Are we dreaming?!

About a month ago, Aaron and I started looking for roundtrip flights to America, for the wedding, and were shocked at how much it was going to cost us!  Usually it's about $1,800 per person, but this time it was going to be closer to $5,000 total... and that's not including flights that we would pay for to go for a honeymoon!  Ugghhhh!  We were discouraged and frustrated with how much of our savings would go to stupid flights! 

We decided to put our resourceful caps on and came up with and idea!  Aaron's aunt Vicki travels a lot for work and has been saving air miles for years.  We thought maybe she would be up for making a little deal with us!  Who doesn't love a good deal, right?!  She books our tickets with her miles, and we pay her $1,000 per ticket!  It's a win, win right?!  She'd make $2,000 bucks!

Well, Aaron contacted her last week and she said she would see what she could do, but that she wasn't confident that there would be frequent flier seats available this close to the wedding.  But, she went ahead and called a bunch of different airlines, looked at a million different routings, and basically spent hours and hours of her free time figuring out the routing from Busan to North Carolina and back!

Well, today, we got an email from her that she had found seats and had them on hold, but realized later that she booked them under JILL (my maiden last name) ANDERON, instead of JILL (my middle name) ANDERSON, which is the name on my passport.  She said the only way she could book the reservation was if I changed me name on my passport!  Well, we all know that can't happen!  So, she decided to start all over and try a new routing! 

By the GRACE OF GOD, and Vicki's persistence and resourcefullness, she was able to book roundtrip flights for us with an even better routing!!!  We'll have a 3 days layover in Germany for our HONEYMOON!  What?!!  We were beyond thrilled!  We never imagined, in our wildest dreams that we would be able to go to Europe for our honeymoon! 

Then... when we thought we were the luckiest people alive, it got even better!  Vickie went on to tell us that she wouldn't accept the $2,000 we had promised her, because she wanted this to be her gift to us! 

WHAT??  ARE WE DREAMING?!!

We are feeling beyond blessed this beautiful Saturday afternoon, and very loved!!  We joked that with the extra money we're able to save, we won't have to stay in a youth hostel for our honeymoon!  LOL

Vicki, your gift was beyond generous and we are forever greatful! 

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

I'm not a cat lady...

... but I do love my new kitty (thanks to Anthony and Violet for allowing me to take him as my own!)  He's starting to finally become accustomed to living with me and has found all his favorite hiding spots!  I've come home from work the last couple days to find him asleep under my bed covers!  

Last night I followed him through the apartment, snapping pictures, so I could share with all of you, and document the progress of his diet!  Yes, he's on a diet! 
This cat is F-A-T (which I secretly kind of love)!!!

He loves to sleep on his back with his paws up in the air...  I snapped this as he was starting to fall to the side!  Usually, he's perfectly straight on his back!  I love it!

He loves to follow me from room to room, and is usually rubbing up against my leg or arm, looking for a good head scratch, which I'm always willing to give! :)

This is his favorite toy.  It's a little squeaking rabbit/bear stuffed animal.  I see him stomping on it with his hind legs once in a while, trying to make it squeak!!  Violet and Anthony said "it's his oldest friend in the world, and he can't live without it!"   

He's curious and smart!

... and he's almost perfectly symmetrical!  He has a target shape on both sides, and stripes that run parallel to each other, all the way down his back!  My favorite is the heart right smack dab on the top of his head!  

He loves, loves, loves treats!  What cat doesn't?!  But he only likes to eat them when they're hand feed them to him!  Not sure why, but I don't mind! 

I just love him!

Overwhelmed!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit overwhelmed this year with my teaching schedule!! I'm teaching 24 (40 minute) classes a week, and when you're teaching ESL, that means you're basically performing all 40 minutes of every class!  There isn't ANY downtime, and I never sit down during my classes here!  In fact, sitting down is a big no-no in the Korean teaching culture!  

Whenever I feel overwhelmed about something, I make a list... It's the OCD in me!  This time my overwhelmed-ness transformed itself into a lesson plan chart!  If any of you are teachers in Korea, I highly recommend making yourself one of these!  I have a print out for each week, with my class schedule, the grade and class I teach, and who I teach it with.  After it's printed, I write notes in each class box so I know what to do, and can look back to see what I taught the last week or the week before that!
It's the only way I feel like I can stay on top of it!!

You can easily make the template in Microsoft Excel, and if you're like me, it'll give you a piece of your sanity back!  Here's hoping I have at least 1 class cancelled this week!

Happy Monday everyone!

Hello Kitty!

I don't know if it was going to the cat cafe that reminded Aaron and I of how much we love animals, but when our friends Violet and Anthony wrote on facebook that they needed a new home for their beloved cat (since they're moving back to the US and can't take him) Aaron immediately messaged me and asked if I was interested in having a cat?!   I was a bit shocked, to be honest, since Aaron is much more of a dog person, but I went with it!  Next day, we were at Violet and Anthony's apartment and they were handing "Ninja" over to us.  You could tell they really loved him and that it was hard for them to say goodbye.  They have raised him since he was a kitten.  He's now 2 1/2!

Aaron took "Ninja" back to my apartment while I met up with Ashley and Meagan in Centum City for some laser hair removal (OUCH!!!!) and Mexican food!

I excitedly returned home around 10:30pm to find Ninja hiding under the bed.  He came out a couple times to give himself a tour of my apartment and to check out all of the nooks and crannies that he could hide in when he got scared!

When I picked him up and set him on the windowsill to see how he liked it, he went and hid behind the curtain!  He was obviously terrified and very confused! Poor lil guy!

He spent most of Saturday and Sunday afternoon hiding under my bed!  It was almost as if I didn't even have a cat!  I went along with my business, and attempted to design our wedding invites!  I thought about hand writing each one, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of endeavor!!

It was about noon on Sunday and I had only seen "Ninja" who I now just call "Kitty", a few times in the last 48 hours!  He had found his new little comfort spot under my bed!  So, with Aaron's help, we took apart my bed and threw the frame out on the street, leaving my mattress on the floor of my apartment!  Poor Kitty didn't know where to hide anymore!  It was kinda sad for the first 5 minutes or so, when he tried to nuzzle his head under the mattress!  But, then... after an hour or so, he calmed down and found his new favorite place on my windowsill. 

Look at that face!!!

It was about this time on Sunday night when I knew Kitty was getting more used to me, and was starting to feel more relaxed and at home in his new abode! 

I fell asleep at about 11:00pm last night and woke up about 30 times to Kitty playing with his toy, jumping all over me in bed, scratching at the carpet, meowing, batting at my feet which were peaking out from under the cover, and just being a little terror!  Loola told me this morning that Kitty is good practice for when I have a baby!  LOL!  I'm hoping I can get him on my sleeping schedule somehow so I can get a good nights rest soon!  Cheers to being the mommy of a cat!

mmmm Curry!

Aaron, Me, Loola and Okk had a little dinner party after work last night at our favorite Indian curry place in Gukje Market.  It was so fun to introduce Aaron to Loola and vice versa.

It's not often that foreigners have a good relationship with their Korean co-teachers... 

But, I like to think God hand picked these two for me! :)

Love them!

Yang Yang Cat Cafe

In a country where people live in tiny studio apartments with no front or backyard for pets to play in, a cat cafe is, as far as I'm concerned, genius!  Meagan found this gem of a cafe last night and texted me right away with pictures of her, surrounded by darling felines!  One picture was all I needed to be convinced that I, too, needed to go play with the kitties!

So, tonight, Meagan, Ashley (who I met tonight and already love) and I met for dinner in Nampodong...

...and then headed to Yang Yang Cat Cafe, which just opened this week (or maybe last)!  Anyway, it's on the 4th floor, between McDonalds and POPCORN...just look for the blue and white sign!  When you open the door, you'll be met by a small shoe room.  Here, you take off your shoes and slip on some comfy slippers, then open the next door and you're IN!

There were about 15-20 Koreans spread out around the cafe, most of which had a cat in their arms or lap!

We ooed and awed for at least 10 minutes before settling in and ordering some tea (7,000 won)! 

It's the only thing on their menu.

Meagan is the epitamy of a Cat Lady!  haha.  She's going to kill me, but it's true!  She loves, loves, loves cats!  I may or may not be right behind her on the cat lady scale! 

This little schmooch was one of my favorites!  It just cuddled up on this blanket and minded it's own business all night, but he/she had the sweetest face and softest fur!

We joked that this one was the AJUMA of the cafe!  Ajuma is the word Koreans use for an older, kind of rough around the edges type of woman!  This cat was the only scary one in the place!

"Cat Ladies!" *

There are 21 cats in total and they're all allowed to roam around and do as they please!  There are currently 3 gorgeous white long haired, blue eyed, kittens who love to play hard and cuddle after!

Meagan and I spent at least 15 minutes with this awesome hairless cat sleeping on our laps!

Ashley and her siamese baby!  It had slept in her lap for about 20 minutes and when we got up to leave, she set it up in her lap and it just sat straight up in her arms!  Classic! 

If you love cuddly cats, live in Busan, and like to drink tea, this is the place to go! :)  I'm planning to take Aaron here soon... hoping to convince him that we need a kitty after we get married!  lol

 

With my luck, he'd only want the hairless kind! 

Thanks for a great night Yang Yang!  See you soon!

No Brian! Don't go!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Living in Korea and watching good friends come and go really sucks!  It's the way it goes though.  Brian has been one of Aaron's best friends since the first day they both arrived in Korea, and Brian was there the first night I met Aaron!  He's been around for 3 years now and tomorrow he's leaving Korea and moving back to America.  It kills us to have to say goodbye to such a passionate, loving, funny, and genuine guy! 

We spent Sunday night together at Sharky's, a foreigner bar in Haeundae, playing dominoes!  It was the game we all played the first night we met, so it seemed fitting!

 

...and then had fried chicken together last night with him and Mubi at a hole in the wall joint on a back alley of Gukje Market as our final goodbye dinner.  

Mubi is one of Brian's good friends!  She's fluent in Korean, Chinese, and English and has a firecracker of a personality!  She was teaching us all kinds of funny things to say to Koreans when they stare at us on the bus or subways! 

Okk actually introduced Aaron and I to this restaurant last year, and we knew Brian would LOVE it as much as we do!  They take a whole chicken and cut it to pieces out in front of the place and then fry is right before your eyes!  Talk about fresh!

We hated to say goodbye to Brian, but there was a silver lining this time!  We said "Goodbye, but not forever" because Brian will be at our wedding in July! :)  

Thank goodness! 

We miss you already B!  Safe travels...

Hanul teacher meeting!

Tonight was our first "teacher meeting" of the year... also known as a staff dinner, where every staff member from the Principal down to the cleaning lady, sit and share a meal together!  We usually go to a sashimi restaurant, but tonight I lucked out, because we ate Hanul, Korean beef!  It's crazy delicious and really expensive!!!  But, it's okay, because the school picks up the tab!  Can't beat that!  All of this meat was shared between 4 people!  It's no wonder I've gained weight since living here!

I sat with Hyun Jung (left), Loola (my new co-teacher (right) and Okk!

... and then Hana and NaRae sat at the table next to us!  

These are 5 of my favorite co-workers of all time in Korea! :)

After everyone finished eating, each of the new teachers got up and introduced themselves!  Between each introduction, the special ed teacher (who plays the roll of an MC at our teaching dinners) gave a quiz with really random questions. All of the teachers were too shy to answer the questions, for fear that if they got the answer wrong everyone would think they were stupid...

I, on the other hand, didn't care!  I asked Okk to translate the first question, and she said "What is the animal who gives the least amount of waste in the world?"  hhhuuuuhhhhh?  She said, "It doesn't make sense in Korean either!  It's just a silly question."  After no one answered, the special ed teacher said he would give us a hint and said "Choon-goo" which means China!  I immediately yelled "PANDA!"  and I was right!   hahaha!  I got the answer right to a Korean question in a room filled with overly educated Koreans!  Talk about a confidence boost. My prize was a toothbrush!  Hana and NaRae answered the questions right after mine and got toothrbushes too! :)

By 7:20pm, we were all stuffed and said goodbye to our table of leftovers!

Loola wanted to take a picture with me, but she made me stand way up in front so our faces looked the same size!  How funny is that?!

Then, after dinner, we walked, in the rain, over to Caffe Bene on Songdo Beach with the group of 6th grade teachers.  Last year. the 6th grade group was 7 women teachers (you've seen lots of pictures of them)... This year it's 5 women and 2 guys, which is totally changing up the mix, but it's been fun to get to know the 3 newbies! :)

I got home around 9:30pm and plopped down on the bed.  I'm feeling blessed, once again, to have had such a fun night with my co-workers!

The wedding date!

Aaron and I just received the long awaited final approval from our Principals for our 

3 week summer/wedding vacation time off!

So, it's official!

I will marry my best friend and one of the best men I know on July 28th in beautiful North Carolina in a small and intimate backyard wedding!

 

Let the planning begin! :)

Blood for lunch!

Today's lunch menu consisted of rice, kiimchi, soup, and Korean blood sausage!  Yuck!  It's been served at lunch at my school before, but no one asked me why I didn't eat it until today.  My response, "Because it's cow intestine and there's blood in there!"  A gasp was heard throughout the entire teacher lunch table!  Then, they all nervously asked each other, "Blood?  Is there blood in these?!"

Come to find out, one of Korea's most beloved meals consists of a large amount of blood, and no one knew it!  How could you not know your eating something covered in blood?!  No wonder the inside of the sausage is dark red!

I started to think that maybe I was wrong... Did someone just tell me once that there was blood in there, because they were red?!  So, after lunch, I headed up to my office and typed "Soondae" (the Korean name for blood sausage) into a google search, and sure enough, here are the ingredients!

• 2 cup sweet Rice
• 1/2 12 ounce package of sweet potato starch vermicelli
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 1 1 inch knob Fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Korean toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon Sesame seeds
• 5 Scallions
• 3 feet of beef or pork small intestine 
• 2 cups of Beef or Pork blood 

I have tried a lot of different weird foods while living in Asia,
but this one will never be on my list of things to order...
And after I send this link of ingredients to my co-workers, I'm not sure they will either!
Never thought I'd be the one to educate Koreans about Korean food!

Eat Art

I'm so proud of Aaron and his passion to use his talent of photography in a way that benefits people around the world!

He recently donated some of his photos to an amazing non-profit organization called Eat Art. It's an eclectic collection of photographers, painters & designers committed to artfully ending hunger around the world.

When a customer buys a single 5x7 photograph ($20), 100 meals (which is enough to feed one child for a month) are sent out.  People get the art, and kids get to eat.  I love what they stand for and their approach to helping the world and am really excited that Aaron is a part of it!  :)

You can check out Aaron's gallery here. 

My Tan Skin...

Spending an entire winter in Korea with no sunshine can be brutal, not to mention make you look like a ghost!  So, I've been loving my newly tanned skin from the Philippines... 

Unfortunately my co-workers are not so fond, and they're not afraid to show it or tell me!

One of the 6th grade teachers said to me during tea time today:

"Chelsey. Your face is not white. It makes me sad."

Ouch!

Music Mondays

When I was home in Arizona for Christmas, my brother Jay (who is an incredible worship leader at Living Springs Chruch) introduced me to this song because we both adore Kari Jobe, and I remember tearing up the entire time I listened.  There's something about it that's so reassuring, angelic, beautiful, and strong!

Kari Jobe

You Are For Me

"If God is for us, who can be against us?" - Romans 8

My Korean sisters!

Most of my friends either don't get along with their Korean co-teachers, or there's such a huge age gap or communication challenge that having any sort of relationship outside of the classroom is impossible! 

I, on the other hand, have been unbelievably blessed with 2 of the BEST co-teachers (sisters) out there this year!  The three of us share an office/classroom area, and laugh, play, work, have tea breaks, and take care of each other all day long! They are both Christians and have the sweetest spirits about them!  Not to mention, they are completely fluent in English (yes, it's rare... even for the English teachers here) and are always making jokes and being sarcastic!  My new co-teacher (who took over for Monica) has spent the last 6 months living in Glendale, CA and working as a kindergarden co-teacher, so we have tons of stories to share about Cali!  It's seriosuly like going to work everyday with your best friends!

Today, the three of us went out to Japanese food to celebrate the finish of our 1st full day of classes!

Okk, Me, and Loola (Her name in Korean means "Make your dreams come true!")

The Japanese restaurant was on the 10th floor of Lotte Department Store in Nampodong.  The decor was cute and the food was delicious...

...but the company was the best part about it!

Thank you Jesus for providing me with another year of awesome co-teachers...

You totally outdid yourself this time!