1 Year!

It is truly hard to capture all that has gone on during one full year, 365 days, or eight thousand seven hundred and sixty hours approximately (leap year...whatever).

That is the amount of time we have now spent on this little peninsula. Once before known as a small country with little relevance to our lives, has now become a home to us so rich with culture and memories we can't imagine leaving it after such a short period of time. We had our plane tickets set to venture into the unknown unaware of what was waiting for us on the other side.

What we discovered has been, so far, too complex for my meager writing ability. A few things we have discovered though...

Korean food is extremely underrated. I was worried we weren't going to like very many dishes and we would be stuck eating them out of necessity. Well, thankfully, this was not the case. We absolutely LOVE the food. Donkas, dolsot-bibimbap, kimchi, dalkabli, dukgalbi, sam gyeopsal, bulgolgi, kimbap...I could go on and on really. Anyway, the food, like I said, does not get enough credit.

Kids are too easy to love. We knew coming out here we would grow to love the children in the school. We, however, had no idea how much they would truly impact our lives. I guess you could say we were slightly unprepared as to how heavily the kids would hang on our hearts. We just had the kindergarten graduation at a banquet hall in Seoul with the other two BIS campuses. It was quite a production to say the least. During the ceremony and shortly after we both felt such joy from seeing the kids so proud of themselves for working so hard and accomplishing so much during the short year.

I may have at times expected too much of them, been too quick to correct, or just been too impatient. Have they not stopped learning, stopped playing, stopped loving? The spirit of a child does not have an equal. It has no comparison. I don't have a defense to the unconditional love and unwavering persistence of these children. I cannot hold a candle to their positive outlook. To say that I was the teacher during this experience would be a very subjective skewed point of view.

Family is SUPER important. Whether it be father, mother, grandparent, brother, sister, cousin, aunt, uncle, or friend. These individuals and groups serve as pillars in our lives. We count on you for support, and can't thank you enough for the extended comfort and strength you have provided. We don't want the many miles between us to separate us - we are always here for you, despite being far away.

We're excited to see what 2010/2011 has in store for us. The Lord has been our rock this year and we trust that He has a plan for us here in The Land of the Morning Calm.

Thankful Thursday

We have one very large thing to be thankful for this Thursday.

Simply put, we are so very thankful for all of our experiences this past full year has brought us.

There will be more to come on that very soon.

똥침 Dong-chim

**This post is rated MA - Mature Audience only for a bit of graphic content and severely bizarre behavior. If you are easily offended do yourself a favor and skip the following**

Something perplexing has recently come to light for me. When working with the kindergarten kids from early on I've had to constantly spin 180's quick and swipe a hand behind me quick as a blink. My actions were in response to the befuddling behavior of the kids who would poke me in the bum using their index fingers and shouting a Korean phrase.

At first I thought something was disturbingly wrong with the first child who did this. Then after a few more did it, I just passed it off as extremely unusual behavior for a select group of children. The behavior continued sporadically, as did my lightening quick reactions.

Somehow the topic came up in conversation (fortunately) with our friend Emma, who is a Seoul native. She laughed and laughed at us and then explained...

When we get poked, the phrase we've been hearing is "똥침", or "Dong-chim".

똥, or dong (long O), means poo, crap, fecal matter, etc.

침, or Chim (cheem), means needle.

So, poo-needle.

Anyway, Korean children (and apparently some people beyond that age... : / ) clasp their hands together with interlocked fingers then "poke" with their extended index fingers at the victim and yell "Dong-chim!".

It doesn't make sense, and I'm not sure I want to figure it out. Most recently I was teaching a weekend class at the educational museum and one little boy (English name Charlie) was the first person to engage the activity since I've learned exactly what it is. I brushed it off and at least understood.

And then he dongchim'd me about 153 times over the next two hours. Even more astonishing was his mom sitting idly by. Want to talk about the ultimate exercise in patience? Hey lady, I'm about to push your kid to the ground right in front of you!

All that being said, I'm sure there are some cultures that would find a "wedgie" as the most offensive possible thing. So with all due respect, please go on Dongchiming each other, but leave me be.

If you would like references (why would you honestly?) here you go.

Statue1, Statue 2

Poor foreigner...

Arcade game pic

cartoon pic

An actual game you can play online, ridiculous.

Friday Food

Samgyetang 삼계탕

This very popular South Korean soup is made with a whole young chicken stuffed with rice. Ginseng, ginger, jujube fruit, and garlic are also in the broth, making it a very flavorful guk (soup). The soup arrives at your table literally boiling in the clay pot, which keeps it very warm for the rest of the meal. It's traditionally eaten during the summer months and thought to restore nutrients lost through sweating, however we last had it on a VERY cold day which made it more enjoyable. I still can't get too psyched about this meal because it's more work than I like just to eat soup - eating Samgyetang requires a lot of picking and poking with chopsticks.

Thankful Thursday

Feeling thankful this week for...

• Food exchange
• new paint in our classrooms!
• Extended work visas
• Solnal gifts
• Confirmed booking for trip back to the motherland :)

Friday Food

Yeongeun 연근

Lotus root is our latest and greatest find here in Korea. I now know that it's commonly used in Asian dishes but I can honestly say that I had never had it until coming to Korea. I noticed and tried the beautiful and delicious root vegetable in banchan when we first arrived and ever since, have been so intrigued by it's curious shape and taste. Well, we finally purchased one kilogram to experiment with on our last visit to Garak and - we love it!

Lotus root chips were our first snack. After slicing and soaking the root in vinegar water we lightly coated them with olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes and baked them to make a delightfully crunchy chip.

Next, we threw them in a stir fry - a modified version of one of Momma Haws' stir fry recipes. They provided the perfect crunch and sweetness needed in place of water chestnuts; we even liked them a little more.

They're so fun to look at and eat. If you haven't used them before, I recommend heading out to your nearest Asian grocery and trying them for yourself. If you have used them, any other suggestions?

Thankful Thursday

Today we are thankful for...

• our Thankful Thursdays
• nearly completed laundry (folding is the worst)
• Seollal 설날 (Lunar New Year) - we get Monday off!
• Valentine's Day
• reading time

Thankful Thursday

This week we feel grateful for...

• Costco
• Apples to apples
• Completed taxes
• God is in charge

Pa-jeon 파전

It only took eleven months, but I'm proud to say that I finally braved a Korean recipe on my own. After sampling a delicious fried mushroom-cake at Emart, I was determined to recreate the tasty treat in our own kitchen. I tried to ask questions about whatever it was that we had eaten, but the sweet ajuma (a middle-aged Korean woman) preparing and serving the dish spoke lightning-speed Korean and zero English. The only thing I gained from the conversation was "use water" and "stir". I did some googling and decided that the closest food to what we had had was Pa-jeon, a Korean scallion pancake. I chose to follow this recipe and just add sauteed shiitake mushrooms. Luckily we already had most of the ingredients, aside from a few needed for the spicy dipping sauce. The friendly employee at our normal grocery store helped me find the needed items despite my atrocious accent. After some short prep and cook time, Christopher and I enjoyed the appetizer but it wasn't nearly as good as the sample. I think my downfall was making them too thick. I'm glad to have started with probably the simplest Korean dish possible but I hope to try two Korean dishes a month...we'll see how difficult it gets.