Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello blogosphere... I just wanted to write a short update on how we spent our Thanksgiving. Last weekend Jeff had a party of about 10-12 over for a Thanksgiving meal. He wisely brought stuffing from home, so we had turkey, stuffing with gravy. It was SOOO good. Megan also made homemade apple pie from scratch! It was great.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day. A few kids knew about the holiday. I had the kids draw the "turkey hands" and passed out stickers from my Mom! They love stickers. I will post some high (and low) lights of the hands. It was bitter sweet to be here, because we got to have great conversations with our families, but it really makes you miss home. There was a small party we got to after work (about midnight!) and stayed until quite late at AJs.

Today I will repeat the hand turkeys, so it should be a fun day overall (and hopefully easy). This weekend there is a big foreigner party over at Rich (a New Zealander, actually!). I will keep you updated.

Happy thanksgiving, and thank you so much to those who emailed, skyped, chatted to us today! Please do it again this weekend!

Gas Smell Explained. F***** NEIGHBORS.

The last two nights Megan and I have had to spend the night away from home because of a nasty gasoline smell that was protruding from our bathroom. I will get into details, but first I need to give a short lesson on sewers in older Korean homes. Our shower has a direct line from the sewer to our bathroom. If you haven't already thought of what kind of issues that could cause, just take a minute to look at all of the piping in your home. Notice how all of the pipes have a U-shaped bend in them, if they come from a smelly source? This is not a coincidence, this bend keeps smelly gases from coming back up from the sewer. Normally this just causes a slight problem of a little stinky air coming back up, but the occasional drain-o, plus careful bathroom door management, will take care of the smell. This time, however, drain-o was not the solution.

After we finished hiking the mountain on Sunday, we got back to the slightest of gasoline smell in our home. We didn't think much of it and headed over to Jeff's. We got back from dinner, and the smell was much worse, coming specifically from the bathroom. Of course this is quite alarming, knowing what I just explained above. We were getting headaches from the few minutes we'd been inside, so we decided to spend the night at Jeff's (who graciously accepted).

The next day our boss came over, and thought that we could possible detour the smell by pouring water down our drains. This seemed to help slightly, combined with our windows being open all afternoon, so we left for work as usual. When we got back the smell was as strong as ever. We called up our boss, who agreed that if we are getting sick, we should spend the night in the hotel (on his dime, though he wasn't too happy).

At 10AM this morning JS came back, and talked to the neighbors. Here's what happened. The dummies oil tank which held the oil to heat their home broke and spilled into the Sewer!!! Are you kidding me??? The didn't bother to tell the neighbors!!! Knowing the sewer explanation I gave above, wouldn't it cross your mind to let someone know??? ... They have know that the smell well seep into neighbors homes, let alone the affect it could have on the water... But no... They didn't bother to tell anyone. Well, JS figured out why, and we are going to follow up today to make sure these fools actually alert the CITY to what they did. This could threaten the health of our entire neighborhood, especially us... Who knows what could have happened if someone dropped a cigarette in (since the sewers are just also accessible from street level)...

F******************* NEIGHBORS!!! Apparently wisdom doesn't come with age.

Fall Colors - Weekend update!

Besides the fact that our house smells like gas (no, no, no... not that kind) it has been a pretty good weekend. After getting home from taco night at Jeff's we walked into a gasoline smelling home. We think it's coming from the bathroom drain, but whatever it is it was making us sick within the 10 minutes of being home. Luckily we have family in town, sleepover at Jeff's! Our boss is coming in the morning to check it out, hopefully it's nothing serious.

On Friday we went out to lunch with our Korean co-teachers before school. We also got a little holiday shopping done at the local markets. That night we were anticipating a small bowling night with Jeff and a few others but many other foreigners joined in the festivities which turned out to be really fun. We bowled a couple of games and decided to move the party to the bar.

Saturday was pretty much a lazy and recovery day for us. Dave was able to watch the Gopher basketball game online which was really cool. I think for the most part we don't mind not having TV. It would be nice to be able to watch some shows and/or keep up with sports, but I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. After the basketball game we went out for a country drive. The scenery was gorgeous and the sky was incredibly clear. It's nice being able to go on a drive anywhere we please, that independence makes us feel more comfortable here. That night I went over to a friend's house (Jen) with another girl (Joelle) and we cooked spaghetti and garlic bread which was really delicious. Dave went out to dinner with a friend and then later met up with some others for a little bit. It was a good night and nice that we were both able to do something with other people for a change.


Sunday we finally got back on the mountain. We climbed the bigger mountain (Gorak) which took us about an hour to walk up and 45 min to walk down. It was perfect temperature and the trees were really beautiful. On our walk down the mountain we could hear a girl and her dad a little ways back practicing English "what is your name?" and "where are you from?" We knew they were practicing in order to talk with us, but we were just wanting to walk down the mountain in peace. They were tailing us for the last half of the walk down, and were only a couple of inches behind us. We tried not to give them any recognition and tried walking faster. We finally lost them when we turned to go a different way off the path in order to get to our car. The girl then yelled "HI!!" to us. Most of the time Dave and I gladly say hi to people who can say hello to our faces. But when they are tailing you down the mountain and not respecting your privacy it gets to be a little frustrating. Some people just see you and think "ooo, let me practice my English on them." It gets old fast. Luckily we were looking forward to taco night at Jeff's so it didn't bother us too much. He used the Peterson recipe and it turned out great.

Next weekend we are already starting our Thanksgiving celebrations. Being away from home during the holidays I have realized how big of a role media plays in our holiday preparation and celebration. Since you aren't bombarded by TV, movies, and shopping malls forcing you to celebrate the holidays it's up to you to recreate that desire. For me, I have little desire to celebrate the holidays because it's not surrounding me. I know if I was back at home I would already be listening to Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you." It's refreshing having the holidays become much more simpler and personal. Actually it's refreshing not having to rely on the media to fulfill your celebration desires. The one thing I will miss is the fact that my family will be together when I cannot be with them. It's comforting to think that holidays have that special ability to bring people together. Lucky for me I have Dave and his family here, it makes Yeosu a little less distant from states.

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season. I've heard it's gotten a lot colder back home. Today was about 60 degrees and I am loving it! I have never lived in a place before where "winters" do not start until January and only last for a month or two, and I must say I was missing out, haha. I absolutely love the weather here. There is still enough seasonal change that reminds me of home, but it is far less drastic. The leaves have been changing colors for an entire month now. Unlike back at home where you are given an allotted week to go take fall pictures and enjoy the beautiful weather, we have been enjoying this cool weather for almost 2 months. I do think it will get colder this week, but it has definitely been a wonderful fall.


Well keep the e-mails coming and/or comments. We love hearing from you and life back at home. Until next time!

Check out the rest of the photos!!

Chunnam Dragons Fans

Dragons Stadium

Last weekend we ventured out of Yeosu for only the second time since arriving in Korea. This time we took a short trip via train and bus over to 광양 Gwangyang. It is a small town of about 120,000 people, spread out kind of like Yeosu, but most importantly it hosts the Chunnam Dragons of the K-League (top flight Korean soccer). We made the trip with Ed and Jen. We met up with some friends of theirs who were from Gwangyang. It was a fun time overall, though the soccer was sub-par. The Dragons played Jeju United, who is also near the bottom in league stadiums, to a 0-0 draw... We got to "tailgate" outside of the stadium, which more accurately means drink $2.50 Hite beers at the temporary Korean style restaurants set up outside of the stadium. It was also interesting to see the not-so-typical snacks. I had dried squid jerky, and the standard Ramen noodles, during the game... There was also silk worm larva available... So much for peanuts and cracker jack! The game was a lot of fun... Maybe about 7000 people were there. People were excited as usual to see foreigners, so we were glad to be a service. We also managed to get 4 tickets for 10000 won, which normally would've been 28000, so that was a good deal too! It was the final game of the season, but the 2009 season starts in March, so if you are visiting in spring you know where we'll be going!



Earlier in the day we went shopping in Gwangyang and found a gem. A knock-off 1987 Twins World Championship sweatshirt!! It was yellow, of course. Megan HAD to purchase the sweat shirt, especially because the Dragons home uniform is yellow. Gwangyang was a beautiful city, you can tell the local companies put a lot of money back into the community. The leaves are changing right now, much like Upper Midwest October, so we decided to walk back to the bus stop from the game. It was beautiful being surrounded by magnificent reds, yellows, and greens on the trees and mountain-side.

My new Korean friend and my new Korean outfit purchased from the sidewalk market...

Saturday HG, Jeff and the girls came over for a lunch. We had our first meat from the Head of some animal at the restaurant at the corner of our block. The food was pretty good. The restaurant was quite new and it was reflected in the slow service!!

Friday night we made our second trip of the year to the Cinus theater down the street in Yeochon. We caught the new James Bond sequel. It is always nice to check out the theater... There were even some other foreigners attending! Going to the movie showed me how much my ability to communicate (simple things) in Korean has grown. Last time we saw a movie was the first night we learned to read Hangul, the Korean alphabet. This time around I was able to quickly read and figure out movie titles, successfully purchase 2 tickets for the 11PM show though 9PM tickets were still available, and also order a unique item at the concession stand. It was kind of rewarding to know that the studying has paid off a little bit, though I have a LONG way to go before I can began to understand the SIMPLEST thing out of context... Or anything not involving shopping or buying for that matter!

Well, hope everyone is having a good time. I know the Weather is starting to turn cold back home. Here is is upper 50s or 60s during the day and I absolutely love it. It is the perfect temperature for someone from Upper Midwest. The Koreans think it is COLD! They don't even know what cold means! Hope to hear from you all soon, I appreciate the emails and blog comments from the past week! It is ALWAYS great, even a one liner.


As always, here are the pictures from the post!

Live Octopi

My Adult class wanted to go out to a meal, and upon the suggestion that I like Sushi, took us to a live fish restaurant. Of course, there are some variations between Sushi you'd expect in Minneapolis, and Sushi you get at a "moa" (Korean for live fish) restaurant. The end result was actually quite delicious, and we got to pallete some uniquely Korean tastes (For those keeping track at home, this was exactly the type of meal that nearly KO'ed my Mom and when we visited for Jeff's wedding in 2003) About 4-6 different types of raw fish, jumbo shrimp, large octopus, some seaweed and sushi wraps and last... Still SQUIRMING small octopus!! It was shocking to see this served on a plate. Of course the dish garnered little reaction (besides the normal reaction when you see a delicious dish) compared to Megan and my amazement. In the end, we ended up giving it a shot, and we decided to take a video. Thanks much to Jay Hyun for the meal, and showing me how to eat it. The videos are in order, first the dish about 30 seconds after being served, still squirming, and second, me taking a bit at a still kicking tentacle!

The SQUIRMING Delight

Now it's my turn...

Halloween weekend

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday weekend. This was our first time celebrating a holiday outside of the States, and I think it went pretty well. It was so weird celebrating Halloween over here because the majority of the people do not know anything about it. In a way it is really exciting to teach Koreans about Halloween because it is actually a really fun holiday when you think about it. My adult students were fascinated with the process of trick or treating, and why Halloween is celebrated. Having to teach others about something that is so natural for me really gave me a different perspective of holidays in general. Back in the states I feel like I never thought too much about Halloween besides partaking in the normal holiday behavior (watching horror movie, carving pumpkins, going to costume parties). I celebrated Halloween because it was something I have always done and everyone around me does as well. This year I was able to celebrate it with the reason that Halloween is a really unique holiday with an interesting history. Explaining to people that kids go door to door asking for candy and adults even dress up in costumes made me look at Halloween in a totally different way. I feel that all the holidays we celebrate over here will become more special to us than they ever could have become back in the states simply because it makes you appreciate them more.


Even though at times it seems that we have acclimated ourselves to Korean culture we still have some little tendencies that come up as reminders that we are far from the “normalcy” of home. For example, on Saturday (day after Halloween) I saw an old woman sitting on the side of the road selling pumpkins. I thought to myself “Why is she selling pumpkins? Halloween is over!” After about 30 seconds I remembered that no one here celebrates Halloween and that Koreans buy pumpkins not to carve but to eat like any other fruit! This was just one of many little reminders that I am not in the Midwest anymore. Even when I feel I am becoming more used to Korean culture, I realize how big of an influence my own culture has on my behavior, thoughts, and attitude.


Dave and I really are starting to appreciate the little things while over here. When we received cards and packages from home we were ecstatic! Even if they might seem like small things, they are big for us. Dave’s parents sent us very cute Halloween cards with stickers inside. I utilized this card and the stickers as much as I could throughout the week while explaining Halloween to my students. Same with a package my sister and my mom sent. Even though it just had fun, normal Halloween things inside, to my students these things were gold! One student offered me 20,000 won for the stickers and the Pez dispenser! (I told him at least 30,000, haha).
We have been here for ¼ of a year, and it’s already November! I can’t believe it. I admit that sometimes I wish I was back at home doing the normal things I am used to doing. My attitude about living in Korea can change as fast as Korean drivers can switch lanes. This trip has made us re-evaluate many things about ourselves as individuals and as a couple. But I’m proud of the fact that we have made it this far, and are continually growing stronger together. We are lucky to have such wonderful friends and family who support us and lift us up when we’re feeling down. Thank you, we appreciate you!

We have a lot of pictures of our Halloween activities, costumes and the big foreigner party below. Dave and I went as milk and cereal. We also had a mini party at the Hogwon. We had the students touch mysterious body parts without being able to see them. Some students were so frightened; it was a really fun way to celebrate Halloween. I hope you enjoy them! Keep writing e-mails, messages, letters, anything! I can’t stress enough how much we enjoy reading what is going on in everyone’s life! We miss you, take care!

Here are photos from Halloween weekend!!