Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015 was so great! There is an American-style restaurant in Gunsan called N.Y. Byeok that hosted a Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey and stuffing! I feel so blessed to have great friends to spend the holidays with away from home.

Wolmyeong Park

A couple weekends ago my friends and I went for a little hike at Wolmyeong park, close to where we live. At the top of the mountain, there was a tower we could climb to get what would've been an amazing panoramic view of the city had it not been so hazy that day. Regardless, we were super excited that we could see the sea from the tower. It's still difficult for me to process how close I live to the ocean now!

 We continued to hike around for a while until we discovered a park area with outdoor exercise equipment where many older people were getting some exercise. These exercise parks are very common in Korea but usually I don't see ones this big. My friends and I decided to play around on the equipment for a while because hey, why not?

We were ready for some lunch after our fun morning. While walking around the city, we came across this random Totoro so that was fun.

  We decided to have lunch at "Pizza School." Our pizza was DELICIOUS--chicken quesadilla! We also got baked spaghetti because when we saw it on the menu, we knew we had to have it.

I am happy there are many fun places to go and fun people to hang out with in Gunsan!

(Almost) a Week of School Meals

School lunches here in Korea are very different from any school lunch I had growing up in the U.S. Last week, I took my phone with me to lunch so I could share with you all what I typically eat for lunch, with the exception of Wednesday because I forgot my phone that day...

You can always count on a Korean school lunch (or any meal, really) to have kimchi and rice. 98% of the time there is soup as well. I don't know what to call everything but I'll try my best to describe it.

Steamed sweet potato, kimchi, braised soybeans, udon noodles with veggies and squid, soup. The soup had a great flavor but surprised me with a chunk of fish--bones and skin and all. Usually the fish is smaller and has been cooked to the point where bones are soft enough to eat but I can't do it...I still try to pick them out.

Pork? Apples, kimchi, sautéed zucchini, soup, rice with beans

Kkul tteok (rice cake filled with a Korean syrup), zucchini, kimchi, pork, seaweed soup (one of my favorite soups), rice with sauce

Acorn jelly, kimchi, asian pear (apple pear), lettuce (clearly haha), dumpling soup, pork. The red paste is bean paste--it's not as spicy as it looks! Next to my kimchi is also tiny salted shrimp. The shrimp and bean paste are for the pork. You wrap the pork in a lettuce leaf.

I enjoy my Korean school lunches. They are usually very delicious--especially the soups! These meals are hearty and healthful. I'm always excited to see what's for lunch.

Apartment Tour

Wow! It's already been a little over a month since I returned to Korea. Time is going by ridiculously fast. I predict, however, things will really slow down in the winter. I teach at three elementary schools and so far so good. I enjoy working with my students and coteachers.

I've also finally edited and uploaded my apartment tour! I filmed it a couple days after moving in but had technical difficulties.

Enjoy!

The name of my building is Happy Dream--how perfect is that?

Next blog post I hope to share more details about my teaching job. Stay tuned!

24th Birthday Extravaganza

If I could spend one more year being 23, I would be super happy about it. But alas, time marches on and I am ready to embrace 24. My new friends in Gunsan were really sweet and celebrated with me on the day of my birthday with fried chicken and Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.

On the weekend, I headed down to my old city, Gwangju, to celebrate more! We had one of my favorite meals Saturday night: shabu shabu.

Dinner was delicious and super filling. Afterwards, we went to a photo booth to do sticker pictures. The guys sat out for this activity haha.

Inside the photo booth

The hardest part of doing sticker pictures is choosing which ones you want

 Ready for dessert, we headed to Korean Dessert Cafe for bingsu and cake.

Of course, no good birthday is complete without norebang (singing room)!

Singing "Allstar" by Smash Mouth

Big thanks to all my Gunsan and Gwangju friends for making my birthday so incredible. I really am touched by how selfless everyone was. I'm grateful to have friends to be goofy with!

Bonus picture of my view from a bus stop near one of my schools:

Also I have a fun anecdote to share:

Embarrassing moment in Korea #127: my coteacher had to tell me this morning that I was wearing the office secretary's slippers and she wanted them back pronto.

In Korea we wear "slippers" inside the school. We call them slippers but they probably aren't what you'd expect when someone says "slippers."

I really need to buy my own...I've been using the guest slippers at my three schools for the past few weeks. At two schools, it's no problem at all. But at my third school I am reminded how large my feet are every time I take a step, my heels trying their very best not to hang out the back of the slipper.