I’m so sad that I’ve neglected this blog so much. It was
never my intention to fall so far behind. But I’m always super excited to be in
a position to catch up so here’s what’s been happening!
In November, my family came to visit for the week of
Thanksgiving. Back in the summer, my mom told me to choose a holiday for them
to come for so we wouldn’t have to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas apart.
I chose Thanksgiving because 1) I could see them sooner 2) My house is where my family does the big
Christmas gathering and I was sure that if my mom was out of town, nobody would
get together for Christmas dinner and I didn’t want to rob my extended family
of the Christmas gathering lol and 3) I have Kevin, so really, I wouldn’t have
spent any holiday alone. (Despite having two weeks off during Christmas-New
Year, Kevin decided to stay in the country so I wouldn’t have to be alone
<3).
On Wednesday, November 20th, my family arrived in
Seoul. I rushed to the airport when I got off of work at 6:00 and met them just
in time for their flight to arrive early.
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| Incheon airport, all decorated for Christmas. |
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| Waiting at their gate. So nervous! So excited! |
I broke into unexpected tears immediately. It was so
overwhelming seeing them after so long apart. I gave them their metro cards
that I had prepared and we headed to their hotel in Hongdae.
They checked in and dropped off all of their bags and then
we went to Burger B’s for dinner. Burger B’s has my favorite burger in all of
Seoul and I figured after a long 23 hour travel day, nobody was ready to be
thrown into Korean food yet. We caught up and had a few beers and burgers, just
the 4 of us. Kevin offered to accompany me at the airport and join us for the
meal but I wanted to be selfish on their first night. My mom was super
disappointed, as she was ready to embrace him as her own immediately upon
arrival.
Eventually, we had to go back to the hotel to get Karen’s
suitcase since she would be staying at my apartment with me.
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| Trying to decipher the hotel room's thermostat (boooo Celcius boooooooooo) |
Thursday, November 21
I was working for the entirety of their stay with no option
to ask off because this is Korea, which sucked, so I had done a lot of planning
for them. I had prepared an “itinerary” for my family to use as a guide. It was
full of ideas about how to spend each day and detailed how to get around.
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| I had also prepared this Bingo/Points game full of things for them to be on the look out for. My coworkers and I really enjoyed coming up with the things that were worthy of going on the Bingo sheet and it caused some heated discussions about what should and should not make the cut. |
On Thursday I suggested that they just walk
around Hongdae and Sinchon since I was sure they’d be exhausted and wouldn’t
want anything too complicated to do on their first day. They were staying in Hongdae and there is so
much to do in Hongdae (shopping, eating, people watching etc) that I knew they’d
enjoy their first day.
I just so happened to still have my long Thursday break when
they were visiting so I met them for lunch at 1:00 at Gusto’s Tacos (best tacos
in Korea, punch anyone in the face who tells you otherwise). I walked around Hongdae and pointed out a few
of the spots that me and my friends frequent until I had to leave to go back to
teach by 3:10. We wandered into a Sheep Café that I knew existed near Hongik
University but had never actually gone into. Karen loved it and it was a great
introduction to the randomness that is Korea.
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| Karen and said sheep. |
We had Dak Galbi at my favorite spot in Hongdae. My dad
wanted to see my apartment so my sister walked with him to my place. They
missed their turn and I ended up meeting them by surprise on my walk home and
we all walked to the apartment together.
Karen told us of her scare that morning when she locked the
bolt lock on my apartment, which is something I never ever do, but neglected to
mention to her in my “Make sure you lock up!” speech that morning. After trying
several times to get the rusty bolt lock to unlock, she was able to get in
without further difficulty.
When we arrived at my apartment, I unlocked the door, ready
to show my tiny apartment box to Dad. However……… Karen must have forgotten about
her mishap a few hours before locking up again because the top lock was locked.
Nice, Karen.
Opening the door took
several minutes and set our dinner time back a little bit but we got into a cab
and hurried to meet my mom for dinner. I had already pointed out the restaurant
to them earlier in the day so I knew my mom would be fine to find it.
When we arrived, Kevin was waiting at the table with my mom.
We had a great dinner and I think they really enjoyed their first Korean meal.
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| Trying to figure out the chopsticks. |
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| Nailed it. |
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| Ohhhh yeaaaaa yum yum yum yummm. |
After dinner we decided we weren’t ready to part ways yet so
we decided to go walk around Sinchon since it is so close to where they were
staying and then they would know how to get to another spot to explore while
I’m at work. Before piling into cabs, my dad bought me my favorite winter
street food, chestnuts, and I was excited to let them try them. Kevin and I
hailed the cabs and I took one with my parents and Kevin followed behind with
Karen.
After walking around Sinchon for about an hour, and stopping
by Beer O’Clock, a bar we used to frequent, Kevin went home, Karen and I went
back to my apartment, and I put my parents in a cab heading back to their
hotel.
Friday, November 22
Originally, my family was supposed to visit me at work but I
forgot it was a field trip day. My kids were so disappointed when they were
looking around for my family. “Teacher, where sister?” “I’m sorry! It’s a field
trip day so my family will come Monday” and they would look so sad.
As I was going to the lovely and super kid-appropriate (not)
Piccasso exhibit, I was texting pictures of the 63 building, Seoul’s tallest
building, to my dad so they would be able to recognize it. They had planned on
going to see it that day and take pictures from the top floor.
That night, we met my parents and Kevin in Hongdae for
Korean BBQ. Kevin was awesome and cooked it for us and we all had a good time
talking about our day. We went to bed early that night because we had to be up
early in the morning.
Saturday, November 23
Karen and I met my parents in the lobby of their hotel
bright and early and ready to be picked up for our DMZ tour. The DMZ was
extremely high on my Korean bucket list so it was AMAZING to get to do this
with my family. I felt like a little kid again being shuffled around to see
some historical sites with my family. I especially thought my dad would like
this tour because it added a little educational value to the Korean vacation.
And its Korea.. you can’t NOT go to the DMZ!!!
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| Taken on a pit stop before heading into the DMZ. |
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| On the bus. |
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| Taken at the look-out point. |
We didn’t get to see the JSA, so I’d like to go back to the
DMZ one more time before leaving Korea to do so but it was another amazing day
together. There was an informational video at the information center which gave
some information about what the DMZ is and some history about it. We also went
down into one of the tunnels that North Korea had dug as a passage way to try
and get into the South as well as the old train station that used to connect the two countries. It was a very foggy day so we couldn’t see much from
the look-out spot but I did get to take some pics with a soldier!
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| It's not allowed to take photos from anywhere closer than this because the flash could be mistaken for gunshots or something. It was too foggy to see anything anyway :( |
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| The souvenir shop at the train station sold Pringles........ |
The tour we went to the DMZ with also included a stop at
Insadong, which I didn’t realize when I signed up but was super excited about.
Karen did some shopping and I walked around with my mom and dad, looking at all
of the touristy Korean trinkets. My dad ended up buying a super Asian looking
notebook so that he could write notes about what we were doing each day in a
Korean souvineer instead of just on a yellow notepad that he brought from his
office.
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| Bibimbap for lunch in Insadong with our tour guide :) |
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| Dad buying his notebook. |
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| Some musicians playing in the street. |
We got back on the bus and my mom and dad went back to the
hotel to rest before dinner and poor Karen wanted so badly to go shopping or do
something in Hongdae but I was too exhausted as well so I headed home as she
ventured through Hongdae again. I wanted to save my energy so that I would be
able to be alive enough to take Karen out after dinner.
That night we had mandu with Kevin when he got off of work.
We got steamed and fried dumplings, both meat and kimchi, providing a good variety
and another solid Korean meal.
My parents went home after dinner and Kevin and I took Karen
out in Hongdae.
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| Can't start the night without a drink in a bag. |
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| #iknowthatsright |
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| OMGGGG Karen's in Hongdae!! Worlds are colliding... |
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| EEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!! |
I left after a few hours because I was so exhausted from
being up so early but Kevin and Karen stayed out with some of my former
co-workers. Karen had an awesome time seeing some of Seoul’s night-life and I
was super grateful to Kevin for being willing to stay out with her.
Sunday, November 24
Sunday is my only mutual day off with Kevin so I thought it
would be a good day to see the palaces and do some walking around. Kevin and I
took them to Deoksugung Palace and the much bigger Gyeongbokgung Palace. The day
after Kevin first arrived in Korea last May, we went to Deoksugung Palace for
some sightseeing and this was the first time we’d been back since so that was
pretty cool to be back with my family this time. This palace is also special to me because it was my first sightseeing adventure during my first weekend in Korea so it was something that really amazed me when I first got here (and still does) :)
Entry to Deoksugung Palace is only W1,000 ($.93) which is
great because you can see this insanely impressive and uniquely Korean place
for literally so cheap. We walked around inside the palace gates, took some
pictures and headed back out.
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| Coming out of the metro. I was so excited that my family was able to see how beautiful the city is during Fall. I was hoping and hoping all through November that the leaves wouldn't have all fallen before they came. We were very lucky this year :) |
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| Family photo outside of Deoksugung Palace |
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| With Kebeeeen. |
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| Inside of the gates. I pointed out the my family that this is the exact spot that I took my cartwheel picture that I posted to facebook shortly after arriving. |
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| Somebody partied a little too hard last night..... |
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| Kevin and mom becoming fast bffs. |
I was especially excited to show my parents a changing of the
guards ceremony. We knew that they were done every hour so after walking around
inside the lobby of the city hall building, we headed back to Deoksugung Palace
and were right on time to watch the guards change.
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| Found these outside of the City Hall buidling |
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| Buying time inside. |
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| A girl dressed in a hanbok bangs a drum to announce the beginning of the changing of the guard ceremony. |
When it was over, we walked several blocks toward
Gyeongbokgung Palace. My dad had an aside moment with me during the walk and
told me how proud he was of the life I’ve made for myself here. Cuuuuuuuuute.
I’m a grown up J
We got down to Gyeongbokgung Palace and entered the gates but
didn’t pay to go into the palace after all of the walking to actually get to
it. As I’ve heard many an expat say, ‘if you’ve seen one palace, you’ve seen
them all’. Not saying I don’t want to see each palace in Seoul while I’m here,
just not interested in walking through another palace with my parents after
having just shown them one several minutes ago. As we left we were able to
catch the beginning of the Gyeongbokgung changing of the guards ceremony.
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| More chestnuts! Gyeongbokgung in the background. |
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| My main man Haechi. |
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| I love the guards at these palaces. |
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| So snazzy. |
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| Inside the gate. |
After seeing the palaces we got on the metro and headed to
Itaewon, a favorite district of mine and some place Kevin and I frequently
visit on weekends. We showed my parents all of the available tacky souvineers
that can be bought on the streets and had dinner at Vato’s. I heard my parents
saying to each other that they’d be interested in coming back to Itaewon on
another day while I was working. Yayyyy for everyone loving Itaewon.
At dinner I asked Kevin if he would mind if Karen and I came
back to his place to watch a movie and hang out instead of just going back home
(my apartment is seriously small and such a buzz kill when you’re not ready to
go to bed).
We all got on a bus from Itaewon and rode to Sinchon
together, where I directed my parents to where they needed to walk to get back
to their hotel. They were such Seoul pros by this point that they were super
confident in their ability to find their way from my directions and got back
with no problem. Good job guys ;)
Karen, Kevin and I stayed on the bus. We headed to my place
to change into some more comfortable clothes and then headed to Kevin’s. At
Kevin’s house I made some buffalo chicken dip with the buffalo sauce and ranch
dressing that my mom had recently mailed me and we watched Parks and Recreation
on Kevin’s laptop. It was such a fun night and one of the highlights for me of
their stay. It’s super weird doing something as normal as laying around with my
sister and boyfriend, eating fatty food from home, and watching American shows
while being so far from home. I’m so used to not being in the company of my sister
at this point while simultaneously finding it so natural to have her right next
to me. We stayed super late and ended up spending the night. Kevin let us take
the bed and he stayed on the couch, in his own apartment. I lubbbb heeeem. He
was so accommodating to my family for the entirety of their stay.
Monday, November 25
Aaaaaaaall of the kids knew that my family was coming to meet them and everyone was very excited. Some of my 5 year olds even talked about it at home and their parents sent them to school with presents! I was so touched by that.
My sister and I walked to my job and my parents met us
there. They helped me greet the buses
that morning and then when all of the kids were there, we went into my
classroom for “Circle Time”, when we review what day it is, how the weather is,
the day’s schedule etc (none of which is done while sitting in a circle).
Daniel was horrified of my foreign, non-Korean family, but
my mom brought candy for them so he eventually warmed up to them. My mom taught
them a song and my dad took pictures. It was awesome having everybody meet. I
spend 5 days a week every week all year with these kids with only 1 or 2 days
off a month so I am extremely attached to them and spend most of my day with
them. It was so cool having my family meet them but also, having them meet my
family. (Nowadays, when I mention my mom, dad, or sister, they say “Yes
teacher! I know!” which is their very TESOL way of saying “Yes, teacher I met
them and know exactly who you are talking about”).
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| Daniel is the boy I tell stories about when I first started teaching because he would run out of the classroom screaming whenever he saw me. He was so afraid of me because I didn't speak Korean and he didn't understand why. He acts like the biggest baby and everyone in school thinks he's so adorable. I'm the most hard on him out of everyone because I think he uses his cuteness to his advantage and I think he's a lot smarter than he lets people believe because he likes the attention. However, he was especially quiet and visibly uncomfortable with my family there so I scooped him up until he calmed down. |
When the bell rang for the first class, it was time for my
parents to leave and spend the day exploring while Karen stayed all day with
me.
My kids were so excited to have a new face to speak English with and my
preschoolers became obsessed with her very quickly. They even showed her their
Thriller dance that they had just finished performing a few weeks ago at
October’s Song Contest. It was cool having her see what I do all day and how
awesome my job is.
One of Karen’s hidden talents is her ability to solve a
Rubix cube so the night before, we went to Daiso and bought one for her to
impress the kids with. They loved messing it up and giving it to her to solve.
There was a boy who looked at it and said to Karen “I’m very very…. *shrugs shoulders*” and I immediately
translated “He means he’s interested to see what happens”. Karen was impressed I could decipher that
message and it showed me just how long I’ve been working with kids learning
English because I knew exactly what he meant just due to context and having to
figure out what kids are saying to me all day.
From 3:10-6:05, I teach Middle school kids, who were also
excited to meet my sister. I had been telling ALL of my kids that my family was
coming and part of me thinks the excitement of the older kids comes from being
nosey because these are the same kids that always ask me questions about my
“boyprend”.
The afternoon classes are not nearly as fun or exciting to
be around as the Kindy classes because its all book work but Karen was able to
participate and do some homework and classwork checking. My class at 3:55
speaks English fairly well so she got to actually have a conversation with some
Korean kids who are basically fluent.
The most excited of my classes were my 2 middle school
classes that I teach at 4:40 and 5:25. They also happen to be my favorite
classes because all of the kids are hilarious and they were the most excited to
meet her.
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| My next class creeping on my current class to get a good look at Karen. |
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| Grading some class work. |
It was an awesome day at work.
My parents met us at my apartment so that we could walk to
Kevin’s apartment together so that my mom would know how to get there on
Thursday since she would be cooking Thanksgiving dinner while Kevin and I were
at work.
I took them through the grocery store that we get our food
from and it ended up being a cool experience for them. The live aquatic section
was especially different for them. I enjoyed having my mother there to walk
with me through the produce aisle and explain to me what all of the different
greens were. I can read the labels in Korean but it’s not much help when you
don’t know what the word means. I don’t have the patience to google every
single green leafy thing in the produce section and “Jeulgigi” means nothing to
me until I know that it’s “Arugula”. Thanks mom.
We arrived at Kevin’s, which was also cool to have my
parents see because it’s where I spend most of my time. My mom enjoyed seeing
it for that reason and expressed confidence in her ability to make her way back
with my dad to cook dinner while we were away.
We headed to one of mine and Kevin’s favorite restaurants:
Jyoti, an Indian restaurant in Sinchon. It was the first time Kevin and I had
been there in ages so it was nice that the owner remembered us. He even hooked
us up with some free tea for dessert. Karen loves Indian food so I was especially
excited to take her to our spot.
Tuesday, November 26
My parents and Karen went back to Itaewon to check out my
favorite museum, the War Memorial Museum. I was excited for them to see it and
super jealous I couldn’t go myself. The War Memorial Museum is a free museum
that depicts Korea’s history with special emphasis on its wars. There are so
many old artifacts that are showcased there. I’ve always had a fascination with
anything that is thousands of years old, something I’m sure many Americans can
relate to, since our country is such a baby country.
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| Reppin the Lion's Club. |
My Tuesday/Thursday afternoon middle school kids kept asking
me where my sister was because they knew that she was going to visit my school
and they were extremely disappointed when I told them that she had already come
on Monday and therefore they wouldn’t get to see her. Karen was sad when I told
her this so she agreed to come and surprise them on Thursday so she could
literally meet every single one of my kids.
That night, we met my former coworker and bff Justin at the
Noryangjin Fish Market for dinner. This was one of the many places on my dad’s
printout of 100+ things to do in Seoul so I was excited to be able to take
everyone there. It truly is an experience to pick which fish you want and be
escorted to a nearby restaurant and have your fish prepared for you. We got
some oysters, prawns, and salmon. It was a great dinner.
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| This picture shows how huge the market is. Fish as far as the eye can see. |
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| Live octopus that can be eaten while still squirming on the plate. |
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| Shellfish |
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| Prawns |
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| Dad |
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| Making decisions |
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| Negotiating prices. |
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| Yummmmm |
Wednesday, November 27
I don’t recall exactly what my family did this day to occupy
themselves while I was at work (this is what happens when you take 4 months to
update your blog) but I’m sure it was exhilarating.
I want to say they went to Insadong......
My parents didn’t get the chance to meet my beloved
coteacher, my Claire Bear, when they visited on Monday so they met me Wednesday
night before the final bell rang to get the chance to say ‘hello’. I warned my
kids that my parents would be coming and they were EXTREMELY excited to meet
them. Strangers in the classroom is so out-of-the-ordinary and I think that
added to their excitement. My dad texted me when they arrived and I sent a
student down to get them. I was interested to see how that was going to work
since his English was limited, but they found their way.
The same Monday, Wednesday, Friday 4:40 and 5:25 kids that
were so excited to meet Karen got to meet my parents and were equally amazed
and excited to do so. I was proud to show them off to my other class through
the hallway window as I walked my parents into my last class.
It was a test day, that particular day but everyone was
finished by the time my parents got there. At one point of of my kids asked me
“Teacher, dad is how tall?” Neither my dad or I had any idea how to answer that
question in centimeters.
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| One of the students had a deck of cards and my dad saw his golden opportunity to win over some Korean kids. |
I had left Wednesday’s dinner itinerary open for suggestion
by this point because I had taken them to all of my favorite spots and thought
by this point they would have a place they would have enjoyed and want to go
back to so the consensus was to go back to the Mandu restaurant again.
I paid for dinner that night to further prove my adulthood.
LOOK AT MEEEE! I AM SO FINANCIALLY STABLE IN MY ABILITY TO PAY FOR DINNER J
Thursday, November 28
Thanksgiving. We had already bought the ingredients for
everything my mom would need to make dinner possible. My mom and dad went to Kevin’s
around noon and Karen I think did some shopping that morning. She came to my
school in time to meet my afternoon students, who were so excited to meet her.
Karen headed to Kevin’s early and I headed out as soon as I
got off of work at 6:50. There was a bit of a mix up with our turkey situation.
There is no turkey situation in Korea (my kids don’t even fully understand what
a turkey is). They are too expensive at Costco and we have no military friends
to get us one from base so we agreed to get a rotisserie chicken from a truck
nearby, however, the truck wasn’t there when Kevin and my dad went to go get
it. We opted for very delicious plan b of fried and grilled chicken from my
favorite chicken place down the street from my school. I met Kevin and my dad
there after I got off and the 3 of us walked back to Kevin’s place.
Dinner was just finishing up as we arrived. Having a home-cooked
meal by MY mom was something I hadn’t had in almost a year so that dinner was
really special to me. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, greens, chicken, and
some side dishes that came with the chicken as well as some wine to go with
dinner. We ate on the floor and it was my most humble and one of my favorite
Thanksgivings that I’ll always remember.
It was their last night in Korea so I
really enjoyed reminiscing about their trip with them on that final night. My
mom stayed as long as she could before giving into my dad falling asleep in his
chair. It was time for them to head back to the hotel, as much as I didn’t want
them to, because they had a long travel day ahead of them. Saying good bye to
them that night was a little hard but much easier than saying goodbye in
January before I left for Korea. Seeing my family was such a refresher and gave
me the energy and spirits to power through the rest of my contract here before
I would be able to see them again.
It was such an amazing time with them and I will always cherish the memories <3
