This morning, I woke up and Skyped with my big sis, Jena, before church. It was wonderful, as usual. :) I jumped on the subway around 11am, and headed to church. The group saved me a seat inside, which was good, since I just barely made it in before worship started! My favorite worship leader, Eddie, was singing this morning, so I was pumped. He always chooses just the right songs, and they're perfect for what I need to hear. Love it. Church was great, and small groups start this week. I've been praying for my small group and small group leader this past week, and I can't wait to officially meet everyone this Tuesday. I hope God has a lot planned for this group!
After church, Johnny, Mi-yeon, Michelle, and I went to Dos Tacos for lunch. After lunch, we went to Kyobo Tower, the bookstore, to bum around. Michelle and Mi-yeon had to buy a few things, so we just looked around. I could seriously get lost in that place...
After that, we made our way to a cafe in Gangnam. We just wanted to relax and chill for a bit before heading home. We had great conversation, and it was so good to be together again! It had been a long time since the four of us had gotten together.
Around 5pm, we all parted ways. Johnny and I hung out for a bit after to talk and catch up. I just love that guy. He's really great, and we always have the best conversations. I'm so blessed to have such great people in my life! I had no idea before I came to Korea what kind of friendships I would be building with people here. God is so good.
When we finished talking, I headed to the subway, and Johnny jumped on a bus. When I got home, Lisa and I met up for dinner. We went to Misoya, a Japanese restaurant near us. We talked for forever about school and life and MY BIRTHDAY PLANS!!! (I turn 24 this Thursday. Wooty!)
Now, I have some progress reports to write for school. They're due tomorrow. I'm starting them at 9:15pm, the night before they're due. Procrastinate much? Story of my life.
This week is short, only four days because of Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving. I'm going on a 5-day island trip with Lisa. More about that later...I have some progress reports to write!! :)
Sunday, September 23, 2012
YBM Seminar.
On Saturday, I woke up early and Skyped with my youngest sister, Jodi, for 2 1/2 hours!! It was a wonderful way to start my morning! :) After that, I ran to the subway to meet Lisa. We had a seminar from 1pm-4:30pm a few subway stops away. Neither one of us was looking forward to it, but it was a requirement. At least we had each other...
The seminar was pretty uneventful and quite boring. The guy running the training, Robert, is the same guy who did my initial 3 days of training before I started teaching. He's a really great guy, and he presents well. However, this information wasn't anything new, so it was boring. At one point, Robert called me up on stage to participate in a role-playing activity. I had to play the "teacher," and three other seminar people played the "students," who all had specific roles to play. I had to find out how each student was feeling based on my interactions with each one of them. It was pretty brutal, but I managed to get some laughs from the rest of the group...
After the seminar, Lisa and I headed home and grabbed a quick dinner at the rice ball place on the corner. We both went home and took 30-minute power naps, and then met up at the subway station again. We were going to Itaewon to meet a friend of ours and some of her friends for dinner and drinks...or so we thought...
We met up at 8pm at the subway station and went to a Mexican restaurant. There were six of us total, so unfortunately, we weren't all able to sit together. Lisa, Fahmida, and I all sat together, and Allen, Steph, and Ollie sat together. The food was okay, nothing special, but we had great conversation. When we were all finished eating, we went outside and talked about where to head to next for some drinks. Well, apparently there was a miscommunication between the other group about staying in Itaewon or going to a different city. It turned into a really awkward argument/discussion which Lisa and I did not wish to be a part of. We had come a long way to meet them in Itaewon, so we were just going to stay. While they fought, we quietly excused ourselves and just went our own way. No need for drama. We were there to have a good time and explore a bit, and that's just what we did. :)
We ended up in a pub called "The Rose and Crown" and had some drinks. We went on the second floor and sat right by the window. We felt the nice breeze and had great conversation. I've really enjoyed getting to know Lisa more and more. She's a really cool girl, and I'm so glad we're teaching together!
After that, we explored a bit more, went into a Canadian pub (for Lisa's benefit...), and then headed back to the subway. Itaewon is where the line-dancing bar is, but besides that, I'm not familiar with the rest of the area. We ran into some really cool places, so we're definitely going to check those out in the future!
The seminar was pretty uneventful and quite boring. The guy running the training, Robert, is the same guy who did my initial 3 days of training before I started teaching. He's a really great guy, and he presents well. However, this information wasn't anything new, so it was boring. At one point, Robert called me up on stage to participate in a role-playing activity. I had to play the "teacher," and three other seminar people played the "students," who all had specific roles to play. I had to find out how each student was feeling based on my interactions with each one of them. It was pretty brutal, but I managed to get some laughs from the rest of the group...
After the seminar, Lisa and I headed home and grabbed a quick dinner at the rice ball place on the corner. We both went home and took 30-minute power naps, and then met up at the subway station again. We were going to Itaewon to meet a friend of ours and some of her friends for dinner and drinks...or so we thought...
We met up at 8pm at the subway station and went to a Mexican restaurant. There were six of us total, so unfortunately, we weren't all able to sit together. Lisa, Fahmida, and I all sat together, and Allen, Steph, and Ollie sat together. The food was okay, nothing special, but we had great conversation. When we were all finished eating, we went outside and talked about where to head to next for some drinks. Well, apparently there was a miscommunication between the other group about staying in Itaewon or going to a different city. It turned into a really awkward argument/discussion which Lisa and I did not wish to be a part of. We had come a long way to meet them in Itaewon, so we were just going to stay. While they fought, we quietly excused ourselves and just went our own way. No need for drama. We were there to have a good time and explore a bit, and that's just what we did. :)
We ended up in a pub called "The Rose and Crown" and had some drinks. We went on the second floor and sat right by the window. We felt the nice breeze and had great conversation. I've really enjoyed getting to know Lisa more and more. She's a really cool girl, and I'm so glad we're teaching together!
After that, we explored a bit more, went into a Canadian pub (for Lisa's benefit...), and then headed back to the subway. Itaewon is where the line-dancing bar is, but besides that, I'm not familiar with the rest of the area. We ran into some really cool places, so we're definitely going to check those out in the future!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Toaster Oven!!
I got a wonderful surprise when I went to work today...my parents bought me a TOASTER OVEN!!! Eeeee!! For those of you who may not be jumping out of your skin like I am, this is an appliance that is extremely hard to come by and VERY much appreciated in Korea. With a two-burner gas range stove and no microwave, it makes cooking a decent meal here nearly impossible. The burners on the stove don't maintain the same amount of heat so one side of the pan gets hotter than the other...and if you ever make anything that has leftovers, count on eating it cold since there's no microwave to pop it into and heat up.
But, luckily for me, I have a toaster oven now so my cooking options are endless!! The minute I got home, I started Googling "toaster oven recipes" and came up with some really great ones. You know what I'm most excited about?! Making homemade chocolate chip cookies again! Wooty!
So...thank you to my parents for giving me this toaster oven. And by the way, they gave it to me for an early birthday present since my birthday is in 14 DAYS!! ... and I'll be 24. WHAT?! :)
But, luckily for me, I have a toaster oven now so my cooking options are endless!! The minute I got home, I started Googling "toaster oven recipes" and came up with some really great ones. You know what I'm most excited about?! Making homemade chocolate chip cookies again! Wooty!
So...thank you to my parents for giving me this toaster oven. And by the way, they gave it to me for an early birthday present since my birthday is in 14 DAYS!! ... and I'll be 24. WHAT?! :)
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Silent Disco!
On Saturday morning, Lisa and I met at the subway station at 8am...(so early for us on a weekend!), and headed out to Paju Premium Outlets. Paju ("Pah-chew") is REALLY far away from where we live, so it took us two hours to get out there after taking the subway and an express bus. Lisa found out about the Premium Outlets online, and we were both really excited about it! We didn't have anything we wanted/needed to buy, so we just wanted to check it out. There were tons of stores out there, more expensive ones like Prada, to more common stores you would find back home, like Banana Republic. We walked around all three floors, ducked in and out of the stores we were interested, and window-shopped in the more expensive ones. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets there...delicious! We put some coins in the little juke box at our table and chose some old-timey songs, so that was fun! After a long day of shopping, we grabbed some dinner at a Korean porridge place and headed to Mi-yeon's house.
When we got to Mi-yeon's, we changed clothes and headed out to Myeongdong for a Silent Disco! This was our first silent disco in Korea, so we were SUPER pumped!! We had to check-in by 8pm, so we were running to and from the subway to make it there on time. We signed in and were given a pair of headphones. They were ginormous ones like what DJs wear, and I guess they were wireless?? Anyway, they were all blasting the same music. The theme for Saturday night was "Songs We All Know," so there was a mix of Korean and English songs that are really popular right now. Pop songs, club songs, rap music, remixes of stuff. It was awesome. When everyone got their headphones, we all started a parade through downtown Myeongdong. There were about 200 of us, I think!! Anyway, we were all singing and dancing together to the same music coming from our headphones. People were lined up on the side of the street watching us and taking pictures and video. Occasionally we would take our headphones off for a second to hear what the crowd was hearing. They couldn't hear the music we could hear. They could only hear 200 people screaming off-key to random music and dancing like fools! Sometimes, the DJ would tell us to stop in the middle of the street and just dance. Other times he would tell us to take off our headphones and give them to someone in the crowd. What a blast!! We had this silent disco for about two hours, and then went back and turned our headphones in. The silent disco was completely free, so we had the option to donate some money at the end of the night for the next disco.
When we returned our headphones, we went back into downtown Myeongdong where they had a dance party going on until 5am!! It was only about 10:30pm at this point, but we just wanted to check it out. We were smack dab in the middle of the crowd, and out of nowhere, this news reporter came up and asked if we would do an interview with her for the evening news. Um...obviously? Mi-yeon, Lisa, Amanda, and I agreed, and somehow I was voted to be the spokesperson for our group. The news reporter disappeared for a minute and came back with two cameramen and a guy holding a microphone on a pole. Intense. The four of us lined up and the news reporter asked me all the questions. She asked about the Silent Disco and my experience of being a part of it. It was only about two minutes of interviewing, and we were finished! Woot! It was so exciting! After editing out portions and getting it TV-ready, it will air tonight (Korea time!) on the 9pm evening news. WHAT?! Mi-yeon is going to ask her family to record it so the four of us can watch it. So, if you were wondering, I'm famous now. :)
The dance party was kind of lame compared to the silent disco, so we got bored pretty quickly after our TV debut... :) So, we all decided to go a few subway stops over to Hongdae and meet up with some of our other friends. They were already partying there, so we went to meet them. Before we met them, we stopped for some midnight dinner at a Korean restaurant. We had Korean quesadillas and some drinks. We met up with our friends, Abby, Melea, Sarah, and some new people! It's always great to meet new people. We went to a few clubs and bars, and then decided to head home. Lisa and I had been up almost 24 hours at this point, so we were wiped out! Mi-yeon was super nice and invited us to stay and sleep at her house, so at 4am, the three of us took a short taxi ride to her neighborhood and crashed.
This morning, Mi-yeon, Lisa, and I woke up early. We were exhausted. Mi-yeon and I headed to Gangnam for church, and Lisa headed home to shower and sleep. Mi-yeon and I met Reuel, Michelle, and some other church buddies for some Mexican food, and then headed to church. Today, we signed up for small groups, so I'm really pumped about that! I signed up for a small group during the week. They are offering 40 small groups, and you have to write down your top three choices. They cap the small groups at 15 or 20, so it's really important to sign up early and put in your preferences! We will get emails this week telling us what small group we've been put into. I can't wait!! I think small groups will officially start the first week of October. It will be so nice to have some community with church friends during the week, and I'm really excited to meet new people. Because our church is so big, sometimes it's hard to leave the comfort of your own group of friends. Small groups is a great way to do that. I intentionally don't sign up with any friends, so I sort of force myself to take a step out of my comfort zone and meet people. After church, I came home, cleaned the house up a bit, did laundry, and took a nap. I texted Lisa, and she and I met up for some dinner. I'm still pretty tired, but I'm forcing myself to stay awake a bit longer so I will keep my sleeping schedule on track. Here's to another awesome weekend!! :)
When we got to Mi-yeon's, we changed clothes and headed out to Myeongdong for a Silent Disco! This was our first silent disco in Korea, so we were SUPER pumped!! We had to check-in by 8pm, so we were running to and from the subway to make it there on time. We signed in and were given a pair of headphones. They were ginormous ones like what DJs wear, and I guess they were wireless?? Anyway, they were all blasting the same music. The theme for Saturday night was "Songs We All Know," so there was a mix of Korean and English songs that are really popular right now. Pop songs, club songs, rap music, remixes of stuff. It was awesome. When everyone got their headphones, we all started a parade through downtown Myeongdong. There were about 200 of us, I think!! Anyway, we were all singing and dancing together to the same music coming from our headphones. People were lined up on the side of the street watching us and taking pictures and video. Occasionally we would take our headphones off for a second to hear what the crowd was hearing. They couldn't hear the music we could hear. They could only hear 200 people screaming off-key to random music and dancing like fools! Sometimes, the DJ would tell us to stop in the middle of the street and just dance. Other times he would tell us to take off our headphones and give them to someone in the crowd. What a blast!! We had this silent disco for about two hours, and then went back and turned our headphones in. The silent disco was completely free, so we had the option to donate some money at the end of the night for the next disco.
When we returned our headphones, we went back into downtown Myeongdong where they had a dance party going on until 5am!! It was only about 10:30pm at this point, but we just wanted to check it out. We were smack dab in the middle of the crowd, and out of nowhere, this news reporter came up and asked if we would do an interview with her for the evening news. Um...obviously? Mi-yeon, Lisa, Amanda, and I agreed, and somehow I was voted to be the spokesperson for our group. The news reporter disappeared for a minute and came back with two cameramen and a guy holding a microphone on a pole. Intense. The four of us lined up and the news reporter asked me all the questions. She asked about the Silent Disco and my experience of being a part of it. It was only about two minutes of interviewing, and we were finished! Woot! It was so exciting! After editing out portions and getting it TV-ready, it will air tonight (Korea time!) on the 9pm evening news. WHAT?! Mi-yeon is going to ask her family to record it so the four of us can watch it. So, if you were wondering, I'm famous now. :)
The dance party was kind of lame compared to the silent disco, so we got bored pretty quickly after our TV debut... :) So, we all decided to go a few subway stops over to Hongdae and meet up with some of our other friends. They were already partying there, so we went to meet them. Before we met them, we stopped for some midnight dinner at a Korean restaurant. We had Korean quesadillas and some drinks. We met up with our friends, Abby, Melea, Sarah, and some new people! It's always great to meet new people. We went to a few clubs and bars, and then decided to head home. Lisa and I had been up almost 24 hours at this point, so we were wiped out! Mi-yeon was super nice and invited us to stay and sleep at her house, so at 4am, the three of us took a short taxi ride to her neighborhood and crashed.
This morning, Mi-yeon, Lisa, and I woke up early. We were exhausted. Mi-yeon and I headed to Gangnam for church, and Lisa headed home to shower and sleep. Mi-yeon and I met Reuel, Michelle, and some other church buddies for some Mexican food, and then headed to church. Today, we signed up for small groups, so I'm really pumped about that! I signed up for a small group during the week. They are offering 40 small groups, and you have to write down your top three choices. They cap the small groups at 15 or 20, so it's really important to sign up early and put in your preferences! We will get emails this week telling us what small group we've been put into. I can't wait!! I think small groups will officially start the first week of October. It will be so nice to have some community with church friends during the week, and I'm really excited to meet new people. Because our church is so big, sometimes it's hard to leave the comfort of your own group of friends. Small groups is a great way to do that. I intentionally don't sign up with any friends, so I sort of force myself to take a step out of my comfort zone and meet people. After church, I came home, cleaned the house up a bit, did laundry, and took a nap. I texted Lisa, and she and I met up for some dinner. I'm still pretty tired, but I'm forcing myself to stay awake a bit longer so I will keep my sleeping schedule on track. Here's to another awesome weekend!! :)
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Wicked.
On Saturday, Lisa and I went to Itaewon to meet up with Mi-yeon. Itaewon is near one of the military bases here. It's known for its delicious Western food, great shopping, (and line-dancing bar, if that's your thing!) :) It's completely overrun by foreigners, and it's the only place in Korea where you have to worry about crime. Nothing serious, of course, but bikes and purses being stolen, things like that. It's sad that the city with the highest crime rate is the city populated mostly by foreigners.
Anyway, Lisa hadn't been to Itaewon yet, so she and I went there. Lisa was on a mission to find some books, but other than that, we were just going to wander. We met up with Mi-yeon and did some window shopping for awhile. We eventually decided to make our way to the Han River. Technically it's within walking distance, but not really! After 30 minutes of walking, we made it to the river. Whew! What a hike! But it was worth it. We walked for bit along the river, Lisa took some pictures, and then we sat on a bench and rested for awhile. Lisa and I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we decided to head back into town and find somewhere to eat. Instead of walking back, we decided to take a neighborhood bus. It's similar to a city bus, but just a mini-version. :)
We hopped on the bus, (after paying $0.70?!) and headed into town. Korea is known for its scary drivers, but I have not yet experienced any crashes or accidents. Somehow amidst all the chaos, every car, bus, and motorbike seem to squeeze by unharmed. However, this time we were not so lucky. About 10 minutes into the bus ride, the driver was trying to maneuver the bus through a tight street. He thought he had clearance on both sides, but ended up scraping the side of a work van that was parked on the street. A heated exchange took place between the workers and the bus driver, and eventually, the bus driver told everyone to get off the bus.
Well, this left Lisa, Mi-yeon, and me in a very unfamiliar part of town. Wonderful. After weaving in and out of neighborhoods and small alleyways, we were so turned around. We had no idea where to go. Mi-yeon chose a direction, and we all started walking. We ended up finding a street that was all antique shops. OBVIOUSLY we had to stop in each one of them and see what fun treasures they had! It was great! It killed time, we got some great photos, and we eventually found our way back to Itaewon. Success! We stopped in at Taco Bell. Lisa ate lunch, but I just got a drink. We would be eating dinner soon, and I didn't want to ruin my appetite.
At 5pm, we headed over to Outback to make a reservation. We ran into Amanda (who we were going to meet up with later!), so all four of us went to "What the Book," an English bookstore with new and used books. We looked around there for about a half hour, and Lisa was able to find all the books she was looking for. The books were cheap, (but still not as cheap as a Kindle!) :) We ended up parting ways with Lisa, and Amanda, Mi-yeon, and I went to Outback. We had DELICIOUS food!! It was really nice to have food from back home, that you just can't find in Korea. Mmmm. After Outback, we walked about 20 minutes to the theater where we would see WICKED. Woot! We were so excited!
The show started at 8pm. There was an intermission at 9:30pm, and the show finished up at 11pm. A long show, but it was fantastic! I have actually never seen "The Wizard of Oz," so I was a little confused by some of the references in the story. After the show, they were explained to me, and it all made sense. The singers were phenomenal, especially the actor who played Elphaba. Wow. It was really impressive! The show was entirely in English, of course, and there were TVs across the front along the floor, and two TVs hanging from the ceiling all with Korean subtitles. It was an interesting setup. But the stage was phenomenal, and the special effects were great. Just awesome. After the show, we all ran for the subway, so we could make it home before the trains stopped!
Anyway, Lisa hadn't been to Itaewon yet, so she and I went there. Lisa was on a mission to find some books, but other than that, we were just going to wander. We met up with Mi-yeon and did some window shopping for awhile. We eventually decided to make our way to the Han River. Technically it's within walking distance, but not really! After 30 minutes of walking, we made it to the river. Whew! What a hike! But it was worth it. We walked for bit along the river, Lisa took some pictures, and then we sat on a bench and rested for awhile. Lisa and I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we decided to head back into town and find somewhere to eat. Instead of walking back, we decided to take a neighborhood bus. It's similar to a city bus, but just a mini-version. :)
We hopped on the bus, (after paying $0.70?!) and headed into town. Korea is known for its scary drivers, but I have not yet experienced any crashes or accidents. Somehow amidst all the chaos, every car, bus, and motorbike seem to squeeze by unharmed. However, this time we were not so lucky. About 10 minutes into the bus ride, the driver was trying to maneuver the bus through a tight street. He thought he had clearance on both sides, but ended up scraping the side of a work van that was parked on the street. A heated exchange took place between the workers and the bus driver, and eventually, the bus driver told everyone to get off the bus.
Well, this left Lisa, Mi-yeon, and me in a very unfamiliar part of town. Wonderful. After weaving in and out of neighborhoods and small alleyways, we were so turned around. We had no idea where to go. Mi-yeon chose a direction, and we all started walking. We ended up finding a street that was all antique shops. OBVIOUSLY we had to stop in each one of them and see what fun treasures they had! It was great! It killed time, we got some great photos, and we eventually found our way back to Itaewon. Success! We stopped in at Taco Bell. Lisa ate lunch, but I just got a drink. We would be eating dinner soon, and I didn't want to ruin my appetite.
At 5pm, we headed over to Outback to make a reservation. We ran into Amanda (who we were going to meet up with later!), so all four of us went to "What the Book," an English bookstore with new and used books. We looked around there for about a half hour, and Lisa was able to find all the books she was looking for. The books were cheap, (but still not as cheap as a Kindle!) :) We ended up parting ways with Lisa, and Amanda, Mi-yeon, and I went to Outback. We had DELICIOUS food!! It was really nice to have food from back home, that you just can't find in Korea. Mmmm. After Outback, we walked about 20 minutes to the theater where we would see WICKED. Woot! We were so excited!
The show started at 8pm. There was an intermission at 9:30pm, and the show finished up at 11pm. A long show, but it was fantastic! I have actually never seen "The Wizard of Oz," so I was a little confused by some of the references in the story. After the show, they were explained to me, and it all made sense. The singers were phenomenal, especially the actor who played Elphaba. Wow. It was really impressive! The show was entirely in English, of course, and there were TVs across the front along the floor, and two TVs hanging from the ceiling all with Korean subtitles. It was an interesting setup. But the stage was phenomenal, and the special effects were great. Just awesome. After the show, we all ran for the subway, so we could make it home before the trains stopped!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)