No Jaeshi For These Kiddos!

A couple weeks ago was White Day in Korea. Apparently this is the day that girls give candy and sweets to boys (sort of the opposite of Valentine's Day). Ted got treats galore, and a few kids even broke with tradition to give me treats. Of course, the boys who gave me candy tried to do it as secretly as possible so their friends wouldn't make fun of them, but they almost always failed to go unnoticed by someone, who then brought it to the attention of the whole class. It almost makes the gesture even more sweet because they know they'll be ridiculed.
I wanted to have some visual evidence of my time at MoonKkang, so I brought my camera in and took some photos of my favorite classes. Some kids loved the camera and tried to steal all the limelight, but other kids shied away from the focus and attention (you'll notice a couple of those). Here's Jack (one of my favorite I3's), and Eric, who doesn't want anyone, including himself, to be captured on camera. He kept trying to ruin my pictures of other kids by flailing his arms around, jumping in front of the camera, or covering the kid with his coat. Then there is Jordan. This kid is absolutely wonderful. He's really bright and well behaved, and he always erases my whiteboard after every class. Such a sweetheart. I have a group of I4's that are so smart, so full of energy, and just overall a lot of fun. Naturally, they've become one of my favorite classes (even though teachers aren't really supposed to choose favorites). I'm really bummed that my twin boys (you'll see them) are leveling up. It's good for them...they're brilliant and very competitive; they deserve to move up. But they're such great kids that I hate to lose them (they're leveling out of my class). So anyway, here's the group. Also, I took a couple pictures of my desk space. The way the system works is a little different than American schools. I don't have a classroom. I teach in six different classrooms every day. The kids come in for two classes, and they stay in the same room. My partner teacher and I take turns teaching our group of kids. Then when the two classes are over, those kids leave and a new rotation of older kids comes in for the next two classes. Then my partner teacher and I take turns teaching them in different rooms. And then we repeat the process one more time during the night. So in between each class we have a break, and the teachers all return to the teacher's office while the kids stay in the class (or leave to go home while new kids come in). That is where my desk is (not in the classroom), so that's why it's facing a window. Anyway, here it is:

That's it for school-related stuff, but I do have a little story I wanted to share. Last weekend it was positively beautiful here. It was at least 70 degrees outside. I dressed lightly before I left my house, but by the time I made it to Home Plus I was sweating enough to warrant removing my long sleeve shirt. I had a tank top on underneath the long sleeve shirt, and it was a modest tank top so I didn't think it would be a big deal. It's considered sleazy to wear anything that shows cleavage in Korea (even though they wear their shorts as short as possible), but my tank top covered me very well so I wasn't concerned. But everywhere I went Koreans were staring at me (more so than usual). Apparently they either thought I was crazy for wearing so little (they were all still wearing winter coats), or they were appalled at my bare arms, or a little of both (I tend to believe this is more the case). Regardless, it was ridiculous how much extra attention my bare arms gained. And the stares weren't nice looks either...they were more like glares. C'est la vie. I wasn't about to sweat to death to pacify a bunch of grumpy old women (they took the most issue with my exposed arms). Anyway, that is all. I'll write again after the weekend.

Bring on the Bull!

This weekend was the big bull fighting festival in Cheongdo, (a little city about 30 mins from Daegu). Angie came up to accompany me to the festival, and even though we initially had a little difficulty finding it, we finally made it to the stadium. Fortunately, it was a relatively inexpensive little adventure. The train only cost 5,000 won for a round trip (less than five bucks), entrance to the stadium was 5,000 won, and the bus to get back was only 1,100 won. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the bus station on the way to the stadium (it looked nothing like a normal bus stop), so we had to take a cab, and the driver took advantage of the fact that we were obviously not from the area. He took us the longest way possible and charged us 13,000 won. Jerk.
Anyway, the festival itself was pretty cool. It was packed, there were all kinds of vendors and entertainers, and there were as many foreigners there as I've ever seen in Korea (with the exception of the MoonKkang foreign teacher Christmas party, perhaps). They had these two human statues outside the stadium, and they were quite convincing. One of them was a bit playful though, and he'd move unexpectedly to freak out people who posed for pictures next to them. Of course, I was no exception. Angie and I stood between them while a Korean took our picture, and the playful statue decided to pull my hair. Cute. And here's a picture of the inside of the stadium, as well.
Watching bull fighting is a bit like watching baseball. You go, chat with the people next to you, vendors walk around trying to sell you beer and snacks, and there's something in the middle to entertain you while you socialize. I found it to be much more interesting to watch if I chose a bull to root for before the fight began. I was almost always wrong, but it made in interesting anyway. Here's a little snippet of what I saw while I was there:

Art, Religion, and Sake

So first of all, I wanted to add a couple pictures from last week's visit to the Busan Museum of Modern Art. And my haircut.




There, now for this weekend. Ted and I visited a number of sites of religious significance around the city. I don't think we planned to make it a religion themed adventure day, but it just so happened that all the things we were interested in seeing were connected somehow to various types of spirituality. Our first stop was a park in downtown Daegu. It had a temple, a number of stone shrine pillar type things, and lots of trees. I took a zillion pictures that I'm rather fond of, but here are just a few:


We also saw a guy walking around the park in his white hospital gown, IV in tow. I really wanted to take a picture, but I couldn't manage to get one without being blatantly obvious and rude. Ted got a picture, but he hasn't sent it to me yet, and I'm too impatient to wait for it, so I'll post it later.
Anyway, our next stop was the Catholic Martyr's Shrine. Apparently, Korea only has one Catholic saint, and this shrine was dedicated to him.
This is a little display inside the shrine museum that shows the type of torture the Korean saint endured. And these are pictures from the top of the shrine:

Our next visit was to a Confucian Academy. They still hold lectures in the lecture hall, and it is often used as a venue for various ceremonies and weddings. It's a place where people can come to learn about/appreciate/worship Confucius and the other sages for their great wisdom.



The last stop was Satgat-bawi (bawi means rock). This rock used to be a very popular place for people to come to pray for luck, health, happiness, etc. Also, barren women used to come to the rock to pray for fertility. I'm not sure how the rock grants that particular wish, but perhaps that's the reason people don't go there much anymore.
We hit up The Holy Grill for dinner again (ooh, the Mac & Cheese), and we met up with a new Korean friend named Jake. Jake invited a couple of his Korean friends, Erica and Ta Hee, so now I have three new Korean friends. They took Ted and me out for sake at a Japanese style restaurant.
We're planning a trip with them to Cheongdo in the near future to watch bullfighting, and as it turns out Erica is a bit of a thrill-seeker as well so she's going to help me look into bungee jumping and paragliding. It figures that I'd start making friends AFTER I decided to leave, but at least I'll have some people to keep me company during my last few weeks. 40 days left!

Home Sweet Home

So I haven't written in a couple weeks, and I promise there is a reason. Reason #1 is this: Two weekends ago I was supposed to go to Busan to visit Angie, but I was still recovering from my disgusting bout of food poisoning, and I had allowed myself to sink into a black hole of homesickness and misery. I literally spent the entire weekend in my bed crying. It's pathetic, I know. It's not that there aren't some great things about Korea. Korea really is a lovely place, and I'm glad I made the trip. However, I think my mom said it best when she commented, "You've got the wanderlust, but you're just not meant to live there." It's true. Mostly I'm just really lonely. My coworkers are all "keep to yourself" kind of people, and the only friends I've got live in Busan. I spend every night on Skype because it's the only connection I've got to home, and I sleep until it's time to go to work because it's easier than dealing with being alone all the time. I enjoy a little bit of alone time...I think it's healthy. But to be alone all the time is depressing. If I've learned anything from this experience it's that I love to travel but I'm not meant to be away from home, family, and friends for an extended period of time. I think I'll stick to traveling on short vacations from here on out. So yes, I'm cutting out and heading home early. I gave it a shot, I learned some things about myself, and now I'm ready to come home. Home is where your heart is, and my heart is back in Maine, so that's where I need to be. Since I made the decision to come home I can't tell you how much better I feel. It's such a huge relief to know that I'll be back at home in 43 days (but who's counting...)! So April 23rd is my last day of work, and I fly out of Daegu on April 24th. I'll be home in time for dinner, too (through the miracle of traveling backwards in time)!
Reason #2 is that I went to Busan last weekend to visit Angie. It was cold/rainy/windy/crappy here this past weekend so we didn't do a ton of wandering. We hit up the Busan Museum of Art (which is free on Saturdays, not like it would have made a huge difference to pay the 700 won entry fee...the monetary equivalence in USD is about 70 cents...America seems to be the only place in the world that charges an arm and a leg to view art). There were a lot of really neat exhibits, some of which were noticeably Asian, thematically and artistically speaking. We also went out bar hopping for a friend's birthday, and on Sunday we spent several hours at a really posh salon where they make you fancy coffee drinks and serve you waffles with chocolate and whipped cream (both are complementary, even if you're not paying for a service). Angie and Shannon got their hair dyed, and I had mine cut.
So, you're all up to speed. I'll try to keep posting regularly as we have a few adventures planned before I head out, but I can't wait to see you all again soon!