Anne's 생일 (Birthday)!!!!

In language class today we learned about the honorific form, which basically is used whenever talking to or about someone that is senior to or has higher status than you. (ie: principal, co-teachers, parents, grandparents, etc) I'm glad we learned it, but wish we had learned it sooner. There are a lot of words that you change, not just a special verb ending like in Spanish. Besides the different verb conjugations, when using these words in the honorific context, you have to change them: house, name, age, birthday, counter for people, and the word for "this person." So pretty much there are 2 words for each of those words, one to be used when speaking to or about someone with senior status, and one otherwise (peers, younger people, etc). I will need to study this form to use at school and in my host family!!

I did laundry this morning before class, and actually was cutting it close time-wise. But, I got it done! We are able to use the laundry facilities in the dorm right next to ours instead of having to cart it down a big hill to a laundry mat (빨래방) several blocks away. I also took my chances and let my clothes air dry again (last time they didn't dry fast and some of them got a little mildew smell). But, as it was in the 90's today and not too humid, my clothes were all completely dry when I came back from our afternoon workshop at 4:30. YAY!!! ^_^

Our workshop this afternoon was actually really good. It was about culture shock and adjusting here. Besides some really great info, we also talked about our goals we have for ourselves and we actually all shared them with each other. It was really neat listening to the other 72 ETAs personal goal for themselves this year. My goal was: "to learn more about Korean culture and way of life" (we were limited to 10 words!). But listening to others, some other good goals I want to have for this year are:
--To inspire my students.
--To build meaningful relationships.
--To improve my life and someone else's.
--To live and learn.
I hope I can remember and reflect on these goals throughout the year and hopefully make progress!

We took Anne out for dinner for her 22nd birthday. Luke, Matt, Marina, and myself took her to a bacon place out the back gate. The place we went last time is closed for the owners' vacation, so we went to a different one nearby. It was good, but not quite as good. Then we followed that up with patbingsu, OF COURSE!! Then we headed back to the dorm for a bit, when I discovered I had locked myself out!!! I'm pretty sure I went all 4 years of college without locking myself out, but I have done it twice here!! I chilled with Daniella for a bit and then with Matt and then Christine came back, luckily!! I also went to the Bible study tonight for 1/2 an hour before a bigger group of us took Anne out to Baskin Robbins. We bought her a "love house" ice cream cake. Between Ashley, Phil, Matt L, Matt R, Anne, Tim and myself, we devoured the cake!! It was strawberry and pistachio...yum!! Now I need to get a bit of studying in for the night and head to bed. Below are some pics, followed by clips from a Korean newspaper article about nuclear power here that I thought was interesting. (If anyone is interested in Korean news, I use www.koreaherald.co.kr -- don't worry, it's in English. And the articles are short and sweet!)

PS-- Tomorrow a large group of us are going to see BATMAN!! It just came out today here in Korea. Also, we just found out this evening that we will be going to the DMZ on Saturday!! YAY! More about that later.

Yummy!! Bacon, mushrooms, kimchi, garlic, and onion-vinegar stuff.
It's a MATT SANDWICH!! Matt R, me, Matt L
Yay for Anne's birthday!! The birthday girl is in the green.
Tim and Matt L help light the candles. Baskin Robbins is the place to celebrate a birthday! We got candles and confetti poppers!!
YUM!! We devoured that cake!

Clips from article from Korean Herald:

Seoul eyes 10 new nuclear plants
"Korea is looking to build as many as 10 new nuclear power plants by 2030 as it seeks to secure a stable power supply amid unstable movements in global oil prices...
...Nuclear power currently accounts for 26 percent. The ministry hopes to raise the level to somewhere between 36 and 41 percent by 2030....
...The ministry's plan envisions alternative energy making up 11 percent of the country's total energy production by 2030, from 2.39 percent at the end of last year. It was devised on the assumption that international oil prices stay at $119 per barrel. When it had devised the earlier plan, it had predicted the price to be around $100 per barrel....
...The country is the world's 10th biggest energy consumer with 97 percent of its total energy supply coming from imports. It now operates 20 nuclear power plants, generating 35.5 percent of the total electricity supply...."