First, Busan! I went to Busan for the Fireworks Festival! I feel like it is one of the most popular festivals in this land of festivals. Seriously, Korea has festivals for EVERYTHING - sand, kimchi, ice, fire, butterflies, ceramics, fireflies, mud, and the list goes on and on! Kinda ridiculous, but it also gives options for the people living in Korea. Anyway, the fireworks festival was AMAZING! The best fireworks show I've ever seen. So amazing! Before the festival, I wanted to go to the largest temple in Busan, but Jarrod said his friend had told him about one that is by the ocean, so we opted for that one instead. What a good choice! It was beautiful!
Next, Halloween! For Halloween, I was planning on dressing up as an ajumma, an old Korean woman, but not quite a grandma. Then, I wanted to be a cat because it's an easy costume. Then I decided it was too difficult to do the cat makeup, so I settled on being a nerd. Such an easy costume. I wore a version of my costume to school, with two pig tails. The kids loved it. They would come up to me and say, "You are cute! I mean, you are cutie." My co-teacher later told me that she thought that I was just following some sort of trend. hahah Then, on Saturday, a friend had a Halloween party/potluck at her place. There was also a mini-Halloween costume contest in which I, along with a friend, won for best couple's costume. We didn't plan on coordinating costumes, but we just so happened to both be nerds. He was a scary, joker-like nerd, and I was a traditional nerd with suspenders and tape on my glasses. Nonetheless, we won by default due to the lack of couple's costumes. Afterwards, we went barhopping downtown. The usual. Twas fun!
This past weekend, Ann and I went to the Chrysanthemum Festival in Hampyeong, which is just a half hour bus ride from Gwangju. At first, we saw no chrysanthemums, just a bunch of cacti. A LOT of cacti. We were beginning to think we were at the wrong festival! After the cacti, we saw fish, butterflies, beetles, and other various insects that were creeping me out! Eventually, we found our way to some gorgeous chrysanthemums, which were emblazoned with butterflies and bees. What a joy.
Last Friday, my friends' band, Deserts, was having a show at Speakeasy. This was their first show since the drummer, Brian, returned. He and his girlfriend had gone traveling around Asia because their teaching contracts had ended and they didn't renew, much to their dismay. After their trips, they came back to Korea and the boys decided to have a mini-tour around Korea. That show was the best show I had seen them play. I missed seeing Brian on the drums. He's such a passionate musician. It was a fun show!
Then on Saturday, a few friends and I went to watch the movie, Red, with Bruce Willis. It was pretty good! I enjoyed it, but then again, I'm not much of a movie critic. I like everything! Even if it's bad! Oh, this was the night after the Chrysanthemum Festival. My brain is all types of disorganized.
Wednesday is when I have to teach the worst class in the history of this school. I didn't teach from the book; I planned my own "fun" lesson - listening to a song, filling in the blanks, circle the correct word, etc. The students usually like to do this because they get to hear a song and not a teacher talking. I tried to do this lesson with the class, but NO ONE was listening. NO. ONE. I restarted the song several times, but still, no one was paying attention. I stopped the song and said, "OK, no one is listening, so no lesson today. You will write sentences for the entire class." I got some, "Sorry teacher! One more chance!" Nope, sorry, turn your paper over. I asked them, "What color is this paper?" "White. " "Good, when you are done writing sentences, it will be black." I had them write standards for the rest of the class, about half an hour. Some of them "finished", I told them there was too much white space and to write between the already written sentences. If they wrote in pencil, I erased it and told them to do it again. They're a horrible class. I'll just have to see if they pay attention in the next class.
Oh, and today is Pepero Day in Korea. Pepero is basically an imitation of Pocky. It's still just as delicous! Pepero Day was created by Pepero, and it's so smart! For Pepero Day, they have special merchandise, like Pepero pillows, Pepero gift baskets/bags, giant-sized pepero. It's kinda ridiculous, but I love it! I love pepero! I've gotten a few gifts today, a couple from the students who have to sneak it to me because they're not allowed to bring it to school or something..? I'm not sure, but I had a student write me a note along with a box of pepero. It's only 2 sentences of English and the rest is Korean. So cute though! Pepero Day...there should be a Pocky Day in America. November 11 - 11/11. Next year will be EXTREME Pepero Day! 11/11/11.
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