Our Daily Korea

Confucious Say...

2009-01-21T18:55:00.000-05:00

This is the white board in the kitchen where we're staying. Someone keeps putting up Confucious Say statements...I wonder who that could be????

Cheongbukgong Palace

2009-01-18T06:46:00.000-05:00

Here we are at the front gate of the Cheongbukgong Palace in downtown Seoul. We just saw the changing of the guards ceremony...quite spectacular! This place was enormous and every time we turned the corner, there was another stunning building.

Um...

2009-01-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

What did we buy? This is actually the receipt for one of the tables for Mark's B-day. 72,500 Won, which equals $55.00.

Happy Birthday Mark!

2009-01-16T07:55:00.000-05:00

Surprise, Surprise. Mark made friends with the owner and chef of the local Sum Gyup Sai place where we've eaten at twice this week. We had a crew of 20 people out for his birthday tonight. We ate like kings for 3 bucks a piece! This is a bottle of sweet raspberry wine that the owner gave Mark as a present.

Hot Chocolate Machine

2009-01-05T06:50:00.000-05:00

So this is the Coffee/Hot Chocolate machine that has been so blessedly placed in the hallway of our school. For about 20 cents I can get a shot of Hot Chocolate in between classes. The cup that comes out (below) of the little black door on the bottom is about the size of a dixie cup you would use in your bathroom and is half full. I so look forward to my two ounces of Hot Chocolate every hour or so.

Snowballs

2009-01-04T05:45:00.000-05:00

I am fully addicted to these snowballs. They are 70 cents at the convenience store across the street from us. The white part is Tapioca flour and inside is a sweet red bean paste. The whole thing is the size of your balled up fist.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T04:18:00.002-05:00

We went to another Korean BBQ with all the teachers for our New Year's Eve dinner...it was sooooo good! Can you say Sum Gyup Sire? That's the name of this specific dish.

Check us out in our zebra striped bar...are we north cackilacky bumpkins or what? No one in the bar celebrated New Year's...Koreans do it all on the Lunar New Year. So here we all are, a bunch of Americans, the only ones screaming at midnight. Quite odd!

Our house mother (the nice Korean lady in charge of our dorm) cooked this for us...it's called Dak Kune and is the traditional meal for New Year's Day...for those that do celebrate! The white thingy's are rice noodle patties and there's also beef, egg, and seaweed in there too. It tastes a lot like chicken noodle soup...very comforting!

42 and a Half

2008-12-25T07:10:00.002-05:00

Yup, 42 and a half hours is how long it took us to get from Charlotte, NC to our new job in Korea. We're still a little loony, but so are all the other teachers.

This is a picture of our second (yes! second!) sunrise on the way over.

And this here is our taxi driver getting ready to belt security in the face for something...we couldn't tell exactly what he was getting in trouble for and why on earth he would throw a punch at security.

Look good?

Bye Bye Humphrey...and MY BUG!!!

2008-12-21T11:29:00.002-05:00

So, we had to say bye to "Humphrey the Wonderfish" before we left for this trip... I decided to just drain the fish tank before we left... Otherwise, Ron and Naomi or Mat and Amie would have to maintain our fish. We had a little WWIII happening in there anyhow, with several fish vying for total world domination.. Well, in this case... more of a "total tank domination". I started to feel bad about "yellow guy" getting beat up by "stripey" and how he was holed up under a rock for his entire existence... So, we will do a "makeover" upon our return to western civilization. Hopefully the fish will find great new homes... Also, my new Baja Bug and I will have withdrawl symptoms as we have spent a great deal of time together over the past few weeks... Here's a picture so that I can see him everytime we write... See you soon Baja Bug!!!

Update: We did not, in fact, commit fishicide (thank you, anonymous). We took all our fish to fish store and sold them back into captivity. That's better than the ol' porcelain grave, right?

Travel light?

2008-12-21T11:09:00.001-05:00

Adding a job to traveling sure does pack on the pounds in baggage. Sheesh.

The Other Side of the World

2008-12-10T19:51:00.004-05:00

Here we go again. In lieu of settling down and getting real jobs, we've decided to hop on a plane for 21 hours over to South Korea. Mark and I both got a contract to teach English to middle school kids in a winter camp. Yep. That's right. WINTER camp. Where it will be colder than a witch's you know what. There's this thing over there called "The Siberian Winds." That just sounds like a good time, doesn't it? Actually, it does.

We've had our noses in the South Korean guide book for a while now and I think we'll be hard pressed to have a bad time over there. What with all the food in all those small dishes, public baths heated by volcanic steam, and this thing called a "Temple Stay" where you get to hang with the monks and do what they do.

My hope is to post a little bit every day or thereabouts...mostly pictures. I'll send out the traditional email update and this blog will be there for those of you who have extra time on your hands and want a little daily cultural spice.

Cho-un ha-ru po-nae-se-yo (That's Korean for "Have a nice day") Easy right?

Sara and Mark