Back in the office. I’m sure it seems as if we do nothing but travel, but I assure that we have been sitting in the office for the past 3 weeks, working. However, you must think of the word “working” in the LOOSEST of terms. You know the phrase, “So little time, so much to do.” Reverse that and you have our office situation. My motto for the past 3 weeks has been, “So little to do, so much time.” Writing my lesson plan and going over every possible material I may need for our next program took maybe a of couple hours. I drug that out for an entire day simply because I had the time, but beyond that, I have spent my days reading, watching movies, writing our blog, filing our taxes, catching up on emails, writing letters, planning weekend trips to Seoul and just general web browsing. The basic program begins on March 21st and it cannot come soon enough. We’ll have 5th graders for short 3 day/2 night programs until the end of May and we’re looking forward to a change in schedule.
A little recap of our time since our four-country vacation: There was a holiday on March 1st, so we went into Cheonan with some friends, a town about 2 hours from our school. We roamed the streets, had some Korean style fried chicken for dinner and washed it down with a pint of Baskin Robbin’s ice cream J
The next day, on our weekly Homeplus grocery shopping trip, we bought a blue Betta fish. We named him Park Ji-Sung. I was jealous of Jenn and Joe’s newest addition to their family, a French bulldog named Louie so I wanted a pet too. On a sad note, by the looks of him this morning, I’m not sure we’ll have him much longer!
Last week, one of the ladies in the kitchen taught Daphne and I how to make bulgogi, a traditional Korean meal with veggies, soy sauce, other spices and really thinly sliced beef. It was a really interesting experience watching how a Korean kitchen works. First of all, any unneeded water was poured on the floor instead of in the sink, so all the workers wore rain boots. Secondly, all measuring was done in one small paper cup. Full meant one cup and a little at the bottom meant a few tablespoons. Oh and the craziest thing: they’d cook and taste with the same spoon the whole time. Koreans have this strange non-fear of germs. They’re convinced that because they eat kimchi, fermented cabbage, they can share spoons and cups with everyone else and be safe. I for one do not understand this philosophy and I am unwilling to test it out. Let’s just say that kimchi is NOT my thing. While we were waiting for the bulgogi to finish cooking, some kitchen lady shoved a veggie and squid pancake in my mouth and it was surprisingly pretty good! Apparently it’s a sign of friendship if someone feeds you with their bare hand. I guess I made a new friend that day J
There are two new developments in our lives here in Korea. We have begun to make Amish Friendship bread and we are in our second week of P90X (the intense 90 day workout). You may find that these two things clash a bit, and I won’t disagree with you on that point, but I will admit that I work out so that I can enjoy such delicacies as friendship bread and chocolate. Every muscle in our body aches from the wide variety of workouts P90X has subjected us to, but it’s a nice way to wake us up in the morning. We’ll keep you posted on our progress!
Last weekend was spent in Seoul. We saw Cookin’ NANTA, a traveling Korean show that is a mix between Stomp and Blue Man Group. A group of ‘chefs’ did a comical show that incorporated drumming beats with knives on butcher blocks and spoons on large plastic containers. We stayed at a jjimjilbang on Friday night and spent the day exploring around Itaewon, Namdaemun Market, and Insadong. We got our pictures taken with some Korean cheerleaders and their “Smile and you’ll be happy” signs and we met a really talented finger print painter named GuGu Kim. It was the first day that truly felt like spring in Korea so we took advantage of it and threw off our jackets for the day! When hunger struck, I was quite impressed with Luke’s stellar navigation skills as he weaved us through back roads to find Korea’s version of Chipotle/Moe’s: Tomatillo. We left around dinner time to head back home and went to bed early.
On Sunday, I accompanied my friend Daphne to my first and probably only Korean wedding. We were greeted by the receptionist who gave us buffet tickets. We scooted around ladies in hanbuk (traditional Korean clothing) as we picked out salads, sushi, meats, fruit and some strange desserts. After, we found seats in the wedding hall and waited for the bride and groom. Here’s how the ceremony went down:
· The mothers walked solemnly to the front wearing hanbuk dresses and lit candles at the altar after a few bows.
· The bride walked down the runway (yes there was a runway!) with her father under some swords with her father.
· People stood in the back of the room talking throughout the whole ceremony.
· The groom’s sister’s boyfriend serenaded the couple and they cried.
· The couple bowed low to each set of parents.
· The groom danced for the bride after a strange cheek kissing game.
· Family pictures
· The bride and groom changed into traditional Hanbuk wedding garb, most of the guests left after the first ceremony.
· The bride and groom served alcohol to special guests two at a time and bowed low. These people had to give money to the happy couple and this ceremony would apparently pay for the entire honeymoon!
It was all very exciting and I went home exhausted from the weekend festivities to hang out with my hubby for the night.
We’re still on a high from the package that arrived in the mail from Tennessee and we found a market in the nearest town that sells fresh strawberries, so all in all, we’re doing really well. A few of you have asked for our address so we thought we’d make it public. We were happy to discover that sending mail back and forth is quite cheap!
Luke & Rachel Roe
536-43 Nongdari-ro
Munbaek-myeon
Jincheon-gun
Chungcheongbuk-do
Republic of Korea
365-863
We miss you all and hope that everyone is doing well. We love you!
Luke & Rachel
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