July in June

Had a lovely Sunday brunch with family. My cousins, SunMi and SunHee, their mama aka my aunt, or "Emo" (not to be confused with the dark eyeliner/dramatic sideswept bangs/whiny music Emo) and SunHee's husband met me at SunMi's new restaurant, a French restaurant in Seoul Village called, "July."

I'm still a bit confused as to why July is not... Juillet... but I didn't bring it up in conversation, I might next time around.

This brunch was on the heavy side, nothing very light about it. The 5 course meal started innocently enough with fresh baked baguettes and olive oil followed with pot au feu d'escargots with crostinis (yum!!). Why is it that the only two times I've had escargots have been in Korea?
Next we had scallops on top of asparagus and those clover looking things (is it just clover?) followed by silver cod atop ratatouille veggies.

The main course was 30 hour cooked pork on top of spinach and cabbage in a mustard sauce... Now I HATE mustard (I can't even stand the smell of it) but this was such a light and airy sauce I was pleased to say I cleaned my plate. The pork itself was delicious! Very tender and moist.
Finally the meal was topped off with a cream cheese mousse avec fresh fruits and the best latte I've had in Korea.

My cousin did a great job designing the space, it has dark wood bamboo paneling with gorgeous lighting. It's very small but doesn't feel cramped at all. Not to mention, the waitstaff was very good looking. She said I can pick a guy out and she'll set me up with him.

Besides the food, the company was wonderful. It had been about 7 years since I had seen my cousin, SunHee, and her husband and they were both very friendly and we were able to keep good conversation going. Unfortunately there is something wrong with my camera so I wasn't able to take any pictures, but the restaurant is very close to my apartment so I will most likely go again in the future.

Had a great weekend and have unfortunately fallen behind on my blogs but I hope to fix that!!

Are ESL Teachers the New GIs?

You're so lucky, two posts in one day from me!

Well thanks to my dad who passed along this article I thought I would in turn share with you.

Last night in Hongdae I noticed the drastic difference in "make up" of people flooding the streets then 2 years ago. A lot of the "ESL teachers" looked a lot more... built than the usual scrawny, emo-ish/hipster-like teachers from several years ago. Of course, these had to be teachers as GIs were apparently banned from Hongdae. My point is, the lines are beginning to blur and while it felt like GIs were getting a bad rep when I was in Seoul for the first time, maybe there's a brewing resentment towards teachers that is starting to surface.

Here's the link to Rok Drop's post on the matter

So yes, I came to Korea because in reality, I'm a loser. I had no job, no boyfriend, moved in with the parents and was on my way to becoming a bona fide cat lady.

I'll be the first to admit it and wear my loser badge with pride. However, I see no reason why Koreans should resent me for THIS! :)

First Month in Seoul Video

My first attempt... Please be kind.

I Survived my First Month!

Thanks to Mikey Teacher, this fully illustrates how I feel today... this is a YouTube gem folks!




Now let's hope it all doesn't burn a whole in my pocket...

I'll do it tomorrow

So far, I've done pretty well with keeping my place tidy. I attacked my closet, bed, and bathroom when I first moved in. But I haven't been able to lift a finger when it comes to the kitchen.

I've even bought disposable bowls and cups so I don't have to wash anything or put anything away. Yes, not environmentally friendly, I know.

Several reasons why I haven't been able to tackle the kitchen yet:

1. There's food that was left over from the previous teacher, some of it I want to chuck but then there's stuff like salt and seasonings. I don't want to sort and separate.
2. The dishes and silverware sitch isn't very good. I don't want to throw anything away though until I can buy the proper stuff at E-Mart when I get my next paycheck.
3. No garbage disposal in the sinks over here... They use a sink basket that collects all the stuff that isn't water. Haven't found a sink basket to replace it and I don't want to touch anything in the sink that isn't mine... Like someone else's hair in the bath drain... BLECH, puke.
4. Not having any food to cook makes it easy to feel like you don't have to clean anything.

So I asked Mikey Teacher how I can get over all these objections and just clean the damn kitchen, to which he replied:

Mike: Best way to attack it is to make a big mess all over everything, like throw a jar of spaghetti sauce against the wall. Something that's impossible to live with. Then you HAVE to clean it all.

Makes sense, right?

Why My Parents Rock:

Because they know EXACTLY what I'm missing from home:

Items include:

1. Sour Patch Kids
2. Red Vines
3. Milk Duds
4. Mike & Ikes
5. Orville Redenbacher Kettlecorn
6. EasyMac
7. Nutella
8. Jello Cookies N Cream pudding and pistachio pudding
9. Cherry Jello
10. Sloppy Joe seasoning packets
11. Bottles of Dayquil and NyQuil and Dayquil tablets
12. Hunt's tomato paste for Grandma Lucy's brown sugar/bacon 'sghetti
13. Full size fitted sheets and pillow case

Hoooray! Only glitch - the Nyquil somehow leaked and got all over my sheets (boooo) but I just pulled them out of the wash and they are cough syrup stain free! Can't wait to put them on my bed and snuggle into them. I'm so sick of the hospital sheet the school gave me to put on top of the mattress.

Anywho this totally made my week. I am so glad I'm not sick anymore, plus I got open class over with, and now this lovely package came- the icing on the cake!!!

Everytime I pop a Milk Dud in my mouth or decide I need to treat myself to a cup of EasyMac, I'll appreciate my parents that much more for being so thoughtful and all around awesome.

You know how it was when you pulled your PB &J sandwich out of your brown bag lunch and not ONLY were the crusts cut off but it was cut into a cute shape like a heart or a star and you got a little handwritten note? Yep, that's how I feel. :)

When Pigs Flu

OK So I don't really think I have the swine flu but I think I hurt myself rather than helped myself by going out on Friday night (and then spending a chilly/windy night out on the roof of St. Opistel).

Yesterday I met up with Dave at Butterfingers and had a delightful breakfast dinner (with hashbrowns, bacon, scrambled eggs, and pancakes). But throughout the whole evening I was hacking and coughing once again. My throat was pretty sore and I was trying to suppress the cough only to cough out my lungs even more.

This progressivly worsened as the night when on, and I was fearing a bruised ribcage as I would get up every 5 minutes to go spit up greenish mucus in my sink as I was getting ready for bed. I woke up this morning and immediately felt icky.

Got to school and my director asked how I was and I told her the truth: Not so hot. She immediately became concerned and said, well I hope you feel better soon. I thanked her and returned to my prep work for the morning. Stephanie had mentioned that a friend of hers at another hagwon was now being quarantined with the rest of the teachers because one of the teachers tested positive for swine flu. Seems like this swine flu thing can't die already!

As I was walking into my class, my director came up to me and suggested I go back and see the E.N.T. doctor. I thought that was so sweet of her, until someone pointed out the swine flu incident. By this time I was just hacking and coughing but of course by this afternoon my sinuses are fully congested. Grrrr~! I really hate this.

At least I'm not in quarantine though.

Anyways, my director wants to track my sickness and make sure I don't have a fever.

Oh, but the BEST thing of all. I went to the doc's and they GAVE me money because I had my ARC (Alien Registration Card) this time! I got 10,000 won back since I had to pay 12,000 won for my appointment last time.... Would this have happened back in America?!

So I'm back to my "Flu cocktail" and I decided to stock up on some Halls and Tylenol Cold. At least, I haven't waited a few days like last time. Hopefully I can nip this thing in the butt once and for all. I'm so tired of being sick here! I just want to get better so I can enjoy everything without feeling sick! It's 9:00 so I'm going to try to get to bed and get a good night's rest.