Our Korean themed Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Since this is my and Aaron's last Valentine's Day in Korea, we decided I decided (let's be honest!) to make it a Korean themed V-day, which basically meant we'd probably wear matching clothes, spend a little time at a coffee shop, hang padlock's together on a love wall, have dinner out, decorate cupcakes together at a cake cafe and then eat said cupcakes while watching a romantic movie together!  Yep, that was the plan!  Fun, right?!  When I got home from work, Aaron handed me this beautiful bouquet of pink roses that he had picked up from his favorite florist on the island on his walk home from work!  Is there anything hotter than a grown man carrying flowers, ladies?! 

He said the red roses were $2 per rose and he knew I'd rather he spend less $$, so he chose the pink, which were significantly cheaper!  He knows me well!  For me, it's not the type, or color, of flowers that he gives me, it's just the fact that he thought enough to bring me some that I love!

So, at 5:00pm, we left the apartment in route to our first stop on our Korean themed Valentine's day date... Angel-in-us Coffee on the 10th floor of Lotte in Nampodong, where we shared a vanilla latte and wrote on our padlocks for the wall!  It's actually pretty hard to come up with a meaningful thing to write when you have 1 square inch to write it in!

But I love what Aaron came up with.  On the other side he wrote, 

"Our Korean bred love is ready to fly away. Buckle up!  I love you."

When our latte was finished and the writing on our padlocks had dried, we took the escalator up to the rooftoop to hang our locks along with hundreds (maybe even thousands) of other Korean lovebirds!  For the record, this is our quasi matching outfit: black shoes, jeans, black sweatshirts, green jackets and light grey beanies... It was the best we could do without looking completely cheesy in perfectly matchy-matchy outfits, which if we were Korean, we probably would have tried a lot harder!

 I've always loved this symbol of commitment, ever since the first time I saw it done on Seoul Tower!  The idea is for two 'lovebirds' to each write on a padlock, then connect them together, link them to the fence and throw the keys to ensure that our vows to never separate are kept!  (Aaron and I decided to actually keep the keys instead, and connected them with a simple red ribbon, which we'll hang on our future Christmas trees in America, to remind us of our padlocks hanging in the city where we fell in love!)

  

Next stop on our Korean themed Valentine's date was dinner!  We skipped out on a fancy dinner and opted for a healthy one... but we figured that that was okay because what's more romantic than eating at a restaurant called The Loving Hut? ...right?!

After dinner, we walked around the corner to Dan Hana Cake, where we were planning to decorate cupcakes together (which is very Korean!), but sadly they were only selling entire cakes to decorate, and we definitely don't need to be eating an entire cake just 12 days before we start living in our bathing suits.  So, we said goodbye and walked in search of a darling cupcake shop that we had heard great reviews for!  But, just like clockwork, it had been turned into something else and was closed when we got there!  I swear no small store, cafe, or restaurant lasts more than 6 months in Korea!  It's terrible... devastating really... because I was really craving those cupcakes!!!

Have no fear though, that frown was turned right upside down when we realized we were standing feet away from a TGIFriday, which I knew would have the perfect desert!  mmmm brownies!

We ate it so fast that I think the hostess thought we decided not to order anything when we walked out of the restaurant no more than 10 minutes after she sat us!  lol  We took a nice little stroll through the busy streets of Seomyeon, hopped on our bus and headed home to watch the latest episode of The Bachelor!  I love it for the romance aspect and Aaron loves it for the train wreck factor! 

Happy Valentine's Day from The Osteens!

행복한 발렌타인 데이 

And just like that... It's over.

Today was my last day as a teacher in Korea.  Plain and simple.  

My. Very. Last.

I teach 6th graders on Thursdays, so Loola and I thought it would be fun to play pictionary with them today.  It was a huge success and made for a really fun and memorable last teaching day.  

1 kid at a time would come up to Loola's desk and draw the pictures on her computer in the paint program, which was hilarious!  Have you ever tried to draw a picture with a computer mouse?!  It's bound to look like the rendering of a small child!  So, the pictures would be projected onto the wall and the students could guess from their desks.

I've numbered each picture, so you can take your own guess at what the drawings are. The answers are at the bottom of this post. Good luck!

At 12:00pm, the bell rang, and my last class of students filed out of class giving me hugs and sad faces and even some tears at the door, and I was left with this... an empty classroom.  

And just like that... It's over. 

I'm so thankful for this school... the teachers... the students... the parents. It's been such a great experience working here, and something I won't soon forget.

Pictionary Answers:

#1: bus, toothbrush, octopus, desk, dinosaur, notebook, diamond ring.

#2: home, apple juice, rainbow, computer, chair. 

#3: school, zebra, clock, socks, umbrella, butterfly. 

 #4: birthday cake, pen, computer, island, cat.

#5: elephant, shoes, nose, mountain, pig, 2 trees, hearts, legs.  

#6: giraffe, glasses, snowman, boat, bank. 

TGIF... but it's Tuesday!

Last night, I met Okk and Monica (my co-teacher last year) at Lotte Department store for dinner at T.G.I.Friday's.  I hadn't seen Monica since our last dinner together, so it we had a lot to catch up on! She is definitely THE MOST feisty, outgoing, perceptive, and honest Korean I've ever met and these 4 photos sum up our relationship to a T!  We start off normal...

Then we try to be cute...

Then I try to be cute while Monica tries to convince me to be normal again!

Then she realizes I'm not going to stop, so she joins in with me!

And then I ham it up for the camera while she gives up and just laughs at me!  lol

If only I could sit still and be normal for one picture, like these two!

We had the best time catching up while sharing fried mushrooms, chicken salad and chop steak.  

I would have loved to have stayed longer than the 2 hours we spent together, but I had to rush home to take care of my feverish husband and hand off Maverick to his new mommy.  That's a whole different story which I probably wont blog about because it was so sad. I'm missing him like crazy already, but am happy he has a new mom to love and adore his cute little face! 

They call this a job?

This is how my co-teachers and I have been spending most of our afternoons at work lately!

We work HARD during the school year, so we happen to think we deserve the down time as the school year winds down! :)  Okk can usually be found with her back to her desk and her feet propped up while reading a new English book!

Loola can usually be found at her desk, playing on her Samsung Note, texting, reading her friends blogs or whatever else she does on that thing!  :)

... and I can almost always be found at my desk browsing Pinterest, watching TV online, researching autotrader.com and homes in Charleston, watching youtube tutorials about photography, checking e-mails, writing blogs, skyping, researching for Indonesia and our American road trip, making reservations, shopping online, drinking coffee or tea and all around being pretty darn lazy at my desk!

  And they call this a job!  

For the record, I had no intention of posting these photos and I even told them that I was just practicing... but when I saw these pictures, a blog idea came to mind and I couldn't resist posting about our afternoons!

Thanks for 4 years of the best job I've ever had Korea!

Dinner with our landlord's family!

I've had some really hospitable Korean experiences while living here, but today may have completely taken the cake!  See, I live in a small apartment complex (14 rooms), owned and managed by a family on the island.  Yesterday afternoon, I noticed this handwritten card sticking out of my mailbox, from them, written by their daughter! 

How awesome is that?!  I grabbed my iphone and immediately texted her that we would LOVE to come and have dinner with them.  Mind you, we had met our landlord ONCE in 2 years, when she came to help us fix our hot water last week, and she doesn't speak English!  But that doesn't matter in Korea!  Koreans are hospitable!  Turns out, she knew we wouldn't be with our families for today's holiday, and she felt bad and didn't want us to be all alone.  Ahhhh. So, we took a taxi over to their apartment complex...

...and were met in the parking lot by their youngest daughter Ye-rim (the one who wrote the note) who speaks English nearly perfectly, which is REALLY NOT COMMON in Busan!  She walked us up to their 2nd floor apartment where we were warmly welcomed by her mom, dad, grandmother (more on her later), her oldest sister, her sister's husband, and an uncle! They had laid out the most delicious spread of Korean food and were ready to eat right when we got there - YAY, cuz we were starving! 

I was so excited to have my very own bowl of bi bim bap at my place setting!

The guys quickly bonded with Aaron and were "gumbeh-ing" with their tiny bowls of rice wine!

About 45 minutes into the meal, Ye-rim (the daughter) and her dad jumped up and said, "We prepared a performance for you!" AAaawwweeee!  The dad (my landlord) told us he wants to be a "youtube sensation" like Psy and loves to sing in front of people, and Ye-rim went to college to study violin, so she's just plain amazing.  She lives in Seoul and has played for some of Korea's biggest Kpop stars, like BigBang, Kara, Tiara, and GDragon for their concerts!  The two of them were adorable together and EXTREMELY talented!  In between songs, she said to me, "This is so nice to have this type of moment together with my dad."  So sweet.

After their first song, we all clapped and cheered and my landlord said, "Self Encore" and we all laughed, because no one had asked for one, but he wanted to give one anyway!  haha We obliged, of course and he did 2 more songs for us.  I loved it!

These three girls were behind all of today's delicious food!  The mom on the left, and her husband, are our landlords.  Ye-rim is in the middle.  She's the youngest of three daughters (25 years old), and Ye-Jin is on the right and she's the oldest (31 years old)!  The 2 daughters speak English fluently, which was suuuuuch a fun treat!  There was no need to slow down our speech or choose easy words to explain stuff.  They understood EVERYTHING and were so nice!  We became instant friends!

Ye-Jin's husband is on the left.  His Korean name is really hard to say, even for Koreans, so he told us to call him Tommy.  And in case you were wondering what his hand gesture is all about, he told us, 

"I'm pointing to Aaron because he's THE MAN!"  haha  :)   

There were so many parts about our time with the Koo family that I loved, but I think the grandma was the highlight for me!  I was pretty sure she wasn't a fan of having 2 foreigners at her holiday family dinner when we first arrived, but after she realized that we could speak Korean, loved Korean food, and could use chopsticks, she was a big fan!  She kept saying that she thought I was so cute... which was exactly what I thought about her too!  She is feisty, sarcastic, adorable, healthy and super smart for an 82 year old Korean woman!  ... and in TRUE Korean fashion, she asked me 4 times why I didn't have a baby yet!   

The dessert was traditional Korean rice puffs and sliced pear, apple and oranges...

... and french tea made by Ye-rim!  Her older sister is actually living in Paris right now and sent them this French tea for tonight's dinner party. mmmm 

I love that there's a couch, but nobody sits on it!  I'll definitely miss the whole lounging on the floor thing!

Having Aaron and I over for dinner tonight was a big deal for their family, and they kept calling us their very special guests.  It was really sweet.  They really wanted us to meet the middle sister who's living in Paris, so we called her on "facetime" and talked for a while!  She was the first Korean I've ever talked to who spoke English fluently - completely fluently, like completely fluently!  I'm telling you, these 3 sisters are gems as far as I'm concerned! 

As if dinner, the performance, the awesome grandmother, the yummy French tea, and the great conversation wasn't enough, they even gave us a gift!!  They bought us a yunori set (a traditional Korean game), some Korean coasters and awesome Korean wood carved masks!  We were so overwhelmed with their kindness and hospitality!

After opening our present they asked if we'd like to take a drive to see the night scape!  Sure!  So, we piled into 2 cars and headed 30 minutes west toward Goeje Island.  Aaron and I rode with Tommy and Ye-Jin and had so much fun chatting with both of them.  The look out point was beautiful and our landlord took us to a famous bakery where he treated us to pastries, gelato and coffee!  I'm telling you, Koreans know how to be really great hosts... like really great!   

We're home now, 4 hours later, with full tummies and thankful hearts!  Thank you Koo Family!