance they get. We do phone teaching once a week where we call the little ones and talk for 5 minutes. Last Thursday, when I called sweet little Jeungyeun, I asked what songs she learned in class and she proceeded to sing me an adorable, high-pitched, 5 year old version of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas"...the whole song. It was hilarious and adorable and I love her. I also got to bake some NUTELLA christmas cookies tonight with a friend who is fortunate enough to have an oven. I guess I shouldn't complain too much, but I do miss my family a TON right now. Especially when Mom sends me funny videos of her, Maggie, and Terry's faces in Elf costumes dancing or tells me stories about chasing Maggie when she steals cookies and then tripping and falling on the floor.

Tomorrow is my last day of work before my week-long vacation! It's sucky that I have to work until 7pm on Christmas Eve, but I get to spend my day with cuties like this...

Wonseuk, one of my favorites. Shh don't tell the others!

Selina insisted I wear her sheep hat. How could I say no?

Please excuse the bags under my eyes. I have been wickedly sick for a few days and by 5:30pm on Friday I was ready to crash. Which I did, but not until about 9:00pm. This weekend consisted of a lot of tea drinking, sleeping, a LITTLE exploring/shopping, and seeing The Hobbit for a friend's birthday. I'm feeling better, but having 8 days away from coughing, sneezing kiddos will do me some good.

Happy Holidays to everyone! Love & miss you all so much. Eat a ton of delicious food for me this week :) I'll be chowing down on kimchi, dumpling soup, kimchi, meat, white rice, more kimchi, AND the cookies I baked :)

Seoul Mates

Wouldn't that have been a cute name for my blog if I met some gorgeous, perfect man here? Oh wait, I'm in Asia. Perhaps once I return to South America...

Instead, the title of this post is referring to the friends I made in Seoul this weekend, and the awesome time I had! I spent the day shopping and frolicking around Myeongdong, the neighborhood in Seoul that has the potential to ruin my dream of saving money. Aside from the usual H&M, Forever21, Body Shop, etc, there are a million Korean shops, street vendors, and even a CAT CAFE to suck you in and take your money. Cat Cafe? Stay tuned for THAT post. Later on, we met up with some more people for dinner, drinks, and a night out. We started in Itaewon at a friend's birthday then made our way to Hongdae, where I've been dying to go since I got here. It's a cute little neighborhood with tons of bars & clubs that stay open until the wee hours of the morning. I only made it until 4:30am this time before I rounded up the troops to taxi back to my place for a full fledged slumber party that even included Spice Girls music in the morning.

Friends!

Duh

At what age does it stop being appropriate to take girl pics in the bathroom?

This week at work has been relatively uneventful. Tuesday marked my 1 month anniversary, and I celebrated by opening a bank account and getting my very own Korean bank card. YAY! Science is still my favorite class, and this week I had the pleasure of teaching static electricity. In translation, I got to play with balloons for a whole hour. Blue class went absolutely nuts over those things.

My second Christmas away from home is quickly approaching. I work Christmas Eve, but I plan on spending Christmas Day with good friends & good food and a few Skype dates!