A Typical Week: Saturday

Welcome back, for a healthy dose of Saturday blogging!  There's not really a schedule for Saturday like there is for the other days, so I'm just going to list some of things that can and do happen on Saturdays.

A pretty view of a piece of 계룡산 ("geh-lyong" mountain)

1. Sleeping in!  Whether that means 9 o'clock in the morning or 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
2. Laundry.  Self-explanatory, but I'll mention that dryers aren't really used in Korea, so we just hang our clothes on a rack to dry.  I know this is nothing compared to what some YAVs have to do to clean their clothes.  I'm doing mine right now!



Colorful food is a must.

3. Nothing.  This is an integral part of self-care.  Even when I have grand plans for the day, sometimes I just won't do them.  I need the time alone to recharge (who's with me, fellow introverts?).

4. Shopping.  Trips to Big E mart or Home Plus can be adventures in and of themselves.
5. Cooking lessons/shared meals.  We've had a couple cooking lessons from Haejung 이모, and we invite her and other friends over for food every once in a while.
6. Trips with friends!  This one happens pretty often!  We meet someone new, and they invite us out over the weekend.  We've been to visit a cultural center in Daejeon complete with huge stage and arboretum.  We've been to a mountain with a temple and monks and a dry waterfall.  Just today, Anna Curl went to a picnic with the majority of our language class.  She got to meet their cute families and play some soccer as well as feasting on some delicious international food.
7. Retreats with Uncle Simon and Haejung 이모!  So far we've been to 전주 (Jeonju) and 서울 (Seoul), both of which deserve their own blog posts.
8. Activities with our children's centers.  For example, I just got back from the mountains with my kids.  We hiked and hung out and slept in a cabin and had a blast together, language barriers notwithstanding.  Upon returning, we went to a neighborhood festival where kids could get a stamp for doing each of eight activities to win some candy.  They also brought their stuff to sell -- like a mini garage sale -- for fake money.  I was unclear on whether they had to spend real money to get the fake money, or if each kid got the same amount of fake money and just had to spend it wisely.  Future plans for Saturdays include putting together a play in English with children from all of our children centers!  This could be difficult, but rewarding!



A mighty leap at the peak!

9. Studying Korean.  This needs to happen everyday for us to be top-notch in our class, but it turns out that's not our greatest goal here, so this falls by the wayside sometimes.  As most of you know, I'm used to being a good student, so not having time to make myself into that person for this class is sometimes frustrating.

All aboard!

Let's spare you the double digits and stop there.  Tomorrow I'll wrap it all up with our usual Sunday routine!  Thanks for sticking with it!