Parents Day / Seoul

The month of May is known as "family month" here in Korea. Children's day was last week, this week it was Parents day. To celebrate we had the parents come to school to watch the morning kinders perform. Stephanie's kids did "Little Green Frog" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear."
They were so cute.









Chris's kids did "New York, New York."

They looked so grown up and professional considering how fast it came together. I didn't do anything except stand around and take pictures, I was let off the hook because of Daniel(the little boy).

After the song and dance, Stephanie read "The Kissing Hand" to the kids and moms.
Then the kids got up and gave their moms big hugs and "kissing hands." Afterward most of Stephanie's kids were crying for the rest of the day because they missed their moms. It was so sad, I miss my mommy too!

After class Stephanie and I headed to Seoul. Our bus came in over an hour late because of nasty Seoul traffic. Stephanie's friends met us there and then we went straight out to a district called No-Won. It was very hip. We went to a foreigner bar, but it was boring for us because we weren't in the mood to meet a bunch of people that we'd never see again. We left shortly after and hung around on the streets of No-Won. We let the party come to us. I felt like I was famous. Many young Koreans kept coming up to us to try out their English. Some businessman bought us canned coffees. Some hip dudes with tattoos gave us popsickles. It was fun. I forgot my backpack in the taxi on the way back. The driver actually came back around and gave it to me with everything still in it. I was so happy that I almost cried. I love this country. Koreans are also honest about money too, if you hand them the wrong amount they will give it back to you instead of pocketing it.

Where Stephanie's friend lives is pretty much in the middle of no where, second to last stop on line 6. He works at Seoul's Women University. It takes an hour or more to get into central city fun town.They did have these awesome accordion posters hanging up all over, not sure what its about.. but there is an accordion on them! I found one laying in the street and rolled it up. I have it on my wall now.

On Saturday morning we went shopping. We checked out MyungDong first.

MyungDong is the fashion and shopping hub of Seoul, it is huge and there are a ton of people everywhere.
We went to many many shops, Uniglow and Forever 21 is where I did most of my shopping. The Forever 21 here is AMAZING! It has 3 huge floors, I've never been in a single store that big before.
Shot taken out of Forever 21's 3rd floor window... shopping mania going on down there.


Hopefully I'll still be here when the H&M opens next year. I love that place! I got new sunglasses, jeans, a t-shirt that says "watch out trolls," a dress, a headband, and socks. Shopping in Korea is a ton of fun. Afterwards we hopped a cab to Itaewon, the big foreigner district. They had lots of things there, but we were pooped out on shopping. I will be going back one day soon to eat at the foreign restaurants though... mmm Thai and Indian.
Itaewon could look like anywhere in South Korea if it wasn't for all the foreigner places and foreigners walking around.

After that we went back to Steph's friends house and rested/got ready for Seoul World DJ Fest, the largest "rave" in Korea.
I wore my new shirt, pants, and headband.
Wow... Seoul World. I don't even know where to begin. It was beyond belief. I never saw anything like it this. There were so many people, it was estimated at over 30,000 I believe.
The line to get in was very very long.

But then we found the no wait line just for foreigners. Almost too good to be true... a line just for foreigners, for any other occasion I would be a little offended.

There were 2 stages, the main one that played mostly house and mix.







Then there was the Jagermeister stage, located near the Jagermeister liquor tent. Here was mostly drum and bass, jungle, and down tempo.










There was also a cigarette lounge, they played mostly down tempo and classic anthems.

There were tents all around the entire site. In the tents there were even more DJs spinning in a more intimate atmosphere. They also had various things you could do in the tents, like get your hair done or screen print a tee-shirt or games. In one tent you could buy glowing things. We bought some bracelets, the girl selling them liked me and took pictures with us, she gave me all of the bracelets she was wearing too. So sweet.








There was even a trampoline.
And a huge drum circle.


Steph and I were starving by the time we got there. We headed over to the hot dog line and waited. And waited. And waited. We met some nice people from Gangwon-do in the line. They live in the capital of our providence, Chuncheon. I will be going there soon.


Steph and I waiting and waiting in the hot dog line.


The people we met were so cool! We waited with them, and waited, and then kicked around a little ball while waiting. All together we waited an hour for our hot dogs. I normally hate mustard and ketchup and pickles, but I got all of that on my hot dog because I wanted my time's worth.

OH DELICIOUS HOT DOG IN A CUP! YOU WERE SOOOOO WORTH IT! (not!)


There was a lone Korean man dancing around where we sat to enjoy our hotdogs. Another guy joined him, I said "I want to go dance too but I bet it would be like parting the red sea if I went over there." It wasn't, many more people, oeguks and hanguks alike, joined in the jump dance frenzy. It turned into a huge dance party, someone must have radioed the heads of the event because then a staff video camera guy showed up too... maybe I was on TV or will make promo video for next year!







Out of no where the original lone Korean picked me up on his shoulders and ran around with me. It was insane. I looked around and Steph and hotdog line friends were all documenting this moment of extreme craziness.

I danced a ton. We stayed pretty late, but didn't make it to the end. We were exhausted from the long day before. Next year, if I go (which I want to), I will be camping out there. They had a camping section with their own stages and DJs, but you have to pre-register. That would be so much fun I bet. It was an amazing night, one of my favorites in Korea so far.
Second impressions of Seoul? Well... its still really big, dirty, and busy. Its better when you have someone who knows things to do and when you actually have a plan in mind. I have a real hang of the subway now, and a card pass. One thing that throws me about Seoul is all the foreigners, and none of them will talk to you unlike where I live where if you see someone new you stop and introduce yourself(usually). I'm still glad that I don't live there, I love my small little Gangneung with the beach, fresh air, and friendly people.


Being a teacher is going well, I'm liking it more and more each week. I feel satisfied at the end of the day. My favorite class is my intermediate, they are a little older.. so I can really talk to them. Their English is good, but not prefect so there is still stuff I can show them. They are funny and respectful too. Over all I really like being a teacher here, I like the instant cultural respect and the "teacher treats" that the kids give us. Sometimes the kinder kids will give me little "I love you" cards or origami hearts, that is just too cute! Babysitting Daniel is a real handful though, we are making progress I guess. I can get him to say things if I really push him but he always switches back into Korean. I'm learning a good amount of Korean from him. The most useful is igeo myo yeyo(what is this?), the ladies at the school must be so happy that he taught me that.. haha, I say it all the time now.
Its allergy season here in Korea. There is a wives tale that the yellow dust is pollution from China, but one look at it reminded me of the pollen from Innsbruck... pine tree pollen. Its everywhere, on cars, on my drying laundry, on the stairs, on the desks. I'm coughing and stuffed up again. Luckily the word for allergy is pretty much the same in Korean and English, I got some medicine today and I'm starting to feel better.

This weekend was supposed to be scooter buying weekend, but the prediciton is for rain all weekend long.. That makes me really sad, I was really hoping to buy a scooter sooner rather than later before the exchange gets any worse. Maybe the sun will peek out for long enough to try some out.