Russian Dinner

I've lived in California for 22 years and in Korea for 3 years, but I can definitely say that I've gotten a more worldly food experience while living in Korea. In California, I ate a lot of Korean, American, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, and Thai food (this is only authentic food). But in Korea, I've eaten Indian, Turkish/Nepalese, Spanish, Brazilian, Chinese, Mexican, Greek, and now Russian food. Korea is such a global country- more global than people realize.

On Saturday, my good friend Jay organized a Russian dinner at a Russian restaurant. Actually, Jay is the one who introduced me to authentic Turkish/ Nepalese food (and I'm not referring to the kebab stands all over Hongdae). We went around 8:10 and it was packed. There were a few foreigners but most of the customers were Russians. Apparently, the area we were in is Little Russia and out of the restaurants in Little Russia, Jay chose a restaurant called Fortune. It's a medium-sized place (seats maybe 40 people). We went family style and had Jay order for all of us since none of us knew anything about Russian food. He did a perfect job of ordering a good variety of meats, meat pastries, and vegetarian dishes for the 2 vegetarians in our group. This is what we ate!

Russian meat pastry: flaky croissant on the outside, meaty goodness on the inside

lamb ribs, pickled carrots, beet salad, chicken skewers, lamb skewers

We had another appetizer, along with the pickled carrots and the pastry, but I didn't get a picture of it. We called it a Russian burrito or crepe. It was seasoned ground beef wrapped in a crepe. Everything was and is delicious! I'd definitely go back again.

There was, of course, drinking involved, too. We drank Russian beer called Baltika, but I didn't like it. It was watery and tasted like Cass. The Russian vodka was strong (60% alcohol), so the girls mixed it with mango juice. The restaurant had concentrated juice, so the vodka and juice cocktails were delicious.

Restaurant: Fortune
Location: Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station, exit 5
Speaks: Russian, Korean, English

Snowboarding at Yongpyeong

On Saturday, I went snowboarding with some friends and co-workers. My co-teacher Jiwon and I were talking about snowboarding and we decided it's a rigorous and expensive sport, but so much fun! Rigorous because you will get hurt. Expensive because even though we got discounts on our bus tickets, lift tickets, and rentals by using 3rd party rental shops, we easily spent 100,000 Korean won each. But fun because the feeling of riding down the slopes is exhilirating. Especially if you don't fall. ;)

It was only my 3rd time snowboarding, so I fell a lot. I fell on my butt several times, but it's not my butt that's sore right now. It's my neck, arms, and chest. I fell forward a few times and when I fell, I fell hard. So hard that I got the wind knocked out of me all 3 times. I couldn't breathe and my chest hurt. It felt like an anxiety attack. It passed and I was able to get back up again. The 3rd time really scared me, so I was more cautious after that. You can't be too careful when you're learning how to snowboard though. You have to be gutsy and be okay with getting hurt. I was trying to learn how to make turns, but I was too scared to snowboard backwards. It scared me to think that I would probably fall, so I would get up but panic and fall backwards. I'll master it another time. In the meantime, it makes me want to improve my yoga skills. I was never good at balancing forward or backward, so I know what area to work on.

Yongpyeong resort has shuttle buses that depart from different cities (i.e. Seoul, Suwon, Bundang, etc.). The Suwon bus left at 6:20am and got to Yongpyeong in 2 hours. Then we called the rental store to pick us up. They took us to their store where we tried on our boots, rental clothes, and picked up miscellaneous items like gloves and socks. Their accessories were all overpriced, so I'd recommend buying them at Homeplus or Emart before the trip. They also rent goggles if you don't want your own pair. It was convenient because the rental store picked us up, dropped us off, and came back to pick up the rentals at no extra charge! We even got a bigger discount for making a reservation on the phone. We left Yongpyeong on the 7pm bus, but we really could have made the 5pm bus. Note to self: Rental stores allow customers to leave the rental equipment in a pile without meeting the person. Customer service in Korea is so awesome sometimes. ^^b

EDIT with pictures

sooyun uhnnie, sunmi, jiwon, and me (where was Danielle??)

yongpyeong cream cheese stuffed pretzel

Good-byes

With vacation and end-of-the-year activities at school, it's been hard to keep going to yoga regularly, but this week was a new start. I went to yoga on Monday and Wednesday. It was nice to get back into my workout routine. I couldn't run as long on the treadmill nor could I keep my balance during all of the yoga activities. But it shouldn't take too long to be able to rebuild my muscle, as long as I keep going regularly.
On Friday, I went to the school faculty dinner to welcome the new teachers at my school. We ate seafood soup. This Korean dish has everything from king clams to baby clams to live octopus. Literally. I saw them put the octopus in while it was alive. It was squirming while the waiter held it down in our boiling soup. The waiter suggested we eat the octopus first because it just gets too chewy if it sits in the soup for too long. So we each picked up a piece as soon as the waiter left. It was so delicious. The octopus was a perfect amount of chewy and the seasoning of the soup complemented the octopus perfectly. After the dinner, I joined the younger teachers to get come coffee. I missed my Friday yoga class, but I didn't regret it because it was nice to get to know my colleagues better. Hopefully, come Monday, I'll feel more comfortable with them. The teachers at the school talk mostly about school work, but we talked about things I could relate to, too. After coffee, I stopped by home to change and went to The Big Chill for my friend's going away party. Every Friday, this bar has ladies night from 9-11. Girls drink for free. By the time I got there, everyone was merry. After getting a couple drinks, we got some food in Yeongtong and all slept over at a friend's house. We ate homemade rice krispies for dessert there. We were all supposed to wake up at 5 am because the guest of honor had to catch the bus to the airport, but only one of us woke up. She's the second or third Suwoner to leave this month and more will leave in the upcoming weeks. It's a sad time of the year. The friends I make in Korea are like family to me. We talk about the cultural differences we face in Korea. We share stories about our students. We make fun of each other. We go on trips around Korea. Korea would be a lonely place without the friends I find in foreigners here. Today, I feel especially thankful for all of the friendships I've gained in Korea.

Fun Weekend

Saturday's weather was beautiful in Korea. I wore my winter coat and a scarf, but ended up carrying my scarf around and was even hot without it. In the morning, my friends and I went to Gangnam for our laser hair removal appointment (so cheap in Korea!). Afterwards, we went to watch This Means War, which I highly recommend. It's an action-packed romantic comedy with plenty of eye candy. It was our first time at the CGV in Gangnam and let me just say....the engineers of that building must have been cuh-ra-zy. In America, escalators are usually next to each other so that it's easy to go from floor to floor, up or down. The escalators in Korea, however, are scattered! It's so confusing because it's hard to find the entrances. The elevator didn't even go to the 6th floor where our movie was playing. We almost missed the beginning because we had to backtrack and couldn't find the right escalator. The movie put us in high spirits though and when we walked out of the theatre, we were blinded by the sun. One of my friends immediately pulled out her sunglasses like a diva.
Some friends went their own ways, but a few of us went to De Chocolate Coffee for some coffee. I really like that cafe! I'm not really a chocolate or a coffee person, but who can pass up chocolate plus coffee?! After coffee, 3 of us decided to spontaneously check out Mie's Container. We've always wanted to eat there, but the line is always ridiculously long. The line is always 98% female, too. It's because this restaurant is also known as the "Hooters for girls." The employees are all supposed to be good-looking guys. We got in line around 3:30 and were seated around 4:45. It was a long wait, but I had good company.
When we finally got inside the sacred doors, I was impressed. The restaurant won a graphic design award in 2011, and I could see why. The theme of the restaurant is "construction site," so everything from the interior to the table numbers reminded me of a construction site. The waiters are always shouting to each other, too, just like at real construction sites. The three of us shared two dishes: a sweet potato pizza and a BBQ chicken set. When they gave us the food, the waiter gave us all high-fives and told us to enjoy our meal. The waiters were mostly good-looking. Sadly, they didn't have muscles, but I still enjoyed myself. The food was really good. The pizza had lots of gooey cheese and the BBQ chicken reminded me of Phil's BBQ in San Diego. The chicken platter came with potato chips, fries, coleslaw, corn salad, and 4 different dips. I'd go back for a second meal. One of my friends started talking about how the girls at Hooters dance, so she called one of the waiters over and asked him, "Do you guys dance? Sexy dance?" The waiter's face turned red and he shyly said, "No." Darn. No dancing is definitely not Hooters-esque.
My friend and I went back to my place so that I could get ready for a night of dancing! We got to Suwon station around 10 and headed to Lao Bar where we were going to meet with 2 other girls. We got some drinks and waited until 12 to go to Club Tao. It was a good night. The dj played a lot of techno for the first 30 minutes we were there, but the music changed to hip-hop/ R&B, which is my favorite. Besides the music, it was just a good night because we were all excited just to be dancing. I got home around 5 am, slept, and went to church. I met a friend for coffee afterwards. The coffee date turned into a dinner date when we called another friend. Then the 3 of us decided to get a drink at Lao. 1 drink turned into 4, but Stephen left us girls after his first drink. We missed the last bus and I accidentally got drunk. Just another fun weekend in Korea.

"Alive"

I was at work on Friday and Sarah messaged me out of the blue: "Do you want to go to the Big Bang concert tonight?" I had totally forgotten about the concert after we failed at getting tickets when they first went up for sale (sold out in 5 minutes!). My first thought was: Friday is yoga day and I feel fat. I thought again and decided a Big Bang concert is not something I can go to anytime. So after work, I rushed home, changed, and got on a bus to Seoul.
I don't consider myself a Big Bang fan. I like their music though and feel that they're one of the few musicians in the K pop industry. They're also really good performers, so I was excited to see them perform live! My friend and I got to the stadium and looked out for "the ahjussis." They're at every performance to sell tickets and to buy leftover ones from you. I knew we couldn't talk to them too early because they'll just overcharge us. If timed right, I can usually get tickets for the original price or even less. We got lucky because we ended up by the ticket booth and they had tickets left. We bought standing tickets and were really excited for a full concert experience.
The concert was so much fun! Everyone stood up to dance throughout the whole concert (even people who had seats). Big Bang fans are cool and know how to enjoy music by their favorite singers. I had a good time dancing, jumping, and watching Taeyang take his shirt off- twice. My friend and I are the only ones who didn't have an official yellow Big Bang flash light, but it's cool. I like to think we stood out with our multi-colored glow stars. They performed a lot of their new songs, but also some of their classics. (I wish JYJ could perform some old songs....) During "거짓말" and "하루하루," Big Bang asked the fans to sing with them. They wanted "거짓말" to be the fans' love song to them. And fans sang "하루하루" because at an old concert, the sound wasn't working, but fans improvised and sang along with them. Big Bang wanted to thank them for that; Fan-singer interaction is pretty awesome.
As usual, Seungri had fun hogging the mic and doing most of the talking. Taeyang was the shy one and only talked twice: once when he introduced himself and the second when the members made him. G-Dragon is a funny guy! When he introduced himself, he said that it was just in case some people didn't know who he was (like anyone who was there wouldn't know). Everyone giggled. TOP apologized because his condition wasn't good. Daesung flew through the stadium with angel wings during his solo. That was pretty awesome. I bet he got cool photos.
Overall, I had a good time. I like JYJ, but I'd like more Big Bang-type fans to go to JYJ concerts. Our favorite singers are on stage! Let's party with them, ya know?

Today

Today, I am a proud teacher. I should be a proud teacher every day, so I will say that I am an especially proud teacher today. My students just really made my day with the things they did today. One class almost made me tear up (good tears). So, keep on reading if you want to know what the excitement is all about!
The boys in my first class made me cheese. It was an excellent way to start my day. My co-teacher added a new activity to their daily routine. Every day before class starts, the English class leader will come up to the computer and play a short story for the class. They listen to the story. Then, they hear the story in a chant/rap version and the students are supposed to follow along. The point is to practice their speaking. The story we started with is really, really easy for my 6th graders. To spice the chant up, the boys in the class started to shout "hey" after each line. Some of them even raise their arms with each "Hey!" The first time we read the story, only a couple of the boys shouted, "Hey!" My co-teachers gave them stickers to encourage them. This time, all of the boys shouted, "Hey!" She asked the students to raise their hands if they shouted, "Hey!" Then, she asked them if they had done it in hopes of getting something....All of the boys looked at us with hopeful smiles. Man, if it was me, the owners of those cute smiles would have all gotten stickers!! But no stickers were given out today...I think I was more disappointed than the boys.
In my next class, I have a male student who I'm training.... to bring his pencil (umm..this is one of my 6th graders). The first time he brought his pencil without me forcing him to go back to his homeroom to get it, I sneaked him a sticker. He didn't bring it the next time, but these days, he's been bringing it to every class! And on top of that, he volunteered today! It made me the happiest/ proudest teacher to call on his raised arm.
We'll skip over my next class because they were just rowdy. Period
In my last 6th grade class, I got the cherry on top of my wonderful ice-cream sundae. My co-teacher played a rock, paper, scissor game with the whole class. It was her against the whole class, and the students had to sit down as they lost. Pretty soon, there were only two boys left standing. One of the boys standing has minor mental retardation. (He stays with his class for all subjects, but also takes Special Ed. classes.) All of his classmates started cheering for him: "Minchul, you have to win!" "Go, Minchul!" I almost got teary. It was a heart-melting sight. Even during the game, I had noticed that his tablemates were helping him. He was going to sit down because he didn't want to stand awkwardly, but his tablemates told him that it was okay for him to stay standing.
Heart warming goodness! I love days like today.

Friday Afternoon

Since it is the beginning of a new school year, my school made lots (and I mean lots) of changes to the English department. One of the changes is in the teachers: one male teacher left and one female teacher came in. These days in our office, we have 5 female English teachers. Simon's classes haven't started yet, so he's not in the office yet. All estrogen.
Right now, the 3 Korean teachers are huddled around the portable heater and they're talking about setting the new female teacher up with a guy. One of the Korean teachers is an ahjumma and she apparently has a high success record in matchmaking. The new co-teacher is excited; She is even asking her to look around for a girl for her older brother. The other Korean teachers are excited too. They're all racking their brains for all the single potential guys they can think of. They're having a serious discussion about her list. And wow! She's Christian! Her family doesn't go to church, but she became a Christian through her best friends' guidance. Amazing, really amazing. I feel really encouraged because it seems like a sign from God. I'm slowly finding out that there are Christian teachers at my school. I get super excited when I find out about this kind of stuff. It's like....uncovering hidden treasures that God laid out for me. Maybe I'm overreacting? They probably have no idea about the excitement I feel. I hope I'm not subconsciously staring at them whenever we're in the same room!
Anyways, I wish she could set me up. Am I still at the age where I would get the "you're so young. wait your turn." response?

"Tears of Heaven" Musical

I spent the Lunar New Year's holiday with my grandmother in Geochang. As expected, I ate lots of good homecooked food, but was fed too much food, gained weight, didn't go outside much, bonded with my grandmother, and...watched a lot of TV. But Lunar New Year holiday isn't what inspired me to blog. On Saturday, I hurried up back home so I could unpack, get ready, and head into Seoul to watch the musical "Tears of Heaven!" To be honest, after attending the "Tears of Heaven" preview concert, I was not impressed with the acting nor the singing. I had my doubts about the quality of the musical, but I watched it anyways because as a fan, I still wanted to see Kim Junsu perform and to support him. But, on Saturday, I was thoroughly impressed. I fell in love with the musical and became a Kim Junsu fan all over again. The thrilling reviews this musical is receiving are deserved.
The musical told the story of a love triangle between a Korean soldier, a U.S. Colonel, and a Vietnamese show girl. The setting was Saigon during the Vietnam War. The events seemed almost predictable, but they' weren't! There was a continual unexpected turn of events throughout the entire story. I enjoyed it because it included a little bit of everything: family love, betrayal, true love, convenient love, deceit, action, and an epilogue (I always love it when theres an epilogue, and we get to find out what happens to the characteres). There was also a little comedy in the musical: I may have been laughing because it was Junsu saying those lines, but nonetheless, it had the whole audience laughing!
The choreography and the lights were impressively artistic. There was one dance which depicted the death that haunted anyone, anytime, anywhere so well. It's not a history to get excited about, but the choreography with the actors falling slowly one by one, in tempo with the music was genius. The lights were colorfully, well-synced with the tempo and mood of the music, so the musical was a delight to my eyes too!
Brad Little is a world-renown musical actor who plays the part of the U.S. Colonel, and his voice gave me the chills. He has a deep, resounding voice and charismatic acting that adds to the seriousness of the musical.
The music was wonderful. The songs were all newly composed (by the Frank Wildhorn). The musical pieces and lyrics help to tell this beautiful love story. My favorite song is "Can You Hear Me?" It was sung a few times throughout the musical, but I didn't tire of hearing it. Another one of my favorites is "The Tiger and the Dove." Remember to listen carefully to this one because it's an important, concluding puzzle piece to this musical.
One added bonus of this musical is that all of the dialogue and the lyrics were translated: Korean dialogue was translated to English and English dialogue was translated to Korean. It was very foreigner friendly!
I wish everybody could watch this musical. I wish everybody could watch Kim Junsu perform. His acting was remarkable. This was a very emotional drama, and he personified his character so well. The performance I watched had him acting with Yoong Gong Ju: I give her high praise as a musical actress. She and Junsu had a believable romantic chemistry, and it takes two superb actors to achieve that. I definitely don't mind watching this again...

Back from Winter Break

On Sunday night, all I could think about was, "I can't believe winter vacation's already over! I can't believe I have to be on time for work tomorrow. I can't believe I start work again tomorrow." School has been in session for three days now and honestly, it's not really "in session." (The seven days of school between winter vacation and spring vacation are mainly dedicated to sending off our 6th grade graduates.) My co-teacher was smart and had us finish the book material before we went on vacation. So, we've been having fun talks with the students about their vacations, handing out end-of-the-year gifts, and spending a majority of the class time watching a movie! The rest of the day is dedicated to doing whatever I want to do! All right! Actually, It's getting boring. The other GEPIK teachers I've talked to are bored too. I've exhausted facebook, playing games on yahoo, checking my email, catching up on the news, etc. I think I'll take a book tomorrow.

Today, one of my favorite 5th graders told me he's moving to Daegu. No more dancing boy at my school anymore; No more Minseok to brighten my day. I'm really bummed... During winter vacation, I was telling Jessica that I don't like change. I get attached to my situation (especially to the people around me). I don't even have the best relationship with Mr.Han, but I was still a little sad to hear that he's not going to be an English teacher in the new school year. I might freak out if Dong Eun isn't my co-teacher anymore...

I also learned that my school is changing the entire English system for the new school year. I'm teaching different grade levels, and 5th and 6th graders are having three periods of English each week. It's a big change, considering they used to have two periods of English. This means I'll have to teach 24 hours each week (woohoo overtime pay, but boo more work). It also means I have to fit the extra English periods into my schedule, so there will be days when I'll have to teach without breaks in-between periods. It also means Jessica and I will have different lunch times certain days of the week. On a side note, I recently realized that I always use the pronoun "we" now. I'm trying to kick the habit, but it shows how much time I spend with Jessica! It's going to be a sad separation when our contracts are over. I can't believe I'm almost halfway through.

Girl Pamper Day

I've been browsing through a lot of people's blogs lately and I've realized that I write in a very fobby way. This is going on not only in my blog, but when I tweet or write anywhere in cyberspace. I'm okay with the ^^s, the ~s, the ㅋㅋs, etc. when I'm chatting, but I'm going to refrain from this fobby madness in my blog. Can I still accurately express myself? I hope so!
This past weekend, Jessica and I finally had the Girl Pamper Day that we had been planning for weeks. Our group of two turned to four once we found out that our friends wanted to get their hair done too.  The morning started off with brunch, coffee, tea, and something special at 나무그늘 (Na Moo Geu Neul). I'm definitely going back to this cafe. The decoration is very cute and the atmosphere is homey; seems like a good hangout or study cafe. There's also a library for people who go there to read and two computers for people to surf the web. Plus, if you order a drink, you have unlimited access to their breakfast bar. It has coffee, tea, jam, butter, and a variety of bread. My friends and I totally filled up on the bread there. After we ate and chatted for a little, we were ready to do Dr. Fish! My friends and I went to that cafe specifically to try it out, and we were not disappointed! (For those of you who don't know what it is: it's a spa treatment by fish that eat dead skin cells.) The worker had us rinse our feet before we started. There were two pools: one had tiny fish and the second pool had bigger fish. Caroline and I bravely started off at the pool with the bigger fish. We stared at their excited eyes and gaping mouths eagerly waiting for our hovering feet and we chickened out. We joined Dee and Jessica at the pool with the smaller fish. It was still hard to get our feet in the pool. (Maybe we were scared of being eaten alive?) We were screaming and giggling loudly, but I think the other customers are used to it because nobody seemed disturbed by our ruckus.Once we got our feet in, we started to enjoy it and take pictures of the fish nibbling on our feet. It's the sensation of vibrating feet.. Before we left, we tried out the pool with the bigger fish. They kind of hurt. The only reason we could do it was because the fish were distributed among four feet. If they were all nibbling on my feet, that would scare me. You can feel their fat bodies, so it's a little more nerve-wrecking!
After we put our shoes and winter gear back on, we set off to Myeongdong to get our hair done! I made reservations for us at the JUNO hair that I went to back in September. We spent about two hours there because we were getting hair treatments. Ooh la la. (This was definitely a girl's pamper day.) Both times I was there, I got male stylists. I actually wanted my first stylist to help me, but I lost his business card when my purse got stolen, so I couldn't request for him. I got another one from him on Saturday though! Anyways, I feel like the male stylists are always a little flirty. I think it's because they want their female customers to come back again. It's a pretty good business idea.
After hair time, our group of four turned to seven! Our group ate dinner in Itaewon, so I finally got to see Itaewon. it is definitely "foreigner district." Foreigners are everywhere in that area: walking on the streets...eating in the restaurants! There's a Taco Bell and lots of sports bars that you can't get anywhere else in Korea. These sports bars are run by Koreans, but about 98% of the people in them are foreigners. We ate at a Thai restaurant called Buddha's Belly, and it was not good. I've never been to a restaurant where they messed up with Thai food until last Saturday. It was too bland and not greasy enough, seriously. I don't think I'll be going back there again because my friends tell me there are lots of other Thai restaurants in Korea.
One thing I love about my experience here is that I get to meet so many new people. Most of the foreigners and English-speaking Koreans are super friendly. (Even at 나무그늘, we met two girls from New York. We had a good conversation with them as we all squirmed in the Dr. Fish area.) After our group said our good-byes for the night, I went with Dee to her friend's place so she could stop by to say hello to a friend she hadn't seen in a while. We ended up hanging out for a couple of hours. Foreigners in Korea are that cool.
Sunday morning, Dee and I randomly went out for breakfast, so I have another new Find  in Korea (i guess i'm starting my "Finds" list with this entry): Butterfingers, and it's too good to be true! They serve American breakfast foods: buttermilk pancakes, sausages, hash browns, eggs, omlettes, bacon, salad, orange juice, and more. The items are pricey, but the portions are big enough for two girls to share. It's at Gangnam Station (near exit 6).
On a side note,  I'm getting sick. I have a runny nose and a sore throat, and I get so tired. I've been sitting in my apartment a lot, hence the frequent blogging. It's too cold. I thought I was going to die from the cold early November. I was wrong then, but now I know I am going to die from the December cold.

Quotes of the Day

In my 5th grade classes, we are learning -ing verbs. Today was the first part of the lesson, so I had to teach them grammar. (Ewwww.) Native English speakers don't even like learning grammar! It's a big headache to learn and to teach. The first time I lectured on grammar went horribly: All the kids had blank stares and the class was SO quiet. Today's lecture went better though. I had more pictures and interaction. Plus, I had them write the rules down to keep them busy. ^^
Oops! I was trying to blog in-between classes and I forgot the quotes, except for one. I was teaching a class "come--> coming" and one of my examples was "comeing."  I asked them, "Is this right?" I asked them, "Why is it wrong?" They said, "the 'e'~~." I said, "What about the 'e?' One of the students yelled, "trash 'e'!" TRASH e?? puahahha My co-teacher and I had a good laugh in our office about that.
My students were so funny today, but too bad I don't remember what they said. Today was a fun teaching day. One of those days when the lesson I planned is effective, the students are attentive, and I'm smiling a lot!

3 Weeks

It has officially been 3 weeks since I arrived in Korea. It feels like a short time, but I guess it's been a while... I got in trouble from my distant uncle for not calling earlier. After talking to him, it makes me feel like I should contact ALL of my relatives PRONTO. I thought it would be okay to call later because I've had a lot going on with my housing drama, because I started work, and because I'm going to be here for a whole year. But, I have now learned that I should not expect the world to revolve around me. (-.-;) Just because I'm busy doesn't mean that I should leave my relatives or friends hanging. This was a big oops on my part. I've only called my grandma and my distant uncle and I still have to call my aunt and my cousin. I don't even have their phone numbers. -.-;
So after I finally contacted HyungSan samchon, he called me back to ask if I was doing anything tonight. Jessica and I were considering going to the Korvia welcome party in ShinChon, but we decided not to because she wasn't feeling well. I didn't feel up to the long trip. I guess it was a good thing that I decided not to go because HyungSan samchon invited me to his father's birthday dinner. I met my relatives for the first time ever and ate a delicious dinner at a 한정식 restaurant in YongIn. 한정식 is a fine dining dinner course and it's all Korean food! I love this idea because I love Korean food and I don't want foreigners to think that Korean food is all 포장마츠 and Korean BBQ. All of the food was super delicious. I would love to take my foreigner friends there because it is a well-known restaurant, but we went through a montainous road and I don't remember how to get there. I will have to settle on a 한정식 restaurant accessible by bus. (If you know of any good ones, let me know!) I felt at home with samchon's family. It was nice to sit down to a meal and pray over our meal together. Strangely, many of the Koreans I've run into don't go to church. The lady who came to clean my apartment doesn't go to church; the Korean English teachers who I share the office with don't go to church. I'm actually quite shocked that I've run into so few Koreans who go to church. I'm more surprised that none of the Korean teachers whom I work closely with don't attend church. Discovering the unexpected is a good thing though because it brings me out of my bubble!
Another fact about Korea that surprised me is that clubbing and drinking seem okay here. In LA, the stereotype is that everybody at the clubs and bars are party animals, but here, most people in their 20s seem to enjoy it. It's normal and it's okay. Samchon's wife asked me if I had been to the clubs in Hongdae and Itaewon! She told me that those clubs are probably more fun that the ones in YeongTong! Most of my aunts and uncles in California would never ask me a question like that or even encourage it! Wow~ Maybe she just asked me because I'm young? Still, what a shocker.
Another thing: everyone in Korea really do smoke. -.-
I think I will be getting internet at my place this week, so I will be able to contact people more frequently and update my blog more often! woo hoo I'm excited because I need to catch up on Korean dramas.

Welcome to South Korea

hello Johnna. Welcome to South Korea. heheh
After 12 hours (actually 11 due to speeding skills of the pilots), I landed safely in South Korea. It was way too early to go over to Heejeong's house, so I hung out at the airport until Eunice had to board her plane for EA. I'm so so soo glad that Eunice and I had the same flight. It might have been a random coincidence for us, but I know God had a hand in this. By the time I boarded the plane, my anxiety was still growing, but knowing Eunice was with me put me at ease. I thought, "Man, if Eunice is staying abroad for the 2nd year in a row, I can do this too!!!" I was challenged and encouraged (feelings that lessened my nervousness).
Getting to know her was also a really good experience. We talked about her 1st year ST experience, her feelings about the upcoming one, boys (^^), how I felt about teaching, etc. etc. Hearing about her ST experience helped me to see how God is indeed working in and through her. It made me think, "God is so in love with His people." Seriously. What a feeling! So, I was challenged to make Korea my mission field during this year. I may not be here as a missionary, but we're created to live for His glory. Even though I may not be doing spiritually well right now, I have faith in You. Help me to take this small faith and serve You. And if it is Your will, I pray that You would ready me as Your vessel so that I may shine Your love. (Please keep me accountable!)