Hiatus

Since arriving safely and with all my luggage accounted for, I've been thoroughly enjoying my time in America. I haven't, however, bothered writing about it and between blissfully doing nothing and stuffing my face, I probably will not write until I'm back in Korea mid-August.


Until then, take care!

A Look Back...

A little over a week before I go back to America, here's a look back on the people I met, the places I went, and some of the things I did during this first year.

Day 367 -- A Short Conversation with Doyup

Doyup and I went to the LG Twins (Seoul) vs Hanwha Eagles (Daejeon) baseball game yesterday. Doyup was really excited because the crowd was pretty small, so we had a good chance of being on TV due to the "wtf" factor of crazily-acting fan with his foreigner girlfriend. We did end up on TV sometime during the 3/4 inning. We know because Doyup started getting a billion messages and calls from people who were watching the game: his dad, cousins, co-workers. This conversation took place today, the morning after the game.

"Every soldier are asking me of you. They watched the baseball game. So surprise!"
"Haha, I hope I didn't look stupid!!"
"You are always stupid."



womp womp -.-

Day 366 -- One Year Anniversary in Korea!

Yesterday marked my one year anniversary of living in Korea. That means it's also been one year since I've seen my friends and family back home, so I'm really excited to jump on that plane next week and see everyone again.

That said, I'm also very excited to start a brand new year in Korea. Most of the things that caused me the most distress will be changing -- soon I'll have my own apartment and last week my fantastic co-teacher returned from her fight with cancer. I feel like this past year has just been the trial-year where I figured out how things work and got my feet under me. Kind of like freshman year in college where you learn from your mistakes during sophomore year.

Sincccce I'm on another computer, how about some pictures?

Last North Korean refugee class. One of my students (the mother) helping her daughter make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

An example of the amazing delivery service in Korea. This entire box was brought to the apartment. Inside was everything required to make a beef-and-mushroom stew, fresh right at your table. The pot with all the ingredients, a water bottle full of broth...

... a table-top burner, rice, and all the usual Korean sides (kimchi, etc)

Light up the burner, pour in the broth, and you are on your way to some really good beef-and-mushroom stew, bubbling at your table.

Yummm

Korea, besides having awesome delivery service, also has some wicked bars. A lot of bars have some kind of gimmick, for example one of my favorite bars in Seoul serves their pitchers of beer with dry ice, so the beer is super super cold and also awesome looking. This bar serves apple-flavored soju (like weak vodka) in apple cups.

So cool!

And this here is a source of constant shame for me. I go to coffee shops a lot because I think I work better in that kind of environment -- less distractions, more coffee. Here at a coffee shop in Daejeon's city hall, I order an iced cafe mocha with a slice of cheesecake. The barista kindly gives me two forks because what kind of fatty would eat a piece of cheesecake all by herself, amiright? ...ooohhh the shameeee...

An example of something Korea doesn't do well: English. It's usually just close enough that you can figure it out, but still... Nuddle isn't even a word, did nobody check that out before they made a sign?!