"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.

thankful.

christmas lights in Beomgye.

a boy that always makes me laugh. multiple times everyday.

costco in Korea.

the internet.

blankets...many many blankets.

champagne.

daily emails from family.

packages from home.

taco seasoning.

cheese.

opportunity.

7 year olds that are in a cooperative mood.

giggles.

walks home.

beautiful, wonderful, amazing friends. even if you are half way around the world right now.

beautiful, wonderful, amazing family. ever if you are half way around the world right now.

the upcoming thanksgiving party.



and probably you.

"Be here now, and know the beauty of what is.
Free yourself from concerns about what was,
or anxieties about what will be." - Ralph Marston

Out, About and the Daily Grind

It has been far too long since I've last posted. This is most likely due to the fact that the weekends are full of random adventures and the weeks are full of long days and lazy, lazy nights. Not a bad life. The strange thing though, is that today when I went out to run errands (recharge my cell phone which is less than $10 a month, and pick up some things for special 'pepero day' dinner) I hardly even felt like I was in Korean (or any other foreign country for that matter). Things have become so routine here. And not routine in a bad way at all. I just knew exactly where I needed to go, in order to do exactly what I needed to do. No more guessing where I could find some brie cheese or fretting over the fact that I wouldn't be able to communicate what I needed to cell phone guy. I just simply went about my business.

School has become routine as well. I know exactly what Monday means and exactly what a Wednesday will bring (oh terrible Wednesday and the 'white' hairs that you give me). Each week more or less the same things happen and soon enough it is the glorious weekend again. Speaking of grey hairs, the other day Juliet found 12 on my head. Sam offered to pluck them out in exchange for 500 won (which is like .50). I refused his offer and he was fairly upset. He didn't speak the rest of class which actually wasn't a bad thing at all.

Anyways here are few of my favorite pictures from the last couple weeks. They include trips to Seoul Tower, a hike in the huge Bukhansan park right outside the city, and finally the zoo in Seoul Grand Park. Oh and of course pictures of the Halloween celebration at school. Far too cute even if I did get swarmed a couple times for being in charge of the candy. Each kid was only allowed one lollipop each....what kind of Halloween is that?

Happy Chuseok! Let's go to the beach!

A couple weeks ago South Koreans celebrated the harvest with a holiday similar to Thanksgiving called Chuseok. For the weeks prior to the long weekend, gift sets took over the shelves of the grocery stores. These gift sets ranged from beauty supply sets, shampoo, Whiskey bottles and my favorite by far, the Spam set. This box held what I hope to be more Spam then a person can/should eat in a year. Apparently during the three days of Chuseok Koreans eat a lot of songpyeon (sort of stuffed rice cakes. We got to make some at school!) and sometimes visit/pay respect to their ancestors. At school I asked Anna teacher if she was excited for the upcoming events, she quickly replied with "Not really. I have to cook all weekend while the men relax. Women don't get excited for Holidays like Chuseok and New Years".

At school we had a good time playing traditional games and singing songs. All the kids wore their Hanboks and were super adorable. Sarah teacher even brought in her traditional clothing so that I wouldn't be left out.



Since there was no school on Friday because of Chuseok, David and I decided to head out of the city to an Island off the West coast in the Yellow Sea. Our trip to Doekjoekdo was perfect and so needed. The journey there included an empty subway ride, a sold out ferry but tickets for the one 3 hours later, watching a sketch comedy show in the terminal that we laughed at with all the Koreans even though we had no idea what was going on, a ferry ride that was far too choppy for my liking, a taxi ride that could have been a roller coaster with a taxi driving in aviators, a gold chain and redsox shirt and finally the beach.

We laid on the beach for hours, watching all the other 50 foreigners who had the same idea, then headed into town when hunger took over. While walking around we found a guy who we had met at mudfest. He graciously invited us to the bbq that his pension was putting on for him and his friends. After dinner and a gorgeous sunset, there was of course the necessary drinking around the beach bonfire. Somehow we ended up at a noreabong (private karaoke room) with a couple from Canada and New Zealand. Since we didn't bring a tent the beach was our hotel for the night and offered us a covered platform with opened arms. We even found eggs and sausage for breakfast the next morning! After a little more exploring we hitched a ride with the previously mentioned cabi back to the ferry and back to reality. Not a bad way to spend the weekend.








oh yeah....for Winter break I bought a plane ticket to France. Paris for Christmas? Why the heck not.