On Sunday, the lifeguards started coming out and blowing whistles and anxiously running in Baywatch style to save people. Beach umbrellas and banana boat rides are also popping up everywhere.
Making it to the sunrise has become a real hobby for me on Fridays. My buddy Tim is always down. This was a special one. We made it and then hopped into a cab for a sunrise swim. The driver dropped us off in the middle of no where, so we had to walk a good ways before we got to the part of the beach that wasn't barb wired off. After taking the picture, we swam out to those rocks and watched the sun come out from behind the clouds.
I'm really surprised how different the water is now that its summer. The waves were really huge and violent the last time I went swimming at sunup about a month ago. I really love living so close to the beach, there is something special about staying up all night with friends until the sun comes up. We pile into a car or taxi and head to the beach, then jumpinto the water to celebrate life and being alive and another day in this beautiful country.
The 4th of July was really good. My friend Chris brought his grill and a bunch of food. His hamburgers are truly works of art. Other than eating, we mostly just sat around drinking American beer and periodically running into the water for a swim or a seaweed fight. At night we shot off fireworks and had roman candle fights.
I also ate a ton of watermelon, I think I've eaten more watermelon in Korea than I have in my entire life. We have it at school just about every other day. There are trucks loaded with watermelons that circle around and around the neighborhood with a loud speaker shouting "SUBAAAN! SUUUUUBAAAN!!" (watermelon! watermelon!) There are many more trucks that sell things like this... there are starfruit trucks, cabbage trucks, knife trucks(really), used clothing trucks (yes,really!), and gaudy hair barrette trucks- just to name a few.
On the Sunday after the 4th, I went with a friend to the beach for some quick swimming and sunning then we went to one of his adult student's house way out in the mountains in the woods.
The house was called "Love House"
It was so beautiful. I want a house like that when I retire. There was a little creek that ran under the patio, the sound of the water was so relaxing.
They had a nice garden, the women invited me in and showed me how to pick more types of lettuce than I ever knew existed.
I got a big bag of that I've been working on eating for dinner ever since. We were suppose to have dinner there, but we had to leave early because of an irrigation problem. I think we will go back again soon though.
The weekend before the 4th was spent entirely at the beach. I am super tan now, I feel like I'm a kid again during those summers when I would turn brown. Don't worry, I am the sunscreen nazi! I just tan easily.
School is going well, I still like being a teacher.
Last week we had a garage sale to benefit New Orleans, every year they do something for charity. I had to give a little talk about it, its still a strange and sensitive topic to bring up. Anyway, it went really well.. we raised 100,000 won for the New Orleans Musician Relief Fund. I'll be able to transfer it over once we take pictures with it and all that junk.
I'm used to my constant schedule changes. Every day its something different or new. At the beginning of July I was supposed to start my own kindergarten with these twin boys, but their mom is flaky so my director decided not to take them. So now I'm to doing whatever odd jobs pop up. Right now my schedule says on Monday and Tuesday I'll teach art to the 2 kindergartens. That's really fun, I like it. I was teaching science too on Wednesdays and Thursdays, a little silly but whatever. But now I'm tutoring the assistant director and the director's sister after lunch instead. Its fun, we laugh a lot and crack jokes. I'm going to have to get a "No Korean" jar that they'll have to deposit 100 won coins into every time they speak Korean though. I'm back to teaching the director's daughter again at night. On Mon and Wed I teach from 9:30-10:30 and Tue and Thur I teach from 8-9. In 2 weeks I'm starting an intensive program with a few of my worst youngest students that will focus on reading and writing. I made the plan all by myself, I'm really proud of it.. I hope it helps them. On that day I'll also start teaching my 3 most advanced students 2 hours in the morning. Phew! and all that will probably change again come August. Then I'll start teaching the director's sister, her daughter, and assistant director for 2 hours every morning, as well as the director's daughter at night for overtime money. Who knows what September will hold for me... I really do wish I had my own kindergartens..
Although, not having to roll into school until lunch time is pretty nice. I like having the mornings all to myself, I have a ton of time for practicing accordion. I'm getting a lot better. I've been working on stuff with other musicians here too as well as slowly writing my own songs. I'm really sticking to my goal of becoming a better musician while here.
On Wednesday night I had a new experience, I went with a girl friend to a jimjilbang. A jimjilbang is a public bathhouse, its divided into a man section, a female section, and a coed section. About $4 gets you in for 24 hours- you can even sleep on one of the floors upstairs if you wanted. You also get two towels to use while there. The first thing you do is put your shoes into a shoe locker, then you take the shoe locker key and bring it to another desk for an everything else locker key. You can also buy soaps, shampoos, and scrubbies for your body and feet at the desk as well as hard boiled eggs, drinks, ice cream, and other snacks. Once you got your key... its nekkid time! Leave one towel in the locker and bring the other with you to the bathhouse. Next you go to the sitting shower section, grab a seat and a fill up a bowl with water. You absolutely, positively must spend at least 15-20 minutes washing your body with soap before getting into the hot tubs and cold pools. The pools are really nice, there are several hot ones and some cooler ones, as well as 2 saunas. If you feel like dropping an extra $12, you can get a large, cross-eyed ajuma garbed in a sexy bra and panties to scrub you down all over your body, wash your hair, give you a facial, and rub you down with oil. $12? How could I resist. It felt amazing, I felt super relaxed afterward. My skin feels amazing, I could see hundreds of balls of dead skin all over while she was scrubbing. The place was really nice, and a total bargain for less than $20.. I most definitely will be back to take full advance of this and every jimjilbang I see for now on.
Only 10 more days until Ryan comes to visit! YAY!
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