I keep forgetting to write each week! I will try and do better in November!
The last two weeks of October went so fast. At work, we were busy decorating for Halloween and the kids were really excited about the Halloween festival we had planned so work was really busy, making it go even faster than usual.
Two weekends ago (the 21st and 22nd) a lot of my co teachers went out of town, some to Seoraksan, and some to visit some friends they had from home in another city so it was a pretty low key weekend for me. It was nice though, especially after a busy week. I did go into Seoul one day with Heather, who I also work with. We went to an area called Insadong which I had never been to before. It had a lot of great knick knack stuff and a lot of traditional Korean items which was cool to see. It was a fun area and it was a beautiful day to be out walking around. We also walked to this traditional village, where people still live today but their homes are still like the ones in the past. I guess they could only make so many changes to the houses, and if they did, they had to keep a certain appearance. It was really pretty and I wish more of Korea looked like that!
To cap off the day in Insadong, we went to a tea house where I tried "shaved ice" which I had heard a lot about. Here is what was in it: shaved ice, tomatoes, corn flakes, dried fruit, real fruit, red beans, ice cream, hot fudge, and a cherry. It sounds absolutely disgusting but it was delicious! The mixture of everything was so good, even if it sounds like a five year old came up with the ingredients.
This past week at school was really fun. We had "Spirit Week" for our kindergartners, so Monday was Pajama Day, Tuesday was Backwards Day, Wednesday was Sports Day, and Thursday was Crazy Hair Day. The teachers got to dress up to so that was fun! On Wednesday we got to carve a pumpkin with our class! It made me a little homesick when I thought about how I used to carve pumpkins with my family and how fun it was to go pick out your pumpkin and roast the pumpkin seeds and get ready for Halloween. I had a minor accident too and cut my finger. It actually was bleeding a lot and the kids were so concerned if I was ok. On Thursday morning, before class started, one of my kindergartners, Christina, came into the teacher's room just to ask if I was ok! She's so adorable.
After school on Wednesday, Christine, Rachel and I went to Costco since Christine's mom sent her their membership card! We left right after work at 6:30 and it took us about 2 hours to find it...We asked about 5 people, some who tried to help, but we still couldn't find it, and others who had no idea what "Costco" was. Luckily, with the help of some bus drivers, we got there and it was worth it. I wanted to buy a lot more but had to tell myself I didn't need a 16 dollar thing of chocolate covered almonds... I did end up buying real cheese, which was the most exciting thing I got, some deli meat (the kind I get at home even!) and then some oatmeal which was actually pretty cheap. I don't think I'll be going there a lot, but every once in a while when I need a sandwich and want real cheese!
We celebrated Halloween on Friday at school, so all the teachers stayed late Thursday to finish the decorations. We had a haunted house in our play gym, and then random games in "Big Gym" but the school looked really cool! The kids went through a rotation then the whole day, playing games, face painting, snacks, and decorating trick or treat bags. It was really fun! Then, in the afternoon we had our song contest. My class sang "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" the glee version. They were so good at it when we practiced in our room by ourselves but they were so shy on stage! It was still really cute even if they forgot half the words. I'm going to try to upload the video to my flickr if I can figure that out!
This past weekend I went out to celebrate Halloween Friday, then just hung out Saturday. Sunday, Rachel, Christine, and I went into Seoul to do a little shopping. I got some little gifts I wanted to get, but really wanted a winter coat but wasn't able to find one that was under 200 that I liked. I'll have to figure that out quickly before it starts to get really cold!
This next week should be busy with starting a new month and everything but it is already November this week! I'm counting down the days until Danny is here and the Philippines! Hopefully this month goes quickly!
Hope everyone had a good Halloween!
Love, Meghan
updated pictures!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meghanfaricy/sets/
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
HBC and a Relaxing weekend...
Wow, I hadn't realized how long it had been since I wrote last... I'm sure it was killing everyone with anticipation for me to write again (kidding...) but I will try and recall what the last two weeks entailed!
The week after Seoraksan was not eventful. The weeks are blurring together and they fly by. We have a ritual of "Movie Mondays" at my co-teacher Chad's apartment so that's always fun to look forward to. I've seen a lot of good films, some Korean, one French one, and some American films I had never heard of. We did have a field trip for our kindergartners on Friday but it was walking up a mountain, pretty boring but oh well. The field trip was supposed to be to a farm but it had to be canceled because the day we were supposed to go it rained so the mountain it was. Anyways, last weekend I didn't do much Friday night, just hung out with some of the other teachers and we went to the bar Underground which is just in Suji, so within walking distance. Saturday, we went to HBC festival. HBC stands for Hae Bong Chon which is an area in Seoul. The festival was basically non stop bands in a handful of bars in the area from about 1:00pm all through the night. We got there about two and just wandered from bar to bar listening to different types of music and then one of my co-teachers, Tom, played at 8. It was a fun night and I got to hear some good (and some pretty bad) music.
Last week at the school we started decorating for Halloween! It was really fun to go back and recreate crafts and ideas that we did in elementary school. There's a contest for who can decorate their room the best and although I'm 99% positive I won't win, it's still fun to make. I'm going to try and finish this week, so I'll have two weeks to enjoy the full effect.. and then I'll put up pictures. So far I've made some window coverings, some spiders to hang, paper bats, and my favorite, a graveyard where all the kids have their own tombstone! All my kindergartners, not ALL my students but its mainly for the kindergartners and its basically their classroom.
This past weekend I didn't do anything, literally. I had a weird headache kinda thing all week and with ten weeks ahead of me with no vacation I didn't want to risk getting sick. So the weekend consisted of skyping, watching Modern Family episodes online, eating, and reading my kindle. It rained a lot on Saturday so it was a perfect day to sit around and do nothing. I read all three books of the series "The Hunger Games" and I recommend them to anyone looking for something to read. I actually read the first one on Tuesday, the second one on Wednesday, but saved the third for the weekend because finishing the two books in the two days meant I had sacrificed sleep to do so and again, I don't want to get sick!
This is an extremely boring entry and I'm trying to think of anything that happened to add something worth reading about but nothing comes to mind really... I did get paid for the first time! But that's really only exciting to me haha but it was more money than I thought so that's always a pleasant surprise.
The next week ahead should be busy trying to finish Halloween stuff but it's making October go by really fast, as all the weeks do here. The weather is still in the upper 60's here so I can't complain about that. The trees haven't even really started to change yet so I'm hoping winter is still a ways away!
Have a good week everyone!
Love, Meghan
The week after Seoraksan was not eventful. The weeks are blurring together and they fly by. We have a ritual of "Movie Mondays" at my co-teacher Chad's apartment so that's always fun to look forward to. I've seen a lot of good films, some Korean, one French one, and some American films I had never heard of. We did have a field trip for our kindergartners on Friday but it was walking up a mountain, pretty boring but oh well. The field trip was supposed to be to a farm but it had to be canceled because the day we were supposed to go it rained so the mountain it was. Anyways, last weekend I didn't do much Friday night, just hung out with some of the other teachers and we went to the bar Underground which is just in Suji, so within walking distance. Saturday, we went to HBC festival. HBC stands for Hae Bong Chon which is an area in Seoul. The festival was basically non stop bands in a handful of bars in the area from about 1:00pm all through the night. We got there about two and just wandered from bar to bar listening to different types of music and then one of my co-teachers, Tom, played at 8. It was a fun night and I got to hear some good (and some pretty bad) music.
Last week at the school we started decorating for Halloween! It was really fun to go back and recreate crafts and ideas that we did in elementary school. There's a contest for who can decorate their room the best and although I'm 99% positive I won't win, it's still fun to make. I'm going to try and finish this week, so I'll have two weeks to enjoy the full effect.. and then I'll put up pictures. So far I've made some window coverings, some spiders to hang, paper bats, and my favorite, a graveyard where all the kids have their own tombstone! All my kindergartners, not ALL my students but its mainly for the kindergartners and its basically their classroom.
This past weekend I didn't do anything, literally. I had a weird headache kinda thing all week and with ten weeks ahead of me with no vacation I didn't want to risk getting sick. So the weekend consisted of skyping, watching Modern Family episodes online, eating, and reading my kindle. It rained a lot on Saturday so it was a perfect day to sit around and do nothing. I read all three books of the series "The Hunger Games" and I recommend them to anyone looking for something to read. I actually read the first one on Tuesday, the second one on Wednesday, but saved the third for the weekend because finishing the two books in the two days meant I had sacrificed sleep to do so and again, I don't want to get sick!
This is an extremely boring entry and I'm trying to think of anything that happened to add something worth reading about but nothing comes to mind really... I did get paid for the first time! But that's really only exciting to me haha but it was more money than I thought so that's always a pleasant surprise.
The next week ahead should be busy trying to finish Halloween stuff but it's making October go by really fast, as all the weeks do here. The weather is still in the upper 60's here so I can't complain about that. The trees haven't even really started to change yet so I'm hoping winter is still a ways away!
Have a good week everyone!
Love, Meghan
Monday, October 3, 2011
Seoraksan National Park!
Happy October!
It is Monday night here in Korea and I'm finally home, showered, and have time to rest after a long and tiring weekend at Seoraksan National Park!
Friday night, I didn't do much after class. I had to pack still, do some laundry, and clean my apartment so I didn't have to do it all when I got back later Monday. I also wanted to get to bed early because we had to wake up very early to get to the bus on time.
Saturday, I woke up at 5:15 and just finished getting everything together and walked with Rachel and Christine to the subway station. On our walk over, I just kept thinking of my dad telling me, "Morning is the best time of the day" which I'm still not sure if I agree with at 6:00am and it's cold out! We met another teacher, Heather, at her subway station and proceeded to our Adventure Korea group meeting spot in Seoul. It was about a 4 hour bus ride to Sokcho, which is on the East coast. We had Bibimbap for lunch, which is rice mixed with a bunch of other stuff. I like our school's version better, but it's still a good dish. After that, we entered the park. There a ton of different trails to do and so our group split into 3 groups, one group that would do a 5 hour hike, one that would do a 3 hour hike, and one group that would do about an hour and a half hike to a waterfall and then have time to take the cable car up to one peak. All four of us decided to do the cable car so we'd be able to see the top and have time for the waterfall. It was pretty easy and the weather was really nice out. At the top of the cable car, it was a 15 minute walk to the highest point which involved basically climbing on all fours to get up there. We were so high that at one point I thought it was getting foggy out, until I realized it was actually a wispy cloud that was moving past us! After everyone was finished, we headed to our hotel to shower and eat dinner. By this time it was really cold and the heat wasn't on in our hotels (which consists of just floor heating) but luckily after dinner they were on. That's pretty much how you heat your apartment here, is under the floor heaters since its common for Koreans to sleep on the floor just on mats. We went to bed pretty early because Sunday was the day we were hiking for 11 hours!
On Sunday, Heather, Christine and I had to get up at 6 to have breakfast and then had to drive to our starting hiking point. We started hiking about 7:30. The tour guide guy said it would be about 4 hours to the top, and 6 hours down, since we were a different way back than the way up. The "top" was the highest peak called Daecheongbong. The first twenty minutes was all completely uphill but then it actually wasn't that bad, it was a lot of horizontal than just straight up which was nice. The colors were gorgeous!! I kept taking more and more pictures and none of them could do it justice. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It was so nice to be away from the city and smell natural fresh air and see the fall colors. It ended up taking about 11 hours so we were pretty beat by the time we got back. If you didn't want to go hiking, you had the option of just hanging out at the beach in Sokcho, which Rachel did. We all took nice hot showers, ate the Korean version of ramen in our room, and hung out before going to bed.
Monday was the easiest day, we had the option of going on a 3 1/2 hour hike or a 2 hour hike, so we opted for the 2 hour since our legs were pretty sore (and we got to sleep in more then!). It was only a hike to another waterfall and it wasn't very strenuous so that was nice. It was also a lot warmer by that time! We had lunch and headed out around 1:00pm. Since it was the end of the long weekend, there was more traffic on the way home so it took longer to get home, so we got back around 7:00ish or so. Now, I'm writing this after reorganizing everything and unpacking. I think I'll take it easy with going running the next couple days while my legs rest up (especially my calves and knees).
I think Sunday was my favorite day so far in Korea. The Seoraksan mountains were unbelievable and the leaves were extremely pretty. I had a lot of fun and it was definitely worth it. I have to take advantage of doing things in the fall before it gets too cold because this is the only fall I'll see in Korea.
So, a four day week ahead which will be nice! I updated my flickr, I couldn't put up all the pictures I took because I'd reach my maximum limit for the month just in this one weekend (unless I want to pay and upgrade my account but I don't plan on doing that!). Again, the pictures don't do it justice, but there are still some pretty good ones in there!
Have a good week,
Love, Meghan
It is Monday night here in Korea and I'm finally home, showered, and have time to rest after a long and tiring weekend at Seoraksan National Park!
Friday night, I didn't do much after class. I had to pack still, do some laundry, and clean my apartment so I didn't have to do it all when I got back later Monday. I also wanted to get to bed early because we had to wake up very early to get to the bus on time.
Saturday, I woke up at 5:15 and just finished getting everything together and walked with Rachel and Christine to the subway station. On our walk over, I just kept thinking of my dad telling me, "Morning is the best time of the day" which I'm still not sure if I agree with at 6:00am and it's cold out! We met another teacher, Heather, at her subway station and proceeded to our Adventure Korea group meeting spot in Seoul. It was about a 4 hour bus ride to Sokcho, which is on the East coast. We had Bibimbap for lunch, which is rice mixed with a bunch of other stuff. I like our school's version better, but it's still a good dish. After that, we entered the park. There a ton of different trails to do and so our group split into 3 groups, one group that would do a 5 hour hike, one that would do a 3 hour hike, and one group that would do about an hour and a half hike to a waterfall and then have time to take the cable car up to one peak. All four of us decided to do the cable car so we'd be able to see the top and have time for the waterfall. It was pretty easy and the weather was really nice out. At the top of the cable car, it was a 15 minute walk to the highest point which involved basically climbing on all fours to get up there. We were so high that at one point I thought it was getting foggy out, until I realized it was actually a wispy cloud that was moving past us! After everyone was finished, we headed to our hotel to shower and eat dinner. By this time it was really cold and the heat wasn't on in our hotels (which consists of just floor heating) but luckily after dinner they were on. That's pretty much how you heat your apartment here, is under the floor heaters since its common for Koreans to sleep on the floor just on mats. We went to bed pretty early because Sunday was the day we were hiking for 11 hours!
On Sunday, Heather, Christine and I had to get up at 6 to have breakfast and then had to drive to our starting hiking point. We started hiking about 7:30. The tour guide guy said it would be about 4 hours to the top, and 6 hours down, since we were a different way back than the way up. The "top" was the highest peak called Daecheongbong. The first twenty minutes was all completely uphill but then it actually wasn't that bad, it was a lot of horizontal than just straight up which was nice. The colors were gorgeous!! I kept taking more and more pictures and none of them could do it justice. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It was so nice to be away from the city and smell natural fresh air and see the fall colors. It ended up taking about 11 hours so we were pretty beat by the time we got back. If you didn't want to go hiking, you had the option of just hanging out at the beach in Sokcho, which Rachel did. We all took nice hot showers, ate the Korean version of ramen in our room, and hung out before going to bed.
Monday was the easiest day, we had the option of going on a 3 1/2 hour hike or a 2 hour hike, so we opted for the 2 hour since our legs were pretty sore (and we got to sleep in more then!). It was only a hike to another waterfall and it wasn't very strenuous so that was nice. It was also a lot warmer by that time! We had lunch and headed out around 1:00pm. Since it was the end of the long weekend, there was more traffic on the way home so it took longer to get home, so we got back around 7:00ish or so. Now, I'm writing this after reorganizing everything and unpacking. I think I'll take it easy with going running the next couple days while my legs rest up (especially my calves and knees).
I think Sunday was my favorite day so far in Korea. The Seoraksan mountains were unbelievable and the leaves were extremely pretty. I had a lot of fun and it was definitely worth it. I have to take advantage of doing things in the fall before it gets too cold because this is the only fall I'll see in Korea.
So, a four day week ahead which will be nice! I updated my flickr, I couldn't put up all the pictures I took because I'd reach my maximum limit for the month just in this one weekend (unless I want to pay and upgrade my account but I don't plan on doing that!). Again, the pictures don't do it justice, but there are still some pretty good ones in there!
Have a good week,
Love, Meghan
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