weekend warrior

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2013691&l=40dcb&id=100300061 - just like riding a bike

so this weekend has been busy, and wonderful in so many ways! so friday night i went to yanny's house for dinner. it was so nice to be invited to a korean home! her mom cooked so much food - and my favorite - kimchi pa'jang! we ate and ate. and she asked me if i called my mom lately, and am i eating enough at home and asked me if i am homesick. she said having me there reminded her of when yanny went to canada and how much she missed her! they showed me family pictures and then we watched her mom's favorite korean drama on tv. a note - korean tv shows have no commercials during the shows! how nice is that? and we had tea and fruit and i just enjoyed being in a family enviroment, relaxed. we took some pictures but yanny has not sent them to me yet...so ill post them once i receive them.
then she sent me home with so much food!

on saturday i went to Itaewon to meet my new Ugandan friend i met last week at church. she is living there part time with her brother. Itaewon itself was a culture shock to me. I got out of the subway exit and all i saw where foriegners! white people, europeans, black people....almost no koreans! i was standing there in awe! then there was starbucks, hard rock, krazeburger and pubs and diners and just overwhelming. seriously. then i met up with Mary and her brother Desire and we went to her place and had some African food! then we went out for a drink and hung out in this really nice pub named Gecko's. we talked for hours about teaching, Africa, what we want to do with our life, Korea, racism, America, Swahili. Yes I spoke Swahili in Seoul - not very well, but we were definitely conversing.

on the language note - on saturday i recharged my Tmoney card using korean! whoo hoo! "choong jon haejuseyo." whoot whoot. i was so excited...but then she said how much in korean and i went blank and handed her my 10. haha. oh well. little by little.

then sunday i went to church at 10:30 - which i really am enjoying it. then i went to World Cup Stadium for the soccer game which is really on the other side of the city. i pretty much rode the line 5 from one end to the other. then jason - whose real name is Seok-Ho - was late so he told me, just call my friend and meet him. haha ok. thats what so much of my life consists of, just being willing to meet random people. so i met up with his friend and his friends sister and we went and sat down. eventually SeokHo arrived haha. the game was ok, FC Seoul lost 2 -0 and frustratingly enough they had so many chances and just didn't finish them! then they got lazy in the second half. but it was a sunny warm day and it was just fabulous! and only cost $10. then SeokHo and i went out for some dinner which was some kind of soup made from oxknee bone. mashikke.

and now it is sunday night and i must refocus back to school and teaching and doing what im here to do. :) i enjoy it. i was telling my mom that i go to the grocery store and i see kids from class - they say hello and point and then run away. sometimes their parents are there and say oh amber teacher! yes, hello! goodbye! so really there is no awkward conversation because we can't really. hehe. but its nice. kind of like, living here you know. go to the store - see people you know. :) mr rogers neighborhood.