a fun weekend studying Korean, practicing English, and making new friends

Man, this weekend I've felt like I was on Cloud 9. I had so much joy in my heart and just had a peace about my spirit and in my soul. God is so good. I wish I had more time to write and wish I could replay every detail for you, but I guess those things will just be tucked into my memories to cherish and hold onto.


Friday, I started the next level of Korean classes with Sogang 2B (there is 1A-5B). It's so crazy, really. I feel like I've learned so much so far, and yet, I feel like (because I DO) I have sooooo much more yet to go. Some days I just want to QUIT! I wish I could just speak Korean and have casual conversations and just be automatic in speaking (rather than having to think and translate from my English thinking into the completely different sentence structure of Korean) every time I want to talk. Sometimes it can be overwhelming, and yet, God is here with me through it all. He can speak Korean better than any Korean, and He is living INSIDE ME! Now, that is a lot of talent waiting to be grabbed a hold of! I am thankful for my teacher and her amazing patience with me and tenderness. She is exactly what I needed. Even though I take the long trip to Daegu every week (4 hours of travel/waiting roundtrip for a 1 hour lesson), I would not trade her for anything in the world. 


Saturday I had a whole new set of experiences. I got to relax a little bit in the morning and then go down to Daegu around 3 for an English conversation group. I just happened upon this group on facebook, and it was amazing! We met at a coffee shop and discussed a topic together. This week, we talked about bullying. It was a mix of foreigners and Koreans. It was so encouraging and spirit-lifting to be able to spend this time getting to know them. I really feel like I've made a close group of Korean friends now, much like What's Up, Korea was for me in Seoul. I am definitely going to make the trip back to Daegu on Saturdays to hang out and share life with these new friends! We even went to dinner and hung out downtown afterwards...all the way until my last train to Gumi at 1242am. Ohhhh....and should I tell you what I ate?? I should have taken pictures, but...at the time, I didn't think it was anything special. hahah. Just found out this morning from my co-teacher what I ate. >.< Not that eating weird things bothers me....I mean, I'll be down for most anything at least once lol. This time,  I ate a little (although it didn't really suit my taste) of it. Our Korean friends didn't really know how to translate it, so all I knew was that it was some sort of chicken. They kept telling me it was the "sand stomach," but clearly, that phrase held no meaning whatsoever. Really, I should have thought twice about the name of the restaurant...I knew what it meant, but I thought to myself...That's strange what the name of the restaurant is...but no, it can't accctually mean that....wierd...maybe when they put the two words together, it carries a different meaning or something....boy was I wrong! IT was EXACTLY what the name was! --->>>>>>>> 똥집 (which means "Poop House"). Come to find out...the part of the chicken I was eating was the chicken's "poop house"~~the area right around it's butt! Daaaaang! Well, no wonder it was chewy. It tasted a lot like pig intestines (막창) in that it was quite chewy.I found this picture online~~I think this is the place we went:  (It's right across from "President Chicken.")

And here is a picture I found online of the "chicken" we ate:

If you are interested in joining our English Conversation group in Daegu, please join the Facebook group (there is also a free Korean conversation group that meets at "Buy the Book" beforehand at 2pm) "Daegu Free Korean Class." For the English conversation group, we meet at 3:30pm on Saturdays at Apple Tree (사과 나무). If you go out exit 9 of Banwaldong Station and turn right down the first street you see, look for Appletree on the right side about a block up. It looks like this: Apple Tree. And here is a map from the subway exit: