Thursday + the weekend!
Wow! It was a busy one for me. On Thursday I met Beth, Jenny, Andy and Meghan (other teachers) in Suwon and we ate at the Outback Steakhouse to celebrate Thanksgiving. It was very nice, but rather expensive (since it's a foreign restaurant).
On Friday it was pouring, but I started the morning with a phone call from my family! Thanksgiving dinner was held at our house this year, so my mom called me and I got to hear from a lot of my relatives, it was great! Then it was the school festival! In Korea, the school festival is an entire day of activities. The morning held athletic activities. I watched a jump rope contest, tug of war, and some basketball before heading up to the 5th floor of my school were parents were cooking. Apparently you were supposed to pay for the food, but I got a lot of free yummy Korean food. Then there was a 2 hour break from the festivities where 7 female students came into my classroom and hung out with me... it was great! They showed me their home pages and I got to look at all their photos! The afternoon held a talent show, where my students sang, danced, and put on comedic skits. There was even a magic show! It was pretty awesome. One of the girls is an opera singer, a really good opera singer, so it was very entertaining. And this year my school won a city-wide traditional drum contest, so they started off the afternoon festivities. And of course in Korean tradition, alcohol was involved. The parents brought the teachers maekli (a type of Korean rice wine) and we drank in the back of the gym (where the festival was held). It was awesome! I'll be posting pictures from it soon.
Then it was off to Seoul to celebrate Nick's birthday. We started with dinner in Sinchon (the college area) at Hippo (a french restaurant). I got escargot and red wine! It rocked! Then it was off to the clubs for Club Day ($15 entrance fee and you can go to like 7 different clubs) to dance the night away. The clubs here don't close until around 5am, so the plan was to stay out until 5am, get some food, then wait 'til the subway reopened (around 5:30am). Beth and I decided to go to her house to get some sleep instead of waiting for the subway. She only lives about 20 minutes away, so it wasn't that expensive of a cab ride. However, once we got to her house, she realized that she had left her keys and her tote bag in a locker near the clubs. So we had to go back to the subway station the locker was at, get her keys, then go back to her apartment! It was an adventure, but we made it back in time to get some sleep.
Saturday I hung out with Beth for a while. We got Dominos Pizza and watched 21 Grams. It was nice just relaxing. Then I headed back to Osan. Nathan called me while I was on the bus from Seoul to ask if I wanted to have dinner with him in Osan (he also lives in Osan), so I decided I would. We met in Osan and had dinner at a restaurant near the city hall. I had a beef curry and he had soup and kimbop. We ate and talked for a couple of hours. Throughout dinner I would look outside and see random students looking at me throught the window, it was funny! Then I went back to my apartment and watched a Korean movie (English subtitles of course). Then went to bed!
Today (Sunday), I took my friend Su Jin (geography teacher at my school) into Seoul to eat a Thanksgiving dinner with me and other foreigners (some that I knew, some that I didn't). First we went to Sinchon again to go shopping. OH, and shopping I did. They had winter boots in my size (imitation uggs), so I bought them! Plus a sweater that I could fit into! It was a very exciting shopping adventure.
Then we met Meghan and Liz at the subway stop to head to Yonsei University (where the dinner was being held). I stuffed myself full of turkey, mashed potato, stuffing, green beans and cherry pie! They also had pumpkin pie, but it's not my favorite so I didn't have any. Of course I did remember to bring wine though! We had a bottle of red wind and a bottle of white to go along with the dinner!
After dinner we decided we would head home right away. On the walk we saw women outside making Kimchi. Su Jin and I decided to watch for a few moments, and then the women offered to let me try the kimchi. It was entertaining. I was fed kimchi on the street by a woman (litterally fed, she put it in my mouth :-)). Then we were walking to the subway and I saw watches that I wanted to look at. I bought a cool pink watch for like $5. My shopko watch broke last weekend on the bus, I've been dying without a watch since my classroom doesn't have a clock. I also picked up a decoration for my cell phone (you can't have a cell phone in Korea without a decorative thing hanging off of it, I broke the other one I had). Then Su Jin and I took the subway to the train to another bus and I was home! But it was a very nice end to the weekend. Now I'm going to relax and watch a movie! Have a good one!
On Friday it was pouring, but I started the morning with a phone call from my family! Thanksgiving dinner was held at our house this year, so my mom called me and I got to hear from a lot of my relatives, it was great! Then it was the school festival! In Korea, the school festival is an entire day of activities. The morning held athletic activities. I watched a jump rope contest, tug of war, and some basketball before heading up to the 5th floor of my school were parents were cooking. Apparently you were supposed to pay for the food, but I got a lot of free yummy Korean food. Then there was a 2 hour break from the festivities where 7 female students came into my classroom and hung out with me... it was great! They showed me their home pages and I got to look at all their photos! The afternoon held a talent show, where my students sang, danced, and put on comedic skits. There was even a magic show! It was pretty awesome. One of the girls is an opera singer, a really good opera singer, so it was very entertaining. And this year my school won a city-wide traditional drum contest, so they started off the afternoon festivities. And of course in Korean tradition, alcohol was involved. The parents brought the teachers maekli (a type of Korean rice wine) and we drank in the back of the gym (where the festival was held). It was awesome! I'll be posting pictures from it soon.
Then it was off to Seoul to celebrate Nick's birthday. We started with dinner in Sinchon (the college area) at Hippo (a french restaurant). I got escargot and red wine! It rocked! Then it was off to the clubs for Club Day ($15 entrance fee and you can go to like 7 different clubs) to dance the night away. The clubs here don't close until around 5am, so the plan was to stay out until 5am, get some food, then wait 'til the subway reopened (around 5:30am). Beth and I decided to go to her house to get some sleep instead of waiting for the subway. She only lives about 20 minutes away, so it wasn't that expensive of a cab ride. However, once we got to her house, she realized that she had left her keys and her tote bag in a locker near the clubs. So we had to go back to the subway station the locker was at, get her keys, then go back to her apartment! It was an adventure, but we made it back in time to get some sleep.
Saturday I hung out with Beth for a while. We got Dominos Pizza and watched 21 Grams. It was nice just relaxing. Then I headed back to Osan. Nathan called me while I was on the bus from Seoul to ask if I wanted to have dinner with him in Osan (he also lives in Osan), so I decided I would. We met in Osan and had dinner at a restaurant near the city hall. I had a beef curry and he had soup and kimbop. We ate and talked for a couple of hours. Throughout dinner I would look outside and see random students looking at me throught the window, it was funny! Then I went back to my apartment and watched a Korean movie (English subtitles of course). Then went to bed!
Today (Sunday), I took my friend Su Jin (geography teacher at my school) into Seoul to eat a Thanksgiving dinner with me and other foreigners (some that I knew, some that I didn't). First we went to Sinchon again to go shopping. OH, and shopping I did. They had winter boots in my size (imitation uggs), so I bought them! Plus a sweater that I could fit into! It was a very exciting shopping adventure.
Then we met Meghan and Liz at the subway stop to head to Yonsei University (where the dinner was being held). I stuffed myself full of turkey, mashed potato, stuffing, green beans and cherry pie! They also had pumpkin pie, but it's not my favorite so I didn't have any. Of course I did remember to bring wine though! We had a bottle of red wind and a bottle of white to go along with the dinner!
After dinner we decided we would head home right away. On the walk we saw women outside making Kimchi. Su Jin and I decided to watch for a few moments, and then the women offered to let me try the kimchi. It was entertaining. I was fed kimchi on the street by a woman (litterally fed, she put it in my mouth :-)). Then we were walking to the subway and I saw watches that I wanted to look at. I bought a cool pink watch for like $5. My shopko watch broke last weekend on the bus, I've been dying without a watch since my classroom doesn't have a clock. I also picked up a decoration for my cell phone (you can't have a cell phone in Korea without a decorative thing hanging off of it, I broke the other one I had). Then Su Jin and I took the subway to the train to another bus and I was home! But it was a very nice end to the weekend. Now I'm going to relax and watch a movie! Have a good one!
posted by Elissa @ 7:36 PM
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