Sorry for the long delay!!!!

Ok, so it's been almost a month now since I have updated the blog and I certainly appologize to all. A lot has taken place in the past month and I'll update you with two good weekends I've had. About 3 weeks ago I was asked to join a group of teachers at an English camp for the weekend. I was told it would consist of camping, playing games with kids, and just relaxing in the mountains. I would be paid 120,000 won for the weekend and it's all paid for.....WHY WOULDN'T I!!! The area we went to was absolutely gorgeous. It was situated deep in a mountain right next to a mountain stream/river. It was a pretty rainy weekend that weekend so the river was really flowing. The kids were so much fun and really enjoyed having me as their "teacher." I put that in quotes because we didn't really teach anything at all. We just played a lot of games and had different activities for the kids to practice their English. All in all it was a great weekend spent in an amazing place with a lot of really fun kids.

This past weekend I decided to join about 20 of my friends here in Jeonju to a trip to Busan. Busan is the 2nd biggest city in South Korea and it lies on the East coast of South Korea. We went to the beach area of Busan and had a blast. Since being overe here there has been a certain part of home that's been missing and it's been the beach and the night life that surrounds the beach. Busan is gorgeous and so much fun! I actually went to a restaurant that was primarily focused on Mexican food! I couldn't believe it and ate my heart out. The craziest thing about the beaches here are the Korean people do not wear bathing suits! They wear full clothing on the beach. Meaning, they'll go swimming in jeans and a t-shirt! IF they wear a bathing suit they will have pants on over top of it for some reason and you'll barely EVER find a woman in a bikini. They really hate getting sun and want to stay as covered as possible. I'll try to get some pictures of it next time I'm out there. If I do decide to do another year here in Korea it will 100%, without a doubt, be in Busan!!! I'll be going there for my mini vacation from work at the end of July so hopefully I'll have more pictures for you all then!

More to come and I promise to keep this updated more frequently than every 4 weeks! Hope all is well with everyone and I miss you all :)

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!!!

Jirisan Mountain

I've been through 2-a-days football practice in 98 degree weather in 15 pounds of pads; I've been through an ACL reconstructive surgery and 6 months of rehabilitation; and I've had to be at work at 8am after a seriously long and horrible hangover but nothing, and I mean NOTHING was as challenging and difficult as climbing Jirisan Mountain. This weekend was supposed to consist of a ferrie trip, a sunny beach island, and beer with about 16 people. Those plans were changed when the weather decided to turn crappy on us and the ferrie was canceled. 7 of us decided to take our adventure to another climate and adventure. The weather was cool and I'm certainly glad I brought a thick UnderArmour (thank you Carl and Tessa), a sweat shirt, long johns, and sweat pants for the hike. It was kind of funny because almost every Korean I passed on the mountain they told me my running shoes were no good for the mountain and at times as I'm slipping off of some rocks, I believed them. Next time, IF there's a next time I'll make sure to get a pair of hiking boots. Ok so back to the struggle. My knees are horrible, have been since high school. My back is horrible, has been since high school and pulling it 4 days prior to climbing doesn't help the situation in the least. There were a couple of times on my hike up that I wanted to quit and turn around but I haven't quit anything in my life and I wasn't about to start now!

A bit about the positives of the trip. Jirisan is the tallest mountain in all of Korea. It was really cool being at the bottom of the mountain and looking at the peak of which our destination was the goal. As I mentioned it was a cool day in general and the bottom was comfortable. As we started to climb obviously things started to heat up. The sweat shirt had to come off but as we continued climbing the temperature dropped drastically so the sweat shirt came back on with the addition of gloves and a beany cap. The views were AWESOME! Being able to see everything completely covered in snow from one perspective and looking back to see greenery and waterfalls was breathtaking. I hope the pictuers and video can do some sort of justice so enjoy!

Video's go from top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right in order. SORRY FOR THE CUSSING! It's pretty funny now watching them seeing the progession of my "Get me off this moutainess"

Little Drummer Boy...

So it looks like a few of my friends and I are going to attempt to start a band here in Korea. There is a drum set at one of the local bars and they have open mic nights on Tuesdays. Andy, the lead guitarist and lead singer has been playing guitar for many years and was in a duet with another guy playing folk music but Andy has decided he wants to venture out into the rock world and asked me if I'd like to be the drummer. He has a friend who plays rhythm guitar and I know a kid who plays bass so we're going to ATTEMPT to get something together. We have our first "practice" this Tuesday so a better update will come soon there after!

Taco's in Korea?????

That's right! Yes, thankfully for the care package from my aunt and uncle with taco seasoning I have finally had my fix of Mexican food. I wasn't sure where to get tortillas from but I came across a little shop that had a few foreign foods and tortillas was one of them. I usually cook all of my meals here in my apartment as I had been doing back home in Tampa. One reason for this is I know exactly what I'm eating and the other is because it's not Korean food. I mean I like a good amount of Korean food but I can only handle so much at a time. The picture I have for this weekend was at one of my friends birthday parties and I decided to show an old bar tending trick I used to do back in the day. I wound up doing it 3 times that night because a lot of people had never actually seen fire being blown before.....warning!!! Don't drink Bacardi 151....if it's flammable, imagine what it does to your insides!

Almost threw up!!!

Ok, so today at work one of the Korean teachers brought his lunch to work. He asked me to come into the teachers lounge with him and asked me to try something. I thought it was really nice of him until I saw what he wanted me to eat. Now, I've seen this "food" on corner vendors but never really knew what it was until today. I always thought they looked like little bugs but I was always told "nahhhhh they're not bugs" by fellow foreigners. Well jokes on you Nathan! I had a good feeling I was going to regret biting into this thing but when someone offers you something in Korean it's an insult not to accept it. With a smile and hesitation I threw back the beetle and started to chew. Yup, it tasted exactly as I had expected; like a salty bug. I guess if I was lost in the Korean wilderness and had to survive off of these things then I could pull it off but outside of that I think I'd starve myself. I chewed the first one and told him it was good so like a true gentleman he offered up another one......great. I threw this one in and just swallowed it with a slight gag to follow. Come to find out the bug is pronounced phonetically as Beon-de-ki which is basically a silkworm larvae!!! Mmmmmmmm, boy do I love Korean food!!