The last month has been extremely busy. We ended the school year, started a new one, I had my birthday and of course have been up to several fun and exciting things! My last post was about Nami Island, so let's start from after that.
The following weekend I learned to make another Korean dish - Kimbap! Kimbap is sort of like sushi but is filled with egg, ham, cucumber, radish, roots and usually artificial crab. Chris and I went over to Sunny's house to learn and eat. Sunny is one of the Korean teachers at our school that started after I arrived but we became friends quite fast. She is funny, shy and very kind-hearted.
As you can see, it turned out well! I was super surprised at how much salt there is in making kimbap, and the fact that you can't even taste it! This is definitely something that I would like to make again, and even make when I return to Vancouver. We planned to have another night of cooking together, we recently decided to do it this Saturday, this time we will teach Sunny how to make spring rolls!
That Sunday, Chris and I went to see Mamma Mia! Chris' friend works for the productions that come to Seoul and got free tickets for Chris who then invited me along. It was so much fun! It was the British cast, but they incorporated Korean elements which I thought was cool. For example, during one of the dance routines, they did the Gangnam style dance as part of their routine. We went and ate Greek food in Itaewon beforehand which I was excited for, but it wasn't as good as the Greek food you can get in Vancouver. Afterwards, Chris, Erin (the friend who got us the free tickets) and I got drinks at Blue Bridge Wine Factory. Definitely a fun Sunday.
The last week of February was a blur. It was the last week of the school year, we had the kindergarten graduation ceremony, it was my birthday, several people left Korea as their contracts ended - so many things! I will do a separate post about the graduation ceremony, so stayed tuned for that!
My birthday on the other hand, was a blast! The morning of my birthday was a little bit sad for me. I absolutely love celebrating my birthday and this year was the first year that I woke up to nothing special, being that I am living by myself. It was a bit strange but walking into my class and seeing that Sally not only made me a card but brought me a birthday cake made me feel so special! So that day we had a birthday party for Ashley Teacher in class.
Then Sally and I took silly pictures together.
Later in the day, I a cake was brought to me in the staffroom, from the staff, something that they do for all of the teachers.
Anie was away on my birthday, and was away for most of Friday, our last day of the school year. My supervisor Lucy, told me that Anie would be coming for the last 40 minutes of class to have a party. Both of us assumed that it was to celebrate the end of kindergarten. Anie and her mom arrived with a cake and so many snacks, only to find out that it was all for my birthday! So sweet! She missed my birthday and insisted that she come for the last 40 minutes the next day to celebrate.
For the Friday night after my birthday, I had made reservations at ASHLEY a buffet restaurant. Making the reservation was a bit funny. I tried myself but they didn't have anyone who spoke English. So I had Chris call on my behalf as she can speak Korean! When they asked what name to put the reservation under it became very confusing as they couldn't figure out how to spell my name or understand that my name was the same as the restaurant name, so we put it under Christine instead!. I basically invited all of the friends I have made in Korea and it was a great turn out.
Xander, Jess, Chris and Ben
Mayna, Noelia, Mel, Sarah, Xander, Joel, Jess, Chris, Ben, Kelly and Martin
Chuck, Nate, Laura and Elliot (not pictured) sat at another table as they came late
Afterwards we went for drinks at PUB210 and then went dancing at a dance club called Monkey Beach. One great memory that I have from that night is how Ben is always there to save us from unwanted attention. Ben will always pretend to be my brother and tell people to back off if I want them to, such a great friend and it was needed at Monkey Beach.
My friend Glenn was in town that weekend as he flew back after visiting home for 3 weeks. We walked around Seoul for the day then went bowling. It's not as easy to just google where things are in Korea, most of the time, and even finding a bowling alley was a big tricky, but we were determined and eventually found it. I hadn't been bowling in quite some time and had so much fun. I love bowling and it was fun to do near my birthday, as I usually do that back home as well. We walked into the alley to find everyone dressed in pink bowling outfits - so amazing. Although we had already gone into the basement to get to the alley, there was another floor below for those not as "pro". We played three games next to a Korean family who cheered for us when we got strikes and spares and we cheered for them as well. They had a little boy we kept trying to bowl which was way to cute.
From there, we met up with Ben, Bo (Ben's girlfriend) and Chris at Ben's new apartment in Seoul. He finished his contract at the end of February with LCI and got a new teaching job in Seoul. His apartment is nice and he has a great work set up so I'm super happy and yet a bit jealous of him. We ate pizza, drank beer, and played cards. We gave each other dares when we lost at cards, so I had to eat a pack of parmesan and then later I had to have a photoshoot with a fire extinguisher.
We were all supposed to go out for Nate's leaving Korea celebration but Ben and Bo called it a night so Chris, Glenn and I headed out. First we met up with some of my friends at a bar called Thursday Party for my friend Tatiana's birthday. From there we went to another place to see Nate and other friends. It was a good night of seeing many people.
The following week we started the new school year - longest week of my life. But more on that in another post as well.
The following weekend was Ben's birthday. So Friday we planned to meet in Gangnam to go to a bar called Rainbow. Chris, Laura and I were the first to arrive in Gangnam and we were having trouble finding the place. My friend Joel, who had just gone back to Vancouver often went to Rainbow so I messaged him pictures of where we were and he gave us directions and we found it! How cool is technology these days?! The place was packed when we arrived but we decided to wait to get a spot. Eventually we were given two separate spots and then we got to move to a bigger area so we all got to sit together. Afterwards we went dancing in Sinchon.
SY, Laura, Ben, Bo, Myself and Chris
The next day was Jessica's birthday celebration. We met at Dino Meat for dinner then went to Norebang. Dino Meat is a meat buffet. All you can eat meat of different cuts of beef! It was good, but I have a favourite galbi (Korean bbq) place and so far nothing has been better than that. Honestly, I would have rather been there than Dino Meat.
During the week, I went out for dinner and Norebang to celebrate Allison's one year in Korea.
Martin, Myself, Reid, Allison, Heidi, Mayna, Noelia and Kelly
And finally last weekend!!
On Friday Chris and I ventured out to check out a Hanbok cafe. Unfortunately by the time we got there, it was closed. So we decided to go to the Sheep cafe. Unfortunately again, the sheep were not there that day. So finally we decided to check out the Victorian Era cafe. So cool! It was completely decorated and we got our own private area to have tea. I loved the decor and enjoyed my Cinderella tea. The only disappointing thing was that they were playing music that didn't match up with their theme. BUT it was amazing because we got to sit on couches!! I have not sat in a couch in 8 months, it was glorious. Really it's the little things. We didn't want to leave. The place was called the Palace "where princess lives".
There was a cute heart shaped jar on our table, so we decided to leave a note inside for the next person: "Appreciate yourself and honour your soul."
On our way home we walked by the Norebang that was on the last season of the Bachelor!
We decided we would check out the Hanbok cafe the next day before going out for the St. Patrick's day festivities. The hanbok cafe is in Insadong. You arrive, have tea, select which package you want. We decided to get the package where we get to try on a hanbok, get our make-up done and two professional pictures. A hanbok is the traditional clothing here in Korea. It was fun to get all done up! These are the two professional pictures that I got. I loved that they photoshopped my hair black to match the wonderful hair piece I wore.
We also got to take a bunch of our own photos in different areas they had set up. Of course for these ones, my hair doesn't quite match but that's okay!
From here, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with other friends. The Irish Association here in Korea put on a big festival in Seoul. Here is a picture from there:
Stay tuned for my post on graduation, the new school year and some news!
<3
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