Jhi-Yoon and Hae Mul Tang

I don't plan on buying shoes from this store anytime soon. This is a shoe store near the center of town. Just thought it was a funny name for a place selling running shoes.Last weekend, Nolan and I decided to be adventurous and try a new dish. There's a restaurant nearby my apartment named Hae Mul Tang. We stepped inside, took our shoes off, took our seats on the floor, and ordered just that. We got a big pot full of seafood. Some stuff we recognized but mostly things we had no clue about. Our seafood stew was pretty spicy. I thought it was good. Although, I would have liked to have a Korean tell me exactly what I was eating. Usually, when we got out there is always some middle-aged Korean man that happens to speak English and explain to us what the dish is -- we weren't so fortunate this time.

As for school, well this was a short work week because of Chuseok. It was hard getting back into the swing of things. The students didn't want to be back and I don't think any of the teachers wanted to be back from our 5 days off either. Thankfully, some of my students always help me get through my day. The schools here don't have janitors. They have the kids clean up the classrooms and hallways. When I first found out about this it really depressed me. But oddly enough the kids seem to enjoy it sometimes. Or at least, they don't complain about it like I'd expect them to.

This is Jhi-Yoon. She's one of my students and one of the girls that come into my class to help spruce up. She's always there in the mornings too, to open up all my windows. And she's always there when I get back from lunch, meticulously rearranging all the desks so that they line up perfectly, and sweeping the floor along with some other students. I've come to know her and some of the other students that help out with keeping my class in tiptop shape. They'll take a break and talk to me in English. Sometimes I'll ask them about random Korean words. We'll listen to poppy Korean chart busters like the Wondergirls. Jhi Yoon is absolutely adorable. I always tell her she's pretty and she always replies back, "Nooo, I'm a Mooooonster" in her crazy and cute voice. I think as the year progresses I'll have more funny stories about her.


All day Saturday there had been some sort of fair going on at mount Nam. The mountain right beside my place. We heard all the commotion from my apartment during the day. We were walking through my neighborhood on our way to a birthday party later that night . All of a sudden we heard loud bangs. I excitedly pointed up in the air towards the fireworks I had just seen. Nolan didn't realize they were fireworks. He got scared and ducked. I started to laugh. Once he realized they were fireworks he took out his camera and shot a few seconds of it.


The fair was still going on today. So we decided to go up there and check it out for ourselves.
There were a lot of food stalls. I even got to see a lady make pajeon. I waited for a while in front of her stall just to see her pour the batter. I wanted to watch her make it so that I could copy exactly what they do when I make it at home.

On the otherside there were a lot of kids and their parents flying their kites.
I didn't like how allt he kites looked exactly the same. It would have been prettier to look up at more colorful kites that were all different shapes and sizes.
But watching the kids reeling their kites back in and releasing them back into the air was enjoyable.
And this time around, I'll leave you with this. A sign for a clothing store that makes no sense at all.