Ok, the following is a re-cap of the last month or so when I have failed to write about my many adventures:
1- Over Chuseok (Koren Thanksgiving), I took an amazing trip to the South of SK to a port city, Busan. It is a gorgeous city right on the ocean and surrounded my mountains. The combination of city, mountains, and ocean I would love to have always. The trip had a great mix of sight seeing, hiking, laying on the beach, and going out. It was funny because as this was late September, the only people on the beach were Westerners. Furthermore, there was absolutely no Korean in less than jeans, a long sleeve shirt, a visor, and shoes because unlike Americans, Koreans do not like the sun to tan their skin. So, if I do not already stick out in the country, there I was in my bikini and swimming in the water. But, I really enjoyed myself. Another highlight of the trip was visiting the Jalgalchi fish market. I have never seen anything like it- row after row of seafood vendors. It was incredible the weird critters that you could buy and the way these (mainly women) were handling the seafood. The best part was that a group of 6 of us sat down for a HUGE fish lunch where you basically pick out your food and they grill it up right then. It was the definition of fresh and delicious. We also got to take a really beautiful hike along the coastline that provided panaromic views of the city. For hiking/picnic food, Koreans bring kimbop (Korean sushi) and apples. I guess PB and Js just don't cut it over here. Overall, Busan was a great trip with some awesome people and I would definitely go back to the city to explore it some more.
2- Right after returning from Busan, I worked only 2 days and then I had to go to "new teacher training". All of the new teachers under GEPIK (my employer here) got picked up from their individual towns and brought to rural South Korea for 3 days of training. It was beneficial in that I got to learn about other people's experiences here, about how to be a better teacher, and I got to meet other people in my neighborhood. I have found a great crew here through the Wisco family, but it is nice to meet people who live on my block because otherwise we are all so spread apart.
3- Immediately following orientation was my last week before taking the LSAT. I had to really buckle up, focus, and prepare myself. Once again, so happy that the exam is over with! But, during this week, one major highlight was attending a show called "Nanta". The "Hi Seoul" tourist program of Seoul provided a free showing as part of the "Visit Seoul" year. Nanta is a non-verbal cooking show kind of like stomp. It was really awesome. If you go to http://www.quinnhubertz.com/ you can see video footage of the show.
4- Now this past week was dedicated to catching up on school life including lesson planning and going to dinner with a few teachers from the language department. The dinner was nice, except it was all in Korean! Those are the moments where I really wish I spoke the language.
This past weekend Quinn and I hosted about 10 Badgers in our neighborhood, Seongnam. It was a great time and got even better by ending the weekend with about 30 Badgers watching the football game. Seriously, I was at every home game for 4 years and this year they decide to have ESPN Gameday, beat OSU, and rush the field!!! The amount of jealousy, but pride I felt was immense.
I am really excited for this week as my school festival and field day are on Thursday and Friday. The girls have been practicing their dances and songs the past 2 weeks. This includes skipping or cancelling my class as a result. I am a judge in the pop song and speech contest. I already judged the first round of the pop song contest, which was amazing. I got to hear some Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift. No worries, pictures and/or videos will be taken.
Ok, off to teach now, but I hope everyone is smiling as they sleep in America on Sunday night knowing that we beat the #1 team!!! GO WISCO! :)
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