Shopping Carts and Snow.

I officially experienced my first snow in Korea! It was so wonderful :) Last weekend, there were snow flurries on Saturday morning when I woke up! It was so pretty. Even though it was freezing cold outside, I couldn't help but open my window. I'm a Florida girl, so this is a pretty cool thing for me.

On Saturday afternoon, Tommy, Johnny, and I went to Songtan to do some shopping. The boys needed to buy a few things, and I wanted to buy a fleece blanket. Overall, our trip was a success. We ate Mexican food while we were out there, which was delicious as usual :) After dinner, we went to a cafe and had hot drinks because it was so cold!! While we were sitting inside, it started snowing! It wasn't just little snow flurries like earlier...it was actually coming down pretty steadily! I felt like I was in a Lifetime movie :) Sigh...

Since Saturday it hasn't snowed at all. I think that was just preparation for what's to come. I've heard that it snows here through February and sometimes into March, so I'll have plenty of time to enjoy it. :)

When Amanda and I were walking home from school last night, we saw two boys, maybe middle school age, playing in the street. They had a shopping cart, and they were pushing each other up and down the street and yelling. Amanda and I obviously had to stop and watch them. It was so funny :) It's the little things, right? They only paused one time when a police car drove by...but then they were right back to it!

Over the weekend, I got a package from my stepmom, Susie, in Colorado!! What a great surprise!! There were so many wonderful things in there, and each present was individually wrapped. Woot! So...it really WAS like Christmas, and I got to open each one. I Skyped with my big sister, Jena, so she could see what I got. So fun!! Among the gifts was a Spiderman blanket, a glitter wand, Oreos, and fuzzy slippers. The list goes on and on...Susie knows me so well :) THANK YOU!!

This week is going by fairly fast I think. Christmas is getting closer and closer, and the weather is helping me get into the Christmas spirit! This Sunday, I'm going with a group of friends to see "The Nutcracker." It's going to be so fun! I've never actually seen the show before, but I know the general idea. This will be a great experience, I think.

15 days.

15 days. That's how long it's been since I've updated my blog. WOW. Have I been slacking, or what?! I was subtly reminded by my lovely friends and family that I haven't updated in awhile, so here goes:

Last week was basically chaos. We started a new semester (semesters run every 3 months here), so I got all new classes and students. Many of my students leveled-up, which means that I ended up teaching them again this time around. They just switched to a new class or something. So, that was pretty exciting! :) I really like my new schedule-I really enjoy getting a fresh start every three months. It definitely keeps life interesting.

While the week was very successful, it was probably one of the longest weeks I've had since I've been here. There was something in the air, because all the Korean teachers felt the same way, too! It was Tuesday, and I thought it should've been Thursday already...that made for a tough week. But, we all survived, and successfully made it to another weekend!!

On Friday night, Amanda and I went to see the new "Twilight" movie. I have never had an opinion either way about that whole series, so when Amanda asked me to go with her, I agreed. She even paid for my ticket! It ended up being a lot more interesting than I expected, but definitely had some of the cheesiest acting I've seen since my last Lifetime movie. :)

On Saturday, Shannon, Reuel, and I went to Yongsan to the military base so Shannon could send a letter and I could send my students' pen pal letters (U.S. Post!!), and eat some lovely Western food. We weren't successful at the post office, but that didn't prevent us from having a successful trip! We went to a Mexican restaurant called Oasis, and it was delicious!! This is what I loved about it: the menu was in English, the waiter spoke English, and I HAD SWEET TEA FOR MY FIRST TIME IN KOREA!! When I saw sweet tea on the menu, I had to clarify with the waiter: "So...is this like Nestea, or is it tea that you make here?" She said it was fresh, homemade sweet tea. I was sipping a little piece of heaven through my straw...SO. GOOD. :)

Saturday night was an early night for me. I was in bed by 8:00pm!! I had stayed up until 7am on Saturday morning, working on the package for our international pen pals. I had to assign each Korean student to a U.S.A. student, and that job proved to be a lot bigger than I anticipated!

On Sunday, we had a big group at Dos Tacos for lunch: Shannon, Reuel, Mi-Yeon, Johnny, Michelle, Tommy, and me. It was great! After church, Johnny, Mi-Yeon, and I sat in a coffee shop for a bit and talked. Then, we headed to Suwon to have some dinner and watch movies at Johnny's place. It was a great day!

Now...I have officially completed my Monday at work. It was a good day, and I got to meet more students today. :) I think this semester is going to be a good one! The weather is slowly creeping colder and colder...but I'm anticipating the snow! Once I buy a pair of gloves, I'll be good to go! :)

impatient people...

This was a very interesting weekend for me...it definitely had its ups and downs, but overall, it was quite a success. On Saturday afternoon, I met Shannon and Mi-yeon in Gangnam. We went to an area nearby, that's mainly French-speaking. We went to a bakery for lunch called Paris Croissant. We ordered our sandwiches and drinks, and had our lunch on the terrace. Fancy, I know. :) It was so wonderful. We had great conversation and great food. This particular bakery imported all their flour directly from France, so this was definitely the real deal. It was perfect.

When we finished, we headed back to Gangnam to meet up with our other friends. Our church, New Harvest, was hosting a proper Thanksgiving dinner for all of us U.S.A. foreigners...it was great!! I invited one of my Korean co-workers, Jessica, to join us. Our group was Shannon, Jessica, Reuel, Mi-yeon, Michelle, and I. The church had ordered 27 turkeys...and had them flown in from California! The sides were mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce, bread, and two kinds of pie: apple and pumpkin. It made our hearts so happy. As difficult as it is to be away from family on big holidays like Thanksgiving, being surrounded by our church family definitely helped! After we finished eating, there was a talent show, put on by people from our congregation. There was singing, piano-playing, and even...a rap-off! Yes. It was perfect.

After our Thanksgiving dinner, our group wasn't quite ready to go home yet, so we decided to go to a cafe and have some coffee and gelato. It was a great way to end our night! Jessica had a wonderful time, too, so I was really happy about that! She said it was her first Thanksgiving experience, and she was so happy she was invited. :)

We all parted ways and headed home. I had to take two buses home...I rode on the first bus, and was waiting to get off the bus to transfer to the second one. This is when my weekend went downhill. There was a teenager standing in front of me, then there was me, and then a young Korean man about my age behind me. We all swiped our cards and were waiting for the bus to stop. The second the doors started opening, the man behind me started pushing me. I didn't want to run into the girl in front of me, so I planted my feet. She was able to get off, and the guy kept pushing. I ended up falling down the stairs, out of the bus, and landed on my face on the concrete. The man didn't say anything to me! He just kept walking to the bus stop as if nothing happened!!

Here's the thing: people in Korea are very impatient and pushy. I was told when I got here that Korean people bump into one another all the time, and don't say sorry. It's just part of the culture. They're always in a rush to get somewhere, and they're only looking out for themselves. I've noticed this in Korea, and still don't appreciate it. It's one thing that I don't particularly care for about living here. Anyway, a taxi driver sitting at the bus stop happened to see the whole thing, so he got out of his taxi and ran over and started yelling at the man who pushed me. The man didn't even make eye contact with him...he just didn't care. He just needed to catch his own bus. The taxi driver was kind enough to drive me home, so I didn't have to wait for the next bus. He spoke really good English, so I knew that Someone was looking out for me!! He drove me all the way home, and then wouldn't accept any money from me. What an angel. I'm so blessed that he was there to help, and couldn't have been more relieved for the free ride home.

So, my Saturday night ended with me having some scrapes and bruises, and a pretty cut under my right eye. Not the way I wanted to end the day, but oh well...Luckily, my Sunday made up for it :)

This morning, Shannon, Reuel, Michelle, Mi-yeon, Johnny, and I all met in Gangnam for Dos Tacos. We went to church, and then hung out in the coffee shop...as usual. When Shannon got out of her small group, we headed to Insa-dong for some dinner. I had really yummy soup!! It was perfect, since it's absolutely FREEZING outside now!! I had heard of the soup, but had never been able to try it. It was delicious. After we finished dinner, we went to a coffee shop to stay warm while we waited for Reuel to meet us. When she got there, we walked down the street to the annual Lantern Festival. There's a stream that runs down the middle of one of the roads, and in the river, they put a bunch of hand-made lanterns and light them up. It was so fun!! They had some traditional lanterns, and then more modern ones like superheroes and the Statue of Liberty?? ... :) Most of the lanterns are life-sized, so it was pretty cool. When we finished walking down the bank of the river, we decided to go to Seoul Station. The night was still young, and we still wanted to hang out. Shannon headed home, so Reuel, Mi-yeon, Johnny, and I all went to Seoul Station together. We hung out a bit longer and then headed home ourselves.

I got home around 12:30am, which is surprisingly early, considering it was the weekend. My weekend was packed once again, but it was awesome as usual!! While my weekend was crazy...this is what I have to say:

I don't appreciate impatient people who push people off of buses...but in light of Thanksgiving, I'd like to say this:

I'm thankful for taxi drivers who go out of their way to help someone in need, especially a foreigner. I'm so thankful for him. :)

International Pen Pals.

I've been staying in contact with the 3rd grade teacher I interned with in Orlando. I had a great experience working with her, and I learned so much. Now that I've moved to Korea, I've had my own stories and experiences to share. Anyway, over the past few months, we've been emailing back and forth, and keeping up with each other's blogs. Back in the Spring, we came up with a brilliant idea! Our kids could be pen pals! We were both really excited about it, but once I got here, I couldn't really make it work. We kept emailing and talking about it....and FINALLY we got the ball rolling!!

I talked to Darren about our idea, and he was really pumped! Today we officially started our grand plan. Darren dedicated all of today to writing to our new American friends! Each class wrote rough drafts of their letter. After we checked them, they completed their final copy and drew pictures. It was great! Our kids are really excited about it! (Obviously, some weren't excited, but it was just pure laziness...Once the rest of the kids started writing and talking about it, they couldn't help but jump right in!)

I would love to give more details as to what exactly we're doing....but my "contact" reads my blog. :) So...I don't want to ruin any surprises that may be coming her way!!

Overall, we're all excited about this! Our kids are going to have international pen pals! For most of them, this is their first experience becoming friends with a foreigner, especially one their age. :) I can't wait to see what kind of friendships blossom from this. Very cool. :)

Can I touch your hair?

Yesterday and today were interview days for our older elementary students. They came to class with two questions to ask me. I told the students that the only question I won't answer is, "Who is your favorite/least favorite student in this class?" I asked them to come up with really creative questions, nothing boring. I got some really good ones. These are a few of my favorites:

-What is your IQ?
-What is your favorite hairstyle?
-What pose do you want to have in a photo? (what? ... ) :)
-How much do you weigh?
-Do you like money?
-Which is better: mother or father?
-If you could change your name, what would you choose?
-What is your address?
-What is your phone number?
-How old are your parents?
-Is Apple better than Samsung? (We had really interesting conversations about this one...) :)
-Can I touch your hair? (I left my hair down yesterday, and my students are absolutely fascinated with it since it's curly. One of the girls used one of her questions to ask if she could touch my hair. It was pretty funny. Then, a few students after her asked me the same thing...) :)

All in all, interview day was a success. I think this is a great opportunity for my students to get to know me better, so I always look forward to this day in the semester. :)

Nooribang.

After work on Friday night, Amanda and I went to Suwon Station to see a movie. We saw "In Time." I actually hadn't even heard of the movie, so I didn't know anything about it. Amanda and I needed to relax and de-stress after a pretty long week, so she suggested a movie. If you haven't heard of it or seen it, it's the new Justin Timberlake movie. It was decent, but nothing outstanding. It did give us something to think about when we left though.

Because I didn't get home from the movie until 2am, I slept in until 11am on Saturday morning. I didn't have any official plans lined up yet, so I just took it easy. When I woke up, I stayed in my pjs, and just caught up on TV shows and did a bunch of nothing. Between 11am when I got up, and 6pm when I left my house, I took two naps. I know. SO LAZY. :) So, around 5:15pm, I left my house and headed for the subway station. I was meeting up with Johnny to go to Songtan, near one of the military bases. We met at Suwon Station, and then took a few subways to get to our final destination. We went to a Mexican place nearby and had some dinner, which was quite good. (I hadn't eaten all day, because I had been too busy napping, so this meal was especially delightful.) :)

After dinner, we met up with Shannon, Reuel, Michelle, and Jen. We walked around a bit, and looked in some of the stores. There wasn't much going on since it was fairly late, but we had a nice walk. After that, Shannon, Reuel, Johnny, and I went to a bar and hung out for a bit. They have darts and a pool table, so we just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. At around 11pm, we headed back to the station. Shannon and Reuel headed home, and Johnny and I headed to Suwon Station. We met up with Tommy and two of their coworkers, who were at a restaurant near the station. By the time we got there, it was midnight...which meant it was officially Johnny's birthday. Woohoo! To celebrate, we went next door to a nooribang. This was my first experience, and it was really fun!

A nooribang is basically a singing/karaoke room. You pay a fee to "rent out" a room for a certain amount of time. Inside your room is a TV, microphones, some tambourines, and a few couches. You just sing karaoke and hang out with your friends in your room...without anyone else seeing you make a complete fool of yourself :) It was great fun! They had a pretty decent collection of songs to choose from, so that was great. After we finished our hour, we weren't quite finished yet. So, Tommy added on more time, which ended up being AN HOUR!! At 3:30am, when our time had expired, we left the nooribang and headed home. It was going to be a short night of sleep for me because I had church in the morning...

After 4 1/2 hours of wonderful sleep, I woke up and caught the bus to Gangnam. Johnny was supposed to meet me at Suwon Station, but after calling him multiple times, he finally answered with a sleepy voice. He had slept through his alarm!! Wonderful. I headed to Gangnam and met up with Shannon, Reuel, and Mi-yeon for some Dos Tacos. We went to church, and then hung out at the coffee shop for a few hours. :) It's our usual Sunday routine, but we love it.

After Shannon got out of her small group, Johnny met us in Gangnam. We wanted to take him out to dinner to celebrate his birthday...after a little bit of resistance, he finally let us spoil him a little bit. :) We went to Butcher's Cut for some cheeseburgers. Delicious as usual. Then, we went to Baskin Robbins, where we all got different flavors of ice cream! Even though it was freezing cold out, it totally hit the spot. After we finished, we went across the street to CGV, the movie theater. We were going to see "Real Steel." Since we were at the movie theater, we OBVIOUSLY had to get popcorn. Duh. And Korea is famous for their caramel flavored movie theater popcorn, so there was no question about it! We were getting popcorn! :)

After the movie, everyone parted ways and headed home. Johnny and I took the subway back to Suwon together since we live really close, and the other three caught buses home. I think I did fairly well, considering I was running on 4 1/2 hours of sleep today! I had a great weekend, so the lack of sleep was definitely worth it! And...because my job is so wonderful, I don't have to be at work until 2pm, so I can sleep in as late as I want. Perfect. :)

It's getting SO COLD!! This week, the temperatures are going to be in the 30's!! :( Send happy WARM thoughts my way!

Paranormal Activity 3.

On Saturday, Arri and I met at Suwon Station and took a bus to Tommy and Johnny's area of town. They had invited us over for a movie night!! We stopped at a fried chicken place to grab some dinner...and Arri and I had french fries for our VERY FIRST TIME since being in Korea! They were just heavenly. :) After dinner, we stopped by a GS25 to get some ice cream...obviously. Then, we headed to Johnny's place to start our scary movie marathon.

We watched "Midnight Meat Train" first and then ended with "Paranormal Activity 3." Of all the scary movies I've seen in my life, I've never been more terrified by PA3. Wow. It was SO SCARY!! I was on edge the whole time and screamed a few times, too. So GOOD! :) I love scary movies. By the time the movies were finished, the four of us were officially freaked out. We hung out at Johnny's for a few more hours and just chatted. That made the ride home a little better for Arri and me. We had happy conversations before having to make our trek home in the dark...where we might run into zombies and invisible monsters and demons...You know, the usual. :)

On Sunday morning, Arri and I met Johnny at Suwon Station, and we headed to Gangnam. We had a bit of difficulty figuring out which buses to take and where the bus stops were, so we were late getting there. We went to Dos Tacos at noon for some lunch, and then went to the 2pm church service. After church, we went to a bookstore and just bummed around Gangnam for awhile. For dinner, Reuel met us at The Butcher's Cut, the really yummy cheeseburger place! We ate dinner and chatted for awhile, before parting ways and heading home.

Johnny and I were both heading back to Suwon, so we took the bus together. After wandering around Gangnam for another 40 minutes looking for the right bus to take, we FINALLY managed to find one that would go back to Johnny's area of town. From there, we could take a bus to where we needed to go. We transferred buses and Johnny ended up hopping off a few stops before me. I took the bus to Suwon Station, where I waited for 22 minutes for my bus to show up!! This normally wouldn't be a big deal, but it has gotten really cold here, so I was completely numb and didn't have a jacket. Poor planning, I know. Just after midnight, I finally got home.

I had a wonderful weekend, and felt very relaxed. Sometimes I like having days like Saturday, where I can just hang out with a small group and watch movies, and not feel like I have to be doing something. It was nice. And on Monday morning, when I woke up, I felt really rested and ready to go. It was the perfect end to a perfect weekend. :)

Halloween Weekend :)

On Friday night, I stayed at my place instead of going to Shannon's house. We didn't have any plans figured out quite yet, and I just wanted a night-in before the weekend craziness started. :)

On Saturday morning, I woke up, packed my bookbag, and headed to the subway station. I got to Shannon's place around lunchtime. We met up with Reuel, and the three of us got food at three different places! :) We were all wanting something different. We took our food to-go and headed up to Shannon's. We ate lunch and chatted for a bit. At 2pm, Reuel left to meet up with some friends, and Johnny and Tommy came over. The boys brought movies with them, so we just hung out, ate snacks, and watched a movie. It was fun. After the movie, Reuel came over, and the five of us headed to Osan. It ended up taking us FOREVER to get there!! Like two hours. It should've only taken about an hour. We took three different forms of transportation to get there...

We got on the bus to head to the subway station, and a bunch of older Korean ladies got on the bus a few stops after us. They couldn't stop staring at us! Johnny and Tommy gave up their seats so the ladies could sit down, and they were just staring. The lady sitting behind me kept grabbing my curls and yanking on them....It was pretty entertaining actually. :) We're used to Korean people staring at us because we look so different, but they were not being subtle about it at all. They were pointing and saying things really loudly. It was funny. :)

When we got to the subway station, we got off the bus and headed downstairs. We caught the subway after a few minutes and were finally on our way! Apparently, at some point, we missed our stop and ended up traveling WAY out of our way. We had to get off the subway and catch one going back the other direction! Because it was Saturday night and it was Halloween weekend, the subways were PACKED!! I've never seen so many people on a subway at once! When we got into the subway, it was standing-room only. All the hand hooks were taken, so we had nothing to hang on to. Reuel was practically hugging me to hold me up, and I didn't have room to put both my feet down! I was standing on one leg for the first few minutes until people shuffled around a bit!! Sheesh! It was crazy, but we couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous it was.

When we FINALLY got off the subway, we took a taxi to the Main Gate at Osan. There's a military base there, so we knew there would be good food in the area. Johnny and Tommy took us to a Mexican restaurant they'd been to before. It was authentic Mexican food, and it was delicious! Reuel and I got tacos which weren't that tasty, but Johnny, Tommy, and Shannon all got yummy food! And the chips and salsa were the real deal! :) It was good. When we finished dinner, we walked around the area for a bit to see what kind of stores and restaurants they had. We ended up going to a place a few stories up and played Pool. At the end of the night, we caught taxis back to the subway station. We rode the subway for a bit, and the boys hopped off to head home. Shannon, Reuel, and I continued on for awhile. When we got to our stop, the buses had stopped working since it was so late, so we had to take a taxi home. It was a great night, but we were exhausted.

On Sunday morning, we woke up and headed to the bus stop to catch a ride to church. We called Reuel three times, but she didn't answer, so we hopped on the bus and headed to Gangnam without her. A little while later, she texted saying she had slept through her alarm. She took the subway and met us in Gangnam. We went to Dos Tacos, our usual Sunday lunch place, and met our friend Mi-Yeon. Yes, we had Mexican food two days in a row. :) Yummy! We went to church (which was awesome as usual!). After church, Shannon went to her small group and Reuel and I got coffee, and then went shopping!! We went to the Underground Shopping area in Gangnam and walked around for a bit. We found a few things here and there, so that was exciting! We eventually found a locker because my bookbag was getting really heavy. We put our stuff in a locker, and then got sodas and sat and talked.

At 4pm, we both left to go to our small groups. We promised to meet up afterwards to make a plan for the night. When our groups were over at 6pm, we met up in the Underground Shopping area to make a plan. I called up Johnny to find out what the boys were doing and see if they wanted to meet up for dinner. They were headed to Yeongtong to have dinner with a few of their friends, and he invited us to join. Reuel and I took the subway. Along the way, Reuel invited Shannon to meet up with us. We all three convened at Suwon Station where we caught a taxi together to the restaurant. We met the boys at an all-you-can-eat barbecue place. It was so good!! You go through this meat buffet type-thing and choose all the raw meat you want. Then, you take it back to your table and cook it on your barbecue. There were sides (as usual) and lettuce to wrap the meat in. SO GOOD.

After dinner, we walked around a bit and ended up at The Playground. It's a bar-type place, with a Pool table, darts, TVs, video games, tons of stuff to do. It's basically a playground for grown-ups. :) We played Pool for a little bit and then decided to head home. It was a tiring weekend, but lots of fun! :)

English Slang.

Yesterday, I taught my middle school students about English Slang and Idioms. We started the class by brainstorming all the English Slang and Idioms they could come up with. This is the top-speaking class in the school, so I expected really good results from them. They didn't disappoint. :) We started compiling a list of words and phrases they had heard of, but didn't know the meaning of. These are just a few of the words/phrases on our list:

-redneck
-smarty pants
-tight wad
-cold shoulder
-teacher's pet
-right-hand man

These are all common words and phrases that I've used in the past or at least heard of. Try explaining "redneck" to four Korean middle school students who don't have a background of American culture...

"It's a person from the South (South what, teacher?) who...uh...lives in a trailer (explain trailer, teacher!) and they live away from everyone else out in the country (what country, teacher?) and maybe they don't really take care of themselves and don't shower?? They listen to country music (what is country music, teacher?) and they drive pick-up trucks?..."

That's pretty much what our conversation was like. It was difficult to explain without having any background knowledge of American culture. I sort of let that one go. It sounded awful when I was explaining it, but that wasn't the intention. I LOVE country music and pick-up trucks and boots! But I'm definitely not a redneck....I ended up leaving class and getting my iPod. I showed them a picture of one of my Luke Bryan albums. (He's not a redneck, but he's a country boy, so I figured that would work.) They enjoyed looking at the albums and listening to the music, but I don't think they ever understood what I was trying to explain. Oh well...I was a lot more successful with the other words and phrases. When we talked about "teacher's pet," I definitely got the point across:

"This is a person who walks into class and tells the teacher, 'you look so beautiful! I like your hair! is that a new shirt?' and then tells the teacher they do not want to take the test..." In unison, all four students said, "Ohhhh!!!!" and then said the equivalent of "teacher's pet" in Korean. The class went on like this for about a half hour. The students were really engaged, and we were cracking up the whole time! It was great! I didn't really have any expectations for the lesson because I didn't know how interested they would be. They ended up LOVING it! We had about five minutes left of class, and I asked the students if they had any more English slang or idioms, and one of the students (a girl) pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to me. On this paper, she had written:

"dawg"
"wit"
"dat"
"mah"

I wrote them on the board. The students said, "Teacher, what is that?" Again, how do I explain these? So, I wrote "dog," "with," "that," and "mom," next to each of the words. I told them that sometimes people make the words short to speak quicker. I didn't even think about trying to explain the concept of "ghetto" so I just left it at that. :)

On Friday, we're celebrating Halloween at the academy! The younger students are going to be in costumes, and Darren asked the teachers to dress up as well. I'm going to be a cowgirl, since it's easy and I won't have to spend any money on a costume. I'm going to wear my cowgirl boots, a plaid shirt, jeans, and braid my hair. I'm definitely going to bring my camera to school so I can take a lot of pictures with my students. :)

Vitamins.

Monday was a hard day for me. After the weekend, it was hard to get back into the swing of things at school. It seemed like there were similar feelings from the other teachers, too. We were all pretty tired and were moving slow. Classes went well though, so that's a good thing! We're in the middle of "Movie Days" with our secondary students. We show a movie clip, talk about it, and give the students a short quiz to make sure they were paying attention. This is really good for the students, I think, because it gives them a chance to watch an English-speaking movie with no subtitles. Many of the students have seen most of the movie clips we show. However, without the Korean subtitles, they really have to listen to hear what the characters are saying. Also, this is a nice break from our normal class, so both the students and teachers enjoy that! :)

Almost every day, Jessica, one of my Korean co-teachers, has given me a piece of candy. It's normally right before our middle school students arrive. The candies are really good! They're just hard candies, but they have different flavors. Anyway, yesterday Jessica offered me another candy. I accepted (of course!) and then asked her what the name of the candy was. I told her I wanted to buy a pack someday for myself. She showed me the name of them, and said, "They aren't candy. They are just very healthy." I asked her what she meant. Very hesitantly she said, "They aren't just candy. They are like vitamins. You told me last month that you don't take vitamins, so I wanted to give you one every day so you will not get ill." I thought that was so funny! She was secretly slipping me vitamins because she didn't want me to get sick! That was very sweet of her, but I thought it was funny, too. I don't think I ever would've found out if I hadn't asked her. :) I'm glad someone's looking out for me!

Pool! :)

On Friday night after work, I took the subway to Shannon's area of town and met her and some of her co-workers for a BBQ dinner. This chicken BBQ place has become one of our new favorites...and may or may not become a tradition every weekend... :) After dinner, we went to Shannon's place and watched "Something Borrowed." We ended up staying up pretty late, which wasn't a very good idea...

On Saturday morning, we woke up early and met Reuel at the bus stop on the corner, and the three of us went to Suwon Station. There, we met Tommy, Johnny, and Daniel, some friends from Suwon. We were all going hiking together in the area!! We decided that the quickest way to the mountain would be to take taxis. OBVIOUSLY, we had a "girl" taxi and a "boy" taxi. We decided to race and see who would get there first. You know, kinda like that TV show "Amazing Race." (The only problem was...the taxi drivers didn't actually know we were racing each other...) :)

Korean taxi drivers are TERRIBLE drivers. We knew we would get to the base of the mountain in NO time...what mattered was who got there first. The entire drive the girls were leading by a mile! We were zipping in and out of traffic, pushing the speed limit, skidding through yellow lights. Occasionally we would catch a glimpse of the boys out the back window. Then...we hit traffic. The boys' taxi driver got ahead of us. We both inched forward every few minutes, until we FINALLY made it to the mountain! The boys ended up winning. Lame. We weren't even really racing anyway... :)

We started hiking around 11am. We had packed lunches for when we got to the top. It took us about 3 hours to make it to the top of the mountain. It was rough hiking, too!! There were rocks to climb, steep hills, MILLIONS of stairs (and I do mean millions.), rough terrain, and occasionally a flat area or two where we could take a break and catch our breath. When we got to the top, there was the most beautiful view I've ever seen in Korea. We could look out and see a 360-view. The view was breathtaking, and well-worth our hike. We took pictures at the top and just relaxed for a bit, taking in the view. There was a ginormous boulder that we climbed, too. There were ropes attached at the top that we could hang on to as we climbed. It was awesome. Going back down...not so much. It was really terrifying because we had to go down backwards and carefully place our feet. There wasn't anyone monitoring it or anything, so we were climbing at our own risk.

We hiked a little more and found a meadow on the side of the mountain. We stopped and had our lunch. The weather was gorgeous, the view was amazing, the company was perfect. Definitely the best picnic I've ever had. Ever. :)

After we finished eating, we decided to hike 1.2 miles higher to a gazebo at the top for another cool view. By the time we made it there, we were all exhausted. I hadn't had any water, except for the little bit that I drank with my lunch. That proved to be a horrible idea, because I got really dizzy. Reuel, Tommy, and Daniel went ahead and hiked back down the mountain. Johnny and Shannon stayed with me and took it slow. I don't remember leaving the gazebo and going back down the mountain at all. I was so dehydrated that I couldn't even see straight. Somewhere along the way I ate an apple and drank the rest of the water we had. What a mess...now I know. Note to self: bring water when you go on a hiking trip. And perhaps drink water before you go, too...

When we made it off the mountain around 5pm, we stopped for some food at a restaurant nearby. Everyone ate while I took a breather and drank more water. We caught the bus and started our trek back to Suwon Station. When a seat opened up on the bus, they told me to grab it. I took a nap for about 20 minutes on our way back, and woke up feeling very refreshed. The combination of not sleeping well the night before and not drinking any water had completely exhausted me. I felt much better by the time we made it back to Suwon Station. We parted ways at the station, promising to make plans later on that night. The boys went back to Suwon, and the girls headed back to Anyang. We showered and relaxed before we got back on the bus.

We met the boys back at Suwon Station at 8:30pm for some dinner. We walked around a bit and decided on The Frypan. It's a really yummy fried chicken place. We talked about our day, ate chicken, and laughed a lot. It was a lot of fun. After dinner, we walked to a bar around the corner. Shannon and I ordered Margaritas-SO YUMMY!! Our first Margaritas in Korea! :) Reuel, Tommy, Johnny, and Daniel played Pool, while Shannon and I watched and chatted. The next round, Shannon took Daniel's place and played a little bit. Then, came Round 3.

Johnny came over and asked me to play on his team. I declined and suggested that Daniel play instead. Johnny wouldn't take no for an answer. Here's the thing: I've never played Pool in my whole life. I didn't even know how to hold the pole thing the correct way. Johnny is an extremely good Pool player, and he wanted ME to be his partner. That was a disaster waiting to happen. After I warned Johnny once more, I gave in. He taught me how to hold the pole correctly, how to aim, and where to shoot. And, guess what?! I was indeed a HORRIBLE Pool player!! Every shot I took, I missed. I either barely pushed the ball, hit the ball too hard, or sent that little white one in right behind the first one. (I found out that's not a good thing.) Anyway, it went on like this for awhile. Johnny would do really well, then it would be my turn, and I would miss. Good times. While we were waiting for our turns to come around, Shannon and I line-danced next to the Pool table to different songs they had playing in the background. THAT was fun. :)

I realized pretty quickly that I just wasn't a fan of this game called Pool. Like, not at all. I didn't really understand the point of it, and couldn't aim correctly to save my life. It was just a big mess. Finally, it was my turn again. Johnny had taken care of all the other striped balls. Now, all I had to do was put the 8-ball into the hole. Well, that seemed easy enough. It was a straight shot right to the hole. Only a few feet across the table. I aimed, I shot...AND I MADE IT!! I won the game for our team!! No big deal. I'm kind of a pro at Pool. It's actually my new favorite game. Not to brag or anything...but I win games.

We hung out for a little longer, and decided to head out. It had been a long day, so we parted ways and went home. It was an incredible Saturday, with lots of good memories. :)

On Sunday morning, Shannon and I woke up and got ready for church. We had about an hour to kill before we had to catch the bus, so we went to a little coffee shop around the corner. I had a Caramel Macchiato as usual, and a bagel, too! Not just any bagel though. A blueberry bagel, toasted, with cream cheese. Yum! This was a big deal because I've been wanting a bagel for the longest time, but just haven't been able to have one in Korea. It might've been the best bagel I've ever had.

After breakfast, we caught the bus to Gangnam, where we met Reuel and Mi-Yeon for church. (Mi-Yeon is Reuel's friend from back home in North Carolina. She just graduated in May like Shannon and me. She's a super sweet girl, and lots of fun to be around. We were fast friends.) :) We went to church, which was incredible. The worship music was amazing, and the song selection was perfect! We had a guest speaker, and his message really hit home for me. It was based from the passage in Luke about judging the speck in someone else's eye when you have a plank in your own eye. This is a message that I've heard many times in different churches, and a passage that I've read a hundred times. For some reason, I actually HEARD the message for the first time today. It really hit home for me, and made me re-evaluate a little bit. It made me realize how much I've been needing to hear that. Anyway, it was a pretty emotional service for me. Turns out, Mi-yeon and Reuel felt the same way. So good. :)

After church, we went to Butcher's Cut for cheeseburgers! We sat and talked and ate for awhile. Shannon had to leave for her small group soon after, so Reuel, Mi-yeon, and I stayed and talked for a bit longer. We kind of debriefed on the sermon and shared a lot with each other. It was really good to hear different perspectives and just reflect on the message. Very refreshing. We wandered over to the bookstore and looked at their media section. We found the Korean dramas section and I flipped out! I might've drooled a little bit, too. Korean dramas have become a weakness for me. I saw my first Korean drama before I left the States, and immediately was sucked in. Reuel and Mi-yeon showed me other dramas that are good, so I wrote them down to watch on my computer later. I'm really hoping I'll find them somewhere online!

When Shannon's small group got out, the four of us went to a park nearby. This park was SO MUCH FUN! We rented bikes for super cheap! It was about $3 to rent a bike for an hour. We rode bikes all around this big lake and played on a playground. There were swings that you stand on instead of sit, and you have to propel yourself with your knee caps! We took pictures. It was really fun.

After the park, we went to Costco. We each bought a few things and then headed to the Food Court to eat dinner. We had the most random assortment of food, but it was delicious!! We had pizza, sushi, soda, ice cream, and hot dogs. Perfect. :) We hopped on the bus and parted ways after a bit.

This weekend was exhausting, but wonderful! I got a lot of exercise from hiking and walking and riding a bike (SO HEALTHY!), I met new friends, I heard a great message at church that really challenged me, and I learned how to play my new favorite game called Pool. :)

Oh boy...

So....you know those days when everything seems to go wrong, one thing after another? And no matter what you do, it just seems to get worse? Today...I had that.

This morning started off really well, I thought. I woke up, got dressed, and headed to the subway station to meet Shannon and Reuel for coffee at Suwon Station. It's our traditional Wednesday morning date, so I've done this before. When I got to the subway station, I only had to wait about five minutes before it came. I got to Suwon Station about ten minutes early, which is really good for me! Shannon and Reuel weren't far behind. We had great conversation and great coffee. Perfect. When I went to leave, I went back to the subway station to my terminal; the terminal that I go to EVERY SINGLE WEEK. The subway came, and I jumped on. Let me explain something. I'm only two subway stops away from my home, so my ride doesn't take more than 7 minutes TOPS. After being on the subway for about ten minutes, I realized something was wrong. I walked to the end of the car to look at the map and realized that I had accidentally gotten on an EXPRESS subway. It was still going in the right direction, but it skipped a bunch of stops in a row. As we zoomed past my house, I found a seat, as I realized I would be on the subway for awhile. It finally stopped, and I was on the other side of town.

I exited and walked across the platform to catch the subway back in the other direction. I've been warned about express subways before. I was told that if there were red letters on the side of the subway, it meant it was express. If the words were written in blue, it was normal. So, the subway came (blue letters!), so I jumped on. Just as the doors shut, I heard the announcement: "This train will not be stopping until Suwon Station." WHAT?! I had just gotten BACK on the express train! So, there I sat, as I eventually saw my house pass by once again. I ended up back at Suwon Station where I started. At this point, a whole hour had passed. Luckily for me, Shannon and Reuel had left for home earlier than normal after coffee, so I had some extra time to spare. I went back to my platform and decided to look extra careful at the trains. A train came, I jumped on really fast, saw the map (it was express!) and jumped back off. I waited for about ten more minutes, another train came, and I did the same thing. It was another express train. I've NEVER had this problem before. And, until today, I'd never actually seen an express train. I realized that time was running out before I had to go to work, so I went outside to just catch a taxi home. It would  be more expensive, but I couldn't risk catching another express train.

I went to the taxi terminal and asked the driver to take me to Lotte Mart. It's a central location, really close to the station, and I could easily walk home from there. The man began driving. It should only be about a five-minute taxi ride, so I realized pretty quickly that we were going in the wrong direction!! I asked the driver if the Lotte Mart he was driving to was close to my house, and gave him the address. He started laughing and said we were going to the OTHER Lotte Mart. He turned the taxi around and started driving in the other direction. I kept apologizing over and over, and he was apologizing, too. He said to me in English, "I'm sorry, I misunderstood you." I was very impressed with his English. We had a good conversation as the ride went on, so that made me feel a little better. When we finally got to Lotte Mart, I paid the driver, thanked him, and began my walk home.

As if my morning couldn't be any worse, this is what the rest of my day looked like:
-On my walk home from Lotte Mart, I was stung by a bee on my neck.
-When I was leaving for school, I dropped my purse down the stairs and everything fell out.
-By the time I got to school, I didn't have time to make copies for my classes, so I was scrambling all day to get things done. I only have five minutes in-between classes, and the copy machine was always taken.
-On my dinner break, one of my students asked me for help, and I wanted to. I helped her and then missed my dinner break...
-On my supplement/planning time, my computer wouldn't pick up the Internet at work. My computer ALWAYS picks up the Internet at work!

I feel like I'm Alexander in a book I read as a child:
"Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day"

So...I guess it's just one of those days...I'm looking forward to going home, getting in my bed, and just reading my Kindle. I'm reading a really good book right now, so hopefully that will lift my spirits. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JODI!! :)

This weekend was packed full of fun! It was pretty relaxed, but it was still non-stop. On Friday night I got off work early and headed to Shannon's place, as usual. We ate BBQ for dinner that night with some of Shannon's co-workers, before heading home.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and headed to Gangnam. We were taking a two-hour class so we could become members of New Harvest, the church we've been attending now for just over two months. Reuel, Shannon, and I went to the class together. It was really informative, and we met a bunch of newbies just like us! And now, I'm proud to say, that I'm officially a member of Sarang Community Church, New Harvest Ministry, in South Korea!! :)

This past week, my washer decided to literally EAT my clothes. I put one load in that came out just fine. The second load I put in was all my "cold clothes," clothes for the cold weather, I mean. Long sleeve shirts, leggings, sweaters. All my cold clothes. I took them out of the wash to find them completely shredded. I didn't change the settings from the first load, so I'm not sure what happened there. Either way, I only had two long sleeve shirts left, no leggings, and no sweaters. Since it's already in the 40's and 50's here, it was imperative that I go shopping soon!

Our shopping trip was a very successful one! I was able to get really good deals on what I bought, and re-stock my wardrobe again. After a long RAINY day of shopping, we headed back to Shannon's place. We bought ramen at the GS25, along with some snacks, and headed upstairs. We ate our food and watched Princess Diaries 1 and 2. :)

On Sunday morning, we woke up early and headed to Gangnam once again. We went to Dos Tacos for lunch, which has become our weekly routine before church. This Sunday, Reuel's friend from back home AND Tommy both joined us for lunch and church. It was great to see Tommy at church, and we're hoping he'll come with us again. :)

After church, we hung out in a coffee shop for a few hours and just chatted. It was great to catch up with Tommy, and it's always nice to get to know other people, too. Reuel's friend was really sweet! At 4pm, Reuel and I both left for small group. My small group was wonderful, as usual. I always feel so refreshed after leaving. My small group meets at a coffee shop down the block from the church. I ordered coffee when I got there, and gave the lady my credit card. When she went to swipe my card, she accidentally dropped my card in a crack between the register and the counter. Wonderful. She spent a few minutes trying to get it, but was unsuccessful. Finally, she told her boss and another co-worker, and they were both on their hands and knees looking for the card. At one point, the boss brought out a few different screwdrivers and began taking the counter apart. He also took these glass panels off, so it turned into a big mess! I ended up getting my coffee for free, which was wonderful since it was extremely overpriced anyway! :) An hour later, they finally gave me my card. That was quite an adventure.

After small groups, Shannon, Reuel, and I went to Anyang to do a little bit more shopping. It was an area of town that we had never been to, so that was fun to see. We ate dinner out there, too, at a really yummy restaurant. They had all the traditional Korean dishes, but it was especially delicious I thought. We did our shopping after we ate, and then the three of us parted ways.

All in all, our weekend was a success!! I was able to replenish my wardrobe, became a member of my church, and met new friends!! What more could I ask for? :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY LITTLEST SISTER, JODI LEAH. SHE TURNS 14 TODAY! :) I LOVE YOU, JODI!

Scary Stories!!

Today was Day 1 of 2 of Midterm testing! It went extremely smoothly, considering the students' high level of stress and anxiety about being in a classroom for two hours... :) The middle schoolers just took their state test, so they didn't take a midterm at the academy. Darren told me to come up with a topic to talk about with the middle school students; something that would be interesting and allow them to practice their speaking. I chose the topic of Halloween. :)

The middle school class I had today is the top-speaking class in the academy. Their English is incredible, and it's always fun to be really creative with these students. We started off class by brainstorming all the words we could think of that were related to Halloween. We came up with a pretty good list. We had some funny moments when they couldn't think of the English words for what I was asking.

Me: "What is it called when children go to different houses and collect candy?"
Joy: "Visit?"
Ivy: "Teachuh!! First you visit, then you say to them, 'gimme your candy!'...please."
Me: "Trick-or-treating!"
Joy: "No, I don't think so." :)

After we made our list, I told them I had a scary story to read to them. This class LOVES scary stories and scary movies. To get us in the Halloween mood, James turned all the lights off, but one, so it would be really dark. I started reading the story, and all the students were really drawn in...I went to turn the page and my binder clip snapped off and went flying. The students were really startled, so they screamed. Then I screamed because they screamed! It was hilarious. Darren came down the hallway and into the classroom. He was looking around at how dark it was, and I said, "We turned the lights off because we're reading a scary story." Darren just laughed and left.

After the story was over, I asked the students to write their own scary stories to share. They were really creative and came up with some good ones. It was great watching them present at the end of class. They imitated me, which was a lot of fun. (When I was reading the scary story at the beginning, I was really animated and was changing my voice a lot.) The students picked up on that and did the same thing when they read their own stories. This class was the perfect end to my day.

The weather here is so wonderful! Fall has officially arrived, and nighttimes are SO NUMB!! I still sleep with my windows open, but I bury myself under my covers to keep warm. I wore one of my snow boots to school the other day-I just love this weather so much! I found out from one of the pastors at my church that they celebrate Thanksgiving at the church every year. They buy about 25 turkeys and have lots of different sides. I can't wait! I know it won't be like my Thanksgiving normally is, but at least we'll be having a big celebration together :)

Amanda Teacher :)

There's a new teacher in town!! Beth's contract ended, so she headed back to the States. Amanda is her replacement. Amanda actually worked at this academy two years ago. It was her first teaching job in Korea. After she finished her one-year contract, she left and signed a contract with a preschool nearby. She quickly realized how good she had it at our academy. After her contract ended there, she was in contact with Darren, and came over when Beth left. I think that says a lot about the academy and Amanda. She could see how well the teachers are treated here, and the school really appreciated and respected her as a teacher and was happy to have her back. That's just so wonderful to hear! :)

I've talked to other people who are miserable at their Korean teaching jobs, and it's always so refreshing to be able to brag a little about my job. Darren is an awesome boss, the school is very accommodating, the hours are great, the pay is incredible, and the Korean teachers have actually taken the time to get to know me. All of these things are opposite what I hear from other foreign teachers in Korea. I'm definitely blessed for sure :)

It was really great being able to help Amanda since she's been here. Beth was super helpful when I first got here, so it's nice to be able to pass that along to the next teacher. :) Many things have stayed the same here at the academy since she left, so Amanda has been picking up things rather quickly. It's obviously an adjustment getting used to the kids and working with older kids again, but she seems to be managing quite well. We went to dinner last night, and I was able to find out more about her, and get to know her a little bit. She's from Canada, so she definitely says, "eh" A LOT. :)

Today, I got a PACKAGE!! :) Two of my best friends from Orlando, Aleah and Harrison, put together a birthday package for me. It was so sweet of them!! I got Hershey's Dark Chocolate (YUM!), a few packs of gum, mac n' cheese, Goldfish crackers, a DVD "Easy A" (one of my favorites!!), and Spiderman stickers...obviously. Aleah and Harrison are so wonderful, and I'm so grateful to have such thoughtful friends!!

Muui-do Island :)

On Friday night after work, I rode the bus to Shannon's place to hang out and spend the night. We ate snacks and watched "Nanny Diaries"-great movie!! We were leaving for the island in the morning, so we had to go to bed at a decent hour. :)

On Saturday morning, we met Reuel, Mattania, and Michelle near the bus stop to buy last-minute snacks and supplies and head to the island!! We were going to Muui-do Island, a very popular beach spot for foreigners. It took us a few hours to get there: we rode a bus to the subway, the subway to the airport, a bus from the airport to the ferry, the ferry to the island, a bus to the beach. Whew!! We didn't have any problems getting there at all! We just went from place to place until we ended up on the island. The ferry was HUGE!! There was a line of cars waiting to drive onto the ferry, along with a crowd of people. It was only a 3-minute ferry ride, so it didn't take long at all. It was a pretty cool experience though.

When we got off the ferry, we took a bus for about 20 minutes to the other side of the island where we were going to be staying. We got off the bus and bought two huts for the weekend: one for the siblings, Reuel and Mattania, and one for Shannon, Michelle, and me. The huts were right on the beach, about 50 feet from the ocean!! The huts were small, room enough for 4 people comfortably. They were up on stilts, had sliding doors and windows, and there was a pillow and blanket for each person. The best part?? There were heated floors!! We definitely took advantage of this because the weather has been cooling off a lot!

We were hungry from all our traveling, so we went to a BBQ place on the beach, where you cook your own meat over a fire. SO GOOD!! After that, we decided to take a walk on the beach, where we ran into Tommy and his friends!! No way!! Tommy had come to the island with his two friends, Johnny and Lisa. So, we met some new friends! That's always fun. We found out they had arrived right after us. We had gotten huts #18 and #19, and they were in hut #20! :) Awesome. We walked down the beach a ways and climbed some big rocks and took pictures. Shannon was the most daring out of the group, so she climbed the tallest one! We headed back to hut #18 (the party hut!!) and played cards and hung out and talked. We stayed up pretty late that first night.

On Saturday morning, we woke up, (found coffee at one of the shops on the island!), and went out to the beach to walk around. One of the greatest things about the morning is waking up on the beach and having a beautiful view of the ocean!! You just can't beat that! The tide goes way out on this beach, so you can walk REALLY FAR and collect shells and find crabs in the sand. Pretty cool. We went to a small seafood restaurant close-by to grab some lunch. While we were finishing up, Arri arrived!! (She was planning on coming with us on Saturday morning, but was moving into a new apartment. She had to wait until Sunday morning to meet us.) We did some hut-swapping after lunch. Michelle moved into hut #19 with the siblings, and Arri moved into hut #18 with Shannon and me. Our whole group, including Tommy, Johnny, and Lisa, went hiking up the mountain. We saw some incredible views and took some great pictures!! About halfway through the trail, the girls decided to bail on the hiking and walk back home. The boys continued on the trail, and the girls went out to the beach to walk home. We didn't anticipate running into MUD on the way home! It was low tide again, so we thought we would just be walking across sand....boy, were we wrong! We were up to our calves in mud, so it took us about 20 minutes to get back to the huts.

We were exhausted by the time we made it back, so we all took naps in the huts. We opened the windows and let the breeze roll in. Hearing the sound of the ocean is so peaceful. It's so wonderful to get away sometimes and just relax. This weekend was the perfect time to do that! We went back to the BBQ place for some dinner, and took pictures of the sunset. After dinner, we ran into a foreign couple who told us about a karaoke thing going on that night. A Korean company was setting up on a stage near the beach. They were having a karaoke night with prizes. Apparently, they were looking for foreigners to participate. Our group decided to sign up and sing a song. We chose a Journey song, "Don't Stop Believin'." We knew it was a Korean favorite, so we signed up. Shannon, Arri, Tommy, and I went up on the stage and made complete fools of ourselves!! The crowd loved it, so it was a lot of fun! We did some dancing, too, and we even had some little kids come up on the stage and dance with us. :) Our group ended up winning a prize!! Free rides on dirt bikes on the island! :) Karaoke wasn't what we planned on doing on Sunday night, but it ended up being wonderful! We all went back to hut #18 and hung out for awhile longer, and then headed to bed.

On Monday morning, there was complete chaos. Hundreds of Koreans were showing up with their families to go fishing. Apparently, there was a huge fishing festival that day, and it was really popular! We didn't find out about this until Monday morning. Korean families had already set up their tents in between each hut. The island was packed, and we could hardly move around at all. Tommy, Johnny, and Lisa headed out pretty soon after we woke up. They were ready to get home. Our group stayed for another 45 minutes or so, and then headed out. We turned in our keys and started walking to the bus stop. There were maybe 100 cars lined up outside trying to get onto the beach. We knew there was no way the bus would make it through to pick us up, so we started walking. We walked and walked....and walked for about 30 minutes. It wasn't too bad because the weather was really nice and our backpacks weren't too heavy. We FINALLY saw the bus and jumped on. We rode it for about 2 minutes, and up ahead, there was Tommy, Johnny, and Lisa, sitting on the side of the road!! They had been walking, too, and had gotten tired. We took the ferry together, and rode the bus back to the airport to catch the subway. That's where we parted ways.

This was definitely an incredible weekend for sure!! I couldn't have asked for a better group of friends to go with or more perfect weather. What a great way to start October! :)

I'm 23!!

Today I turned 23!! I started off my day by meeting Shannon and Reuel at Dunkin' Donuts for some coffee and donuts. They gave me cards, and Shannon paid for my food, so that was nice! We chatted for awhile, and then went our separate ways.

When I got to work, Jessica (one of my Korean co-workers) gave me a huge can of Snickers minis. YUM!! Right before my first class, Teddy came into the office and gave me a package that had just been delivered. I wasn't expecting anything, so it was a wonderful surprise when I recognized the handwriting. IT WAS FROM HOME!! As an early Christmas present, my parents bought me a Kindle, and it came on my birthday!! Perfect.

Because there was extra room in the box, I got a few extra goodies: 6 packs of gum, a University of Tampa shirt from my dad, an electric SPIDERMAN toothbrush, Neosporin, and a really pretty hot pink case for my Kindle!! I had actually been looking at the exact one online-WOOT! They also included a pack of coffee for Darren which was really thoughtful. I'll give it to him tomorrow. :)

This weekend, we are officially going to celebrate my birthday by going to an island :) So awesome, right?! This coming Monday is a holiday, so we have an extra day to relax. We thought this would be the perfect time to go. The weather has cooled off a lot because Fall is officially here, so going to the island is going to be wonderful. We are still researching to figure out all the details, but it's going to be an awesome weekend! I'm definitely going to bring my camera for sure!! (and my Kindle!) :)

FC Seoul.

On Friday night, Shannon, Reuel, and I went to Grand Ole Opry. We've been wanting to experience a real Korean night-out, which means you stay out until the sun comes up and the subways start up again. We decided that Friday would be the night. We line-danced for SIX HOURS until 5:30am. It was super fun! We met a lot of new friends, and even taught some people how to line-dance. :)

We got home around 6:30am, and slept until noon. We had to get up and get ready for the FC Seoul soccer game. We got tickets for 10,000 won (about $10), and it included our ticket, a free hotdog, and a free drink. Pretty sweet deal! We met Reuel and her brother, Mattaniah, at the game at 4:30pm. There was a foreigners section that we were supposed to sit in, so we found some pretty good seats inside. It was such a fun game!! There were a few players on the team who weren't Korean. The MVP of the game was from Croatia, and one of their best defenders was from Brazil. When the game finished, we hopped back on the subway, and Reuel took us to Raintree Cafe. It was a really cute little cafe, with natural smoothies and tea drinks. The atmosphere was really fun. There were a few tables, scattered around. For the lower tables, there were pillows to sit or lay on. There were maps and travel tickets from all over the world hanging up around the restaurant, and candles lit on every table.

We headed home, and Shannon and I watched "Water for Elephants." I was SO disappointed!! I just finished reading the book-I read it in 3 days!! I just couldn't put it down. I've heard that the movie was good, so I couldn't wait to watch it! The movie left out so many great parts and details. I feel like none of the characters were built up enough, and a lot of the emotion between characters was missing. Oh well...I guess that happens a lot. The books are phenomenal and the movie just can't compare. I'll just have to remember how much I loved the book :)

On Sunday morning, Shannon, Reuel, Mattaniah, Arri, and I all went to Dos Tacos for our Mexican Sunday lunch. We headed to church and signed up for the Fall Retreat!! It's coming up in two weeks. It's only 10,000 won, which is really good! Shannon and I work until 9:30pm, so we won't be able to go on Friday night with everyone else. There's a late bus going to the retreat on Saturday morning, so we'll join them then :)

After church, we went to a bookstore to hang out before our small groups. I bought a Korean/English bible, with a Hymnal in the back, too! So cool, right?! Plus it's pink. :) I went to my small group at 4pm and had the best time! We have a great group of women, and I always feel so refreshed afterwards. When Reuel and I left our small groups, we met up with Shannon, Mattaniah, and Arri and went to a Fusion restaurant for my birthday dinner. It was DELICIOUS!! It was a big plate of chicken, noodles, and veggies. We ate it over rice. Yum! Shannon surprised me and had bought a cake from a bakery nearby! It was chocolate. Of course. :) They sang "Happy Birthday" to me, and I blew out the candles. Shannon paid for my food, so that was really sweet of her!

After dinner, we went back to Anyung, where Shannon and Reuel live, and went to a gelato and coffee shop. We had dessert (for the second time!) and hung out for a bit. Reuel paid for my gelato!! It was such a fun weekend!! I turn 23 on Tuesday, so I can't wait! I love being able to celebrate my birthday in South Korea. What a cool experience! :)

I love surprises.

On Monday, I gave my laptop to Teddy to take into the Apple store to have it fixed. The voltage in Korea is double that of the U.S., so it fried the back of my computer. Apparently this is a problem with all Macs sold within the past two years or so...If the computer heats up, the back will fall off. Luckily for me, I contacted Apple, and they sent me a new back for free! Unfortunately for me, it was sent to the States where I couldn't get it...I thought my laptop would last for a little while longer, but I was definitely wrong about that one! Teddy took it in on Monday, and got it back today, Thursday. When I asked him how much money I owed him, he said they fixed it for free! He said their computer system showed that I had already been mailed the "free backing" so technically I couldn't get another free one. But Teddy told them that I'm an English teacher from the States, and they offered to replace it for free! Yay!

So...I've been gone from the computer for awhile. I've been able to check email once a day at work between classes, but have been cut off from the rest of the world as far as Facebook and my blog go...pity... :) But, I'm back!!

Last night, the director of the school took all the teachers out to celebrate Beth's year of teaching here. After work, we all rode together to the restaurant. We had galbi and drinks and just chatted with one another. It was a really relaxing night, and I actually got to know two of my Korean co-teachers much better. It's difficult at work to sit down and have a conversation with each other, so last night was the perfect opportunity to do that. After we were at the restaurant for a few hours, we walked down the block a bit to a seafood restaurant. I tried raw tuna for my first time, and found out that I don't really prefer that....But at least I tried it! :) It was about 3:30am when we decided to call it a night. I took a taxi home and crashed right away. Luckily for us, we don't work until 2:15pm every day, so I was able to sleep in and get a decent amount of rest.

Tonight, a group of us are going back to the linedancing bar after work!! We're going to celebrate my birthday (Woohoo!!) and just relax after this week. On Saturday, we're going to a soccer game here, so I'm really looking forward to that. Sunday is church and small groups again. Sunday night, a group of us are going out to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday AGAIN! :) I do love birthdays.

I had an interesting Tuesday morning...I had just gotten to work and this huge delivery came into the lobby. There was a ginormous mattress pad that was rolled up, a HUGE cardboard box, and a smaller box beside it. Darren came over to my desk and told me that the delivery was for me. I told him I hadn't ordered anything and that it was a mistake. I asked him who ordered all the stuff, and he looked at the tag and said, "you." I told him that I promised I hadn't bought anything, and I didn't want to take someone else's stuff if they accidentally delivered it to the wrong place or something...He opened the big cardboard box and saw the shipping paper inside. It read, "Denise Traster," and "Jena Myers." My mom and my sister!! Turns out, my parents, sister and bro-in-law, grandma, AND stepmom had all ordered new bedding and towels for me from a store here in Korea!! What a wonderful surprise! Apparently it came a week early, but I don't mind. I have a wonderful bed (that's really comfy now!) and brand-new towels. So exciting! That pretty much made my whole week. I love surprises.

And you know what's even better? Darren offered to put it all in his car so I wouldn't have to walk home with all of it. (I couldn't have carried that box if my life depended on it anyway...) He called me when he was leaving work, and drove it to my house AND carried it up all three flights of stairs, right to my doorstep. What a wonderful boss :)

Grand Ole Opry.

Words can hardly express what an incredible weekend I just had. SO. GOOD.

On Saturday afternoon, I met Shannon at her place, and we headed to Gangnam to meet Arri. (Shannon and I were dressed up and wearing our cowgirl boots!!) The three of us went to lunch/dinner at a new taco place. Arri had to leave after to meet up with another friend, so Shannon and I bummed around town a little bit. At around 7pm, we caught the subway to Itaewon, where the country line-dancing bar is. Two of our friends were going to meet up with us a little later, so we stopped in at a GS25 for a snack and drinks. While we were inside, we met another foreigner. He was from Chicago, and was hanging out with two of his buddies. We ended up joining them at their table outside. They invited us to a soccer game next weekend. They were selling tickets: only 10,000 won (just under $10) and it includes a hotdog and drink, and admission to the soccer game. We both bought tickets and bought two more for Reuel and her brother. We're looking forward to next weekend already! :)

Our friends, Sarah and Stephanie, finally joined us in Itaewon, and we headed to the Grand Ole Opry, the line-dancing bar. We got there early, around 9pm, and there was no one there. I mean, it was ALMOST empty, minus an old guy at the bar and three guys hanging out at a table. Anyway, it was pretty dead. We knew that after awhile, the bar would fill up, so we just hung out for awhile and enjoyed ourselves.

This bar was legit. Wooden dance floor in the center (super small!!), American flag on the wall, American alcohol, REAL country music. Shannon and I were so happy. We frequented a line-dancing bar in Orlando every week, and we had been missing it. This pretty much exceeded all our expectations, especially being in Korea!! We never would've thought a place like this actually existed! After about an hour of just taking in the surroundings, Shannon and I were itching to dance. Other people had wandered in, and the place was starting to fill up, but no one was dancing. We decided to break the ice. We went out on the dance floor and started line-dancing. After some hoots and hollers from people around us, a few other people came out on the dance floor with us. It was an AWESOME time! We basically started the line-dancing trend...Not to toot our own horns, but toot toot! :)

We met a bunch of people that night, some teachers, some military. One guy, Joe, came over and introduced himself. He taught me how to two-step, which I've been wanting to learn! I'm not too good at it quite yet, but we two-stepped a lot, so I got some practice. :) I tried to teach him some line dances, but he was a bit clumsy...

Shannon and I line-danced and two-stepped our way through Saturday night. Some people joined us on the dance floor, wanting to learn. We taught a few of the easier dances, and people seemed to have a really good time. The bar was all foreigners, no Koreans at all. At times, it didn't even feel like we were in Korea. At midnight, everyone took off their hats, and the DJ played "The Star-Spangled Banner." Everyone stopped what they were doing, stood up, faced the flag, and sang at the top of their lungs. It was so awesome!!

This line-dancing experience was way better than I could've imagined. We met new friends who also appreciate good country music, and already have plans to go back again this weekend. :)

Today, small groups started at church!! Shannon and I went to the service, and then grabbed lunch afterwards. Her small group was at 2pm, so she had to hurry off. I hung around for awhile, read a book on her Nook, and then met up with Reuel and her brother. My small group didn't start until 4pm, so we chatted for awhile. Finally, I met my small group! It's a women's small group, led by the female pastor of the church. We all met up right outside the church and then walked together to a small coffee shop a few blocks away. We had an introductory session where we introduced ourselves and talked about our expectations for the group. All the girls were really genuine and open, so I really appreciated that. We talked about our plan for the group and what we will be studying. We took prayer requests and prayed for each other. We ended up meeting for 2 1/2 hours! We all lost track of time, but no one seemed to mind :) I'm really looking forward to meeting up with these girls every week.

We are assigned a different prayer partner every week. We're supposed to do our best to check-in on one another and encourage and pray for each other. This week I'm paired up with Martha, a girl from South Africa who's here teaching English. There are so many different people in the group, so it's going to be a lot of fun getting to hear about their lives and experiences. I already feel like New Harvest is my new church home, and this small group has definitely confirmed that for me. :)

Line-dancing in Korea??

I had a really quick week-only three days long!! It was surprisingly exhausting though, so I'm grateful that the weekend is here again. Nothing too crazy happened on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Just more of same. :)

Teddy is going to take my computer to the Apple store on Monday, so I will FINALLY have that fixed!! I won't have my computer for a few days which will be a major bummer, but it will be totally worth it! Hopefully it won't cost me too much for the fix...we'll see...

Last weekend, I went to a bookstore and bought two books. One of those books was "Water for Elephants." It took me all of three days to finish it. I finished it tonight on one of my breaks at work. SO GOOD. Jessica, one of the Korean teachers, saw me reading it and was super jealous. I left it on her desk before I left school. :) I hope she loves it as much as I did!

Shannon and I are HUGE country music fans and HUGE line-dancing fans!! We frequented a line-dancing bar in Orlando every week, so we've been going through some major withdrawals since we got to Korea. Last weekend, one of our friends just happened to mention that there is in fact a country line-dancing bar IN KOREA!! Who even knew, right?? We're going to check it out tomorrow night. We're. so. pumped. We knew we brought our cowgirl boots to Korea for a reason... :)

Spiderman Body Pillow :)

Today, Shannon and I woke up early, ready for our big hiking day! We invited our friend, Arri, to come with us. While we were waiting to hear from her to figure out the details, we went back to my place to bring some of my stuff home. I brought two bags with me to sleep over at Shannon's for the weekend, but accumulated more things by the time today rolled around. :) Shannon was kind enough to ride back on the bus with me to help me carry my bags!!

We dropped my stuff off, and Shannon checked in with Arri. Arri was sick today, so unfortunately, she couldn't go hiking...We changed our plans and decided to go to Home Plus. This was the first time Shannon and I had ever been in a Home Plus before. The store has been compared to Target and/or Bed, Bath, and Beyond. We were really looking forward to checking it out for ourselves.

When we got there, we ate in the food court. Shannon got her spicy octopus dish that she LOVES, and I got kimchi mandu. My food was a little spicy for me (shocker, I know!), so we got ice cream from McDonald's to cool our mouths off. Ice cream here is only 500 won, which is about 40 cents. Not bad. :) Then, we decided to tackle every floor of Home Plus. All six of them.

We found so many exciting things!! We looked through all the bedding, dreaming of our beds back in the States with memory foam and soft sheets...We wandered through the clothes and shoes section, and finally made our way to the home decor section. It was there that I found my favorite purchase of the day: a canopy for my bed! And you know what's even better? It was 3,000 won, which is about $2.70. No big deal. With that and my new Spiderman body pillow that Shannon got me as an early birthday present, my bed is looking pretty awesome!! Did I mention that Shannon got me a Spiderman body pillow? It's a pretty sweet gift, I think. :)

Home Plus was definitely a success. I bought a few things, which is always fun. The prices are really good, and there's a food court, too. What's not to love?

When we got home, Shannon and I decided to go hiking after all. There's a huge mountain behind her house that we wanted to tackle, so we changed clothes and headed out. It was around 4pm when we started hiking, so the weather had cooled off a lot, making the trip a lot more bearable. The hike up was pretty difficult. It was rough terrain the whole way, and at one point, about a billion steps to climc!! But the view was absolutely incredible. We finally made it all the way to the top, stopping a few times to make sure we were still alive! We took pictures at the top and rested awhile on a big rock overlooking the city. It was magnificent.

The way down only took us about half an hour, so that wasn't bad, but, it was working completely different muscles in our legs. We were worn out by the time we reached the bottom. Great exercise, great hike, incredible view. We definitely want to go hiking again, but we've both decided that we need to invest in some hiking boots. Tennis shoes just weren't doing the job up there on the mountain.

After our hike, we relaxed a little bit. We ate dinner and watched Titanic on Shannon's computer until our friend, Sarah, came to visit. Shannon and I did a lot of really fun things this weekend and break. I'd say it was a pretty successful Chuseok. :) School starts up tomorrow...and I only have a three-day week until the weekend again! Woohoo!

Dragon Hill Spa.

Today is Chuseok!! Happy Korean Thanksgiving! :) From what I understand, the Korean tradition is to go to the grandparents' house and share a big meal together. Nothing special; just every kind of Korean food there is. (With the amount of sides we typically eat at one meal, I can't even IMAGINE how much Chuseok food there is!) That's what I'd call a feast! Then, they make food and leave it for their ancestors, along with some gifts.

I talked to one of my Korean co-workers, Iris, on Thursday, and we were comparing Thanksgivings. They are very different. She told me that once you reach a certain age, you can choose whether or not you want to visit family during Chuseok. You can choose to spend time with your friends instead and take a short vacation if you want to. I told her that while it wasn't REQUIRED to spend time with family at Thanksgiving, it's pretty much expected. And if you have friends in college who can't make it home, you typically invite them to come home with you. No one is alone on Thanksgiving. :)

Since most restaurants and establishments are closed on Chuseok, Shannon and I decided to spend the day at a spa. Dragon Hill Spa. This isn't a normal spa that you would find in the States. It's called a "jjimjilbang."They are very popular in Korea, and very common. There's one big difference: There are separate floors for men and women. Why? Because there are many different saunas and hot or cold pools to soak in...and you don't wear clothes. WHAT?! Yes, this was a completely new experience for Shannon and I, but something that a foreigner should experience while in Korea. It's really wonderful for your skin, and just relaxing in general. After you get over the initial shock, you can really enjoy yourself.

After you're done in the pools, they give you shorts and a t-shirt (very stylish!) to wear on all the other floors. There are restaurants to eat in, co-ed saunas to sit in, an arcade, a movie theater, massage chairs, a garden, a terrace on the roof to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather, napping rooms, a swimming pool. So many wonderful things. Jjimjilbangs are very family-friendly, and we saw a lot of kids running around.

After we spent an ample amount of time in the "women only" side, we put on our sweet matching outfits and wandered upstairs. We sat on the terrace and read our books for awhile. We got tired, so we went to the napping room to rest. I fell asleep while Shannon read some more. After that, we went to one of the restaurants and got some dinner. It was really yummy. We sat in a few of the saunas before heading back upstairs to change clothes and head home.

When you first arrive, you pay 10,000 won (under $10!!) to get into the spa, and they give you a bracelet to wear. It has a key attached which is your locker key, and also has a barcode on it. You have a locker downstairs for your shoes, and a locker in the women's locker room upstairs to keep your bag and clothes. Every time you buy anything, you just scan your bracelet, and they charge it. The bracelets are waterproof, so you wear them with you everywhere you go. When you leave, they scan your bracelet at the front desk, and you pay the extra money you owe. Really easy.

Today was the perfect day to go the spa. It wasn't very busy, and a lot of places were closed anyway. Shannon and I had the BEST time and definitely want to go back! And for only $10 for a trip to the spa, why not take advantage of that, right? :)

Utz Cheese Balls.

Today, Shannon, Reuel, and I all met at the bus stop and headed to church. We stopped at Dos Tacos (as usual!) for a quick lunch of yummy burritos. We went to church, and the sermon was excellent. Pastor Doug’s sermon was titled: “Why do you WANT to follow God?” He had a really good perspective on a passage I’ve read a million times! I always appreciate hearing different perspectives on a familiar story because it challenges what I believe in and forces me to re-evaluate.

Reuel headed off for a retreat, so she left right after the service was over. Shannon and I decided to stay in Gangnam for awhile and look around. We went to the bookstore where I bought two more books. So exciting!! I’ve read the books that were left in my house from the previous teacher, so I was ready for some new reads. :)

After looking around Gangnam for a few hours, Shannon and I headed to Costco. Surprisingly, there wasn’t the huge crowd that we were anticipating. Every Sunday afternoon, it’s packed with people. It’s almost like Black Friday shopping after Thanksgiving, but it’s every Sunday!! Today, we expected that a lot of people would be doing last minute shopping for Chuseok, but the aisles were surprisingly clear. I had a very successful shopping trip. I bought a block of cheese (woohoo!), pineapple slices, granola bars, and…UTZ CHEESE BALLS!! I’m slightly obsessed with those back in the States, and I just HAD to get them. :)

After Costco, Shannon and I headed back towards her house. The weather has cooled off a lot; Fall is definitely coming! We thought that tonight would be the perfect time for a walk. Shannon wanted to show me the path where she jogs. It’s quite a hike to get there, but she runs around a beautiful lake. What we thought would be a “quick walk,” ended up taking TWO HOURS!! We detoured and went up in the woods at one point, following a trail. And by the time we made it around the whole lake, the sun had set, and it was getting dark. We timed the walk before we left. We left her house at 6:15pm. We got back at 8:04pm. Wow.

We wandered around a little bit looking for something to eat. A lot of restaurants and stores were completely shut down because of Chuseok. We settled for some kimbap and went to 7-11 for some sides and snacks for the movie. We ate our dinner and watched "Disturbia" on Shannon’s computer. (She brought a lot of movies from home, which was such a good idea!)

In the middle of the movie, we paused it and Skyped with our friend, Brandon, from back in Orlando. I just love technology so much. I’m always amazed how well Skype works, even when you’re hundreds of miles apart. :)

New Friends!!

On Friday night, I packed my bags and headed to Shannon’s house for the weekend. We have the weekend plus Monday and Tuesday for Chuseok. Woohoo!! On Saturday morning, we woke up and got ready to go into Seoul. We met up with Sarah, Shannon’s friend from one floor up, and we all headed to the bus stop. On our way, we stopped at Rotti Bun, which is one of the restaurants inside Lotte Mart. They serve really delicious pastries that basically melt in your mouth when you eat them. That was the perfect start to my morning.

Sarah, Shannon, and I took the bus to the subway, where we rode to Seoul Station. There, we met up with five of Sarah’s friends, Anna, Duncan, Claire, Amy, and Doreal. We all walked around town and did some shopping. We stopped at a delicious restaurant for lunch where I had chicken teriyaki, something that I haven’t had since I’ve been in Korea.

After that, we all split up and went our separate ways. Sarah, Shannon, Amy, Doreal, and I all went to another area of Seoul, Myeongdong, where we walked around some more and did more window-shopping. At around 6pm, Sarah, Shannon, and I started heading back towards home. Sarah was ready to go all the way home, so she continued on. Shannon and I decided to hang around Seoul Station and look around a little bit. We went into all the expensive shops, and then walked around the Lotte Mart there.

At around dinnertime, we decided to go to Itaewon. Shannon had never been there, so we wanted to go check it out. (Itaewon is the really Westernized area of Korea.) We walked around a little bit, and then went to The Frypan for some chicken and chips. :) We walked around a little bit more, went to the Foreign Food Market where Shannon bought some peanut butter, and then caught the subway back home.

On the subway, we decided to finish a movie that we were watching last night on her laptop. We invited Sarah and Reuel to join us, and then stopped at GS 25 for some snacks on our way home. You can’t watch a movie without snacks, right? :)

Chuseok Gift.

On Wednesday, the director of the school came into the office and gave all the teachers gifts for Chuseok. All the Korean teachers got these awesome portable grills. Apparently, they get those every year. :) One of the Korean teachers, Iris, was telling me that she's been at the school for three years now, and every Chuseok the Korean teachers get grills. She said she thinks the director has a contract with the grill company or something, so he gets a good deal when he orders in bulk. :) Too funny.

I didn't get a grill. I got a ginormous box that was wrapped in wrapping paper. I was told not to open it at work, so I had to wait until I got home. I opened it right when I got home. There were two different kinds of coffee (kind of expensive I think!), and five different kinds of tea. It was an awesome present! I already tried a few different flavors of the tea, and they're really good. I've never been much of a hot tea drinker, but Korea has definitely changed that. I typically drink coffee, but I'm finding out how good the tea is, too!

Happy Chuseok!

I've been without a computer for the past two days, due to a visit to the Apple Store. The voltage (or electricity?) here is almost double what it is in the States. Because of this, my laptop has been overheating a lot. Because of THAT, the rubber backing on my computer has completely fallen off. Teddy, the new Korean teacher at school, offered to take my computer to the Apple store on his way into work one day and see what they could do about replacing the rubber backing. I gave him my computer on Tuesday and got it back Thursday. Teddy said it would take them two days to fix it, so he's going to take my computer back sometime next week. I really love having people who are willing to help me and speak Korean. :) I bought a converter, so once my laptop is fixed, I hopefully won't have to worry about it overheating anymore. I just wish I had purchased a converter sooner...

This weekend is Chuseok (chew-soak), which is basically Korea's Thanksgiving. Chuseok is actually this coming Monday, but we have Monday and Tuesday off. And...my wonderful boss gave us today (Friday) off, too!! So...hello five-day weekend! :) There is a huge thunderstorm coming in on Saturday night/Sunday morning, and it's supposed to pretty much rain the whole break. That's unfortunate, but we're going to make the most of it. Shannon and I are going hiking with some friends on Saturday, and be back home before the storm comes. Then, we're going to get together with some other friends and just bum around town a little bit. We might go into Seoul or explore somewhere new. A lot of places are going to be closed, so it's going to be a little bit tricky finding things to do. :)

Fall is officially here. According to my calendar, the first day of Fall isn't for another few weeks. However, I think it came early. The weather has been BEAUTIFUL!! It's cold in the mornings and at nighttime, so I sleep with my windows open every night. During the day the weather is around 70 degrees. Perfect. Shannon and I have been anticipating Fall for a really long time. It's definitely my favorite season. :)

Costco Gold Card Member :)

This morning, I took the subway to Gangnam to meet Reuel and Shannon for church. We always meet at 11am to get Mexican food for lunch. We've decided it's going to be a tradition. :) We ate lunch and went to church. The church service was incredible, just like last Sunday. Pastor Doug talked more about small groups and encouraged everyone to get involved. Last Sunday I signed up for an all-women's group. Earlier this week, the leader sent out an email to all of us, confirming our spot in the group. Our first meeting is on September 18th, so I'm definitely looking forward to that.

After church, we grabbed some coffee and jumped on the bus. We headed to Costco, where Shannon and I became official Costco Gold Card Members. Thank you, thank you... :) We split the cost of a membership, so we only had to pay $16 each-what a deal!! It's definitely going to benefit us to do some of our grocery shopping at Costco. Prices are really good, and they sell some things that you can't buy anywhere else. For example, they sell cheese, a lot of other dairy products like cream cheese and sour cream, pretzels (you can't find those ANYWHERE!!), fresh fruit and meat, a lot of bakery items, etc. It's pretty much awesome.

After Costco, we went on an adventure. There's a small group that Shannon and I heard about through our Recruiting Agency, so we wanted to check it out. I've been talking with the leader, Ashley, over the past few weeks to find out the details. Basically, it's a group of foreign teachers who all meet and share about Jesus and worship and pray together. Their first meeting for the semester was tonight, and they were having a BBQ. Not a Korean BBQ. An American BBQ: Cheeseburgers, kebabs, pasta salad, chips, cookies. So good. They asked everyone to bring a side item to contribute, and they would take care of the meat. At Costco, Reuel, Shannon, and I had each bought something to share.

According to the bus system, we had to catch a bus near Costco, ride it for about 40 minutes, and then we would be in the area where the meeting was being held. (It was in Ashley's apartment in the next city over.) Well, we waited for the bus for about 45 minutes, and almost gave up when we saw it coming around the corner. We took the bus for awhile and got off one stop too early. At this point, it was after 5 p.m. already, and that's when the party/meeting officially started. We jumped on another bus to get to the next stop, but apparently took the one going in the wrong direction. We ended up even MORE out of our way, so we settled for the subway. At this point, I called Ashley and told her that we WERE still coming, but that we were having some transportation issues. She assured me that it was very informal and to not worry about being late. We caught the subway and went two stops, where we finally caught the correct bus. Whew! After that, we found her building, and took the elevator to the 20th floor and walked the last floor to the roof where the party was. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we finally got there.

The small group was really fun. There were 11 people there altogether. We grilled out on the roof of Ashley's apartment. There's a nice set-up up there, with covered areas and tables. There was a nice breeze and beautiful weather. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect night to be up there. After we finished eating, we headed downstairs to the apartment to worship and pray and share with one another. It was really good. Everyone was really genuine, and I enjoyed the time there. I'm going to give it another week to decide if that's somewhere I want to continue going or not. Once small groups start at church, that's going to make for a very busy Sunday. I don't know if I'll be able to make the commitment to the small group we went to tonight. I'll just have to see how it all works out. :)

I can't believe the weekend is already over!! I did so much, but I still feel like it flew by-good grief! I'm going to get to bed at a decent hour so I can go for a good, long run in the morning. Quick shout-out to the UCF KNIGHTS!! 62-0 win over Charleston. Woot! Thank you to my big sister, Jena, for keeping me updated. :)