Apologies...

I wish I could say you haven't heard from me in a while because I've had so much amazing things happen that I don't know where to start.

Really, I spent the weekend in bed warding off a cold so I can go to Tokyo this weekend, nothing exciting's going on at school, and I haven't eaten anything new or crazy.

BUT. I am leaving for Tokyo on Saturday. I have big plans for some weird stuff in Seoul on Friday, and have a few other day trips planned for the rest of October. Hopefully I can get back on the blog train.

We've all been so busy with these evaluations that I haven't had a chance to get any co-worker bios together yet. But, that's on the agenda, too!

Time to get showered for school!

More soon...

Sue. Kid's College. No!

Sue's last day was Tuesday. Needless to say, we didn't do math. We made cards for her, took pictures, giggled, played games, and sang songs. I'm going to be able to do a lot more with the other two now, but I'm going to miss her so much! Look at that little face!


Her last day was kind of sprung upon me right before lunch on the day of, and I was devastated. I thought I had at least another week. I was told "next month" over and over again. It broke my heart because Monday morning I asked her how she was feeling. She said, "hoppy!" I said, "Why?" and she said (!!!!!!!!!!!!), "Mommy gabe me i cream!" I screamed I was so excited for her complete sentence on her own. Now, she's leaving. Hopefully her new teacher at her new school loves her as much as I do.

I told the other girls that Sue was going to another school. They kept asking, "Sue. Kid's College. No?" I'd say, "Sue. Kid's College. No." They'd say "SUUUUEEE!! Kid's College. NO!!!!!" Sue would say, "okay."

It was precious. This happened allllllll day. I had a dream that night of the three of them haunting me screaming: "Sue. Kid's College. NO!!!!!"


Here are some pictures from Sue's last day:

Sue and Molly Teacher

Sue consoling Jasmine when she was sad in music class.


Sue with Susan teacher, the school cook. Chef, really. Her food is amazing!



Then we all made cards for Sue. I asked the girls what they wanted to say on their cards so I could write it on the board for them. Jasmine said, "Sue, I love you." Grace said, "Sue, I miss you." I said, "Sue, good luck!"

Sue, naturally, wanted to make a card, too. So, she made one for me.
Here she is working hard!
When she "gabe" it to me, I died. She copied all of the things off the board. It says: Molly Teacher. Ill miss you. I love y. Good luck.

hahahaha. Too cute!

Here's Grace working on her bag for Sue's goodies:

And Grace with her card. (p.s. The other day we were talking about what we wanted to be when we grow up. Our new words were: doctor, vet, fire fighter, police officer, and teacher. Jasmine said she wants to be a doctor - perfect, she's brilliant. Sue said she wants to be a teacher - even more perfect, "Those who can't do, teach." And Grace, oh Grace. She said: "I want to be a Miss Korea." I'd say she's well on her way...)

Jasmine working diligently, as usual.

The front of her card:

and the inside:

Here's the card I made for her!

and just for kicks, I took a picture with the future Miss Korea.

and the future doctor who will cure cancer.

Today (Wednesday) was my first day without Sue. It was really easy and kind of boring. Grace gets kind of antsy and jumps around a lot, but it barely annoys me because Jasmine is the model student so it's nice to have someone else bouncing off the walls with me. Sue was kind of in the middle between them and balanced them out. I miss her so much already!

Here's the three of them on Monday! This is how they sit for story time. Apparently, it was wear pink day and I didn't get the memo.

Sue Teacher, Miss Korea Grace, and Doctor Jasmine

I've been pretty busy this week giving and grading tests and doing evaluations. These kids get report cards once a month! I'll try to catch up with a few more blogs soon.

The requests I have in the works: Co-worker bios and Korean Fashion.

Aunt Patty - the weather is pretty much the same here as it is there. We have four seasons. All sound like they are very extreme. Fall is BEAUTIFUL, winter is COLD, spring is RAINY, and summer is HOT and HUMID!

They say that it will snow, but it won't hang around for long. I think there's just too many people moving about to really stick. We're surrounded by water, so rainy season is more like monsoon-y season. Summer sounds etrocious, but I'm always cold... so I'll probably be okay. I love fall, I wish it could stay like this allllllllll year.

Any other requests?

An yeung!

galbi at the 5500...

Remember the 5500 we passed on the walk to school? Well, the day that I took all of the walk to school photos, I stopped at this restaurant. Because I was alone, I could obnoxiously document every moment of the meal with my camera. I had nobody to make fun of me, except maybe the restaurant's Korean employees, whom I couldn't understand even if they were.

When you enter the restaurant, you have the choice to sit at "normal" tables or take your shoes off and sit at one of these: (I chose the normal table this time)


Then, I perused the menu... HA! I pointed to the item that had 5500 won next to it and hoped for the best.


In the middle of every table is a grill and then a fan above it that hangs from the ceiling to suck the heat up in the right direction.




This little hut sits outside the restaurant. This guy went outside to heat up the coals for my barbecue.

Then, he brought the hot coals in for me and set them in the grill.


Most Korean restaurants keep their silverware in a little box on the side of the table. There are spoons and chopsticks for everyone!

The sides that come with this meal (clockwise from top right): shredded cabbage salad with a creamy dressing, kimchi, spicy grass salad, lettuce leaves for wraps, pickled radishes and a tray with a red bean paste sauce, a spicy bbq sauce and garlic cloves.

This is the galbi, or barbecued beef. It's marinated in a soy/bbq sauce.

They give you tongs to cook it yourself.

YUMMY!

Close ups of the kimchi and grass salad.

Once your meat is cooked, you are supposed to use the lettuce to make a wrap. Enjoy!

I love this place for many reasons. One, all I'm eating is vegetables and meat so it's amazingly healthy (and the portion of meat is small enough for one - a lot of time it's HUGE). Plus, a lot of the grease drips off through the grate so you don't eat as much of the fat. Two, it only costs 5500 won (which is under $5.50). You cannot eat this healthy for less than $5.50 in America. Three, it's soooo close to my apartment and four (and most importantly), it's delicious!

I just talked with some of my chingus (friends) from XU and they gave me some future blog suggestions. Does anyone else have anything they want to know about or see? Please shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment if you do.

We've booked our flights to Japan! Zach, Liz and I are leaving Oct 3 and will be gone until Oct 5. It's Chuseok, which is the Korean Thanksgiving. Zach has a friend from Tokyo and she's offered to pick us up at the airport and show us around. I'm so excited to have a tour guide! Things run so much more smoothly when you're trying to do a short trip and have a translator/someone who knows their way around.

Don't tell my boss, though! He pleaded with us not to leave the country because of the swine flu. We figure he can't fire all of us because it will cost him too much, so we're gonna make a run for it. Hopefully, he just won't find out, and more importantly, hopefully we don't get swine flu!

Accommodations are still up in the air. We may crash on Zach's friend's floor, or we may stay at a "capsule" hotel. These kind of remind me of mausoleums, except you're still alive when you sleep in them. You rent a bed that has a door around it and you have just enough space to sit up and lay down. It's apparently really popular in Japan. We shall see what happens!

Have a good weekend! I'm might do some shopping tomorrow, so I'll bring my camera along.

... I walked a mile to school, uphill, both ways.

Just kidding. It's actually a really flat walk to school. I'll give you the blow by blow (in picture form).

You come out of my apartment and turn right. This is what you see:

Then when you see this alley ("the shoot") on your left, you turn to walk down it.

As you walk you'll pass Beer Island on your right.

Keep walking down the shoot.

When you reach the park, go around it so it's to your right.

Then, get back on the shoot.

You'll pass the amazing dak galbi place I went to in my first post.

Keep going...

THEN you pass the 5500 which will be the topic of my next post.

Then, hang a right and travel towards the bridge.

Then go up and over the bridge.

View from the top of the bridge:

Then, go down the hill.

At the bottom of the bridge, turn left to walk down this cute rock path.

Then take a right and then an immediate left to go down that road that's peaking out.

Then walk a block and turn right at the WA Bar.

And keep going....

Then cross the street and head into the shopping plaza straight ahead.

And keep going...

And keep going...

This park is on your right... so cute.

Then keep going straight...

When you reach the end of the shopping plaza, follow the street ahead of you.

And keep going...

Then when you see the Family Mart on your right, turn left.

Go down this sidewalk.

Follow the bend to the right,

Then go into the door to your right, hop in the elevator and travel to the 8th floor!

In total, its about a mile. A very nice way to start every morning!