Marry Me!

This is Daniel! =] Isn't he so cute!? Today at the Dream Hope Community Center he was new there. He doesn't know any English at all so the only time I got to talk to him was through a translator. How would I describe him, he is so cute, great laugh! one that is contagious!, he has big ears (so cute) and he is SUPER shy! Well at snack time I sat by him and he told the teacher something in Korean...so I am like what are you talking about? (its so weird when you are left out of a conversation!) Then he told me, hold on...cause the teacher didn't know how to say it in English, so they grabbed another translator...she started laughing...then goes, "He wants to marry you!" And little Daniel turned red, and was looking down- it was so cute! At the end of the class the teacher had us all come to the front of the class room- Sky and I had no idea what was going on...so we were asking the translators- they said, "oh he is asking all the students who wants to give Sky a hug goodbye? and so forth...well when it got to me- Daniel jumped up and down so fast! I thought he was going to touch the ceiling! LOL

He was so shy to give me a hug, but did! These kids are great! Here is a sneak peak at the classroom there:







I ended the day with a nice pedicure! Oh man! It felt so good to get a foot massage after all the walking we have been doing! :) I got purple too! I have never had purple before! I almost got all rainbow because here in Korea all the girls have rainbow nail polish (a different color for each toe)

apples vs seaweed wraps

I soon will be an official teacher! Right now teaching in Korea has been eye opening! I love the students here! The other day we took all the kids to the National Folk Museum. The students all brought me food for the field trip! Usually teachers get nice red apples- RIGHT? Well not in Korea! HAHA in Korea you get seaweed wraps and lots of them! All the kids were giving me them!! SO CUTE!!

huh?

Today was mentally exhausting! School was great, I taught the kids how to write a post card, and when it came time for them to write their own made up script they their imagination truly shined! Every day they amaze me at how smart they are! Oh how I wish I knew more languages!

Oh and Judit tells me this morning on the way to school. (first she starts laughing out loud) Then she says, "Hey Stacy, my family invited you to the Spa day Friday night." Yeah Spa day here in Korea, is not just a spa by yourself, it’s with ALL girls! Completely naked! Its an overnighter, everyone sits in the same tub, gets scrubbed...and yeah. Judit told me that her family is paying for it! I had to decline the offer! That would BE SO WEIRD for me! Especially being a foreigner, where all these Korean girls are like a size zero, and then they would be staring at me cause I am different, and then I would have to see Judit, it would just be awkward! and Judit has to go! LOL Which she went to one unknowingly in China a few years ago...so she is kinda like ehhh whatever! lol

After school Sky and I started our journey to the dream hope community child care center! We went somewhere far and when we got to the room we pretty much had to come up with some kind of game to play for 8 students. There were only 2 students that new about 10 English words, and all of their names were extremely hard to remember so we gave them all English names which they LOVED! the whole time we were there I was constantly confused on what we should be doing, where we were, if we had supplies to work with, what they wanted. On top of all that it was in a building with no air, we were teaching them simon says, and head, shoulders, knees, and toes...it was probably about 90 something + humidity! Oh man it was awful hot in there! Afterwards we had a meeting with some people to clear up our confusion, and come to find out we don't even need to be there for teaching! It’s exactly like safekey back home just at an offsite building! So we don’t really have to prepare a full lesson just 1-3 activities for them to play and stay entertained!

All day I have been just in a puzzled mode, constantly saying huh? Its so hard sometimes to communicate! My head hurts today from thinking too much! HAHA! My mom and I are constantly talking when I get home and I have to puzzle some of her words together to try to figure out what she says. Today she told me that I am very smart at figuring out what she is thinking! LOL
Tomorrow we are going to a museum with the kids! We are getting there by subway, it should be an adventure! I can’t wait! :D

elevators!

This whole trip has been so eye opening to me! I have been out of my comfort zone many times, and most of the time I really am not sure what is going on, what I am going to do, things are very spontaneous here.

Well today I found out that Brandon Johnson passed away on Friday. RIP Brandon. When I found out I had just gotten home from a long day at school and a trip to the post office. On a side note: The post office workers all had belts with guns on them! I asked why, she said for protection because it’s a government job. I found that kind of strange...but anyways. I got home and saw that Brandon had passed away. I was very upset and had no one to talk to, and my host mom wasn't home, just JunSik and he never talks to me. I got to talk to my bestie, Jamie through IM which made me feel better- but I was still really upset so Judit and I went out walking. Then we got so Baskin Robins (Kiwi Fruit Blast, so BOMB!) She made me feel so much better too! She reminds me so much of my sister! I can't wait for the two of them to meet! I know that they will really get along! Well on our way home my mom called Judit, she always calls her, we haven't figured out until today that she put Judits # in her phone with my name on accident LOL. She told us to meet her at the park. So we did and then she took us on this 30 min walk to go to the meat store. on our way back she took us to JunSik's English academy. The English teacher (Short Korean Man, early 40's) took us on a tour. We walked into a classroom and the student’s faces were priceless! It was like they had never seen a foreigner before! The first thing that came out of their mouth was "you are so beautiful!" It really put a smile on my face! Then on the way out, we were standing next to the elevator, then the professor took us downstairs 2 flights just to get on the same elevator, I thought it was very odd! LOL Then as we are in the elevator my host mom goes, "Stacy, English Teacher, single, very handsome! haha (yes, she really laughed) and then she said no married!" I look at Judit and started busting up laughing on the inside! I thought, was she trying to fix me up with him? Oh my gosh! And then as we were walking home my host mom goes, Stacy, Judit beautiful girls, makes English teacher heart pound! He is very shy!!" Judit and I started busting up laughing!!! Oh and I forgot to tell you, the elevator was like extremely SMALL! We were very close, it was the most awkward/funny moment so far! I thank God for good friends and laughter! It was so comforting!
RIP Brandon, I love you and miss you so much!

Fun Weekend in Seoul!

Friday night a few of us went down town to hang out. We ended up going to this place called the HO Bar III. Pretty funny! It had 3 levels...we went on the 3rd level and got a table! It was so nice, there were a lot of foreigners there! We got to play pool for free and there were darts there too! Our curfew for the night was midnight. And we had to take the subway home so we left around 11:15pm to get home on time. Well we all get on the subway and we are talking, laughing, and having a good ol' time. Then I look out the window...and see water- I was like holy crap! We are going over the river in the complete opposite way! HAHA! We were late! It took us 2 hours to get home. I got home at 1am! My host mom was very worried- and trying to communicate with her over the phone was hard! Not to mention- Murphy’s law, my phone ran out of minutes at 10pm so I was calling from Sky’s phone. Good times! My mom wasn't mad she was just really tired! lol



Saturday I got to sleep in till 10am! It was so nice! Then my host mom and Judit's host mom and dad took us out! The took us to some of the nation parks close by! My favorite part of the day was when we played badminton at one of the parks! I was sweating SO much and we only played like 5 games! I felt as if I had been running for hours! After badminton they took us to the National Cemetary for Democratic Martyrs of April 19th. It was amazing! The scenery was so green and peaceful! It was such a great experience!






Sunday I got to go to church with Judit's family in Nowon. She went on a hike with Zach's family instead! It was so cool, I met this girl who was born in Korea, but when she turned 7 her family moved to London and she was back visiting. She was so sweet! She ended up interpreting the entire service for me!

After church my family went out for dinner. We had Korean BBQ Duck! It was delicious! I had never had duck before- This was the first time we have eatin out while at this family. The mom is such a good cook that she always makes breakfast, lunch, and dinner! She is really good at cooking!

Later that night my family and Sky's family went to a school across the street from our apt and played soccer! It was SO much fun! They have a big dirt field with a jungle gym and lots of seating areas. The whole family played it was a blast! Afterwards Sky's dad took us all to a local pub like place and bought beer for everyone and apple cider for me! (he kept saying apple cider for you) I laughed and said, I’m 22! He thought I was much younger! At the pun we set down and at the table there was a tiny square box with a rubber button in the middle. So of course I pushed it! LOL it was so funny right as a push it this “DING DONG” sounded throughout the place! Then a waiter came over and I am guessing said, “Yes?” in Korean! I was like opps! Everyone laughed! It s very different here in Korea, if you ever come you will notice that you have to call the waiters over to your table when you are ready and on top of that there are no lines here either! You kind of have to get in where you fit in.

It was a great weekend! This Sunday I will be switching to my next host family already! Dang, time is flying by!

Silver Center Round II

Friday we went to the Silver Center which is like a senior hospital :) This time we got to make Kim Bop with the elderly! It was SO AMAZING!!! Never in my life have I had Kim Bop, or even made it! I have always said no to the sushi rolls because they never really looked good to me. Well as we were doing all of this with the elderly who majority of them can't speak English, there was a news cast there filming, taking pictures, and asking us questions.

It was hilarious! As we started to cut the kim bop the elderly ladies started to shove kim bog in our mouths! It was hilarious! Everyone’s cheeks were all puffy from kim bom and we were all laughing SO hard! Imagine all of that and then we had Chef hats on too! It was so much fun! My lady that I was helping was the same one as the first time we went. She asked the young man who was Korean to ask me if I was married. I said no, and she asked why? You are so beautiful! All I could do was laugh...what do you say to that!

Apparently we are going to be in the Korean News Paper! It’s as big as the New York Times is how they explained it to us! I am so excited! They told me that they would get us a copy! I am so excited! :)