Thoughts & Things From South Korea

I did write a post for the last week on the weekend but I never found the time to put my pictures together and actually publish it. This will be a bit long but I'll try to keep things concise. Two weekends ago On Friday we went into Yeongdeok to celebrate Emery's birthday with dinner and friends. It was fun to meet some more people and eat yummy food. I spent all day Saturday finishing up classwork but we had a great day on Sunday at Goraebul Beach with David, his wife, and our friend from the biggest town over, Emery. The waves were incredibly large, I think 6 meters. The water was a bit warmer this week so we spent the morning jumping in the waves and enjoying a beautiful day at the beach. The boys did some light wrestling on the beach and we ate snacks before heading home. We also played some board games at David's in the evening.  The work week This week was much better! Things are still ever-changing with our schedules and classes but classes do feel a bit more settled...

A great weekend adventure! On Saturday last week we made it down to Yeongdeok, the next biggest town from us. We drove town with David, his wife, and one other friend. We met with another Epik teacher who lives there and we had a traditional Korean dining experience. Shoes off at the door, cushions on the floor sitting crisscrossed, everybody eats and shares food together. I am a terrible tourist and am not sure what the place was called or the traditional name for the experience but it was fun! They brought out side after side after side. Some fresh greens with purple sauce, some boiled greens that tasted like essential oils, pickled sides, etc. We also had Sundubu-Jjigae (Brandon & I's favorite Korean food from Myung Ga where we would eat at often in SLC), fried green beans, onions, and meat pieces.  After absolutely stuffing ourselves to the brim and leaving some food behind (it goes against everything I was taught growing up and honestly pained me a bit); somebody decided w...

We are one full week in now. I would be lying if I tried to say this week has been all rainbows and butterflies. This experience has honestly been so different from the expectations that I had going in. We are living in a very small town quite far from big sites and cities and being in the countryside also means it can be challenging to do basic grocery shopping and even eating take-out. Other than the couple of foreign friends we have made in our city, not many people know English or at least are willing to use it to speak to us. With that being said we are extremely fortunate to have made friends with two other English speakers that live in our town. David and his wife live about a 7 minute walk from our apartment and are extremely friendly and helpful in getting us acquainted with the town. On Saturday David arranged for the other Epik teacher living in Yeongdeok, the next biggest town, about a 20 minute bus ride from here, to come and play games and share dinner together. Then on S...