After working Monday at school my friend Aaron, who teaches out here and is from Ohio would come over to watch some football, our usual Monday night recorded football, since the states are behind and the games play on our Monday morning.
Then Tuesday night, over to my friend Joanna's, who is also a teacher out here and is from Canada. Her, Aaron, and I all live in the same apartment buildings, so we are all neighbors. We watch movies or TV shows and she makes me dinner, a usual weeknight if not more than that. I am usually over there more than one week night. She likes to cook and I like to eat, so it is a nice relationship. I have a lot of fun with Joanna, laughing a lot, talking about boys, sharing goon gossip, comparing our experiences in both the world of Korea and of our classes. I wouldn't have done all the cool things that I have done so far if it wasn't for Joanna. She loves the outdoors and traveling to experience new things and she has a new travel buddy in Me. She also has gotten me to start exercising more, like running and hiking and I really don't drink as much around her, she is not a big drinker and will sometimes give me crap about my overindulging in alcohol out of love. I don't think she reads my blog, but "I love you girl."
On Wednesday, my friend from church, Sungwha, might pick Me up and we go shopping at E-mart or Lotte Mart. She took me plant shopping just last night and we had dinner. I like going shopping with her because she can translate anything I want to ask about products or help me find things that I need in the store. The lady at the plant store suggested a place that had good kimchi jig-gay, which is kimchi soup with pork and vegetables, very tasty and one of my favorite dishes in Korea. I took pictures of us at the "take off your shoes and sit on the floor" restaurant, which are very popular in Korea. She has been a wonderful friend in all aspects of our relationship. We have a lot fun hanging out and she helps Me with my Korean.
One day my friend from the city school Mrs. Han came to my school during her winter break and picked me up and took Me to lunch at a place over looking the yellow sea. It was snowing that day and had been snowing all week so I took a few pictures from the restaurant. She loves to hang out, try and speak English, laughs a lot at my jokes, and is always really nice to Me even though she has a hard time talking to Me in my language. We have hung out several times, I have been to her house to meet her family and she even went and saw New Moon with Me. She is an avid follower of my blog and tells me all the time about what she reads on it, so, "I love you Mrs. Han, thank you for following."
I have been over to my friend Kenton's house to drink beers, listen to his favorite comedians online, listen to music, watch football, play guitar and games of chess. Kenton is also a teacher out here and is from Canada. He lives with his wife, whom he met out here, a foreign teacher from England named Alex, a real sweet girl and their four month old baby, Izzy, who is soo cute. His brother has been staying with him, so this last visit we turned the chess game into a mini-tournament. Kenton also enjoys teaching me Korean, since he learned to speak the language and read hongul. I call him the "forever teacher" since he always seems to be teaching and I always learn something when I am with him.
This last Saturday night I went over to another couples house, Elizabeth and Jimmy, the couple I went to Muju Ski resort with. We had dinner, listened to music, and then played poker until 1am. I did really well, taking everyone's money who played, like 30,000 Won, which is about $25 US dollars in change, since we were playing 100 Won anti or the equivalent of a dime. They are from South Carolina and both teach English in the area. We have moved poker night to once a week now, Thursdays, and the first Thursday we started playing I lost the money I won on the Saturday, oh well, you win some and you lose some. I really enjoy spending time with this couple, they are both very down to earth and will be straight up with you on anything. "Thank you to you both for holding a once a week poker night as I love to play poker."
When doing a google search online for Gunsan, I stumbled upon another person's blog who is living and teaching in this area. So we met just this last week for lunch. His name is Eric and he is from Minnesota, fresh out of college and has been here about the same time as Me. So I have a new friend, the list keeps growing. We seem to have a lot in common, he met some of my friends at the second poker game, and I hope to meet some of his friends tonight. He is also going to come over for Monday night football until the season is over, since he is a Viking fan and they are still in the playoffs, "GO BRETT FAVRE."
So as you can see, I have many friends here in Korea. I only talked about the ones I really hang out with regularly, I of course have more friends than this. I have even acquired friends in the Seoul and surrounding areas of Seoul as you have seen from my pictures. So, a shout out to all my friends both here in Korea and the rest of the world..."Thanks for being MY FRIEND, I LOVE YOU ALL, and I wouldn't be the person I am today without YOU!!"
Kenton and Joanna on his birthday singing at Noraebong.
Joanna and I at the top of Jirisan Mountain after hiking close to 6000 feet the day before.
Mrs. Han and I at lunch at the city school. I will miss our lunches and coffee once the school year starts again, as she is moving to a different school.
Elizabeth and Jimmy on the Gondola at the Muju Ski Resort.
Sungwha and I at dinner when her and the minister from the church took Me out for my birthday, the day before my birthday.
Joanna and I at Deadunsan mountain after hiking about 3000 feet in snow and sleet.
Me at dinner last night.
Sungwha at dinner last night. She was like, no pictures, my hair is messed up.
Kimchi Jig-gay and the usual array of korean side dishes. This is one of the best meals you can eat in Korea, at least it is one of my favorites. This particular place was pretty good, the cost of the meal for two with water was 12,000 Won, about $10 US dollars.
The table sits really low to the ground and you sit on a mat that is on the floor.
This is the view from the restaurant of the yellow sea and the snow outside.
Mrs. Han and I at the restaurant.
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