Seoul Will Be The Death Of Me...

Since Friday was such a late night or early morning I ended up sleeping until 4:00 in the afternoon. I pretty much wasted away my Saturday, which ended up working in my favour because I got to catch up on a few blogs, download pictures to my computer, do some much needed laundry and clean the dishes. I also figured I deserved a delicious breakfast, so I made bacon and eggs with toast. I also talked to Alison about our plans for the evening because we were heading into Hongdae together. It was Alison's second last weekend in Korea before she heads home, so she wanted to make sure she got to Hongdae for some partying. Once we finished talking I had a shower and got myself dressed and ready for the night out and met up with Alison for dinner around 8:30 p.m. We ate in Yeonsu-gu just down the street from our apartments where we can eat for less than $5 each. After dinner we caught the bus to Yeonsu-dong abdout 15 minutes away where we needed to catch the bus to Seoul. We decided to grab some drinks for the road and go pee because the bus ride is about an hour depending on traffic. We managed to catch the bus right away, which was nice, but on the way to Seoul it decided to start raining and neither of us had an umbrella or a sweater. You'd think we would be smart enough to remember an umbrella when it's monsoon season, but the daytime was so nice, so we figured we'd get lucky and it wouldn't rain. We got to Hongdae just before 11:00 p.m. and the rain had not let up. We contemplated buying a cheap umbrella we could share for the night, but the cheapest we found was $9, which is a rip-off when you can buy umbrella's for $3, so we sucked it up and got wet instead.

Our first stop in Hongdae was the Rocky Mountain Tavern because my friend Rudy was having a pre-Mud Fest Shindig to get us all prepared for the Mud Festival in two weeks time. Rudy invented a shot with the bartenders and so Alison and I both tried it out. It was sweet which was nice, but I couldn't taste the alcohol in it. I opted for a night of vodka orange juice, because I could use my vitamin C and it just tastes good. Alison introduced me to some of her girlfriends she knows that live in Seoul, so it was nice to have more people around for the night. Once we got bored at RMT we headed over to FF, which wanted to charge us 15,000 won a person to get in and one free drink ticket. Alison told them it was too much especially since there was only 10 minutes of free drinks left. She ended up bartering with them to let us in for 5,000 won each and it eventually worked. They let us for 30,000 won and they still gave us a free drink ticket, plus we got to have a few free drinks before the midnight mark hit. This is a picture of me with the new girls I met and Alison. I believe the girl on the left is Hannah, Gabrielle, Me and Alison in the front.

We didn't end up staying at FF for very long because it was crowded, smoky and the live bands weren't very good. Plus, it was so loud from the bands playing so after about 20 minutes we took off and I went back to RMT to see Rudy and some other friends and then I went for a walk with two of my friends Zach and Rob because they needed to get out RMT for a bit. We walked to the park in Hongdae, which consisted of two swings and a slide with graffiti on it. I decided to go on the swing, which was wet from the rain and then to top it off I slid down the soaking wet slide with a puddle at the bottom, which I stood up to miss sliding into. The walk was nice and it gave us a break from a crowded bar of people. I ended up catching up with Lisa and Lindsay in Hongdae on the way back from the walk, so I took off with them and we headed to a really awesome bar that played great music. The bar was very empty, but it was fun because the music was so good as was the orange juice and vodkas. I ended up leaving Lisa and Lindsay after about an hour or so to go find Alison. I kept calling Alison and she wasn't replying, so I just hung out with Rudy, Zach, Rob, Jake and others for the night until I could get a hold of Alison. We just went to a bar down the street from RMT and when I finally got hold of Alison her phone died, so we pretty much ended up losing each other and not going home together like we had planned. I was just really glad we both had a group of friends to leave with. The bar we were at played good music as well, but when they start playing the same songs twice in one night you know you have stayed to long. We ended up leaving the club around 5:00 a.m. and then we still weren't ready to go to bed, so we all decided to just get a love motel for the night/morning and we would leave when we were ready. I didn't end up leaving Seoul until after 4:00 p.m., so by the time I got home it was after 6:00 p.m.

After yet another late night out I came straight home and crashed. I was in bed by 7:00 p.m. and didn't wake up until I had to get ready for school this morning.

Take Me Out To The Ball Game and Bupyeong!!

Friday's at school are always one of my bigger days. I usually have at least five classes plus my teacher's class. Even though I had five classes to teach the day seemed to go by rather fast. It may just be me, but I've been doing a lot better here in Korea and I've really started enjoying teaching because I'm starting to get the full 40 minutes of teaching time, which makes the time go by way faster. I don't know if you remember way back when on my blogs when I was writing about how much I hated teaching the grade 4's because of the English co-teacher, well ever since she gave me full control of the grade 4 classes she's really grown on me and become less annoying. I never hated teaching the grade 5's, but they aren't as fun as the grade 3 or 6's. However, I really like the old English co-teacher who is back from maternity leave. She is really good at her job and the English classes have become more enjoyable. Once I was done teaching my regular classes, which didn't end until 2:40 p.m. I had 20 minutes before my teacher's class. Well, at 3:00 p.m. Jiny informs me that the teacher's class has been postponed for yet another time to this coming Tuesday. That was just fine by me. I needed a break from teaching for the day.

After school I headed home and got showered and changed to meet up with Nicole to head to my very first Incheon Wyverns baseball game. Nicole managed to get 20 'FREE' tickets to their games this pst weekend and she gave me one of them. I was super excited because we all know baseball is my favorite sport, so being able to actually go to a live game after so long I was ecstatic. We were late getting to the game, which seems to happen when Nicole and I travel together. However, we weren't too concerned about it because the tickets were free and basbeall games go rather long. We just felt bad for the friends that were waiting for us. Left: A picture of the baseball stadium. Right: This banner cracked me up, so I had to take a picture. Fan First! Happy Baseball! Oh Korea, how you make me laugh. Even though we were late we only missed a bit of the firt inning. The stadium was really nice and although there weren't a ton of fans, there were wnough for it to be a great baseball game. They had everything you would find at a Western ball park. They had a guy selling beers, mascots, cheers, snack shops, souvenir shops, a smoking section and they even had cheerleaders and this being Korea and all, why wouldn't they?!?! Left: One of the mascots who was a dancing machine. Right: Nicole and I excited to be at the baseball game.

There was actually a lot of pretty cool stuff that went on at the baseball game. The cheerleaders were very entertaining and they always threw free stuff into the crowd. There was a guy that conducted the fans in cheering/chanting. He wore a Wyverns baseball uniform, white gloves and had a whistle. He was pretty intense, but entertaining nonetheless. It was a lot of fun being there with a bunch of friends as well. In fact, it was Nick's first baseball game ever. He's not a big fan, but I assured him it was still exciting to watch and way better live than on TV as most sports are. A couple of others were baseball game virgins as well, so it was a big Friday night at the ball park. Not only was exciting stuff happening during the game, but there were so damn adorable kids at the game as well. I took a picture of these adorable kids sitting in the rows in front of us. Beware of Cuteness!Ok, so I couldn't resist putting up these pictures I took of some signs that were at the game. Left: The sign for the women's washroom. Below: The sign for the men's washroom. Right: Just a random hilarious sign inside the satdium.

So, the Incheon Wyverns won the game 9-7 and they are one of the best teams in the league, so that was exciting. After the baseball game I was undecided about whether or not I wanted to go home or stay out. The baseball game ended up lasting longer than expected. In fact, the game lasted 3 hours. Fine by me since I love baseball, but not so fun if you don't. I ended up decided to hang out with Nicole in Bupyeong where we would meet up with some other friends, Lindsay and May. It was May's birthday and Friday was first time meeting her. She is a beautiful Phillipino girl who is married to a Korean man. Anyways, Lindsay and May were just finishing dinner, so we decided to head to Dizzy's for some drinks afterwards since it was right across the street. This is where our friend Lisa ended up joining us. I enjoyed a delicious cocktail called, Angels Tears. Plus, we got to enjoy a bar show. The bartenders did tricks with drinks and fire, etc. We ended up staying at Dizzy's longer than expected, so when we finally decided to leave we wandered the streets of Bupyeong for a bit before we decided to live life dangerously and go to a nightclub. What's so dangerous about that you say?? Well, unlike Western style nightclubs in Korea they have a thing called bookings. This is where the people that work at the nightclub drag random girls into private rooms or to tables full of guys and the guys buy the girls drinks. We paid 50,000 ($50) for all five us to get into the club. This cost includes our own table, a beer each and a fruit platter. It's really not that bad of a deal for the money. The DJ was actually really good, which meant the music was good too. Lisa, who is Korean and May both got booked, but they didn't want to be, so they pretended they didn't speak Korean and wouldn't go without Nicole, Lindsay and I. he workers pretty much drag the girls to the bookings with such force it's hard for the girls to fight them off.

Once we were done with the nightclub we wandered the streets and Nicole played a soccer machine on the street, which attracted a crowd of Koreans who were very impressed with her strength and soccer ball kicking ability. In fact, a group of guys came over to us and wanted to get their pictures taken. They were nervous about it, but it was fun and were nice about it. You get use to be stared at and asked to be in pictures after a while. It's like being a celebrity, but without the money and the perks...hahaha! By the time we were done with all the pictures being taken of us we decided what to do next. Lindsay, May and I headed home to Yeonsu together in a cab and Lisa and Nicole stayed out in Bupyeong. By the time I got home it was after 4:00 a.m. Needless to say I had a pretty crazy week and Friday was icing on the cake.

Soccer Game and Final Taekwondo Class!

Wednesday brought a very slow day at school. There were no classes because it was test day at every elementary school in Korea, so that meant I got to come to school and sit in the office all day with nothing to do. Jiny decided to take a vacation day on Wednesday, so I literally was by myself all day. As I was wandering the halls I came across quite the sight on the stairwell up to the 6th grade ofice. I noticed a broken bottle of glue on the floor. The bottle was in two pieces and there was a huge spill on the floor. I decided this deserved to be documented, so I ran to the office grabbed my camera and took a picture.

I talked to Mrs. Kim during lunch to see what time the teacher's got to go home and she said 2:00 p.m. However, going home at 2:00 usually means going to a movie or for a hike or something with the co-teachers. I told Mrs. Kim I was tired and would rather just go home and sleep and she said that was fine. Instead I decided to head over to the gym after school and get a work-out in before I had to meet up with Nicole for dinner before the soccer game. When I finished at the gym I headed home and took a shower and got ready and then met Nicole at 6:00 p.m. for dinner. We decided to eat in our hood for once because everyone always wants to eat in their hood. It took us about 20 minutes to decide where to eat. We finally decided on some shabu shabu from a restaurant a block away from my house. Dinner took us longer than expected, which we should have known would happen when we opted for shabu shabu. It usually takes over an hour to make/eat the stuff. We decided to also have a bottle of soju at dinner, which left us both feeling a little bit tipsy. Since were way later leaving dinner than we wanted to be we decided to just catch a cab to Munhak Stadium. We definitely got to the game later than Nicole wanted to be there, but we made it nonetheless. We were meeting a ton of friends there, so we kind of felt bad for being late, but shit happens. This was my third or fourth Incheon United soccer game and every game I've been to they either lose or tie, so I was bracing myself for defeat. Left: A view of the field. Center: Alexis, Shana and Beth enjoy the game while drinking some Hite. Right: Nick and I enjoying the game and our beers.

The soccer games are always a good time because we sit in the Inchen United supporters section, which is always the most upbeat and fun. Plus, they always sing amazing chants and wave flags and it's such a blast. During a break in the soccer game a bunch of kids came on the sidelines of the field were doing jump rope. Not just any jump rope, but a routine and they were so insanely good at doing jump rope in ways that I could only imagine. I decided to take a video of them doing the jump rope, but it is taped off the jumbo TV screen, so I could see it better. I have post the video below for your viewing pleasure at a later date.

Quite a few beers were enjoyed at the soccer game and the best part of the game was that Incheon United won. I got to see my first Incheon United win and it was pretty sweet. The goal was amazing in itself, so that made the game worth it as well. As we were leaving the game a fight was breaking out on the stairway outside the stadium, I took a picture of the crowd of people at the top of the staircase, notice the anger in their eyes...that could have just been because I took a picture.

Nick decided to teach Nicole and I how to shotgun a beer. It was pretty intense and made you burp a lot, but it was fun nonetheless. On our way to the train station to head back to Yeonsu for some drinks Nicole and I decided we wanted to see if we could get free shots of soju bought for us, so Nicole asked Nick to start doing the soccer chant and then all this Korean people invited us into the tent to eat and drink with them. I was at a table with two old men by myself and Nicole and Nick were at the table beside me. The men I was sitting with bought a bottle of soju to share with me and I did about 4-5 shots before I had enough. That shit is sick when it's not mixed with anything. When we had finally had enough we thanked everyone and headed back to Yeonsu on the train. We decided to walk to Mad Max (a new bar in Yeonsu) from the train station, it's about a 10-15 minute walk. Along the way the three of us decided to go running through a fountain. All of the Koreans in the park thought we were just ridiculous, but most of them laughed at us and our foolishness. It was hot out, so we needed some cooling off, the fountain was there, so we ran through it.

Nick decided to ditch out on coming to Mad Max and just went home, but Nicole and I weren't ready to call it a night yet, so we headed in for some beers. They serve many Western kinds of beer, so I got to enjoy some MGD's, but I didn't realize it would end up costing me $12 for two beers. Anyways, Nicole and I kept reqesting Big Bang and Wondergirl songs all night at Mad Max and the Koreans loved listening to us sing and dance. Chris, Damien and Shannon ended up meeting us at Mad Max when they were finished bowling and we hung out there until about 3:00 a.m. when we all decided we were too tired to continue the night. I got to bed around 3: 15 a.m., so you can imagine what waking up Thursday felt like :)

Ok, so waking up Thursday was pure torture, I only got 4 hours of sleep and was beyond exhausted. I also had 5 classes to teach that day, so I wasn't looking forward to this day at all. Jiny could tell I looked tired and when she asked me why I just said I had a restless sleep and she assumed it was because I was homesick, yeah ok sure. Like I was going to tell her I was hungover. Turns out I only had 4 classes because Jiny accidentally put the same class down twice. Usually, when I'm super tired it doesn't hit me until the afternoon when I'm sitting in the office going crazy. However, I got to leave school at 3:00 p.m. today because there was a meeting at another elementary school regarding a summer camp happening at the end of July. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and then we got to take off. Since it was at Nick's school and Tracy and I were there for the meeting the three of us decided to go and grab some dinner at a restaurant by Nick and Tracy's. On the way to the restaurant we spotted a construction working in the middle of the road doing some work in the sewer. Construction workers aren't nearly as safe in Korea as they are back home. Notice in the picture how the only thing protecting him is the hard hat he is wearing and it isn't even strapped on.

We enjoyed our dinner and then afterwards we headed over to Tracy's to hang out and then I left for my last day of taekwondo. I was excited because it was getting harder and harder for me to enjoy going to taekwondo because it was so far for me to go. We only did taekwondo for about 40 minutes and then we had a mini presentation where we each recieved green belts, which was so exciting. Left: Me receiving my beautiful green belt in taekwondo...I know you are all jealous. Right: This is the entire taekwondo foreigners group.After the presentation we all headed out for dinner together at a Korean restaurant where we enjoyed samgipsal (not sure about the spelling) and each other's company. The dinner was paid for by the Foreigners Talk House, which is who we did the taekwondo through, so that was really special. After dinner a bunch of people decided to go for drinks at Rock Bar, but others opted to head home. I chose to go home, so Jenn, Ian and I headed back to Yeonsu together. I didn't get home until after 10:30 p.m. and I was already so exhausted from late night Wednesday, so I washed up and went straight to bed. I had noticed when I was hanging out with Nick and Tracy earlier that my feet were really swollen. I was kind of freaking out about it because they were at least double their normal size. Nick and Tracy assured me they were fine and it was probably do to the heat and standing on them all day to teach. I showed my friends and taekwondo and they noticed the swelling, so I as even more concerned. When I got home from the taekwondo dinner I decided to take a picture to see just how bad they were. I've posted it below so you can see as well. Try and find my ankle bones...I bet you can't. I think I will ask Mrs. Kim or Jiny to take me to the doctor this coming week to have them looked at if the swelling continues.

Last, But Not The Least: Grade 3 English Speech Contest

Ok, so Tuesday was the last of the English Speech Contest taking place at my school. I was quite excited because it was finally the grade 3's turn and they are my favorite grade. I had two classes first and second period and then I had the Speech Contest. One of the grade 3 teachers was the MC and myself, Mrs. Kim and two other grade 3 teachers were the judges. The principal made his speech at the beginning of the contest like he did for the other three grades. I found this to be the most boring part because I didn't understand a word he was saying. Once he finished giving his 10-15 minute speech the grade 3's sang a warm-up song. They sang the alphabet song, which is a good song for learning teh ABC's, but parts of it go a bit fast. Here is a video I took of them singing the song.

Once they finished singing the warm-up song Mrs. Kim and I had to explain the criteria of how they were being judged to them. I said it in English and Mrs. Kim translated it to Korean for them. The speeches were actually really good, of course some were better than others. My favorite speech was by far Tae Ho and his partner. Tae Ho speaks remarkably good English and he wrote the entire speech himself completely flawless. He wrote on the subject of poverty in Africa. The speech was so well written and spoken I couldn't believe my ears. Tae Ho was alot stornger than his partner, but he deserved to win the most out of all the rest of the groups. It was my job to ask each participant two interview questions. I asked Tae Ho's group why they chose this topic and here is roughly the answer he gave me (remember he is the third grade): "I brought in this magazine of which I was reading when I stumbled upon an article about poverty in Africa. The article really touched me and I wanted to make a difference in poor peoples lives, so I decided to write a speech on the topic." UM, WOW, I literally stood there with my jaw dropped for like a minute before I asked the group my second question, which was, why did you choose Africa. Again, Tae Ho takes control and blows me out of the water. Keep in mind he doesn't know what questions I'm asking ahead of time, so he came up with his responses on the spot and he didn't even hesitate while giving his answers. I was so blown away by his answers I had to declare his group winners just for his amazing answers and spoken in clear English. Since I'm suppose to get responses from both partners and Tae Ho's partner didn't respond Mrs. Kim asked me to ask him an interview question on his own at the end of the contest. This poor kid gets dragged up on the stage by himself to answer the one interview question I have for him. My question was, besides Korea, what other country would you like to visit. It literally took this kid 5 minutes to come with an answer to such a simple question. He could have said any country and I wouldn't have cared I just need a response. Finally, after much hesitation he said Africa. I was going to ask him why, but I didn't have all afternoon.

Once the English Speech Contest had finished I had to teach my last class of the day, which was with the grade 4's. I was late for the class because the Speech Contest ran a little late. I was glad that the grade 4 English co-teacher was finally letting me teach the classes all by myself. Once I finished teaching for the day I just chilled in my office and watched some TV and made a presentation for my grade 5 lesson next week.

When I was leaving school I decided to take a picture of the new paint job out school playground equipment got. The painters were in on Tuesday painting some posts and the playground equipment, so now it looks far more kid friendly and like a playground you would want your kids to play in.

After school was finished I headed over to Tracy's to hang out before I headed to my second last taekwondo class. After taekwondo since we had no classes on Wednesday a bunch of us decided to head over to Rock Bar for a few drinks and laughs. Rock Bar is a pretty dirty bar, but they serve $1 pints of beer, so it is the place to hang out. Most people hung out until about 10:30-11:00 and then they all headed home. I was determined to stay out late because I didn't have to teach on Wednesday, but the tired bug hit me around 11:30, so I decided to ditch out and catch the last train home.

Dentist

It has been far too long since I have last blogged and for that I am sorry. This has been a very busy week for me. This is my first chance I've been able to sit down and blog since Monday. After school on Monday I had an appointment at the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. This was my first time getting my teeth cleaned in Korea and in over a year. I was told by some friends that this one dentist office in Yeonsu called, More Dental, had an English speaking dentist and they had all been there before. I decided to check him out and I just really wanted my teeth cleaned. The office was actually quite nice inside and was two floors. I was directed to go upstairs because that is where the English speaking dentist worked. Turns out the hygenist who ws going to clean my teeth also spoke English. She brought me into one of the cleaning rooms and the dentist joined us. He looked at my teeth before she cleaned them. Normally, back home the dentist checks your teeth after they get cleaned. Anyways, he asked me a couple of questions an it turns out he lives right across the street from where I teach in new Song-do. He also proceeded to tell me that my back two molers on all fours sides of my mouth were decaying :( I was a little bit worried and my heart started racing because I've always had clean, nice teeth. No one wants to hear that their teeth are decaying and they have they get it removed and re-filled. Then he left the room and the hygenist took pictures of my decaying teeth and explained to me what the procedure was for getting the decay removed and my teeth refilled. I told her I wanted a price quote before moving head with the procedure. Well, she quoted me $100 per tooth, so that would end up costing me $800. I told her that was expensive and that I would wait before making an apoointment. I told her I needed time to think about it. She said that there was no pressure and if I decided I wanted it done to just call them and make the appointment. She then started cleaning my teeth. It was interesting because she covered my face with some cloth thing to keep the water from splashing me. She cleaned my teeth hard and it ended up making my gums swell and bleed. She kept asking me how I was doing because she thought I was in pain from the swelling and bleeding. It hurt at times, but no worse than when I floss my teeth and they bleed. I'm realy bad for remember to flos my teeth all the time and I usually only do it about once a week if that, so that is why the gums are so tender. I explained to her that they always bled and she was shocked, but I was use to it. After she had finished the first part of the procedure she told me she needed the gums to be back to normal before she could polish my teeth, so she had I would have to make another appointment to come back for the second half of the cleaning process. I told her that was fine and we re-booked me for Monday. The fee to get my teeth cleaned was 60,000 won, so $60. That is a steal compared to back home, so I had no complaints. I paid for my cleaning and I was told I wouln't be charged for the re-booking, which makes sense since it was still part of the cleaning process. After I was finished at the dentist I headed over to Tracy's place and her, Nick and I headed out for dinner at a galbi restaurant by their place. After dinner I headed over to the gym to get a work-out in since I hadn't been to the gym in over a week and Tracy and Nick headed home. When I was done at the gym I was tired and headed home to get to bed to early.

!!BIG BANG!!

Normally, we can't blog at school because it is blocked, but today I checked after my first and only class and voila it let me blog. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to get caught up on my weekend blog, so here it is.

Well, yesterday was the BIG day. It was the day of the Big Bang concert. I had only been waiting weeks to see them and now the day had finally come. I got up early, so I could shower and get ready before I had to meet Tracy at the train station, so we could train together to meet some other friends that were going as well, Tiffany and Joanne. We met at Bupyeong station at noon and while waiting to catch the train into Seoul we saw this man completely passed out on the platform. He used cardboard boxes from the trash to make a bed. Only in Korea would this man or any man be passed out on a train platform, probably drunk and no one pays him any attention.

Here is Tracy posing with the passed out man.

Once we got on the train it only took us about an hour to get to Olympic Stadium in Gangnam, Seoul. However, the concert wasn't until 4:00 p.m. and we were in Seoul by 1:30ish, so we decided to go and find somewhere to eat. We didn't realize we would have to walk for at least 15 minutes before we found a place to eat. Gangnam is a very nice place and it didn't even feel like we were in Korea because the air quality was better than Incheon and we were in the downtown area, which was full of office sky rises, nice buildings and beautiful trees and flowers. We ate at a quaint little Korean restaurant down one of the side streets. I had raman, which is a noodle dish, much like Mr. Noodle back home and just as bad for you, but it only cost me 2,500 won. Then Joanne and Tiffany wanted a coffee, so we headed to the Starbucks next door and chilled out there for about 20 minutes before we headed back to Olympic Stadium to find Carmela and pick up our tickets to the show. We got back to the Stadium around 3:00 p.m. an happened to bump into Jenny and her friend Brittany. Here is a picture of part of Olympic Stadium. Big Bang played their show inside the gymnastics center. The area wasn't as crowded as I was expecting it to be, so close to the show starting. We all wanted to buy some Big Bang paraphenalia, but all the good stuff was sold out and the t-shirt was a muscle shirt, so you can imagine why we didn't want to pay 12,000 won for that. We picked up our tickets and headed inside, but unfortunately, we weren't allowed to bring camera's inside, or outside drinks, so I stepped out of line to finish my powerade and hide my camera. I didn't know where to hide it where they wouldn't check, so I stuffed it in my bra. I was really nervous about getting caught with it hidden, but the guy barely looked through my purse and he let me go through. All he said was, "Have a good time." And, yes he said it in English. We didn't have the greatest seats at the show, but we could see it good enough, which was really all that mattered. The funny thing was that we were the only waguks (foreigners) at the concert and Tracy and I got stuck with two Korean girls screaming their faces off behind us. The entire show was in Korean, obviously, so we didn't understand anything that was being said, but that's what made the concert all the more better. Tracy and I were pretty sure that their was a storyline to the show, but again, with the language barrier we weren't quite sure. The concert was absolutely incredible and I think that I can honestly say it was one of the best, if not the best, concert I have ever been to in my life. It was definitely better than most North American concerts I've been to. They had amazing pyrotechniques, dance moves and songs. The picture below was of Big Bang, but again I had to be discreet with my camera and I had to turn the flash off, so they are just one BIG blob.

Since, I'm pretty much a rebel when it comes to taking pictures when your not suppose to, remember the Dead Sea Scrolls? I managed to videotape 3 of their songs. Unfortunately, the one song I love the most is only about a minute and a half because the security guard walked by mid-way through, so I had to stop recording. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did and still do.

After the show Tracy and I were exhausted, so we decided to head back to Incheon instead of staying for dinner with the rest of the girls in Seoul. On the way to the train there were a couple street vendors selling some pictures, key chains, calendars, posters, etc of Big Bang. Since the actual concert didn't sell any decent paraphenalia I decided to stop and check out what was for sale and buy something. I opted to buy a 2009-2010 calendar for only 7,000 won. You can't even buy a calendar for one year back home for that cheap. Now, I have a calendar until the end of 2010 and only paid $7. Plus, for the next 2 years I can look at Big Bang, Life is Sweet! So, the moral of the story is that my weekend ended with a BANG, BIG BANG that is!

BIG BANG ROCKED and I hope I can see them one more time before I leave Korea. The video below is the one that I had to end short because of a security guard issue. It's called Lie.

It's The Grade 4's Turn

I taught the grade 6's first period and then I headed to the gym to judge the grade 4 English Speech Contest. The grade 4's are aadorable, but I feel like I've hardly taught them this year, so I'm not as close to them as the grade 3's and 6's. Anyways, the grade 4 male teacher did an introductory speech and then the principal came on to do his speech and it took longer than usual. Plus, when you don't understand the language it can be a pretty boring 10 minutes.

Then the male teacher did a warm-up song and routine with the grade 4's to get them excited and ready for the speech contest. I took a video of it, so I will post it when it decides to download.

The speeches were really good and I actually really enjoyed watching and listening to them. Two of the grade 4 girls that were in the contest had a great speech. They had an entire skit that they did to their English speech. Although their speech was fun and funny, their fluency and pronunciation wasn't great. Since, it was a speech contest I couldn't pick them to win, but two of the other grade 4 teacher judges did pick them. I explained to the grade 4 English co-teacher that since it was a speech contest that I didn't think they deserved to win. She said that she understood, but whether she really did or not, I will never know. During the speech contest I felt bad for the contestants because the rest of the students were talking the entire time. It was rude and disrespectful, but that happens here. Below is a picture of the two girls who did the skit as their speech contest presentation. Sorry that it's blurry.

After the speech contest I had two more grade 6 classes to teach and I again had the rest of the afternoon off. I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out, watching House, figuring out next weeks lessons with the grade 4 and 5 teacher and went to the bank with Jiny to pay for a bill. I also found out that the three students I picked as the winners for the speech contest WON!

Once I was done school for the day I came home and changed to get ready to go to Itaewon, Seoul for the night. While I was waiting for the bus to Tracy's I had to take a picture of a typical occurrence in Korea. It is not uncommon for Koreans to park their cars on the sidewalk. Yes, folks sidewalks in Korea are also used as parking lots. Motorcycles also use the sidewalk to drive on, so make sure you watch where you're going. I mean it really is ridiculous, but that's how they do things here. When it suddenly becomes normal to park on sidewalks, drive motorcycles on sidewalks and not wear helmets while driving motorcycles like maniacs, you just kind of get use to it.

Then I went over to Tracy's and helped her put up some mosquito netting on her windows to keep the bugs out and then we went out for some Shabu Shabu. When we finished eating we parted ways and I headed to Itaewon, which is about a 60-90 minute train ride. I took the train to Yongsan and then cabbed it to Itaewon from there. Then I met up with my friend Rudy around 8: 30 p.m. and we headed to the Rocky Mountain Tavern, which was awesome because I finally got to watch Sportscenter. You don't realize how much you miss something until you see it. Anyways, I met some of Rudy's friends and then Rudy took off with anotehr friend and I hung out with her friend Marco. Then we headed to over to Marco and Rudy's friend Jake's house and I headed up hanging out with all them until 3:00 p.m. Saturday afternoon when I finally decided to train it back home. Now, I had been awake since 6:30 a.m. Friday and I didn't go to sleep until I got home Saturday night around 5:00 p.m., so I was awake for about 36 hours. However, I did end up getting 16 hours of sleep Saturday night. When I got home last night my water wasn't working, so I was freadked out thinking I didn't pay and a bill and it got cut-off. I was beat, so I took a 4 hour nap and then got up and checked the water again, but it still wasn't working. I went upstairs and asked the landlord and he apologized saying that only the 1st and 2nd floors had water and the top floors would have it in about an hour or so. Around 10:00 p.m. he knocked on everyone's door to see if the water worked and it did.

Grade 5 English Speech Contest

Today was yet another good day at school. I had one grade 3 class first period and it was kind of sad because I won't see or teach them again until the fall semester :( I will teach some of them at the summer camps, but I will miss them nonetheless. Second period was spent judging the grade 5 English speech contest. The principal addressed all the students at he beginning before the contest started. He seemed to talk to the grade 5's for longer than he did the grade 6's. I had no idea what he was saying, so I took a picture of him instead. It's a bit blurry, but you get the idea. Left: Picture of the principal giving his speech. Right: The grade 5 students assembled in the gym.

I was given an introduction speech to present to all the students at the beginning of the contest, which was followed by a performance from the grade 5-5 class. They did a dance routine to 'Summer Nights' from the movie Grease. Since my camera batteries were charged today I videotaped the performance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. The ending is especially cute!

The grade 5's were just as hard to judge as the grade 6's, but a few stood out more than others. My favorite presentation was by two girl students who did their speech on Dinosaurs. They had great pronunciation, good speaking and content and their attitude was awesome. They sang a song at the beginning of their presentation and had sound effects throughout. I really enjoyed it. I hope they win the contest. Afterall, the winner gets to go to English camp for free. I would just like to apologize for how dark the pictures turned out. The gym wasn't well lit and I can't figure out how to lighten them on my computer. At the end of the speech contest a grade 5 boy student sang 'Ave Maria.' This is the student that lived in North America for a year. He was also a contestant in the contest. I videotaped his performance as well. It was really good even though he messed up a couple times. He was really nervous, but he sounded great.

After the English speech contest I had two grade 6's classes too teach. I actually like teaching the grade 6's most days because they are quite the interesting bunch. Today they seemed far more attentive than they did last week or even at the beginning of this week. Perhaps, it was the classes I was teaches. Unfortunately, this is my last week teaching the grade 6's as well, so I won't teach grade 6 again until September. On top of that, the grade 6's I teach now are all moving onto middle school in September, so I may never see any of them again :( After lunch I had the rest of the afternoon off, so I spent a good hour or so working on some worksheets for my grade 4 lessons next week. They are starting a new and rather easy lesson, "What Time Is It?" I just made a wordsearch from an online program that basically makes the wordsearch for you. I also printed off some blank clock worksheets where the students have to draw the minute/hour hand on according to the time given or they have to write down the time based on where the minute/hour hand is poining. These worksheets should be good for at least three of the four lessons I teach the grade 4's next week. This is just proof that I do work hard at school. Once I finished the grade 4 lessons for next week I watched some episodes of House, facebooked, checked my email and chatted on MSN. To show you just how bored I got around 2:30 p.m. when I finished the grade 4 worksheets I decided to take a picture of myself in the office working hard...notice how my computer is on face book. Like I said, I was working really hard...Yeah Right!

Now for some exciting news. Well it's exciting for me. I received my e-ticket and passenger itinerary for Cambodia today. I'm officially off to Cambodia August 2nd-8th, so those days can't come soon enough. Now I'm off for a run and then heading to bed early (9:00 p.m.) because I have an earlier morning than usual and a very late night ahead of me tomorrow. I have to take the bus to school because Mrs. Kim has a vacation day, so 6:30 a.m. wake-up call and then straight from school I'm heading into Seoul to party with a friend. Those nights last until the wee hours of the morning, so you won't hear from me until I surface at some point Saturday afternoon.

My First Korean Haircut!!

Today was a good day at school. In fact, for the past week and a half I feel like I have been "High as a Kite on Happiness!" I'm not sure if all it took was my sick day to make me happy, but I love it and I don't want the happiness to disappear. Anyways, I only had four classes of grade 3's today and decided to give out some Canadian pencils. The students loved the pencils, which I knew they would. We just started a new lesson called, 'Wash Your Hands.' Basically, we sang 'Head and Shoulders' and played 'Simon Says.' The kids loved both because they got to stand up and move around for the game and song. I was finished teaching at 1:00 p.m. today, so I took advantage of the afternoon by wacthing a couple of episodes of 'Arrested Development', going to the bank to pay off my heat/gas bill and to pay for my flight to/from Cambodia for summer vacation. I also got a little bored, so I wandered around the school and took a few pictures. Left: The parking lot below my office. Notice how it has the alphabet made into the bricks. Right: One of the grade 6 hallways outside my office.

I needed to stretch my legs from sitting for so long, so here are some pictures of what I stumbled upon while wandering the halls. Left: The school library on the third floor. Right: This is how the students clean the hallways. Check out the boy who is using his feet to mop the floor with just a towel. The other boy is pushing the mop with his stomach. He later canned himself with the mop. Bottom: Two grade 6 girl student came up to me when they saw me outside the office and showed me the snails they each had in their hands. It was cute, so they let me take a picture of them. One of the snails names was Tiffany (or in Korea, Tippany).

After school I headed home because I was in major need of a haircut. I was really nervous about going to the salon's here because my hair is really important to me and I didn't know if they would do a good job. I did print off a picture to take with me to the salon, so they would have something to go on. The guy who was cutting my hair showed me a book of other hair choices similar to the one I wanted and I found one I loved, so I let him do his business. While he was washing my hair the seat I was sitting in was a massager. He massgaed my back and butt. It was incredible and so relaxing. The man massgaed my head as well when he was washing my hair, but he was kind of rough. Nevertheless, it felt good to have a head massage I had been longing for. So, as I sat down in the chair and let him do his business I calmed down and figured, since the picture I showed him was of a Korean girl it shouldn't be to hard for him to do. I watched him do my hair and he tried telling me certain things, but his English was really broken and I could barley understand him, so I have no idea what he said, but it din't affect my haircut at all. In the end, he did a fabulous job and I love my hair so much. he best part about the whole thing was that it only cost me $10 for a wash and a cut. Here is a picture of the new me.

I will definitely be visiting the Riahn hair salon for future cuts and my next visit will consist of a color as well. After I got my haircut I came home and had a nap before meeting up with the regular Wednesday night bowling crew that consisted of a bunch of newbies. My friend Holly is heading home on Sunday morning, so this was her last bowling night with the gang. She is returning at the end of August for another year of teaching in Korea. Hopefully, the bowling night legend will still be taking place when she returns. Here is a picture of Holly and I at 66 (a bar) after bowling drinking the most fabulous green drink ever. I will miss you while you are gone Holly. Holly and I were both beat, so we had two drinks and left. We took a cab home together and I decided I wanted to write this blog before turning in for the night. Since it is after 3:00 a.m. I should probably wrap this up, so I will end this blog with a picture of how a typical day or night in Korea ends with a drunk Korean man passed out. This man just so happened to be past out on a bench on the first floor of my building. Priceless!