Fire & Ice!

It's been an interesting winter. We've been extremely lucky to have only 4 separate snow falls and none of them sticking around long enough to even make a snowman. It's possible that the overall snow accumulation still wasn't enough to build a good snowman. No complaints though. We're very thrilled to have such a mild winter. We know back home that's not the case especially up in Indiana. We hope that everyone has been cautious of the weather and stayed warm & safe! At this point, we think we've seen the last of the snow (which happened on Monday, the 10th). Hoping from this point on it keeps getting warmer! We need a warmer apartment!

A week ago, we witnessed a fire in Korea. It was 4:00am. It was the building behind our apartment - pretty close! The popping noises & Korean voices woke John up right away. The fire was nervously close enough to us that he woke Nicole up just in case. She didn't stay up long due to the cold she was (and still is) fighting. She lasted about 20 minutes - but John stayed up until 6:00. Thankfully the fire was put out quickly & we don't think anyone was hurt. 

We haven't talked much about Korean food. We just thought about that due to recent conversations & the giant box of ramen Nicole received from her boss for the Lunar New Year.
Nicole recently met up with her old Korean teaching partner. She took Nicole to a 갈비 (galbi) restaurant. Galbi basically mean grilled meat. We got a large plate of pork & then a giant bowl of 냉면 (naengmyeong - cold noodles). It was delicious. There are several galbi restaurants in Korea & the cold noodles are always popular too.

This is hotteok & where/how it's made.

Delicious insides!

A delicious snack we've discovered this winter is 호떡 (hotteok). In the winter months, this is sold around many street corners most days. It's like a pancake filled with cinnamon, sugar, & peanuts. It's delicious! We made it too late last year to enjoy one but happy to have had the opportunity this winter. The best part, they're only a dollar each!
And finally, a dish we've learned that is really popular in winter is called 떡볶이 (tteokbokki). It's popular because it's really cheap & really spicy to warm you up while you walk around outside. Like hotteok, it's frequently sold by street vendors.

We thoroughly enjoyed the burger of the month at Travelers: Deep Fried Bacon Burger

That is all we have to share about food.

We have a question for the western world... is the new movie 'Frozen' very popular? In Korea, it's like a new trend! All of our students know the movie; even lines to the movie and the songs. And they know it in English! Success! Anyways, for the past couple of weeks the only songs we hear at work are "Let it Go" and "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman". Kindergarten graduation is coming up for Nicole's students & us teachers decided that they will sing 'Let it Go' because they already know it! We've heard the songs through headphones on the bus too. The songs are everywhere! How about over in America? Are people crazily obsessed with it? If so, what age group(s)? It seems to be all age groups here.


And finally, here is a great blog we came across that almost perfectly describes the life of a foreign teacher in Korea. Hilarious. There are several pages worth. Enjoy!
#KikinitinKorea

This is the gym John goes to. Some of the worst photoshop
ever. No Korean looks like this. Never happening.

Nicole's students learning how to hula dance. Aloha!

Nicole has unique coworkers!