The Black Banshee

We don't have a car in Korea so our transportation resources are usually funny taxis, hot subways and gracious friends.  This can sometimes be a burden so we opted to purchase a scooter!  Jake takes and picks me up from school on the scooter a lot and roams around during the day running errands on what he calls his "Black Banshee".  She's a whopping 50cc bike that has minimal "get up and go" but she does give us another opportunity to get places without too much of a struggle.  

Jake, The Black Banshee and someone in the apartment buildings Lamborghini.   

Posing in true Korean fashion.  

I Never Thought I'd See The Day....

...when this product went from the aisles in the grocery store to the counter of my home.  

Traditional Korean Tea House

We drove to Palgonsan (a mountain) to enjoy a traditional tea house! It was so delicious and the flavors were extremely potent!  They serve a sort of "drink appetizer" before they serve you the main course of tea.  The appetizer is a sort of barley water that goes down very smooth and keeps you wanting more.  We tried two different teas: Pomegranate Tea and the House Tea.  They were very good but upon future returns- I'll leave the house tea and ask for a double helping of the pomegranate.  Interestingly, many times they drink their tea through a small spoon or a tiny cup which is somewhat irritating when it's so good to only have such small sips!  

Walking up to the tea house.  The lanterns are so pretty!

Alicia's Mom, Alicia, "Mary", and "Kevin" (who was trying to get his translation AP on his phone to work so he could communicate the menu to us). 

The wood menus

All smiles! 

Many things about this picture make me laugh.

Enjoying life! 

With a Twist

Our realtor and friend, Seongman (aka Kevin), decided we needed a new experience to safeguard our health over the cold and flu season.  He, and his sister Keyong Hi (aka Mary), took us to a restaurant with a variety of what we would consider Chicken Noodle Soup...with a twist.  First, they give you a shot of fermented ginseng to "clear your passages".  Then, they bring you a boiling pot of broth with an entire chicken in it.  The chicken has been stuffed with rice and you have to peel off the meat in a separate bowl then put it back into your broth.  This meal is a traditional health process which Koreans eat year round (even in the horribly hot summer months).  It was very good and (knock on wood) we haven't gotten sick yet!! 

Seongman and Keyong Hi
Wonderful friends! Aren't they cute?

Gettin' our health on! 

Never Met A Stranger

It's been said that Jake Jones has 'never met a stranger.'  This title has been earned from years of standing in grocery lines, consoling other husbands waiting outside dressing rooms and now: restaurants in Korea.  

We went out to eat with our friends, Joe and Kristen, who have a baby named Rachel.  Rachel has beautifully, bright red hair and big blue eyes.  The Asians go nuts when they see her!  While we were eating- Jake spied an adorable baby boy that he thought he could have the same good graces with and attempted to meet his new little friend. 

 I have to repeat from previous posts, the Korean people are by far the most trusting and nicest culture I have ever encountered!

Initial contact is made...

Mom thought is was a great idea! 

Two happy boys.
He was so cute!!
And, Mom and Dad just went about their business eating- 
not a care in the world!   

Jake with Rachel  (different day). 

Korean in the Kitchen

Only in Korea can one get this plastic children's food from the home living center in my classroom.  This dish was collaborated by one of my top chef Korean students.  Can you identify any of it?  

Halloween Times

For Halloween, my school hosted a Story Book Character Parade.  All the teachers dressed up as different characters then we got the kiddos together and they sorted us into a "Fiction and Non Fiction" T-chart.  We marched around the entire school for our parade and the 'big kids' and parents cheered.  It was so much fun and the kids loved it!  

Jake took pictures of all the teachers in character to put on the T-chart but I'm just going to highlight my Kindergarten team for you to meet :) 

Meet Alicia before her fairy godmother helped her out.
Our classrooms connect through a hallway where our kids' bathroom and our kitchen is shared. 

Meet Vanessa the Viking and Baby Bump Girl.
Vanessa's classroom is in another building with amazing (1100 square feet) perks but we are certain she wants to give it all up to be closer to her team...

I'm a brave girl wearing stripes. 

After school our friends, Peter and Sarah, invited us to a Halloween party that was being thrown by an English teacher in Daegu which was being put on for the locals and the homesick.  Koreans do not celebrate any sort of Halloween tradition so they were fascinated at the idea of dressing up and getting sweets.  Jake and I had a lot of fun and we were asked repeatedly about the traditions in America surrounding this scary holiday.  We felt like we let them down initially when we said, "We eat and talk" when asked about most October 31st celebrations.  We had to dig deep and remember elements like carnivals, trick or treat sayings, carving jack o' lanterns, decorations, porch lights being on vs. off, pranks (that one was easy for Jake to remember...), startling movies, etc.  If only I could have had them in my Kindergarten class the previous two weeks I may have been able to paint a better picture of 'custom traditions' !!! 

"Which one is not like the other?" 

We went as a double helping of "Kim Chi'"
Kim chi' is a traditional Korean dish (most of the time) being fermented cabbage with spices on it
 (hence the red pops of color).
It is literally served at EVERY meal.  It is so popular here that in our apartment we have a refrigerator just for the production and storage of kim chi.
We were quite the hit!

Sarah + Becca and friends playing a game similar to "Telephone".
Except it was all in Korean...guess who didn't win in this picture.  

Friends playing games! 

Happy Fall, Y'all!

(Now that it's almost December...)

Would You Bank Here?

Pronunciation: "Worry Bank" 

Dressing Rooms

Naturally, things are different on this side of the globe.  They (assuming the Asian continent here) are much more open with...eh hem..."in the raw" with more than just fish.  Many a-times we have been in a store, rounded a corner and witnessed Joe Shmoe stripping down to his (or her) whitey tighties to examine if his desired purchase will indeed fit the needed areas.  

Awkward. 

However, we were shopping around downtown and were lucky to find this handy fabric concealment for the southern regions.  Only Jake Jones...

An 8 = Great Celebration!

My favorite nephew, Creed, turned 8 years old!!!  The "old card" is getting played in saying, "I feel like it was only yesterday that my brother called me in my college dorm room to tell me the arrived news!"  Hence, we called up our friends and went out to celebrate Mr. Creed's birthday here in Korea even though he wasn't with us to spoil. We chowed down on some yummy galbi (basically short ribs that you cook on a grill built into the table) in his honor!  The various plates around are the different "bon jons", or side dishes, you use to eat the meat.  It was delicious and it's all thanks to Little Dude Creed for having a birthday that we could celebrate! 

Happy Birthday, Creed Monster! 

Uncle Jake and Aunt B love you VERY much!! 

Carroll, Vanessa (blurred) and Luke enjoying Creed's  dinner! 

Marc and Tina cracking jokes 

Becca and Alicia after stuffing ourselves

Uncle Jake and Auntie B wishing we could see Creed on his big day...

We wrote this at the table in Mr. Creed's honor and our waitress, whom we informed of our reasoned celebration, brought out a bear for the picture! Sweet. 

Jake + Soccer

Jake, currently a house husband, volunteered to coach soccer for 13-15 year olds.  They had a lot of fun and traveled almost every weekend around Korea for the various games.  Usually, they would be on a bus for about 4.5 hours (which is long no matter how you look at it with that age group) and then play a double header then head back home.  It made for long days but they all had a lot of fun!  We have concluded they still don't know our names just refer to us as: "Coach and Mrs. Coach".

Jake and his flock

Sideline coaching with A.

Not a happy coach...

After game


**They had a really great season!  From a wives perspective, Jake Jones did an awesome job handling teenage attitude and drama with a lot of fun! They really look up to him and love hanging out with him when he is around the school. ** 

Silly Signs

We find silly signs everywhere we look but forget to capture a lot of them with the camera. 

 I thought I'd just post them as we go.  They make us giggle. 

Enjoy!

The three food groups of Korea: Coffee, Beer and Rice 

Maybe elsewhere I wouldn't denote "People Chicken" as a concern, but in Korea...?

Pictures can save lives.

I guess it really is everywhere! 

Our realtor joked the picture on the left means 

"No High Fives" 

Yep.  Sure did.

This is an advertisement for a daycare.
Please note the devil horns coming out of sweet Susie....

The office supply store

Zip It!

The Village People ready to rope! 

We found a zip line!! It's called the Eco Adventure.  We found out after our experience that this is a very new event in Korea and we were some of the first folks to use it!  Had we known this information before, we may have been a tad more cautious being the guinea pigs.  It was by far the best zip line course any of us had ever been on!  It had very challenging obstacles and exciting variations to some 'traditional' ropes course events we've seen. A little pain along the way when you crash...(whoops)... but what's a little soreness the next morning? Our ground instructor spoke all Korean but we had two great friends with us to translate any verbal directions into English. Everything else was done in (what else?) pictures! Makes you feel safe that high up, huh? We were literally in the mountains for the experience and it was very much amazing! All in all we had a great time and are excited to take company back with us!  

My favorite bag lady, Alicia, holding all our stuff 

Entrance leading to the Eco Adventure zip line

...because, why not?

Pondering life in Korea

That helmet isn't going to do me a lick of good!  

The first plunge of the day

Here comes Jake! 

(It really hurts at the end!)

The skateboard challenge is pretty short but you can see the instructions at the end that are guiding us through to our next course. 

I give a big, fat HA! 

Riding 'Old Faithful' 50 feet off the ground through trees.  Isn't that every girls dream? 

After our safe return to the ground, Jake and I were interviewed for the
Korean News Station!
(We'll be sure to post the newscast if we can find it)

As we were leaving, the cutest Korean girl asked if we could take a picture together!
I can't lie, I kinda love these moments.