Holiday Happenings (Cat Cafes, Nutcracker, Christmas, and Liar Game)

Hello all!

Sorry to leave such a long time between blog posts. I usually blog on Sunday or Monday every week, but last week I saw the Nutcracker Sunday evening and Monday I went over to Tina's to book flight tickets to Japan (!!!) so I missed my blog chances. Then when I had a shot to blog, I didn't have my computer.

Also, I am gonna get this out of the way first. I could have blogged, but I chose to watch the incredible series Liar Game. It's a 12 episode Korean show based off of a Japanese show and manga of the same name.

Stop what you're doing right now and watch Liar Game. I'm serious. It's incredible.

When I watch a show I really like, I obsess like crazy, and Liar Game is no different. Here's the premise of Liar Game:

Da Jung is a typical Kdrama heroine: pretty, young, naive, and saddled inexplicably with the debt of her absent father. She helps an old woman lug a giant suitcase around Seoul, and when the woman asks her to wait with the suitcase while she uses the restroom, Da Jung waits for 6 HOURS before realizing that A.) The woman is not coming back and B.) The suitcase has a shitload of money in it.   A loan shark (Dal Goo), who is also her friend, tries to stop her from taking it to the police station and turning it in. The money bag has a cellphone in it, and right outside the station the phone rings, and in Kdramaland, you pick up your god damn phone. When Dal Goo accepts the terms of the call, Da Jung is approached by a police officer who asks if Dal Goo is bothering her. When Dal Jung says no, the officer reveals himself to be the host of a reality show, Liar Game. To win this game and the $10 million prize, Da Jung must enlist the help of ex-con (in jail for swindling but also accused of and acquitted for murder) Ha Woo Jin. They must face off against a series of antagonistic characters, especially the devious MC of the show, Kang Do Young. But it's called Liar Game, and literally everything is a lie... or is it? Whaaaaaaaaaaat???

Ha Woo Jin (Lee Sang Yoon omg you are so handsome in this drama), Nam Da Jung (Kim So Eun), and Kang Do Young (Shin Sung Rok) on the promo image. 

I'm going to take a long time on this blog (I AM NOT SORRY) to sing praises of this show. It's incredible. It's so intense and suspenseful. Each round of the Liar  Game is so intriguing it's hard not to flip out. I have a lot of experience with guessing things and with foreshadowing (Thanks, Dad and grad school), so it's not hard to guess point A and point B. But the path between point A and B is so insanely clever and often devious and delightful that it's a joy to watch.



I also have to take a while to explain my obsession with Shin Sung Rok (Henceforth referred to as SSR), because damn. He is literally captivating. He plays one of the best TV villains in the history of ever.

Koreans already scare me because when they change their hair they become different humans. Seriously, they look so different. SSR is no different. I'd seen him before as a villain in the wildly popular drama My Love from Another Star, in which he was also terrifying and devilishly handsome in his devious ways. I also saw him as the goofy, dorky, most Second Lead Syndrome (when the second male lead is a much better and more likable character than the first male lead and you desperately want the first female lead to end up with him but she never will because Kdramaland law dictates she will end up with the first male lead...) inducing human in existence.

Look at that suit. It's like "Look at me, I'm clearly the bad guy."

Here he is looking much less threatening in Trot Lovers. 

Here is a series of pictures and comments on SSR, because I love him. He makes such an adorable romantic character but holy hell I am such a fan of him as a villain that it's unreal.

First, he's actually more famous in the stage and musical sphere than the TV and movie one. Here he is in Trot Lovers being adorable and singing to try and help the Female Lead (Eunji from Apink) while the First Male Lead and Second Female Lead also look on. Adorable.

People say he looks like one of the characters on KakaoTalk, the texting app used in Korea. I think he does.

Okay so this is one hairstyle. He looks so sweet.

Look at how cute he is! He couldn't hurt a fly!

I literally can't even with this guy.

But damn he looks good. He's over 6ft tall so he's above average for Koreans. 

Seriously, he is such a dork in this drama.

 But then he is also insanely good at being sinister:

Threatening in My Love from Another Star

Looking both harmless in his glasses and then there's that creepy mask...

And finally in Liar Game, he is the best.

I would not want to play any game with you, sir.

/end obsessive rant on Shin Sung Rok and how much I love him and Liar Game. But seriously, I haven't been so obsessed with a show in like forever. You will not regret watching this show.

Wayyyyyy back like 2 weeks ago, I had my last classes of the year (Not semester, we still have time after break) with a lot of my classes. With my 6th graders (easily my favorite grade) we played Speed English:

I can't get the video to show up, but watch this quick clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBTKhPDgb4U

Basically, I sat at the front of the room and had the tv behind me and each student had to act out or describe the phrases to me in English. My most mischievous 6th grade class turned out to be my favorites. Thanks to the video, they kept describing things to me in "friend" terms. Winter? Summer Friend. Moon? Sun Friend. Fork? (After badly demonstrating how to use a fork) Knife friend. Princess? Prince friend. They were even helping out the other teams with their friend guesses. It was hilarious and fun, and they were begging me to play more once we finished. It was great.

I also had had a surprise teacher dinner the night before: The staff all had their budget/curriculum meeting (which I am not required to attend) and afterwards there was the end of the year dinner. Which I had heard nothing about until I was walking out of school. One of the older teachers got the attention of my coteacher to tell me there was a dinner. Yay! We went to the same restaurant and bar that we went to my very first week at my school. I got a standing ovation when I uttered a sentence in Korean, and I got to show everyone pictures of Tina and confuse the shit out of them once more. It was really nice and great, and I was really happy.

The principal also told me over shots of soju (translated through Su Hyeon) that all of the teachers at school really like me and they're all very happy I came to Korea. Excuse my while I go cry. I'm happy I came too.

Back to last week, if you refer to my sister's blog, http://cdicill1.blogspot.kr/2014/12/keeping-up-with-family-traditions.html you will find a lot of the things I did last weekend because we were together. Shocking, I know.

Friday after school, Tina, Sarah and I went to the Cat Cafe we had gone to previously in Sinchon. It had a new location, but our favorite cats (derpface and kitten) were still there, along with other joys! Yay!

Cat Hot Chocolate

Cats = Happiness

Cats cats cats

Derpface!!

As per usual, the cat stole a seat

Sarah and Grappy Derpface

Happiness is a cat on your lap

Taking Selfies with Kitten

Reminded us of Nymeria in color

Cats love treats!

Cat Cafes are awesome, and just what we needed for the holiday blues.

We wandered around Sinchon a bit and saw some of the Christmas displays,

Alas, the displays here are not as vibrant as America

Christmas is for love and couples.

They have some cool things though.

Last Saturday, Sarah, Tina and I ventured to Myeongdong for some shopping, food, and Japan planning! We are going to Japan for a week of our February break and I AM SO EXCITED.

Noms.

So we spent a lot of Saturday planning for that. More to come on that when we finalize everything (we have flights and hotels booked, now we just need plans) and actually go.

Sunday was all about the land of sweets. We got cupcakes, then went to see the Nutcracker!! I love the Nutcracker. Tina and I have seen it a lot since we used to go a lot when we were kids, but it's always a joy to see,

Just to add to the cat things, it's cold on my walk to school so here's my mask. It really helps meowt.

Monster cupcakes, featuring cat pillows and Jack and Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas!

More noms. Amazing cupcakes.

Nutcracker stage!

The Nutcracker was awesome. Well, aside from the part where I went to take a picture with the rat king and completely wiped out. Alas.

Cute ending!

I also bought a new dress! You can kind of see my Christmas nails!

Alas, by lace up boots broke. The sidewalks here are no joke.

This week at school was kind of a joke for me since I had like 2 classes to teach. I watched some TV and planned a few things for camp, but mostly I relaxed, which is really hard for me to do because I still have a lingering grad school mindset of "I should do something."

Fortunately, on Tuesday I was given something to do: the teachers had their Christmas party ddeokbokki (spicy rice cake aka one of my favorite Korean foods) making awards/taxes meeting party thing. So I got to hang out with So Jung and the 6th grade teachers Shinae and Seul, who were my roomates at the teacher trip, and Jin Sang, the phys ed teacher who somehow always gets lumped in with us. We had kimbap, fruit, and what they kept describing to me as Korean traditional pizza, but it was really more of a pancake. I kept being enlisted to try things, so I have few pictures. 

One of the older teachers told me I would make a good daughter in law since I flipped a pancake.

At the end, the head teachers surprised us (me... it was mostly me) with gifts for everyone at they table. I really wasn't expecting anything. Jin Sang got heat tech shirts (we all wear them a lot under our clothes to keep warm), So Jung got a journal, Seul and Shinae got some nice pens and teachery things, and I got pajama pants! I was so shocked that I got anything, much less puffy pink cat fleece pants from a man I know doesn't speak English.

Dawwwww

Pictured with the shoes I bought myself.

So with my belly full of ddeokbokki and my backpack full of pants, I set off to my last Korean class of the year.

Christmas Eve brought more surprises. I brought in gifts to my coteachers and was literally the most awkward human ever giving it to them, but whatever. While I was waiting to go home at 11:30 (I literally had to "work" for 3 hours), So Jung asked me if I had lunch plans. I didn't, since I was the only one I knew getting out so early. My plans were to go home and clean my apartment before I went to Costco to finish getting things for Christmas dinner with Tina, Lauren, Janell, Sarah, and Lauren's Korean boyfriend Gahyeon.

So I got invited to lunch! So Jung kept asking if it was okay and was shocked to find out the people weren't getting out early for Christmas Eve. I had to shock her more by telling her that in America, NO ONE S AT SCHOOL ON CHRISTMAS EVE. wahhhh??

Turns out a lot of the teachers were going to lunch. Jin Sang was holding us up with some paperwork. but once he finished we all went and shook hands with the principal and made our way outside.

While on a taxi ride over to the restaurant, So Jung was quite concerned about my Christmas plans. She knows (remembers) more about my family and that I'm 14 hours ahead (most other teachers forget), and when I mentioned skyping so I could see my older brother Ted, So Jung asked if he was married since he doesn't live at home. Here in Korea, you basically live with your parents til you get married, usually. This sparked an interesting conversation. Jin Sang was surprised to learn that in America you usually split the price of the house (since you're living in it together...?) since in Korea he said he should put in like 70% of the cost since he's the man ("I must save a lot. Or I should move to America" he said.) He also, in Korean, sounded disgusted and mentioned a name I am becoming familiar with and is always associated with disdain: Thanh.

Thanh (pronounced Tan) is the former native teacher at my school. Jin Sang apparently hated him, and So Jung cried every day she had to work with him. So Jung translated for me that Jin Sang had mentioned that they couldn't have a discussion like this with Thanh since he would just make fun of their English to their faces and also make really disgusted faces while they spoke. This guy is bad news bears and the thought of him working with any of my babies (especially 3rd grade since he notoriously didn't like kids) makes me livid.

Since he makes my blood boil. I'll shift back to the lunch I had. It started out funny because I asked if So Jung and Jin Sang had Christmas plans, and Jin Sang replied that he would study English. This began the entire series of "Jin Sang tells me something and So Jung calls him a liar" stories that lasted hilariously throughout lunch. They were impressed because I learned numbers in Korean and can count some, and while we waited for the other teachers to arrive I felt pretty good.

Since there were so many of us and it was lunch time, we had to split up. I always feel bad in these situations because So Jung has to babysit me. Her group was her, Seul, Jin Sang, and Shinae, but they had to drop one so I could sit with them. I know it's not a big deal and So Jung always tells me she doesn't mind sitting with me, I still feel bad. Shinae went to sit with the other teachers and I sat with Jin Sang, So Jung, and Seul, who are some of the better English speakers at my school (besides Su Hyeon and Gina, my other coteachers).

Lunch was so much fun. We were at a Korean buffet, so So Jung explained a lot of the food to me. She tried to explain "Pondue" which I had to figure out was Fondue (Korean doesn't have an F sound, so it gets lost a lot in translating), and there were so many amazing foods. It was so delicious and awesome. A lot of the time was spent miming out things and a lot of times the three of them lapsed into Korean, but I had such a great time. I finally felt like we were sitting together as friends, not just coworkers.

They told me about this weird Korean thing (that up until that point they thought literally everyone thought) about ideal beauty. If you measure your face and can fit your face size 8 times into the height of your body, you have an ideal proportion.

Here is a weird picture representation:

Yoo Jae Suk aparently has it going on.

I cannot express how funny I think this is. Now I imagine Koreans all the time measuring people by this. Seriously. Seul and So Jung were telling me their boyfriends are 6's, which is average, while Jin Sang kept trying to convince me he was an 8 ("Liar!" So Jung yelled. "You are probably 5!"). While I didn't measure him myself, Jin Sang has a small face/head (I guess??? the Koreans at the table think so) and is one of the tallest Koreans I've met. Nevertheless, I remained skeptical despite him repeatedly flashing me 8's throughout the rest of the meal. They were so genuinely shocked that I had never heard of this way of measuring attractiveness before that it took up quite a bit of our conversation.

So Jung asked me how I liked the cat pants, and I said I loved them. That sneaky cat revealed that she had been the one to pick them out for me and she knew that I loved cats, so she thought I would like them. So Jung also love Reese's, and I think whatever God or universe or stars aligned to make her my coteacher and friend.

Seul also told me an interesting observation about me: the other teachers talk about me sometimes, obviously, and some of the conclusions they've noticed and have taken to be fact about me are that I like accessories and also I have a lot of nail colors. I thought this was hilarious, and a wonderful observation. I have 4 rings, which is a lot for Korean standards. a lot of bracelets and necklaces, and I do wear a lot of things in my hair (I get bored) and paint my nails a lot! I didn't think anyone noticed though.

Finally, it was time to go. I bid farewell to my friends for the holidays. Jin Sang asked me if I would go home for the holiday and was shocked when I said no. I told him it was very far away and So Jung reminded him we have winter camp. He said he felt like an English god after talking in mostly English with me for 2 hours, but declined to take So Jung's place for camp during the vacation. Shocking. I didn't have the heart to tell him that a trip home would cost me an entire paycheck, since the teachers already worry about me being alone or sad.

On that note, I went to Costco by myself to finish gathering the trimmings for our Christmas meal. I am not proud to say that I shoved an ahjumma out of the way for the last rotisserie chicken (to be fair, she tried to block me with her cart....) and I finally used my Korean against a stranger.

This b***** kept running into me with her cart while we were waiting in line to move to wait in line to checkout. When I say running into, I mean RUNNING INTO. Not just a light tap because we moved up a few feet and the cart moved forward a bit. Having had ot just fight off a woman for a chicken and deal with an asshole turning his cart across the middle of the Christmas cake aisle (as they called out that this was the last set of Christmas cakes), I had had enough.

Upon the 5th or so time of a cart slamming into my back, I lost it. I turned around to the woman, who was not too much older than I was, and snapped, "Yah! Hajima!" which means "Hey! Stop it!" except it's reeeeeeeally rude since I didn't add an ending onto Hajima. The only way I could have been more rude is if I had added "ro" I think, which is what you use when talking to someone lower than you like a child. She was really shocked probably because I was so rude and also I am white and speaking Korean, but she at least did ha ji ma. Victory for me! I successfully got the food over to Tina's and we settled in to get into the Christmas spirit by watching this show called Liar Game.

Did I mention Liar Game? Just kidding, of course I did. It's awesome.

The next morning we woke up to a surprise. After Tina showered before we skyped home for Christmas, the hot water stopped working yayyyyy. 3rd time this like month. yay.

Anyway, skying for Christmas presents was fun. Ted, Tina, and I finally got to surprise mom with the beautiful purse she's been eyeing for 2 years, seen here:

Isn't she beautiful.

Mom, since you are among my 3 readers, I must remind you: You deserve this purse. You deserve so much more, but this purse is the manifestation that your children chose to present you with to give you a slight inkling of the fantastic things you deserve in this life. You're awesome. I love you. I don't tell you enough. But each time you open that purse, no, every time you see that purse, please remember that we all love you very much and want you to be happy. You're the best.

We all got some awesome gifts. Coats, hats, scarves, practical things like sweaters, gift cards, and whatnot. I even got some bling to add to my collection:

Love my Alex and Ani bracelets.

This feels like an appropriate time to drop this video from one of my current favorite dramas, Pinocchio:

He says "It's a Christmas present, pew pew!" Which made Tina and I just about burst from laughter and adoration.

We had an awesome Christmas with our family from home and then ventured over to Lauren's to eat the spoils of my war at Costco. Janell, Sarah (who is Jewish but it sucks to be alone on holidays ever and we kept it celebratory, not Christmasy), Tina, Gahyeon and I watched Elf, ate a lot of food, exchanged presents, and played some hilarious rounds of Heads Up! (Of Ellen DeGeneres fame). It was really fun. I can't really even describe what happened all Christams day because I am too caught up in being happy and all I can remember is that it was awesome. All in all, it was an awesome Christmas and I feel really optimistic about the year and whatnot.

We booked Japan stuff on Friday, then decided to relax for the weekend. By relax I mean watch the most epic nerve-wracking show in the history of ever, Liar Game, followed by two of the most romantic and wonderful: Pinocchio and Birth of a Beauty. We made pasta sauce while we watched Ink Master (A competition show about tattooing) and the Japanese version of Liar Game.

Finally we split, and here I am recapping the past couple of weeks. I'm sure I forgot a million things, but so it goes. I'm just happy now. I have the week off. Life is good.

To sign off, here's the best kiss scene in the history of like ever in Kdramaland:

Park Shin Hye's character tries to convince Lee Jong Suk's character (after they have both acknowledged that they have feelings for one another) that she wants to/can go back to the way things were before. He doesn't want that, and while she's saying that she does, her Pinocchio syndrome (she hiccups when she lies) proves that the first male and female leads will totally end up together, even if it takes 12 more episodes and a time skip and probably an amnesia plot. It does contain one of my least favorite devices/actions that happen in Kdramaland - the wrist grab - but I also forgive that in this scene because Lee Jong Suk's character does everything so gently. Sigh. I love him and this show.

Somebody stop me. These Korean men got me feeling some kind of way.

You did tell me to be careful, Shin Sung Rok. I should have listened.

Thanks for sticking with me through all of that! Until next blog!

Free is fun!

Hello all! Another week gone. Time crawls by and flies at the same time.

Where did the year go? It seems insane to think that this time last year I had less than 1 chapter of my thesis done and I was just finishing teaching my first semester at St. Bonaventure University, and I still wasn't completely sure that I should come to Korea. Yet here I am now, living in Korea.

I really enjoyed my week since I had Thursday essentially off (I had to deskwarm in my office but I got a lot of work done!), which was great since I have never had a day with no classes and have been going non-stop since like October. Phew!

I like to do things with my hair. The headband has a ribbon on it so I braided it into my hair. My 3rd graders were all about it.

 Tina and I decided to have a relaxing weekend,with the hopes of also not spending a lot of money. Well, we hit the jackpot on Friday. We went to a free makgeolli (Korean rice wine) tasting for ex-pats, where we met up with some people that I had met the last time I went to a tasting with Lauren and Janell. This time, Sarah, Tina, and I went and boy did we get our money's worth!

There was so much makgeolli! We got to try 8 different kinds, for free, plus some premium awesome kinds, and some made by people in attendance (they ran the last tasting!) and all of it was awesome. We got to chat with Jeanie, a friend of Tina and Sarah's orientation, and other new and old friends from the tasting and beyond. And the three of us got to chill and drink free alcohol. Don't worry, makgeolli isn't THAT strong.

Anyway, here is what it looked like:

Different kinds

All lined up!

People kept asking us if we were sisters. Apparently Sarah looks like our older sister.

 Now, awesomely enough, they had way too much makgeolli. At the end of the night, they made up grab bags of three random bottles of makgeolli. We each grabbed one, but then there was still so much extra so they were like "Take more!" Twist my arm, why don'tcha. We took some for our coworkers and our friends who could not make it. It's not like I'll drink 7 bottles myself.

Tina with the spoils. There is more in my backpack...

 My refrigerator was reminiscent of college this weekend. It had a bunch of alcohol and some condiments. Ahhh the simple life. We rectified that. More on that later.

Saturday we decided to go get brunch. There is a place called Pancakes Original Story that is right out of Omokyo station, which happens to be within a mile of where I live! Yay! So Lauren, Tina, Janell, Sarah and I made the trip (not far for Tina and I, though we were trying to figure out buses so it was an adventure) over.

It. Was. Glorious.

The interior.

 There were blankets on some of the chairs. Ours? 'Murica.

That's her "Tastes like FREEDOM" face.

Great girls and great food. Photo Cred to Janell.

Food focus.

 We got a Belgium (yes that is what they were called) waffle, french toast, chocolate chip pancakes, several kinds of sausage, eggs, bacon, and home fries. I cannot stress how wonderful it was. It really reminded me of home a lot.

In case you missed it.

OMG MAPLE SYRUP OM NOM NOM

 Now, I'm missing home reeeeeeeeeeeeeally badly right now, It's Christmas time, it's stressful at school, break/camp is coming up, and it doesn't reeeally feel like Christmas. Plus, it's my first time missing it. I'm glad I have Tina here, but it's really hard missing the rest of my family.

Chocolate chip pancakes are my dad's favorite. I love them too. So of course, I ate a piece of them. It was so delicious and wonderful that I actually, legitimately, literally teared up and started crying. Some things just get you. I composed myself enough to stuff my face with all sorts of delicious brunch foods, but the chocolate chip pancakes were the best.

We also got as stack of pancakes for free!

 After brunch we got coffee and shopped around the Hyundai Department Store for a bit. It's like all Coach and Prada, so we just looked at things mostly, but it was still fun.

Afterwords, Tina and I went grocery shopping at the always fun Emart and bought stuff to make ravioli and sauce and it was glorious. We also watch the terrible MTV show Are You the One? We studied some Korean, and bubble wrapped my windows for insulation even though my heat is now working.

This dog lives on my floor and it is wearing a sweater and pants. Awesome.

CAPTCHA y u make me miss home too?

All in all it was a really nice, relaxing weekend. I only wish it was longer. It's allllllmost time for a break for me, so I am just trying to tough it out. Tina is helping me a lot with Korean (which still frustrates the shit out of me but I am getting better) and studying hard herself. We can do it!

Finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!!! I'm so happy I'm your daughter and that you have supported me my whole life and continue to support me (and my love of Kraft macaroni and cheese and also oreos) from the other side of the world. I hope you have an awesome birthday! Love you lots.

Happy Holidays to everyone! It's getting so close to Christmas!