Cherry Blossom Paradise

BREAKING NEWS: Cold Stone Creamery has locations in South Korea!!! While out the other night near the Pusan National University Campus we came across a Cold Stone, and I honestly got so excited that I had to take a picture, which you'll see below. More about that night in a little bit.

This past Friday Brent and I took a trip to our local Outback Steakhouse, providing us with the break we need from Korean food every once in a while. It was while we were there, that I first began to realize what comfort food is. I have always heard people talk about it before, but I never really understood, I think in part because I didn't really have any comfort foods. Well, I'll tell you what, moving halfway across the globe and eating strange things for a couple months has revealed to me exactly what comfort food is. The feeling that I have when I eat at Outback or TGI Friday's is really indescribable. For those of you that have comfort foods, you know what I'm talking about. It really just makes you feel good and happy. I'm so glad they have a few western restaurants here. Anyway, after dinner we walked around a little bit exploring this area by my house called Deokcheon. We found that it's actually kind of lame, but did end up playing pool for a couple hours, so the night wasn't totally a bust. It was while we were walking around that we came across two people dressed up in the most ghetto Mickey and Minnie costumes I have seen. They were handing out flyers for something, but I don't know what. Of course, this was the one night I didn't have my camera on me to take a picture. Just know it was ghetto and it was funny.

Speaking of good food, on Saturday night I was invited back to my co-teacher's friend's house again for dinner, and this time she invited Brent as well. The food was good as always, but what was so great about this trip is that we met a really cool girl named Soo. Mrs. Hwang (my co-teacher's friend) had also invited another friend of her's along with her daughter, Soo. She speaks very good English and actually lived in Canada for a brief period. She's moving there again for a year to study English next month. Anyway, she was so nice and was eager to be our Busan tour guide. Finally! Brent and I have been waiting to find those one or two people to really show us around and take us to cool places, and most importantly, actually want to do it and not feel burdened by it. She's not only willing, but super enthusiastic about it. That night, Mrs. Hwang's daughter, Soo, Brent and I all went to play pool and had a great time. We exchanged numbers at the end of the night and already planned future hangouts. Like I said, FINALLY!

On Sunday, my co-teacher and Mrs. Hwang took Brent and me on an all day flower viewing trip to Tongdosa Temple and Gyeongju. Now, I'm not big into flowers, but my co-teacher and seemingly most Koreans are. Brent and I really weren't there for the flowers though, rather the opportunity to just see more of Korea. Tongdosa Temple was okay. I wasn't blown away by the flowers there, in fact I wasn't even really impressed. The Buddhist temple itself was definitely interesting, but I've been to a few of those now, so the wow factor on those has diminished. After this we went to Gyeongju, which is one of the more popular tourist destinations in the country, especially right now, because of all the beautiful scenery. The city itself is quite important in Korean history as it served as the capital of the Silla Kingdom for many years, and as a matter of fact, my students are currently on a two-day field trip there right now. Traffic was ridiculous getting in and out of this city. When we finally arrived to our destination, a lake in the middle of the city, it had probably been around two hours of sitting in the car. Of course, the payoff wasn't nearly worth it, but in Gyeongju's defense I'm not sure what would have been worth sitting in all that traffic. The lake and surrounding scenery was definitely beautiful though, especially with the sun setting while we were there. I actually took probably the most artistic shot of my life while we were there and I included it below. One thing I keep forgetting to mention is the amount of cherry blossom trees here. If you're a lover of cherry blossoms, then I can't think of a better place for you to be than Korea. They are EVERYWHERE! You can't go anywhere without seeing a cherry blossom tree. I'm not sure how familiar some of you are with these trees, but for literally like two weeks a year, they produce these beautiful pinkish-white flowers. But like I said, it only lasts for two weeks and then the leaves start turning green, which they are actually doing now. So basically for like two weeks, South Korea has this beautiful backdrop of pinkish-white flowers. Then it's green or dead for the rest of the year.

Soo made good on her promise to show us around Busan on Monday when we all went to the Pusan National University area. This is another lively area with a lot going on and tons of Korean youth. Obviously I guess, since it's by the university. Anyway, when we got there by subway, we hopped on a bus that took us to the top of this large hill where the actual university was, because Soo wanted to take us to some popular noodle restaurant. To get there, we actually had to walk through some backwoods type area, which was really strange, but it wasn't too far hidden in the woods. Unfortunately when we got there, it was closed, so we didn't get a chance to try the popular noodles. After that we walked around the campus a little bit and then made the trek down the hill. On the way down is when we came across the Cold Stone I mentioned earlier. Soo mentioned that there's another Cold Stone in the Seomyeon area I've mentioned before in my blogs. So awesome. I can't wait for my first Korean Cold Stone experience. We ended up eating at some chicken restaurant and then doing some bowling after. Soo had never been bowling before, so it was fun for us to get to teach her a little bit. Before we got started bowling, Brent and I had the hardest time finding bowling balls that would fit our fat American fingers. We never really did actually and just had to make do with what they had. It was a lot of fun though. After bowling, Soo took us to a small little smoothie stand nearby and then we walked down this long river path back to a subway station. The path itself is pretty widely utilized, but just not on the side we were walking on. I think it made all of us a little nervous, so we crossed to the other more populated side as soon as we could. Though we really had nothing to worry about, being as though Soo is a black belt in Taekwondo! That's right, not only have we found an awesome friend and tour guide, but a bodyguard as well. You'll notice a picture below of some graffiti we came across while walking here. Definitely one of the funnier things we've seen since we've been here. What it means, I have no idea.

Yesterday, my co-teacher, a friend of hers and I left school a little early to go visit a friend of theirs that was recently promoted to Principal at another school. The school was very far away; on an island in fact. They obviously had never been there, because we got so lost on the way there, it was ridiculous. I'm not even exaggerating when I say we stopped to talk to about 15 people asking for directions. And because it's Korea, that means stopping anywhere you want. The middle of the street included. The more I watch my co-teacher and others drive, the more I understand why Asian-immigrants are such bad drivers in America, and the more I can't understand how there aren't more accidents. It's just nuts. Anyway, after finally figuring out how to get going in the right direction, we were heading into an area that truly looked like one of those Afghanistan villages or something. The streets were super narrow with very run down-looking small buildings and homes painted in strange colors. I couldn't believe my co-teacher was able to fit her car through some of the streets she did. This was a true village and I would be totally surprised if the people living there had televisions. After stopping to ask a couple more people for directions and having someone in a truck tell us to follow him, we got to the school. The school itself was actually nice, which is strange for the area that it's in. I met the Principal, Vice Principal and some other teachers, and actually went to a couple other "branch" schools on the island. The Vice Principal drove us around and showed us more of the island, of which the population mostly consisted of fisherman and their families. We went to dinner that night at a local pork restaurant, where the Principal and another teacher proceeded to get pretty drunk. It was very funny to watch them be so belligerent, especially the Principal, because in my experience, Principals are usually just so stoic and kind of high-almighty during the day.

After the dinner, my co-teacher, her friend and I walked back to the school. This is where a pretty funny incident happened actually. All of a sudden my co-teacher's friend starts pointing to this tree that our car was parked by and saying something in Korean. Then, to my surprise, she hops over this little fence and starts pulling leaves from the tree and putting them in a bag. My co-teacher was laughing and I asked her what her friend was doing. She explained that the leaves were some sort of vegetable they use for side dishes and is very good. I said, "So you're telling me she's a thief?" That sent my co-teacher into tears of laughter. When she translated to her friend what I had said, her friend said (in Korean of course), "It's okay. I'm going to invite you over for dinner when I make these." It was so funny. My co-teacher ran into the school real quick to use the restroom and this lady just continued picking away. She took so many leaves! The tree was practically bare by the time she was done, except for the high parts she couldn't reach. It was just too funny, so I had to take a picture, which you'll see below. Then, the Vice Principal came walking up and she quickly scrambled away from the tree with her bag full of leaves. Too funny.

One thing I've noticed about Korea, is that there is this constant haze in the sky. I have yet to experience a beautiful clear day. I've heard that Korea has had pollution problems in the past, which has led to acid rain and what not, and I'm thinking that that must still be the case. It's just really strange that the sky is never clear. Even with the weather getting warmer and the spring season here, the sky still has this faint haze. It's strange.

With Easter just a couple days away, I thought I'd take the opportunity to teach my students about the Easter holiday in America. They don't celebrate the secular holiday like we do, but of course the Christians here celebrate the religious Easter, so some students have heard of the holiday. I taught them all about the Easter Bunny and decorating eggs and what not, and it was so cute when they would ask me if the Easter Bunny was real. Of course I would say yes and then I would tell them how he's buds with Santa Claus, and they all just got a kick out of that. I'm actually having them decorate eggs tomorrow in school, which should be fun. Being able to do this was no easy task though. See in Korea, as I've now officially found out, they don't sell white eggs; only brown and yellow ones. The administration workers did as much searching as they could for white eggs, but could only find yellow. It's okay, because I'm sure the students will enjoy decorating their yellow eggs just as much as we enjoy decorating our white eggs back home.

Speaking of the students, I've started meeting some of the second graders now during lunch. I actually only teach third through sixth grade, so the second graders are totally new to me, but they are so cool. I'll be sitting in the back of the English classroom after lunch, usually doing something on the computer, and they will come in and start playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors" with me. It's so cute. They call it "Rock, Scissor, Paper" though and they get so excited when they beat me! They jump around and scream every time they win, it's so funny. They actually taught me another "Rock, Paper, Scissors"-type of game, where they move their hands one way, trying to guess which way I'm going to move my face, either left or right. Anyway, they are the coolest and so much fun to play with. They especially love it when I bust out some of the Korean I've learned so far. They get so excited! One of their favorites is when I count, because they like to count with me.

I hope you all have a great holiday weekend!

Happy Easter!