Hanul teacher meeting!

Tonight was our first "teacher meeting" of the year... also known as a staff dinner, where every staff member from the Principal down to the cleaning lady, sit and share a meal together!  We usually go to a sashimi restaurant, but tonight I lucked out, because we ate Hanul, Korean beef!  It's crazy delicious and really expensive!!!  But, it's okay, because the school picks up the tab!  Can't beat that!  All of this meat was shared between 4 people!  It's no wonder I've gained weight since living here!

I sat with Hyun Jung (left), Loola (my new co-teacher (right) and Okk!

... and then Hana and NaRae sat at the table next to us!  

These are 5 of my favorite co-workers of all time in Korea! :)

After everyone finished eating, each of the new teachers got up and introduced themselves!  Between each introduction, the special ed teacher (who plays the roll of an MC at our teaching dinners) gave a quiz with really random questions. All of the teachers were too shy to answer the questions, for fear that if they got the answer wrong everyone would think they were stupid...

I, on the other hand, didn't care!  I asked Okk to translate the first question, and she said "What is the animal who gives the least amount of waste in the world?"  hhhuuuuhhhhh?  She said, "It doesn't make sense in Korean either!  It's just a silly question."  After no one answered, the special ed teacher said he would give us a hint and said "Choon-goo" which means China!  I immediately yelled "PANDA!"  and I was right!   hahaha!  I got the answer right to a Korean question in a room filled with overly educated Koreans!  Talk about a confidence boost. My prize was a toothbrush!  Hana and NaRae answered the questions right after mine and got toothrbushes too! :)

By 7:20pm, we were all stuffed and said goodbye to our table of leftovers!

Loola wanted to take a picture with me, but she made me stand way up in front so our faces looked the same size!  How funny is that?!

Then, after dinner, we walked, in the rain, over to Caffe Bene on Songdo Beach with the group of 6th grade teachers.  Last year. the 6th grade group was 7 women teachers (you've seen lots of pictures of them)... This year it's 5 women and 2 guys, which is totally changing up the mix, but it's been fun to get to know the 3 newbies! :)

I got home around 9:30pm and plopped down on the bed.  I'm feeling blessed, once again, to have had such a fun night with my co-workers!

The wedding date!

Aaron and I just received the long awaited final approval from our Principals for our 

3 week summer/wedding vacation time off!

So, it's official!

I will marry my best friend and one of the best men I know on July 28th in beautiful North Carolina in a small and intimate backyard wedding!

 

Let the planning begin! :)

Blood for lunch!

Today's lunch menu consisted of rice, kiimchi, soup, and Korean blood sausage!  Yuck!  It's been served at lunch at my school before, but no one asked me why I didn't eat it until today.  My response, "Because it's cow intestine and there's blood in there!"  A gasp was heard throughout the entire teacher lunch table!  Then, they all nervously asked each other, "Blood?  Is there blood in these?!"

Come to find out, one of Korea's most beloved meals consists of a large amount of blood, and no one knew it!  How could you not know your eating something covered in blood?!  No wonder the inside of the sausage is dark red!

I started to think that maybe I was wrong... Did someone just tell me once that there was blood in there, because they were red?!  So, after lunch, I headed up to my office and typed "Soondae" (the Korean name for blood sausage) into a google search, and sure enough, here are the ingredients!

• 2 cup sweet Rice
• 1/2 12 ounce package of sweet potato starch vermicelli
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 1 1 inch knob Fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Pepper
• 1 tablespoon Korean toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon Sesame seeds
• 5 Scallions
• 3 feet of beef or pork small intestine 
• 2 cups of Beef or Pork blood 

I have tried a lot of different weird foods while living in Asia,
but this one will never be on my list of things to order...
And after I send this link of ingredients to my co-workers, I'm not sure they will either!
Never thought I'd be the one to educate Koreans about Korean food!

Eat Art

I'm so proud of Aaron and his passion to use his talent of photography in a way that benefits people around the world!

He recently donated some of his photos to an amazing non-profit organization called Eat Art. It's an eclectic collection of photographers, painters & designers committed to artfully ending hunger around the world.

When a customer buys a single 5x7 photograph ($20), 100 meals (which is enough to feed one child for a month) are sent out.  People get the art, and kids get to eat.  I love what they stand for and their approach to helping the world and am really excited that Aaron is a part of it!  :)

You can check out Aaron's gallery here. 

My Tan Skin...

Spending an entire winter in Korea with no sunshine can be brutal, not to mention make you look like a ghost!  So, I've been loving my newly tanned skin from the Philippines... 

Unfortunately my co-workers are not so fond, and they're not afraid to show it or tell me!

One of the 6th grade teachers said to me during tea time today:

"Chelsey. Your face is not white. It makes me sad."

Ouch!