Boryeong Mud Festival

The mud festival was this weekend! It was so nice to get away from this area. This was my first real trip since I've been here. The festival was in Boryeong, which is like a 3 hour drive from Bucheon. A group of us from Rhythm and Booze took a big bus Friday night so we could be there all day Saturday and part of Sunday. The bus turned out to be a noraebus (like a noreabang, except on a bus), so no sleep for me! I think it was about 2am when we got there, but we wanted to go exploring and find the ocean right away, so after dropping our stuff off in the room, we were off. It was soooo nice to be on the beach! After walking around for a bit, we headed back to our room. They were having a bbq, so we hung out there for a little bit before going to bed, not that there were any actual beds. There were 7 of us sleeping on the floor in this room. The bathroom was a toilet, a shower faucet, and a bucket. There was no sink, no walls or doors of any kind seperating the shower. Just a drain in the middle of the floor, which doesnt work as well if you spray the water directly at the door and let the water run out and flood the room where people are trying to sleep. One of our roommates let some people shower in our bathroom and they decided to try that. Anyway, Saturday was mud day! We wanted to take some pictures, so we decided to go out and do that and then come back and drop off our cameras before playing in the mud. The people at mudfest don't like it if you're not muddy though. We were taking pictures at this mud pit thing, and these guys look at us and are like, "You're too clean!" and they throw mud on all of us while we are holding our cameras. That was when we decided it was time to take the cameras back. Luckily, none of them got messed up. There were mud slides, mud obstacle courses, mud wrestling, etc, but the lines were soooo long. We were gonna put off the slides until sunday, but it rained sunday so we went home early without even playing in the mud at all that day. So we just got in the mud bath and mud wrestling thing. There were so many people in there. It was kinda scary, but fun. There was a place on the beach too where you could paint yourself with mud, so we did that. It was a lot of fun:) We were completely covered in mud. I have a mud rash all over my legs and feet now. Its really itchy. Apparently a bunch of kids got it last week. I got some sort of cream from the pharmacy today, so hopefully that will help. I think it was worth it though. Despite the weather and the rash, we had a lot of fun. and not this weekend, but next weekend is when i'm going to bali!! i'm so excited!

I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July:) It was a little weird to celebrate in Korea, but it was a fun day. Let me back up to Seoul Land cause I'm a slacker and still haven't posted about that. I went with Abby, her friend Esther, Katie and Kristina. We had soooooo much fun:) We got there around 1 I think and stayed til it closed at like 10. It was a really nice day. A little hot, but there were misting things everywhere, plus little kids running around with water guns. They seemed to have a "Shoot the Foreigner" game going on too. There was also this really cool thing called water wars, which is a thing set up for you to shoot water balloons at your friends with a giant slingshot. Fun! I didn't ride any roller coasters (unless you count the baby Christmas one). I almost got talked into riding one because they tried to tell me it didn't go upside down, but it was called double loop or something like that. I may be blonde, but I'm not a complete idiot! haha. I did end up riding an upside down ride (I knew it was gonna go upside down too). It wasn't that bad. You guys would be proud. The lines for the rides were surprisingly short. I don't know why. It was a really nice day.
Sunday, I went with Abby and Esther to see Seodaemun Prison, which was a prison the Japanese used when they invaded. It was quite disturbing. I have no desire to go back. After that, we headed to Myeong dong cause we wanted California Pizza Kitchen. Then we did a little shopping and headed home.
Reading these blogs I guess it does kinda just sound like I'm on a long vacation cause I guess I don't talk much about work. School's going pretty well. I have one class that kinda makes me want to scream. They're kindergarteners and most of them are on a really low level. There's 9 of them, which is the biggest class I have. Some of them are pretty good, but there are 2 boys that I just don't know what to do with. One seems to be off in lala land all the time. He sits there and makes weird noises, occassionally screaming (not angry screaming, he always looks happy), and he hardly responds at all when you speak to him. The other one has SOOO much energy. Getting him to stay in his chair for 2 seconds is a big accomplishment. Most of my other classes are going well. The kids are so cute and I really need to start writing down some of the stuff they say!
Saturday, as you know, was the 4th of July, so Friday after work I went to Costco with Kristina, Katie, and Abby to stock up on food. Kristina and I made the hamburgers so they would be ready to cook the next day. Making hamburgers is fun! I can't believe I've never done it before. We had the meat in frying pans sitting on Abby's floor. It was like playing with play-doh. I made a Hello Kitty, an angel (it was the only cookie cutter Abby had), and a firework. Kristina made some...interesting ones too. Saturday, a big group of us had a bbq in the park, which is apparently illegal. It was the 4 of us plus Joe, Michael, and a couple of Kristina's coworkers, Carissa and Sarah. After we started the grill, we had several Koreans come up to yell at us. Abby and Carissa, who were the ones cooking, somehow managed to make us all burgers though:) It was a really nice day, so after lunch we just relaxed in the park. Abby, Joe, and I went to rent this really cool bicycle-like thing. We took turns riding that around the park. It rained a little, but the sun was still shining and it was kind of refreshing. It felt like the 4th of July to me. That night, Katie, Kristina, Abby, and I went out for Korean bbq. Yum! Then we played with FIREWORKS! Yay! It was funny cause we got yelled at so much for cooking in the park, but not one person cared about our fireworks. Even the man I shot with a firework was laughing (it didn't hit him). We went to rhythm and booze for a little while, then more fireworks. Fun times:)
Sunday, wasn't a super-eventful day. I went to church, then we ended up at Kristina's to cook our leftover hamburgers and watch a movie. It was a nice, relaxing way to end the weekend. Not too much exciting happened today. Just another monday. This weekend I'm going to a mud festival thing, so that should be fun!
k, well this is getting kinda long and i'm out of stuff to write about so im gonna say goodnight!

Sooooooo glad this week is over. It wasn't a horrible week, there was just so much to do with open class and report card comments along with regular classes and lesson plans. Open class went really well I think. I only had to do one class. I had a really good group of kids, so I wasn't even worried about their behavior. I was just nervous about having all those parents watching me. Some of the kids were a little nervous so they were a lot quieter than usual and weren't volunteering to answer as many questions. It's amazing how much faster the lesson goes when you aren't wasting so much time trying to get them to be quiet and sit properly. Several of the teachers including myself found ourselves trying to drag things out to fill some extra time. They told me the parents enjoyed my class so I guess I'm not gonna get fired or anything. Some of the parents were surprised my voice could be so loud. haha:) Anyway, open classes were just for the morning kids, but we had 2 days of it. Half the kids went on a field trip to a traffic park (i dunno what that means) and the other half stayed for open class, then the next day they switched. I was supposed to get to go on the field trip, but then they changed their minds because they needed someone to help with the montessori class:( Thursday night all the teachers went out to dinner to celebrate open class success. Dinner was good, and afterward a few of us went to noraebang again. I'd been in this country i dunno how many months without ever going to noraebang, and now I somehow end up there almost every week. Last weekend we went there friday and saturday night. Some of Kristina's coworkers, Mike and Melinda, were celebrating their last weekend in Korea. They really like noraebang. Abby and I were gonna go to a movie friday, but we ended up at noraebang with them instead. Saturday, it was POURING rain, so we went to Bupyeong for some underground shopping. Then we had shabu shabu for dinner, went bowling, then more noraebang. Fun times.
I'm so excited cause today we're going to Seoul Land!!! I've been wanting to go there for a long time. We were gonna go last week, but it rained:( Today's supposed to be nice and hot though. Speaking of hot, my classroom and my apt are starting to get bad. This is gonna be a long summer.

k, I haven't done an ice cream post in a while, so of course I waited until I have tons of report card comments to write and stuff to do for open class (when the parents come sit in on class) to do this.
This first one is watermelon ice cream. I must say, I was not a fan. It would have been fine if they had left out the "seeds" I think. The seeds taste like little bits of chocolate-covered nuts, which didn't really go well with the fruity ice cream. Cute idea, but I think I actually threw most of this one away.

Next up is a coffee milkshake in a bag. I love these things! The only problem is many times you have to let it sit a while before it thaws enough to drink. The flavors I have seen are coffee, cookies and cream, vanilla, and strawberry.

Here is another favorite of mine. I think they come in other fruits, but the pineapple is the most common. The green part is a lid that comes off, and when you buy it, they give you a little wooden spoon at the counter. Inside is like hawaiian ice. So yummy and refreshing, especially on a hot day!

Alright, I guess I should get back to those report card comments:(

I'm sad I dont have my mom or anyone here with me to do my blog for me anymore:( This is a lot of work...so COMMENT PEOPLE! Seriously, it makes me feel better. Anyway, where was I? My mommy left me on Wednesday:( I did get to go with her to the airport cause my school gave me the morning off. Abby went with us too cause she's cool like that. I was pretty dead after basically playing Korean tour guide for 2 weeks along with work. I'm getting really good at it though! Who's next? Haha:)
From what I recall, the rest of the school week was pretty uneventful...
Friday night was one of Kristina's coworkers birthday so a big group of us went out for Korean bbq and noraebang. Yes, I sang this time. I sang A Whole New World (from Aladin) with Abby! I also used a squat toilet for the very first time...and in more depressing news, I broke another watch:( It was my new Hello Kitty one! I have the worst luck with umbrellas and watches in this country! Oh well.
Saturday, Kristina and I were both craving Quiznos, so we made a trip to Itaewon. We were trying to figure out when the last time we'd had Quiznos was and it was like in January or February! I dunno how we went so long without it. After that, we met up with a friend of hers who was visiting her family in Korea and we went to Myeongdong to go shopping. Yay for Forever 21:)
Sunday I went to church, then we were gonna go to Costco, but after waiting forever for the bus that never came, Kristina talked us into going to see a scary movie that I would not recommend anyone else go see. It was called Drag Me to Hell. Doesn't sound very nice, does it? There weren't 4 seats together anywhere, so me and Abby ended up alone in the front screaming through the whole thing. I feel like I didn't even see half the movie cause I was holding the popcorn bucket in front of my face the whole time. So yeah, that was my weekend.
Today was an interesting day as well. We had our first fire drill at school. Fire drills must not be big here, cause none of the Korean teachers knew what they were doing. They thought it would be a good idea to run through the school screaming FIRE! and then line the kids up right outside the door of the "burning building." We did have a real fire truck though, so that was exciting. All the Korean teachers were taking pictures as we were escaping from the building. It was amusing. THEN, after taking pictures with the firefighters, they got the hose out and proceeded to spray it beside our school building. That was fun.

Mommy's Visit

k, i know this is really lazy, but my mommy is here and i dont have an abundance of free time...so here's the link to her blog:
http://sherrysimpsonblog.blogspot.com/

I know its been forever! My friend Robin came to visit me last week so I've had zero free time. She got here sunday evening. I did my best to give her tips about traveling in Korea, subway, bus info, etc. I had to work, but she was really brave and went out sightseeing on her own. I dont think she got too lost. We did stuff together in the evenings, which was really fun, but also quite exhausting! Im not sure we got home before 11:00 at all that week. Monday night we attempted to find the 63 Building, but we gave up and went to Insadong to do a little shopping instead. Tuesday night a group of us got together to study korean cause we had a test saturday. We didnt actually get very much studying done. We went to TGI Fridays and then bowling. Wednesday we made a second attempt at the 63 Building...and we found it! Yay! There's a sea world thing and some other stuff in the building, but we just went to the observation thing at the top. The view was really good. Thursday night we went to Seoul Tower. We wanted to take the cable car to the top, but we had some difficulty finding the cable car thing. We hiked up and down this hill a couple of times before we ran into another foreigner who informed us that it was in fact up the hill. We just hadn't gone nearly far enough. You would think taking the cable car would be a way to get around hiking. Guess not. We eventually got there and got some good pictures. Friday night I wanted to take Robin for Korean bbq. We met Kristina, Abby, Katie, Michael, and Joe. Dinner was really good. After dinner we decided to get a lion ice cream cake from baskin robbins, then we moved the party to mcdonalds to study korean (sorry robin). Saturday morning I took Robin to the bus for the airport:( I went to Korean class where we had our test. We won't talk about that. It makes me a little angry. After class, we went to Bennigans for lunch cause we had free coupons. While we were eating Robin called and informed me that she was back at my apt because after getting to the airport, she found out that her flight wasn't until sunday. oops! haha;) i went back home and after resting a little, we went to bupyeong to meet abby, katie, and kristina. we went to a hookah bar that kristina had heard about then we went to meet michael and joe at rhythm and booze. sunday morning robin left again:( Abby, Kristina, and I went to Forever 21 later for some summer/bali shopping. Yeah, I'm going to Bali for my summer vacation! Im excited:)
More exciting news: MY MOMMY IS COMING TOMORROW! Yay!! I can't wait! She'll be here until next wednesday. I'm hoping the weather will be nice. We had a thunderstorm yesterday...the only thunderstorm i've seen in the 8 months i've been here! Its my 8 month anniversary by the way! Time has really flown by.
Lets see...what else is new? Everything's going good at school. One of my kids just came back from america. She brought me a keychain from Texas. The idea of one of my korean students giving me a souvenier from america made me laugh a little. I've never been to Texas though.
Its funny how kids I've been teaching for months will tell me like they've just noticed, "Teacher! Your eyes are blue!" Well today I was informed by one of my kids that my eyes are in fact purple. I tried telling them they were blue, but eventually just gave up and accepted it.
I'm sorry about there not being any pictures, but they're on facebook. I dont feel like going through the effort of posting them here too. I gotta go clean...cause MY MOMMY IS COMING!