I'm an L, and not just any large...

I think they decided to skip Autumn and jump straight into Winter. Or this is Autumn and I have a nasty surprise waiting for me in the next few months.

Anyway, I went to shop for some warm tops and I ended up having to shop in the men's section... and the smallest size that fitted me was a LARGE. That's right an L. Makes shopping kind of tricky. Think I have to head to Itaewon next weekend to find some 'western' shops with normal sizes.

My men's L top that fits just perfectly!

Gwanggyo San

Gwanggyo Music Fountain Park

Gwanggyo Reservoir

I've heard that 70% of Korea is covered with mountainous terrain. This means that there are plenty of hills and mountains around to walk up, or hike up depending on the mountain.

Suwon's main mountain is Gwanggyo, and even though it is a little tough getting up, it's good exercise and the views from the top are worth it!

Overdue Chuseok Post

Last weekend, I had Friday off for the holiday, so Brian (Canadian teacher from Pyeongtaek) and I headed down to Asan to check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Yi_sun_sin Admiral Yi Sun-Shin's shrine. It is the place where he lived and also where most of his family is buried. It was a beautiful, peaceful place, and I loved exploring the exciting story that was his life. Admiral Yi is a very respected figure in Korean history, and there is a statue of him in most of the cities around the country. For the first time in my life I can say that I find history fascinating!!!

Then we were meant to go to the Oean folk village, but got horribly lost and ended up in a one-horse town with no English and very little public transport. Ah, the adventures....I am happy to say that we got home alive and well eventually.

What's on my wishlist?

Weekend shenanigans

After my tutor session with Sujin on Saturday, her, Sona and I went for Shabu-Shabu. It's beef slices (never seen beef this pink before), which you then swish around in a soupy type of pot and wala! It turns into delicious beef stew!

And then I went to meet up with some other teachers in Chun Chun Dong for some red wine and much excitement about the snowboarding season coming up!!

With Christian, Matt and Neil just before heading out to Nore Bang (Karaoke Room)...

Annie and Neil and too many glasses of wine.

These two photos I don't really remember taking...

Happy Chusok to all the Korean families. I hope you all have many things to give thanks for. I know I have :)

Cooking for South Africa

I was invited to cook in a contest at the YWCA where I go for Korean classes. It was very last minute, so I didn't have much time to prepare or be creative. I went with steak and potato salad, and they loved it! I didn't win, but the Vietnamese gogi rolls that won were delicious :0) It was fun trying all the different Asian dishes (Chinese, Cambodian, Vietnamese)!!

Elena from Uzbekistan offerered to help since I was the only South African. She added the creative touch that I just don't have...

The Vietnamese girls hard at work.

Baby Jessica even helped peel the eggs!

And Luan also dropped by to help out.

This and that...

So things have a been a bit busy lately. Loving it. And looking forward to this coming long weekend, even though I haven't really planned anything special. It's going to be nice to just relax and not run around!

Autumn has arrived and along with it, some nice gloomy weather.

When they make glossies here, they don't mess around.

Some typical English translation. More to come...