I found a great little place to get my nails done near our apartment in Ulsan. The owner is so sweet. She even speaks English, which was a surprise because the sign was only in Korean. The shop is on the second floor so if I couldn’t read Korean, I never would have found such a wonderful nail shop. And did I mention she charts about $6.50?
Sorry I’m behind on my blog. I have been really busy packing and cleaning. I will update soon.
I wanted to post something to keep you entertained so I thought I’d leave you with a music video. This song is Korea’s big hit of the summer. I have been hearing lots of buzz about it, but today I finally watched the music video. It’s odd and funny and very Korean… enjoy.
I threw a Christmas cookie baking party at my apartment. Baking in Korea is a challenge because ovens aren’t common in the officetel type apartments that most of the English teachers live in. I have a toaster oven and even that is a luxury.
It’s also really difficult to get baking supplies. I had to go to the baking store in Nampo-dong (about 45 minutes each way by subway) just to find vanilla extract. It was all worth it though because the day was a lot of fun and the cookies were tasty.
… and the other was a small gathering at my apartment on actual Thanksgiving.
Jamie, Shanna, Xong, Yangyee and Faith came over after work and we had a nice meal together. If I was going to be away for Thanksgiving, I was happy to be with my Busan family.
Our drink selections included Pepsi, water, Fanta and soju.
Thanksgiving dinner
Shanna was proud of her Costco ham.
Faith brought rolls (and salad).
Yummy desserts! Pumpkin pie and cheesecake
So good!
I had two Thanksgivings in 2011. The first was a potluck with a large group of friends the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Our group was made up of people from seven different countries. The food was delicious and the company was great. I even brought the game LCR and it was a big hit. (Fun Fact: This was the night before Dave and I went on our very first date.)
Everyone brought a dish and everyone voted for the best one after we ate.
After dinner we played one of my favorite games, Left Center Right. And the lucky winners of the games took home lots of 1,000 won bills, y’all!
It was such a fun night! We all had a great time.
Check out my post about my second Thanksgiving celebration.
Beomeosa Temple is one of my favorite places in Busan. It’s so pretty and peaceful. Here are some photos I took last June.
I post almost all of my photos from my phone, but the app hasn’t been working properly this week. I’m going to try to catch up on the posts I’ve missed in the next 24 hours. If you’re an email subscriber, I apologize in advance for flooding your inbox.
Back in October, a bunch of the English teachers in Busan got together for a scavenger hunt. The girl who organized it did a really great job and everyone had a lot of fun.
To play, you had to register your 5 member team online prior to the event. Also, each team needed a name and themed dress was encouraged. There was a prize for the best costumes. My team chose to do something simple. We wore red and black and called ourselves the “Red Hots.”
We all met up at HQ Jangsan. In order to get the packet that contained the challenges, you had to participate in a flip cup challenge. I’ve actually never played flip cup so our teammate, Jamie, took the challenge.
It took a few rounds of the game, but once we got our packet, we set out on our 
way to complete the challenges. The packet contained a list of photo and video challenges. Each challenge was given a point value and the top 3 teams with the most points were awarded prizes at the end of the night.
The Red Hots came in second place and our prize was a keg. Basically, we were allowed to go into either of the HQ locations on a night of our choosing and drink a keg’s worth of beer for free.
I’ve posted the photos and video below. Enjoy!
My friends’ team — Noah’s Arc & The Zoo Crew
Take a picture of a local proposing marriage to one team member- 100
Take a picture of your entire team planking- 200 + 100 for most unique location
Take a picture of 2 team members on a scooter-50
Take a picture of a team member humping something inappropriate- 50
Take a picture of a team member holding a baby, making the face that they would make if they’d just found out that it was theirs- 100 + 100 for best face
Take a picture of a team member with a local couple wearing matchies- 50 pts for every piece of their clothing that’s matching
Take a picture of a Korean couple making out- 100
Take a picture of 4 team members with at least one body part in the ocean- 200
Take a picture of one team member with their face painted- 150
Have one team member challenge a local to a game of Dance Dance Revolution (dancing arcade game). Take a picture of them cheating-50
Find a stage of some kind. Take a team airband picture-100
3 team members doing love shots with 3 locals at the same time- 50
Take a picture of all five team members in a taxi taking up all of the seats- including the driver’s- 200
Take a picture of all team members posing like in an old school family photo on the ugliest possible piece of furniture you can find = 140 +50 for best picture
Take a picture of your team handing out samples at a grocery store- 100 +50 if anyone is wearing the salesperson’s white legwarmers
Take a picture of a team member holding a dog that is wearing accessories or has coloured fur- 50
Create an art piece. Take a picture of your team with the piece- 100 +200 for best
Bonus Challenge: Get into a human pyramid and take a shot at the same time
Bonus Challenge – get a photo with as many locals doing the “Kimchi” pose as possible
1. Create a talk show featuring a team member as the host. Interview a kimbap changook lady, who is ‘on the show’ to explain how to make kimbap- 300 +100 fore most ridiculous interview
2. Play rock, paper, scissors with the largest group of children you can find- 50 +100 for largest group of children
3. Sit with an adjumma (old lady) selling fruits of veggies on the street and videotape your first sale- 100
4. Dance using some kind of pole to teammate-produced music- 100
5. Have one team member give another team member a manicure in a beauty shop. At one point in the video, the ‘manicurist’ must ask a salesperson for advice- 200
6. Purchase a fish (doesn’t matter what kind) from an adjumma (old lady) and set it in the ocean. 2 vids – 150 for purchase, 200 for release
7. Re-enact a famous movie scene in a GS25- 100 +100 for best
8. Have one team member teach a yoga class to at least 5 strangers on a beach. Get a video of at least 1 minute of it- 200
9. Go to a supermarket. Have two team members wheelbarrow through the aisles as if one team member is the cart. Purchase an item-200
10. Have one or more team members serenade a stranger using an instrument of some sort- 150
11. Have at least 3 members of the team crabwalk from one convenience store to another- 150
12. Get an adjumma (old lady) or adjushi (old man) to let a team member give them a piggy-back ride- 150 +200 if you get them to give the team member one
13. Get a business card ninja (the ones on the scooters) to shoot at least 3 cards at a team member while the team member is blindfolded- 200
14. Create a team CASS commercial using at least 4 locals- 300 +50 for best commercial
15. Go into a random group of locals’ noraebang. Get a video of your team singing ‘Sweet Caroline’ with the people who actually paid to be there- 400
February 22nd is Melissa’s birthday. She is one of my close friends back in Texas. On her birthday two years ago I decided that it would be funny to just send her picture texts of completely random things. I sent her one of those pictures as a reminder and then it got a bit out of control. Mel suggested I relive the randomness so I decided I would do 28 pictures for her 28th birthday. It turned into a bit of a photo diary of my day so I thought I would share it.
I started sending the pictures at about noon on February 22nd (10pm Feb 21st) and my goal was to finish within 24 hours. I was still in Ulsan and was spending the day inside so the first few pictures are just random things in Dave’s apartment. Afterwards, he drove me back to Busan and we had dinner in a restaurant in Shinsegae (the world’s largest department store). My goal was to take make it through 14 pictures before bed. The next 14 were taken when I woke up.
So there is a peak into life in Korea. I hope you enjoyed it.
Today is another day in Ulsan. Last night Dave and I returned some chairs we borrowed for the party and were invited in for a glass of wine. During the conversation I was invited to play Canasta with some of the wives of Dave’s co-workers. I’ve never played Canasta before. Should be a good time.
Life Outside of Texas 