Cut food with scissors; Cut paper with knives

Happy Easter!!

It's been another crazy week! Pretty sure there will never be a boring week here.

Nicole experienced her first field trip with the school on Tuesday. They went to Daejeon World Cup Stadium, a.k.a. Purple Arena. There is a large Children's Center in it & the kids absolutely loved it. They also got to see a little musical - The Wizard of Oz (yes, in Korean). That was pretty entertaining for the teachers too! 

John joined a gym on Wednesday with his friend. Gotta love cheap gym memberships here! He got to do some crossfit workouts during the week and is really sore all over, but he is recovering well.

Also, on Wednesday, we purchased bikes!! They have already made our lives easier. It only takes Nicole 15-20 minutes to get to school, instead of 40 minutes. John doesn't have to walk 30 minutes home after a tough workout. Getting to the stores downtown takes half the time & effort. The only thing difficult about them is sometimes we have to take them up to our apartment (on the 3rd floor) but at least we have found a spot to put them outside when it doesn't rain!

Nicole got to use the school's new oven on Thursday for her cooking class! She was the very first person to use it & it went surprisingly well. She made pigs in a blanket with the kids. That was pretty fun! Now we need an oven for ourselves! Even if we don't have anywhere to put it.

Thursday evening we took a trip to Emart (it's like Target). We got some food for some dinners & snacks. We still can't get over how expensive fruit is. A sack of oranges costs almost 10 dollars! We did find cheap bananas though! We learned that you are supposed to get your fruit/veggies weighed in the area before you check out - our cashier lady didn't like us very much... We also got a box of chocolate bars because they looked delicious & were cheap. We come home - they were NOT chocolate. Not even close.

Friday was a rough day for Nicole. The worst day since we arrived in Korea. It was a combination of many things: sleep deprivation, being sick, nit-picky boss (about ridiculous things), terrible kids, missing the boys in BR, etc. But John, being the fantastic boyfriend that he is, surprised Nicole & met her for lunch. 

The evening got much better with a Korean barbecue for dinner with John's friend. We took a taxi to downtown - our taxi driver was awesome! He knew a little English & was telling us that he has a son in Vegas & another in Phoenix. Koreans have trouble with the "f" sound so when he was saying "Phoenix" it sounded like "penis". It was a fun ride & then he discounted us some change so we didn't have to deal with coins. After a delicious dinner, we had some chocolate milk & soju! Soju is a cheap, sweet, vodka that tastes great with everything. A 12 oz bottle costs less than a dollar... Why would you ever go to a bar?!

Saturday was a beautiful day. Nicole had brunch with her coworkers while John worked out with his friend (and also soon to be coworker!) Nicole's coworkers are awesome - she came home with half a loaf of delicious "some sort of berry" bread, 3 bagels, & a large box of pancake mix! The best pancake mix we've ever had.

Later in the evening we went out to our friends' favorite Korean restaurant (we sat on the floor w/ bare feet). It was good, as always. Then we took a trip to Daiso (it's like a dollar store, but way better quality & bigger!) We love Daiso! And Nicole finally got to talk to her boys from BR briefly before they had a fun Easter day.

Having another lazy Sunday & probably going to the stationary store later. It's also a beautiful day today so a nice day to take a walk & get some more eggs! The weekend is a success!

More facts we've learned:

-Yes, here you do cut your food with scissors & paper with knives

-Corporal punishment is allowed in the schools

-You can "box" your groceries (there's still also a bag choice)

-Hot dogs are also individually wrapped in the packages

-V is for victory, not "peace sign cuz I'm a BAMF"

-12 liters of water costs less then 3 American dollars!

It's only been a week!

We figured we should give an update since the last time we did we were still in U.S.A.! It's only been a week but at the pace we've been going it seems longer.

We had a little bit of trouble at the airport finding our way through to the bus. Then we got off at the wrong bus stop! But we were found by the people who were picking us up and got to our apartment just before midnight on Sunday.

The next morning we went to the school. Nicole observed a class for a couple of hours & then was told to teach! Throughout the week she continued to find out last minute things about her classes - she teaches 5 different classes during the week, including a cooking class. What were they thinking?! John can cook, Nicole can make breakfast. But there is no stove, microwave, toaster... & the school just recently purchased a small oven but it's not set up yet. Ants on a log, anyone?

Nicole has fantastic coworkers & we all went out to eat with the school Director on Wednesday night - Chicken & Beer! There were about 3 or 4 different kinds of chicken we had & it was all delicious! We went to a nice/legit Chicken & Beer; there are about 10-20 different knock-offs of it just on our street!

Thursday morning, Nicole took a cab herself to school - & managed to get lost! She made it to the school only a few minutes late but neither of us will be cabbing alone until our Korean gets better! We are both learning something new everyday!

John's friend met up with us Friday evening to show us around a little bit & we went to a very delicious restaurant & then a nice bar with extremely comfortable seating. It was great to see a little bit of night life in downtown Daejeon - busy but fun!

On Saturday, John had an interview! We met up with his friend again & he took us to the school since it's the same school he works at. John will get to start in about a month! We are both so excited that he found a job so quickly & that he will get to be working with his friend! We all also went to a baseball game (go Daejeon Eagles!) & then had a barbecue in the park afterwards.

We are having a lazy Sunday today because we've hardly taken time to just relax since we got here. Resting our minds and legs.

John has found something online to help us learn some Korean - that will help A LOT!

Some things we've learned this week:
-Koreans don't wear deodorant (sometimes they will in hot summers)
-Parents here will eat food out of their kids mouths if they don't want it
-'Hello', 'thank you', & 'middle school' in Korean
-How to get to Nicole's school by foot & how to get downtown by foot
-Public transportation is awesome (especially buses)
-The stores similar to Walmart, Target, & Sam's Club have 3+ floor levels
-Eggs are cheap, fruit is not

There is a lot more we've learned but those stand out!

South Korea!

It's been almost 2 weeks since we were supposed to leave for China (the 2nd time), and we are packing up our things again. This time, we are going to South Korea!

We are leaving from Chicago at 10:00am (CST) on Saturday, March 16! And will arrive in Seoul around 6:00pm (KST) on Sunday, March 17! We are very excited about this move and believe that this is the best opportunity for us. We will be there for a year. Yes, an entire year! The time change is still the same - 13 hours ahead of EST & 14 hours ahead of CST.

We will do our best to post updates about our travel experiences here and on Facebook. And, don't forget to download Tango on your smart phones so that we can still text/call/video chat for free! We will not be able to receive normal calls or texts.

Flipped upside-down

Well, the last 48 hours have completely turned us around. We got news on Wednesday that Nicole's visa was rejected for the 3rd time - for many reasons out of our control. This means that we will not be able to go to China now. The next time Nicole would be able to apply for a Chinese visa again is in 3 months.

BUT...

We have a few options...

For now we will chill out in Indiana - seriously, it's cold!

We have already gotten back in contact with a recruiter we were speaking with before about going to South Korea. In the mean time we will wait for calls for interviews while applying for more jobs overseas on our own.

Not working is also driving us a bit crazy - if anyone has any suggestions on a temporary job that either of us could do, that would be fantastic! If we are able to earn enough, we may also consider getting a higher teaching certification. This would mean we would probably live in New York for about a month while we take the class.

Our goal is to still be out of the states (or in NY) by late March or April.

Please keep faith in us that we will find another amazing opportunity!