No Korean!!!!!

If I had a nickel for every time I said that today….. Well, I’d have a nice chunk of change!

Today was day one of morning (kindergarten) and afternoon (preschool & elementary) kids. Nothing too eventful happened which I suppose is a good thing. One of the main rules is that they aren’t allowed to speak Korean in the classroom, explaining the title. Kids had to do squats and hold their hands in the air as punishment for speaking in Korean. I think they kind of enjoy it sometimes though. Maybe tomorrow I’ll try push-ups. I’m also starting a rewards-sticker chart tomorrow so hopefully the positive reinforcement will help.

I am pretty worn out so I can only imagine how I’ll feel Friday after class! We took an 1 1/2 nap after work today; I imagine this may be a regular thing for a while. 

Last week was pretty chill as we had Monday-Thursday off. We explored the area and just hung out. On Thursday we went hiking with our director, ee sa jang nim. He’s about 50 years old and he invited us to hike with him. We were hiking along and at one point he said, “Me – jogging path.” Beka and I laughed because we were struggling to hike it let alone jog or run it! Needless to say, it was a really good hike and I’m sure we’ll be doing it a lot in the future. One of the first few days we were here he told us about a mountain run. I informed Beka that I will not be doing the mountain run. I told her I’d cheer on Ethan and our director!

As you’ve probably seen on FB, we’ve been eating quite a bit of pizza. We like Korean food, but it’s just not home food and we can only handle so much. This has definitely been the toughest adjustment. One thing we're not fond of is kimchi; this happens to be the Koreans favorite side dish and it is served with every meal! Beka and I have promised to try one bite at every meal in hopes of maybe liking it someday. It's fermented cabbage with hot paste, sounds tasty, right?? Besides pizza we’ve had Indian food a couple times, spaghetti at home a couple times, and Quizno’s once so we’re surviving just fine. Tonight Beka is making her own version of fried rice. We also found a place that serves Italian so we’re planning on checking that out. Oh, and did you guys see the picture of the 'black beans' we had?? We searched high and low in the store and finally had someone help us find them. We got them home and cooked them and they ended up being black shell covered soy beans. False advertisement!!! We were really disappointed because we both love black beans and rice. As far as coffee and desserts go, we’re set with tons of coffee shops and Paris Baguette bakery! May not be the healthiest but it’s helping us keep our sanity.

Last week we also tried out a yoga class. We all (Beka, Ethan and I) really enjoyed it and found it to be a challenge. It is very different from yoga in the states. There's no down dog, child's pose, or warrior poses here. Multiple times the instructor came up to us and stuck her knee in our back to help us out. We found it amusing because a couple times she told us to stretch but what she didn't realize is that we were stretching!! We plan on going again. 

On Saturday we ran a 5k. It felt pretty good but if we’re going to do a race we need to figure out which one and start training.

I've had the chance to Skype with many friends and family members so that has been nice, and I hope that keeps up. 

Feliz cinco de marzo!!! 

Beka and I are having a make-shift margarita. Ethan came to the rescue and brought over tequila tonight. We added mango and orange juice. Limes are nonexistent here so it will be rather difficult to make a real margarita. We have to maintain our tradition of a margarita on the 5th of every month though! 

It's almost 11pm here; I have to go to bed earlier tonight than I did last night for rest.

Here is a shot from our 2 hour hike: