Rated R T-shirt Warning!

This blog is going to be blunt! Many of you will laugh... some of you will cringe - Regardless, I'm about to show you the reality of English T-Shirts in Korea. If I had to guess, about 70% of them either make absolutely no sense, or they are like the following:

1. "Jailbait" - worn by an elementary girl.

2. "Play Like a Mutha Fucka" - worn by a 1st grade boy

3. "In My Prime" - worn by a 4th grade girl

4. "Happiness is a strong cocktail" - worn by a 3rd grade girl

5. "No colon contact, no kiss." - worn by a 6th grader

6. "I am so fucking disco" - worn by a middle school girl

7 "Giant Cum" - Korean man

8. "Party Naked" - middle school girl

9. "High School girls rule!" - A male school Computer Technician

So, moral of the story is... When you're in another country, don't buy a shirt with foreign writting! Well, unless you don't mind having something like this on it!

Interview Day!

Side note: I thought my camera took bad pictures... but it's nothing compared to my student's camera... see pictures below!

The 6th grade students at my school are working on an "interview project" for their homeroom teachers. The assignment was to get in groups and choose an adult that everyone in the group looked up to and interview them. I was honored when some of them chose me! This afternoon was the big interview!


I was so impressed by how prepared they were. They had translated all of the questions into English and were ready, with camera and notebooks in hand to document the whole experience.

At the beginning, I would answer their questions and they would take forever writing my answers, so I offered to type them on my computer for them! They were soooo excited. I even went one step further and cut and pasted my answers into a Korean translating website and printed that for them too! I may be the coolest teacher in school now. :)


Part of the interview was about my job and how I teach in Korea, so we had to get some action shots! I hammed it up as usual! :)

Looks like a real class huh?!

This was the group! I love, love, love these kids... especially Seth (the boy on the far left). He is ALWAYS smiling... despite his angry mug in this picture and speaks English really well!

Jagalchi Festival!

This week is the Jagalchi Sea Festival! The Jagalchi Fish Market is a world famous fish market, located on the edge of Nampo Port (남포항), Busan, the 5th largest port in the world! Yesterday, they had a parade, lots of live shows throughout the area, and a firework show over the water! Here are some pictures of the night!

This is a local high school band...


...Notice they are all girls! Most high schools in Korea are either all boy schools or all girl schools! And what's up with the cheerleading skirts?!


This float reminded me a lot of the floats I saw at a 4th of July parade that I went to in Show Low (Northern Arizona) a couple years ago with Kevin's family... They had garbage bins as floats... here, they had a maintenance truck all decked out in balloons and posters, with elementary age girls belly dancing in the back! Random!!!

These boys were my favorite... They were numchucking!!!

After the parade, I walked over to the fish market and ordered some steamed clams! They were delicious. :)

Then... As the sun was going down, I thought it would be wise to head over to the bridge, which connects Jagalchi to Yeongdo Island. I had heard it would be crowded, and I wanted to make sure I got a spot! Luckily it wasn't crowded at all... :)

The fireworks over the harbor were absolutely stunning.... and the weather, while it could have been a little more windy to move the smoke from the sky, it was beautiful sweatshirt and flip flop weather!

P.S. Sorry for the semi blurry pictures lately! I've been taking my camera everywhere with me in my purse and have not been taking care of it like I probably should... :( It needs a serious overhaul!

Visiting Carlos in the Hospital!

Last night I went to visit Carlos and Jess at the hospital! Carlos had his 4th and 5th A.C.L. surgery 2 nights ago in a Korean hospital about a 35 minute subway ride from my place... But shhhh, mums the word! His mom doesn't know, and she would be terrified if she found out!





Right before the surgery, Carlos told his doctor he was having some pain in his left knee as well as his right, so his doctor asked, "Do you want me to fix both knees at the same time?" Carlos kind of laughed and said, "Sure, why not!" ... and the rest is history!!




I purposefully didn't crop this picture, because I loved how you could see Carlos's hospital room. It was disgusting! Jess came with a bottle of Clorox and scowered the place the first night they were there! There was blood splattered on the wall behind Carlos's head, etc... It looks a bit like what I would imagine a mental hospital looking like! Jess taped paintings on the wall, and tried to make it feel a little more homey, since they are both going to be staying there for about 10 days! The hospital allowed Jess to sleep overnight in the room with him and has promised not to give him a roommate!




I ended up leaving around 9:30pm, and walked to the bus stop. I had only been to this side of town once before, but was confident that I was getting on the bus going in the right direction. It didn't take long before I realized I was definitely not going the right way though! I decided to play Carmen San Diego and ride it until it eventually made a u-turn. Little did I know, it doesn't make a u-turn and it goes and goes and goes... When I noticed that I was the last one on the bus, I decided it was time to forgo my adventure, and got on a bus going the right way... I ended up getting home close to midnight! This is a picture of the subway map, and how far out of town I actually went on the bus. The red is the path I took... The blue dot is where I live!

Raised by Grandparents

In Korea, it's very very very common for grandmothers to watch their grandchildren, while the parents are busy working! It's actually quite sad, considering the long hours Koreans work at their jobs... The moms and dads are rarely around during their child's developmental years, which, from what I've been told, are some of the best years! (I'll take your word for it moms!)

Everytime I am out and about, walking through town, I see grandmothers carrying their young grandchildren on their backs, with these blanket style carriers. They lean over, while the baby is laying on the back, and wrap the blanket tightly around their stomach. It's amazing how the babies never fall!


What's more amazing though, is the immense strength shown by these "ajumas," as we call them in Korean (older women). They carry babies, and sometimes even heavy toddlers on their backs, up steep hills, 5 flights of stairs in the subways, etc, etc... and somehow always seem to have a smile on their face! I guess I would smile too if I got to spend time with an adorable Korean baby all day long!