Reading + Food

This was the last weekend before our school opens... three months after arriving in Korea. I still won't believe it until I walk into the building tomorrow and I'm greeted by screaming kids but, yes, word on the street is that we open tomorrow. It's bound to be a long week with many learning curves, but I'm glad to have had the experience at the Seoul English Village... it definately makes me feel more comfortable about the first day. Tomorrow is filled with orientation icebreakers, two computer classes (where I basically let the kids surf the internet for 45 minutes), a theatre class and a homeroom class (where I will be showing them cat pictures and playing Heads Up-Seven Up, my personal favorite game from elementary school).

Our weekend started out strong with another street find, a Last Supper supper tray! Now of course we have absolutely no use (or room) for a Last Supper supper tray but we found it ironic and figured it would be a good addition to our rooftop lounge, "the rusty nail", where all furniture, tables, etc have to be found on the side of the road.

(I forgot to mention that our Saturday morning started out with a loud knock at the door from a mailman. Who delivers mail on Saturday? It was a package from MY family addressed to Mel! Thanks Mom, though she assurses me I have been sent a package as well...)

We went to Gwanghwamun in the afternoon to visit a big ass english book store. By big ass I mean 1/6 the size of the Chapters in Fredericton, but in a country that doesn't speak english it's pretty cool. I picked up The Twits (whch took an hour to read), a sociology book, and two Get Fuzzy comic books. I tried to balance out the comics and kids' book with the sociology book but we all know how the scales are weighted.

There was a Christmas tree at the bookstore. There are a lot of Christmas decorations up around here but it's not nearly as overwhelming as it is at home so you actually take the time to appreciate the deco you do see. Also, by the way, the shopping areas were so busy this weekend! Much busier than any December 24th at home. It was like a mosh pit in the notebook section of the bookstore. Who needs that many notebooks?

After the bookstore we went to Pizza Hut, even though we had previously agreed to never go to Pizza Hut ever again because it was so expensive. My FAVORITE new thing in Korea is garlic dipping sauce. I love it. Most pizza places will give you some with your order and I generally spackel it on my slice with a knife. It's kind of like a garlic flavoured donair sauce, if that description helps you imagine it's goodness. The above picture is me being restrained and dipping (not spackeling) my pizza on Saturday. Funny story: Mel took a video of me eating my pizza and then we watched it back on the camera. All of a sudden we look up and our waitress is at the table to clear our plates and we're sitting there watching a video of ourselves eating her pizza, the video pointing right at her, she probably watched it too. I don't even remember the rest of the meal as it mostly consisted of the two of us with our heads on the table, laughing, embarrassed...

Lastly, we travelled to Hangangjin for some import food! Yeah! I bought three big bags of Reeses', two packages of Eggos and some Ruffles. After that we travelled home, read and ate North American food like pigs. Tonight I've managed to talk Mel into going to see Saw III, a movie I still can't believe I want to see. Wish us luck tomorrow!

UPDATE: That is not me dipping my pizza into garlic sauce, it is Mel, as I do not wear blue nail polish nor do I eat green things on my pizza...