It's heating up...

Wow, lots has happened since I last wrote. The season has gone from spring to summer and every second spent inside my classroom on a nice day feels like torture. Except for the little cuties that make my day of course. And, the last few weekends have been absolutely gorgeous. So what's been happening? I know my time in Korea is coming to a close so I've been thinking about what to do before I leave. I have quite a lot on my list, I hope to get at least some of them done! One thing I was always curious about was going to a military base, since I live so close to the Osan Air Base here. So a few weeks ago we decided to go bowling. I definitely felt like I was back in the states! I ate horrible food (pizza, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, and a Caesar salad), drank Miller light for $1.50 and bowled for about the same.
The next night was my friend's birthday and we all went to a park and had a great night! (Sorry, no pics...)

Then, that weekend there was an event called RocKorea, an 18 hour concert that featured many Korean and expat musicians, mostly classic rock cover bands. I found out about a volunteer opportunity to help raise money for my friend's rugby team. By helping to serve beer at the festival we would be able to get in free, get a t-shirt, and drink all of the delicious beers provided by Craftworks we wanted! We had an amazing time serving and enjoying beer, meeting new people, listening to music, and staying up (almost) all night. I finally used that tent I bought at Home Plus for 15,000 won ($15 USD) last year and set the entire thing up on my own!

That's it for now! More soon.....

Magic Hair

I have never been a high-maintenance kind of person. I love make up but hate doing my hair. My hair is naturally very thick and pretty frizzy so I usually just put it in a bun or pony tail. Back home I got in the habit of leaving it in a bun overnight and taking it down the next day (less frizz, more curl). But I never felt like it looked that good.

After a few weeks in Korea I got my first hair cut here. It was the best haircut I've ever gotten. She layered it just right, thinned it out so it was easier to manage, not to mention how ridiculously cheap it was! Shampoo, conditioner, cut, blow-dry, and style was only 10,000 won (that's less than $10 USD!).

About 10 months later I started researching the "Magic straight" which is very popular in Korea. It is a way to permanently straighten your hair. All you have to do is walk in to a salon and say, "Magic Pahm-uh" (Magic Perm). It takes a while, so make sure you have a few hours on your hands. So about four months ago, I decided to get it done. I really like it! If I had to do it over I would get the "Volume Magic Perm" because I feel like my hair lacks some body it used to have.

Pros:

• Saves time! I can just shower and leave the house, no need to blow dry or straighten every morning).
• No more frizz! Besides for a few fly-aways, my hair is straight as can be.
  
• Consistency. It's more rare these days to have a "bad hair day."

Cons:

• Sometimes I miss my thick, wavy hair.
• Damages your hair. My hair doesn't feel as healthy as it used to (but actually not that bad).
• Can be expensive. I paid 120,000 won for my Magic Perm (about $100 USD). But I thought about how much a permanent would be in the States and it was a no-brainer.

Here are some pictures of my old hair:

I was looking for a good picture of my new hair but couldn't find much... Incidentally, my camera was stolen recently after I got the Magic Straight. Here's one:

MMMmmm... food....

It's economical, it's fast, it's delicious... it's Korean delivery! There are several reasons why delivery in Korea is pretty much incredible:

• There is no delivery charge
• The food arrives quickly
• No dishes or trash to deal with
• No need to tip (It's not customary in Korea)
  

The most popular kinds of food delivery in Korea are Pizza, Chicken, Chinese, and other Korean (Pig's feet, and stir-fried chicken). My first time ordering was from a Korean restaurant recommended to me by my school. My experience: The delivery man knocked on our door and gave us a huge plastic container with all our food in it. All the food was on real dishes that were tightly wrapped with plastic wrap. It even came with an array of side dishes for free! When we were finished eating, we put all the dishes and trash back into the container. We put the container outside our door, and the delivery guy picked it up later. That's it!

So, in this post I will explain how to order food and get it delivered to your home in Korea. First things first, you need to either know how to read Hangul or have someone write everything down phonetically for you.

You need to know:
1) Your address
2) The name of the food you want to order
3) How many you want
4) The phone number of the restaurant (and your area code)

Ok, let's say you have one of these:
You're going to need to know your area code if you want to call this number. I googled Korean area codes and found "31" for Pyeongtaek and it worked. So I would dial 31-667-4510. Someone will answer and I would say, "배달주세요" (pay-dal-joo-say-yo) which basically means, "Delivery, please." Now, I'm not sure if this is what a Korean person would say (actually, I'm sure it's not) but it always gets my point across. Then I usually hear a "네" (yes). Then I say my address.

Without getting overly technical about addresses in Korea, I will just show an example:
459-813
경기도 평택시 송탄동
200-3 시뉴빌라 108동 403호

Ok, I just made up this address based off the format of my own.
Here it is in English:
459-813
Gyeonggi-do Pyeongtaek-si Songtan-dong
200-3 Shinyoo Villa 108dong 403ho

So you really only need the last line of that. 200-3 is your 반지 (sounds like Pun-jee, it's like your street number). So you would say, "ee-baek dashee sam pun-jee, Shinyoo Billa, Baek-pal-dong, sa-baek-sam-ho" Ok, that might not make any sense to anyone...

Then you can ask for what you want to order! With the menu above I could say, "생선까스 하나, 하고 새우까스 하나 주세요" (Sang-sun ka-suh hana, hago say-oo kah-suh hana joo-say-yo). Which means, "One fried fish order, and one fried shrimp order, please." Then you can just say Thank you! You should see your food within the next 3o minutes!

Another cool thing is that they save your phone number and address. So if you ever call again you shouldn't have to say your address all over again.

Good luck!

Plain Yogurt in Korea

Sometimes it seems sugar is in EVERYTHING in Korea. Things you would never imagine putting sugar in. The spaghetti sauce here is sweet, even garlic bread from Paris Baguette. The first time I saw black beans as a side dish for my school lunch I almost literally jumped for joy expecting the savory Mexican spiced beans I'm used to from California. I took a bite and --what the?? Sugary, sweet black beans. Sigh. It happened the first time I bought yogurt here, too. I bought some yogurt labeled "plain" only to bring it home and find something that tasted like the yogurt from the Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait at McDonald's. So, I had to take my chances until I finally found a couple brands that are actually plain. So plain in fact I could use them as a sour cream substitute in burritos (because we all know how hard it is to find sour cream in Korea). So, without further ado, here they are:

Be careful with the Activia one... They have a "plain" and a "Non sweet Plain." Look on the side to make sure which one it is!

Seoul Trip

After 2 weeks in California and 2 weeks in the Philippines Steve and I were very excited to hear that we had another week off for "Spring Break" (Huh? Last time we checked it was still the middle of winter...). Nonetheless we decided to use these days off to explore Korea. Our first choice was Gyeongju (foreigners can get a free bus to Gyeongju, Jeonju, and Busan in 2011 by using this service) but we realized Seoul would be an easier trip since we already know our way around for the most part. We also knew many things we wanted to do in Seoul but have never gotten the chance to do. We saw the changing of the guard at Deoksugung (a palace near City Hall), went to the National Museum of Korea (the 6th largest museum in the world), and saw Seoul Tower where we followed a tradition of locking a padlock on a fence to forever mark our footprint in Korea.

Deoksu Palace

Waterfall near the National Museum of KoreaBosingak BellFront of the National Museum of KoreaSeoul Tower during the daySeoul Tower at night

Fence of padlocksNamdaemun Market"Queen 21" hotel in Sinchon

Vacation!!

So a lot has happened since my last post. Steve and I spent 2 weeks in California, came back to Korea to teach for 2 weeks, then went to the Philippines for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, my camera was stolen right before leaving to the Philippines (before I could upload pictures from the last few months). But we were able to take a few pictures in Boracay while we were there. Boracay is a gorgeous island with a lot of activities available. Steve and I were happy to be beach bums...
Almost everywhere you walk you will be asked to try different activities (sailing, scuba diving, snorkeling, helmet diving, island hopping, cliff diving, etc.). Steve and I went sailing, helmet diving, and rented a "buggy car" (like a go cart) and drove around the island in it. Highlights for us were Puka Beach and helmet diving (it's like being an astronaut under water!) Now we're back in Korea!

Lazy post

Let's see, what's happened since our one year mark:
-Halloween
-Friends leaving
-Bought a Wii
-Thanksgiving
-Flaming Lips in Concert
-Korea's first snow of winter

And since I'm lazy, here's a link to a very informative blog about public schools in Korea:

http://grrrltraveler.com/2010/11/10things-korean-schools/