after the climb (the rest of my Seoul saturday)

sunday (11/11) in Korea is "pepero day", a holiday devoted entirely to pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate (i am posing as i proudly devour one of many peperos).
for lunch, hannah worked her magic and got her rich aunt who lives in seoul to take us to fabulous korean restaurant. the meal had about eighty courses. the aunt was thrilled that i "ate korean food so well" (see photo of food dishes).
then we met with a friend of a friend who is teaching english in seoul and explored the city together (note photo of me and new friend, courtney on enlarged magazine covers).
we explored new territory and had some great finds. observe the Starbucks sign that becomes all the funnier when you read korean letters (literally the sign says "sa-tah-bug-sa kuh-pee"...say it a few times, you'll hear it soon).
Oh the joys of Korea.

Seoul: autumnal november

Another climb up Namsan (the big mountain that the city swallows)proved worth it yet again as we found fabulous colors that I assumed would be long gone by now.

all this within a few minutes walk from the school where i work

Yangpyeong

this is the town I live in. though really, i live outside of it and see it less than you might imagine. it is charming and feels busier than i think it really is. there is a lot of fruit for sale. everywhere fruit. i wonder, how are these people eating so much fruit?
and the lights. so neon and (in my mind) so typically asian. i like it.

the neighborhood cows

another week gone by....

This weekend was different.
I didn't go to Seoul for the first Saturday in four weeks.
I didn't do much and it was gorgeous. The weather, and the nothingness. Both were surprisingly gorgeous. I did some laundry, ran, discovered some local cows, wrote a song and sat.
It was good, though I did miss my Seoul.

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.