Another AWESOME weekend!!!

We (the teachers of Avalon) were informed on Wednesday that we would be having a "Teacher's Survival Day" on Saturday. We weren't given much information besides the date and time and what to wear which were Saturday, from 9am-9pm, and to wear athletic gear. Saturday rolled around and all of the teachers met at Avalon and boarded a bus on our way to Muju Mountain. We were spoiled with as much food and drink (non alcoholic at this point) as we'd like. On the bus we drew numbers to see who would be on team A and who would be on team B. I was on team A. We arrived at the mountain around 11am and within 15 minutes of getting off the bus we were directed over to a massive pile of camouflage clothing with a red stripe on some jackets and a blue stripe on the others. After everyone was fully clothed in their camo gear we then realized what we were going to do......PAINTBALL!!! We played 3 games of red team versus blue team and had a blast! After paint ball was finished we took a short break to eat some lunch and were then told that we would be riding 4 wheelers through the mountain! This was the part that I loved! We split into 2 different groups; those who wanted to just ride along and take in the scenery and then those of US who wanted to fly as fast as we could down hills, through water, and around the tracks. I had so much fun that I had to do it again with a second group. After all of this we settled down and everyone was given a huge feast consisting of a whole slow roasted pig, kimchi (of course), side items, beer, and Soju. During dinner we had a karaoke competition amongst the teachers and I luckily won 20,000 Won for my "talent".

Sunday was an unbelievable day as well. Myself and 2 of my friends decided to wake up early around 10am (considering we were exhausted from the day before 10am is early) and head to Seoul for the 2009 Hi Seoul Friendship Festival. I wasn't entirely sure what it was all about but when we arrived we saw it was pretty much like a food and wine festival from countries all around the world. I immediately headed from booth to booth eating whatever I saw. One of my favorite things was a fried potato and pea pie with a spicy sauce from Chile. Of course there was a Mexican booth and I had some awesome tacos. There were different presentations of dances and musicals from all of the countries throughout the day as well. I certainly didn't have the opportunity to take in all of Seoul but the festival was amazing and you can see a lot of what happened in the videos.

I hope you enjoy!!! The 2nd and 3rd video's are a little long but they're worth it :)

A change of pace...

This week has been quite the adventure thus far. I'll begin with this past weekend. A group of friends and I decided to go out Saturday night to a "night club." The reason why I quote nightclub is because this certainly isn't any nightclub that I'm used to back home. Of course this place has "beverages" and music but the experience is like no other. There are tables set up all around the dance floor and we arrived to the establishment around 9pm, which is pretty early. We started requesting the most non Korean songs would could think of. For instance, Labamba, The Macarena, Friends In Low Places, and etc. The reason this club is so different than anything I've seen before is because the DJ controls when people get up and dance and when they're supposed to sit and eat or drink at their table. Music will be playing the entire time but all of a sudden the DJ says something in Korean and EVERYONE gets up from their tables and heads to the dance floor where a large group of Koreans begin to dance to what looks like American 1980's style of dancing. Needless to say, we had a blast!!!

Tuesday was May 5th and if you think along the same line I do, that means Cinco De Mayo. It was a coincidence that we had off of school that day for "Kids Day." Kids Day is basically a day where parents can spoil their children......don't they normally do that anyways? May 5th was not Kids Day to me, it was time to celebrate America's cousin to the south's holiday in Cinco De Mayo. I decided to invite about 15 people over to my little "room" of an apartment and made a huge batch of tacos, seasoned sauteed vegetables, and everyone else brought a dish of their choice. The tacos turned out to be unbelievably amazing and everyone was so happy to finally get some Mexican food here in Korea. Later that night we went to a local bar where my band practices; that's right I said practices. We've had a total of 3 practices as a whole band and decided there was no better time than the present to see how we're progressing. We had about 5 songs under our repertoire and we pulled it off fairly well if I do say so myself! It was another great night had by all!

Wednesday, today, and tomorrow (May 6, 7, and 8th) was an opportunity for me to make a little extra money on the side. Of of the local kindergarten schools needs a substitute for these days because the teacher went on vacation. I volunteered to take it and it was a great choice! The kids I teach are absolutely adorable and I'd rather work with these kids over my spoiled middle school kids any day!!! For some reason little Korean children are absolutely adorable and they all say the funniest things. I was told by the director that she can't believe how well I teach in the class and the way the kids react towards me she says she's never seen it happen so fast before. She also mentioned there may be a permanent spot for the time slot. I just teach there from 10am-12pm and I'd love to pick up those hours full time with my "normal" schedule of 3pm-11pm at Avalon.

Well that's the update so far for this week and I was just informed today that Saturday is a "picnic" for all of the teachers at Avalon but the picnic is being called a Survival Picnic where we'll be playing paint ball and having other games. I'm looking forward to it and I'll have pictures and more to come!!!