{seoul eats} cafe source--hongdae

wow, we tried another cafe tonight and were just amazed at how good the food was. it is a japanese cafe and they have all kinds of great food to try.

we began our meal with the prosciutto plate. i had hojyo white wine to drink and paul had an oolong tea. so far so good. the prosciutto plate was small, but quite tasty. the wine smelled really sweet, but was sour to taste. interesting, but i don't think i will have it again. paul said the oolong tea was nice, but not as good as the kind in the usual brown can.

for mains, we had pasta. paul ordered the shrimp and avocado genovese and i got the chicken and spinach with cream sauce. both were delicious. a nice size portion and great flavor. we will have them both again.

for dessert, we just couldn't resist, paul got the salt caramel mopple set with a cafe au lait (i drank it). i ordered the tiramisu with a cappuccino. yum, yum, yum! tiramisu is my favorite and it was good, but not better than at jenny's. the mopple was to die for, in my opinion.

all in all, we will go back. most likely many times in the next month before we leave for cambodia. in fact, we are taking good friends there tomorrow night. mmmmm....what to try next??? i am dying to try the citrus fruit ginger ale.

click here for their site and menu.

click here for map.

click here for street view. this pic is not the most recent, but this is the building where the cafe is located, just behind starbucks coffee.

simplifying our lives--the first steps

we are moving. the moving process always brings on the idea of cleaning, simplifying, and taking stock of what one owns and what one accumulates over time.

when we began the process of preparing to move back in march, i realized just how much stuff we had. the first task on the list was to go through our clothes. wow! it was shocking, a little embarrassing and most of all heartbreaking. we gave away eleven big bags of clothes. i was inspired by other blog readers at the time to simplify and used their wisdom to help me do just that.

the guidelines:
1. does it fit and make you feel beautiful?
2. do you wear it often?
3. is it required for work?

if the answer to any of these questions is no, then out it went. it was such a liberation to get rid of all the clothes, but also amazing to see how much i was not wearing and it was just taking up space. nuts. the thought that one human can accumulate that much is kind of scary.




since this initial clean out, i have been more aware of what i own, wear often, and like the best from my clothes. i also have taken note of what i feel like in certain clothes asking myself, "do i love this? do i feel great with it on? do i have some thing else similar?" it has been a great start to the process.

even this week, when having to scale down again for the next month while still in seoul and transitioning to phnom penh, i realized i still have more than i think i really need when it comes to clothes. i have two more weeks of school and then two weeks here in seoul before we move. i had to figure out what i would need to have between now and then both for work and home. i got it to a small, sufficient collection. the rest went in the shipment today. reflecting, i wonder why i can't live with this small amount all the time and not just for the next month.

i am hoping to go through my clothes again when we unpack in pp. i am going to ask the same questions and consider the fact that cambodia is hot and humid much of the year. cannot wait to purge some more...

simplifying our lives--the next step coming soon... stay tuned!

movers came and went...

what a day! today the movers came, packed up all our stuff, and went on their way. we had estimated three cubic meters, but ended up with about five. it is okay...i am not sure how they expect one to know how many cubic meters one has?!?! they arrived on time, evaluated what they would be packing and started at it. paul and i sat and watched. we had be warned, advised, and told by friends that we should watch them like hawks to make sure that they packed only what we wanted to be packed. friends shared stories of unpacking their stuff at their destination only to find there was garbage that had been shipped, nasty grease dripping cans, and all sorts of other random things. one friend shared that a nasty, old chair got shipped and it did not even belong to them, but the home's owner where they were living at the time. oops! so we heeded to advice and watched our movers pack up. we (read paul) worked hard to make it pretty clear what was to be shipped and what should stay. paul had moved all the "to be shipped" items into the living room and kitchen area. then he made sure all the stuff to stay was in the bathroom, office, and bedroom and we closed the door to the areas accordingly. after two hours, they completed their task. no crazy stories to tell from the origin point. it went well and smooth. we will see if there are any surprises at the destination when we unpack in july. :)




another major task off the to do list...feeling a bit lighter now and definitely a bit more spacious in our apartment.

it's only wednesday?!?!

really? this week seems to be flying by which is not really what i want at the moment. we have about 37 hours until the movers arrive and still have a lot of things to do.

today was nuts. my kids had junior olympics (read all day field day/sports day). it was awesome. the weather was nice, warm and sunny, but not blasting hot. we were representing the country of greece. my kids were pretty frustrated as we are not the most athletic bunch of fourth graders. they rallied though. i think my favorite part of the day was the swimming events. maybe because i was a swimmer and it brought back memories. not sure, but it was fun. even got to hug one of my kiddos when she was wet...too fun! took lots of photos which i have yet to browse through on my laptop. maybe i can do that this weekend. at the end of the day, i lost it. i fell apart. i broke down and had a "moment". i read a routine email from my principal asking about summer plans while my kiddos packed up and started in on their popsicles. the email triggered my river of tears. i realized, "wait. i don't have to give my summer plans because i am not returning in the fall." that is all it took before the great dam broke open. my kids were sitting around our gathering place just hanging out, eating their popsicles loudly, and waiting for the dismissal bell to ring. i walked over to be near them and just sat there. soon enough, the noticed my tears and asked if i was okay. i told them i was, but i was sad. it is becoming more and more real that we are leaving seoul and this was my last junior olympics. one of my small friends said, "if you are this sad mrs. f, you should not go." really? if life were only that easy. she made me smile and laugh a little which was nice. it was a nice heart sharing moment of my teaching and i think my kids appreciate moments when i am real and act human (as if i don't everyday, but i do think they think i am super hero like or something). the bell rang and the moment was over. i wished them all well as per our usual routine of high fives, handshakes, or hugs and off they went. a light homework load on their backs and smiles on their small faces. they are great kids, really.

off to a meeting i went and then back to my room to go through more of my teaching stuff. would it be appropriate to call it paraphernalia? i am not sure. spent the next few hours going through it all. hubby and friend joined me to help and then home for dinner. our usual order in--pizza. it was nice. we watched some tv and ate. then back at it. a few errands around campus and then working at home going through more stuff. i realize that i may have to work later tomorrow evening too to get it all sorted for the movers arrival on friday at noon thirty. we will see.

i do hope that saturday feels as good as i hope it will with one huge thing marked off the to do list--shipping our stuff to cambodia.

three weeks to go.....

there are only three more weeks of school and there is sooooo much to do, both at home and at school. i just cannot wrap my head around all of it, so i have been managing it by days. what do i need to do today? tomorrow? the rest can wait until it's in the mind rotation. so far this has been working.

today was our first day back in the classroom and back to "normal", whatever that means. it was hard. the kids were out of sync and a bit wound up. i tried my best to be patient and loving. i prayed a lot today for God to give me more patience and love than i thought i had and could give. thankfully, we had some cleaning up and class meetings too which made the ease back into "school" better. we did do our end of the year writing assessment. i have no idea how they will do. i prayed that God would help them remember all the good things we have learned about writing this year and get it in their narratives. tomorrow is day #2 and i am hopeful. at the end of the day the kids presented their home inquiry projects which are fun even though a bit chaotic. i had three give their presentations today. as a class, we learned about rabbits, insects and tiger woods. all in all, i am super proud of them and want to give them wiggle room, but have to stay in the boundaries for the next three weeks.

at home, we have been busy preparing for the shipping company that comes on this friday at noon. yes, this friday. it is nuts. we have been going through all our stuff and making two piles---stay or ship. the items we ship now will go to phnom penh and arrive shortly after we arrive. the items that stay will either go with us when we go on july 1st or stay here in korea with a new owner or in the free pile for new teachers. it is quite a task, honestly. we worked for quite a while yesterday evening and i was mentally drained at the end. thankfully, we had a few friends come over, visit, and sort some things out as we worked. that is the biggie on the list for at home this week.

the other brain drain lately is getting "india" to our new home in phnom penh. she is too heavy to go with us on the plane and she cannot ride cargo either as the planes between here and pp are small and don't accommodate animals in cargo. so, for the last few months i have been trying to chase up information on shipping her to pp. i have rang, phoned and emailed the two recommended ladies multiple times with no real progress in making india's trip to pp happen. i am tackling this task head on this week and hope to have some sort of arrangements by friday.

who knew moving countries could be so much fun?!?!?

i heart crazy.

things have been super, duper crazy for the last month or so. i am in the midst of the annual fourth grade production and i love it. it's crazy, choatic, messy, exhausting, but i thrive on anything artsy. i love it. i love the chaos. i love the crazy. i know deep in my heart that it all comes together and theater is about having faith that the fourth graders will rise to the occasion. i just love the process. i love letting go and letting things just be.

i have done the set design for the last three years. it is awesome. i love have art supplies everywhere and all sorts of random stuff around for those moments when you have to solve a problem with whatever you have got. on friday, i got to apply some fun kabuki makeup to some of the chorus boys. it was great. i loved it.

it is nice to also be encouraged. so many times i feel so judged here at my school. i teach differently than many here and always seem to be in target of the next parent discussion. the thing is when they see me in action backstage they always are like, "Wow! You are so talented." i just wish i could hear it more often. it is hard to stay in the cross hairs most of the year and then all of sudden get some love at the end.

i had some great reflections recently. i am reading the irresistible revolution by shane claiborne at the moment. in the book he talks about being an ordinary radical. that people who are sharing their beliefs and being real are often upsetting people. so i know in my heart of hearts that i am doing the right things for my kids by teaching the way i do. that makes parents uncomfortable b/c it is now how they learned in school. when people get uncomfortable they react.

i also thought that honestly i don't need affirmation from anyone but God. i have been praying every night for Him to fill me up and let me know that i am His and tat He delights in who i am, just me. He loves me always and unconditionally, but i do have to admit that it is hard sometimes to remind myself of this....especially in those moments when everything is falling apart.

crazy is good.

RAW(e) Automotive

This week's RAW(e) theme is automotive. After going through all my pics, here is the one I am using...





Sami at Sailor & Company
The rules:
Do not edit your photo.
It must be straight out of the camera!
Don't link up until you post your photo
(and link to the actual post not your entire blog)
It must fit the theme, which is RED this week!

my new 'do

gotta love some lucy. she is the best and her willingness to embrace my artsy desires to have funky hair. i will miss her for sure. let the list of things i miss about seoul begin....

 

Spring Cleaning....

today we had a garage sale in our community up here on the hill at SFS...to be honest, i wasn't thrilled. i have never been a big fan of garage sale selling, pricing items, haggling the price, etc. i think the haggling bit here in korea is also a pain b/c from my experience koreans like things cheap and i mean REAL cheap. they will haggle over 500 won (about 50 cents) on items that are already marked insanely low anyway.

well, we did it. we hauled our "treasures" over to the tables we set up and away much of it went. it began about 8am and lasted until about 11am or so. thank goodness we had our dear friend, Leslie, to help us. she is a queen of pricing and haggling. after paul and i came home and were quite happy with the end result. we got rid of a lot of our stuff, made some money, and got to visit with folks too.

one more thing to tick off the long to do list of preparing to move to another country...

RAW(e) red

Just to let my readers know....my photo of the peppers was choosen as the winner at Sailor & Company's website. Yeah for me. I think I get a small prize, but I also get to pick this next week's winner and the theme is "running".

I am super encouraged and looking forward to participating each week as a creative outlet for myself.

This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://mandyfosterinseoul.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://mandyfosterinseoul.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.