April and May

These past couple of months I ....


*Saw Miso, an original Korean musical

*Went to a surprise birthday party for Elisa

*Went to a good-bye party for Nicole

*Saw Cirque du Soleil: Varekai

*Attempted Korean fashion

 *Had an adjumma party

 *Celebrated Children's Day on the Han River

 *Celebrated Spirit Week at school  (Here's a picture of Hippy Day)

 *Chaperoned a middle school retreat in Taechon Beach. Seoul Foreign Schools owns a few cabins out there (which is about 3 hours southwest of Seoul) and many retreats take place here. We had 17 students attend this retreat and I may or may not have eaten more junk food than the students:)

*Explored more areas in Seoul (This is the Hapjeon area)

*Shopped for gifts for people at home (Christmas in June, people!) Here I am at Shinsegae Dept. Store

 *Went to Lotte World for the second time

 *Ended a lunch fast to combat human trafficking (it was not easy and I cheated a few times:( )  My church did this and instead of buying a meal a day, we fasted and used that money for a help-house in Thailand that rescues children from slavery and provides them with an education and a safe environment). This is what I ate when I was done (thanks to some of my students) Pretty healthy, huh?

*Enjoyed warm weather again!

*Went on a retreat high on top of Mt. Nam with many other ladies. The retreat is called Tres Días and was held at a US military retreat center. ( I called the retreat center mini-USA because I was unable to use my hair straightener because it uses a 220 volt and I had to exchange won to US dollars from a friend just to use the vending machine!) It was a great weekend. Also, you're not distracted by a watch, a cell phone or the internet. I was also able to get a glimpse of military life. Thanks to all of our troops for protecting us!

*Did a crazy workout in May which included Insanity and P90x sessions at 6am. GO ME!

*Went to a Zumba party and barbecue. Zumbalicious!

*Graded lots of restaurant projects, cultural projects and soap-opera skits. My kids did a great job and we tried food and learned about holidays from all over the Spanish-speaking world. One of my students even brought in dulce de leche. Yum!

Explored an area in Hondgae full of cute wine and dessert cafes

¡Hasta luego!

Lotte World

Lotte is a Korean company that owns grocery stores, credit cards, department stores and even an amusement park called Lotte World.Lotte World is located in the eastern part of Seoul, close to the Olympic Stadium. It is the world's largest indoor amusement park.

I went once over Spring Break when my sister came to visit and I went yesterday with a few friends.

Lotte World has a department store, a supermarket, a hotel, an underground shopping center, an ice rink, a movie theatre, a folk museum and of course, the amusement park.

Here are some pictures of the park:
 

Lotte World Take 1

 

 My sister with Lotte World's mascots: Lotty and Lorry:)

 The Carousel 

 Where to go when the kids get lost:)

 The park outside is called Magic Island and the castle looks oddly familiar ;-)

 One of the coasters at Magic Island

 Lotte World!

 The Atlantis---awesome coaster!

 Bumper cars

 An inside waterfall

 Back indoors

 The hot air balloons were my favorite ride

 View from the hot air balloon

Lotte World Take 2

The entrance from the subway

Being super tourists: a fanny pack and a backpack. How American of us. 

Drunken guests should be careful!:)

 view of Magic Island from the monorail

Here's a little preview of Korean fashion: high heels even at an amusement park!

More of the outside part of the park....