Songpyeon!

It's been a few weeks since I've written. The postings will be more consistent when I have internet at home. I'm still in my "temporary" apartment... at least another month without internet. Glad I prepared myself for an extended stay. Even though I'm not in my real apartment, I'm beginning to find a rhythm in SoKo. I finally feel like I live here.

This past weekend was Chuseok (aka Korean Thanksgiving) and I had a 5 day break from work. (Hooray for breaks!!!) Chuseok is a family holiday, spent feasting and visiting ancestral burial sites. It's also a major gift-giving holiday. One of my co-teachers gave me handmade soaps and the other gave me some office supplies. Gift giving is very practical here. My landlord even gave me a nice gift... although it was a bit traumatic for all involved. When he stopped by, I was out of town, but my friend Kira was at my place and she didn't open the door for him, because she didn't know who it was. As you can imagine, this created lots of confusion, because he thought I was at home and not wanting to let him in. Keep in mind, he speaks very little English. So Kira called me to tell me a strange Korean man was demanding to be let into my apartment and I told her it was most likely my landlord. As I'm on the phone with Kira, my landlord calls me and is screaming... "CHRISTY OPEN THE DOOR!" (in very broken English). When I get the call from him, I'm standing at a bus station 2 hours out of town trying to explain to him that I'm not home... it didn't go well. After realizing I wasn't going to explain to him where I was, I decided just to hang up on him. I immediately called Kira and told her it WAS in fact my landlord and she should open the door for him. A few moments later, Kira called me to let me know he was simply trying to drop off a Chuseok gift for me. He brought a large bag of goodies... korean pears, apples, tomatoes, juice and home-made songpyeon (korean rice cakes with red bean paste filling). It was incredibly sweet of him. When I get to work Wednesday, I'm going to have someone help me write a thank you note.

The point of this story... Life in Korea is full of surprises!!! Things here are never boring!

Here are some recent pictures...

These are a few pictures of my students and one of the main English room...

All of my students have "english names"... this one is my favorite, for obvious reasons!

One afternoon, I went in search of comfort food... I found myself back at my apartment with cheese-flavored, dehydrated noodles and juice box wine. It was delicious... sad, but true.

Kira the amazing!

Anchovies... every shape and size.

HOT peppers!

Dadaepo Beach... My new favorite place in Busan. It's over an hour away, but well worth the jaunt.

I miss and love you all...