Cherry Blossoms, Jimjilbangs, Peeps, and Selfies

This past Friday, I celebrated my 10 month-iversary in Korea! Pretty wild, right? It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that I've been in Korea for almost a year. In just a couple short months, I'll be flying home to visit my lovely family and I am so psyched!

Before this happens, have many activities lined up here in Korea (spoiler alert: May is going to be incredible). But let me back up a little bit and fill you in on yet another great week in Gwangju.

1. Spring is in full swing here. The greatest evidence: cherry blossoms (벚꽃)! Last Saturday I went to a Cherry Blossom festival which was conveniently located directly across the street from my church building. The downside? The weather! Right as the blossoms were blooming, we got some heavy rainstorms. Everyone was so concerned about the poor blossoms. They took a beating but they were still pretty.

Poor blossoms!

It was very rainy so I didn't take many pictures

A corn dog covered in fries?? Good job, Korea! A+

Back at the church, there was conveniently an activity with food! I ate delicious seaweed soup, kimbap, and chicken ^_^. Johanna, a classy French girl in my ward looked super French with her French beret. I convinced her to let me try it on too. Who wears it best?

French?

American?

Korean?

Clearly Johanna is the winner hahaha.

After dinner, we headed downtown for dessert. Mmmmm bingsu. I could eat bingsu every day.

You can't see the bingsu...because we ate it. But trust me, it's delicious

Since that day, I've been a little more successful with finding good cherry blossoms:

2. Yesterday, I had an adventure that was, uh, interesting. Very new and different haha. I went to a jimjilbang (Korean spa). If you don't know anything about what goes on in a jimjilbang, I'll fill you in with this Conan O'Brien clip:

Yes, I even did the full body scrub...yes, it was painful. But I felt so smooth and reborn afterwards! It was definitely an eye-opening experience. Jimjilbangs are nice because it's a cheap place to get cleaned up and sleep for a night when travelling. 

3. My mom sent me so many peeps in my Easter package! I've been really excited to try the unique flavors she sent but I haven't had an opportunity to share the experience with anyone. So I went ahead and tried a couple on my own:

4. In the States, taking selfies is shameful! But in Korea, it's very normal and very much embraced. I can take vanity selfies with pride and confidence! A new friend from Australia introduced me to a Korean picture app: Candy Camera. This app is popular because it pretty much makes you look perfect. Here are some good ones I got today next to beautiful flowers my friends and I came across walking home from church.

For comparison, here is one picture I took WITHOUT the app

And then things started to get silly,  naturally

ANYWAY. Please excuse the vanity. Really, this camera app is wonderful.

5. I have one more thing I must share with you. 

Shrek sweater!

Eating Shrek chicken nuggets while wearing my Shrek sweater

Okay. That's all. Until next time, friends and family!

Easter Package

My wonderful mother sent me a delightful Easter package with many yummy treats!

Thanks, mom! Love you!

February Fun Times

February may be the shortest month of the year, but in 2015 it sure is making up for its lack of days by being very eventful! To kick off my February 2015, I received a package from my wonderful mother. It was full of my favorite candies as well as Valentine's Day candies for my students. Here is a video of me opening up the box:

In Korea, kids are preparing for a new school year, starting next month. This means two of my kindergarten kids are graduating and will start elementary school soon! So this week, we did class pictures. It was nothing like the way I remember school pictures ever being done--then again, this is the only Korean school I've worked at so I don't know if it was unusual by Korean standards either. Although it should be noted that "kindergarten" here is actually equivalent to our preschool. Some kids start when they are 3 or even 2 years old and it's not a public school, it's a private business. So technically it's compulsory I guess but I would be surprised to find a Korean child who did not attend Kindergarten for a few years.

Anyway in my schooling, I remember LifeTouch (really, is there any other company that does school pictures--maybe it was just my county) would bring their equipment to the school and set up camp in the gym for the whole day. Then class by class, they would file kids through a queue, snap a quick picture of each one in front of an ugly background, then send the kid on their merry way.

For these pictures, we went to an actual photo studio. We changed into coordinating shirts and took some group pictures. Then the two graduates got some special individual pictures taken in new dresses their parents bought for them in honor of their graduation. The other five kids had nothing to do during this time except run amok and play with all of the props in the studio. The other English teacher and I had a rare chance to just play with the kids, which was fun. I felt like a babysitter haha.

Seo-Young

Gah! She's so cute!

Yu-Seul noticed Seo-Young and I were taking pictures so she joined in

Everyone, meet Ha-Eun. She's a goof

Ra-Hee is so sweet!

Ha-Eun causing mischief!

Ye-Young is one of the girls who is graduating. She is one smart cookie

Taking some selfies with Ye-Young...

...when suddenly...

...Ha-Eun appears out of nowhere

Shout out to my mom, who is a birthday girl today! Well, it isn't her birthday in Colorado quite yet but it is in Korea!

Another shout out to my dad who I get to see in about a week!! Eeeeeee!!! Thanks for the Valentine's Day card!

One last shout out to the country of Thailand. Thanks for existing and for being warm and sunny this time of year. I look forward to experiencing it this month!

Happy February, everyone! If you haven't got around to buying Valentine cards yet, just print this one off and give it to all your friends:

Okay love you all, bye!