Concerning the end of winting

Winting = spring + winter. Despite the absolutely stunning flowers, spring was a no-show weather wise. It was time for the warm, unpredictably sunny times of spring and we got the frozen nights of winter. Hence, winting. But, now winter went to winting, bypassed spring, and catapulted straight to summer. 80 degrees, humid, and sunny- hello! Becky is happy.

My happy mood from Mom and Dad, as predicted, has stuck around. Let's see...the last few weeks. I tried a new food- dak galbi. Basically, it's rice-cake pasta (some cheese stuffed) stir fried with chili sauce, chicken, and cabbage. And then covered with cheese. And then the remains are stir fried with rice. Mmmmm. I also tried a new kind of BBQ- dweji galbi. I thought galbi meant beef but apparently it just refers to the cut of meat. Dweji galbi is really tender, flavorful, lean pork so I'm a big fan, it's my new favorite Korean food.

That weekend was pretty relaxed. I met Nakeesa for her birthday at a bar and we had a nice night. This week's highlight was Strawberry Picking Day on Thursday. We bussed one hour outside of Daejeon with the kiddies. We all (including moi) picked and ate as many strawberries as could fit in our containers and bellies and then the kids got to make some jam. They squished the berries all up, got juice in places that gravity would deem impossible, and had a fantastic time. After they were done, we bussed back and Emily passed out on my lap which was really endearing.

This weekend, Saturday, I went to Everland. This is the biggest amusement park in South Korea. We went on some rides, including the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world, got some ridiculous headbands, ate junk food...good day. On the slow train back a Korean university student offered to "buy me banana milk" before his friend leaned over and asked how his girlfriend was, haha. Sunday, I met Helen for brunch at an Italian restaurant and then went shopping and for coffee, enjoying the gorgeous weather.

Wednesday was a very welcome break from work as it was Kid's Day. This is actually a Korean national holiday that was created to raise awareness of child welfare during the Japanese occupation of the country. Originally, the Japanese forbade the holiday because they thought it was a subversive nationalist movement but it prevailed and survived to its present day candy and break from school reincarnation. I worked out in the morning and met a friend at the jjimjilbang for some good, old-fashioned relaxation. We had lunch on the rooftop terrace, bounced from hot rooms (with gorgeous stone mosaics mostly ranging from 50 degrees C to about 75 degrees C) to the ice room and back as our temperature allowed. It was so so so nice. We finished out the hot room portion by trying the dreaded 112 degree C room. Holy moly, that is honestly the hottest thing I have ever felt in my life without getting burned. No mosaics here, it literally looked like the inside of a kiln and I suddenly felt some sympathy for all of my projects in ceramics class last year. We forced ourselves to stay for one minute but the second we got to 60, we bolted. The hair was so hot and leaden we couldn't properly inhale, so 60 seconds was definitely enough for me. After, I showed her the sauna part of things and we showered and then went on our way. A mere 3 and a half hours after beginning, I left happy and essentially boneless.

Thursday the teachers all went out for Vietnamese to welcome Tracy, our new teacher. I had some decent pho' though Kels- the one we went to was better. Saturday, we all had to come into work for Sport's Day. We bussed to a mountain and had teachers waiting at different stations along a loop path that the kids and their families were sent down. The flowers were perfect and the trees were lush and green, it was a lovely place. My post did a treasure hunt and that was kind of it. I liked playing with my kids a bit, always fun. School took us out for lunch after which was nice, more dweji galbi, mm mmmmm, and then I napped a bit before going out last night.

This club was one of the weirdest experiences in Korea yet. It was called a "booking club" where Koreans go to meet each other and get together. Basically, we were in a huge room (with a Safeco style roof that opened and closed) with many many many tables. The waiters would come around and grab girls and take them to other tables to introduce them to guys. Sometimes this was OK, we met some really nice, young, guys who spoke English really well. But sometimes....like the 4 times we were taken back into the "VIP rooms" to the 50 year old men...not so fortunate. The other really funny thing was the entertainment. As I've said time and again, Korea is fairly conservative across the board but there were live strippers for most of the evening. Cowboys. French women. Clowns. A guy in drag with an alligator G-string. I must say, I was NOT bored. It was a great laugh and worth the 3 AM home time.