Dinner with friends

On the menu:

Pork with lettuce wraps

Cold noodles

Spring onion 'pancake'

Overall it was lots of food (too much) and quite delicious. The restaurant was big and crowded (we had to wait 15 min.), as evidenced by the shoes in the doorway.

Nice Student

One of my young students (a girl) gave me a little 'bouquet' of flowers . . . what a sweetie!

Shellfish Dinner at the Beach

I visited my friend in Gangwan-do last weekend, and we had a nice dinner at the beach . . .

Spring Cherry Blossoms

Yesterday I went with 4 fellow teachers to see the Cirque du Soleil. Great show! After, we walked around that part of Seoul (quite a ways from here). Many people were out enjoying the cherry blossoms around an artificial lake; on one side you can see part of Lotte World, an amusement park. This is an upscale suburb of Seoul (Jamsil). The last pic is the indoor part of Lotte World, which includes an ice-skating rink.

April 1st

Last Friday was April first, and when I went to my favorite class the kids were immediately talking about it. "Teacher, today is joke day!" Oh, really? "Yes, everyone tells a lie today!" Ok. If you are good students today I will give you candy. "Oh teacher!" Bill Gates came to my house last night and gave me one million dollars. "Really?" Yes, he's my friend . One boy said, "I went to France yesterday." On an airplane? "Yes." And you were the pilot? "Yes!" And so it went, for five minutes or so. They were very creative, and it was great English practice for them . . .

Earthquake

As you may know--if you read the news--there was a very powerful earthquake in Japan today. I watched a video on CNN of the resulting tsunami rolling across the Japanese countryside. Horrible. I have never seen anything like that before.

The earthquake has had no effect on South Korea as far as I know. I talked about it with my students today and reminded them to be happy that we are safe . . .

Cheap Lunch Food

Bibimbap: a mix of veggies and rice, served with some spicy sauce. From the supermarket, it's about $3. At a restaurant, $4-5. Delicious!