one week, two buffets

Before I get into food-talk, one thing you should know about my school is that it is Turkish-run. This is good in many ways, as we don’t have to put up with a lot of the BS that I have heard about from Korean hagwons. However, when your boss is Muslim, it does make it awkward to have a glass of wine at school functions. Not that this is a problem– I just enjoy a nice Sauvignon Blanc with my live octopus. It also helps when schmoosing ambassadors from middle-eastern countries.

Over the past week or so I have enjoyed not one, but two giant, all you can eat buffets. Yes, this probably set me back on my Christmas-in-the-Philippines-bikini-body plans, but it was totally worth it.

Last Thursday our school director took all the staff out to dinner at a beautiful restaurant called Makino Chaya. When we first walked in all I could think was “how am I going to try everything?!” There were tables upon tables of food.

Beautiful restaurant!

There were about 5 kinds of soup – I had the sweet pumpkin soup, which was delicious. Then there were about 4 tables of sushi and sihismi. I took about 7 different roles and didn’t even come close to trying them all. There was a station with western food like pizza and fries, which I skipped.

 mmmmm so many sushis

... and sishimis!

The fish table had some very interesting things, such live, squirming octopus. We literally watched the chef chop up a living octopus and put it on the plate.  I didn’t feel that adventurous, but Rebecca took a wriggling tentacle and ran to our table to show everyone. It didn’t seem to want to leave the plate and she had a hard time picking it up but she did it! Judging by her facial expressions I’m pretty glad that I didn’t try it.

After that I wasn’t too hungry for more fish, so I went to the desserts table. There were a ton of mousse cakes, and surprisingly the sweet potato one was the best! I also tried a permission, which had the consistency of jam but didn’t taste as sweet. Not a huge fan. I also got frozen yogurt that actually tasted like yogurt, not just a bland ice cream.

juicy permission!

The second evening out was a special event for the “88th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic of Turkey”! I’m not sure what they call it in Turkey, but that’s a mouthful! The Turkish ambassador had been to our school a few weeks prior and my class performed a few little songs for him. I guess he liked them because he invited the whole class and their parents to this dinner to sing.

Our boss went a bit nuts and actually rented the kids little tuxes and dresses for the night. I thought it was a bit silly but the kids did look freakin cute.

how cute can you get?

They did a great job with the songs (one English, one Korean and one Turkish). The only bad part of the evening was waiting backstage for 45 minutes with them, trying to keep them quiet while people gave speeches.

Sunflower class doing their thang

The food was incredible… there was so much meat it’s a good thing I’m not vegetarian still. There were salads and cheese plates and rice dishes etc and THEN there was a kebab station and a turkish ice cream station! Overall it was a great night. I got to meet most of the parents and the ambassador was really appreciative of everything and even gave the kids little gifts. The kids also had a great time running around and of course the little outfits were covered in chocolate ice cream by the end of the night ;)!

A lovely evening with even lovelier people!

the hike of a lifetime

It has now been 2 weeks since my trip to Seoraksan and I am feeling very uninspired to write a blog about it now…

So, here is a “brief” description of the trip through pictures:

Blessing the entrance

There were 3 different options on the first day – a 4 hour hike, a 2 hour hike or a cable car. Somehow I got coerced into doing the 4 hour hike. The starting point of all these was at the Big Buddah at the park entrance.

The view on Day 1!! Not too shabby!

It ended up to be a stellar hike, with nice weather and lots of time to catch up with Helen, my co-teacher who came on the same trip! What I didn’t love about that hike was the stairs. We had been hiking for about an hour and a half when we came to the bottom if the stairs. I was seriously about to turn around just looking at them, but I convinced myself that it wasn’t much further to the top. Wrong. Well, it only took half an hour, but 30 minutes of continuous stair-master is no easy feat. I was feeling very accomplished by the time I got to the top, but unfortunately the clouds had rolled in and we only had a view from one side of the mountain.

The cute town had Swiss-esq hotels and scenery!

We got back to our small town, checked into the hotel and checked out our surroundings. That night we had dinner with the rest of the group and I was so exhausted I took a bath and fell asleep around 9:30! I was so tired I thought I might not make it on the long (10 hour) hike the next day, but the next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and excited.

Our view after only about 45 mins of hiking.

After a few minutes of hiking I knew I had made the right choice!!! That being said… the first hour was a steep, steep climb and if it had been like that for much longer it would NOT have been enjoyable!

Stole this one.... awesome pic!!!

The most enjoyable part of the trip, hiking-wise, was from about the 2nd hour to the 6th. We were still in awe of the scenery and we were walking along the ridge of the mountain range, so we weren’t continuously climbing or descending. Of course we were in awe the whole time, but it’s easier to appreciate it when your kneecaps don’t feel like they’re stabbing you (sry Mom, no poles!).

After about 5ish hours. Loving it!

It took us about 6 hours to reach the rest area where we had our make-shift lunches of nuts, processed cheese and choco-pies. It was pretty cold, so we didn’t linger over lunch and climbed the next 20 mins to the highest point in Seoraksan – also the third highest point in Korea!

Big love for the highest peak at Seoraksan!

The trouble started when one of the girls I was walking with started having a lot of trouble with her knee. She was in quite a bit of pain and when we made it back down to the rest stop a man came up to us and gave her some freeze-spray and asprin. We knew we had a loooong way down, so we braced ourselves for the descent.

Our awesome little hiking group at the tip top! Notice Laura's cane :(!

The rest of the hike was spent playing games, telling stories, singing songs… anything to keep our minds off our knees and thighs! We basically didn’t stop to rest because we wanted to get down as quickly as possible… but we were still the last ones back to the bus!

For the last 3 hours we walked along a stream in with some gorgeous 'waterfalls'!!

We kept seeing sings that said “2 km”, and then we got to that point, and we would see another sign saying we still had further to go! Eventually we made it to the bottom, just as it was really getting dark.

The 11th hour – about 30 mins before we found the bus.

When I got back to the bus, Cate and Sarah had a cold beer waiting for me and I collapsed in the backseat. Amazingly, after dinner our hiking group plus a few others had enough energy to hit up a noraebang and stayed up pretty late. The next day we were all pooched though. It was really an amazing trip and I can’t wait to go back!!!

happy birthday to me!

So yesterday was the big day…. 24 years old! On most of my birthdays I usually say “I don’t feel like I’m 22, 23 (or whatever)”. But today, I feel 24. I feel like my 24th year is going to be something great. It’s a good solid, even number… it’s old enough to be taken seriously, but young enough that I don’t have to take myself tooooo seriously :P. Overall my birthday was fantastic. Lots of people made a fuss over me which was totally unnecessary but to be honest it felt really good. Plus I don’t think I’ve ever had so many people tell me they love me in one day! It’s a pretty awesome feeling to be so blessed.

These guys really made my day!

sweat it out

Having recently introduced some friends to my gym, I have come to realize how much time I spend there and how much I love it. The fitness room has basically become my second home in Korea.

I spent a lot of time at the gym at home too, so it’s nice to have that familiarity. It’s a comforting feeling to actually know what I’m doing, unlike most other daily experiences in Korea.

The machines are all basically the same. There’s the trusty old treadmill (complete with a tv, for boredom relief), some upright and some recliner bikes. The cardio equip is complete with a few elipticals and two steppers. It’s no Goodlife, but at least they work.

The most interesting machines are the ones you don’t find at home. I like to call them the ‘jiggly’ machines. The ones that I have dared to try are ones that you stand on, and it basically vibrates your whole body. I believe it’s supposed to be good for blood flow and to loosen up your muscles. Then there’s the ‘jigglies’ with bands, that you put over whatever body part you want jiggled. I have seen these in Archie comics and thought they were out of date, but apparently not in Korea! Apparently Koreans believe they help you lose weight, but I think it’s probably just wishful thinking.

Like I thought... a little out of date!

Another interesting feature is the upsidedown board. You literally strap yourself in and hang upsidedown for a few minutes. I have yet to try it, but I can understand how it could be beneficial. Reversing blood flow is the whole point of shoulder stands in yoga, right?

I am quite relieved that some of my foreign friends have joined, since I was the only white girl for quite some time. Not that it’s been a problem… I just have a different workout technique than most Koreans. While many of the women at the gym work hard, they really don’t sweat very much, and they do minimal weight training. I have felt slightly self-conscious, to say the least, doing my bicep curls looking like a tomato.

Korean women tend to act a little differently in the change room as well. While I like to change as quickly as possible, they will stand around naked doing their make-up, talking on the phone, doing their nails etc.

I have also learned a lot about shoe etiquette at the gym as well. I knew it was courteous to take your shoes off at the entrance of certain places, but there is more to it. Sometimes it’s acceptable to wear indoor shoes, and sometimes only socks or slippers, but never bare feet. There are a lot of customs surrounding shoes, and I haven’t quite figured out the rules.

For me, the gym also has a certain attraction, in the form of a very cute employee, but that’s definitely not the main reason why I go. I mostly just go because it makes me feel good and I have to do something to counteract all the somek ;)!

I try...