A good meal!

Soo (Brian's boss pronounced Sue) took us out for Kolbisan last night it was awesome. Right as we're driving there she goes "this place is not so clean but the food is good!" Something you always want to hear about a place that you get raw meat from! You go to thisrestaurant, take your shoes off at the door, and sit on the floor at these little tables with grills in the middle of them. You order the meat and they bring about a dozen side dishes. You cook the meat yourself on the grills in front of you. They bring hot coals that go down inside the table. And as the meat gets done you eat them either as a lettuce/sesamee leaf wrap or just by itself. The dipping sauces are awesome! OH my gosh it was great. We went to one of these places a while back, but we didn't know what we were doing...when you go with Koreans it's much better...It was one of the best things i've put in my mouth since we've been here..Our boss took us there ( and paid for it ). In Korea, if you invite someone out to eat you are expected to pay for them..IT was awesome!
Also, I bought Alison Krauss and Union Station's new CD "Lonely Runs Both Ways." It's freakin awesome. I'm loving it!
This is Kim, Jee-Young, and Brian finishing up work yesterday while we were waiting to go eat! And one random one of me...
Much love to all
Amanda

And they're off!

We had such a fun day yesterday! We went out to the horse races. It was such a beautiful day, not too hot. We met some new friends of ours Grey and Amy. We met Grey at Subway on our first payday when we went to go get some sandwiches!
We caught a bus and then the subway and made it down to the racetrack. The outside was soo beautiful with waterfalls and little sitting areas. I hate this picture of us! But i like the background so i had to swallow my pride to post it...be proud!











Brian and I don't have very much money so we pretty much bet with our spare change! LOSERS!!! But here's a picture of me winning 1.50 from .40! Imagine the possibilities...if we had bet it all...we'd be millionares.. Litterally here, b/c a million Won is only $1000. So we're millionares every month!
At the racetrack, foreigners can only be in a certain section. This section is NICE!!! Boxed in, A/C, big tables, cushy seats. We would've been happy sittin outside gettin a nice little sunburn. But we didn't mind too much!








Right after this race started the jockey on horse number 3 fell off his horse and they had to take him away in an ambulance. He wasn't moving; it was really scarey. Mountains like this surround us all the time! It's beautiful here. They were all around the racetrack.


After the races we all went down to this really cool area of Seoul. I'll definitely return durring the week to explore and shop! Yesterday being Saturday it was super packed..like sardines! Crazy, Brian hated it! But we all went and got big, tasty burgers at TGI Fridays, and then headed home. We started out at 9:30 that morning and didnt' get back til 7:00! We were exhausted. I went to bed about 10 minutes after getting in the door and slept til now...9:00. We had a great time and it was really cool to meet some people our age that we have a lot in common with and can have fun!

Church doesn't start til noon, and it's only 5 minutes away from here sooo, i might catch a few more zz's before i actually get the day started!
Love to all!!!!
Amanda

Rain Rain Go Away

Raining again today!!! I can't believe how much it's been raining lately. Not so much fun for me! I get to sit at the house and do nothing!!! Been doing alot of laundry so our kitchen is turned into an explosion of drying clothes! Remember when you were little and you would get all the pillows and blankets from around the house and put them over the kitchen table to make a tent. :) that makes me smile remembering that! Good times. Cleanup was never much fun though! Having to remake all those beds! But it was always worth it, especially if you were the "princess" you could just order your servants to do it! lol
When we were little my sister and i would play princess and servant i would be the princess first with assurances that she could be the princess next. I don't know if there was ever a time when she did get to be the princess!!!
When we lived in Iowa we did lots of imagination games. We lived out in the country so there wasn't much to do all the time. We had a stone basement and way in the back there was a "secret room" at the end of a really skinny hallway thing. We would take our rollerskates down there and play! Once we recorded all of the movie Aladdin on my cassette recorder and did a play for ourselves. And there were the endless summer nights of playing 3 person baseball out in our huge back yard. Sometimes dad would come play with us, but he always hit the tennis ball too far for us...i swear he could hit that thing a mile down the dirt road! Tennis balls can get some air!
So...I hope you enjoyed my reminiscing..
Here's a pic of Buddy with his favorite toys...3 shoes and 3 socks...at least he's consistent!
Amanda

Sick again

I'm sick again today...I don't know if it's something I ate, or if I just can't keep myself hydrated ...I really am trying to! I don't' know....But I feel awful..I won't go into details but me and the porcelain pony are getting to be very close friends. Also, our fridge has been broken for over a week now, so there is no food but dry cereal and ramen, we had bread but it's gone now, and i can barely walk across the apt without gettin dizzy let alone the corner store. So i'm laying in bed with Buddy (puppy) with a couple of 2 liter bottles of water, my computer, the phone and a bowl of dry Frosted Flakes.
On a lighter note though, we recieved our first care package yesterday from my mom and dad. She sent us some chicken noodle soup (which couldn't have come at a better time), the new harry potter book, some coffee table books, a big bag of m&ms, allergy meds for me. and some Burts Bees gift pack. She also sent some american flags and some gum. I was really excited to get it. It really cheered me up.
Well, back to the water.
Love to all,
amanda

nothin much

Hi all...nothin much going on here. I just got back from the post office, mailin some stuff...i didn't know where the post office was in our part of town, so i went all the way up to Itaewon, b/c i've been wanting to go explore there. They have lots of markets and it's right next to the US Base so alot ofpeople speak english. It was fun, but i'm feelin really sick, so i came home earlier. In our part of the city it was raining hard...i had an umbrella and i still got soaked. Puppy had to stay home and he's amess when that happens. He gets so worked up when we get back that he gives himself hic-ups. So, I can't believe we've almost been here for 2 months now. It doesn't seem like we've been here very long at all..i guess that's a good sign huh. I'm soo soo tired now, so i'm going to bed.
Love to everyone!
amanda
ps Brian has some really funny stories so be watching for his post!

The long weekend

Yesterday, Monday, Brian didn't have to go into work! I was something like independence day. So after laying around until about noon, he and I went to an underground market place. We had a blast, just walking around and seeing stuff. He wasn't too excited about all the clothes...though i was! But at the other end of the hall there was pottery, kitchen ware, and flowers.
Brian bought me some really pretty flowers! You can get 10 roses for $5 here! We didn't have a vase to put them in so when we got home i took a 2 liter water bottle and cut the top off to make one! I'm so smart! lol...Speaking of smart...
Brian and i have been having Battle for the Scrabble Cup! Basically it consists of rematches b/c i have been winning. We've played about 10 times in the past 2 1/2 days and He's won once!
Well, for lack of better pictures..i'm posting one of the flowers...b/c they're so pretty. Don't you like my vase???

Love to all!
Amanda

tattoo

Hey,
i went with brian yesterday to his classes and played fiddle for them durring break time. They all really enjoyed it! It made me happy to be involved even in a little way. The kids are so funny and there was this little girl about 2 years old and she and i played hide and seek while the others were working.
Brian had a tattoo on is right hand ring finger of a cross. Nothin fancy just 2 lines. So i was looking around the classroom durring supper time last night and all the boys had drawn crosses on their right hand ring fingers just like brian's! I thought it was the funniest hting! Immitation they say is the highest form of flattery. I just hope this flattery doesn't get Brian in trouble with the parents! But the moms seemed to laugh as well, so i think we're fine!
Nothing else happening much. We've been reading again....so i 've temporarily lost my husband to harry potter once more! Hmm..
love to all!
amanda

PAYDAY!!!

Our first pay day came and went. I'm so excited. Now we can buy hangers for our closet! mostly i've just been piling up the clothes inside of it and it's become quite unruley (i'm such a great wife!) I've dehydrated myself over the past 4 days and just realized yesterday why my eyes were all dried up, i couldn't swallow, irritable, and massive headaches. So today Brian made me drink 2.2 L today! I'm feeling much better, PLUS we've been eating really litely lately trying to watch our money, so today as a treat for payday we both got footlong subs! Healthy yet sasifying! I'm going to go with brian to his Friday classes again tomorrow...i just hate being away from him all day and they like for me to come and see them, plus they want me to play fiddle for them tomorrow..
Nothing much going on here...
much love to all and to all a goodnight!
amanda marie

Bust a cap

At least you know we're well protected! Korea's Security Service!

nervous days, scarey nights

OK...there's this lady OLDDD lady that lives in the apt next to us. She's a little crazy i think, Jee-Young, a lady brian works with told us that she was told that a crazy woman lives in our building..i'm guessing it's her! Ever since we got here she will talk at us non stop in Korean and we keep telling her we don't speak korean and can't understand her. She doesn't get it. She brings us Sessame leaves, which we dont want and other things.

Two days ago she Knocked on our door and handed me an apron. I said thank you and closed the door. Then about 5 minutes later she knocked again and handed me a dress and some ugly fabric, that i don't think she even knew what to do with. This time i made the mistake of not holding the door handle...she forced her way into our apt and was talking at me alot! I told her thank you and she started to push me in the house and coming with me. I didn't move however and she left. THEN she rang the doorbell which is a really loud classical song...Bach's Minuet Brian went to answer and told her we didnt' need anything more and held the door. He told me that she kept pulling on the door trying to get in. By this poing i was severly frazzled..sure she's a little old lady..but cant they weild samuri swords as well?? Anyway..so after Brian closed the door...she rang the doorbell aevery 5 minutes for about another hour til she gave up...we didn't answer the door.

Then Yesterday, she came-a-knocking again. She had more roots or something for us...i held the door handle and told here thankyou but no....Kamsamap Hamnida, anio. She started yelling at me and pulling the door really hard. But i just held on tight! She was strong enough for the door handle to hurt my hands...i was really upset. But i think she got the picture. I feel bad b/c i don't want to hurt her feelings but we were already in bed...and she just keeps on and keeps on! It's not fun for me either being here by myself now with her next door...But i think i can take her if she gets hostile! *Laugh. So now we're keeping the door locked at al ltimes..just incase she gets the urge to come barging in.

Anyway...much love to all...that's all i have to say.
See you guys later
amanda

Friday's Here!

Today i went to interview at a Christian cultural center for a part time job. I thnk i got it...well, i know i got it. I just have to call the guy back tomorrow, or monday about it to tell him i can. It's on Tuesdays and Thursdays for 2 hours of conversational english. It pays about $500 a month (maybe more if there are more students) which isn't bad for 16 hours of work huh?! Then i went to lunch with the women from the biblestudy/cultural center, and met brian at 1:00 to go with him to his class. He only had one today..he usually has 3. The drive to the place where he teaches is beautiful. I tried to take some pictures from the car but it didn't work out that well..there's one that was OK. Brian was a little unprepared for his class b/c his bosses told him a different class was coming than was the one that showed up...so he had a whole advanced lesson planned and the very beginner class showed up. He was "slightly" annoyed! But he made it through and i am very proud of him. The kids really like him. it was an hour and a half long class which surprised me b/c they are very young children. I dont' see how they expect kids to sit still that long..but Brian mixed it up by playing Go Fish and Yatzee with them between reviewing flashcards and rhymes.
The curriculum he has to use is RIDICULOUS!!! He's supposed to teach for example he says..."Short 'O' says ah in Omnipotent" and then they repeat it. What 5 year old can say that word. I have enough of a hard time with it sometimes!! It can be tricky!! ANYWAYS..i hope that job works out for me. It would be awesome to have extra spending money and something to do on those days!
Much love to all,
amanda

the dust bunnies!

Hey,
if the title tells you anything...i've been super bored lately. We've been having to be really careful with money, so i've had to stay in the APT til brian get's paid...We got a little advance from our boss yesterday, so i might go down to Dongdemun Market and walk around..just for looking and getting out. Today is one of the first days' it hasn't bee raining. So to the title...
the dust bunnies are freakin out of control here!!!! I sweep one day and the next day, they move back in makin a racket and bickering about who gets the best corners and under the bed. i don't know what to do with them!

Next weekend we're going to try and go to the BIG church here. It's the largest church in the world..."Dr. Chos Church" that's not really what it's called...One of brian's coworkers goes there and invited us to go with him. His name is David and brian think's he's a pretty awesome guy! He is really nice!

I've been looking at a bunch of wedding pictures alot lately...missin every one! Here's some of my favorites!
have a wonderful day...wish you all were here..you have no idea how much!!
Love
Amanda Larsen Wells!
ok there's a few..so if you don't find this as fascinating as i do ...never fear..there's a little button at the top of your screen to take care of ALL THAT!!! *laugh*

thought you ought to know

Just thought everyone should know...that my husband is the coolest guy in the world...i love him very much!