Notta

Nothing this week folks, we went out for a bit on the weekend but I didn't bring my camera. Heather got her hair permed at some fancy korean hair place, she was there for four (4!) hours. She wasn't too happy while she was there, but she likes the new do I think. It looks good for sure.

Other than that, we've just been watching the world cup and working. Korea lost their last game, which was a sad day here. We can hear people cheering outside our window, and we know when Korea scores, but you don't hear much when the bad guys win.

Nothing too exciting coming up until mudfest in mid July, (hopefully I'll still have some cash by then) but I'll keep y'all posted on the nothing, at the least

-J

Blackberry Festival

Greetings waygooks. This is your weekly Jason reporting in. Captain's log, you know the drill. So this weekend we paid to go on an 'Adventure Korea' tour, which is a great company that lets whity go all around Korea doing the fun stuff they have here - they've got all kinds of festival / whitewater rafting or kayaking / bunjee jumping or skydiving etc etc. Basically they turn money into fun. So this weekend was a black raspberry harvest festival in Gochang, which was about 3 hours by bus (I think there were 45 or 46 of us in the group) into the southwestern part of Korea.

When we got there we did some raspberry picking, and went on a 2 minute boat ride down and back up a river about 100 feet (a little strange) and later that night there was a festival with free black raspberry wine (delicious, if a little sweet) and music, and then some dancing. The tour guides said it was a costume party, and most of the waygooks dressed up, (Me and the three gals went as two competing kickball teams) but we all arrived amidst about 300 Koreans that were not dressed up. Whatever though, free wine.

There was an eel catching competition that we didn't take part in, and also a walk to a pretty nice buddhist temple, they always look good.

Sunday was really good too, first we went to the beach but it wasn't sunny in the morning, and a lot of people found the water a bit too cold for swimming. Only myself and an older woman from South Africa swam, the water in fact being gorgeous, warmer than it ever gets in the NS.

After that we went to a clam dig, which was a huge open space of beach as the tide goes out, probably about fifteen times the size of Rosebay beach when the tide is out there. Everyone dug for clams (Again we opted out, choosing instead to play some mud soccer-baseball). Afterwards the group played soccer together on a field of mud with real goalposts, (actually only 10 of us chose to play) and it was super fun. We ended up covered in mud and the tour guide was wrestling people in it and chasing the girls getting it on their faces. He was a funny guy. I don't have any pictures of the mud stuff because

I didn't want to bring my camera that day (as I knew I'd be getting down and dirty) but the gals took some photos and when they get on facebook I'll be sure to tag myself if you want to take a look.

The week at school was uninteresting except that all the kids wanted to talk about were the korean soccer matches. We went out friday night and (I think?) Wednesday night to watch the korean games and have a beer, and they drag huge TVs out onto the walking streets and have hundreds of chairs set up. Koreans are yelling and screaming at the TV when things don't go their way. If there is a Korean game on that night, you can bet the kids will have Korean flags and symbols painted on their faces during that day. I had to bribe these girls with candy to get their picture taken, but I'll leave you with a picture of some korean spirit, as well as a picture I took of the food I eat every day. Basically its rice with whatever vegetables and type of Kimchi the woman makes that day. It's usually pretty good and only rarely terrible. That day I think there were potatoes, beansprouts, "mountain weeds" (those are the most delicious thing) and cabbage Kimchi.

- Sorry about the longwinded typing today, lots of love, Jason.

Another week, another obligatory picture of a child being ridiculous.

Here we see Dennis rocking some sweet sunglasses, looking sort of like he's not sure what's going on. I think he was confused that I wanted a picture with him in his sunglasses. He shouldn't have been, he is doing it damnit.

Not a huge week this last one, but we did definitely have some fun. We had a picnic at the local park, called Okgu Park (옥구공원) and climbed the mountain, the first time I had since last fall. Not a huge climb, but it had a nice 'good to be back' vibe to it. Nice sunny day in the park, took a lot of pictures but I'll just put a few up here.

It's world cup time here and the Korean's are mad for their team. Star player Park Ji San (박지산) is a huge hit, and every day the kids want to talk about soccer in class. We went out to see the first match against Mexico and South Africa. One of the American gals here is Mexican, and she was rooting hard for them, but the rest of us wanted ZA to take the win, and keep the good spirit of the games up. Ended up as a tie, but we had a good night. Saturday night Korea played Greece and won, and there were drunken Koreans in Soccer Jersey's crowding the streets. We grabbed a seat at a bar and played drinking games while watching the action. This weekend we're going to some sort of river sport / blackberry festival, should have some good pictures. Until then, enjoy our Korean friend Hannah being very Korean.

First Week Finished

So the first week is through, and it's been pretty good to be back. I have all new classes now, and I got to see all my new kids. I'll miss some of the kids I had before, but all in all I'm happy with my schedule now. I bought a new camera right away, and took some pics of the kids.

For a month we have shortened days, as all the middle school kids do test prep for their public school exams. So, until the beginning of July, I'll be starting every day at 3pm and finish classes no later than 6 30. Happy days.

Thursdays art class with Ruby, Rachael,

Hannah, Ted, Noah and Thomas

Some of the kids are less excited than others to have their pictures taken, but here's Hannah being very pleased with her masterpiece (in the bottom left), and helping me show off the rest of the kid's drawings. The topic? 'At the library.'

Hannah Banana.

Ruby and Andy being their Rockstar selves.

On friday we went out to a club called Slang and got our groove on, and then Saturday was full of Seoul adventuring - A picnic in the park followed by a walk down Cheonyecheon (쳥예쳔) stream, a man made river that cuts through part or the city, with a lot of good things to see along the way, including three or four bands to provide a soundtrack.

The gals enjoying some sun by the Han river.