I gotta feeling tonight's gonna be a good night... Korean style!

I feel like I've been doing a lot of videos lately but it's just fun to show you what Korean kids are like.  We all have our differences, but it's fun to realize that even though they don't speak my language (very much) kids are kids all over the world.  And sometimes Korean kids are even funnier that kids in America! For example:  this week Danny was able to get all the boys in the camp to run laps around the classrooms cheering and doing boyish/Braveheartish war cries.  They weren't foreign kids at that point, they were just funny little boys... including Danny ; )



So a little while ago I shared Danny's ABC rap with you guys so I thought I would show you what my group does.  It's fun to see the kids get into it, and this group was especially fun so I had a great time.  Enjoy!

** Oh and stay tuned for another post involving a Korean hiking club.  Somehow (gulp!) we got convinced to go on another hiking trip, and if you read our last experience on the "party train", I think you will like this one too!  Let's just say it was another memory maker : )

Our Korean Apartment, Part 2

Danny and I finally wanted to show you all our new apartment.  We live about 10 minutes across town from our last place in a different neighborhood and although we don't live above a No Rae Bang, it's a nice place ; )  Enjoy!

And on another note, Danny and I have been missing home a lot lately.  Our goal is to come home for a visit in the late summer, but the ticket prices are pretty crazy right now : (  If you could just pray that we could somehow find a good deal, that would be much appreciated.  Also, if you could leave some comments about how awful Chipotle burritos have been lately, or how ugly Colorado mountains are, or how even thinking about taking a long refreshing sip of Fat Tire beer makes you want to gag... that would be great ; )  Thanks!

Korean Food... so many great foods, so little time!

Danny and I really had only eaten Korean food once before we came so basically all Korean food that we have had has been new to us.  I didn't think I would be a fan of Korean food, but oh how I was wrong!  Of course there are still things that I will avoid like the plague, but now there are foods that I can't do without.  Here is just a sampling of some of the BEST and some of the WORST...

Bin dae ddoek:  A fried potato pancake with beef in it... oh my goodness delicious.

On the right: kimbap ~ a "california roll" often filled with egg, ham, radish, spinach, carrot, green onion, and rice all wrapped in seaweed.

On the left you can see a few different things: In the very front you see pigs feet (I've never had them but I don't particularly want to eat knuckles), then you see the kimbap, then we have ddeok boki ~ rice cake covered in a red pepper sauce usually with cabbage and fish cake pieces in it, then last but not least chop chae ~ rice noodles with a kind of soy sauce marinade mixed with green onion, carrots, peppers and beef.

My absolute favorite: Dak albi, a spicy chicken dish that will blow your mind.  Cooked with cabbage, ddoek or rice cake, leeks, sesame leaves, and mixed with rice at the very end.  Seriously good... seriously.

Jimdak: Andong is most famous for this dish and it is really good and REALLY spicy.  We always have to get is "waygook-in" style (or foreigner style) which means waaaay less spicy.  It's a dish made with chicken, spinach, potatoe, carrot, onion, pepper, and rice noodles all in a delicious garlic-y, soy sauc-y, seasame oil-y sauce.  It's a must try.

Bulgogi ~ a classic Korean dish that most people know about.  It is thinly sliced meat cooked in a marinade with onion, pepper, garlic, and rice noodles.  Eat it in a lettuce leaf with some gochujang (red pepper sauce) and you'll never go wrong!

Another classic: Bibimbap.  I prefer dolsot bibimbap which is on the right but they are both good.  The difference is dolsot bibimbap is given to you in a hot stone pot so the rice around the outside gets crispy and delicious.  Bibimbap is made with all kinds of different steamed veggies, usually an egg, and a good amount of gochujang sauce.  

Ssam bap:  this food is a great way to try all kinds of Korean dishes.  Ssam bap is basically a crazy ton of small side dishes that you put in a lettuce or sesame leaf and eat in one big bite.  You can see zucchini, lotus root, fermented mussles, anchovies, spinach, steamed egg, denjang chigae (soy bean soup), and lots more.

If you are in the mood for meat: Galbi or ssam gyup sal is also classic in Korean food.  This Korean barbeque is usually pork, and if you are splurging, beef, marinaded and grilled on a open fire.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

An acquired taste: although I didn't know what to think about it at first, kimchi chigae is a soup that has grown on me.  Make with kimchi, tofu, fish, onion, and lots of other vegetables, it may not be your favorite at first, but keep trying it.

Another acquired taste:  kimchi is one of those things most either hate it or love it.  I wasn't really a fan when we first moved to Korea but I have found that I actually enjoy eating fermented cabbage (I never thought I would say that!)  Made with cabbage, red pepper powder, lots of garlic, anchovies, and lots of other mystery ingredients, it doesn't really sound good when you describe it but just keep trying it.

A soup that will rock your world:  Shabu shabu is technically from Japan, but the "Koreanized" version is amazing.  It's a spicy broth soup with mushrooms, different kinds of green, onions and thinly sliced beef.  This all comes to a boil and then you add the udon noodles and this makes it delectable.  My favorite part, though, isn't till the end when you mix rice, egg and some of the broth together to make a fried rice that is a life changer.  This is a must try!

For your sweet tooth:  It makes me sad that in most places in Korea, this is a winter food, but hoddeok is a street snack that I hate that I love it so much.  A cinnamon and sugar filled fried pancake-doughnut is really hard to go wrong with.  This food may be some of the few "bad for you" Korean food but, Oh, it is so good!

Now foods that I can just do without...

If you are in the mood for bugs and snails: On the right you can see bundaegi or silk worm larvae.  Let's just say it smells horrible and I think it tastes just the same.  Then you can see golbangi or tiny snails.  Danny says these aren't that bad, but a bag of peanuts or popcorn sounds a heck of a lot better to me ; ) Older generations love these snacks but I can say with all confidence that I will never eat them again.

Octopus:  you can have it many different ways but this is one dish that I still haven't found a taste for.  Give me some calamari and I'll be happy but there is just something about the consistency of boiled, chewy octopus that doesn't light my fire.

KFC... not so much:  there is just something about fried chicken with the head still on that makes me want to say, "I'll pass."

Traditional festival food:  at festivals in America you might find deep fried candy bars or grilled turkey legs (yum), but in Korea you find things that are a little bit different.  Grilled squid is a common sight along with soon dae (or blood sausage) which is intestines stuffed with rice noodles a pig's blood.  Yeah, not the same as a funnel cake, huh?

Never tried, never will:  I know a lot of people are afraid of accidentaly eating or being fed dog when they come to Asia, and for a while it was a fear of mine too.  Although dog is eaten in Korea, you mostly have to go out of your way to try it.  Danny and I stumbled upon the dog section of our market, to which I let out a little scream, but I thought for this purpose it would be better just to show you the outside of a shop that the actual dog. Your welcome, Mom ; )

Dried fish:  it is in a lot dishes in Korea and when it is combined with other things, I don't mind it, but dried fish is something that I haven't made an afternoon snack.  People say the bigger dried fish on the grill with a beer is an awesome combination, but I think I'll just wait for a big salmon fillet when I finally go home, thank you very much.

One of those foods that you will say, "What is that?":  as you walk through the market or you see people on a picnic snacking on a marbled looking food you might wonder what that is.  Well, compressed pig's head is the answer.  A pig's head is boiled, and with the skull removed, compressed cartalage and all until it is a nice little cube.  The crunch and the flavor of the meat is in one word "gross".  

Well that's all the food I've got for now!  Hopefully, I will continue to try as many different Korean foods as I can, and if you have the chance, you should too. Sometimes you may be sorry you put something in your mouth but if I hadn't tried, I wouldn't have found my passion for Korean food... and I only hope that I can find a place in Colorado one day that will satisfy our cravings.

Danny's ABC Rap... WHA?!

Every week we have to do a performance with the kids at the end of the camp.  This can either be really great or a slow form of torture, but either way it is fun to see what kind of show the kids end up with.  Of course, Danny's is usually awesome (mine on the other hand can go either way), but how can you go wrong when doing an ABC Rap?  Hope you enjoy!

Our New Job at Andong English Village

As you know, Danny and I are staying in Korea for one more year due to taking a job at Andong English Village.  Although we are still teaching English I thought I would tell you a little about our new job because it is really completely different from last year.

Danny in Math Class playing the game BAAM.

Last year we both taught at boys high schools, worked 9-5 Monday through Friday, were the only native English speaker in our entire school, taught from a book, and usually taught with a co-teacher who was in the classroom with us.  This year we teach boys and girls ranging from 5th grade to high school, we work about 9-8 Monday through Thursday, we teach with four other native English speakers, we definitely DON'T teach just "book" subjects, and we teach all by ourselves... yeah a little different : )

Most people, even in Korea, are pretty confused what an English Village actually is so we pretty often have to clarify that, yes, we work at Andong National University, but we still teach kids English.   Basically it is an intensive English kids camp where schools send their students for 4 days to do a variety of English classes.  The kids even sleep in a dorm in one end of the building but thankfully Danny and I get to say goodbye after our classes are done, so we don't have to watch over them at night.  We get to play with the kids for 4 days and then send them on their way back to their usual teachers, so I like to think of us as the cool "aunt" and "uncle" teachers who get to do the fun stuff with them and don't actually have to teach them real stuff like the "parent" teacher waiting for them : )  I sort of miss building more relationships with the students, but honestly I kind of love that I only see them for 4 days... I don't get sick of them (well the bad one's I do) and they don't get sick of me ( I hope).

There are all kinds of different classes that we get to do at the AEV like Police Station class where they get locked up in jail, Science class where they make their own volcanoes, and even Cooking class (sigh... I wish I had that class) where they get to bake chocolate muffins!  Danny teaches Math, Hotel, Grocery Store, and Campus Tour and I teach Yoga (haha, I know), Bank, Post Office, and Theme class where we teach the students about different western holidays.  

Doing some poses in Yoga Class.

The way the AEV is set up, they want the kids to really feel like they are in a really different learning environment so it's pretty cool that we get to teach in such in a unique place.  Danny has a mini grocery store that he teaches his class in so the kids can feel and touch the food and I think that my pharmacist brother-in-law would even be impressed by our mini pharmacy : ) (Better come see it for yourself huh, Albert?)

"Do you have any pomegranates?"

Now we teach the kids all about these crazy subjects but we aren't actually focusing on the skills that you need to know to use English like in a REAL grocery store.  For example:  I'm not actually teaching "yoga" with the namaste and the meditating, I'm really teaching words that you might use in a class like that like body words, or "above", "below", "touch", etc.

It's pretty different going from high schoolers to grade schoolers, but Danny and I are both thankful for our favorite camp experience, Camp Elim, for preparing us for MANY years how to deal with kids of all ages.  The kids are fantastic to watch and MUCH more interesting than my bored and tired high school boys.  Kids are already pretty funny on their own, but add in the fact that they are hopped up on sugar and coffee drinks that they sell in the vending machine (I don't know why), and add that they don't speak great English and you have a hilarious situation.  What other place can you have an imaginary gun fight with 5th graders and come out with a few imaginary gun shot wounds and a heap of boys on the floor dying a slow and painful death of imaginary bullet wounds?  It's AWESOME!

Us teachers introducing ourselves to the students.

Besides the hilarity everyday with the kids, there are lots of other perks to the job that we aren't complaining about.  When we were at our other schools we basically didn't talk outside of class but now that we work with 4 other foreigners, it's nice to have other people to talk to throughout the day.  I also really enjoy always having 3 day weekends and I know when I have to go back to a 5 day work week I will do it with a heavy heart.  And lastly the most important perk: I get to work with Danny which is pretty awesome because I know that this probably won't happen again in our lives.  When the kids find out that we are married the usual response is something along the lines of a collective "Gasp!", then a round of applause, and then whenever they see us the girls chant, "Lovers, lovers, lovers!" while dancing around us.  These kids keep the romance alive ; )

Koreans love to do the "heart" pose.  Ahhhh.

It's a pretty nice place to work and we are enjoying ourselves.  Obviously, it's still work with it's good and bad days, but for the most part we feel pretty lucky to have such a good job... oh and the 7 weeks vacation doesn't hurt either... wink, wink!  Good times at Andong English Village!

Gross but True... A story of Katy and her gall stones.

Now this isn't my normal kind of post, but I just thought it was so interesting that I had to share it...

So some of you know that I, Katy, have been suffering gall stone attacks for the past couple years.  Occasionally I get a severe pains in the gall bladder region due to these stones so I finally decided to do something about it.  I wanted to try to get rid of my stones naturally (even though most people suggest surgery) and I have been reading about different ways online so this week I decided to DO IT!  I had no idea if it would work at all and honestly I more lingered on the side of it not working, but I thought, "What the heck!" and so the past week I have been doing a "Natural Gall Bladder Cleanse".

I won't go into specifics (but if you suffer with gall stones, give me a shout and I will tell you more) (and also I hope this doesn't gross anyone out ; ) but I will basically lay out what this cleanse looks like.  For the past week I have been eating noting but 6 apples a day and a small salad at night.  This is supposed to "loosen" the stones and get then ready to pass.  Then on the last day I only ate two apples in the morning, then drank 2 cups of salt water (yuck... oh my goodness... yuck) and then proceeded to drink about 2 cups of fresh lemon juice and olive oil mixed (another big YUCK).  Now you might be saying, "This sounds like a disgusting thing that someone would dare someone to drink!" but I found many websites with various versions of this recipe.  THEN after all of those "lovely" beverages, I was supposed to go to bed laying on my right side.

Not feeling that anything was happening, I began to wonder last night if I put myself through drinking some not  great-tasting drinks, and missing eating pizza with Danny, and skipping an Easter BBQ for NOTHING!  Never fear though, ladies and gents, because this is a tale of success and not defeat!

I finally woke up this morning and had to use the bathroom.  Now, skipping many details, I basically found that not only had this cleanse WORKED but it worked marvelously!

I am simply AMAZED at how many gall stones I had in my gall bladder!  In the picture there are a lot, but there were probably 50 more small stones that I didn't even save.  Now I know there are many people who laugh at the "natural" way but I just have to say that a week of changing my diet for an empty gall bladder is worth it to me instead of surgery.  That's right, I think the score now is Katy: 1, Gall Bladder: 0. Sucker!

Well now I feel like a new person and ready to face the world gall stone-free!  That is my tale of me and my gall stones and, again, I'm sorry if it grossed you out ; )

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Danny: The Kimchi Man

So our week of teaching has just come to a close and it's only Thursday.  I love this job!  

I received this paper on my desk today from a fellow teacher's broadcasting class.  Apparently, the students have to create a character and they chose the strongest looking yet most uneven armed man they could think of.

That's right, it's me.  

Apparently I've been working on my muscular physic by squeezing Kimchi as hard as I can, and as you can see it's been working.  

Plus I'm wielding a massive hammer titled USA.  I don't know how he knows so much about life in America, but I like it.

Life continues to be interesting teaching Korean kids.