Today, I am 25 years old...or as I told my kids, "Today, I am old." hahaha sorry Mom.
On top of my birthday party on Saturday, my actual birthday was full of fun, smiles, and laughter. My kindergarten kiddies were so cute and brought me lots of presents and my KT helped them decorate the classroom with birthday signs that the kids made. They made me cards and sang to me a few times throughout the day. I got THREE birthday cakes - a sweet potato (Yeah I don't really know either) one from my class, one from Nick, and a cheesecake from the Director...Nick's cake was by far the best though. It was an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Korean Baskin Robbins' cakes blow American Baskin Robbins' cakes out of the water. There was no cake involved, only ice cream (my favorite part!) The cake had whipped cream icing with chocolate lattice and white chocolate swirls, glazed raspberries and blackberries. Inside was cherry ice cream and then the center was a vanilla ice cream with chocolate wafer candy chunks and swirls of caramel. IT WAS DELICIOUS. It was also one of the first times I've indulged in sweets in the past month, so it was extra wonderful to have a small slice!
My afternoon kids also brought me some presents, drawings, and cards, even though today was Level Tests and they all had to take these intense tests instead of doing regular classes. I was so thankful for all my wonderful students who made my birthday a little bit better.
After school let out, Nick and I hopped in a cab and went to our favorite restaurant in Korea - the Tuna House. The chefs were quite happy to see us again and we enjoyed bluefin and yellowfin morsels while sitting at the sashimi bar and chatting it up with a Japanese couple who was seated next to us. As always the fish was superb and we marveled at how the tuna just melted in our mouths. Since it was my birthday the chefs gave us some extra special pieces of tuna, and we also got to stuff ourselves on our favorites. We had blow-torched tuna with green onions and sauce, our favorite pickle and peanut butter wrapped tuna, and some amazing dark red chunks of tuna that looked more like wiggly jelly than fish. It was soooo good.
I had such a wonderful birthday - a great celebration of the past 25 years. I can only hope that the next twenty five years are as exciting and full of love and adventure! I felt very lucky to have such a good life, and even though I was far away from many of the people that I love and hold dear, I was happy that Nick and my students and my friends here in Korea did such a grand job of making it special for me.
What a night!
Last night we celebrated my 25th birthday, which is fast approaching tomorrow! All of the English teachers and some of our friends got together and we went to Hongdae for some delicious Indian food. We had reservations at Shanti Indian Restaurant; it was a FANTASTIC place! We didn't take lots of pictures during dinner since we were so busy stuffing ourselves with the amazing food, but I pulled some pictures of their food off their website.
We ate family style, each of us picking out a few dishes and then sharing with everyone. I wasn't disappointed by anything I tried - in fact, I LOVED everything I tried! We had big, overstuffed samosas and perfectly fried vegetable fritters. We sampled the tandoori chicken and savored the spiciness of the smoked chicken. We inhaled the lamb vindaloo, the chicken tikka masala, the palak paneer, the shrimp curry, the chicken makhini...we had so much great tasting food! Of course, all of it was piled high on HUGE slabs of tasty garlic naan.
I would highly recommend this place to anyone wanting some yummy Indian cuisine. It was up near the University on the second floor of some random building, but according to their website they have three locations in Hongdae. Nick and I will definitely be going back. If anyone wants to check out the place, we went to the third Shanti, which you can look at on their website: http://www.shantifood.com/
After such an awesome dinner, we all headed over to Papa Gorilla's, a bar that has some disastrously good deals. Some more friends joined us and we had a good party. It was a lot of fun.
Today we are taking it easy. Nick's been amazing and did the laundry AND cooked me dinner. I feel like such a lucky girl :) I spent the late evening talking to my mom for Mother's Day - we get to talk to Nick's mom in the morning, we're both so happy to get the chance to talk to our moms - WE MISS THEM!
Happy Children's Day!
Here in Korea, May 5th is a holiday celebrating children. Basically, it is a second Christmas for all kids in the sense that they don't have to go to school and their parents get them presents. We aren't sure if it's the most consumerism-driven holiday we've ever heard of or if the Korean triple threat of Valentine's Day, White Day and Black Day wins. Either way, we're very happy to celebrate it with a gorgeous Wednesday off of work!!
Nick and I split up today to each take some time doing things we enjoy. Nick went gadget hunting with some friends in Yongsan and then they relaxed with a beer by the Han River. While that sounds really nice, I had something more important to do.
I shopped.
And it was a great shopping day. All sorts of sales were everywhere due to the holiday. I hit up some of my favorite stores and bought some much needed smaller sizes and spring/summer wear. I also got shoes, a matching purse, and some fun jewelry. I was excited to see that I was fitting into such small sizes and I'm really happy seeing the results of our intense daily workouts. It made me feel good and more motivated to continue the workouts and devote myself to a healthier lifestyle. :)
All in all we both had a great day. We met up again in the evening for our workout (plus cardio ab session, ouuuuch) and then I whipped us up some butter chicken for dinner. It makes us happy that we only have two days of work until the weekend, this was such a wonderful midweek break! Thanks, kids!! haha
We had another field trip with our morning kiddies today - we all piled onto the buses and went up to Lake Park for a fun-filled day of outdoor activities and a big picnic on the grass.
We let the kids run and play and did several great activities. In a true competitive manner, the classes were pitted against each other during the activities. Nick's class and my class were on the "Blue" Team. Both classes took winning very seriously. They screamed and cheered on their classmates during the relay races and competitions. Chants were led and the occasional tear was shed as the competitive spirit ran rampant amongst the six year-olds. It was all in good fun though and they had a blast.
First the kids ran a relay race. They had to run to the end of the field and eat a chip off a clothesline without using their hands, then run back and tag the next person in line. Nick got some amazing shots of the kids running their hardest. You can see the excitement and determination in their faces.
Next we had the "Matching War". A few dozen felt squares were scattered all over the field. On one side the color was orange (our competing team's color). The other side was blue. The object of the game was to have as many squares be your team's color as possible. This led to lots of screaming from the sidelines as the classes took their turns running about crazily trying to flip over the felt to their team's color. When it was my class's turn to sit out and watch Nick's class have a go at it, some of my children got VERY intense as they yelled out instructions to help their team to victory. Of course, I was there, camera in hand, ready to capture the moment.
After much yelling and a victory for our team, we had the "Basket Race". Once again children lined up on one side of the field. This time, the teachers lined up on the other side. The kids had to run across the field holding a basket filled with balls. They then had to flip over a card and on it was a teacher's name. That teacher had to run back with the child and basket to the line and tag the next kid. It often ended up with us grabbing both the basket and the child and carrying the two back across the field - it was faster and more fun than trying to keep pace with little feet. The orange team managed to tie up the score at this point and our kids were ready to take a break.
The picnic consisted of delicious gimbop, sesame chicken wings, fresh cherry tomatoes, and strawberries. There was plenty to go around, and the kids seemed to thoroughly enjoy feeding Nick and me all their "extras" - and we were happy to munch on a few extra chicken wings and tomatoes. The kids also brought loads of snack foods and it was quite difficult turning down all those sugary and salty snacks, but we did our best to keep our promise of eating healthy and avoiding sweets.
When all our kids were fat and full and satisfied, we let them run around and digest a little. We took class pictures and relaxed as the muggy day wore on. Finally it was time for our last competition - the Tug of War. I must say, this was the most enjoyable part of our day. We had a lot of laughs making the kids give us their "mean" faces or their "strong" poses. After the kiddies made their effort it was the teachers' turn. Wow, did Nick's class and my class cheer for us! It was super cute hearing the alternating chants of "MR. B! MISS MARIE! MR. B! MISS MARIE!" We all had a lot of fun trying to triumph over each other. It was a fun and silly time.
After that it was time to pack up and go home. Most of our kids were pretty tuckered out by all the activity during our fun day. We taught our afternoon classes and now we are happy to announce that we have tomorrow off! That's right - May 5th is a holiday in Korea called Children's Day. Basically it is like Christmas without any religious meaning. We don't have to go to work, kids don't have to go to school, and parents are supposed to buy their children a present. Whatever, it's a midweek vacation! Hooray!
"Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live." ~ Mark Twain
Today was an amazingly gorgeous day, all awash in golden sunshine with a slight breeze. Nick and I could not let it go to waste. We made some smoothies and headed off to Lake Park, in Ilsan.
Once we got there we decided that the best way to enjoy the day would be on a bike. Neither of us have ridden bicycles since early high school. We figured it would be a fun and interesting way to spend the day. We found a bike shop that did rentals and for 10,000 won (or around $9.00) we had bikes for the next two hours. They were old, wobbly, and Nick's gears didn't work - but it was still perfect.
We spent a lot of time going around and around the lake, marveling at the people picnicking, the water lapping at the shore, the cherry blossoms floating on the breeze, and the many sights the park has to offer. We stopped at the waterfalls, sat on some benches under vine covered trellises, and then...jackpot. As we were riding on the main trail, Nick suddenly veered off onto a stone path that led down to the water. We walked our bikes to a two-story tall swing. Yes. It was gigantic. We loved it. We took turns pushing each other on it and we had a blast. I have a feeling we will be going back there and taking more pictures on the swing - it was a lot of fun and really picturesque.
After a few circuits around the lake we were ready to move on. We did a little shopping in Western Dom (hello new shoes haha) and then went to Costco to pick up some groceries for the next month. Once home we did our (EXHAUSTING) workout and then I made chicken penne for dinner. Yum. The whole day was glorious and fun. We really enjoyed ourselves.
Today Nick and I woke up to a glorious, sunshine-filled day. We could barely contain ourselves with our excitement. Spring is here! As you could see from our last post, all the trees were full of blooms and the air was warm and fragrant with the scents of blossoms and fresh grass. We got up, got dressed, and hopped onto the bus to go down to Seoul.
We shared a burrito from Tomatillos for lunch (had to get our Mexican fix!) and then wandered down the major street to check out the outdoor wicker displays that were at the Sejong Cultural Center. They had HUGE wicker statues and sculptures. They were really neat and we had fun photographing them.
The park was set up and new flower beds were put in. Instead of last year's intense floral arrangement with no room to walk in between, they had the park set up with large lawns and then small flower beds bursting with tulips, peonies, daisies and more. It was nice to take off our shoes and roam in the grass barefoot. We stopped at each bed of flowers, taking extreme close ups and practicing with our new camera.
After spending ample time on the lawns we meandered past Gyeongbukgong Palace and went to the gallery district. Nick bought me some gorgeous jewelry for my birthday that is in a few weeks. I felt so pampered. I showed him a place where I liked some of their pieces and he brought me inside and told me to pick out anything I wanted. I got a multi-chain braided necklace with purple Swarovski crystals and a matching bracelet. It was so nice and made me feel so special!! Then, as we were walking back from the first jewelry store, we saw another small place that had funky necklaces and earrings. Nick picked out a pair of purple and blue feather earrings that perfectly matched the dress I was wearing and got those for me too! I felt very loved. :)
The afternoon sun was so nice and we weren't ready to go home quite yet. We entered the Palace grounds to check out their cherry blossoms, which are in full bloom. Nick took some pretty pictures of me sitting in one, wearing my new earrings. After a while just enjoying being outside we decided to head back to Hwajung.
By the time we got back Nick had a serious hankering for a smoothie. We decided to buy ourselves a small blender (like a Magic Bullet) and load up on bananas, strawberries, pineapple, oranges and apples. We sweated through our workout, which was one of the most intense cardio sessions yet, and then I whipped us up some tasty smoothies. Later we had stuffed bell peppers for dinner with some spinach and then our friend came over and we watched a movie. It was a perfect day!
