A Craggee 10 Days!

Whew, it has been a crazy (Koreans say crazy, "cra-gee" and now I say it like that) 10 days.

• 10 days ago we were in Korea.
• 7 days ago we were loading the U-haul.
• We have seen so many precious people in the last week!
• We are finally over jet-lag (for the most part).
• We have about 20 more wooden stirring spoons than we need.

Okay, so the last one is not that interesting, but it has been fun/interesting to unpack all of our stuff and see what we have.  We have a lot of stuff (to say the least).  My stuff from college + Ian's stuff from before we got married + Stuff we got from the wedding + Stuff from Korea = lots, and lots, and lots of stuff.

Before we left Korea, some of my fellow waygooks asked me to blog about reverse culture shock.  Here are the things I have noticed since coming back into Western culture:

• I feel an overwhelming sense to say, "You speak English so well!", especially if I am talking to someone who looks Korean.
• I feel guilty if I take something from someone with only one hand.  I still do two hands or the-hand-on-arm if I hand people stuff.
• America.is.huge
• the people are huge (vertically and horizontally), 
• the cars are huge, 
• the parking lots are ginormous, 
• our kitchen is huge, 
• and Target is about 3 times bigger than I remember it being.
• Along with hugeness, there are a lot of big open spaces where you can see forever.
• American shopping carts are annoying to push. The wheels only go forward or backwards.
• I almost cried when we stood in front of the cheese aisle.  I seriously was getting emotional in the cereal aisle.  Groceries are SO cheap :)
• I still feel like we are going to go back to Korea next week.  I feel like we are on vacation or something.
• Americans do not know what Gangnam Style is...so don't start doing the dance that goes along with music video.

 

•  I say Assah! (awesome) and Jinja? (for real?  or really?) more often than I thought I did.
•  Ian says that my voice is more gravely since we moved back (don't ask me).  I think it is the dry Colorado air.  I am thirsty all.the.time.
• The food is nooky-hada (greasy) and ma-chee-sigh-yo (delicious).
• I miss public transportation.
• Lots of Americans/Coloradans run. 
•  No one points, whispers, or stares when I run past them.  
• No one covers their children eyes' either.  
• I was super excited about running in a sports bra, but it is cold here.
• Speaking of which, I had to carry a sweatshirt everywhere we went for the first week, because it was freezing inside all of the restaurants/stores/homes.  It is August and I have jeans on -craggeee!
• Everything is huge! (Maybe I said that already).
• I stare at people. 
• Ian and I got used to people having no idea what we were saying in public.  It has been hard to remember that other people can understand what we are saying - hahahahaha.  
• Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow  - not necessarily culture shock but a good truth to remember when you are feeling culture shock.  God knows Korean culture and American culture.  Jesus was the ultimate waygook (foreigner) and we are foreigners too - no matter what country we are in.  Heaven in our real home. 

The countdown is on!

My friend, Jen, from high school usually does a countdown for when she is leaving Kenya and heading to the USofA.  I thought it would be fun to do the same thing.  (Thanks Jen for the great idea!)

10 days until the last day of school
11 days until the first day of summer english camp
17 days until my on-line class is done! (and God-willing, I will not teach an on-line class in English to 8 year olds for a very long time.)
27 days until the last day of camp
30 days until the last day of work
31 days until we fly out (that is one month from today!)
32 days until we land in St. Louis.  Hug Mommabomma.  Say hi to Daddio.  Run in a sports bra.  Go to
     an American grocery store.  Have some major jet-lag.
33 days until we start loading the Uhaul
35 days until we hug my parents and brother and sister-in-law
37 days until we see my Grandpa and his wife and other relatives
38 days until we get to Colorado (and get to see Ian's twin and his sweet wifey!)
39 days until we move into our new apartment and go for a run in Colorado!
41 days until Ian starts orientation
44 days until Ian starts classes

oh p.s.  Do ya'll read the nester?  You should.  She talks about the killers.  If you are a killer, please do not try to stalk us and kill us in the next 45 days.  K? thanksbye!

Book Review

image courtesy Google Images

I finished one of my favorite 4th grade books last night.  If you have a 4th grade, go to the library and find this book for him or her.  Or if you are an adult and like children's literature, go to the library and find this book to read.  My 4th grade teacher was so great!  She would read books aloud to us (usually after lunch).  We read some of the Red Wall series (by Brian Jacques) and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg.

When we were in America this summer, I went through some of my books.  I have three children at my school that are from America but living in Korea for a year to learn English.  I wanted to bring some books back for them.  I knew that From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler would be a good one to bring back with me.  I decided to read it again - just for kicks.  It is delightful.  Now that I am an adult, I read it pretty quickly.  The basic plot line is siblings run away from home to an art museum in New York.  They have quite the adventure.  If you ever come across this book, read it.  

White Pizza

While we were vacationing in America this summer, I had a looonnngg list of meals that I wanted to make (with an oven!).  One of these meals was White Pizza.  I discovered this recipe while I was in college (and saved it because it is delicious!)  I tweaked it just a bit.

Getting ready to put the pizza in the oven!

It comes together pretty quickly, since you are using a premade pizza crust (you are free to make your own from scratch though).

Yum-o!

Just in case you see that the recipe calls for pesto and you are thinking to yourself, "Self, what will I do with leftover pesto?"  Go here and see 15 ideas for leftover pesto.

Do you see that fetta cheese?  God bless America for its fetta

Ingredients:

1 unbaked pizza crust
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 Tablespoons minced garlic (it is pretty garlic-y, so if you do not love garlic, I would do less)
2 Tablespoons sun-dried tomato pesto
1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
1 tomato, sliced
1 bunch fresh spinach, torn
1 sweet onion, sliced
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped  (We used mushrooms instead of a jalapeno, or you could use sweet pepper if you prefer)
1 (6 ounce) package feta cheese, crumbled
We added some mozzarella or cheddar (I don't remember) too, I love cheese!  It is so cheap in America!

Directions:
1. Preheat oven according to pizza crust package directions.
2. In a small bowl combine butter, olive oil, garlic, pesto, basil, oregano and Parmesan cheese.
3. Spread mixture evenly on pizza crust.
4. Arrange tomato, spinach, onion and jalapeno on pizza.
5. Top with crumbled feta cheese.
6. Bake according to pizza crust package directions.

Enjoy!  Or as Koreans would say before a meal "잘 먹겠습니다" (jal meokkesseumnida)

5 for 1

I have a list of things that need to get blogged about, but I feel like I do not have time.  So here is 5 blogs posts summarized and wrapped up into one:

1.) We are home!  In the last three weeks we are have spent 29 hours on planes, 30+ in cars, and 10 hours on trains, it feels good to not be traveling anywhere in the near future.  Don't get me wrong, we had a blast seeing people in America!  Check this post out for my cinnamon roll making fun!

2.) We moved!  We left our old apartment looking like this:

All of our material possessions in Korea

And came back to a new apartment filled with with same boxes.  Hopefully we will finish unpacking soon and we can give you a video tour of our new apartment.  I think my favorite thing about our new apartment is the two (yes, TWO) drawers in our kitchen!  Woohoo!

3.) Daegu 2011 is almost upon us!  I have seen more foreigners running in the last two days than I have seen in the last year.  I even crossed paths with some participating athletes on the running trail this morning!

4.) School starts on Monday.  The Korean school year runs similar to the calendar year, so we are starting second semester.  I think I am excited about seeing the kiddos.

5.) I finished the bib set I was working on while we were in the States.

The project is for a "brave knight".

Now I just need a little cutie to model it...

The To-Do List

Today was the last day of work until (wait for it) August 29!

Woohooo!!!!!! Summer break!

I started on my to-do list for tomorrow:

First Day of Summer To-Do list:
___ Go to Seoul
___ Go to San Francisco
___ Go to Vegas
___ Go to Denver
___  Hug Mommaboma, Daddio, Bear, and B
___  Be in 2 places at once