Life Outside of Texas

Tuesday, July 31

I am on vacation this week so I’m staying in Ulsan for a few days. I spent all day Tuesday being very domesticated. I cooked. I cleaned. I did laundry.

While I’ve been here, I’ve been making breakfasts for Dave to warm up in the mornings and I’ve packed him lunch and cooked dinner. It makes me feel better because I’ve been worried that he hasn’t been eating enough, especially now that he’s been running every day.

I finally got a chance to make him his birthday cake, too. It’s a chocolate cake (thanks to my awesome birthday care package from my family) with a layer of icing and Tim Tams on top and in the center. It was a big hit!

A year in photos – Day 156

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Monday, July 30

Our long weekend in Gyeongju is now over. After checking out of the hotel, we stopped by Gyeongju Tower to get a closer look. The center of the tower is cut out in the shape of a giant pagoda. It is really cute. Admission into the park was a bit pricey and it was really hot out so we just took photos from the gate. We plan to go into the park in September when my friend, Joni, comes to visit.

A year in photos – Day 155

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Sunday, July 29

It’s Dave’s birthday. We celebrated at midnight with two slices of marble cheesecake. The shop downstairs was all out of number 2 candles so we had to improvise.

A year in photos – Day 154

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Saturday, July 28

Dave and I are in Gyeongju to celebrate his birthday weekend. The view at the hotel is really nice. We have a great view of the lake and we can also see the amusement and water parks next door.

Dave has been keeping up with his running while we are here. Today he went for a run around the lake (just over 10k). If you look closely (or click the photo), you can see him running on the bridge in this photo.

A year in photos – Day 153

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Friday, July 27

Friday marked the end of my first week of summer camp. Finishing the first week was a great feeling because camp is my least favorite time of the semester. It’s fun for the kids, but it takes a lot of work and usually stresses me out.

I did an Olympics theme and on Friday I gave all of the students medals. They all had a really good week so I think that means it was a success.

A year in photos – Day 152

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Thursday, July 26

Today was camp day four. The past two days of camp have been really tiring. I have 3rd grade for 40 minutes, 1st & 2nd graders for 40 minutes and then I teach 4th grade for 80 minutes.

My 4th graders are exhausting. They are just so blah about camp and it’s hard to get them to be enthusiastic about anything. Even at break time, they’d rather watch Tom & Jerry than go run around the halls.

A year in photos – Day 151

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Wednesday, July 25

I bought my dinner from the back of a truck tonight. I love it when this truck is parked in my neighborhood. He sells delicious steamed dumplings (10 for 3,000 won).

A year in photos – Day 150

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Tuesday, July 24

It’s funny how instinctual this pose is here.

School is out for summer, but the public schools put on summer camps so I’m teaching English classes all week.

My 1st and 2nd graders were confused about where they were supposed to sit so I went around to take pictures of the students in their assigned seats. These girls went from normal to “Kimchi!” in the 2 seconds it took for me to snap their picture.

Note: They say “Kimchi!” when taking pictures instead of “Cheese!” like we do.

A year in photos – Day 149

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Monday, July 23

I’m cheating a bit because this picture is actually from Friday. I just couldn’t pass up posting it.

Friday was the last day of the semester do the kids got to leave at noon. All of the teachers and staff at my school were taken out for lunch. Every person you can see in this picture works at my school. My vice principal is actually sitting behind me in the white dress.

We had Korean BBQ. Korean meals come with lots of side dishes so our table was covered with food. At most BBQ restaurants they bring the meat out raw and you cook it at your table. Some restaurants have gas grills and others use hot coals. This restaurant used coals. It was really good!

A year in photos – Day 148

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Sunday, July 22

Six months ago Dave and I went to Jeju Island. I kept the tourist map from the hotel and it came in handy on Sunday.

Joni is coming to visit me in just over a month and we are all going to Jeju for a few days. Dave and I sat down with the map to try to plan out our trip.