Lots of new stuff

This was a productive past couple of days.

Sunday was Yeosu's first ever yard sale! At the high point there were about 25 people just chillin outside Joey and Geoff's apartment trading stuff and talking. It was a great way for all of us newbies to meet everyone...even though most of them are leaving in a few months. I met some of the other new people and bought some new things. I walked away from the yard sale with a new little table, a mirror, and a sweet blender. At first I wasn't gonna buy the blender but Jack and everyone convinced me. For 15,000 won it was a great deal. I had a pretty great smoothie for breakfast this morning. I also found coffee milk in the little market across the street. Thats something I never expected to see here.

Last night was an early night. I was too tired from Saturday night's shenanigans at LSG. I didn't even finish my lesson plan. That had to be done today. This week's lesson is a listening exercise. I made a little worksheet with the lyrics from OAR's Shattered. I play the song a few times and the kids have to listen and fill in the blanks. My 7th period class (1st years) wanted to sing the song at the end. It was wicked funny.

For dinner I went to Miss Roll for sushi. They have some pretty good combos, a 5 piece roll with 2 individual sushi pieces, and a big cup udon noodle soup for 6,800 won. About $5.50 USD. Miss Roll is right around the block from my apartment, but instead of going home I decided to walk around Yeosu-dong (my neighborhood) and see what was around. There were some interesting shops and restaurants...some pretty good inexpensive kimbap places. I found the store that Joey was telling me about that sells all sorts of stuff. I bought an electric kettle to boil water with. The stove takes too long and I feel like I'll be paying a lot more for gas than for the electricity. On my way home I found an ajumma's stand on the side of the road. Ajumma is the word for older married woman, but its what you call any woman middle aged and over. They set up shop on the streets and sell some locally grown produce. The price is comparable to what you'd get in the market, but you're helping local farmers. The only problem is that they want you to buy the whole bunch of whatever it is you want. There was a bowl with 3 or 4 bunches of grapes. When I asked how much, she gave me the price for the whole bowl. After some pointing and blank silence we both agreed that I just wanted 1 bunch and I would pay 1,000 won for it. A buck for a bunch of grapes? Sounds like a deal. The grapes here taste more like concord grapes that Welch's bottles. The skins are kind of thick and they have seeds, but they taste wicked good.

Grapes and cornflakes for breakfast tomorrow.

sweet.