week 4: becoming an alien

week 4 brought some important logistical moments.

moment 1:

i finally got my alien registration card, which facilitated moment 2.

moment 2:

i finally got a bank account. and, not a moment to soon, because of moment 3.

moment 3:

my first pay day. whew. i needed that. but, not as much as i needed moment 4.

moment 4:

i discovered baskin robbins peanut rocket. seriously, stop reading my blog, google your nearest baskin robbins, and go get yourself some peanut rocket. it's that good. (this isn't actually a picture of peanut rocket. it's never in my cup long enough to take a picture. really, why are you still reading this? go get some.)

along with ice cream, week 4 also brought some love into my life.

love 1: snowboard club

on our bus ride to the ship festival on jindo, jane told me that she was part of a snowboard club here in mokpo. of course, i told her how much i love snowboarding and that i was hoping to meet people in korea who knew the sweet spots to ride. this week, i met the members of the club at a restaurant (owned by one of the members). we sat in the (closed) restaurant and talked shop, and then lindsey, erin and i went to norabong with some of the members. we had a great time singing our hearts out to ridiculous songs like aqua's "barbie girl" until 3am. the mokpo snowboard club is awesome, as expected, and i am looking forward to riding with them very soon.

love 2: orphanage

i've never volunteered at an orphanage before. in all of my travels and all of my volunteer experiences, the opportunity just never presented itself....until now. when i first arrived in mokpo. i met shanna. she organizes a volunteer program that provides free english classes to two orphanages in mokpo. after finally getting settled and getting over being sick, thursday of week 4 was my first day at orphanage. the house, run by caltholic nuns, is out in the country, about a 20 minute car ride from mokpo. we have 3 classes every thursday night, broken up by age. i work with three, very rowdy, but very cute 10 year old boys: self-named alex, shark and tiger. i instantly fell in love with them, despite their rambunctious nature. although it is difficult to get them to sit still, i enjoy being able to talk to them, listen to them, play with them, and watch them show off thier myriad talents e.g., mad yo-yo skills, crazy dance moves, legit piano playing, and punching and kicking each other without mercy. the teacher in me really wants to help them with their english as much as i can in between eraser fights, but really, i'm just happy to be able to hang out with them once a week.