Happy Anniversary!

Kevin just called me on my cell phone to say "Happy 7 year Anniversary!" Yep, he asked me out in the parking lot at Vanguard after our youth ministry class on April 1st, 2002! He asked me on April Fools, just incase I said "No," which of course I would never do!! Who would pass up a guy like him?! Love you babe! Happy 7 years!

"Can I ride you?"

Yes, this is what the teachers ask me when I am leaving for the day? "Miss Alexis, Can I ride you?" They obviously mean to ask, "Can I give you a ride?" I've thought about correcting them, but decided when I leave at the end of the year I'll do it... For now, I can't bare to keep them from saying such funny things!

"Do you have any piss?"

Yes, this is what one of my 4th grade students asked me today. I looked back at her horrified, and said, "no, no I don't have any." She said, "no piss?" again, and I replied, "No, no, I don't have any piss." She then said "I have 16 piss" and motioned like a fish with her hands. You can imagine the look on my face when I realized she was asking me if I have any fish!

My trip to the Hospital

Today, I took the day off of work and stayed home sick. I couldn't breathe out of my nose and my throat was swollen! I walked to the hospital, which is close to our apartment. I walked in and immediately walked to the front desk and told the young woman my symptoms. She asked me to sit down and wait for 5-10 minutes, but before I could even sit down another nurse motioned for me to follow her. She led me into the doctor's office... yep, his actual office! He asked me my symptoms and diagnosed me with "the common cold." I was relieved it was not something worse! He told me to drink 20 cups of water or juice everyday and not to eat oily food. I said, "thank you!" and walked out to the front desk again. I owed 3,500 won, which is the equivalent of $2.00. I was handed a prescription for vitamins, which also cost the equivalent of $2.00!


When the pharmacist handed me my vitamins, he pointed to each pack and said, "take at good morning, lunchie, and supper time!"



So, let's review: I waited 5 seconds to see the doctor, paid $2 and got a prescription for vitamins that cost me $2! Overall, I give the Korean medical system an A+!!!!!

Why I love Koreans!

Last night, Mr. chun, from Kevin's school knocked on our apartment door. I opened the door and he asked "How is your condition?" I told him I was still very sick, so he said, "Wait here," and ran down the stairs. He soon came back with a gift bag and a heat mat.

I motioned for him to come in and he asked me to sit down on the floor. He got out a tray from our kitchen cabinet and opened the gift bag. Inside was a to go box of Korean soup. He scooped some soup into a bowl and then proceeded to take the covers off of our bed. He laid the heat mat under the sheets and plugged it in. He said, "this is warm."

The traditional Korean rice and vegetable soup

The heating mat

I feel sooooo taken care of in Korea!

The Bidet...

Saturday night we met Jess, Carlos, Kate, and Rob near Pusan National University for dinner. After dinner, we walked the streets and came across a really cool wine bar. We sat and talked and laughed for hours here and towards the end, Jess got up to go to the bathroom. When she came back, she had a huge smile on her face and said, the girls bathroom has a bidet! Kev immediately got up and ran to the girls bathroom to try it out. When he pushed the button for the bidet to start, he was laughing and squealing so loud, the whole wine bar could here him! Now I know what to get him for Christmas!

We went back to the Island!

On Saturday, we woke up and got a phone call from Mr. Chun (Kevin’s admirer from his school) He said he wanted to take us to a beautiful spot on Yong Do Island. We were both really excited to get outside and see more of Korea’s beautiful landscape. It ended up being a 2 1/2 hour hike up hill and downhill! Here are some pictures:


Mr chun and I on the walk to the water.


These trees are gorgeous! This picture does not do it justice. They have millions of little white flowers!


The view from the top of the mountain.


We climbed down here. There is a little restaurant down on the rocks. People can order food and sit on the square carpets. It's awesome!

Kevin and I from the look out point. On a clear day, you can see Japan from this point!

I could have sat here all day! It was gorgeous!

My massage date with Kevin

Friday night, Kevin and I decided we wanted to get massages! We went to a Jim Jil Bang (bath house) and ended up getting1 hour massages and 45 minute facials and paid 50,000 won each, which is the equivalent of about 35 dollars! The massage and facial were both incredible! Here are some funny things that happened during our massage:

1. When we got there, the guy told Kevin to take everything off, but to leave his PANTIES on!
2. I was lying on my stomach and the very first thing my masseuse did was he climbed on top of me and sat on my butt!
3. During the massage I was tightening up, because he was doing something that hurt. He told me to “power off” I thought for a second, hmmmm, power off. What the heck does that mean? Then I realized he was asking me to relax!
4. At the end of the massage, they said, “The ending!”
5. After the massage was over, my masseuse asked me if I have a baby. I said, “No, no, I don’t have any kids.” Then he asked again, “You have a baby?” and pointed to his stomach. I replied, “No, I’m not pregnant. Why?” He proceeded to grab his stomach fat and said, “I think you have small baby.” Kevin and I both lost it and were laughing soooooo hard! Now when I see something I want to eat that’s not healthy Kevin says, “Don’t feed the baby!” HILARIOUS!
6. We told my masseuse we were from America and he asked why our skin wasn’t white. I pointed to the inside of my wrist and said, “This is very white.” He shook his head and said “Not white.” Apparently, he thought people in American were PURE WHITE!

Funny stuff!

This is a Kenny Rogers Nore-Bang (Karaeoke place!) Come on Korea, Kenny Rogers... Really?!


These hula-hoops have spiky things on the inside of them! What's that all about?!

Apparently only 2 ladies can come to this restaurant on "2 Only Lady Day!"

Yes, I agree... Safety is always important when you eat beef!

Sweet and cute LIVING plastic! Aaah, I've always wanted some of that stuff!

My trip to the school nurse!

I've been sick with a cold since last Friday! Today, my head felt like it was going to burst, so one of the teachers told me to go see the school nurse. When I got there, I told her my symptoms and she concaucted some sort of "oriental medicine" in a bottle. I have NO idea what was in it! She warmed it up in a tea kettle and then said, "Drink!" It tasted decent, and was much more fun than taking an ADVIL! Cheers to "oriental medicine!"

Where'd my bus driver go??

Yesterday, I got on my bus to go home after work and I was surprised to see that I was the only person on my bus! I thought, "Hey, this is great! I can sit wherever I want today!" So, I sat down and began to look at some papers from school. After about a minute or so, I looked up to see why we hadn't moved yet, and the bus driver was gone! I stood up to look outside and saw him going into a hair salon! What bus driver leaves his bus running with someone in it and goes into a hair salon?! Not to mention, we were on a hill... if something happened, I would have rolled down the hill in a bus with no driver! Hey, gotta love Korea!

Time to sing a song!

This is what I sang with my 3rd graders on Friday! They love singing, and you better believe I sing my heart out and do all the dance moves with them! Teaching kids is so much fun! :)

Lost in Translation... This time it's in PRINT though!

I took these pictures yesterday while Kev and I were out and about shopping in Busan. They were sooo funny that I had to celebrate their existence with a photo!

"Be The When People Need You"   Hmmm, be the what?!

 

"Coca-Coco, Coca Coca Co," and what the heck is "Move office?"

I couldn't resist... I actually bought this one because it was soooo bad!

Kev and I looked at this shirt for a long time and can not figure out what the heck they were trying to say. Anyone??


All I can say is, WOW! This one takes the cake for sure!

Markets in Korea

They are awesome and huge and have everything! Here are a couple pictures I took this weekend at the market near our house. It's called Gukje Market.

North Pacific Ocean!

I've been lucky to see the ocean almost everyday, but I have yet to actually go down to the beach! Last night, Colin, Kristin, Kevin and I went shopping and then took a taxi to the Kwangan Beach, near Kristin's apartment. We went to a darling little coffee shop called PappaRoti, which apparently was named after Pavarotti, but the spelling is a little off! haha We sat at the coffee shop, which is practically on the sand, and watched the sun set! It was magical!

Papparoti makes the most amazing molasis rolls and hot chocolate!

This picture is really blury, but you get the point! This beach is gorgeous and has high rise buildings lining the sand! (Me, Colin, and Kristin)

The Kwangsan beach has a huge bridge that runs East - West and is massive and beautiful! It's lined with LCD lights that change colors throughout the night. (I stole this picture because our zoom lens was on and we couldn't get a pic of the whole bridge.)

Soccer Saturdays!

Kevin was invited to play soccer with one of the Administrators at his school. He figured it would be a bunch of old men trying their best to play the game. I think he was a bit shocked when we pulled up to the field, and they were really good! He and Carlos both played 2 scrimmage games and each made a goal! Jess and I were very proud of our boys!

Kevin, Jess, Me, and Carlos sitting on the bench after the 1st game...


Kevin and Carlos talking about their strategies before the 2nd game...

Playing soccer...

Gifts galore! Jess and I seemed to be the center of attention at the game! The players from different teams kept bringing us drinks and treats! :) It was awesome! The bag is filled with home made rice cakes.

She dreamed about me!

The music teacher at my school told me she had a dream about me last night. She said I was a "big beautiful fish!" I asked her how she knew that I was the fish, and she said, "Because it was beautiful and it was looking at me and talking to me in English, so I knew it was you!" I wanted to imagine I looked something like this fish in her dream....


but when I e-mailed her the picture (above) and asked her if I looked like that, she e-mailed me back and said, "It's more beautiful. More big, More beautiful, have pretty pattern. Like to this." and sent me this picture! So, apparently I was a big beautiful koi fish! Hey, I'm just happy she likes me enough to dream about me.... who cares if I'm a carp! :)

"Saturday Special Breakfast" lives on!

When Kev and I first got married, we started a tradition we like to call, "Saturday Special Breakfast!" Kevin wakes up every Saturday and makes whatever I want for breakfast! It's awesome!


This Saturday, we didn't have anything but rice and milk in the fridge, so we got dressed and walked to the outdoor market to buy some food for breakfast. He ended up making me French toast and a bowl of fresh fruit! mmmmm


There are grocery stores in our area, but there's nothing like buying fresh bread and fruit from an outdoor market. It was one of the most beautiful morning's we've seen since we arrived here! The skies were blue, and the cherry blossoms are starting to bloom everywhere! mmmm, I love Korea in the Spring!

Busan I-Park Soccer game!!

On Sunday, we met up with Jessica, Carlos, Rob, and Kate for the I-Park, Busan Professional soccer game! I scalped some tickets for 5,o00 won each and we had awesome seats!

The whole gang, with some Korean fans!

In Korea, there's no such thing as unhealthy snacks at the games! The vendors walk around with things like dried squid in laundry baskets!!

When we got into the stadium, we found a crowd of younger Koreans who were chanting and dancing, so of course, we headed in their direction! We found a seat in the 3rd row. :) Carlos handed out some rice cakes that Jess got from a co-worker the day before, I waved the Busan team Flag (picture below), and Kevin danced and chanted with the fans. We were officially the AWESOME foreigners!

They loved us, and we loved them! We've decided that we will be at all of their home games! Heck, for $3.50 a ticket, why not?

My little friend...

I met this darling kid at the soccer game on Sunday! We became friends when I tied his shoe for him!


Our friendship quickly progressed though...


At one point, towards the end of the game, he started Karate chopping my feet! I thought he thought he was being funny, but it really hurt, so I said, "Ouch! Ouch!" ... in a playful way of course. He then started doing it a little bit lighter. Can you tell where this is going yet?

Yep, he was trying to give me a MASSAGE! After a couple minutes, he started full-on massaging my ankles, and then behind my knees! We were all dying laughing, and he was so proud of himself! Can't blame him for trying to do something nice! :)

My husband.... the chick magnet!

After the game ended, the Korean girls were lining up with their cameras and camera phones to get a picture with Kevin! After they got their picture with Kevin they would jump up and down and scream! Hilarious! Here is just a SMALL portion of all the pictures he took with the girls!









Kev even took a picture with the crowd cheerleader! This guy kept everyone on their feet, chanting cheers for the Busan team!

Lost in translation #2

The Vice Principal told me he thought it was going to rain today and asked me if I had an umbrella. I said "No, I forgot mine today." He said, "I borrow you." Trying my best not to laugh or embarrass him, I just simply answered, "Yes, you borrow me. Thank you!"

A picture to prove it!

This whole signature thing is getting a little out of hand. Now, if they don't have paper, they ask me to sign their hands! What will be next?!

Mmmm, Lunch time!

My school is very small compared to most schools in Korea, so it doesn't have it's own kitchen or cafeteria. With that, comes some interesting things, ie: All of the food is shipped in, on metal carts, from another school down the street... the students eat lunch in their classrooms with their teachers... and the teachers all eat together in the teachers lounge. NO ONE ever brings their own lunch from home. So, whatever the school provides is what you have to eat for the day!

This is the food table in the teachers lounge. We always have rice, some sort of soup, 2 side dishes, and a meat. (although, today the meat was baby Octopus! mmmm)


I asked one of the teachers what this strange looking dish was for? She said that everyday, they scoop a little bit of each food into these bowls incase someone gets sick. Then they can test it. hhhmmmm... So, if I die from something I ate, call the school first!


This was my lunch today! Yuummmmmy. Rice and bean sprouts, with dumpling and egg soup and octopus in red sauce!

Pictures

These are a few pictures that my students took with my camera this morning!

This is one of my favorite girls. She has such a sweet and gentle personality and is always hanging out in my office between classes, wanting to learn English.


The boy on the right is my favorite! I see him EVERYWHERE I go and he always walks by my office and peaks his head through the window and says, "Good morning Alegsi!