Last weekend was INCREDIBLY fun!! Friday is always a long day at work because I have all of my classes and I don't get out until 6:20pm. The middle school teachers don't get out until 9, some even 10pm so by the end of Friday, we are all ready to either 1. pass out or 2. go for a drink. This past Friday we decided to go with the latter of the two and hit up a local bar. Caroline and I had never been to the bar we went to, but it was quite nice because it was a 5-10 minute walk from our house which meant we didn't have to deal with a taxi driver not knowing what we were saying and taking us to a completely different apartment place on the way home. (Side note- Caroline and I try so hard to say where we live and sometimes we are taken right to our house, while other times we are taken to random different places or to this one apartment building that we also believe has the same name as ours- Line Cha. Go figure- there is another apartment building 204 that isn't ours too... hmm.. silly Koreans... they are trying to get us Americans without the proper pronunciation skills to speak Korean, lost and I DO NOT appreciate it!) Anyways, so the name of the bar was Hofbrauhaus- just like in Munich. However, it was not like the one in Munich at all- no HUGE glasses of beer, no German band, and more importantly, no crazy Russians. hehe. But it was tons of fun to go out with the other foreign teachers and have a 맥주 aka Mekju aka beer. (or two... or three...) We all hung out quite late that night having tons of fun before going home and crashing.
On Saturday we went downtown and did a little shopping on art street. I got two really cool water colors that I am really excited about. Now I just have to figure out how to hang them because no holes can go in the walls, tape I think would ruin them when I tried to take it off, and I don't have them in frames... hmm... anyways, so after a little shopping, we went to a travel agency and booked our flight to CHINA. Caroline and I, along with 3 co-workers, are going to China in October for 5 days over the Chusok holiday. This is the Korean version of Thanksgiving. We are SUPER excited about China and I think all 5 of us are now counting down the days till the holiday break!!!
Saturday night was A BLAST!!! My school had a farewell/welcoming dinner for the 2 Kinder teachers that were leaving, and Caroline, Me and the 2 new Kinder teachers. EVERYONE from our school to include all of the teachers, receptionists, school managers, the lunch ladies, and the bus drivers came. We had assigned seats at this restaurant but it was still fun. Caroline and I got to sit by each other which was good cause then we could talk and be surprised together. I say surprised because the first dish that came out was a huge fish. The next plate was a plate full of raw cow parts. It included cow tongue, cow liver, and cow stomach lining. Let's just say that I didn't eat any of the appetizers. the main dish though was galbi which is meat that you cook at your table. Then you wrap it in a leaf and put a special bean spread, maybe some garlic, perhaps some of your salad or a different sauce on it and eat it. It is quite good and probably one of my favorite meals in Korea. While we were eating, the manager of our school came around to everyone and served us Soju. This is Korean alcohol that some people can handle no problem, while it is deadly to others. We HAD to accept (with 2 hands as this shows respect) because turning down our manager would be REALLY disrespectful and a definite no no. Everyone of course took it, but some just didn't drink it while others drank theirs and got drunk. It was kinda funny to see people drunk at the dinner. Anyways, so Caroline and I, as well as the other new teachers and the teachers leaving all had to make a speech and bow several times and then dinner was finished. After dinner, the foreign teachers decided they wanted to go out together and talked several Korean teachers in to coming with us. A big group of about 20 or more of us started to walk towards a cheap bar. Our manager happened to be following and noticed what we were doing and told us she knew of a better bar that we should go to. She led us there and then handed us her credit card, and then left. Can you believe it?! We couldn't! She did this though in order to create "harmony" between the foreign and Korean teachers. They are big about that at our school which is awesome, but we were going to be "creating harmony" at a cheaper place, but hey we didn't turn her down when she said she would pay. So after our HUGE cap ran out, we decided to continue the party at the cheaper bar. Lets just say that we had A LOT of fun that night and everyone seemed to be thirsty. :) The Korean teachers were so much fun to hangout with and I can't wait to hangout with them again.
Sunday we went to this HUGE 7 story electronic mall like place called Kuhmo world. It was pretty sweet and sold any electronic thing you could possibly want as well as a few other things such as furniture or houseware stuff. Weird, but super sweet. I didn't buy anything and Caroline only bought a tuner for her new guitar, but it was neat to go and look around.
This past weekend was also tons of fun. I went to Seoul with 7 other foreign teachers to see a Korea versus Australia soccer game. One of the teachers we went with is from Australia so we decided we would cheer with him for Australia. We all got decked out in Australia's colors- green and yellow- and he had some extra headbands and flags we all passed around to wear and cheer with. We learned the Australian cheer. "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie- Oi Oi Oi" and sang it several times that night even though we were losing from the start. We had really good seats pretty close to the field and near the cheering section so it kinda in a way reminded me of the student section at FSU football games so it made me happy. The score ended up being Korea 3, Australia 1, but it was still fun and we managed to make some Korean friends we took pictures with at the end of the game and Ian even traded stuff with. That night we all just kinda hungout around the area and then slept in this "love motel". It was an experience but it turned out being just fine and the owner was a super cute older guy who ALWAYS had a smile on his face which made us love him.
The next day, we did a TON of shopping and had so much fun. I bought my mom's birthday present there along with some other souvenirs and a super sweet giraffe purse. There were so may stores that were all selling similar stuff, but it was all so cool. There were fans, flags, jade, pottery, dolls, masks and other random stuff everywhere. I definitely want to go back around Christmas time as this is where I think I will be getting several Christmas gifts. It was awesome!! We came back back to Gwangju late that night and had school the next day.
It was an awesome weekend because its always fun to hangout with some coworkers/ good friends!
School is still going well and I have started taking Korean class at ECC on Wednesdays. Our "principal" made it so that all 4 of us foreign kinder teachers have 4th period off so we can take the class during that period and over lunch. There are the 4 of us plus 5 middle school teachers taking it, so its a good bunch and lots of fun. We have had two classes and took our first test this past Wednesday. I got minus 1 on writing and did not miss any on the speaking portion. It was only on the consonants but you gotta start somewhere right?! My next test is this Wednesday on most of the vowels which scares me because I have a hard time even hearing, let alone pronouncing the different vowel sounds. There are a couple that sounds SOOO much alike. I won't be doing well on that test I don't think but we'll see. I am super excited about the class in general and really can't wait to start learning words.
Each day I spend with my kids, I love them even more. Or in one case, I have one class I really don't care for and each day I find myself getting more and more annoyed. But I am trying a new discipline system with them that I think might be helping. I made a deal that i would give them a pizza party if they could spell out the word pizza 7 times during the 12 times I see them. Sounds way too easy but this is hard for them. They have 2 days where they did so far and 2 days where they didn't get it. But I think they are trying really hard now since they know I am serious and hopefully this works. Its a room of 8 boys and 2 girls, so its just a lot of goofing off, being silly, and basically just acting like 5th grade boys. Overall though, my kinder kids are the ones that steal my heart with their cuteness and how smart they are and I love all of them! I will be posting pictures today or tomorrow on facebook.
Sorry this post was ridiculously long!
I love you guys so much and miss you more! I hope all is well with everyone!!!!!
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