Oh Korea, you're funny

The best part is that, after I finished taking this photo, a Korean passerby gave me a confused look, like "what's so special about that sign?"

Korean names, English names, nicknames

These twins are adorable, I admit it. But they are evil, evil little people. They are nicknamed various forms of evil villians, Medusa, etc....







Paul is a beautiful child. Because he will undoubtedly grow up to be a very attractive boy, we have named him, "Brad Pitt"









On the left is "Richard Simmons" (Gordon) because he always wears little sweatsuits and sweats excessively for a five year old.
Front is Adam or, "Cheesecake" because he is extremely heavy for being so small. Paul (Brad Pitt) and Dennis, who has yet to be properly nicknamed.





Here is little Florence Nightengale (Cynthia) named so for her constant compassion when other children are crying.





Here is Kevin (named "Alvin") and the fabulous Chloe (remember, "PBS"?)










Every kid who starts at the preschool is given an English name. The names of the kids at my school seem so illogical, without pattern. Sandra, Dennis, Jayden, Paul. Are we going middle aged themed, African American or Biblical here? The Korean school year finishes in March so that, presumably, I will have the chance to name some children of my own. I plan on giving them really cool names. No five year old will be named Fred if I have any say in it.
But for now, because Hannah and I get bored, and because the kids are just so darn amusing, we are slowly assigning them endearing nicknames (as if they needed more names). We've got about 10 of the 18 kids appropriately nicknamed.

These photos are from the all day "pajama party" that the preschool had on friday. It was a lot of fun, mainly because it involved nothing but games and eating all day. If only every day at preschool was like that....

The cafe I previously hinted at...

It really is an impossible thing to describe. I live but a few meters from a train track that sends reminders every 10-15 minutes of it's awful presence via a roaring train. Across from those tracks is a scattering of a few small, uneventful houses. One of those houses intrigued me greatly in my first few days here in Yangpyeong. It had the most fascinating look. I brought fellow teacher, Hannah, with me to investigate it. What we discovered was beyond our imagination's stretch. Nestled safetly behind the face of a house, is the creative working of a kind Korean lady named "Ms. Lee". She is a tile artist who, for reasons yet explained, has created a gloriously detailed cafe in the middle of nowhere. This beautiful cafe is a undoubtedly a hobby for Ms. Lee, not a business. She does it because doing art and doing cafe bring her joy (something I certainly understand). The cafe is scattered with her tile mosaics installed in the floors, tables, walls, each uniquely crafted... the sight is radiant. The beauty of this small treasure cannot be caught with words. Nor really even in pictures. Just trust me. It's unbelievable. It's thick with charm. And, it's across the traintracks from my tiny apartment in the middle of nowhere.

the Korean alphabet

I've memorized the Korean alphabet.
I have always wanted to understand a language with crazy characters.
Now I can read oh-so-slowly the sounds of words on signs and such. I have no idea what I am saying, but I feel like I've cracked some secret code into Asia because of it.
To quote Hannah (my fellow teacher who is also my appointed Korean language coach) "Laura, I am so proud of you". Oh yes, and I am oh-so proud of me too.

my address in korea

if by chance, anyone is struck with the urge to send me letters, Jr. Mints, or other gifts of American love, your mail can find me at either one of these addresses:

All Nations Christian Academy
Laura Heller
222-2 Shin Aae-ri Yangpyeong-eup,
Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do
S. Korea 476-803

OR
Laura Heller
Apartment #304
234 Bok-pori, Yangseo-mun
Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do
South Korea 476-821

Just FYI

The strangest bug I've ever seen

I saw this while climbing up the mountain in Seoul on Saturday. Freaky.

Apparently this back stretching machine is all the rage for Koreans climbing Seoul's Mt. Namsan. I, for one, didn't really find it all that helpful for back stretching. For striking poses, however, it was immensely helpful.

Another day in Seoul

The contrast is frightening because as much as I love Seoul, I am really not loving 90% of my job here. But, today I'm happy enough because yesterday was my second trip into Seoul with Hannah. And being in Seoul really is as wonderful as I could hope. We climbed Mt. Namsan (this mountain is surrounded by the city on all sides, offering amazing views of the never ending Seoul), we ate fabulous food at a fancy restaurant at the top of the mountain, we went to the "fashion mecca" and shopped like crazy people. And we ate very, very tall ice cream. The day was good. I did my best to savor every morsel of Seoul because taking the train home to our hole-in-the-mountain town is hard to swallow. But the day was really, really good. And I really, really love Seoul. But unfortunately Seoul is an extensive journey away.

2 weeks in

I arrived to Seoul exactly two weeks from right about now. Oh my goodness. It's been a surprisingly extensive two weeks.
These are the highlights of this second week. (I'm trying here, ok?)


1. The teachers volunteer once a month at a local orphanage on Saturday afternoon. This was wonderful and heart wrenching. And sadly the only thing "volunteer" about what I do...it was something I wouldn't miss even though I actual could.










2. I experienced for the first time the fascinating Korean phenomenum of entering a home, being shown in to the living room for a visit and having everyone sit on the floor...even though they have nice comfy sofas all around.

3. I helped Hannah lead worship on Sunday morning, the first time I actually felt like one of my real strengths was being applied since arriving to this place.

4. Hannah and I discovered this absurdly random "cafe house" 200 feet from our apartment (which, I remind you is in the middle of nowhere) with this fabulously artistic woman running the place. I will go much more into detail about this later...but it might just be my lifeline.




5. The preschool went on a fieldtrip to an organic farm. Fabulous.
6. I only cried on 3 separate occasions today.
7. Green Tea Cake. I feel I haven't fully lived prior to my experience this week with green tea cake.

PBS!!!!

Hannah and I get an abnormally giant kick out of inventing nicknames for our little kids. Though I can't admit this as a preschool teacher, I will confess it here: This little dude is hands-down, my fav. Her name is Chloe. She has this hysterical bowl cut and little nerdy red glasses. She is a child of the 80's. And, because she has the intelligent look of a smart Asan, Hannah and I granted her the name "PBS", as in "Public Broadcasting Service" because Chloe has exactly the look of the "token Asian" they are bound to have on those educational shows. And she is so wonderfully adorable. She hears us calling her "PBS", and mimics us, shouting "PDS, PDS!!!" and her other favorite "Chloe Sandwichie! Chloe Hamburger!" Really, she's just too cute.

My apartment

Seoul pictures

These pics are from my day in Seoul last week. Red Mango is a delicious Korean Frozen Yogurt. In the picture of me, I am holding a burnt sugar lolipop (kind of odd in taste). And yes, they do have Starbucks in Korea, but no, I did not drink it.









Last post, I didn't really mean to post those 4 pictures, let alone give no explanation about them. But, since the pics are there, let me explain: The first is a picture of Hannah, second is a jewelry stand in Seoul, and 3 and 4 are inside one of many great European-feeling bakeries in Seoul (with Petra in front looking dead and Hannah in he back with tong