Monday's 5

Wooo, this my 200th blog post! Who ever thought I'd keep up with it? Least of all me!
Well, today so far has been completely uneventful. I came to work at 9, so have to work till 5 (instead of my usual 8-4), so I'm just hanging out waiting until 4.45 when I can go and catch the bus. And it is hot today!

Hmmm, 5 things that are good about today:

1) No fish at lunch

2) I've started planning Summer camp and it's looking good. I spent this morning making a board game. It was fun to make, hopefully it's fun to play.

3) I'm reading the second book of 'The Land of Oz' series. They're weird. I'm not even sure they are good books, but it's entertaining enough for the moment.

4) 15 minutes until home time.

5) 200 blog posts! That's awesome :)

Weekend update Monday

Yet again, another amazing weekend! I did so much, I'll probably forget to write about a whole bunch of it!

Ok, Friday night:

Andy came and picked me up from home and we went and got some dinner. Ended up getting steak as a take-away and eating it in the park - best picnic food ever! And Andy is happy to eat his steak as rare as me, so it was delicious! Then, we drove for almost three hours to get to where we were staying on the East Coast. The hotel was right across the street from the beach - you could hear the waves all night.

Saturday:

Had a local speciality - some sort of mussel soup, and some seafood pancakes for breakfast. Korean food is amazing when you know what to order (well, when Andy knows what to order)! Then, Andy and I went and looked around some docks/ a fishing area, and then went to the beach. It was a bit overcast so the sea didn't look very inviting. I didn't go swimming, but I did fall asleep on the beach. Then it was lunch time - we went to a seafood restaurant where we had a bunch of raw local seafood. Some of it was nice, but some of it (like icy fish soup and raw octopus) was just 'ok'. Then, in the evening we went to a huge festival. It ran along both sides of a big river and there were tents and stalls and shows and displays of EVERYTHING! We walked around for a bit and then randomly saw a circus show. It was really good! I've seen quite a few circuses and stuff, so amateur stuff can be sadly unimpressive to me, but this circus was great! The 'special effects' and set and stuff were basic, but the performers were really talented, and did some things I've never seen. One guy juggled two balls with his mouth! And a guy balanced on a tightrope on a ladder! It really was a lot of fun.

Then, it was time for more food! There were lots of places cooking pigs on spits over hot coals, so I *had* to eat that! Apparently there was also whale meat - it just looked like pork belly to me - and I sort of wanted to try it, but then I wasn't sure I felt good about eating a whale. It might have been an endangered one or something. But, the pork was delicious! And now I've made myself hungry :) After eating, we walked some more, and ate some snacks and what not. A great day!

Sunday:

Andy and I went to the fish market in the morning and had a look at all the fish. Then, for breakfast we had two huge fresh crabs! Andy says they were local. They were alive in a tank, and the guy fished them out, killed them, and steamed them, and then we ate them. It was really delicious! And quite an experience. Then, we started the trip home. We decided that instead of taking the direct route home, which would take about 3 hours, we'd go the scenic route, which was about 5 hours. Well, it took us much longer than that! 

Andy drove along the water front whenever he could find roads that went along it. We stopped to watch some surfers at a beach and eat some pecan pie. Then, more driving and a stop at Naksansa - a Buddhist temple built on top of a hill/mountain overlooking the ocean. It was an amazing spot and we walked around there for a while, admiring the view and the buildings. Then, on the way down, they were serving noodles for lunch for free, so we got some. Pretty yummy, actually. We also drank from one of the random fountains all over the hill.

Then, more driving! And we went to Seoraksan National Park. By this point it was raining, but that didn't stop the adventure. We went on a cable car up one of the mountains and up into the clouds. We walked up a path to a big rocky outcrop overlooking a big drop off. Well, I assume it was a big drop, it was too foggy to see. Andy was very not keen on the height :) There were lots of squirrels and they were really unafraid of people, one came really close to my foot. After coming back down off the mountain, we looked at a map and decided spur of the moment to walk to a waterfall a couple of km away. The walk was really beautiful - through 'proper' forest and rivers and stuff. We walked and climbed, and got to the waterfall, which as it turns out was not that impressive. On the way back we saw some native fish, and a mountain frog, and more squirrels. It was great!

Then, more driving, plus a BIG stop at a rest area to try and wait out some of the awful traffic jam heading back to Seoul. That part was a bit crappy, but not too bad. I eventually got home at about 11pm, so got a good night's sleep and now I'm at crappy work!

Anyway, it was a fantastic weekend. Andy was amazingly good company, and great fun. I'm so glad we didn't just take the direct 3 hour dive back to Seoul! The 10 hour version was much better :D

Photos will be in the next post.

Off to the Sea Friday

Yay - it's Friday! It's been a pretty good week all round - apart from Courtney leaving - and the weekend looks set to be awesome too. There are possible thunder storms predicted late tomorrow, but I love the sea in stormy weather, so that just makes me happy.

Sadly, the shabu shabu place was closed for Courtney's leaving dinner, but we went just across the road to a Chinese bar instead. I find the food quite horrible, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Basically it just served seafood, chicken, or pork battered and deep fried in different sauces. All are pretty sweet and oily. Not ideal, but not inedible. I think the plan for tonight is steak, so looking forward to that!

Andy and I are leaving later this evening to drive to the East Sea. I'm not sure how long it takes to get there, a good 2-3 hours at least. But, I get ALL DAY tomorrow by the sea, and Andy says it really good water, and the beach is a nice one, so I'm happy. There will be photos :)

Today's five:

1) There was no bony fish for lunch at all this week! Major success!

2) I bought some new bras from E-Mart yesterday. I've read that lots of western girls can't buy underwear in Korea, so I must be really lucky because it fit me really well. And it's so cheap!

3) Korea has huge spring onions and massive ants. This amuses me. The spring onions are about the size they must have been when dinosaurs were around. I think if/when I return to NZ the spring onions will look like chives! And as for the ants? Ew. Very big. I went and sat outside at lunch time, and now I keep imagining there are massive ants crawling on my legs.

4) No teaching yesterday or today. I think I've almost read the entire internet.

5) East sea weekend!

Mermaids on a Thursday

So, I was just googling something completely unrelated. "How to teach gerunds" was where I was headed, but a typo resulted in "how to be" instead of "how to te[each]", and what pops up in the google suggestion thing?

"How to be a mermaid". 

Well, this simply had to be clicked. Turns out there are women out there, fully adult, normal looking women, who get latex mermaid tails custom made and go swimming in them. For real. There's even a convention, and possibly some kind of competition to be 'the worlds best mermaid'. Wow, the things I never knew. I did always want to be a mermaid when I was little. I had the mermaid Barbie - it was the best one!

She was so cool!

Haha, annnnyway. I, for some stupid reason, decided to eat some Oreos this afternoon, and now I feel so sick. Seems like the longer I keep up this no grains/minimal sugar thing, the worse I feel when I do eat them. God, I wish I'd just learn now and stop even wanting to eat them occasionally. Erg, I really do feel sick to my stomach :(

Today, at school, there were more unexplained alarms, and all the lights were turned off and the internet went down. I don't know what it was, other than turning off the lights in the teacher's room, everyone ignored it. I guess I should just ask someone what's going on, but I'm too lazy. Probably because I ate those stupid Oreos. 

So, tonight is Courtney's last night in Korea. I haven't seen her for a few days. It'll be sad to say goodbye to her tonight, but it is good that she'd going back to her family. We're all trying to go out for shabu shabu again, but I am predicting the place will be closed by the time she finishes work. It doesn't matter though, we'll find food somewhere.

In other news, Andy booked tickets to Japan this morning! So, Japan trip in July is go! I'm super excited and REALLY hoping that I'll be able to eat ramen without feeling really sick. I definitely want to eat it while I'm in Japan, but I might have to keep it to a minimum. We'll see. Definitely no Oreos!

I've hod no teaching again today. Hence the mermaid exploration. I also learned why the sky looks blue and how to correctly use bobby pins. Yeah, who knew there was a 'right way'? Me neither. Ha, and they pay me to do this. I'm really starting to hope my school has funding for me to stay with them another year. I'm not ready for my Korean adventure to be over yet - things are just getting interesting (plus my savings account is SO happy). Well, even if this school can't keep me, there are plenty more (just I've got a pretty sweet deal here, and although I complain of boredom, who wants to do more work than they have to? If I can sign on for another year, I might take an extramural uni course or something. You know, for fun.).

Anyway, it's THREE WHOLE HOURS until I can go home. I need something to research...

Lol, assuming anyone bothers to show up to this last after school class. 

Ok, enough rambling. Today's five:

1) Japan flights are booked, and the old tickets are being refunded. Excellent!

2) I sat under a big tree at lunch time today and it was so nice. It is very hot outside, but in the shade with the wind blowing, it's really lovely.

3) I managed to sleep until 7am this morning! I did wake up at five, but I got back to sleep again.

4) I haven't spoken to a single person since 8am, when Andy called to tell me about the Japan flights. That was seven hours ago.

5) Mango is delicious and so is avocado.

Not much Wednesday

Not a great deal to report yet today. Most exciting thing to happen is the fire alarm going off. Everyone just ignored it though, so I assumed we were't about to be consumed by a flaming inferno. Mind you, it was lunch time. It's probably take more than a fire to pry these kids away from their lunch!

So, yesterday Andy came around in the evening and we went for some 'Japanese' food for dinner. I say 'Japanese' because I'm pretty sure it was Korean-Japanese fusion. It was nice, anyway. Andy ordered because the whole menu was in Korean, and he got three-ish different things to try. There was a grilled pike and anchovies, a selection raw flounder, and some sashimi type stuff. It was all extremely fresh (like just caught out of the tank, filleted, and served). I enjoyed it heaps. Andy thinks it's weird that I don't eat bread, but so far I haven't had any problems when eating out. 

Also, once again, only one student turned up for my after school class. I told Mr B this morning, and he said that Thursday would be my last one. I feel guilty, like it's my fault the kids weren't coming. I really was trying my best to make the classes relevant and fun, and I was putting a lot of effort in, but I guess it was still no good. I'm also a bit worried that Mr B blames me. It's so hard to tell because he never talks to me about anything. I just hope that if there was a problem, that he'd tell me.

And I'm going to the East Sea this weekend! I'm not really sure what to expect, but if it's warm, sunny, and I can swim and sit on the beach, I'll be happy. Also, tomorrow is Courtney's last night in Korea and we're all going for shabu-shabu as a goodbye dinner. So sad!

1) Trip to the East sea id booked. Weekend of sun and sand, here I come!

2) Sun!

3) Nice chicken for lunch

4) I love wearing dresses.

5) Turns out if you book tickets to Japan using Korean websites they're almost half the cost of using English ones :)

예쁘다 Tuesday

So, this morning I was waiting for the bus, and an old lady walked past staring at me hardcore. I gave her a massive smile, and her face lit up, she gave me a huge smile back again and said "예쁘다", which means "you're pretty". Haha, kind of made my morning :) Another Korean lady in a restaurant told me I was beautiful on the weekend, too. My head is going to get so big in Korea! I also got told I was 'tall and skinny' by two different people. I guess the difference is: Westerners might think it, but Koreans just say it. At least they're saying nice things to me.

OK, today's five:

1) I got a great night's sleep last night. I managed to break the 5am wake up, and lasted until 5.40. Not great, but a start.

2) I've got 3 classes to teach today, plus an after school class. Yay!

3) Plans for a replacement Japan trip are under way. I won't reveal the details yet, in case I jinx it. But, it has the potential to be awesome!

4) Gorgeous weather today! Blue skies, sun, the works. I'm hanging out with Andy after work today, maybe we can go somewhere with water like a lake or river. Might be nice.

5) I had one kick-ass breakfast this morning. Left overs from dinner last night! Grilled salmon with avocado and mango salsa. Flash and delicious (and grain+sugar free). Perfect!

No, you can't have my number Monday

Another great weekend in the ROK. On Friday night Andy picked me up from work and we went to Costco in Seoul (which make 'The Warehouse' look like a Four Square). Then we had dinner by the Han river in Seoul. I didn't take any pictures, but the view was great - the lights from Seoul reflecting off the water looked amazing. We were going to meet up with Courtney and her workmates, but things got all messed up on her end, so I just went home to bed instead.

However, I keep waking up at 5am! So, if I go to be at around 11, get to sleep around 11:30, I only get about 5 and a half hours sleep - which is SO not enough for me. This has gone on all week, and I'm pretty tired now. I need to try and get to bed around 9pm if it's going to keep up. Not cool!

Anyway, on Saturday Courtney, Andy, and I went to a Korean folk village. It was pretty cool! They have traditional style Korean houses, tools, etc., etc. It was interesting and some of it was really quite beautiful. I especially like the stone carvings and the trees. After that we went to Andy's house and his mum mad us dinner. And she had made everything! All the pickles, sauces, and everything was home made, and in many cases, home grown. It was awesome! My favourite was a sour plum and chilli pickle - it was so good. Andy's parents really really sweet and it was nice to meet them. They didn't seem at all phased having two white girls wandering around their home :)

I liked this - apparently it's to ward off ghosts.

On Sunday I went to the Rose Festival at Seoul Grand Park with Laura. It was a large garden filed with roses and flowers. It was a lovely display of flowers, and there was also a walkway along the lakeside, which was nice. We spent a few hours wander among the flowers and taking photos, and then went to get some lunch. We had Mexican for lunch, and it was yum. Then, I met up with Courtney at the cinema and Laura went home. Courtney and I saw Men in Black III, and it was ok. It was funny in places, but lacked the spark of the first one. And the baddy alien was totally disgusting! It kept me entertained, though, so it was all good. Then, we met up with Nyasha, had some dinner, and caught the bus back to Osan. I managed to get to bed by 10.30, but still woke up at five this morning. Blegh.

And now it's Monday again! I get to teach two whole classes today! Woohoo!
This morning on the bus, I had my headphones. This guy hands me his smartphone with the massage "Can I take you number" translated into English on the screen. I was just like "no". Whatever he wanted, I didn't.

Today's five:
1) Cherries for breakfast.

2)Teaching time at last!

3) There was no bony fish at lunch.

4) I'm going to go ask Mr B if I can go home. I need to sleep so badly!

5) Salmon and avocado for dinner. Perfect!