Teacher Dinners aka "Hweshiks"

Well, it's that time of year.  A time when all hell breaks loose in a Korean school, teachers rotate schools, farewell parties have been had, and now new teacher bonding must take place.

I share an office with about 13 other 1st grade teachers.  Of these 13 teachers, 10 of them are new to the office.  Some have come from other schools, and some simply worked in a different teacher's office on another floor.  In order to have office bonding time, my 1st grade Head Teacher aka "Bujangnim" took us out to eat an extremely, beautiful and expensive meal of Hwe (raw fish).

A beautiful assortment of seafood!

Hwe--raw fish!

On the right is the Head Teacher (Bujangnim) who treated us all to this glorious feast!  As you can see, we are all sitting on the floor with our shoes off.  Luckily at this restaurant, we had backs to our floor cushions!

This fish was very good.  You can see the green bottles of Soju on either side of the fish.  The Head Teacher would go around the table and take shots with all the teachers to show respect.

After all the drinking of Soju and Maegju (beer)...and combinations of Soju and beer (So-Maeg), I noticed everyone was getting a little tipsy.  Laughs got louder, smiles grew wider, and faces turned redder.  We decided to continue this party to a nearby Norebang (Singing Room).

When you first meet a Korean, you are often convinced they are a little shy and humble.  Don't be fooled!  After spending time with Koreans in a Norebang singing their little hearts out, it hits you that Koreans are all amazing singers and performers!  They danced and sang with vibrato, or like a K-pop star.  Listeners participated by banging tambourines and clapping along.

 Of course, they forced me to sing, and so I sang "Wanna Be" by the Spice Girls.  Despite my hideous performance, I somehow managed to score 100 points on the Norebang machine.  Haha!  I guess everyone is a winner!

The party ended at about 11:00pm!  That is basically 6 hours of teacher bonding!  Too much fun!

I look forward to more good co-worker bonding time this week!

Adventures with Harry!

It had been nearly a year without seeing my favorite person.  I was waiting anxiously for Harrison to arrive at the airport... I had been staring down all people wearing plaid clothing for an hour.  When Harrison finally came out of the baggage claim, I was shocked to see his full thick Armenian beard.  I suppose all male species go through a phase where they have to flaunt their masculinity and so we took a photo together and then I ordered him to shave!

We took the speedy KTX back to Daejeon and he his first meal of Korean BBQ.

Korean BBQ with lettuce wraps, garlic, and red sauce!

The next morning was a lovely mild, winter day.  We took a stroll through my neighborhood, along the river near my school.

I guess I was taking too many pictures! 

You can easily walk your bike across the river on this bike rail.  Good idea, Korea!

Walking around the maze of underground shopping, we got some Kiwi Juice for a buck.

Gotta love Korean street food! Jja jang rice cake in cool shapes!

Good coffee shop talks with Harry!

Visiting my ukulele shop where I take ukulele lessons!

Harry got to meet Pickle the bird!

Tea time--I love the little cups!

Korean hospitality! My Korean teachers accepted Harrison like a part of the family!

This turned out to be Harrison's favorite meal: Shabu-Shabu Kal Guk Su.  He got a big kick out of dipping thin strips of beef into a boiling pot of mushroom, spring onion, noodle stew.  Since the meat is so thin, it cooks in about 5 seconds and you can eat it right away.  It was a good birthday dinner with my brother.

Harrison met my international friends and had a similar sense of style as Zach from England.

On a little hike to Gyeryeong Mountain.  This is the lovely entrance!

I believe this was a monastery...

I am always so amazed by detail on these temples!

After our little hike, we had Pajeon and Makgeolli-- Spring Onion Pancake and Rice Wine.

Fish cake on a stick...interesting!

The next week, Harrison accompanied me to my Winter English Camp.  He was a huge help in the classroom.  I think he really enjoyed teaching ESL with me.  The kids thought he was very handsome and really enjoyed playing rugby and soccer with him outside.

Harry taught the kids how to play rugby! It was a hit!

Relay race teams!

Harry tried to motivate Han-in-soo! SO CUTE!

The word game "Funglish" was a huge success!

More relay races!

The crab walk was a little challenging haha!

Harry was pretty good at crab walking, but he slipped from time to time.

Harrison demonstrated how to pick up Penne Pasta with a Spaghetti noodle for the "Minute to Win it" Challenge!

Harrison sliding a cookie from his forehead to his mouth using only facial muscles.

"Face the cookie."

Teaching my students how to bake Chocolate Chip Cookies.

"Funglish

After the English Camp was over, Harry and I were shocked at how exhausted we were.  We would go to bed at 9pm every night.  Teaching is really hard work!

Taking advantage of Korea's AMAZING health care, Harry and I stocked up on new fashionable prescription glasses.  We picked out some hipster frames at an accessories shop and walked into a glasses store. In the store they gave us a free eye exam that took about 3 minutes and then filled our frames with prescription lenses.  They told us it would be about 20 minutes to make our glasses.  We walked around, came back, and payed just $30 for our prescription glasses!  WOW! What a deal!  Aren't they cute!?

New glasses: $30, Time with Harrison: Priceless! :) Aweeee

Harry took lessons at my ukulele shop, "Hula Ukulele."  He liked the store so much, he decided to buy himself a Tenor ukulele.  He also took ukulele lessons from my teacher, Gyu.

Harry's new Tenor Ukulele!

Private Lessons with Gyu

Our favorite experience was probably skiing together at Muju Resort.  Despite the cold and wind, we really enjoyed skiing together again.  Harrison is a lot braver than I am. He zoomed ahead of me and Lynne.

Skiing at Muju Resort!

During Harry's last week in Korea, we went to Seoul and stayed with our friend Ellen.  We had a lot of fun going to the Trick Eye Museum in Hongdae, Seoul.

I love this picture of us, almost getting swallowed by an enormous sea monster!

Hahaha!

Harry and I had such a wonderful time together! I am so lucky I got to see him.  I think that he and I will treasure this trip together forever.  Hopefully, there will be many more sibling adventures to come!