설날 - Lunar New Year

Happy Lunar New Year!

On Friday I went to Sinchon to help Mark film his new music video for 2NE1's "Lonely".. that was interesting. We were running all over the town taking different shots. It's one of his hobbies. He has a great music video for Whitney Houston that features him singing in the shower. 

On Saturday, in an effort to save money / sheer laziness I stayed on my couch all day after work and watched tv and built my puzzle. This weekend was Lunar New Year, so we got Monday and Tuesday off! It was fantastic. Everyone leaves Seoul so it was relatively empty, which was nice. On Sunday Tyler and I met some Parthenon people in Itaewon for brunch and some drinks. 

Typical Sunday brunch: a Guinness and a scooby snack

After that, Tyler and I met Joon and his two coworkers Jenny and Irene for dinner in Apgujeong. We had this really juicy, thinly sliced beef which was amazing. Then we got some drinks at a nearby bar. Because of the long day I was home by 12.

On Sunday, I dragged Cecily with me to Lotte Mart to get my new glasses fixed that I bought on Thursday. I was trying to be cheap and got the least expensive lenses (the frames were $5 and the lenses were $25). I quickly found out why they were so cheap.. the lenses were so thick! You couldn't really tell by looking at them, but they made my eyes hurt so bad and kept making me dizzy. We went to the glasses shop, I went to the counter, opened my bag, and noticed that the glasses were not in there. I was so mad! 

I really needed some new pants so we went to Uniqlo at Coex. I bought some rugged chinos, some jeans, and a green hoodie. The jeans are amazing! They are Japanese made denim. They are so soft and stretchy they feel like sweat pants! I wore the chinos and green hoodie to school on Wednesday and the first thing one of my students said to me was "Teacher, you look like a tree". Everyone started laughing and I was just standing there. Then she said "Teacher, your face is red. Now you look like an apple tree". These kids are sharp. 

After that we went to the aquarium. It was in the Coex mall, so I wasn't expecting much, but it was gigantic! I have been yelled at a couple of times in Korea for taking pictures, so I thought I wouldn't be allowed to take pictures in the aquarium. We put all our stuff in a locker and went in, then I noticed everyone was taking pictures. I was so mad! So no aquarium pictures, but I did get a great one of those flattened pennies with an otter on it. At the beginning there was a crowd of people around a cage. I went to see what animal it was and it was a chipmunk. I was like really? These are everywhere! But I guess there aren't chipmunks in Seoul. There were "doctor fish" where you could stick your hands in the tank and these fish ate all your dead skin. I was grossed out by it but Cecily loved it. It took me forever to get her away from the tank. After the aquarium we went for dinner. It was decently expensive but definitely worth it! I got Jack Daniels steak and she got Mongolian BBQ. Her barbeque tasted exactly like American Chinese restaurant lo mein.. I couldn't stop eating hers! It was so good I would kill for some Chinese buffet..

On Tuesday I went solo to finally get my glasses fixed, they are so much better now! I can actually see. For the New Years, DYB gave us 2 bottles of wine, 1 Chardonnay and 1 Medoc. I attempted to open the Medoc the other night, but the cork was so dried out that it broke the wine opener that came with the wine in half! After about a ten minute struggle I finally got the bottle open. It smelled and tasted like it went bad during the Great Depression. I took one sip and almost threw up! I dunno what happened to it. 

On Wednesday night I finished my puzzle. I glued it all together but I have no where to put it and no frame, so now I can't start the other puzzle I bought. 

Today's my day off so I went to a coffee shop to lesson plan / read a little. I was walking through the subway station when I noticed this store! Unfortunately it wasn't Mujie's Bed & Breakfast..

Some notable classroom moments this week:

I walked into class and this one girl and the teacher were laughing really hard. I asked them what was so funny and the girl said "your hairstyle" I was like whats wrong with it? And a boy made a motion like a bomb exploded on my head.. I guess they're telling me I need a haircut. Then she told me my glasses were ugly. You can always count on Koreans to tell you the truth. 

I walked into another class and went to the podium. On the podium was a brownie with a note that said "to Mario". It was from the teacher! I was so happy and it was delicious. 

For New Years, the kids bow and get money from their family members. One kid scraped up $700!

This week we were talking about gender roles, and cooking always came up in the women's category. I asked one kid who cooked for him, his mom or his dad. He said neither. I asked him then how does he eat? And he said his cook makes him food. I just stared at him like whaat?? and asked him well ok is your chef a man or woman? And he said I dunno.. we have a couple. 

Not much else has been going on.. just generally enjoying life and eating a lot of souped up Ramen (the Ramen is so much better to begin with, but I through in some eggs and some dumplings). Cheers to student loans!