Happy Birthday to ME!

I leave for Malaysia tonight!! It's my birthday present to myself :) Before I leave I wanted to update on what I've been up to the last like month.

At the top of Namsan Tower

About 3 or 4 weeks ago now I finally did a little more touristy things. My friend Jessica and I went to the top of Namsan Tower. Namsan is a mountain in the middle of Seoul and they built a tower there where you can see the whole city. It's pretty cool, here's a pic of me and the view! We took the cable car up to the base of the tower, I didn't realize that once you get to the top of the mountain you have to get tickets to get to the observatory deck. It was worth it though. You couldn't see much without going up. We had a good time.

Gyeongbokgung

Later that week, my co-teacher and friend Bora took me to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Gyeongbokgung was the first palace of five I think that were built in the 14th Century. It was later burned during the Japanese invasion, but they reconstructed and expanded it in the 19th Century. It's a pretty cool historical place in Seoul and a taste of what traditional housing was like for royalty. Except that all the buildings looked the same to me. If I lived there then I think I would get lost or walk into the wrong building ha. I've heard the other palaces are pretty too, so I'm gonna try to see them this fall if I have some time.

I finished my first Summer Camp about a week and a half ago. It was little difficult planning wise though. It felt like my very first week of teaching again. I tend to over think things and I don't like doing things unless I know what I'm doing. In some ways I'm a perfectionist. So it took me a long time to plan out my lessons because I wanted them to be perfect, or more like I wanted them to be the best they could be to get through to every students whatever level they were at. It was difficult and stressful, but I learned a lot and had some fun with the kids. Its kind of a trial and error process. And what worked before my not work the next time because each set of students learn differently. My kids were so cute though! It was nice to meet a new set of students. A couple of my 3rd grade girls gave me cards and coffee the last day. Adorable!!

Now for the best part of the summer so far...my parents and sister came to visit me!!

My family at a norebang
(singing room)

It was so nice to have them here even if it wasn't for too long. I had to finish up a few days of camp, so I had them come to school with me for a day.I got to show them my school and my apt and my neighborhood. I think they had a good time. My mom's favorite place was COEX, but that's only because she had the best kimchi jjigae she's ever had. It was pretty good :) I also took them to Namsan, Insadong, Myeongdong, Gwanghwamun and the Cheonggyecheon for a little site seeing. We found a korean restaurant by my house that we ate about 5 meals at haha. It was good, cheap and had something for everyone to eat. My mom went on a shopping craze so we spent a lot of time near Ewha Women's University, which is about a 20 min walk from my apt. She enjoyed herself and we enjoyed watching!

The whole family for a
farewell/birthday dinner!

We also spent time with our korean family. We got to visit my mom's oldest uncle and the burial site of her grandparents during tsunami weather apparently. It was...an adventure. We had fun in the rain anyway. We also got to travel to Cheongpung, the area where my family used to live and where my mom grew up. The village was flooded after my mom came to the states and our family moved away from the area. However, there is now a small folk village there with buildings from her hometown. We saw her school building and a house that looked similar to the one she lived in. It was really fun to hear more stories of her life then and see the beautiful area. Now there's a river and lake surrounded by mountains which has become a vacation destination. I'd like to back and stay there for a few nights, it's a gorgeous area! We ended with staying at my mom's cousins house, which is the my family here that I usually refer to, to celebrate birthdays and say goodbye to everyone. It was a little hard to say goodbye again, but I'm so glad they could come!

So there's a little update on my summer. I'm almost finished packing for Malaysia and then I get to relax before I leave. I'm so excited, it's time for another adventure! Wish me luck!

~Krista~