Pasta Muffins!

Last night, Aaron came up with quite possibly the GREATEST invention of all time for our Sunday dinner together! ...Chicken pasta muffins! Well, not really muffins, but he baked them in silicone muffin cups! GENIUS, I tell ya!  GENIUS!

Inside is bow tie pasta, small slices of ham and chunks of chicken (seasoned with cayenne pepper and salt), mozarella cheese, jack cheese, 1 small dallop of cream cheese, green and red bell peppers (small slices), 1 onion, a little bit of garlic and some oil.

After everything was sauteed on the stove, he mixed it all together, and began the layering!  He put a little bit of the chicken pasta mixture in the muffin cups.  Then he put a layer of mozarella cheese and the dallop of cream cheese.

 

Then, he added some more of the pasta mix and covered the top with some jack cheese!

Then he baked it in the oven at about 400 degrees for 10-15 mins!

It was seriously the most incredibly creamy and delicious dinner I'd eaten in maybe years! Try it! You won't be sorry!

Thanks A!

I'm no Martha Stewart

They were suppossed to look like this:

But they turned out like this:

Aaron said not to be fooled though. Under the burnt tops is delicious carrot cake and cream cheese goodness!

I love his optimism!

I hate my inability to bake. 

Friday Update!

So, I realize I just wrote a blog about how Aaron and I had swapped our plan A (working at a University) with our Plan B (working at our same schools) for next year... BUT, we went ahead and gave the University job a try!  We decided to only apply at 1, which happens to be where our dear friends Jessica and Carlos work, up in Seoul!  We've decided that if we don't both get hired, we'll stay in Busan at our current schools. For the sake of including a picture, I'll leave you with this: a picture looking out from the back of my classroom, at the harbor, with a new iphone app called "PHOTO SYNTH!"

Secondly, the last couple weeks have been an absolute breeze for me at work!  Monica and Okk have been scrapping the regular English lessons for the past 2 weeks in order to prepare the students for the Nation Wide English Test, which was yesterday!  With that said, I think about 10 of my classes, in total, were canceled!  That left me with lots of time to look around on http://www.pinterest.com/, http://www.facebook.com/, http://www.blogger.com/, and http://www.sidereel.com/, where I watch TV shows.  I know, I'm living the life over here.  I'm proud to report that the scores are in, and NONE of my classes scored under an average of 86% percent!  Again, for the sake of including a picture: This was taken on Wednesday, when one of my three 5th grade classes was doing a practice test. (Photo taken with my iphone app: INSTAGRAM)

Aaron's been busy with his photography, taking gorgeous pictures around the island, and posting some to his flickr account.  He's modest though, and his own worst critic, so many of my favorite pictures never even make it onto the site.  He's also been working, one on one, with one of the teachers at his school who will be moving to Atlanta for a year with her husband.  Today was their last day of studying together, so along with a nice envelope full of cash, she brough him a homemade carrot cake from her church's bake sale!  I may or may not have eaten 1/2 of it for dinner tonight!

Winter weather has definitely set in, and I've been bundling up in my scarves and winter coats for my 1/2 mile walk in the 45 degree weather, to work every morning!  Brrrr.  Last weekend, I switched out my summer clothes for winter clothes, and put 2 huge bags full of unwanted clothes and shoes out on my street for any takers!  Both bags were gone within 5 minutes!  Aaron said he can't wait for the moment when we see an old Korean woman sporting one of my old dresses!

For the last couple weeks, I've been working with one of my 3rd graders to prepare her for the countywide Storytelling Contest.  She would come to my office for 10 minutes everyday after lunch, and I would help her with her intonation, and hand motions!  Last Friday, she went up against over 50 3rd and 4th graders, and placed 3rd!  I was so proud of her!  This is her and her mom after she performed!

We found out on Monday that she placed 3rd!  The next day, she came to class with a gift for me from her mom: A giftbag of special Kiehl's face creams to thank me for helping! 

(Worth over $60)  How nice is that?!  I've used it every night and morning since.

Tomorrow is the yearly fireworks show on the beach in Gwangali!  I've been looking forward to it all year, but when I checked the weather forecast, it said it's suppossed to rain all day tomorrow!  Uggghhh...   Such a bummer.  On a bright note, I may end up staying in and getting creative!  

Aaron just said to me, "Love, I know you don't like to talk to me when you're writing a blog. But, it kinda makes me sad."   My sweet sweet boy!  Time for this girl to sign off and give him some love! :) 

Happy Friday.

Open Class!

Today was the dreaded open class, which most Korean and foreign teachers hate because it's not a natural way of teaching and other teachers and Principal's come and watch!!  First off, for open classes, we type out a word for word lesson plan (AKA script!) including what we think the student's will say in response to our teaching.

Since I've never been that great at memorizing, I ALWAYS type out a little cheat sheet that I tape to a student's desk in the front row, so if I forget what comes next, I can glance down and remind myself!  (Oh, and this was typed in MY OWN PERSONAL FONT!)

Since I happen to have good handwriting, I usually write the key sentences on the board, but for open classes, we're expected to print the key sentences on paper and use magnets to put them up on the board!  I'm telling you... open classes are intense!  The marks at the bottom are for keeping score of which "teams" answer my questions right.  The winning team gets candy at the end of class!  It's a great incentive program!

We always prepare an interactive game on Open Class days.  Usually we will play a powerpoint game at the end of our regular classes because they're quick to make and the kids love them, but for open classes, we're expected to CREATE a game for our kineshetic learners! So, today's game was a "dice game"!  :) 

My 4th graders were like little angels today!  Usually they are terrified during open classes because people are watching, but they were REALLY interactive today and were super well behaved!  Thank you Jesus!

So glad it's over and even more glad it went so well!  Special thanks to Okk who snapped these pictures with my iphone during the class! :)

Perks!

Being an elementary teacher definitely has it's perks... Like when it's your mom's birthday and they want to sing happy birthday to her over skype (which happened earlier today!) ... Or when they proudly present you with homemade animal cookies like these! :)

My very own font!

yourfonts.com

Plan A... Plan B... Plan C...

For the past year, Aaron and I have said that Plan A would be to teach English at a University next year, solely for the purpose of having up to 4 months (2 in the summer, and 2 in the winter) of paid vacation to travel and come home to see family and the 12 hour a week teaching requirement isn't so bad either!

but...

Now, Plan A is sort of starting to become Plan B.  We are both REALLY happy at our schools.  Even though I'm required to teach 22 hours a week, I end up, on average, only teaching between 10 and 11!  Plus, yesterday I was told that next year I will probably have 3 weeks of vacation in the summer and 3 in the winter, which would be 23 days total each semester (instead of 10), and would be great for coming home to visit family and traveling!  Plus, we love our students, I adore my co-teachers, and it looks like we would actually be making more money by staying with our current jobs. Go figure, huh?!

Plan C was if we didn't renew our contracts with EPIK in November and hoped that we would get hired with a university job between November and March, but didn't get hired, we would travel for 6 months through Southeast Asia on a dime! :)  Not a bad option, eh?!

So, right now we're a little bit torn between Plan A (staying at our elementary schools) and Plan B (working for a University), but I'll keep you updated!

Fireworks on the harbor!

On Thursday, after work, I got a phone call from Aaron while I was shopping for Heyran's wedding gift.  He had found out that there would be fireworks in the harbor off Yeongdo Island that night!  Who doesn't love fireworks?  And over the harbor near my apartment, yes please!

So, I met Aaron around 6:00pm, on the roof of a 15 story apartment building on the island (which happens to be where our friend Craig lives), and endjoyed the sunset with another 2 other Korean guys who had set up their cameras to photograph the show!

About 30 minutes before the show began, one of the photographer's wives came up on the roof with a bowl of semi-boiled sweet potatoes, roasted chestnuts, and some pineapple juice boxes for each of us!  She also laid out a mat for her and I to sit on while the boys prepared their cameras for the big show!  So sweet and thoughtful!  At 7:30pm, the show started, and Craig came up on the roof to watch it with us!  A couple other families who live in the building came up as well... all in their PJ, I might add!  The kids were darling and so excited about the fireworks!

It was a beautiful night, a beautiful show, a nice moment with friends, and a great memory of Korean hospitality and generosity!

Happy Wedding Day Heyran!

Yesterday was Heyran's wedding, my sweet friend and co-worker!  It's been the talk of the school lately, and I'm so happy for her!  In Korea, when you attend a wedding, you're expected to give money (usually the equivalent of about $50) in a white envelope with a 1 or 2 sentence hand written note on the front.  But, for Heran, I wanted to do something a little more personal and fun!  So, a couple days ago, I went shopping and bought her some sexy lingerie from Lotte Department Store and told her how girlfriends in America usually give their friends lingerie for their Honeymoon!  She absolutely loved it and was super appreciative, and I'm sure her new hubby will love it too!

So, yesterday was the big day! 

Her wedding was held in a pre-decorated wedding hall in a swanky area of town called Haeundae!

Okk told me there will be at least 2 more wedding ceremonies held here today!  Before the ceremony began, they had a slideshow of stunning engagement pictures, where Heyran was dressed in multiple wedding gowns, and her fiance in different tuxes!  In Korea, they don't buy a wedding dress for the big day, they rent one, and engagement pictures are taken in wedding attire!  SMART!

At Korean weddings, the groom and his parents stand at the entrance to the wedding hall and greet everyone coming in!  Monica helped me memorize a greeting for Heran's fiance!  It was basically the equivalent of:  "Hello Heran's groom.  My name is Chelsey.  Today you look ssooo nice and handsome. 

It's nice to meet you.  Be happy forever!" 

He can't speak English, so he loved it... and I felt VERY Korean as I rambled off my memorized phrase!  As a side note, I was THE ONLY foreigner there!

 I love how you're able to sit, visit, and take photos with the bride BEFORE weddings in Korea!   

Heyran looked stunning and sooo happy in the Bride's Room!

Me and my sweet friend and co-worker, minutes before she walked down the isle!

 The wedding began at exactly 1:30pm, and felt more like a rehearsal than the actual wedding, since a rehearsal is never done before the actual wedding in Korea.  The wedding planner would interupt throughout the ceremony to tell them what was next, or guide them to where they should stand. Here she is fixing Heyran's dress before she walked down the isle... and yes, those are people standing in the back!  People sat at the tables, but there were no more seats, so they stood, lining the back and sides of the hall. 

And yes, HE is wearing white gloves! 

Their wedding was beautiful!  Here, they are watching some of their friends from their church choir singing a song about love!  Very sweet!

I took this video towards the end of their ceremony, where you can see them bowing to her husbands parents and then walking back down the isle!  You can also see how the wedding planner is all up in their business, and the videographer and photographer are as well...  Kinda weird if you ask me! 

Congratulations Heyran! You're married... and to a doctor!!!  Way to go girl!

After the wedding, my co-workers (all 19 teacher at my school) and I went to a traditional sashimi restaurant for a late lunch, paid for by Heyran!  Instead of having a reception, the bride and groom give money to their guests to go have lunch somewhere nice!  I didn't happen to take a picture of the meal, but Okk took this picture of me, standing in the restaurant's courtyard, holding the owners sweet kitten!

"I found the one my heart loves." ~ Song of Solomon 3:4

Congratulations Heyran!

Gyeongu fieldtrip!

About 5 years ago, I was standing outside the Louvre in Paris, when I spotted a 

 group of elementary students who were on a field trip!  I remember thinking to 

    myself, 'Sheesh, fieldtrips in Europe are so much cooler than in California!' 

But then I went on a field trip with my Korean students on Tuesday and realized

                             that they have it even better in Korea! 

                      They actually take field trips to ANCIENT SITES! 

          First stop was Sokkuram Grotto, an actual World Heritage site! 

   It's a gigantic stone carved Buddha statue, which was built into a cave at the

 top of Mt. Toham in 751, 1,260 years ago!!  I wasn't able to get a picture of the 

    giant statue, but I did get some of my students outside of the temple cave!

This is the temple cave.  The gigantic stone Buddha is inside.

Outside, they have this gorgeous canopy of colored lanterns! 

Walking back down the mountain and stopping for a little break!

Lunch time is always a fun experience on Korean field trips!  Students don't bring 

sandwiches and chips!  They bring meat, rice, soup, kimbap, fish, fruit, and fried

                                                   chicken! 

And they're always willing to share it with you, but if mooching off your students 

food isn't your style, it's okay, because the parents always prepare the teacher's 

                       lunches for field trips!  How awesome is this?!

 Next stop was Bulgulksa, a compound of gardens, pagodas and pavilions, built in

535 (1,476 years ago)!  It houses one of the oldest surviving monasteries in Korea!

Oh, and for the record, these are the ancient toilets of the Silla Dynasty!  Ummm... no thanks!

 

Lastly was a trip to Anapji Pond, which was part of the ancient Silla dynasty palace complex. (57 BCE - 935 CE).

Hannah (one of my favorite 6th grade teachers, and 3 of her students! :)

 There was even a small bamboo forest that the kids loved!  Living in Yeongdo, they don't see many trees, squirrels, or spiders, but today, they saw plenty of all of them and were like little kids in a candy shop all day long!

This country is absolutely saturated in history, culture, and ancient sites!  I love that my students got to see some of them today, and that I got paid to go along!  Gotta love teaching in another country!  

Back to the hood...

Tonight I met Stella (my 1st co-teacher) in Goejeong, my old neighborhood, for some Bi Bim Bap and Tuna Kimbap (our favorites) at our favorite little restaurant in my old neighborhood!  I became very close with the 2 women who run the place... or as close as you can become when you don't share a common language! Anyway, when I walked in, it was as if I were the prodigal son! They were so excited to see me and told Stella they thought I had gone back to America and were sad I didn't come anymore! :)  Aaahhh.

It feels good to be missed!

Then after dinner, I stopped by the corner mart to say hello to David (the Korean man who owns the shop!) I gave him the English name David my second week in Korea, almost 3 years ago! I really didn't need to buy anything but I wanted to stop in to see him, so I picked up a beer for Aaron, and David put 5 packs of mixed nuts in my bag, for free, and said, with a big smile, to come see him again soon! Aaahhh.

It feels good to be missed!

Since I was in the neighborhood, I stopped into my favorite thrift shop, where I would go at least once a week in Goejeong Market! When I walked in, the girl who owns the place completely dropped what she was doing and yelled "Emo" (aunt) and came to meet me at the door! After a couple minutes of fumbling through a 1/2 Korean, 1/2 English conversation, and a lot of laughter, she told me she needed to run down the street to the bathroom and asked if I would watch her store! Now that's trust! Aaahhh.

It feels good to be missed!

Lastly, before I jumped on the bus back home, I stopped to see Beksuna (a sweet dog who lives in the front yard of a house in my old neighborhood!) It was like no time had ever passed! I knelt down and she came running out of her doghouse wagging her tail, licked my face, nuzzled her head in my leg, and made me feel like a million bucks! Aaahhh

It feels good to be loved, remembered and missed!

Feeling Stressed?

One of my Korean co-workers just sent this picture to everyone in the school, via e-mail, with a message saying that if the pictures move when we look at them, it means we're REALLY stressed, but if they don't move, or are moving really slowly, then we're not stressed at all!

At first I thought it was a joke, but it totally works!  When Okk looked at it, she said they were moving quickly.  When I looked at it, they were barely moving!  Now I HAVE official proof that my life and job over here in Korea aren't stressful at all! See, I told you!

Hope yours aren't moving either!

Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival

A few week ago, Monica asked me if I wanted to go on a "culture trip" to the Lantern Festival with E.P.I.K. (the company I work for!)  Once in a while, they plan culture trips for the foreign teachers to go to different historical sights in the country as a thank you for our hard work.  I applied, and was chosen to go!  Fun news was, I got to bring Okk with me because it was a co-teacher culture trip!

So, on Friday, Okk and I left work early at 1:45pm and headed to the designated spot, where we boarded a fancy greyhound style bus with 35 other foreign teachers and their co-teachers and headed the 2 hours to Jinju!

First stop was Jinju Castle, the sight of the Japanese seige of 1592 and 1593.

These dragons were painted on the ceiling of the castle's main gate.  The tour guide told us that there's a Korean myth which says if you look right into the dragon's eyes for 3 seconds, you will have good luck for 3 years!  Okk and I did it for 9 seconds, hoping maybe we'd get lucky for 9 years instead of just 3! :) 

This fortress wall was built in 1379, surrounding the castle, and YES, this is the original wall where Korean soldiers fought!  This was our darling tour guide who stayed with us for the first 30 minutes or so.  Then we were allowed to roam around as we pleased!

These were the actual cannons used during the Japanese invasion.  Although, these didn't shoot bombs, they shot off arrows! 

Koreans follow the Chinese zodiac calendar, according to their birthdays.  The castle had statues of each zodiac animal.  Okk was born in the year of the monkey!  LOL

I was born in the year of the rooster!  I'm not sure exactly what it's suppossed to mean, but after looking at wikipedia, it says the roosters motto is, "I know!" which seems about accurate to my own motto!  LOL

The castle actually sits on the Namgang River, so this was our first glimpse at the floating lanterns!

Aaron and I always talk about how Korea "koreanizes everything", meaning they kind of try too hard to make things interesting by creating things like this light up tree on the castle grounds.

and this light up law decor... which granted, is very beautiful!  This one depicts a traditional Korean funeral procession. 

This one depicts a traditional Korean childrens game!  I don't know if you remember my blog about this at my last school.  My students would play this during break time.  It's the weirdest, most uncomfortable looking game, but they love it!

This Korean woman was taking a picture "dong cheeming" the boys butt!  If you've followed my blog for a while, you should know about dong cheems!  If not, Korean kids close their hand, leaving their pointer fingers up, and basically run up behind their friends and shove they fingers up their butt and yell "Dong cheem!"  NO JOKE!  I thought it was so funny that she was doing it, so I ran up with her and had Okk snap a picture!  We all had a good laugh about it! 

The foreign teachers and their co-teachers all gather together for dinner at a fancy restaurant (all paid for by my employer - awesome!) and then headed back out to the river to see the floating lanterns! These lanterns are to commemorate the patriotic spirit of 70,000 militia corps and government troops who died for Korea while defending the city from Japanese forces during the Imjin War (1592–1598).

The lanters were so beeautiful, all shining on the river's water.  I'm not sure how many there were, but I would guess there were between 100-200 total!

Okk and I took a walk along the rivers path where vendors had set up tents selling Korean food, arts and crafts and jewelry.  Within the path, there were 3 long and expanisve tunnels with handmade hanging lanterns!  Okk said she thought these were made by Jinju High School students!  It was definitely one of my favorite sights of the whole trip!  These were hanging for as far as the eye could see!

They also had these moving oversized lanterns along the pathway! 

This dragon actually shot fire out of it's mouth!

A two story high lantern pagoda.

This peacock was awesome, and HUGE!  It was about 30 feet tall and would open and close it's tail feathers every 5 minutes or so!  Absolutely stunning!

This lantern tunnel was filled with "purchased lanterns" with hand written notes hanging from each.

I had Okk stand next to this one because the girl had written that she wished to find a boyfriend! LOL

I had seen a picture, once, years ago of this festival and how people could light candles, attached paper lanterns, make a wish, and float it down the river!  So, when I saw the area where we could do it, I was super excited!  Whenever we saw a "man lantern," we joked that it was Okk's boyfriend and would say how tall and handsome he was! haha... Here we are with our lanterns!

Okk's wish was to find a boyfriend!  (Not a husband, just a boyfriend!)  haha!  I love her!

...About to float my lantern down the river...

I wrote two wishes on my lantern.  One the left one, I wrote, "I wish to be very happy and in love forever!  I wish!"  On the right one, I wrote "I wish for good health for my mom, dad, and sister!"  Here's hoping! :)

Our candles are lit and we're ready to go! 

I know it's kind of lame to say that this moment was a dream come true, but it kind of was!

I really wanted to do this before I left Korea!

There they go... floating down the river!

After releasing our lanterns, we walked the path back to the restaurant where we meet to board the bus back to Busan.  Okk and I had such a great time and kept saying how much fun we were having together!  It's one thing to enjoy a fantastic festival... It's another thing to do it with one of your best friends! 

So glad we went!   

*** As a side note for anyone living in Korea and wanting to visit the Festival. Here are some directions: Take an express bus to Jinju Intercity Bus Terminal.  Exit the Terminal towards the river. Turn right, and walk for 5min to arrive at the festival site.  It's totally worth it!