monday morning...brant works from 5pm to 5am this week, so i will probably get on that schedule too whether i like it or not.
this past weekend was brant's 28th. we celebrated friday night (dinner, drinks, and ice cream cake) and then headed to seoul all day saturday. i've had the opportunity to go there 4 times since we got here on various excursions with friends and i just love it. so because of this and the fact that it was brant's birthday i was in charge of navigating us through the city. no problem. we took the city bus there and rode the subway around all day. surprisingly easy to navigate. we went to some palaces from the joseon dynasty (pictures to follow), jogyesa - a buddhist temple (a service was going on...it was amazing...real live monks), shopping in 2 different downtown districts - namdaemun and myeongdong, hiked to n'seoul tower through namsan park (straight uphill about 1.5 miles) , and to itaewon for dinner. itaewon is right by the army base, yongsan. it has all sorts of street vendors and cuisines. brant loved all of the stops...it was his second time in seoul and the other time we just picked up the car, so he finally had a chance to absorb the city. like any big city, it's different every time....always something new.
last night we found some hiking trails near our apartment....we ran past rice paddies, vegetable gardens, some Koreans dining on a blanket in the woods, and when we were just about to turn around we kept going to the top of the "mountain" and found this beautifully painted 2-story watchtower that overlooked the whole city of songtan, where we live. very cool.
i am tutoring english from 5-8 on tuesday again for a friend...i did this last week. what a trip. my first hour was 4-6 year olds, then 13 year olds, then 15. it is an adventure... the first group chose english names for themselves so i wouldn't have to remember their korean names. they are sheila, nara, and carlos. they are so, so cute. i have to say it is MUCH more strenuous and exhausting than tutoring math where i know what i am doing...the vocab is fine, but teaching them grammar....how do you explain to someone how to conjugate a verb or use an adverb when you can't speak their language. i did my best and will do the same again tomorrow.
brant has next monday off for veteran's day so we are going to go to the mountains.
that is all for now, please write us!
1 comment:
I love reading this blog. It not only keeps people up on what you are doing, it is your daily diary. You can read this later on and remember everything!
Post a Comment