Happy One-Year Anniversary!

Has it really been a year since I've been living in Korea? This time last year I was at Roanoke airport saying my goodbyes to my ever amazing family. I still think about that moment I boarded the airplane and thought, "What the hell am I getting myself into?" My parents said that a year was going to be such a long time, but I remember assuring them that this year would be just the opposite. I sure was right!

So to celebrate the anniversary of my stay in Korea, I felt it very appropriate to travel to Hong Kong. Well actually it just so happens I get a week off for summer vacation, but I'm going to say this is a gift to myself for my hard work. I'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon(Korean time). Wooo! I can't wait!

http://www.photos4travel.com/

These last two weeks at school/work have been so much fun! With the end of the semester ending, we had many activities planned for the kids. First, was our monthly Birthday party. Now this party was slightly different than the rest because we had the most students celebrating. You know what that means...more fried chicken and pizza. Yeahhh!

blowing out the candles

Below is a picture of my little munchkins from Nemo class. Joshua and Soo (both in the middle) have crushes on each other. As you can see, they already look like a married couple.

my little munchkins from Nemo class

Soo and Jennifer

Our next activity was "Water Gun Play Day." All the kids brought in their water guns and we had a water gun fight outside on our school's balcony. It was so cute to see the kids getting so excited! We also filled a few water balloons for a toss game. That idea failed due to the kids not understanding the directions, so it ended up being a toss between teachers.

Nadine Teachaaa

my team...Team Bubbles

Sally was serious about this fight

As I previously stated, I'm officially on summer vacation. I haven't been so excited for those words since High School. I began my vacation with a visit into Seoul for Gillian's last night out before she leaves home to Canada.   We went to the one place in Seoul I have been dying to go to...Namsan Tower (N Seoul Tower). Check out Gillian's blog, http://loveoftheseoul.tumblr.com/ She's a photographer and has some amazing pictures!

After a short bus ride and hike, we made it to the top. 

so hot and sad from the hike

happy chingus

This tower is a hot spot for couples. Below is a picture of love padlocks. The locks of love is where love birds lock their padlocks and throw away the key to symbolize that their love will be locked forever. It is the cutest and sweetest idea I've heard! If anyone would like me to "lock their love", let me know and I gladly will.

Summer has been one big ball of adventures. I'm loving every moment of it! Except for the humidity which is causing me to shower at least twice a day. Ick!  Can't wait to share my experience in Hong Kong with you all. Sending big hugs your way!

-Jenn xoxo

Visiting Cheongwadae

It's been quite awhile since I've been  sightseeing, so today I went into Seoul with Miss Gillian to do just that. First on the agenda was Cheongwadae. This is also known was the "Blue House"or where the President lives. 

walking to the Blue House

Apparently you can sign up for tours of inside the Blue House, but there's a 21 days notice you must give. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the inside.

photo zone

Blue House

Next we walked over to another area where we found a beautiful fountain.

After being in the awful heat and humidity we decided to escape into a building full of art and history of Seoul.

While there, we were able to take pictures on this random computer and send them to ourselves.

Our next stop was to head to Insadong for tea sets. Well, in Seoul walking to your destination and not finding anything fun or interesting is just silly. So of course while on our walk we ran into the changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung Palace. (something I've been wanting to see)

As we began walking again we ran into a farmer's market. Gillian and I decided this was a "must stop". Good thing we did! I sampled some sort of random potato thing, korean children yelled at us to buy something, people took our pictures and I tried the BEST tomato juice.

Then, when we thought we were really on our way to Insadong we decided to check out a Buddhist temple right next to the tea shop Gillian wanted to visit. I have fallen in love with Buddhism since coming to Korea and every time I go into a temple I get butterflies. It was so beautiful!

Finally, we arrived at "Kkik Da Geo"(The Shop for Tea & Tea-things). Gillian introduced this teahouse to me after visiting several other times. I'm so glad she did! As we entered the store we were greeted by the sweetest old man who invited us to sit down and enjoy some tea and Korean snacks with him. 

I love that there are so many traditions in Korea! I sat in amazement while the man prepared our tea. He would pour water into the cups, then pour the water over a small Buddha (almost like a way to cleanse or maybe purify our tea). He did this about three times before he served us the tea. 

Today was a great day of exploring! It was so nice to spend the day with such a lovely person. Gillian will be leaving me in two weeks as she heads home to Canada. As of now I am still unsure of my return date home, but hopefully after the 5th of August I'll get word. Just the very thought of saying "home"and meaning America makes me all giddy inside. I have one more week of classes before summer vacation. Bring it on!!!

Miss you bunches!

-Jenn xoxo

Getting Muddy at Mudfest 2012

How do I even begin to explain the craziness of one the best weekends in Korea? MUDFEST 2012...to put it simply. Imagine 50,000 or more people playing in mud. That's basically how my weekend went. On Saturday morning I traveled with Adventure Korea down to Boryeong Beach which is about 3 hours South of Seoul. Mudfest is an annual festival where people come to cover themselves in mud because they believe it will benefit their skin or they just want relive their college Spring Break.

We arrived in Boryeong around noon and were taken to the "mud field". This was a special event that only Adventure Korea puts on and we were lucky enough to experience it. They supplied us with camo pants and a long sleeve shirt. Next, we spent 1.5 hours doing several activities such as mud wrestling, playing mud soccer, doing military exercises and just lying in the mud. 

MudField

chicken fight

www.AdventureKorea.com

a muddy mess

cleaned up

After the muddy mayhem we experienced, we headed back to the beach for a night of debauchery. Korea is pretty much the best for finding fun in the most random of places. As we walked along the beach we found a small vendor playing music and literally 50 koreans just standing around as one foreigner danced to the music. So to start the party, Gillian and I entered the circle and began recruiting people. Within a matter of minutes we had ourselves a dance party. We spent almost an hour in the pouring rain dancing, dancing and dancing without a care in the world.

 

On Sunday Gillian and I skipped the mud and headed for our own adventures. Here's just a few of what we found...

random carnival rides

mechanical panda?

 

The weekend went off with out injury until the last hour of our trip. As we stopped at a rest area, clumsy me slipped up wet stairs and bruised my toe. Ouch! I hope you all enjoy the pictures of all the muddiness. I'm getting more and more excited about the fact that I'll be munching on dim sum while visiting the Big Buddha in Hong Kong in TWO WEEKS from today. Woo!!!

Well I still miss you all. That never changes ;)

-Jenn xoxo