생일 축하합니다!

It's a blessing to have a fun celebration for my birthday in my hometown that I was born and raised in. What I didn't plan on when coming to Korea was to be able to have a big celebration here among great friends. One thing that's truly been beautiful about my time here is that it's really been home. The people I've met have become family and I haven't gone without.

On my birthday, Chelsea and Jeremy graciously opened their home for a Mexican Fiesta! They created a photo booth, and Este brought props. The food was amazing, and I had three desserts! The food might have been a bit too amazing. Unfortunately three people got terribly sick that night and the following day. Eek! The party itself was wonderful and they assured me that it was worth it.  

Here are some pictures from the evening courtesy of Chelsea & Jeremy: 

The fun hosts, Zeke and me! 

This is what teaching kindergartners does to you. 

I may or may not have asked them to sing.

My Geoje chingus! 

Yoga in another Language

November was a long month in terms of teaching days. We knew we had to do something to help us through. We decided months prior, that we would have Yoga November. There is a hot yoga studio in Jungok, about a 10-12 minute walk away. A friend connected us with her Korean friend that attends classes there and she helped the process of trying it out and purchasing a month. While there were a few poses that I like to call Asian yoga poses (aka-there's no way you'll find me doing it!) we really enjoyed the class. Did I laugh at myself? Yes. Did I get laughed at? You bet. Sometimes it's hard to be corrected and perfect a pose without a language barrier let alone not being able to converse at all. However, the instructor was great and truly wanted us to do well. She would talk to us after class (through our new friend and translator, Faith) and explain poses and ask if we had questions. They all seemed shocked that we were able to do what we could do and asked about our yoga history. While we loved the class, we only went for about a month and a half. The reasoning will sound absurd, but we're honestly too exhausted to go the standard amount of times you pay for: 3 or 5 times a week. Good thing walking is part of our lifestyle here.

Soul Sisters Unite!

Exactly one week after I said goodbye to my mom and grandma, Beka and I headed to Busan to pick up Sarah. As with my family I couldn't really believe it until I saw her walk through the door! We headed to our hostel and chatted a bit before 

heading to bed to rest for the next day's hike.

Although we took a cable car part of the way, our hike was still a whole day ordeal! 

Sarah was a trooper hiking through jet lag!

It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hunt for Seokbul-Sa temple. We had planned on 

taking the cable car back down, but due to the extent of the hike, time wouldn't allow.

Right before this, we met a nice Korean man to make sure we didn't make a wrong turn at the last minute. He let us pet his golden retriever and feed him a moonpie. Yep, moonpie. 

He pointed us in the right direction and told us we were almost there.

On the way down we enjoyed a beautiful sunset 

overlooking nearby gardens and the view of the city. 

That night we walked along Haeundae Beach, and the next day we visited again. 

We checked out Nampo-Dong shopping district, and went to the Busan Tower. 

We were thankful Sarah came over Chuesok. This allowed us to have 

time to take a trip to Jinju for the lantern festival. It was a blast! 

Finally, we explored our hometown a bit, walking along the rice fields and attempting to talk the locals about farming. Afterwards we headed to the restaurant that's a few feet from our place to have a traditional Korean meal: bori bap. We were mistakenly calling it bi bim bap. Bori bap has barley and rice instead of just rice, with vegetables, 

delicious hot paste and sesame oil. 

 Harvesting Rice





Our town, Soobi




Bori-bap!

On cinco de octubre we held had drinks in a pouch and went to a noraebang.

 We played an intense game of Jenga and sang our hearts out. Man, was it fun! 

We ended our trip back in Busan with shopping at Shinsegae, purchasing matching ajuma pants (you know you love 'em!) and having a fashion show at our hostel.

As I said in my blog about my mom and grandma, it's truly so amazing to have friends and family visit when living abroad. I'm so glad Beka and I could share our experiences and show her our life here in Korea! Until next time, soul sister!