Music Mondays!

I have no idea what happened to my Music Monday posts!!  I used to do them religiously and then........... I stopped!  Sorry if you were a fan.  I'll bring them back, starting today! :)

This has a bit of a Michael Jackson Thriller feel, but Korean style, with zombies!  LOL

Enjoy!

T-ara: Lovey Dovey

"Welcome to the Pig Roast!"

Do you ever have one of those nights where you think,

Gosh, that was so much fun!!  I am blessed with such great friends!!?

Well, tonight was one of those for me! 

Aaron and I decided to have a little dinner party at my place for me, him, Gill, Sam, and Brian!  The 5 of us had had such a great time together at the cabin last weekend, so with a text invitation, a trip to the butcher down the road, and 2 trips to the grocery store, we pulled it together and had ourselved a little pig roast dinner party for 5!

Aaron was in charge of the meat and boy did he take it and run with it!  He originally wanted to try his hand at brisket, but we couldn't find all the right ingredients for the flavoring, so he decided on a 2 lb slab of pork shoulder!  He made a delicious spice rub, and after brining it overnight, he cooked it in my oven for 5 HOURS!  He even made his own side sauce from scratch!  It was the best pulled pork I've ever tasted!  When this guy sets his mind to something, he DOES IT and he does it flawlessly! 

At 5:30 sharp, the table was set...

...the appetizers and wine were out...

...and the food was ready to eat!  YUM!!  I must give myself a little pat on the back!  My garlic mashed potatoes, salad and steamed veggies were pretty darn delicious too!

My American style table and chairs only seat two, so we ate Korean style, on the ground!!

The dinner was to die for-delicious, but the conversation over a couple bottles of wine...

...the night walk through my sketchy neighborhood, the drinks in Emo's shop, seeing Serry meet my friends for the first time, playing the claw game outside the ministop, being given 2 free claw game prizes from the Korean pro, the appropriate and innappropriate conversations had over dessert, and the 2 full games of Apples to Apples were what made this night so memorable and fun!

Everyone went home with full belly's, slightly tipsy bodies, and an aching tummy from laughing! 

I know it wasn't just because of Aaron and I that tonight was so special,

but I'd like to think we make a pretty great dinner party team! 

It helps when you have awesome friends too! :)

American Celebrity Project

I decided to do a "describing people" lesson for my winter camp class today! A big thanks goes out to my mom for the 2 gossip magazines she gave me when I was home for Christmas!  I went through them this morning and cut out 12 pictures; one for each of my kiddos.  Then, my kids followed a hint sheet I had given them and filled in the blanks with the adjectives and nouns they thought should fit!  These 3 were really funny to me!

I tried to explain how first names and last names are said in a different order in America.  In Korea, the family name is said before the person's first name.  Poor Mr. Dicaprio became Aprio Dic when I wasn't looking!  I had to stop myself from giggling when sweet little Vincent got up to introduce his American Celebrity and said "His name is Aprio Dic!" I just went with it and told him he did a great job!   

I'm sure Ryan Gosling wouldn't be too pleased to know that people think his "sexy / suave look" actually makes him look tired!  And I'll tell you what, this man is FAR from ugly!  Lucy has apparently never seen The Notebook!

I guess Brad Pitt isn't all he's cracked up to be anymore!  Jenny thought he was "a little big" and "ugly"!  Ouch!  Sorry Brad!

Winter Camp is quickly coming to a close and I'll be sad to no longer have my 12 kids with me everyday.  We've become a bit like a family in the last 13 days!  It's experiences like these that make me love my job... and having a little laugh here and there just makes it that much better!  Happy Friday everyone... I'm off to renew my working VISA!

Spinning chicken!

Aaron bought a whole chicken tonight and rotisseried (sp?) it in my new countertop oven! Perfection!!!

Snowboarding weekend, day 3!

Today was a pretty lazy day... We were all sore from snowboarding last night and eager to get some good relaxation in before we headed back to Busan!  Aaron read on his kindle while the rest of us did our own forms of chilling! :) 

The Elf Pension manager, 임창남 allowed us to do a late checkout, which was really nice!  So instead of leaving at 12:00pm, we left around 2:30pm and made it just in time to catch the bus to Won Ju!  Thank you Mr. Yim!  Before we officially said goodbye to Elf Pension, we spent some time with the dogs...

and snapped our picture with Mr. Yim, the manager...

Mr. Yim speaks perfect English and can help you with anything! His phone number is: 33-336-2225 and his e-mail is: chang7528@naver.com.  I HIGHLY recommend staying here if you're looking for a great weekend getaway!

I forgot to officially introduce Sam!  Everyone, this is Sam!  She is Gill's 2nd cousin from South Africa, and she lives in Busan now!  She is an absolute doll... super fun, positive and great to be around!  Gill and I are so happy she's here now! 

One last group shot before we head down the mountain and back to Busan!  I couldn't have asked for a better weekend (minus Gill's fractured wrist)!  Thanks you 4 for making it so wonderful!

Mr Yim called for some taxi's to take us over to the Jang Pyeong bus station, and just like that, we had to say goodbye to the snow, the sledding, the yummy home cooked meals, the ski resort, and the time together in the gorgeous cabin!  It was bittersweet, for sure!  It's a weekend I'll remember for a long long time!

Snowboarding weekend, day two!

There are not a whole lot of things that make me more excited than waking up to a cabin full of friends!!  It makes me feel young again!  We all slept in until about 11am and then poured ourselves a little coffee!

Aaron and I rented 2 sleds from the front office.  They were 5,000 won to rent!  Such a deal and totally worth it!  I hadn't laughed that hard in a long long time, and I laugh a lot!  We went down the hill so fast and it was super bumpy so all you could hear was us yelling, "ahhh, ouhhhh, ahhhh!" and laughing hysterically!  I had tears in my eyes every time!  

Gilly yelled down for us when lunch was ready!  Her and Sam had made delicious bean and curry pasta!

We all got bundled up in our comfy clothes and headed out...

 and by out, I mean across the road to the park and basketball 1/2 court! 

We borrowed a basketball from the front office and had ourselves a little game of H-O-R-S-E!

 We would take breaks here and there to play around!  Sam took Aaron for a little ride! :)

The winter love bugs!

Aaron kept pushing me over this mound of snow, which made me fly into the air and land hard on my butt / tailbone!  It made me laugh hysterically everytime!

After a little basketball, we walked over to the sledding hill for some races!

It was soooooo fun!

It was also FREEZING, and since we would tumble every time at the bottom of the hill we were all soaked in snow!  

These two have been friends since the first day of orientation almost 3 years ago!  Unfortunately, Brian is moving back home to the US in 2 months.  Booo!

The whole gang together!

Girlfriends are the greatest... especially these two! 

At 6:00pm, we got a phone call from the front office that our ride was here to pick us up for snowboarding... so we piled in the van and headed over to the snowboard shop where we rented our pants, jackets, boots and boards! 

Then, by 6:45pm, we were at Phoenix Park Ski Resort, ready to give a go at snowboarding!

This was both Sam and Gill's first time!

We got out to the slopes and started out at the bottom of this beginner hill, just trying to get a feel for it.  After face planting 3 times or so and falling on my butt the other times, I decided it was time to get on the lift and see if I could do it!  Brave, I know!  I definitely wasn't ready!

So, up we went... Aaron, Brian and I, and tried out one of the runs. FYI: There are no bunny slopes here, so I picked the easiest one!  I fell about 10 times and ran, really hard, straight into a padded pole once, but kept trying!  About 1/2 way down the mountain, I finally got the hang of it and made it the rest of the way without falling!  The next 3 times were a breeze and super fun!  Only fell 1 more time the whole night!  Aaron was so sweet and so proud of me!!

At about 10pm I was exhausted and decided to call it a night and grab something to eat while the boys continued snowboarding.  

I couldn't help but notice that there were snowboards everywhere and none were getting stolen!  I love living somewhere where you can leave stuff out and no one takes it!

It was at about this time of the night when I found out that Gill had fallen really hard and hurt her wrist!  She had been taken to the on-site medical area and ended up getting a temporary cast and going back in a taxi to the cabin with Sam!  EEekkk!  I felt terrible for her and was eager to get back home.  When we got back to the cabin, she was laying in bed, cool as could be with some pain meds!  She's a tough cookie!

We all stayed up pretty late tonight and lounged around the family room together!  It was a bummer that Gill got hurt, but other than that I'd say it was a pretty awesome day!

Snowboarding weekend with friends!

This last weekend was a 4 day weekend due to Korea's celebration of Lunar New Year!  Aaron and I had been talking, for years, about going up north and snowboarding on a long weekend!  Well, turns out, we did it, and we brought 3 great friends along with us! :)

We left early in the morning and rode the subway together to Nopodong
(the end of line 1).

Then, from the station, we walked towards the bus station (connected to the subway station), bought our tickets (19,900) and jumped on our comfy bus to Won Ju. (4 hours)

The bus was completely full due to the holiday, but luckily, we all got to sit together!  Gill and Sam sat behind A and I!

We had to wait about 45 minutes in Wonju for our next bus to Jang Pyeong.  So, we stopped into Krispy Kreme for some coffee!

 Once we arrived in Jang Pyeong (about a 45 minute bus ride and 4,200 won) we jumped in a taxi and rode the 15 minute ride to the cabin!

We finally made it to Elf Pension... our home sweet home for the weekend!  Ahh, LOVELY!  We rented the 26 평 room, which is about 750 square feet and paid 450,000 won for 2 nights, which split between the 5 of us was only about $80 total! We were beyond pleasantly surprised!  It was gorgeous and reminded us all a little of home!

They even wrote Aaron's name on the front door! 

I'm telling you... this place was the BEST!  

The living room had the most gorgeous vaulted ceilings and windows looking out to the mountains and sledding area!  It was sooo nice!

the bathroom...

the hallway leading to the balcony, bathroom and bedroom...

The balcony was perfect!  While it was way too cold to eat dinner out there, it did come complete with a grill, big wooden picnic table and gorgeous panoramic mountain views!

My handsome guy!

After dropping our stuff and giving ourselves a tour of our weekend cabin, we headed to the front office to get some snacks in their little market and to check on snowboarding prices for tomorrow!  I snapped this picture for anyone interested in staying at Elf Pension and snowboarding at Phoenix Park Ski Resort.  The guy in the front office of Elf Pension speaks PERFECT ENGLISH and will set you up with transportation to and from the mountain as well as snowboarding gear (jacket, pants, boots, board and pass for night boarding from 6:30pm - 11:00pm was 54,000 won)

Brian, Aaron and I are big dominoes fans, so Aaron brought the new set his mom gave him for Christmas!  After teaching the girls, we had a go at a game!  Aaron and I were on the same team and we actually lost against the NEWBIES!   Ugghhh!

We all got bundled up (yes, I'm in my PJ's!  I'm on vaca!) and went to the front office to pick up some drinks, an onion for dinner and to get a lil love from the gorgeous puppies that live in the front!  Polly and Elf!

Aaron and I were in charge of finding the place to stay, Brian was in charge of figuring out the bus situation and Gill and Sam were in charge of the meals!  Tonight, they made sausage, onion, and mushroom pasta!  Yum! 

After dinner we played a lil game of asshole (sorry, but it's what it's called) where a decent amount of coke and soju were involved. Gill and I were definitely the big losers!

We were lucky to have been there on a Saturday, because at 8:00pm sharp, they have a fireworks show for all of their guests at a nearby park, less than a minute walk from our cabin!  It's not your traditional fireworks show though!  They basically line up about 50 fireworks and light them up with a blow torch and they all go off within about 1 minute!  In the words of the Elf Pension manager, "It's very intensive!"  lol

As soon as we got there, we were handed sparklers!  About 30-40 other Koreans were there with their kiddos and family members, holding sparklers as well!  It was actually really fun!

After the show, we went back to the cabin and got comfy in our PJ's and lounged around until we all fell asleep!  It was the perfect ending to our first day in the snow!