Last weekend in Jinju

This post is late because, as usual, I am waiting for some people to post pictures. I decided to go ahead without some of the them, and I will just add the pictures to another photo round-up (hopefully in the near future, although since I've repeatedly asked for the pictures and I still don't have them, who knows when you will actually see them).

Saturday morning I got up early because I couldn't sleep. I didn't sleep well all week because I was nervous about packing/leaving plus stressing about things that I have no control over right now like the future and jobs/insurance/bills/money and all that crap. So I did some more cleaning, then met Dallas for breakfast at Paris Baguette where I ate a chicken salad.

After breakfast we went to Angel in Us and had coffee then went for massages. A friend of mine told me about a Thai massage place near my school. On Thursday I went to see if I could make appointments for us because I knew Dallas wanted one too. I walked in and they asked if I wanted a massage right then, I said no, we sort of worked out some details for a 10am appointment but as I was leaving I heard rapid fire Asian (still not sure if it was Korean or Thai) and thought I should pop my head back in. That's when they figured out they don't open until 12 on Saturdays. So I said 12 was fine. They didn't write anything down, so I was a bit skeptical. But when we showed up, they recognized me, said hi. Then they looked at us and decided we wanted a couples massage, so they put us in the room together. We had talked about it before and were wondering if that would happen. Luckily neither of us cared that much. They gave us shorts and t-shirts to wear instead of being under blankets, and honestly I think I would have rather just been in underwear. Especially since half way through they take off your shirt anyway, which they put back on again before you flip over to your back. They did different stuff to me and Dallas. He has more knots than I do and his lady punched him a couple of times. She also did some weird twists and spine cracking things, but I think my lady realized I do not bend that way. They were really nice massages, but I bruise like a peach apparently because I have clear thumb print marks above my butt and a couple of small ones on my arms. Still worth it.

After massages we met up with Josh at emart and Dallas got some food. Then we met up with Anna and the four of us went to Jinju castle. I had never been charged to go to the castle before, but this time they made us pay. Apparently if you show your resident card, you don't have to pay, but we didn't know. It was only like $1 so I just paid it. We got to watch a reenactment of something (changing of the guard or capture of Japanese people or getting a new general - we had no idea and it was all in Korean). Then they did some weapons demonstrations which were pretty cool.

Me and one of the musicians who played a shell - look at his hands!

Josh and the guy we dubbed "black ninja"

Anna, me and some dressed up dudes. They were excited about taking pictures with us.

After taking pictures with some of the people dressed up, we walked around part of the castle and took more pictures, including some on Nongae's rock. Then we walked to the fat buddha and took more pictures. Then we walked to the other side of the river and tried to find a convenience store that sold aloe water for Josh. We found a random temple apartment building and got stared at by lots of Koreans. Anna got cranky at that point and her feet were hurting, so she took a cab home.

Dallas "climbing" the castle wall

Our reenactment of Nongae and the Japanese general

Anna, me and Buddha (I can't believe it took over a year before I got a picture of him)

Anna and a Jinju memorial statue for peace or equality or something

Anna bought me that Power Rangers balloon/pinwheel. Then we made Dallas run after some kid with a broken arm and give it to him.

Dallas walking and dancing

View of the Nam River from the bridge closest to the castle

Josh and the random temple gate. Complete with guards with "chocolate stomachs"

The boys and I went to the bamboo forest, which was on my bucket list of Jinju. the only time I'd gone there was during lantern festival, so I wanted to see it not lanterned. We took lots of random pictures, ate some lollipops with unusual flavors and met up with Caleb. It was a great afternoon. I love hanging out with Josh and Dallas and Caleb fit in with them pretty well. Then we went for dinner at a noodle/soup/dumpling place. Only Dallas and I ate though. Then we walked downtown to a theater because friends of ours were performing in and/or directing "The Vagina Monologues". I was kind of gross at this point because I didn't have time to change my clothes or shower again, but whatever. Now I know to pack an extra shirt in Dallas's backpack.

Path through the "forest"

Me and the Nam river from the bridge close to the musical fountain

Caleb left at that point because he didn't want to watch the play or go to the after party bar because he doesn't like it. Josh was helping out, so he had to run inside. Dallas and I waited outside for a bit and chatted with people. I noticed that I had somehow lost an earring. He was tired and not really looking forward to hearing about vaginas for 2 hours, but luckily the play was really really good and he ended up in a decent mood.

Anna doing her monologue which was sad

Caroline doing her monologue which was funny and kind of uplifting

Bows at the end

Then the vast majority of performers and audience went to Beast Bar for a few hours. We played darts, danced, drank, laughed a lot and had a lot of awful pictures taken (don't people know they need to edit - it's called cropping and it's not that hard!!??). Then we moved on to singing. About 30 people (possibly more) went to a norebang, but we slipped out, had some people go inside and pull out some others and went to a different place. During this time, we ate some toast from the street lady and Anna and Dallas performed a street dance to a Lady Gaga song. Our group ended up being about 12 people which is a great size.

One of the awful pictures except that I love it of me and Josh because it captures how we are

Anna and Dallas "dancing"

We sang a bunch (for 2 hours). John and I got some of duets in, which made me happy. Dallas and I got in a bit of a fight because I was being a jerk (which I don't remember, but I can believe because I sometimes do that to him) and then he wouldn't talk to me so I got mad at him. Then everyone left (it was a little after 4 at this point) and went home. I was sad because of our fight and because it was my last night with most of those people etc. so I cried for a little while then ended up getting about 3 hours of sleep.

John singing

I'm not really sure what's happening here

I woke up and cleaned/packed some more, did some other email type things and went to Dallas's house and woke him up at 11 to talk about it. We figured out we were both being annoying, then took a nap and watched cheesy videos. He cleaned up his apartment and we went to Daiso for some last minute shopping. Then we went back to my apartment and Anna met us there. I cleaned out my fridge and cabinets and gave them most of my food. Dallas took a nap and Anna and I talked for awhile. Then we met up with Mike and had dinner at the new bbq place. We were all really full, but decided the best thing to do would be to go bowling! Jon and Lindi met us there and it was a great time. Anna, Mike and Jon were a team and Dallas, Lindi and I were the other. Our team won twice and theirs won the last game. It was a perfect ending.

Mikey got a turkey!

We all said goodbye then I walked back to Dallas's with him and Mike and said bye to Mike. Then Dallas came back to my apartment. It took me about an hour to totally finish packing and cleaning. I showered and he wrote some letters home to his family. Then he held my hand and we went to sleep. I will seriously miss a huge group of people. I wish them nothing but the best and I hope our paths cross again.

Trip home and the first 24 hours

I'm home. The trip was long. Dallas helped me carry stuff to a cab, I dropped him off at his apartment and got on an 8:30 bus to Seoul. I stupidly took the express bus and when I got to Seoul semi-figured out that there wasn't a bus to the airport, or at least I couldn't find it. I dropped all my bags and wandered for a little bit trying to find a ticket counter. Then I just gave up and spend $60 on a cab directly to the airport. I think it was a good decision.

Then I wandered around the airport trying to find the Delta counter. Turns out that Delta and Air France share the same space, but it didn't become Delta until 2:30. It was kind of annoying. I had checked in on-line the night before, but I wanted to make sure everything with my bags would be ok so I waited in line. It moved pretty quick and everything worked out fine. Then I had to take a weird shuttle bus to another terminal and got to my gate with about 2 hours to spare. The airport is nice and has free wifi so I was able to skype with Dallas for about 5 minutes before my laptop battery died and then talk to him and Cindy on facebook for a bit.

The plane ride wasn't too bad. I was in a middle seat on the right side of the plane (B), next to a Korean guy who didn't speak English and another Korean guy who has lived in Canada for the last 40 years or something. Turns out he went to UGA for his masters in microbiology and then worked in the Canadian version of the CDC or something. He was very nice and kept ordering large red wines which made me laugh. The flight was 13 hours and I slept for maybe 30 minutes of it. I ended up watching about 6 or 7 movies. I had already seen all of them (except Dolphin Tale, which don't ask) but couldn't really concentrate on anything so I wanted things I already knew. The flight ended up getting delayed because of wind and we got in 45 minutes late.

This doesn't sound like a big deal except that I only had 2 hours to get to my connecting flight and this moved it down to just over an hour. We landed in Detroit and since this was the first stop in the US, this is where we went through immigration and customs. This took over an hour as well and when I finally got my bags and cleared everything, I had 10 minutes to get to my flight. They sent me to talk to another lady because my gate was on the other side of the airport. I had been awake for 24 hours at this point and just wanted to be home. She told me there was no way for me to get on that flight, that there were no more flights to Atlanta that evening, so that basically I would be stuck in Detroit for the night. This is when I started to tear up. She gave me a hotel voucher, showed me where to go and was very nice about everything. But still, it was frustrating.

So I took a shuttle to the hotel, checked in, called my mom and told her the situation, took a shower and went to sleep. I got up at 4 to catch a shuttle back to the airport for my 6 am flight. My bags had been checked the night before so thankfully I didn't have to lug them with me. I also had an entire row to myself which was awesome and I slept for maybe 30 minutes on the ride down.

Sunrise on the plane from Detroit to Atlanta

My mom met me at the airport and after the 45 minute or so car ride, I was home. Layla recognized me and has been following me around since I got home. My jet lag isn't too bad but I'm still a little off. The hardest part is that I just feel lost.

First 24 hours home:
My mom told me about her new crush on Zac Effron
I super glued my finger to a mug
My mom told me my purse made me look like a tramp (as in hobo not whore) and to throw it out
I opened Christmas presents (thanks guys!)
My mom told me my boobs looked smaller and that I needed to get pregnant so they'd be big again
I drove to the library in my pajamas
I ate steak and salad and watched Jeopardy

First dinner home

It's Thursday morning here now. I've been out of Korea for 3 days and already I feel the separation. I know I can't expect people to feel like me and have that need to be connected all the time. They have jobs and the regular activities that I was part of while I was there. I don't really know what I expected, all I know is that I feel an incredible sense of loneliness right now. It will get better, I know. I will see more of my family and my friends and I'll soon be surrounded by people again, but right now, I'm sad.

Unpacking - within 5 minutes the cat was already in the suitcase

I that's not even counting all the other crazy things going through my head, like jobs and the future and life etc.! Ok, time to get out of my head...

Last week in SK (Monday-Friday)

This week has been so strange. I didn't know what to expect for my last week, but it's just been anti-climatic in some areas and then odd in others. Basically I am the queen of awkward goodbyes.

Sunday was my last day at church and I posted about that already. So I said goodbye to a brig group of people, not really expecting to see them again.

On Monday - crap, I can't even remember what I did and it's only been a week.

Tuesday was my last bible study at IEC. The lesson was good, but I will have lots of homework to do to keep up with the class from here. The ladies there are super nice and 3 of them bought me going away presents. I often feel awkward when people buy me stuff and this was no exception. All the gifts were really sweet though and I will miss that group.

After bible study I had coffee with one of my co-workers. She and I have been having coffee maybe once of month or so. We talk about TV shows and culture differences etc. and she asks me questions about pronunciation and grammar. It's really nice. We went to a place called Zoo coffee and it's in the same place O'Taco used to be. The funniest thing is that it's on a corner and 2 other corners of the same intersection also have coffee shops. They have redecorated with lots of jungle print and stuffed animals. Then I had school as usual. In my lowest class we made Valentines cards. I wish I had had my camera because they wrote cards to each other and they were so cute. John and David wrote each other cards saying they loved each other and Sally and Emma wrote each other cards saying Be mine. I made Dallas and Anna cards, but my kids stole them.

I am pretty sure that I did something on Tuesday night (most likely with Dallas), but I have no idea what it was. I do remember that we didn't have very many kids at the night classes though. We possibly watched "Hercules", but that could have been on another day.


Wednesday I had lunch with Keung He and Reagan at the chicken place downtown. We had a little different lunch than we usually have there, but it was still good. Then we had coffee and chatted for awhile. It was sad saying goodbye to Keung He because she has been probably my best Korean friend. Luckily she has skype and we've already messaged once. I hope she still asks me English questions because it's interesting to get her perspective on some of our weird grammar or idioms.

School on Wednesday was very weird. Morning classes were about the same as usual, but at night we have 15-18 students on average, but there were only 2 there! And of course one of them had to be in my last class so I had to stay. He was bored as crap too. The other kids weren't there because they are studying for their school mid-term exams.

Goodbye letter from Emily

After school I went with a huge group of people (11 in all I think, which was funny because it started out as 3) to see "The Avengers". I ended up sitting next to Josh, which was awesome because he is my twin and the 2 of us laughed throughout the movie at places where nobody else did. Sometimes it was because we just have strange senses of humor, sometimes it was because we were the only 2 people old enough in the theater to understand the references! The movie was great though and I will probably buy it.

On Thursday Jamie came over and helped me clean/organize my room a little bit. She says she likes to clean and because she knows Corrine (who took over for me) she wanted her to have a clean room. I did get a bunch of stuff done while Jamie (and Olivia) was there, but I'm afraid the house wasn't totally clean for Corrine (sorry!!). After cleaning, we had lunch at one of the Vietnamese places. I got pad thai and Jamie has pho. It was another awkward goodbye because neither of us wanted to cry, so she hopped in a cab and I walked to school! I will really miss the Current family alot. They have had a huge influence on my life, both spiritually and emotionally.

This was my last day for T-Th kids, so it was nice being able to say goodbye, but also strange. One my classes asked for a test (on the last day) and then we talked for awhile. We made Halloween masks in my next afternoon class and my last one we finished up their book and played a game. Night classes were a bit stranger because some kids were missing and nobody was very talkative.

99B (minus Sophia) - Alice, Tony, Mary, Julie - one of my favorite classes

97 - David and John making Halloween masks

97 - Emma tracing Sally's face to make a mask. I actually laughed out loud when I looked up and saw them doing this.

Thursday night is of course bowling night. My last class was canceled and I went to Dallas's, then we went to the kimbap place and met up with Anna and Mikey. Jon, Lindi and Madia came and brought me presents even though I told people not to! Then a few other people showed up and we ended up with about 12 -13 people. It was fun, but sad at the same time. Everyone had an awful night of scores though and we put it down to depression about my leaving. Dallas and I were really tired, but we stuck it out and left around 1ish (I think). Emma walked home with us and got confused because Dallas lives in the other direction - it was kind of funny.

We couldn't fit all the balls on the thing

The black team. When the first 8 of us got there and took off jackets, we discovered that 4 people were in black. That made team division really easy.

Then Dallas took off his shirt and had a purple one under it, so we ended  up being team purple. We took a picture of just me and Dallas but we both look awful in it.

What typically ends up happening at bowling night - Dirty Dancing reenactments

And mock fights

Jon and Nono just celebrated their 1 year anniversary. I took a sneaky picture and then they turned so I couldn't get a better one. They are super cute together!

Friday was a hard day. I was supposed to meet my coworker for lunch, then go to one of Dallas's classes that got switched so that I could see one of my kids. His class ended up not being switched, so I didn't get to see her and on the way to meet my co-worker, she called to tell me her dad was in the hospital so she couldn't come. Luckily Anna had the day off, so I was able to meet up with her.

While I was waiting for her, I went to a coffee shop and 3 random guys came over and talked to me. They asked all kinds of questions, sort of hit on me, took my picture and offered me a job in Seoul. Thankfully Anna showed up at that point and we could leave! We had lunch at Pasta Buono and got chicken salads (with blueberry dressing) and split a pizza which wasn't very good. Then we went shopping for random crap and got coffees. I had to leave then to go meet Dallas. We just hung out in his classroom and watched part of a movie. Then I went to the bank, ran some other last minute errands, got munchkins for my co-workers and headed to work.

Yum

The last day of work was really sad. The kids were nice, but they are used to having new teachers and were kind of just like "bye", except for my first class where everyone wanted my email and skype stuff and drew me pictures. My boss was super sweet and hugged me and gave me all his contact info in case I want to go back (which I kind of do). As I was leaving, one of the students who missed the final exam came in. I was kind of annoyed because I didn't want to wait around for an hour for him to take the test and then to grade it. Luckily I only had to give him the listening and speaking parts and my boss graded the rest. I made it to Dallas's house before I started crying. That's when it hit me that I was actually leaving. I took everything from my desk, I wasn't coming back, I was never going to climb the steps to that building again. He just hugged me and let me cry for awhile.

Then we went down town and had soup for dinner (which I wanted to eat before I left), went shopping for a bit, then went shopping at another area for his niece's birthday present. I met up with a bunch of IEC people to say a final farewell (which I think was my 4th good bye to some of them) at Holly's coffee. We closed down the coffee shop, then 3 of them (Heejin, Eugene and Seth) walked me home. It was very sweet of them and a great way to say bye. I will miss everyone there very very much. I got home, did a little bit more packing and went to bed.

The weekend will be another post coming soon.

Last weekend with Cindy

I know there should be another Daegu post first, but too bad, this one is ready now. This is about last weekend (or my second to last weekend in SK).

On Saturday morning Dallas and I woke up early and caught a bus to Busan. I was meeting Cindy there for our last (free) armpit appointment and Dallas was going to meet a friend of his (well sort of). We left early because Dallas's friend wanted to meet at 12 at a place about 30 minutes from the bus station. After 15 minutes after we got on the bus, he messaged that he couldn't make it.

He originally took a picture of me asleep on him, which woke me up. Then he made that face and I'm still not sure why.

So we had close to 3 hours to kill before we needed to meet Cindy and go to the spa. We ended up going to the Lotte Department store, eating breakfast (kebabs and a salad), wandering around the mall, having coffee, debating crappy movies, walking in the rain and finally going to a bookstore where we discussed good books we've read.

Cindy was stuck in traffic, so we went ahead to the spa/clinic without her. They got all confused, but I told them I could wait for her before our appointment. She ran in last minute and they were able to see us, but they didn't give us quite enough ice pack time, so the laser hurt both of us. Then the three of us walked back to mall and had lunch (Dallas and I split a salad and chicken skewers). Cindy and Dallas have hung out with me before and I've commented how alike they are, but this weekend solidified it - they are practically the same person, just with different body parts. It explains why I get along with both of them so well, but it's a little creepy.

Then we wandered for another little bit, Cindy got a donut, I bought a slap watch and we hopped a bus back to Jinju. We actually had to wait for a bus because the one that was there when we got to the station was already full. Dallas was really funny/sweet because he knew it was my last time to see Cindy so he told me to sit with her for Cindy-time. Then he shared his headphones with the Korean girl next to him who didn't speak English. It was pretty funny.

When we got back, Cindy and I went back to my apartment. There was a ton of crap everywhere. Cindy had a box and a bag still there from when she moved to Daegu, plus the stuff she brought for the weekend. Dallas had a pile of clothes from the night before all over, and Corrine (the girl who is replacing me) has a suitcase, backpack and box here since she is visiting her brother in Thailand this week. We chatted for awhile, then Cindy took a nap while I showered, did a load of laundry, and got dressed.

We were supposed to meet about 8 people for dinner, but 4 of the bailed (1 because of rain, 1 fell asleep and 2 were at another dinner). Saturday was a newish girl's (Emma) birthday and they created a joint facebook event for the 2 of us (even though I told them that it wasn't technically my last day). But I didn't want to go to her dinner b/c there were just took many people - about 30 - which is fun at a bar or dance place, but not at a restaurant. So I took Dallas, Cindy and Anna to the bbq I went to on Friday night. It's an all you can eat meat place with duck, bulgogi and other meat, but lots of veggies and really good salad. We stayed there for awhile, they kept toasting me and I got mad at them for it, so then we toasted everyone.

Anna took this picture of Dallas checking his teeth in his phone - a very Korean thing to do which he has happily adpoted

After dinner the 4 of us met up with Jon at Fish and Grill for soju slushies - one of my requests for the weekend. We tried to order strawberry and lemon, but ended up with 2 strawberries and some lemon slices. It was pretty funny, but I felt a little bad for the waitress. Every bar gives snacks of some sort for free. Usually it's these puffy rice things that my friend calls "beerios". This place gave us those, plus a small bowl of bondaegi (aka boiled silkworms). I have been here over a year and have avoided eating them. But because of my liquid courage from earlier, I decided I needed the experience. So I ate one. Then I made Cindy and Dallas try one with me so I ate a second. They were not good. But now I can say I did it.

At Fish and Grill

Cindy, Dallas and Anna eating ramen

Jon, Anna and me

Beerios and bondaegi

Collage of me eating bondaegi

After drinks, we hopped in a cab (and got semi-yelled at by the diver for having 5 people in the car) and went to the GNU area to meet up with Emma's bday party group. The cab ride there was one of the funniest things I can remember. Dallas and Cindy have very similar personalities and are pretty open about sharing. Jon was sitting in the front and kept turning around and telling them that those were stories you don't tell people (they were talking about times they pooped their pants). Before we met up with people, we stopped in a family mart and had a drink because the bar is kind of pricey.

Everyone was in a bar called Garden Bier. I had never been there before, but it seemed like a nice place. They only serve beer. There were probably 25-30 people there and while Cindy, Dallas, Cody and Jon sat at a table, I made the rounds and talked to everyone. Anna was walking around too, bought me a beer, but then got kinda sad and went home. At this point, the night started to get a little weird and some mini-drama happened. Although nothing actually came of it so I won't bother explaining. Dallas called me over to their table and Cody showed me pictures of his mom. We sat around telling stories and stuff for about 30 minutes then decided to head out to a dance club.

There are 2 new dance places in Jinju. One is called g&u and that's where we tried to go first. When we walked up, they told us that they weren't serving any alcohol that night and most of the people I was with wanted to keep drinking, so we left there and headed to the other place called Blue Ketchup. It was pretty packed and is more of a Korean bar. I walked in a the usher guy literally grabbed my arm, turned me around, and walked me back to the elevator. No other "foreigners" even made it out of the elevator. Most people left at that point and either went to another bar or home. A decent sized group went to the family mart for supplies and then back to g&u. There are lockers there for your stuff and the lockers are in a parking lot behind the club, so we just sat there for a little while before actually dancing. There was also a back room where I ended up for most of the night because people wanted to talk to me before I left. It was nice, but I didn't really get to do too much dancing.

Sitting in the parking lot and drinking

Hanging out by the lockers

Ally, me, Cindy and Dallas inside the back room at G&u

At around 3 or 3:30, Cindy, Dallas and I went home. The rest of out group had left in pieces and the remaining people headed to a norebang, but we were all exhausted, plus we were meeting people for brunch in the morning. We all headed back to my apartment, where I made Cindy sing "I'm glad you came" with me since we didn't go to the norebang. Dallas didn't want to sing, so he danced with my swiffer instead.

Dallas dancing pre-Swiffer

On Sunday I got up, took a shower, then woke Cindy and Dallas up. We met Josh, Anna and Cody downtown at Beans Farm for brunch, then walked around the market for a little while. It was a beautiful day. At 1:15 I had to leave for church so I said goodbye to Cindy which was super sad, but I know I'll stay in touch with her. She and Dallas went back to my place and packed her stuff then Cody took her to the bus station.

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend with 2 of my favorite people. This is also how unpacked my apartment was a week before I needed to leave

Church was really nice. They posted a prayer request for me in the bulletin and then about 20 people went to lunch at a soup place. I didn't take a picture, but I think someone did and I will post it eventually. This place also has really good tofu. Then most of the group went to Cold Stone, where we were joined by Hein, Dallas and Josh. After ice cream, I said goodbye to another handful of people and the rest moved on to the river. My request to Ilani when she asked what I wanted to do for a going away thing, was to play 30 seconds. I've talked about it before on game night posts, but it's a really fun game. We ended up with 4 teams of 4 (Josh, Dallas, Ilani and I were on a team) and it was hilarious. I wish I had videoed some of it. Most people left at that time, and 2 guys went to get coffee, so Josh and I played against Ilani and Dallas. Ilani, Josh and I are all the same age and Dallas is almost 10 years younger than us, so watching him play makes us laugh extra hard. Josh and I are very similar and we think alike, so we totally kicked their butts. Then 7 more people showed up to watch the musical fountain, and we played another round. It was still fun, but it was dark so it was hard to read the cards.

The river near the fountain

Ilani trying to explain something to Dallas and Lance

Josh and I share a brain so naturally we were unstoppable at 30 seconds...until the group of Saffas showed up

The second (or 4th) game

After the fountain and our game ended, a group of South Africans went to dinner, and the rest of us went home. I was really tired, but ended up staying up until 2 am posting pictures and checking facebook and email. I had a wonderful second to last weekend which just makes it that much harder to leave.

Second to last week in Jinju

Sorry - I can't believe it's been almost 10 days since my last post. Time flies - my Wii tells me that too (it's been 5 days Ryan, you should remember to test yourself everyday - shut it Wii).

Anyway, the main reason I was waiting to post was because I was (and still am) waiting on my friends to post pictures so that I can explain the weekends better.

Where did I leave off? Last weekend in Daegu...ok well part 2 of that story is still in the works due to the aforementioned lack of pictures.

This past week has been odd, but fun. I didn't do anything on Monday because I was really tired from the weekend. I got one box packed with sweaters and stuff to send home. I don't know how I accumulated so much stuff, especially since I haven't really bought any clothes here.

On Tuesday I had dinner at the yogurt chicken salad place with Dallas and Cody. Dallas had never been before and I wanted to make sure I saw Cody before I left. He originally was going to be in Ulsan on the weekend, but luckily his plans changed and he stayed in Jinju. We just had dinner then called it a night.

On Wednesday I met up with Josh, Dallas and Mike and took them to one of my favorite restaurants in Jinju - the dak galbi place. We chatted and ate and chatted some more. Those are some of my favorite guys and everything with them is relaxed and fun and I will miss spending time with them. After dinner (which was spicy because even though I said only put a little in, Dallas was teasing and said a lot and they listened to him) I made the boys go with me to the rock foot path and try it out. It's still hilarious to me that this even exists. They all hated it, but it's a Korean experience (at least that's what I told them).

Thursday was bowling night. We met at our usual time at the kimbap place and 2 new people joined up for dinner, but then didn't bowl. It was crowded when we got there and Dallas and Mike's balls were being used by other people, so Dallas asked if he could use one of the balls along the wall. The man working there gave him a really nice ball and said it was for curving. Dallas's mom sent a care package that got there on Thursday, so we were eating sugar cookies and we gave one to the guy for helping us. Plus everyone there is super nice and we probably would have given him one anyway. Mikey ended up using the ball and got 6 strikes in a row. It was pretty awesome. He still didn't beat John's high score from last week, but it was close at 192. Dallas and I were really tired, so we left after 4 games instead of staying for the 5th.

John, Mike and Dallas have the 3 high scores in our fake league. Ally wishes he were that cool. (And I'm #4!)

Dallas and Mike had a lengthy discussion about calluses 

Mike curving the new ball

On Friday morning I went to school with Dallas. One of my students is one of his students and she asked me to go and visit her. It was fun. He has a giant classroom and you wear slippers instead of shoes inside the school. My student is in 3rd grade which is his first class. On the way to school we stopped at a coffee shop and got coffee and English muffin sandwiches. He has about 40 minutes of prep time before any students show up so we ate and he set up videos etc. for the kids. When the kids got there, Emily (my student) ran over and gave me a hug then ran to her seat. He has 4 tables of 6-8 kids each and just about everyone of them asked if I was his girlfriend. He has a co-teacher for most classes, and this is one of his better co-teachers. This guy basically walks around making sure they are paying attention and not going too crazy. Dallas used me to help show them conversations. The topic was "How are you?" "I'm happy/sad etc." At the end of class they play a game and the kids are nuts! But it's pretty funny. Then Emily ran over to me, hugged me again and another kid came over to talk to me too. Later, when I had her, she told me to come everyday because Dallas picked her while I was there.

Friday night was my last prayer service meeting. I will really miss those meetings. I think they do help me focus my prayers and thoughts and I really really will miss the people that regularly attend - they are my church family and have made my time in Korea extra special. After service I went to a bbq place with Seth and Ilani then went to Dallas's house and watched "Hercules" while he cleaned and did laundry.

The weekend will be another post, that I will try to do later today, but no promises!

Daegu weekend - not safe for work (or children) - part 1

This weekend I went to Daegu to say goodbye to Cindy (even though she's coming to Jinju next weekend) and do some other things. I had a list of stuff I sort of had planned to do and just about none of it got crossed off that list. And I was perfectly happy about it. Dallas and Josh waited for me and the 3 of us got the nice (express) bus to Daegu. We got to the city around 10, got a motel room (where the lady gave us some interesting looks and questioned our need for multiple toothbrushes), dropped off our stuff and left. Cindy was going to meet us out for a low-key evening, but she lives about 30-40 minutes from downtown and since it was already 10, she decided to stay home. So I ended up walking around with Josh and Dallas trying to follow this awful map to a bar they wanted to see. We had dinner and went to a couple of bars, walked down a scary alley or two, and ended up taking shots of whiskey with a bartender after he closed the bar.


I can't really post most of what happened the rest of the night, but at some point around dawn, after I just got home, I had to go back out in pajamas to pick up Dallas, who dropped his can of Pringles on the ground and promptly ate them anyway (although none that actually touched the ground). Josh's facebook status pretty much sums up the weekend, so I borrowed it from him:


My Weekend in Quotes: "Daegu 'Kimchi' is delicious", "This KOREAN map says to keep walking until the end of the street","OMG they gave us the slut bed","Two toothbrushes or three *wink, wink*","I think this map is wrong"," Read the comments","Set the Swan to RAMMING speed","I hope none of us have herpes","It was like 200 degrees and tasted like picante sauce, and no he wasn't Mexican","I feel weird. Why? I just bought two girl shirts. It is ok this is KOREA!","Ryan it is your job to tactfully tell him to leave, k!","Blue, PICK BLUE!!!","We should have learned by now not to listen to Korean maps","He's my style","Whiskey shots!","I'll ask him, hey do you think he is hot, do you want to have playtime with him?? Yes right now!","Ryan, help me I am lost in Mokpo!","We have been walking for three hours and haven't found anything","I'm hungry","What, Tommy doesn't have a cell phone where he is?","Best PORN ever!","The best part was the surround sound snoring","Thank god he is pretty","He stole my choco cookies","It is an experience" .Thank you Ms. Ryan Hackman and Mr. Dallas Nickell for my my first trip to Daegu so memorable. Thanks for the invite!


More of the tamer parts of the weekend (including pictures) coming soon. I have to wait for Dallas and Cindy to send me their pics or to post them on facebook. Here's one from a photo booth we did Sunday afternoon to hold you over.

Kids essays - Part 12 - Songs and food

So I don't have much to update. My days recently have been busy at work preparing for finals and writing tests. This semesters seems to have a lot more tests and grading that usual. I'm also starting to develop a bit of senioritis and don't feel like doing any work, but I still like my classes. I have been doing well on my essays though, in part because I go to Dallas's after work and grade while he lesson plans, instead of coming home and screwing around on the computer.

Today was election day here in Korea, so it will end the annoying trucks with loud speakers announcing candidates, but it will also end things like this and this:

Candidate number 4's truck with his lantern self

Because it was election day, all the public schools (and some academies) had the day off. I didn't, so I was mad at all of my friends. I had lunch with Josh, Dallas and Anna at a chicken place and then we went for coffee. It was a nice day and I was sad to have to leave them while I went to work. It also made me miss Liezle some because she and I used to do stuff before school at least once a week and I miss having someone like that (well and her obviously).

Some of my kids are finishing this semester early because they are studying for their school mid-terms. One of my favorite students, Ian, knew I was leaving soon, so he wrote me a rap song. Here's the cover art for his album:

And here's my song:
Woman: Ryan Hackman
by E Anne (featuring D to the K) ** DK is another student in class who is good at beatboxing**

Beatbox solo by D to the K
My name is Ryan Hackman
I like to play some hangman
Everybody thinks I'm cute
You got a problem, dude?
Hugh Jackman is my man
He lives off by X-man
I'm from Georgia
I drank lots of vodka
With my black friends
Jamaicans hold ma hand
Nothing can stop me
I'm the wannabe
Now I'm in South Korea
Riding ma new Kia
I gotta eat to live
But I couldn't leave
So I got to work for W
So F*** you

Yea. He used to sing the first 4 lines at least once a class, if not multiple times. I will miss him. On another note, here are some older essays that I posted on facebook but never posted here.

Mosquito eye soup

Worm soup

Monkey brains. Also, arg cause it's sideways!