Spring Planting

Over the last 2 years the city I live in has taken a number of steps to beautify local streets and parks, including installing benches, replacing sidewalks, and planting bushes/flowers.

Here are some pics of sidewalk-area planting that I took recently:

Hopefully the small plants will bloom soon, now that spring is here!

Gangneung, South Korea

I visited friends who live on the east coast of Korea, and here are some assorted pics from a long walk, etc.

Flowers along the river path in Gangneung

A small alley amongst old homes at Anmok beach, Gangneung

Anmok beach (not as popular as Gyeongpo beach, but worth a visit)

Restaurant fish (and squid) tanks

Korean bowling alley located in a back street/alley in Gangneung

Pool hall in Sun Plaza, Gangneung

Weekend Pics: Dining with Friends

Fruit and nuts brunch

Lunch side dishes

Lunch food: Sausage soup and rice (순대국밮). Cost = $5 per person

Side dishes for dinner

Dinner: grilled shellfish. Cost = expensive ($50 for 3 people)

Mother Nature

Today is absolutely beautiful here in South Korea: sunny, about 60 F/15 C, and the cherry blossoms are out in force.

I think it helped that we got some rain yesterday to clear the air.

Here are a series of pics that I took (click on one for better viewing):

Video Summary

These are the videos that I have used for teaching (as in "watch and write a summary as a group") and for entertainment (since we took away your cell phones) purposes in the last week or so:

Sheep in the island 1 and 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvR8LG
OUpNAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEg-VpyoVBQ

Gopher Broke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEg-VpyoVBQ

Lifted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY1_HrhwaXU

Partly Cloudy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-a6Pe1ovKHg

Bad Events in America

This has been a bad week for America with so many people killed, injured, or threatened in attacks or accidents.

However, I applaud the professionalism of America's law enforcement agencies and first responders--they are undoubtedly the best in the world.

Cheers to you!

Kebab and Toast Take-out

Almost all of the words on the menu for this kebab (well, sort of) and toast take-out place near my English academy are English words written in Korean: chicken, toast, bacon, cheese . . ..  This is one of the times when it really helps to be able to read the Korean alphabet, which is actually quite easy to learn:

Cherry Blossoms

Some pics from a street near my apartment in Sanbon, South Korea:

Funny Animation

I happened across this funny short animation while looking for a video to show my older students during their break time:

"Sheep in the Island"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvR8LGOUpNA

You might want to preview it before showing it to young children, as it's a bit wacky/violent.

The good thing is that if you like the video there is a part 2.

Korean Fusion Restaurant

Some friends and I went by car to a traditional-meets-modern Korean food restaurant, otherwise known as "fusion".

An excellent lunch, though you have to enjoy vegetables to appreciate most of it.

We had the $26 per person multi-course serving (the lower-priced one), which I will present in pictures (note that the introductory salad and first two noodle dishes were consumed before I remembered to take pics; also, note that the individual dishes you see--those between the soup and the rice--are servings for 3 people):

Mushroom soup with a baked bread cap

"Water" kimchi (no hot pepper sauce; instead, a vinegary brine)

Mini potato/veggie mix pancakes, spicy and not

Raw tuna atop kimchi

Cooked octopus in medium spicy sauce with noodles

Beef and potatoes

Yogurt shrimp atop creamed sweet potato

Acorn jelly, sesame salad, greens, anchovies

Aged, cooked kimchi

Soup and rice

Afterwards we were escorted onto the enclosed patio to enjoy cookies and coffee/tea/sweetened rice water:

All in all, one of the best lunches that I have had in a long time.  Next time I would choose more of the "tradition" over the "fusion", but the meal was satisfying and well worth the price.