I blinked and it was May!

The Anusara Workshop in Seoul

Ariella, myself and Shaeley from Jeju at the yoga workshop.

It was held at a very unique Art Center in Seoul.




Happy Birthday to me! Yes, that is a feather in my cap.

I'll just backlog for about a month...

April 24th: Amidst a recurring sickness that my friends, my boyfriend and I were passing back and forth for a number of weeks, I found my vocal chords and sang a few folk tunes at the bimonthly Jeju Open Mic. (See facebook for pictures) I love playing the guitar and am so glad I gave the time and attention to learning it while I've been living here among fine musicians. (Not that I don't live among fine musicians in Seattle, just that we all have ample time to hang and jam.)

April 29th: I've come to find out that my school has an exhaustive list of extra-curricular activities for both students AND parents. In mid-April I was approached to teach an evening yoga class for parents of my elementary students. I was a bit taken aback, knowing that English is only spoken at home by only 2 of my 700 students and concerned that I would not be able to convey a heartfelt or safe yoga class in Korean. The first class, which took place on the 22nd of April, was (to me) disastrous. The 25 parents and teachers who turned up were quite surprised to be taught by a foreigner and I don't think I said anything correctly in Korean. So I buckled down and spent the next week studying hard. My Korean teacher and I transcribed an entire hour-long class into Korean and I memorized a good chunk of it. So on the 29th of April I gave what I consider to be a successful class in Korean. I did consult my notes quite a bit and had difficulty explaining some poses, but we all laughed together at my language stumbles and the students' beginner yoga ability and had a really great class. This week will be my 4th class of 12 and I must admit that I'm so happy to have studied Korean and so proud that I can actually teach for a full hour in Korean. And, of course, it's a yoga class so that makes me pretty happy, too.

May 5th: If you're considering moving to a foreign country, pick one where your birthday coincides with a national holiday. Once again, I had a warm, Spring day off to celebrate Korean Children...and myself. Jason, my boyfriend, spoiled me with his supremely delicious coffee, a morning of lounging in his rooftop hammock, and a tofu scramble delight. We went on a little adventure out to Seongsan Ilchubong, or Sunrise Peak, where we hiked the quick 30 minutes to the crater and slowly rambled back down, exploring fields of sweet peas, the beautiful rocky seashore, and the local haenyo (woman diver) house. We stopped for dinner at my favorite Korean teahouse which specializes in green tea sujaebi (a creamy bean soup with rice cakes). Then it was home for a nap, a movie, and an early night to bed. I must be getting old.

Birthday dinner with Kee Jeong, Julia, and Cindy at the Baghdad Cafe

At the top of Sunrise Peak

As is the case here, summer arrived overnight. It was cold, snowy, and windy for 5 months, rainy for a month and a half, then *poof* summer. We've had about 3 weeks of warm to hot weather perfect for motorbike tours around the island and beach volleyball. Jason and I had a few nice weekends traveling to some of the more remote places in Jeju on a motorcycle and the beach camping will begin very, very soon. Last weekend many of us gathered at Iho beach for the 1st practice weekend of beach volleyball. The 3rd fundraising tournament is coming up in a few weeks and we're excited! Too bad Cindy, my good friend and teammate, is currently in a hard cast from toe to knee for a small fracture in her ankle. Nonetheless, we'll be camping and lounging in the sand together. She'll still come out to support our team.

This coming weekend is the annual school festival and sports day, followed by our school's birthday on May 17th which means another day off! Buddha's Birthday is also a holiday so no school the following Friday, the 21st. Hooray! I love May.

In case you were wondering about proper etiquette for public restroom use.