Just checking in.

a little Jill update for ya...

I am still loving my job as an elementary teacher here in Korea!  I swear I have some of the nicest and most respectful students in the country!  I've been at this school for 4 1/2 months and catch myself, almost everyday, being surprised at their generosity, excitement for English, and sweet demeanor towards me!  Not to mention, I still have fabulous co-workers who always involve me and translate for me so I always know what's going on!  Luck of the draw I guess... or maybe blessed!

I have 2 1/2 more weeks of regular classes before school is out for summer and I begin my 3 week (3 hour a day) summer English camp where I'll be teaching a different group of kiddos each week!  We'll be playing UNO, Guess Who, reading games, making smoothies and PB&J sandwiches, going on walks around the neighborhood, and hopefully having fun together!  Luckily my classes will be small - between 7-11 kiddos each week!

When my English camp is finished Aaron and I will be jumping on a jet plane to Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam where we'll spend 16 days traveling from the south to north of Vietnam, stopping a bunch along the way, and ultimately ending our adventure in the beautifully french inspired city of Hanoi!  Vietnam has always been on my list of places to visit since living in Asia, so I'm excited to finally make it happen!

I have been running about 3-4 times a week after work with Meagan!  It's been fun to have a new girlfriend who lives so close to me on the island.  In the short 3 1/2 weeks that we've known each other, we've had a lot of fun shopping, having dinner together, sharing clothes and jewelry, texting back and forth until all hours of the night, and of course running!

The weather has been kinda rainy lately and really sticky/humid, which has brought on droves of mosquitos, which Koreans call "Mogies!"  Kinda cute, eh?!  While the name is cute... THEY certainly are not!  Last Friday I apparently had a hungry little guy under my desk at work, because when I got home from work I noticed that I had been bit about 15-20 times from my knees down!  Uuughhh!  I've learned my lesson and am now carrying mosquito repellent in my purse!  I realize most of you are used to mosquitos, but I grew up in paradise (aka: Orange County) where mosquito's don't exactly hang out in droves, so this is all new to me!

My green pepper plant isn't doing so well in my rooftop garden.  There are 4 baby peppers, all growing from almost ocmpletely dead branches!  I don't know what happened!  On the other hand, my tomatoes are doing great!  I picked 4 last Friday and used them for a chicken quesadilla and picked 4 more yesterday! 

Aaron and I have found a church that we attend every Sunday night!  ***It's at my apartment, with my iphone!  AKA: a podcasts from my old pastor in Fountain Valley, Karl Vaters, who is awesome by the way!  After attending a bunch of "english church services" here and feeling like they were more of a beginners English speaking class for Koreans, I decided that fellowship and encouragement was just plain gonna be limited to skype, facebook, and e-mail with my friends back home and that teachings would be obtained from podcasts!  Thank you 21st century technology!  Aaron and I have been learning a lot about the history and culture surrounding the stories we were both taught as kids and have had fun discussing stuff we're learning about and didn't know before.  If you wanna check out what we're listening to, click here!  Church for 2, anyone?!   

As far as next year goes, it looks as if I'm staying!  Eeeehhh, I know, I know!  This was only supposed to be a year adventure, but life throws us curve balls... some more fantastic than others!  This curve ball seems as if it will be keeping me in Asia yet another year!  I'll be applying to work for a University next year, instead of an elementary.  Aaron and I are hoping that we can be hired at the same school, and hopefully in Seoul!  Crossing our fingers for that!  If we worked at a University, we would have up to 4 months vacation, which would allow us to come home and visit more than the 2 weeks a year we're given now!  Then the other 2 months we could go wherever our little hearts desired!

Until next time!
징구 안영!

Jill

the sprout

Aaron took this photo a couple days ago of me, holding a tiny sprout in my hand. I love all the meanings that can be derived by it and what they mean for my life...

Yeongdo Meet Up!

About a week ago, Aaron, Meagan and I were talking about how we should find a way to get all the Yeongdo English teachers together for dinner... We knew there were other foreigners on the island, but just didn't know who!  So, on Monday, I sent out a post on the Facebook "English Teacher's in Korea" page inviting anyone who lived on Yeongdo to dinner at the Samgyupsal place under my apartment!   I wasn't all that worried if no one showed bu the 3 of us, but we were all hoping at least a couple people would turn out!  

Fortunately, we had 9 people come, 6 of which I had never met, or even seen on the island!  

We all had such a great time getting to know each other and sharing stories about our lives back home (America, Canada, and Puerto Rico) and in Korea!  We're planning to get together again for grilled clams in some BBQ tents on one of the beaches on the island!  Cheers to living on Yeong-do!

Date night, Italian style!

 What girl doesn't love a text saying, "Do you wanna have dinner together after our workouts tonight?"  I do! I'm a huge sucker for date nights!  Aaron and I have been together so long now, and spend so much time together, that it seems we don't really need to go on dates to "reconnect" or "re-ignite the flame", so to say... but, he takes me out anyway, and I love it!   Last night we went to Amant, a new Italian/Asian place that just opened in Nampodong!  It was on my blog about restaurants I wanted to check out before leaving Busan!

The food was to die for!  It was so good, I actually found the manager to tell him just how much I loved it!  Everyone loves a compliment, right?!

Any time you can see directly into the kitchen of a place, you know you're getting good quality food!  That's the truth for this place!  Not only was the food amazing, the atmosphere was romantic, classy, and just plain comfortable.  We sat for a couple hours, just chatting away...

 

... and feasting on this steak and pepper Asian/Italian fusion spaghetti, caesar salad, bruschetta, gorgonzola pizza (YES PLEASE!) and a fresh limeaid slushy! 

After dinner, we took a stroll through the shops in Nampodong and enjoyed the cool weather!  This season, minus the stickiness from the rain, is fantastic!

I stopped to snap a picture of Aaron, and an old drunk Korean man excitedly stumbled over to me, with his equally drunk and excited girlfriend, snatched my camera and shewed me over towards Aaron so he could take our picture!  It turned out pretty good for having a drunk photographer behind the lens! :)

Aaron, thank you for loving, respecting, and caring for me! I love you... and love our life together in Korea!  I wouldn't have it any other way!

Headin' to kindergarten!

Every morning, I wave good morning to this kindergarten student who rides his bike (all alone) with cute little training wheels, in the middle of the street, all the way to his school!  Cars constantly swerve around him as he wobbles on his rickety little bike.  

Serious, where are his parents?