Spontaneous Seoul

The awesome Friday dinner
I made

New Chinese restaurant 

Did you get the word play? Pretty great right? Well this past weekend was a whirlwind. I feel like I need a weekend to recover from my weekend. Friday night was a good one. Kaylee and I hung out, ate dinner, watched a movie, and just enjoyed our drinks quietly.

Saturday was a little bit different. We finally motivated ourselves to get lunch at 2pm (at a new Chinese restaurant). The restaurant was interesting. They serve shark fin soup, which we absolutely didn't get but it was on the menu. We had fried rice and garlic chicken. From what I remember it was pretty close to Chinese food back home, haven't eaten meat in my Chinese food in a while.

Cherry Blossoms at night

Kaylee tried to sleep on
the train, silly girl.

After lunch we went to sit on Kaylee's roof, it's much more appealing than mine. Kaylee's guy friend (I don't have a good term for him, we call him Dude) hung out with us. He was headed to Seoul that night and invited us along. Now, if you know me at all you know that I am like my mother, I need a plan. So when I turned to Kaylee and said "Let's go to Seoul," she was a bit shocked. By 7pm we were on a train to Seoul.

Now Grandma and Grandpa you should probably stop reading, I don't want you to get the wrong impression.

We started with dinner (probably our 4th meal of the day) at about 10:30pm. We were out until about 7:30....a.m. Yep I finally did it. I stayed out, drinking, and singing Noribang, until the next morning. Mind you this is not uncommon in Korea but it was pretty crazy for me. I could have used my sunglasses when we got back to the hotel that morning.

Awesome soup

I needed some help. 

We got a couple hours of sleep and we were off again. Dude took us Insadong, which has all of these great "authentic" shops, mostly everything is handmade. It's a tourist spot. We saw a Palace and the President's house, called the Blue House. It has a blue roof.

Then we went to a fabulous restaurant where I had this amazing soup. In Korea they have this great soup where they stuff a chicken, a whole chicken with rice and herbs. Then they boil it for hours. Then they serve you the whole chicken with broth. It was amazing. Of course I ate it wrong, as I always do with Korean food and Dude had to help me with the chicken extraction, you have to move it to a second bowl.

Awesome? Nope, wrote
it wrong

Beautiful day for cherry blossoms. 

We then went north of City Hall and went to a small museum where they show you the history of a war between Japan and Korea. Korea won a battle at sea with 13 ships against the Japanese 133. We saw a 4D show about it, and even wrote our names in Hangul. It was absolutely amazing. I am so glad that we had someone who knew about all of this stuff.

We walked along a man-made river for a bit and then took off to the Cherry Blossom Festival. It was great to see all those trees in bloom. While Dude gave us an awesome tour I learned that different parts of the military are responsible for different bridges in Seoul. If at any point NK made it to Seoul the military would blow up all the bridges to the lower part of Seoul. Pretty crazy right?


We finally made it back to Daegu at 8pm on Sunday night. Talk about a whirlwind.

Making fools of ourselves. 

Rhetoric and Panic...Just Kidding

Love my girls

So it has been almost an entire month since I have posted. Crazy. I'm sorry everyone. I have been busy, but that's no excuse. I should be updating more often. It's pretty crazy to think this time last year I was having my final meeting with the School of Education to receive the last check off my list to graduation. I feel like a whole different person since then.

So of course the thing on everyones mind is, what is going on in South Korea. We aren't dead, we aren't panicked, we aren't rushing to get bottled water or rations. Life is going on as if the North is a tiny cat running in the street, no one pays any attention. I promise, I am registered with the embassy and I know where to go in case of emergency. Don't panic...yet.

Field Trip Day!

School has been school. My friend Kaylee will be leaving in less than two months. I don't know how I will say goodbye to her. Kelly and is trying to convince us all that we should move to Seoul together. I would be up for it, but we would need to find jobs pretty soon. We went on a field trip to a bronze ware museum yesterday. It was a good excuse to get out of school. Not what I would pick for kindergarten but no one asks the teachers. 

I am still giving Korea a lot of consideration. I really do love the country, I just hate this job. I have a nanny job possible I think, hopefully I have another interview with them soon. I don't know what the next step is. I just know that will everything I have done in Korea I am ready for almost anything. I've learned to live in a place where I can't read most of the signs and I can't communicate with a majority of the people.

No Socks! And there is
 some grass

The weather is starting to turn around. We has a couple great days and then it got cold again. Yes, I know I can't complain. It's not a blizzard or anything. Tomorrow is supposed to be 70. Can't wait to find some grass and just lay in the sun. I know I will regret this, basically as soon as I get home, but I miss grass.

Maybe I will throw all caution to the wind and leave for CO like I wanted to after graduation. Apply for a license and just see how it goes. I feel like I could accomplish almost anything.

I miss everyone so much. Hope MN and WI aren't too cold. I'll be sure to post a lovely spring day picture tomorrow when I am laying in the green grass. Hehe

Happy Birthday Kelly!

I caught Alicia's bouquet 

Oh Easter Celebration. Gotta love my kids.

Afternoon Kindergarten

Waves

So this will be a different kind of post. It's more a reflection than a response or a story. And it's more for my benefit than yours I'm sure.

I feel like a beach ball. I'm not on the beach but I'm not floating in the ocean. I feel stuck. I'm pushed one way and then another, but I haven't made up my mind yet.

I am continually thinking about what's next. Do I keep applying for teaching jobs? Do I keep applying for nanny jobs? Do I look in the states or somewhere new? Or do I find another place in Korea? It's not black and white and it's not easy either. I am really liking Korea, now when the raining season hits and my hair gets huge you never know. But right now I'm liking Korea. I have great friends, the country isn't bad, if you know what's going on and keep up to date. I still don't like my job, but I could find another one, I'm already here.

I have never been so conflicted. I knew what I wanted before I even started college. I knew what I wanted throughout college. And now I'm not sure what the next step is. I make good money here, I have a decent setup. Do I leave that for the possibility of a job in the states?

So many questions, and too much lost sleep. The wanderings of my mind continue.

A Month, A Long Weekend, and 900+

Well it's March people! Holy moly time has been flying by! February passed pretty fast. It was a bumpy month. I thought about quitting, just packing it in and leaving for good. I didn't, obviously, but I really thought about it. I started a new class in this last month. I have went to Seoul and that was a lot of fun, for a long weekend. I love long weekends.

I started a new class. Afternoon kindergarten. They gave me more fetuses! Now let me let you in on a little secret, they are adorable. I liked that class, up until today. My adorable, manageable, class of 8 turned in 11. Two of those children are 7 years old, so they sit an look bored and one even tried to yell at me today. That didn't last long. Now there are too many for my small classroom and I don't have a clue how this will work out.

What else is going on in the wonderful world of Korea. Well I am starting to plan my life after Korea. I only have a few months left and then it's onto the next adventure. So far it could be a nanny job, pretty much anywhere, or possibly a teaching position in AK (the district is the size of MN, so that could be anywhere too). You never know!

Korea has taught me a lot of things so far. I can actually live somewhere without speaking the vast majority of the language. Mind you Korea is pretty accommodating, but still it's an accomplishment. I have definitely learned to be better at throwing up my hands and just letting things happen as they may. I have also learned that although I can't plan everything I still like to be a planner. So I am hoping to have an August plan soon.

I miss everyone back home, but believe it or not I am not homesick anymore. It hits when it's a birthday  or an event but I am feeling pretty good. Hopefully another adventure is on the horizon. You never know, if I don't have something planned for August I might just take off to see Thailand or the Philippines before I come back home.

Hopefully it won't be another month before I write.

Can't believe my blog has almost 1,000 views! Didn't see that one coming at all. Thanks everyone!