Dasong

Dasong lakeside restaurant

Enjoying delicious hazelnut coffee lakeside at Dasong- a peebing bap restaurant (mixed rice).  If it weren’t for the killer bees nosediving into our rice wine, this would have been quite the tranquil setting.  Upstairs in a tree house, everything handmade from wood, a small stream running through it, wind chimes hanging all around…  Yes, please!

Old Tea Shop

Tea is quite tasty if you ask me.
Warm and soothing, it fills me with glee.
So you pay five bucks here for a cup,
But you’re in a tree house, so what’s up?!
Birds fly ’round and ’round the room.
Flowers smell like sweet perfume.
From the rooftop, watchful cats peer in.
But eating these birds would be a sin!

Tea Time

The smell of spices fills the air.
Careful on the rickety stairs!
Rocks of zen adorn the floor.
Good luck closing the squeaky door!
Goldfish swim within your table
Whilst you drink as much tea as you’re able.
Welcome to the Old Tea Shop.
Tea here is the cream of the crop!

O Christmas Tree

Christmas ornaments

With Christmas just around the corner and 76 students in our kindergarten, Mom and I have been busy preparing the pieces for our handmade tree ornaments.  We’re gonna have some sticky, gluey fingers and tinsel-covered laps here pretty soon!

Go Fish!

Go Fish!

Taught the 7-year-olds “Go Fish” today… It was so cute when they’d all yell out, “Go fish!” when someone had to draw a card.  It was even cuter when the cards ran out and they started yelling, “Go away!” We  should “follow suit” and add this alteration to the game stateside.

The Beautiful Simplicity of Nature

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” ~Ansel Adams

Today was a lovely day to go frolicking through Seoul.

The morning rain was just heavy enough to make everything smell wonderfully fresh.

The wind was just strong enough to whisk great oak leaves through the cool, crisp air, before they fluttered ever so softly onto the ground- all fall hues of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, and browns- giving me one more thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Dew drops rested on benches and rain drops perched themselves on pine tree needles.  The sun would peek it’s big, bald, blazing head around clouds every ten minutes or so, just to remind us it was there.

It was a. lovely. day.

Mom and I checked out the National Museum of Art next to Deoksugung Palace, where Korean photographer, Bae Bien-U’s show was on display: “A point of contact between the heavens and the earth.”

We were so inspired by his work, we attempted to capture a few of our own artsy black & whites back at the palace.  These are a few of them here.  Granted, all we had to work with was a point-and-shoot digital camera, but, hey- we gave it a “shot!” 

Halloween Comes to Korea

Kelly left basically when my mom arrived, but they certainly were in Korea at the same time and we have just one picture to prove it. 

A quick photo...

It was taken on Friday morning, when Kelly was heading to the airport and Yellow Ribbon celebrated its first Halloween ever.

Koreans don’t know much about “Halloweenday” minus the typical ghosts, pumpkins and witches.  Kids know of costumes, but they don’t usually wear them, and other than the awareness that candy is somehow involved, they’re not quite sure how to get it.

So, John Teacher and I organized an entire Halloween Festival for all our kimchi-loving munchkins and…. it was a BLAST!

Despite the swine flu-scare that’s been circulating through our countryside, attendance was high and the costumes were fantastic.

A-list celebs like Spiderman, Batman, Snow White, Cinderella and the red power ranger all showed up dressed to impress (some of them more than once) and ready to beg for candy.

The A-Listers

We played classic games like Pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin, Miss Pockets, Spider Ring Toss and Bean Bag Toss. For arts n’ crafts, we made spider and ghost lollipops out of pipe cleaners and Kleenex.

We gave out all the standard prizes- parachute men, plastic spider rings, fake vampire teeth… and of course, plenty of candy to get ‘em started.

Trick-or-Treat!

After their homemade baskets had a good, solid layer of treats in them, we loaded onto the ghoulish buses and headed down into town for some inaugural Trick-Or-Treating.

The students’ parents lined the streets passing out goodies galore as we marched by, chanting the “Trick or treat, smell my feet…” song.

I do believe this was the first time Halloween had ever come to Janghyun-ri (my town), and all eyes were smiling and on us!

Shop owners came out to see what all the bustle was about, and customers peeked their heads out of windows and doors; pedestrians stopped crossing the road, drivers slowed down and fruit trucks came to a halt.

Some townspeople even wound up joining our merry little street march, doing their best to hum along, snapping pictures with their cell phones along the way.

I think we may have started something here…  or at least, I hope so.

Run, Run, as Fast as You Can

Kell & I sporting hanbok at Deoksugung

Wow… what a whirlwind this past week has been! My cousin, Kelly, has already come and gone since my last blog post and my mom arrived here last night.  I finished all my open classes at the kindergarten and gave final exams to my hagwon students.

And today, I.  feel.  lighter.  Less stressed.  ::sigh of relief::

However, Kelly’s short trip during a busy time didn’t stop us from experiencing what Seoul has to offer.

Postcard Perfect at City Hall

We started off at Dongdaemun for some sightseeing and shopping.  Constructed in the 14th century, Dongdaemun served as the Great Eastern Gate of the Seoul fortress. The existing gate was built in 1869 and repaired after the Korean War.  It sure does look stunning at night!

One of the popular fashion districts in Seoul, Dongdaemun has 3 overwhelmingly tall towers crammed with clothes, bags, accessories, home decor, souvenirs and peeeeeople.  I’m not sure what time it opens, but it closes at 6:00.

Clownin' around at City Hall

…In the morning!

Maybe we wanted to give it a run for it’s money, or maybe it just rocked our socks, but we were shopping there until close to 4 AM before we finally passed out at our hotel down the street.  I could’ve fallen asleep with bags in hand, I was so exhausted by then.

A spot of tea please!

We went to Deoksugung palace where we were able to try on traditional hanbok and pose for pictures before touring inside.  We watched the Changing of the Guards Ceremony and Kelly actually got asked to participate in it!  So, she hit the big ceremonial drum 3 times in front of tourists and Koreans alike.

Say, "Chee-ja!"

Afterward, we walked over to City Hall where a concert was taking place.  We hung out there for a bit before moving on to Insa-dong, about a 20-minute walk away.  We sauntered along Cheonggye Stream, a $313-million urban-renewal effort to beautify the downtown core.  Insadong, one of my favorite areas to explore, is a charming district full of old, traditional restaurants, Buddhist stores, calligraphy brushes, antique boutiques, Jogyesa Buddhist Temple and quirky tea shops.

We settled into The Old Tea Shop after dinner for an hour or so of funky, old-time teas and relaxation.  The small birds flying around the room, fish swimming in the tables, and unmistakably old and creaky wooden staircase all made the experience one to remember.

N'Seoul Tower

We hit up Myeongdong the next day for a few hours where we did some more shopping and sightseeing.  We made sure to stop off at a photo booth to snap some fun pictures of ourselves before continuing on to N’ Seoul Tower at Namsan (South Mtn.).

This is a great place to appreciate the scale of the megalopolis that Seoul truly is, and it’s a fun cable car ride up to the base of the tower atop the mountain.

All in all, it was a fun, exciting, successful 7 days of SoKo and school if you ask me!

Korean Birthday

“Sang il chuk ha ham ni da!”  Happy birthday!

Potluck

I celebrated my second birthday abroad, my first here in Korea, on Wednesday.  I’m now 23 American age, still 24 Korean.

(A quick recap:  In Korea, babies are 1 year old when they are born.  They don’t start at zero like we do in the States.  So that’s why foreigners are automatically a year older when they arrive here.)

I’ve had open classes all week with my kindergarten students, so their parents came to watch me teach.  A bit neveracking, that’s for sure, but luckily they went really well and I was quite pleased actually.  The 5-year-olds’ parents surprised me with 4 birthday cakes for the potluck!  They sang “Happy birthday,” IN ENGLISH, and Mrs. Lee surprised me with some long pjs for the wintertime.  Asaaa!

Pizza party TKD style

My 7-year-olds also got me a cake and we had a party in our homeroom.  And later Tuesday night, I found out this was just the birthday that keeps on giving.  My TKD friends got me wine and cake and Master bought us all pizza, so we had a pretty chill night together.  They all sang in the dark and made me blow out candles, and Master gave me a couple cute TKD characters to hang from my cell phone.  So very Korean… I love it.

My cousin, Kelly, showed up last night, so we’re headed into Seoul for the weekend.  See you all soon.  Hope the weekend goes well for us all!

TKD Master & I

Jaydon & I... before he left for a day of duty

A Picture’s Worth 1,000 Won

Come with Dad and I as we hike Juwangsan National Park and check out some Buddhist temples along the way.  Help Dad build his first rock garden before enjoying some fresh dates for an afternoon snack.  Then we head out to the city of Andong to watch Korea’s famous mask dance in the traditional culture village of Hahoe.  Mingle with praying mantises and some of the funny-looking totem poles before walking through rice paddies to reach the lake.  Hop in the boat with us to ferry across the water and get a spectacular view of the village from the nearest mountain top.

Then we’re off to Seoul, one of the great capitals of the world!  From here on out it’s palaces, music festivals, marketplaces, tea shops, duck BBQ and teaching some of the most adorable children in the world.

Ready?  Let’s go!

done

Happy Fall

After a 12-hour torrential downpour SO intense, it got me thinking I may have to learn how to build an arc, today is an absolutely beautiful fall day.  The leaves all look a little less green, and the consistent spurts of wind blow the red, yellow and orange ones playfully through the air.

I wanted to share with you all just what a perfect early-fall day looks like here at Yellow Ribbon.

done

Looking out my window, what do I see?
Bunches of leaves all swirling back at me.
Reds and yellows, orange-ish hues
pressed against the mountains’ blues.

Dogs lay out, soak up the sun,
I sit outside, watch ‘em run.
Racing the wind, chasing their tails,
ears perked up and puffed out like sails.

An orange leaf falls, flutters onto my knee;
I give it a blow and again it’s free.
Up and attem, away it goes.
Where it flutters next, noone knows.