Healthy Again and Back to the Grind!

So I've been pretty ill for about 3 weeks now, and I'm FINALLY feeling better! Praise the Lord! I have had some sort of flu bug/sinus infection/ cold/ allergic reaction thing/ annoying cough, and now I'm almost completely back to normal :) I basically spent the last three weeks going to work, blowing my nose, talking to Adam on Skype, and feeling miserable.  I came straight home from work each day and went right to bed.  I haven't done much in the way of exciting news, but this past weekend (today is Tuesday), I actually went out and had adventures!

So it all started on a Friday evening, when I felt like I was getting a weird head cold.  I went to the doctor after work, hoping I could nip it in the bud before it ruined my weekend plans, which were to go to a Buddhist Temple and stay overnight doing Buddhist things. Needless to say, I have been looking forward to this for like, ever.  I didn't make it there that weekend on account of my 104 fever I developed sometime that night.  I had gotten medicine for the flu, but it wasn't helping. I stayed in bed all of Saturday and Sunday (Jaclyn and Leah went to the temple and had an awesome time, brought me back a lovely souveniere!) And by Monday when my fever was still at 103 consistently, decided to go hospital.  I didn't go to work that day, my one missed day, and instead was lying in a hospital bed with an IV.  It was super scary being in a hospital in Korea all by myself.  I must have passed out during the IV because when I woke up, there were five Korean doctors standing around mumbling things in Korean and I was very afraid.  I'm glad that's over.  I went home and rested for the day, went back to work on Tuesday but felt awful for the next two and a half weeks, and finally felt up to doing things this passed weekend.  The cough was persistent but it's nearly gone now!  I can sing my songs in class again and life is good.  I am sure I will make it to a Buddhist Temple stay before I go back home.

So this weekend: On Saturday, I went with some friends to Seoul where we visited Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul which is the main palace here.  It had a lovely English tour beginning right as we arrived so I got to hear all about the history of Korean's Empire.  It was fascinating! They had a king who had many restrictions, hardly any freedoms, and tons of responsibility.  Once the Queen had been chosen from the noble class, her main job was to have the children.  Once the children were born, they stayed in the palace until age 5 or 6 when a successor was chosen from either the first son, or the most capable.  The other children were married and forced to leave the palace at age 10.  An interesting tradition was that they enjoyed their wedding night five years later when they reached 15.  The Queen's job was not then complete, as she had power in the palace.  When the King died, usually early from too much stress or illness, her job was to help the crowned Prince understand his duties and responsibilities.  Then she had to stick around in case the Prince died childless, to which she was to rule until a more suitable King was chosen.  All of the palace buildings had heat and air systems that ran under the floor for the King's convenience, but none of the rooms contained furniture as it was common to have assassins hide behind things to murder the king.  Even the King's bedroom was completely bare until he was ready to go to sleep, they would bring in a mattress and blankets.  He had lady servants around him at all times for further safety.  They even had to taste all of his food before he ate it in case there was poison in something!!! Horrible job! Anyways, there were lovely gardens, it was a beautiful day outside and I loved walking around enjoying the sunshine.  The palace was also connected to the Korean Folk Museum which happened to be having a cultural performance as soon as we got there! (talk about perfect timing!) I sat down and watched what should have been a very expensive performance, for free! I was stoked.  There were beautiful hanboks (traditional costumes), singers, dancers, fans and scarves, and instruments.  Then I ate ice cream.  The perfect day.  It continued when we went to Insadong and shopped along the busy market streets.  I was enjoying watching the Korean people haggle over trinkets and see the pretty jewelry and artwork.  When I have visitors here, we will visit there for sure! It ended with a trip to Itaewon to eat good old fashioned American dinner, I had a burger, yay.  Still craving some Mexican food and I'd love it if I could get about 8 lbs. of dill pickles.  I went to bed early as I am still pretty tired after a busy week with five-year-olds.  Sunday I slept in, went to the park to grade tests and make report cards, enjoyed a coffee with my Korean Bestie! :) and then went to bible study where I shared lovely fellowship with an awesome group of inspiring ladies.  Oh also, I'm working out again. Wish me luck. I'm doing Zumba videos and this redic. arm workout I found on Pinterest.  IT HURTS.  The weekend basically rocked and I'm sad that it's over.

All in all, life is pretty great when you're healthy and loved.  Thankful for sweet friends who bring you milkshakes and pastries and awesome paper lanterns, yay for Moms and Dads who send you lovely medical advice and talk to you at all hours of the morning, evening and in between, yay for boyfriends who tell you you're beautiful even though your nose is red and your eyes are puffy and you're basically coughing up your lungs, yay for a bible study that sends you home with a full belly and lots of American cold medications, and yay for a job that has beautiful little germ carriers to cheer you up even when you're feeling your worst.  I love being a teacher. Still can't say it enough.  I love every day getting to spend time laughing and loving tiny people who will one day grow up to do amazing things in the world.  I love getting to be a part of the future.  Maybe one day, one of them will think back, (chances are slim since they're only 5 and you don't remember much from age 5,)  and they will think of the teacher they had and how happy she was to see them each day.  They will remember their childhood as being better because her.  Even if they don't, I will remember my 20's as being better because of them and this opportunity.  Loving where I'm at, loving who I'm with, missing you back home, and knowing you're missing me.  More to come...

Korean Kareoke and Boiling Bath Water!

So, in Korea, they have these things called bongs.  "Bong" is the Korean term for "room".  They have all sorts of bongs, including Wii bong, Pool bong, TV bong, PC bong, Screen Golf bong, and Norebong, literally meaning, singing room.  When you want to do kareoke, there is always a Norebong around every corner.  When you walk in, it's like a hotel sort of, where many different rooms contain kareoke setups.  You pay for your room and you and your friends sit on comfy couches, order food and drinks, and sing kareoke as loud and obnoxiously to your heart's content.  There's no waiting in line for your turn, everyone just sings every song because there's enough microphones to go around.  Bad dancing is also encouraged.  Amazingly, they are filled with American songs that you would sing at typical kareoke! They have Michael Buble and the Aladin theme song, so I was happy :) There are also black lights and disco lights to accompany all of the wonderful performances.  This is how I spent my Friday evening, after a wonderful dinner of the spiciest thing I've ever put into my mouth. It was just fried chicken, but the sauce was like fire.  It was good after you realized you were indeed going to live through the experience.  I got to meet some new friends and enjoy a traditional Korean evening of fun.  Needless to say, Saturday I was worthless, having stayed out until the wee hours of the morning.  That's ok though because it rained most of the day.  I went to lunch with some Korean friends at an awesome noodle shop, and then we had coffee at an interesting cafe close to Hanyang University.  It's where the students mostly hang out.  Let's just say, I had a life altering latte at that cafe.  It was the most amazing coffee I've ever had, and I've had a lot of coffee.  It was even better than Italian or Costa Rican coffee, and you know how I raved about those! I will most definitely be going back there! Sunday was laid back as well, going to church in the morning and then exploring Ansan some more with Jaclyn.  We went to a Bar B Q place for lunch and ordered all by ourselves! It was quite an accomplishment.  Then we bought groceries and I had an early night in, baking cookies in my toaster oven and using nutella as frosting, also experimenting with Dove chocolate on top that melted all gooey... um, yum..  Also during that evening, it was discovered that there was no hot water to speak of, and that made me a little bit angry.  Apparently, no names mentioned, someone in charge of these things neglected to pay certain portions of said gas bill for a while and the heat got shut off in our building.  Bummer.  I, being the princess that I am, was not about to take a cold shower, so I got to work boiling water on the stove and transferring it into the kitchen sink.  Once I had a sink full, my lovely friend and neighbor came over to help me wash my hair.  (There's video footage of this because I'm basically complaining the whole time about how Korea is turning into a third world country) . Then I made her leave so I could attempt to wash the rest of my body with the hot water that I had boiled on the stove.  (sorry no video footage of this).  hah.  Hot water is now restored, which is good because I thought I was going to have to go all ranger on someone soon.  I am loving talking to my handsome ranger boyfriend on skype and facetime now that he's out of rangerland and back in the real world! :) The days are flying by, I'm not evacuating yet, but I have developed an escape plan for all those that are concerned! I love you a million!

One month update: EPIC FIRE DRILLS

So last week was a typical week, no report cards to do and all my test grading finished, I was just recuperating from the previous week. It's looking like the ends of the months are going to be quite busy over here doing teacher things! That's OK though, still really enjoying all of the work! And the kids continue to get cuter every day so that doesn't hurt either... There was ONE interesting thing that happened this week, besides getting a new student named Cheoul Hyeon, meaning "sudden surprise" haha.  We had an impromptu cupcake cooking session because having a new child means we have to do "fun" activities throughout the week to make the child feel more comfortable.  weird.  This hawgwan is definitely run more like a business than a school.  So to the fun thing that happened at school... EPIC FIRE DRILL. Like seriously, I have never seen anything like it. First, the teachers have a meeting letting them know we are going to have a fire drill. Two drills in fact. One of them the children will know about, and the other will be a surprise and we are to pretend as though it is a real fire.  When the bell dings for the drill, we line them up, first having them be quiet, and then on cue, having them scream "help me! help me!" so that someone would be able to find them in the case of a real fire.  That part was a little crazy.  Since I have the babies of the school, mine were crying from the moment I explained what a fire drill was and drew a camp fire on the board.  CRYING hysterically.  Poor babies.  I had one clutched to each of my legs and was carrying two, while two more were pulling on my dress. Needless to say I did not like fire drills.  Until we were leaving the classroom, and I experienced a real Korean drill.  They had flame throwers. That's right, actual people throwing flames to make it seem authentic.  They had fog machines. You could not see one inch in front of your face.  Try finding an exit and going down 4 flights of stairs with 24 five-year-olds. It is not easy! They had mood music.  Imagine the titanic theme song blasting while you're trying to keep your children together while being blind and having your principal run through the hallways screaming "It's a fire it's a fire! Everyone out!"  When I finally managed to get my very scared babies out onto the street in front of the school and stop crying, my principal comes over to announce, "We survived! Say it with me!" Children shout, "We survived!" I was just looking at everything, taking it all in, wondering who in the world thought it was OK to make five year olds really believe they were going to die at school.  Terrified faces were now super prepared for a real fire though, so I guess there was a method to their madness! It's all on video on facebook. Please check it out to see that I'm not exaggerating. 

Becoming one with the nature

Easter Sunday was a new experience this year! I hiked up a ten mile mountain  with a random group of people, while silently praying and singing praise songs of course.  No egg hunts, no turkey dinner, just 10 people who didn't know each other, coming together for some exercise while they couldn't be with their own loved ones.  It was definitely a fun day.  And out of those ten people of varying ages and ethnic backgrounds, would you believe I met a former US Army Ranger? I mean, what are the odds? Hiking on the other side of the world, meet a Ranger! Especially on that day! I knew it had to be a good sign, and turns out, it was! Adam is officially finished with Ranger School come this Friday! (pause for applause).  To some of you, this may seem like not substantial news, but to most of you, you know that this has been my life for the past 6 months.  Adam and I share our lives now, so what he experiences, I feel like I experience.  This has been really tough on both of us, but through the grace of God and our awesome family love and support, we are finally finishing up this week, and I could not be more happy! The long distance love letters have been so romantic and joyful, but it will be amazing to hear his voice again, and see him when he comes for a visit. Needless to say, I'm super excited and proud of him :) Proud of us, for staying together, for trusting each other, for trusting God, and knowing that there is nothing we can't overcome.  So, I look forward to our skype conversations over the next few weeks, but back to my Easter hike.  Remember St. Patrick's Day and the Irish bar where you had to spin the wheel and either drink a shot or buy a shot? Well, I had to buy two, and decided to give one to Douglas *random guy at the bar reading a book, not socializing--lame*, and it is a good thing I did, because Douglas runs the hiking group that consists of reporter/journalists doing work in Korea, as well as some Chinese people, other English teachers, and regular Korean people.  It was a nice connection to make, because now I have a whole new group of friends, (most of them in their 40's or 50's) outside of just English teachers living in Ansan.  It is because of Douglas that we were invited to join the hike on Sunday.  I met some lovely people, most of whom have been here for a few years on work, and one happened to be a teacher living in Itaewon who is a retired infantryman.  Awesome.  We had a lot to talk about.  The hike was nice, the weather was perfect, my body is sore today from all of the physical exertion.  It was lovely to be outside for so long, being one with nature, making new friends.   Afterward we feasted on Korean Bar B Q and ice cream :) Easter was as great as it could be, minus the ones I love! We have plans to join the hiking team again on their next adventure.  Yay for great things happening in my life.  So blessed, and incredibly happy to be able to experience the world and all of it's glory! Saranghay!