Game weekend

After school on Friday, I went to Dallas's and we played 3 games of Catan - one Cities and Knights and 2 seafarers. He beat me on both seafarers games, but I've still got the most overall wins. While we played, we listened to 90s pop playlists on 8tracks, which is a really good website for finding new music, especially since we can't use Pandora here. We also drank champagne (he had mimosas and I mixed mine with a weird apple fruit punch thing) and talked about stuff. Then, I broke out the Girl Scout cookies and we ate a sleeve of shortbreads! I also knocked over a wine glass and we had to pause the game to pick up glass shards. Luckily it was a cheap one.

Dallas drinking out of a Mason jar since he broke the other wine glass 2 weeks ago.

On Saturday morning we woke up and went to Paris Baguette for breakfast where we went Korean and ate salads. Dallas got massage coupons for Christmas and gave me one as a belated birthday present, so the two of us went to the same Thai place for massages. They put us together again, but this time instead of being somewhat soothing, they were painful. Mine especially. She really used her elbow to work out knots and now I have 3 bruises on my legs and arm. It was still nice though. It's funny watching them sometimes because clearly I am not a bendy person and he is so they do weird stretches with Dallas that they don't do with me. I think this time my lady actually tried. She had me sit cross-legged on the table and put my hands on my head (like you're being arrested). Then she looped her arms through mine and pulled me backwards onto her knees. She kept telling me to relax, but unless I know what they are going to attempt to do, I can't relax. So I think she just gave up. Dallas's lady swung him around like a ragdoll while I drank green tea and watched. After massages we went and had coffee, then went home.

He went home and took a nap. I went home and got things done - cleaned my kitchen, swept, made my bed, organized my dresser and chair/desk, did laundry and took a shower. Then studied and cleaned up some pictures and organized this blog.

A little before 5, I left and went to pick up some board games from Ilani because she was really sick and wasn't going to be able to bring them with her later in the evening. I then met Kyeong He and we went to Emart to get supplies for game night at IEC. I was in charge of the event and semi-stressed about it because I don't like things I can't control and when people don't respond, or respond and don't show etc. I get anxious. She calmed me down some and helped me buy snacks. Then we got some pizza slices and had dinner in the food court. The funniest part was that an old Korean lady sat next to her and stared at use the whole time. She kept telling us how to eat and where to put our trash and stuff. I'm used to being stared at, but I think it made Kyeong He feel awkward. Amanda showed up to get some food too, so I introduced them, but then we had to leave to go set up.

We got to the church around 6:30 and Corinne, Brandon and another girl named Victoria were there already. We moved some tables around and then just sort of chatted and waited for people to show up. Brandon had a really bad cold and was jet lagged, so he ended up leaving fairly early and just gave me his keys to lock up. One of the deacons came, but he just bought us some mandu (dumplings) then left really early too, as well as another guy. So it ended up being a group of 8 (3 Koreans, 5 foreigners) and we played 5 or 6 rounds of Uno, then 4 or 5 games of Sequence (which none of us had played before but was a really fun game). Then everyone except me, Dallas and Amanda left, so the three of us stayed and we introduced Amanda to Catan; and converted another one! At that point it was almost midnight and I was getting paranoid about locking up and cleaning, so we gathered everything up and cleaned a bit then left.

I got messages from 3 of the people who attended and they all had fun, so even though it was small, game night did basically what it was supposed to do - bring some new people together for a night of fun. Not sure when the next one will be, but sometime in the next month or so.

Juk you

On Wednesday I was having a really bad day. One of my classes was being a total pain in the ass, I felt very ineffective and then I had to wait around at school for about 30 minutes for some kids to finish a vocabulary test (this is a reoccurring issue that I will talk more about eventually). I also think I'm pmsing (sorry for the over share) and have some other things going on too. Everything is ok, so don't worry, it's just one of those sad days that people have every now and again. I messaged my sister and it was nice hearing from her, then I went to Dallas's and beat him twice in Catan, so that was helpful to my mood. He was slightly hungover though because it was his school's graduation day and some of the teachers are leaving, so they had a big party with drinking and raw fish (yuck). I'm still taking credit for the wins though :)

On Thursday he got off of work early because no kids are there. Well really he just got to leave work to run errands and have lunch. So he picked me up around 12:30 and we walked to a juk (rice porridge) restaurant. We've ordered from there before (pumpkin) and it was good, but I wanted to try a different one, so we had vegetable cheese. I liked it a lot, but I think I'll try a different one next time because it wasn't super flavorful. When we were finished eating, they brought us glasses of plum tea which supposedly aids in digestion. Every food in Korea is either good for digestion or virility.

Juk on top. Underneath is kimchi, salted beef and spicy sauce

After lunch we walked for a little while to return some videos he had rented and to set up massage appointment for Saturday (belated birthday present to me). Then we hopped on a bus and went back to our schools and I started work. Thursday was a much better day than Wednesday.

On Friday, Dallas stopped by my apartment on his way to work and woke me up to drop off an envelope for me. Even though I knew he was coming, it still scared the crap out of me. After that I went to the post office to mail a letter that needed to be post marked. While I was there, I made the rookie mistake of handing them the sticker that was posted on my door the night before instead of just giving it to my boss. The two post office workers looked concerned, called headquarters or somewhere and got the cell phone number of the van driver with my package and called him. Then they tried to have a rapid fire Korean conversation with me, I stared at them blankly and then the manager looks at me and goes "5 minutes, go home" and points towards my house (which is basically across the street from the post office). So I walked home and as I was getting to my building, the mail carrier pulls up. When he got out of the van and saw me, he went "ah ha...wait" then got my package and handed it to me. It was a very Korean exchange.

My aunt and cousins sent me a birthday/Valentines/just because care package. And while I won't exactly say they are now my favorites, it can be implied (along with all the other family members who have sent me cards etc.) The box had all kinds of goodies including Girl Scout cookies, Reese's and toothpaste. I also got a seperate card from my sister that made me cry in a good way.

Care package with cards, crosswords, treats and cereal!

At that point I was late meeting Corinne, so she got coffee and then we had lunch at our favorite spot (possibly her actual favorite spot, my favorite spot with her) Dal Oasis. Another friend, Amanda showed up as we were eating and I introduced them and we all chatted for a bit. I really like Corinne and talking with her. We already have plans for lunch next week and I'm excited to see her again. Plus the day was really nice outside, which just made it even better! So lunches this week were super good times instead of the oatmeal that I have been eating almost everyday (I'm about to run out!). Tell you more about the weekend in the next post.

Couples Holidays

I meant to write this post around Valentine's Day, but I couldn't find the paper I had the info written on and found it today after some cleaning. So over the month of January, our school was on "camp" schedule and I had 3 private (one on one) classes. One of those was a middle school girl (she's starting what is our 9th grade in March) and one day we ended up having a discussion about holidays and she started telling me about "couple holidays". I've written before, and knew about Valentines, White and Black days, but according to her (and verified by my co-teachers), every month on the 14th is a couple holiday. So here's the schedule:

Jan 14th - Diary day. You give each other blank diaries or calendars.
Feb 14th - Valentine's Day. Girls give boys stuff, usually chocolate. Flowers aren't as popular here.
March 14th - White day. Boys give girls stuff. Basically a repeat of Valentine's.
April 14th - Black day. For the single people. You are supposed to eat black noodles (jajangmyun) which are actually really good.
May 14th - Rose day. Give each other roses.
June 14th - Kiss day. Self-explanatory.
July 14th - Silver day. You give each other something silver, like a picture frame or some other little trinket.
August 14th - Green day. I forgot what this one is, maybe wear green? Like couples outfits?
Sept 14th - Photo day. Take some pictures.
Oct 14th - wine day. Drink some wine together.
Nov 14th - Movie day. Watch a movie together.
Dec 14th - Hug day. See June.

When I asked my co-teachers about these, they said nobody really "observes" them or thinks about them other than middle school or high school girls. Which is why I thought wine day was interesting since they can't drink here until they're 19. Oh well. Have fun celebrating!

Tuesday lunch with K&K

So I'm skipping the weekend post for right now because I am waiting on some pictures from Dallas and Cindy (well Cindy sent me hers, but I have to edit some of them). Hopefully Dallas will give me some soon. Until then...

I asked Kyeong He if she wanted to have lunch sometime this week and Tuesday was the only day we both had available in common. We also invited Krista (thus K&K). Krista and I met up on the corner near my house and Kyeong He showed up in a cab and told us to jump in.

She took us to a traditional Korean soup house that serves a kind of fermented bean paste soup (similar to miso, but fermented longer). She says it's really delicious but all Koreans basically say that it smells like feet, and she wanted to warn us about the smell of the place. She took us there not for the soup, but for the pork cutlet (or donkatsu). I actually want to go back and try the soup because Jayden made some similar to it and it was really good.

Outside of the restaurant. It's cuter in person and there are little gnome like people set up all around.

The restaurant was fairly empty when we got there and our lunch was brought out pretty quickly. They brought us lots of side dishes and we each had a main dish. My mom mentioned in a skype conversation that I talk about, describe and show pictures of food a lot. I realize this, but it's one thing that is easy to photograph, and is very different from American culture. That's aside from the fact that eating, getting coffee and going to bars are the main ways foreigners meet up. Back to the food!

Pork cutlet, rice and salad (and pickles - duh)

These are the 8 sides they brought us (from top left to bottom right): little anchovies, peppers with samjang (bean paste sauce), octopus pieces and seaweed, mulkimchi (water kimchi), mushrooms, japchae (noodles), mayonnaise with soft soy nuts, and kimchi radish. I ate 4 of them - I'll let you guess which ones.

One funny thing was when my friend LeeAnna walked in. Apparently today was graduation for her school and thus the school kitchens were closed. So all the teachers at her school were taken to lunch at this place. She was not excited about it as she would most likely end up sitting at the end of the table being ignored and playing on her phone. Oh well.

After lunch, we went for coffee and a place called illy coffee. Dallas has wanted me to go there for awhile, but it's closed when I finally get off of school. One cute thing about this cafe is that it is also a ceramic cafe and the owner teaches pottery in the back. Dallas wants me to sign up with him and I had Kyeong He ask the lady some more details to see if it's possible. I had a milk tea and it was ok, but next time I'll go back to my typical latte. Then on our way to work, we actually saw my boss crossing the street. I introduced my friends and later they said that he looked kind of scary or like a solider. I thought that was funny.

That pretty much sums up my Tuesday! Hope you enjoyed looking at food, because you're going to on my next post too :)

Belated valentines post

So I meant to update this on Valentine's day, then forgot that I hadn't. Then was busy, so now you're getting it.

My Valentine's day was pretty tame. Being in another country doesn't make being single on Valentine's day any less sucky. On Wednesday night I met Dallas after work for about 2 minutes. I wanted to make burritos and didn't have cheese and the store was closed. So he offered to meet me halfway and give me some cheese. When I met up with him, he gave me a smiley face balloon and the cheese as my Valentine's Day present. It didn't get much better.

At school a fair amount of kids, especially the younger ones, gave me chocolates. One super cute girl made all the teachers chocolate (basically they melt chocolate and pour it into molds) and little notes.

The heart chocolate I understand. The ghost? Not so much.

I did have delicous

The strangest thing that happened was a random parade. I asked some of my kids and various co-teachers, but none of them came up with the same answer as to why they were doing this. One reason was that it was close to a full moon and they do this a lot. Another was that they went into stores and "swept out bad juju". The last reason was they are just strange people. I heard these guys walk past my house around noon, but this video was taken out of one of the windows in one of our classrooms around 3. The stood on the corner for awhile, then went into that huge store, and I caught them on the way out.

Then that evening was basically uneventful. I'm starting Korean lessons, which I will explain more in a later post, but that was the first night. Only 3 people showed up and one guy talked for a long time and it ended up being more of an interest meeting instead of a lesson. Then I went home and watched 2 episodes of Glee.

Korean Cougar

So anyone who reads this blog knows that I've been hanging out with Dallas more recently. And if you have eyes and are reading this blog, you know that he isn't hard to look at. Last Friday he met me at school and met one of my co-teachers and my guess is that some students saw him. Last weekend we went downtown on Monday and saw some of my students, then he came to my school on Tuesday because he needed to borrow something and more of my students (and some co-teachers) saw him.

So through out the week I've been fielding questions about out relationship with my students. He came to one of my younger classes (5th and 6th graders), two of whom he teaches in public school. They of course asked if he was my boyfriend and while we tried to establish that we were just friends, after he left they had a rapid fire Korean conversation with random bits of English thrown in that basically ended up with us married. Then one kid thought I was 42 (which made me feel super great) but then explained that he meant 32. When they found out Dallas was 24, they were all shocked and were like "teacher he is so young."

Then another class asked me detailed questions about him (this is a class of 5 middle school girls, mind you) and why weren't we dating etc. They also don't believe that we are just friends. Then, during a class switch, an entire new set of girls had a conversation about me and Dallas and how they saw us near Lotte cinema. Of course this conversation was in Korean and my co-teacher roughly translated it for me. My other co-teacher was like, "Your friend is famous here now."

When I walked into my last class on Wednesday, the 3 girls were staring at me and I was like, "what?" This is the conversation that followed:
Girl 1 "Teacher you look very pretty today."
Me: "Thank you"
Girl 1 "Teacher, I look you look pretty because you are in love."
Me: "Um, what?"
Girl 2: "I saw you downtown with a boy. He is very handsome. Is he your boyfriend?"
Me: "No. we are only friends."
Girl 3: "Boys and girls can't be friends."
Me: "Yes they can. We have been friends for a long time now."
boy: "Maybe start as friends, but now not friends."
Me: "Moving on...did you do homework?"

The reason I'm telling you this story is to talk about relationships in Korea. My students get confused because in Korea boys and girls, especially once you reach middle school age, aren't friends. They don't hang out together, especially not in a group. They don't have dinner together or coffee. If you see a couple, then they ARE a couple. Girls hang out with girls; boys hang out with boys. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that. In some ways it is great. There is minimal confusion about boundaries, you have friends who know at least in part, how you feel about certain things. But then again you miss out on so many other things. I've always had a mix of friends. Yes, sometimes those friendships went in odd directions or ended horribly because of gender differences, but usually they weren't that much different than my relationships with women. I also learned a lot about myself and comfort levels and how to act in mixed groups by having male friends.

So I'll continue to hang out with my male friends and have my students think I'm a cougar, married or have multiple boyfriends (they've asked the majority of these questions about Josh as well). And I'll explain every time that I'm single. And no, I don't have a baby either.

Year of the snake

So that not taking too long thing didn't really pan out too well did it? Whoopsie. I feel like I had lunch with someone last week, but I actually don't think I did. I was supposed to meet one friend, but she got sick and canceled. Now I'm all paranoid trying to figure out if I did...

We're going to go with I didn't meet anyone last week for lunch. Last week was also the first full week of late nights at work. I met Dallas on Wednesday night for coffee after work and we chatted about random things and we split a brownie and some Korean snacks (little pastries filled with a walnut and red bean paste that I got from my boss, who I think got them from a student's parents). We left at midnight when it closed and he walked me home with plans to meet up on Friday.

I caught up on some TV shows (Suits and White Collar especially) Tuesday and Thursday nights and made plans for next weekend with Cindy and Liezle (yay for a mini reunion!), but didn't do too much else. I talked to my siblings Thursday morning for close to 2 hours and it made me realize how much I really do miss them, not just by being in Korea, but by being all over and growing up some. We had a good couple of years when we lived less than an hour away from each other and regularly met up. Just knowing they were that close made me feel safer or something. Then I talked to my mom that evening and she told me about her awesome trip to visit my aunt in Florida for her birthday. I still haven't sent her card or present, which I had for months. Double whoopsie.

This past Sunday was Lunar New Year which is a pretty big holiday in Korea (although you really wouldn't know it). Most Koreans go back to their home towns and spend time with family, honoring their ancestors and eating traditional food. Many stores were closed on Sunday, but lots of places were still open and just about everything was open on Monday. There weren't any big celebrations that I was aware of like there was for regular New year, but we got Monday off, so I am all for it!

I spent basically the entire weekend with Dallas, so there is a good chance I am mixing up events and/or days things happened, but I think I've got most of it in the correct order.

On Friday my boss gave all of the teachers wine for Seollal (New year's), which was really nice. Dallas met me at work and we went to his house and watched this season opener to "Smash". I think I mentioned this when I first met him (almost a year ago - wow) that he is close to 10 years younger than me and sometimes when he doesn't get a musical or cultural reference it just makes me feel old. While we were watching the show, they sing a cover of an Annie Lennox song (Would I lie to you) and not only did he not know Annie Lennox, he had never heard the song before! I am pretty sure we just went to bed at that point.

Wine in a fancy box

On Saturday Dallas made chocolate chip "pintrest fail" pancakes. Even though they were slightly burnt, they still tasted good.

sideways pancakes

After breakfast, we went over to Brandon and Jamie's apartment. They are out of town for 2-4 weeks, respectively, and Ilani and her boyfriend (who is South African, but currently teaching in Vietnam and visiting Korea for 2 weeks) are taking turns staying at the apartment to watch Stella (their dog). A handful of other people came over too and they ordered delivery chicken. I didn't eat any because I was still full from breakfast and knew if I started eating it, I would feel sick. We talked a lot while everyone ate and I really like that group of people, so it was fun. Then we played one game of 30 seconds, which is one of my favorite games. We made Ranier and Ilani split up since it's a South African game and having the only 2 South Africans on the same team didn't seem fair. The teams ended up being me, Ilani and Dallas versus Ranier, Lance and Michelle. It was a close game but we won by 3! The 2 Koreans who were there asked to sit out early on because the speaking is really fast, but they said they had fun watching. I hope so. Then we played Catan. One person left, and we had 2 new players (Dallas and Michelle) so I decided to be the banker and not play, but instead help them. So it was a 5 player game (Ranier and Ilani played as a team because he was jet lagged and starting to get a cold). The game was really fun still and Dallas had beginner's luck and ended up winning.

He went home at that point and Lance and Jungwha also went home. The four of us left (Ilani, Ranier, Michelle and I) went to the meat buffet and ate a good amount of stuff. They have some of the best salad and kimchi bean sprouts there! After dinner I went back to Dallas's where he made mimosas for him and blinis for me (I don't really like mimosas). Then we watched Gnomeo and Juliet. After the movie we goofed around on the internet for awhile and I made him start playing "songpop" on Facebook so we played that for a while too, then went to bed.

On Sunday morning(ish) I went to church where we sang and listened to a recorded sermon from Brandon. After that I went to lunch with 8 other people and we talked for a long time. I like going out with the Korean girls from church because we are comfortable enough with each other now to ask questions about culture differences and know it's in a respectful way. I have learned a lot from them. After lunch I went to Brandon and Jamie's house to do some laundry (thanks guys :) ) since they have a dryer now and nobody was home. I walked the dog for a little bit, then read for the 180 days Bible reading while I waited for laundry to dry. Ilani and Ranier came home with about 15 minutes left of drying time, so I talked to them while my clothes finished, then I cabbed it home. I did another load of laundry at home (socks etc. that dry ok on the rack), then went to Dallas's around 10ish. We watched "burlesque" because I had never seen it and he insisted that I do. He made grilled cheese sandwiches and we drank one of the bottles of wine my boss gave me and part of another. I'm not a huge fan of wine, but a few sips into it and you can't really taste the bitter anymore, so it ended up being pretty decent. We also ate some peppero and strawberries. The strawberries tastes weird to me and when he ate one he said, "that's because they're rotten." Then he found a cool tie knot on pinetrest and we spent 20-30 minutes trying to figure out how to tie it - we got close but it just looked a mess. We played around on the computer and chatted some more, then went to bed around 3:30-4.

On Monday, we woke up around 10, but didn't actually get out of bed/move anywhere until around noon. We tried to go downtown for soup, but that place was closed, so we had cone pizza! I'm not sure exactly where it originated, but there is a place that serves little pizzas rolled into a cone shape. They are pretty good - Dallas had 2 (margarita and vegetarian) and I had chicken and mushrooms.

Cone pizza

After cone pizzas we shared ice cream. He ordered mint chocolate chip but got something with oreos in it and just decided to eat it instead of trying to change the order, which gets complicated with the language barrier. Then we walked around and went to a new store where he bought some pants. We went to a couple of other stores, but it was really crowded. Then we had coffee and walked to e-mart to get stuff for dinner (and a can opener for me). After e-mart we walked to Brandon and Jamie's again to borrow Catan because Dallas really liked it. We took Stella for a short walk then got the game and headed back to his place. We stopped off at my house so I could get some socks and drop off the couple of things I had bought.

The only reason I am posting this awful picture of me is to show you the hat. Dallas put it on me, then took this picture, but the hat is very common for middle and high school students to wear. And not in a funny, ironic way either.

Panda notebook

We dropped off the food and game at his place, then took a bus to p-dong so he could return some rental videos and get some more. It's easier if he wants to show his students stuff because these have Korean subtitles already on them, instead of trying to find a version online. Then we decided to all pumpkin porridge to our dinner. He thought about going there for lunch, but we didn't, so when we passed the place, we just went for it. I had never eaten it before either and it's on one of the lists of food to eat while you're in Korea. We just got one bowl to share (since they are huge) but the couple who owns the place was nice and put it in 2 take out bowls for us. Then Dallas grilled some kimchi and tofu and we ate dinner while watching "Pitch Perfect".

Sideways dinner. Lettuce and peppers at the top, pumpkin porridge on the left side (it's really good - like a really thick butternut squash soup) and kimchi and tofu on the bottom.

After the movie and doing dishes, we set up Catan and played 2 games. He won the first and I won the second. It obviously goes much faster with 2 players instead of 5. I went home around 11:30, checked 3 days worth of email and facebook messages, then wrote this post!

Mwahaha! I have converted another to the dark side of Catan!

Emotional Week

Where did I leave off - so last Wednesday (the 30th) I was supposed to meet Dallas and Jayden for dinner, but they canceled on me and we switched it to Friday instead. Luckily I happened to be messaging Josh at the same time Dallas cancelled, so I ended up meeting him instead! I had beef soup (solangtang) that I love and he had something that I can't remember. Then we had coffee (well he had an orange smoothie) and chatted about his plans for moving to Africa and other things that were going on.

On Thursday, I went to Brandon and Jamie's and we read Ecclesiastes with Elizabeth and he told me about this cool website to find hymns and look at their history and stuff. I got my new schedule on Thursday and wasn't totally happy about it because I work until 10 every night now, but I'm learning to deal with it. On Friday, I switched back to "regular" hours so didn't have to start until 2 (except that day we went in at 1 for a teachers' meeting). I met Krista for lunch and she gave me a belated birthday present of peanut butter cups! After school, I met Dallas and Jayden at Holly's and we had coffee and chatted until it closed at midnight. Then we walked back to Dallas's apartment and talked for a little bit more. While I was there, Dallas made me "take-out" of their leftovers - soup that Jayden made (it was delicious) and some mandu. Then they walked me home around 1:30.

On Saturday, Cindy was in town and I met up with her for lunch at Pasta Bueno. She had coupons from before I left Korea last time but the waitress took them! We split a chicken salad and I had risotto. Then we walked around downtown for awhile and had coffee. We made the rookie mistake of not looking for seats before ordering coffee and thus had to sit in the smoking section, which wasn't bad until 2 guys came in, sat next to us and lit up. We left there pretty quickly. We rode the bus over to the driving range to meet Cody and Cindy's boyfriend, Torin. They were on their last few balls when we got there and then we all went back to Cody's apartment. We chatted for awhile, then Cindy and I left to get ice cream waffles (for us) and beer/soju (for the guys). Then we played Wii for a little bit while we waited for another friend to drop off his fish tank. Then Cody left to meet some people at one bar, but the three of us decided to go a different bar and play darts. I need to remember to take a picture of one of these kinds of bars - basically it's a wall of fridges with different priced beers. Then we went to an arcade next to the bar and Torin played we basketball and Cindy and I went into a coin room. This was something I wanted to cross off my Korean to-do list. They are little rooms, maybe 4 people fit max, with a video monitor and song book. Then you pay 1,000 won ($1) for your choice of 4 songs and you sing them. The strangest part was that we had to answer random trivia questions in Korean before we could sing the songs. We obviously just guessed. Then we met up with Dallas and Jayden at Urban Drink and hung out with them for about an hour. Cindy and Torin left because they were tired and needed to get keys from Cody. I stayed with Dallas and Jayden for another hour or so and we talked about lots of stuff then cabbed home.

On Sunday I got baptized with Ilani at church. It was a really awesome experience and I'm glad I waited until I was totally ready for it instead of just doing it. Brandon baptized both of us and I gave a short testimonial about my journey with Christianity. It also happened to be Elizabeth's last day with the church, so we all prayed with her before she went back to Cambodia. After service, we went to VIPS, which is a buffet restaurant directly next to my apartment. I had never been before, but it was really good. The funniest part about that was someone had called ahead to make reservations, but my group of 4 was the first to arrive. We ended up changing tables 3 times while they were arranging us for close to 30 minutes! The best part of the buffet was salads, especially a mango and cranberry one which was basically sliced of semi frozen mango, crasins and slivered almonds.

Me giving my testimony. Clearly I am still a hand-talker in Korea.

IEC took up 2 rooms! Thanks Elder Kang for dinner!

After dinner/lunch I met Josh at the coffee place across the street and we talked for a long time. He dropped off some of Dallas's stuff at my apartment, then we went his to apartment so I could get keys to his bike lock. He was planning to leave before I got out of work on Monday so this was out last night together. It was semi-awkward because I didn't want to cry but I did and I think he felt the same way. I know it was hard for him because he is basically ending a chapter of his life - saying goodbye to me was saying goodbye to Korea and a bunch of other stuff as well. Luckily I know we will stay in touch for a long time and I can't wait to see pictures and hear stories from Africa. I really will miss our weekly coffee dates though.

Hopefully I won't take so long before I write stuff because I know I'm forgetting to/not adding details because I'm cramming so much in here.

Life in the ROK - Part 2

Here's the second installment. Read part one here.

16 - You only hear Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga's names twice a week now...
Don't really understand this one. If they're saying we listen to more K-pop than American music, that's true. But the Beibs and Lady Gaga are super popular here and my kids talk about them all the time.

17 - The school bell makes you crave ice cream...
This doesn't happen for me because a- we don't have a bell and b- I don't finish until late so I don't need afternoon snacks. But I understand the point. Ice cream here is awesome. Every corner store has a freezer dedicated to ice cream bars of all flavors (including corn, which I still have yet to try). They are usually around $1 a bar and are perfect summer treats. Kids eat ice cream year round though. When school gets out, kids flock to the stores and get snacks on a routine basis, so around 2 o'clock there are dozens of kids eating ice cream on their way home or to hagwons.

18 - The apocalypse has not arrived... it's just some guy selling fish...
The way Koreans advertise is by driving around in trucks with megaphones screaming out their wares. Since we have no idea what they're saying, it sounds like an end of the world type message. This can happen at any time of the day, anywhere. It is annoying.

19 - The naked man is doing unnecessary lunges in front of the mirror in the gym changing rooms...
As I'm not a guy, luckily I don't have to deal with this. But being naked in Korea is a "normal" thing. Outside modesty is required, but in a locker room or spa, it's weird if you have clothes on. Walking around nude and scrubbing in showers is a hobby here. I have yet to try out a spa, but many foreigners embrace this and go to them quite often.

20 - You carry your empty coffee cup for a long time after you finished it...
I do this, but generally because I refill it with mix-stick coffee. I don't know if he's trying to explain the lack of trash cans, but that is also true. Then again, most people just file a pile of trash somewhere along the street and dump their trash on top of it.

21 - The smell of kimchi, garlic and soju is an aphrodisiac...
I'm still not at that point, but it doesn't bother me anymore. I know I've talked about the fact that tastes etc. change because at home I couldn't imagine wanting to eat raw onions and pop gloves of garlic, but here I love them!

22 - Every woman under 30 is incredibly good looking...
This is pretty much true. It is very difficult to tell how old Koreans (especially women) are. They are young, young young then suddenly old. There is no middle aged.

23 - Everyone is fascinated by their own face and like to take lots of pictures of themselves...
It is very common to see 2 people, on opposite sides of a table, taking pictures of themselves (not each other), then looking at the pictures to see if they look alright. Most younger people also have combs and are constantly rearranged their hair. Teenage girls and their bangs are the worst.

24 - You need to start making a schedule of your laundry waiting period...
Totes true. There are no dryers here so if you want to wear something, you have to think a week or so in advance (depending on the season and how much ventilation you have in your apartment). It is often frustrating and I'm not sure my clothes are ever totally dry.

25 - Fish and rice belong at any breakfast table...
Not on mine. But when I ask students what they had for breakfast, it's usually the same thing or a variation of what they have for lunch or dinner - meat, rice and kimchi.

26 - Walking backwards in a circle is a great way to exercise...
Haha. You see this at the outdoor gyms. Usually it is accompanied by giant arm circles.

27 - It makes sense to remove your face mask if you need to sneeze...
My mother was fascinated by the face masks and how many people wore them here. I find it basically ridiculous, but whatever. It is difficult to judge a kid's speaking ability when muffled by a mask and you can't see their mouths.

28 - You can't find pornography anywhere but there's at least 5 brothels in every small town...
I haven't looked for porn, but I get his point. Koreans are an odd mix of prudish and sluts. Business rooms, men and women for "sale", love motels and cheating are common. But don't show too much cleavage because that's wrong.

29 - There are only 2 languages ever spoken - Korean and English...
I don't really think this is true. In towns with foreigners other than teachers, I've heard all kinds of languages like in Busan and Okpo. Plus there are tons of South Africans here and many of them speak Afrikaans.  Also many of the teachers speak other languages and sometimes practice with each other. And Japanese and Chinese characters are on old signage. They also sometimes have other foreign films on TV or in the theater since they use subtitles. So this is one I don't agree with, although Korean and English are by far the most prevalent.

30 - Little kids traveling alone on public transit is nothing to be concerned about...
This one still sometimes freaks me out. Like shouldn't the 5 year old on the subway have an adult nearby? No? Ok.

Yea, so this turned into 3 posts, not 2, so keep reading :)