Travels in Europe

Travels in Europe

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Lion Teacher

Ahoy! So much to fill you in on and so little time..well actually I'm okay on time...you're probably the ones who do not have enough time to read a lengthy blog...unless your procrastinating doing actual work. In that case I'm fully supporting you in your endeavor to avoid getting anything productive done.

To begin, this week has been a Dorothy-style-Emerald-City-Producing-Tornado of a week. Don't get me wrong, it has been a tornado full of fun, but still I'm ready for a quiet next few days after this one ends.

Last Friday, Ryan came to visit Korea for his first time from Thailand. I picked him up bright and early from the subway bringing a pair of gloves with me to help him with the shock that was the snowy, Bucheon a.m. He was definitely a good sport about it only wearing the layers he could find in Thailand (all of them...at once..). We dropped his things off and I brought him to school to watch the birthday party and song contest for the month. For several of the classes it was their first time to see a male teacher ever! They were very shy and unsure of how to act. Ryan's ability to make usually outgoing students suddenly speechless was incredibly amusing. The older students, mainly my Texas class and Katrina's Alaska class warmed up to him right away asking him questions such as "Are you a lion?" and "Why do you have brown hair?" Many also asked if he was the new teacher for Little America! After he saw all of the dances I dropped Ryan home to nap until dinner later than night as I still had to teach until about 7:15!
Shanna showing everyone how it's done

My last birthday photo with them! :(
As usual, here is a nauseatingly cute video of my Texas class dancing in their LAST SONG CONTEST! It has been a blast teaching them these dances. They were able to do so much crazy choreography and rarely complained if I made them to something ridiculous. A sign of true professionals.

That night, Ryan, Katrina, Seol, Shanna, and I went to a restaurant nearby to let him try one of our favorite dishes, Dduk Galbi. Its basically a large pan filled with chicken, vegetables, and ramen covered with the standard Korean red chili pepper paste that adorns the majority of Korean dishes. At the end of the trip, Ryan said that was one of his favorite dishes, so that's a plus! After a few drinks at the local watering hole we made our way home to prepare for the next day.

Waking up a bit early, we headed into Insadong to take a look at the Gwanghwamun gate and palace. Ryan's trip gave me the opportunity to go to several places around Korea that I hadn't been yet and wanted to! This was one of those stops on my list.

This area has a tendency to remind you that Korea isn't one big city with buildings covered in bright neon lights and horribly translated English phrases. The mountains surrounding you and the palace itself are peaceful and make your mind travel to a time before norebangs and song contests. I had researched this temple and saw that there was a "changing of the guard" ceremony every hour. I wasn't exactly sure what it would entail but it sounded like something we would enjoy watching! When we arrived we saw brightly dressed guards standing outside the doors. They did not look real, so I thought they were just wax statues put there to represent what they might have looked like. That was until one of them blinked and even then...who knows what kind of crazy blinking wax statues they could come up with here. They were in-fact real people. We saw them do a little exchange of posts as we left. Kind of a mini-version of the changing of the guard ceremony I suppose.

As Ryan and I walked in I thought back to the Grand Palace in Thailand. Korean palaces might be the complete opposite of that. They tend to be very simple and have more of an understated beauty rather than a bedazzled coating. Both are gorgeous in their own ways. I got a lot more pictures of the roofs of the temples that I love so much! The colors are just incredible.


Kungfu Panda anyone?


 















As we made our way around the maze of a palace until the changing of the guard ceremony was supposed to begin, we looked at the schedule and found out there were actually only three times during the day that it took place...and we were right in the middle between two of them. Not feeling up to wandering outside for another two hours, we made our way to Insadong to find a place to warm up. I blogged about Insadong previously with the traditional stores and tea rooms. I found the Starbucks that couldn't open there for a while because it would ruin the traditional Korean feel unless they had their sign in Hangul!
Seuh-ta-beok-seuh keo-pee

And Ryan obviously needed a picture wearing more layers than he has in 2 years with snow and some Korean flags.
We stopped by the honey candy stand again to show Ryan how to make it and got some necessary silly Korean socks. Then we headed to our next stop- a cooking class! I had been doing a lot of research (Dad, aren't you proud of me?) about places to do a class that would not only have an English option, but also be close by the palace today and I found Kimchi World. Our helper was so sweet as she taught us to make both kimchi and ddeokbokki. First we got suited up in aprons and plastic gloves along side a group of about 40 young Korean girls. Ryan and I, the only two who showed up for the English class that day, were a bit outnumbered, but it worked out! We coated our fermented cabbage in the spicy red chili pepper paste, wrapped it up like a baby, and put it in a jar. I now have to huge jars of kimchi in my fridge at the moment. I know what I will be living off of for a while! Next she brought out a tray of frozen dduk. I was hoping to actually make the rice cake itself instead of just heating it up, but beggars can't be choosers and it tasted good in the end!
I really want to do more cooking classes while I am here! I hope to be able to make a variety of Korean recipes when...eventually...I return back to the states. (Cooking class blogs to come) After the cooking class it was time to get back on the subway to meet up with Shanna and the rest of the clan for her last weekend out in Seoul! Traveling around by subway is very simple here but it can definitely take a toll on you. Especially with several transfers, which we had to make throughout the day. By the time we got to the lobby of the hotel for Shanna's party at the Wine Buffet, we were wiped. We had to rally up and prepare for a long evening of dancing and most likely karaoke though, so no rest for us! The night was SO much fun. We headed to Suzie Q's, which is a favorite bar of mine in Hongdae, and jammed out to excellent music with even better company. Later on we ended up at a norebang (of course) and sang through some favorites until we were sufficiently ready to fall into bed. It was an incredible yet exhausting day.

The next day I did not have anything planned early (knowing full well the Wine Buffet and singing would make it difficult to do much more than make a peanut butter sandwich the next morning). That evening however I booked tickets to see a Nanta show in Myeongdong! For those of you who are unsure of what Nanta is exactly, it involves 5 performers acting out a story about an old catering business and they have to cook certain foods in a short amount of time. But instead of just cooking it normally, for what kind of show would that be, they drum and create rhythms using the cooking utensils. It is like a Food Network version of Stomp. The humor in the story is typical slapstick and fart-jokes, but when they start actually drumming and showing their talented it is really amazing what they can do! You should take a look at some videos of Nanta on youtube so you can get a better idea (Yay more procrastination opportunities!) Also...guess who got to go up on stage?...Guess who purposefully bought tickets on the end of a row...(guilty)
Ryan got to try the soup they made (he said it tasted of potatoes) and also get married to the beautiful young lady forced to go up on stage as well. It was hilarious to see them interacting with him up there. I'm glad my instincts to buy aisle seats payed off! He got a photo of him and his wife as a souvenir as well. Never lose that Ryan, you'll need it to find her and run slowly into eachother's arms while a cheesy love song plays in the background!

After the show, it was time to go to Seoul Tower. Another touristy Korean landmark I had yet to visit. It was a bit of a trek getting there. Lots of walking to find the bus station, waiting for the right bus, and then being on the opposite end of the bus route from the tower. Once we made it up there we looked around for a place to grab some food. In the end all of the restaurants were super duper fancy shmancy...so we decided that what-the-heck might as well celebrate and we splurged on an absolutely delicious meal in an Italian restaurant at the top of the tower with a view of Seoul at night. The food was amazing! Teeny tiny portions of salads, soups, pastas, and steak all almost as yummy as our ddeokbokki from the day before (completely kidding)...
Seoul Tower lit up at night

Santa! I KNOW HIM!

Did anyone at home feel me staring at them?

Let's hope you don't have a crazy fear of heights
It was nearly 10:30 by the time we started the journey home, which meant we wouldn't be getting back to my apartment until around midnight. With work the next day, I knew I would be exhausted, but it was definitely worth it!

Mondays are another long day of teaching for me, so Ryan had to fend for himself a bit in the afternoon. He came to see the kids again in the morning, and then Seol was an amazing tour guide for him in the afternoon taking him around to see more of Seoul. That night we took Ryan to have Galbi, or Korean barbeque. Something he HAD to have before heading back to Thailand of course. We talked a lot about the event that would be taking place the next morning at Little America...

My Texas class was graduating!!! Although six months isn't really a long time, I have grown so attached to my kindergarten class! I loved teaching them songs and silly games. Just being able to spend half the day with them was a blast. I had 10 completely different, absolutely crazy, but lovable students that molded together to form an exhaustingly funny group of kids. I can't imagine a better class to have as my first one at Little America. I learned so much from them and wish I could have had them a whole year instead! I can't complain too much. I am teaching them in first grade next term, but still...going from a whole day to only 45 minutes in the afternoon is going to be very different!

In the usual Little America fashion, we had been rehearsing the graduation ceremony over the last week; perfecting transitions, speeches, and songs. Winning a rock-scissor-paper match against Katrina, I got the pleasure of being the host for the event. The students gave speeches about their favorite parts of kindergarten (I think every version of my name was said in my class' speeches). Katrina and I gave out awards to the students for things like "Excellent Handwriting" and "Good Manners". We then had to make speeches about our students individually. I enjoyed watching the parents' reactions to what I said about their child. Some parents have really perfected the smile and nod that I use so often when I've over extended my Korean knowledge in a conversation. Overall the ceremony was perfect. The students did a great job and we took a TON of pictures afterwards. 



 Here is a video I made of the ceremony including pictures of them as well as a little clip of one of the songs they sang. The song choice was rather...odd...The students began with "You Raise Me Up" and then moved to "Skidimarink". Slightly different tunes. Either way if I hear those song one more time I might spontaneously combust.  Just a warning.

Don't you love the cap and gowns? My favorite part of those outfits was that whenever they had to bow, or jump, or just stand there, someone's hat would fall off. I said goodbye to my little ones and then got ready for elementary classes that afternoon. That night the new foreign teacher arrived from Newfoundland, Canada! I picked her up from the same hotel I stayed in when I first arrived here and got a flashback to how I felt my first night here. These six months have flown by. I feel like I was just riding in the car with Solomon from the airport! Anyway, I was able to take Kaitie out to dinner and talk about what her experience would be like here. She seems very excited and I can't wait to have someone else join our team  at Little America (wow I sound like an old employee-moral-booster video from the 90's)! Today, Wednesday, we had our Orientation for the new students coming to kindergarten this next term. Unfortunately I do not get to teach the newbies, but I got to meet and play with them today. They are so cute and excited to be there!

I found out that I will be teaching three girls next term; Judy, Jenna, and Jean (ay-yay-yay all these J-names). Going from a class of 10 to a class of 3 will be interesting but I am really looking forward to it! I get to decorate my new classroom accordingly (aka all pink and princessy) I also hope to make it into Itaewan this weekend to get some kids books and pillows. I want to make a reading corner in the room for them. Maybe I'm getting a bit ambitious, but we will see how it goes. I also get to come up with my monthly songs for them! Any suggestions for three girls? They are a lower leveled than my Texas class, so nothing too complicated. I was thinking some Shirley Temple? We will see what I can come up with.

Overall, I'm ready to begin this new term with a new (and slightly busier) schedule with some new students. I'm keeping a few of my classes and gaining others. Can't wait to get started next week!

Some AMAZING-SUPER-DUPER-CALIFRADGILISTIC news came yesterday via Skype! My parents and Edward will be making their way to Seoul in March!!! I couldn't hide my excitement with them nor my coworkers today. I'm bouncing around in my seat as I type this (a skill I assure you). I can't wait to show them what life is like over here and also just be able to hug them not via a computer! The trip itinerary planning starts....NOW!

Korean phrase of the post in honor of Shanna, Alex, and Tina who are all leaving Little America this week (no...I'm not going to cry...you're going to cry...*sniff*)

가지마세요! (ga-jee-ma-say-yo): "Don't leave!"

xoxo

Thursday, February 21, 2013

This is a baby, these are fingers!

Woah, Laura, two posts in one week? Calm down there a second. Now usually I would wait and provide you with a lovely weekly update, but due to a visit from Ryan this weekend that will undoubtedly result in an incredibly long-winded blog post later on, I decided to do this little one now! Unruffle your feathers and prepare to be dazzled by amazing feats of the Musical English teacher at Little America! For the past year, the students at Little America have been working on a musical to perform this past week in front of their friends and teachers.

Now, I thought that I had my work cut out for me teaching my students a song and dance every month. As intricate as my choreography may seem, it is nothing to getting these students to memorize several songs, lines, and stage directions! I had been looking forward to watching these performances for weeks now!

We settled in our seats to watch the first performance by Indiana and Kentucky classes, who were putting on their rendition of The Jungle Book. The students wore headbands each with a picture of their character on it. The one lovable Jungle Book character who wasn't pictures was Baloo! Poor Baloo didn't make the cut for the Musical English version of Jungle Book. This minor disaster aside, the students sang and danced their way through the story so well! One student made and excellent Shere Khan!

The first song of the show was definitely cut out of the original movie. When Bagheera (for those of you who aren't old disney movie nerds...he is the leopard), finds Mowgli, apparently he and the rest of the jungle animals are supposed to sing a song about his fingers...the directors must have decided it was much to deep for children to understand.

The students obviously have a lot of fun putting on this play! They put such hard work into it and honestly, what better way to practice their English?

Bagheera and the Wolf Family
Jess is an excellent leopard-father-figure (never thought I'd use those words...)
Shere Khan vs. Mowgli
Burning Shere Khan with Fire
Texas and Alaska classes were up next, but obviously I am going to make you wait for those until the end because I'm just a terrible person. These next guys are distractingly cute so your frustration towards me will melt immediately.

Idaho and California, the youngest students at our school, would be performing The Three Little Pigs. Now these students have just started learning English this year. Naturally we would expect nothing less than theatrical genius right? Right...It was cute either way!

The group was split into pigs and wolves as they made their way through the variety of building materials and unnatural feats of lung capacity.
Some of the pigs

Scary wolves

Even scarier wolves!

Still can't get over the Korean's ability to squat like that comfortably...

Let us in! Let us in!
See! Cuteness conquers all! How else do videos of laughing babies and cats get over a million views on YouTube? The Harlem Shake videos...that I can't explain...but I digress. Time for Texas and Alaska to show us their performance of Snow White! Instead of pictures, I video taped the whole thing. Disclosure: This is a long video...as much as I know you may love children, or dwarfs singing while mining for diamonds, you do not need to watch it in its entirety! This is mainly for me to remember my students when I hear about them being heads of the new holographic phone company in 30 years. I can say, "Hey! You were an evil witch in Snow White when you were 8 years old!"

For your viewing (or not, whatever choice you made) pleasure...

I absolutely love my little ones and can't believe that they are graduating next week! We have been practicing for their graduation ceremony for the past few days. Of course they have to memorize speeches and songs and poems to perform in front of their families. I'm surprised juggling and rings of fire aren't involved as well. Or maybe that's what the teachers have to do....

beautiful Chloe

Dressed to the nines

Rock Scissor Paper Match

Missing you all back home a lot! I hope that each and every one of you will be able to come and visit me while I'm here so I can show you what it's like!

In honor of tomorrow being Friday:

Korean Phrase of the Post: 불금 (bool keuhm), the korean version of Thank God It's Friday (TGIF)!

xoxo



Saturday, February 16, 2013

Tricksters


Hello everyone!
Another week past and closer to a new year beginning at Little America. This means we are all rushing to get books finished for new classes and/or figuring out our schedule for the next 6 months. Getting new students will be a bitter sweet change at work. While I will really miss my Texas class, I am so looking forward to switching up the routine and getting a new kindergarten class. Elementary classes are also changing. I think I am keeping some of my elementary students but the times/days/books are all changing and then I will get new students as well, which should be fun! Our students are on spring break from their elementary schools now, but do we get spring break? Nope, we have March 1st off to enjoy and get ready for the next term!

Next week is very exciting, because Ryan (the friend I stayed with in Thailand) is coming to visit for the weekend! It will be so much fun to show him around and also have someone to do all the touristy things I haven't done yet. Should be a weekend full of yummy food and photo ops! I have a schedule typed up of everything I want to do. I just wish I didn't have to be in work all day on Monday and Tuesday so we could explore more of the area, but alas I need to be with my kiddos. Ryan will have to fend for himself on those days! Keep your eyes out for that blog post.

Time to fill you in on this weekend! I finally (with the assistance of Shanna) went to get a haircut today! Very exciting, I know, but my hair was getting a bit out of control after not cutting it for 6 months now. The girls at the salon kept saying "Oh so much! Such long hair!" Yes I know. They had 2 girls blow drying and straightening, I felt like a science experiment. Walking out with my hair the straightest and lightest its been since I arrived, we made our way to the Trick Eye Museum in Hongdae. I've read a lot about this museum and seen pictures of friends here who have gone. As the last item on Shanna's to-do list, it was a must for this weekend!

The museum, for those of you who do not have previous experience, is basically a giant photo-op area aka Korean's dream museum. You can interact with the paintings and sculptures to take goofy pictures. Some paintings left you with a kind of "huh..." feeling (Eddie Izzard fans?) and others were fantastic, such as the giant panda having you for dinner...
That just gives you a little taste of the goodies this museum provides. When I wasn't sitting on a giant spoon I was robbing banks or getting peed on by little cupid sculptures. The photos are all 3D allowing you to inflate Mona Lisa with a bicycle pump or pants the "Scream" painting.
I don't know why these types of museums aren't in the states. While the condition of some of the paintings and sculptures were not exactly brand new after so much traffic through the exhibits, it was still a hilarious way to spend the afternoon. Shanna had the brilliant idea of trading cameras so we followed each other to each photo op and made goofy poses with the rest of the crowd making their way through the museum.



Tricky Tricky


Any flashbacks to Jasmine from Aladdin?

Yes please


This doesn't count as cheating on Lent does it?
Little America takes the kids to a trick idea for a field trip during the year sometime. I am not too sure about this decision as there were a copious amount of naked people and sexual innuendos via 3D wall stickers. Maybe the one they go to has more kid-friendly photo opportunities? I hope so, as I do not want my kindergarteners pretending to look down some guy's boxer shorts! I also can't imagine guiding a group of kindergarteners through this place and getting them to pose at every picture. We will cross that bridge when we get there...

We left at a perfect time as the line wrapped out the door to get into the museum. Next on our list was finding some Arabic food! I had done some research and found a place with apparently some excellent felafel sandwiches. I took a picture of the map on my phone (oh technology, how would we get by without you) and worked out what we thought was our general location. All things looked positive as we walked and the road looked similar to the one on my phone but when we turned to expect to see a sign saying "Jack's Bean"...nothing...lets try the next street?...nope, still nothing...hmm well after retracing our steps and checking further down side streets, we chalked it up as a loss and continued to an Indian road we had passed earlier to grab some curry.
Biggest Naan ever....

The turnover of restaurants and stores here is in enough to make you dizzy. I will walk to work one day and pass an eye-glasses shop one day and then it will be a pet shop the next day. It is not uncommon to see a place completely gutted in the morning and then set up as yet another phone shop in the afternoon. And of course when this new store opens, they have a GIANT "Grand Opening" party with balloons, animal suits, and clowns on stilts handing out flyers to everyone that walks by. One particular phone shop next to Little America first opened when I got here...and they still have balloons and animals suits out every day. Now I know time flies here but how long can they stretch the term "just opened"...?

Wow, long vent there. Anyways, we had our curry and then headed back home after a successful and tricky day!
Tired Garfield- exactly how we felt
Until next time!
Korean phrase of the post: 레스토랑은 어디 있죠?? (Reseuhtorangeung awdi eesjyo) Where is the restaurant??

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Laura Princess

Hello everyone! Happy February...wow

In two weeks it will be the 6th month mark of my time here in Korea! I honestly cannot tell you where the time went. Believe me, I've looked everywhere! February is proving to be just as cold, if not colder than January, which is just delightful. It has kept most of the extra activities outside of work indoor and preferably including a heater of some kind. I realize that I am a few weeks behind with regards to blog posts, so here I am to catch you all up to speed! 

A few weeks ago, my Papa turned the ripe old age of 90! While I was super bummed to not be involved in the big surprise luncheon (including a cameo appearance from Mark all the way from San Diego!), I was able to skype into the grandparent's dining room to chat with everyone there! Ryan also skyped in from San Francisco. Papa was surrounded by loved ones who wanted to celebrate his incredible life and thank him for how much he has given us. Love you Papa! xoxo

The clan minus Mark, the photographer
Last weekend, Shanna, Katrina, Seol and I made our way to Itaewon for an "Epic Food Adventure". Basically, Katrina and Shanna had a list of foods that they miss from home or have always wanted to have in Itaewon and haven't had the chance to eat. I offered my services as photographer to document the trip. We had our list and just planned on wandering around eating and checking out the shops all day long. The weather wasn't too unbearable, so we could walk around outside without losing appendages due to frostbite.

Our first stop has popped up in a previous blog somewhere; The Flying Pan. An absolutely delicious brunch place with HUGE pancakes, sandwiches and other drool-inducing plates. A great place to start the day we ordered our food and discussed the plan for the rest of the trip.
Before

After
After the heavy brunch we walked it off by visiting What The Book, a local English bookstore where they sell both new and used books. I could spend all day in there and was tempted to pick up a few paperback books because I miss them (sorry Kindle, I love you too I promise). I then realized that I wouldn't feel like carrying them around for the rest of the day. I will just have to go back on my own at some point! Oh darn...

After the bookstore the next stop was "Ankara Picnic" for a kebab sandwich.
I did try a few bites of Shanna's. It was delicious! I'm glad I offered to join them on this trip so I could make my own lists of food to come back and try. After kebabs, the next stop was supposed to be Rocky Mountain Tavern but unfortunately it was not open yet. The walk was not wasted however, as we passed by a place called "Ben's Cookies"...the long line waiting for these freshly baked, chewy, melty, chocolatey cookies was enough to tell us to add this stop to our list later on! Plan B instead of Rocky Mountain Tavern was TomaTillo, a Mexican restaurant for chips and salsa. For those of you who are turning a slight shade of green based on the list of food that has already been consumed during the trip, don't fret. All the stops involved small dishes to share among 3 (or 4, if I joined in) people! Just a little taste for everyone. 


After Mexican we headed back to Rocky Mountain Tavern (of course stopping by the cookie place on the way there) and set up camp for a little with some wings. I tried one...not my cup of tea, but hey to each their own!
Not the most enthusiastic cookie maker
So let's make a check list shall we? Flying Pan (check), Kebab (check), Chips/salsa (check), Cookies (cheeeccckkkkk), wings (check). Next on the list was a blooming onion from Outback Steakhouse. There are surprisingly several Outbacks around Korea. It is seen as a fancier dining experience as opposed to the commercial chain restaurant that it is at home. Therefore, pinkies up! Blooming onion (check).
By this point I think everyone was pretty much stuffed (hopefully!). The next and almost final stop was Prost, a fancy shmancy bar nearby. Here we settled down and enjoyed a few drinks while discussing the success of the great food adventure. Of course we couldn't call it a night just yet. We had to go to the Grande Ole Opry and sing the American National Anthem at midnight as well participate in some good old line dancing. We danced the night away and eventually made it back to our beds in a daze of good food and even better company!

Back up to the present; this weekend is Lunar New Year or Seollnal (설날).
As well as New Years, Korea celebrates the beginning of the Lunar calendar. This holiday is all about spending time with your family and enjoying traditional food, games, and customs together! About 99.9% of my students said they were driving to their grandparents house for the weekend. My coteachers also had long journeys ahead of them due to the heavy traffic that would plague the entire country. One of my older students said she had to wake up and leave at 4am this morning to head to her grandmother's house! Anyway, I mention this holiday mainly to discuss a very important tradition. This weekend, Koreans will wear the traditional hanbok dress and bow to their elders to receive pocket money as a gift for the new year. We spend a class on Friday teaching our students the correct way to bow and accept their gifts. I was given the opportunity to wear a traditional hanbok and give out my student's pocket money gift (a nice crisp dollar bill)! Tina Teacher brought in her gorgeous dress and helped me put on all the layers, ties, and tassels. Hanboks are usually bright colors and include a vest or jacket over a empire waist dress. I was so excited to get this opportunity! When I had the entire ensemble on and went out to see my students so many of them came up to me (mainly my girls) and said I looked like a princess. Maybe I can get them to call me Laura Princess instead...I'll work on it. 

Accepting the gift with two hands

covering their eyes and bowing

























I loved being able to wear the hanbok! I was really nervous I would do something to it though so I took it off before anything terrible could happen, like a whiteboard marker disaster or kindergarten sneeze shrapnel. I was told to buy my own hanbok while I am here. While I do think they are beautiful, I am not exactly sure when I would ever wear one every again. I will cherish the pictures I took in this one day and maybe I will get another chance one day!

I am still working on my Korean using Rosetta Stone, other vocabulary websites, as well as Tina Teacher, my private tutor. I have begun to be able to pick up words and phrases as I walk around the city now that I have a little bit of grammar under my belt! I'm looking forward to having real conversations in Korean with my coworkers and other people I meet here. At the moment I can tell you what color your shirt is and ask you how many bowls you have. So if all the Koreans I meet happen to be wearing single-colored-Tshirts and carrying several bowls (between 1 and 10 of them preferably) I will be all set!

For now, anyeonghi kaysayo, goodbye!

Korean phrase of the post:
내가 장갑을 잃어요 (naega jangkameul eelhawyo) I lost a glove...


xoxoxo