Classic

This past weekend was a Korea classic. New places, fun times, and a few bizarre stories.

Saturday began with a five hour Skype with Mom, the breakfast of champions.

Then Rebecca and I went to Daejeon to volunteer at Jahyewon Orphanage. We had been looking for a place to volunteer for a while and I am super happy that we finally did. We had fun teaching kids some English but mainly had fun and goofed around. They are super sweet kids and I plan to go back. If anyone stumbles onto this blog looking to volunteer at a Daejeon orphanage, the link to the FaceBook group is here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7104975834

After that, I took off to Seoul and stayed the night at Dragonhill Spa at Yongsan. It's the nicest spa I've ever stayed. For 12,000won a night (pretty steep for a jimjilbang, I admit) I spent about two hours soaking in the baths and slept on the mats. For those of you back home who may not know the wonders of the jimjilbang, here's a nifty article: http://wiki.galbijim.com/Jjimjilbang The spa is 5 floors (larger than most spas) and has a variety of services available like massages, facial treatments, as well as games for kids, a garden, a restaurant,a PC room, and a heat bath. I've tried the heat bath sauna-like room before, but I hate it. It makes me feel like I am trying to bake myself alive like the witches in Hocus Pocus.

Question to readers: If you see someone you vaguely know, while you're both stark naked in a Korean jjimjilbang, do you walk up to them and say hello?


Sunday morning, I went with Seoul Hiking Group on a tour of the Chungju-ho lake and surrounding areas. Ben was supposed to come, but missed the bus and had an adventure of his own trying to meet up with the tour group from there on out. The first stop was a giant stone archway overlooking a lake. The second stop was Gosu Cave. It's a nice cave. Very cave-like. But I was, alas, not made for spelunking and was pretty happy to get out of there.


However! Chungju-ho lake was beeeeeeautiful. The mountains surrounding the lake look boldly picturesque. Our group took a ferry around the lake, a ferry which carried mainly very very drunk senior citizens wearing bright colors. They started dancing when cheesy tunes were blasted from the dance floor. It was a sight to behold. In America, senior citizens play bingo. In Korea, they get crunk.



Somehow, Ben made it to the second half of the trip and our normal ridiculous nerdy adventures continued throughout Chungju. I'm gonna miss that kid like crazy when he leaves Korea and goes back to that igloo of his in Nova Scotia.

And a grand weekend was had by all. It led into a beautiful Monday. I'm so lucky to be here in Korea. Cheers.

MY NEW APARTMENT ADDRESS

Charlotte Jones
South Korea, Chungcheongnam-do, Yeongi-gun,
Jochiwon-eup, Chimsan-lee, BRD Bldg, 264-1,
#201

April Speeds On By!

Hello everyone! I hope all is well on your end of the screen! Today is a surprisingly chilly and rainy day considering how warm things have been. Soon time will detach a few of the pretty little whitish pink blossoms off their branches.

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This Saturday, my day started at 8:00am. My kids performed their play at an English Festival. The story was "Heungbu and Nolbu," a Korean folktale about a kind brother and a greedy brother. Everyone knows the story and I think it's one of maybe 10 total plays Korean elementary school students put on. They won second place, and I was really proud of them. They're such awesome kids!

Anyway, after that, I headed on up to Seoul. I had dinner with the Jochiwon locals at a great Indian place in Hongdae then met up with Mary the awesome Ohioan and her Hopeyong sister Natasha. We headed to Itaewon to see her [Mary's] husband [Doug's] band Slaughterhouse Jive perform at the Rocky Mountain Tavern. It was a pretty high falutin' night. After their set was over I met up with the Michiganders in Hongdae and we sipped on coffee and exchanged tales of mayhem until the sun rose and the metro started back up, and arrived in Jochiwon at about ten. I then proceeded to sleep until 5:00pm.

Strawberry Cherry Blossom Birthday Cake

STRAWBERRY CHERRY BLOSSOM BIRTHDAY CAKE! How absurdly delightful! But my past week has been just that! Cherry blossoms are here! Cherry blossoms are here! And they're lovely! They remind me of popcorn that have suddenly burst over the previously sad, barren trees! I love them!

Last Wednesday was my 22nd birthday and it was cool! I went to Seoul for bellydance on Tuesday just 'cause I wanted to. I got gifts from all my co-teachers and was surprised with a CAKE and all the kids singing "Happy Birthday" Facebook was inundated with wall posts galore, and some beautiful gifts from my momma back home. I got Indian food that evening and sparkly fiery free drinks from the bar! Whoop whoop!

Here's a video of my kids singing Happy Birthday. They didn't remember to add "Dear Charlotte" at the end, but I got the gist.


This weekend Rebecca, Ruth and I went to the Nonsan strawberry festival in, where else? Nonsan! It was lovely, and only about an hour away from home! We ran into a giant Strawberry, drank strawberry juice, ate strawberry ice cream, ho ddeok, rice cakes, and decorated an epic cake. Which we also ate. With chopsticks.

I wanted nothing more but to relax after that beautiful day! Sunday we took off to the Cheonan Exchange and both Rebecca and I had a bit of an epiphany in Korean language. It simply clicked, which is a joyous occasion indeed!


Last night I went to a book club, started by professors at Korea University and Hongik University in Jochiwon. We read Freedom by Jonathan Franzen. I wouldn't recommend it, but I'm really proud of having finally participated in a book club. :3

Fun Times in Korealand

It's easy to stay cooped up in one's apartment after long days of work and sometimes the lethargy extends further into weekends. But no! April is now upon us and the lovely spring season has brought beautifully sunny days! Wishing to revel in the welcome change of weather, I begged Ben to come with me to Suwon fortress, to which he kindly obliged! And since I had Ben's good luck on my side (or maybe just neutral luck paired with my own) there was a tightrope walker giving his weekly Saturday performance just as we arrived at 2:00pm! It was so impressive and cool!

Then we took a ride on the Dragon Wagon, a delightfully tacky trolley with a golden dragon head on the front car that goes around the fortress.


Which led us to archery! For two bucks each we were given ten arrows to shoot and a mini-archery lesson, which was entirely in Korean.. But we more or less got the gist. I was still pretty terrible. My arrows bounced off the targets without piercing them.. But Ben was impressive!

Later that evening it was time for the ROKD (Republic of Korea Roller Derby) launch party at Dolce Bar in Cheonan-si-- only 20 minutes from my little Jochiwon! Yup, roller derby has made it to South Korea. It was an amazing time, two of the coolest girls I know in Korea are involved in the league, and if you're reading this blog, you should totally take this time to "Like" them on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=295700354&aid=9318#!/pages/ROKD-Republic-of-Korea-Derby/198518736843205

What's happening next? That's a darn good question! I have a birthday coming up, but I'm hoping that Wednesday the 6th will just pass on without being noticed, as I'm getting pretty fed up with this aging business! This weekend is the Nonsan Strawberry Festival, and I'm looking forward to partaking in some delicious ddalgi! Oh yes! More to come ma'ams and sirs. More to come.