There's no daylight saving's time in Korea ...

... which means now those I love are SEVENTEEN hours behind me, instead of merely sixteen.

That makes the math harder, haha. Don't ask me why. It was easier to compute when it was an even number.

It was a great weekend. Like I already recapped - Halloween + Bar Boom = fabulousness. Meeting up with Kyu was great - and hanging out in Sadang? Something I hadn't done before, haha. So that was swell ... really! And then this morning I went to church with Hannah and her aunt ... and yes, I will be returning there. It was indeed an evangelical church, but you know ... I believe that God and one's personal faith in God can cross so called denominational barriers. After all ... Christian religions (and others, for that matter) all believe the same basic concept ... we just have different ways of getting to the same conclusion. So, while I will still be fervently searching for a Catholic church with an English service nearby, I am content with attending Sae Jung Ang Church. It's nearby, the music is reminiscent of Bucket, and it's English.

Had dinner and conversation with Mindy tonight, which was fab ... annnnd DELICIOUS. I'm learning that simple is the key to great home cooked food in Korea. Now I just need to figure out what I'm doing. And tweak my dwen-jang jjigae recipe. (^_^)

Some photos to tide you over?


Meet the relay team from the Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia. FYROM for short.


Heaven on a chilly Saturday - Green tea lattes, hot chocolates (not pictured), friendship, and a warm cafe.

The coolest relay team you'll ever see ...

... from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. We got by FYROM for short. Check it out, it's a real country. No lie. It has a flag (we googled it).

Halloween was a blast! After work (which included a nine member relay team, an oversized POLY student, Elvis, Mario and Luigi, and a ****ing gangster), a large group of us got the party started in Hongdae at Bar Boom. It was pretty rad. I'm 99.999% sure that a good time was had by all. (a few photos to come - but blogspot is being lame right now and not letting me upload ... sadddd)

Plus, the kids were soFREAKINGcute dressed in their costumes at school. My favorite? Little Jake (first grader) dressed as Batman. Complete with fake muscles. SOOO adorable!

Picked up copies of "The Alchemist" and "The Witch of Portobello" today - both Paulo Coehlo books. I've already read "The Alchemist", but I'm UBER-excited to read it again. ANNND I picked up a Korean language book with the help of Kyu, so I'm going to give it a whirl.

OH!!! Milestone moment of my Korean life? Okay. So, Kyu came with me to Beomgye and we got to hang out which was AWESOME. Then, after she got on her bus to go home, I headed back towards New Core and got in a taxi. Now, normally, this is how the dialogue goes when I get in a taxi ...

Me: "Baek-jae Sam-gye-tang."
Driver: " ... Oedi?"
Me: "BAEK-jae samGYEtang."
Driver: " ... Oedi?"
Me: "Baek-jae Sam-gye ... arrrrgh ... Hagwon-ga?"
Driver: "Hagwon-ga?"
Me: *somewhat frustrated sigh* "Ne ... Hagwon-ga."
*turning onto Hagwon-ga - where my work is located*
Driver: "Oedi?"
Me: "Cheek-chin, cheek-chin."
*going under the bridge*
Driver: " ... OOOOH! Baek-jae Sam-gye-tang!!!"
*sigh*
Me: "Ne."

Okay, so translation - "Baek-jae sam-gye-tang" is the name of some allegedly "famous" chicken soup restaurant which is our point of origin for the apartments in which we all live. I have NEVER been able to get a cab driver to understand me when I say this the first time around. Rarely do I get it the second time around. (my pronunciation is crap). Usually, by the third time around I'm so convinced that I'm NOT going to get it that I just give up and ask the driver to take me to Hagwon-ga, which is the street where I work, and then I "cheek-chin" it home. "Cheek-chin" means "straight".

So tonight, after I left the bus stop, I hopped in a taxi. I had mentally prepared myself before hand, and had even practiced under my breath. The cabbie pulled away from the curb, I took a deep breath, and said "Baek-jae Sam-gye-tang." AND HE JUST NODDED AND DROVE ME STRAIGHT THERE!

WAHOOOOOOOO!

(PS - I found out in the cab that Kyu and I took earlier that the driver DIDN'T think that Baek-Jae Sam-gye-tang was good as a point of reference ... thankyouverymuch) (^_^)