I have fantastic friends.

How does a girl get so lucky to have the most fantastic friends?  I will never understand, though I'm certainly not upset about it :)

Friday night, six of us met for shabu shabu in the Gwangj. A great meal continued well into the night at our favorite noraebong (Yes, three weeks in a row!  I can't get enough!) for Throwback Night - we made a rule that no one could sing any songs that had been released since 2000.  Let's just say, awesomeness ensued.  We paid for two hours but, since we were literally the only people in the joint, they kept tacking on extra time.  Three and a half hours later (and a long nap for Miss Desiree :) ), we strutted all the way home with sweet old school Mariah Carey melodies floating through our heads.  Awesome night with some of my faves.

Saturday, we ventured to a flea market in Seoul with Dionne and Scott.  Sunny and I learned that we are not flea market enthusiasts (although I think it was no surprise to him - he's such a good sport!), but the people watching was top notch.  As Scott went on a treasure hunt (PS - people know him there - like on a hugging, long lost friends basis - sooo cool to see him and Dionne interact with people there!) and Dionne talked to a random Korean man about the bad direction he thinks Korea is headed, Sunny and I saw (but didn't have the stones to take pictures of) a child with a mullet, an old man with lavender hair and countless obnoxious flea market items that no one would ever buy - or would they?  Ohhh flea markets.  We continued on to dinner in the same neighborhood as last week - more delicious Uzbek food.  Scott was so enthralled to listen as Sunny ordered our food in Russian.  A delightful marathon of a meal ensued (I'm talking a few hours of great conversation and so much food that we had to stack the plates soon after we finished parts of the meal to make room for more) and before long, it was dark outside.

After we parted from Dionne and Scott, Sunny and I headed to an open air market. Of all the markets I've encountered in Seoul, this one is my favorite so far - maybe because it was food focused :)  There were the usual traditional market shops selling kitchen wares, socks, etc., but then in the middle were little makeshift restaurants serving street food and booze.  Awesome.  After scoping out the situation, Sunny was (quite literally) dragged into a tiny establishment by a woman who I thought knew him based on the way she manhandled him.  It turns out that's how she gets people into her restaurant.  Whatever - she was delightful.  Anyway - the market was so fun - a loud, obnoxious, totally Korean environment.  I loved every minute of it - even watching three drunk old men raucously consume raw beef.  Fantastic.

Sunday, I woke up to the most delightful surprise:  my pal Ashley got married Saturday and I was pretty bummed about missing it.  But, thanks to some real clever pals at home (Andrea - you don't even understand how much this made. my. day!!), I did, in fact, attend the wedding.  See the above photos and connect the dots - I cried a little when I saw those pictures!

Later in the afternoon, Diane, Desiree and I went to a really cute neighborhood in Seongnam for a late lunch of fantastic Mexican food.  I forget how much I love Mexican food.  YUM.  And, punctuated with delicious margaritas, how could a girl go wrong?  Amazing.  (This was also the scene of a fun fall photoshoot...  I LOVE my new camera, in case you couldn't tell :) )

Last night, the Husteds, Diane, Desiree and I went to the infamous Chinese restaurant.  There were too many of us to eat in the restaurant proper, so the woman in charge led us to the back room.  Hotdamn!  We ordered sooo much food and ate every morsel.  And, let me just tell you, this food is what dreams are made of - seriously.  I'm not exaggerating.  Not even a little.  Several food babies later, we got pumpkin cheesecake ice cream from Baskin Robbins.  How could that taste good?

So - after a food marathon of a weekend (actually, let's just be honest here - my Korean lifestyle tends to become a food marathon...), I am counting my blessings.  I am one lucky lady to call so many amazing people friends.  One lucky lady, indeed :)

Fall is my Fave

Fall has come to Korea, and in a real short time, it will leave again.  While there are four distinct seasons in Korea, fall and spring literally last for about four, maybe five weeks, tops.  All the more reason to fully enjoy them, I guess...

Since I fell off the wagon taking (and posting) pictures last year, I'm trying my best to redeem myself this year.  So, here's a taste of the lovely colors I've been enjoying in the Gwangj lately.  The bright highlighter-yellow leaves on the ginkgo trees that line my street are gorgeous, and by far, my favorite.  It's so fun to be surrounded by such delightful bursts of color before everything turns bleak and grey sooner than I would like.

A few funny school quips from today before I turn in for the night:

1 - I've been wearing a lot of headbands lately.  Like, everyday.  This morning, as I walked into the office, wearing a headband with a big lacy white flower on the side, MiSuk Teacher, who sits diagonal from me and always warmly greets me, said, "Ohhh Noelle Teacher!  I love see you in the morning to see what hairband you choose.  So beautiful!"  Then she did some sort of cutesy finger wave before she ran off to her homeroom.  If that doesn't start your morning right, I don't know what will :)

2 - The first graders were assigned teams for a project that will last the rest of the semester.  I asked them to sit in their teams for the remainder of the semester as they complete their project.
YeaSeul: Teacher.  You mean I sit here ... FOREVER?
Noelle: Yep.
YeaSeul then burst into song, involving lyrics about forever.  (Maybe you had to be there... I think she's delightful.)

3 - I played Pictionary for a little while in my last class of the day because they finished their exams early.  The word was babies.  Every other team drew several cute babies tightly bundled in blankets.  My pal JungA likes to think outside the box.  Instead of tiny children, she drew several ovals and squiggly lines.  Her team won after a long, drawn out guessing session.  I walked over to her side of the whiteboard to award Team 4 their point.
JungA: Teacher, look.  I draw eggsUH!
Noelle: Oh!  And those are ... (It was then that I realized (a little horrified, but mostly highly amused) that the squiggly lines were sperm.)
JA: Yes Teacher!
Definitely outside the box on that one, little lady!

Last, but not least, shoutout to my gal pal, Miss Ashley Weiland (soon to be Courtney).  Homegirl's getting hitched this weekend!  I so, so, so wish I could be there to participate in the impending (and awesomely raucous) celebration.  I'll be thinking of you non-stop, lady!  Best wishes for a perfect day and the start of a beautiful life together!

Best Week(end) Ever

This weekend was fan.tast.ic.  Seriously.

Friday night, we celebrated Navy's birthday by eating our favorite fried chicken and (what else?!) making a trip to a noraebong.  Showstopping performances on the part of many made the night about as delightful as they come.  It is such a satisfying feeling to feel so unconditionally comfortable with your friends.  Awesome.

Saturday (Haberdashery Day, as it would later come to known between Miss Desiree and me) involved a trip to the sewing and crafty section of Dongdaemun Market with five of my lady pals.  Imagine, if you will, a warehouse of several floors of yarn, buttons, ribbon, thread, feathers, etc.  My mind was blown.  After snagging buttons (to be used as beads on the friendship bracelets that, yes, I still, at 24 years old, make ALL the time), brightly colored yarn (because, really, what other kind is there for me?) and bright, sparkly ( !! ) and cheap linen string, I was a happy camper.  This place was delightful.  Stall after stall after stall of yarn, string and thread, with ample display pieces showing off the stall's wares were made even more colorful with the stalls' proprietors trying their best to convince us to buy their items (as opposed to the neighboring stall's similar products...) and others completely ignoring us as they didn't want to deal with a gaggle of overly enthusiastic foreigners.  The six of us were like kids in a candy store.  Fantastic.

Then, as the market shut down around 3:00, we ventured to the nearby Russian section of Seoul in search of some Kazakh food.  Sunny joined us in our pursuit, which ended at an Uzbek restaurant upon realizing that our Kazakh restaurant was no longer open.  I had never had anything even closely resembling Uzbek fare, so let's just say, my mind was blown (which, it seems isn't hard to achieve, but that's fine with me...).  We ordered sooo much food, but the seven of us had no problem polishing off every last morsel.  So. Good.  We sat around in the restaurant for hours (literally), having the most raucous and delightful story sharing session.  Such a good time!  Then, we headed for a nearbyish bookstore so Miss Desiree could pick up the third installment of Hunger Games.  I, too, snagged a couple of books, including Frindle, my favorite book from, like, fourth or fifth grade.  I've been meaning to buy it for awhile, but keep forgetting about it.  It. is. so. good!  Despite its larger print and elementary audience, it is a fantastic book with a cute message.

After getting kicked out of the bestseller section of the bookstore for talking too loudly (I was sooo not involved in that...), we took our little party to a nearby coffee shop.  On the way, we stumbled upon a free K-Pop concert, where, of course, my camera made an appearance.  Wandering the streets of Korea never ceases to produce something completely random and unexpected.  So, anyway, we sat at this coffee shop for a few hours, chatting about who knows what.  Such a good time!  Then, after Desiree, Diane and I emerged from our final subway stop to catch a taxi back to the Gwangj (we thought we had missed the last bus), we discovered it was raining.  And, not a light sprinkle either.  Yikes.  As we tried (unsuccessfully) to hail a cab for a good five or 10 minutes, we watched our bus pull up to the stop in the median of the busy street.  SCORE.  Off we ran, like crazies, in pursuit of our (empty!) bus.  We made it just in time, happily boarded the bus and took our seats.  Half an hour later, we were safely back in the Gwangj, enjoying a rain-free moonlit walk home.  Gosh I love my life right now :)

Sunday was my lazy day.  I uploaded pictures, wrote a blog post, took a nap - the usual.  Then, Diane and Desiree came over and Diane cooked us Filipino corned beef hash: corned beef, onions and potatoes sauteed with garlic and black pepper, then mixed with rice.  So tasty and nicely punctuated with nacho cheese Doritos from Miss Desiree!  We (all three of us :) ) sat on my couch, eating our yummy food and ogling Ryan Gosling's beauty as we watched Crazy, Stupid Love.  I love that movie.  Fantastic.  Then, I had a marathon Skype date with the folks.  Double fantastic.

And, guess what?!  They bought their Korea ticketssssss!  AHHH!!  Watch out Korea!  The Pluegers are coming to town!  I couldn't (like, for real) be more excited to show my parents around and have them get a taste of why I love it here so much.  HOORAY!

The delightfulness carried over into Monday night as I joined Dionne and Scott for a tasty dinner of clam chowder, corn salad, homemade gin cocktails (I totally understand the need to have a drink at the end of the day - I will never turn down a gin and lemonade from Scott - so refreshing.), and baby creme puffs from the neighborhood bakery.  After the most delightful of conversations (and weird discoveries), we watched the first episode of Pushing Daisies.  Let's just say, I'm hooked.  The end.

Just kidding.  Not the end.  During my lunchtime newspaper class today, one of my students, Suga, smuggled some ramen noodles from home to share as an after lunch snack.  We broke up the block of ramen into tiny pieces and dipped it in the (hella spicy) ramen flavoring.  Being the brave (and spicy loving) soul I am, I took a generous dip of the spicy flavor with my ramen pieces.  As all of the girls gasped and feared for the burst of spice about to enter my mouth, I popped the whole piece in my mouth, enjoying every bit of it.  Suga looked at me in horror and said, "Teacher!  You Korean!"  I love the time I spend with those girls.  Delightful.

Lily Festival 2011: Noelle Cross Dresses. Awesomeness Ensues.

First, I owe a serious shoutout to Miss Jill Anderson, pal of pals.  I got the most wonderful gift in the mail on Thursday.  I'm talking mind-blowing, people!  Homegirl had the first year of my blog published and sent to me in two hardcover books.  For serious.  These two beautiful books have become some of my most prized possessions.  I have shared them with everyone - literally.  I can't even begin to imagine how much time she spent putting them together, nor can she possibly imagine how much they mean to me.  From the very bottom of my heart, thank you, Pal! :)


Okay.  Lily Festival!

Last year, all of the native teachers sang an English hymn during the offering portion of the morning church service.  We did that again this year too.  We sang Great Is Thy Faithfulness - and by we, I mean all of the native teachers. plus the four EB foreign exchange students with Hyunjoo playing the piano.  But, there's more.  Dionne and I also dusted off our we're-late-to-class-and-will-thus-sing-an-English-song performance piece: Baby by Justin Bieber.

First, I should preface by explaining how we got ourselves into this...  About three weeks or so ago, Diane and Desiree were asked by their co-teacher to perform a song at Lily Festival.  They began rehearsing, and soon, had a whole adorable routine worked out, complete with a choreographed dance number featuring some of their students.  I got to wondering whether Dionne and I were expected to sing something too...  So, one day, I asked Hyunjoo if we should be preparing something.  She consulted the man in charge of the schedule, but got busy with other things because we never really heard a definitive answer.  Fast forward to Wednesday after school when the following conversation occurred:

Hyunjoo: Noelle.  What is the name of the song Desiree and Diane are singing on Friday?
Noelle:  I'm not sure. I can find out and let you know.
H: Okay.  And, what's the name of the song that you and Dionne are singing?
N: Say what?  We haven't prepared anything!  We didn't think we were singing...
H: Oh!  You are on the schedule. (Produces Lily Festival schedule of events) See? EB Teachers!
Dionne and I looked at each other- and almost immediately decided: YES.  We are singing!

Given the lack of time we had to put something together, we decided the safest option would be to sing Baby by Justin Bieber since we already knew all of the words and knew that the students would enjoy it.  We literally spent maybe an hour over the next two days singing through the song, throwing together some rough dance moves and psyching ourselves up to perform in front of all three schools.

After lunch on Friday, we changed into our Bieberesque clothes, took some awesome pictures and went to work.  (The video must be too large to post on Blogger because it won't work..., but it's posted here on Facebook...)  It was sooo fun to be able to participate in such an important day at Kyunghwa!

After the festival was over, we ran into Principal Suh outside.  She was sooo funny:
Principal: Noelle Teacher!  I know Dionne Teacher good singer.  I no know you good singer too!  You good at pop song.  And, you dance - so sexy!

Bahahahahahahah.  Oh wow.  I'm glad she approved :)

This year's festival was different than last year.  Since it sporadically rained all day, the festival was held in the auditorium instead of the outdoor amphitheater.  Also, there was much less dancing than I remember there being last year.  Instead, each school's samul nori (traditional Korean drumming) group performed and two tae kwon do clubs performed too!  Those were probably my favorite!  They broke sooo many boards - so cool!  Also, each school put on a skit of some sort.  Since they were all in Korean, I had no idea what was going on, but that sure didn't keep them from being funny!  Delightful.  Then, a couple of dance teams performed, there was a Korean cheerleading demonstration and a singing contest to round out the day.

Also, around the school grounds, several students' artwork was on display.  We have some seriously talented girls attending our school!  It is so fun to be privy to the extra stuff about our students that isn't immediately apparent in the English classroom.  I love seeing their personalities show through!  So special!

Nothing Special to Report...

Alright folks.  Nothing special (as my title suggests :) ) to report here today, but I have a couple of cute stories to share, some pictures of (you guessed it!) yummy food (!!) and a few music recommendations.  Hooray!

The other day, as I was checking some third grade introductions (and looking busy for once in my Kyunghwa life), Mr. Shin appeared at my desk. The following conversation ensued:
As a preface - the abundance of exclamation points is pretty true to how I speak to him...  Excitement.  Always.
Noelle: Oh!  Hi Mr. Shin!  What's up?
Mr. Shin: Can I ask you favor?
N: Sure!
MS: Are you sure?  You look so busy.
N: No!  What would you like?
MS: I have English newspaper stories.  They need help.
N:  Great!  I'd love to read them!
MS:  Really?
N: Yeah!  I love that kind of stuff!  Is there a deadline?
MS:  Maybe the end of the week.  There are so many stories.  (there were maybe eight...)
N: Sure!  Maybe I'll have them finished by the end of the day!
MS:  NO!  You work too hard.  Have fun!
N:  Haha!  Okay.
(I finished the stories by the end of that class and delivered them to him)
MS:  Oh!  You worked too hard!
How many bosses would tell you this?!  I. Love. My. Job.

I was just delivered a lens/screen cleaning cloth with my picture on it.  The school has various products made to promote our school and the native teachers are always on them.  So, when I clean my computer screen, I use my face.  Awesome.  And, on the posters that are plastered all over creation, they put some kind of glow effect around the picture of Dionne and I talking to students.  We look super angelic.  HA!

The pictures in this post were taken last night at our favorite Chinese restaurant in the the Gwangj.  Every single time we go to this restaurant, the woman announces upon our arrival that they don't serve jajangmyeon, a popular Korean noodle dish derived from a Chinese dish.  We never want to order this dish (though it is super tasty!), so the fact that she always announces that makes me laugh every time.  Since the menu is just words in Korean and Chinese, we usually order from pictures that are on the wall.  The restaurant must have had mold issues because when we walked in last night, there was all new (and quite fresh!) wallpaper and NO PICTURES!  Yikes!  How would we order?!  I had been salivating over the thought of sweet and sour pork all week long in anticipation of our Wednesday night dinner plans, so I was a little beside myself at the thought that we might not be able to order it...  Luckily, Diane and Desiree are serious troopers - and girl scouts.  They whipped out their phone translators and 10 minutes later, we ordered sweet and sour pork (which is, by the way, the best sweet and sour pork EVER.  Diane didn't believe me until she tasted it for herself.  She kept saying, "Oh!  The crunch!" Ha!  I think she's a believer now.), an awesome tofu dish that Diane knew would be good and (gasp!!!) an awesomely delicious dish (that isn't even on the menu!) involving stir fried beef, CILANTRO!, onions and peppers that we had sooo enjoyed once before.  My world was rocked.  For serious.  And, one of the side dishes was salty roasted peanuts!  Try eating those bad boys with chopsticks!  We sat at that table, inhaling second hand smoke from all of the men around us, eating our fantastic food and laughing wayyyy too loudly.  I sooo enjoyed that meal in every single way (except for the second hand smoke - that part made me cough... a lot - so much in fact, that a kind man wearing rhinestone sunglasses - at night - like Corey Hart! - pestered the woman in charge to turn on the exhaust fan!).  Anyway, it was a fantastically delicious meal with my lady pals - it made my night so much that I was strutting down the street after we left.  Weird? Yes.  Am I sorry?  No.

And now, music, music, music.  I've been in an O.A.R. mood lately, so I snagged their latest album (King (Deluxe version)) yesterday.  Awesome.  Then, good ol' iTunes recommended the new Mat Kearney album (Young Love).  Double awesome.  I can't get enough of that man.  Then, I found Beyonce's new album (4), which continues to blow. my. mind.  Check out this video on Jay Z's blog for proof of how amazing Miss Beyonce is - WOW.  I've been chair dancing at my desk for the last two days and I don't even care about how ridiculous I must look.

Tomorrow is Lily Festival!  I'm so excited!  More on the crazy that's already developing after it all unfolds tomorrow.  Stay tuned...

Midterms Week

I am one lucky lady to get most of midterms week off.  And, midterms couldn't have come at a better time.  All last week, because of various goings-on at home, I was really missing good ol' Iowa, and more importantly, my people there.  Having several days off in which to enjoy Seoul and my friends here were just what the homesickness doctor ordered.  Here's a rundown of what the last several days entailed:

Monday - I went hiking.  Cue the crazy music (and see the previous post for pictures and zero details :) ).  So fun.  It was a perfect day with some seriously fantastic lady pals.  (How did I get sooo lucky to make such great friends here?)  In short, it was a great, great day.

Tuesday - Wah wah wah.  I had to spend a half day at school.  I got so much done though and by the time I was told to go home, I almost felt guilty for getting to leave and have the rest of the week off...  After a much needed Skype conversation with my pal Ruth, I got Indian food at our new stomping grounds Agra Taj with Leah and Darren.  Yet another delightful meal.  After dinner, a fantastic phone conversation with Jill and Andrea happened as they drove home to Iowa from Colorado.  (As a side note, I cannot express enough how much of a lifesaver Skype has been during my time here!  Being able to talk to and see the people I miss so so much makes it possible to fully enjoy this experience.)

Wednesday - I spent the whole day in Seoul with my friend Sunny. The main focus of the day was looking around Gyeongbokgung Palace.  I had been to the palace several times before, but never when it was open, so it was fun to finally walk around the grounds, especially with a Korean dude with some perspective as to what we were seeing.  A very fun day, indeed.

Thursday - Winter shopping in Myeongdong with Diane and Desiree.  We also took my first ever photobooth pictures, which believe me, was an event in and of itself.  We sat in an insane little photo booth, took about eight pictures with ridiculous (in the best way possible) background options, decided which of those were the best four and proceeded to hop behind a curtain to decorate the crap out of the chosen pictures.  Korean teenage girls take this stuff seriously, as did we (and by we, I mean Desiree and Diane - I was a proud spectator.)  I love love love Korean culture and I think it's these cutesy little things that kill me the most.  Also, that was the day Steve Jobs passed away, so the Apple retailer in Myeongdong had a small memorial set up upon entry into the store.  Since all of us are the proud owners of various Apple products, we ventured into the store to see what the memorial was all about.  On the right side of the store, a small station was set up in which people wrote messages on brightly colored post-it notes to memorialize Mr. Jobs.  Desiree added her thoughts to the colorful menagerie of messages.  It was interesting to see all of the sentiments in several different languages, all meant to honor an international cultural icon.  Very interesting indeed.

Friday - We had thrown around the idea of venturing south about three hours to Mr. Shin's hometown of Andong to take in their traditional mask festival, but we were all beat and getting (or getting over) colds, so we opted, instead, to chill on Friday.  After a (delightful) marathon phone call with Jill and Andrea on their way back to Colorado, I wrote a serious amount of snail mail and hung out with Miss Desiree all afternoon.  Then, that night, Diane, Desiree, Thanh and I went to Jukjeon (a small, ritzyish neighborhood in the nearby satellite area of Bundang) for Mexican food.  The food wasn't all that impressive, but it was a really fun girls night out in a different area.  Despite us all fending off one sickness or another, we decided afterward to noraebong upon our return to the Gwangj.  It was definitely one of the most chill noraebong experiences I've had, but it was somehow exactly what we needed.  Something about completely letting loose with your pals in a make-a-fool-of-yourself-without-caring kind of way will always make my night.

Saturday - Super chill day of doing next to nothing, then dinner and drinks near Gangbyeon (where I take the bus to catch the train in Seoul) with Sunny.  I haven't had a gin and tonic since I was in Iowa - it was just what I needed.  Good drinks and awesome conversation made for a delightful Saturday night.

Sunday - Usually this is the day when I do nothing, but since that was what most of my Saturday had entailed, I had an itch to go do something outside (weird, I know).  Miss Desiree (always a trooper) and I spent the afternoon walking around the park near our neighborhood, then enjoying coffee and deep conversation at a nearby cafe.  I took some crazy flower pictures of which I'm pretty proud (even if they did sort of happen by accident...).  Then, we got pizza and the Friday night crew watched a movie as we ate our pizza at Desiree's.  What a perfect cap to my five day weekend :)  And, to top it off, I had the most delightful skype date with the folks.  Gosh I miss them!

Oh Forrest.

This post is short and sweet.  Get excited.

Desiree, Thanh and I went hiking today.  That's right.  Hiking.  And, despite being grossly out of shape, it was a.w.e.s.o.m.e.  I took a stupid amount of pictures - like almost 150 - yikes.  We came across a gorgeous Buddhist temple and I went to work.  And, we had a bang-up picnic, great conversation and an all around good time.  We were even given cherry tomatoes by a fellow hiker.  Aces.

Then, we got Korean take-out, brought it back to Miss Desiree's and watched Forrest Gump.  That movie straight up rocks my world.  Every. Single. Time.  One line from the movie got me thinking, today especially.   As his mother is sick in bed, nearing the end, a voice-over narration of Forrest's voice says,

Mama always said dying is a part of life.  I sure wish it wasn't.

I couldn't possibly agree more, Mr. Gump.  My heart is at home until further notice.