Perspective Changes

Hello friends, it has a been awhile.

I love this blog and the ability to record life so I can look back and remember the adventure we have been on.  This past year has been quite the adventure, but I have not chosen to take time to record it here.  I have spent my time writing lesson plans, grading papers, and trying to stay in shape.

Summer has been such a relief!  I love sleeping past 5am, sipping morning coffee with my love, and running at whatever time I want.  We recently camped at the Grand Canyon for a week (post to come).  A truth that has poking at me for the last few months convinced me of its reality this past week.

Perspective can change your attitude.

The guidebooks and websites I read before visiting the Grand Canyon claimed that the South Rim (where we were camping) was thronged with visitors and it was challenging to enjoy the majesty and beauty of the Canyon with so many.

We arrived and I laughed.  I highly doubt that the people who wrote these statements have ever tried to board a public bus in Korea half an hour before school starts.  If they had, they would have not used the word crowded. Yes, there are people looking at the Grand Canyon and trying to get pictures at the main visitor center.  But crowded?  I think it depends on your perspective.

This past winter, I had coworkers commenting nearly daily about the temperature of their classrooms.  I came home and told Ian about teachers complaining about being cold.  We remembered wearing multiple layers, mittens, and hats inside for the winter.  The pipes froze in the bathroom.  I did not feel the need to share with my coworkers that they did not know what cold is - but it reminded me again how perspective can change my attitude.

I was able to be thankful for functioning bathrooms with unfrozen pipes and classrooms that were warm enough to take my coat off in.

I was able to be thankful at the Grand Canyon that Ian and I only had to hike a few minutes from the "crowded" areas to have the Canyon to ourselves and enjoy grandeur in silence.

I am sure someday I will look back and think that I knew very little about perspective at 26.  I will probably look back and wonder how I could ever consider life to be "busy" or "stressful" when we have no kids, no house, and money in the bank.  I will ponder how I could ever be "tired" when I sleep every night without be woken by a little one.  Yet, I don't necessarily think I have to wait for my circumstances to change for my perspective to adjust.

I can choose joy today.  I can choose to see blessings in this season of life.  I can ask myself, "In 5 years will it matter that ____________ ?"  

Perspective can change your attitude.

Thank You Chingos

Dear Waygookin Chingos,
First I must say I always want to call you chingas, but that is because my brain mixes Korean and Spanish together.  If you get nothing else out of this post, please get this:

Thank you for journeying over the last two years with me.  I know that some of you may have only been here for the first year, or I may have only met in the last few month (or somewhere in between).  Regardless, you have been a blessing in my life.

You have made my world a bigger place.  I know understand so much more of the world from meeting all of you.  You have made me want to travel to places I never even knew existed before we moved to Korea.  I want to eat your food, meet your family, and see your hometown.

And by making my world bigger,  you have made my heart bigger as well.

My heart has grown to love countries and people I never knew.  And my love for people has not only grown wider but deeper, too.  I am so grateful that I met each one of you and we have touched each others' lives.  You understand my life in Korea because it is your life too.  You have left your home, become a foreigner, and understand the fun/crazy/weird/lovely Korean culture that we find ourselves in.  I seriously (seriously) can not imagine my life without ya'll.  I really can not believe that we will be leaving soon :(  but we will go with our hearts full of love and our minds full of memories.  

Only in Korea...

Homeplus (it is similiar to Wal-mart) recently got some new shopping carts.  Shopping in carts in Korea are four-wheel drive (meaning all the wheels go any which way they want....you can pull your cart down the aisle sideways).

Now to add to the 4-wheel-driveness...

...calorie counting!  Each shopping cart is equipped with a panel that tells you how far you have walked and how many calories you have burned.

I walked all of 460 meters (that is about once around a track) and burned a whooping 21 calories on my shopping trip last week.

The carts can also hold a drink (Korean-sized drink) and your smart phone.

What will they think of next?

Grilling Out {Korean Style}

One of things that I really miss about America is walking barefoot through the grass, pulling up lawn chairs, and grilling out.

But Ian and I have found a good substitute - grilling galbi outdoors at a restaurant.  It is quite common to go to samgupsal or galbi resturants and grill your own meat.  (I think it always happens this way.)

On this particular day, the weather was perfect for grilling, so we requested to sit outside.  The tables at galbi/samgupsal resturants have the grill built into the table, along with the hook-up to the gas.  At this restaurant, you grill over burning charcoal, but sometimes, it is over a gas burner.

Anywho, we got our meat, started cooking and snacking on the banchan (side dishes) while we waited for the meat to grill.

We got got a good amount of meat (we both left full), maybe 5 or 6 side dishes, and a bottle of soju for less than $20 US dollars.

We visit this particular restaurant at least once a month (if not every week).

What is your favorite food to grill?  (Or is everyone's answer hamburgers?)

Galbi Pizza {and my list of top 5 favorite pizzas}

Ya'll.  I have finally discovered the pizza that will complete my top 5 favorite pizza list.

I would not say that I have a favorite pizza.  My cravings depends on the weather, my mood, and what part of the world/country I am in.

In alphabetical order, here are the first four pizzas on my list:

• BBQ Chicken Pizza
• Giordano's Spinach with Mozzarella and Parmesan Stuffed Pizza
• Mario's (in Greenville) daVinci or Mediterranean Pizza... I don't remember which one I like better, but it one of them {Chrissy says it is the Davinci...I think she is right.  Thanks Chrissy!}
• White Pizza

On a random side note, I think this pizza and this pizza are also really good, but I don't remember what they actually taste like, I just remember Ian wanting to make them like once a week in America.

Moving on.

So the other night we made *galbi and it was so.good.  While I was eating the galbi, I was like, "this would make an awesome pizza".  We are on a pizza kick in our apartment right now.

When you eat galbi, it is usually served with **ssamjang and ***ggaennip.  Here is the basic idea behind my new favorite pizza.

1.) Marinate the meat.  We use a soy sauce, sesame oil, water, sesame seeds, garlic marinate.  I did not measure any of it, I just poured stuff in. I used quite a bit of soy sauce.  We marinated the meat for overnight and during the school day (less than 24 hours though).  

2.) Cook the meat.  We cook ours in the pan on the stove, but if you have a grill, I would use that instead.

This is from a galbi restaurant a few weeks ago...not the galbi that went on our pizza, but you get the idea

3.) Eat the meat.  Make a fun little wrap with ggaennip, galbi, and ssamjang.  Yum-o!

4.) Put the leftovers in the fridge. :-)

5.) Prepare a pizza crust.  We (by we, I mean Ian who is the pizza crust genius) like to stick our crust in the oven for a bit.

6.) Spread pizza sauce over crust.  Spread some ssamjang on the pizza as well.  I don't know how much we used, but I would say some goes a long way.  

7.) Chop up the leftover ggaenip and galbi and spread that on.  Top with cheese.

8.)  Finish baking.

It is so good.  There are hints of garlic from the ssamjang, saltiness from the marinate on the galbi, and gooey yumminess with the cheese.  This is definitely the best pizza that I have eaten in Korea.

What is your favorite type of pizza?

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I learned a lot about galbi while writing this post, so I will share my new found knowledge with you.  *Galbi are short-ribs that have been marinated in soy-sauce and then grilled.  I think galbi is usually beef, but there is also dwaegi galbi (pork) and dok galbi (chicken).  Samgupsal is a similar cut of meat except it is not marinated.  {still delicious}

**Ssamjang is AMAZING.  I am going to bring some of it to America with us. Ssamjang is a paste made of bean paste, pepper paste, sesame oil, onion, green onion, and garlic. I, personally, think that garlic is one of the main flavors of ssamjang.

***GGaennip are sesame seed leaves. I think they may be known as perilla. They have a hint of minty flavor to them. I love them as well.

Week o' Lunches :: Day 3

Wednesdays are my favorite school-lunch day.  For some reason, the school lunch ladies out-do themselves on Wednesdays.  On Wednesdays, we have curry and rice, or fried rice, and even sometimes bimimbap!

Last Wednesday's Lunch:

picture from my school's website

A. cucumber kimchi

B. watermelon (the Koreans I eat with, swallow their watermelon seeds)

C. chicken wings in some type of sauce (have you tried to take on chicken wings with chopsticks?)

D. kimchi fried rice

E. I am not exactly sure on this soup, Google Translate called it Oil Rich Smile, which I am pretty sure I am is wrong.  I call it tofu, mushroom, and other vegetables soup in my brain.  

Priceless Saturday

Train Ticket to Busan and back: 12,600 won ($10.87 in US dollars)

Subway Pass from train station to friend's apartment and back: 2,800 won ($2.42)

Posed

Getting to see Katelyn one last time before she has Baby H.:  Priceless!

Candid

Annyeonghi-gyeseyo Dae Han Minguk

Anneyeonghigyeseyo is good-bye (somewhat formally) in Korean when you are the person leaving and the other person is staying.

Dae Han Minguk is Korean for Republic of Korea. 

So it has come time to say good-bye to Korea. 

We mailed 29.64 kg (that is, 65 pounds) of stuff (winter clothes mostly) to America today.  It is happening.  We are moving.  To America.  I am not quite sure how I feel (nervous - yes, sad - yes, excited - yes, all three mixed together - yes), nevertheless it is happening.

There will be a lot of things that I will miss about life in Korea.  One of them is:

Delivery food with real plates

When we moved here, I noticed a lot of dishes outside of people's apartment doors with food still on them.  I thought weird.  Now I know.  When you order food here (with the exception of pizza or fried chicken), it is delivered on real (not disposable) plates, bowl, and silverware.  It is so nice.  And then when you are done, you set everything outside the door it was delivered to.  The delivery boys/men/women/whomever come by later and pick up the dishes.  It is a great system.  I am going to miss it in America.  Not to mention the amazingly inexpensive delivery service. 

This was back in Aug. 2010, when we were learning how to say, "annyeonghamshinka". 

What a Weekend! {Buddha's Birthday/Memorial Day}

Hi friends!  For the first time since moving to Korea, we had a three day weekend the same weekend as people in America did!  Of course, it was for different reasons.  We did not have school on Monday because of Buddha's birthday.  Ya'll in America had Memorial Day.  {here is a blast from the past aka my post from Buddha's birthday last year}.  Just to clarify:  Buddha's birthday is on the lunar calendar, just like Chuseok and Lunar New Year.  Therefore it is not on the same (what do we call our calendars?  Julian?) day every year.

There were a bunch of lanterns (holding Buddhists' prayers or something) hanging in a park near our apartment...enjoy!

Our weekend started with a wedding of one of Ian's co-teachers!  We are so happy for the couple.  And the wedding factory hall was right next to Daegu Stadium where the 2011 IAAF World Track and Field Championships were held.  Ian had not seen the stadium before, so I was excited that he got to see it (well the outside at least).

Cutting the Wedding Cake with a Sword

Best part of the wedding?  One of the guests sang a song to the couple during the wedding...norribang style (picture the whole audience clapping and swaying along while the lights turn techno colors and swirl around the room.)  Or maybe my favorite moment was the "medical test" for the groom.  He went over to his mom and picked her up (off the ground) on his back.  I am not sure how medical this is, or what they are testing, but it provided entertainment for me :)

The Happy Couple

The rest of Saturday and Sunday were not all that interesting, just same ol' same ol' for us.

Quick shoutout to our fam in America!  Congrats Donnie and Kinzie!  We are SO happy for ya'll and wish we could have been on there on Sunday to help celebrate!

Monday (Buddha's Birthday) was Date Day 2012.  Since we had the day off of school, we thought we should spend the whole day going on a series of dates.

More lantern pictures

Date #1: with the pavement...just kidding.  I did get up and run before we left though.  I attempted to do a 6 x 400 meter @ 5k race pace with 400 meter recovery workout...kicked.my.bum.

Real Date #1: Starbucks!  We stopped and got a white caramel mocha for the train ride to Busan.  If I had to pick one date to go on every week for the rest of my life, it would be coffee dates.  (Sad, but true).

I did not take pictures of date 1 or 2, so here are some more lanterns

Date #2: Mexican Restaurant in Busan!  Ohmigoodness!  I am trying to think of a word to use to describe the experience...and I can't think of one right now (does that make it indescribable?).  I had a beef steak burrito

with fresh cilantro

in.des.scrib.able

I thought I had died and gone to heaven (not for real).  I can not even begin to tell you how amazing fresh cilantro tastes.  Fresh cilantro may have just beat out feta cheese for #1 food item I miss now.  But it may be because feta cheese is turning into a figment of my imagination....I can't remember what it really tastes like anymore (Goodness, I can ramble on about nothing).

It was a gorgeous day!

Date #3: The Beach.  We headed to Gwangli Beach to stick our feet in the cold ocean water.  And let our food digest before heading to date #4 location.  We just happened to run into some pretty cool people there and decided to hang out with them.  It is so fun being friends with a couple! (I just proofread that sentence and thought, "hmmm strange sentence"  but meh, I am going to leave it).

So glad we got to spend part of the day with them!

Date #4: Double Date at Sharky's.  Ya'll.  Imagine with me: Hamburger bun, hamburger patty, slices of avocado, bacon, onion, and Lord knows what other types of goodness all together on a plate.  And

Wait for it...

They also had cranberry juice + o.j.+ peach schnapps + vodka all mixed together in a glass.  (I am trying to keep this rated PG, so if you know what the name of the drink, you can insert it there for yourself...)  Ian ordered a mojito and shared with me.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....best burger I have ever had in Korea.  Along with my two favorite drinks.

Date Day 2012!  p.s. it was windy at the beach, thus I have weird hair...

I think I will forever remember this day.  Best American food that I have had in Korea and even better company.

I love both of these pictures.  For different reasons, but they both crack me up every time I look at them - hahaha or kkkk (depending on what side of the globe you are on ^-^)

Thank you Buddha, for having a birthday and letting us get out of school for a day.

Only in Korea while running 20 miles...

So this morning was my last 20 mile run.  It went pretty well.  It definitely went better than my previous 20 miler.  Praise the Lord for that.

There were quite a few exciting parts to my 20 miler today: I got to run in shorts (!!!!!!!!!! - we have not had the early spring that the Midwest has been experiencing), I realized that I still have my "NO, GO HOME" voice to yell at dogs with (I never get chased by dogs in Korea, until today), and I found an impromptu running buddy!

Here is some background knowledge to help set the stage for my story:

1. Korea is safer than America (in my opinion).  This means that sometimes when I am running, other people who are running (the average runner in Korea is a 60 year old man) will start following me.  I have paced other people for several miles.  They never talk or even act like they are pacing off of me, but I can hear their feet shuffling behind me and every so often I glance back and they are still there. 
2. Some Koreans really (emphasis on really) like to practice their English.  I have been approached in the grocery store, the subway, and on my walk to school to practice English.
3. Koreans think highly of Waygooks...we are kinda celebrities or something.  It is cool to have a waygooken friend.

So there I was running.  I had about 12.5 miles in and trying not to think that I still had another hour to run.  I noticed that there was a high school or college boy running in front of me.  (I was running near a park that had a lot of people out and about).  So I passed the boy and realized that poor kid was going to try to keep up with me.  I felt bad for him because he was decked out.  I had on shorts and a long sleeve.  He had pants, a sweater, a baseball hat, and a winter coat.  After a few moments, I was brought out of my reverie by someone trying to get my attention.  Yeah, it was winter coat kid.  I have never had one of the people following me actually talk to me.

And so I met PJ.  I think his Korean name is Pak Jae Hyeon, but my Korean is not the best when I am 13 miles into a run.  Just in case you are wondering, PJ is an university student who is 20 (Korean age, so maybe 18 or 19 US).  He is studying electronics and he enjoys boxing (he can box and run at the same time).  He does not have a girlfriend.  He thinks my name is Lisa and that I have a beautiful name.  He also learned that I am a teacher, 26 (Korean, at least), I like to run, I am training for a marathon, and that I am married.   And my husband is my friend.  We covered this information quite quickly.  It is always funny to me how many questions Koreans can fire at you.  Oh yeah - he also learned that I go to church.  He said a lot of other stuff in Korean, but he was panting, and I was focused on not getting hit by traffic, so I did not get a lot of that part of the conversation, except he complimented me on my Korean speaking abilities (which are about zero).

He likes to clap and say, "Bravo! Bravo!"  Anywho, eventually (after about 10 minutes) PJ said that he was going to turn right (we were on a bridge, so I assumed he meant turn around).  After being reassured that I do, in fact, like Korea, we went our separate ways.

I think I need to find a running buddy in America, because I actually enjoyed running with a random person, chatting about nothing.  It was really fun.  After I turned around (at 13.85 miles, no I don't 10 miles out and 10 miles back, it gets too boring and I don't know 10 miles of "out"...all my routes are like 6 - 7 miles out and then they end), I ran back towards the park.  I noticed someone in front of me walking...with a winter coat on.

My first thought was, "That is PJ, I hope he does not try to run all the way home with me".  Of course he saw me and starting yelling, "Lisa, Lee-sssuuhhh!  Bravo!  Bravo!  Picture!  Picture!"  So we took a picture on his cell phone.  I even said, "kimchi"  as he snapped  the photo.  (Koreans say, "kimchi" instead of "cheese" when taking pictures).

Then I thought, "I should blog about this"  so I said, "PJ, do you want me to take a picture on my phone?"  {This is my favorite part of the whole thing.}  He put his head back, looked towards the sky, and said, "THANK YOU GOD!"  (really loud, in case you could not tell from the capital letters).  I took that to mean, 'yes'.

My neck is super weird in the picture, let's blame it on the 14 miles run previous to taking the picture.

Then I said, "See you later PJ" and took off (a little bit faster than necessary).

And that is my story.  Seriously, only in Korea do random people just start running with you so that they can practice their English and because they are genuinely friendly and not creepers.

Wiping off the Cobwebs

It is the first week of school here in Korea.  I was teaching a lesson to the 5th graders (when we moved to Korea they were in 3rd grade!  Bah - my babies all grown up!).  The title of the lesson was, "I'm from Brazil." (FORESHADOWING).

We were looking at a map of the world.  I asked the kiddos, "What country is this?"  (I was, of course, pointing at a country on the map.)  The first three answers were, "America"  "England" and "Ap-pree-ca" (that is Africa).

Um, no, try again.  I may nor may not have started smiling at this point.

I finally gave in and told them that it is Brazil!

In defense of the rest of the 5th grade kiddos, I only had 10 kids out of 125 guess incorrectly.  Yeah, we are trying to shake the cobwebs out this week!

Brunch Menus

We have had a busy weekend!  We had people over for brunch on Saturday and Sunday.  In case you can't tell, weekend brunch is my favorite meal to have people over for.  It is quite amazing to be a foreigner in Korea.  Church does not start until 2 PM.  So you can have people over for brunch and then go to church together.

Here are the menus from this weekend (partially for future reference for myself)
Brunch Menu #1:
Easy Breakfast Casserole - We halved this and put it in an 8 x 8 pan.  Our add-in was chicken (because that was the only cooked meat hanging out in the freezer on Friday night when I was trying to pull our ingredients together).

Vanilla Muffins with Cinnamon Crumb Topping - I have yet to get my muffins to look like the picture, but they are delicious nonetheless!

On Saturday this is all we had, but we have served this same menu before and added Makeover Fruit Pizza to the menu.  Anytime we make this fruit pizza, we get compliments from others about it.

I took this picture the last time we had people over....before my camera breathed its last.

On Sunday, we tried some new recipes (and pulled out some goodies, but oldies).
Brunch Menu # 2:
Nourishing Wife-Saver Breakfast Casserole - I think we just called this "egg bake".  We added a lot more onion and mushroom than what the recipe called for.  We also cooked some ground pork (because it is the cheapest meat I can get my hands on in this country).  Ian says, "if there is no meat than it is not a meal", hence the pork.  Anywho, it turned out great.  I really like the toasted bread crumbs, that added a little somethin'-somethin' to the dish.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls - I almost do not want to share the link with you.  Seriously, you will make these cinnamon rolls, take a bite, and then blink several times because you are still on earth and not in heaven.  The first time Ian made these for me, I was like, "I must marry this man.  Any man that make cinnamon rolls this good is a keeper."  (Okay, so I knew I was going to marry him before the cinnamon rolls, but it added another pro to the pro/con list...not that I was keeping a pro/con list...ugh, I am so awkward.)  What I am trying to say is this: Make the cinnamon rolls, eat the cinnamon rolls.

Parfait - when we were thinking through our menu, we wanted to add one more dish that incorporated fruit.  So we layered granola, fruit (strawberries and bananas), and yogurt in cups.  It was a great addition to the meal.

If you live in Korea and are thinking to yourself, "I don't have an oven, I can't make this stuff." - victimize yourself no longer.  Assume Victory, my friend.  Brunch Menu #3: You can totally make the parfaits and serve french toast or pancakes with it.  You can open your home/apartment without an oven, I promise.

So there you have it...some ideas for brunch.  I think this goes un-said, but serve coffee with each menu.  You can buy decaf at Homeplus (just in case your friends are nursing or prego.)  Your guests will thank you.

Running Tip Tuesday #3

Hi friends!  Before I can give you the running tip for today, I want to share a fun little part of my Korean life.  (Context maybe or may not be one of my new top 5 strengths).

Before we moved to Korea, I rarely watched the Discovery Channel.  Okay, so I actually can't remember ever watching the Discovery Channel before moving to Korea.

Then we moved to Korea and our TV has about 3 channels that are in English: the FoxLife channel (America's Funniest Home Video 24/7 Channel), Fashion Channel (America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, etc...but it is only in English 50% of the time), and the Discovery Channel.  Oh there are also about 5 channels of CSI, NYCSI, Law and Order, CSI Miami, and any other show similar to those.  (This is why Koreans think that 99% of Americans own guns.)

So I watch the Discovery Channel once or twice a week now: Dirty Jobs, Man vs. Wild, Brew Masters, Dual Survival, Mythbusters, How's it Made, and Man, Woman, Wild.  For whatever reason, I usually end up turning on the TV right as Man vs. Wild is coming on.  Bear Grylls is amazing.  And he has taught me quite a few survival techniques (in case, you know, I get lost while running and must construct an overnight structure out of my water bottle and the piece of gum that I am chewing.)

Running Tip #3: Sometimes, it's all mental
So much of running is trying to stay positive mentally.  Right now, I don't have a running partner.  I run by myself everyday.  It is not always fun and it is not always easy (even when I do have a running partner, running is not always fun or easy.)  But I have learned (for the most part, I am still human) that the more positive I am about running, the better it goes.  If my alarm goes off at 5:30 and I lay in bed thinking about the cold, dark, lonely run I am about to go on...I don't want to go.  But if I remind myself that is less than an hour of being outside and I will feel better for getting up and getting the blood pumping, then I am more likely to get out of bed and go run.  Personally, staying mentally positive is most important during long runs and hard workouts.  I do not love the thought of running 18 miles (3 hours or so) all by myself.  

So back to the Bear Grylls/Discovery Channel thing.  I have heard Bear on several episodes talk about how postive mentality is so important to survival.  It is important if you can make fire from two sticks, but it is more important about how you react to your fire making attempts.

I think the same is true for running.  It is not always about covering the mileage or hitting your exact splits, some days it is about staying positive despite the cold, rain, wind blowing in your face, legs aching, just wanting to stop because you feel so tired (not that I have had any runs like that recently).

Happy Running!

Thanksgiving Afternoon - fresh kimchi

So I have already told you about our Thanksgiving Day.  But ya'll definitely need to hear about our Saturday afternoon!  This will be a memory that I hold onto for probably the rest of my life.

After feasting upon American foods, some of us decided to take a walk to enjoy the gorgeous day.  (We were out in the country, not the city, got to breathe in that fresh air!)

As we were walking, one person noticed a Korean man carrying a heavy bag of rice from his truck to his house and several more lying in the truck bed. Taking note that there were 4 other men that could make his load a bit lighter, we offered to help, and the man said he only needed one more, but sure, he'd like the help.

The family soon invited us all into their courtyard where we discovered the event of the day: Kimjang, the time of the year when family, neighbors, and friends gather together for a few days and make the kimchi they will eat for the year ahead.  It's a big job, usually involving 100-200 heads of cabbage, depending on the family size, and lots of time preparing materials, washing, stuffing spices between leaves, etc.  These sweet women responded with a mixture of surprise and delight at the sight of a handful of foreigners in their courtyard, but it didn't take long for their generosity to extend to us in very tangible ways.

Before I really knew what was happening, the women were hand-feeding everyone fresh (un-fermented) kimchi.  Fresh kimchi is spicy!  And I had to eat all of it, as the women stuffed put it all in my mouth for me :)

My fresh kimchi taste testing

The amazing hubs got in on it too

 And the Koreans, being the generous people that they are, sent some kimchi home with us!

Thanks Melody for capturing these funny memories in pictures!

Our Weekend Trip to Tokyo!

About two weeks ago, we realized we both had this past Friday off school.  We checked (just to see) how much plane tickets were to Jeju Island and Tokyo.  Plane tickets to Tokyo were cheaper, so we decided to go to Japan for the three day weekend.

Sometimes I read people's blogs and think, "Wow!  They have an awesome life."  And God has blessed many of us with incredible lives!  At the same time, please do not think we have a perfect life.  One area of our marriage that we are working on is communicating while traveling.  We did not argue the whole time we were in Japan, but we did not have an absolutely perfect trip with no bumps either.  I just wanted to throw that out there.  {Note: most of the work in our marriage about traveling needs to be done by me.  Good thing I am married to a great husband who takes care of me and triple checks the map just to make me happy even though he knows he is walking the right way.}

Not that you have a realistic setting, let me share the fun details of our trip!

Hello Kitty driving her own tour bus = fun, right?

Our Friday morning started pretty early.  We were out the door before 6:30, headed to the bus terminal (which is conveniently located about 10 minutes from us).  I love public transportation in Korea.  It is great.  We were dropped off at the door of the international airport in Gimhae.  Our flight left on time.  We I made epic wishes at 11:11 (to make it to Japan safely).  We enjoyed some sushi and kimbap for lunch (how fitting to eat sushi while flying over Japan).  It was rainy so we had a turbulent landing.  Can I just say that 2.5 hour flights are WAY better than 10 or 15 hour flights!?!?!  Love that we did not even change time zones.  We found our hostel, and then set out for our great Tokyo adventure.  Somehow we ended up two blocks from the hostel in a grocery store.  They had brats! (brots? brauts?  How do you spell that word?) And they had cream cheese that was SUPER cheap!  Yeah, so we spent some time walking around the grocery store discovering long lost comforts of America.  I tried to keep doing the money conversations to see what was cheaper than Korea and what was more expensive.  After we finally made it out of the grocery store with tomorrow's breakfast in hand (still talking about the brots), we found a cheap yummy place to grab dinner.  That was our super exciting Friday. Travel, rain, brots, and going to bed really early.

Stay tuned.  I promise Saturday is more exciting!

Saturday morning greeted us with warmer temperatures and clear skies!  {Thank you, Jesus, that we did not have to explore Tokyo in the rain!!!}  Our first stop was the Ueno area.  We went to the Yushima Tenjin Shrine first.  We wanted to see a Japanese shrine/temple to see how they compare to the temples in Korea.

Main difference between a Korean temple and a Japanese one, there is less red paint and more neutrals and gold paint.  

Also, I had read that there was a chrysanthemum exhibit at this particular shrine.  They even had life size "dolls" (If you are reading this and you know Iris, I am pretty sure the dolls were Iris' cousins.)  made from flowers.

I am not sure why the man is missing a huge patch of hair.  

And a cute bunny and bear too.

After the shrine, we visited Ueno Park.  I was so happy to see Saturday morning runners out and about!  We even saw some teenage girls running!  (Girls/Women/Females of all ages do not really run in Korea, they just walk.)

I wish I could have joined in on the running.  This would have been so pretty to run around!

We also went to a library on Saturday (we were not planning on this, but it was part of the walk from the park to the cemetery so we stopped by.)  It is not everyday that we can go to the International Library of Children's Literature.  By the time we made it to Yanaka Cemetery, I was ready for a break.  So we sat, stared at the tombs and guessed what the wooden sticks with Japanese writing on them could represent.  I think there are some famous people buried at this cemetery, but I can not read Japanese so there was no hope of finding them.  Plus I was hungry for some lunch.

Notice the large wooden sticks with Japanese writing.  Does anyone know what that is about?

We ate udon noodles in beef broth for lunch.  Udon noodles are nice and thick.  And they are carbs,  so what is not to like?  After lunch, we found the Sony Building.  If you ever go to Tokyo, you should find this place.  (It is free!)  You can walk around and try out new products about to hit the market.  Technology is amazing to me.  I can not begin to fathom how people invent this stuff.  If it was up to my inventing skillz, we would still be using fire.

Next we went to the weird area of Tokyo Kabukicho.  This neighborhood has a lot of arcades and interesting stores.  We happened upon a dance contest.  It was so cute to see the Japanese kids dancing.  They were so good!  We found a sushi conveyor belt restaurant near here to eat dinner at.

Entrance to the Kabukicho neighborhood

The sushi conveyor belt restaurant is a cool experience.  Basically there is a big oval bar.  The chef stands on the inside.  Customers sit around the outside.  As the chef makes sushi, he plates it, and sticks the plates on the conveyor belt (that is going around the bar).  Customers take whatever plate (or plates) that they want.  Your bill is determined by the number and color of plates you took.  I am not a huge fan of sushi, but we enjoyed the experience.  I think our total bill ended up being less than 10 US dollars.  I am so thankful that the sushi came with rice and wasabi!  It was a much better experience than this sushi experience.

And that was our Saturday.

We did a lot less on Sunday.  We started our day at Starbucks and then headed to find a Flea Market.  We were well prepared with a subway stop and a map.  After walking around (for a long time in my opinion) and trying different streets, we decided that flea market either moved or does not exist anymore.  So we decided to go to a nearby area that was supposed to have a lot of antique shops.  We got to the neighborhood and there were no antique shops (can you tell how this day is going so far?)  So basically on Sunday, we walked, and walked, and walked some more.  We could have taken public transportation to eliminate some of the walking but we are parsimonious {read: we are doing Tokyo on a budget.}  By the time we found some lunch it was time to head to Tokyo station to start our journey home.  We did do a little bit of survivor shopping before leaving.

When we got to the airport and saw the lines for checking in and security, I thought we were going to miss our flight.  But we did not have to check in any luggage and the security line went faster than I anticipated!  It was so nice to hear Korean after a weekend of hearing just Japanese.  I love seeing little ones tottering around and shrieking "Oma!  Ab-bba!"  Korean children are seriously the cutest children in the world.  My amazing husband and I are becoming experts at flying internationally.  The last 7 or so flights I have taken have involved the customs declaration forms et al.  I remember being so freaked out on our honeymoon when I had to fill in the forms on the plane.  I think I asked a question to my amazing husband for every line that had to get filled in.

Anywho, we made it through customs and found our bus back to Daegu.  (sometime I will blog about the miracle of the bus ticket but for now just know it was a miracle that we made it back.)  We got back to our happy little apartment around midnight.  It was a packed weekend, but I feel like we got to see a lot of Tokyo and experience some Japanese culture.

Anticipation

The anticipation is building!  There are some the pretty exciting events coming in the near future:

1.) Tomorrow - As of Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 we have been married for 500 days!  Yeah!  Praise God that He has sustained us, provided for us, been faithful to us...the list goes on and on.  It has been a great 500 days, can't wait to see what the next 500 days will bring us.

499 days ago, he was making me laugh...still true today.

2.) Half Marathon!  One of the best parts about racing in Korea is that you do not have go the day before and try to use body language and broken Korean to explain who you are and what race you are running; your number and complimentary jacket are delivered.  I am number 25001 and I got a cool new jacket.  Sadly it does not say, "Why yes, I have run a half marathon.  In South Korea."  My goal for signing up for a half marathon was not let myself get out of shape over the summer, do some speed work during my training, and be ready to start training for the Daegu Marathon.  Goals accomplished.  A good race on Sunday is just icing on the cake...we'll see what happens.

Fun fact: It cost me 27 US dollars to register for a half marathon in Korea.

3.) Baking and Pumpkin Spice Coffee!  This may not sound exciting to those of you in America, but we got a care package today!  Woot!  Woot!  It contained some pumpkin spice coffee

Can not wait to brew this!

and some baking dishes!

When no space presents itself, store new muffin tins in the oven itself!

It may have contained some Halloween candy, but that is gone already.  Thanks Mom and Dad for thinking of us!

Now I need to end this blog post and I stink at conclusions, so here it is:  I hope you are looking forward to some exciting events in your life too!  Please tell me about them because I would love to hear about it.

Plan C - the weekend

So Apple Craziness Weekend did not really go as planned.  Even after it did not go as planned for plan A, it did not go as plan B was supposed to go either.  So we ended up with plan C (when does life go as planned in Korea?).

I can make applesauce any day of my life.  I can not play soccer with cute Korean kiddos any day of my life.

And by play soccer, I mean, watch my amazing husband play soccer.  I practiced telling time {in Korean} to all the cuties that kept asking me what time it was.  And I might have taken a picture or two.

Dae-Han-Mi-Gook!  DaeHanMiGook!

My fall "allergies" also decided to turn into a cold.  So I got to rest this weekend as well.  I was planning on running 10 miles Saturday morning.  It turned into 8.  So glad that it is taper week.  I am going to get as much sleep as I can between now and Sunday.

I did make one batch of applesauce.  I also tried out some cinnamon apple granola.  Lessons learned from my cooking this weekend:

1.) If you start applesauce at 7:30, 3.5 hours later is 11 not 10:25.  Applesauce taken out of the crockpot and then put back in still turns out fine.

2.) It is hard (for me) to take appealing pictures of applesauce.

maybe I need a garnish?

3.) If you make granola, you might want to try using rolled oats.  I live in Korea, I have only found one type of oatmeal.  It is not rolled oats.  My granola turned out more like apple crisp or something.  Still delicious.

apple cinnamon goodness

That was our weekend.  How was yours?

Korean moments

I was thinking about titling this post Precious Moments, but then I thought you might think of the figurines.
This post has nothing to do with little statues, but with moments of my day that are sweet and precious.

There are no school buses in Korea (in the city at least).  But there are taekwondo vans.  Taekwondo is a pretty big deal in Korea.  So the taekwondo master (guy or girl in charge of the taekwondo place) picks up the kiddos every morning and delivers them to school.  After school, the kiddos go to practice taekwondo and then are taken home (generally, there are always exceptions).  Anywho, when I walk to school in the morning, I pass several different taekwondo masters helping the kiddos out of the van and then before they leave the taekwondo master says something in Korean (it sounds very taekwondo-y) to the kiddos and all the kiddos say something in unison back and then they bow.  It is so cute!  I am sure it does not sound cute if you are sitting in America trying to picture this scene in your head, but believe me, it is precious!

Second precious moment of my day.  I was checking Facebook today after lunch (FB informs me of all major news and keeps me up to date with American life...) and I realized that my co-teacher was humming.  That's nice I thought.  Then I realized that she was humming a song I knew (please watch this video, it sums up my childhood I think...gotta love the 80s and 90s).  I just sat and listened to her for a few moments, settling into the presence of God.  I finally interrupted her to tell her that I knew the song that she was humming.  This particular co-teacher is really into practicing her English, so I let her guess at the English lyrics and told her what I remembered of the song.  It was a sweet and precious moment of my day!

What are favorite moments of your day?

Some tunes for ya'll

I have been meaning to post this super awesome song for you (gotta love k pop).  The gas station we live near is always playing it  when I walk by and my students start singing it when I ask about the weather or what season it is.

Yes Korea really does have a group named f(x).  I love that Koreans love math.  I do not love that Koreans love really, really, really short shorts.  I meant to post this song when it was 90 degrees here, but it cooled off in one day (it is 68 as I write this).  It went from summer to fall in one day.  I hope fall sticks around for awhile.

Another great song for all you unfamiliar with what we listen to everyday is the bagel song (that is what I call it).  Whenever the kiddos want to say "america" they start singing this song.  Here are the lyrics in Korean and it romanization.

I want to go to a coffee shop someday and order using this song.  I wonder what they would do. hehehehe  Just in case you are wondering 10 cm got their name from the height difference between the two guys in the band. 

And this one is the song that I am in love with!

My amazing husband got several of Trip Lee's CDs when were in America this summer.  Sorry Trip Lee, but Hero is the only song on there that I really like.  Even if you do not like rap, listen to it one time and read the lyrics - they are so great.

Now, I will return to work.  Gotta teach the kiddos that it is not acceptable to start singing when people ask you question like, "How's the weather" or "What country did I visit this summer?".   I mean, unless you want people to think that you are cra-gee (that is Korean for crazy).

Peace out girl scout.

Housewarming

Since we moved into a new apartment, our coworkers have been eager to see it.  So we had a housewarming party today.  They requested that "authentic American" sandwiches be served.  We had chicken with mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and cheese served with chips.  I whipped up some of the easiest tomato soup ever to serve with our grilled ham and cheese. We were worried that it might not be enough, so we also had some bulgogi pizza (kinda like sausage) and some sweet potato, pineapple, ham pizza (Hawaii meets Central America?).  I am not sure if we will ever have this as a menu for a party in America, but when in Korea, do as the Koreans ask of you.  (I almost forgot this part: for beverages we had 2 liters of water, 2 liters of coke, and a full coffee pot (10 cups maybe).  After the 20 people came, ate, and drank, we had lots of left overs!  I feel like 4 or 5 people can take care of a 2 liter in America.)

Today was a school Saturday (meaning that everyone has to go to school from 8:30 - 12:30, everyone except the foreigner that is).  Then our co-teachers and co-workers all caravaned to our new apartment.  My amazing husband and I spent the morning preparing food, cleaning, running last minute errands etc.  I did a super quick sweep of the floor right before they started arriving, I am so glad that I did :)

Time out for a Korean culture lesson:  In Korea, there are no little clusters of people chit chatting it up at social gatherings.  There are no people standing up or sitting on a few chairs.  When Koreans go to a social gathering, it usually ends up with everyone sitting on the floor in a big circle (if there are enough chairs then we sit in chairs).

So all 20 of us sat on the floor in a circle.  Forgetting that we were in Korea, we had set up a buffet line with plates, sandwiches, chips, pizza, drinks etc.  When we said, "let's eat" the Koreans stood up, took everything off the table, put it in the middle of the circle and started eating.

I did not have a chance to take many pictures, but here are two for you.

All 20 of them wanted to sit in the same room

so it was a bit crowded

After we finished eating, our coworkers asked us to sing a song (??). I guess there is a housewarming song to sing in Korea.  So they sang it to us.  Then they all got up and left (at the same time).

Since I forgot to take pictures during the festivities, I will leave you with these pictures (things we got as housewarming gifts):

Korean Grapes.  They are huge.  I could say a lot about grapes in Korea.  I will refrain:

We got a grow your own tomato plant from Nikki.  I guess you just add water and it grows.

Maybe we will have tomatoes to eat this winter?  

This is the typical housewarming gift in Korea. We now have over 45 rolls of TP, if you live in Korea and need some TP, let us know.

A kleenex box cover from the Kim/Cho family.  How sweet are they?  Mr. Kim's wife hand made it for us.

She used hanji (Korean traditional paper) to make this

A stand up full length mirror!   We have been wanting to get one for quite a while.  Woohoo!

And we got this super cute rug from the Waygooken Housewife.  She did not come to the party, but it was still a housewarming gift.  I love the colors - exactly what I would have picked!

She made this for us.  How sweet is that?

This has nothing to do with the rest of the post, BUT while at Costco this past week, we somewhat impulsively bought a crock pot!  YEAH!!!!!  So please, start sharing your favorite crock pot recipes :)