King Sejong's Tomb...

This past weekend was a big holiday in Korea; it was Chuseok.  Which I have talked about before, but is similar to Thanksgiving day, but for family and ancestor things.  Due to the holiday, I got a 4 day weekend, which was wonderful.  I did not go anywhere and cleaned my house.  However, on the final day of the holiday, I went to King Sejong's Tomb (again).  It was a lovely day and I took some nice photos.  So enjoy!

It was a great day and the perfect weather to visit the tomb.  Highly recommend going if you ever come to Korea!  You get to spend time outside and enjoy the weather and views but you also get to learn about King Sejong and various other Joseon Dynasty things.  It is also inexpensive to get into, at only 500 Won (about 50 cents).  Personally one of my favorite places in Yeoju.

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art

I recently went to an art museum in Seoul.  A friend told me about this museum.  It was off the beaten path in Itaewon (the foreigner area of Seoul) and something I had no idea about at all.  I am really sad that I didn't know about it for so long.  It was a lovely museum.  I got the guided tour, which is where they give you a phone that tells you about the exhibit or piece that you are looking at in real time.  If you move on to another piece, it switches to the next piece.  Anyways, the museum has traditional Korean art and then a modern art section.  It was fabulous.  The traditional art part of the museum consisted of mostly pottery and ceramics, with one section on paintings and Buddhist bronze and wood work.  There were some lovely examples of traditional pottery.  After the traditional art museum, I went into the modern art part.  This was broken up into three parts, with the first part being about Expressionism, the second part being abstraction, and the final part being a mix of various contemporary art.  You could not take any photos within the museum but outside of the exhibits they had a rooftop garden that was gorgeous and peaceful.  It was the perfect day for strolling through an art museum and I highly recommend going to this museum.  I loved seeing the traditional Korean art, that I have only seen in photos or in small scale.

Here is the site for the museum, check it out if you want:
http://leeum.samsungfoundation.org/html_eng/global/main.asp

Random Shenanigans around Yeoju

Here are some random photos of Yeoju.  Have not been up to much recently but I have taken some cute pictures or really pretty pictures around my city.  Enjoy!

These cuties were at a cute new coffee shop in Ohak (across the river).  I love rabbits!

These two were just on a pretty day.  I thought the green grass and the creek were lovely.  Really nice.

They have wine based on zodiac signs.  I couldn't resist getting the Capricorn one, which was a Cabernet Sauvignon.

This beautiful elephant is outside of a restaurant at the Yeoju Outlets.  I had gone with some friends to get hamburger steaks and saw this guy at the restaurant nextdoor.  :D 

Diet Update...

As many of you may or may not be aware, I am on a diet and have been for a few months.  It has not been easy but it is worth it.  I have slowly lost a lot of weight and also built muscle.  All of which is great news.  Since I started this diet, I have lost about 10 kg (20ish pounds) since May.  That is a whole lot of weight to lose but I still have another 6 or 7 kg (15 ish pounds) to go to reach my goal weight.

I have done this through both small diet changed and my work outs.  I have cut back my calories and drastically reduced my carbohydrate intake.  (Which was extremely hard: I miss rice, pasta, and bread)  I am not starving myself in any way nor am I going without.  If I really want pizza, I will eat it but I have made it so that the pizza runs don't happen all that often.  I also partake in cheat days, where I do not really worry about what I eat; though I still am aware, which I find is important for portion control.

In addition to my diet being decreased, I have been working out hard.  I just upped the days I work out from 4 to 5.  I do cardio every day and weight train for 4 of the days.  I don't only want to lose weight but I want to also increase my muscles and tone.  Which seems to be working.  My thighs are solid and becoming more and more defined as time goes on.  My arms and stomach region are a different story but they are smaller than they were 3 months ago, so that is positive.

Slowly but surely I am going down and down and building.  I hope to eventually be able to get to a point where it isn't about losing weight but about maintaining my new healthy lifestyle and body.  Here is hoping!

Curly Hair = Naughty Thoughts?

Today has been interesting for me.  The yearly teacher viewing day happened and all the teachers were super dressed up for the parents.  I went on with life as usual because I don't have time to waste and because the parents have never shown up to my classes, so why try and stress myself out to do something I know they won't see or even care about.  Anyways, because of the parents, I had a revised schedule today as well, with only 2 out of my normal 4 classes.  Total win for me.

On top of the parents being here I just had the most hysterical conversation with some of my first year boys:

To student whose hair appeared different:  Did you get a hair cut?
Student:  No.  Bad hair.
Me:  Oh it looks different today.
Student:  Just bad hair.
Another student 1:  Teacher he has bad hair, he has naughty thoughts so bad hair (while making curly hair gestures).
Me:  You do realize that Kara teacher has the same hair?  Does that mean I have dirty thoughts?
Student 1:  YES!  Kara teacher has naughty thoughts.
Same time:  NO!  Kara teacher is sweet!

It had to be one of the most bizarre and hilarious interactions I have had with students in a long time.  I am going to miss these kids when I leave.

My students have very vivid imaginations...

Seriously, some of the pictures I get are hilarious and so original or they hit home.  Here are some of my favorite from last week.  (and one from a while ago)

They drew the pig being slaughtered.  I should have known better considering they were in animal processing at the time.

I want a boy too...this one hits home!

Seriously need a tree like this.  One that gives me different flavors of ice cream whenever I want.  YES!

I just liked how she had the flowers "kiss" and they make a baby.  Bwahhaha.

This is a random shot of me from the week.  I think one of my students was doing something they weren't supposed to and I was just kind of dumbfounded.