Disney's not just for kids...

Well. I'm back from Disney. The trip was wonderful - everything went smoothly, flights, hotel, etc.  It was such a needed break from work and even Seoul. It was really only 3 days, Friday, Saturday, Sunday but unlike many vacations, it felt longer fortunately.  I had work off on Friday because of a Korean holiday called Chuseok.  It is a version of Thanksgiving.   My teachers received presents for the holiday.  I received a very very nice present (gift cards) from one of my kindergarten class as well as my boss.  I get to go shopping now! woo. I really wasn't expecting anything, especially because I still feel so new but really I have been with these kids longer than their last two teachers.  Time has really flown by here... I have been here for 3 months now.  Amazing. I am technically 1/4 done with my year here in Korea.  I feel like I just arrived.
Anyway, a bit about the experience in HK (hong kong).  We spent two "magical" days at Disneyland, riding Space Mountain 8 times, getting our pictures taken by the Chinese (secretly sometimes and not so secretive other times) and skipping (literally) around the park.  I am pretty sure we were the only Americans in the whole place. Well, we weren't the only white people there, however, all the other people had cute cute CUTE accents from England or Australia.  The first day we arrived at the hotel, got to our gorgeous room with an amazing view, and hit the park at about 4-5ISH.  We spent the rest of the night there until park close at 11. Within our first 20 minutes in Disneyland, we were asked by a mom if she could take a picture of us with her daughter. SO funny. We noticed others taking our pictures, this time without permission. We would watch their cameras following us. I really had no idea we could be that entertaining.  I guess those people are going home with more than just pictures of Mickey on their cameras. The next day (Saturday), we hit the piano shaped pool at the resort for a bit of sun bathing.  We, once again, were the entertainment of the day. The hotel we stayed at was very much a family hotel and there were us three 20some year old girls laying out in the sun in our bikinis. First, laying in the sun in Asia is not very popular.  Snow white colored skin is what is in here.  So if you know me at all, I am definitely OUT here in Asia. And I guess I say who cares to that?  Also, we were wearing bikinis amongst the moms in the one pieces and children in swim caps (also very popular in Asia). The lifeguards seem to get a kick out of us as well, as they whispered to each other on their walkie talkies.  We then had a very delicious buffet at the Mickey Restaurant.  Oh yes again entertaining to all in the restaurant. We decided it would be a good idea to wear the robes and slippers that we received from the hotel and had wore to the pool at the buffet.  I received more than one dirty look and a couple just dead stares.  I am getting much more used to these than when I first got here.  I used to be very bothered and would want to respond with WHAT are you staring at?  But I decided it's fun once in a while to be someone else's entertainment.  We then went back to the park for the afternoon (3-7ish).  Hit up Space Mountain a couple more times, the tea cups, and of course It's a Small World, which portrayed America as the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.  Yeah, there really isn't much in between those two places. We decided to check out actual Hong Kong and leave the resort for the evening.  I had heard good things about the harbor and we went to check it out.  We had an amazing Italian dinner right by the harbor and then took a taxi (which was an experience in itself) to a fun bar area with many foreigners. In Hong Kong, they drive on the other side of the road so riding in the taxi was so funny to me.  He sat on the other side of the car and we drove on the left.  It was pretty trippy. We kept passing other cars and I kept thinking to myself OH MY GOSH there is no one driving that car as the "driver's seat" in my mind was empty... then I remembered that the driver was on the other side. It took me a while to get the slightest bit used to it.  Oh and on the highway when you want to pass someone, you pass on the right.  So silly. The last day, Sunday, we enjoyed the sun once again by the pool - couldn't have asked for better weather.  Not one drop of rain. Seoul on the other hand has cooled off very much and I actually find myself cold outside at night. Jacket time!
 Dad is coming soon to Korea for business - I couldn't be more excited.  It will be SO nice to see a familiar face and show Dad a bit of my life here.  Although, I do wish he could be here longer, that Mom could be here too, and I got a couple days off work to hang out with them. 
(I had written this blog posting BEFORE the amazing twins game yesterday)
Lastly, a shoutout to my TWINS! I would LOVE to be at the dome for the last game ever especially with the situation they are in however, the kids call. oh and I sadly don't have 1,800 dollars to drop on a plane ticket. :-) I am cheering from afar and checking the scores during my breaks. Trying to stay on top of it. The game is tomorrow and I am crossing my fingers that they win.   It would be a heck of a comeback.  Though, I am a little nervous for a repeat of last year... they lost to the White Sox in a similar situation.
GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!

here are some pics to enjoy... hard to pick. I think I took 400? ah!
FIRST DAY PICS:

  Right away I had to take a picture of the currency.  Here is a Hong Kong Dollar... only the 10 dollar bill looked like this. It felt plastic-like and had a clear plastic part where you could see through. (see the backpack through the bill!?) That bill is worth about $1.20 in USDs.

Scenery from the top of the double decker bus on the way to the Disneyland Resort. Note that we are driving the other side of the road. It was hard to get used to... slow traffic moooove left. haa also note the high rise apartment buildings. They are everywhere there. Behind the apartments the landscape was gorgeous though.

View from our hotel window. Gorgeous. The weather was perfect the entire trip. :-) just how I like it, sunny and hot.

Mickey was everywhere... including my crutons in my caesar salad.

Where I spent the weekend of course... Hong Kong Disneyland. There is myself as well as a random Asian woman who wanted in my picture.  I told her I would send her a copy.  Not sure she understood me. This lovely Mickey face greets you when you enter the park. The orange part on the Mickey face is all pumpkins.

A couple of the famous landmarks of Disney... the castle which was about 5 times smaller than the real one in Orlando.  The other picture is of It's a Small World.  It was lit up at night. And Space Mountain below... another classic Disney ride.  We went on it about 8 times. We did different poses everytime for the picture they surprise you with during the ride and instead of buying it we took pictures of our picture.  They allow you to do that. So nice! Wonder how many people actually BUY their pictures.

The firework show over the castle.  It was very good and there was great Disney music accompanying it.  HK Disney is decked out for Halloween so they had a festive display set up on the castle, cobwebs and an orange tint. Also to celebrate Halloween, there was a night parade full of Halloween fun!!

Parade pictures

DAY TWO PICS:

My two co-workers who I went to HK DL with, posing in front of the castle

Had to do the classic self vacay picture! This time adding the popular Asian peace sign.  I am truly Korean now.

             

In the afternoon, there was a Disney character parade.  Here is an example of something in the parade, a Toy Story float.  Check out the army men! It was a hot day - they were wearing full pants and long sleeves as well as a face full of paint.  I couldn't handle that.  I also caught Donald and Daisy sharing a smooch.  They were cute.

We also saw a short Lion King musical.  It was really cool, the main singer had an amazing voice! I can't believe she can do 3 shows a day and still belt it out the way she was doing.  And here is the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge. AKA the entire USA according to It's a Small World. Niiiice.

Here is one of our many creative poses on Space Mountain.  I think we all decided this was our favorite, or I guess the most funny pose.  We tried many different things but I guess pretending to throw up was our fav. haha The other picture is me on the tea cups with my new favorite picture pose. PEACE.

Here are a couple pictures of actual Hong Kong, away from the resort.  We had heard that the harbor was very cool and a must see while there.  The harbor is on the right.  It is not the best picture but you can see that it was very bright with all the lights from different buildings across the bay. There was a supposed light show but I think we might have missed it.



















DAY THREE PICS: POOOOOOL!
Just a couple pics from the last day when we lounged around the pool until our flight home. The resort was surrounded by gorgeous scenery.

Hong Kong? OK!

Much to update on but due to a lack of time, which always seems to be the case here, I will only talk about a couple things. First, Mike is now here! So crazy that he is here with me in another country. It's been really fun so far to have him here and I am so happy that he seems to be enjoying it all. :-)
The most recent news, actually as of this morning, is that I will be in Hong Kong in 2 weeks!  The wonderful holiday of Chuseok (like Thanksgiving here) gives us a three day weekend. I will be heading to H K on October 2nd and returning on the 4th. and.... ready for the punch.....? we are going to be visiting and staying at HK Disneyland! 3 days spent as a child, ahh can't wait to leave the country for a bit.
http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/home/home?name=HomePage
I guess they have Space Mountain, It's a Small world, and a very nice looking castle and who could forget... the boatload of characters who roam the park.

Anyway, that is all from me for now.  Much more to say so little time.  And once again it IS report card time of the month. agh. the months are flying because I always feel like I am doing report cards. Oh work work work. I will try and post a nice long one with beautiful pictures sometime soon.

oh and YES if anyone is wondering I AM still faithfully following my MN Twins. only 2 games back, come on guys! I did get to see a baseball game here, LG Twins. but like I said more on that later. Bed time!

I decided to leave you with this tasty morsel of typical Korea.  One late late night a couple weekends ago, I walked by this store called there is no answer. OK so interesting store name BUT even more interesting is the toilets which seem to be used as some sort of display.  I mean of course, the best thing to display clothing on is a toilet.  I then found the title of the store to be very fitting. Really Korea? There really is NO answer.

Ummm yes I would like to buy that shirt there, yes yes the one sitting on the toilet, no no not on the seat of the toilet, on the tank. THANK you.

if i could stop time, it would be on a saturday

LOTS to say - I'll see if I can keep this short and sweet. ha riiiight. :-)

1. I have accomplished my lifelong goal of becoming such a frequent customer at a restaurant that I am given free gift certificates.  Elyse and I have eaten many times (I believe 3 this week) at a galbi restaurant. As I have mentioned previously, galbi is like a barbecue right at your table. It is very delicious and I promise anyone that comes to visit me will be treated to much galbi! I just got home from eating there and as I paid for dinner, the manager who must know us as the American girls, hands me 2 5,000won gift certificates and a couple other gift certificate things that I don't understand (they are all in Korean). Very exciting. Another comment to add... this galbi restaurant is very close to my apartment and there is outdoor seating, which Elyse and I love. The fresh air is nice and its fun to people watch.  However, I have noticed that more often than not, it's the people walking by doing the people watching.  People that pass us two American girls eating very typical Korean food just have to stare.  I have started thinking I should be waving, saying a hello. It is like we are celebrities here, just for the fact that we stand out in this very homogenous culture. Many times I do not enjoy the intense staring but if it's children or older people, I understand. Sometimes, it is even fun to play with them and give them the same intense stare back. So I say, come visit Korea and experience what a celebrity must feel daily. Does that make you want to come here? I hope so.
2. I have started running daily with one of my co-workers, Min.  We just started this week and have made it 4 days (Mon-Thurs).  We sort of just wonder around, checking out our neighborhood.  Oh and getting lost along the way. I like that I have added it to my routine.  I have wanted to start running here but I really did not want to do it alone. Also, the weather has finally cooled off a bit, or at least the awful humidity seems to  be gone. Today 3 other co-workers, everyone that lives in the apartment building that works at my school, ran with us! We joked that we started a running club. Most of us are not in the best shape so we end up looking like a train, all spread out, running around Seoul. haha I would love to share a picture but then again I do not bring my camera running. We look hilarious.
3. Figured I should give a couple weekend updates... pictures included.

let's see. what have I been up to??

wow. haven't updated for a while according to my pictures. Here is a quick rundown of my last 2 weekends.

Girls at noraebang... probably belting out No Scrubs :)

August 20-22: We went to a noraebang and of course had a wonderful time til the wee hours of the morning, walking home with the birds chirping and our sore throats from singing too much. Next morning, well I should say afternoon, we went to Gangnam, area of Seoul, to a delicious breakfast place called Butterfinger Pancakes. I would liken it to a Perkins but better because I am eating it in Korea. I had a veggie omelette with cheese! (cheese is very expensive here, more on that later) and seasoned potatoes and 2 pancakes. It was amazing and I plan to return.  After breakfast, we met up with a couple of my co worker's friends and went to a couple famous/popular landmarks in that area: COEX mall, the largest underground mall in Asia supposedly, and Lotte World, similar to Disney Land, with an ice rink, some small rides, a bowling alley, and arcade. I have heard of both of these places and it was fun to see them in person. That night we stayed in Gangnam and ate some galbi for dinner and checked out a couple bars - saw a bar show at one of them. The bartenders do many tricks with the bottles and with fire, oh cannot forget the insane amounts of loud music and bright lights during the show.

Breakfast at Butterfinger Pancakes! YUMMY!

Ice Skating Rink at Lotte World 

 

Bowling at Lotte World 

Next weekend: August 27-29. Interestingly enough, I had Outback Steakhouse for dinner for the first time in my ENTIRE life here in Korea.  Just a chicken salad nothing to fancy, and definitely not a steak.  I have only heard negative things about steaks here. Anyway, after a good dinner we went to a local bar that is known for its fun atmosphere. It's called ZuZu's.  They also have a bar show here too. The male bartenders put on dresses and dance around for part of it. VERRRRY interesting haha. After the show, we asked to get a picture with one of them in his dress. Cute (or cut as my students spell it - don't forget the magic e!) huh?

Next day I went to the dog cafe, which is over by a university here in Seoul so there were many younger people in this area.  BUT this dog cafe, oh gosh... what to say. It was one of the most interesting concepts.  It is just what it sounds like, a DOG cafe.  It is a cafe where you can go, with a dog or without, and get a coffee, tea, or beer while literally SURROUNDED by dogs. They can be dogs just visiting (people bring their dogs) or there are also dogs that LIVE there. Crazy idea i know. I went with my 2 coworkers who have dogs.  I really felt left out without a dog that was mine. Maybe the dog cafe is a bad idea.  Now all I can think about is what type of dog I want, what to name it, and how it would survive in my 5X5 apartment. hmm. One dog that lived there seemed to take a liking to me. I think he might have just been using me for my Oreo milkshake. That night we went to a popular hangout spot called Hongdae.  Many foreign English teachers go there on weekends. There is much to do and see. First, I was told I had to try a mixed drink in a bag at a place called Vinyl. Sort of like a Capri Sun. Very fun and it seemed to be well-liked by foreigners. The rest of the night was spent just exploring different hangouts and of course, seeing my 3rd bar show of the weekend at a place called Big Momma Pippi. Don't answer. I don't understand either. We also checked out a "cave" bar where you would relaxed in your own little cave area. Sunday wrapped up the weekend with us sitting at VIPS (a buffet restaurant) with a window spot to watch a dance/music show put on out in the courtyard below. It was extremely entertaining and I believe we stayed there for a good 2-2.5 hours. 

Bar Show at ZuZu's.  

The Girls with one of the bartenders! HA

A common sight in the Bau House aka the Dog Cafe

The dog that seemed to really like me, or my Oreo milkshake

@Vinyl in Hongdae: mixed drink in a bag. :-)

View from the buffet on Sunday

... a teenage dance performance. CHECK out that crowd!

oh stress. report cards, 80 new names, swine flu... you know the usual

Just finished up a hard week last week and another starts again... agh. Report cards being due are what made last week so stressful. I have decided that this job is not stressful really except for once a month when I have to do report cards. These report cards consist of a series of number rankings for each student as well as a short paragraph of comments about the particular student. As I have mentioned much earlier, I have many students. Let's see, I will do some quick math........ ok. In total, I have about 80-90 students. Imagine doing MONTHLY report cards for all of these children, many who I only see twice a week (in a month, I see them about 8 times). Now you might understand why this is so stressful.
The reason THIS week is a little crazy and hectic is the fact that our new semester just started on Tuesday. This means I have all new classes, 70some more names to learn. grrrreat. I kept my kindergartners and will be with them until March. I am now teaching 2 R1 classes(this means they are first graders that have lived abroad and now moved back to Korea - R= returnee), two regular 2nd grade classes, 2 fourth grade classes, and 2 fifth grades. It is hard to get all new students, especially since I was just getting to know all my other kids. The only fun thing is that I now know more students and when I am walking around the school many kids stop me just to say hi. :-) I love it.
Other stressor here in Korea is the swine flu. School is cracking down and now anyone, teachers or students, who leave the country for a vacation need to be quarantined for 7 days. This means no vacation for any of us teachers. I had been starting to plan a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland for a three day weekend we have in October. Oh well. Guess I will be exploring more of Korea. I am very excited and happy that my family is coming for Christmas.

Hello Neeeew Teeeeacha!

I made sure to take some pictures this weekend of my new haircut. I am posting a picture of the Heidi Klum because this is the photo I gave the hairdresser when I got it cut. I think it turned out pretty good... I mean come on, who can actually look like HER?

i am now a millionaire.

and that's no joke. I am now a millionaire... in Korean won!! Woo payday. I was paid on Monday for all my hard work the last month. I have now been making plans - going shopping all day Saturday, buying a cell phone, treating myself to great dinners, looking to buy a bicycle (more on this later). It has been a great week!

Tomorrow, Friday, we have a field trip - my first one at school! I am excited, I'd say almost more than the kindergartners are. :) We are going to a blow up (inflatable) play land. Looks pretty cool. If I wear socks, pants, and a long sleeve shirt, I can go down the slides too. It's supposed to be 91 degrees tomorrow. hmm.. maybe I won't go down the slides with the kids..?

Lastly, I have unveiled the new title of my blog. I figured I have earned this title, Seoul Woman, now that I have been here over a month. Hope all is well in the States. Miss everyone and I welcome any and all visitors.

Reaching the Peak - Day 2 Seoraksan Photos

Almost to the Peak!

View from the Top.

At the Peak.

1708 M. :-)

A view on the walk back... that very tall, large rock face in the center of the picture is the one with the cave on it, where we had hiked the day before