The month of June flewwww by. A girl at our school, Miranda, was getting ready to leave, so we took a day to hang out with her in Seoul. She loves owls, and who woulda thunk it, but theres an owl museum in Seoul! Haha,not much more than a one room collection of the "crazy owl lady"'s knick knacks, but it was interesting.
The third weekend in June I went to the east coast with two friends, to visit another friend who will be leaving this weekend. Dustin, Molly, and Luke. Molly is my oldest friend in Dongbaek! I met her the day after I arrived at a local restaurant. She figured I wouldn't be traveling over winter break, and as her sister was coming to visit, she invited me to tag along and sight see. Dustin, works with Molly, and introduced me to the church I go to (although, haven't been in about a month!!) and Luke, is the boyfriend of Molly's friend back home in Indiana, who came to visit over winter break too. It was fun getting together with them!! Gangwando is a province on the east coast, right between beach and mountains! We arrived in the day, went to a local festival (basically kinda like a flea market, with some cooler things), hung out on the beach for a while, went to a seaside restaurant for some fish, then explored the nightlife. There is a nice sized foreigner population there, and I met some beautiful Brazilian soccer players!! Swoon...of course I woo-ed them with my Portuguese...(man that skill comes in handy!!) The next am we headed back to Dongbaek early, and I went out with Molly to meet a girl who used to work with Molly, but now lives in Seoul, Liz. We were craving burgers, (I eat way more burgers here than back home!!). Got our fix, then I headed back home to relax before Monday.
Drinking agua de coco at the festival...reminds me of Brazil!!
Here's the girls at the beach:
The next weekend was low key, hung out with some people that are getting ready to leave for home. This past weekend was the fourth of July!! I did-nothing. On Friday night I had the misfortune of losing my purse, camara, ipod and wallet included, so the weekend was spent sulking in my own self pity. However, everything's okay now, luckily I had my passport at home, and all new id's and cards are being issued. Live and learn!!
Tonight I'm going to the Korea release of the new Twilight movie, Eclipse, tomorrow night there's talk of dalk galbi (chicken with vegetables, cooked on the table in front of you, and delicious) and some noreabang (karaokee, in a private room. wayyyy more fun than youcould imagine!)
Oh! I forgot to mention, last week, a bunch of us went to a jim-jil-bang. It's like a spa/sauna, and they're sooo common here. You pay 7000 won (about 7 bucks) they give you scrub like clothes to wear, and you can go hang out in the various saunas, eat food, watch TV, exercise, get scrubs, massages, nails done, soak in the public baths (separate for men and women). Basically anything you want! You can sleep in most too, they're open 24 hours. You don't get much more than a mat on the floor, but its a super cheap way to sleep if you're out in Seoul or somewhere else and don't want to take a taxi home or pay for a hotel!! I went into the public baths, I was a little weary at first, cause I mean you're straight up naked, but it was actually super fun!! Liberating I guess, haha. And its so common here in Korea, but I think so many people back home would be weirded out by it like I was at first. I'll definitely go back, I'm sure several times!
Sat night we are having a potluck dinner, I'm going to make mom's spinach and feta salad. Sunday I HAVE to go to church, seeing as how I haven't gone like 5 weeks, and if I don't go I'll miss until August!! Next weekend is mudfest, (yes, a festival of mud. You go and play and roll around in it then go wash off in the ocean then go back for more mud). Four days later, ELENA AND DJ ARRIVE!! I can't wait. I'm so excited to see them!! Then on the 25th Elena, Ryan, Renee and I head for Thailand...everything is booked and now we just gotta wait for the day to arrive!! By the time we get back it will be Aug 1...seriously, where does the time go?
My kiddies...amaze me every day. When they first started in January (and then when more arrived in March) only 9 out of the 20 could read. Now, there are TWO that can't. TWO!! And one is super close, the other may take a while, but I'm patient...two students have dropped out :( always a sad day, but it actually happens pretty often in the private schools. They were both excellent students, and I miss them...hopefully they're doing just as well wherever they are now!!
One kid who is just improving so much is Philip. The kid didn't speak a word of English in January, couldn't write or identify a single letter, and was a little trouble maker. Now, his handwriting is damn near perfect (arite, well legible at least), he knows most of the letters, and learns a new word literally every day. Today he was talking about foods he likes/doesn't like, told me his mommy gave him a new power rangers toy, and hardly ever speaks Korean in class anymore. He's the furthest from reading, and is still a little troublemaker, but I AM SO PROUD OF HIM!!
They're my little babies...and as much as they drive me crazy sometimes, they make me laugh more often, and I love them to death. One girl in my 7 year class also won first place today in the spelling bee...way to go Brenda!! Another one a story telling contest a few months back out of all the kindergartners, they're so smart!!
Arite well I think you're all caught up now!! I'll post again after Mudfest, and then I'm sure after Thailand!! Hope everyone is doing well, whatever part of the world you may be in!!!
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