ten things i'm into this week:

10 things I’m into this week: in no particular rank or order

Apricots. They are juicy and perfect right now and I think they are so amazing.

Pinterest.com: A really great visual bookmarking website that is full of inspiration and ideas for organization and style. I particularly love the gardening section!

8tracks and music in general. As always.

Painting with watercolors, even though I’m not very experienced there is something really rewarding about transforming all that white paper into something colorful. Just add water…

the masterpieces of Josh, Nicole, and Ryan

Spanish verbs. Yes, it’s true, here in Korea Josh and I are both plugging away at our Spanish skills. I’ve been going through my flashcards like a diligent college student (oh I remember those days), and Josh is glued to Rosetta Stone. Josh made a good point that learning a language feels a lot easier now that we are teaching it. We clearly can see the results in our students, and all it takes is practice and repetition and some commitment. And how nice it will be to speak in the native tongue if we find ourselves in Spain next year….

Planning trips. This is so fun, of course it is! I have been reading and researching all that I can about Vietnam and Beijing and searching for airfare, how to get our visas, places to stay, and what section of the Mekong Delta to take a river cruise up! Pretty exciting stuff.

M*A*S*H. yes the old TV show. We have watched a couple old episodes from this show in the past few days. It is funny, it is goofy, it takes place near Seoul, and so a lot of names of places are referenced.

Silly you tube videos.  Like this one and this and also this. I think that by teaching middle school students I am slowly adopting their love for silly viral internet videos. I want to find the funniest, stupidest, most entertaining thing I can to show my classes and I always laugh the first few times I watch them. By the end of the week I’ve usually seen each video 20 times, so it does lose a little of it’s luster…

Bulgarian food at Zelen. This is an incredible restaurant in Iteawon, just north of the Han River. Josh and I shared a stellar dinner with Mr. Ryan McCoy and Cat (in town from Portland! Yay!) . It was by far the nicest night all summer, it had rained for a few days then cleared up, so the air was clean and the humidity was low, we sat outside on their garden terrace on top of a hill and drank sparkling wine and ate like royalty. I had pork-something-amazing with smoked cheese and veggies and stuffed tomatoes. Delicious. I love long dinners that last for hours into the night, full of good conversation, good food, good drinks and good energy.

Chess. The games are getting more intense and more frequent and I can tell we are learning a lot. I am glad that I began to play at such an early age, against my dad and my brother. My brother can kick my ass in about five minutes, but he could do that to probably almost anybody. I still enjoy playing him and usually get to do so a few games a week. Josh and I are a closer match, but he’s got far more wins against me than I do him (I move to hastily I think, or some other excuse…).

What are you into this week?