"Hana, duel, set... KIMCHI!"

Today was teacher picture day, out on the field!  What a good looking group I work with huh?!  As a side note, I was really excited that they placed me in the front row, as the front row is typically for the Administration and mentor teachers!  Looks like I'm moving up in the world!  Or, maybe they just liked me dress! 

As we were all walking back inside, Herra, the teacher in the middle making "bunny ears" over the principal was laughing and said, "Chelsey, I did something naughty in the picture!" I was thinking she flipped off the camera or made a sexual innuendo with her hands... but nope, just bunny ears!

Then, a couple hours later, I was pulled out of class as if there was some sort of emergency... just to find that it was time for me to take my personal yearbook picture!  Really?  I had to run down 5 flights of stairs for this?!

Here's me and Okk in the "manners room," sitting pretty, like good Korean girls, for our yearbook pictures!

 

"Hana, duel, set, KIMCHI!"

Prostitution in Yeongdo

So, as it turns out, the "Coffee Shop" on the 2nd floor next door to my apartment isn't actually a coffee shop at all... but rather a whore house!  I had no idea!  Yesterday, the police came to raid it when a fight broke out!

Keep it classy Korea!

Goodbye Gilly...

In just 3 days, my dear friend Gill will be moving back to South Africa.  Uuuugghhhh!  Another friend comes and goes.  Her plan is to go home and help her mom with some things for 3 months, and then come back in August... but since nothing is set in stone and there's no job in place (yet), it made last night an extra emotional night for her... and me! 

We all met in Kyungsung at Shabana, an Indian restaurant, to have a big send-off-get-together-sit-down-dinner for her!

Then we walked down the street to Eva's for some drinks and dancing! 

Erika (in the red dress) had come to Eva's early to decorate a table at Eva's. She had bought gourmet cupcakes, had about 7 bottles of champagne and glasses out for us, and made a million little origami stars to decorate the table.  Can you tell we're all teachers?!! haha  Gill's friends from work had stolen her computer and made a music mix for the night of some of Gill's favorite songs!  As we walked in, Diddy and Skylar Grey's song "I'm coming home" was playing on the speakers.  Made me sad....

My beautiful, beautiful Gilly!

I’ll miss you Gilly!

Lunch with Serry's mom!

This afternoon, Aaron and I rode scoot over to see Serry and bring her some treats!  We do this at least once every weekend, and as many times as we think about it during the week!  We love, love, love this dog!  Other than Cash (Aaron's dog back home) she's the best!  Serry spends her days tied to a 3 foot rope in front of this tiny shop... but she doesn't seem to mind.  Everyone who walks by stops to love on her, so I'd like to think she's got it pretty good here! 

Serry's mom (human mom!) has grown to love Aaron and I because we come see Serry so much... and although we can't always understand each other, we try our best to communicate in Korean, and she loves that we try!  Almost everytime we come to see Serry, she gives us bottles of blended coffee or a bottle of water, but this time she asked Aaron and I to go to lunch with her!  :)  

We said yes, so with an excited look on her face, she quickly locked up the door to her shop and took us to this restaurant a couple doors down! 

... where we ate this!   She was so proud to show us off to her girlfriends who ran the restaurant.

Introducing Serry's mom!   She is very sweet and has loved on Aaron and I like we're her own.  She is divorced and lives all alone in an apartment above her shop.  Her son, who's also 30 years old lives about 2 hours away, so I think she probably gets really lonely.  We're more than happy to be her stand-in kids! :) 

It's moments like these that remind me why I love living in Korea!   

My lil' garden!

Just over a month ago, Aaron and I planted seeds for a future little veggie and herb garden... and some flowers too for my windowsil! 

I have an awesome rooftop at my apartment that I can access at all times of the day and night, so the herb and veggie babies live there and soak up the sun all day long!  I am terrible at taking care of plants, but luckily, Aaron grew up with a grandfather who owned a nursery and a mom with a big garden, so he knows exactly what to do to tend to them!  He's got the green thumbs I've always wanted I guess, or maybe it's just patience!

This afternoon, we went up on the rooftop to check on the lil babies and hang out for a minute!

These little guys were all planted from seeds we found in America during Christmas break.  They are dill, cilantro, and basil, and they were officially "born on April 21st, 2011!"   I'm especially excited about the basil...  Looks like we'll be making PESTO in no time!

The one I'm most excited about though is the cherry tomato plant!  Look at this guy go!  He's been growing like a weed and currently has 17 buds, which will produce yummy cherry tomatos in about 2-3 weeks!

I think these should be ready to devour by next week if the sun stays out!

Who would have thought you could have a garden in the middle of the city?!

Maroon 5 with the girls!

For my 30th birthday, and to celebrate Gill's last week of living in Korea, we went halvsies and bought tickets to see Maroon 5 in Busan! 

I was so excited when she brought up the idea, and I of course have been anticipating this night since we bought the tickets earlier this month!  To be honest, I don't know all of their songs or follow them closely, but to see a live concert, with English music, is enough to get me excited!  Last concert I went to was over 3 years ago, so I was long overdue! :)

She will be loved:

The concert was held at KBS Hall, which is one of Busan's largest arenas, but still felt a little bit like a glorified High School auditorium! There were no screens or big firework displays, just good ole' Adam Levine and the band, which was actually really cool!  It felt kind of grass roots-ish, like we were seeing them perform before they became huge! 

 I never knew this before, but Adam Levine is seriously effeminate! I actually picked up my iphone in the middle of the concert and checked to see if he liked girls!  Which, he does!

Outside, in the corridor of the Hall, you could buy snacks, like dried squid (eeehh) and flattened-dried fish (double eeehh), grilled baby potatoes (yummm), and these little light sticks, which most people had and were swinging around all night! 

 

 Besides the great music and extremely entertaining Adam Levine, experiencing an English concert, surrounded by Koreans was a hilarious experience!  When Adam said anything in Korean, they went totally crazy!  Here he is saying, "Kamsamnida" (thank you)!

There were people all around us who had printed out the English lyrics to every Maroon 5 song, and were holding them with tiny flash lights, so they could sing along!  The girl in front of us had actually written the Korean translation and highlighted the chorus's!  Kinda made us all laugh a little!

At one point, during the chorus of one of the popular songs, about 100 Koreans, sititing all around the arena, threw long strands of toilet paper up in the air, making it look like streamers were falling!  I'm guessing this was a preplanned thing that was anticipated for weeks, and spoken about on the internet!  Creative, Korea, very creative!

After the guys all bowed and went off stage, everyone started yelling "Anchor! Anchor! Anchor!"  Oh Koreans!  I love them and their darling accents!  Luckily, the guys from the band could see past the accents to realize they were asking for an encore, and came back out to play another 5 songs!

Literally, as soon as the guys stepped of the stage and the concert was over, the audio people began playing music over the speakers.  Their song of choice?!  The Supreme's version of Baby Love!   RANDOM!!!

Last night was the perfect way to spend one of our last nights together before these two both move back to South Africa on Wednesday!  I'll miss you!!!

Aaaahhhh!! What was that?!

There I was, sitting in my classroom, at my desk, enjoying my break before my next class when all of a sudden I hear a loud
BBBOOOOOOOMMM!!!
It sounded like crashing thunder all around me. My classroom violently shook like an earthquake, the power went out, my wall of windows rattled, the wood sliding doors crackled and creeked, and the screams of the students in the classroom nextdoor didn't help ease the feeling I had of my heart jumping from my chest!  I may or may not have said a couple innapropriate words under my breath at this moment, but can you blame me?!  I thought North Korea was bombing outside my school!

***(I should clarify: While the threat of N. Korea bombing is never a serious concern of South Koreans, you can bet that 90% of the teachers had a split second where they thought maybe, just maybe.)

As soon as the shaking stopped, there was complete silence, and the eeiriest feeling took over me! I grabbed my phone and ran into the hallway and immediatey began slamming the windows shut with the other teachers, to keep as much of the black smoke out as possible!  Hanah yelled to me, "A ship exploded!"  My heart was pounding and I ran to the end of the hallway where some students were crowding around a window.  Outside, I watched as flames shot up, and the ship's workers scurried to get off  and onto the dock! 

We all worked to settle the kids down and get them into the dark classrooms, passing out their cell phones so they could call their parents.  Within about 5 minutes, the principal ordered that all students go directly home.  The teachers gave each of their students a thick wad of paper towels to cover their mouths from the smoke and off they went, still shooken up from the blast.



I called Aaron to see if he had heard the explosion too, and sure enough, his school, about a mile away as the crow flies, heard and felt it as well.  He did some research and found that suppossedly "a worker from the electric company put a little too much oxygen in one of the oil tanks and kaboom... Two workers were injured as well as one passerby.  Luckily no one was killed in the explosion."

This was, hands down, my most frieghtening moment while living in Korea and it reminded me just how much I hate earthquakes and thunder!  Good news is, my afternoon class was cancelled... It wouldn't be like me to not look at the bright side of this, right?!

Extreme Slurping!

Soup is served with every meal in Korea, and slurping it's contents is a nationwide norm... a norm neither I or Aaron, or many of our foreign friends can stomache!  Today for example, I was sitting down to a lovely lunch at the local kimbap restaurant when a Korean man began tackling his bowl of ramen noodles!  I couldn't resist... I had to take a video!  The extreme slurping begins at 0:40 seconds!

Happy slurping!

Spring time is here!

For some of you, this may look like just your average wardrobe full of clothes, but for me, this represents the END OF WINTER and the beginning of sunshine, outdoor adventures, beach days, and scooter rides!!  Unfortunately, my winter days in Korea have been spent cozying up in bed all day watching movies, drinking hot chocolate, and packing on the lbs!  haha!  It's true though!

So, this morning, I packed away all my winter clothes in exchange for a closet full of bright colors, short sleeves, and flowy skirts and dresses!  I've been waiting A LONG TIME for the day I could pack away all those thick winter coats!

Cheers to spring time FINALLY arriving!

A day of hiking with new friends!

This morning, I set my alarm and got up nice and early, made myself a yummy breakfast and headed off to meet some new friends for a day of hiking!  Lacy, the girl who took over my job at Gamjung Elementary school, is part of a hiking club in Busan and she invited me to join in today.  Now that the weather is getting nicer, I decided it would be the perfect way to spend my Saturday!  ... And it was!

We all met in Nampodong and jumped on a bus to Songdo Beach where we would start the hike toward Amnam Park.  I'm checking out the map and pointing to some good spots!

Even with all the fog and gray skies, it was a gorgeous walk to Amnam Park from Songdo Beach!

Entrance wasn't permitted to Amnam Park until its opening in 1996, when visitors could finally experience the stunning mix of forest and seaside views, as well as completely untouched landscape! We finally made it to Amnam Park and hiked the path that ultimately leads to an extremely steep staircase leading down to the water!  If I had to guess, there were way over 100 steps!  We all stopped here and ate some kimbap and watched some old Korean women diving for sea treasures!

After relaxing by the water, we put our hiking caps on (metaphorically of course) and set off on a 3 hour adventure of steep ups and downs along the cliffside!  While I'd love to say I relished in all the details of the beauty around me, I spent most of the hike either panting histerically and trying to catch my breath, or finding myself deep in conversation with new friends!

 We ended the outing by sitting down to some delicious Indian food at Bombay in Nampodong, which I highly recommend to anyone who lives in Busan!  Nothing like spicy Indian curry to bring a smile to this girls face!
Thanks to Lacy, Sarah, Stephen, Jo, Bethany, Simon, Michelle, Crystal, Joseph, Daninella, JiHee, Alex and Alicia for such a fun day!

She's getting married!

I'll never forget when I met the one and only Hannah Butler!  She was a vivacious, lanky, up-for-anything, blond in 7th grade, way back in the summer of 2003!  I had just begun as a leader for my church's junior high group and she was one of my most committed kiddos, arriving early every week and ready to have fun!  I consider it to have been a pleasure acting as her mentor all the way through Middle School and High school, meanwhile also standing in as her semester long Spanish teacher in High School, and later, she served as my fabulous T.A. during her Senior year!  I was able to, during that time, watch her evolve and become who she is today! She has become an absolute gem of a young woman, and now I'm honored to call her my friend!  

So, when I received her wedding invitation in the mail today, I could have cried 

(in happiness of course)!

I couldn't be more happy for the lovely Hannah Butler and her dashingly handsome groom to be!  Congrats on finding your soulmate, darling!

My friend Sarah!

I'm quite confident I hit the "friend jackpot" when I met my friend Sarah almost 11 years ago!  She was the first person I met at University orientation and we've been friends ever since!  We've cried together, laughed hysterically together, danced, worked out, shopped, ate, drank, and even traveled together!  Some of my favorite memories include her!  I can't say enough about the way she encourages me and inspires me!  She's the whole package!  Everyone needs a Sarah!  :)

Today I got to school and there was a package on my desk with my name on it, FROM SARAH!!  Inside was this gorgeous, one of a kind, tank top that she made for my birthday!

She's amazing, right?!  

Thank you friend!  I love you more than words can express!

At - Home - Highlights!

A big, huge, gigantic thank you goes out to my wonderful mom, who sent me packets of bleach and some 40 volume from America so I could do my own highlights at home instead of paying $100.00 every month! While I loved my Korean hair stylist and his uber chic salon, I just wasn't happy last time I went!  I was there for 4 HOURS, my hair was kind of orange tinted, and I still had 1/4 inch roots!  WTH!

So, last night I took matters into my own hands and tackled my more than an inch of grown out dark brown roots!  Unfortunately, I didn't have a bleach brush - the brush you use to apply the bleach mixture, so I bought a make-up brush from the dollar store!  

Hi, I'm Jill Resourceful Anderson!  Nice to meet you!  

Luckily, it worked like a charm!  It's been 3 years since I've colored my own hair, and there were some awkward moments when I was trying to do the back, but all in all, I think it turned out half way decent! :)  What could be better than $100.00 to spend on something other than a visit to the salon! 

P.S. Mom, I need more!! wink, wink!

Dae Gyo Fighting!

"Fighting" is a Konglish word that Koreans use to encourage each other, believe it or not.  Sweet irony, huh?!  Examples are as follows:

Me: Gosh, I feel terrible today.  My head hurts so bad!

Monica: Chelsey, Fighting!

Co-worker: I have to go home tonight and cook for my mean husband and spoiled kids.

Me: Fighting!

Student: Chelsey, I have a big science test tomorrow (exhausted and defeated).

Me: Fighting!

Me: My open class (teacher evaluation class) is next Tuesday! I'm so nervous!

Co-worker: Chelsey, fighting!

Get it?!  It can't be directly translated to one particular english word, but it basically means any and all of the following; Cheer up!... You can do it!...  Try your best!... Don't let it get you down!... and Go, go go!"

So you can imagine, when we got down to our final match tonight, in the once-a-year Yeong-do Island Teacher Volleyball Tournament, that "DAE GYO FIGHTING!" was the most common phrase heard between plays!  Unfortunately no amount of "fighting" cheers could have helped our team! We were given our heads on a platter... and to add insult to injury, it was against Aaron's school!  The 2 women's games lasted less than 45 minutes total and my school's team never made it past 7 points on either game! haha!

The good news was, we had a lot of fun and proudly sported our matching tacky blue and white polyester polo uniforms (which were $70.00 each and paid for by the school)!  

(Me and 헤란)

Water break!

Individual team picture!

Check out that hideous form!!  

Come on guys, lighten up a little!  This is supposed to be fun!

"Spike it Chelsey!"   Eeehhhhh

I'll sum up our last chance at the Yeongdo Teacher Volleyball Championship with a common Korean phrase, "Aye go!"  Which I like to directly translate as "Uhh, that was terrible!"  FIGHTING!!!

A shopping spree?! Is this for real?!

After work on Friday (May 13th) Aaron asked me to look inside a bag that he had put on my kitchen table.  As I grabbed the bag, he said, "This marks the beginning of your birthday weekend!  Look inside!" Inside was a coupon book that he had wrapped in traditional Korean paper!  It was adorable and my heart melted with each coupon!  What was even better was he made it himself on the paint program at work!  Schmooch!

I'll tell you right now, I used the fruit smoothie, 1 hour massage coupon and the chick flick viewing right away!

We spent Saturday afternoon at Songdo beach, relaxing in the gorgeous weekend weather!  After lunch, we rode scoot to Nampodong in search of a gift for Aaron's childhood friend Bill for his upcoming birthday.  As we were walking through my favorite street, Aaron asked, "Do you want your birthday present today, one day early?"  I quickly exclaimed "YES, please, please, please!"  His response was, "Well, it's not something tangible.  It's something you can experience."  Hhhuuuhhh?  Come again?!  

Then he said...

"You know when girls date really rich men and the men take them on shopping sprees?"  Yyyyeeeesss?!  "Well, for your 30th birthday I want to take you on a shopping spree!"  WWhhhhhhaaaaaatttt?!!  This is awesome!!!  "You can get whatever you want... just don't make me broke!"

Let me just start by saying, SHOPPING SPREES ARE AWESOME!  I've never been on one, and probably never will again!  After everything I picked out, Aaron would walk up to the counter, whip out his money and pay for it!  Yea, that's right girls!  My boyfriend just bought me that!  

Since I know you're wondering, here's what I picked out!

A beautiful long black and gold necklace with a lovely ring to match, 

a pair of chunky gray and black earrings, 

a black leather handbag, 

a navy blue and cream dress, 

a brown belt,

a stunning long chained Tiffany key necklace,

a gorgeous flowy white skirt for summertime,

and a pair of small silver heart earrings to match the Tiffany's heart necklace he gave me for Christmas!

If you can believe it or not, He was encouraging me to keep shopping by the point, but I felt that this was a gracious plenty and that I was more than content with all my presents!  

Tell you what though Aaron, if you wanna take me on a shopping spree again next year though, I definitely won't complain!  Thanks love! :) 

Unfortunately, I woke up sick on my birthday, so I spent most of the morning and afternoon in bed!  I was able to talk to some of my favorite people on skype though, and for dinner, A made Pad Thai from scratch!  Yum, yum!

I've been told that 30 is the new 20, and now that I have 4 days of experience, I can confidently say that I COMPLETELY AGREE!  I love being 30!

Surprise!

If you know me well, you know I prefer Diet Coke over a cold Beer and a good conversation over a night of partying!  I may sound like a dud, but now that I'm 30, I feel these things even more so than before!  Don't get me wrong, drinking cocktails and dancing till 3am is definitely fun once in a while, but when Aaron asked me if I wanted a big party for my 30th, my answer was simply, "No, thanks.  I just want something low key with good friends."

So... He told me earlier today that he wanted to take me somewhere special later in the night, so to dress nice and be hungry!  When we jumped in the taxi at 6:00pm, and he said, "Haeundae juseyo," an area of town where we hardly go, I was really excited to see where we were headed! 

When we got out of the taxi, we walked a couple blocks towards the restaurant and out jumped my sweet friends Anne and Crystal who said, "Wow, fancy meeting you guys here", both doting mischievous grins!  Low and behold, Aaron had invited my closest girlfriends to dinner with us to celebrate my birthday, Jillers style - nice and low key!

We went to "Hello Thai" which is one of my favorite Thai restaurants, and Gill's too!  

Speaking of Gill, bless her heart, has a terrible fear of dropping cakes!  Low and behold, she tripped in the subway, on her way tonight, and dropped this one!  NO JOKE!  So, she bought another one!  haha! There was plenty of cake to go around!

 Even thought I don't get to see Crystal and Anne very often, I still consider them two of my favorite girls in Korea, and was so happy they were there! :)  Crystal kept talking about how much she loved my hair, so I did hers before the food came out! :)

Aaron got up from the table to talk to the waitress and all the girls told me how he had put so much effort into tonight!  He wanted to make sure they were all able to be there! :)  Aaron and Anne.

Gill loves "kitchy things!"  She'll admit it herself!  She brought me this "kitchy" birthday hat, some Disneyland style lollipops, and a Korean style single rose wrapped in tacky yellow lace!  She said she couldn't resist! 

Aaron, thank you for such a nice birthday dinner and for hanging through all our girl talk!  You're a champ!  I love you!  ...WE love you!

Teacher's Day!

Teacher's Day is always on May 15th in Korea, which is also my birthday!  This is one of my favorite days in Korea, because well, let's be honest, I get to be celebrated for 2 different reasons!  haha!!

Unfortunately, May 15th happens to fall on a Sunday this year!  That didn't stop my darling students from making me feel special and appreciated on Friday (today) though!  Bless their little hearts!  I was given a bouquet of soap roses (a common gift for teachers), a box of chocolate, some rice snacks, balloons, lavender potpourri, gel pens, and some fuscia lipstick... but my favorite gifts of all were the handwritten letters!  

Tell you what!  Having this pile of notes, balloons, and presents on my desk all day sure gave me that special boost to keep teaching and loving on my kiddos!   I feel like I could teach forever... and gosh darn't, I just might!  Happy teachers day to all the teachers out there!

My work birthday party!

My co-teacher Monica planned an awesome birthday party for me for my birthday today!!  This is not common for Koreans!  They simply don't really celebrate their birthdays, much less tell people when their big day is, especially at school!  But Monica knew that birthdays are a big deal in America and that turning 30 was an even bigger deal, so she threw me a party!  I can't fully explain how much this meant to me!  They even sang happy birthday to me... In ENGLISH, and in Korean!

Monica bought me a gorgeous and really yummy cake from a famous bakery in Korea!  I may, or may not, have eaten 3 pieces!  Eeehhh

And we ate it Korean style, in cups, with chopsticks! 

My two co-teachers are the best! They had been planning this for weeks!

하나 (in the middle) brought me a huge dried squid as a gift!  haha  

(from left to right: 유미, 하나, 경화)

As if one cake wasn't enough, 나래 brought 2 roll cakes too! These are sooo delicious!

Monica wrote me the my heartfelt note, and was so proud when I told her her English grammar was almost perfect.

미희 and 유미

민정 is my Korean 언니 (sister).  We are the same age, so we've become really close!  She presented me with a card that a bunch of the teachers had written in!

Sweet, sweet 현정... one of the sweetest women I've ever met! 

This is our special education teacher!  He made me a little card where when you open and close it, the mouth moves.  He said, "Chelsey. This card is magic. Watch!"  Then he slowly opened it and said "Happy birthday Chelsey" while opening and closing it to look like the mouth was saying it!  haha

I was given some of the funniest presents...  The ones that made me laugh the most were:

My Vice Principal gave me a toothbrush and toothpaste, and another teacher gave me a protractor, a shapes stencil, 2 pencils, 2 scissors, 1 eraser, 2 mini staplers, and some stickers!  Bless her heart, she wrapped each item too!  haha  Oh Korea!   

Who doesn't love a birthday party in the middle of the workday?!  

I was thrilled to say the least!  Thank you Monica!

In just a couple more days I'll be the BIG 3-0!  Never thought I'd be living in another country at 30, or speaking an Asian language, or celebrating with my Korean co-workers after teaching my elementary students!  Life is full of surprises!  Can't wait to see where I'm at on my 40th!   Cheers to health, love, being blessed, and turning 30!!