A Korean Wedding

Top: this is the fire escape slide (most of them are a lot longer... taller buildings)- this was in a small town with short buildings
Middle: There was so many people in this room that people were exploding out of the door and into the next room... seating was first come first serve.




Colleen wanted me to tell you to check out the fish at the top of this page... did you know you could feed them? Simply click in their pond and food will drop- they chase after the food...it's just great. Colleen, you would love this haha!
 
It's been a busy work week and i'm exhausted when I get home at 8:45 every night... sorry I didn't post sooner. Work... ugh, where do I begin. Last week when I came in I was told I had 2 more classes to teach starting in December which is tomorrow (a little nervous). I told you that I was taking over the Leopards 4 class (1st/2nd grade level) , but now I will be taking over the Arch class (Kindergarten) as well. A co-worker of mine used to teach this class but since he's a worthless schlep.... they took the class away from him so that he can just sit around and continue to do nothing. Nothing around here seems logical... ahh! Oh well, I guess I should take it as a compliment! I will admit, I am looking forward to teaching the little ones. I will have them on Monday,(sculpture and reading) Wednesday,(science and cooking) and Friday ( P.E. and reading). The sad thing about my very full teaching schedule is that I will have no time at all to work on the art curriculum... I was really enjoying that! I tutor a little boy every Monday, Wednesday and Friday evening (he is the bosses son). He reminds me of myself when I was his age (6)- he's got potential but the material just doesn't click. I am very patient with him and I enjoy helping him but he is extremely exhausted when he comes to my class at 6:10. When management asks me how he is doing I tell them that the biggest problem is that he is too tired (he goes to school 9-3 then has after school activities 4-6)... the child needs a break- DAMN! So, guess what... when my entire schedule got changed around, they changed this student's tutoring hour from 6:10 to 7:10... WHY! If he's falling asleep at 6:10 he's obviously going to be just as tired if not more tired an hour later. FRUSTRATING! I know I complain a lot in my blog but in the office i'm getting pretty good at just brushing it all off my shoulder. This week (Monday and Tuesday) were test days for the month of Novemeber. I promised my Tiger 1 students that if they all got a 90 or above on their tests, i'd give them a pizza party. Yayyy Tigers... I am so proud of them. Looks like I am throwing them a party this week!
 
This past week was Thanksgiving and a sad one at that. Instead of enjoying a lovely meal with my family, I went to Outback with my co-worker Alicia. Outback is always delicious so no complaints there but... it was no American Thanksgiving. Alicia and I met some very nice American men who were here on business. We enjoyed drinks and dancing at the Skyy Lounge in the Ramada hotel. It turned out to be a nicer evening than expected. I took one of the guys to the park Friday morning for what ended up being an intense jog. I found out he was a marathon trainer so he kicked my ass into shape. Thanks to him i've been killin it on the track this week!
 
So... remember I told you my friends and I were singing a song at our bosses wedding.... welll... it turned out sounding awful. We practiced all day Saturday which was a complete waste of time. I felt bad for the 4 Koreans singing with us. Most of them can't speak English that well so singing/memorizing an English song couldn't have been easy. By the way, we sang "Love" by Nat King Cole.... "L is for the way you look tonight". The wedding was a very interesting experience. It was very similar to an American style wedding except for a few things. When we came in we immediately went into a room where we took pictures with the bride. She was on display in a little room, for everyone to see...The wedding hall was decorated beautifully. There was a table set up outside the wedding room that had candles and pictures of the bride and groom.. it was a little strange because the bride wore several different wedding dresses in the pictures- all of which were different than the one she wore on the actual day. This whole set up reminded me of a memorial. When we left the wedding hall to go to the dining room, there were pictures of another couple already in place. Prior to the ceremony, the mother of the groom and the mother of the bride walked down the isle and lit special candles that resembled everlasting love. Once the bride and groom were married they stood to the side and watched while a friend of theirs sang and while we sang our terrible rendition of "Love"- Jessicas and Seth (bride and groom) seemed to enjoy it... part of me thinks that they thought it was a joke. Whatever, they looked happy and thats all that matters. After we sang, Jessica and Seth lit candles in front of the cake. I was really confused why they didn't cut the cake. In fact, the cake was never cut... it was basically just there for display. After all of this, people gave money,(a Korean wedding tradition) and were escorted into the dining room where we enjoyed a variety of different food… buffet style. The dining room was not decorated and there were no events, music, or any other types of wedding traditions. People simply ate and left. Well, the bride and groom did change into their traditional hanboks and walked around saying hello to people. At one point I saw them each cheers a pitcher of beer…and down it- WOW… I wonder if this is another Korean tradition?

The wedding (ceremony, reception… everything) took 1 1/2 hours. This was nice because it left my Sunday afternoon open. I enjoyed a day of shopping in shinae (downtown) with my friend Katie. I was amazed at all the shopping downtown had. Ya know, it's hard to tell when your going in and out of bars on the weekend nights.

I realize some of you are still a little bit worried because of the conflict with North and South Korea. I've been watching/reading the news avidly. It seems that the people of South Korea are just not pleased with the way in which their government is handling things. President Lee of South Korea says that he will defend his people…. this war will continue. Hmmm.. it makes me nervous. It definitely adds on to my learning experience in Korea. If it makes you feel better… I am registered with the USA embassy. If there is any kind of emergency they will contact me immediately via email and they will fly me home.

Korean Facts/ Randomness:

-My friend/co-worker and I are going to take a class called Hapkido (is a dynamic and eclectic Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defense that employs join locks, techniques of other martial arts, as well as common primitive attacks. There is also the use of traditional weapons, including a sword, rope, nunchaku cane, short stick, and staff which vary in emphasis depending on the particular tradition examined). I am pretty excited.. I will definitely let you know how it goes :)
- In Korea, don't be fooled by what looks like string cheese. Last week, one of my students brought me what I thought was string cheese. I knew it was too good to be true so I let him eat his first. I looked at his and smelled it.. ahh yes, sure enough I was right. Those little chunks were fish and that awful smell was fish- gross
- The majority of people in Korea are buddhist… a somewhat decent amount of them are christian. There is Christmas here, but the holiday spirit is not the same as it is in America.. I miss it!!!! I think i'll bust out my Christmas music and draw a picture of a Christmas tree and a menorah of course to hang on my refrigerator.
-The Korean flower is a hibiscus… it's called the mugunghwa which means Rose of Sharon. This flower comes in several different colors. Women use the red petals to stain their fingernails. They place the petals on top of their nails and then wrap up their hands with bandages and keep them there over night. I often see girls in my classes with stained nails- it looks orange.
- When you order food from a restaurant and they deliver, they bring it to you on/in real plates/bowls. After you finish, you rinse them off and set them right outside your door. The restaurant comes back later that day and gets the dishes- they don't charge you any delivery fee and no tip. I told you… people don't steal here. If we did this in America, those restaurants would never seen their plates, bowls and silverware again haha.
-I keep seeing these giant slides that extend out of windows on high floors of buildings. They aren't just any slides, they look like something you would see at an amusement park. I recently found out that these slides are not for fun, they are fire escapes.

** A special Happy Birthday to my momma and my brother-in-law Dave. It's not December 1st in America but since I live 14 hours in the future, it is your birthday here!! Have a great day
** To all my fellow jews... as you know, Hanukkah starts on Wednesday evening. Enjoy lighting your menorahs for the 8 crazzzzzy nights.

Back up North Korea... we aint afraid of YOU!

As most of you know, North Korea just bombed a small island right off our coast, near Seoul. If you're concerned about my safety... don't be! I am perfectly safe in Gwangju. All the Koreans around here just brush it off and act as if it's no big deal. After all, North Korea keeps doing this bullshit. It is the 2nd or 3rd time this year.. right!?- oh, it's hard to keep track! I do realize they have nuclear power but, and I hate to say this because I have friends in Seoul but... if North Korea is going to bomb a city in South Korea, it will most likely be Seoul. This is all very unlikely so sit tight- i'll be home in 10 months :)

If it makes you feel better- mom.. i've been reading up on necessary precautions to take if something bad does happen (you know me- I got the mom gene). I will make sure to find a shelter or i'll dig a hole, take all my food and hang out there for 7 to 8 days until the radiation has dispersed out of the air! I love you and I appreciate your concern :)

Happy Thanksgiving all my fellow Americans... eat some turkey and green beans for me- god knows i'm not going to find any here!

Leatherface is in Korea... ;)

Saturday night in sequential order: 1- leatherface/squid face, 2- smashing the ham over the the wooden bowl, 3-brides mother opening the ham of gifts



Hello lovely Americans.. Germans (I think that is the extent of people in different countries reading this blog)! I hope you have all had a nice week.. mine has been just swell.

Work has been good… no crazy drama this week, just new schedules in the making. The way the classes work at my school are so confusing. The Kindergarten program is the only level that sticks with the same teacher/peers for one full year- their session begins in March (this is when the school year technically begins). The majority of books we use are all 6 month books. Because of this, we have a 6 month program. After a student is level tested, they are placed in their appropriate level (example: I've got a 3rd grade level class: Giza 1, with one 9 year old-typical age for 3rd grader and two middle school students-13 years old)- keep in mind that this is their second language so their English level is not always going to be the same as their Korean grade level. Also… do you remember me telling you that when Koreans are born they are already 1- that creates some confusion as well. Anyway… I was saying that we have a 6 month program. This means students will move up, if they are ready, come March (new school year). So we have these 6 month programs, but depending on the class load each teacher has, a class might get a different teacher at the beginning of a month. I know, I know… why am I telling you all of this- i've got a point… I've got a new class starting in December. Brian, one of our teachers… has got a very full load so I am taking a class off his hands. He teaches a Leopards 2 class (they are on a first/second grade level). Most of them are between the ages 7 and 9. Apparently this is a rather rambunctious group so I am anxious to get to know them and whip 'em into shape.

Are you wondering about my little Tiger 1 student Alice? Well I am very happy to report that this week has gone just swimmingly. I've got that class wrapped around my finger now- they don't even make a peep without raising their hands. Sounds like hell huh… don't worry, we still have a lot of fun. I mean after all… these kids never get a break from school, they never get a chance to be kids and play. I make sure to have a good time with them!

I know I told you before but i'll tell ya again.. i'm really enjoying the free time I have to myself… like after work and here and there on the weekends. Being that I am an American… teaching in Korea, my students are always asking me about America- where things are, what places look like, etc.Not only this but they want to know everything about me. The biggest topic we've discussed is geography- where I have traveled in the world. In class we are always looking at maps.. seeing what countries are where, what climates are like in certain areas, what nationality people are in different countries, etc. I have further researched this information at home… it's incredible… understanding geography has helped me to understand so much more that is going on in the world. I love having extra knowledge to share with my students.

Speaking of other countries, I am really hoping I will get the chance to travel outside of Korea while I am here. There has been talk about Japan for Christmas break and Thailand or Malaysia for the Korean New Year (end of January). Before coming here I thought I was going to be able to take time off to travel.. hence the reason I made my blog name: "Emilie's Asian Adventures". It's looking pretty iffy.. even if I was to take a day off for personal reasons, one/several of my colleagues would have to cover my classes (unpaid). We aren't very happy when one of us takes a personal day… that's why we just don't do it. SUCKS!!!

The most eventful experience I had this week was my bosses engagement party. All along I thought my boss was already married but I just found out he's been engaged for the past couple years and the kids he has are from his previous marriage. On Saturday a group of us went out to the country for this very traditional engagement celebration. I had no idea what was going to happen… I was just told that what we were doing was an old Korean tradition and it's rare that people still do it. Saturday, around 4 a group of girls (bride included) and I got in a van (the men were all in a different car)… after traveling up a mountain on a skinny, winding road, only hearing Korean and almost getting in a terrible accident (crazy Korean drivers) we finally made it to our destination- the bride's parent's house. We came in and immediately helped the bride get ready. She wore a traditional Korean Hanbok dress (the same dresses women wear for Chuseok). After getting her all ready we ate dinner and and had several shots of rice wine. Ohhhhh rice wine… you make me nauseous! I've told you about it before… when an elder fills up your bowl of this white, curling milky rice wine, it's bottoms up or else! I think "or else" is just you being rude.. i'm not sure because somehow, i've always managed to finish mine. After eating dinner everyone (except for the bride) went outside to the top of the long driveway and waited for the men to arrive. When we reached the top of the driveway.. or should I say, street.. we heard them shouting: "Hamsaseyo!"-"Buy this box!" With them they had red and blue lanterns, a giant box (this is called the ham (pronounced h-ah-m): a large, silk wrapped box containing a matrimonial epistle and some presents) and of course the groom who was also in a handbook- the male version (… he might as well have been wearing a dress like his fiance because his outfit was hot pink and lavender silk). Let me tell you a little more about the box-ham and the man carrying it…it was strange. The man who is carrying the ham is the Hamjinabi- the males good friend/ groomsmen. Not only is he carrying this huge, heavy box on his back but he also has a mask on. The mask is a dried squid that has holes punched through it to see. To all the Koreans the mask was extremely funny but to me, not so much! Being out in the dark street in this old country town with a full moon in the sky already made me feel like I was in a 1970's horror film.. this squid mask that resembled Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre) didn't really help this feeling. Now, for the next 40 minutes or so we watched (I watched because I don't speak much Korean) the brides father and friends try to persuade the Hamjinabi to come inside. After only a few steps forward the women came out with food, shots of rice wine and soju…. briberey- "come inside, taste this wonderful food and alcohol he have to offer".. a few more steps and a face full of kimchee, the Hamjinabi and the men holding lanterns were making their way down the street. They were still pretty far from the house and that's when money became part of the equation. The brides father had white envelopes that had about 20,000 won each in them. He placed them on the ground and the Hamjinabi had to step on them as he walked forward (so the whole point here is: the bride's family is offering a party and giving money to the groom for his efforts in bringing/providing the ham. The ham full of gifts represents a variety of traditions as well as an everlasting marriage). So, once the Hamjinabi reaches the door, he smashes a large wooden bowl with the ham and places the ham over a medal box that is filled with Bongch' i Doek (red bean rice cake- always served during a celebration). Everyone comes inside and eats again… but not together, the girls all at one table and the boys at another. It was interesting how easily this small living room became a dinning room fit for 30. Being that that we sit on the floor and we don't each have our own place setting made it easy. The only beverage that was offered was.. take a guess… yes, rice wine. Near the end of the meal they brought out beer, that was a nice change but my stomach couldn't take it. I just washed everything down with several, juicy clementines.

Allow me to digress for a minute… so, i'm sitting in my kitchen, it's about 1:30 am and all I've been hearing for the past 45 minutes is barking dogs. I'm a little confused because not many people have dogs… you do know that they eat dogs here. Maybe i'm being dramatic, but is it possible that there is a slaughtering going on right now? I heard this same intense barking about a month ago…. hmmm… something to think about.. or cry about! Oh Lord!

After dinner everyone gathered around the bride's mother as she opened up the ham. You wouldn't believe these gifts.. heres a few things that were inside: a mink jacket, a beautiful wooden jewelry box filled with assorted jewelry- diamonds, gold, peals, silk pajamas, a burberry wallet and purse, etc.

Okay so…. all the barking just completely stopped… odd! Hmmmmm……

Anyway, sorry… the brides mother was so overjoyed, she was crying. After stuffing our faces with red bean rice cake (not my favorite), we hit the road. The ride home was rather nauseating… I could feel the rice wine curdling in my stomach as we headed down the winding mountain. Ohhhh… i'm still burping it today- gross!

The wedding is next Sunday and somehow, I was talked into singing at it (why the hell am I doing this???)- should be another interesting story… i'll be in touch soon!

Korean Facts/ Randomness:

-Remember I told you that people live with their parents until they are 30 well…. if you are a male and you have moved out, don't worry… you will still get all the same mommy treatment… up until you have a wife that is. Like I have told you before, men are extremely babied. My Korean friend told us that her 35 year old brother still comes home to get his laundry done. She was blown away when she heard that the boys around here (at TNE) do their own laundry and cook for themselves.
-I was with my friends X and Y at the pharmacy the other day and they were trying to ask the pharmacist for lubricant… he nodded and said, "ahhh yes, love jelly"- we have that! Gotta love the names they have for things.
-When you go to the grocery store, the Koreans are always looking in your cart to see what you buy. It's ridiculous how nosy they are.
- I miss carpet! Even though the floors are heated…I still miss the way carpet feels on your feet. There is no carpet anywhere… I barely see rugs, just hardwood floors.

Don't Mess with Emilie Teacher!

Top: Alicia's 30th Birthday Party- 80's themed... Cheers :)
Bottom: Pepero Day- pepero sticks


I think I had a pretty successful work week. A few screaming children here and there but over all it went really well! Management really loved the Kindergarten art curriculum that I just completed so now, for the next couple months I will be creating the art curriculum for 1st and 2nd grade as well.

Remember the problematic class I told you about… my Tiger 1 class? Well, I had some issues this week with one in particular Tiger girl. Her name is Alice and she's quite the sassy little know it all. Ya know, I try to be a nice teacher… I let a lot of things slide, I give prizes and candy almost every day, I bring snacks and I allow my students to watch funny videos from youtube (age appropriate of course). Now i'm certainly not trying to bribe my students but I do feel they deserve to be rewarded for their hard work and effort. Back to Alice…after a number of notes home to her mother and warning after warning, she still continued to act defiant, rude and disrespectful. Every day she would test me a little more. Oh boy did she have it comin… on Friday I really let her have it. After sassing me and writing extremely rude notes on her test paper about me, I told her to get out of my class and go sit in Alicia's class (noone wants to do that…it's like the principals office). Of course Alice didn't move she just sat there, arms crossed and cried out "no, no, no!". I got the teacher in the next room to watch my class and I escorted Alice out of it. She wouldn't even walk cooperatively, I had to pull her along by the arm. Once we got downstairs she held onto the rail with all her mite, I couldn't break her away … thats when we had it out. I reprimanded her like I never thought I could… I didn't know I had it in me but I was not going to allow an 8 year old to make a fool out of me. I know this sounds bad but I was glad to see her bawling her eyes out- she needed to know who was boss (plus, I'm not stupid… half of those tears were fake). I told her that she wasn't welcome back into my class until she gave me a sincere apology. She talked with Alicia for a few minutes while I continued to teach my class. She came back to class a changed child. Not only did she apologize but she was respectful and compliant… maybe even a little scared in a way that she knew she better not mess with Emilie Teacher again!

This weekend was so much fun! Alicia's 30th birthday is today (Sunday the 14th) and she had a big party last night to celebrate. The party was 80's themed which wasn't hard for me.. I already had all the attire. I wore an off the shoulder shirt that had a neon pattern, a cut off jean jacket, leggings with cut off jean shorts over top, tall bunched socks under my gray high-top converses, neon orange netted armbands (these are the only things I don't own, I promise) tacky makeup and of course a side pony tail. Alicia followed through with her mexican traditions… they are supposed to pay/make dinner, drinks, etc. and your just supposed to bring a nice gift (we got her an awesome one)! Being that she is mexican, she cooked some amazing authentic, mexican food. I can't even describe to you how delicious it was. She even got her sister to send some pepper jack cheese and charizo (spicy sausage) from the states.She made more than enough food and there were at least 20 plus people eating… drunk people! She went above and beyond. She made 5 gallons of margarita, 3 gallons of sangria, and there were endless shots of tequila. She ordered blow up guitars for everyone, netted arm bands, michael jackson sequence gloves, and 80's style sunglasses. We partied at her apartment till midnight and then headed downtown. This certainly isn't something to be proud of but…I promised my friends I would try to make it till the bars closed…you do remember, the bars stay open till 7! - oh mom, I know your proud of your youngest daughter! Ahhh Korea… gotta experience it all!

So, it's 9 pm and i've yet to make it out of the house… after this, i'm heading out for a nice, long jog. I think i'll sweat some of this alcohol off. Have a beautiful week- yours can't be as beautiful as mine cause fall in South Korea is just breathtaking ;)


Korean Facts/Korean Randomness:

- On Wednesday (11/11) Korea has a holiday: Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day. It is named after the Korean snack, Pepero and held on November 11, since the date "11/11" resembles four sticks of Pepero. The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts.
Some of my students brought me pepero sticks- tasty :)
-Korea doesn't have day light savings which means I now live 14 hours in the future instead of 13. when I explained day light savings to my students they all looked at my like I was nuts (why do we have day light savings anyway?)
-This is cool and I am sure all of you know this if you watch the news…. the G20 summit was held in Seoul (capital of South Korea) this year/this past Friday.

Beautiful Fall!

Top: Walking along the fortress... Dominique and I sitting on a beautiful fall tree
Middle: I love the fall trees... this was on the grounds near the arboretum
Bottom: In the middle of our long hike through the forests near the fortress... we stopped to take a picture on this old bridge




I can't believe it's November.. although i've been getting a little homesick (people have been telling me it usually sets in for a little while around the third month.. it's been 2 months and 3 weeks) time is still continuing to fly. The work week zooms right by because we are so busy all day long. I can't get enough of the weekends so obviously, they go by pretty fast as well.

This week was a little hectic at work. I am almost done with the art curriculum but supposedly management says that I do not work fast enough… excuse me for teaching class all week long, grading, making tests, making lesson plans and writing evaluations. I've been working hard to create this great, year long, Kindergarten, weekly themed art curriculum. I tried to explain to them that with my busy schedule, I need a little more than 2 1/2 weeks to create a year long curriculum… nothing is ever good enough for them- quality work does take time ya know. On a lighter note in that area, management has looked at a good portion of the curriculum and they just love my work. They might even try to sell it to other schools… shouldn't I get a chunk of that?!?! I have really enjoyed working on this… it's right up my alley!

So… I have this one class where every student is just a mess. I still love them but man… it's rough sometimes. One of the little girls has got to be bipolar (one minute she is so sweet and the next, she is talking back and throwing things at me). One of the little boys is sooo incredibly smart but he has this weird hand fetish. If he isn't coloring his fingernails with his pencil (I often take it away for this reason) then he is eating his hands or his cuticles (I am telling you, he literally chews on his palms). My god child, your going to get worms if you don't stop that… I tell him this but it doesn't seem to make a difference. There is only 4 students in this class… one of the little boys quit this month for personal reasons (I think he knows he failed his last test and he is afraid to look me in the eye again). Teaching the older kids is still a new learning experience for me (I am really glad I have them but like I have said before, I miss my babies). When I did student teaching in college, the oldest class I taught was 3rd grade and it was only for 3 different science lessons so I haven't really had a lot of experience with older students (3rd, 4th or 5th). I feel pretty lucky to be getting this experience here before I go back to teach in America. I think I forgot how conniving older students can be. I really tried to be nice for a while but after this past week, I decided that I wasn't going to take any more of their bullshit. I came in today (Monday) and laid it all out.. I had a new set of rules and I was ready to enforce them. Can you believe that I was nervous? It ended up going really well. They still acted silly but I am okay with a little silliness as long as I feel I am getting the respect I deserve and we are getting our work done. I think things will be looking up in this class!

So let me tell you another why my academy embarrasses the hell out of me. You know I work across the street from the Gwangju convention center (Kim Dae Jung Convention Center). Well, some very sophisticated, middle aged, Korean women came in a few weeks ago and asked if we taught any business classes. Of course, management told them yes (No.. we are a freaking Elementary school with a few middle school students… come on TN). Not only did they tell them yes but they also went out of their way to tell them we had an entire business curriculum set up. If that isn't enough bullshit for ya, listen to this… this past Monday the women came in ready for their scheduled class time. You know management wasn't prepared, they probably even forgot the women were coming. Who the hell was going to teach this made up class? Luckily, Ryan wasn't teaching at the time.. he was just busy making tests, lesson plans, etc. so they told him he had 30 minutes to come up with a lesson for a 2 hour class… poor Ryan- he is a graphic design graduate, he really doesn't know much about business (haaa.. nor do I). He found some random stuff on the internet and went and taught it. After a week of teaching, Ryan told me the class was going well. He really loves the women but he still feels a little unqualified to teach the class. It's kind of sad that these women pay 2,000 won a month (equal to about 2,000 dollars) for a course that doesn't even have a set up curriculum. Like I said… it's embarrassing!

The best thing about this past week at work was what one of my students brought me. After class ended last Tuesday I walked downstairs ready to go home and make dinner but to my surprise, Annie's parents had brought me an entire pizza, a steak and potatoes, and a lobster with fresh veggies. Oh my gosh… thank you!!!!!!! I made sure to write them a thank you note (of course, they won't be able to read it so Annie will have to translate). Apparently Annie's dad owns an American-stye restaurant… I hope to visit there in the future because the food was delicious!

I had the best weekend… back tracking…I met a really nice girl when I went to the Daejeon Rock Festival last month. I found out she lived in Gwangju and knew some people I worked with so we exchanged numbers. This past weekend she invited me to go with her and some of her friends to a really beautiful, historic town called Gongju. It's fun to meet new people over here… it's like college- meeting people from all over the U.S… over here your meeting people from all over the world.The people in our group are from: America (Arizona, Minnesota Pennsylvania and North Carolina of course) and Canada (Ontario). Saturday morning we took a bus to Deajeon and had lunch. Because Gongju is such a small town, we couldn't go straight there from Gwangju. After arriving in Gongju, we went to a neat museum where we learned all about the Songsan-ri Burial Mounds. We later went outside into the beautiful, crisp fall weather for a short hike to visit some of the actual tombs. One of the most well known tombs we saw was that of King Muryeong. The tombs were mostly hidden… I have to say, the best part about the tombs was the scenic hike along the way. Although, it was a neat feeling to be surrounded by so much history….these tombs have been around since 523 AD. After visiting the tombs, a lot of our day was over because the sun was going down. We found a motel (yes… another love motel, what else- this one wasn't nearly as nice as the one we stayed at in Daejeon but it was still a cozy place to sleep). We ditched our bags and went out for a tasty dinner and a night doing what… can you guess… karaoke!!! I have learned to LOVE karaoke- mom, I think I need a karaoke machine but I doubt I will be able to find friends so sing with me haha. After a really fun night with all my new friends we tried to head home early so we could begin day two in Gongju somewhat early.

After having a delicious breakfast at the bus station we walked along the Geumgang river and to the beautiful fortress of Gongsanseong. The fortress was incredible… we walked/hiked for hours along the fortress, exploring the ancient mysteries of a 1,500 year old kingdom (Baekje). I could not get over how beautiful the trees looked and how wonderful the weather felt- we picked the best weekend to travel to such a beautiful place. After a nice long hike we took a taxi over to the arboretum and it's beautiful scenic grounds. We walked around admiring all the beauty and learning about the different plants, trees and flowers of this ancient town/country. The trip was amazing and exhausting at the same time… not knowing what to pack.. I made the mistake of packing too much. I didn't realize we would be walking/hiking all day long with our things. I could have easily just throw in an extra shirt and underwear but I didn't really know what we were going to be doing. Oh well… my fault… I guess I got twice the workout as everyone else because my book bag was like carrying a small child. The bus rides back to Gwangju were so relaxing… I finally finished my book (The Last Lecture.. I recommend it- very moving and inspiring) and took a nice nap!

Monday has come and gone and I can't wait till this weekend. Alicia (the lead teacher and my friend) is turning 30 on Friday- she is having an 80's themed party… I am looking forward to it! Talk to ya soon :)

Korean Facts/Randomness:

-A lot of Korean woman are pregnant right now because they all want to have their babies in the spring… it is believed that if you have a spring baby, he/she will be born with a lot of strength, power and courage.
-The way Koreans use heat is via the floor (the heats comes though the floor)… it's pretty nice since you have to walk about without your shoes one
-Most Korean children wear glasses (no exaggeration- out of the 18 students that I only teach, 12 of them wear glasses)- one time the girls in my Giza class were alll trying each others glasses on so I tried them on too… they don't even need them!!!!! I found out that the reason they all wear them is because it's a preventative strategy.
-My students were telling me how much they dislike spring… how could you not like spring it's such a happy time I thought- well… in Korea, during spring time they experience sandy winds from China (yellow dust). They said that a lot of people wear masks when they go outside. I am anxious to experience this yellow dust. Being that the Koreans exaggerate a lot, I am imagining its somewhat like pollen.