Oh ven, oh ven Bendito Emanuel de la maldad rescata a Israel que llora en triste desolación y espera ansioso su liberación ¡Cantad!,¡Cantad! pues vuestro Emanuel vendrá a Ti muy pronto Israel. "Oh ven, oh ven glorioso Rey de Sión y ten Tú Trono en cada Corazón Disipa toda la Oscuridad y enseñanos Tu santa Voluntad. ¡Cantad!... En Home Plus....   Comiendo en VIPS        |
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Ya llegó diciembre (y el frío) :)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Japan
Tokyo, Japan
There are a few countries in Asia that I would really like to visit while I'm on this side of the world. Japan was definitely on that list. Thankfully, Tokyo is only a 2 hour flight from Seoul so it worked out well
A few highlights:
It's a pricey city. I knew this from the beginning but I'm used to Seoul's inexpensive food and transportation system that it was still a bit of a shocker. We found a lot of free/inexpensive things to do though.
The subway system was confusing. There are so many lines (of course, it's a HUGE city) but then there are also separate tickets for separate lines. I guess I should've done my research more!
We couldn't find free Wi-Fi anywhere but then we found the Apple Store. :)
The only sushi we had was on the flight there (we did eat a lot other good things, too!)
A few pictures:
There are a few countries in Asia that I would really like to visit while I'm on this side of the world. Japan was definitely on that list. Thankfully, Tokyo is only a 2 hour flight from Seoul so it worked out well
A few highlights:
It's a pricey city. I knew this from the beginning but I'm used to Seoul's inexpensive food and transportation system that it was still a bit of a shocker. We found a lot of free/inexpensive things to do though.
The subway system was confusing. There are so many lines (of course, it's a HUGE city) but then there are also separate tickets for separate lines. I guess I should've done my research more!
We couldn't find free Wi-Fi anywhere but then we found the Apple Store. :)
The only sushi we had was on the flight there (we did eat a lot other good things, too!)
A few pictures:
Tokyo Tower!
Japanese Yen. Cha-ching!
Imperial Gardens
I was able to scratch "Take a picture in the center of Tokyo" from my Bucket List:)
After walking around in Ginza, we went to a little coffee place where I got Japanese Green Tea. Note: it was the most expensive cup of tea I have ever had;)
Shibuya: the world's busiest crosswalk (or something like that)
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Thanksgiving
The holidays are upon us! I love this time of year!
We had a little celebration at school for the kids. The week of Thanksgiving, they learned about the pilgrims, the Mayflower and the food that is eaten on Thanksgiving. They even made little pilgrim hats and bonnets. Thursday finally came, and we had a little Thanksgiving dinner. It's hard to get turkey here so we had to substitute with chicken. We also had fruit salad, corn and mushroom gravy. Pumpkin pie was the dessert.
The kids were hesitant to eat at first and one student even asked, "No rice?" I explained that they should try everything to see whether they liked it or not. They made strange faces when I served the pumpkin pie and I explained that many people love pumpkin pie. They still didn't get it. I then explained that many children in the USA and other countries might not like things that they eat like kimchi or seaweed soup. They all gasped in horror. :)
Did you use chopsticks on Thanksgiving? :)
I did get to have a really good Thanksgiving, too! My church sponsored a Thanksgiving Dinner at the US military base. They provided transportation and then the meal was catered by a hotel on the US base. For a little bit, it felt as if I was on American soil again. There were stand-alone fast-food restaurants and everything! It was worth the W40,000! :)
Rachel was happy to be able to use a fork and knife again!
Waiting to eat...
YUM!
Bright's first American Thanksgiving experience!
Food babies!
This picture is a bit dark but it says "In Remembrance of September 11, 2001 Serving those who serve"
On the actual Thanksgiving Day, I met up with my friend Jessica and we headed to the Wangsimni Plaza and looked for a place to eat. We knew we couldn't find any traditional Thanksgiving meals so we thought about eating another great American dish: the burger.
We ate at Krazee Burger (it reminds me of Five Guys). This was my first burger in over 3 months and it was good!
Then, I came home and skyped with my family and we watched the Macy's Day Parade together.
We had a little celebration at school for the kids. The week of Thanksgiving, they learned about the pilgrims, the Mayflower and the food that is eaten on Thanksgiving. They even made little pilgrim hats and bonnets. Thursday finally came, and we had a little Thanksgiving dinner. It's hard to get turkey here so we had to substitute with chicken. We also had fruit salad, corn and mushroom gravy. Pumpkin pie was the dessert.
The kids were hesitant to eat at first and one student even asked, "No rice?" I explained that they should try everything to see whether they liked it or not. They made strange faces when I served the pumpkin pie and I explained that many people love pumpkin pie. They still didn't get it. I then explained that many children in the USA and other countries might not like things that they eat like kimchi or seaweed soup. They all gasped in horror. :)
I did get to have a really good Thanksgiving, too! My church sponsored a Thanksgiving Dinner at the US military base. They provided transportation and then the meal was catered by a hotel on the US base. For a little bit, it felt as if I was on American soil again. There were stand-alone fast-food restaurants and everything! It was worth the W40,000! :)
Rachel was happy to be able to use a fork and knife again!
YUM!
Food babies!
On the actual Thanksgiving Day, I met up with my friend Jessica and we headed to the Wangsimni Plaza and looked for a place to eat. We knew we couldn't find any traditional Thanksgiving meals so we thought about eating another great American dish: the burger.
We ate at Krazee Burger (it reminds me of Five Guys). This was my first burger in over 3 months and it was good!
Then, I came home and skyped with my family and we watched the Macy's Day Parade together.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Korean Fashion: shopping, badonkadonk and shoes.
I don't really know how to even write about this. People here are always dressed up and looking their best. They are always checking themselves out, too, even the guys. Everyone looks great all the time and I feel as if I'm watching a fashion show 24/7!
Just a few highlights:
Shopping: There are numerous opportunities to spend your hard-earned Won in Korea. There are endless places to go shopping. There are malls everywhere. You can shop while you're waiting for the next subway. There are street vendors. There are underground shopping areas. There are beautiful department stores with 8 floors. There are markets with discounted clothing. In Seoul, every day is Black Friday.
Department stores:
Shinsegae Department Store: I could spend hours just walking around this department store. Plus, there's a Tiffany's, Coach and Burberry store inside (and a lot of other stores!).
Lotte Department Stores:
These are all over Korea. I work really close to one and sometimes after work, I go and people watch and go window shopping.
A big plus to these nice department stores: their amazing food courts. Many department stores have a huge grocery store on the very first floor and attached to the grocery stores are the food courts. Even the food courts are nice here and the food is always good! :)
Street vendors and underground shopping:
Markets
Heels: Many people at home make fun of me because I tend to wear heels or wedges most of the time. Well, it doesn't even come close to the girls in Korea. They wear huge heels all the time! I'm always shocked at how they can run so fast so they won't miss the bus or the train in those HUGE heels. Props to them.
Baby got back: My height allows me to wear a lot of the dresses and skirts here but not the pants! I've tried on a few pants and jeans since I got here, and well, they won't go up around my butt! It's a good thing I brought a lot of pairs of jeans with me. Sir Mix-a-lot, please come sing your anthem here and help me out!
Speaking of butts, these padded undies are everywhere, too! I think it's funny that in the rest of the world, we try to hide it but here, some ladies want a little padding. :)
Shoes
My booty might not fit into the pants but my feet fit into the shoes! Finally....a place where I can find shoes. I don't really like shopping and I haven't liked shopping for a long time but Korea's shoes may change this for me. Finding size 5 shoes is hard to do but here they actually have small-sized shoes. Usually, I'm stuck stuffing my shoes so they can fit or wearing granny-type shoes because they are the only ones that fit, but not here. They even fit my sister. My sister has smaller feet than I do (mom calls her Cinderella):) and I sent her shoes as a Christmas gift and they fit perfectly!
Just a few highlights:
Shopping: There are numerous opportunities to spend your hard-earned Won in Korea. There are endless places to go shopping. There are malls everywhere. You can shop while you're waiting for the next subway. There are street vendors. There are underground shopping areas. There are beautiful department stores with 8 floors. There are markets with discounted clothing. In Seoul, every day is Black Friday.
Department stores:
Shinsegae Department Store: I could spend hours just walking around this department store. Plus, there's a Tiffany's, Coach and Burberry store inside (and a lot of other stores!).
Lotte Department Stores:
These are all over Korea. I work really close to one and sometimes after work, I go and people watch and go window shopping.
A big plus to these nice department stores: their amazing food courts. Many department stores have a huge grocery store on the very first floor and attached to the grocery stores are the food courts. Even the food courts are nice here and the food is always good! :)
Street vendors and underground shopping:
Heels: Many people at home make fun of me because I tend to wear heels or wedges most of the time. Well, it doesn't even come close to the girls in Korea. They wear huge heels all the time! I'm always shocked at how they can run so fast so they won't miss the bus or the train in those HUGE heels. Props to them.
Baby got back: My height allows me to wear a lot of the dresses and skirts here but not the pants! I've tried on a few pants and jeans since I got here, and well, they won't go up around my butt! It's a good thing I brought a lot of pairs of jeans with me. Sir Mix-a-lot, please come sing your anthem here and help me out!
Speaking of butts, these padded undies are everywhere, too! I think it's funny that in the rest of the world, we try to hide it but here, some ladies want a little padding. :)
Shoes
My booty might not fit into the pants but my feet fit into the shoes! Finally....a place where I can find shoes. I don't really like shopping and I haven't liked shopping for a long time but Korea's shoes may change this for me. Finding size 5 shoes is hard to do but here they actually have small-sized shoes. Usually, I'm stuck stuffing my shoes so they can fit or wearing granny-type shoes because they are the only ones that fit, but not here. They even fit my sister. My sister has smaller feet than I do (mom calls her Cinderella):) and I sent her shoes as a Christmas gift and they fit perfectly!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
N Seoul Tower, Lantern Festival and Heated floors!
Seoul Tower
One night after work, we went to N. Seoul Tower. Seoul Tower is an observation and communications tower located in the center of the city. It offers great views of the city because it is situated on Mt. Namsam. You can either hike to get there or take a cable car. Which one do you think we did? :)
Lantern Festival
All of these lanterns lined a large portion of the Cheonggyecheon Stream, which is a 5.8 kilometer stream in downtown Seoul.
Ondol:온돌
So it's been getting cold here...really cold. Okay it hasn't been terribly cold for your average person but for me, anything below 70F is cold. You know how I feel about winter! So of course, I wanted to turn the heat on. After getting help from another teacher and googling it, I didn't figure it out. Stash did. Haha.
Heating here is really neat. Ondol is underfloor heating and it uses direct heat transfer from wood smoke to the underside of a floor. Translation: my feet are nice and toasty when I walk around my apartment.
My thermostat:)
More adventures to come later!
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