Camp and Clinics

Arg, it's rainy and I'm tired and I don't want to go to work tomorrow. I'm counting down the days till the end of summer camp, mostly cause that means Cesca will be here, but also partially because I effing hate summer camp. 

Because of several factors, including the fact that I teach alone and that some of my co workers didn't exactly make enough materials, camp isn't suuuuuper fun. It's a little frustrating, but it does go fast, since it's only 3 periods. And I spend one of those periods watching clips from Disney movies. So. There's that. 

Schedule of camp, which is essentially a
waste of most English teachers' lives, both
Korean and NET.

On the plus side, since Young Ah was teaching with me, and because we finish at 11:30, we decided to go get lunch most days. 

The first day happened to be a lucky day of summer, so we had to eat chicken. Don't ask. I don't know how it works either.

This is Sam Gae Tang, which is a chicken
soup made with ginseng. The chicken is
stuffed with rice. It's tender and yummy!

Young Ah picked it apart and served it, thankfully,
cause I super suck at doing that stuff.

We also got the spicy soup, which
had ricecakes, chicken, potato,
sweet potato and ramyun noodles. Also delicious!

I stopped for groceries and couldn't resist
a little bit of strawberry milk. YUM.

It's been rainy lately, which is annoying
but also means the sky and air will be clear and
nice afterwards!

Prepping snack time for camp.

Young Ah, Hae In and I went to this cute ddeokbokki place too. It had awesome and cute decorations of all the things I love.

Howl's Moving Castle!!

Notice the Jack Skellington from Nightmare
Before Christmas!

Totoro!!! 

I think this is a sheep from Wallace
and Grommit 

More Howl's, because I love that movie.

And Mario!

again, sweet potatoes are included. The sweet
/spicy thing is popular here. This was also
delicious

The also had garlic cheese fries...? Whatever,
they were delicious

The fried rice after is my FAVORITE PART.
It's so delicious, especially with lots of
cheese.

A nice view on my walk home

Next up is "Why Christina hates the bus in Korea."

This is a mild, not too bad day. This is also why I walk home, or wait the extra 10 minutes for the regional, less crowded bus. 

I got a super sweet letter from Liz this week. Thanks buddy! It made me smile a lot :)

This ahjumma stopped me on the street
to tell me how pretty I am. She had a barbie umbrella
so she's probably super cool, right?

Craft time at camp

they made paper fans

cute, right?

Young Ah was only working till
Thursday, so we went out for beef kalbi to
celebrate the end of camp (for her...)

It was this week at the kalbi bbq place that I made a remarkable discovery. Young Ah said the kimchi was really good, so I was eating it grilled. I don't normally eat it just as is, but I thought, "meh, I'll try it." And it wasn't bad. It was actually good. Yep. 11 months in and I'm finally starting to like just plain, cold, as is kmichi. Whoa. 

On Friday, I met up with Lauren and my friend Jeanie for lunch in Itaewon before Jeanie headed home for her vacation. For some reason, there was a display of money around the world in the station.

So... close... to... being.... right....

The bbq place we went has a cool, wood
carved menu

fried mac & cheese balls YuM

Welding/Sawing things in the street. Yeah,
Korea, that's kinda dangerous....

Later on Friday, I met up with my friends to go and see Guardians of the Galaxy, which I knew nothing about, but which was AWESOME. SUCH a funny movie. Made better by the fact that, as the only foreigners in the audience, we were sometimes the only ones laughing at jokes, because the subtitles didn't really get the flavor of it. Plus, I don't think Koreans know much about Footloose, but man, we were dying. I'm sure the Koreans thought we were obnoxious haha.

We decided to grab a drink after to celebrate the end of the week, and we found a 'dream cafe/bar' that was really nice and cheap.

and they had a teepee!

My Saturday was pretty lame/chill in the morning. I have been having some leg issues for a bit, and given recent family happenings, I decided to go to the hospital to get it checked out. Now, in Korea, they say "going to the hospital" or "you should go to the hospital" for everything, and they really mean "go to the doctor." So just because I went to the hospital, it doesn't mean it was serious, like in America, where you only go when it's really serious.

I happen to live close to Yonsei University, attached to which there is the prestigious Yonsei Severance Hospital, which I believe was actually established by/named in honor of a foreigner named Severance. I think.

Anyway, this place is hella nice. Like, if I had to be in a hospital, I'd totally rather be in one in Korea. They're suuuuuper nice. 

Yonsei Severance, and most big uni hospitals, also have international clinics, which is why I went there instead of a normal doctor. So, I repeat, this was a convenience thing, not a serious thing.

This is just the cancer center. The rest is
behind the big buildings. 

The clinic even has it's own Russian desk/customer
service!

Downside: With insurance, the consultation cost me $17.60 (tho I also have a follow up with orthopedics). Upside: My prescriptions (muscle relaxers) cost me $2.30. For two. 

Yes. 

$2.30. 

Medicine is hella cheap here and it's awesome. Hopefully it helps. 

So, since I'm taking those pills, I can't really work out. And it's like 95 degrees in my apartment, so I probably wasn't going to anyway. So what did I do instead? Kept Sarah company while she shopped for good walking shoes. 

And then we went for dessert, of course!

Dutch coffee bingsu. YUUUUUM. 

I then spent a peaceful night finishign Breaking Bad (WHAT a rollercoaster of a show!) and catching up on the k drama I'm watching, It's Okay, That's Love!

On Sunday, I slept in and bummed around until mid afternoon, when I met up with Young Ah. She knows lots of cultural things happening cause she plays the jangu and has lots of friends that teach/do traditional activities, so she invited me to see a mask dance performance this weekend. It was super fun!! I didn't get any pictures of the actual show, cause it was a tiny theater and I didn't want to disturb people, plus I wanted to really enjoy the show.

before it started. it was a tiny theater and it
got packed!

Here are some of the dances we saw

The dances included dances about the plight of poor people with skin diseases (possibly lepers), slaves, and women in ancient times who suffer from the whims of men. They even passed out makgeoli in the middle of the show, which was awesome. Korean traditional performances are really great, because the audience is invited and encouraged to participate, cheer, clap and express themselves, so in the middle of big dances, people will shout "Wow!" or "Great job!" or many other things and the energy is just much more exciting and inviting than lots of other things I've seen. It really is a big group event. 

So, it's been another busy week. There have been frustrations, but like the rest of my time in Korea, those are always offset by good food, fun times and great friends, which makes it easy to forgive and forget the frustrations.

though the humidity is kind of annoying. 

Soooo, next week I'll have some big updates for you, I think, because CESCA WILL BE HERE!!! (Also, I'm going to immigration tomorrow, so depending on how that goes, I may have a lot or a little to say haha).

Honestly, it's been so long since I've seen my family that I cannot adequately imagine what it will be like to have my sister here. It's been two separate parts of my life for this entire year, and I just cannot wait for a piece of my heart to come back to me.

CAN'T WAIT TO SEE YOU BELLA!!!!

Because I'm happy, I'm giving you another hit from the adorable APink. They're sexy in a cute way, with sweet voices and smiles, and I just love them to pieces. 

Plus this song is like, the super encouraging song of kpop, like "hey, you're awesome! I support you! Don't give up!" which is a cuter (and better) message than lots of other Kpop.