Friday fun day!

Today was a big day for my students!  They were meeting another foreigner, MY SISTER!   For about 90% of my students, Amy was the 2nd foreigner they had ever even seen in person, let alone talked to!  She was a celebrity all day!  My 2nd graders were the luckiest because she helped me teach this class!

After lunch, Ella presented Amy with this gigantic pecan cake that she had picked up for the big occasion!  We all sat around the table in the teachers lounge and stuffed our tummies while students came, in droves, to get an up close and personal look at Amy and talk to her!  I was so proud of their extravertedness [sic] - None of them were shy today!  

Today was the big storytelling contest in Busan, and my student Lisa was going to be competing, so we asked her to present her story to Amy!  It's really cute, about a little girl who picks her nose and her finger gets stuck!

Ella told us that the Principal invited us to have tea in his office with him, and since denying an invitation from the principal is a no no, we headed over!  He literally can say 3 sentences in English, so it was a lot of motioning and smiling!   The best part was when he picked up a bouquet of flowers he had grown himself, wrapped in a piece of printer paper, and handed it to Amy to welcome her!

 Definitely one of the sweetest gestures I've ever seen from a Korean Principal!  This is Amy, my Principal and Ella (my co-teacher).

My Principal told Ella that I could cancel my afternoon classes and leave early to spend time with my sister today!  (AMAZING and soooo nice!)  So, we left my school around 1:45pm and took a taxi to Song Do Hesoopia Jim Jil Bang!

Since you can't take pictures inside, I stole these from their website!

This is the bath house part of the Jim Jil Bang!  It's huge and has about 10 different pools of all different temperatures and minerals to lounge in!  One of the best parts of this place were the floor to ceiling windows with a gorgeous view of the ocean and Yongdo Island across the water!

After soaking for an hour or so, we put on our Jim Jil Bang outfits and headed upstairs to see what they had to offer!  We went back and forth between this ice room....

... and this warm sea salt room, which is heavenly as far as I'm concerned!  You actually lay in the salt!

After trying out the different rooms we decided to take a nap in these little cubby holes in the wall...

but then we found these massage chairs and couldn't resist!  We went 3 rounds in these chairs and ended up saving ourselves about $30 by not getting the real thing!  We both agreed we probably got a better massage from the chairs anyway!

Amy's first Korean Jim Jil Bang experience was a big success!  She was practically glowing as we were leaving the place!

My mom's birthday is coming up and she's been asking for a pink tank top that I bought in Nampodong last summer, so we walked the streets of Nampo in search of the infamous pink tanktop, but to no avail - sorry mom!  Our trip to Nampo wasn't a total loss though, we had delicious street food for dinner...

... and Amy found 4 things to add to her suitcase!

I walked Amy through the thrift store part of Gukje market to see what bargains we could find. While we didn't find anything worth buying, we did find a dog worth taking a picture of!  The shop owner was letting his poodle lay in this basket of ties that were for sale!!  Gotta love thrift stores!  

Since we were close by the "Chicken Poop House!" (Yes, this is a real restaurant), I knew I had to take Amy!  It's the most awesome, underground, college hangout restaurant, run by drunken old Korean women who serve CHICKEN ANUS!  No joke!  

Amy was so excited to try it!

Here it is friends, CHICKEN ANUS, served with french fries!  And yes, we both ate some!  Add it to the list!

 We've been lounging around my place tonight, and are about to head to bed!  Tomorrow is the huge fireworks show on the beach!  Should be a great day!

 ***

Thursday night in!

On Thursday, I came home to a sick sister who had spent nearly her entire day in this spot on my bed! :(  

So Aaron came over and we all had a night in at my place!   I showed off my new found Korean cooking skills and made 파전 (Korean pancake), 된장 Dwenjang soup, 볶음밥 (friend rice) with meat, onions, spinach, carrots, sprouts, kimchi, and some dwenjang sauce!   It may look gross, but for Korean food, this is as good as it gets folks!  (wink wink!)

Amy and I lounged on my bed while Aaron slaved away, washing the dishes!    It's so nice to have a willing and domesticated man around!

Thank you Aaron!  

Amy and I ended the night with an old episode of Law and Order which was the only English show playing on TV and then called it a night around 10pm to get our beauty rest!  :)

Shopping and Bulgolgi on Wednesday!

On Wednesday, Amy, Truchen and I all met on the subway and took the 45 minute long train ride to meet Gill at PNU (Pusan National University)!  While we all appreciate education, we didn't go there to take a class... but rather to shop and endulge in delicious Korean food!  First stop was this darling coffee shop!

The woman who ran the shop liked us so much that she sent her male server over to present us with some extra SERVICE (free) coffee!  It was very sweet and he was darling.  I asked him if he had a girlfriend and his answer was, "No I solo.  So lonely!"  

After coffee we headed over to do some shopping!  Amy spotted lots of funny things to snap pictures with!

... Amy's new hair stylist boyfriend...

...a bouquet of soap roses!  Yes, Koreans actually buy this stuff!

... and my personal favorite find - Couple Undies on mannequins with GIGANTIC heads!!  Classic Korea!

I introduced Amy to my favorite korean street treat!  I'm not sure what it's called, or even what it is, but it's divine!

We all found something fun to add to our wardrobes that night, but our favorite stop was a scarf store where all of the scarves were either $3.00 or $4.00!  Such a deal!  Here we are sporting some of them on the streets of PNU!  

After shopping we headed in search of Bulgolgi (beef cooked at your table)!  We found a darling little place, tucked back in an alley, where every table was packed with college students!  We had apparently found the hang out spot!

I've been in Korea the longest, so I took the liberty of being the chef for the night and even came up with my own way to make fried rice on the grill!

We ended the night with a stroll down the main street where jewelry, purse, clothing, shoe, and cell phone vendors line the sidewalks!  I assure you, Amy and Gill did not buy any of these ridiculous slippers!

The only thing that could have made this night better would have been if Jess was there too!  Miss you Jessi and wish you didn't live 4 hours away!

Tea for Four (Last Tuesday night!)

Last Tuesday was Amy's first visit to Seomyeon, a major outdoor shopping market with anything and everything you could ever want!  We walked the streets, gawking at all the delicious street food, and Amy settled on some Korean style shrimp and 떡볶이!  Amy is definitely the perfect guest in Korea, because she loves Korean food and will try almost anything!

She snapped a picture of this sign!  Apparently Mr. Pizza has a love for women! 

How many stores can you fit into one building?!  With limited space, that is always the question in Seomyeon!  Amy thought this was interesting!

Amy brought me 2 boxes of Betty Crocker cake mix, as I've been seriously craving cupcakes for the past 19 months, and the Korean cupcakes simply do not do it for me!  Unfortunately, the frosting she brought was confiscated at the airport!  DARN SECURITY!  They probably ate it in the breakroom after they took it from her!  Anyhow, we stopped into this fancy bakery and bought a cup-full of butter cream frosting for our cake!  Talk about a heart attack in a cup!

It's been great having Amy here because I've been taking different routes than I usually do when we're walking around, which had ultimately landed us at new hidden gems, like this food-stand-style area, which was completely hidden from the street and filled with fish, veggies, meats of all sorts, old Koreans, and loads of character! 

 While we would have loved to have plopped down to order something from an ajuma, we had a tea date to get to!  Truchen and Gill met us at our favorite coffee shop in Seomyeon, where we meet once a week for Tea and girl time!  We changed our "Tea for Three" title to "Tea for Four" just for Amy, our VERY special guest for the night!

We were approached by a young Korean woman while we were siting at our table, sipping our delicious lattes and frappuccinos!  She asked if one of us would kindly read something she had written for her radio show.  I of course said, "Sure!  What do you want me to say?!"  I'm not exactly a shy person!  The thing she had me read was soooo funny!  I was supposed to be a girl calling in to ask if foreigners can apply for health insurance "because I'm lonely and want to see a doctor!"  hahaha  I went ahead and took the liberty of changing the script to: "My knees hurt because I walk so much and want to see a doctor!"  I didn't want anyone recognizing my voice and thinking I needed to see a doctor for my loneliness!  Talk about pathetic!  So, listen for me on the radio!  Not sure what channel though - darn!

After our coffee's were comfortably settled in our tummies, we took a taxi over to my favorite Shabu Shabu restaurant for a late dinner.

Shabu Shabu is prepared by dipping a really thin slice of meat or a piece of vegetable in this pot of boiling broth (spicy broth on the left and bone broth on the right).  You swish the meat back and forth several times. The swishing sound is where the dish got its name. Apparenly Shabu-shabu directly translates to "swish-swish".   A little piece of food history for ya!

You really have to be a sprout lover to like Shabu Shabu!

After eating dinner, Truchen, Amy and I all headed over to Lotte to take the elevator up to the 42nd floor of the hotel where we sat on the windowsill, chatting and enjoying the millions of lights below!  A gorgeous view of the city was the perfect way to end our night in Seomyeon!