Weekend antics

The weekend consisted of a Korean culture singles activity which included a Korean language lesson, listening to a Korean instrument called the Kayagum, learning the Korean fan dance (which was somewhat hilarious), and eating kimchi pancakes.

Young Joo playing the kayagum

Young Joo doing the fan dance

Us attempting to learn the fan dance

Following the activity a group of us went on a night cruise on the Han River. It was pleasant and nice to be out on the water.

Our group on our boat

Amber, Young Soo, and me - Young Soo wouldn't smile with teeth so I tickled him.

Relaxing with my new pirate boyfriend. Isn't he handsome?

Farewell Cindy Ford

It's a sad day in the land of Korea, for Cindy Ford has left it. She's probably already in America as I type this. Korea will be a bleaker place without her presence.

What can I say about Cindy? She is a RIOT! She makes everything more fun. She takes amazingly awesome photos, like this one:


She can talk to anyone. She likes to touch guys' pecs. She convinced a really hot Korean guy to wear a couple shirt with her in public. I am in awe. I am envious.

She is up for any adventure. She buys some really interesting things - like candy that has a fist on it just so she can "pound it", and really ugly fake glasses.

But she can pull it off, as always. I shall miss you Cindy Ford. More than you will know.

Lions and tigers and bears, OH MY!

And giraffes, and rhinos, and monkeys, and even skunks, raccoons, and armadillos. All at the Seoul Grand Park Zoo - which was huge. So huge in fact we got to ride a ski lift to the top and then walk down. It was hot, and humid, but also a blast. When you're with friends it's always a good time.

Amber and Gina (and Erin in the background)

Cindy G. and Jess

Me and Ben

Young Soo on the ski lift.

Mike and Cindy F.

The whole group after the dolphin show. Our photographer cut off the dolphins' heads :(

And Giraffes!!!

Why I'm a Cool Teacher

I've had a conversation class with three students for the past month. These students, Kyung-Yup, Yeon-Seo, and Yu-Jung, were all very, very quiet. It was supposed to be a conversation class but it mostly turned in to me asking question after question in an attempt to make them talk. The thing is, they all had really good English - they just were shy or had no desire to speak. And this class was two hours a day, twice a week. So you can imagine me wracking my brain for new topics and questions to ask them. I usually ended the class playing some sort of English game, to give myself and them a reprieve.

Well, today was the last class with them, because it was just a summer session. I pretty much felt fresh out of ideas when it came to a game. So.... I taught them how to play Go Fish. I maintain that this is still an English game because they had to ask for cards in English and say "go fish". For some reason Yeon-Seo thought saying "go fish" was really, really funny and giggled every time she said it. I asked her if she took laughing pills, which may have only confused her.

But the real reason I'm a cool teacher is because at the very end of class I taught them all how to shuffle. And they all did it. This will come in handy for their future poker tournaments.

Yes ... I'm the best teacher ever.

A day at the races

Friends, running horses, getting betting tips from old Korean men - what more could you ask for? Oh yeah, how about winning 8,600 won (about $7) on one of my horses. Booya! (I don't dwell on the fact that I really only made 50 cents because the rest of it went to betting). But it was fun!

The area where the racecourse was was pretty. We could hardly tell we were still in Seoul.

Friends!

And they're off!

Me with my winnings. That's right, be jealous.

Student quotes of the week

It's Friday the 13th, and it sure feels like it too. I couldn't sleep well last night so I came to work exhausted and, I'll admit, grumpy. My students did nothing to help the matter. Because it's Friday they want to be here even less than I do. Thankfully, the day is almost over.

On a bright note there were some humorous student quotes of the week.

Me: If you could meet a famous person, who would you want to meet?
Boy: Optimus Prime

Me: I went to visit my friend.
Girl: You have friends? (the whole class erupts in laughter)
Me: Yes, I have friends.
Girl: I mean here, in Korea.
Me: Yes, even here in Korea.

Me: How was your vacation?
Girl: Dirty.

This and that

On Saturday I had my first writer's group meeting with Denice and Christina. This will be really good for motivation, because we all know that's something I lack. We've dubbed ourselves "Write On!" (this was my idea, so everyone can blame me for the cheesiness). Seeing as how it's monsoon season, I waded through puddles and sauna like air to get there. But it was a good first meeting, so here's to motivation and Write On!

Later that day I went to lunch with Erin, Jessica, and our new friend Young Soo. Apparently Young Soo has been in our church branch for 4 months, but said he was too shy to talk to anyone. We quickly broke him of that. He's a pretty funny guy, even when he's not trying to be. This is what we found out about him - his favorite food is a sandwich, his favorite ice cream is vanilla with nothing in it, he got his master's degree in Wales, and he's really, really ticklish. We found other stuff too, but for time's sake I won't go on. I told him he wasn't allowed to sit in the back of church anymore, and he stuck by his word. New friends are a grand thing.

A little change

In honor of summer and the oppressive heat, I've changed the blog background. I hope you enjoy it. It matches my hair so it should remind you of me :)

I've had the last three days of work off because the school was closed for "summer vacation." Not much of a vacation, but I guess I'll take what I can get. I spent most of the time relaxing. I read, I watched some movies on my computer, I went shopping, and I went to dinner with my friends. It was lovely. I'm kind of dreading heading back to work today - but the nice thing is that it's Thursday so I only have two days before the weekend.

Getting out of Seoul

Over the weekend I went to visit Haejin, who had moved to Busan. It was really nice getting out of Seoul for a bit and to see a friend. It was insanely hot and humid, but also beautiful. All that humidity makes everything green. On Saturday, we went grocery shopping, went for a walk along a creek, got our hair cut, went for a walk on the beach where there were literally a million people, relaxed, and saw the night view of Busan.

On Sunday he took be to Gyeongju, which used to be the capital about 1,000 years ago during the Shilla Dynasty. We saw a Buddhist temple built in 751 A.D., we ate traditional Korean food, we walked around part of the old palace grounds, and we saw a lotus pond. Weekend = success.

Night view of Busan.

Lanterns at the Buddhist Temple.

View from the Buddhist Temple.

Part of the old palace grounds.

Haejin and some bamboo.

Lotus pond.

Beautiful Gyeongju.