May 6th - heading to Japan!

Having the chance to visit such a beautiful country as Japan, three times in 2 years is a dream come true!  I am so blessed. To be able to go a 2nd time with Aaron is even better! :)  On Friday, after field Day, we jumped in a taxi and headed to Gimhae Airport. 

We flew from Busan to Fukuoka... It's only a 50 minute flight!  This was my first look at Fukuoka - from the sky!

We arrived at the airport in Fukuoka at 5:50pm.  We followed the directions from our hostel and headed down to the subway.  For whatever reason, Japan's subway ticket purchasing kiosks are the MOST confusing things I've ever seen!  We always try to do it on our own, but end up calling over one of the subway attendents - EVERY TIME!  This time was no exception!

We made it to Khaosan Fukuoka Hostel, dropped our bags in the room, and headed out on the town! In Fukuoka, you can purchase an all day couples bus pass for 1000 yen ($12.00). So, we got one of those and took full advantage of it! First, we headed towards a street along the river, lined with traditional food stalls.

We ducked into a local market and spotted this old man, who had dozed off on the job!

I loved all the hand written price signs at this corner stores.  It's so Trader Joes'!

As we walked further into the market, the alleys began to get darker, and the shops began to close... That was when I spotted these 2 girls, wearing black bunny ear headbands.  I asked if I could take their picture, and they happily obliged.  The first picture was out of focus, so I asked if I could take another one.  They smiled and began to unzip their jackets to show off their lingerie!  It was at that moment that I realized Fukuoka had a red light district and we were smack dab in the middle of it.

We stayed clear of the hooker streets and headed to the riverwalk instead.

While we would have loved to plop down and experience one of these food stalls, we were really looking for some Japanese ramen!

Traditional Japanese architecture and decor is one of my favorite styles! Not necessarily for my own home... but you know what I mean!  I loved the look of this restaurant along the water.

In Korea, shneesh are eaten all the time!  They're basically eel-fish.  This was the first time, however, that I had seen a place where you could go fishing for your shneesh?

Then when you finally caught one (Which was quite difficult actually) this old woman would grill it up for ya!

The streets of Fukuoka.

This restaurant was SUPER fancy and right, smack dab, in the middle of the red light district - hench the red lights!

We walked through a couple small alleyways and found this little bar with a REALLY little door.

Japanese love their ainme!

We had dinner at this place, because we thought it looked cool. 

There was no English listed on the menu and the one guy working there didn't speak a lick of it! So, we took the menu, pointed at something and this is what we got!  Luckily it was DELICIOUS!

This is definitely the freakiest looking street performer I've ever seen!

Fukuoka is filled with bikes!  This one caught my eye though!  What a beauty!

At this point, we were exhausted and the buses were about to stop running, so we decided to head back to the hostel.  As we were waiting for our transfer bus, I saw this costume girl!  She must have been on vacation from Tokyo!  I always thought these girls would be stuck up and prestigious, but she was the sweetest little thing!  She was so excited that I asked to pose in a picture with her!

We got back to the hostel and went up to the common room for some barley tea and a little e-mail checking on the comfy couch!  It was the perfect way to end a great first night in Japan!

Field Day Fun!

This year, my school put me in charge of taking photos of the field day event, which is exactly what I would have been doing anyways, so it was perfect!  All in all, I took 909 pictures!  Eeehhh... but narrowed it down to 404 in the editing process, and loaded them onto the school server today!  Now, I'm going to load some of my favorites onto my blog, for you to see!

Dae Gyo Elementary 

School Field Day 

May 6, 2011

These pictures are totally out of order.  It would have taken me an extra hour, or more, to put them all in order for this post... So, sorry! :)

This was the dad's relay race.  In Korea, Field Day isn't just about the kids.  The parents are just as involved as their own children on the big day!  It's basically a big community party!

The volunteer moms who helped set up all the events!

4th grade - simultaneous jump roping!   These two girls, Mikayla and Cherry, won!

The mom's relay race is always a big crowd pleaser!  Every year one of them gets hurt!  This year was no exception!  They're relentless!  One of the mom's accidentally tripped another mom, who fell face first into the dirt track!  Ouch!   

2nd grade relay race!

The 1st grade relay race included a part where the kids crawled through this tunnel.

1st grade - push the giant ball around the orange cone, with your mom relay!

These are the 6th grade school leaders and cheering section for Field Day!

The mom's played tug of war!  "WE WON!!!"

Getting ready for mom's tug of war - counting the rows to make sure the sides were even!

민기, one of my favorite 5th graders!  She was on the blue team!  

(There are 2 teams - blue and white)

One of the relays involved the 6th graders running around the track and then picking a piece of paper out of a basket, reading it, and finding the teacher listed on the paper to run with them to the finish line!  This paper says "Run with Chelsey Teacher!" 

Getting in position for the mother, daughter relay with a ball.

Father, daughter relay with a ball. Betty and her dad.

Danny is one of my favorite students!  

Every time I ask him "How are you?" He answers, "I'm hungry!" 

There was even something for the grandparents!  They would walk to the middle of the field and take a fishing hook looking thing and hook a black plastic bag filled with soap, detergent, and a towel, then walk back to their line!

 Melt my heart!  How adorable is she?!

4th grade hula hoop running relay!

The blue team's BIG cheerleader!

2nd graders getting ready for the baton hand off!

6th grade relay!  Drag your friend, in a polka-doted bucket, around the orange cone!

The races are started by either a track and field gun or the gong!  I personally prefer the gong!  It's so Asian!

3d graders waiting on the sidelines!

6th grade drummers... part of the cheering squad!

The 1st graders did a relay where they either wore silver-sequined-bow-headbands or blue-sequined-bow-headbands and rode a scooter across the field!  

Here's the white team, walking out to get into position for their scooter race!

헤란, one of my favorite teachers at the school!  She actually used to be an English teacher, so her English is almost perfect!

She's a 3rd place winner!  Instead of handing out ribbons, like in America, the kids are given hand stamps!

One of the 4th grade relay's included running around the track, jumping through hula hoops and then squatting down and jumping 10 times, like a frog. 

3rd graders had to do somersaults!   The two girls on the right collided!

6th grade - simultaneous jump roping relay!  They would throw a big dice and whatever number it landed on was how many times they had to jump rope before passing off to the next group!

Stretching time!

3rd graders, waiting on the sideline with their teacher!

At the end of the day, everyone got onto the field and did a traditional Korean dance!

4th grade running relay!

1st and 2nd graders threw handmade paper airplanes into upside down umbrellas!  The team with the most airplanes inside the umbrella won!  

Excited to throw their paper airplanes!

3rd graders, patiently waiting for their next relay.

All in all, it was a REALLY fun day with lots of excited kiddos and parents!  I'm not sure if I'll be working at an elementary school again next year, so I soaked it all in and made sure I relished in all the fun!

Grandma's Feast!

At 3:45pm today, Monica yelled, from her desk, "Chelsey, let's go to the restaurant. There is food there!" (AKA: the school cafeteria.  I love when she calls it "the restaurant!")

Anyhow, when we got to the cafeteria, we were met by a small old grandmother who was standing with her arms wrapped proudly around her 2nd grade grandson.  She welcomed us and motioned towards a table full of the most delicious homemade Korean food!  Yes, SHE had made everything herself!  Why you ask?  Well, it's a dying tradition for a grandparent to prepare something special (food or juice) to celebrate her grandchild's participatation in his or her first big school related event.  The big event, in this case, is FIELD DAY, which is on Friday!  But for this grandmother, preparing a feast fit for a king was her way of celebrating! 

   

She had made octopus, pajung, japjeh, gogi, rice, potato jung, shrimp and vegetable curry, oysters, clams, and all sorts of other yummies I don't know the names of!  Even after all 25 teachers dished up, there was more leftover!  Oh and she also prepared a whole bunch of exotic fruits for our dessert!

(pics were taken with my iphone)  Not too shabby, huh?!

Unfortunatley, this grandmother's intentions for this very large meal were a bit twisted.  You see, Korean's believe that when a gift is given, you should return the gesture by giving a gift back to the giver. Monica told me that the little boys teacher was not happy about this meal... because it meant that she would need to give special treatment to the young boy.  She would now be expected to stay after school to tutor the young boy, and to give him extra attention during classtime. 

 

Whatever happened to just plain giving without the expectation of receiving something in return?!  Regardless of grandma's intentions, I was beyond impressed with her cooking skills!  It was some of the best Korean food I've ever tasted!  And lucky for me, the little boy isn't one of my students, so I don't have to worry!

 

Thanks for the feast Grandma!

The grass is always greener...

I've been struggling the last couple days with feeling as if Aaron is my only friend... don't get me wrong - the guy is AWESOME and I'm more than happy to have him around!  But, being away from America for over 2 years now and the horrible time difference between Asia and home has put a strain on many of the friendships that I've held most dear...  I know people are busy and time passes quickly, but I hate feeling disconnected and forgotten.  

My 30th birthday is in 2 weeks and it feels weird to think about such a momentous birthday being celebrated without friends around.  Aaron really wanted to throw me a big birthday bash, with my favorite COSTCO sheet cake (My 1 request) but the few good friends I have here either didn't respond to his invite or were busy with other plans.  I can't just eat a whole COSTCO cake on my own?  Or could I?! haha)  It just sucks to be quite honest.  I love living here and experiencing a new culture, traveling all the time, saving money, and loving my job... but is that really enough?  I'm starting to realize that maybe it isn't.  But then that leaves me with the questions of "How do I change that?"  

I'm not really too sure to be quite honest.  I guess I just wish things were different and I wasn't out of sight, out of mind living her in Asia.  I'm not begging for affirmation or for anyone to tell me I'm not forgotten because I wrote this.  I just think it feels good sometimes to say how you feel... and right now, this is how I'm feeling.        

Going back to Japan...

This weekend is a 4 day weekend for Aaron and I, and we've been itching to get out of the country... So, tonight we decided to scratch that itch and head to Japan! 

We'll be leaving this Friday after work (FIELD DAY, which is hardly work!) and arriving in Fukuoka, Japan, where we'll be spending one night exploring the city.  In the morning, we'll jump on the bullet train and ride 3 hours through the Japanese countryside to Kyoto, one of my favorite places in the world, where we'll spend the following 4 days!

It was exactly this time, 2 years ago, that I visited Kyoto for the first time! Unfortunately though, I spent most of my time in the hospital waiting room, and in bed at my hostel, sick with the swine flu. On the instances where I did get out and explore the city, I fell madly in love with it's charm, history, and beauty! I never thought I'd have the chance to go back, but low and behold, I've been given the chance! I can hardly wait to show Aaron some of my favorite spots, and explore new corners of the city!

P.S. Don't worry, I've checked the radiation levels and Kyoto is A-okay!  Besides I eat enough dried seaweed to fight off all the radiation in the world!  Okay, that's a bit of an exageration... but I love that stuff and it prevents radiation from seeping into your body!  Another amazing natural remedy!

 

Japan, watch out!  We're coming!!