Lunar New Year

Yay for Korea and giving us a five day weekend for Lunar New Year. Jessica, Katelyn and I ventured out of Seoul to Gyeongju, the former capital of Korea during the Shilla Dynasty. That means there was lots of historical stuff and lots of dead guys... i.e. kings' tombs. We walked a lot, looked at the historical stuff, and goofed off. As Katelyn said about a gazillion times, the weather was beautiful. It was a good three days.

Jess and Katelyn in front of some tombs

The oldest astronomical observatory in Asia

Bulguksa - an old temple

Me and Jess in front of the Anapji Pond

Walking through the park

What's been going on

My mom mentioned that I haven't posted anything in two weeks. That's mostly because I'm pretty lazy as of late, and I didn't think anything particularly interesting has happened. Definitely no more pictures of Rain without his shirt, which is a total bummer.

So here's what's been going on:
- It's freezing here. Literally. And it reminds me how much I dislike winter.
- A couple of weeks ago we went to a professional basketball game and my dream came true; really tall Korean men. Unfortunately they were all on the court so I couldn't actually interact with them. On the bright side, Korean fans are pretty much awesome and super loud. I fit right in, except for the whole being white and redheaded thing.
- I ate some delicious Indian food on Saturday - yum.
- I went out with my Korean friend Chris (real name Sung Cheon). We met up with his friend Seun Cheol who owns this really fancy salon; we're talking rock inlaid entry way, and separate rooms for hair cutting, hair washing, and facial stuff. Seun Cheol took us to an equally fancy restaurant with cool chandeliers and water ponds. And he paid for the whole thing. I felt like I was in a Korean drama. He also told me I'd look better without bangs; he asked me to pull them back and then told me I have a beautiful forehead.
- I bought a jump rope in an attempt to get into shape, only to realize that the ceilings in my apartment are too low. I may pump myself up, bundle up, and go out side to do it, but like I said it's freezing. We'll see how it goes.

New Year's Rain

Happy New Year everyone (a little late). My new year's here in Seoul started off with a lot of rain... But I don't mean precipitation. I mean the Korean pop star Rain. Jessica, her little sister Gail, and I went to a Rain concert to start the year off right - and boy was it right. Most epic new year's ever!!! He was cute (besides the oddly permed hair), funny, he sounded good when he sang, and the boy's got some moves - I need to learn some of his sweet dance moves.

Waiting excitedly for the show to start.

RAIN!!!! In some sweet army pants.

Rain in some even sweeter plaid pants. Just too cute. And I want his shoes...

Rain singing.

Rain without his shirt on (which he did a couple of time to appease the ladies). Probably the most epic part of the concert. And can you tell that his pants and shoes are sparkly? Awesome!

The concert ended at 2 am, and afterward we had to walk for an hour because the metro was closed and there were hordes of people trying to get a taxi. We finally managed to flag one down and he was kind enough to blast the heater for us. But it was all so worth it. Rain - I love you.

Christmas is approaching

Because Christmas is on Saturday, the whole week at school I spent teaching my students Christmas vocabulary and why we celebrate Christmas. I asked them a lot of questions about what they were doing and what presents they wanted. And sometimes there were some really funny answers. These are the ones that made me laugh out loud.

Me: What would you want Santa to bring you?
3 girls: A boyfriend!
Boy: Superpowers!
Another Boy: The Universe.

Can you see a trend? All the girls want a boyfriend and the boys want supreme power. Awesome...

Me: Who was Jesus' mother?
Girl: Mary.
Me: Right, and Jesus was born in a stable.
Boy: What's a stable?
Me: A place where horses and cows live.
Boy: Mary was a horse?!?

After doubling over in laughter, I was able to explain that, no Marry was not a horse. But it was probably the best class, just because it was so funny. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and that my little stories have brought a smile to your face. Merry Christmas!

It still makes me laugh

I had the following conversation with one of my male Korean coworkers -

Me: Hey Son Ho, have you found a place where we can play basketball?
Son Ho: Not yet, but I'm looking.
Me: Really? Because I asked you like a week ago.
Son Ho: I'm looking I promise. Don't worry.
Me: I don't believe you.
Son Ho: You SPICY woman!
Me (doubled over in laughter): Did you just call me spicy?
Son Ho: Yes, all you American women are spicy and scary.
Me: Am I scary?
Son Ho: No, you're cute.

I'm still not sure what to make of this conversation. It's the first time anyone's ever called me spicy. I'm going to take it as a compliment...

Sometimes I wonder...

Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out to be a teacher. For the most part I really like my job. It's a whole lot more interesting than the desk job I had in D.C. And I get to joke around with kids and ask them silly questions and call it work.

But sometimes I don't know what they're thinking or feeling. Today I made a 12-year-old boy cry, and I don't even know what I did. Okay, I do know what I did - I scolded him for talking in Korean and then playfully, and I mean playfully, tapped the brim of his baseball hat. And apparently that made him really upset because he told me that he wasn't the one that had spoken in Korean. I said it was because I liked his hat, but the next thing I know his head is down, with his hat brim covering his face and tears streaming down his cheeks. I felt awful! But I swear I wasn't being mean, I was just doing my job. So after that I took him out in the hall and apologized. But I'm pretty sure he was still mad at me. So I felt really bad, but then I thought, "I didn't do anything wrong! And he's 12, he should not be crying." And then I felt bad for thinking like that.

Ugh, it can be an ugly cycle. Let's just hope that when I see him again on Thursday that he won't hate my stinking guts.

Painting

There is a really awesome and kind lady in my church branch, Susan Mortensen, who is also talented at painting. One day I was at her apartment and she was showing me her paintings. I said, "I want to learn how to paint. Will you teach me?" And she quickly replied, "Sure." So now, on Tuesday mornings I go over to her house and paint for a couple of hours. It's fun... and frustrating. Because painting can be frustrating. But I'm really enjoying it. Yesterday I finished my first painting. Here it is:

My artistic rendition.

Here's the picture I painted from. A few things in the painting were changed.