Black Day.

If you remember my post titled "For the Love", from a month ago, you'll remember that April 14th is a big day. Step-sister to Valentine's Day, it is a day of lamenting, I mean celebrating, for all the single folk.

April 14th is Black Day and as promised I celebrated. All the single ladies, and one gent, gathered at my place for what was a crazy massive pot of black been noodles (half of which ended up in the trash). And in one accord we partook of a hardly delicious bowl of Jajjangmyeon. I can tell you this, if the sauce sticks to the pan and starts to burn after small amounts of heat, it probably has TOO much sugar for a dinner entree. Just a thought.

Anyway, Black Day... i have two things to say to you:

1. You aren't so bad. Neither is the life of a "solo".

2. I shall never eat Jajjangmyeon again. (looks like i better work on finding myself a man.)

God Answers Prayer.

Next time I'll learn to be a little more specific.

I have a list of things I must do and see in Korea (see tab above). Seeing the Cherry Blossoms is one of them. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure Korean springtime is marked by the beauty of these little buds and I just couldn't miss it!

I had been checking, religiously, the weather maps and planning a perfect time to see them in prime blossom. 5 days later than last year. 4 days earlier than the annual average. Saturday was the day! They said so. We planned it. The sun was going to shine! We'd bike ride in Yoeuido Park and picnic beneath the pink umbrella of springtime. It was going to be epic. I'm pretty sure we would have broken out into choreographed song and dance at the splendor of it all.

Until I checked the weather report. Cloudy. 60% chance of rain. What the? All week it had been spring. 65. Sunny. Delightful spring weather. Why, on my only day off, was it to rain? "Boo," is all I had to say about that one! So I started to pray, "Jesus, please let it not rain on Saturday. Amen." And I continued my weather checking frenzy.

Saturday morning we woke up. It was cloudy. But, no rain. So we made the trek. Cherry Blossom Festival here we come!

Well friends, it never rained on Saturday. And we saw cherry blossoms.
On a grand total of three trees. I must say, it was less than epic.
The display of other cherry blossom fanatics was sad. Huddled around the small grouping of blossoming trees snapping pictures as if they actually caught them in all their glory, was nothing short of embarrassing. I was horribly disappointed. This is not what we've waited for people. Don't be fouled. There's got to be more!

There they are. In all their naked splendor.

The trip wasn't a total failure. I mean, we did take a nice long walk along the river (because we got off at the wrong subway stop). We saw many a romantic couple peddling away along the riverbank, and strolled deflated beneath a sad skeleton of a Cherry Blossom Festival canopy. Next time folks... maybe next time.

I tell you what though, a lesson quickly learned. Next time- I'll be more specific.



(Sarcasm O' Meter= 70% It wasn't that bad! )

The Han River.

The other hopefuls. And the barren trees.

Pretty sweet picture i think!

15 Places to Visit This Decade

The Huffington Post heralds Seoul as one of the fifteen "must-see" international cities of the decade! It's noted for its high fashion and impressive city life, and I think I'll have to agree!

Korea, at least the potions I've explored, have far exceeded all of my expectations. Sure, I didn't have very many, but, in no way did I think it would be as modern and cutting-edge as it is! The art and design culture, as well as the modern/traditional architectural beauty is pretty remarkable. It's quite astounding what a country, a city specifically, can become in a short 50 years following a devastating war. There are still traditional areas and ways of thinking, thankfully so! Tis the beauty of a blossoming country!

But, make no mistake, my friends, the fashion scene is pretty rockin' and the city life is unmistakably impressive! Unfortunately, the pants are still way too short and most eateries favor the height impaired. But, other than that, it's awesome!
Check out the whole story here!

Idioms.

Teaching idioms to non-native English speakers is really funny.

I tutor a kid named David and he's really smart! And when I say smart, I mean smart! His English is almost perfect, and most of the time tutoring means we sit and talk about The Church, international politics, Korean history and about other awesome, non-typical ESL conversation tutoring topics. He's only 16.

Anyway. This week, after the first hour of discussing church discipline (crazy right!), I switched topics and asked him if there were any English words he wanted to know. He said "Yes, slang!"

Awesome. Smart... but a teenage boy nonetheless.

Without any preparation I threw a couple off the top of my head with the promise of a formal lesson to come. My initial sayings of choice...

• "scoush"- a little bit
• "negatory"- nope
• "boat load"- a lot (which led to explaining literal/literally, because a literal boat load full of homework is a pretty funny image)

Then I prepared a formal lesson on idioms. Accompanied with chocolate chip cookies of course.
We learned:

• "In a pickle." (Again a literal expression would be hilarious! Hence the picture.)
• "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" (Complete with voice intonations.)
• "Can I give you a hand?" ("Sure, which one would you like? Right or left?")
  
• "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind." (Again, not literal. And not often used, but necessary.)
• "Game on! (Which I over heard him use in the staff room. Awesome.)
  
• "It ain't over till the fat lady sings!" (By far my favorite.)

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. This came after my class of middle school boys where I played "Can/Can't" Battleship. Teach them English and let 12 year old boys blow up ships... done and done.

The life of a camp counselor gone English teacher.

Trust.

I've been learning a lot in Korea. And like most of you know... i love to write. So when Aurora reminded me to write something for her blog, I couldn't say no. Well i guess i could have... but i had something to write about. Topic of choice... Trust.

GUTS is Aurora's awesome blog. Guest writers have been writing about different topics. She just posted my short piece. Tempting? Good.
Check it out!

Good Friday

Some days you just feel loved! By people who love you and by God!
Man. Today was such a great day! First day of real spring... flats and a sweater all the way! It was beautiful!! I spent my morning at Costco with some awesome ladies! Got to work and was greeted with a love package from my wonderful parents with some Easter love! Seems like i've had to explain what Easter is to people who have literally NO idea. They can't even begin to understand why i'd want to celebrate... but man... do i have reason to celebrate!! I spread some of the Easter love with Robin Egg Whoppers! So, work was great! And to finish it off nicely, my last class was canceled. So i got off early... on a friday!! Does it get any better than that?
Came home and i'm sitting writing some people back thinking about my awesome day and how awesome God is... and the country song "Sarah Smile" comes on.
Oh! I'm smiling alright! Because God is good. Life is good! And i am blessed!

It's a Good Friday indeed!
Thank you Jesus for life! And for all that means!

Grocery Shopping in Korea

Grocery shopping in Korea has been relatively painless. I've been able to find most things, some with a litle more effort than others, that I use to cook. I'm not a picky eater. Even being vegetarian hasn't posed as many problems as i tought! Though, it beats the heck out of my why black beans are so hard to find? Anyway, for the most part, it's been rather easy shopping! With a few funny stories of course!

There have been, however, a few items that just perplex me. Some seemingly common, highly desirable items have been either crazy hard to find and too painfully expensive to actually purchase. I don't get it. But let me share a few.

The Bloody Expensive:

• Oatmeal. A large bucket of plain. No frill oats. 13,000-18,000 won. ($13- $18)
• Cheese. The cheap kind. A little block. 8,000-9,000 won. ($8-$9)
• Chunky peanut butter. An patriotic Korean knockoff. 5,000won ($5)
• Avocados. 4 of them. Rock solid. 12,500 won ($12.50)
• Asparagus. 3 short, measly stalks. 6,000w ($6)
• Maple Syrup. In minimal ounce-age. 15,000w ($15)
• A box of Splenda. 40,000 w. ($40 bloody bucks.)
  

The MIA

• Salsa
• Apple Butter (though i always look- i'm hopeful.)
• Apple Sauce
• Whole Wheat Bread. Or whole wheat anything for that matter.
• Cottage Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Bacardi Bottled Mojitos
  

Anyway, today i made my first trip to Costco. It was good friends. Really good! I didn't buy a whole lot, but now i'm prepared for next time.

My cart consisted of a box of Kashi Go Lean Cereal. Whole Grain Crackers. Pepper Jack Cheese. Coffee. And the only Easter candy i've seen in Korea- Robin Egg Whoppers. I shall be sharing those with the kiddos at school today. I don't think i've ever bought a 5lb bag of candy, but i don't think the kids will have a hard time helping me get rid of it! : )

Some interesting items at Korean Costco.

• Bulgogi Bakes (like the coveted Chicken Bakes)
• A gallon of Haagen Daz ice-cream for 20,000 w. YIKES!
• A small bag of pine nuts for 40,000w. 40 bucks for nuts. NO THANK YOU! I like pesto. But not that much!
• A box of Dodgerdogs
• And yes, they have Costco muffins! Those suckers are international!

We finished our successful shopping adventure with a delicious Costco pizza. One i must say tasted very much like that back home. It warmed my heart. (Or shall i say my appetite.)

Viva la Costco!

Rachel. D, and Jennice. And our delightful pizza.

Jennice's packed car. We did well!

My "big" purchase. Minus the cheese.