The World Cup

Now, I'm not the biggest sports fan in the entire world, but I have never been so excited for a soccer game in my life! Before the game, the park in my city had little performances and vendors set up, getting everyone pumped up. A big screen showed the match. Us foreigners set up a little area under a canopy and everyone brought drinks and snacks. When Korea scored, fireworks went off and everyone started singing.

After Korea won (woo hoo!!) we all grabbed some dinner then headed to a bar to wait for the America/England game. Everyone was singing their nation's anthems and getting their faces painted. The game started at 3:30 am our time, but I could only last for another half an hour. I'm just glad we didn't lose to England! It's a blast being here with people from so many countries and being able to share this excitement with them!

Go America! (and Korea...)

I love this photo. They are both Irish. Clearly, he is rooting for America, and she is rooting for England (and Korea....)

A Korean Wedding

Yesterday I experienced the amazingness that is a Korean Wedding. Jeong Ah invited me to her sister's wedding, and although I had only met her once, I was not missing out on this opportunity! I invited Denise to go with me because I don't think I could have handled it all by myself! The wedding was held in a very big wedding hall that was built specifically for weddings. There were a couple of weddings going on that day, but we found ours on the third floor. Luckily I saw Jeong Ah's boyfriend and knew we were in the right place. There were a lot of women working at the Hall dressed like stewardesses making sure that everything was running smoothly.

The Bride came 10 minutes before the wedding began and sat on a sofa in a little room, kind of on display for all her guests. I saw Jeong Ah and asked her where we should sit because everyone was kind of standing around. She took us to the fourth row and sat us in the aisle and in front of an older lady. We were kind of embarassed to be treated so well, so we moved over and attempted to not look conspicuous...which is pretty impossible in Korea. The man who was video taping the wedding kept filming Denise and me like we were celebrities!

When the Wedding began, I can only describe it as Las Vegas on a bigger scale. The lights were dimmed and then they started flashing and crazy music started playing. Her father walked her down the aisle and both parents had big throne-like chairs to sit in. We obviously couldn't understand what was being said, but we had a general idea of what was going on. One woman's job was to straighten the Bride's train and redo her makeup during the ceremony after she cried.

After the couple's vows, they bowed to her parents where he literally gets on the floor. Then they bowed to his mother who was crying and then it made us get choked up. The groom also gave his new mother in law a piggy back ride which shows his acceptance of his new obligations.

Soldiers with swords wouldn't let the couple back up the aisle until they did little tasks, like kiss her a number of times, or hold her and do squats. It was very funny. After the ceremony we ate lunch at a huge buffet with people from all of the other weddings, while the couple and family has their own private lunch in another room. At our table, there were people eating cake and baby octopus. I just will never understand it! It was all over very quickly and I was kind of sad about it! I am so grateful that I was able to have this experience!


The Ceremony Room



The Beautiful Bride and Groom




She was blushing and embarassed because her husband was about to make out with her in front of everyone!


Giving his new mother-in-law a piggy back ride. Both mothers wore hanboks, or traditional dresses

Bowing for their parents

Market Day and Speech Contest

So a lot has happened since the last time I wrote on here. As much as I loved Prague, I ended up moving back home for reasons beyond my control, tried moving to Florida for a bit, and somehow ended up in South Korea. It's been fun, interesting, hilarious, and strange learning about this country, but I'm really happy with my decision and can't wait to learn more!


It's been different teaching children. Some days it's so much fun and they make my heart melt and other days it makes me not want to ever have children of my own. But the good outweighs the bad. I work in an Academy so all the children go to public school during the day, then to the Academy to perfect their English in the evening.



On Friday my academy had a Market Day and Speech Contest. The kids have been preparing their speeches, songs, or skits for a couple of weeks. They all melted my heart and I felt so proud! After their presentations they all received fake money (the amount depended upon how well they've been doing in class) to buy little gifts and snacks at a shop we had set up. It was fun being able to joke around with them, give some of them discounts because they're good students, and not be in a classroom setting with them. I got more bows and respect yesterday than I do when I'm actually teaching!



Jeong Ah serving dok bokki to the students



Look at all the cuties!

Hye Hyun making eggs for kim bap

All the girls making kim bap. It was delicious!

Speech: My Family

They were not too thrilled about having to speak

One of my favorite classes about to sing "I Will" by The Beatles. They made me teary-eyed!


I wrote a simple version of "Cinderella" for them to perform. It was hilarious!!