Snow, Snowboarding, and Soju

This weekend was a blast. Dan and I went up to Muju with a bunch of friends to hang out, drink, and enjoy the Lunar New Year, or Seollal (설날). We met up at Club Davey around 11pm Friday night. From there we took two cars full of people, food, drinks, and clothes to ski and snowboard in. The group consisted of Rob, Renee, Yonodan, Pete and Gio in one car and Lizzie, Seth, Amanda and Dan and I in another car.

We headed north and stopped by a ski shop Rob had been to.  Here we got our rental gear and ski lift tickets for the following day. Then we went to our room in one of the many buildings at Muju’s resort. By the time we got into our room for the night, it was after 3 am. Crystal, a friend of Seth and Gio’s, was already there waiting for us. The rooms are pretty expensive but they didn’t seem to care that we were all staying together in one suite, so it ended up being just 45,000 Won per person for 2 nights!!

We unpacked a bit and got ready for bed. Some of the group- Dan, Seth, Rob, and Yonodan- were all planning on walking up at 5:45 to go snowboarding and skiing for the dawn and morning sessions. They ended up waking up on time (although Dan just stayed awake). I learned this night that I am a very light sleeper because their talking woke me up and kept me up until after they left. Rob and I had an ongoing joke over the weekend that I was in his head because I could quote things he said that weekend when he had no idea I was around to hear them. 

After the guys left, I made it back to sleep for a few more hours, until the phone in our hotel room rang. After about 3 rings I ran to get it, realizing nobody else was awake enough to really hear it. On the other end was a man from the rental shop telling me, in broken English and Korean that he was here with all of the rental gear for everyone still in the room along with our ski lift tickets. While on the phone, Pete and Crystal woke up so I recruited the two of them to go downstairs with me and bring up ours and everyone else’s stuff. It took about another hour and half for us to get everyone else awake and ready before leaving to take the shuttle to the mountain base closest to us.

We arrived right at 10am, with five and a half hours left to use on our ski lift tickets. Pete, Lizzie, Renee, Amanda and I took the lift up to the top of the closest mountain and then we strapped ourselves into our boards to get ready. Lizzie was the only one skiing in our group and she was a bit nervous because it had been a few years since she’d last gone.

Once we started heading down the mountain, we stopped every few minutes or so because someone had fallen behind or was tired. I liked going at this slow pace because it meant I wasn’t getting sore. It took us a while to get down and when we did make it down, Lizzie was pretty discouraged. She, Pete and Amanda headed inside to get lunch while Renee and I met up with Rob, Dan and Yonodan. The guys were just about to grab some food and head back to our room to nap but Renee and I convinced them to do one more run.

They told us about a run four miles up that had spectacular views and amazing snow so we headed up two lifts to get to the top of it. It was a lot of fun to board down. The snow for the first 2/3 was absolutely beautiful and great to be on. It was fresh and powdery. It had been snowing since very early that morning and was continuing to snow as we were heading down. Dan had his video camera out during this too. I think he was impressed by how I was doing; except for the way I still had to stop every so often, although a lot less than when I was with the other group. He was pretty tired from already being out there so long and not sleeping at all the night before.

 As we were out there, Rob talked to someone from the hotel and was told that we would have to change to a different room. Originally, we were going to head up to Muju on Saturday morning so we didn’t book a room for Friday night until Friday day, so due to the separate reservations, we had different rooms. That lead to Rob, Dan and Yonodan heading down the mountain much faster than Renee or I could and they took a shuttle bus back to the room so they could quickly pack everything up and take it conveniently to a room in a different building. :) What troopers! 

While they were busy taking care of that, Renee and I made it down the mountain and rode back up to come down again. Then we tried to meet up with the others we knew were still around somewhere. That proved to be a bit difficult and when we did actually meet up with Lizzie and Pete, they wanted to go snowboarding again. I was plenty tired from not sleeping well that night and from the snowboarding I’d already done, plus I was starving. So I offered to wait in Lotteria while they went down for another few runs. I knew I was tired but I didn’t realize just how tired I was until I sat down and waited for my friends after what seemed like an eternity. I actually almost fell asleep in the busy and noisy fast food shop. :o

When I met up with the others about an hour later, we headed towards the shuttle buses and made it to our new room. This place was a bit smaller than our last room, and double the price because it was on the weekend (and a holiday). It still had two bedrooms, one of which had a bed but the other was very small. Still, it worked out well for those who were not finished playing in the snow because this building was practically connected to one of the slopes. You literally had to walk out back five steps and you were ready to go down the mountain!

When we got back to the room and took all of our cold weather clothes off, we ate and lounged around the TV for a while. Then we started drinking. Some had beer, some had soju, and some had wine. I had Kahlua and Pepsi.  We played all of our regular drinking games with cards and when we ran out, some people made a run and brought back small cups to play flip cup on the edge of the coffee table.

Dan and Seth went out for skiing from 10:30 till 12:30. By the time they got back, EVERYONE was in bed asleep or about to be sleeping. It was pretty surprising and funny at the same time! However, they figured they should get in bed too since they and a few others were planning on waking up around 6am again for the dawn and morning ski sessions.

Sure enough, they woke up, a bit sleepier than the morning before, along with Rob, Yonodan, and Renee. They made it out a bit later but they still got in lots of great runs. It wasn’t snowing anymore, and the skies were crystal clear making for exceptional fun. All weekend they were recording with Dan’s video camera and Seth’s Go Pro camera. I spent a good majority of my Monday night and Tuesday morning (ok.. afternoon) pulling snapshots out of those videos and I compiled a 200 photo album of the excitement onto Facebook.

While that half of our group was off on the slopes, the rest of us were slowly waking up, cleaning up and then checking out. Last time we were in Muju, Pete’s car needed to be jumped twice and what’s a trip without car trouble? Surprisingly, it was not Pete’s car that had trouble, but Lizzie’s. When she put the key in the ignition, it would not turn at all, so after we tried several things, we had the receptionists help call her insurance company. Shortly after, a man came out in a bright pink truck to assist us. After fiddling with the car for a few minutes, he turned to Lizzie and said, “No.” We had no idea what he meant. At first Lizzie thought he was saying he couldn’t help us and was just going to leave, but it turns out he was saying that he’d have to call another, bigger truck out to tow her small car to the nearby shop. Pete and Lizzie drove off with the mechanics while Gio, Amanda and I waited in the downstairs lobby, with a great view of the slope.

Less than fifteen minutes later, Pete returned and informed us of the situation. Yes, we had all looked like huge incompetent idiots, but that’s nothing new in a country where we can hardly communicate with the locals, but more importantly, Lizzie’s car was fine. Apparently, when driven into the shop, the man there took the keys and started it right up with no problems, so we are not really sure what was wrong. We just know we didn’t have any more trouble with it afterwards. 

Once we got back to Gwangyang, Dan and I took our stuff home and laid around for a while until we met up with the others for pizza at Mr. Pizza. We were all hoping to eat hajeongook, but it was closed, which I had expected, seeing how all of the Korean restaurants were closed as Dan and I walked back. Plus I remembered how they usually are off during their national holidays, like Chuseok.

Dan had Monday off, so we spent that together and when he left that evening, I began working on this blog entry as well as pulling pictures from the videos. You can see some below:

L to R Gio, Crystal, Yonodan, Rob, Lizzie

Seth, Dan, Rob, Yonodan, Renee

I love when Dan takes video's where you can see us both like this, such a cool effect!

Rob looks AWESOME!!

Dan and Yonodan on a ski lift

Dan making it look easy!

Taken from Dan's video camera, no one we know but a gorgeous view!

In short, it was a very entertaining way to celebrate this important Korean holiday. I haven’t spent a lot of quality time with the people who were on this trip so it was great to see their faces and meet a few others. It was a fun group of people and I’m definitely glad I was a part of it!

Until next time, stay warm and happy!

The End of the Holiday Season

Getting back to school was great. I missed the kids and I was ready to see them again. Of course, the two weeks off were also great, even though I didn’t leave the country and I spent most of my time off in Gwangyang, where I live. It's just that I was really itching to get back in the classroom with my students. I was in such a hyper, happy mood especially those first few days back!

Monday night, a huge group of us went out for hajeongook, the delicious pig spine soup. It was a great way to welcome everyone back who was gone on vacation. The rest of the week, Dan and I mostly stayed in because I had to work and I get really cranky when I don’t sleep enough. :) Friday night was a fun night out.  We met at the Korean BBQ place we all love so much and then went to String afterwards. It was Rock’s birthday so there was a good crowd there. All of the regulars and a few out-of-towners were there too. 

On Saturday, Dan and I woke up around 11am, got ready and then took a bus to Daegu. He had to sign back in on post, as it was his last day on vacation. We raced around the city, going to the base he needed to sign in on and to the one he lives on. We also went to the PX where we randomly ran into a girl I went to high school with! I knew she was in the Army and she got in touch with me on Facebook when she got to Korea and realized I live here too. Such a small world! We were at the PX to buy a few things friends wanted as well as a few things for me. One of the things Dan picked up was a Go Pro camera for Seth. There will be more on that later. There wasn’t time to get fish and chips, which was a huge bummer, but as long as I get them a time or two more before he leaves, I’ll be more than happy. :) Plus, the PX has a Taco Bell and a Subway, so I ordered both to go. Yay for cheap, delicious fast food!!

We took a bus back to Gwangyang that night and went straight to the same Korean BBQ we were at the night before because Dan was hungry- he did not order delicious fast food as I did. It was pretty funny when we walked in because we saw Lizzie and Fritz sitting there. They were finished eating, but we sat with them anyway and ordered more food. Then we took our bags back to my room and met up with them and others at Fish and Grill. Fish and Grill, I think I’ve mentioned before, is a bar/restaurant with soju cocktails. They bring out pitchers of a fruity, slushy, juice drink that already has a bit of soju in it and we order an extra bottle of it to add in each pitcher. They come in lots of fruit flavors and they are quite delicious. 

Sunday was supposed to be a lazy day, and was until about 5pm. At that time, Seth came to tell us that a group of people were going out to play screen golf. Dan had never been and wanted to try it out. I’ve gone before and was rubbish, but I went to hang out. We were there from about 7 till 10 and then we went to Club Davey to make plans for this weekend; more on that later too. 

Monday was a regular school day. Dan was STILL here, which was great, but it made teaching a bit more annoying because I would have rather been at back home with him, still, it made going home great. Plus, my kids make teaching so worth it. For instance, Monday morning, I taught the 6 year old Kindergarteners two classes in a row, so we used that time to type up their presentation speeches which they will recite in front of parents, as a sort of recruitment tool to get more students at the end of February. This presentation, of course, is in English and my little 6 year olds were busy typing away for over an hour IN ENGLISH!! Mind you, they weren’t doing it very well, because they still haven’t learned how to type in Korean, and they really have no idea where the keys are. Still, this is only their second time, and they are already doing pretty well!

Tuesday was an exceptionally great day at school. Ivy told Kate and me the day before that we would be going to Gwnagyang Eup- the city next to ours- the following morning to go ice skating with our 9 kindergarten students. Since Dan was still here, I asked her if it was okay if he came with us. She said it was fine and Kate had the same idea so Tuesday morning, Kate and I walked to school with Dan and Seth. Dan was excited because he had never gone before and there was a “trip” to go near Christmas that fell through.

We got to school and the kids went crazy over my wolf hat/scarf/mittens combo as well as over the new people we brought. Some of the kids had seen Dan before, but it was still exciting for them to see another waygook (foreigner) so closely. Kate and I rode with Ivy and the kids while the boys rode with Big Mama, our boss (no we did not give her that name) and Brian. When we got to the ice rink, the guys were already there in light pink skates and Dan even wore a matching helmet. It was quite a site, but it got better. 

Seth brought along the Go Pro camera Dan picked up for him and he took lots of fun footage of our Kindergartners trying to learn how to skate. Both Seth and Dan were very helpful with the kids, taking them around the rink and being great sports about everything. Because of this, the school paid for their rental tickets and Big Mama left her car for us and Brian to take back to i-Sponge when we were ready! We went to leave a few minutes after the kids left, but then Seth decided to ask if we could use the go karts they had set up just in front of the skating rink. After we paid, we hopped in go karts, which of course, was also filmed. It was pretty fun. While Seth filmed, we took turns shouting “GO PRO!” into the camera and Dan had fun pretending to be The Stig (Top Gear reference). 

That night, Dan took a bus back to Daegu. He has three days of easing back into Army life before coming back down to Gwangyang Friday night!

This weekend is Lunar New Year, and since most Koreans spend this time with their families, much like Chuseok, we were told the slopes would be pretty empty. With that in mind, we decided to take a trip up to Seoul and head to Yongpyong, where the 2018 Winter Olympics are set to be held. Because of the holiday, we get Monday and Tuesday off, so we figured it was well worth the trip north. Unfortunately, we received misinformation. Maybe that’s true for the actual holiday days of Monday and Tuesday, but EVERYWHERE was booked up. We thought we were safe trying to make reservations just a week in advance but we were sadly mistaken. We even tried having some Korean friends ask for us. :( 

The new plan is to drive up to Muju EARLY Saturday morning and hit the slopes there all day Saturday till Sunday afternoon then come back to Gwangyang. We will have two or three cars full of people so it should make for an interesting trip! Plus, Dan will have my new camera by then so I’ll get to play with that! As for Yongpyong, it was a huge bummer to us all, but maybe we will be able to squeeze it in one weekend. Since we’re getting back on Sunday, there should be time to unwind and relax before going back to work on Wednesday. 

Of course, I’ll let you all know how that trip goes! I'll also have my new camera so prepare yourself for far too many pictures!! :D Until then, stay warm!

Why, Hello 2012, I didn't see you there!

Since Christmas, life has been mostly tame. Dan and I spent the week after being SUPER lazy. The only productive thing we did was cook better dinners for ourselves and go to HomePlus to buy a shelf to put next to my bed. Besides that we really just hung out with Walter at Lizzie and Iain’s, while they were away, and watched way too many movies and TV shows.

I learned about this awesome website called Pinterest from my cousin, Jade, a few weeks ago and that also ate up a lot of my time these past two weeks. I’ve already spent HOURS on it! It’s amazing! It’s like virtual inspiration boards you can make on anything, recipes you want to make or try, clothes you like, wedding ideas, gift ideas, crafts and do-it-yourself projects, ways to stay organized, teacher resources, books, TV shows and movies you want to watch, products you love or want to try, etc, etc.  I made Dan look through all of things I pinned so far and he refuses to really get into it. He says it’s a girl’s website and I can’t say I totally disagree with him. Still, I think it’s a great way to share fun ideas with people you know and with strangers. I think it is replacing Facebook for me. I used to spend uncountable amounts of time on Facebook and more and more of that time is being devoted to Pinterest. It’s definitely worth checking out!  

But enough about that.

On New Year’s Eve, Dan and I went out to eat with Seth, Pete and Fatemeh to a fun chicken restaurant called HooLaLa’s. They had yummy fried chicken and these delicious plates with all different types of French fries! We got two of those. :) After dinner, we went to a GS25 (convenience shop) and each bought a beverage to drink while we walked to String. Seth and Fatemeh hopped in a taxi when we had already walked ¾ of the way there. They missed out too because even though they beat us by a few minutes, Pete, Dan and I saw a bright, breathtaking shooting star! We were all in awe and it was a great scene to see that night.  

When we finally got to String, it was about 11pm. It was pretty crowded, but mostly with Koreans. We found this to be surprising since it’s our foreigner bar. There wasn’t anywhere to sit, so we all just chilled behind the bar like cool people. Jeff and a few others took turns playing guitar and singing solo. Then Rock and his band played some songs to ring in the New Year. As midnight drew nearer, we foreigners were trying to figure out how to have a countdown, so we just brought up the time on Rock’s desktop and counted down to that time. Not totally accurate, but it worked nonetheless!

Rock, rockin' out... ha ha ha

At midnight, we all shouted a loud, “Happy New Year!” which happened to be in the middle of one of their songs, and we hugged and kissed, as is our tradition. It was a fun night. Rob and Renee were out, along with the group we came with and Kate and Matthias. Most people were still out of town on vacation or back home but we still had fun!

Dan and I at String on NYE, copied Kandee Johnson's NARS Smokey Green Eyes look: http://youtu.be/82SJd7nR0AI?hd=1

New Year’s Day was a very lazy one for Dan and I. We packed to head up North the next day, but that was about it. On Monday, we took a bus to Dong Seoul and then another to Bears Town, which is a resort in the suburbs outside of Seoul. It was much less busy than Muju which was great. We originally planned to stay until Wednesday afternoon but ended up staying until Thursday instead. We took a few pictures and videos of where we were staying and of each other, but Dan accidentally lost my camera somewhere on the slopes or off the ski lift. No more pretty blue Olympus for me. :( But that’s okay. I’m getting a Fujifilm S3200 in exchange and although it isn’t as tough or pretty as my old one, it should take much better pictures, not that I was complaining about the picture quality before.

Old camera :)

New camera! :D

When we got back to Gwangyang Thursday night, we did laundry and packed food right away. We also went to visit Lizzie and Iain who were back from the UK. I’ve been learning to play cribbage, a card game, and I finally beat someone! Haha Friday afternoon, Pete and Seth came over to meet with us and head up to Muju. We stayed in the love motel attached to Muju Ski School, the shop we rent things from.  Friday night, Dan and Seth hit the slopes while Pete and I stayed in. We left only once, to get some dinner and beer. The boys took Pete’s car over to the mountain and didn’t realize that the light by the rear door was left on. This would present later problems that night/morning.

WARNING: If you drive your own car in Korea, beware that if your car needs jumping, you better have your own jumper cables, because NO Korean has them.

This is what Dan and Seth discovered between midnight and 2am on Saturday. When they got back to the car to head back to us that night, they discovered that the car’s battery was dead. They called the ski school to get the English speaking guy, Lee, to call them a tow truck that could jump the car for them. This ended up costing them a few hours of their time as they went back and forth between waiting for the tow truck and calling to make sure someone was actually coming to help them. They made it back around 2am and then we all slept in the sweltering heat of the floor beds because we couldn’t figure out how to turn off the heat (Korea uses floor heating).

The next day, we had to check out because we didn’t think it would be busy enough to need reservations and apparently the place we stayed at that night along with EVERY OTHER motel in the area was booked. So Saturday morning, we rented our stuff, had the car jumped again (much faster this time around when the Korean helping us could tell with certainty exactly where we were parked), and made our way back to the mountain.

We went to eat at Lotteria, a burger place, and saw Ivy and Sherly! We also saw them on the ski lift and at the rental shop when we were returning our stuff before heading home.

Seth wanted to try out snowboarding, which he had never done before, so we stuck together all day, until I decided to sit and wait for the boys to finish. Seth picked it up right away, which was pretty disgruntling for Pete and me. Dan just bobbed back and forth between us taking pictures and videos of us and trying to have fun while going slow. Haha I managed to stay standing almost the whole time, but I went really slow because now that I know I have balance, I’m scared to try going sideways because that builds speed and I’m sure I’d fall a lot more going that way. Lol

Here are some pictures from the day:

See me behind Dan!? :)

Seth snowboarding for the first time EVER... not fair haha

Seth and Pete



Dan's shadow.. I thought this was pretty cool :)

 Since we had nowhere to stay that night, we came back to Gwangyang, unloaded our stuff from Pete’s car and then ate dinner at our favorite Korean BBQ place. Afterwards, Dan and I came back, watched Independence Day and called it a night.

Today was a day of cleaning, reorganizing and enjoying my last day of vacation. Tomorrow morning, Kate and I will be back at iSponge, which I must say, I’m excited about. Don’t get me wrong, being off of work made for a nice break, but I miss my kids!! Dan is here for another week, so that’s exciting too! Kate’s back from the Philippines and so I’m sure we’ll be having more fun nights soon!  

Christmas in Korea

This weekend was great. We had our Gwangyang Secret Santa gift exchange on Thursday night, which was a blast, Dan and I went back to Muju with a few friends for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and then I spent Christmas Day with Dan, making yummy food and Skyping with the family!

Now let’s back track, so I can really fill you in.

Like last year, we had a Secret Santa gift exchange. A few weeks ago, we all went to dinner and then to String, where we drew names. It was supposed to be a secret, but a few people traded, others forgot who they had, and still others just hinted at who they had, like Pete. Oh well! So much for the surprise! :) Pete drew my name and so he asked me to go shopping with him because even though we have been friends for about a year and a half, he had no idea what to get me, so that is how the two of us spent last Monday night. Although I gave him crap for not being able to think of anything to get me, I must say it was nice to pick out my present, because those who know Pete know he likes some pretty weird things. Haha It also made Thursday night that much more exciting because I couldn’t wait to actually be given my AWESOME Wolf hat/scarf/mittens combo.

On Thursday some of us went out for Hajeongook, which, if I haven’t mentioned it before, is soooo delicious. It’s a Korean soup dish, known as hangover soup, served in a ceramic hot pot. The broth is delicious, and there are lots of veggies, like onions, cabbage, and garlic, several spices and best of all, lots of pork, still on the bone. It reminds me of home, because it is sort of like stew, and it’s one of very few Korean dishes that isn’t spicy, at least it isn’t at the restaurant we always go to get it at.   

After dinner, we all went to String and played a massive game of Apples to Apples. I think there were about 15 of us playing. After we got bored of this, we decided it was time to pass out presents. Rob gave his gift first and so it went from there until everyone had given and opened their present one at a time. Last year, we all just gave and opened gifts at once, so I liked taking the time to let each person see what they got before moving on. I think it made everything more meaningful, and also funny, depending on who got what.

I took some pictures of that and you can see a few below.

PRESENTS!!!

Kate with her "night vision" light up sunglasses! haha

BEST hat/scarf/mittens EVER!! :D

Ugly.. I mean Christmas Sweater buddies! haha

After the presents were all passed out and opened, we drank and talked and laughed for a while more before Dan and I went home.

Kate and I did not have to work at our usual time on Friday because our school was having a garage sale that evening. At least that’s what they called it. All the kids were told about the “party” a few weeks in advance. They were asked to bring in things they no longer wanted. Then they were given pretend money based on how many stickers they received since last Christmas. They could then use that “money” to buy toys, clothes, books and games from one of the classrooms upstairs, or they could stay downstairs and “pay” to get their face or hand painted or buy some food.

For the Halloween party, Kate and I were on face painting duty, which was a lot of fun. We aren’t sure why, whether we were being punished for Kate’s crappy job on Halloween (Kidding!) or some of the Koreans just wanted to paint because they thought it was fun, or easy. All we know is we did not get to paint like last time. We were put at the kimbop (Korean sushi, sort of) making station and it was tough. We made it for two hours straight and there were several times, especially during the first hour, where kids and their parents had to wait because soooo many people wanted our glorious kimbop!! Haha We made it fun though.

Friday night, Kate, Lizzie, and Iain all needed to get to Suncheon to take the midnight bus to Incheon Airport so we all just chilled at Club Davey (Lizzie and Iain’s apartment) even after Pete left to drive them to Suncheon.  I learned how to play Risk on the Xbox. Weird. Haha. Luckily, I already knew the game setup thanks to a game my younger brothers showed me online called World Wars 2, which I have spent way too much time playing. In fact, I couldn’t remember the name of the game, so I just had to Google Addicting Games’ website to find, and then of course, play the game! Haha

Saturday, Christmas Eve, Dan and I left bright and early, about 7am, in Lizzie and Iain’s car (THANKS AGAIN SOOO MUCH, YOU GUYS!!!) to Muju with Seth, and Julia. We made it up to Muju relatively easily, Thanks to Pete’s GPS,  although Julia and I held onto each other a bit in the back seat! Haha We arrived at Muju Ski School, the name of the rental shop and motel we were staying at. It was too early to check in so we just changed there and left everything else in the car. Then some of the workers dropped us off near the Mansun-base with our gear and we headed towards the ski lift and up our first mountain.

Now, last time I was in Muju, I only made it through one run because my first one took me so long and I didn’t want to make the others wait, so I just sat alone for a while like a creep. :) This time, I was determined to do better than that, but first, I wanted to help Julia, who had never been snowboarding. So when we first got off the ski lift, I dragged my board to the side bank and worked with her on balancing and doing the pendulum motion I struggled with at first. Seth and Dan were busy skiing and snowboarding but they did stop from time to time to give her pointers. After about a half hour or so with Julia, I was itching to get on a board myself and see if I forget everything Dan had taught me last time, or if I could improve. This board had my legs set much farther apart than the one I first learned on, which made it a lot easier to push my body in whatever direction I wanted to go in, but it did a number on my knees.  

I was WAYYYYYY better this time around. I got up on my own almost every single time and I wiped out and fell A LOT less often.  Dan took some videos of me on his camcorder and they are both below, just because I was so stinking proud of myself for doing so much better and having a great attitude about it this time around. :)

Watch me go!! Haha As you see some pro whizz by me... :o

That's really me!! :D

Shortly after my epic first run of the day, a piece of the binding on my board snapped off when Dan was tightening the board to my leg, at least I think that's what it was.. haha This meant (1) I would have to keep the board on until I was finished boarding, or (2) I’d have to call the rental shop and have someone bring me a new board. I have to give a HUGE shout out to Ivy, my co-teacher who brought Dan and me up to Muju last time. I called her at least 8 times Saturday morning first trying to figure out what the shop workers were asking when we first got to the ski school and where I was supposed to meet the guy bringing me a new board. It was an adventure, to say the least, and I was a bit cranky and discouraged by the time I finally got a second board. Let’s just say, there was quite a bit of miscommunication between Ivy, the guy trying to reach me and myself. Anyway, once I got the second board, I was ready to get back out there.

This board was a lot more like the one I used my first time out. The board itself was longer, but my legs were closer together. This one was definitely harder to adjust to using. I found I could keep myself moving more easily on this board, and I could move in more of a surfing motion than a pendulum motion, but this really freaked me out because I was going a lot faster and my body was balancing from side to side instead of forwards and backwards. Plus, I was on my own for this entire run, except at the very beginning, so I got a lot more discouraged, especially when I fell a few times while on the last big hill that was icy and REALLY hard to stand up on. Haha UUUUUGGHHHH!! I was sooo cranky when I got stuck there and I took it all out on Dan. Sorry :( Good thing he’s a good sport! ;) 

 Group shot, before we started for the day

Santa and Julia sitting in the snow.. on purpose.. ha ha ha

After this run, all four of us met up and took another half hour trying to get ahold of the guys in the van to take us back to the ski school. We were having the same miscommunication problems as I did a bit earlier in the day.

After we finally made it back, we got our stuff from the car and checked in to our rooms for the night. Then we went to a BBQ place to get some fried chicken and French fries. After that, we spent the next several hours in our respective rooms napping, showering and watching amazing, I mean terrible, TV. Dan and Seth wanted to go out for midnight skiing so Julia and I hung out in one room and snacked while we watched a CREEPY movie called The Others; I do not recommend it! We ended up passing out pretty early. The guys got back after 2am and then we all just crashed for the night.

You can't really read it, but it says, "BBQ Best Believable Quality"

When we woke up, we headed back to Gwangyang. I went to my place to clean up and get settled. When Dan came back a bit later, we decided to have a Chrismasesque dinner. We made chicken, cut that up and then added it, peas and gravy to stuffing to bake. It was really yummy and the closest thing we were going to get to a real Christmas dinner! While we ate, we watched Elf because I was in a Christmasy mood and we still had some time to kill before Dad and the kids we ready to Skype!

Of course, not everyone was awake right away, first it was just Dad, Michael and Abbie, but the others got up quickly, because if there is ever an easy morning to get up, it is Christmas morning! We Skyped for over two hours! It was so great to see all of my brothers and sisters and chat with Mom and Dad while they drank coffee, opened presents and laughed with/at me. I told Dan I wanted him to Skype with us. Since we were originally supposed to be going home to meet each other’s family, this was the next best thing. He was a great sport about it and he got over the initial awkwardness pretty quickly.

I also woke up at 6am for a quick twenty minute Skype session with my Dad’s family who stopped by the house later that day (home time). I got to chat with my Grandma, Uncle Don, Aunt Karen, and Samantha too!

I have officially lived in Korea for over a year now and I can now say that I’ve spent a Christmas away from home (last Christmas I went home). I must say that this Christmas was pretty great. I was still able to feel like part of my family and take part in all of the fun we have on Christmas day back home. I am incredibly thankful for my family and friends, both here in Korea and at home, who made this Christmas such a good one. I am very lucky girl to have the things I have and the experiences I have and I am so in love with my life!

This week Dan and I are both on vacation and we are taking lazy to a whole new level. We are both looking forward to this weekend, and ringing in the New Year with some of our friends! :) Then next week, we’ll be going up to Seoul to snowboard again!


I hope you all had a great Christmas, and I'll be back in 2012!!! :D

First Time Snowboarding!!

As I said we’d be doing in my last message, Dan and I went snowboarding this past weekend in Muju. I had mentioned to my co-teacher, Ivy, that Dan liked to snowboard and that he would be making me go soon. I asked her a few questions about it earlier this week and then she invited us to go with her, and her niece. We met her husband up there. She picked Dan and me up in front of my apartment building at 6:30am Saturday morning. Fortunately I was in a good mood, and not cranky like I usually am early in the morning. Haha 

She drove as the rest of us napped.  As it got brighter outside, I woke up and looked out the windows. It was snowing- in Korea! This is still amazing to me because I’ve only seen it snow here three other times, once on a mid-December day, very faintly, again on my trip up to Seoul and then coming back to Gwangyang after going home last Christmas. Anyway, this was REAL snow that was actually sticking to the ground and everything! Dan’s and my faces were lit up with joy.  Me, because it was weird seeing it, him...well just because he is weird. :P

As we got closer, it started to look like a country town, and then all of sudden it looked just like all the pictures and movies I’ve seen of “ski” towns. The road was completely cluttered with places to rent and buy gear to ski and snowboard, restaurants, and places to stay the night.

We stopped at a shop to rent gear. Dan was fully prepared and I only needed a board, goggles and padding. All of us already had pants and coats so it only took about 15 minutes here. It was fun seeing Korean girls pick out coats, pants and hats to wear as well as seeing so many of the guys in crazy outfits that I did not know were snowboarding attire. Only in Korea.

We continued on our way; both Ivy and Dan were making little squealing noises in anticipation and excitement! It was adorable and put me slightly at ease.  Then we parked, got our gear and went to change. The dressing rooms were in a building attached to the bathrooms, but you had to go outside to get into the bathroom. It was very warm in there. We took another 20 minutes or so to suit up and make our way to the ski lift. Of the two slopes in the area we were, only one was open by the time we were getting ready to start. Ivy and Dan said it was crowded but I didn’t know the difference and it looked pretty empty to me. As we got closer, Dan stopped and tried to show me a few things to do once I was on the board but then decided it would be easier to just get up there and try.  

Ready for my first ever run!

This is when I started to get nervous. I made him leave me and go for a run without me so I knew he would get some actual snowboarding in and so I could have time to freak out by myself. Haha Those of you who know me know I’m not athletic at all and I haven’t tried a new sport in a very long time so I was kinda freaking out. It only took Dan about 20 minutes to go through the line, get up the mountain on the ski lift and then down the mountain back to me.  He sat with me for a few minutes and then we got in line.

Oh My Gosh!!

I was sooo nervous! Haha Even getting on the ski lift seemed challenging because you have to go on this conveyor belt first and then sit down quickly and hold on to your board, because I clearly did not have that attached to my feet yet. Going up the mountain was nerve racking because it was so cold and I didn’t think we were going up nearly as far as it looked from the bottom. I wasn’t nervous about the height off of the ground we were but farther the distance I was about to go down because I knew it was going to take me FOREVER!! Once we got off the mountain, Dan led me to the left side. I learned that both sides of the mountain are for training. He helped me put my board on and then he put his on. This was before he realized how long this whole learning process was going to take me. :)

He quickly realized that he was going to need to be on his feet to help me get up on mine. So, he unhooked himself from his board, put it off to the side, walked towards me and helped me up to my feet, because I was completely unable to get up on my own at this point. We spent the next half hour or so trying to get me to make pendulum motions down the side of the mountain. This was a very slow process with a lot of cursing and falling but also with a lot of laughing and jokes. Because I was working SO hard, I was nice and toasty warm.  

 One of many falls

After making it down the first slope, I was starting to feel pretty good about it all. Dan was VERY patient with me and encouraging which was exactly what I needed. About halfway down the second slope I was getting a bit discouraged again and needed a break, but I knew Dan was antsy to finally be on his board again so I made him leave me AGAIN to go down the rest of the way and then meet me back there. This took another 20 or so minutes and it gave me a chance to think about the experience thus far and I decided here, all alone sitting in the snow, that I liked it. I was having fun and it wasn’t a cold as I thought it would be!  

Standing :)

When Dan met up with me again, I got up and got going quickly and we made it down to the flat part of the mountain. We took off our boards (read: he helped me with mine) and walked to the right side. Once he helped me put my board back on, he walked down the mountain as I rode down. He loved that I was going faster than him, not falling or anything. I did fall pretty badly one time on this part. It KILLED my knees, but I was determined to finish my first ever run standing, so I got back up and didn’t fall again! :)

Yes, that's really me!

After finally making it down once, this took about an hour and a half, we met up with Ivy and the others for some fried chicken. Then they all left me to go back out. I was happy with my one run and there was only another hour and a half before they closed both slopes for a while so I decided to sit and wait while the others went boarding. This way no one had to worry about me, and I didn’t have to rush. Haha 

 Dan and I about to leave Muju after a successful day!

Check out this video of me trying to snowboard! It's pretty entertaining!

Dan and I were originally going to stay the night but I decided I wanted to be back home, especially knowing how sore I was going to be in the morning. I REALLY did not want to sit on a bus for a few hours and then walk to my place the next day. So, we headed home with Ivy, her husband and niece, got home around 7:30, watched Dumb and Dumber and PASSED OUT!! Aren’t we wild?!

All in all, it was a great experience. I got hurt, but I had expected that and it was totally worth it. My “injuries” were ones that could have been avoided. So I’m looking forward to going again, staying the night and making a whole show of it. We are trying to set up a group trip with some friends, but that has proved tough to coordinate with everyone about to go their separate ways on vacations, so hopefully that works out in the next few months. Either way, Dan wants to take me up to Seoul to a place he knows, so that should be fun! Yay!! :)

"Cooking" Kimchi!

So today’s topic: kimchi. For those of you not familiar with Korea and Korean culture, let me introduce you to what is likely the most popular food in the country.

Kimchi is a food made in huge batches through a long, arduous process. You can buy kimchi from a supermarket, a street vendor, or at a restaurant but many people choose to make the spicy side dish themselves.

There are literally hundreds of recipes for kimchi, but the typical one includes a vegetable, lots of water and a variety of spices. Napa cabbage is by far the most popular vegetable used in the dish, but I’ve seen green onions, radishes and cucumbers too. The spices included and the amounts of each vary by recipe but most recipes require: salt, Korean chili powder (which is finely ground, not flakey), green onions, brown onions, garlic, fish sauce, sugar, ginger, sticky rice starch and white radish.

I am going to explain briefly how to make it, but let it be known that I have never made kimchi from beginning to end, and I am certainly not pretending to know all about it. I just wanted to give an overview of the process as I see it since I’ve been here over a year, LOVE the food and recently “helped” the staff at my school make a large batch. If you want to know how to make it yourself, it is very easy to do a quick Goggle search and find a recipe with detailed instructions.  

From what I’ve seen of ajummas (Korean word meaning older women) making kimchi, I know it takes A LOT of effort. You start by washing off the cabbage, or whatever vegetable you are going to use, and then soaking it in huge tubs of water and salt. This helps take the crunchiness out of the cabbage and makes it ready to ferment. I’m not sure how long to leave the cabbage sitting, but it’s at least overnight. Meanwhile, you combine the other ingredients and make a sort of paste out of them.

Once your cabbage is nice and limp, you can rinse it, wring out the water, and then coat each leaf with the spicy paste. You truly cannot be too generous with the paste; seriously- the more, the better.  Once this is done, you roll up the messy cabbage and place it into dark plastic containers with a lid to let the fermenting process occur. This takes at least a few days and then you can put your kimchi into a type of storage container, like a giant kimchi fridge. Yes, that is exactly what it sounds like, a fridge containing nothing but kimchi. Many Koreans have these in their homes and they are also a staple in restaurants. These exist as a way to keep kimchi fresh and away from other refrigerated foods so that the kimchi smell does not cling to them.

Kimchi Fridge at my school

As I said above, I am no kimchi expert, but I have witnessed kimchi being made, at random times, in various stages.  Last week, my school decided to whip up a giant batch of the staple delicacy right at school. They took a “field trip” to a garden somewhere nearby to pick cabbage. Then they brought it back to school and had the kids bring it outside to be rinsed off and soaked in tubs outside. The kids thought it was the most exciting thing ever, naturally.  A few days later, last Wednesday, we were all called into the cooking room during some morning classes. All the kids put on their art shirts, to stay clean, and adult size plastic gloves were taped around their wrists. They were each given a tray with some cabbage and sauce to smear it on.  This is the only part of the process I’ve actually helped with, and it was only on two small bundles of cabbage.  Still it was fun, and another experience! Check out a few more pictures from that day below.

Sally, and some other students preparing to make kimchi!

Kate and I

Ready for storage!

As always, thank you for reading! I’m going snowboarding this weekend for the first time EVER so I’ll be sure to get lots of pictures to keep it interesting!

Lizzie's Birthday and a Special Thanksgiving!

Hey Everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, or weekend, if you’re not American! Haha My weekend was pretty great! Dan came down with loads of delicious food, including a turkey and egg nog!! He’s the best :) I’ll get more into that later but first let’s talk about Lizzie!!

Her birthday was on Friday and so naturally, we partied with her at String. Unfortunately, Dan and I cut out pretty early because I had been coming down with a cold and I was starting to lose my voice. Still, the 4 or 5 hours I was out were great! First, Dan, Pete, and I went to dinner at our favorite Korean BBQ restaurant. This was around 7. After getting sufficiently stuffed, Pete thought of decorating String for Lizzie’s birthday. As you can see from the pictures below, it turned out to be a marvelous idea! Haha

Aren't they cute? Haha

We spent the car ride from HomePlus to String blowing up balloons. I don’t know how we didn’t die! There were balloons flying all over the car! Then we spent about an hour preparing String and then waiting for others to arrive. When we got there, only Rock was there. He helped us decorate.  He also spent a lot of time laughing at us; we were all in a funny mood and had way too much fun decorating. We found some thunder-sticks, those plastic blow-up noisemakers, at HomePlus and bought two pairs. Every time someone came in, Dan and Pete would hit those and we’d all shout “Happy Birthday!” to whomever came in.. Once Lizzie finally came in, we gave her a nice big greeting and started the real fun! We had music going, drinks, card games, drinking games, etc, etc. Lots of Gwangyangers and Suncheoners were all out, new and old alike, to celebrate Lizzie’s Day.

Lizzie is the one in the gray hoodie (jumper) with her

back to the camera. They are playing Flip Cup :)

The next morning, Dan headed over to Lizzie and Iain’s aka Club Davey, to start preparing for the feast we had planned for that evening. While he headed over there, I finished getting ready and then ran over to HomePlus(HP) to get some last minute food items we needed. From there, I went straight over to Club Davey and it already smelled so scrumptious inside! Dan had the turkey cooking in a small oven and he was working on corn, mashed potatoes and stuffing while Iain, Pete, and Lizzie played video games. I’d brought some baguette bread that everyone devoured waiting for the meal to be ready. Lizzie and Iain left to play screen golf for her birthday, and while they were gone, Trey, Yonadan, and Fritz came by with cheesecake, drinks, more bread and broccoli. Trey had some cheese so I quickly steamed the broccoli and we melted the cheese on top of that. We hadn’t really thought about dished and cutlery so we ended up having 4 people with plates and the rest ate out of plastic black bowls that come in the freezer section of HP with some prawn soup. Filled with Thanksgiving foods, the bowls reminded me a lot like the meal-in-a-bowl you get from KFC. Lizzie has loads of them which worked out quite well. Also, it was easier for a few people to just prepare dishes and then serve them to the group, so Dan and I made up plates (or bowls) for everyone and handed them out. Luckily, we had JUST enough forks.

 Our own "Thanksgiving" ~ 4 Americans, 2 Brits, an Aussie and a Kiwi

(not counting Ki Nam and Ray who came later)

It was a GLORIOUS feast! We had turkey with soft warm carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn (that was supposed to be creamed… lol Dan), stuffing, bread for dipping, and broccoli with melted cheddar cheese. While we ate, we were watching some show on the Discovery Channel about people’s homes who were haunted. The story was rubbish, yes I just used that word in a sentence, but it was quite entertaining because Iain wanted to flip channels, as he thought it was too scary! After dinner, Lizzie cleaned up, Trey and I napped and the boys started playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Later Ray and then Ki Nam showed up. For dessert we had cheesecake, which was quite good, considering how cakes go in Korea. Their taste quality is nothing like ours, although I think they are a lot cuter.  We also spent too much time playing a game much like guitar hero, but it’s for iphones. Then Dan and I played Speed, Go Fish, and War, all card games. Could someone PLEASE explain how you play War? Dan I had different ways of playing out an actual War (when you each play the same card) and when we tried to work it out with our friends, they all started talking about some other game where you slap the cards… they were no help.

All in all, it was a great weekend. As Dan and I walked back to my place, we talked about what we’re thankful for and boy do I have a lot to be thankful for?! Life is so great. I have a job I love. I’m living in South Korea, with awesome friends. I have the most incredible and supportive family whom I love so much. I’m healthy and I’m happy!  

Next weekend brings December, which means I’ll be having a busy month. I teach this whole month, but I get a two week break for the holidays at the end of the month. Plus, we’re having a Secret Santa, like we did last year, among our Gwangyang family. I didn’t blog about it last year, but I definitely will this year. Also, I know Dan really wants me to go snowboarding, so that will be happening sometime soon too, which will surely be terrifying! Yay! :) haha

Until next time, stay safe and warm!