*Updated the “Care Packages” tab

*In case you haven’t heard yet, I went ziplining last weekend at Herb Hillz in Daegu, Korea…which was AWESOME.  It’s a mini-theme park with a high-ropes course and zipline courses also within the park.
I did manage to mess up my ankle a bit when I was there though.  This past Thursday, after noticing that the swelling and dark bruising wasn’t going away (and after pushing from family and friends, lol), I went to an orthopedic doctor and had it looked at.
Thankfully, nothing was broken (Thanks Mom for making me drink lots of milk, haha), even though I wasn’t surprised by that because it didn’t doesn’t really hurt.  It’s just sore, swollen and bruised.
It wasn’t sprained either.
The doctor just said I had some deep tissue bruising and ended up wrapping my leg up and putting it into a splint.  😦  With crutches.  Fun times.

I just have one week with it on, but I’m already very anxious to be free of it.

 I could already hobble around before the splint, but having it on makes it much more difficult to do much of anything 😦

However, I made it to the grocery store today…Hoorah!  And I can feel that my ankle seems to be getting stronger/less wobbly as time goes on.
Thursday can’t come soon enough.

Oh, and yes, I’d still definitely go ziplining again.  I’d just make sure I’m landing properly at the end of the line.  🙂

*Not really an update, but just something I’ve noticed about Korea that I wish we would do in the US.
If you’re going grocery shopping, using re-usable bags is HIGHLY encouraged here.  You can buy them easily at the front of the checkout stands for like $5, and if you need plastic bags, then you pay for each one individually.  They’re like the equivalent of like 20 cents.  They’re cheap, but I like how they have both easily available and how they encourage you to recycle and re-use them.

ALSO, those same bags (bright green) are very strong and can hold a lot…AND  are the same bags that people are supposed to use for their trashbags. The whole country (as far as I’m aware) uses the same green bags for throwing out garbage.
SO…if you don’t use the re-usable bags and buy the green ones at the checkout (can be bought individually or in bulk) then you can just use them again when you get home as your trashbags.  😀

The green bags are sold individually (at the checkout) and in bulk (right before the checkout–for home/garbage purposes).
The green bags (bulk) also come in various sizes too.  So, if you have bigger trashcans, you can get bigger bags and smaller bags for smaller trashcans.
Note: Most apartments here are small, so most people have smaller trashcans.

Anyway, just an interesting observation.
Personally, I have 4-5 re-usable bags (some were here before I got here, and then I bought 2 more myself when I first moved in, not knowing of the other ones yet).
I really only use like 2, at most, at a time because the re-usable/canvas bags are so big.  And because I don’t have a car, so I walk with my groceries and only have so many hands.  😛

**I also love how this is such a walking city (as are many cities here).  The sidewalks are large and accommodate cyclists and pedestrians.  I want this in the city that I end up calling home in the future.  I love being able to walk down the sidewalk and have outdoor lifestyles/being active as something that’s encouraged.

Anyhoo–I’m rewarding myself with a french toast dinner and a movie because I was able to make it to the grocery store and back even with a bad ankle.  Hoorah!

Note:  Buy 3, Get 3 FREE at Bath and Body Works this weekend! 😀
Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge.
My birthday is coming.  😛

Multicultural Day for the Kindy Kiddos!

One of my co-workers was able to convince our hagwon to have a multicultural day (hopefully more in the future) to help expose the kids to other cultures.
Our first one (last week) was Mexican Day and the kids were able to make and taste tacos (many, for the first time!)

It was a really fun day, and a huge THANK YOU to my co-worker for putting everything together.

Another co-workers took some video footage during the day, but my friend put everything together into one big video.
I took it from her blog–it’s a bit long, at just over 10 minutes, but it’s so fun.  😀

Thanks also to our hagwon for taking a step outside of their comfort zone and letting us do something like this 😀


Testing My Knowledge

Not sure how this post is going to work out, but I wanted to make a bit of a list of all the Korean that I know.  Month 4 hits on Friday and it’d be kind of cool to see where I am in a few months from now.
In no particular order:
annyeong-haseyo –Hello!  (Formal)  (remove haseyo) for informal)
kamsa hamnida–Thank you (Formal) (remove hamnida for informal)
chuseyo-give me please–Basically just the way to ask for things.
ex: hamburger chuseyo.
ca chuseyo–“take me there please”–used when getting into a taxi  (name of place + ca chuseyo)

hana, dul, set, net (numbers 1-4, used for counting items)–definitely need to work on this.

isseyo–I like/I have/There is/There are
upsseoyo–I don’t like/I don’t have/There aren’t/There isn’t any
oppa (or OPPPAAAAAAAAAA!!!! lol.)–Older brother (only used by girls), which I’ve also heard/seen that girls use this term affectionately for boyfriends

noona–older sister (only used by boys)
appa–dad (ah-pa)
amma-mom (ah-ma)

ne–yes (informal)

bang–room (b and p sound together for the “b”)
bbang–bread (stronger sound ^)
samgyupsal–grilled pork  (Korean BBQ, you are calling my name)
Soju.–enough said.
bulgogi–“thinly sliced beef sirloin or tenderloin” (Thanks wiki for providing a wonderful explanation)
galbi–marinated beef short ribs  (this portion is making me so hungry.  gahhh).
hangul–Korean (language, country, etc)

jimjilbang— Korean-style sauna/spa
noraebang–Karaoke room (:-D)
DVDbang–DVD room  (private room where you and your friends can go watch movies-haven’t been to this yet)
PC-bang–computer room.  lots of dudes will sit here and just play those role-playing game on one of the many, many computers in these places.  I used them when I first got to Korea and hadn’t gotten my internet set up yet.–you can spot them by just looking for a giant “PC” on the side of a building.
These, I can recognize them if written or in context, but they’re pretty recent to my vocabulary so I don’t want to include them in the top half just yet.

hyung–older brother
ye–yes (formal–to people older than you/bosses/etc)
mwuh?–what?–I saw this on on a Korean drama series that I’m watching.  haha.  Seems to be the informal version…
sunbae–someone more experienced in “x” than you.
ex: music industry–someone with more hits/awards than you.

Goodbye (when leaving): annyonghikyeseyo
Goodbye (when staying): annyonghikaseyo

^Those all sound really similar (and hello) when heard in context, so pretty sure I’ve just been saying hello to people all the time.  lol.  I just learned that there was a difference like 2 weeks ago.  ha 🙂

*NUMBERS!–There are two sets and I’m making it my goal to get them memorized. Urgh.  It annoys me.  That and my alphabet.  Now that my TEFL (teaching english as a foreign language–certificate) course is officially complete, I have no excuse.
My alphabet is like 65-70% there.  Too many darn vowels.  Blargh.

I feel like I know more than that…I’ll probably end up coming back to edit it as I think of things.  This was mostly off the top of my head.

Budgeting for July-madness!



Anyway, JULY!

A wee bit excited 😀

Other, Personal Goals

This isn’t directly Korea-related, but as being in Korea has helped the progress and  well, it happened while I was here, I felt like I could post it.

Anyway, I’ve had a personal goal of becoming more toned/trim and losing some of the pudge around my belly…and well, just trying to be healthier.
I don’t know how much I’ve lost because (1) I don’t have a scale and (2) it’s never really been about the number for me, just the look and how I feel.

I’ve liked how I look, but I just wanted to tweak here and there or improve.  Just trying to get healthier.  And well, I think my hard work has made itself known.  I’ve been able to notice the results for a few weeks now, and it makes me feel a bit narcissistic to say it, but I’m so so proud of my results.  A bit more to go, but I’m so thrilled.  I’ve noticed my oblique muscles on my stomach becoming more defined, more toned arms and working on the legs.  But ahhhhhh!! Yay!! 😀
Also, I’ve had 3 people in the past week mention how they see a difference.

Just wanted to re-iterate that I’m doing this the healthy way and I’m not starving myself or anything.  Trying to eat more fruit and cut out the junk.  Also, in Korea, I (and everyone) walk EVERYWHERE.  Granted, you can take a cab, but coupled with the diet change, stress and increased exercise, people lose weight when they come here.  (Happened in Europe too.  Just because these cities are more walking-friendly.  Nice large sidewalks with plenty of room for bikes too!)

Anyway, yay me!! 😀  All those ab exercises, planks and pushups are paying off 😀