Almost 10 Months

July 4th marks my 10th month in South Korea. I can hardly believe that I've been away from America, friends, and family for an entire ten months. It's insanity. I've done so much since my last update - I've done so much that I never wrote a blog about. 

Recap:

April 2: Geumchon Olympics. For the second year in a row, the foreigners of the Paju area gathered together and engaged in a series of contests in an effort to determine the best of the best. This year the competition included bowling, an eating challenge (fruit - (1st round) orange, banana, watermelon, (2nd round) kimbab, (3rd round) ice and ice cream, (4th round) 9 marshmallows, 4 slices of bread, large teaspoon of cinnamon (I did the 4th round!)), an hours worth of basketball games, full soccer game, a drinking challenge (a mix of tomato juice, gatorade, chili pepper paste, rice tea, chocolate milk, coke - disgusting!), an American biased pub quiz (rocked that!), pool, and darts. There were even prizes given out to the best in each category as well as the ones who gave the most effort, fair play, etc. I won Best Female Fair Play and Female Drinker. ^_^

May 22: We ran a race called the Paju Love Marathon. However, it wasn't a marathon, it was just a 10k. Before the race we had a group warm up session with the Koreans. Stretches and back massages and the like. It was rather odd. Then they lined us all up and we were off! The path was a great one - beautiful scenery including North Korea. Wait, what? Yea, we ran the race along the line that divides North and South Korea. That alone was pretty awesome. I wanted to run it in under an hour - that was my goal. I managed to run the race in 56:35.57 - 3 and a half minutes under my goal time. Definitely a PR! Jacob ran it in 56:38.98. 

June 4-June 6: Deojeok Island. We had a three day holiday on a small island off the coast of South Korea. The island is surrounded by the icy Yellow Sea. I was not impressed with the freezing ocean however the island was awesome. Over 100 foreigners in one pension with endless booze and loud music - it was like Spring Break in PCB except instead of burgers and oysters we ate kimchi and bulgogi. The beach wasn't bad - doesn't hold a candle to Florida beaches but it was still nice to see sand and smell the ocean. I hope we end up visiting Busan this summer - that's where the gorgeous beaches are supposed to be hidden. 

I'm nearing the end of my contract and looking for a job elsewhere. Apparently, my school is getting phone calls from random elementary schools looking to employ me. Two calls so far! Finding a job isn't the hard part, finding a job that'll make my last year in Korea a relaxing one...that's where the difficulties begin.

Been a while...

Looking at my post history, I am not surprised that I didn't post anything for the entire month of April. The month went by so fast - I hardly noticed it was the end until I looked at the calendar. In five days I'll have been in Korea for eight months with only four to spare. Four more months left in my contract. Time has gone by unpredictably fast. I attribute this to the fast pace lifestyle that I currently lead. There is always something to do, somewhere to go, and events to attend. It's exciting and exhausting (in the best of ways).

Easter was spent in the company of other foreigners. We had a potluck breakfast with pancakes, eggs, bacon, yogurt/marshmallow goodness, muffins, chicken, and assorted candies. We even had a mini egg hunt around the apartment.

Jacob and I signed up for a race with two other foreigners (Laurel and Jameson). We do a 10k on May 22nd. I am pretty excited for several reasons - this will be my first race EVER and it will be in South Korea, near the DMZ. We've been training for the race - trying to get a decent time. Icarus is enjoying the training and I'm loving having him back.

Icarus is my heart. I feel a lot more complete now that he's here with us. Although I've realized something since he's reentered our lives - I miss my family a lot more now. Jacob came back with stories of how everyone is and what they are all up to along with all the awesome things he got to eat and...I have to admit to being a little envious. I'd love to see my family as I do miss all of them. I keep telling myself - soon, soon, soon. The way time has been going as of late, it'll be time for me to hop on that plane before I know it so I'm hellbent on enjoying every day until that time comes.

St. Patrick's Day

You would think that an Irish holiday would have no place among the Koreans. But if we Americans can dress up in green, dye our lakes beer green, and act like crazy leprechauns - then why can't the Koreans?
 

Koreans, Irish, English, American, German, and people from all sorts of places came out to celebrate the green holiday. We listened to Irish music and I watched some people do a jig or two or three. The only problem with the festival was the lack of beverage - the stores lacked supplies to fulfill the waygooks thirst!

Having run out of supplies at the previous festival and ready to move on, we found a little Irish bar that was playing live music. A lot of dancing went on here and a lot of shout-singing. It was beautiful.

The blond lady on the left is Janet. She was the only actual Irish girl in our group that night...that I remember at least. ^_^

Thanks to her and our previous nights spent together, I was able to sing along to many of the Irish drinking songs. Victory!

I decided to place a one drink wager against the other girls - whoever could keep their hand in the ice water the longest wins. I managed to be victorious in this battle through psychological warfare. I kept repeating "I'll let my hand fall off before I take it out of this water." We lasted over 20 minutes. I got my free drink.

 Don't be fooled by that look of "I'm not having any fun right now" because moments after this picture was taken...

 

Yea! I'm not even sure what's going on here. I know we had access to markers and there was loud music playing. Either way, she looks like she's having fun now! hahaa






Meow. I'm a kitty cat. I met a girl in the bathroom who had green cat make-up. I, of course, asked her to make me a kitty cat. She could only find black liquid eyeliner (no green!) so she made me a cat. She said I was the "purdiest cat ever!" I like green kitty cats.

The end of the night. We attempted to catch the last train home but, alas, kebabs were begging to be eaten so we had to eat kebabs and ended up missing the transfer train. We were in Digital Media City and decided to stop for one last drink before searching for a taxi home. Great end to a unforgettable St. Patrick's Day.

Little Mexico in Korea

Excited PAM

We were really excited to find a Mexican place in Korea. So excited that we couldn't wait until the weekend - we had to go there IMMEDIATELY. Pam, Jacob, and I braved the Tuesday night cold in hopes of a great experience. 

Taco Amigos doesn't look like much - a hole in a wall establishment (don't those places always have the best food? ^^) We had walked by this place a dozen times and, every time, it was packed. But on this Tuesday night, there was only one person in there eating a burrito. A burrito that looked marvelous. We gathered our wits and entered the restaurant, where we were immediately told to have a seat and handed very colorful menus.We began to search for our meals.

 

Just as we were beginning to wonder if everything in the pictures looks just as appetizing in real life or if this was some horrible joke - we saw these beauties sitting on the bar top. Taunting us. A place that makes there own salsa? YASE. We knew at that moment that it was a fluke - the burrito we saw that the lady had that looked marvelous really was so. A place that makes there own salsa has to be magical.

 We were right. Jacob ordered a steak burrito set. The burrito runs 13,000 but with the set (chips, refried beans, rice, and pico de gallo) it adds an additional 3,500. Would he order this again? Yes. See that white stuff on the burrito? It is REAL sour cream. The steak burrito was PACKED with meat. The rice was flavorful - not Korean rice at all - and the chips and beans were tasty as well. 

 

 

 Our resident vegetarian, Miss Pam, ordered the vegetarian burrito which came with rice, beans, and chips. She was also pleasantly surprised and thoroughly enjoyed her meal.

Thus far everything was great. The three salsa choices were varied enough to satisfy each of our palettes. One had a smokey bbq taste, one was more on the vinegar side, and the last was meant for those heat seekers as it was especially spicy.

Being that my two dinner mates chose burritos for their meals, I thought I would go outside the realm of safety and pick something a little different. I got the chicken enchiladas and chicken mole - both of which were pretty tasty. The mole wasn't anything special but the entire meal was good.

Our next meal will be the fajitas - they looked fantastic.

It isn't the BEST Mexican food in the world but it is the BEST we've had in Korea ^_^

A regular weekend in Korea

Friday Night: We had a welcoming party for all the new teachers. In the school system in Korea, teachers stay at one school for five years. After five years, they move on to another school. Not only are they required to change schools every five years but they also change grades every year. At least, in my school they change grades every year. So we lost some teachers and gained some teachers. We had a party for the new comers. A teacher at my school owns a restaurant with her husband. Korean BBQ - delish.
A typical meal with Koreans involves a lot of eating different types of foods and drinking a lot of alcohol. There is a custom here where someone hands you a shot glass, they fill it with soju/beer, you drink then hand it back and fill the shot glass for them to drink. Being that not a lot of the other Korean teachers speak much English - this is how they communicate with me. Hours of this later, we pile into a van and are off to karaoke (noraebang in Korea).
After wowing the Koreans with my wonderful singing skills of "Bye, Bye, Bye" and "Barbie Girl" and dancing like an idiot while they sang in their native tongue - they decided to switch places. My coteacher was tired and wanted to go home so I opted to join the other foreigners at another location. The foreigner bar in Geumchon seems to be JJs and we were all gathered there Friday night.
Somewhere around 3am, hungry and in need of sustenance we ventured to a 24 hour Korean joint that reminds me a lot of Waffle House. No, they don't have waffles or eggs or raisin toast or anything of the sort. But they have cheap, good, and filling food at all hours of the day/night.  We went with our mate Nat and enjoyed our ramyeon, tuna kimbap, and fried pork cutlet while discussing the matters of the world - haha. A short taxi ride later and we were home in bed!

Saturday: Had a lazy morning before heading to Ilsan for a scrumptious meal of lamb curry and naan with some mates. Once our bellies were full, we headed to the game room for some Tekkan & Professor Layton. Pam & I battled once another in several themed matches such as a chick fight and an animal battle. We all took turns using our wits to attempt to figure out the Professor Layton puzzles.
Jacob B. (there are two Jacob's here) admitted that he's never had Krispy Kreme so we headed over to the Lotte Department Store (kinda like a mall here). He got to have a glazed doughnut but it wasn't a HOT & READY NOW doughnut so it wasn't the greatest that Krispy Kreme has to offer. My Jacob got a Hello Kitty doughnut - strawberry flavored with a chocolate face and bow.
Not feeling like going home just yet, we opted for another type of game room. The board game room. We broke up into teams and played Scrabble - Jacob & I won both games. Victory! We played a few games of Jenga as well. The loser of Jenga got bopped on the head with this little plastic hammer thingy.

Hungry after our 3 hours of board games, we decided to be adventurous and try Korean Chinese food. This didn't turn out to be the best choice. We ended up with some overly friend sweet & sour pork (maybe it was chicken) and tons of black noodles. Then we headed to LaPub - the foreigner bar in Ilsan.
LaPub was a hoot. Pam & I requested tons of great songs and did goofy dances all around the bar. We embarrassed the guys and had tons of fun. We shot darts and watched drunk people make out for a while before calling it quits. A great way to end the night.

Sunday: Recovery. Slept late and was lazy all day. Watched telly, ate junk food, and spent the day enjoying Jacob's company.

Typical weekend in Korea. 

Waygooks go to the Zoo!

We always used to take a picture on the Willie B Statue!

I have fond memories of the Atlanta Zoo - the seven of us would pile in the car and make the trek to the Atlanta Zoo where we would spend hours walking around. Dad would make voices for all the animals, having them tell us their life stories. Willie B. was a main focus of our trips - he was my personal favorite part of the entire zoo. Mum would have the bag of wonders - she was (still is!) always prepared. From sunblock to snacks to bandaids - if we needed it, she had it. We'd take our turns, hanging back with mum (and whoever was in the stroller!) and chatting with her while dad would entertain the remaining kids. My love of frozen lemonade was born at the Atlanta Zoo...delicious stuff. So yea! I've always loved the Zoo - I have great memories of it. So I was really excited to go to the 10th largest zoo in the world - the Seoul Zoo.
After our one and a half hour trek and a lunch of random Korean food mixed with KFC - we spent our 8$ on tickets and ran inside. Well, I ran inside, everyone else walked all cool like. ^_^ I was surprised when I looked around the inside of the Zoo and found...a very long line. So we got in line. Next thing we know...

This magical vessel comes around the corner to whisk us away to the animals! We load on and take a short ride up a big hill. We climb out of the tram and dash into the zoo. First thing we find are the rabbits - I don't understand why a zoo had rabbits but whatever. I did find it funny how the rabbits were in the same house as the turtles - kinda like a Tortoise and the Hare story brought to life.

After rabbits, we saw flamingos, giraffes, hippos, monkeys, gorillas, cheetahs, hyenas, lions, tigers, penguins, polar bears, dolphins, seals, and all sorts of other animals.

Terrified of lions behind glass!

The idea of the zoo was a lot more fun then actually going. In my opinion, the standards at the Seoul Zoo are pretty low. The hippos were kept crammed inside these small indoor pools where you could only view them through glass - no grass or fake rocks or anything, just a pool. The animals were either scrawny from lack of food or fat from lack of space to move around in. It was rather...depressing...Especially when we came to the zebra who was just lying there on the ground - looking pretty sick. 

But we got to ride a gondola back down.
I guess, no matter what had happened at the Seoul Zoo, it never would've matched up to my memories at the Atlanta Zoo with my family.

Waygook Outing ^_^

Six Months

March 3rd was the sixth month of our stay in SoKo. We've had a lot of fun here thus far and plan to have a lot more. Jacob describes Korea as being a second college experience for the foreigners who come here. We have our jobs but we lack any other real responsibility. We go to work, come home, and do whatever we want. There is no family/friend drama because we are so far from everyone that there is little we can do to effect anything thus leaving us out of the equation. Out of sight, out of mind. We don't have to pick anyone up, take care of anyone or anything, or go anywhere  - we lack obligations. While this is great in some respects, it sucks in others. I find myself trying a lot harder to constantly stay updated on what is going on with my family. I don't mind the struggle as I want to stay connected with family and friends but...it does make you reevaluate who your true friends are. True friends are those people that you actually keep in contact with while the others aren't. I've never been away from my family like this - unable to hop in a car and drive XX hours to see them.
Do I miss my family and friends? Of course I do. But I know I'll see them when I get back so I'm enjoying my time here for now.
After spending the past six years constantly worried about having the money to pay people, bills, and for food, freaking out about day to day living, and running a company neither of us wanted to begin with - we're free of responsibility. I have to say that we're enjoying the life we have here. I've heard Jacob mention several times that he feels a lot better here and is happy with his current standing. He certainly won't be getting any ulcers in Korea!
Korea is a world apart from all others. It is nice to be here for a little while - to recharge our batteries. We won't be staying here for the rest of our lives but I do notice that Jacob is more relaxed and peaceful then he's been in years. That alone is worth our time here.
Jacob's headed back to Georgia to wrap up some company stuff - like finally getting it out of his name so we can move on with our lives. He'll also be bringing back my love - Icarus. Six months without my pup was far too long. This throws a wrench into plans of coming back together in December but we'll figure things out.
All in all, I'm glad we are in Korea. I think we would be miserable by now had we stayed in the states. It's nice to experience new things and travel the world. I do miss my family and friends. I should be seeing you guys this December/January!