Children's Day Long Weekend :)

Getting back to school on Friday was hard because I had five classes, plus my teacher's class. I had only one 50 minute break the entire day, which was difficult, but I survived. It was a sad day as well though, because it was my last day with the grade 3's and the grade 6's until June. Now, I'm teaching the grade 4's and grade 5's for the month of May. Jiny was telling the grade 6's in each class we taught that it was my last day and in my favorite grade 6 class with the "winking, heart shaped finger" girls they all ran up to me at the end of the class and gave me great big hugs. I was concerned that one of them might kiss me, so I had to hold my head high.

After school I went for dinner in Bupyeong with Nick, Danielle and Adrianna, but not before I spent money at the Bupyeong underground. We went for Indian and since I hate curry I just ate nan bread and tomato soup that was delicious. After dinner I had a date with Brianna and the girls to go noraebonging. Brianna's parents were in town, so she wanted them to experience noraebong. Then we headed to Rock Bar to catch up with everyone, but Bri and her parents, Mary Anne and I decided we wanted to catch the last trains home, so we took off at midnight.

Saturday was a waste of a day for me. I did absolutely nothing all day Saturday. I got caught up on season 5 of One Tree Hill. I didn't leave my apartment until midnight when I went for a late night run. I managed to find a dry cleaners by my place during that run and I just had to take pictures of this one love motel by my apartment. This is where my parents will stay if they were to come visit me. I guess the Statue of Liberty can be found anywhere, including Korea. Anyways, I didn't mind being at home all day because I got to sleep in, chill out, do laundry and clean. This was my first Saturday since I got here that I had no plans.

Sunday was a different story. I got up early to shower and get ready because I was heading to the lantern festival with some friends. The train ride to Insa-dong took about an hour and a half because we had to transfer twice and Insa-dong isn't that close. We got to Insa-dong around 4:00 p.m. and the festival was crowded with people. We were hoping to make lanterns, but the event was full. Instead we went and grabbed some food and drinks. As soon as we finished eating it started to rain, which was a bummer, but we had come prepared with umbrellas. The Lantern Festival parade didn't start until 7:00 p.m. This festival is in preparation for Buddha's birthday on May 12th, which also happens to be my mom's birthday. Anyways, the floats are all made of the same paper they use to make lanterns, so when you see some of the pictures below you can see how incredible they really are.

We didn't stay for the whole Lantern Festival parade because we had been there most of the day and just wanted to get back to Incheon before it got to late. Plus, we were starting to get hungry again and decided it would be easier and less busy to take the train home before the parade ended. I have included some videos at the end of my blog of some really cool military performance at the pre-Lantern Festival parade.

Today I slept in, but not as late as I could have. The girls and I had planned to go to Mt. Buhansan in Seoul, but Jenn has tonsillitis and the rest of the girls just wanted to relax, so I got hold of Tracy and she said she was going to a park somewhere in Incheon, so I tagged along. Tracy, Holly and I met and headed out to Incheon Grand Park on the bus. Now, I knew for sure that the bus #16 would get us to Incheon Grand Park, I just had no idea it would take 90 minutes to do that. We were getting worried through most of the trip that we would end up back where we started because it was taking so long, but we got there. During our bus ride we had an old man stare at us until his stop, I took a picture of a hemorrhoids ad on the bus, we found the New Zealander bar, and we saw places we never knew existed.

I apologized a million times for taking the girls on a wild goose chase to the Park, but I did get us there in the end. Holly and Tracy thought it was actually hilarious and a lot of fun that we were on the bus for so long. Tracy called it 'Survivor' because it was basically, who can last the longest on the bus. We definitely snagged that prize. When we finally got to the Park we only had about 20 minutes to walk around before we had to head to meet a friend of Holly's for dinner by the Incheon Bus Terminal. It was kind of a blessing in disguise because the park was packed with parents and their children for Children's Day.

It was crappy that we didn't have more time at the park after we took a bus all that way and considering the sun was shining beautifully, but we had dinner plans, so we had to keep them. Tracy and I decided that since summer is fast approaching and it will be hotter than hot out we will go back to the Incheon Grand Park and bring a picnic, frisbees, kites, etc. There were so many kids at the park it reminded me of the end of Mary Poppins when they sing "Let's Go Fly A Kite" and every one is flying a kite.

Holly told us that if we take bus #103 we will go straight to the Incheon Bus Terminal. Tracy and I believed her and I was in no position to argue after the ridiculous bus ride I made us take to the park. We all got on the #103 and were felling pretty good about it because we recognized a lot of places we passed. Well, our bus bad luck started again with the #103 ahead of us getting in a car accident, so its passengers got put on our bus. Then about 10 minutes down the road our bus slammed on his breaks so hard that an older lady standing got thrown backwards (both feet leaving the ground) and landed on a girl's lap. I got jerked forward and my back started killing me after that and quite a few people screamed bloody murder. Then the bus driver gets off the bus, takes a picture of something and gets back on and doesn't say anything to anyone about what just happened. We wouldn't of understood anyways, but we could have attempted to ask people around us. In case I haven't mentioned in previous blogs the buses in Korea I have named as 'Death on Wheels.' Eventually, the bus started to drift in a direction Holly was unfamiliar with, so since we were already late meeting her friend she decides we should get off the bus and take a cab. This is a picture of Tracy (sunglasses) and Holly on the bus pretending they are doing ok.We get off on this sketchy side street, but we managed to catch a cab and make it to the Bus Terminal only 45 minutes late. We felt awful for leaving Holly's friend hanging, but the bus route was unexpected. Tracy vowed to never take another bus again, but she got on one after dinner to go home. Needless to say after our day from hell, which will go down in the record books we did have a blast and I made it home in one piece. It is now bed time because I have to return to school tomorrow for the start of another new school week.