Soju

Usually after a night out in Hongdae (Seoul's club district) Hannah Teacher wakes up with a pretty brutal hangover. Blame it on the Soju...

The past 3 months I have come to realize that drinking is a major part of the Korean lifestyle. You can drink anywhere in the city. On the weekends, you usually see people stumbling around as early as 10PM. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you will see people randomly passed out everywhere; on the subway, in restaurants and even on the sidewalk. There is even a highly entertaining website dedicated to this issue (http://blackoutkorea.blogspot.com/).

Soju is native to Korea. It is typically made from rice. It is a clear liquid and ranges from 20-40% alcohol by volume. You can find Soju anywhere, and it will cost you less than ₩ 4,000 (around 3-4 dollars). Koreans usually just drink it straight in a shot glass alongside their kimchi and bbq, but I prefer it mixed with Powerade. Another popular way to drink it is shot by shot, mixed with Dr. Pepper. "Soju Kettles" are popular at some bars, which consists of kool-aid and Soju served in a plastic bottle with the top cut off.

Powerade and Soju: drink of champions

If you're looking to hop on the train to black out city, Soju is the drink for you. The stuff always seems like a good idea at the time, but one always regrets it in the morning (trust me). I don't know how the Koreans do it. Cheers to them.

Happy Birthday Buddha!

This past weekend I had the pleasure of experiencing a new part of Korea, Busan. Busan is South Korea's second largest city, with a population of about 3.6 million. Busan is known for the 5th largest port in the world. Compared to Seoul's population of over 10 million, Busan was a little slice of heaven.

After riding the KTX for about 2 hours and 50 minutes, I arrived in Busan to bright sunshine and smiling people everywhere. I stayed in Haeundae which is known for its big, sandy beach, flooded with tourists and Koreans with their umbrellas and tents. We stayed in a "women's only hostel" called The Planet Guesthouse. This place was wonderful. Super modern decor, comfy bunk beds, and best of all right on the beach. In the morning, the owner, made each of us breakfast. "A Korean specialty" a fried egg atop a piece of toast with strawberry jam and butter, then drizzled with ketchup and mustard. Strange, yes, but delicious.

Highlights of our trip: laying on the beach in the sun (let's be honest, I am ghostly).

Eating an expensive Italian meal (including an amuse bouche to start, and perfectly cooked pasta).

Taking a night boat cruise and viewing the bright lights of the city.

Visiting Jalgachi Fish Market and getting harrassed by Korean men to eat raw, bloody, sliced up sea worms.

Eating candy coated strawberries on the street. Buying new hair accessories.

Eating two Korean meals in one day. Going to the top of Busan Tower.

Buying 5,000 won shirts and getting completely drenched in the rain.

Drinking gin & tonics and extra large beers at Thursday-Party and meeting awesome new people.

Eating burgers and fries to cure the hangover. And spending quality time with a great, new friend.

As I was exploring this great new city, I wondered whether I would want to stay in Korea for another year, and possibly move to Busan. The city was that appealing, with beaches, great people and culture. I'm going to tuck this idea away for now and ask myself again in 3 months whether or not Busan could be my future home.

All and all it was an amazing weekend, thank you Buddha for being born!

Haley and I

View from Busan Tower

Korean BBQ

Candy coated strawberries

Octopus at the Jalgachi Fish Market

Gwangan Bridge

Haeundae Beach

Lost

I know this has nothing to do with my adventures in Seoul, but I still feel the need to blog about my favorite television show coming to an end...

After watching the series finally of the show Lost, I never thought I would be so emotional and overly attached to a television show. The two-hour series finale brought out so many emotions. I cried off and on for the entire two hours. I cannot believe after 6 seasons, it is finally over. I have mixed feelings about the finale but now that I have let it sink in, I love the way it ended. Although, there still are a few unanswered questions, the episode made me realize what the show was all about: the characters and their connection to each other. I’m really going to miss the show, the cast, the confusion of it all, watching Matthew Fox on a weekly basis and John Locke; my crush on him will never fade.

"The most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them and they needed you."

changing it up

This week at school we switched homerooms. Now every morning I am greeted by Apple class. I now eat snack and lunch with them (which is a joy because Kiwi completely cleared out all of the food), grade their homework, pack up their book bags and send them on the bus every afternoon. I have been teaching for 2 months now, and never thought I would develop such an attachment to these children, already. I already miss Kiwi class. It has only been 2 days since my partner teacher and I switched homerooms, but already I have developed a feeling of sadness when I do not get to hang out with the kids in Kiwi as much anymore. At lunch, they have been wandering into my new room and sitting on my lap and telling me that they love me. Now, I will just see them once a day from 11:40-1 and then every Tuesday for science class. Although, I will miss my babies, I am super excited to get to know Apple class more. Already, they are growing on me, and I feel they are becoming more and more comfortable with me. Who knew I would love this job so much? I already feel like these kids are my family and when I wake up every morning I definitely know that they are the reason why I am here.

Apple class (minus Eric) not the best picture of everyone but gives you a good idea of my new homeroom

a little appreciation

This week went by incredibly fast, as they all have been since I've been in Seoul. On Monday, I was told that I was supposed to start teaching a new class on MWF, but then the day of, it was cancelled due to not having enough students enrolled. I was pretty relieved to not have as much work on my hands, but then again the extra $150 would have been nice every month.

Thursday, I received a gift from one of my students in Apple class. I opened it and to my surprise it was a gift card to Lotte Department Store, for 200 dollars, yes I said 200 dollars. I was shocked and almost felt guilty accepting it. Inside was a card, in Korean, which said something along the lines of "Thank you Hannah Teacher for doing a great job so far. My son is very happy at school and loves his class." Since, Teachers Day is coming up on May 16th more and more gifts should be coming my way. It's nice to feel so appreciated, but $200 is a little extreme (not that I'm complaining.) To be honest, I would have been just fine with candy :P

Saturday

This weekend the sun was shining and I could not be happier to finally enjoy some spring weather. Saturday I went to Namdaemun Market. Namdaemun means "Great South Gate," this market has everything from clothes, headbands, food, toys, leather jackets to sunglasses. It was really fun, but I surprisingly did not buy anything. Natalie, Haley and I shared a deep fried hot dog, coated in potatoes. Interesting but not worth the calories or 1,500 won.

Namdaemun Market

My personal heaven

After, we went to Namsan Park to lay out in the sun. It was beautiful with fountains, cherry blossoms and tons of families picnicking and laying out in the sun. We relaxed in the grass with some hope of getting some color on our faces.

View from Namsan Park

Next, Haley and I went to Myeongdong. This is a shoppers paradise, covered with department stores, independent boutiques and stalls of items sold on the street. There's always a flood of people walking the streets. You could do some major damage here. This is where the Forever 21, H&M, Steve Madden and other name brand stores are. Forever 21, as cheap as it is at home, is double or even triple the price here. Definitely not worth it, considering the quality of clothes is so poor. Myeongdong is overwhelming at first but is a place where you can spend hours without even realizing it.

Myeongdong

Out of everything I purchased this weekend, my cell phone charm was by far my favorite. Koreans love accessories. This includes cell phone charms. They are sold everywhere and pretty much everyone (no matter what age) has something dangling from their cell phone. I figured I would be just as obnoxious and buy one. Secretly, its my new favorite thing.

Hello Kitty (in a chicken costume), of course.

Birthday Party

Austin, Tiffany, Andrew, Jun, Sunny and Noel at Birthday Party

Today was the infamous "Birthday Party" day. Basically, every kid that has a birthday during the month of April has a party together on the last Friday of the month. This month, I had 3 kids with birthdays. Sunny, Jun (who are twins) and Noel; they all turned 6. Our library/gym room gets decorated with balloons, streamers and a massive table full with fruits and cakes. The parents send in goodies which decorate the room, and each child with a birthday has their own birthday cake. They all sit at a long table together, with their cake in front of them, and blow out their candles. The rest of the classes cheer, and perform their rehearsed song/dance. My class did "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." It is very cute and the kids are super excited for their favorite day of the month. Every kid brings in a 2,000 won present for the birthday kids, usually the presents are pencils, coloring books and other fun kid stuff. At the end of the day the birthday kids leave with a huge bag full of gifts from all of their classmates. Basically, best day ever. Not only do they get out of class for 40 minutes to sing and dance but they get a special lunch. This includes, pizza, gimbap (which is a Korean style sushi- rice, seaweed, egg, ham and vegetables), tons of fresh fruit, and birthday cake. The kids go crazy and eat until they explode. Watching them eat all of the food, boggles my mind. I honestly don't know how they can eat so much and be so tiny. It's a really fun day, but everyone usually leaves with a stomach ache, including Hannah Teacher.

My twins, Jun and Sunny with their cake

I'm so happy it is the weekend. We have already celebrated with our Friday ritual: grabbing a Cass at 7-11 (which is downstairs from work.) We have made friends with the man who works there. Now, every time we see him, he says "Ahhh Friday, happy day!" He opens up our beers, wipes them clean with a tissue and gives us free beer nuts. He is our new best friend. People in Seoul are so nice, you sometimes forget about the language barrier because they are always trying to help you. By the way, you can drink anywhere in Korea; on the street, in the cabs, on the subway, the possibilities are endless. Tonight, we are attempting a bar called Jazz Story in Hyehwa to hear some live music and consume 9,000 won beverages.