new blog!!

so for some people this website does not come up anymore so I have relocated to a new blog http://mykoreanadventures.xanga.com so check out all my adventures on the new blog!

Han River at Night

You saw it during the day, now see it at night...

The Boys Violin Concert

Thursday night was Yea Chun and E Chun's violin end of the year concert. We started by eating kimbob (sushi), watermelon, bananas, and rice ball puffs... After dinner the concert began. They both played a solo piece and then played as a group at the end.

My dinner plate... it was spam kimbop so i picked out the spam and other meaty looking pieces and ate the rest

rice balls... a chewy googey substance with a honey sugar liquid inside... not my favorite

Yea Chun playingE Chun playingme, the boys, "mom", and the music teacher

late night baking...

So after I got home from my little exploration trip with Whitney "mom"asked if I wanted to help make honey cakes, which are the boys favorite snack

1. lay down newspaper on the floor and ignite the portable stove top
2. add mix, water, and instant yeast
3. mix with hands
4. take a small amount of dough and flatten it into a pancake in your greased up hands
5. spoon sugar, spice, nut mix into the center
6. fold up the sides around the sugar mix so that you have a round ball
7. add a small amount of oil to the frying pan
8. put 3 dough balls into the pan and flatten them with a spatula
9. flip over when brown and flatten again
10. when they are golden brown remove from heat
11. repeat the process until all the dough is gone

They were so good! it tasted like a combination of a pancake with syrup and a funnel cake... the outside was crispy and inside was melted sugar. I think I got a dew sugar burns on my hand while eating but it was worth it!

So as you can see there is a stove right behind where we are sitting, but I guess it is more fun to sit on the floor and make them and cook them too... I wasn't complaining

Yea Chun was camera shy, but I got a big smile from E Chun. Tonight was the most either one has talked me, perhaps a breakthrough? They were really excited to help make them. They liked playing with the dough and seeing how much sugar mix they could fit inside the dough ball haha My first dough ball... not bad eh?"mom" sitting on the floor frying up the honey cakes
the end result... so so so so good!

Nari Bong Pictures

Nari Bong also known in the states as karaoke
It is unlike American karaoke because rather a whole room of people you don't know listening to you sing your party is assigned a room with a big seating area, 9 tvs, cool light shows, tambourines, and music books. Only the people you came with can hear your attempts to sing, which I liked a lot haha
I sang buttercup (why do you build me up buttercup baby just to let me down), misery business by paramore, and I tried to sing along with some of the Korean pop music such as so hot by the wonder girls and sorry sorry by super junior. My Korean friends thought that it was funny that I knew so much Korean pop music already
We sang until midnight and then walked home. I was exhausted! I don't know how these kids stay up so late and get up so early for school in the morning.

Our room

Amy, Young Chun and Amy's little brother all singing together... they were really good!Whitney and I signing ButtercupAmy andI

Weekend Pictures

I could have a little Korean baby??

He is number 8 onthe red and white team

going for the goal.. he shoots he scores!

pep talk from the coach

Korean soccer moms... very similar to American soccer moms if not louder

"mom" me and Seung-Joo

me and all the terraces

my flower ring

the queens bedroom

big front door

botanical garden

this reminded me of my dad who likes to plant in wood stumps too

is this not breath taking??

the King's bedroom

Another busy weekend

This weekend was so different than last weekend. On Friday, I met up with all the girls from the program. Whitney and I thought we would walk together to the meeting point, the Seongdong-Gu office. It is only a 10 minute car ride so we thought it would be a quick easy walk... an hour and 15 minutes later and dripping with sweat from the uphill climb we arrived at the office. We found a subway station along the way which we used to take home, and will use for future meetings. We all went to BizPlex to the food court to eat, and then did some shopping in E-Mart. I found some really cute childrens books for my future classroom. We then sat on the roof top seating and ate ice cream. I forgot dairy pills so I had a red bean doughnut... I am going to miss red bean filled treats so much when I go home! We were out until about 11 and then we realized the subways closed at 12 so all went our separate ways home. Saturday morning "mom, Whitney, Seung-Joo, and I went to the Changgyeonggung Palace, which is from when Korea still had kings and queens. It was absolutely beautiful. The grounds were covered in trees and flowers, and the building were colorful and well kept. It was amazing to walk through their history like that. After the palace we went shopping at Doota, which I would call the Lenox of Korea. Each floor was dedicated to a particular item... mens clothing, womens clothing, shoes and handbags, accessories and souvenirs, and so on. I think there were 8 floors total. There were no stores per say but rather little "stands". On each floor there was probably 30-40 "stands". It wasn't spacious either, the walkways were about three people deep and were crowded. It was really overwhelming and a bit much for me. I found some great things on floor 5, wouldn't you like to know which floor that was? haha Sunday we went to church, which I discovered is a Catholic church. He showed me the creed and it was the same as ours... except theirs said something about hell? They also do not do communion? So it is different from American Catholics, but from what "dad" translates for me we share the same beliefs. After church I was told we were going to a soccer game, not knowing if we were watching or playing I dressed as if I was playing. Turned out though that it was E Chen my youngest "brothers" soccer playoff tournament. I watch soccer from 12:30 until 8:30, which is a lot of soccer. They won 4 games and tied 3 and in the final playoff they lost by one point. His team ended up coming 2nd place for his division. Now I would be honest if I said I didn't have some type of entertainment, besides soccer, my baby "cousin" was there. He is only 15 months old and I played with him all day. I really think that's what I should bring back with me... a little Korean baby... how cute! After the soccer game we came home ate and at 10:00 or so Whitney, Young Chen, Amy and her brother, and I went to a Nari Bong, which is a karaoke place. We had our own room with sound system, light effects, both, and microphones and we sang different songs until 12:00 when we had to go home. It was a lot of fun I sang a couple songs including "buttercup" "so hot" and "sorry sorry". I was very tired and went right to bed, 7:20am came way too early!

Han River Park

So yesterday Whitney and I made the 10 minute walk to the Han River Park. The park is essentially a bike path, which you will get run over on if you're not paying attention, several exercise areas with equipment, and a walking path. All of these things over look the Han River and it is absolutely gorgeous. Of course I took lots of pictures, so here are some of my favorites...

Pictures from the weeknd

Korean Castle

Whitney, me and the family

Olympic Park

Peace Gate

inside the museumThe Zoo

Bugs for sale (to eat) by the front gate... we didn't buy any

Grilling squid for usMeerkat Manorthe little one in pink fell face first into a dirt pile shortly after this picture :(

Parking Deck

Car goes in
Car turns around so that it can be driven out

Car lowers into the rafters undergroundCar slides into a parking space.. probably the coolest parking deck ever!

100th day old party

me and the baby