Mom in Korea: Part III

I know, I know! This is starting to feel like those terrible Twilight movies and you're wondering when it's going to end. Luckily for you, this is part three of this little series, which means this is the last update! lol Hopefully you've found much more interest in mom's time in Korea than you did in those sparkly little vampires! haha Okay, I'm just kidding about all of that except the fact that this is the last part of mom's trip! (And I really do think Twilight is awful, but that's beside the point.)

So where were we? Oh yes, Thursday July 4th! Independence Day!!! Spoiler alert: It rained so we couldn't even do fireworks :(

I used two vacation days while mom was here so we could go on a mini vacation while she was visiting Korea. I decided the beach would be a good spot, so we headed to Busan. I had been there once before for Buddha's birthday weekend, but I didn't get to do anything on my list that I wanted so this was a good opportunity to take my mom somewhere I was somewhat familiar with but that I hadn't already seen several times! We got on the bus early Thursday morning for our 4.5 hour bus ride. The weather ended up being terrible the whole time so we didn't get in any actual beach time, but we went to two different ones just to look around. We did a lot of walking and sight seeing in Busan. We went to a big mall, with a giant water fountain show and a rooftop zoo, of course! We went to the Jagalchi Fish Market, one of the most popular ones. We went to Gwangali Beach and saw the pretty bridge all lit up at night. We also went to a really famous temple on the ocean! The on the last day, we met up with one of my friends I've made since being here. Her name is Hoa and she's from California, but she got put in Jeju for her teaching position. Jeju is an island off the southern tip of South Korea, so since she has to take a plane to get to the mainland, she doesn't get to visit often. I'm so happy we got to meet up with her and my mom got to meet one of my good friends I've made since being here!
The rest of this is just pictures of what we did with little side stories when necessary! I had a long weekend at the Mud Festival and my brain is too tired to think of everything we did! haha


This was on top of a mall we went to. Korea always throws in little surprises and I'm glad mom got to experience that. This was a 12 story mall (I think...) and so we headed to the top because I read online you could eat up there. Much to our surprise, there was a mini zoo that consisted of a horse (I know..how did they get a horse on the roof of a mall?!?!), huge parrots, rabbits galore, a baby deer, some hedgehogs, and a couple of other small animals like that. Of course all of those animals would be on the rooftop of a mall. Oh, Korea!  There were also observatory decks, but no food, so eventually we headed back down to the actual food court for some delicious Korean food!

View from the rooftop of the mall. That's an observatory tower that would have been cool on a nice day, but clearly the weather sucked. 

Jagalchi Fish Market

Fish Market! One of my favorite parts of Korea! 

Two little sharks :( 

Gwangali Beach/Bridge

Gwangali Bridge! It's a two story bridge and lights up really pretty at night, but again the sky looked a little scary so it takes away the beauty a little .

 This is a funny story. So mom was pretty awful at keeping up with her umbrella the whole trip. The first time we got on the bus here in Gunsan, I think it was the second or third day mom was in Korea, she left her umbrella on the bus. So after lunch we went to Diaso, basically a dollar store, and bought a new one. We carried them everywhere because it always looked like it was going to rain. So when we were in Busan, we went to the bridge to see it lit up but we were too early, so we sat right there where those little ladies are sitting and just waited for it to start. After about twenty minutes of sitting mom got cold so we went into a bar and grabbed a drink while we waited for the lights to turn on. We got a window seat so we could see when the lights came on, but we were also at a prime location for people watching. About half way through our drinks we noticed everyone had their umbrellas out, and that's when it clicked. Mom left her umbrella down where we were sitting!!! So we finished our drinks and headed down there only to find this old lady using mom's umbrella!!! Ironically enough, I assured her that people don't really steal here so it would be there. So here we are just standing behind these ladies and mom is telling me to go tell this lady that it's her umbrella! Well as we've covered before, I don't speak Korean so we just laughed and waited for an idea to come. Finally she laid it down and mom went up behind her and grabbed it! It was so funny! Maybe you had to be there, but those ladies were so surprised we took it from them. So funny!

In our hostel! Beautiful view! 

At the temple. 

Nicole and Hoa 

Beautiful colors of the temple! So pretty! 

Big 'ol gold Buddha. Such a happy looking fellow. 

View of the temple from up high!

We're not really that orange, I promise! I had my vivid colors setting turned on. lol

Those little pigs look so happy, which is exactly what Hoa and I will look like when we get back to America and finally get to shop at Target again! hahaha I think that's why we like each other so much, we have that deep Target bond! 

Ignore the older Korean couple to the left of me and mom throwing up gang signs! hahaha This one is kind of like a game... Where is Waldo  Jana and Kyla?!

So that's was basically mom's whole trip here! I am so glad she got to come, but I'm a little disappointed in myself that I didn't show her the more traditional parts of Korea. It's all so modern and industrialized these days, that that's the parts I frequent so after I showed her all of my favorite things in those places, we were out of time! 

I have three days of school this week, then I'm finished! It's unreal how quickly it has passed. I'm down to single digits tomorrow...the big number 9!!! I can't believe it at all! I'm so excited to be back to America. Korea is an awesome place and I've met some awesome people and made some really good friends, but I'll be excited to start back to school and get that over with! See you all soon! :) Thanks for reading my novel about mom's trip! 

-Kyla

Mom in Korea: Part II

Back by popular demand, the highly anticipated sequel to Mom in Korea: Part I. 

Monday July 1st:
I had to teach on Monday and Tuesday, so I invited mom to go with me because I knew my kids would love to meet her. They were so amazed that we looked alike and they all said, "Same, same!" or "Same face!" Let's back track a little though. Remember my old lady friends that are outside and talk to me sometimes? Well on the walk to school I was telling mom how sad I was that she wasn't going to get to meet them because they're only outside on Thursday and Fridays. Just about the time I point to where they normally sit, I see them sitting there!!! So we walk over to them and I use my limited Korean to say Oma, and point to my mom. They all just start talking like we know what they're saying (but I can assume they were saying we look just alike by the hand gestures and laughing they were doing), so that carried on for a second, then off we went. They laughed and clapped their hands and all talked at once, which is similar to how my students acted, except these little ladies were WAY more excited than my students. haha They're too funny! Mom brought candy for my students, so we did a little lesson on fruits and taste and then let them eat the candy. After school was over, we met some of the Oklahoma girls for dinner for our favorite Korean meal, dak kalbi! It's so good and probably going to be the food I miss the most when I go home. It was also mom's favorite! I also took her to our huge Walmart type store that day, Lotte Mart. This sounds like a lame activity but it's cool to see in person.

Korean Walmart...Lotte Mart

Mom was trying to give the little boy in the gray an English name. Yes, that says Batman and Superman and he still wasn't happy! This is why I've have him for 5.5 months and he still doesn't have an English name! They got a kick out of it though! 

Mom quizzing my 5th grade girls about my family members  My mom and her sisters look identical so that got tricky for the girls! haha

Tuesday July 2nd: 
Similar to the previous day, school and dinner with the girls, but this time we tried to take her to our favorite Chinese food place. After we made it all the way there, it was closed! We were so sad, but I had a good back up plan. I had intended on taking her to my favorite pizza place on Wednesday for spicy bulgogi pizza, so we just moved that to Tuesday since Chinese fell through. Well, silly me just assumed bulgogi pizza came spicy, so when I ordered bulgogi pizza, she just made us regular bulgogi instead of spicy. I was so sad again! That day was just a let down for food. Spicy bulgogi pizza is so good, and I ruined it for everyone!

Wednesday July 3rd:
I never teach on Wednesdays, so we hung out in Gunsan all day while the other girls had to work. I took mom to the oldest bakery in Korea, Lee Sung Dang Bakery! We had a delicious breakfast pastry there, then headed over to the old town center, Young Dong, for some browsing. I wanted to show mom all the funny English shirts that Korea makes. They're so ridiculous and random, and rarely make any sense at all. After our morning there, we had bapburgers for lunch! Bap is the Korean word for rice, so this is a rice burger. Sounds totally weird, but they're so good. You substitute the buns for rice, and the patty for a delicious filling of spicy chicken and sauce or bulgogi and there you have it! Bapburgers! I also took her to a park behind my house called Wolmyeong Park. I was so disappointed at the amount of change that took place from merely a month ago. The first time I visited Womlyeong Park was on my birthday, exactly one month and one day before! The lake was full of water, beautiful lily pads and lilies, beautiful, bright coy fish and there were flowers everywhere. When mom and I got there, the lake was SO low, there were no coy fish, most of the lilies were dead, and there were no more flowers. I was sad she didn't get to see how beautiful this park was a few short weeks before. After all of those things, we came home and showered and got ready for dinner with the girls again before going to our favorite Wednesday night hangout, TLC! This is our favorite bar because the bartenders are so nice and have become our friends over the last couple of months. I've been telling them about my mom coming basically since I found out, so our friend Billy said he would do a free fire shot for her, and our friend Don, the magician, said he was going to practice new tricks for her!! Such sweet boys! They followed through with all of those things and made my mom have a really good time at TLC. They're just so funny and had us laughing the whole time! I'm so glad mom got to meet some of the Korean friends I have made since being here!

Mom at the oldest bakery in Korea, right here in my own city! 

The lily pads and lilies that were so much prettier a month before this picture! :(

Mom's Korean Won on the ceiling of TLC! 

Mom, me and Laura at TLC!

My 2nd graders LOVED my mom! If Korea had class clowns, one of my cute little 2nd grade girls, Dana, would be the ultimate. Unfortunately for her, talents involving being loud and funny aren't looked upon highly here in Korea. She wants to be the center of attention at all times and isn't afraid of anything. She's definitely one of the ones I want to bring back to America with me, and in America she can be recognized for her class clown attributes and get her photo in the yearbook in High School.
Really, all the funny things that happened in class were had-to-be-there moments I think, so I'll just post a couple of pictures. And as I said before, mom has the majority of the school pictures on her cell phone, so when she uploads them I'll add them to this post!
One of the first things the kids asked was what my mom's name was and how to spell it, so one little girl runs to the board and wrote JANA, and you could just see little Dana's face light up! She ran over there and wrote her name right under it and was telling us that it's almost the same. She was SO excited! So then she would write Jana and then erase the J and replace it with a D, over and over. There were several that were very impressed by this little letter trick. They also started this little thing where they chanted "JANA, JANA, JANA" for a minute, so that was adorable. If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, come to a Korean classroom or lunch room and you'll get your 15 minutes of fame!

 This picture was actually taken the first Monday back after my mom left. Dana ran straight into class and wrote this on the board and said, "KYLA TEACHER!!!" So I looked, and what do you know...Jana and Dana! haha

Mom's biggest fan and sort of name twin, Dana! 

Mom's other group of biggest fans, Dana included! She's the little yellow sun dress one! 

Playing with alphabet stickers! Little cutie Jake! :) 

Cutie 2nd graders. Notice Dana in the front and center (of course) in the yellow Angry Birds outfit, so cute! 

5th grade girls! Such smart little girls!

That's all for now. Believe it or not, there is a part 3 coming shortly, so stay tuned! haha It has a lot more sight seeing pictures of Busan! T-minus 16 days until America!!!!! 

-Kyla

Mom in Korea: Part I

I was trying to wait until mom uploaded her pictures before I posted about her trip here, but she's been busy settling back in and playing catch up at work so I'll put some pictures now and do another picture post eventually when she posts her pictures! She basically has all of the pictures with my students on her phone, so the cutest ones will just have to wait I guess!

So as many of you know, my mom traveled 6,000 miles from Oklahoma to visit me for 10 days! When I would tell people she was coming on June 29th and would get a very similar reaction from every person I told, "I can't believe she's coming at the very end! You go home a month after she leaves! That's dumb!" (Okay, they never said the dumb part, but with the way they said it, that was exactly what they meant!) So yes, it was a little crazy to come after I've been here for 5 out of 6 months, but like myself, my mother had never been out of the country before this trip, so she was about due! I am trying to infect her with the travel bug. lol Just kidding mom! I'll do a quick long rundown of what we did while she was here and throw in some cute (and awful) pictures of us. As I said before, the humidity was about 80% or higher the whole time she was here, so as soon as we stepped out of my room or the hostels, we were automatically nasty looking. 18 days until that sweet, dry, Oklahoma heat!!! Thank the Lord!!! I never thought I would miss that stuff!

Friday June 28th:
Mom left from OKC Friday morning, while I was slaving away cleaning my house, waiting for her arrival. ....boring, I know..it gets better.

Saturday June 29th: 
I woke up early and headed to Incheon Airport!!! After a very long 18 hour plane ride, mom arrived! And an hour early on top of that! From Incheon, we made our way to our hostel in Seoul with all of mom's luggage. After what felt like hours of lugging around suitcases and bags, we finally made it to our hostel. Mom showered and freshened up and we hit the town. Seoul was really a blur, and we didn't get to do half the things I wanted to because of the time crunch, but I took mom to her first Korean BBQ experience. Unfortunately  I've had way better, so I was a little disappointed that I couldn't show her how good it could be.  After dinner, we stayed in Hongdae (which is where our hostel was) and walked around there a bit. It's always so full of young college people and foreigners, so it's always where we  stay at when we go to Seoul. Next, I attempted to find the part of Insadong that I had been on my first Seoul trip. It was a much more traditional area of Seoul, shopping wise, so I thought that would be cool to find, but turns out I didn't do very good at navigating. After that didn't work, we headed back to Hongdae and I showed her the park we always go to. In Korea, there are no laws about public drinking, so this park fills up on weekend nights with young people drinking and watching the performers  Mom and I watched some dancers and singers for a little bit, then headed back to the hostel so she could rest and recharge for the week ahead. I promise, it really gets better than those two days. lol Hang in there...funny and weird things happen eventually.

Mom, being a pro at Korean BBQ!

This is how small a normal Korean body towel is. It's about the size of an American hand towel! This was at our hostel in Seoul. 

Sunday June 30th: 
We woke up and went to my favorite breakfast place in Seoul, Butterfinger Pancakes!! (I know what you're thinking, "Oh of course, your favorite place in Seoul would be about Butterfingers.") Well, jokes on you because that's just the name. Unfortunately,  I have more Butterfingers here in Gunsan at my apartment than this restaurant does. They've inspired me to attempt to make actual Butterfinger pancakes when I get back to the states though...in 18 days!!! But I digress. Butterfinger Pancakes is located in Gangnam, which is the nicest part of Seoul, so that was cool that she got to see the difference in a party, college area and a nicer, more upscale area. And we got to say "Oppa Gangnam Style", which is a must. Thanks, Psy. After breakfast, we headed to Myeongdong for some shopping. We did some browsing, a little damage at Forever 21, and got some of Emilee's favorite street food. Mom also really liked it! After a long day of running around Seoul, we eventually headed to the bus station and got our tickets back to Gunsan.

Sticky, sweaty messes in Gangnam! Op, Op, Op, Op, Oppa Gangnam Style! 

Street food! Sausage and Dak (Korean rice cake!)

A couple of funny things in Seoul: 

Oma is the Korean word for mom. We could over hear people talking about us when they walked by or when were were on the subway across from them. The very common situation would be them pointing at us, then saying a bunch of things in Korean, including oma (which is about all we understood. lol). This actually happened everywhere we went, but it obviously started in Seoul.

A man on the subway told me to sit, in Spanish. So mom and I sat, because in Korea, you do what old people tell you to, even if it's in Spanish. (Thank you Jesus for that one year of Spanish class in High School. It's really paying over here in KOREA.) hahaha So after we sit, he looks at me and asks if I'm from SOUTH AMERICA. (In English this time, even though I would have totally understood if he asked in Spanish...maybe.) Really sir, South America? Well, at least you got the America part right I guess. So he proceeds to tell me that he thought I was from South America, which is why he used Spanish to tell me to sit down. Then he also asked me if I knew Spanish, because I understood what he said. No sir, I can say sit down in three languages, it's just ironic that you happen to use one of the very few phrases I know in Korean, English and Spanish.

I should have written these posts as it all happened, because now I'm forgetting it all, but I'll add more funny things later as they come to me. In the mean time, it's bedtime, so keep an eye out for Mom in Korea: Part II!

-Kyla

24 Days!

 I don't want to post about mom's time here until she gets back to America and has time to upload some pictures! I will say that the weather was pretty much crap the whole time that she was here, and was SO humid the whole time, so we look like we didn't shower all 10 days, but I promise we did! So I apologize if we look awful in the pictures! We had a lot of fun and I'm really glad someone got to come over and see what I've been blogging and talking about! Until that post though, I'll update you on my remaining 24 days!!!!!

Side note: Mom left at 4:30pm Sunday, Korean time. The plane crash from Seoul to San Fran happened on Saturday Korea time, so we're safe there. Continued prayers for her safe trip, and for those in the plane accident as well.

I officially have 24 days left in South Korea! And on top of that, only 12 teaching days! It seems unreal to think that I've been here for 5 and a half months, but it happened and it was a great experience. I'm so close to going home that it's almost all I can think about! I just keep thinking about all the people I'm going to get to see, all of the delicious food I'm going to eat, all of the Target shopping trips I'll get to make, driving my car, having a dryer, not being sticky in this awful humidity all the time, and all of the fun little trips I have planned when I get back!

I have a 3 day teaching week this week because Friday is our Farewell Reunion Trip for the program I'm in, so that'll be fun. One last chance to see everyone before we head to all different parts of the world!

Then the next week I work all 4 days, but then that weekend is the Mud Festival. It's apparently one of the biggest, most popular festivals for foreigners living in Korea, so I'm really excited about that. Plus it'll basically be a mini-reunion again since almost everyone I know in Korea is going to it! Should be a good time of covering ourselves in mud.... haha I'm not sure, but it's really popular so I'm going with it!

Then, the next week is my last week with my kiddies :( It's bittersweet. Especially when I look back and think of the ones who almost had me in tears a few times at the beginning. It's funny how those little ornery ones are some of my favorites now. That weekend I plan on making one last Seoul trip to hang out with my friends in Seoul!

Then, that Wednesday I board the plane back to the US!!! 24 jam packed days, and it doesn't even stop there. As soon as I get back to America, I have to get things ready for school, find somewhere to live, and do all of the things I listed above, plus a Taylor Swift concert and a float trip!!! Now you can understand why I'm dreaming about America everyday! Can't wait to see you all! T-minus 24 days!

Mostly sweet 2nd graders! Little cuties! 

Sweaty messes because the classroom is hotter than ever and we can't use the AC, but my sweet 5th grader girls!

-Kyla

More Funny Things That Happen Daily

While most of North and South American's can be known as sun worshipers (guilty..), here in my new home, being tan is a less than desirable trait. Fair skin in Korea (and most other Asian countries I believe) is a sign of wealth. It doesn't mean you're particularly rolling in the dough, but you have a good enough job to not be a laborer who works outside all day, every day. This thought goes way back , but conflicts with the newer idea that if you have money then you can afford to go on beach vacations, ultimately leading to a tan. That's where things get tricky. Koreans combat this in a funny way. Long sleeves on the beach is a norm. Possibly one of the craziest things to me, because I do love a good tan. I just can't imagine traveling all the way to a beach (80% of the reason I love the beach is the sweet tan I get!!) just to sit in a long sleeve shirt, sometimes pants, inside a tent or under a huge umbrella. Oh! and the visors these people wear! It's almost always older women, but man! Those visors are big enough to shade a quarter of the beach you're on! And they aren't even just worn on the beach. These larger than life visors can be seen anywhere the sun is shining. These people don't play around when it comes to the sun.

Benchwarmers, anyone? 

Some of these visors can be accompanied by something I can only compare to a beekeepers uniform. Here I am, breaking the law by wearing a tank top, and the lady next to me on the bus is showing nothing but her eyes. I'm talking visor, shade thing attached to the visor, long sleeve, pants, tennies, and gloves! and it's like 80+ degrees plus more humidity then I ever knew was possible! I don't understand! It's so humid and muggy and all those other words that mean the same thing!

Similar to an older Korean woman's outfit on a midsummer's day.  All you need is hot pink, bright purple and  a sparkle/lace umbrella. 

A lot of Koreans really do wear shorts and short sleeves, I'm being a little dramatic, but there really is far too many still dressing like it's winter in order to protect their skin! Another example which is mind blowing to me for some reason, is the Korean who decides to wear a short sleeve, but puts on separate sleeves that go from wrist to bicep, making your short sleeve and automatic long sleeve, except the sleeves are made out of Under Armor type material, so they're skin tight and look SO uncomfortable. What's the point of throwing on the short sleeve if you're just going to cover up the skin that's showing with more sleeves?! 

While Oklahoma is finally coming to an end to the awful tornado season (I'm hoping!), crappy weather season is just beginning here in Korea. Monsoon season has begun, and is in full force until the beginning or middle of July. In girl language, that means constant ugly hair and no point in wearing make-up because it runs off as soon as you step outside. It's more muggy and humid here then anything I've ever experienced. Yuck! It's out of control!
With that being said, I'm going to name this Umbrella Season. I personally find umbrellas really annoying and have never owned one until I came to Korea. (and I only have to here because I don't have the luxury of a car, so walking in the rain is a bit obnoxious. My umbrella is not making the 6000 mile journey back home, that's for sure!) But lets take it back to the protecting the skin thing for a minute. Korean women (usually older women), remember the ones in the full, head to toe sun shielding outfits? Well, they also bring out umbrellas in the sun! Korea is a very crowded country, making walking space limited in some areas, and giant umbrellas don't help the situation at all. But now, these ladies are using umbrellas when it's sunny out too?! Gotta hide as much as possible! I can always tell how the weather is by looking out my window and observing the little ladies outside. If it's a normal, waterproof umbrella, it's a rainy day. But if it's a flowery, lacey, sequiny umbrella, it's a beautiful sunny day that I would be taking advantage of if I had a pool.

Another thing that I don't understand is that hospital patients just wander the streets near hospitals, saline drips in tow. I've walked by the coffe shop next to the hospital by my house more times than once and have seen hospital patients wheeling in their drips, ordering a cup of coffee only to sit in the coffee shop and enjoy it for a little bit before heading back to the hospital. Why are these people running around the streets?! It's also very common for a ton of them to be down in front of the hospital taking a smoke break or walking across to the convenient store and getting a snack in their hospital uniforms. It really grosses me out for some reason. haha I can't even go in that coffee shop because I feel like only sick people go there, when in reality, these people look completely fine. haha it's the strangest.

Well, I'm down to 42 more days left in little 'ole Gunsan. Even though I'm going to miss a lot of things about Korea, I'm pumped to get back and start up my old life again. I also have a ton of activities planned the first couple of weeks I get back, so that's not helping the countdown go any faster! My mom gets here in 10 days though, so that's exciting. I can't wait for her to see all these funny things. For those of you who aren't visiting, I'll attempt to get pictures of some of these crazy things so you can have a better understanding of it all.

-Kyla

Soju, Beer and Clown Cars

I'm pretty sure that if I lived in Korea for the next twenty years, I'd still be amazed by things every single day. Here are a few that have happened to me lately.

My co-teachers birthday was last Friday, so what better week to do a birthday lesson than when we have an excuse to have a birthday party?! I bought her a cake and it had to refrigerated so I took it down stairs to the teachers workroom/vice principals office to see if I could store it there before class. They said yes, so I go over and open the fridge up. What did I see? Well..have you ever been to a fraternity house and looked at their fridge? It basically looked like that. Rows and rows of nothing but beer and soju (Korea's super cheap, 20% alcohol, liquor). My elementary fridge is more stocked than a liquor store! Who is drinking this crap! Now I see why so many teachers hit the workroom after lunch. hahah jk.. I've never seen anyone drinking it at school, but it's there so it belongs to someone.

Okay, now remember the days of Super Kids Day? Or whatever you school called it where the students do relay races and games all day outside? Well Korea has a similar day called Sports Day. I say similar, because there are a few differences. The biggest one I can think of is an example from one of my friends. This is a true story, ya'll! At my friends school, there were 3 other schools involved in their Sports Day. My friend had to drink a glass of beer with each of the principals at this Sports Day. So while the students are running around playing, the principals and my friend, and probably other teachers, and sitting on the sidelines drinking beer. In the middle of the day. At a school function. Korea, you crazy!

Another crazy thing, on field trips, teachers bring ice chests. What's in the ice chests? Beer and Soju. Not sandwiches and juice boxes for the little kids, but beer and liquor for the teachers. haha At least they aren't sharing it with the kids, I guess. (I assume... lol)

Okay, enough about that topic. On to ambulances and fire trucks. I feel like I've mentioned this before, but it deserves the spotlight again since I've now seen this firsthand. I wish I would have video taped it on my phone but I was too busy standing there dumbfounded to do anything but stare. Okay, let me paint you a picture. We're at a four way intersection. An ambulance AND firetruck are at a red light, about five cars back. No one in front of them are moving, or even acting like they hear the obnoxious sirens that are right behind them. The traffic on the intersecting road is going like nothing is happening as well, obviously. Eventually, enough people in the ambulance line go right on red or just straight up run the red light. (Red lights don't mean much here. If there's an opportunity to go, you don't look at the color, you just go!) So finally the ambulance is at the front and inching his way out into oncoming traffic. The cars that have the green light are STILL not stopping or even acting like this huge ambulance is about to pull out in front of them. All of a sudden, the ambulance rolls down the passenger side window and shakes this little red lightsaber looking thing at the on coming traffic. That was their attempt at making those cars stop. Luckily, there were no more coming so they got to go, but I was just in shock! Clearly there was an emergency, but no one cared. If I need to be rushed to the hospital, throw me on the back of a fried chicken delivery moped/motorcycle thing and get me to the hospital! Those things know how to maneuver that traffic.

I swear there are no rules in this country! Except one that I know of, actually. You can be fined (I think it's 50,000W, which is about $50.00) for showing your shoulders or cleavage in public. So silly!

Okay, I know I've talked about carseats before and carseats are a subject close to my heart in America too, so this just breaks my heart. Buckle those sweet babies in, and do it correctly! There's no need in losing a babies life because of it being strapped in wrong. But in Korea, it's not uncommon to see a tiny baby (so small it can't even walk) riding shotgun on his mom's lap, along with the dad and two other toddlers all in the front of this single cab truck. That's entirely too many people in one tiny car, and three of those five people should be strapped in to a carseat! I've seen this too many times, and every time it breaks my heart. Especially since I've seen how they follow driving laws (or lack there of). The other day, I saw this tiny baby, probably 6 months, being held half way out of the window at a stop light in the back seat of an SUV. This is not the time to be letting your tiny baby sightsee around Gunsan! What if a car rams you from behind and your baby flys out the window!? Come on people, use your head!

But the real reason I brought this up is because of what I saw leaving the gym the other day. Again, I was too awestruck to videotape it, so I'll just have to paint the best picture I can. You know the clown cars where the clowns are stuffed in the car, then they all get out of the car and it seems like it's a never ending train of people exiting this tiny car? Well I witnessed that in real life, except substitute the clowns for tiny, 2 year old, adorable Korean babies. And substitute the clown car for a van. A van that possible holds 8 people, maybe 7. I'm talking a normal, everyday family caravan. Not one of those huge economy sized vans that the Duggar's or John and Kate, Plus Eight need to haul around their absurd amounts of children. I first got distracted by this situation because of a couple of tiny two year old Koreans in matching uniforms. That's just something you can't help but stare at! So cute! So then, more and more keep climbing out of this van and attaching themselves to the little line of kids in front of them! Obviously  I just stopped and stared at this for a minute. Actually, I stared long enough to count the number of kids that got out of the van. You know the game where everyone guesses the number of marbles in a glass jar and who ever is closest wins? Well if we were playing this game and you guessed sixteen two year olds and three adults in one normal sized seven to eight person van, you'd be right on the money! If you're lacking in the math department, like myself, let me just show you the totals. One van, we'll say eight seats, just to give them some help, and NINETEEN people. Yes, the two year old Koreans are smaller than my right leg, but that doesn't give you a free pass to stuff them in a van like a can of sardines and drive for who knows how long to take them to a movie! Oh, the things you see!

One last thing that isn't really about Korea, but is totally Korea's fault. I, Kyla Brown, can not access Target.com anymore! WHAT!!! Yes! I know, I'm so sad too. I like to browse occasionally just to see what cute sandals and other things I'm missing out on (I know, that's like putting salt on an open wound, but I can't help it) So I go on there a couple of days ago only to find that it says Access Denied! What in the world!? How is my access denied?! I'm a Target VIP customer. I keep Target in business when I'm in the country, and would to continue to support them from 6,000 miles away if I knew how to write my address in Korean! hahaha So I shared this sad news with my friends and Emilee claims she can still get on their website, so I'm not sure what's going on, but it makes me very sad and I hate it. Only 56 more days until Target and I can reunite and I can restock my wardrobe from head to toe!

Okay, thanks for listening to my ramblings! Tomorrow is Virginia and Emilee's birthday, so we're doing some birthday things tonight, and heading to a beach down south for a few days! I'm sure I'll only be filled with more interesting stories, so stay tuned!

56 days!

-Kyla

Hey! I Don't Know About You, But I'm Feelin' 23!!!

It all started on Friday when I got a birthday package from Kelsey!!! What a great start to a birthday weekend! Mail is the best, but birthday packages are just the icing on the cake! lol See what I did there?

Birthday presents with instructions! that's exciting! 

And its contents. All of my favorite things!

It was also my Korean co-teacher's birthday on Thursday, so all week in class we learned about birthdays and months and ages, and then Friday when Hyungkyung came to class, we surprised her with a birthday cake and cards from all the kids and I taught them American birthday games like Pin the Tail on the Donkey. It was such a success! I was too wrapped up in it to get pictures though :( I only got one of my kids playing balloon volleyball. lol

The birthday girl, her cake, and some of the 3/4 graders! 

Balloon Volleyball! 

 I'll be honest though, I was a little skeptical about my birthday in Korea. Besides the birthday package, it got off to a rough start when the beach trip that I planned ended up being cloudy and a little chilly. The weather said it would be cloudy until the afternoon, then sunny from then on, but it didn't get sunny until about 5pm, which also happens to be the time we pulled back into the bus terminal in Gunsan. lol So the beach was a no go. But we found starfish and other unknown sea creatures and people watched for a while, so it wasn't a total waste.

We got back to Gunsan and started getting ready for a night out on the town. I put on my new party dress and Laura and I met up with everyone at one of my favorite Korean restaurants and had dalkgalbi! It was amazing, as always. That'll probably be my most missed dish when I get back to America, so hopefully I can find a good Korean restaurant that serves it in the city.

After dinner, we went to our favorite bar, TLC! I was promised a free fire shot  from my favorite bartender, Billy. (He's the one who does the fire breathing trick in the video!) We hung out at TLC for a while and played some darts. As always, TLC was a good time, but we wanted to try and venture off to a club we had heard about called SL. (I know..so many letters...lol) So we get in a taxi and he takes us to SL. We get there and head straight to the restroom. After that, we go to the front door only to be told they just closed! It was only 1:20am! That's like 5pm in Korean bar/club times! Bars and clubs don't usually close until 5am or later, so we were completely shocked to see that they were closed so early. Knowing me though, I pulled the birthday card and they said, "Oh, birthday! You can go to the bar!" hahaha Score! So I go in and he tells me I can only have a beer. Yuck.. so I got it and we shared it between the four of us and danced in this empty club for a couple of minutes. We were clearly not wanted there though, and can take a hint, so we left and stopped at Lotteria (basically a Korean McDonalds) for a little midnight snack, then called it a night.

My sweet lady friends! 

Before the fire! 

During the fire! Sometimes little things like sparklers make me wayyyy too happy! haha

This was a magic trick. I eventually wrote my name on a card...then...

BOOM! This was on the other side!!! SO FUN! 

And here he is now...Don Harva AKA Magic Man! 

Billy! Now known as the fire breather! (the one in the video!)

Dragon boy! 

Today when I woke up, which was my actual birthday in Korea, I was feeling pretty sad. I just wanted to be in America doing America things like going to Target, eating Mexican food and a snowcone while laying out next to the pool. Then, Laura came over and surprised me with a beautiful, delicious birthday cake! After our little snack, we decided to go explore the lake/park by my house. What a gem that little place is! I'm so sad it took me four months to discover it!

Story break... Happy four month anniversary to me and Korea today!!!  Four down, two to go!

So we walked around this beautiful park and saw lily pads and lilies, coy fish, a ton of cute Korean babies and a rock wall! I didn't take my camera so I didn't get any pictures, but next time I'll document it for you guys. It was such a good find. I'm glad I found it before my mom got here. I can't wait to show her! (26 days until she gets here!!!!) It was such a nice day outside today, so I was happy to get out of my house and explore! Afterwards, Emilee came by and brought me a whole tub of my favorite Baskin Robbins ice cream and my birthday gift. These girls know me too well. lol She also brought me birthday gifts from Virgina and Lizzie.  I am just so happy to have them all here. Days like this make me sad to be so far away, but I was lucky enough to have these sweet ladies treating me like a birthday princess all day! We topped off the day with a restaurant we call "The Cheap Place". Clearly you can tell how wonderful it is by it's given name. lol It's another place I'll have to take my mom. Nothing's better than delicious, cheap Korean food!!

Birthday face masks! and my favorite Korean gum, some TLC money, and a Korean chocolate snack! 

Beautiful and delicious birthday cake! 

Birthday Dr. Pepper!!! YUM! It's not as hard to find in Korea as all the blogs I read before I came here said it was, but it's still a rare thing, so I was extra excited for this! 

ICE CREAM! 

Favorite fruit chews and granola bars! 

I'd say overall, it's been a great birthday. I celebrated 22 on the beach in Destin last year and 23 on the beach in Boryeong this year, so I'm excited to see what beach I have in store for next year. I also celebrated my birthday for entirely too long, which isn't technically possible I don't think, but since Korea's 14 hours ahead of America, I'm celebrating my birthday in Korean time and American time!! I've also gotten a ton of Facebook birthday wishes, so those are much appreciated and keeping a smile on my face!

Who knew that when I was 22 I would move 6,000 miles away and teach English to some of the cutest little kids in the world? Here's to making my 23rd year even better! Cheers! I can't wait to see what 23 has in store for me.

59 days and counting, people!

-Kyla