!!NANTA!!

Since I spent the night in Hongdae sleeping in was an option, but only until check-out at noon. Lindsay and I headed for coffee followed by Quizno's after we checked out. Then we walked through Hongdae before parting ways. I headed into Gagnam early to wait for the rest of my friends I was meeting for the musical, NANTA. I arrived in Gagnam 2 hours prior to the meeting time, so I hung out at the train station for a bit and ate my sandwich, while people watching. Then I decided to go for a walk and see if I could find the theatre. It was about a 10-15 minute walk from the station when I finally found it. I took a wrong turn and walked about 5 minutes in the wrong direction. The funny thing is, the corner I took the wrong turn at, the theatre was across the street with a giant Gorilla on the side of the building, how could that be missed?!?! I mean I even saw the Gorilla before I turned, but I didn't see the poster for NANTA on the side of the building as well. I still had time to kill after I found the theatre, so I headed back towards the station and checked out the American Apparel along the way. Afterward, I headed back to the station and just hung out some more while I waited for my friends. When they finally showed up 15 minutes late we headed to the show. The show was absolutely AMAZING and BRILLIANT!! It was hilarious and had the audience laughing the whole way through. The show is very much like the musical, Stomp. It's a nonverbal performance integrating Korean traditional "Samulnori" rhythm with comic and drama! It was absolutely OUTSTANDING and we ended up getting an 11,000 won discount on our tickets. It was well worth the 40,000 won. After the show we walked around Gagnam looking for some dinner. We found a delicious samgyopsal restaurant and it was really cheap as well. We headed back into Incheon around 7:30 p.m., but I didn't get home until after 10:00 p.m. I was hoping to get some more cleaning done before my parents arrived, but it looks like that will all be happening very last minute...tonight.

The Roarin' 20's!!

This past weekend my really close friend Mary Anne said good-bye to Korea. So, on Friday night we met in Bupeyeong and went for some drinks at N's pub.

Carolina found Mary Anne a ride for the night.

Then we headed to G7 to check it out, but it was rather lame, so we stayed for 5 minutes and left. Mary Anne wanted McDonalds, so we headed to McDonalds for some food before heading back to N's pub, so Mary Anne could say good bye to Nick. I stayed sober because I had a busy day on Saturday, so I wanted to make sure I woke up hangover free. Saturday I was awoken earlier than I wanted to be from my phone going off. I just decided to get up, so I cleaned the bathroom in preparation for my parents visit. While I was cleaning the bathroom the power in my apartment suddenly went out, so I was left in the dark in the bathroom. I started to get worried when the power hadn't gone back on in over two hours. I had to shower in the dark, basically, I cracked my bathroom open enough to get the natural sunlight from the window, so I could still see. I ended up calling Jiny to get her to call the landlord and see what was up. Turns out it was just my apartment that had no power because the fuze box in the kitchen, the switch had been turned off. I have no idea how it turned off because I was in the bathroom when it went out. The landlord must have thought I was a complete fool for not realizing it was the switch on the fuze box. He said, "Switch up, is on. Switch up, on..." It was rather funny, but a huge relief. I thought I was going to have to go to Nicole's to get ready and bring her the food from my fridge, so it wouldn't go bad. Once I finally got ready and packed for my weekend in Seoul I headed over to the BYC area to have coffee with my friend Jenn who also left on Sunday. Afterward, I met Nicole at the train station to head into Hongdae together to meet up with Lindsay and get the birthday celebrations rolling. Lindsay booked a room at a hotel in Hongdae for us to get ready in and spend the night. I decided to spend the night because I had to be in Seoul Sunday as well. Lindsay had a 1920's style birthday theme, so we got all dressed up as best we could 20's style.

Lindsay's beautiful costume for her Roarin' 20's birthday party.

We met up with some other friends for dinner at a beautiful and delicious Italian restaurant in Hongdae and headed over to Jane's Groove afterward.

This is the crew that came out for Lindsay's birthday. Left to right: Tahee, Mike, May, Nicole, Lindsay (the Birthday girl), Paul, Joe, Me, Kristy and Lisa.

Lindsay is friends with the owner, so he gave her the party room, that is worth 300,000 won, completely free for herself and all her friends for her birthday. We had delicious ice cream cake, drank champagne, danced and partied.

Nicole, May and Lisa looking gorgeous in their 20's inspirec ostumes.

Duncan and Nick showed up in great 1920 outfits. Duncan was the "gangster" and Nick was the "newspaper boy."

Lindsay ended up getting sick from some food she ate earlier in the day, so she left around 1:00 a.m. and headed back to the hotel to have a 20 minute rest and then she was going to head back out. However, she never came back out because she just got worse. After Jane's Groove we hunga round for a while deciding where to go next. Most people wanted to party at FF and since I hate that bar and was in my nice/expensive white dress I knew it was the end of the night for me in Hongdae. I just wasn't feeling the partying anymore and that bar brings me down, so Nicole walked me back to the hotel and then she headed back to FF. I hung out with sick Lindsay, was asleep before 5:30 a.m. and best of all, I was sober.

My English Zone!

This blog has been a long time coming. I've been meaning to post pictures of my English Zone on my blog, but only got around to taking pictures of it today. SO, below are a few pictures of the classroom I teach English in and spend my days hanging out in. I know this blog may seem rather boring, but I just wanted to share more of my life in Korea with you and this English Zone is a huge part of that. I took pictures from each corner of the room because I'm a nerd and that way you get the full effect.

This is a view of the classroom from my desk area. The back wall you see there is full of English posters to help the students, but I know none of the students read them.This is a view of the front of the class, where I spend most of my time teaching. That is my desk in the left corner and that TV you see is just taking up space. This is the last view of my English Zone. All of the orange and yellow construction paper collages you see were created by the grade 6 students. They wrote about their summer vacations and pasted them to the paper.

Ok, so I promise that is it for this blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it even though it was short and kind of lame, but I wanted you all to see where I spend my days 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Also, the room looks a lot cleaner than it actually is, but I guess you can't expect much when they send the 6th grade students to clean it...Let's just say their idea of cleaning is less than ideal. They basically, hit each other with the miniature brooms, dust pans and towels used for cleaning. Plus, they scream and chase each other around the room. It makes me crazy and I have kicked them out before, so I'm not afraid to be a bitch to them. Sometimes they need to put in their place.

Locks and Compliments!

I had a great start to my day today . I got up 15 minutes earlier than I usually do, so I could get to school early instead of getting there just on time or 5 minutes late. I walk out my door 10 minutes earlier than usual to head to the bus, BUT wait...my key is stuck in the door. I turned it this way, that way, this way, that way and it wouldn't come out. The door was lock, but the key was stuck. I started to have a minor panic attack because I hate being late for school and this was wasting time. I had no choice, but to go and find the landlord and get him to come down and help me. He followed me down to my apartment and he took over the key turning situation. Well, he frigged around with it for a good 5 minutes and couldn't get it out, so he gave me his key from the master key ring and told me to go to school and he would take care of it. Since, I was useless just standing there watching him struggle, I did as he said, and headed for school. Unfortunately, I was catching the normal bus I usually take, which either means I'm on time or 5 minutes late. I got to school and forgot about the whole situation because I had 6 classes too teach. The day went by quicker than usual, but still could have gone faster. The highlight of the day, a grade 5 boy says, "You are a handsome man." I just laughed and said, "Thank You." After he said it to another girl student sitting at his table, I realized he was just being annoying, but I still thought it was funny. When the day finally ended I left school early to head to the bank to pay for a monthly bill. Well, I felt so smart using the automatic bill payment machine, that is written all in Korean, but turns out I screwed up. I put in the wrong half of the slip of paper and the semi-good looking bank security guy had to open the machine with the key, take out my slip and then send me on my way. It's could have been a far more embarrassing situation than it was, so I'm thankful. When I finally got home earlier than usual I notice that the handle on my door is different, but thinking nothing of it I insert my key in and...Nothing. I kept trying and then realized, he finally got my lock changed, but now I have to head up to his apartment and get the new key from him. I get the key from him and as I'm standing in the elevator waiting to go down he tells me I look like Lynda Carter, which if you don't know who she is, shame on you. She played Wonder Woman. I felt special for all 10 seconds, pretty much the time it took the elevator doors to close and for us to part ways. However, Wonder Woman had a killer body and killer legs, so I will take that compliment. Needless, to say I got into my apartment and even got a phone call from Jiny, after already being home for half an hour, telling me my locked got changed. This was the second time my key got stuck, so I'm glad he finally opted to get the lock fixed. OH, MONDAYS!

Another One Bites The Dust :(

Friday night was very very chill. I had a dinner date with Jiny and the third grade English teacher. We ate some delicious BBQ pork at a restaurant a block away from my apartment. The dinner was really good and we had easy conversation. After dinner I came straight home and was in bed by 8:30 p.m. I slept in on Saturday, but made sure not to sleep to late, so I could get a head start on the day. I headed to the gym in the morning and chilled out at home the rest of the day until I had to head to Mary Anne's going away party. This is her last full weekend in Korea, so we wanted her to go out with a bang. We started with dinner at Outback's in Bupyeong station. There were 6 of us for dinner and Nick joined us when we finished eating and we all headed over to N's pub to start the drinking. We were joined by more friends at N's pub and hung out there for a few hours before catching the bus and heading into Hongdae.

Our first stop in Hongdae was the bathroom followed by Hongdae park where we met up with Rudy and Marco. Then we headed to Ho Bar 4 to get the Hongdae party started.

This is me with a random Korean guy that kept dancing at our table because I knew all the Korean pop songs and most of the dance moves. He was sure to teach me the one's I didn't know. This is the crew, minus me, who lasted all night/morning in Hongdae. Nick, Sam, Mary Anne, Dave and Carolina. Just in case you need a watch or pair of glasses... Rudy and I finally get a picture together...It has been forever since our last one. I love this girl as much as I love life itself. She is my rock in Korea. Sam and I snag another picture together, two weeks in a row. This is outstanding since before that we hadn't hung out in ages. These are the two girls I have grown closest too in Korea, along with Tracy. We really should be models, but we know we're better than that ;)

It was another epic night in Hongdae. Carolina was a drunken disaster and ended up losing her purse, so she had to go home with no money, no phone, no ID, no house keys and no diggity :) Nick and I felt bad leaving her in Mary Anne's hands, so we wouldn't miss our bus, but Mary Anne held her own and lent Carolina money to buy a love motel room for the night. I came home and past out in bed and pretty much stayed in bed all day except to pee. It was such a chill Sunday. Now, back to Carolina, her purse was found in the same spot she left it at FF in Hongdae, so her and Holly took the train together and got her purse back. She said the only thing missing was her money, but she thinks she spent all that anyways and her camera. Funny story, her camera is broken, so that will be quite the treat for the person who stole it. Karma's a bitch!

And So The Weeks Drag On...

Last week was my slowest week this month and it still felt busy. I have been teaching non-stop this month and it's been exhausting. Even though I'm in no position complain because this is the easiest job in the world and the pay is ridiculously good, I kept help feeling like the weeks are dragging by. It could be the fact that I don't like teaching the grade 4's or 5's nearly as much as I like teaching the grade 3's, who I miss dearly. I'm convinced that the weeks have been dragging by because I'm waiting in hopeful anticipation for the arrival of my parents next Tuesday. I never thought I would be this excited for a visit from the parents, but I am. Anyways, Monday night was Nick's actual birthday, so a bunch of us went out for ribs, followed by some drinks and birthday songs at Mad Max. Nick, Tracy, Damien, Holly and I ended the night with some noraebang. I would say it was a pretty successful birthday, but the again I was just a guest. Tuesday was a chill night, I just went for dinner with Tiffany and then came home to bed. It's been my goal to start being in bed no later than 10:00 p.m. on school nights because waking up to teach with lack of sleep is the hardest thing I've ever had to do. It may be worse than waking up to figure skate at 5:00 a.m. 3-4 days of the week, which I did back in the day. The rest of the week was slow moving. Thursday night is galbi night with the girls, but this Thursday Carolina and I decided to drink. We polished off a bottle of soju at dinner and then headed over to Mad Max afterward with Tracy and Nick joined us. We drank and chatted for a bit and the next thing we know it's 2:00 a.m., so we head to ajeshi alley for some soju cocktail and delicious kimchi pancake. Carolina decided to steal the plate we ate the kimchi pancake off of and all of her friends have come to the conclusion that she is a kleptomaniac. Anyways, when we finally called it a night Carolina crashed at my place. We got about 3 hours of sleep before I had to be up to teach 5 classes followed by a teacher's class at a different school that involved about 20 or so teachers. I was exhausted, but again self-inflicted. The day went by a relatively fast pace on Friday and the teacher's class ran very smooth. The material was a lot easier to work with than I had expected. The best part is, myself and the other foreigner teachers are being paid for the two Fridays we teach, so that is money in the bank.

This Weekend Is 7 Months AND Nick's Birthday!

Saturday was a busy day. I slept in, which was nice and didn't wake-up hungover. Also, an added bonus. Then Carolina came over to my house while we waited for Tracy and Holly to finish with their massages. Then we all hung out at my place for a bit before heading to the Outlet mall to buy Nick a birthday present. I ended up buying a sweet pair of Converse shoes. After we finished birthday present shopping we headed to Tracy's and then to dinner. After dinner we pre-drank and got ready for Nick's birthday at Tracy's and then grabbed a bus to Bucheon where the festivites were being held.

Carolina and I looking adorable on the bus ride to Bucheon. Nick the Birthday boy. Happy 25th Birthday! Note: Carolina the creeper in the corner. Nick enjoying his cake, party hat and present, a picture book for his friends to sign at Rhythm and Booze. He looks like a little kid, it's cute. What would you do if you saw a vendor selling sunglasses on the side of the road in Hongdae?!?! Naturally, you would try them on, so I did...I think they actually suit me. Mary Anne and I at FF in Hongdae during the birthday celebrations. Look who I bumped into...SAM. I haven't seen him in forever, so this just added my night. Sam is usually always a good time.

Since Hongdae is so far from Incheon it is advised that you hold out until public transit starts running around 5:30 a.m. to save yourself a 40,000 won cab ride. Mary Anne and I were the soul survivors of Nick's birthday celebrations. Go Us! Anyways, I got home around 8:00 a.m. and went straight to bed. I woke up periodically throughout the morning and spent all of today doing absolutely nothing...literally. Now, I'm just going to head out for my evening run and be in bed by 10:00 p.m. so I can actually start my school week off refreshed and alive.

October Is Officially In Full Swing!

Ok, so this week went by rather fast. School was busy, which kept the time flying by. Tuesday I took a sick day because my throat was so sore I could hardly talk. I felt bad because it was a six class day, but I needed the day to just sleep the soreness away. I returned to school on Wednesday, which was only a three class day with the grade 4's. On Wednesday night Nicole, Lindsay and I went out for a chill evening in Yeonsu, but ended up staying out way later than expected. Nicole's boyfriend, Terminator (his nickname) came all the way in from Seoul to see her and my KFC came to Yeonsu to see me. Anyways, we didn't head home until close to 5 a.m. and then had to be up two hours later to go to school. I didn't even sleep, which was probably a terrible idea, but since I had no classes Thursday because the grade 4's and 5's were on a field trip, I could nap the morning away. I basically spent the day sitting in the office trying to nap, watching TV, I went for lunch with Lisa and taught my first teacher's class of the new semester. There is only Jiny and the third grade English teacher in the class, which is small, but the class was a lot of fun. Teaching basic conversation isn't too hard. I'm just using a bunch of the materials from my parents class during summer camp. Thursday night is galbi night with Tracy, Holly and Carolina, so I took a nap after school and then headed over to Tracy's house and then onto galbi. After galbi we went back to Tracy's and just chilled out and talked. Nick joined us as well for the gab fest :) Friday was a rather busy day at school with 6 classes, to make up for the no class Thursday. I only had the grade 5's and the day went by fast. That is the only good thing about 6 class days is how the time just flys by. Friday night was a very chill night. Tracy, Holly, Nick and I went for a cheap dinner and then Nick left and Tracy, Holly and I went to a stationary store to pick up scrabooking supplies. I've decided to scrapbook my year in Korea for those that don't keep up with my blog and who don't have facebook. This way I can create my own "Year in Korea" college. Then we went to Lotte Mart for a few supplies, had ice cream at McDonalds and then parted ways. I was in bed by 10:00 p.m.

Kicking It In Busan...Still!

Saturday night was a rather historic night. The entire crew that came to Busan headed to the hottest nightclub, Club Foxy, in Busan for a party.

This is Tracy and I in the taxi on the way to the club.

The club was packed and we almost weren't allowed in because all of the girls, except Rudy were wearing sandals. The club has a rule that you can't wear sandals because they don't want to be held responsible for injuries that may occure from broken glass, etc. However, Rudy managed to talk the bouncer into letting us go in, so we were relieved and very very thankful. We had to pay a 15,000 won cover charge, but it was so worth it. The music at the club was great, the atmosphere was great and we got to see Dynamic Duo live. They are a Korean hip hop duo. Tracy was amazing! She managed to weezle her way to the front and take some pretty great pictures. I've posted all the good ones where you can actually see what they look like.

This is Dynamic Duo. I may be in love with them as of Saturday...Yes, I am.

It was extremely crowded in the upstairs part of the club. There was a good 200+ people packed in there to see the show.

Here they are singing away and sweating like mofo's.

This is really how excited I am that I got to see Dynamic Duo. I love Korean pop stars/celebrities...Seriously.

Once the show ended we headed downstairs because it was so hot and crowded upstairs. Mary Anne and I spied on them in their private room before we headed downstairs. The club was rocking and we were all drunk, especially Tracy. Drunk Tracy hasn't been out in ages, so it was so much fun to finally see her back in action.

You know you're drunk when you take a sheep hat off a random Korean and put it on your head knowing it's full of sweat.All of us Incheon girls having the time of our lives at one of the best clubs I've been to in Korea.

It was another very late night for most of us. When we finished at the club we headed back to the 7-eleven by out motel and Carolina and I kept drinking. Then those that were still awake headed to eat and then Duncan, Ben and I were the sole survivors of the night who chilled on the beach until around 7:00 a.m. when we decided we should head to bed because check-out time was 1:00 p.m., so we had to get some sleep before we got kicked out.

Once we checked out of our hotel we headed back to the delicious buffet for lunch, however, it ended up being far more expensive than we were told, but it's so delicious we got over it. After we ate we headed to the train station, but by the time we got there we pretty much had to be on our train. Carolina and I were on the first train with the Seoul crew, so we got home earlier. It was such a FUN weekend and I wish I had time to go back to Busan and party that hard again, but I know I won't, so this trip was AWESOME and a great way to experience Busan :) Now, I just need to get rid of my larengitis and sore throat and I will be good to go. Let me say waking up this morning and teaching was horrible. I could barely talk and the students were so loud today. I'm glad the day is over.

Kicking It In Busan!

Saturday I got a 12:00 p.m. wake-up call from Rudy, so we could discuss the days activites. I was exhausted because I only got about 5 hours of sleep, but Rudy is not someone you argue with, so we made a plan to visit the Busan aquarium at some point. Before that, those that were awake headed to a really nice Western style bar/pub to eat some lunch.

Me, Heidi, Rudy, Lindsay and Holly at lunch. It was another gorgeous day and this lace had a patio, another rarity in Korea.

Afterwards, some people chose to nap while the rest of us headed down to the beach to soak up some sun.

Carolina, Tracy, Holly, Me and Lindsay chilling on the beach. Look how many Korean people layer themselves up to go to the beach...too funny.

Don't I make a great Little Red (Black) Riding Hood?

We only lasted on the beach about an hour or so before it started to get windy and cold, so we headed back to the motel to get ready for the aquarium. The Busan aquarium was really good. There were loads of fish to see and they even had a tank full of sharks.

I'm obviously a penguin. And, a damn fine one at that.

Ok, here are the real penguins that the aquarium had. Poor things in such a confined space.Sharky and I share a moment. His book was really good.

These are just some fish that were there for our entertainment. The blue ones on the left remind me of Dori from 'Finding Nemo'.

Doo Doo! Doo Doo! The shark tank.

After the visit to the aquarium we all met up and headed for dinner. Some people headed for galbi, while the rest of us headed for some raw fish and the fish that the boys caught earlier in the day.

Korean Long Weekends Make Me Smile :)...Bring on Busan!

Last week was a short 4 day week and everyday was a fve or six class day, so I was very busy. It was extremely tiring, but it made the days go by way faster, which made the long weekend get here even faster. I managed to make it to the gym once last week and go running twice. The running has started to feel great and I can't wait to continue with it. It has been making me feel far more energized and confident about getting healthy and staying fit. When school finally ended on Thursday I came straight home to nap before heading out for a night out in Yeonsu, since NO SCHOOL Friday. Carolina came over because she was going to spend the night, so we could leave to Seoul together in the morning. We had a few drinks at my place before we headed to Mad Max to meet up with the rest of our friends.

Tracy and I at Mad Max. I love my kiwi friend.

I was really excited because I invited my KFC to come and join us and he did. We all enjoyed some drinks, friendly company and the dares we made each other do. KFC invited some of his friends to come and join us crazy foreigners and they were actually a lot fun, they even wanted to join in on the dares, which is so unlike Koreans and their culture. Fun isn't a word used a lot in their vocabulary.

Once we had enough of Mad Max, Nicole wanted to head to Jambo nightclub, so all of girls, plus KFC and his two friends headed to the nightclub. We danced, drank, ate some fruit and once we got tired we all left. It only cost us 10,000 won each to go to the nightclub and we had a blast. Carolina and I headed home pretty quick because we had to be up at 7:45 a.m. to go to Busan and it was already after 4:00 a.m. We went straight to bed and did not look forward to the alarm clock going off three hours later.

When the alarm clock finally did go off Carolina and I were moving like zombies, but we definitely got more energized as the day wore on. The good thing about the trip to Busan is that the KTX is comfortable and it's a three and a half hour ride, so we could sleep on the way. When we got to Seoul station we had just enough time to pee, buy some breakfast and got on the train. We literally had 2 minutes to get on the train before it pulled a way and they wait for no one. That's the one thing about Korea that I like, tour buses and the KTX always leave on time. Carolina and I rode with Rudy and her Seoul friends. The rest of the Incheon crew went down on the second train after ours. I pretty muched past out withing the first 30-40 minutes of the trip.

This is just a picture of Busan station.

Once we got to Busan we waited for the others and then headed to our motel, which was a block away from the beach and the 'Pusan International Film Festival'. We spent the first day (Friday) looking around the Film Festival. It was interesting, but obviously everything was in Korean, so it made certain things difficult to understand.

Friday was a beautiful day, so we tryed to enjoy as much of the warm weather as we could. Plus, since we were so close to the beach we could just relax and hang out. Friday night we ate a delicious buffet that was 30,000 won, but very well worth it. It had seafood, salad, pizza, pasta, Korean traditional food, desserts, ice cream, etc.

Heidi and I enjoying the food, the company and the bottle of white wine we ordered with dinner :)

After dinner we headed back to the motel to get ready for our night out on the town in Busan. We started the pre-drinking activites outside the 7-eleven by our motel and then I went with the Seoul crew into a different part of Busan, while my Incheon friends stayed by the motel and drank. Eventually, we ventured back to our area and found a great nightclub full of foreigners. We danced and dran our hearts out until well into the am.

Carolina and I still rocking out at 4:00 a.m. to the beats being played at UTWO nightclub.

The sole survivors of Friday night. Frankie, Carolina, Me, Mary Anne and Nick.

This is where I ended my night, while a few others wandered to the beach to see the sunrise. I tried to last, but exhaustion took over and it always wins out in the end.