Farewell Lizer

Dear Elizabeth,

I can't really put into words how much I have been blessed by you this past year. I know this year would have been drastically different without you. Thank you for the laughs, the witty comments, the late night "workouts," Cheeseball Saturday, listening to and understanding the frustrations with the different culture and everything that comes along with teaching ESL, being my travel partner to all those various places..especially Genie's apartment.., and so much more..basically thank you for taking this journey with me these past 11 months...you were a true answer to many prayers! I love you and will miss you, but I know this experience in Korea will forever keep us connected :)

After one year and a few days, my costar in "A Year of Firsts," will be heading out of Korea and making her way back to the mother ship! Although she leaves tomorrow, last week and weekend we did most of our "goodbye" events. I'll get to that in a second.

As for the week at school, my favorite day was Monday when none other than the infamous Mrs. Nam poked her little head in the door and said, "hello!" in her precious Mrs. Nam accent! It had been almost a month since I'd seen her last, so it was so wonderful to see her again. She spent a week in China and then spent several weeks taking a break from studying English. Since then, she's provided some laughs, kept us updated on the weather, and always manages to ask the best questions to the other classmates.

The weather has cooled down just a bit, but the humidity is still raging. Last week, I had a little spat that is turning into unwanted drama with the gym owner. I was running on the treadmill last week, and at about 35 minutes, the man comes right up next to me and starts giving me a hard time (all in Korean) about my sweat. So, I responded in English. "It's hot. There's no air conditioning. You shut off the circuit for the fans to save energy. I'm running. I can't help it." He didn't understand, but I think he was slightly offended that I talked back to him...Korea doesn't understand the "you should earn respect" mentality, nor do they have any concept of "customer service." Anyways, that's currently turning into a big deal in which I'm pretty sure I'll be asking for my money back for this next month and be taking my business elsewhere...like it's not hard enough staying motivated to exercise everyday.

So, after a week of ups and mostly downs, Elizabeth's last weekend had arrived. Friday night after a "roller coaster" of classes...(side story) My 7 oclock middle school class was off the walls on Friday. This class has been getting progressively worse. It's supposed to be a conversation class but I'm finally coming to the realization that because of their different English levels and their extremely low level of maturity, they are nowhere near ready for a conversation class. Friday they were out of control, so towards the end of the class, I had to sternly put my foot down. I tried explaining to them that they have been acting very badly and that my elementary students are not only better in English but they are also better in behavior. After I said that, one of my favorite middle school girls types a Korean word into her electronic dictionary and then shows me the English word. It said, "puberty." Hehe..this lightened my mood a bit, but still they are going to be my final project of the year.

Anyways, after class on Friday I ran over to the Korean restaurant across from my work, picked up some cheese donkas (cutlets) and a roll of chum chee kim bop (tuna rolls) and came back to the apt to meet up with Elizabeth. We ate, looked at pictures from the past year, and just chatted like we've done so many times before.

Saturday, I named "Elizabeth Saturday!" For lunch, all the ladies went to a nice Italian restaurant in town for an farewell lunch for Elizabeth. Good food and good company. After lunch, Lizer (what Mr. Oh calls Elizabeth) and I rode bikes around Gunsan. We had intended to go to various places and take lizer's pictures with those places, but we only made it to one before we decided to go back to the apt to chill before dinner. Dinner was also a "farewell dinner" thrown by Elizabeth's coworkers. We ate at "Han's Deli," which not surprisingly does not have any sort of sandwich on their menu. It seemed kinda like a fusion between Western and Korean, with the Korean side being more dominant. It was decent.

Sunday morning was church and then Sunday evening was yet ANOTHER "farewell" dinner for good ole Lizer. We ate pizza, played this awesome Korean game that I will be bringing home, ate dessert and then parted ways. I actually forgot to include that last week, on Sunday, Elizabeth hung her hat at the Haven church. It's a Haven tradition, which I, too, will be participating in next month! Hope you are all doing well and you school goers are pumped and ready for another year of filling that nogan of yours!

Farewell, Lizer!

Gyeongju, Goodbyes, Good-eatin'

Dear Gyeongju,
You are one good looking city. Thanks for all the historical facts and site seeing options.

Where to begin! This past week was so packed full. I can barely remember it. And it doesn't help that I didn't give myself any notes to remind me of our mini roadtrip to the other side of the peninsula.

So, last week, I left you in great anticipation for this week's blog right? Right. So, let's pick up from last Sunday afternoon. After filling up the gas tank and grabbing some sandwiches from the infamous Lee Sung dong bakery in Gunsan, seven teachers hit the Korean highway. Gyeongju or BUST!

We had decided the week before that we would spend Sunday and Monday (Korean holiday) in the Washington D.C. of Korea. The city is so old...like ancient..literally. We saw stuff in museums from the 4th Century. America is such a little child compared to Asia. In Gyeongju, it was, if I remember right, the capital of the Silla Dynasty. This dynasty is known for uniting the three dynasties that separated Korea. They unified them and also made Buddhism the official religion. So, the city is full of many artifacts from palaces that had been excavated, and also, although we didn't really get to see them, I hear there are many beautiful, ancient temples in the mountains nearby.

After a 5 hour drive, we arrived in Gyeongju at about 7 pm. First, we went to our sweet set up at this condo. One of the teachers is an older Korean man who had some connections and got us this condo for a very sweet deal. So, we got all checked in, made our way to our room, open the door, only to find the maid just finishing up her shower. Although it was unexpected, it really wasn't surprising...oh, Korea...Nothing will ever catch me off guard thanks to you.

After that slightly awkward encounter, we got acquainted with the place. Intially, we were slightly concerned since there were no signs of a single bed in the place, but we opened the closet to find 3 "beds"..Korean style. So, we set it up and gave it a trial run.

They were actually pretty comfy.

Then we went out and ate some sort of sum gyeop sal..pork and also met our "tour guide." The Korean teacher's friend that lives in Gyeongju. He was a nice man..probably in his late 60's...He asked all the guys on the trip if I was their wife...and the last guy said to him, "nope, why? you sound interested." Thankfully, he didn't speak English. Oh, Brian, you're hilarious ;)

After dinner and a quick trip to Home Plus...like our Walmart...we thought we were going back to the hotel when *screeeeeeeeech* we spotted this awesome lotus farm (field? pond?) The lotus is the flower that is closely associated with Buddhism. I'm pretty sure it's in many of the temples and paintings inside the temples. They grow in ponds, I've seen them before, but never this big or so many in one place! So, we poured out of the car and got to explore. The pictures are so pathetic in comparison. And it was even prettier in the daytime when all the lotus (loti?) were open. Here are some pics:

The lotus farm.
The lotus and ILotus' closeup!

Got back to the room and found the maid snoozing away on the couch! ...im totally kidding..but that would have been funny. We all went to bed early and slept like babies.

Monday came along and I observed that maybe Koreans sleep on the floor because it makes it so much easier to wake up. Without the comfort and squishiness that I require in every bed that I've ever made my own, getting out of bed is not so difficult.

I jogged around for a bit. We ate some breakfast. And we were on our way out the door for an extremely full day of sight seeing. Koreans don't mess around. There is absolutely no diddle daddling allowed when a Korean is in charge of your group. You think it's impossible to go to three museums, a palace, burial grounds, a Confuciasm school, eat lunch at a restaurant, go to a traditional village, eat some watermelon with some old friends, and see the original house of the Chae family all before 3:30 pm? Think again.

Our first stop was the Gyeongju National Museum, which was comprised of 4 buildings. Here, we saw many artifacts that were from the 4th and 5th century Silla Dynasty. We did see some originals but unfortunately when the Japanese had control of Korea they destroyed many of the originals artifacts. We first stumbled across this ancient bell called, "Divine Bell of King Seongdeok." It was pretty divine.

The first museum we walked in was Anapji Hall. Anapji was a pond built by King Munmu in the 600s. He built it on one of the palace grounds. This palace was the "party" palace according to one of the Koreans with us. It was pretty neat. I'll post more pictures of all the artifacts on facebook asap.

Our next stop was at the Archaeology Hall where we saw the Gold Crown, which apparently is a National Treasure and other various ancient things.

This is a helmet from the 500s:


Here is a pretty famous design in Korea. According the free guide I picked up at the museum it is "a roof end tile with a design featuring a human face of Yeongmyosa temple site." I just think it's cute. Outside the museum was this pagoda. Unfortunately, it's a replica, but it was still neat.


We finished off the whirlwind museum run with going into the art hall which featured a few different Buddhist art rooms.

Remember Anapji Hall? Well, this was the actual palace grounds the pond was built in. Over 1400 years of upkeep and this place is still looking good. The pond is to the right of the picture.

After we partied it up at the party palace, we visited the burial grounds (buzz kill) of many of the different Kings. I really didn't know what to expect, but the "cemetery" reminded me of the Indian burial mounds at Devil's Lake..except these were massive and only one king to each mound.


We actually were able to go inside one of them, which was really interesting, but out of respect they didn't want photos. Bummer.

So, the next stop was at the Confucianism school.I kinda wandered away from the group at this time so I missed most of the explanation, but basically children studied Confucianism here.

Here are the classroom rules. Translated: 1) Don't hit each other 2) Don't speak Korean and 3) Don't say the "F" word. Wait...those are my classroom rules.

Finally, it was time for lunch. We ate at a Korean buffet. It was decent.

After lunch, we drove for about 20 minutes to a traditonal village. Although it is a tourist spot, it is not a village solely for tourism. People actually live here in these traditional houses and live normal lives, it seemed like many of them were farmers. It was beautiful and the pictures, like all my pictures, really don't do it justice.

This was built by a servant of someone. I think. shoot..sorry, I can't remember what I read on the plaque..but it was very old and Asian looking.
I really need to make a flower colleague of all the flowers in Korea..Chincha adamdapta! (Very beautiful!)
Another part of the village
After the traditional village, I thought our time in Gyeongju was up, however, we ended up making a couple more stops. One was to visit old friends of the Korean teacher who was with us, and the other one was at the Chae family house. If you meet a Korean, most likely their family name will be Kim, Lee, or Chae. So, this was where the very first Chae's lived. At this home, there was a tour guide who spoke super good English, so he explained to us about the Chae family and their 6 precepts. Here are a few of the famous family quotes: "Not to be prejudice, hasty or covetous. There is no such thing of solidly perfect value. Live a righteous life with no lopsided though." and "the possession is like dung which one can't stand with its foul smell if one store them in one place but can be fine fertilizer if one sprinkles it fairly." This house was probably one of my favorite stops. It was very informative and I understood everything that the guide was telling us.

So, after a couple days being filled with loads of information about Korea's ancient times, we were homeward bound. We arrived in Gunsan at about 8 pm which gave us all enough to time rest up and take on a shorter work week.

Although it was a short week, time, once again, seemingly dragged on. Just the usual. On Friday, in my morning class, we had to say goodbye to 2 of the college aged students, Eun Sun and Mira. They were great students and will definitely be missed.

Also, on Friday, it was my last day at the company class, so I thought. So, Friday I had to say goodbye to my company students at Tata Daewoo. They were sweet and on his way out, one said, "Natalee Teacher, I miss you." Although there will be times when I miss seeing their shining faces, I am mostly excited to have my afternoon break back! Here they are: Tony, Ms. Jeong, June, Lee, Mr. Shin, and Rain. Tata, Tata Daewoo employees, may you never forget our endless conversations about your weekends and I shall never forget your semi-inappropriate comments like, "Teacher, you're dressed to kill me."

At Tata I taught 2 different classes. The above picture was my class for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I taught another class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There were four faithful members in this class. Two women and two men. The two women I had over for an Italian feast a few weeks ago, so you've seen their picture. But here is Mr. Cha and Mr. Kim.

Friday night, this class of four took myself and my Korean team teacher out for some dinner. We ate at this new Vietnamese restaurant, PoHoa. I've had Vietnamese food once before in Korea, but this was so delicious and fun to eat! I think they call it, "Wal nam sum" which I'm about 80% sure that translates to "Vietnamese burrito." First, you must take the rice paper and put it in hot water for a few seconds.

After the paper is soft and sticky, you add whatever you'd like to your sticky rice paper.

And WALAH, "wal nam sum."

You can also dip your "burrito" into this amazing peanut sauce. This was probably the best food I've had in quite some time. PoHoa will be seeing me again in the next 6 weeks.

Saturday was exactly what I needed. A day to do nothing. However, I'm not someone who can just do nothing all day..so I decided that I would go through ALL my clothes and decide which ones I'll be bringing home as well as which one I'll send home in a box. I got a little carried away and packed every single piece of my clothing into a suitcase just to see if it would fit and how much it would weigh. Surprisingly, it all fit, but I soon regreted my impulse decision to pack away all my clothes when I realized I still have 6 weeks left and need more than my sweats and tank top to wear to work.

Saturday night, I met Seul Ki at Subway. That's right, Subway reopened..hallelujah, I feel like I can breathe again. Seul Ki had never eaten Subway, so of course she was just overwhelmed by it's greatness. After Subway, we went to the movie theater and watched "Larry Crowne." Decent movie.

On Sunday, we had the once a month potluck. Along with the great food, there was great company. During this potluck, I sat with a group of foreigners that were visiting the church. To my right sat a Korean, to my left sat an Aussie, and in front of me sat a man from South Africa and a woman from England. It was so interesting listening to all the nice British sounding accents..I never wanted to talk because the sound of my own American accent interrupted the eloquence of their voices.

Sunday night, I was so excited to go and play basketball with a Korean friend of mine. After I got over the uncomfortable feeling of being the only girl (and foreigner) in site, I had so much fun watching and playing basketball. It was fun, but I was absolutely terrible. I'm pretty sure nobody has ever had that many air balls in one afternoon of basketball. I could tell not going to Broken Arrow this summer really messed with my basketball ability.

While I was watching and playing, I started to feel these conflicting feelings. I love meeting new people and I love meeting Koreans, I met a few new people playing basketball and it made me say to myself, "Natalee, why are you meeting these awesome new Koreans who will make it that much harder to leave in 7 weeks?"

I've always been someone who absolutely loves connecting with other people. I really think my favorite thing in all the world is finding someone who I really connect with and spending time with them. I love staying in contact with my friends from home and from my university, and I always love that hour long conversation I have once in a blue moon with someone I met once either on a missions trip or at a summer camp. I care so much about those around me...and sometimes I've found myself caring way more than the other person..but my point is, I've made so many incredible connections here, and although I usually don't mind goodbyes because I do enjoy keeping in contact with the people I have the strongest connection with, I am a little worried that the amount of goodbyes that will happen in the next 6 weeks is going to be slightly overwhelming and a war of emotions between the excitement of coming home and sadness of leaving these people who I've really come to love is going to take a toll on me...it will definitely be a first. And thus the war begins...

Sky: The Dragon Fly Slayer

Dear dragonflies,
You've met your match in a little boy whose English name is Sky.

Maybe you're busy? Kids running all over the place, laundry to do, dishes to wash, T.V. shows to catch up on..whatever it is, rest assured, this blog will not take up too much of your time. Although this is sure to be a very short blog, don't fret, next week I will hound you with a plethora of pictures and information about Korea's "Washington D.C.". Here's a little teaser:
Last week was painfully uneventful. The week really dragged on and on. Maybe it's because I bought my plane tickets and now I am showing symptoms of "senioritis," but waking up and coming into work has been rough!

These days many people are going on vacation. In fact, I haven't seen the regulars (Mrs. Ko, Mrs. Nam, Mr. Che) for the past 3 weeks. I know Mrs. Ko is backpacking through South America (I know right? Isn't she like 55? yes she is), I know Mrs. Nam went to China for a week long vacation, and really, who knows what Mr. Che does in his free time? I've also had many of my kid students out on vacations. Their summer vacation started in the middle/end of July and they will go back at the end of August..however, keep in mind, their "vacation" is spent in other "hagwons" (academies) studying and preparing for the next semester. Such a downer.

I've told you about Sky. He's been my student since my first day and he's definitely a fav. He had also been MIA for the past week, but finally he waltzed into the 4 oclock class on Tuesday. I asked him about his vacation. He said he went to Muju resort, which is up in the mountains. He went on to explain that they ate all this delicious food and went on a gondala, but he was most excited to tell me about the 'best' part. "Teacher, many many dragonflies I kill. I take my fan and 'wam wam wam' like baseball." I can just picture Sky. His family is enjoying a picnic, getting ready to take a ride on the gondala with the whole fam when they look around and spot Sky in the distance violently yet happily swatting the air with his cute little Korean fan. Would have loved to see that.

In the slowest way possible, the weekend finally came. Friday night I had my last class of middle schoolers over. I don't think I've talked too much about them. This class changes alot, but I've had a consistant group for the past couple months. I recently told them about my plans to come home, and they were much sadder than I thought they'd be. So, I decided/they asked to have them come over to my little apt and I would cook them some quesidillas, nachos, mexican rice, and smoothies for dessert. They loved the quesidillas and took the leftovers to spread this mexican fiesta to their family. On the other hand, they were not a fan of the Mexican rice..they said, "Teacher, our rice is much better!" True that, but if we compare Korean food to Mexican food, the Mexicans annihilate the Koreans.

The girls loved Lily. I mean LOVED her. I'm glad Lily could feel the love from them considering she's not feeling it whenever I leave her all day in my sauna-like apartment.

This is Allison, she is probably my best student hands down. This girl could live and work in America and be just fine.

Besides the minor mishap of one of the students, Joon Young, dropping the salsa jar and glass going EVERYWHERE and me later getting small shards of glass stuck in my foot, the dinner and dessert was a success!

Saturday Elizabeth and I went to the U.S. airbase to do some errands. During the week, I built up all this frustration from just simply not being able to communicate with the person at the convenience store or the bank lady or the waitress. And I about had it with people in the gym who would just walk up to me and start asking me these questions in Korean and just staring at me like overnight I learned to understand and speak the Korean language. This situation just ends in an awkward stare and smile from me and an even more awkward silence in which I start backing away slowly. Not being able to communicate is really taking it's toll on me. Although I am well adjusted to life and culture here, I'm tired of feeling so isolated...I wanna chat it up with the person next to me on the bus, I want to understand my Korean friends on a deeper level, I want to know what exactly my Korean coworkers are saying when I hear, "(Korean korean korean Korean) Natalee (Korean Korean Korean)." It's exhausting sometimes. All this to say, going to the airbase was such a relief. We stopped by the post office and the guy was so helpful, so nice, and I understood every word that came out of his mouth...such bliss.

Saturday night, Elizabeth, myself, and Alex (our friend who got us on base) had some dinner in Gunsan and ate ice cream with peaches and syrup (the best maple syrup in America..from Elizabeth's family's business...thank you Holscher family! I hope I can witness first hand someday that maple syrup operation you have going on over there!)

Well well well, that turned out to be longer than I expected...I didn't foresee my rant about the frustrations of living in a foreign land.

I hope you are enjoying what's left of your summer. I can't believe everyone will be heading back to school already..I mean I enjoyed my two day summer vacation, but seems like something was missing...probably the other 85 days :)

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

And That's Why Koreans are Less Obese

Dear Yeosu,
You are very beautiful and Gunsan could take a few pointers.

ugh...5 days off and summer vacation is officially over for me. Although it was very short, my days were full of Korean food, Korean friends, Korean family, and so much more Korean food.

I am going to attempt to take you through my vacation, highlighting ALL the food we ate and other high points, and I'll show you some pictures, but not all, I'll post the rest on facebook very soon.

So, about 2 years ago I met a girl named Ga Young, she was a foreign exchange student from Korea. I was a senior in college and researching this whole "teaching in Korea" gig when I met her at church one Sunday. I was so excited to meet her and ask her questions about Korea, talk to her about America, etc...From there we became good friends. Before I left in September I was able to see Ga young one more time. I told her about where I'd be teaching and we made a plan that when she visited her family in the summer of 2011 that we would meet up.

So, I saved up a few vacation days, and this past Thursday afternoon I hopped on a bus to make my way towards Yeosu, Ga Young's hometown. I had to transfer in a bigger city called Gwangju, but I was ok with it..I wanted to see Gwangju for awhile. It seemed like a neat city. I'll have to go back and visit it again soon.

Thursday night I arrived in Yeosu, which really resembled Gunsan except it seemed cleaner. Ga Young met me at the bus terminal and we went to pick up her mother at the cosmetic shopped she owns. Let the feasting begin! We met her father at the sumgyeopsal restaurant and we had the best tasting sumgyeopsal I've ever had. It's pork..pretty much, it's bacon that you cook in front of you, then you take a piece of meat, put it in a leaf along with any other side dish you wish to add to your "pork leaf burrito" and stuff it in your mouth...mmmmm..mashisayo ("it is delicious!)...notice the Korean way is to wrap the unsalted meat in a leaf with various vegetables rather than fill a tortilla with meat, cheese, sour cream, etc....and (I think) that's why Koreans are less obese.


It was interesting getting to know her parents. Of course there was the language barrier, so that was a little difficult, but Ga Young has really improved in English, so she served as an excellent translator. Thursday night, we shopped at Emart for food, drinks, and other various items like these SWEET water shoes for our mini vacation that would take place on Saturday and Sunday. After shopping, we got back to her house which was right on the water, above her father's dried fish store and we sat around (on the floor at their table) eating fruit and chatted, Ga Young's dad told me to make their home like my home :) Her brother and sister were able to practice their English and did quite well, even though they would never say so...notice our late night snack was fruit...where's the tub of ice cream?..those skinny Koreans.

Friday morning we woke up, got ready, and spent the day with the best tour guide in Yeosu, Ga Young's dad. First we drove around, Yeosu is very mountainous. Our first stop was at a beach called Mansunglee Beach, it's known for its black sand. The weather was a little hot, but so sunny and so beautiful and so NOT smoggy!

Our next stop was at an an old fort named, "Navy Command of Left Jeolla" Here a Korean warrior trained others to fight against the Japanese...unfortunately, the training wasn't good enough to keep the Japanese out :/


Then it was lunchtime. This may have been one of my highest highlights. I have found a new favorite Korean food, Kongguksu. It's only served in July and August. Basically, it's noodles, big ice cubes, in a cold white bean paste/soy milk sauce and then you add however much sugar you think it needs. Maybe it doesn't sound appealing, but seriously, head down to Koreatown during a hot summer day and order yourself a large tin bowl of Kongguksu...you won't regret it...well, you might...I've been Koreanized.


Ice cubes? noodles? white bean paste? soy milk? What the? How about some alfredo? Heavy whipping cream, butter, 2% milk etc...I'm telling you these Koreans are health nuts :)

You thought we'd stop and take a rest after quickly eating this enormous bowl of Kongguksu? No way, we did what any good Yeosuer would do, we boarded a speed boat and took a high speed jaunt round the South Sea. Surprisingly I kept everything down..seriously, that was surprising..It was not a gentle ride, the wakes were intense..I'm pretty sure we were totally airborne at least 5 times.

He was our speed boat driver. He spent half the time looking over his shoulder watching our reactions. He got what he wanted...I'd say I would equate my feelings to that one time I took an extremely dangerous and risky jeep excursion with a man named Russel in the backwoods of the state of Oregon.

We drove around a little more and ended up at another beach called Bangjukpo Beach. This was very beautiful. It's known for it's clear water and white sandy beach. It was no Guam, but it was still nice :) Here we ate a little dessert called "poppingsu" From the top, you see there are sprinkles, a little cereal, pineapple, marshmellows, shaved ice, and underneath it all are these red sweet beans...I know right..what's with all the beans? I've seen it many times, but it was the first time I tried it. It was ok, definitely a healthier choice than DQ's medium sized triple fudge blizzard.


After our light and tasty dessert, we headed back downtown. Before going to mom's cosmetic shop for some chill time, we stopped at Dulsan Park. Dulsan Bridge, I think, is one of the most well known things in Yeosu. It lights up at night, and they are currently process of building at least 3 more to connect all the islands. In 2012 Yeosu will host some sort of Sea exhibition, it's a big deal apparently. Anyway, Dulsan park was nice. It's been in a few Korean movies and dramas..I thought the most interesting part of it was the palm trees that were growing there. I was a little surprised to see palm trees in South Korea..which is like seeing palm trees in Washington D.C. Nonetheless, I love palm trees because it reminds me of all those Maritatos in Florida...this is what I would do if they were these palm trees :)

Time for a break. We went back to the cosmetic shop and I met their little cousin Gyeong min..she was pretty cute, but very shy at first. Eventually she warmed up to me and started asking questions (in Korean) and would have Ga Young interpret. Just a few of the questions from the little 8 year old Korean, "Which one is better, Japan or America?" "North Korea or Ameica? North Korea or South Korea?"

Ga Young's sister, Ha Young, did my nails, then we went shopping a little, and then met up with Ga Young's high school friend. She took us out to eat at Mr. Pizza...mmmm..I LOVE Mr. Pizza. We ordered a Korean style pizza, 1/3 was shrimp and other various and random toppings, 1/3 was barbeque..also not what you're thinking..much less cheese and much more weird toppings, 1/3 potatoe..I didn't think I liked Korean style pizza, but I really do. We also ordered a side of spaghetti that we shared, and we also shared a salad. Koreans are all about the sharing. You'd never order your own bowl of spaghetti or your own bowl to take to the salad bar..that's why rarely when you eat out here do you get your own plate or bowl...I really think one thing Korea has taught me is to be a better sharer. This also is a reason why (I think) Koreans are less obese...it's just all making sense to me these days.

We made our way back home Friday night and sat around the table (on the floor) and ate ANOTHER poppingsu. I think this was a little different than the other one, but still delightful. It was quite the experience hanging out with ALL Koreans...kind of felt like a homestay experience. I think I can understand the highs and lows that foreign exchange students must go through when they live in homestays in America. The low is that you just really want to get to know these people but you just can't because of the difference in language. You want to express yourself so much more than just saying "it's delicious, thank you." And you want to ask more questions than just, "Hello, how are you?"

Saturday morning rolled around and we were ready for the little family vacation/family reunion on a nearby island. Ga Young's mom made some delicious fried and steamed mandu (like dumplings) and then we boarded a ferry and spent two hours traveling through the sea towards Yeun island.

As soon as we got to the house where all the relatives were, the eating began and really never stopped for the next 24 hours. I guess family gatherings are all the same no matter where you are in the world.

First, we ate more fruit..grapes, peaches, watermelon, apples, etc. Then maybe 30 minutes later they brought out the tables (floor tables) and served an incredible Korean feast! Every food that was served, the relative who was hosting us had either grown or caught it in the sea. It was alot of shellfish, vegetables in some sort of sauce, kimchi, rice. It was amazing...I'm not a huge shellfish kind of girl, but I think I'm starting to come around.

After our Korean "thanksgiving" like meal, we walked around the village for a little bit. When we got back, what do you think we did? We ate again. This time we had the snacks we had picked up from Emart on Thursday night. I love Korean snacks, cookies, chips, etc. After we snacked it up, then they brought out the boiled chicken! HOW are these small people eating this much???? They told us this was the best chicken around since it was an island chicken which are more muscular than mainland chicken..also, what was supposed to make it even more delicious was that it was killed THAT morning. A little gruesome, I know, but it really did taste better than most of the chicken I've had.

One of my Korean friends said her favorite part of eating chicken is eating the feet. It was pretty interesting watching these Koreans munching on the chicken's toesies...made it a little too life-like for me.

Finally, after a full day of eating we went to bed, also on the floor...I knew all those night summer thunderstorms spent sleeping on the floor next to my parents bed would be useful someday...everything we did in that house took place on the floor...very Korean, and it made for a very sore back.

Sunday was beach day! Our morning breakfast was basically what we had the night before...forget the scrambled eggs, cheese omelet, buttered and soaked in syrup pancakes, crispy bacon, or sausage links...pass the shellfish, seaweed soup, and kimchi please.

We headed out to the "beach" around 10 a.m. Here's Gyeong min and I beachball and floaties in hand and pink water shoes on our footsies..we're ready for some beach time!

Basically, our spot was very private. When we first arrived the tide was very high, but by 1 p.m. it was down probably 10 feet. Here's our little homemade tent when we first arrived.

The water was sooooo clear..maybe I've been living in Gunsan too long, but I didn't know the Sea could be this clear and beautiful!

Notice: the pink floatie and the homemade floatie.

So, like every other time, we started things out with eating some fruit...I was so not hungry, yet I still ate the banana that was forced into my hand. After about 20 minutes, they fired up the grill and we ate some sort of fish...Korean style: why would you ever fillet a fish? Just eat around the guts, brains, eyes, etc.

We swam a little, semi snorkled, floated around, and 20 minutes later we were ready for some snacks. Again..I love me some Korean snacks! Then 10 minutes later they broke out the eel. This is actually a very popular and expensive meal. I don't mind it..when it comes to Korean seafood, it all tastes so similar to me. We wrapped the eel and garlic in this leaf (which is sooooo strong..I'm pretty sure these leaves grow right behind our house in Dixon) and also stuffed this into our mouthes.

Wondering what eel looks like raw? Well, here you go:

I thought for sure that that was lunch, but I was wrong. After another 30 minutes of swimming, relaxing, bobbing around, we were finally ready for round 3. We definitely saved the best for last. We had some sumgyeopsal..remember I told you about what this was earlier...but it was sooooo good grilled under charcoal rather than a gas stove. They sure do beach picnics a little different than us Americans.

After eating, the cousins and I made our way to the rocky beach area and I showed these Koreans how we skip rocks in the Rock River area..they were very impressed with my skipping rock ability :) Around 3 pm, we boarded Grandpa's boat and we took a little ride around the area. Unfortunately, my camera died and I don't have any pictures of the beautiful blue water and cliffs :/ But here we are right before the camera took it's final breath.

We got back to the house, cleaned up, and were ready to get on that ferry and head back to Yeosu. Oh, you thought we didn't eat before we went? We did...I had another bowl of Kongguksu before leaving the island.

We got back to Yeosu around 6 and I thought we would surely call it a day, but nope..we went out to eat with the family one last time. I could only eat rice this time..I'm usually a good sport when it comes to spicy Korean food, but I just couldn't eat what they were dishing out...I don't even know what it was..some sort of spicy salad. We said our goodbyes, the family was very sweet to me...whenever they wanted to get my attention, they would say, "hello!" So, I heard "hello," her aunt gave me a hug and the family split.

Myself, Ga Young and her brother and sister went for a little walk to work off 1/90 of what we ate. I love walking with Koreans. I noticed no one stared and I could tell no one would dare say anything about me since I was with people who could understand what they were saying.

Sunday night, I spent some time watching Korean TV with the family and then got into bed around 11. And after about an hour long pillow talk with Ga Young, we were snoozin' away.

Monday morning, I woke up, packed up, ate a really delicious breakfast that Ga young's mom made...there was like an egg and veggie omelet, fish, some sort of tofu soup, fried seaweed, rice, and kimchi. I said my goodbyes and thank you to the fam, and my "see you in America" to Ga Young and I started my journey back to Gunsan.

On my way back I got to thinking about this whole experience of teaching and living here in Korea. I've loved it so much, and I know I will appreciate it even more another 10 years down the road, but this past week I had to make a decision. To stay in Korea one more year or to go back to the U.S. of A. I thought and prayed about this decision so much. On Wednesday before leaving for my vacation time, I met with my director to tell her that I've appreciated this opportunity so very much, but that I will be going back to America come October.

So, on the bus ride from Yeosu to Gunsan, I felt this overwhelming peace that I made the right decision. It's going to be very difficult leaving these amazing people I've met and probably even more difficult facing all the unknowns ahead, but I know God is good, and his plan for my life is perfect :)

I don't know if you stuck through with this blog..if you did, you are a real champ..if you didn't I understand..I wanted to write all this down so I would always remember it..this blog is pretty much my journal.

Hope you are enjoying your summer..and I'm serious, go to your local Korean community and get yourself some Kongguksu!!! Night night!