Amy and I have been lucky enough to have many of our loved ones visit us during our year here. Coming to Korea is a huge investment of time and money and nerve. We are amazed and grateful for the people who were fortunate enough and willing to come see the home we've made in Busan. For the past couple weeks, my mom came to stay at the AmynBryan Bed 'n Breakfast: Busan Edition.
Jagalchi Fish market and Nampo-dong were our first stops after she got settled. We had some delicious BBQ fish, clams as well as some raw fish. We spent one night in Gwangalli by the beach, where we had some Pho and coffee on the boardwalk.
Mom and me at the local farmer's market
Our school schedule was relatively open as far as curriculum that week, so Mom was able, and willing, to come and co-teach a couple of my classes with me! I am so glad that we were able to share the experience of teaching over here. She taught a beginners class first. We did an activity called See-Walk-Do, where one person looks at a picture of some different shapes/colors on a paper, that person then describes it to the Walker, the walker then walks over and tells the Doer, who attempts to draw the same picture again. It was a huge hit with my little ones. They did a surprisingly great job for their English levels.
We also taught a more advanced class. We did some word association games, where the students have to decide which word of four doesn't fit, and then explain why it doesn't.
Example: Lion, Tiger, Bear, Cheetah.
The boys couldn't quite place which animal or why. They girls figured out that the 'bear' didn't fit. However, they had a much more intuitive explanation than..'bear is not a cat.' They said. "The bear does not fit, because lions, tigers, and cheetahs don't eat fruit."
It was really exciting to see my students and Mom interact so well.
That night, we had dinner with our co-teachers, Jen and Alexa, at our favorite Shabu Shabu restaurant in the neighborhood.
During the week, we got to visit the UN Memorial park. It is rare to find wide open spaces with fresh green grass here, so that aesthetic alone is amazing. That same night, Mom ventured out on her own while we were at work. She went to the Busan Cultural Center to see a traveling latin Philharmonic orchestra. I wish I could've joined her, because she said that it was one of the best she had ever been to.
On Saturday, we started out the day with an international art show, featuring art from countries all around the world as well as Hangook (Korea). The, we made it to Songjung Beach. The sun bathing was perfect....the water was still a bit cold. After some rays, we showed Mom the lovely Yong-gungsa...or The Water Temple.
On to the beach...
We're both Tigers
Sunday was AMYS BIRTHDAY. So, Amy went off to Spaland in the morning for some pamperin' and massage time. Mom and I met her later for lunch on Haeundae Beach at Buccella for some amazing sandwiches.
On Tuesday, we finally had good enough weather to hike Home Mt. It's a little mountain just a few minutes walk from our house. It has been a lifesaver living in such a dense and smoggy city. The green escape is such a refreshing time in the mornings before school.
Once again, we are so grateful that so many of the special people in our lives have been able to come and see the little spot in this huge world that we've lived in for a year now. We'll be seeing you in that not-so-little spot in the huge world, called Texas, pretty soon!
