self set up blind date

So I'm standing outside exit 1 at the Seodamun station and I get a "hungry for dinner?" It's Matt. Hm yup definitely not who I thought he was. He's cute seems pleasant and outgoing, so at least safe and out of danger of being chopped up into a million pieces and thrown into a dumpster.

We got up to his apartment and he starts "cooking" dinner. Dinner consists of gouda, camembert, tomatoes, peppers, olives, bread olive oil and balsamic, and crackers. It was good, but definitely not a fancy cooked dinner. He makes a big point to tell me about the 7.000 won ($7) wine he found and we're drinking. Shouldn't he be trying to impress me? Cheap is not attractive.

He's from San Diego, we played foozball together at Phillies apparently, hes 30 and a teacher. So after ok conversation, he doesn't strike me as exciting or anyone I would ever be interested in and I decide to head home. He walks me to the subway which was nice, and we agree that I will cook him dinner on Monday. Yeah def coming down with the swine flu tomorrow :)
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Saturday AM. 4 blondes wake up and go hiking! I call Susan at 9:22:

susan: "good morning. what are you doing?"

me: "just woke up"

susan: "where are you?"

haha screw you Zuzan, I'm in my own bed at my own apartment, thanks!! She was sad bc it was the first Friday I have been here and not stayed at her place. I miss Haebongcheon already. haha. Hiking was amazing, hot, crowded, and totally rewarding. We should do this every weekend. Ugh and soju and hot fish baby soup after hit the spot. AND we still went out Saturday night.

Again, another great weekend in Korea. Next weekend; pilot party!

best. dinner. ever.

I know I make these claims a lot, but really this is true:

I had the best dinner ever last night.

My friend Darren decided to throw his girlfriend Krissy, one of my closest friends here, a surprise dinner for her birthday. She thought she was just going out with him, little did she know 20+ of her friends would be there to celebrate with her. Her favorite restaurant is Zelen. It's Bulgarian and, where else, in Itaewon. I had previously been here with Susan and her husband Martin and the food was excellent. I had a squid stuffed with a seafood rice; mussels, shrimp, octopus, yum. It was good but not life shattering.

Anyway, last night since there were so many of us, Darren hooked up a prefixed "buffet" with a set price so we wouldn't have to mess with splitting up the tab and all of that annoying nonsense. Krissy shows up, is completely shocked and moved, and then the food comes.

side note: for anyone that's ever been to Korea you would know that cheese is a hot commodity. You can't find a wide selection and if you want just a chunk of cheddar it will cost you dearly. I'm talking $15 for a little thing of cheese, so no one eats it :(

First:
broiled cheese covered eggplant (my favorite part of the whole meal)
salad of cucumber, parsley, tomato and roasted red pepper covered in a finely shredded cheese
bacon cheese stuffed mushrooms

Second:
huge loin of lamb (soo good) with a delicious rice accompaniment served with gravy


Third:
cheese and spinach stuffed chicken with broccoli and carrots topped in a dill yogurt sauce (I licked it off the plate)

Fourth:
honeycomb and fig ice cream cake. ahhhhhh best ice cream i have ever had, and you know they made fresh it there. I had 3 pieces :)


All of this will some red wine and sangria. ahhhhh Bulgarian paradise...

Then I come to school today resolute on eating healthier. Nope. It's Henry's birthday so we have pizza and more cake. I love jobs with cake.

Tonight I'm off to dinner at Matt's. I have "set myself up on a blind date" as Emily puts it. I received a text message this week from "matt phillies" (phillies is a bar) asking if I still wanted my fancy dinner. Sure do, but who the hell is Matt. I guess I'll find out tonight when he cooks me dinner. Hey a free meal is a free meal. Then it's off to hike some Korean mountains tomorrow AM. We're right in the middle of peak week so I'm hoping to get some good mountain pictures. Keep a look out.

Happy Friday.

i'm a korean now!

I finally have my apartment, job, ARC, cell phone, and now bank account set up!!! I've even rocked the leggings and a flannel in the past few weeks. Except my oval eyes, blonde hair, height, common sense, and lack of Korean speaking skills, I'm as Korean as they get.

Now that it's hit 1 degree C, terrible, I have decided to join the gym. I went to Jamaican Fitness today and took a tour and it's actually decent. People aren't super into fitness here so even at 18:30 when I went it was pretty empty, which is a big change from DC where it's packed before and after work. And there's yoga everyday. Yey.

This morning at 1030 my head teacher, Hanna, comes into my classroom and tells me she needs my help with a phone interview. Ok. She makes my class get up and stare at the wall (which was hilarious) and I went upstairs to call Michael. I'm wondering at this point if I'm interviewing someone to fill my job. Maybe they don't like me. I know I'm no superstar in the classroom. No apparently we're hiring a new teacher for a new class. I guess even with the economic situation in the world, BITS is doing great and taking on more students. I've learned how to talk to Joel so as not to want to take my own life, but I've heard waaaaay more about Canada in the past 2 months than I ever needed to know. Bring on more Americans! Mike seemed nice, born in 86, and just graduated from a UC school. I have a suspicion he's gay which could be super fun too! After a 25 minute phone conversation I go back down to my class and the students are still standing in the hall facing the wall. hahahahhaha. So they do listen to someone...it's just not me :( At least there was no crying today because of me and my scary blue eyes!

howlin' weenie

Halloween in Korea.

one would think because it's an American holiday it wouldn't be a big deal, or even recognized in the slightest, here. wrong. south Americans, Germans, Africans, Canadians, LOVE the Halloween. we all dress (or undress as it may be) and celebrate the fact we're in a foreign country with foreign people celebrating foreign nonsensical holidays. not only that, but we celebrate in school too! we had a huge Halloween party complete with candy, games, cooking, and crafts. i made pumpkin pancakes, phenomenal if i may say so myself, and we all dressed up, even the Korean teachers. apparently the Korean teachers ended it there. not the expats. see facebook.

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i had my 3 year old oak class again today. lily is still crying. today i scared her with my blue eyes. at the end of class i got a tearful hug and a "thank you teacher." progress.

I may not get Thanksgiving....

....but for Christmas I'm going to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand!!

I just booked my flights. I'm meeting my friend Brian in Seoul (he's on a month long excursion through asia) and we'll fly out together to Ho Chi Min on the 24th. We'll stay in Vietnam for a few days then take a 6 hour boat ride over to Cambodia. The details still need to be ironed out, but we plan to spend new year's there and then take a train over to Bangkok on the 1st. I'll stay for the night, see the town quickly, and fly back (red eye) to Seoul just in time to get unpacked and ready for work on Monday.

Ahhh 3 countries, 10 days, in the South Pacific!!!!!!!!!!!!

mexican in korea

Where I live in Bongcheon there is Korean food and more Korean food. There is no McDonald's, no Starbucks, no nothing except Korean, which is fine but I have it every day at school for lunch and sometimes a girl just wants a sandwich! So tonight I went out with my new friend Trista who I met in my hostel in Taipei. We took the bus together to the airport in Taiwan and bonded over teaching stories. So we met tonight for dinner in Gangnum (a 15 minute subway ride) and decided on Dos Tacos. I read seouleats.com everyday to find out what's good in Seoul and they hands down say that Dos Tacos is the only legit Mexican in Korea.

YUMMMM. Hard taco with cheese, olives, re fried beans, jalapenos, cilantro! and sour cream with chips and yummy guac and an awesome margarita.

I've never craved Mexican food more than when I was told it was impossible to find here. And after an interesting (see: my new black eye) Monday night with soju and new friends from Ohio, it was much needed to have a chill night on the town.

hair cut part deux

Not even a month after my first half-assed hair cut I decide I can't take it anymore and I need another one. My ends are a nightmare and I can't stand to see it in the mirror.

I went out for a run, and 6 minutes later I decided I had enough and wanted to be pampered and have my hair cut. I saw this cute little place within walking distance from my house so I checked it out. It had a french name (Le Chat somethingrather) and was a bright pink building with black accents. How could I go wrong? I walk in and ask (using sign language) for a haircut. They say sure "washey?" YES- washey! (with the accent here everything ends in ey- switchey, orangey, etc).

Step one wash the hair. Then the dude starts to comb it out and barely can because it's so damaged. He calls in reinforcements. He and this woman are going to town trying to get all of the knots out. Finally they do and what do they do next?? Pull out blow dryers of course! They went to all of the trouble of washing and brushing my hair just so they can dry it to cut it. Whatever. After they're done tag-team drying it, the dude puts on a sling (I'm not even joking) of scissors apologizes for "no English" and starts going nuts on my hair. He must have used 7 pairs of scissors. One to cut, one to thin, one to fringe and four others for god knows what reason. I think I lost half a head of hair and he only cut off 2" in length.

So after all this I'm getting nervous wondering how much this will cost me. 10,000 won. That's 2,000 less than last time, and yes, less than $10 and I got it washed, healthy again, and didn't have to talk to the guy for the hour I was there. According to Liz I was brave to trust rando-Koreans with my hair, but I am sure glad I did!