Birthday Weekend in Busan

I absolutely love to celebrate my Birthday, so I was nothing but excited to celebrate my 26th Birthday this year. Why you ask? Well of course being in Korea is one big reason, but I also had 36 hours to officially celebrate. 

On Wednesday I was surprised by my Elmo class who gave me the cutest Birthday cards and yelled, "Happy Burfday Jenn Teacha! We Wuv You!" It was by far the best present I could have ever received. 

After work a couple of my friends and I went to this awesome little Italian restaurant in Dongbaek, called Pasta Benne. The owner is Korean-American and is always very generous with the wine and desserts.

To continue the celebrations, this past weekend my friends and I went down to Haeundae Beach (pronounced Hey-un-day) in Busan. 

We arrived in Haeundae around 10am on Saturday and the fun never stopped. We stayed at an awesome guesthouse that reminded us of our college days, which in turn made me feel a little bit younger ;) I met a funny little Korean guy there when who talked to me about the TV show Glee and how his favorite character was the boy with the Justin Beiber hair.

pobi guesthouse 

After dropping off our stuff we went for drinks and lunch at the Fuzzy Navel, which is a Mexican restaurant/bar. 

As we headed over to the beach all I could think about was Virginia Beach. It reminded me so much of home that I almost forgot that I was in Korea. It was so nice to be around the water again!

Before going to Busan I knew the aquarium was one place I wanted to visited. 

That night all of my friends got together to eat clams, drink soju and dance the night away.

It was such an awesome Birthday weekend and I'm so glad I got to spend it with good people. My good friend and gifted photographer, Gillian, also has a blog and posted some pictures from the weekend. If you get a chance, check her out, http://loveoftheseoul.tumblr.com/


Miss y'all!


-Jenn xoxo

Happy Lunar New Year!

This past weekend I celebrated Lunar New Year, also known as Seollal, here in Korea. Soellal is the beginning of the Lunar calendar. Koreans also celebrate solar New Years Day on the Gregorian calendar, which is January 1st. This is the day when everyone turns a year older. To explain this, the minute a baby comes out of the womb they're already 1-year old. Then at the turn of every new year, they become a year older. Sounds complicated, but it's very interesting. 

Thanks to this holiday, I had a 5-day weekend. It was such a great weekend to just relax and hang around Seoul. On Sunday, I went to The War Memorial of Korea in Seoul.  This is one place that I've been wanting to go to for the last six months. It was a really great museum/memorial dedicated to all of those who fought!

After the Memorial, I went to Gwanghwamun and did a little sightseeing. I saw the statue of King Sejong. King Sejong invented the Korean alphabet, known as hangul. I also saw the statue of Yi Sun-sin, who was a Korean naval commander during the Joseon Dynasty.

king sejong

Yi Sun-sin

That same night, a couple of friends and I went to the restaurant On The Border. I've never been to this restaurant in the states, but I heard rave reviews about how much it tastes like the On The Border back home. All I can say is that I don't think I've eaten that much food, nor have I drank so much tequila since I've been in Korea. It was blissful!

coronarita

Lunar New Year was officially celebrated on Monday, the 23rd. I decided to cross another thing off my bucket list for Korea and that was to go to a jimjilbang. A jimjilbang is a Korean style spa with saunas, hot/cool tubs for bathing, and body scrubs. Because these operate 24 hours, many people will go for a cheap place to sleep. Yes...sleep! They have mats, TVs, and a food area. The cost is about $8 and includes a "not so hot" outfit for you to wear and unlimited access to all that I mentioned above. Unfortunately no one was giving massages the day I went, but after spending a few hours in the saunas my skin felt like a baby's bottom.

such hot outfits

all the ladies make these little hats out of towels

As many of you may have already seen, over holiday I decided to take a risk and get myself some bangs. If there's anything the Koreans know how to rock...it's the bangs. 

Later that night I met up with some friends and played Korean monopoly. It was a little different then the normal monopoly I'm used to, but it was still fun. 

While walking around Seoul I had remembered I had forgot to mention one very interesting thing in my posts. Below is a picture of gas masks stored in glass cabinets, called "nation masks". Each of these cabinets are found at every station, because many emergency shelters or "bunkers" are located in the subway. It's very comforting knowing that there are almost 4,000 shelters just in Seoul, but it's also a little distressing at the same time.

It was so nice to only have a 2-day work week, but it's going to be brutal to have to work five days in a row next week. Next weekend I'll be going down to Haeundae Beach in Busan for my Birthday. I've recruited some really great people to join and can't wait to bring back some great stories.


Miss you all more than you know!


-Jenn x0x0

"The Dream" and Hanboks

This has been such a great week! To begin the week, our school went on a field trip to a traditional Korean manners school. The kids learned how to bow properly and have tea, the traditional Korean way of course. As always they looked so adorable in their hanboks.

On Thursday I went out to Travelers, my home away from home, for man vs food. Five of my friends along with three other guys decided to take on the Double JC Burger Challenge. The challenge: eat 4 1lb. burgers, 8 pieces of bacon, 8 pieces of cheese, chilli and fries in one hour. The prize: a free pitcher of beer (for your friends because there's no way you'll be able to drink it), bragging rights, and a belly full of meat.

the double jc burger

And the winner was Wassim "The Dream." During the last 20 minutes of the competition I started feel sorry for some of the guys, as their faces looked like they just lost their dog :(

Wassim "the Dream"

The next day at work I was feeling a little tired from all the festivities the night before so by the end of the day I was exhausted. My students reamed the benefits of this. I think the pictures below will explain why...

I have the next five days off for the Lunar New Year holiday. I'll be doing some sightseeing and touristy stuff, so I'll be sure to post all about those. I hope everyone has a great weekend!


Love you bunches!
Jenn xoxo

Another Week of Firsts

Whew! The time just seems to fly by so fast that by the time Friday comes, it feels like I just started my work week. Of course I'm not complaining about this, but I hate rushing good times. This past week was yet another week of firsts for me. I love that nothing is the same here in Korea!

For the past several weeks I've had a big craving for soup. Well SoKo doesn't exactly have a panera bread on every corner, so in order for me to get my hands on a bowl I would have to travel almost an hour into Seoul. My co-worker recommended that I try porridge one night. I was a little skeptical to try porridge because it resembles grits and I HATE grits. So I put nerves aside and went to the nearby "Traditional Korean Porridge" restaurant. Hands down some of the tastiest "soup-like" dishes I have ever had!

cute little sign in window
"Give thanks for the food and the joy of living"

Crabmeat with cheese porridge

Later in the week we had our monthly Birthday party for our kinder kids. I love Birthday parties not only because it gives me a break from teaching, but the parents bring pizza, chicken and snacks for all of us to share.

 Now as I have probably ranted before, I live in a pretty small town. It has is pros and cons, but the pros list JUST got longer. Every couple weeks my co-workers usually go to a movie at the local cinema. Well due to Korea's limited movie selection, we were forced to see "Puss and Boots". Lucky for us we discovered a whole new venue for Thirsty Thursdays. Our movie theater now sells beer. Woot woot!

To end my week, I went to a farewell party for a good friend that I have met in Korea. If there is anything I hate about SoKo...it is that the minute you meet a new good friend, you have to turn around and say good-bye. The only plus side to this is getting the opportunity to meet new, exciting people. Of course these new people could never replace the old, but at least I know I will go back to the States with even more amazing friendships.

Bye-bye Matt!

Bringing a little bit of the South to SoKo
shot gunning beers

I have a busy week coming up, so I'll have lots to update in the coming week. I wanted to post this awesome article my co-worker shared with me. It's 50 beautiful places to visit in South Korea. I hope to visit at least half of these places before I leave! (http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/visit/50-beautiful-places-visit-korea-873093)

I hope every has a great week! :)

-Jenn xoxo