Yu-ri

a typical breakfast: spicy octopus legs, mystery vegetable,
cherry tomatoes, rice and mystery soup.

kobe, me, kelly & cornelius

testing out my Taekwondo uniform

my new friend Kelly from the KEY club

Taekwondo International Championship

Fulbrighters watching the action

little kids practicing...this will be me in 5 weeks! (or not)

I really wish I could carry around a video camera with me and document my entire stay here. I feel like there are so many little things I want to share that I don't know where to start. I apologize if this post is disjointed...I'll try and remember everything I wanted to say.
-Friday afternoon: After class, I went to Emart again with some friends. Afterwards we went to Starbucks (I have been spending a little too much on American food) and while sitting outside of the place we heard "Gangster's Paradise" and Wilco and DMB playing. I found that pretty entertaining that they would play that here. We decided to go exploring and try to walk home from Emart instead of taking a cab. I still have no idea where we were going, but it was fun because we had a lot of little kids yelling "hello" at us from buses that drove by. Little kids really like us...I'm excited to teach them! I might end up stealing one and bringing him/her home in my suitcase because they're so freakin cute.
Friday night: We had a mixer with the KEY club. We sat around in circles in the parking lot talking and drinking Soju and learning Korean drinking games. I was also given a Korean name by one of the KEY girls: Yu-ri. I don't know what it means...probably something lame like chicken. We then all went out to the bars together. We ended up at some bar that was decorated in army weapons and clothing...kinda weird. But we had a blast talking and learning Korean phrases and teaching the KEY club kids how to play quarters. We also had the best food I've tasted yet at that place...some sort of pork with a really sweet sauce on it. Too bad I have no idea what it was called so I'll never be able to order it again. We then went to a bar called "Elvis Western Bar" and then to noraebang which was a blast, of course. Our last stop of the night was another bar for food where we ate tater tots and fruit and some kind of chicken...sooo good. Me and 2 other ETAs stumbled home and fell asleep on the couches in the lobby. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling too hot the next day. No more Soju for me.
Saturday: Had a workshop with an ETA from '94 who has been living in Korea for the past 9 years. He had some really interesting things to say about our role here and how we're just perpetuating neocolonialism. He also showed us a slideshow of all the pictures hes taken here...hes become some sort of semi-famous photographer during his time here. In the afternoon I met up with some KEY club girls to go shopping. They took us to this awesome underground mall where I could have easily spent thousands of dollars on all of the cute shoes and girly frilly dresses. I ended up buying a little dress. I need to step up my style...these Korean girls are always dressed to the nines...Short skirts, nice blouses and high heels regardless of the weather or time of day.
Last night we went out again for a more low key night. I ended up going off with 2 of my friends to a swanky bar called Johnny's Bar where we sat on couches and listened to Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Lil Wayne, etc. Its my new favorite place. We also tried out another bar where the entire menu was in Korean. Of course, we didn't bring anyone with us who could read or speak Korean, so we ended up just pointing at a random thing on the menu and hoping for the best. To our delight, we ended up with fried chicken. I think I might do this from now on. Probably the best way to try all of the different food here.
Sunday: This morning we went to Chuncheons 7th International Taekwondo Championships. I figured I needed to get an idea of what I was going to be doing. It was actually pretty intense...lots of kicking and yelling and grunting. I'm pretty sure I'm going to only end up doing insas and a lot of stretching. The little kids were the best part though.
Some other random things:
-I really miss having a cell phone. Not being able to find out where other people and to meet up with other people is becoming a real pain in the ass. Can't wait til I get one in 5 weeks.
-Dunkin Donuts is my saving grace. I've gone there about once a day so far. So much for being healthier here.