"Lovely Julie"

So it's Friday again after another busy week!  The week started off well by Quinn and I going to watch the Packers beat the Vikings.  There is a little Western bar not too far from us here that replays NFL games when we can watch them, pretty sweet.  For moments you are surrounded by American jerseys, beer, and burgers and I forget where I am living.

On Wednesday, I was sent to "teacher training", which ended up being a blast.  First, we got a guided tour in English of the Gyeongbuk Palace in Seoul.  It was my second visit to the palace, but considering my first visit was on my very first day in Korea, this time was even better, aka I was actually awake.  The best part was we got special access to view one of the places where the King used to have his parties.  This area of the palace is in the middle of a lake area and is closed off to the public, but we got VIP access.  We also got to see a newly renovated part of the palace where the last Queen was assasinated by the Japanese.  Some of the history behind these palace walls are actually quite tragic and explain partly why some Koreans really dislike the Japanese.  After the palace, we went to an art musuem, which has a Paul Smith exhibit right now.  His art work is really cool and if I had the money, it is the kind of art work I hope to decorate my home with someday.  The trip was very fun and there was definitely "cultural training" involved and I got to meet a few more people who live close to me.

Wednesday night I attended my first "girls night".  A group of girls who all live in my area have been getting together on Wednesday night for about the last year to eat dinner, drink wine, and just chat.  It is a really nice thing they have going on and I enjoyed myself.  We also carved pumpkins!!! My pumpkin is classic, but very cute and adds a touch of Halloween to my apartment.

Thursday proved to be even better than Wednesday as I had a teacher field trip.  The students had a half-day of school and then most of the teachers all piled onto a coach bus to head to Yangpyeong (a suburb of Seoul, still in the Gyeonggi-do Province).  After about an hour's journey, we stopped at the Museum of Silhak.  Most of the information in the musuem was in Korean, but it was an interesting musuem that explained the integration of Western culture in Korea.  I did not know this before, but Korea was one of the last East Asian countries to accept many aspects of Western culture because the rulers of the time felt that it was not good for the wellbeing of Korea.

After the musuem, we headed to a beautiful, beautiful area called "Dumulmeori", which literally means "head of the two waters".  This is the place where the South Han River and the North Han River come together.  It was really pretty, especially with the leaves changing colors and the mountains in the background.  Alongside this area was a cute little garden and art gallery that we also walked around.

Then, came the most entertaining portion of the day--dinner.  The whole trip I did not know really what was going on, I was just kind of told when to move.  So, I walked into this restaurant, which was more like a giant tent outdoors (so it was cold).  I sit down and it is a typical restaurant in Korea where you grill your own meat or seafood.  However, the menu that night was not normal like pork, but it was EEL!!  At first, I was a little nervous because it is polite/necessary to try everything here.  But, lucky for me I really liked it.  What you do is make little lettuce wraps of eel, spicy bean paste sauce, kim chi, onions, and shove it all in with one bite.  I also ate what the teachers told me is called "ear shell".  To be honest, I still don't know what is was, but it resembled a muscle.  It was all delicious.  Of course, alongside dinner was a little (or a lot) of soju, beer, and a sweet wine liqour.  It is really fun to get a chance to socialize with teachers outside of school because in school we all have to be professional and act as role models for the students.  So, it is nice for everyone to be able to relax and for them to get to know me and vice versa.  The night ended by us all piling back on the bus and heading back to school around 8pm.  The bus ride home included the principal asking me to make a speech about my "feelings on the day".  It was so funny, I had no idea what to say and there I was with a mic and lots of teachers staring at me.  So, I managed to come up with a few words and then I was asked to make it longer.  I said a few more words and finally the spotlight was off, thank god.  It was a really fun day though and I am looking forward to the next teacher adventure.  Oh, and my principal gave me the nickname "Lovely Julie"....I am definitely ok with that one.

Another highlight of this week was that about 3 groups of students spotted me this past weekend hiking near school.  Each conversation sounded like this:

Student- "Ms. Julie-Anne, boyfriend?
Me- "Yes"
Student- "I saw, handsome...hehehehehe"

SO funny and SO cute.  I am glad it makes them happy to see me and my handsome beau walking around.  I forget how easily noticeable I am here.  I just didn't think that on a mountain of thousands of people that it would happen.