Kids are Weird II

Michelle's 6th Graders
Joseph: Teacher, I will tell my mom you are crazy and you will get sent back to America.

Jerome: "The new workers flew by the force of their pooping."

Monica: "For example, Cleo wanted to go to the toilet because her stomach hurt. when she started to poo, the bell rang, so she went to class. If the recess was long enough, Cleo could finish her poo."

Ice: "My pet peeve is toilet smell. It is a combination of poo and fart smell. It smells smelly, bad and very poisonous."

Dylan: "First of all, I want to tell you that I am very sorry, because I've been telling you that you are fat. Actually, you are not fat that much."

Michelle's Spanish Class
After asking "Where in the world do people speak Spanish?"
Dave: I don't know those other countries, they are not famous.

Olivia's 1st Graders
Stella: "Teacher, there is a baby in your belly and when it comes out it will go boom!"

Brad runs up, slams his forehead against Olivia's, bugs out his eyes and yells: "EYE CONTEST!"

While playing hangman, P _ _ _ _ _ s is written on the board
Lui: Penis teacher! Penis!
Olivia: What do you mean?
Lui: You know, penis, you eat it!
Oliva: You eat what? Peanuts?
Lui: Yes teacher! Penis!

Roy: Teacher! You English speaking so good! Where you learn English speaking?

Juwon: Tony is a mammal that can fly!
Olivia, thinking he is referring to a student in the class: Tony? Tony cannot fly.
Juwon: Yes teacher, Tony can fly!
Olivia: I don't understand.
Juwon: Tony that is Iron Man teacher!

Brad comes up, picks his nose, shows Olivia the booger on his finger: "English is what?"

Brian, referring to the new English teacher: "Does Tr. Danny speak English?"

Buddah's Birthday

On May 17th this year, Korean Buddhists celebrated 석가탄신일 (Seokga tansinil), Buddah's Birthday. The holiday is celebrated with a week long Lotus Lanturn Festival where temples are covered in lotus lanterns and lit up at night. Olivia went to the coastal city of Busan to see the decorated temples and experience the festivities.

Yonggungsa Temple

Samgwangsa Temple

Malaysia

The Korean school year begins in March, not September like we are used to in the States. This means that after our long winter vacation in December/January we went back to school for about 4 weeks and then the school year ended. In our opinion, coming back for 4 weeks seems like a waste of time as the students already have their final grades so they don't much care at all about school. Anyways, before the new semester started we had about a week of vacation time with which we decided to go to Malaysia with a coworker of ours, Lush. We decided to split the week between two islands: Penang and Langkawi.

We flew AirAsia, a budget airline that has its main hub in Kuala Lumpur. This was very handy for us since we were going to Malaysia anyways, so we found some nice and cheap flights. Now I must warn everyone, while these flights are incredibly cheap, they are also incredibly awful. We had flown AirAsia to Tokyo, and we were hoping that for longer flights (the flight from Incheon to KL is about 6 hours), they would have a nicer flight prepared for us. Nope. Tiny, upright seats and carts too large for the aisle they are constantly selling stuff (for those of you who like aisle seats, be ready to get some bruised limbs). BUT it was cheap and got us there safe, so it's all good and we really shouldn't complain.

Anyways, our first stop was in Penang, an Island on the Northwest Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. We stayed in Old Georgetown in a really nice hostel. While the people staying there thought we were obnoxious Americans, the hostel itself was quite nice. We had a private room with ac so we were happy. When we first got there we were quite exhausted from our day of travelling, so we ventured out just to grab some food before bed. Since Penang had been a refuge for Chinese immigrants, we found some great Chinese restaurants right near our hostel. We ate at a nice little noodle place for our first meal. Unfortunately, during our meal a torrential downpour began. Since it started off suddenly, we decided to wait it out. Not our best decision, as we sat there for about an hour before giving up and wading through the streets that had become rivers of water basically up to midcalf.

After our showers, we passed out (for about 5 minutes) before fireworks began. We ended up going during the Lunar New Year, which as most people know, is a very important Chinese holiday. We arrived on the 8th day of the New Year, where you burn certain mementos and light off fireworks. I guess the mayor of Georgetown even sang Karaoke at the town festival. We missed that.

We slept in a bit the next morning, but when we woke up we went out to explore town. The town is rich with mosques, temples, and remnants from when Penang was a French Colony. As Georgetown is quite small, we were able to hit all the sites that we wanted that day. We went first to a mosque that was near our hostel, Kapitan Keling Mosque. We got there a bit too early though, so were unable to go in.

Kapitan Keling Mosque

Around that area, there was also a Hindu temple and a teochow style temple, Han Jiang Ancestral Temple, we were able to go into and take pictures.

Offerings in the Hindu Temple

Han Jiang Ancestral Temple

After, we were able to explore some Christian churches in the area on the way to an old colonial cemetery. The cemetery was beautiful with old tombstones - one of which read "Died at 21 years - Beloved Spinster."

We started to get a bit hungry at this point, so went for the Indian Muslim food for lunch from a nearby street vendor who looked quite popular. The food was amazing. As much as we both love Korean food, getting this change of pace was welcome as it was so different than what we have been eating for awhile. After we inhaled lunch, we swung by the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion and then we headed over to the E&O Hotel for afternoon tea. Of the 3 of us, none of us have ever done this, so it was quite an event since we had to guess the proper etiquette while using the different tea tools. Plus we were all incredibly sweaty since we were walking around in the hot sun all afternoon in what felt like 1000% humidity. We did meet an American there who said it wasn't really that humid, we can't imagine what a really humid day during the summer months would be like after that.

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

High Tea at the E&O Hotel

We then walked off our lunch and tea treats while checking out Fort Cornwallis, which wasn't really much to see, but had some more information about the island's history.

Michelle and Lush taking in some colonial history.

Our last touristy stop of the day was to the clan jetties. These are jetties that are of Chinese immigrants who share a similar heritage. We happened to get there right in time too for some more Lunar New Year celebrations. They were walking a very elaborately decorated boat through the jetties and placed it in the water. We were told they were going to sail it over to a temple a little ways away. We stayed until they placed the boat in the water, then decided to head out. That night we enjoyed a nice Chinese dinner before it started pouring rain at 8 or 9 pm.. again.

View from the end of the clan jetties

Tuesday we woke up bright and early excited to head to the beach. The American we met who told us we knew nothing of humidity gave us some beach suggestions we decided to try out: Monkey Beach and Turtle Beach. While Penang is not known for its beaches, we still decided we wanted to check it out - after all we did most of Georgetown the previous day. The two beaches are part of the National Park so we were planning to maybe rent a boat to take us around. After an hour long city bus ride, we got to the national park to find out it was closed. Luckily for us, there was a woman who filled us in on all the details. What happened was, a boat of 100 Burmese immigrants came over illegally without any visas or passports, so the police closed down the national park in order to track them all down and catch them. So, we weren't too upset because that is a pretty good reason to close down the park.

The National Park off in the distance

We then made our way to the beach a lot of people talked about, though it didn't get great reviews on anything we'd seen, Batu Ferringhi. While we decided to stay and hang out, it definitely was not the best beach any of us had ever been to. It was sectioned off into different areas for different companies to take people para sailing or where people could rent out jet skis. So our seating/swimming options were extremely limited. We were lucky enough to find a little spot in the shade of a not-so-popular para sailing company so they didn't care we were there. When we were beached out and hungry, we left to go to Gurney Drive, a group of hawker stands where you can get a variety of foods that Penang is famous for. Not a bad place. We also made a quick stop at the Floating Mosque, which if we were to go when the tide was in, probably would have been quite a site. But we got there when the tide was out, so it was just a mosque on sand. We also got shoo-ed away because we had come from the beach and were, therefore, a little inappropriately dressed with shoulders and legs everywhere. We had hoped that that night it would stop raining so we could go to a night market in Georgetown, but alas, it poured again. The hostel assured us this was not a normal thing.

Wednesday was our last day in Penang before we headed off to Langkawi. We had a leisurely morning where we just ate and walked around Georgetown a bit more. There is a ton of street art around town, so we used those as references to try to make our way around town with our remaining hours.

The flight from Penang to Langkawi is a nice 30ish minutes.. the kind where they say "you may now turn on your electronics" followed immediately by "please turn off your electronics." So that was nice. The remainder of our time in Langkawi was spent just hanging out with the other tourists and the manager of the guest house we were staying at. The first full day we went to a little island for a day where some people were able to fish while the rest of us just relaxed on a beach with absolutely no people. Right by it was a dense jungle filled with monkeys - devious monkeys that stole our Pringles.

Heading to our private island

The next two days were also spent just laying around and exploring various beaches and a waterfall. One night we went to a night market which was full of different food stands and were able to try different Malay foods, such as coconut rice and some stews. Just like we found out in Penang, food in Malaysia is pretty phenomenal.

Overall, the trip was great. We are glad we took the time to explore some parts of Malaysia and it got us even more excited for our upcoming backpacking trip around Southeast Asia.

Gwangju

As you probably know, we live in Gwangju, South Korea - it is part of the title of our blog after all! Ever since we moved to Korea last August we have been talking about writing a post about our city, but haven't actually gotten around to it until now. So at long last, let us tell you a little bit about Gwangju.

Gwangju is in the Jeolla Province in the south end of Korea. It is about 3.5 hour bus ride from both Seoul and Busan, and contains about 1.5 million people. This makes it the 6th largest city in Korea. Gwangju is well known for its food (especially it's kimchi - some of the best in Korea!), maple soju, culture, and being the education center of Korea. Most importantly, Gwangju is known as being the birthplace of democracy in South Korea. On May 18, 1980, hundreds of civilians - primarily students - were massacred by the army during a pro-democracy uprising opposing the South Korean dictatorship.

Compared to other parts of Korea, Gwangju has just recently seen a surge of foreigners, so it is not uncommon to walk into a restaurant and have the waitstaff burst into a fit of giggles at serving a foreigner for the first time. However, because of the large foreign population there are multiple bars and restaurants aimed at the foreign community.

We both love living here and would recommend it for anyone moving to Korea to teach English! If you want to know more about Gwangju the Gwangju Guide can tell you almost anything you need to know about everything from how to get around to where to get a haircut. The Gwangju Blog is also a great resource as it is frequently updated with posts about new places to explore, events, Gwangju news, restaurant reviews, and more.

Our neighborhood. The roads are constantly under construction. 

Don't forget your free hug with your beer and soju! 

Fresh fruit (and often fish) for sale a minute walk from our apartment. 

The main road our street is off of. 

Part of the downtown area. A picture can't quite capture the experience of walking down these streets with music blasting, regardless of swears and racial slurs in the songs. 

Some stores just have the strangest names...

There are some tranquil places inside the city, like this reservoir where the cherry trees are starting to bloom. 

And even temples scattered here and there.

Food

After promising for months to post about food we have finally collected enough pictures to do so! What follows is a selection of foods we love, as well as a couple we don't but are strange enough we thought we would share them.

First, Korean food! The following are common foods we eat fairly often.

Ohm Rice (오므라이스) is fried rice wrapped in a thin layer of egg and served with gravy on top.

Galbi (갈비), known as Korea BBQ in the States, is beef or pork that you grill at your table. This picture is from our favorite galbi restaurant where there is an egg moat surrounding the grilled meat. Once the meat is done, you can dip it in a variety of sauces (e.g. fermented soybean paste - much more delicious than it sounds!) and wrap it up in a lettuce leaf with onions, garlic, kimchi or other side dishes.  

Kimbap Nara (김밥나라) is the name for what amounts to a Korean diner. This is where you can get filling meals for less than \5,000 ($5 USD). This is the interior of our neighborhood Kimbap Nara where we go so often the women who work there know our orders and our favorite table. In fact, when we come in alone or don't order our standard dish they seem confused. Click here for a good representation of the average Kimbap Nara menu.

Banchan (반찬) refers to small side dishes served with every meal. This can be as basic as those pictured above (pickled radish, sprouts, kimchi), which are common at a kimbap nara, or more elaborate when dining at a nicer restaurant.

Mandu (만두) are a type of dumpling which can have a variety of fillings and be prepared different ways. The mandu pictured are mulmandu (물만두), which means water (mul) mandu since they are boiled instead of steamed.

Cheese mandu (치즈만두) were a recent discovery.

Gunmandu (군만두) are pan-fried mandu served with soy sauce or in a sweet and sour sauce as pictured above. 

Ddokbaegi bulgogi (뚝배기 불고기) is beef soup with veggies and rice noodles served boiling hot.

Kimbap (김밥) is Korea's take on sushi. Standard fillings include pickled radish,  egg, cucumber, carrots, imitation crab, etc. This particular kimbap is chamchi kimchi kimbap (참치 김치 김밥) which is filled with tuna, kimchi, and vegetables.

Cheese donkkasu (치즈 돈까스) is fried pork cutlet with cheese.

Cheese Kimchi Dolsat Bibimbap (치즈 김치 돌솥 비빔밥) is a hot bibimbap that we love. Bibimbap simply means mixed rice so it can contain a variety of ingredients. This particular one is mainly kimchi, cheese, and some other vegetables.

Bibimbap (비빔밥), as mentioned above, is mixed rice. This is a standard bibimbap containing an egg, various vegetables - most notably sprouts -, and beef. This is from Jeonju, a town about 1.5 hours away from Gwangju which is famous for its bibimbap.

Ramyeon (라면), pronounced ramen back home, are Korean noodles many of us are quite familiar with. This is a picture of the ramyeon isle at our local grocery store, and as you can see, there is quite a variety. The biggest difference to Ramen back home is that these noodles have quite a bit more flavor. Olivia tends to go for cheesy and Michelle goes for this Black kind that is on the spicier size.

Some Korean foods just don't make sense to us and this is one of them. Served as a side dish, it is lettuce and cabbage with a sweet dressing and sprinkles - That's right, sprinkles! - on top. Why this strange combination? We will never know. 

Snack food is plentiful here and we thought it deserved a mention as we are both always trying new foods from the 7-11 just to see what they are. This one was a winner, with cookie sticks to dip in chocolate that had strange "Fun Words" written on them.

Korean food can get a little repetitive and every once in a while we just want a change of pace. Sometimes we go out for Indian or Vietnamese, but more often then not when we are craving something different we just go with good old Western Food.

These chocolate muffins were our saving grace when we got here as we weren't ready to embrace Korean-style breakfast of ramen or rice when we got here. 

Burgers and fries are easy to find in Korea, although sometimes they can have a slightly sweet taste. Pizza is also common, but can have odd combinations and is often littered with corn. Luckily for us, The Alleyway is a foreigner-run restaurant in Gwangju that can give us our western food fix, serving pizza, burgers, tacos, caesar salads, etc. 

Although we didn't order it ourselves, here is a perfect example of an odd Korean pizza which has large pieces of meat on each slice and is covered in corn. 

So there you have it, what we eat day to day in Korea. Of course there are always new things to try and if we find any particularly strange ones we are sure to let you know about it.