Folk day at ILS

Hello again!

Don't worry, I'm still alive. I have been seriously neglecting my blog lately. It's been over two weeks since my last post. This is mainly due to two things. First, my computer is still out of commission and I hate updating from my phone. Second, I hadn't done anything particularly interesting. I had been pretty broke lately waiting for my first payday!

Boy have things changed since my last post. I'm a city gal now, you guys. I even have my own subway card to prove it! Also, I'm pretty much a legit Korean. Except for the fact that I can speak only about 10 Korean words. Details! Right? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me update you about the highlights.

Last week Korea celebrated Lunar New Years and I discovered one of the great perks of teaching -gifts! My kinder students gave me a fancy lotion/bath wash gift set and I got chocolates from one of my elementary kids. ILS gave all the teachers gifts as well -a Korean rice wine called makgeolli. We got four bottles each. Woo hoo!

We had a four day break from school for the holiday. I've always been kind of terrible at budgeting. Combine that with some unexpected expenses because of my flight mishap (thanks again Chicago) and I was depressingly low on funds the last week before payday. So I spent my break watching a lot of Law & Order SVU and eating ramen. See why I haven't updated much? I didn't think an update about what a hero Mariska Hargatay is was exactly news-worthy.

Anyway, I got paid on Wednesday. I'm officially a millionaire, you guys! It's so nice to eat real food again! And boy did I do it right. On Friday I went for samgyeopsal (Korean barbecued pork belly) with a couple of co-workers. It was probably the best meal I've had in Korea. So delicious!

Friday was also folk day at ILS. Everyone wore hanbuks (traditional Korean dress) and played games all day. They "surprised the foreign teachers with" (read: forced us into) hanbuks as well. It was kind of cool to experience though so I didn't mind. The game I was in charge of was "rubber shoes". Let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've seen 4 year olds in full traditional dress (hats, vests, full skirts and all) try to kick a shoe into a cone.

There were other games as well. They had an arm wrestling competition. The only thing cuter than seeing all the kids in their hanbuks, was seeing them try to figure out arm wrestling. It was basically extreme hand holding.

On Saturday I made my way to Seoul for the first time. It was a day of firsts for sure. Among other things, I rode a train and the subway for the first time. It was a great day. I saw Changdeokgung Palace, a hanok village, ate great food, and even went to a cat cafe! The weather was pretty cold, but the big fluffy snow flakes that fell softly from the sky all day was magical. I will post all about it soon.

Until next time y'all! Picture Key 1. My fridge right before payday. All you need -wine and hot sauce 2. Yummy Korean BBQ 3-8. Hanbok fun 9. 1st time on the subway! 10. Changdeokgung Palace