Golden Lady

Dear Korean summer,
You can end any day now..or at least take care of my a/c bill.

Well, my camera card is currently in Elizabeth's apartment and I'm at my academy in between classes, so there won't be any pictures from last week...sorry :( Maybe I'll sneak one in here when I get the camera card back.

It was such a short work week. If only every work week could be Wednesday through Friday, we would have much happier people in this world. Monday and Tuesday was "summer vacation" for me. Monday, I spent a majority of the day traveling back to Gunsan from Yeosu, but I was able to go for a run in a park near my house. I have found a new love of running on trails..it's such a rush knowing you could trip over a rock or branch at any minute and go crashing to the ground..makes you more aware.

Tuesday I was able to spend with one of my very favorite students...Seul Ki, who is currently reading my blog to study English..so, shout out to Seul Ki! You are great...now go look up the words "shout out" :) :) :) After sleeping well over 9 hours, I awoke on Tuesday morning and met Seul Ki. We rode bikes to this small amusement park near Emart. I would say it had very similar qualities to our infamous Petunia Festival in Dixon, minus the creepy and inappropriate carnies. We went there for one reason. The Viking! It was one of those carnival rides that looks like a boat and you swing back and forth getting higher and higher and higher. Since we were the only ones on the ride, the guy kept us on for at least 5 minutes...it was pretty sweet at first, but when the pendulum finally came to a stop, I was pretty thankful.
After The Viking! we rode bikes to Emart, picked up some groceries, and I introduced Seul Ki to the best food America has to offer: mac and cheese. She loved it, but said she didn't want to get fat..oh Seul Ki, you have no idea.

Tuesday rolled into Wednesday and I was back to work. It's an incredible feeling going to your first day of the work week on Wednsday. I had been in the sun just a little in Yeosu and on Tuesday I was out in the sun riding bikes so I got a little tan going on..nothing big. But I walked into my kid class the next day and the kids say, "teacher, you are black." me: "what? where? is there black on my face?" "No, the sun make you black." Me: " It's 'tan'...I wish the sun would make me black." In a more advanced kid class, when they saw me, they said, "teacher, you are golden lady." Me: "what?" them: "Gold hair, gold arm fur, gold skin...you are golden lady." Golden Lady, I like the sound of that.

Before I knew it, the weekend came along. On Saturday, Elizabeth decided to cross off something on her list that we'd been wanting to do. We heard that there was a restaurant that served some sort of fruit and yogurt, but Elizabeth kept describing this place that had "swings" we could sit on while we eat our fruit and yogurt. Sounds exciting and inviting right? So, we rode our bikes to the restaurant, Canmore. Turns out the "swings" were just like cushioned deck chairs that move back and forth. It was still pretty cool and dessert was delicious. It wasn't really fruit and yogurt, it was more like shaved ice, fruit, some sort of syrup, whip cream, cereal, and sprinkles (picture coming soon). We also ordered a chocolate and banana one too. After awhile we realized we were the only ones who each ordered a bowl of this delicious goodness...the Koreans all share 1 bowl for two people...shoot...we're so American.
Saturday night, Elizabeth and I went to Wolmyeong, the park near our houses and while she read in a relaxing place near the lake, I ran on the trails. Remember how I said, it was such a rush knowing you could totally wipe out at any minute? It's also a rush when you are flying through the air about to get a face full of dirt...I quickly picked myself up and kept going, but I have a nasty cut and bruise to show for it. After the park, we went back to my place and made some Kongguksu for din din..actually Seul Ki's mom made us the soup..I just boiled the noodles and froze the ice cubes..Thanks Seul Ki's mom..it was so delicious :)

Sunday was same as most Sundays. Spent most of the day at the church. After church, Elizabeth and I went to a fancy cafe near Lake Eunpa. And later Sunday night, I finally did it. I finally bought my plane tickets to China and from China to Chicago. So, people, mark your calendars, October 17th at 8:40 p.m. this faithful blogger will finally be stepping back into her homeland! I can't even begin to describe my excitement to see my dog, mom, dad (in that order...j.k.) and so many other people! Elizabeth and I celebrated together on Sunday night by choreographing a dance to Diddy's song "Coming Home." It was a solid performance to say the least.

Well, I hope you are doing well..until next time :)

Sincerely,
The Golden Lady