The best gift ever.

That's right. It's a succulent. AND A PHONE CHARM. Diane is the best sister ever. Sorry, Andrea, this gift is going to be hard to beat.  Did I mention it's alive???????? I couldn't be more excited.

Only in Korea

I thought I'd give you some of the random pictures I have taken over the last few months. Some things you'll only see in Korea. Or at least things I think are unique to Korea but someone will be like, Oh, yeah, we have that in ________.  But anyway, here goes. 

This man opened his eyes right after I took this picture. He may have realized I took it, but I just pretended not to notice. 

Do you think it translates?

The post-Mudfest trash pile. That's a lot of soju.

My baseball game snack. It even comes with beak. Pro tip: Even if you don't have time to finish it, do not put the squid in your backpack. I repeat, DO NOT PUT THE SQUID IN YOUR BACKPACK. I don't think I have to tell you why. 

Noraebang with my coworkers after company dinner. 

Some very intoxicated, overly friendly Koreans, who apparently claimed to be gangsters.

This was the ad on the back of the bus seat on my way to the airport. 

My whole class stopped so Alice could braid this girl's hair. Poor Harry, the only boy, was stuck watching too. 

I'm the creep that takes stealthy pictures of other people's children. But considering I was shooting from the hip, I couldn't be more pleased with this picture. 

Three microwaves outside a Family Mart near the National Museum. 

I think this says it all. 

That's my name in Korean. 

Diane bought this poop bread for me. The instructions are as follows: 1. Eat the poop bread   2. Poop   3.  Inspect your poop  4. Eat more poop bread. Obviously.

YES! The Seoul mascot. 

Coworker get away! We spent Korean Thanksgiving relaxing in a pension. It was great.

Lauren Hillard: Blogger Extraodinaire

Hello everyone!

Just a quick post to recommend that you check out Lauren Hillard's Blog. She is the first friend I made here and she's from Gig Harbor. She is much better about blogging regularly than I am. Her most recent post gives a great recap of the trip she, Diane and I took to Namsan Tower. She has great pictures and amazing detail. It's like you are right there with us!

Anyway, check it out. And keep an eye for pictures from me in the very near future. I'm working on it as we speak!

Secret Garden

My new obsession: Korean dramas. Actually, this Korean drama in particular, Secret Garden. It's 70% sexual tension, 10% mistaken identity and 20% disapproving parents. IT'S WONDERFUL. This is the most famous scene.

The good news is you can watch it online with English subtitles! Here. Just click on an episode and it streams online.


Also, Diane is here. She likes this show too. I'll post pictures of our time together soon!

I'm so Korean right now.

I have started buying kimchi to eat with the meals I cook at home. I'm going to have to figure out how to make this stuff if I ever come back to America.

Look how delicious it looks in this picture that I stole from the internet.

Blog? What blog?? Oooooh, THIS blog...

Hello. The biggest update and most recent self-realization is that I am a terrible blogger. Surprise, surprise.

There are a lot of other updates. I have a million vacation photos that are currently being uploaded to my computer. I had a great visit with my parents. We saw as much of Vietnam as we could without going crazy and mostly saw as much Korean food as possible. My coworkers did a FANTASTIC job of showing my parents Korea and making sure they had a great time. I couldn't have asked for more. Diane will be here a week! I've already got some stellar plans. Here's a preview of my pictures.

Market in Saigon

Sunrise over Saigon on my way back to Korea

First of all, I should change the name of my blog. I believe to Soju and Noraebang. Although kimchi and k-pop are still important parts of my everyday life, soju and noraebang seem to be dominating my free time.  What little free time I have left anyway.

Summer in Korea is hot. Everyone keeps telling me I got out easy and that it hasn't been as hot as usual. Well, thank god. I don't know if I would have survived it any hotter. Fortunately, the air conditioner in my apartment works like a dream. The one in my classroom works so well the children always complain about being cold. Teacher gets hot!! I'm really looking forward to fall weather and changing leaves and hot coffee.

Work is going well. Really well, actually. Starting next week, I will be Head Instructor. Mostly that means that I will help new teachers be great teachers. I'm really excited to work closely with my coworkers. I think it will be a lot of work, but it will also be really fun. At least I hope so. The best news is that it is actually something that will help me to get a better job when I come back to the U.S.

My students have been SO cute this term. One girl's mom called and said that she refuses to have any teacher other than me. Another had a huge smile when I told her I'll be her teacher next term. And my favorite class, the highest level at April, wrote me the sweetest notes yesterday. Please see attached photo. I'm going to miss my students from this term a lot, but I have a pretty great schedule next term too and I get to keep some of my favorite students. Turns out those snot-nosed Korean kids are actually really great.

I realize that after nearly three full months without a single blog, this isn't very thorough. I'm going to try to be better about this. I hope to put more vacation pictures up this weekend. We'll see.

Oooo! One more thing!! I have received 2 postcards since I've been in Korea, one from Casa Bonita (it was so worth it) and another from Sarah, the student in the Taekwondo gear above. I would love to put more postcards up in classroom, the students are really into it. They all want to go to Casa Bonita. They can't believe they have a cliff diver and a gun show. Send me more!! My mailing address is:

107-8 Bansong-dong
Jeil Plaza 6F
Gyeonggi-do, Hwaseong City 445-160
Korea

I also finally found some Korean postcards, so I'll be working on that in the near future. (Bryan and Carly: I've been looking for a tree you can drive through. So far it seems that aren't into that here. Fools.)

Farewell for now!

Hwaseong Fortress

When I first found out where I would be going in Korea, I was told Hwaseong. The internet (at least the English speaking internet) is VERY confused about the actual location of Hwaseong. Some of the internet understands the basics, but most of the internet wants you to think that the fortress is really the only thing known as Hwaseong. The real problem is that despite the fact that my address is Hwaseong, no one actually calls this area Hwaseong. I live in Dongtan, which is in Hwaseong, but really outside of Suwon. Frankly, after more than two months, I'm just figuring it out myself.

Anyway, none of that is really the point. The point is that I went to the fortress. It's pretty darn cool. It was built in the late 18th century by some guy who wanted to keep his shit safe. You know, the standard fortress story. The coolest part is that, like many ancient things in Korea, the fortress is completely coexisting with modern day Suwon. You pay a couple of dollars and you can wander around the fortress. Lauren, my sightseeing buddy from Gig Harbor, and I walked about half of the outside wall, got hot, the cut through the city to get to the excitement (and to eat an ice cream).  Alright, on to the good stuff: the pictures!

One of the main gates of the fortress.

Looking back at the gate from inside along the wall.

Using what was once intended for weaponry (CROSSBOWS!) to creepily peek out to Suwon.

What is that person wearing?!

Lauren and I being super touristy.

The trolley for people visiting the fortress that we foolishly chose not to ride. It was hot!

Some Koreans learning about archery.

We discovered this as we cut through the city to eat our ice cream. Two questions. One: who sells tapes? It's 2011!! Two: Who buys them???!!!!

Creeping on some fake people. 

More fake people, these were much more realistic.

A giant Buddha with a little shrine (?) underneath.

Inside the shrine.

Lauren at the highest point in the fort. Suwon is in the background.

Some Koreans ring the bell.

On the way back to where we started.

The fortress.

Alright, that about does it for touristy pictures for a little while. I'm going to try to blog about my real life in the very near future. Stay tuned!