I guess my miscellaneous posts are going to become somewhat regular. This is the third one I've done and I've noticed that I take a lot of random pics with the thought of posting to FB but I never do. Or I take pictures of something for a blog post but realize later that its really too short for a blog posts. However, I still want to post these pics and therefore miscellaneous posts! These pictures are from January to mid-April.
In January, my friend Andrew was leaving at the end of the month so one night a few of us went out to eat. We ended up at this noodle shop that was very popular with Koreans and therefore you know its good food. I liked it because you could see them making the noodles and soup just outside the restaurant. I mean its pretty authentic when they make their own noodles from scratch! And after dinner we stopped at Baskin Robbins and enjoyed a bucket of ice cream :) Baskin Robbins has several different size of buckets for sharing with friends. Each size has a number of different types of ice cream you can choose to put in the basket. They pile on the ice cream too!
In February, I started talking to my dad about them coming to visit. We have yet to find dates that seem to work for everyone. However, as I was talking to him about visiting, I mentioned how much walking I do and in particular stairs. I feel like there are stairs everywhere. I know I've adjusted tremendously but there are times that I still get quite winded. Below is a classic example of when I get winded. These are the stairs I have to take to get from the Buam station to my bus stop. I usually stop here at least once a week and sometimes more. And this is all the stairs. At the top of those pictured, you turn left and see almost as many more stairs before you finally get to the road. I counted. There are 90 stairs! And this is the only way to get to this bus stop! There are not crossroads above the ground and there is not an elevator for that side of the street. Therefore, 90 stairs it is! And this is just one exit and just one place where I go frequently!
I know Oreo's have been experimenting with many different flavors. I happen to really like their chocolate and peanut butter combination. I have also seen strawberry. The ice cream flavor really stood out to me. First, its blueberry ice cream flavor which is very Korean. (Blueberry flavor is very popular here). And second when I tried it, it had some menthol taste. I was not a fan. But it is interesting :)
One of the best things that has happened recently is that I have successfully tried to make bread in the crockpot! It's fantastic and takes about 2 hours total to mix the dough and to cook. I love it! I've cooked it twice already and plan to make it again soon!
Every time I wait outside a classroom to go and teach I'm always laugh when I look at the shoe cubbies. Each classroom has the same set up with cubbies and then a small cabinet (that holds cleaning supplies such as brooms and such for them to clean the classroom with) and then more cubbies in between the two doors to the classroom. It's obvious that most of the classrooms arrange the cubbies so that the boys use the cubbies on the right and the girls the cubbies on the left. How is it so obvious? The majority of all the shoes on the right are shades of blue, black, or grey. The majority of the shoes on the left are shades of pink, purple, grey, and green. You can just look at the shoes and tell!
Last week I was walking to Korean class and saw this small golf cart like object in front of me. Then it stopped and I realized it was from the post office. I've seen vans that transport mail, but not this. I guess its the modern day mailman that uses essentially a motorized trike! I was glad that he stopped for a moment and I was able to walk past and get a good picture!
On the same day as I saw the mailman, I also walked up to a peaceful demonstration outside City Hall. This is actually the second time I have walked up to a demonstration and they were both peaceful. I have never felt for my safety. Quite the contrary actually. There are police everywhere! Beyond the police line that is not tape but instead rope that they bring and set up (its the orange tape/line looking stuff in the second picture), there are police outside of the subway exit (they are in the florescent yellow jackets in the first picture and are hard to see because they are small but under the tree that is full of leaves). Then when you walk down into the subway there are more police standing at the City Hall entrance down there. I do not have to walk past the demonstration. Instead I just walk down to the subway and to the next exit to back up to the road and on the other side of the demonstration. I like how they are able to have their say in a peaceful way and yet I do not feel scared or concerned for my safety and I'm able to continue one with what I was doing with no real interruptions. It was quite the interesting day as I walked to Korean class :)
So I check the weather a lot. Mostly, because I'm ready for the seventies to be the norm instead of the only seen twice variety of temps. The 60s are okay but I'm ready for 70s and even 80s. Today it was 79 when I walked home and I had a fleece jacket on and wasn't hot. Granted I could tell it was warmer but it was already cooling down from 79 and 25 minutes later when I got off the bus it was 72. Anyway, I check the weather in Busan, Seoul, and Blairsville just because. Well Monday when I checked they all had the same temperature! That has never happened. Considering it was the daytime for Busan and Seoul and nighttime for Blairsville, its pretty crazy. And on another weather note its about the third week that Seoul has had warmer temps that Busan. The majority of their highs are in the low 70s and have been. Come on Busan! I want warmer weather!
I think I've mentioned on here that I've done recording for the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education a few times. It was weird to think back in the fall that every student in Busan's elementary school grades 3-6 heard my voice during their BEPA testing (English performance test), but they did. Well in February I did recording again. This time I got a picture of the studio I record in and I recorded the vocabulary the students would need to study for the BEPA test. I didn't think much of it. A few weeks ago, my teacher asked me to start going over the words with the sixth grade students. Essentially I read them and they repeat them. I recognized them from the recording, but again didn't think much of it. I was given a book so I could refer to the words each week but that was all. I knew the recordings had been sent out because my co-teacher Ja Yeon played them for me. Well today, a sixth grade teacher was talking and I knew she was talking about me doing the recordings. She pointed to the back pay of the book. Yep, my name is there! I was shocked. I mean it make sense that they put who did the recordings on their acknowledgement page but I was still quite surprised. So yeah, all the elementary school kids in Busan grades 3-6 are studying English words using a recording of my voice. It's so weird!
And the last set of pictures I took today. As the weather has improved, so has the number of kids outside playing when I leave school at 4:40. Today there were 15-20 kids easily and a few parents just playing in a small playground area in front of the school. It's fun to see and fun because a lot of the kids tell me good-bye as I walk past.
And one story:
A week or so ago, I went to the convenient store at the subway stop to get water before going to school. As I walked toward the exit, I saw a grandfather walking his daughter who was obviously going to my school. She looked back at me and I said hello. She looked back a few more times and then so did her grandfather. I just smiled and kept walking. Well as I got closer it seemed as though she convinced her grandfather to let her walk the rest of the way alone/with me. There was no communication other than body language but I figured it out and let her walk with me. I asked her how she was and she just smiled. The only English she knew was hello. So then I asked her her name in Korean. She was great and spoke slowly. Her name was Eun Chee Hyun. And then we walked to school smiling from time to time and she walked pretty close to me as we crossed the road, but once at school she ran off with her classmates. She was super cute and it was a fun way to start the day. It was also a successful use of Korean. It's very small, but it builds confidence! My Korean test is on April 29th so by then I have to be able to show that I know some Korean :)
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