Saturday night we had a farewell party for one of the teachers at our school. She's going on maternity leave which is incredibly exciting, but it will be sad to see her go! The headmaster took us all out to a delicious Korean buffet called The Way in an area called Soho-dong. It was great to be able to experience one with people who can explain what I'm actually eating and point out the good stuff to try. I had 'bread soup' a sweet and creamy soup that had cheese over the top reminding me of French onion soup. I had deep fried shrimp, kimchi, sushi, meat dumplings and the most adventurous of all---octopus! Not bad, really. I opted for the one that didn't look like octopus though, I'm not that brave just yet.
Then it turned into a girl's night! The headmaster went home to take care of the kiddos, letting his wife have the evening off. We drove to see the lit up view from the harbour. The city lights were amazing. They then drove us to a park that Martha had mentioned we'd like to visit before the light display is taken down. It felt like Christmas all over again there it was so pretty!
To warm up, we went to a coffee shop called People coffee roasters. Lisa claims its the most famous coffee shop in Yeosu. I really liked the atmosphere in there, with all the neutral wood, the frosted glass designs, and the books--even if I can't read 'em. We went to the back room that had quilts on benches and spread out around a toasty stove fire drinking tea and coffee. At one point they passed Martha and I a piping hot sweet potato wrapped in foil and told us to "enjoy!" I don't think I've ever had potato in my hands and eaten it like a snack before. Jeniffer demonstrated how they normally eat it, by just pulling off the peel to get to the sweetness inside. "Just rip!" she said.
I enjoyed spending time with my co-workers and getting to know them a little more outside of work.
Martha and I got back to the apartment and realized it was only 9:30pm. We decided to see if there was anything going on at Kumpel, the usual hangout for the expats I've met around here. Mr. Lee was there and remembered my name which was super sweet of him and made us a Korean pancake with veggies in it, to snack on. We made an attempt at playing Chess, neither of us truly knowing how, which suited me fine. A few other English teachers came in at this point. I saw one of them eyeing our game and I laughingly told him not to watch because we don't know what we're doing. Turns out he is Canadian named Patrick, and he ended up giving us a few helpful pointers anyway. We also met Carl and Christina, a cute and funny couple. Martha ultimately whooped me and in the spirit of trying new things, we next took a turn at the unoccupied pool table. I don't think I've touched one since I was 12. Thankfully there wasn't much of an audience but I didn't do half bad and won that round. Mr. Lee called us over to try something called "bear soup". There wasn't any bear meat involved but it did seem to have a lot of pepper. Once you got over your eyes watering like crazy, it was really tasty!
Tonight, Martha and I went back to the same park together but this time brought provisions. She made hotteok, a Korean pancake that has brown-sugary, cinnamon goodness in the center. We ate it next to the pond with the glowing dragon turtle ship. It was such a calm, cold night but cozy with hot chocolate to warm us up. I also bought a mug at the Starbucks on the corner, to continue my little collection/obsession.
Tomorrow we start a new class schedule since the winter break is over for the students. Curious to see how different it will all be. Here's to a new week!
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