Author: Sarah Gourevitch

It snowed last week.  TWICE!!  Apparently it never snows in November, so this was out of the ordinary.  It was definitely out of the ordinary for this Texas chick!

The first time it snowed….of course I went out in it!

And I wasn’t the only one!

On my walk home from school…

The second time it snowed, it snowed more and actually stuck.  I woke up to a Winter Wonderland.  It continued to snow throughout the day that day.

Walking to school…

Kids playing in the snow…they loved it as much as I did!

Waiting at the light…

This is the way we walk to school, walk to school, walk to school…

My school that day…

Funny Seora stories to share with you!

The other day, I went to the bathroom and came back to my desk to find Seora sitting at my desk.  She often comes to visit me to say hi and especially get a piece of candy.

A couple of days later, I came back from the bathroom to find my desk looking like this.

Seora was standing right next to my desk just smiling away.  Apparently someone left a cookie on my desk.  Seora had come to visit me and proceeded to eat my cookie.  And left all the crumbs.  Then she wanted candy.  She cracks me up!

The Sunday before Korea, my church had a potluck Thanksgiving lunch after the service.  It was a surprise to me.  I wasn’t sure about going since I hadn’t brought anything, but neither did Saree or Patrick.  So we all went and had a fabulous time.  They had us sit at different tables according to the number that we drew so that we could meet new people.  I just love my church.  The food was FAN-TAS-TIC!!  It was so good!

On actual Thanksgiving Day, I had to work.  For dinner, about 20 of us met at the subway station and headed over to Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian buffet restaurant.

This place is unique because they bring rotisserie meet right to your table.  You have a meat plate, and they ask you if you want some meat.  My answer was always yes.  I felt like such a carnivore!

James and Erin

James is a professional photo-bomber!

This is THE only meat I did not eat….chicken hearts.

This guy reminded me so much of Ben Stiller…especially in There’s Something About Mary, where Ben Stiller is the dorky high school student with braces, an afro, and a blue tuxedo.  This guy even had braces.  Once I said this to Erin, she totally agreed!

Amanda and Bola

With Erin

Our table

Bola

With Bola

Two of our meat men…they both had beautiful accents and VERY different from Korean accents, which was a nice change.

It was THE BEST food I have had in Korea.  Hands down!  It was 40,000 won (about $37), and I was a little concerned about the price, but not afterwards.  I will definitely be going there again!!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

I got to to to a PE competition last week at the stadium here in Daejeon.  It was actually inside a gym.  There were 4 schools there, with all blind or special needs students.  And all the students were high school or adult age.  I got to ride in the front seat of the van.

They were playing music before it started, and they played Stars and Stripes Forever.  That song brings back memories.  I played the piccolo for that song several different times, and it is by far the hardest piccolo part ever.

Everyone standing up, singing the national anthem and  listening to all the speeches made by the principles.  I think the principal speeches are a Korean thing because it happens anytime there is an assembly of some sort.

Some of the teachers.  It was SO SO SO cold that we all kept on our outer gear.  I had on my down coat, scarf, and gloves the whole time.  There was NO heater at all.  It was literally colder inside than outside.  And when you had to go to the bathroom?  Watch out.  Your hiney might freeze.  Literally.

It was funny to see grown adults playing PE games.

See?  It’s cold.

My boxed lunch….cold fish (it was pretty good), hot rice, kimchi, soup, more kimchi, and little fishies.  Needless to say, I didn’t eat much.  I mainly helped a co-teacher with her lunch.  She’s blind and needed help getting all the wrapping off.  So I tried to keep myself busy so I wouldn’t keep looking at my unappetizing lunch.

Hula-hooping contest

We got snacks before we left, and the snacks were WAY better than the lunch!

Then it was time to go home.  For some reason, there was no room for a handful of us (don’t ask me where our van went), so we waited outside in the freezing cold for about 30 minutes before the bus came back to get us after dropping off the first load of people.  I was glad to get in the nice, warm bus.

Julie and I decided to take a day trip to Seoul last Saturday.  Why?  Well, why not?

A teacher from the states (a friend of a friend) sent me Flat Stanley, so he tagged along for the trip.  He told me to tell you that he had a fabulous day!

Daejeon’s subway system doesn’t even begin to compare to Seoul’s…it was SO crowded.  Just when you thought more people couldn’t fit, here come more people.

Our first stop was Nandaemun Market.  This place was A-MA-ZING.

Need any shoes?

Flat Stanley shopping

So…many…people…

Meme would flip out eating at a place where this was where they cooked the food.

Ah…the smell of raw fish…

Check out what’s in the bowl on the far right side….

Intestines perhaps…?

Staying warm in her tiny little area inside her “shop”…

Nasty rice cakes…

Only in Asia will you find raw meat in a basket or a box…

This souvenir shop had tons of K-Pop calendars, postcards, mouse pads, etc…

Christmas store…

Kristin, show Ryan this Psy doll!

We found a little store that sold all kinds of American food.  Happy happy joy joy!  I wanted to buy everything….but I didn’t.

I settled for Cheetos…I LOVE Cheetos!

Haha….BIG size!  I wear a size 7 at home and am a 240 here.  That’s about a 9 1/2 or 10, and it is pretty unheard of to find shoe sizes that big in Korea.

Coats for your dog…

In food alley…

Our lunch spot…little old ladies are down the alley passing out flyers trying to persuade you to go to their restaurant.

Flat Stanley had kimchi to clean out his insides…

And then mandu…he really liked the mandu.

Food alley…

Remember the larva cartoon?  Here are larva toys!  Mandy, want me to send you some?

Flat Stanley at the market…

There were so many different streets and alleys….you could easily get turned around…

Free for all shopping…just a large pile of clothes where you dig and dig to find what you want…

Koreans LOVE their fur!

Flat Stanley trying to decide which way to go on the subway…

Stairs or escalator…stairs or escalator…btw there were 7 flights of stairs.  So we joined all the smart people and took the escalator!

Now we are in Itaewon, the famous area for foreigners.  I’ve never seen so many foreigners in Korea!

We went to the famous English bookstore in Itaewon, “What the Book?”  It was awesome!

NO WAY!!!!! A Texas A&M sweatshirt!! It was only 20,000 won (about $20), so you can bet your bootie that I bought it.  It’s an XL and so incredibly warm that I am SO glad I bought it!

Narrow tiny little walkway in the kebab place for dinner…

Flat Stanley really enjoyed his kebab…

Found a cute little bakery/cafe for dessert…

At the train station heading back home….until next time Seoul!

We had a teacher PE competition, and I was invited to go.  It was basically a volleyball tournament between teachers of different schools.

Our school brought drums to help cheer on our team.

My principal

Singing a song

Our snack in the cafeteria – tangerines, rice cakes, kimchi, tofu, dried squid, and fatty pork – Can you guess what I ate?

Dried squid

Fatty pork – it was literally half fat…and Koreans eat ALL of it

For the first time in my life, I was served alcohol at a school event.  It’s Korean wine, and it tastes like wine with carbonation mixed with milk.  Yes, really.

I got to use my camera to practice my photography.  However, other than that, I was bored out OUT of my mind.  I didn’t bring my Kindle or anything to do.  B.O.R.I.N.G.  I

It’s hard to believe, but I have now lived in Korea 3 months now.  Can you believe it?

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• Individuality – There is no individuality in Korea.  It’s all about conformity.  Koreans do what everyone else does, and there is no going against it.

J

• Japchae – Japchae is a yummy dish made with sweet potato noodles.  Yum!
• Japan – Koreans do not like Japan.  They don’t want to visit there and talk about it.  Japan invaded Korea, and it’s still a sore subject.  There is so much history there.

K

• Kakao Talk – The biggest cell phone app is Kakao Talk.  Koreans use it text, share pictures, and talk on the phone.  And now since I am living in Korea, I use it too, as well as all the other expats in Korea.  If you haven’t downloaded the free app yet, do it!  Search for me, and you’ll be able to text me for FREE.  Come on!  My id is “texaschick”.
• Kimchi – Kimchi is basically fermented vegetables.  Yes, fermented.  It is served at every single meal…even when you go out to eat at a restaurant.  I’ve heard you have to get acquire a taste for it.  I have yet to acquire a taste for it.  It’s awful in my opinion.
  

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

• K-Pop – Let me tell you…K-Pop is HUGE, HUGE, HUGE in Korea.  K-Pop stars are everywhere.  Not only are they in music videos, but they are also used in advertisements.  Here are some of my favorite K-Pop songs: 

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• Lotteria – I LOVE Lotteria.  Their chicken strips and French fries have been my lifesaver here in Korea.  It is the only fast food place in my little neck of the woods.

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• Men’s fashion – Men’s fashion in Korea is SO nice.  The mannequins are always dressed nice in the stores, and men on the streets are sometimes dressed nice…but not always.
  
• Metrosexuals – With the great men’s fashion, there are some metrosexuals.  It is very common to see men wearing skinny capris.  I would have never thought that was sexy on a man before….but now I think a little differently.  However, I only like it on certain men.  I can’t picture any man from Texas wearing skinny capris.
• Make-up – I have never seen so many make-up stores in my life.  And nail polish?  You can get awesome nail polish for only 1,000 won a bottle ($1.00).  Yes, I will be bringing home nail polish.
• Man bags – Remember that Seinfeld episode where Jerry had a man purse?  Well, in Korea, men everywhere have them.  Some of them look like messenger bags, and some look like purses. 
  
  

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• Noraebang – Korean karaoke baby! LOVE noraebangs! 

 O

• Octopus – Octopus is very popular to eat, dead and alive.  Here is a video of a guy eating a whole, live octopus. 

P

• Phones – Everywhere you go, Koreans are on their phones.  Texting, watching videos, playing games…you know it.  Even the older Koreans have smart phones.  It’s nothing out of the ordinary to see a group of Koreans at dinner and everyone is on their cell phones.  Cell phone covers are bigger than big here too.  The “in” covers are big covers with a cute theme.  Some of them are huge! 
  

  Check out the wall of cell phone covers.  And that was just one wall.

  
  
• Paris Baguette – A Paris Baguette is on pretty much every street corner, and they have THE best bread.  Their desserts and pastries are pretty good, but they are nothing compared to the desserts and pastries back home.  It’s almost like Koreans don’t know how much sugar to use.  They need to add several cups of sugar to each batch of goodies. 
  

Q

• Quick delivery – You can get any kind of food delivered.  McDonalds, Lotteria, and little Korean places all deliver.
  

          

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• Recycling – You MUST recycle in Korea.  If not, you can be fined.  You are also supposed to separate your food waste and put it in little containers.
  

  Recycling is put into clear bags

  Food waste containers – they stink!

  Food waste

• Red peppers – You see red peppers being sold in huge bags at the markets in Korea.  Red pepper paste is served with everything.  Even if it’s already in the sauce with your food, you can spoon some more onto your food if you want.  Koreans love spicy food. 
  
  
• Running shoes – It is very common to see men and women wearing a really cute outfit with their running shoes.  Bright yellow, neon pink, bright green…the brighter the better.  And it certainly doesn’t matter if you the shoes don’t “go” with the outfit.  Who cares?

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• Selfies – Koreans LOVE, LOVE, LOVE selfies.  No joke.  They will all sit together with their friends and take selfies of themselves.  One of my friends counted the selfies that one girl took in 10 minutes at a coffee shop…she took 200 selfies.
• Socks – Koreans love their cute socks.  They are everywhere.  And now I love the cute socks too and have more than several pairs. 
  

• Sharing food – If you come to Korea, be ready to share your food.  You don’t bring a snack to work unless you bring enough to share.  You go out to a restaurant with friends, and you’d better be prepared to share your food.  There is no “this is my food and that is your food”.
• Stairs – Oh my goodness.  The stairs.  Stairs are EVERYWHERE.  At school, at all subway stations, etc.  It’s like a never-ending stair master. 
  
• Soju – Soju is THE beer of Korea.  We learned at orientation that Soju is the most sold liquor in the whole world, which is crazy considering how small Korea is.  That makes Korea the official drinking capital of the world.  It tastes like rubbing alcohol, and other foreigners agree.  When Koreans drink, they DRINK.  I thought Aussies could throw down the beer.  Nope.  They got nothin’ on Koreans.  Even CNN says talks about Soju.  It’s gross, but I did try it.  When in Korea and all…  “Soju is the most sold drink in the world”
  

   

• Samsung – Samsung, Samsung, Samsung.  That is THE phone of Korea.  However, they do so much more than phones.  TVs, computers, home appliances…

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• Toilets – When you’re out and about, you will go into a bathroom and often have a choice of a regular Western toilet or a squat toilet.  Which one do you think I’m going to choose?  I had enough squat toilets in China and Russia to last me a lifetime thank you very much.  And the squat toilets here in Korea are small, so you have to have really good aim.  Another thing about the toilets is that you do not put your toilet paper down the toilet.  There is a nice little trash can next to every single toilet where you put your toilet paper.  You get used to it.  We find it strange though that Korea is so advanced in technology but not in their plumbing system. 
  

  A lovely squat toilet

• Traffic lights – Traffic lights, shmaffic lights.  Red light?  No big deal.  Turn left anyway.  Traffic lights here are merely suggestions.  I have seen cars turn left on a red light.  I have seen motorcycles and cars run right through red lights WITHOUT even pausing.  I have seen countless cars make a U-turn wherever they want.  I hardly ever see a policeman, and the policemen certainly don’t give tickets.  I have not, however, seen a wreck yet although my friend had a wreck happen right in front of him the other day.  He was a little shaken up. 

U

• Umbrella – The weather changes at the drop of a hat here, so you’d better be prepared and bring your umbrella.  Also, ajummas or old Korean ladies, will always have an umbrella up during the summer to block the sun.  It gets really hot here during the summer, and it is not good for a Korean lady to be tan.  In fact, Korean women often wear white make-up to make their skin even whiter.
• Uniqlo – Uniqlo is THE best store in Korea, especially for foreigners where they have Western sizes.  You don’t feel like a huge cow when you shop there.  It’s like an Old Navy.  The prizes are great, and they always have great things on sale and on clearance. 
  
  
  

V

• Volleyball – Koreans love volleyball and often have volleyball games with the teachers at schools.  At my school, about 1/3 of the teachers are blind, so we don’t have volleyball games.  I did play blind volleyball once, and I was much better at that than regular volleyball.  I stink (really I stink) at regular volleyball.

W

• Waygook – If you are a foreigner, you are called a waygook.  So I am Angela, the waygook.
• Walking everywhere – You walk everywhere in Korea.  Yes, there is the bus system, subway system, and taxis, but I walk a lot more here than I did back in Texas.

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• Exchange rate – The exchange rate between Korea and the United States is really easy.  1,000 won equals about $1.00.
• EXO – One of the THE biggest K-Pop groups right now is EXO.  Here is one of their most popular songs, and I happen to really like it.

Y

• Young love – All the young couples here are sickeningly sweet.  Really.  They dress alike and are syrupy sweet with each other.  And when you’re stuck with them on the subway?  Watch out.

Z

• Zero tipping – You do NOT tip anywhere in Korea.  Not at restaurants, not in taxis, not at hair salons.  When we all move back home, we are going to have serious problems getting back into tipping.  What you see on the receipt is what you pay.  Period.

My friend, Jenny, and I went to the Hello Kitty Cafe in Eunhaeng-dong, or Old Downtown.  It was PINK.  Like the whole thing has been hosed down with Pepto Bismol.

Which is exactly why I thought of this…who out there can quote it with me?  “My two colors are blush and bashful….”

Hello Kitty was EVERYWHERE.

The hot chocolate was really good!

Eunhaeng-dong, or Old Downtown, is one of my favorite places in Daejeon.  I just love it.  They have this huge bridge-like screen which shows cartoons, music videos, commercials, etc.  It’s so pretty at night.  Hello Kitty Cafe was down one of the side streets right off this main street.  I tell you, if I was a little girl, I would have LOVED it.  Seriously.  I could picture little girls having their birthday party there.

At the Home Plus near my house, they have a little pet store up on the 3rd floor, in between the food court and the Daiso.  Check out what they have!

On Sunday, we went to brunch and then walked to the subway, where we said good-bye to Marissa and Saree.  They were going back home early.

Amber, Rachel, and I decided to check out the big palace, Gyongbokgung (or Gyongbok) Palace.

The next picture is big because I wanted you to see the full magnitude.  “No bun, all meat!”  It looked absolutely disgusting…not to mention that it was a huge picture at 3 feet tall.

Check out what we saw in the subway!!! Catching Fire, here we come!

While we were walking to the subway, we came across this.  Cool, huh?

This was in the big square in front of the palace.

We came across the Korean Magazine Festival.

Many people were dressed up as who knows what.

Finally, we are at Gyongbok Palace.  It’s a royal palace that was built in 1395 by King Taejo, the first king and found of the Joseon Dynasty.   It served as the principal palace for about 300 years until 1592, when it was burned down during the Japanese invasion.  They have worked hard to restore it.  I think around 40% of the original buildings have been restored and are still standing today.

This little boy was SO stinkin’ cute.  He had his little stroller full of stuffed animals that he would parade around the palace.  His sister was carrying around a toy truck.

This tree reminded me of the trees in The Lorax.

Gorgeous!

A peasant’s house…

This area was the historical village, where they had the buildings set up to look like a village from the several decades ago.  I loved this part.

Of course, I had to get a dog picture in…

We came across this random group of people dancing.  I think they were practicing for a flash mob.

On our way to lunch…this little guy was chilling at the dog house while his parents drank coffee at the cafe.

H&M?  Yes, please!!!  Of course, we did some damage there.

Taco Bell?  Yes, please!!!  Yum…

The studio where Eat Your Kimchi films.  Eat Your Kimchi is a website blog that was started by an EPIK couple several years ago.  They came over to teach English with EPIK, started this blog, and it became so famous that they quit teaching and just live here and do their blog now.

Here is their website: http://www.eatyourkimchi.com/

We went into Gap.  If you thought Gap clothes were expensive in the states, you should see the prices in Korea!

And I will leave you with a picture of Katniss.  Did I mention that I get to see the movie BEFORE you in the states?  Yes, I’m bragging a little.  There are about 30 of us that are going to the midnight movie of Catching Fire.  I am so excited!

My co-teacher started a Teachers Conversation Club at my school where the teachers could practice their English.  We do this twice a week, and we have anywhere from 2 teachers (besides me) to 6 teachers come.  We have had a pretty good time so far.

Yesterday, in our Teachers Conversation Club, our topic was music.  Instead of talking about random things, we decided to pick a topic for each week.

Since it’s Halloween, I showed them the “Thriller” video, which they loved.  One of the teachers even knew some of the moves.

I asked them what some of their favorite songs were.  These were a couple of the responses.

One teacher’s favorite song is “I Will” by the Beatles.  I did not know the song until we found it on YouTube.  It’s her favorite because it’s her husband’s ring tone when she calls him.   So we all sang along to the melody.

Since she liked the Beatles, I showed the karaoke version of Penny Lane, which we all sang along to.

And one of my personal favorites…

Another teacher’s favorite song is a Korean song.  This man is 60 years old, and he can make her swoon.  It was so funny to watch her during the video.

Here is another song of his, which I liked better.

Another teacher said that she just loved the Backstreet Boys.  Boy, that got me excited.  I LOVE the Backstreet Boys.  She started to sing, “I Want It That Way”, and I sang right along.  Greatness!

Then I went and got my phone and played for them a song I like.  I keep hearing this song, so one day I used “Shazam” and shazam’d it.  It makes me want to bob my head and dance.

After talking about Korean music, I had to share with them some good ‘ole Texas music aka country music.  The first song I thought about was this one:

They like it and were really impressed with his fiddle playing skills.

The last song I introduced to them was the famous “fox” song that has become really popular over here in Korea at other schools.  My EPIK friends kept posting about this song because their students had become obsessed about it, so I had to check it out.  Now, I love it too.  There is something about it.  What do you think?  I think the guys have pretty nice voices to listen to as well.  And they aren’t bad to look at either!

Which video is YOUR favorite?