Groceries

I know this is not all that exciting, but sometimes it's the everyday stuff that is what is really interesting. This is not one of those cases....but I still want you think that it could be.

Now that I've been here for three months (92 days..yikes!) I'm already falling into a slump of a comfort zone. One effort to keep things fresh is buying one new thing every time I go to the grocery store. So far the big winner is a honey ginger tea. Sadly, I can't credit my "sense of adventure" on this find, people were drinking it at school. I still count it though. Basically it's just a jar of honey with ginger chopped up in it. You just spoon some into a cup and add hot water. Careful not to swallow the big bits of ginger! One of the Korean helper teachers also made a similar tea, but with apples. Good stuff. I'm thinking there is a little more to it then just putting the ingredient in the honey, not totally sure though. So is this a Korean thing or are people at home drinking this and I just didn't know about it?

Other winners so far: frozen won tons, candied peanuts, "cupcakes" that were more like sponge cake

Also, the grocery store that I go to most often for milk and produce is pretty small and I'm in there probably two times a week. I can't imagine what the people that work there think of me, but today when I checked out with two types of cereal the guy at the cash register told me I had too much. He was just teasing, but I'm sure he sees me as a walking stereotype...at least I didn't buy any cheese along with all my cereal!

Last "interesting" tidbit about grocery shopping: In the smaller stores you have to pay for the plastic bags to take your stuff home. You also do all the bagging yourself. And true to Korean form, there is very little concern for personal space in line. Last time I was there I was unloading the small basket I had of items and the cashier had already started to ring up my food. A guy came up with three things and stood in front of me and put his things down! He was totally aware that I was in the middle of checking out too...unbelievable.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Yes, I know I'm more then a week early, but Kid's College doesn't really care what day Thanksgiving really is. Besides, for most of the people in my office this is over a month late.

The Thanksgiving celebration at school was really more just a place holder for the November party day. You should take into account that on months without major US holidays we have things like Pajama Day or Ladies and Gentlemen Day (more info on this when the day comes around). The celebration consisted of the kids bringing in food from different countries around the world. Let me tell you, I looked at my heaping plate of spaghetti, chips and salsa and fried chicken and couldn't help but think of home. =)

The only activity the school had planed was eating food (which is authentic enough in it's own right I guess). The only cultural info I instilled in my children is that fact that we usually eat turkey on Thanksgiving. They also made a turkey by tracing their hands on different pieces of colored paper and fanning the hands out behind a turkey body I copied out of a book. Good times.

Perhaps the most entertaining thing about the day was the fact that my class was assigened "American" food. When they came in this morning they all said "Teacher, teacher! Mi Guk food!" (Mi Guk = American) I had to teach them American. I've been telling them all this time that I'm American, but they didn't know what that was. Oops! The American food spread consisted of fried chicken, sandwiches, pizza and Egg McMuffins from McDelivery (that's right, McDonalds delivers here...classy.)

Also, the cold snap has hit here. The past two days have hovered around 32. So yes, it does get cold in South Korea, but word on the street is that is abnormal for this early in the winter season. It should hang in the low 50's a little longer. Here's hoping!!!

Ever heard of DJ Shadow?

Yeah, me either...but that didn't stop me from jumping on the band wagon to go see him last night.

I've never been to see a DJ before, and I've got to say that standing in a dark over crowded room listening to house music is not really my thing.

Highlight: He played "Handelbars" by the Flobots. The crowd responded very well to Joe's trumpet solo. =)

Happy Pepero Day!

11/11 is declared pepero day because the all the ones look like the pepero cookies (think chocolate covered pretzel rods but with a wafer or bread stick like cookie). I'm pretty sure the day was created by the Lotte franchise seeing as how they make every variety of the cookies that flooded the Mini-Stops and Seven Elevens for the past week. Many cookies were exchanged throughout the day, leaving the kids running ramped on sugar highs and teachers crashing from sugar lows.

Highlight of the day -reading the following on one of the cookie packages:
"Pepero day which is so special to declare true heart for someone is loved a lot of People."

Korea in Color

So the paper announced that the prime time for fall colors would last for exactly 15 days (October 28 through November 11). I finally got a chance to go see them in person this weekend. Kyle was also itching to take some pictures, so we made it into a picture hike.

One fun Korean anecdote*
We saw a middle aged man a little ways down the mountain side high up in a tree and small group of people standing around watching and yelling at him (in a friendly way). He was picking "Korean kiwi". Did you know there are largish berry sized kiwi out there!?! That's good stuff my friends. The people who were hanging at the top of the path wouldn't let us leave until they gave us some. Koreans can be so nice sometimes.

Obama-rama!

Witnessing such a historic event was pretty cool. Sadly, I'm pretty well stuck in an expat bubble where I only have real contact with Americans and Canadians. I am happy to report that everyone I know over here is pretty excited about the Obama victory.

It was interesting to experience election day half way across the world. While everyone at home was staying up late to watch the results, my co-workers and I all had our computers up so that we could check the counts during our break times. Of course the Americans were a little more excited about the constant updates, but I was surprised at the level of interest from the Canadians. I would say most of the Canadians in my office have a working knowledge of American politics, some more so then myself. They say they have always been aware of the candidates in our elections. It kind of makes me feel like an idiot that I have no idea who their country's leader is, let alone when their election is, or who is running.

As I said before, I haven't had a chance to really get a Korean's take on the election. However, when we were all gathered around one computer listening to Obama's acceptance speech streaming form a computer our Korean supervisor walked in. When she realized what we were listening to she said "Oh, Obama. Yay!"

There was a moment in the office on Wednesday that I don't think I will ever forget. At one point Obama said "for those huddled around radios in forgotten corners of the world" (or something like that) and we all cheered. At the same time that the election results started to sink in, I also was hit with jsut how far away I am. It gave me goose bumps just to hear his voice. It's a very exciting time. We all keep talking about how historic this is and how proud we are to be around to see it happen (Americans and Canadians alike). If I have one regret from coming to Korea, it's that it kept me from being in Grant Park on the evening of November 4, 2008. I am so jealous of all of you who were there.

Happy Halloween!

Even though Halloween is not a holiday celebrated in Korea, we celebrated it at school since it is celebrated in English speaking countries. For a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween the kids sure were able to come up with some great costumes:
I've uploaded plenty of other pictures from the big day and Thursday when we carved a pumpkin. Other events on our schedule were making faces for the adorable felt pumpkin bags shown here, face painting, trick-or-treating (which consisted of the kids walking into the hall and getting a handful of candy from a box) a hunted house in the gym (which was traumatizing for all the kids) and a magic show. Good times were had by all.

I also just posted a bunch of pictures I took with my new camera. I am very content with my purchase. =)