Teachers Day

Daw, I got a "skin power solution cleansing moisture cleansing foam special set" from one of my students, Juna for teachers day on Tuesday. I also got a card, a letter, a drink, and some flower clip.

Apparently it's common for students to bring in gifts for their teachers on Teachers Day, which was Wednesday. There wasn't school either so the teachers had the day off. And when I say "day off", what I really mean is there was a interschool volleyball competition against other schools in Mokpo. Regardless, there were no classes to teach so that was kind of nice. The thing is, I really love my kids. I do. I just really don't like to teach them. Individually they're amazing, sweet, thoughtful children. As a group, they are a terror to society. Yep. I said it. It's not true for all classes, but it's true for a lot of them.

So yesterday, for Teachers Day, there was an interschool volleyball competition. Mr. Lee picked me up at 9:30am and we headed to the co-ed high school in Mokpo where the competition was going to be held. So I thought this competition was going to last half a day or something but I ended up leaving around 6pm. A bunch of teachers were there and Tracey was playing for her high school. Sara was there playing for her middle school too! I was there... to take pictures and support my school. :)
It was actually kind of fun. There were some students' mothers there and they had set up a huge picnic like thing in the grass outside the auditorium under the trees. I hung out there eating the food they had prepared (skatefish-the fish that ferments in its own pee, pork, kimchi, almonds, jerky, cherry tomatoes, watermelon). Before 10am even hit, I already had 2 cups of makeoli (rice wine). The teachers kept urging me to drink because they know I can drink. So the competition was an elimination tournament. Once your team loses, you can go home. My school ended up in 2nd place and Tracey's school tied for third. We played her school in the third round. Tracey played Sara's school in the second round. My school lost to Mokpo Vocational High School and they were pretty good. I pretty much got fed on the school's dime the entire day. For lunch, we walked to a nearby restaurant and after we lost in the Finals, we went out for dinner at another restaurant. I was told that we got some cash prize for second place and that was the reason we were going out for dinner, but I think we would've gone out regardless. At dinner, there was one specific teacher who kept telling me "one shot". I was eating and he beckoned me to his table and kept pouring me a full glass and then saying "one shot". I actually did take chug two glasses but on the third one I finally realized he wouldn't stop saying it so I needed to stop doing it. All in all, I will just say that the ahjusshi teachers at my school can drink like sailors. I left around 9pm to meet up with the rest of the Mokpo crew since it was our weekly Wednesday hangouts. It was a pretty long day but fun nonetheless. At dinner with the teachers, I was realizing how much I will miss the teachers at my school. I really do like them and I think they like me too. I think I'm pretty close to them compared to the past ETAs. In fact, I'm going hiking with a few of the ahjusshi teachers tomorrow at 6:30am. As I was taking these "one shoters", one of my favorite third year homeroom ahjusshi teachers told me it was his birthday on Friday and he wanted me to come with him to go trekking. How could I say no? I've built so much 정 with these guys. So, that's my plan for tomorrow. I'm getting up at the crack of dawn to go climb a mountain.
Tomorrow's Buddha's birthday, a national holiday, so the kids get the day off. I guess that explains why my kids were so restless today. They had the day off yesterday and the day off tomorrow so this random day sandwiched between makes them a little crazier than usual. This will be a nice long weekend.

Obsessed with K Pop

So the Damyang Bamboo Festival two weeks ago was a lot better than I expected. I mean, think about it--how good can a festival centered around bamboo actually be? The truth, pretty darn good. There were two parts to it, a bamboo forest (literally felt like I was walking around in the forest in the movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and the festival itself. Now my favorite part of the entire thing was the bamboo ice cream we had. IT WAS SO GOOD. There was like a woody flavor to it. It wasn't particularly sweet but it was delicious. It was so good I got two cones. After we ate it, we even got popingsu. That's how good the ice cream was. Christina and I met up with Em, the Mokpo mentor, and her non-Fulbright friend from Gwangju to walk the bamboo forest together after we ate lunch. Christina and I really wanted to try a place where they cook the rice in bamboo and then give you the bamboo to eat the rice out of. It was actually pretty cool and the rice had a tinge of sweetness to it. 'Twas a good time.

When I got back on Sunday night, I had to get to Tracey's apartment after eating dinner with my host family. Tracey's school festival was on Tuesday and we were going to perform in it. By Sunday night we were still trying to figure out what we wanted to do. Tracey wanted to sing/rap a song that her students would know. We decided on B.O.B./Bruno Mar's "Nothin on You" because apparently Koreans know that song pretty well. Well, about four hours later, we had made a mash up of "Nothin on You" and Lil Mama's "Lip Gloss". Honestly, it was a lot of Tracey with some small input words from me, which worked for me because it meant less work haha. I mean, it is her festival and we were performing for her kids so she should be the star of the show. On Monday, we had to go to the dress rehearsal and ran through our performance on the stage with microphones. It's a lot harder when you perform on stage and with mics. After the dress rehearsal (after everyone else performed and we kicked out the rest of the students in the gym so we didn't have to do it in front of anyone), Tracey and I realized we had a lot to work on so we went bsck to her classroom and practiced again for a few hours. The festival itself started at 5pm on Tuesday so after my classes finished on Tuesday, Tracey and I practiced again. Her kids' performances and the festival itself were awesome. Apparently the high school festival is a much bigger deal than the middle school one too. She didn't have to teach on Tuesday; instead all the homeroom classes had some type of fundraiser like selling food, doing tarot card readings, selling air fresheners, throwing water balloons at someone's face, etc. I walked around her school on Tuesday and kids were just having fun and it was adorable. They aren't even my kids and I thought they were so cute. The festival itself lasted until about 9:30pm so it was a long show. When Tracey and I got onto stage, her kids were screaming for us. It was cute. A lot of my old students were there too; friends of the students from other high schools come to support their friends and a lot of them were my old kids. It went fairly well I'd say. We just had some fun on stage. Afterwards, Tracey and I went to the flower shop and the bakery to pick up carnations and a cake for our host parents since it was Parents Day the next day.

Tracey's school had sports day for the next few days after the festival. Her kids were running around on the field playing various sports and competing against other homerooms. I could hear the screams of fun from the windows when I was teaching. My students were distracted too and wanted to play, I'm sure. Payal also came to Mokpo Wednesday night. She stayed with Tracey on Wednesday night and with my host family on Thursday night before leaving for Busan on Thursday. She said she had a good time in Mokpo and liked it. She had this perception that Mokpo was a small town, like Naju or Hwacheon, but was pleasantly surprised at how big it actually is. It was kind of funny to see her surprised. She met Tracey's kids and my kids too. She came to one of my really bad classes and also sat in for a little bit in one of my really great classes. According to her, our bad classes are very similar. However, my good class is better than her best class, which was interesting to hear.

On Saturday morning, this past Saturday, I headed up to Seoul for my dentist appointment and for the Dream Concert that night. I started my root canal treatment, which is cheaper to get it done in Korea than in America. It took an hour and a half because of some complications. So there are four nerve things in one tooth and the dentist in Korea could only get into three of them. He took an x-ray and apparently the guy who started the root canal back in America had gotten a small piece of the drill suck in one of the nerve things. YEAH. So he had to work around it and since it's impossible to get it out, he just left it in there and filled it in with the temporary filling. I'm going back next Saturday for the next part of the root canal, which is not exactly what I call fun.
Saturday night, a bunch of us got tickets for Dream Concert, which is the biggest K Pop concert of the year pretty much. There were 22 groups there and we got awesome seats. It was Courtney, Monica, Katelyn, Amy Tseng, Annie, Anna, Tracey, and me. We were seated literally next to the stage. I could see the groups right in front of me. I didn't have to look at the screen at all during the concert really because they were so close.

There were times I could see the sweat flying off them as they were dancing too. It was insane how close we were. So I really like Infinite and LOVE Hoya. He's probably the best dancer in the group and he's a singer/rapper in the group. He's amazing. I first learned about him from 응답하라 1997 (my favorite Korean drama) but have come to fully appreciate him. Anyway, I made a sign for him. Yes, I literally made a sign. It said Hoya (obviously) and "You are my favorite singer" in Korean. So long story short, I was trying to get his attention and he didn't notice me during Infinite's performance BUT when they all came back on stage at the end of the concert, I got three waves from him!!! It was pretty much the highlight of my day. I got a bunch of waves from other groups and other members but I just wanted at least one wave from him (and I got three!). In fact, if you go to this youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dG75yiIaHq0) and watch from 0.15 to 0.20seconds, you see Hoya scanning the crowd, nodding, and then waving. HE'S WAVING TO ME. I'M NOT LYING. I was sitting right there and holding my sign up high. I saw him read it, made eye contact, and then I waved to him and he waved back. It made my day. Really. The lineup was: Rainbow, EXO, B1A4*, Huh Gak, Girl's Day*, Boyfriend*, BTOB, U-KISS*, 2AM, Secret, INFINITE*, KARA, ZE:A*, VIXX, EvoL, Speed*, T-ara, 4minute, Sistar, BEAST*, SHINee, Girl's Generation. The names that I put * next to means that members of those groups waved to me. That's how close to the stage we were. It was such a great concert. It's ruined all future concerts for me though because I don't think I can ever sit in the nosebleeds again and enjoy it. I just want to relive it all over again.
I left Seoul early on Sunday morning because it was my host brother's birthday and I wanted to get back to spend the day with the host family. I got back right in time for lunch and then we went to see Iron Man 3 together. Then we did dinner out with the host family. It was a cute celebration; I got my host brother a Messi jersey from Itaewon, which I think he really liked. His favorite team is Barcelona.
Monday morning was such a drag. It sucked to have to come back and teach after such an epic weekend. On top of that, I lost my USB somehow. I taught a class, unplugged it from the computer and put it on the table. I didn't even walk out of the door of the classroom before it somehow disappeared. I don't want to blame the students, especially because the class I lost it in is a good class, but I honestly have no idea where it went. I searched all around the room, and frankly, there's no way it could have gone far. It's a distance of five feet from the computer to the table I put it on. I have no idea where it went. Anyway, the day was just kind of a hot mess.

I keep thinking to myself that everything is coming to an end soon. It's true; it really is. I literally have a little less than 2 months left in Korea. It's an odd feeling. Honestly, I do love Korea. It crept up on me. I didn't fall in love with Korea immediately but it grew on me. Analogy wise, if Korea was a man: it definitely wasn't love at first sight, but after I got to know him, I fell in love with his quirks and the way he was. I didn't even realize I was in love until I realized there was a deadline to the relationship. That's how I feel about Korea at this moment. Sure there are a ton of things I really don't like about Korea but this country is a lovable place. It's changed me and reverse culture shock is going to be really interesting, I'm sure.

The Highs and Lows

Middle School kids. For a middle school teachers, I feel like that phrase in itself is actually a complete thought with emotion behind it. These kids drive me bonkers at times and make my day some days. With a single action, they can affect my mood. I've never felt so bipolar with emotions since middle school. One great class and lesson can make me wish I could renew; the next class go horribly and make me want to count down the days til I go back to America. It's a whirlwind of emotion and it honestly doesn't seem like it will pass until I leave Korea. These kids. The highs are definite highs. The lows are definite lows. A few weeks ago, I had class 3-5, one of my third year girls class. I told them that I was going to leave Korea in July and they told me to stay another year. It actually broke my heart (in a good way). They asked why I was leaving; it was really adorable. I was writing on the board and asked them who was the ETA before me and they said Daniel. Then I asked who was before Daniel and they said Sean. I then asked how long Sean was there; they said one year. I asked how long Daniel was there; they said one year. Then I proceeded to ask how long I would be there (so they would see the pattern); they said one and a half years (because they will graduate if I'm here for half a year longer). I literally clutched my heart, it was so endearing. That same day, I saw my old vice principal (the new high school vice principal) at lunch. He told me to sit next to him. We then proceeded to use broken Korean/English to talk and he expressed to me the school's desire for me to stay another year. He said the school chairman really likes me and Tracey and is hoping that we'll both renew at the school. This too broke my heart. There are honestly some days I think I would be very happy not just renewing, but renewing at my school. However, one of my favorite sayings is, "this too shall pass." I believe that holds true for good events and bad events. That said, the feeling of wanting to renew passes too.

On personal life aside from school, here have been my recent travels:
I went to Daegu on April 19th so I could go to the Cheongdo Bullfighting Festival on the 20th. We joined a tour group which included a visit to an organic market, samgyeopsal lunch, drive to and from the festival, and strawberry picking. Out of all those events, the strawberry picking was by far the best part and made the entire day worth it. The bullfighting festival was kinda cool.

Two bulls get into a ring and they go at it until one of them runs away; the one who runs away is the "loser". Each of the bulls has either a red circle or blue circle painted on his side and spectators can go and place bets on which bull they think will win. Bets can be as low as 100 won (10 cents)--which is how much Tracey bet. >.< I placed a 1,000 won bet ($1) on the blue bull but it lost. Tracey and Maggie placed their bet on the red bull and they won but it wasn't a huge winning; it was a 20% win so Tracey won 20 won (2 cents) from her 100 won bet. Overall, it's the first bullfighting I've ever seen so I'm glad I went. I still must say though, the strawberry picking was the best part of the day though. On Sunday, we shopped around Daegu before we left for our respective cities.
On the 26th, a lot of Fulbrighters came into Mokpo. A lot of them were trying to go to Jindo for the Miracle Sea Parting on Saturday. I met up with them on Friday night to hang out but I wasn't able to go with them to Jindo that Saturday because I had free concert tickets in Seoul. So, on April 27th, I went to Seoul in the morning to make my free Lush concert. I got there in the afternoon to grab some lunch with Lyla and to catch up. Lyla was in the business school with me at Michigan and I didn't realize she was living in Korea until a few days before I met up with her. I saw a picture she had posted on her Facebook about her being on TV and recognized it was a Korean show. I asked and found out that she was living and working in Seoul so we made plans to get together when I went up on Saturday. She's originally from Korea so it wasn't so far fetched that she was living here but last I checked, she was in Spain and trying to find a way to live in New York. She's been back in Korea since last June and wasn't even aware I was living here either. So we grabbed lunch and caught up before my concert. Turns out, she's working in fashion/entertainment now. She told me that she met Song Joong Gi (whom I love) and she kind of killed his image for me because she told me he chain smokes. Anyway, she's trying to get back to New York now. After meeting with her, I headed to the Olympic Stadium where the Lush concert was going to be held; I got a free ticket when I bought a few products from Lush. The lineup was: 딕펑스 (Dickpunks), 더원 (The One) & 몬스터즈 (Monsterz), 에일리 (Ailee), 울랄라세션 (Ooh Lala Session), 백지영 (Baek Ji-Young), and 인피니트 (Infinite). Honestly, I only went for Infinite; I love one of the members, Hoya. It was so worth it. After seeing Infinite, I can understand crazy girl fandom. They were SO good and awesome dancers, especially Hoya. Yep, I'm stoked to see them again in concert at the Dream concert (the concert I'm going to next Saturday). After the concert ended, I rushed to the bus station to grab a late bus back to Mokpo since I didn't want to pay for a place to stay overnight and I was trying to go to the Jindo sea parting the next day.
That Sunday after the Lush concert, on the 28th, I went to Jindo for the Miracle Sea Parting by myself since everyone else had gone the day before. So every year, a few times a year (I think), there's some mysterious force that causes a very low tide between Jindo (one of the biggest islands in Korea) and a neighboring island, Modo. This phenomenon is caused due to the difference in high tides and low tides, which creates a 2.8-kilometer-long road measuring 40 to 60 meters in width. The Jindo Miracle Sea Festival takes place at the same time as this phenomenon. A path from Jindo to Modo LITERALLY appears so people can walk THROUGH the ocean to the island. It's pretty epic. It's like Moses, except we're not as cool. When I was there, it felt like a giant exodus though which was cool. The pictures don't give justice to how many people were actually there.

So low and behold, when I was there, I ran into Robyn, one of my fellow Mokpo crew members. She had gone on Saturday but liked it so much she came again on Sunday but forgot to mention it to me. Anyway, we ended up walking the path together. It was really cool. I got to pick up starfish and met a guy who caught a small crab. I can now say I've walked in the middle of the ocean. While I was walking and taking pictures, all the real Koreans, especially the ahjummas, were digging for clams, oysters, crabs, octopus, seaweed, etc. They were going at it. It was entertaining to see them do it too.

The parting was from 6pm-7pm so we headed back to Mokpo after the festival ended.
This past Thursday and Friday (May 2nd-3rd), my kids were taking their midterms so I didn't have class. I had to go into school that Thursday to insa but left early. Christina came into Mokpo from Gumi and we visited Annie and Sara's school. They teach at an all girls high school and middle school, respectively. I actually saw four of my girls who had graduated last year at Annie's school. I was going up the stairs and I heard, "Ammy teacher!" being yelled. I saw four of my girls running towards me. They were surprised and I was surprised too. They told me that about 25 of my graduated girls from last year now go to Annie's school and she's their new teacher. It was good to see a few of my old students. Seeing Annie and Sara teach was really interesting too because everyone has such a different teaching method. At night, I showed Christina around Mokpo and the fountain area. On Friday, Christina and I headed to Jeonju in the morning for the Jeonju International Film Festival. Lizzie and Katelyn were already in Jeonju so we met up with them to catch a few films.

We watched "My Paparotti" (a Korean film), a few short films in the short film competition, and the closing film, "Wadjda". "My Paparotti" and "Wadjda" were great film; the former is probably one of my new favorite movies but the short films were pretty bad. In particular, the first of the short films was absolutely horrible and disgusting. One of the short films was about 9 minutes long and the theme of this short film was "depth". Within this short film, there were three scenes. The first scene was a guy turning on the camera in a field and then running away from the camera in the field. The third scene had two guys sitting across from one another repeating a sentence back and forth while the camera zooms into the wall behind the table. I leave the second scene description as the last one because it was absolutely disgusting and despicable. It was pretty much a porn scene for 3 minutes. Shot from the angle of a male, it was looking down on a girl as she was giving the guy holding the camera a blow job. Yep, it was graphic and disgusting. Pretty much all the girls in the theatre had their heads down and the guys were watching. It was absolutely disgusting. I never want to watch any short film competitions in film festivals ever again.
Christina and I wanted to do a hanok stay since we figured it'd be a cool experience. We got to walk around the Jeonju hanok village between films and it's a pretty awesome place. There's a lot of culture and it's just very pretty. We stayed in a two-person room hanok that had its own bathroom. It was small but well maintained and pretty nice. Katelyn and Lizzie left that day but Christina and I stayed until Saturday morning (today). We had the famous Jeonju bibimbap for lunch and it was okay. To be honest, I guess I expected something crazy good but it didn't taste like the best bibimbap I've ever had. For dinner we had this famous kalguksu from a place called "Veteran". That place had the best kalguksu I've ever eaten in my life. It wasn't the noodles that were special, it was the broth. It had a bunch of spices and I had no idea what they put in it but I could drink that broth all day. It was delicious.
This morning, Christina and I explored the hanok village a bit more before heading out for Gochang. We checked out the UNESCO World Hertitage Gochang Dolmen sites and the Gochang Fortress.

Gochang is a pretty small town but it was cute. After we finished the fortress visit, Christina headed to Gwangju where she's crowd surfing for the night and I headed back to Mokpo since it was only an hour away from Gochang. Tomorrow, we're meeting up in Gwangju to head over to the Damyang Bamboo Festival. More about that tomorrow!