This past week has been non-stop final exams so I haven't been doing much teaching and I get to leave school early. But it really wasn't all that fun of a week for me. I got really sick last weekend with some type of flu/cold combination and then I got a skin infection. All together I was out of work and stuck in my studio for about 4 days. It was nasty. I'm all better though which is good and I'm happy to be seeing a different set of walls these days. However, productivity has reached an all time low as I've pretty much been wasting my time at school by watching last season's America's Next Top Model online. Thus the seemingly lull in blogs.
Friday after school I went to Mung Yeoung Boys Middle School with Courtney to help Jamie teach her adult English class (some of the teachers make extra money by teaching after school courses). It was really fun to meet some new people and humorous at the same time. Jamie put everyone in groups of four and told them to each write a question to ask me and Courtney. Two of the single guys pictured earlier were in the class and they had some great questions! "What is your perfect man?" "What do you think of Korean men?" "What do you think of me?" lol. Someone asked me what is my favorite part of my body and I said my mole because it is the source of my power. They all laughed. :) We've made arrangements to go bowling on Thursday with the young teachers from Jamie's school and I think we're also having dinner and karaoke afterwards.
Saturday, Coutney and I went to Everland, a giant amusement park just outside of Seoul to celebrate the birthday of our friend Ceri (another foreign teacher). I almost didn't go because I didn't feel like traveling but being stuck in my studio for four days drove me crazy and left me dying to see civilization again. I'm actually quite glad I went. I actually liked it better than Disneyland. It wasn't crowded at all (which was surprising because it's all decorated for Christmas and we were there on a Saturday) and there were tons of rides: two roller coasters (one more is being built and it looks amazing!), sledding, two haunted houses, bumper cars, a big ferris wheel with closed door compartments, a carousel, tons of other upside-down-and-spinning rides, fun houses, the biggest toy stores you've ever seen, a picturesque village of ever color known to man, and the most amazing thing of all was the ski lift and moving sidewalks so that you didn't have to walk up the big hill in the middle of the park! It was magical. I didn't take any photos of my own but I'll be getting some from a friend soon.
There was also a super cool Safari Adventure park within the park. I can't say that the animals had the best living environments, but they looked happy and well fed at least. One part of the park had exhibits where you could view the animals through glass into their little rooms/cages. There were two cages with lion cubs and one of them had a crib with two lion cubs and a baby monkey in it! Yes--they were in the same crib! We were all dying laughing. That baby monkey was trying to make babies with the lions! Holy cow! It was hilarious! He would chase the cubs around the crib, bite their ears and hop on top of them. The cubs just kinda shook him off and then moved to another part of the crib, closely followed by the monkey. One of my friends got a video of it. I will definitely be posting that when I get it. All I can say is that monkey is going to be really confused someday! There was also another exhibit in the park--a real safari--where you got on a bus and went through little reserves with wild tigers, lions, and bears (oh my!) as well as ligers, giraffes, ostriches, and one elephant (the last three were in a separate reserve away from the meat-eaters). It was so crazy! We all agreed that it was like being a part of the movie Jurassic Park! The fences were huge just like the movie and there were double gates like the movie. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they actually used the movie as their model. While on the bus and going through the reserves, the bus driver would through little animal cookies (ha!) out of a wire window to get the animal's attention so tourists could take photos. The bears actually did tricks for their cookies--things like scratching their butt, sticking their tongue out, clapping, waving, and walking on their hind legs on the side of the bus. It was amazing. I wish I could capture it in words for you. However, the whole thing does have me thinking more about the ethics of zoos...
All in all, Everland was amazing and if any of you come visit me, you can count on seeing this one-f-a-kind amusement park.
Last night, I had a dinner party, attended by Hyeon Suk, Crazy Cow, Courtney, Tyler (just for dessert), and two girls from my church. It was great! I made a Greek style fried chicken (thanks Stacy for the idea!) and a Greek pasta salad which left everyone begging for more! For dessert, we had vanilla flavored pancakes with sugared strawberries as a topping (I wanted strawberry shortcake but I don't have an oven). It was a big hit as well. I only took two photos because they were hilarious but I'm at school now and can't upload them. Check back later to see them.
I absolutely love cooking and I love cooking for my friends. I wish I could do it more often. :) My next dinner party ideas: coconut shrimp, a traditional dinner (potatoes, gravy, stuffing, turkey), and home-made chicken noodle soup! I just found a place where I can buy small, whole chickens!
Wednesday is election day in Korea (more to come on that later) and there is no school. Courtney and I are planning to go to Mung Yeoung Sae Jae and check out a natural mineral water spa up there. For Christmas, we're planning to go skiing. We're going to take a bus after school on Monday and ski all day Tuesday. For New Years, Courtney is trying to make arrangements for me to go on a ski trip with her and the teacher's from her school. Let's hope everything works out! My school doesn't do anything together... :(
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