One day left

Until school is out for Winter break and I am off to Paris. David left yesterday morning and is already enjoying cheap brie and croissants. I can't wait to join him and have an adventure outside of the Asian continent. I wanted to post this picture awhile back because it is pretty much the best way to explain the couple of blocks surrounding my school. The street is called the Hagwon-ga, which means 'private school road'. As you can see in the sign there are floors upon floors of English schools, math schools, pc bangs (rooms with computers that Korean's spend hours playing starcraft and other various computer games) and of course, because this is Korea, there is a random bar thrown in the mix. Such a crazy, but cool place.

a little holiday message from my friends

Starring Weisse class 6 year olds, Eagle, Brian Lee, Marcella and Alex. Eagle was loving it. The others were really into coloring Santa.

Highest Art Gallery in the World

David and I spent Sunday exploring the Seoul National Cemetery as well as one of Seoul's tallest buildings. The cemetery offered a peaceful hike through rows of graves and monuments dedicated to South Korea's most honored soldiers, generals and presidents.It was refreshing to be out of the concrete jungle of the city. We even signed the guestbook saying we paid our respects to the past presidents of the country we currently call home. After working up an appetite we headed to Seoul's 63 building. With 60 floors above ground and 3 below, the building was quite an interesting mix of entertainment.The basement housed a wax museum, aquarium (complete with penguins...underground. strange.), a hugely expensive buffet, food court, imax theatre and of course a bakery. We also discovered that the 60th floor was currently home to the highest art gallery in world, showcasing the work of several iconic artists. The promise of a sunset and views of Seoul from South of the Han beckoned us to the top. We weren't disappointed with what we found.

Sa wa de kaa.....wait where am I?

Saturday David and I met up with Danny and his co-worker Gabby in Dongdaemun market. While I wouldn't suggest anyone go to this market around Christmas season, on a Saturday afternoon (one could hardly move because there were soooooo many people out) it was fun to explore the never ending stalls of clothing and accessories and pretty much anything else you might want. Outside of the big shopping centers one could find stand after stand of ajummas (old ladies with perms and visors) selling stacks of books, as well as more scarves and beanie hats than I have ever seen. All really interesting, but just a little too crowded.

After a full afternoon of shopping, we headed back across the river to South Seoul for some very tasty Thai food. We spent two lazy hours feasting on duck curry (with the most delicious pineapple I have ever tasted), chili chicken, noodles and of course a giant pitcher of beer to wash down all the Thai spice. So so good.

A Merry Little Christmas

In the name of Christmas spirit I splurged and bought a mini fake Christmas tree the other day at Home Plus (sort of the Korean equivalent of Target, needless to say I love Home Plus ALMOST as much as I love Target). David and I were very cheesy, drinking hot cocoa and listening to the 'Number 1's: Christmas' cd, while decorating it. David's mom was also sweet enough to send an awesome package to him full of gifts, taco seasoning, lifesavers and wedding invitations. Pretty much everything that you need to celebrate Christmas in Korea. The tree makes it much more cozy in here. And being cozy makes me happy.

"Dear Santa, I like beetle"

This is my friend Eddie. He is in first grade, likes purple grapes and his favorite animal is the king beetle. Every week I get to spend two glorious, easy, hours with him at the end of the day hanging out, taking spelling tests, talking about our favorite foods, and playing games. Today we got done with our class work super early and I asked Eddie what he wanted to do. I offered up several games but he had his own idea. Eddie just wanted to spend some time drawing beetles, because really who wouldn't?

Acro Towers

On a cold, dark walk home it is nice to have these towers to guide me. Even though I've never been in them Acro Towers constantly proves itself to be my point of reference whether I am on top of a mountain looking down on Anyang, or catching a cab home. They are kinda pretty too all lit up.

same same

If you spend enough time in Korea you will notice a certain silly trend among couples. In an effort to express their love to the world, couples can often be seen in head to toe matching outfits. And I seriously mean head to toe. I've seen couples with the same shoes, jeans, jackets and baseball caps.

Anyways, last night David Green and I decided we needed an after dinner snack (a snickers of course). Without thinking we jumped into our shoes and headed down to the convenience store so very conveniently located in my building. About halfway through the elevator ride down we realized something....



We matched. And were fairly embarrassed because of it.

"and then he scratch me"

Meet David and Terry. They are 7 years old and very silly. In the morning they are both in Grun class (that is German for green. Each class at HABA is identified by a different color in German. We have gelb, wiesse, schwarz, violet, grun, rot, blau and orange. It makes total sense that an English school in South Korea would categorize itself using German right?) In the afternoons I teach their English club group, which they refer to as "B team", once a week. During this hour I am not only impressed by the progress they have made with their English but throughly entertained by their stories. Today Terry told me about his weekend encounter with his little brother Eric. Eric is 4 and also a student at HABA. Terry refers to Eric solely as "my baby".

Terry: "ABBY TEEEEEEEEEACHER! This weekend my baby scratch me"

Me: "Oh no Terry. Why did Eric scratch you?"

Terry: "My baby Eric...I give him toy....and then he scratch me"

Me: "Was he angry at you Terry?"

Terry: "No. I just give him toy and then he scratch me like this [insert clawing of the face]. I dunno. My baby Eric is crazy"

I somehow think there was more to the story than this. I sincerely hope that none of you encountered any crazy scratching babies this weekend. They seem quite dangerous and out of control.

Oh yeah. They wanted me to take a picture of them coloring. They wanted people to know that yes, they are indeed good students.

"Abbbbbby teacher we will color and you take picture. ok?"

and then 2 seconds later....



p.s. in order to update this more often and to truly show what my everyday life in Korea is like, I have made a pact with David to not only take a picture everyday but to post one as well. so far 3/3. Ole!

Jogyesa

Today we explored Jogyesa, a Buddhist temple in the heart of Seoul. It was a freezing but perfectly clear day. After joining Danny and Alex on a private guided tour, we were told the story of the Buddha's life. The story was depicted in paintings surrounding the main temple hall which housed three giant Buddha figures.
We were told to come back at 5:30 to hear the bell ringing ceremony.

Shamu Shamu

The past saturday was spent strolling through the two big department stores that are a few blocks away from my apartment in Anyang. I was overjoyed with all the Christmas decorations and definitely caught the Christmas spirit bug. I think I am even going to buy a tree tomorrow to decorate. After an afternoon of shopping and napping, we headed out to eat Shamu Shamu (I think thats how you spell it). Shamu Shamu is a style of cooking that involves adding thinly sliced pieces of meat, in our case beef, and various vegetables to a boiling broth that is conveniently located on your table. You pick out of the broth what you want to eat and it is all very delicious. Tableside cooking might be one of my favorite things about Korea. Whether it be bbq or dak galbi, I love having everything cooked right in front of me. It makes eating a much more social event when everyone is centered around the communal food rather than staring down at their own plate.