Sobriety, Teacher's Day, and More Sobriety!!!

Last week was a busy week. It was my last week with the grade 4's and 5's, so I had at least 4-5 classes a day. Plus, each grade was competing in 'sports competition day.' Since it decided to rain Monday and Tuesday the grade 5's had their sports day moved to Wednesday, which worked in my favor because my classes got switched or canceled for the day. I had to make up the classes throughout the week, but because of time conflicts with the grade 4's I didn't end up having to teach 2 or 3 grade 5 classes. I was really hoping I would have gotten the chance to watch/check out the sports competition day and take some pictures, but I was busy with classes *tears shed*. Friday was teacher's day, so we only worked until 1:00 p.m. and then we got to go home. Basically, teacher's day is dedicated to teacher's, so they are given gifts from current students and old students come visit them and bring them gifts as well. It's really nice to see how much love the Korean teacher's get from their students on teacher's day, since most don't get that kind of love on a regular basis. I actually got a gift from one of my 5th grade students, it wasn't anything fancy, but it's the thought that counts and I will never forget her. I also received socks from the school, just like last year...you can never have too many socks :) After school, Enee and I went to play screen golf. It has been so long since I golfed that it was embarrassing how bad I did. I need to go again and redeem myself. After I parted ways with Enee I came home. I wanted Friday night to be a chill night because I knew Saturday night would be a late one. I ended up heading over to Holly's to hang out with her and Nick later in the evening. We played some Wii and chatted and I turned in around 11:00 p.m. Saturday I was up relatively early because I had quite a bit to do before heading out for Chris's birthday. I headed to Mike and Andrea's for the pre-birthday celebrations around 3:30 p.m. They decided to be the gracious host for the pre-drinking festivities, which was really nice of them. Quite a few people turned out to celebrate Chris's birthday with him. Who knew he had so many friends??...just kidding.

Carolina was the first to arrive then me, so we took pictures. Carolina is very very hung over, possibly still drunk in this picture.Holly, Nick and Kristy showed up to the birthday party. Carolina, Chris, Mike and Andrea (home owners) enjoying the drinks and company. The birthday boy, Chris and his super awesome kids birthday hat I purchased for him.

When we had enough of the drinking games and fun at Mike and Andrea's we headed into Hongdae for dinner and then to a club to see a famous DJ play. I think this is a good part of the blog to let you know that: I WAS DEAD SOBER AND HEADING TO HONGDAE!! We ate the most delicious Koren food I have had the pleasure of enjoying in a while. Paul recomended the restaurant to us and we were not disappointed. They served very thinly/freshly sliced meat and you BBQ it, much the same as galbi, but better.

Just look at the delicousness, your mouth better be watering... Just looking at this meat makes me hungry, keep in mind we cooked it before we ate it...lol!

When we finished dinner we headed to Club Cocoon to buy our tickets to the DJ and then we went to OI bar, which was right beside it to chill out for a bit before the show. We headed back to Cocoon at around midnight and it wasn't very busy, however, we ended up waiting for over 2 hours for Andy C to come on and play his set. Now, keep in mind that I'm dead sober and in Hongdae on a Saturday for one of my closest friends birthday. I ended up having a GREAT time listening and dancing to the DJ's. The highlight of the night was paying 5,000 won (roughly $5 CDN) for a can, yes a can, of Perrier water because they had no regular water and I didn't think to leave and get water at a nearby convenience and then come back. Holly, her friend Camille and I ended up leaving earlier than everyone else. We met up with some friends of Camille's and headed to Garten Bier for a quick drink, a water for me, before calling it a night around 4:30 a.m. I'm honestly amazed I lasted as long as I did in Hongdae dead sober, but I'm very proud of myself. *Now, you may be wondering why I'm not drinking, well, I'm trying to get healthier and lose some weight and I need to start with the main problem...alcohol. I have not had a drink in 10 days and I'm very proud of myself. I'm saving my drinking for my visit to Canada.* Sunday I ended up sleeping until mid-afternoon, so when I did wake-up I headed to the Incheon United soccer game. I decided to walk there since it was a nice day and it's good exercise for me.

The Incheon United Game on a sunny, but chilly Sunday evening. Carolina and I at the soccer game where we were freezing our knickers off. Who knew a scarf in May would be necessary in Korea. This picture was too good to pass up. It turned out Awesome! The fans were showing Incheon pride waving this flag!! Incheon won the game 1-0.

After the game we headed to Yeonsu for dinner and celebrated Chris's birthday some more. We wanted ribs, but the place was closed, so we opted for galbi at the usual restaurant instead. Then we headed to Garten Bier for some drinks and games. Again, I didn't drink, but I still had a good time hanging out with my friends. It just go to shows that alcohol is not necessary to have a good time.