Heat, Cats, Coffee and Bread*

Well friends and family, it's been nice knowing you, but the 90 degree weather has already arrived in Seoul, and I do believe I will melt before the summer is at an end. 

In spite of the heat, it was another good week here. It went fast. Lots of good classes, cute kids, and nice time with friends. 

Here's a rundown of my life here as May has faded into June. Dang, time is going fast here. 

election season in Seoul

also apparently street safety for my students?

but I have this little guy to greet me on
the way to work!

another street corner on the way to work

SO MANY BANNERS

Real Chicken. I sure hope so!
(PS, that's what the hangul says too- ree-eol
chee-keen)

Imagine my surprise in seeing one of my
favorite ballerinas, Polina Semionova,
on an ad in Korea! She's a model for
uniqlo

Ben's Cookies. Cause everyone deserves a mid week treat!

It's so hot here, but the ice cream tubes are $1
and delicious!

Poor 홍차 has to wear the cone of shame

They even have portable podiums that they
drive around in to make speeches. Haha

I have to try this place. You can find anything in Seoul!

Got my first Korean test back!!! Super happy!!

This is what I pay for electricity.
 That's less than $7

More election stuff that popped up overnight

My 4th graders made clay models of animals. So cute!

Things you must learn about Korea (this one's for you Cesca)- Koreans overuse the word 빵 (bbang) which means bread. A typical interaction goes like this

Co worker: Christina, eat some bread!
Me: Uh ok... (looks- sees it's a pastry) Thank you!

and

Co worker- I brought bread! Please eat well! ( announcing in Korean)

Me: *Looks- co worker has brought in brownies...* 

Co worker: Christina, do you like bread?

Me: Yes...?

Co worker- take an extra at lunch today!

and this is what they mean

Nope

Not bread. 

 Remember kids, sometimes, when Koreans offer you bread, it's not just sandwich bread. I promise. It's probably some other sort of pastry or dessert.

This is how i converse with my siblings

On Friday, my office went out for dinner to celebrate the end of open classes (each of the teachers in the school had to do one. I was exempt, but I just had to a separate one for my renewal, so it's not like I didn't contribute haha). We went to a buffet that also serves shabu shabu, which is thinly cut, boiled beef. It was quite delicious!

Shabu shabu in the middle, and I even
found smiles at the buffet! 

my co workers get comfortable...

After dinner, I did some online shopping on Gmarket (basically Korea's Amazon) for some summer clothes, because I do NOT have enough dresses to rotate through if it's going to be 90 degrees for the next three to four months. Man oh man, this might be rough.

On Saturday, I met up with my friends to see X-men. IT WAS AWESOME.

We like to play "spot the errors" in all the signs
I know I'd eff up Korean if I tried to put it on
a sign, but my gosh, it' funny to see 

SOO good. Also, if you want to practice the
hangul, it literally says "Ex-su-maen dae-ee-ju
Oh beu pyoo cheoh paesutu" Which
is how a Korean would read "Xmen days
of future past"

 Then we TRIED to go out for a drink after, but it was a disaster. 

We went to an Irish pub in Hongdae that we'd wanted to try. They even had Strongbow, except it was out... so we ordered magners. 

And THIS is what we got.

looks watery, right??

THIS IS WHAT IT SHOULD LOOK LIKE
(months ago at the Wolfhound)

The night wasn't a total loss. Thankfully Lauren's BF was there to help us argue our case (don't mess with our cider!) and we didn't have to pay. We went to another bar we like and then hit up the park for bagged cocktails, ddeokbokki and other snacks. It was still fun, and really anything I do with these girls is a good time!

park selca!

On Sunday, I met up with Sarah for a bit. We got to Sinchon to discover there was some sort of awareness fair going on. We got asked by some people what are thoughts were on poverty (I'm so eloquent that I said, "Uh, well, I don't like it?" before giving a real answer...) Normally we don't get asked things, or we just get Korean shouted at us, so when I hear English, it's a reflex to turn and see. 

I got a balloon tho! Yay!

We browsed quickly, and then headed to a cat cafe to get coffee before we wandered around the shops.

I'll just die of the cute

Of course we found some gems shopping.

????

Sarah loves to find random batman
references on clothes haha

Well, I'm off to bed, hoping I don't melt. Seriously, it's 27 degrees C in my apartment. UGH. That's over 80 F, for everyone reading. Thankfully I have A/C, but I can't blast it too much if I don't want my electric bill to double. Haha, who am I kidding, it could triple or quadruple and still be reasonable haha.

I've got a short week this week, thanks to election day (the whole country gets a day off, so they can all vote! Imagine that!) and another holiday on Friday. My principal is nice and is giving us Thursday off as well. Huzzah!!!

So, next week I'll have lots to talk about, since I've got some time off. I can't believe it's June already!

Stay well!