Justin arrived

After a grueling flight, Justin has arrived in Gwangju. His arrival was on Sunday evening. Then in typical Korean style, Monday was his first day at the school. He didn't actually have to teach. He simply shadowed the other two foreign teachers who he was replacing. As it was an exam week, he had little to observe. Tuesday was the first full day of teaching and lets just say it was "uncomfortable." haha Some quick thinking and a typed out survival guide did the trick. Justin is now relatively settled in his apartment and had begun his first full day of teaching without having the expected few freak out moments all foreigners experience the first few classes.

King's Feast

This is our friends, Peter and Leah, last full week at school. So Mr. Han decided to take all the teachers out to lunch. We went out just a little from Sang Mu to a traditional restaurant. It was really nice with a great atmosphere. I think everyone had a really good time. I have yet to muster the courage to tell our boss that I don't like seafood. As a result, he piled the fish on my plate. Along with the slow cooked fish was sting ray, crab, seaweed based soup, and a few other dishes.

I don't want to offend so I swallow it down always quickly followed by a swig of tea or water. This has nothing to do with Korean cuisine. I know many foreigners who enjoy seafood so they love it. I just don't enjoy seafood in any country. haha Regardless, I can usually find something nice to fill up on. Today my dish of salvation was a cool mash potato like dish that had nuts in it. It was pretty good and rice and ddeok-galbi (which is a mixture of pork and beef galbi) as well. Another thing I really liked was a tomato based salad. It was delicious. Over all it was a fun lunch a nice farewell to Peter and Leah.

Korea Red Devils

One thing I have come to really love about Korea is how they are so supportive of all things Korea. Whether it be the validity of Kimchi being eaten at every meal to national sporting events, Koreans show their complete and total support. Last night Jack decided to see just how serious they were.

At 3:00 am our time Korea faced off with Nigeria. Although, it wasn't an outright win, Korea was able to win the advancing nod from world cup officials. They advance to the next level of play. Throughout the country people came out in droves to watch the game. No crowd was greater in Gwangju, than that of Guus Hiddink field. Gwangju's world cup stadium was filled with 20,000 people last night all just to watch the game on the huge monitor. Vendors lined the streets surrounding the field. Fans donned their red flashing horns and body paint and the game began. It started at a sleepy 3:30, but by dawn everyone was wide awake again with the news of advancement. I threw Jack's pictures and video clips together into a quick youtube video for you to see. Also I took a few pictures from Seoul to add some flare at the end. :) Enjoy.

Yuseong Spa

I did it! I have officially taken part in a public bath.

I didn't think that I would ever get up the courage to go to a public spa but today was the day. Jack declared June 19th Crystal Day. (I am still not sure as to why, but hey, who am I to complain?) He whisked me away on a trip today. Lunch in bed. Yes, I do realize that for normal people who wake up at appropriate hours it would be breakfast in bed, but I like to sleep so don't judge me. Jack brought me Kraze burger and then we headed off to Seojeong-ri KTX station. It is the fast train that goes up to Seoul. We arrived in Daejeon and hit up Costco, E-mart, and then headed off to Yuseong Hot Springs. It is a Spring popular throughout the city. It is said to have healing properties. It is high in alkaline minerals such as calcium, and potassium, sulphur, carbonic acid, silicic acid and radium. There is a legend that during the Baekje dynasty a young soldier was completely healed by the hot spring. His mother first saw an injured crane dip its broken wing in the water and then fly away. She took her son and he was instantly made whole.

We went to the spa hoping to use the outdoor pools that are coed and fully clothed but it wasn't available. I was really bummed. I found out the indoor spa was still available. I paid a cheap 5,000 won and went into the spa. It was very different for me to be in a crowded room full of naked women. haha I know it sounds pretty crazy to the average westerner, but here it is no big deal. No one seemed to worried about the fact that I was there and so I wasn't worried about them. I enjoyed the hot showers, the multiple hot wet and dry saunas, the jade rock room, multiple pools with different minerals and temperatures. I must say the cold pool was quite refreshing after hitting the first sauna. I felt like I was going to pass out from the heat. There was an awesome pool with High pressured waterfalls as well as jets in the warm and hot pools. It was amazing. After I showered off again, I headed back out to meet Jack.

I was completely worn out from just laying around in the heat and pampering myself. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon. I really liked it. Despite my super modest history and awkwardness around naked people I must say I will be finding a sauna in Gwangju to frequent as well.

We finished the day eating out at Bennigan's. It was like a little Irish/American haven right in the middle of Daejeon. After devouring my two entrees (that's right, I said two- once again don't judge me), we headed back to Costco to pick up the super comfy bathrobe I spotted earlier today.

All in all, I'd say the first annual Crystal's Day was a success.

42.2km Jack's Marathon Challenge

This upcoming week starting on Monday Jack is going to work on a week long marathon challenge. So, some people can run that in one day but come on. It isn't bad for a person who has no real running experience before this year. Jack has over the course of the last three months has lost 40lbs (19 kilograms for the non-Americans-haha)

He is an unstoppable force. It is pretty ridiculous in my opinion. I am really proud of him. One of the main benefits of being in Korea is the lack of readily available comfort food and personal transportation. We walk everywhere. Add those factors together with a gym membership and you get my substantially skinnier husband. He is doing great. While I cant say I will match his distance ran next week I do promise to at least hit the gym with him when he goes next week. :)

Good Luck!

황사-Hwangsa YELLOW DUST

It has been a grueling few weeks. Spring has sprung and along with it came the kicked up dust storms. The storms are a phenomenon that originate in the Mongolian desert, Northern China, and Kazakhstan. The winds carry the dry soil particles over both Koreas, Japan, China, and even parts of eastern Russia. Along with the thick air of the season comes a slew of respiratory problems, itchy eyes, sore throats, and an onslaught of other problems.

Ways to avoid problems:

Stay indoors
Wear a mask
Wipe down hard surfaces in your residence near windows and entryways
Wash any exposed skin when you come in from outdoor activities (face, hands, etc.)
Clean all produce that may have been exposed

World Cup Soccer

Tonight was a fun adventure. Korea went head to head with Argentina tonight. It was not a pretty picture. Things looked a little hopeful at the half as Korea scored a goal to bring it to 2-1 just before the half. They could have brought it back but lets be honest. It is Argentina: the best team in the world.

The best part about the game was all the interesting and resourceful places I was able to watch the game. It began in the classroom. I said it. I watched TV in my classes tonight. My students did their work at super sonic speeds to be able to watch the game for the last ten minutes of class.


Along with the classroom, I also watched the game from a makeshift outdoor theater in Sang Mu. People were camped outside of Tom and Toms watching the game. Following that Jack and I headed out to go get dinner. We watched from the cab. All the taxis have tv Once we arrived at the bus terminal, we heard shouts from inside. I whipped out my cell phone and opened my KBS station on my phone.


You have to love a country where you can get network tv on almost every phone (not just on phones that cost over four hundred dollars). We finally arrived inside at U-square and got into TGI Fridays and requested a seat at the bar so we could watch the last half of the game. It was a nice evening, well until they lost. haha