Crazy Blonde AdventuresJust another Weblog

Today is White Day! Do you know about White Day? It is a follow-up holiday to Valentine’s day. On Valentine’s day in Korea, the boys and girls exchange gifts and chocolates, etc. But White Day takes it to a new level because just the men/boys give the gifts. It is traditionally a day where the men spend 3x the amount of what the girls spent for Valentine’s day. Good tradition?! Absolutely! Haha!

Since today was my first White Day, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Actually, I had completely forgotten all about it. In my first class, two boys came up to me and said, “here teacher” and put the candy in my hand. But the next class, I decided to switch things up. I asked all the boys in the class to stand up and I walked around the room with my hands out ready to receive the candy they were ready to give. It was so sweet, but I honestly felt like I had just taken candy from a small child.

Following lunch, I stopped in to visit with my principal and thought I would joke with him about having candy for me. He was so cute when he said that he wasn’t prepared. With my other Korean English teacher, we went back to our office and put together a small bag of candy for him. We delivered it to his office and in a cute way, said “사랑해요.” (Korean for I Love You.) He enjoyed it and had a good laugh. Have to keep the principal happy!

It was a great day! Now what are you doing to do for White Day next year? Consider yourself informed and ready to begin a new tradition.

The winter in Korea has been really really cold, but without any precipitation, we haven’t had any snow. This has slowly been changing and this morning, we had SNOW! Plus, since it is Valentine’s day, it makes it extra special!

One thing that you should know is that Koreans do not know how to drive in snow! We have only accumulated maybe one inch and there is complete gridlock on the roads. This morning I went to the bus stop at 7:50am and waited and waited and waited. There were several other teachers out there, so we decided to grab an americano at the coffeeshop by our apartment and take a break. After 9am, we went back to the bus stop and our bus came! We were only on the bus for 10 minutes and we made it one block! Didn’t think it would REALLY be like this, but it was. After almost 25 minutes, our bus turned left onto the main road to get to school. It was much more efficient after that, but it ended up taking one hour to get to school.

When I was almost got to school another Korean teacher was on the bus and all the Koreans thought it was funny how relaxed we were about the snow and that we kept laughing. It was free entertainment for them. Haha! Hopefully I can post pictures later! You will laugh too!

The immigration law has changed here in Korea and in order for me to stay and renew my visa, I need to obtain fingerprints to send to the FBI for a national background check. Since I can’t fly home just to have this process started, I needed to go to a police station here to get my fingerprints done. My friend Sarah and I went together to start this process and let me tell you..it was an ADVENTURE! Haha!

Our first stop was the police station next to our apartments. They did not have the equipment (i.e. ink pad) to process our request, so they drove us to another police station. And when I say ‘drove,’ that means, we got to ride in a Korean police car! On our way over, I told Sarah how funny it would be if someone saw us and thought we were getting deported. Haha!

At the second police station, they could not process our request there either. This time the police officer wrote down a note to give a taxi driver and take us to the main city police station. The phrase, “third time is a charm,” rang true in this situation. When we arrived, the taxi driver actually escorted us to the office. Here is where the next adventure starts. Haha.

Our first office was the Counter-terrorism unit, I think. Unfortunately, they don’t complete fingerprints there and an official from the Foreign Affairs office came to assist us in our quest for fingerprints. As we made our way to the next office, we prayed this would be the place. Haha. Thankfully, it was. We were at the Crime Scene Investigation office! The police officers were able to complete our request and we officially got fingerprinted! However, the chief of Foreign Affairs wanted to have coffee with us, so we made our way to a third office. It was nice to visit with them and to have a contact who could help us if anything was to go wrong here. Plus he wanted our phone numbers so he could call and speak English to us. Haha.

To those of you on Facebook, this is my story regarding my status update that said, “Stephanie-got to ride in a Korean police car and ended up being taken to get fingerprinted today. Haha! This will be a good blog story.

I hope you enjoyed it and can laugh with me!

Usually I have never been excited about my birthday, but for some reason I was REALLY excited about this one! There was something in the air and for the first time in several years I wanted to party! Haha!

My friend Sarah mentioned the spa and that’s exactly what we did. There is a beautiful spa in Busan and it was a day of indulgence and relaxation.

We stayed at the spa for so long that some of our favorite restaurants were already closed. With this kind of result, my birthday dinner was at Burger King!

This year my birthday was on a Saturday, but on Friday, I was presented with a chocolate cake from my co-teachers! They know me well! It was wonderful to celebrate with them and their generosity was greatly appreciated.

On Sunday, my community group at church had cake there too! Once again, it was delicious!

Later that evening, my friends Anna and Myeongju brought a cake over, but when Myeongjuy was carrying the cake, he tripped and dropped the cake. It was incredibly sweet of them, but Myeongju was heart broken. Such a sweet guy. We had a great time!

While I thought the celebrating was over…it wasn’t. Haha. On Monday night, I went out with more friends, but this time we had ice cream cake from Baskin & Robbins!! It was absolutely excellent!!

This was the BEST birthday weekend!! All the love and fun shared was amazing and I feel so blessed!

This weekend was my first Korean wedding. While I did not know what to expect, I was relatively surprised. There were parts that carried a more Western theme and there were other portions were it was more Korean.

The Western highlights~
~The bride wore a white dress and the groom wore a tuxedo.
~The bride walked down the aisle to “Canon in D.”
~Her parents gave her away.
~The vows were exchanged.
~The unity candle was lit.
~Bridesmaids and groomsmen were present on both sides.

The Korean highlights~
~The mothers wore the traditional hanbok dress.
~During the vow exchange, the bride and groom both held up their right hand.
~The bride did not make any eye contact with the minister or the groom. This was to show humility and respect.
~The bride and grooms closest friends sang a song to them.
~Following the announcement of husband and wife, the bride and groom both bowed to the audience and then bowed to each of their parents.

It was a different wedding and it was good to be there. However, I am so thankful for the traditions in America and the love and emotion that is felt during the ceremony! They did not hold hands and the groom did not kiss the bride! These things are a MUST at any wedding! Haha..

My sweet mother reminded me that I didn’t give an update about my first Korean holiday, Chuseok (추석). It was a really wonderful day! One of my good friends invited me to join the day with her family and it was fun to be a part of the festivities.

We spent the first half of the afternoon with her father’s family. It was mostly a time of eating and playing games. It was great to get acquainted with them and to feel the connectedness with her family.

The second half of the afternoon was spent with her mother’s side of the family. Once again, we played more games and ate delicious food! The highlight of the event was making songpyeon, a traditional Chuseok food. It’s a rice cake stuffed with red bean paste or other stuffings. It is seriously good and it was so fun to make these things and enjoy the season of Chuseok! Here are some pictures of the songpyeon process.

One of the things that I have been dealing with is my English speaking and writing abilities. And you, as the reader, may even notice this. My sentences don’t flow together. None of it seems to make sense and half the time I don’t know what I am writing or saying.

Each and every day I speak with people who need to be spoken slowly too and while that is okay, it makes me feel like I am losing my English. My sentences need to be simplified and I am forgetting words that I used to use. It’s kind of interesting when I think about it because I haven’t used words like “good grief, good night, and other “Stephanie-isms” for a long time! Plus, in America, the word “like” is tossed around as whatever someone wants it to be. And I haven’t used that word in such a long time!

While the culture does change the way a person speaks, it doesn’t necessarily change the personality of that person. While I am talking differently, I am still the same, for which I am extremely grateful!

If in the near future, I have the chance to talk to you, please be patient and understanding because my English language is so different from that of back home.

Here is my refrigerator so that when I learn something new I can put the new word up and remember. It’s a convenient way for me to practice my Korean.

These are some random friends I met at Starbucks. Gotta love brave teenagers who just want to practice their English!

This what happens when a store or business wants to advertise. They plaster ads all over your door. Thankfully, the security guard usually comes through the floor and cleans them all up.

While this may come across as being critical, I don’t mean it to be. But women in Korea wear shoes that are way too small for their feet.

I just love this bike!!

What is wrong with this picture? Most of the candy is already eaten from the container and then put back on the shelf.

Many coffee shops here decorate the drink when they serve it to the customer. And I am definitely a customer who appreciates this sort of thing.

Almost 99% of public restrooms do not have toilet paper. But they do offer a toilet paper vending machine. For only 200won (approx. 20cents) you can get your own pack and be ready to use the facilities. Haha!

I thought you would be happy to know that I have lost weight since coming to Korea and it’s only appropriate to give you a picture. Haha!

The time has come for me to get a new computer. My old laptop (right) was faithful for 9 years, but when you have to use a hair dryer to keep it cool, it’s definitely time for a new one. I was able to find a great HP Mini at Costco and it’s exactly what I need. I feel so blessed to have some updated technology! Haha!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that post. It’s a little random, but these things keep my life interesting.