Phew, it's about time I blogged, eh? Sorry for the infrequency of blogging these days...there's really no excuse for it. May has already been packed with so many fun adventures and we're only halfway through it...yipee!!
To begin, May 2nd was the big golden guy's birthday (aka Buddha). It was also Kristen's birthday. If that's not reason enough to celebrate big, I don't know what is. The streets and temples were all decorated with array of colorful hanging lanterns. People pay to hang a lantern for their deceased relatives in the temples. Word on the street is the more money you pay, the closer your lantern will hang to Buddha therefore bringing your ancestor more honor (?) or something. I need to read up on my Buddhism to better understand the whole deal. Regardless it was a pretty sight to see.
(photo credit: co-worker Leslie)
In honor of the big birthdays we went to....wait for it....can you guess?? A SKATEBOARDING COMPETITION! *giggles* It
was in the Korea's cultural city (Gyeongju) so I feel like we participated in the big cultural event enough by experiencing the ridiculous amount of traffic heading towards the temples that day. It was a pleasant (but windy!) afternoon watching the competition outside of some fancy resort hotel along a
beautiful lake. It was even better when our friend Ji blew us all away and won the competition! I felt like a proud mother watching him....haha. We spent the night with the 'boarders as honorary members of their club and joined their after party in these large cabin-like buildings for groups to rent. We were under the impression we'd be camping so we came prepared to introduce the Koreans to s'mores. Well, as close to s'mores as we could get...which meant marshmallows (small, fruit flavored ones are the only ones we could find) plus Digest cookies (graham like cookie with a thin chocolate top). There was no fire so we improvised by roasting over lighters (haha!!). But it was a roaring success! I do believe we've turned our friends into adapted s'more monsters! The rest of the night was spent playing games, making new skater friends, a food fight (resulting in much drama), and very little sleep.
A few days later was Children's day (May 5th), our first day off work since New Years (way too long...gross). That day was spent "in a valley with a creek eating meat" as was the invitation description given by our friend. Heck yes, Kristen, Kat and I joined in! It was refreshing to be out in nature for the day which of course included pushing each other into the creek to supply us with some extra entertainment.
The following Saturday was spent with the university's robotic engineering students eating lunch together than later studying Korean with a professor from that department. The professor has excellent English (as well as Japanese and Chinese) and is full of advice on how to best learn Korean. Best of all he's encouraging, gives missions (aka homework) to keep me from slacking off and allows us to use his lab room with a whiteboard to study in. I've discovered learning a language is much more fun when you can use a whiteboard rather then just staring at a book all day. After the studying (4 hours of it...wow!) Kristen, Kat and I headed to the Ulsan's river, Taehwa for some free canoeing! We raced a dragonboat, too. Ooook, so not really, BUT there was a dragonboat behind us for a while. :)
Friday, May 15th was Teacher's Day. It was a wonderful day where I truly felt appreciated by my students. It was also the opening ceremony day for our newly remodeled floor at school! As tradition goes there was a pig head (real!) with money stuffed in the nose and ears to bring good fortune to our school. Apparently people do this after buying new houses and cars in Korea as well. Our directors and other ELC staff members cut a ribbon then did full bows in front of the pig head. Very interesting to say the least. After the ceremony we enjoyed some yummy meat and rice cakes galore...some that mysteriously tasted like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches....super! The day was made complete by reviving some office pranks with the new part-time worker Min. Bah hahaha... :)
And
finally, this past weekend...phew, I need to take a breather....Saturday was all stinky and rainy but that made for some perfect inside-study-Korean-all-afternoon conditions. I'm definitely feeling less stupid now that I've gotten some serious study sessions in these last couple of weeks. I'm finding Korean is quite a fun language to study. Later Saturday evening I starred in my first acting debut...a remake of a scene from Halloween (terribly gross movie btw)! My friend is in a movie-making club at the university, so I got to play the part of the sister who gets stabbed in their classy remake. I haven't seen the final cuts of anything yet but I'll let you all know when it hits the big theaters in America (hahahaha...).
Yesterday was a perfectly gorgeous day spent at Ilsan beach. After some reading/napping time in the sun Kristen, Kat and I hiked around the area to the right of the beach....beautiful! The pictures describe it best.
In other life updates, I've been private tutoring a young housewife (in her early 30's) since March. It's just twice a week for one hour each session but I look forward to that part of my morning on those days. She used to work as an editor for a magazine in Seoul before she was married so I immediately connected with her through journalism interests. We discuss one certain topic each day so she can practice her conversation skills...so far it's been going great! Plus I think I've gained a new friend which is always a nice bonus. :)
Also, I'm officially on week 4 of a 16 week marathon training program. Yes, yes I am crazy and yes, I plan on doing a marathon (or half marathon) when I am home in September. I've stuck to the schedule so far and I'm feeling really, really good about myself. I hope this will be one more thing I can cross off the life list soon!
I've committed to the 4 week course in Costa Rica starting August 10th. I'm really pumped about it and nervous all at the same time. Nervous to be returning to a school like setting once again but mostly excited for the insane adventures to be had in Costa Rica, home to the best rafting in the WORLD! plus beaches, plus jungles, etc....eeek! That puts me home right around the 2nd week in September, so get ready!!!
Lastly, my 23rd birthday is rapidly approaching (weird!!!) so I've been planning some birthday adventures for this coming weekend. If all ideas pan out as expected, it looks like a select group of friends and I will be camping out along one of Korea's more rural beaches for a night of fun in nature. I hope to have many stories to share later about all that.
Well that's certainly enough from me. Love and hugs to you all back home. Remember to keep in touch you lil' stinkers....
