Toyama Day 2/2.5

We woke up Monday and Karen joined Sayaka and her family for breakfast while I showered. Then, we went to Fushiki High School with Sayaka to meet Shota and Myruki for a tour while Sayaka cleaned the club room. Along our tour, we stumbled upon a shrine to BLHS and paid our respects:


Then, they walked us to a convenient store to get some snacks. I found something I've NEVER seen before... Coke Zero, PLUS FIBER! I couldn't believe. Of course, I HAD to have it. It tasted weird, kind of orange-y, and I don't think it did much for me... but good effort Coca-Cola!


We went back to school and ran into some other students that visited Luers, as well. I don't remember his name, but how hilarious that his baseball warmup is in English?

I think this is Kenta:

Then we went back to spy on Sayaka (and sit by the only space heater we saw in the school). She was rocking out in the band room.

Myruki, Bear, and Shota outside Fushiki High School:


After school, on our way to the mall, we stopped to get some tako yaki. It is a fried, doughy, pastry with a piece of octopuc in the middle. Its then covered in a bbq sauce and a mayo of sorts and then sprinkle with dried fish flakes. I loved it. Bear, well...


Sisters Rowan at the mall:

Shopping, yea!!!! (Sayaka and Karen)

A department store where I bought some sake since I was so mad I didn't get any in Tokyo:

After some shopping we met Daiki at a international buffet in the mall. Bear got chicken tenders, fries, and ice cream and was happy again. I got sushi, broccoli, japanese noodles, and granola and couldn't have been happier myself. Here are the minors:

Then, we went back to Sayaka's house and sat in the kitchen while she prepared dinner for her family. Her mother is newly pregnant and is on a bed-rest of sorts, so Sayaka's been taking over many of the household chores.

After she made dinner, she baked us some yummy shortbread cookies.

Then, we exchanged gifts. Bear brought them some DeBrand's and they gave us a Japanese tea set with green tea. Here's Bear with our host family:

The next morning, we woke up and pretty much went straight to the airport to fly back to Seoul. It was a quick trip, but so worth it to see how the other half (the non-big city dwellers) of Japan

lives Bear took some great pics of the mountains from the airplane, but I'll have to show you that picture next time because I'm at school and pictures are at my apartment on my laptop.

To come: Duck Night, Dr. Fish, Marissa's arrival/NYE, New Year's Day, Korean Folk Village, Myeongdong/ Seoul Tower/Gyeongbukgong, Bear's Last Night, and MY BIRTHDAY!

whew. I have a lot of work to do.

Toyama Day 1 (Dec 27)

We left Dongbaek at 5 am to catch the airport bus to Incheon for our non-stop flight to Toyama Prefecture on Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009. Our two hour flight was a breeze and it was beautiful day to fly. Blue sky, few clouds, etc.

Our trip's intention was to visit Sayaka, a student at Fushiki High School who stayed with my family for a week last spring when her school sent students to my high school, and her family. I never met Sayaka because I lived in Nashville at the time and was knee deep into tax season, but my parents and sister adored her so I couldn't wait to meet her, her family, and experience Japan in a non-Tokyo way.

We arrived at the cute little airport and were greeted immediately by Sayaka, Shota (another FHS student who visited Luers), and Shota's mother. Sayaka's father, our ride, was sneaking this picture of Karen and Sayaka's reuniting hug. I'm the one lugging the suitcase, of course.

Shota, Bear, Sayaka and ME! We're here! The peace signs are killing me.

Sayaka informed us on our drive to her house that for lunch we were having pizza and doughnuts. Karen got excited, and I was trying to send her mental messages that the pizza was not going to be anything she was used to. We swung through a Mr. Donut to pick up a dozen (standard), and then came home to three pizzas. The first was seafood (shrimp, crab and calamari with veggies). The second was a margharita (tomatoes, basil, mozarella). The third was egg pizza, and it had a scrambled/deviled egg concoction that was clumped on each piece. I was in heaven, Bear did what she could. Here we are enjoying lunch in Sayaka's living room:

We unloaded our stuff into Sayaka's room and then hopped in the car with Sayaka's father, mother and brother to go siteseeing around Toyama. We drove along the coast (Toyama is a small fishing town almost dead west of Tokyo, on the sea rather than the Pacific) which was beautiful, and then visited The Great Buddha. It is the third largest Buddha in Japan.

Shota, Bear, Molly, Sayaka, and Sayaka's brother in front of the Buddha with no belly.

Underneath the Buddha is a temple. Immediately inside there is a shrine. Before offering prayers, you are supposed to beat this bowl-shaped metal situation with a bat-shaped rubber situation. The best translation Shota offered was: BONG! It works. Here he is showing us how to do it:

Molly bonging the bong:

Karen bonging the bong:

After we'd had enough of the Buddha, we visited Zuiryuji Temple. The temple belongs to the Zen sect of Japanese Buddhism. It was built 360 years ago (that's older than America!), and is made up of seven buildings. Here we are walking to the Sanmon building:

Another building was called the Butsuden. This building's roof is made of lead, it was thought that the roof could be used to make bullets during war or as protection instead of the obvious castle.

Sayaka's dad was acting like paparazzi with his fancy camera. I didn't know he took this one until he gave us copies. Here I am walking through the Sekibyo:

After siteseeing, we were dropped off at the bowling alley. Everything about this alley was the same as those I've been to. Here are the players:

Well, everything was the same except the shoes. The shoes were fantastic.

I'm not much of a bowler. And my book was really good.

Shota left us after bowling, and Sayaka's dad picked us up to go to dinner. SUSHI was on the menu. I was so pumped. I would live in Japan just for the sushi. Bear had never had it so I was so excited to see her reaction. This restaurant was set up really efficiently. The chefs were all in the middle, the people sat around them in a big square, and they put the sushi piece on different colored plates and set them on this conveyer belt that went around and around. The guests just picked up whatever looked good. Each plate color was a different price and when you finished, they just tallied all of your plates. So cool!

A different angle for you:


Karen does sushi: take one.

Take 2 (I had her start with shrimp because it was cooked and recognizable):

Take 3: I didn't notice there was already wasabi on it (Japanese horseradish).

Not a wasabi fan, she settled on chocolate cake.

After dinner we went back to Sayakas to snuggle into our nice, warm beds. By nice and warm, I mean hard and cold. The whole city seemed to heat their homes with space heaters. It was below freezing out! It was charming, but I couldn't do it every winter forever. Here I am, dressed in layers for bed:


and Bear in her scarf and mittens!:

We slept the best we could, grateful for a bed, and geared up for Day 2 in Toyama. Sorry for the delay, getting back into the swing of things was harder than I thought it would be... and I have new students! Stay tuned.

Day After Christmas: A lot of nothing!

On the day after Christmas, we putzed around in the morning like we have never putzed before. We finally left my apartment at aroun 1:30 pm to grab lunch at, my favorite, the 5500! It was the first time Karen was excited about Korean food since she had arrived. Here she is mastering her chopsticks with a cabbage salad!

We did great work on the pork, kimchi, slaw, sauce and lettuce and decided it was time to head to Hongdae (the area of Seoul surrounding Hongik University). I had read about a Dr. Fish Cafe there and an Ice Bar that we wanted to visit.

A Dr. Fish Cafe is a coffee shop that has little ponds of sucker fish that you put your feet in and the little fishies suck all of the dead skin off your feet. The Ice Bar was called Sub Zero, and was kept at a below freezing temperature so that the entire bar was made up of ice (chairs, tables, etc). A parka to borrow was part of the cover charge.

We took our sweet time getting to Hongdae. Here's Benny on the bus ride to Jonggak.

At Jonggak, we transferred to the subway line and road the subway to Hongdae. After our 1.5 hour journey, we made our way to wear the Dr. Fish Cafe used to be - but it had closed! We were so bummed out, but set out to find Sub Zero instead. Along the way, Karen really wanted to pose with this creature:

Betsy and I were relentless with our map usage and asking Korean's for help. However, after about 3 fruitless hours of searching for the Ice Bar, it was time to give... and eat Mexican food. Bear managed to sneak this shot in while we were studying the map. It was soooo cold!

We ended up at Dos Tacos and ordered some Mexican chow and then began our 1.5 hour trek home. It was such a busy day - lots of walking - but nothing to show for it :-(.

I had heard of a different Dr. Fish Cafe that we decided to give a try after the Bear and I returned from Japan... You'll get that post in a few days!

On the 27th, we headed to Tokaoka, Japan to visit Sayaka (an exchange student that stayed at my family's home) and her family. That trip will be posted tomorrow!

Christmas Day in Itaewon

When we woke up Christmas morning, it was raining, we looked like this:


and were completely frightened by each other. We decided, though, that it would be a great idea to Skype with our abnormally large extended family at Grandma Shank's house (their Christmas Eve). Naturally, Grandma, being a grandma, doesn't have anything more than a dial up connection. In trying to borrow a neighbors wireless connection, our connection was pretty choppy and with all of the chaos of the evening there it was a pretty hilarious conversation.

Then, we opened our gifts from our mom and dad. They bought us matching pajama sets. Hot, right?
Eventually, we got dressed and made our way to Itaewon. Itaewon is an area of Seoul that surrounds an American military base. If you are going to feel like you're in America in Seoul anywhere, it's Itaewon. There is an American grocery store, English speaking hairdressers, and not a Korean restaurant in sight. The latter made my picky-eater sister very happy!

We went with another teacher, Betsy, who just arrived in Korea about a week before! She teaches at a different school in Dongbaek and all of her fellow teachers were traveling for the break. You will hear a lot about Betsy in the coming posts. My supervisor, Irene, also joined us. We went to Suji's for an American-style brunch. Here's chubs with her bacon and cheese omelette:

Merry Christmas sweaters!

Irene and I are deciding what to order:

After brunch, we shopped around a little, then made our way to Starbucks. Benny made an appearance here, too. Benny the bear (named after Pope Benedict when I was in Italy - and Big Ben when Karen was in London), was a temporary gift from my cousin Madeline before I traveled to Italy in the summer of 2006. She wanted to make sure I took something comforting with me. I took Benny everywhere with me and got many pictures with him in them. When I returned, I made a picture album for Benny (and Maddie). A few weeks later, Karen traveled to England, Wales, and Ireland and did the same thing. It was fitting, of course, that Benny travel with Karen to Asia, as well. Here he is at Starbucks:

As we were walking to the bus stop to head home, we stumbled upon a Santa Claus. There aren't very many of them around here so we grabbed a picture with him (and the Korean man behind the window).

When we got back to Dongbaek, it was SNOWING! Here we are in the snow! Yea! White Christmas!

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and are winding down from all of the holiday happiness.

More from Karen's trip to come...

The Calm Before the Storm

I have SO MUCH to throw at you from Karen's visit!

I have 5 new Kindergarten students to introduce you to!

I (will) have birthday party pictures to send your way!

but...

I left my computer charger at the airport hotel Bear and I stayed at on Monday and they are mailing it to me.

Hopefully it will be here by the weekend so I can start to catch you up on all of the Korean-happenings!

If not, please be patient... blog-overload is about to hit.