We had our Valentine's date the 21st instead. We went to Itaewon - the section of Seoul most known for foreigners. There are lots of foreign restaurants and stores. There is an English bookstore there and a food store that carries lots of soup, sauces, and misc. - basically anything and everything. We were also shoe hunting for Cameron. He was wanting a pair of Kswiss ,his favorite brand, but hadn't had much luck with his size. Most Korean stores only carry up to a size below his. He wears an 11. He ended up getting a pair of Puma's which he really likes.
Some pretty flowers we picked up in the subway on our way home one of the weekends.
We were hoping to catch a movie that day, but by the time we got to the theater that we knew of at the Yangson station and mall, there wasn't one showing until late. So we did a little looking around at the mall. Then we headed home. Traveling around takes a lot of time in such a big city. You have to really plan out your days.
That Sunday we decided to check out the church we had gone to first again. So we headed to Uijongbu Baptist Church. It was a nice change. A couple we had been getting to know goes there ,which was nice. We met some more people and had lunch out with our friends and another new friend.
After church we decided to check out the theater in Uijongbu. I was really wanting to see Marley and Me. I bought the book last year and hadn't gotten around to reading it. Then I heard about the movie and got right to reading. It was a great book! I recommend it. It's hysterical and heart touching - a tear jerker. The movie was great! Not without it's little differences, but all around they did a great job with it! May have to get that one when it comes to DVD.
The week following was March 1st. The first Sunday of the month our church always has some sort of special lunch arrangement. This month they did "Guess who's coming to dinner?" You could sign up to be a host or a guest. We signed up to be guests since we were new. So after the service they drew names out of a sack to put with hosts. We were chosen first.
We went to the house of a Korean woman in our church. She is married to an American soldier who is in Iraq right now. They had been stationed in Korea and he was sent to Iraq. He is due home in November. They have 2 children, a boy 11 and a girl almost 2. She was fun! We got to play with her and she entertained us while we waited for lunch. Also, another Korean couple from our church came. They lived in the states for many years as did our host. She went to school in the states. We had a great time of fellowship getting to know these great people. The food was amazing. We had bulgogi BBQ. I think it's beef, but it might be pork. I need to find out. It's a common Korean meat that is marinated and the cooked over a burner or coals. Usually there are vegetables served with it. We had onions, squash and mushrooms all cooking on the pan at once with the bulgogi. We also had rice and kimchi. I'm really coming to like Korean food. I'm still getting used to the spicy stuff. As long as there are pickles of some sort I'm usually fine. There are usually various foods that are pickled which cleanse the pallet of the spice that lingers in your mouth. The most common one is pickled radish.
We really enjoyed having this special time and can't wait for the next "Guess who's coming to dinner?" - maybe we will host next time. I will start looking for recipes to plan.
Random: Here are a couple of pictures of the sweet potato pizza that I've mentioned here and there. Just in case anyone was wondering what it looks like.
School has gone fairly smoothly the last few months. We had a big change with March - adding 2 new Korean teachers. One Korean teacher is replacing another Korean teacher which is sad. But our co-teacher is getting ready to move to Australia to study which will be awesome for her. We also added a new foreign teacher. She is from Canada. Our schedule was changed around a bit and we have added some new classes. It's good because our school is growing. Our boss I know has been running around a lot. We now have a new manager. He is going to be a great asset. He has a lot of experience from another school where he was a vice-principal. He has brought in many new ideas. I know our boss has been thankful having the help.
We have been gradually improving our living space adding little things here and there to make it easier for us. It was already a great place to live. We got another rack for our laundry area which is much better for keeping up with our never ending laundry piles. When you hang dry everything you have to be strategic about doing laundry. Cameron usually does the laundry and I know he is really thankful for the new drying rack.
We were able to get a set of speakers to listen to our iPod's on in the kitchen living area. I'm so thankful for this. I love to listen to uplifting Christian music or just fun music while doing dishes, cleaning up or getting lunch ready. Before we had to listen from our computer which I was afraid might be disturbing the neighbors if it was up too loud.
The newest and most exciting addition is our oven!!!! We got a convection oven which can be used as a regular oven. It has a bunch of cooking options on it. It is a counter top size - around the size of a microwave, but probably a bit longer. It came with it's own pans which I made sure of before ordering it. This weekend I baked a batch of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies and some banana muffins. It works great! I'm so thankful that we were able to get it. I was really missing being able to bake. I had gotten some silicone pans to use in the microwave, but didn't find many recipes for the microwave that I could get ingredients for here.
On one of the last few weekends we also hiked up the mountain again. This time we made it all the way to the top. It was not an easy hike. We really need to get some hiking boots. There were a couple of spots that almost felt like rock climbing. It was fun and great exercise. We also got some good pictures of our apartment complex and got to see a great view!
We have been having some pretty good months. I have had some issues with anxiety again and I think some depression. I think just having a rough start with connecting with a church and finding some great Christian friends has been hard and it has taken it's toll. Wanting to be a mom is also a hard point for me. I'm going to write more about that on my blog site. Right now I'm trying to cope with it using natural supplements. If I need to I will go back on medication which I haven't used in about 2 years or more. Keep me in your prayers regarding this issue. It's very frustrating especially since our job situation has been great! The only thing we can ever complain about is the occasional unruly student or getting behind in our lessons. I feel really blessed to have found such a great school and such wonderful co-workers. God is good!
Events in the last 2 months:
Happy Birthday to our dads! Cameron's dad hit the big 60!
Happy Anniversary to both our parents! My parent's had their 35th!
