pray for korea.

selfies during gym class

Hello. So most of you probably know about the ferry disaster that happened in Korea. It's really unfortunate. A ferry full of high school students going to Jeju Island (I'm going there via plane in September) sunk. There's a lot of mystery behind how the ferry sunk and most of the crew members survived. The entire country is pretty much distraught. My school was supposed to go on a picnic next week but it was cancelled because of these recent events. We are opting for a puppet show because it's "inside and more safe." Now, that's a little ridiculous but what can you do. When I met with my Korean ladies last Thursday, they were all in tears when we brought up the incident. I literally didn't know how to respond to a bunch of mothers crying. Gaaahhh.

pig skin on the outer edge

I spent all of last weekend recuperating from my Friday night with my British co-teacher. We bonded over Korean BBQ and soju - five bottles too many. I tried pig skin which is absolutely disgusting and it looks as scary as it tastes.

I started laser hair removal treatments on my armpits. It's so cheap - $100 for five or six sessions for both armpits. But holy mother of god did it hurt!!!! It felt like the stinging feeling you feel when you get a tattoo but in addition to that, it burned so badly. I wanted to get my legs done too (~$400) but I don't know if I can endure the burning for the entire length of my legs. The treatment for my armpits only took about a minute. Super short.

I was supposed to be in a parade Saturday with my boss but it got cancelled because of the sunken ferry. However, this weekend is going to be fun because there are lots of festivals happening in Busan and I plan to go to at least two of them.

I'm off to go to my weekly Thurday meeting with my Korean lady friends. One lady is cooking us spicy rice/fish cakes (tteokbokki) which is very popular in Korea. You can buy this from a street vendor. Speaking of the street, there is SO much street food here. And people sell waffles and chestnuts out of the back of a minivan too and that is totally normal. It's weird that I don't have pictures of this because it is pretty strange to see but coming up on four months here, I'm pretty
accustomed to it. Anywho, this lady also makes fermented omija and masil which are kinds of fruit juices/teas and she gave me a bottle of each. Very delicious! Til my next post.. be well.