Field Trip to Gyeongju!

On Tuesday morning, I came to work and immediately loaded a comfy greyhound style bus with a bunch of 6th graders...

... headed to Gyeongju, which was once the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla (Korea's old name before it was divided into North and South Korea) from 57 BC - 935 AD.  It's a city often referred to as "the museum without walls", so it's no surprise that we headed there for a school field trip!  In America, kids go to places like the Recycling Center, the Planetarium, the local Zoo or a fire station for field trips.  In Korea, we go to Ancient places that date back over 1500 years!

I think Korea wins!  

It's also no surprise that we watched the PSY concert on the bus's giant TV the whole way there?  If you know the "Gangnam Style" song with the silly dance, you know PSY! And if you know Korean girls, you know how much screaming went on during the 1 1/2 hour bus ride!

First stop on the trip was Seokguram grotto, a UNESCO World Heritage site. In order to get up to the famous Buddha carving and beautiful temple structures, you've got to do a little hiking.  Lucky for us, it was a GORGEOUS day! :) 

Yep, the hike is worth the view up atop this gorgeous mountain overlooking the mountains and ocean!

No field trip is complete without a class picture for the yearbook!  

Class 6-1

Class 6-2

Class 6-3

  

You can buy a roof tile if you want and write your own little message.  I love this idea!

 

 No tourist area is without a gift shop... Even a Buddhist temple!

Next stop was Bulguksa Temple, originally built in 751, and also a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It has since been burned, rebuilt, destroyed and rebuilt again.  I guess a lot can happen in 1500 years!

The beautiful pond on the temple premises was covered with lily pads...

I always get so excited when I see monks at temples, as if they're celebrities or something!

The kids were really excited to be here...

...and even more excited when we told them they had an hour to go off and explore by themselves! 

"FFFFRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEDDDOOOMMMM!"

Can you believe they put us 5 goofballs in charge of 62 sixth graders?!  YIKES!

I spotted a lonesome wishing rock pile on the wall... 

Everyone does their part to up-keep the temple grounds!

This is the result of one of my 6th grade students (also a budding photographer) 

asking to use my camera to take my photo! :)

Where the monks call home... Not too shaby, eh?!

The temple was a huge success and super relaxing! ...I almost forgot I was in charge of all those pre-teens!  I spent most of the hour perusing the grounds with Hana and Okk (The two female teachers) and a bit of time just snapping photos for the yearbook page!  

Next stop was lunch on the fields surrounding  Bulguksa Temple.

One of the 6th grade student's mom's made all of this food for us (the teachers!)  I've never had to bring my own lunch to a school field trip because the parents always provide it!  Awesome perk, eh?!

 This is our sweet "special" boy and his mom!  I love, love, love this kid!

 The kids were all buying these $2.50 snake stuffed animals and whipping each other with them! lol

Heck, even Hana bought one of the stuffed animal snakes... Although, she had a good reason for buying it - She has a 4th grade daughter who'll love it! 

My co-teacher, Okk Jung, and I soaking up the last moments in the grass!

Last stop was the Anapji Pond, originally constructed back in 674 CE for the big wigs in the Silla dynasty to have parties and relax!  Yes please!

Beautiful Anapji Pond!

After walking around the pond, we all bought some Korean style ice cream from a vendor at the gate and jumped back on the bus for our 2 hour ride back into Busan!  It was the perfect ending to a fabulous day full of sightseeing, photography, picnicking, exploring, and enjoying yet another day of my blessed life here in Korea! :)  

Charleston

As if moving to one of the Carolina's wasn't enough to get me squealing with excitement... I just found out that the city I'll be landing in (Charleston, SC) was named...

 Top City on the Planet

 by Conde Nast Traveler

I'm begging my best friend Sarah and her husband to come live there...  Doubtful they'll ever leave Arizona, but here's hoping!! Anyone else?! Anyone?!  It's the "top city on the planet" for heavens sake!

Thanks Susan and Kayla!

There aren't a whole lot of things I love more than getting packages in the mail!  Heck, it could be a thing of cute post-it notes, fun pens, yummy candy, cute socks, a hand written note - anything!  I just love the excitement of seeing a piece of mail on my desk addressed to me! :)  

So, when a box arrived at my desk filled with strawberry cake mix (YES!!!), pumpkin spice marshmallows and the most recent issue of People Magazine in ENGLISH, I was beside myself!  

It was from my sweet friend and old co-worker from Millennium High School, Susan, and her daughter Kayla, who was a student when I was working as the Admin Assistant to the Principal there.  Thank you, thank you, thank you girls!  And my friends who are gonna be eating that cake mix and marshmallows with me thank you too! :)  

3 Truths and a Lie

I teach an after school English class for some of the more advanced students in my elementary school.  Today, we played the game 3 Truths and A Lie.  I told them to write down 3 true sentences and 1 lie.  We didn't have enough time to read them outloud in class today and guess which sentence was the lie, so I collected their papers and tucked them away for next week's class... but not before reading a few to see what they came up with!  

This one caught me off guard, for OBVIOUS reasons!  Check out # 4.

I'm REALLY hoping that was her lie sentence! 

Fingers crossed!

Semi permanent eyelashes!

Koreans love any and ALL beauty enhancing treatments and most are pretty cheap!  I've talked before about how having their eyes made larger through plastic surgery ($1000) is a common gift for high school graduates!  So, it's no surprise that having semi-permanent eyelashes ($35) glued onto their new larger eyes is no big deal around here! 

My friend Gill told me about a nail salon / semi-permanent eye lash place that was on the first floor of her apartment building, we decided we needed to check it out!  So, yesterday I arrived at 12pm for my own personal semi-permanent eyelash appointment!  As a side note, I've only ever worn fake eyelashes on my wedding day... So this was very new to me!

I took the subway to Kyungsung and came out exit #2, made a left and walked up the hill to the entrance of Marronnier Town.

Then walked in the lobby and found Coco on the left!  So easy and convenient!  I was met by the owner, a super sweet girl in her 30's, who spoke just enough English for our interaction to run smoothly!  :)  She knew I was coming so she had pre-prepared an hour long playlist of ALL English songs for me to listen to during the procedure!  Sweet huh?!

I say procedure, because it sure felt like one!  I layed down on a bed in the back of the salon and was told to close my eyes.  (BTW: I had NO idea what to expect) She turned on a BRIGHT white light over my face and placed tape between my top eyelid and bottom (OUCH!).  That was the MOST painful part, thank goodness. The rest was easy peasy as she hand glue one eyelash on at a time! 

Here's a little before and after photo of my eyes.  My eyelashes are naturally blonde at the tips, so when I use mascara they appear much longer than in this picture (left), but now I don't need any mascara AT ALL!  I'm not sure yet if I'll trim them - they are a bit long... Regardless, these semi-permanent eyelashes will last about a month and a half - maybe longer because she put A LOT on!  

*** She has a lot of different options too for length, curl, fullness. Whatever you want, she can do.

If you live in Busan and are interested in trying these, here's her info!  Her prices are better than most places I've heard of too. 

1 time = 50,000 won

3 times = 100,000 won

Who wants to go with me for my next appointment?