Place the water, Olive Oil and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and mix the raisins and couscous in. Let sit for 3-4 minutes, adding the butter, return the pan to the stove and Cook for two minutes while fluffing with a fork.
Mix the carrot, pepper, onion in with the couscous. Add the Curry powder and Garlic powder and mix thoroughly. Eat and Enjoy!
I served it on a bed of lettuce leaves- but a small salad on the side might be nice. Delicious, easy and TONS of leftovers for lunch all week.

My school has about 300 students and has grades Kindergarden through 6th grade. My classroom is on the top floor- its the last four windows on the right.
My school is located into the small town (village? I’m not really sure how it translates) of Gagok. It really consists of 5 or 6 high-rise apartment complexes and one tiny main street of high-rise shops, all in the middle of factories and mountains. The view from the back of my classroom kind of gives you an idea of how it’s situated:

In the backyard we have an absolutely gorgeous garden~ where I believe they grow veg for the students. It has a gazebo, and a small pond. It’s interesting, because on any given day you can look out the window and see the janitor or the vice-principal gardening!

The school hierarchy is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to wrap my head around. I kind of slide by though- I’m pretty sure that everyone who works is is either afraid to talk to me or thinks that because I’m a strange foreigner I should be treated like a child.
One incident I can’t stop laughing about:
The Vice-Principal came to visit my classroom and happen to come in during a break period, when the kids were all running around and playing with balls and puppets. He, not realizing it was a break period, proceeded to start yelling at these kids (basically a sit down and shut up thing), scares they all into wide-eyed silence, turns to me and says “Good Morning!” and leaves.

It just seems to be the nature of my relationship with the school in general though. I think most of the staff aren’t really sure how to interact with me. They are always helpful and nice though.

And this is where I’ve committed another year of my life to working. Still waiting on the paper-work, but as far as I understand its a definite. 15 more months in Korea!

I was splinted for 6 weeks- on crutches until the 31st of May, and now hobble around on two feet.

To top it all off, in my brillance yesterday I tripped over a brick and now my foot is KILLING me. Here’s hoping its just a bad bruise. But it does mean I’ve brought one of my crutches out of storage for the day.

Some interesting points about the Korean healthcare system- I’ve basically got an x-ray every time I visit the hospital, so probably about 2 dozens trips into the x-ray room and 3 x-rays each time (yes, I fully expect to grow an extra foot). Physical therapy was the LEAST physical thing I’ve done in my entire life, and consisted of having my foot wrapped in a hot towel, getting it sonogrammed and having electrodes attached to it and rhythmically sending electrics charges through my ankle. Also- the cost of healing here is quite low. I think with a week in the hospital, loads of drugs, bi-weekly, then weekly, then bi-monthly trips to visit the doctor and get x-rayed has only cost us about $500. And that includes the $60 extra strong pain meds I opted for after the surgery.

Happy Pepero Day everyone!

After our week long quarantine period (they were really serious about the swine flu- perhaps with good reason) we got to our schools, and finally started teaching on the 6th of October. The school environment is quite nice, most of my students are lovely. But I sure did get some strange looks my first week here. Even now I find that the first and second graders (I don’t teach curriculumed classes for them) stare at me like I’m from another planet. Just the other day I caught a small child backing down the hallway slowly from me, just staring with curiousity. When I said hello he turned and ran. It’s strange to be such an outsider- but seeing as Korea is such a strongly homogeneous society its hard to fit in. That plus the couple of culturally unacceptable things that I engage in, such as living with my boyfriend unmarried and having a tongue ring.

The tongue ring has turned out to be a much bigger deal than I thought it would- I have students sticking out their tongues in the middle of class and pointing. It’s actually quite comedic. Although I’ve been officially warned once that the Principal and Vice Principal would appreciate me taking it out. Obviously I have no problems with that, but it would be nice to find a retainer so I don’t lose the piercing.

Lots of new experiences, and a new way of looking at the world. All in all its been quite an interesting experience so far.

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili
+2 medium sweet potatoes (cut into 1 inch chunks)
+1 large spanish onion (diced)
+2 cloves garlic (diced)
+2 jalapeno peppers (diced)
+2 cans of black beans
+2 cans diced plum tomatoes (28 ounces each)
+1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
+sunflower oil
+chili flakes & chili powder to taste

Heat oil in large pot on medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and jalapeno peppers. Cook until onions become translucent (approximately 2-3 minutes).
Add sweet potatoes, diced tomatoes, sugar and 2 teaspoons chili powder. (Less if you don’t like spicy chili). Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes or until sweet potatoes become soft.

Once potatoes have become soft, add black beans and continue to simmer, uncovered for approximately 15 minutes.

Serve in bowls, with warm cornbread.
Sweet Cornbread
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup corn-meal
1 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400 F or 200 C. Mix milk and cornmeal in bowl. Add dry ingredients: brown sugar, white sugar, flour and salt. Mix.
Add wet ingredients: melted butter and egg.
Pour into greased cake pan (I rub butter on the bottom/sides of the pan).
Bake until golden brown, and until fork comes out clean.
Serve warm.

Yummy.

My assasin Vaedri killed me with a gorgeous pair of socks in Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch:

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about the pattern, however they turned out looking great! And the colours are just amazing. I couldn’t think of a better way to die.

My weapons were knit in tofutsies, in a pretty blue-purple colour and were quite the adventure on their own. I had a small problem with the cables, and had to drop stitches back for 3 repeats of the cable- approxmiately 5 inches.

Which required an emergency run to the craft store to get a tiny crochet hook and hours of patiently rebuilding cables stitch by stitch. I, of course, had to do this not once but three times for three different strands of cables. Which I think may very well have been the root of my aching wrist.

But finally! They were done. And looked quite pretty.

I assure you my target didn’t have ginormous feet, they just look really huge because the ribbing pulls the top bit in. (I measured and re-measured and got my mum to try them on on her size 7′s).

And that was Sock Wars. It was a blast!

So, I cast on in noro (his choice!), and knit and tinked and ripped and finally felted, and I think it turned out just great.

What do you think?

1 Large Spanish Onion (roughly chopped)
2 Tomatoes (roughly chopped)
Spices to taste (paprika, cayenne pepper, chili powder, etc.)
1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Sweet Corn
6 Flour Tortillas
1 Cup Cheddar Cheese
Veg Oil for Cooking

Heat oil in medium sauce pan, and saute onions until they become slightly translucent. Add spices- this time I used approximately 2 tbsps of Tex Mex, a yummy mix of most of the Red Spices.
Stir in until onions are lightly coated in spice. Add tomatoes, beans and corn. Cook until all is heated through.

Lightly oil baking sheet- lay tortillas flat on baking sheet, fill half of each tortilla with filling. Lightly cover with cheese and fold over.
Very lightly brush top of folded tortillas with oil, place in oven on High Broil until browned on the top.

Top with salsa (and sour cream if desired).

Enjoy!

It’s not beautiful food but it sure is delicious!