Jeongja + extras

An nyung hah seh yo! :)

I should be packing for Jeju and Busan, but I figured I should update this thingamajig before I leave so I don't have a bunch of different things to update on! Whew.

Anyways, last week I introduced a new "game" to the kiddies (King class). It is for the phonics class. We've been learning words that start and end with "sh" and "ch" and end with "nk" and "ng." So, I thought making a game out of it would be more fun than always doing work books. I thought it would be, like, a one or two time deal, but no. All week last week. Now, let me explain it first. I break the class into teams, if there is 11 or 10 of them, I put them in group A and group B, and if there is only 9 (which it was a couple times last week) I put them in three groups of three. Easy. Then they are to brainstorm as many words that they can remember/think of with these requirements in them. Super easy, yea? I thought so, until they started asking me to help them then I totally blacked out. "What?! A word that starts with 'ch'? Hmp, I'm sorry guys, I can't thin---I mean, that's cheating!!!" Ha. Totally blew off my stupidity for being a diplomatic teacher. Anyways, the kids love the game. Well, most of them do anyways. I am personally getting tired of it, but whatever. Time to brainstorm for new phonics games. Any idears??

Here's a picture of Peter (aka the smartest one) being hounded by the girls who want to be on his team. So cute.

He loves it.

Anyways, this past weekend! I have heard of this place called Butter Fingers Pancakes. Ahem:

I've heard that they are an awesome Western b-fast place. So, I told Jeremy about it and he was all gung-ho to go, so we got onto the yellow line at Ori and went up 2 stops to Jeongja. We got off the subway and looked around. Eh, not too much. We start walking in more towards the "city" part. Then we fell in line with the cutest little street I have seen here so far. Lined with boutiques, cafes, jazz bars, and the like. It had little alleyways that were the nicest ever and had more shops in it. So adorbs.




We find Butter Fingers and dig into two huge dishes, that would probably be suitable for a family of four. Needless to say, Jeremy takes home a bunch of leftovers.

Then on Sunday we decided to go back with our friend Bob. We take him to Butter Fingers, too. I just had some yogurt and granola. That's it. I couldn't take the cholesterol infested meal again. My body isn't used to it anymore. Ick. Then we walk around and go to Coldstone! While we're sitting outside eating our ice cream, I do a bit of photo-taking/stalking :P
I took more pictures, but they would show up crooked on here, so go to my Picasa Web Album. South Korea 2. To divert from my gushing about how much I love Jeongja, one thing I have noticed a lot over here is how often I see Korean dads with their kids. I see dads taking their kids anywhere and everywhere. No moms around or nothin' sometimes. I know this isn't really completely new, but, meh, I don't know, I think it's cute. :)

On our way back to the metro stop we pass ilovecookie.com which is a tiny little shop FULL of Western foods like Kraft Mac n Cheese, RANCH!, real people Cheetos, and the likes. OMG, yay!

Anyways. We make it back to the metro stop where I quickly get distracted by this huge bridge looming in front of us on the other side of the street. I looked over my shoulder to tell the boys that they can go home if they want, but I'm not ready and I head on off towards the bridge. It was such a beautiful view. On one side, you just see the river heading home towards Ori and the other side goes towards Seoul and has a tiny little waterpark. So colorful! It was full of tents that families posted up for the day to stay out of the sun (they hate the sun here) and let their kids play in the knee-deep waters. So adorable. I went down and hung out for a bit and the boys joined the second time after I told them how awesome it was (they were busy modeling for each other...).

The bridge

Facing Ori.

Water "park"

Pretty.

After the teensy trip to the water "park" we hung out on the bridge in the breeze and sun and talked for a good long time. Then, when I realized my Reeses were melting, we decided it was time to head on home.

All in all, a great weekend. I really enjoyed Jeongja. Such a cute little place. Really. I want to go back and actually wander around more. :)

The end. I've been a bit homesick... I miss and love you guys!

Oh! My parents have started their overseas adventure, too! Right now, they are on their way to Pakistan with Seester. Seester will be there for two weeks and the rents will be there for a month before they make their big move to Kuwait for two years! Craziness...

Love.

American v. Korean Culture

The following chart explains the difference between American culture and Korean culture.

MONOCHROMATICE CULTURES	POLYCHROMATIC CULTURES
Take time commitments seriously	Time commitments are an objective to achieve, if possible
Adhere religiously to plans	Change plans often and easily
Emphasize promptness	Base promptness on the relationship
Short-term relationships	LIfetime relationships
Do one thing at a time	Do many things at once
Respect for private property Seldom borrow or lend	Reciprocal obligations Borrow and lend often and easily
Low context (one says what one means)	High context (words are not the full picture)
North America, UK, Germany, Switzerland & Scandinavia	France, Italy, Latin America, Spain, North Africa, China, Japan, Korea

This Weekend

I did nothing. :] Well, sort of. I was supposed to go to that Mudfest thing, but opted out. Jason Teacher decided not to go to save money and Katie Teacher and I had been kind of eh about it, which is weird considering a couple weeks ago I was so excited for it... Eh, anyways. So, I was eh about it and found out from the person planning it that it was okay if I didn't go as long as I paid her for my train ride (that I wouldn't be on. Had to pay because she already bought everything, so it's only fair... Plus it was less than 40$, so whatevs). So yes. One of the reasons I didn't want to go is because I wikipedia'd it. Not my scene. Really. It just seems like a big rave... eh numero uno. Then it was raining all day Friday and the weather center said it was supposed to rain all day Saturday (aka the day we'd be there), eh numero dos. And then I was just like I don't really feel like drinking... apple juice :) Eh numero tres. I feel pretty good about that decision just because I was nervous about it before I even got there. I already had these preconceptions about it and yea. So yup! I stayed in Ori this weekend :)

Anywhos. Yesterday, Jeremy and I went to AK Plaza at Seohyeon, which is a couple stops up from our stop. It was pretty sweet. Burger King, KFC, and a book store with a whole English section. Needless to say, I bought three books. YAY! And today, I was going to go to Costco with Jason teacher and Ted, but I'm not sure if that's happening anymore, so I'm going to start cooking! :) I also bought yellow rainboots today for 35$. Originally a little more, but I got a 10% discount and a free tshirt. Say whaaaat. Love this customer service, man.

And a youtube video, just for you Ryan T Alley, sheesh:

Kickin' it in Geumchon by EV Boys

Also! I looked into a couple volunteer opportunities around Seoul. I'm stoked. I sent out at least 4 or 5 emails to the organizations, so hopefully I'll be hearing back by the middle of this week. Yay!

Working on 7 Weeks

This will be a brief update since I'm being super lazy.

So last week we went on a field trip to a summer camp/water thingie. I guess you could call it a summer camp type of thing. We played with bubbles, played in the pool, went down a giant hill on tubes (SO much fun!) and the kids played in these blow up pools. So cute. It was so much fun. Everyone had a blast. The kids were pooped afterwards, though. Actually, now that I think about it, so was I! A couple of the kids wouldn't wake up when we got back to the school. I picked up Alex 1 to set him on his feet hoping he'd wake up, but no, he just collapsed into my arms. Funny.


The past couple weekends we haven't done too much, just stayed in the Suji/Ori area hanging out with friends/saving money for our upcoming trips. This weekend we are going to Mudfest. As far as I am aware, it's where a bunch of white people go to drink and get muddy. We'll see how it goes. I've heard that it's something you should do when you are here, so I'm stoked! Then we have our summer vacation that is from July 29th- August 4th. Jason, Katie, and I are leaving on the 28th right after school to fly down to Jeju Island and we'll be staying there til the 1st, I believe. Then from there, we are flying to Busan to meet up with Sara Brown til the 3rd. I'm excited! Travels! Yee.



I've also just found out that we have a break in September. It's some sort of holiday from the 21st to the 23rd. Some schools take off the whole week since the 21st thru the 23rd is in the middle of the week, but we're not completely sure of our school's plans yet. I'm hoping I'll be able to do some out-of-country traveling for this junks.

Anyways. I've been here for almost 7 weeks. Craziness. Time flies by for the most part. I've been playing host to a bit of homesickness recently, but it's nothing outrageous so that's good. It's really only times when I miss the States that I get homesick, so that's good! Because I've been feeling sorta down, I decided that giving my fingers "tattoos" would be an awesome idea. It has cheered me up quite a bit, actually. Take a lookskii:

Aw, my fingers love each other! *smiles*

I have been trying to keep myself pretty busy, it's kind of hard to do, though, because I am always so exhausted after work! But I try, I try. :) There is so much more of South Korea than I ever thought there would be, so I'm excited to get the hang of traveling so I can do some myself. Yupyup. Anywhos, that's about it for now! I am so sorry for the delay!

Hugs n kisses!