Beyond that, everything has still been great. The World Cup is sadly over, but I think my coteachers are happy about that fact. The games were playing at 11 pm and 3:30 am and I, of course, was watching them. What they will soon realize is I didn't just stop wearing make-up to school because I was tired from watching the World Cup, I just don't want to put make-up on every morning! haha My cable stopped working about the second week into the World Cup. This was extremely tragic and I immediately called my landlord. Apparently, the school didn't want to pay it anymore, which is fine, I never used it anyway, except for right then to watch the soccer games! My landlord said he would share his cable with me and immediately went out, bought a cable, split his, and connected mine to his! The generosity and kindness in this country is amazing at times!
Lately, I've been trying to motivate myself more to work on the Korean language. I have a hard time with learning other languages and for a while found it very difficult to recognize their letters as sounds. I'm trying to keep motivated and not get discouraged. The office of education use to offer classes, but now with all the extra after school classes there just really isn't any time. It's difficult at the moment as well because everyone is on vacation or working at camps for the summer. I'm hoping when the next semester starts I can really get down to business and into a routine.
There is still a lot more I want to try and learn in this country, but I have now officially experienced the Korean Bathhouse. It was a little weird at first, and I may have been a bit nervous, so Hannah allowed us to go get a drink at the bar across the street first. It really didn't end up being too weird at all. It was just so normal and comfortable to them that I wasn't able to feel uncomfortable. It was nice and relaxing and well we already get stared at everywhere we go, so I guess it wasn't too different : P
I've been on a few trips recently as well. For Hannah's birthday we took her to the Cheongdo Wine Tunnel. It was really interesting to get to and the surrounding hillside was absolutely gorgeous! There were three types of wine made out of Persimmons. Two of them were very sweet and the dry wine wasn't too bad. Definitely got better after the first glass, but it was great fun! After the wine tunnel we went into Daegu where I hear there is great shopping and a lot of places to go out. We went out Saturday night, had some drinks in a bag, pizza in a cup, palyed pool, and met some interesting people, however, still kept it fairly chill. Unfortunately, due to a torrential downpour we were not able to shop. The rain was refreshing though. Warm rain that you can go outside and play in and not freeze your butt off!
The next weekend was spent at Boryeong for the annaul Mudfest. Yup, it is exactly what you think it is. The mud is brought over in trucks to Daecheon Beach and blow up obstacle courses and pools are filled with it! Apparently it is very rich in minerals and used in cosmetics...mud body scrub? Millions of people come for the two weekend event. I went with my friend Vanessa with two buses from Ulsan. The bus ride itself was extremely entertaining. We didn't get in until 5 am and only in Korea would they think to add a Karaoke (noreabang) system on the bus...that poor bus driver! It was quite entertaining to see, but also a very drunken weekend for most. Personally, again, I kept it very chill and had fun walking around, playing in a bit of mud and more extreme rain, and taking it all in. I woke up early both mornings and just walked around. Sunday morning, a friend and I went on a beautiful walk along the entire beach and then along the coastal path gathering shells and rocks along the way (don't worry madre, I did not keep them all. Learned my lesson from bags of rocks and shells we have gotten rid of from my childhood!)
The last trip was my adventure home, back to the states to visit family and friends and go to my best friend from high school's wedding! I won't lie and say I was looking forward to going home. There were certain things I was looking forward to, seeing people and the wedding, but I didn't feel ready to be there. It ended up being an amazing trip back though. I got to see more people than expected, went boating, to a Mariner's game, had a bbq, a day at the spa with my mom and gma, played pool, had good beer, and just enjoyed being in Seattle for a summer for the first time in 5 years! Working in Alaska for the past 5 summers, I forgot how perfect the Seattle summers are. It was an amazing trip home and Kelsey's wedding was senstational! She looked gorgeous, Newcastle was amazing, and I couldn't be happier for her and Scott. It was also great to see some old friends I hadn't seen in a long time...not to mention the reception which was way too much fun, if that's even possible.
I left the day after the wedding to head back to Korea. It's been a bit boring back here thus far. It's summer time and because I had special vacation time for the wedding, I could not be assigned to work at a camp. Unfortunately, I still have to be "working" so have been sitting in a classroom room from 9-5 since Tuesday. I can't even be in my classroom because they are remodeling it and creating an English Center. So far though, it looks absolutely phenomenal!!! I can't wait to see the finished product and hope it gets the kids more excited and interested to learn. The next three weeks I still have to be here from 9-5 but luckily have at least 2 hours of class each day. Next week I will be teaching a parents class with some of my student's parents and the following two weekends I'll be doing an essay class. I'm a bit nervous for the parent's class, but also realize that they signed up for it and genuinely want to be here so it should be fun. I also brought back many more books with me and recently purchased the new Planet Earth series "Life" to watch when I don't have any work. All I have to say though, is thank goodness there is air conditioning at this school! I can't believe how hot and humid it is, definitely not use to it. I walk out of my apartment in the morning and it just hits me; it takes a few seconds to adjust because the air is so thick! Humidity and I....not friends! haha
Well, it is almost time for the weekend and I'm still a bit tired from the jetlag (which I never was fully able to recover from back in the states....way too much to do while I was there). I was supposed to go to Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Calvin Harris, and more this weekend, but unfortuantely there was no way to get there with train tickets sold out and not wanting to pay 60,000 won to fly there. It will be nice to have a relaxed weekend though, and I'm looking forward to seeing Oceans, hanging out with people, reading, going to a waterpark Sunday, and who knows what other random advnetures I can dig up in this country! It's always a surprise!
one last thing: bought my ticket to the Philippines last night! Officially going from Sept. 18-26!
Cheers!
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