Saturday with the girls!

This weekend was another stay at home (and out of the cold) type of weekend!  This California girl is toooo cold here in Korea!  Despite the cold though, my friends Gill, Keeley, and Erika came to my side of town for some lunch, shopping and yummy coffee with me in Nampodong! :)

While I waited for them to meet me at the subway, I got to talk to my best friend from AZ, Sarah Ashley (soon to be Sarah Thatcher in August)!  Man I miss her like crazy!

Introducing Erika (left).  She's a Korean American from D.C.  She's 22 and just recently graduated from N.Y.U. with a thripple major!  Yes, a TRIPLE major!  She's working in Korea for 6 months before starting law school at Columbia in the fall.  I'm not sure I've ever met someone more driven than her!  And you all know Gilly (on the right).



To top off the fun day of girl time... Truchen called me on skype from Cape Town, South Africa, while we were out shopping, so Gill and I tucked into a little shop and caught up with her on my iphone!  She gave us some extremely exciting news!  She's officially coming back to Korea in August!!  We are exstatic!  What can we say, she misses us! :)

Come to think of it, I guess I only stayed inside today (Sunday)... because after meeting with the girls, Aaron took me out to our favorite Chinese restaurant!

It's Sunday night here, and it's safe to say my weekend went by way too quickly!  Don't they always!  Here's to another great week in Korea!

Anna and Jenny's special serenade!

These two darling 6th graders (Anna and Jenny) are in my after school English class on Friday's.  Last week, we talked about things we can do well during class.  They both said they could sing, so I said, "Really?!  Will you sing me a song next week after class?"

In true Korean style, they practiced for hours at home (and with their Hagwon teacher) until the song was perfect and ready to present... and this afternoon, they serenaded me! Enjoy!

My new iphone!

I've never been one to buy a fancy phone!  Most of you know I actually hate talking on the phone in general and the idea of having a phone to show off just didn't ever really matter to me... but after Aaron convinced me that it would be the greatest purchase I would ever make, I gave in and got one!  We both did actually!

It was an added blessing that my co teacher Okk offered to do some research for us and found a company that would give us (foreigners with an E-2 visa) the same plan as Korean nationals!  Usually they make foreigners pay up front for the phone - about $800 (a huge inflation from American prices)!  So, with a fairly inexpensive plan and an extremely good discount on the price of the phone, we walked away new iphone owners!

What did I do this morning on my walk to work, you ask?  

Oh, no big deal... I just called my mom on video skype, FROM MY PHONE!!

How crazy awesome is technology!  I love it!

My stroboscopy! OUCH!

I've been sufferring from an annoying cough for 3 weeks now!  I had had enough this afternoon, so after work, I went to the hospital!  (Seems dramatic, I know!  But it's what we do in Korea.)  After checking in at the front desk and pointing to my throat, saying "Apuda" (I'm sick), the receptionist sent me up to the 5th floor to meet with an Otolarynologist.  Try saying that 5 times fast!

Luckily he spoke PERFECT English!  Praise God!  He sat me down in a chair, with all kinds of crazy utensils and scopes laid on a steel countertop next to me and began to ask me question after question about my condition.  These Korean doctors are thurough, that's for sure! 

After the gazillion questions, he wheeled his chair over to me, grabbed my tongue with some gauze and began to stick a long metal stick down my throat... lower, and lower, and lower!  OUCH!  Then he told me to say "EEEEE," take deep breaths... do it again... and again... It took everything within me not to gag!  (I later read that a local anesthetic is suppossed to be given to prevent pain and gagging during a stroboscopy... but apparently I must have looked tough, because there was definitely NO ANESTHETIC given!)  Uuugghhh.

But the beauty of the procedure was that I got a fun picture of my vocal chords to show off!

The not so fun part is that I will have to take these pills 3 times a day for the next 7 days, and drink all of this entire bottle of cough syrup before next Tuesday!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, I have some sort of inflamation on and around my vocal chords from, and I quote, "Working too hard and talking too much!"  hahaha!  Think my principal will give me a day off of work?!  Here's hoping! 

breakfast bagels

A couple weeks ago, I did a presentation, on the school TV news program about what American's eat for breakfast!  I talked about how we love to eat bagels, but that I was sad because I couldn't find any bagels in Korea!  My students are constantly asking me if I've been able to find my beloved bagels yet!  ...This morning, some of my 4th graders were huddling around my desk, jumping up and down, all excited before class!  When I asked why they were excited, Anna, put her hands out and presented me with 2 fresh bagels that she and her mom had found at a bakery!  It was as if she was presenting me with gold!

I love this picture because it's a perfect representation of how things work in Korea!  Before anyone can ever give me a piece of food, cake, candy, coffee (anything really), my kids are already trying to eat it!  You'd think no one ever fed the poor little guys!  As much as I knew it was the right thing to do to share my bagels with them, I didn't!  Sad for them... happiness for me!