After our Pandamonium season finished, I started organizing pick up in Cheonan again. We have been getting a core group of people joining us on Saturday or Sunday afternoons and a few randoms who rotate weekends that they are available. It's been great! We've consistently been getting enough for a mini game. And on my birthday we had enough people come out to have a full 6 on 6 game going! Ultimate was my saving grace in Montreal. I met so many friends who I am still in contact with. It's a great way to meet people, get some exercise, and have fun. Some nights we've even been going out for dinner after. As an expat living in Korea, what more could you ask for?
If you are new to Cheonan and looking for a new activity, join our Cheonan Ultimate Frisbee Facebook group to receive invites to the pick up games, tournaments, and other Ultimate related activities in Korea.
June 8th
June 16th
Fueling up on some BBQ after the game.
Dark team on the line!
June 23rd - we had some great first timers who rocked!
Wow .. a whole year has passed since we started writing the blog! One of my first posts last year was about my birthday. And now here I am, living in Korea, celebrating 27.
All week I had been spoiled with cards coming in from my family. Getting mail from home, especially when anything that ever arrives in your mailbox is in Korean, is a welcome treat. Sarah even shipped me some Reece's Peanut Butter cups, which after the trip looked more like peanut butter pancakes.
The contents of Sarah's package - including pictures!
Mom's Card
Pancakes!
Everyone made the days surrounding my birthday feel special. I was treated to lunch by both Christine and Bre (my coworkers). One day I arrived at school to a gift on my desk from my closest Korean colleague, Grace. She gave me a traditional Korean jewellery box for my birthday. It's gorgeous!
The night before my actual birthday, JM and I joined our friend Nick and company for some NOREBANG! If you don't know what that is, well it's the Korean version of karaoke, but you are in a private room with just you and your friends! So you get to sing all the songs you want, and you don't have to listen to the random people in the bar who suck! It was our first time, and it was awesome.
Disco ball in our private norebang room
Nick being thoroughly annoyed by us singing Justin Beiber. Hatin' on the Beebs!
This year, my birthday fell on a Saturday. I was treated to breakfast in bed, but then JM had to work in the afternoon, giving some demo classes to potential students. I went with him to school because, even if JM wasn't around, I decided to make the best of it.
Yummy!
Bringing me breakfast!
JM being adorable
Home made card!
Funny Korean gift bags
A long time ago I had promised my after school class, Creative Expressions, that I would take them out to Korean BBQ for dinner. They eat cafeteria food every day - it gets boring. But admin had told me I could only do it on a weekend. This Saturday happened to be the first that I was in town (not traveling for frisbee), so I told my students to meet me at Bugil's front gate and we would head downtown. This is a class that I absolutely love. They are wonderful, funny, energetic, and all around pleasant students to teach. We went out for grilled meat and they surprised me with Ferrero Rocher chocolates for my birthday. It was so sweet.
Lunch with my students
Through Cheonan Ultimate Frisbee, I had organized a pick up game for later that afternoon, and we had the best turn out yet! Might have had something to do with the fact that I milked the birthday thing ... but who knows. ;)
Finally, on the Sunday JM and I went out for a really nice dinner. We hadn't been to any of the steakhouses in Cheonan yet, so we decided to try VIPS, where they also have an extensive salad bar (that has way more than just salad). It was delicious! I had a really lovely weekend and birthday. Thank you to everyone who made it special!
We finally decided to make our way up to Taejosan to check out this Buddha statue everyone talks about. In fact, it was really easy to get to. Just take the 24 bus across from Shinsegae (headed east) and get off at the last stop. From there, you have to keep walking up the street and around the corner you will notice a huge flight of stairs leading to a temple (this was evident not only by the architecture, but the sounds of Buddhist chanting over speakers).
The Buddha itself was nice, but we really enjoyed hiking behind it. Unfortunately, we got up there at 6pm, so we started to run out of light during our hike. We only made it to the alter/offering spot, but would like to go back and hike the whole thing. It was a decent climb, right in the "backyard" of Cheonan!
Yes, we picked up 4 wheels today .. in the form of 2 bikes! A couple was leaving Cheonan and wanted to sell their bikes to another couple. So we swooped right in and took full advantage. They are nothing too fancy, but they work, and we are happy to have them. We've been getting tired of walking everywhere (especially since the weather is getting HOTTT again) or taking cabs such short distances, like to the gym. Our gym is about a 30 min walk, but only a 10 min bike ride. I am looking forward to getting my butt to the gym more often now that I can save so much time getting there. And it's a great warm up!
