children's day at the school; magical mystery tour; from taek ji to the sea

Children's Day is a major holiday here in Asia, on Children's Day parents give their children lots of gifts and attention. Here in Korea its celebrated May 5th, but the school had their party on Friday because we have that day off as a holiday. A lot of people around here got off for the 4th too, but not us because supposedly the parents would "complain." I'm not expecting a big turn out for my classes tomorrow, so it should be an easy day. I do really wish I was off though.

On Thursday I had dinner with the other teachers. We went to the restaurant below where I live. I always thought it was a meat place but it turned out to be an eel place. It was tasty; eel has a light, delicate, sweet taste.

On Friday us teachers were supposed to prepare fun things to do with the kindergartens. I did face painting and art. For face painting I drew a bunch of designs and let them pick which one. I'm an expert at painting Pikachu and Hello Kitty now.

Face paints are a little different than the ones at home, they were actual paints and I had to use a paint brush. More difficult than the crayon style ones I'm experienced with, but I don't think I did too bad. None of the kids cried anyway!
My art project was teaching the kids how to roll strips of newspaper around sticks to make beads and then necklaces. It was a big hit. I did it with my PK6 class too, they loved it.

That's what it looked like before we started, you don't want to know what it looked like after.

Steve on the left. He is a really cute kid. Kathy on the right with monster Paul sneaking up.

This weekend I decided to have another easy weekend around town because I'm going to Seoul next weekend.
On Friday we had dinner with some of our new friends. After that we went to a noraban(karaoke bar) and sang some songs. It was lot of fun. I'm still a horrible singer, but I'm getting used to singing and I'm becoming less and less afraid of my voice. Noraban is really entertaining; you get a private room with a huge screen and scrolling lyrics, 2 microphones, sofas, tambourines, and a bigger selection of English songs than I was expecting.

After noraban we went to a foreigner hangout and waited around for the evening. I played poker, I did horribly. So much for beginner's luck. I don't think I'll be playing again, I don't have a good head for that kind of thing. Stephanie actually won though! She got 80,000 won! I was so proud of her. I meet many new people on Friday, I'm starting to feel more comfortable although there is still the new kid in town feeling. Not having a cell phone makes it really rough to stay in contact with people, I'm hoping to take care of that soon. I didn't want to get a cell phone here, but its clear that I need one if I want to be in on the goings on.

On Saturday us teachers, a lady that works at the school, and her minister went hiking.

It was very very easy compared to my last hike. We drove most of the way up before even starting. The drive up and back down made me a little sick, the minister drives very fast and takes turns hard (like all Koreans). It was quite windy as well, I felt like I was going to blow away during some parts. There were lots of windmills.











My favorite was seeing all the delicate mountain flowers.

Not a very high mountain, only about 3,800 feet.

Cultural point: whenever you do things with Koreans you can always count on it turning into a magical mystery tour at some point. Most definitely there will be lots of little side trips and stops along the way there or back to visit friends or to pick up things from the middle of no where. I did have fun though. I love hiking. I may try to go again on my day off this Tuesday.

After the mystery tour we parted ways for a bit to recover. I was invited to a beach party, soccer game, and nightly fun the previous night so I followed up on that. Beach party got moved to the host's apartment because of rain, his place is SO nice! His bathroom is practically bigger than my whole flat. At the party I had a much needed delicious, juicy hamburger. I meet more people, there were so many foreigners there.. it was sorta scary at first and awkward because I'm still so new. It takes people at least 3 times of meeting you to realize that they've met you. After awhile the rain stopped and we cleared out for the soccer game. This was my first soccer game and it was awesome!











I had such a good time, there was so much energy in the air. I loved the chants of "This is Gangwon(the providence I live in)!" "Gangwon here to stay!" and of course the fight songs which I must learn. Hearing a huge crowd of people cheering "this is Gangwon" made something click inside of me, I'm feeling more at home here everyday. Periodically Korean guys would come over and take pictures with the huge group of oeguks. Gangwon played really well, they came close to getting lots of shots but ended up tieing. After the game I went out with a bunch of people and had a really great time. Steph and I have a good time together. We both love to dance, as soon as we start dancing everyone else joins in. Its really fun.

Sundays are usually my lonely days here. Steph goes to church and Chris is elusive so its a big me time day. I spend most of it reading, playing accordion, writing this blog, and learning Korean. I can read Korean now, I still get a little confused but I did it! I'm first to read it, I don't think the other teachers have much interest in learning anyway though.
Today was a really beautiful day so I decided to take a really long walk. I walked from Taek Ji(neighborhood I live in) all the way to the sea. It took almost 2 hours, but I went a very round about way. Beach and the nearby lake. I can't wait for summer, I want to swim so badly.





Once I got there it was sort of a let down because I didn't bring anything to read and it isn't much fun to hang around the beach by yourself with nothing to do. I took a cab back, scariest taxi driver ever. We almost got into many accidents. He did do a good job at pointing out every oeguk we saw and mumbling something. Koreans stare so much at us foreigners. Some people have problems with it but I don't mind. I usually just stare back and they stop, if they point I either point back, smile, or wave. I stare at the foreigners too, you can't help it really. We stick out like sore thumbs.

I'm feeling more and more adjusted. I really like it here. This weekend was a total success as far as meeting people and having a good time is concerned. I got some numbers, but they are useless without a cell phone. I met the people in the foreigner band, "You Suck." They want me to come to practice sometimes. They said they love accordions and really want one in the band. They named off Beirut and Devotchka as some influences, I love those bands. They also have a trumpet player. Maybe next time I see them we can work out the details. I'm scared, but playing with other people advances me as a musician. I learn a lot, playing with others is so different than learning from books. I really like the experience even though I usually struggle with it. I'm starting to consider getting a really tiny accordion or a Concertina to use for traveling, I love the accordion I have now but it would be difficult to bring it along during my intense backpacking plans for when I'm done here. There is no question that I will need to have an accordion on my travels. The opportunity to entertain people and learn new songs isn't something I can pass up.