The story!

Ok, so I haven't updated in foreverrrrrr...but here's a more recent update that I know everyone wants to hear!

I AM ENGAGED!!!♥ *^_^*

So the story...Ian came in to Korea on Monday. I was convinced he was going to propose mostly because I had guessed and after he spoke with my parents, my mom let the cat out of the bag (good job mom hahah). She had assumed I knew for a fact because I was talking about things he'd been saying and doing. But, I had just recently convinced myself it wasn't going to happen. I didn't want to get my hopes up.

Anyway, he comes and brings presents from his family. Which I love by the way! ;) Since he found out my mom told me, he decided to come up with another gift to get me thinking it wasn't gonna happen. The present is cute, now that I'm over the idea it was the only gift he had planned! He got an old soccer picture from my family and made it into a puzzle. This, he explained, was why he went to Glenwood to see my parents. It was quite funny, because I believed him and so I was super disappointed with the present.

We planned on going to the aquarium with my friend and her parents on Wednesday but things were rushed and we were all running pretty late...so we didn't make it (Ian told me later he planned to propose there,in front of the turtles!!♥) Ian and I were waiting around waiting for my friend Sunna to show up because we were meeting her for dinner, so we decided to get sticker pictures done.
It was a confusing process seeing as I didn't know the photoshop in the mall had Japanese booth (I mean seriously?!?! I can speak Korean, not Japanese!! >.<) But, anyway, Ian was apparently impatient and worried I would find the ring so he decided to do it there. As I was trying to figure out the next picture, I turn around and he's got the ring out! It's so pretty~~~and all I can do is smile and tear up. :-P Of course the picture machine was not on our side and took forever to take the photo! So the look on my face was still a pleased one, but his was more silly.
He put it on and *GASP* it did NOT fit! Either I lost weight, or I had my size wrong. No worries! I'll get it re-sized here, most likely. I have some girlfriends here who can help to translate and get cost estimates. For now, I wear it on my index finger.

That's pretty much it! We met Sunna for dinner and talked about plans (seeing as I might stay another year...still up in the air, though).

Here's the picture, seeing as some of you cannot access my facebook~~~

Friday, December 25th, 2010

Merry Christmas Eve~!! :D

I just finished the school year! Kids are on break and I might be teaching new students when they return. I start winter camp this coming week, and Ian comes to visit the week after!♥

I'll have time Sunday to post updates on the past few months. Sorry it's taken me so long!! I will post everything~!! Be prepared hahaha ^_^

*xoxoxoxoxo*

UPDATE

Just wanted to send a message to everyone that might be worried about me. I'm here, I'm okay, and I'm busy! School is still going on. No one seems to be in an uproar over N Korea at the moment and everyone is continuing life as normal.
To quote my friend Matthew (who's lived here longer than me): "To all my friends who are not in Korea: Don't freak about about this! This may be the worst so far, but North Korea does stupid stuff like this all the time, just to get attention. Nobody involved actually wants war. People in Seoul are annoyed about it, but nobody is really worried. Life pretty much goes on as normal here."

But, to be safe (and appease everyone worried about me) I registered with the US Dept of State (travel.state.gov).

Just keep Korea (both N and S) in your prayers. Love you all and talk to you soon~~

This is a Musical Post

Oct 17th was the Thrill Me performance/Jihoon Fan Event. I went with Mai and Kat. Before we all met up to get our tickets, Mai and I got together to shop for Jihoon and Jonghyuk (OJ). We wanted to get them gifts because we knew we would be able to see them after the show. I bought them both candy, tea, and scarves. ^^ It's just in time, too...it started getting cold the next week.
When we got our tickets, there was a drawing for the event for a picture taken with them. I thought it was just Jihoon, so when I won I gave it to Mai. She told me no take backs. haha~~
I had just gotten a cold at that time, so I really can't remember much about the show. It was still very good, of course. :) I remember Jonghyuk falling pretty hard during the scene where they argue. He's supposed to fall, but this seemed like it hurt. I almost laughed though because the fans were whispering a lot right after, they were so concerned. But, he seemed fine.
After the show, we went to figure where we were supposed to be for the fan event. Mai went off to get her group picture taken and Kat and I stood in line. I really wanted to be outside when OJ came out. When Mai got back I went outside to wait, and Kat came with. Mai stayed downstairs to wait for Jihoon's fan event to start. She would text us when it started. It was crowed around the stairs but when OJ came out I was closer to the door, so I ended up in front when he walked outside. He saw me and told me "Long time no see!" in English. Then he reached over and grabbed food from another fan who had a bag of snacks. It was so adorable. I would have given him the whole thing. :P Since we were crowded by the door, he walked out and around to the back of the building where there was more room. There were a lot of fans this time so it ended up being pretty crowded around him. Sometime while Kat and I were waiting, Mai texted us and said the event started, but I hadn't gotten to give OJ his gift so we told her we'd head down as soon as we could. Talked with some Korean fans that spoke English who loved that we were fans~~OJ was signing stuff and talking to everyone...he even teased this girl with the pen; she was holding the lid for him and when he went to put the pen back he kept "missing" and writing on her hand. It was funny. Finally got to talk to him and he signed my ticket with "good to see u" ^_^ LOL he also misspelled my name and went back to fix it; wrote it in cursive. He really is so nice even with the language barrier. I gave him his gift and took a pic with him and Kat. That's posted on my facebook, but it's too cute not to share~!

Kat and OJ were trying to make a heart above us, but the person taking the picture didn't get it in the shot. :P Still so cute! He was very happy to talk to us again~~
Finally finished meeting with him and rushed down to the fan event (we missed all of it!) Jihoon was on his way out and was giving signatures to those who didn't have one. Kat and I ran up and she got her signature, I gave him my present. He did this little dance thing to show his excitement. It was funny. After he left, Mai wanted to see if OJ was still around, so we ran back out to check. He was! Kat gave Mai's present to him but she wanted to go over and tell him about her present, as well as get a pic. She gave him orange juice (OJ) hahaha. :D He actually got the joke...I think mostly cuz she held up the juice and said "OJ!" He laughed~~
So we finally wandered off and I went home since I live so far away. They both kept texting me all the way home tho...they were having fun teasing each other and telling me. :P


Taal was the following Saturday (10.23) We (Thea, Kat, Krista, and Mai) met up around 10am for BRUNCH! I got to eat pancakes, sausage, eggs, and orange juice!!!! It was sooooo good, I ate everything. :P I wrote down directions to get there so I can go again~~It was a little pricey but so worth it. :D
After eating, we wandered off to the area we needed to be for the show. Ended up at COEX mall and wandered around trying to find someplace for coffee before the show. Sat around talking about kpop (of course) and being crazy.They're such a fun group to hang out with! Always making jokes and such. Reminds me of how Jan, Jill and I act together. :)
The show was awesome! I didn't understand anything at all, but they did a 2PM song! That was cool~~we all spazzed (Thea is a big fan) about it of course. The show seemed to be a Romeo and Juliet story, but with traditional Korean stuff thrown in. It was interesting and sad, but still really awesome. It was more dance based, which I enjoyed. The lead guy was a great dancer too.
After the show, we wandered around looking for a place to eat dinner. Ended up in the food court at COEX and I had french fries covered in cheese, chili, and bacon. :P I was very unhealthy that day. Went home sometime after that because I was supposed to meet some other friends for a birthday. Since I was still sick and exhausted from the day I ended up not going out.

Alright, I have a lot to say for Spamalot and the days events, so I will stop this post here. Musical Post Part II coming soon...

COSCTO Adventure!

The weekend after Rock of Ages, some friends I made at Orientation (and saw again at dinner) decided we wanted to take a trip to COSTCO to gather some yummy foods (LIKE CHEESE!). :D We met up around 12 and head off to Seoul...cuz of course there wasn't one close to our area. Got off at the right stop but I managed to take us the wrong direction. Luckily we were stopping for lunch first and didn't travel far before I noticed.
We managed to keep our purchases to a minimum...mostly because we didn't want to carry so many things back on the subway train. It was fun because there were four of us and one cart. It wasn't as packed as I thought it would be on a Saturday, which was nice. I bought a large box of instant oatmeal, CHEESE, salami, trail mix, and rice snacks. I still have all of the food and we're going again in a few weeks. ^^ There was a large pumpkin pie that I wanted. Maybe next time I'll buy it. :P
On the way home that day we had to transfer...but we were all so busy talking and missed the stop! lol I kept watching the signs but I had misread it at some point. We only had to go a few more stops and were able to backtrack to the right transfer stop. Didn't take too long, but we were already so tired! I think I got home around 6pm? It was definitely a long day.

Next post coming soon...it will probably include the next 3 musicals I went to (Thrill Me, Taal, and Spamalot!) It will be long so be ready! ^^ see ya~~♥

Orientation + Rock of Ages

Long time no "see!" ^.^ I've been so busy and really haven't made time to update this. But, here I am! (You can stop pestering Ian, Ashley~~hahaha)

The end of September, I had a 3 day overnight orientation for my prgoram (Gyeonggi English Program in Korea). It was a lot of fun! Of course, I learned a lot of new things to use in my classroom. ;) I even learned how to play traditional drums. That was cool~~ Met a lot of people close to the area I live in...some even right next door! It's great to know I don't always have to go to Seoul to hang out with friends. We even started a weekly dinner in our area. I have been a little too busy to go, but I went a few weeks ago when we went to an Indian restaurant. Yummy~ :P

The weekend after was a restful one. I think I went to see Resident Evil 4 that weekend. In 3-D! It was a good movie and the 3-D was not as difficult to watch as I thought. All the action had me worried I'd get motion sickness or something. It wasn't as good as the others, but I had fun anyway~~Sungmin was surprised that I even wanted to go.

The second weekend in October was Rock of Ages! It's a musical that was starring Onew from SHINee and Sunday from CSJH (The Grace). It was so fun! The songs were all classic rock songs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_of_Ages_(musical)) so I was able to pick up the story even though most of the story (and songs) were in Korean. I had fun watching Onew anyway. He's an awesome singer and was pretty adorable in this show. He plays excited in adorable ways: his voice got high pitched and he even cracked a few times. :P I'm not sure if that was intentional though haha. His singing voice is so distinct and he has a great range. He did "I Wanna Rock" and it was so different from his SHINee songs. He did the rocker voice so well. There was one point he even held this note for so long. We started clapping halfway through the note and by the time the clapping died down, he was still holding it! I melted *^_^* It was very impressive. The narrator is also the writer of the story. At one point he made Onew and another character start dancing for some reason (adlib change or something) and Onew did his Lucifer dance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkvyT-8OUT0 watch this for the first 25 seconds). His moves were so sharp and quick, it was cool. The show was very interactive, too. We clapped and sang along at the curtain call and most of the show. We enjoyed ourselves~~
Waited after the show for him, but there were so many fangirls, we just hung around and watched other performers come out. We even talked to some and my friends got some pictures with them. Onew came out much later but there were so many people, we stayed away and just watched the van drive off. We didn't get to even see him, but we waved at the van as it drove off! Maybe he noticed the foreigners ;)

Went home after that and crashed, I was so tired. It was a Sunday night, so I needed to get to bed.

I have more to post about, but I'm gonna make them all separate posts so I can keep them a little organized. See ya~! :D

Amazing week

I climbed a mountain!! But let me go in order of events haha...

Didn't do much the first part of the week. Met with Sungmin and some of his friends who wanted to meet me (or maybe just any foreigner haha) on Monday night. It was fun. Just hung out and talked. All of them spoke English! But Sungmin talked to me more than the rest...I think everyone else were too nervous. Most Koreans I meet think their Eng is horrible (when it usually isn't!).

Slept in some on Tuesday? I really don't remember anything other than it was so rainy that day! I did venture out to the store when it died down. But, I had to go back out to buy sneakers so I could run and also go hiking Thursday. It rained a lot! I also spent just a little too much for shoes, but they looked good! :) They're black (and pink!) so they'll stay clean longer, and they didn't make my feet look huge. The guy was also super helpful even though he didn't speak any English. They were only 70,000won ($68) compared to all the other shoes that I liked that were $100 or more!

Wednesday woke up super early and got on the train by 8ish to meet Mai and the rest of the gang at Lotte World by 9:30am. I was running late actually cuz it took me longer to get ready and eat. Mai was running late too actually, so it wasn't a big deal. :P Met up with her and another friend I hadn't met yet. We were the only ones there (the rest of the group were coming later) so we went ahead and bought our passes. I think because of Chuseok, there was a discount! We paid 22,000won for the ticket. The ticket, by the way, paid for all of the rides as well~~~ :D There was only one ride we went on that didn't take the ticket. Nothing too special or different from your typical amusement park. ^_^ Rode the scary rides of course, ate too much junk, and bought useless cat ears. haha They're cute~~



Finally headed home around 8pm? I got home and was in bed around 10 I think. That was later than I wanted since I had to be on the train in the morning by 7am!
Joey and I ended up leaving later than planned from Ansan. Left around 7:20...didn't get into Suraksan Stn until 9:20am! But we met up with Matthew, Sunna, Dan, and Kyujin, ate a quick breakfast and headed to the mountain. It was a nice hike in the beginning. The weather was cool, sun was shining, and there were trees and water! :D It was so pretty. The climb got a little tricky but we were all excited...that is until we got to the top of the first part. Then we looked up and saw the rest of the mountain. It was so high! We also could see people were climbing up using ropes that were attached to the rock with steel posts. That was very intimidating, but before we could talk ourselves out of it we kept going (I actually led the way...don't know what I was thinking hahaha). Here's the first part:

That mountain in the distance is I think the highest point. We were heading for it!

Here's what the ropes looked like. Pretty sure this was after the first climb.


It was fun for awhile, even if it was a little scary for me. But, I was able to stay focused and not pay attention to the height. Except the one part where there was a sheer drop to the left and we had to be right next to it as we climbed up using the ropes/posts. I got myself a little worked up and had to take a longer break than everyone (I'm sure) wanted. I was just too scared. Even through all of it, I could tell that it was just a beautiful sight. These nice ladies gave me grapes cuz I looked so discontented. ^_^ haha food makes everything better.

We kept going!! Finally made it to the top and it was awesome! I have a bunch more pics, but I'll post them to facebook and share the public link again. Here's one of us all at the top. We actually look okay. Joey and I were the only ones scared actually (he's in the red shirt). But we did it!


Going down took just as long...but our group separated cuz Joey and I wanted off the mountain and this nice man was helping us go the best way. :) So, it was Joey, Sunna, the man, and myself heading down. We took a break to eat and he shared some food. It was so nice! We bought him a drink after we got to the bottom. It was crazy! We didn't really expect to be climbing as much as we did. We really thought it was just a hike. But, I definitely am glad I went! It was awesome. :D
That's the mountain we climbed! ^_^

After all that climbing we met up with the others and went to eat and drink. :) Had Korean BBQ and some Kimchi Chigae Then we went to another place to try this Korean veggie pancake and some rice/soju drink. I loved the pancake. We also ate a ground bean soup. The texture was like a porridge, but it was so good. Ate so much food~~~but finally went home and took a needed shower. :P Got to bed around 10pm and woke up today around 9:30.

Today's plan doesn't include much until later. I'm meeting up with Joey, Sungmin and some other friends around 7pm. I still need to buy a miniskirt for the Rock of Ages musical next month...but I'll probably try to do that this weekend.

I have training next week for 3 days. I'm actually bummed I'm missing school for it! But, it'll be a nice break and a way to meet some more people living in Korea. :)

Gonna run~this was a long post! Hope you enjoyed~~~~♥!