We Love Lotte World!

Hello!

Sorry its been so long since I've written...I was good about this, but I've definitely been slacking.

So things have been relatively normal around here since we got back from Thailand. Its cold (but getting warmer already!!). All of us have hardly been working. Its the end of the school year, so there's hardly any work to do (and by hardly any, I mean zero). It was the Chinese New Year a week ago, so we had some days off school for that. My schedule has consisted of working from 9-10:30 and then going home at 10:30. I only teach one class of about 3 students, and then I get to leave. The new school year starts here on March 2nd, so this is just sort of a review for the kids I'm teaching, and a chance for them to maybe get ahead. I like working with a small group of students because I can pretty much do anything I want - we watched a Simpsons episode on the Olympics, which was awesome because the show had all the neat Olympic vocabulary I taught them, plus they totally understood what was happening in the show and it was great.

To pass the work-free afternoons, we've sort of been on a rediscover Seoul kick. We're trying to do all the things that we sort of take for granted because we're here all the time. This past Thursday, I met up with Anna and Rebecca and we went to Lotte World in Seoul. Lotte is a company that owns....pretty much everything. There's Lotte Mart (like Home Plus or Super Target), Lotte brand foods, Lotte Super (simple grocery store), and of course...Lotte World! Its an indoor and outdoor amusement park right in the middle of the city. Since its still pretty cold outside, the outdoor part of the park was closed, but we decided to explore the indoor park. I suppose its most comparable to the indoor park at Mall of America, but a little bigger.

The whole thing is sort of kitschy and definitely targeted to a younger audience, but that didn't stop us from acting like 7 year olds for the day. We started off on a ride called "The Adventures of Sinbad" which was a themed water ride that took us through the story of Sinbad. It was pretty elaborate, but of course the dialogue in each of the scenarios was in Korean so we couldn't understand everything, but it was still cute. We also stopped to watch a little parade...

We spent the day going on all of the rides, including a ride really similar to the spinning teacups at Disney World...except these were called the "drunken baskets". Interesting name for a ride designed for children. We got a little over zealous with the spinning, and were all ready to throw up after getting off.

Lotte World also has a roller coaster. The ride lasts for about a minute, but it was still fun. We also went on a ride called Pharaoh's Fury..it seemed like it would be a tame ride...but ended up being a little crazy, and was basically a small roller coaster in the dark. Definitely unexpected.

Lotte World at night

Reebs and me at Lotte World

Friday night I went with Sara, Rebecca, and Anna to the Seoul Museum of Art. I hadn't been back there since my first week in Korea, but we wanted to go because there was an Andy Warhol exhibit that we really wanted to see. It was really cool to see so many of his most famous works...the Marilyn Monroes and the Michael Jacksons, and his self portraits. We went to Hongdae after that and ate at a really great Indian restaurant. Korean food is great, but sometimes we just want some diversity!

Everyone watching the Olympics? Its become quite the rivalry between the U.S. and Korea in speed skating. Cheering for the U.S. obv, but definitely happy to see Korea doing well! I think Kim Yuna (or Yuna Kim) is going to be skating this week. There is some serious pressure on her over here to win gold...so hopefully she can pull it off or she's pretty much going to disappoint everyone in this country. Sort of sad. In the states we kind of take all of our medal winning for granted, but in a small country like Korea they're just so damn proud to win any medal that they replay it over and over and over....and over. I've seen each speed skating race where a Korean medaled about 5 times now. I get it. You got a medal. So did we. Relax. But it still doesn't stop them from replaying it, and its all my students can talk about. Speed skating! Figure skating! Kim Yuna! Lee Jung Soo!

So here's a K-Pop song for all of you...I know how much you missed it. Anna introduced me to this song, and now I think we're both wishing we had never heard it. Its definitely the strangest video and overall concept to a music video that I've seen. Its called Marshmallow...and we're pretty sure the girl is falling in love with the marshmallow, because its so plump like a jelly and soft like a cookie. Those are the actual lyrics (in translation). I don't get it. I'm guessing no one else does either, but it will make you laugh.

Other than that...things are pretty much back to normal around here. Sort of boring. BUT don't you worry. Yesterday we made a list of things that we want to do here in Korea...most of them need to wait until the weather is nicer because they're outside or involve taking a trip somewhere. But in a month the weather should be warming up, especially in the south, and we'll be able to start on our list. There's still so many things we haven't done here so we're going to make sure we make them happen this spring and summer. Lots to look forward to!

"Life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, but only adventure." --Rachel Naomi Remen.

To Bangkok and back!

Hi everyone! I know its been awhile. We're all back from Thailand safely. Let me just say...it was absolutely amazing.

So I was thinking about how to possibly write this entry...and its going to be impossible for me to sum up the past 2 weeks concisely, but I will try to only mention the stuff worth mentioning and do my best to remember the details of those things that are. So...here we go:

On Friday (Jan 15th), me, Sara, Rebecca, and Anna all met at the airport. We took a shuttle bus to our hotel, and stayed the night out at the airport. We woke up bright and early for our 9am flight. Our flight stopped in Beijing, where we had to go through an international transfer with some not-so-friendly Chinese customs workers. Word of advice...if you can avoid a layover in China, do it. Its annoying. Once we got through their security checkpoints, we had some time to kill in Beijing (the largest airport in the world!). We found a restaurant and had a few beers. Our flight left Beijing around 2 that afternoon and we were off to Bangkok! Five hours later...we touched down in the gateway to Southeast Asia.

Bangkok: We arrived in Bangkok around 6pm. We took a taxi from the airport to Khao San Road - the backpackers' ghetto. In Thailand, they drive on the left side of the road, which was at first a little strange for all of us, but we got over it quickly (but not before Rebecca tried to climb in the driver's seat thinking it was the passenger side). We had no reservations, so it took us a few tries at several places before we found room for the 4 of us. After we were got settled in, we hit the streets! We ate dinner at a place near our hotel and ordered a tower of beer. Eventually we bought some grasshoppers from the bug cart guy, and enjoyed our snack.

The next day we took a tuk tuk (a little motorized scooter with a cart in the back for passengers) to the weekend market. Here they sold pretty much anything you can imagine. Little trinkets and toys, home decor, pets, food, and...well just everything.

We returned back to our hotel and then ate dinner at several of the street food vendor carts, which is always good. We also were somehow brave enough to attempt to eat a scorpion. I'm not sure what we were thinking, but we all somehow managed to do it.

The next day we took a tuk tuk to the big Standing Buddha, a monk hangout(?), and finally the Grand Palace. Unfortunately I don't know much about buddhism nor Thai history to fully understand what I was seeing, but either way, everything we saw was incredible. The Grand Palace contained several different areas, and we were able to see the Emerald Buddha, which is a small buddha carved entirely out of emerald. I couldn't take pictures actually in the temple, so I don't have a clear picture of it.

After stopping for lunch, our last stop of the day was Wat Pho, which is where the Temple of the Reclining Buddha is. The Buddha was enormous - he took up the entire length of the temple!

Reclining Buddha

After that, we headed back to Khao San Road and prepared for our last night out. Sara's friend Erin, who is teaching in China, met up with us that night and joined us for about a week of our trip. We went to a club in Bangkok where we met the top actress in Thailand. We didn't even realize it until someone pointed her out to us. She was incredibly friendly and from that point on we saw posters, ads, and billboards of her all around Thailand.

Tuesday we spent the morning and early afternoon on a long tail boat. Bangkok is kind of like Venice...its built on canals, and its sinking! We took the boat through several of the canals and were able to see an entirely different side of Bangkok. It was so interesting to see the houses and shacks built up on the water. Many of them were run down and it was strange to see such poverty among the high rise apartments and the growing modernity of Bangkok (a city of nearly 8 million people). It was also fascinating to see such strong tradition still holding its place in a city over run with tourists and westerners. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the river, and then went back to Khao San Road for a few last beers before we left. Anna's friend Casey, who is teaching in Korea also, met up with us, and stayed with us for the remainder of our time in Thailand.

Koh Tao: To get to Koh Tao we took an overnight bus to Chumphon where we took a 6:30am ferry out to the island. We were pretty tired when we arrived, but also super excited to finally be on beach and also having the knowledge that we still had a full week and a half left there, we let ourselves bake in the sun for the better part of the day on Wednesday. We had a bungalow right on the beach...the ocean was literally our front yard.

The view from our bungalow front porch

Enjoying my first day on the beach!

That night, sunburned and happy, we ate dinner on the beach. Every restaurant along the beach sets up a barbeque at night, where you are able to choose your own seafood or whatever you would like. All of the seafood is fresh from the ocean, and while I'm not much of a seafood eater, I did try some crab and prawn, and I admit, it wasn't too bad!

While we were eating, we were entertained by a little French kid playing with a Thai kid. It was actually so entertaining to watch their interactions because it was obvious that they didn't speak the same language, and neither of them had learned English (they were maybe 4 years old). In Thailand, nearly everyone speaks English - even more so than in Korea, because let's face it - people who "speak" English in Korea really suck at it. Thailand is so touristy that the only way to communicate is through English even though the majority of the tourists are European and don't speak English as a first language. There are also a lot of tourists from Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but hardly any from America. I think over the duration of our trip we met maybe 2 other Americans. We were all actually ok with it though, because we figured that we're a pretty decent representation of America...we weren't doing anything that anybody should be ashamed of at least. And compared to the Aussies, we looked like angels :) Anyway, watching these kids play with each other was so hilarious because the only English the Thai boy knew was "hello" and so to get the French kid's attention he would scream "HELLLLOOOOO". Really interesting to watch.

The next day we went snorkeling. We hired a boat for the morning and afternoon and headed off to Shark Bay. Our boat driver snorkeled with us and pointed out sharks that were swimming right underneath us! I hadn't actually expected to see sharks, but there they were, swimming only a few meters below us.

Where are the sharks?

Sharks!

We also saw a bunch of beautiful fish! After snorkeling, we boated over to Koh Nangyuan. Koh Nangyuan is actually 3 islands all connected by sandbars. We were only allowed to be on the island until 5pm though, because then the tide comes in, and there's no way to get between the 3 little islands once the sandbars are submerged. This place was probably one of the most amazing and perfect places I have ever seen. We spent the afternoon there snorkeling, sunning ourselves, and finally ending with a quick hike to the top of one of the islands where we could look out and fully appreciate the place.

Heaven on Earth

The next morning we woke up early to do some more snorkeling and then went back to the ferry port to catch our next boat.

Koh Phangan: The site of the infamous Full/Half/Black Moon parties. We took a late afternoon catamaran over to Koh Phangan from Koh Tao. We checked into our bungalows and then ate dinner at the restaurant at our resort. We decided to go out on Haad Riin Beach, so we hopped in a cab and off we went. Haad Riin Beach is where the Full Moon Party usually is held. Even though it wasn't an official party night, the beach was still full of people selling buckets of booze and flame twirlers encouraging people to participate. Naturally quiet little Anna got sucked in...and she decided to blow fire?

We were all cheering her on though, and she did great! The next day we spent time just hanging out on the beach in preparation for the Half Moon Party that night.

Outside our hotel in Koh Phangan

Anna painted everyone's faces while I did everyone's makeup so we were all looking our best for the night! Its really common for people to get paint everywhere so we decided to paint our faces up nicely. The party was really crowded and was in the middle of the jungle? There were black lights everywhere which made our face paint glow in crazy ways, and pretty much the only way to get alcohol was in the form of a bucket...so naturally we each got our own :)

Erin, Anna, and me at the Half Moon Party

Sunday was spent recovering from the chaos of the night before by laying out and eating cheeseburgers at the resort. Talk about Paradise...

Koh Samui: Monday morning we took an early ferry over to Koh Samui. Koh Samui is the biggest of the islands. We took a cab from the harbor to Chaweng Beach and checked a few hotels before deciding on one near the beach. We took moped taxis to a temple where we were blessed by monks.

Tuesday we took a "safari" where we got to ride elephants, feed baby tigers, and experience the scariest trek through the jungle ever. After the animal portion of the day was done, we were supposed to go to the top of some mountain in the jungle that had a great view of Koh Samui and the ocean around it. Well...it was rainy time (i.e. it was pouring out) in the jungle and our 4x4 driver didn't seem to care. He was flying up and down the eroding clay paths that were supposed to pass for roads, taking turns too sharply and too quickly. We were in the back screaming for our lives as he calmly chatted on his cell phone and all the while a 3 year old French boy was sitting on TOP of the jeep with his parents giggling. Eventually, the rain subsided and we were able to return back safely. We never did get to the see that "great" view though...

Chaweng Beach on Koh Samui

Wednesday we had planned to leave for Phuket. This is when not having plans becomes incredibly awesome. Everyone we had talked to that had been to Phuket had nothing but bad things to say about it. But we had heard amazing things about the island of Koh Phi Phi. SO. We decided to stay another full day in Koh Samui to soak up the sun, bypass Phuket completely, and stay for 2 nights on Koh Phi Phi. Probably the best decision we made on the trip.

So Thursday we had booked tickets to get us from Koh Samui to Koh Phi Phi. And what an adventure it was. The day began at about 5:30am when we woke up. We packed up our stuff, checked out of our hotel, and were picked up by a van around 6am. From there we were taken to a ferry port, where we got a bus, which took us to another ferry port maybe only a few kilometers away (why we weren't just dropped at that one to begin with, we'll never know). We got on a ferry for about an hour and a half that took us to Surat Thani on the mainland. From there, we got back on the bus which was randomly letting people off. Eventually, we were made to get off the bus in the middle of a random town (still Surat Thani we're guessing), and made to get in the back of a giant tuk tuk with our luggage strapped on. We figured we were being brought to another bus station, but no. We were dropped off on some back road at an abandoned restaurant sort of place. We had no idea what was going on. After about 45 minutes of waiting, another bus came. We took that bus to yet another little restaurant place, where we were made to get off the bus, only to get back on 30 minutes later. This bus finally took us to the port on the other side of the mainland in Krabi, where we were able to catch our ferry to Koh Phi Phi. All in all, we had about 8 transfers, but we arrived on Koh Phi Phi at the time we had expected. Crazy. We found a place to stay on Koh Phi Phi and headed out for the night.

Koh Phi Phi: Koh Phi Phi is the island that was hit the hardest by the tsunami on December 26, 2004. Most of the footage from the tsunami you may have seen from Thailand was taken from this island. Basically, the island lost everything. Everything was flattened. As a result, much of the central town area is brand new and looks really nice. However, even 5 years later, they are still rebuilding and debris is still visible throughout the island. Its soo beautiful though. It was probably my favorite place along with Koh Tao.

Friday we spent the morning and early part of the afternoon soaking up our last day of sun on the beach. The beach was amazing and perfect and beautiful and I really can't even explain how great it was. Around 2, we got on a longtail boat that we hired for the afternoon, which took us out to Maya Bay. Maya Bay is a totally uninhabited island, where the movie "The Beach" was filmed in 2000. The tide was out when we got there, but when we left around 5, it was slowly coming back in. We watched the sunset from the boat after a quick stop on Monkey Beach. We got off the boat as the sun set on our last real day in Thailand.

Maya Bay - Where "The Beach" was filmed

Rebecca and me goofing around on Monkey Beach

Last sunset

Saturday we woke up early to catch the 11am ferry over to Phuket. We went straight from the port to the airport where we caught our flight to Bangkok. We had about 6 hours in Bangkok so we left the airport and went back to Khao San Road for some last minute shopping and a few drinks before we caught our 1am flight to Beijing. After transferring in Beijing, we arrived in Korea around noon on Sunday.

Overall, it was an unbelievable vacation with amazing people and I could not have asked for a better time. We joked the entire time that we were on the dream vacation people win in contests, and we talked about how lucky we were that not even a year out of college we were able to take and plan this vacation. Every place I go inspires me to go somewhere else. I feel like I need to see it all. Who knows where our next adventure will be...we still have some places in Korea we need to explore, and then we can begin planning our trip for this summer. Some places on the idea list...Indonesia (Bali), Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Exciting!

View of the beach on Koh Phi Phi

"I know, I know for sure that life is beautiful around the world." -- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Kelsey Does Korea (and the biggest snow storm in history)

Hello! Hope everyone who still reads this thing is doing well :)

So I'm just hanging out at home on this lovely Monday because...I don't have to work. For a month. Yep. No working for me for one whole month. My life is too easy, I know you're jealous.

Kelsey arrived last Sunday. I took a bus out to the airport to meet her and then we came back to my apartment. She was a bit jet lagged after such a long flight, so she pretty much crashed right away. Monday morning I helped her get to the subway and figure out where to go. I, unfortunately, had to work the entire time she was here, but we made the most of it. I was teaching "winter camp" for some students, but I only needed to be at school from 1-4 everyday.

Monday...oh Monday. Seoul received the most snow it has had in...forever I think. Apparently it was the most snow on record in over 100 years or something. I wasn't impressed but over a foot, maybe a foot and a half of snow fell on this snow-handicapped city. The subway broke. Schools shut down. People fell. Cars crashed. Everyone completely lost their shit and had no idea how to handle the snow. Of course, I hadn't expected it either, but growing up in Wisconsin I was more than equipped to handle it. Wish I could say the same for the other 25 million people in the Seoul metro area, but no. It really didn't seem like that much snow to me, but I suppose I've seen more. Korea on the other hand was in shock. I met up with Kelsey on Monday after school and showed her Cheonggye Plaza and stream and then we went out for a nice Korean meal :) Luckily all of the Christmas decorations are still up in Seoul so even though it was freezing, she still got to see how beautiful it was lit up.

Cheonggye Plaza

Tuesday I went into Seoul with Kelsey in the morning and we visited the Seodamun prison. It was a prison built by the Japanese when they occupied Korea. Korean nationalists were imprisoned there and tortured. It was an incredibly sad place, made even sadder by the fact that with the exception of a few soldiers taking a tour, Kelsey and I were the only ones there and the place felt really desolate. I'd like to go back when the weather is nicer to see what its like. After the prison I went back to Yangju to work, and then met up with Kelsey at the movie theatre in Uijeongbu. We saw the movie Nine (good movie!) and then called it a night.

Wednesday we went to the Korean War Memorial and Museum. Surprisingly I hadn't visited here yet, so it was exciting to go. The museum was really well set up and incorporated some of Korea's older history as well as the more current Korean War. I couldn't stay here long though, because I had to rush out to go to work :(

UN Flags outside the war memorial (and Seoul Tower)

Sitting on an Air Force plane

Dog tags of soldiers who died during the Korean war (under the UN emblem)

Even at this point, 2 days after the massive snowfall, Korea still hadn't figured out how to deal with the snow, which had now frozen in the subzero temperatures. The subway was taking forever, traffic was still bad, and only a select few of the sidewalks had been shoveled. Alright, Korea. Figure it out.

Wednesday night I met up with Kelsey in Insadong. We found an adorable little teashop and then made dinner out of the yummy street vendors that I love so much. This particular one we came across immediately took a liking to me. Even with his limited English, he had somehow learned the phrase "I have a crush on you". LOL. I was like "who taught you that?". He had some trouble pronouncing Kelsey's name (Keshi?). Definitely had a good laugh with that one.

We wandered our way down to Gwanghwamun Square and then home.

Thursday Kelsey went to the DMZ with the USO tour (same one that I took with my friends a few months ago). I met up with her Thursday night at the Han River and we took a little boat tour of the Han at night. We ended up on a "live music" tour which was really just some guy singing karaoke with his guitar. Hm. Kelsey and I entertained ourselves by sharing a box of soju for the duration of the "tour".

The Han River

Friday morning we awoke bright and early to go to N Seoul Tower. We climbed up Namsan hill and then went up into the tower. I hadn't been there before, so it was really nice to see it finally. Like many things here...I find it best explained in pictures.

One of the walls outside the tower is entirely covered with locks that people have put up. They all have little messages on them proclaiming their love and are locked onto the railing. The messages are primarily in Korean, but languages from all over the world can be found here. Definitely one of the coolest parts of the tower. The windows in the observation area are really cool as well. There are labels on the walls telling you which direction you are facing, and then major cities with the distance in km of how far away that city is. The closest one to home is of course Chicago. Ya'll are 10,525 km away from me!

Seoul Tower observation deck

I've been there!

And now I've been here too!

Kelsey went to Suwon to check out the fortress Friday afternoon while I was at work. We met up in Hongdae where she gave me an incredibly thoughtful gift of handmade ceramic mugs as a thank you for hosting her. Thanks again Kelsey :)

So the latest K-Pop song is actually one that some of you in the states might know. Its by the Wondergirls and its called "Nobody". There's a Korean version too, but this is the version that's popular in the states. So many Koreans here are so proud that this group has had some success in the US. They actually were on So You Think You Can Dance a few months ago I think. Enjoy!

I'm leaving for Thailand on Saturday. We're going out to a hotel near the airport on Friday night so we can avoid being up super early in the morning Saturday. So I probably won't update until after I get back from Thailand which will be January 31st.

Super excited for this year. Looking back...this time last year, I had absolutely no idea that I would be living in Seoul. A year from now? Who knows where I will be. Exciting!

Check #3 on this article.

서울 (Seoul) 2010...its going to be a great year :)

"I am the one generation with the future in the palm of my hands. And I overcome the revolution for the people with a vision now listen to me. Generation 'I', coming alive. So open your eyes, and show the world what you see. Let it out, let it go. Live today for tomorrow." -- Richey Lam, "Generation I"

Holidaze

Hello! Sorry its been so long since I've written. The holidays are busy even in Korea!

So I finished up classes the week of Christmas by teaching a short rhyming lesson and then letting the kids watch The Grinch. Eventually - I got sick of teaching anything, and also really annoyed after the 7th time watching the Grinch steal Christmas from poor little Cindy Lou Who, so I found "Shrek the Halls" with Korean subtitles and let the kids watch that, and then Charlie Brown Christmas afterwards. Hey...finals are over and it was Christmas. Even teachers need a break.

Christmas Eve I went with Rebecca to our friend John's house for a small get-together. I brought a lovely Christmas train cake (complements of Paris Baguette).

We mostly just sat around talking, drinking, and eating. So nice! Christmas morning I skyped with the fam and opened my gifts. I was feeling pretty sad about not having a white Christmas, and what do you know...a Christmas miracle happened! Christmas night I went out to meet up with Sara, Anna, and Mark - and it started snowing! The Koreans seemed miserable but we were loving it up and had a great time walking around Hongdae (Seoul) and looking at the Christmas lights and snow. We ate some Korean BBQ for dinner (of course) and then met up with some friends.

Me and Sara at xmas dinner

Prices at the bars were raised because Christmas is sort of a couples holiday in Korea. When I went to the bank on Christmas Eve to pay a bill...the bank was decked out in pink hearts. Really? So all the couples go out to nice dinners and then out to the bars. While we waited for our friends, we stopped in a 7-11 and grabbed a few drinks (I know...we're classy, but everyone else was doing it too). While we were standing there, we noticed a hilarious garbage can....

Cans, bottles, and of course...pets.

Welcome to my life. We spent the night celebrating xmas with all of our friends.

The day after Christmas was to be our big "Ho Ho Ho Christmas Bar Crawl". I went out for some Mexican food with Rebecca, John, and Q, and then met up with everyone for some good holiday cheer. After a few bars, we decided to go to a noraebang...its become so popular for us to go to because we just sneak in our own food and drinks, and it ends up being cheaper than eating/drinking at a bar.

Anna and me

Rebecca, me, and Anna in the noraebang. Lovin the tambourine.

John and Rebecca starring in Noraebang: The Interpretive Dance

The floor was heated in typical Korean fashion, which explains the interpretive dance action on the floor. It was freeeeeezing out on Christmas. Sunday, Rebecca and I went to the movie theater in Uijeongbu to see Sherlock Holmes. It was pretty good, actually - but its becoming more and more apparent how the comedy is completely lost in the translation. There were a few US soldiers sitting behind us and during the funny parts it was literally only me, Rebecca, and them laughing. Hmmph.

Monday after Christmas I went to school in the morning to meet up with all of the teachers for our ski trip! We loaded our bags and goodies onto the bus and were on our way! The bus ride was about 2 hours. We went back to the Sajo Ski Resort that we had gone to for our field trip a few months back. The resort was in Chungju. We only had time to ski in the afternoon, but it was still so fun! Skiing is sort of expensive in Korea, and as a result it was many of the teachers' first time skiing. Its been awhile since I had skied myself so I was a little bit worried, but it was sort of like riding a bike. I knew I was in good shape when I got on the ski lift with 2 teachers, and Sera (who was a first timer) fell immediately upon her departure from the ski lift. Yeesh. I tried to teach her what little I know about skiing, but she can't really speak English, and my Korean is even worse...so I demonstrated as best as I could, but she ended up walking down the bunny hill anyway. Surprisingly, I did really well, taking only one really bad fall (which was more funny than anything...seeing my face plant into the snow). During one of my runs, however, the binding on my ski broke and I had to walk down the hill to get new skis :( After that though, all was well. I'm not much of skier, but compared to the teachers who spent most of the time on their asses, I looked pretty good. There were, however, a lot of young children on the slopes that day, and they were showing me up big time. I got lots of looks from the kids since I think its safe to say I was the only white person in the place, and a few of the brave ones even stopped to say "hello" to me and practice their basic English skills. So cute.

Sang Jin in her ski gear...her hat says Jamaica.

Where I skied!

Sang Jin, me and Mr. Ahn at dinner...Jin was loving the soju

We went back to our hotel rooms and got ready for dinner. Dinner was at a restaurant near the resort. After all that skiing I was hungry. And for dinner was...pheasant. Yep. I was a little hesitant because...what!? But I went with it (I mean, let's face it - I've eaten much much worse in my time here). It wasn't so bad. Dinner was accompanied by an excessive amount of alcohol. And of course we ended up in a noraebang. Of course, nobody knew any English songs, and those of you who know me well know that I can't sing a note on key for the life of me, so I sort of just danced and clapped along. I will admit though, that I'm learning more of the Korean songs...I've got K-Pop down!! Also, as boring as it may seem to be in a noraebang without anyone singing songs you really know...it has helped soooo much with my reading. I'm still pretty slow at reading Korean, but I notice that I'm getting faster and I really think its because of all that noraebanging with the teachers. My neighbor, Sang Eun, offered to sing a song with me and the one she knew was...Livin' La Vida Loca. Well...that's not embarrassing to sing or anything. But we sang it loud and proud and it was fun. I don't even think they know what "la vida loca" means. Seems common sense to most of us, but they literally don't know any Spanish so I had to explain it. So funny.

Sang Eun and Sera at dinner

The next day we went to breakfast. They don't really have "breakfast" food here. They basically eat the same thing they would eat for lunch or dinner. So kimchi, rice, and soup for breakfast it was. Gah. I really just wanted some scrambled eggs and pancakes but no. From breakfast we went to a temple in the mountains which was really pretty. I can't remember the name of it because...well they're all sort of the same to me now. But here's a few pics.

After the temple it was time to leave so we hopped on the bus and headed home. We stopped for lunch about halfway home and arrived back at the school around 5. I went home from there. I spent Wednesday just cleaning my apartment and running a few errands (yep...no school for me!). My friends had to work Wednesday and half of the day on Thursday, but my school gave me the days off which was so nice.

And then...NEW YEARS EVE!!! New Years was absolutely amazing here, I don't think I can even begin to describe it but I will try.

A group of us met up in Insadong in Seoul. It was absolutely freezing out, maybe hovering around 10 degrees F. So cold. We started off at Starbucks and then went to a small hole in the wall Korean place for dinner. We were able to bring in our own drinks, which was nice because it saved us a lot of money. We sat in the restaurant for awhile just drinking and eating. Our next stop was a noraebang where we did the same thing...snuck in food and drinks and were able to sing our hearts out. Total spent on our New Year's pregame...around 15,000won per person. So cheap!

Sara, me, Anna in the noraebang on NYE

Sara, Rebecca, me, and Anna

Me and John outside Jongno Tower

About 10:30 we left the noraebang and headed out to the streets of Seoul. We were in the area by Jongno tower, which on New Year's Eve is pretty much the NYC Times Square of Seoul. The street is blocked off and people pack in around the Jongno Tower and the Bosingak Bell Tower (which is rung at midnight). You know how everyone in the US pretty much watches the ball drop in Times Square on New Years Eve? Well everyone in Korea watches the Bosingak bell ring in Seoul...and WE WERE THERE!! We bought some illegal fireworks and then crammed in with everyone else. I can't even begin to explain what it was like being in the center of the chaos. People were literally packed into the street and there were so many police and people that it was impossible to move. We were pretty much just moving with the crowd, unable to choose where we were going.

Standing on a ledge over the sea of people in Seoul

Bosingak Bell Tower

Before we knew it...the countdown (in Korean) was on and it was 2010!!!! The entire street was yelling, cheering, kissing, and fireworking to ring in the new year. Pictures don't really come close to explaining what it was like being there...but it was amazing. I took a video to try to show you guys what it was like...not sure it really does justice to the awesomeness of the moment, but check it out anyway. Spending New Years in Seoul really added to my experience here - to be able to say that I got to celebrate in the heart of Seoul on the street with everyone is so amazing. I'm so excited that I was able to be there with all of my friends and ring in the new year. Even almost an hour later, the streets were still crowded with people cheering and shooting off their illegal fireworks.

After that we went out until around 4:30 am and just celebrated 2010 with all of our friends. Overall it was a really great night. There's a clip from Seoul on CNN which put together a video/picture montage of New Year's celebrations all over the world. I think my goal is to celebrate New Year's in a different city every year. I think that's realistic...right? Plan for next year...maybe Sydney? :) Maya get ready for me!

New Years Day I went to Icheon with John to visit where our friend Q lives.

Cute store in Icheon :)

Anna and Mark met up with us and we went to a "spa". So in Korea, something that is really common is public bath houses. This was my first one. I don't even know how to explain it really. Its totally a cultural thing here. Basically there's separate women's and men's facilities, and everyone just goes totally naked and hangs out in these hot tubs or saunas just...washing each other? haha sort of gross to most people, but totally normal to Koreans. There's also places in the spa where you can get massages, pedicures, facials, etc, but you need to pay for it separately from your general admission. This bath house also had a joined men's and women's area (bath suits/clothing required). Anna and I had some trouble finding how to exit the massive locker room/women's bathing area, and we had to ask where the joined facilities were. Naturally nobody spoke English so we had to attempt Korean. All we could really say was "여자, 남자...같이?" pronounced "yeoja, namja...kahti?" Also meaning..."women, men...together?" Not even a full sentence and definitely had the potential to be interpreted in many wrong ways, but we got our point across and they pointed us in the right direction. Once we made it out, they had one big hot tub with lot of jets (outdoor even though it was freezing) and then different types of smaller hot tubs. There was chocolate, tea, herb, mint, etc. It was super relaxing after such a crazy night before. Usually they can be sort of expensive but Q's family is VIP at this one and we got in FREE! So nice.

After the spa we went to E-Mart and bought some things for dinner...fried chicken, sushi, wine, etc. We all went back to Q's apartment and then hung out and stayed the night there. Today we layed around all day and then ate dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Icheon and then went to an adorable little cafe for coffee. For a few minutes I forgot I was in Korea and felt like I was back in Italy!

I took a bus back to Uijeongbu, which dropped me off at the Uijeongbu Bus Terminal and then cabbed it back to my place. I'm actually quite impressed with myself for the amount of Korean I've learned considering I really haven't tried that hard. I mean, I probably should be trying harder seeing as how I'm in the perfect situation to be learning a new language. But getting in a cab by myself used to terrify me because I was so concerned about not being able to communicate what was necessary, and now I don't even think twice about it.

Tomorrow I'm going out to the airport to meet Kelsey who's flying in from Chicago before she goes back to Manila in the Philippines where she works. She'll be here for a week so I get to show her around this amazing city. One major thing I have yet to do in Seoul is go up in the N Seoul Tower, and its definitely something all visitors to Seoul should do, so I'm looking forward to that. Exactly 2 weeks until I leave for Thailand! Yay!!

K Pop song of the week is called Bo Peep Bo Peep by 티아라 (T-ara). New dance party song that blares from all the clubs in Hongdae on the weekends.

Hope everyone had wonderful Christmas and a happy happy happy New Year!!

"In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself." -- Frantz Fanon