Sunday, October 14, 2007
Sports Day
Sports Day
Definitely one of my top three best days thus far was yesterday, a Saturday that I had to go to work. It was the annual “family sports day” which means that all the parents of the kindergarteners came to a school playground to play games with their children and their teachers. Imagine that! Us foreign teachers leading/ pretending to converse with the solely Korean speaking parents! It actually panned out quite well. The conversations with the parents consisted mostly of me bowing (out of respect... their way of greeting) and saying “hello.” One of my student’s mom’s could actually speak quite good english. She told me that her son really liked me and that he said I always had something fun to do with the children. This meant a lot to me because her son is one of the brighter students in the “devil” class who I am constantly trying to challenge and keep busy to prevent misbehaviour.
So the days activities. The students arrived before the parents we put stickers (red for red team, blue for blue team) on them with their names. Then when the parents arrived they also got the same large sticker with their child’s name on it. This was so helpful in identifying whose parent was who. So the students got names, then facepaint (I had red face paint on that was supposed to be war paint... think football player... but ended up looking more like whiskers!)... finally we had to tie on the wrists of the students helium filled balloons with a paper that they had in class written a wish on. Later in the morning all the students were standing in a big group and we let the balloons all go into the sky... with the anticipation that their wishes would come true. I know I know so cool!
So once we have almost all our students ready the parents being to arrive. My job was to keep the students occupied while Michelle, my Korean teaching partner, got the stickers on the parents. It was a little tough to keep their attention for what seemed like too much down time but I managed. I play head and shoulders with them and go really slow and then crazy fast which makes them laugh really hard. ( I can only imagine what the parents think of me) I also taught them the chicken dance without music so that involves me humming it out... (ha ha ohhh dear).
We then led our students to the center of the field (coarse sand field). This is when the team of “sports guys”, the school hired, took over. We had the students line up and then the father’s come stand on one side of each student and the mothers on the other. If only one parent was there that was ok. We had an opening ceremony where we walked around in a semi circle (blue team one way and red the other) to form a large circle and then through a balloon archway. A student from one of the older kindergarteners read an oath about sportsmanship and then the games began.
The games are in no particular order:
1) dancing as a large group spread out --- led by two sports guys with crazy moves that would put dance moves like “the sprinkler” or “shopping cart” to shame--- Us foreign teachers loved it!
2) Tile Game- blue team parents against red team parent-- playing area split in half--- tiles that are one side blue/one side red and then on go the parents have to compete to flip as many over as they can to their teams colour.. when the time is up who ever has the most of their colour wins (great game but the parents were crazy competitive like an old grandma pushed another two women to the ground--- NUTSO!)
3) Piñata Type of game- Blue team and red team each had a piñata that was like two large plastic bowls lightly taped together to form a circle... then the students had to throw bean bags at the bowls and whichever team was the first to knock it open won (inside was a streamer that flew down with balloons.
4) Running on an elastic band-- each teams parents squatted opposite a partner and held a large elastic band tight... then the students took turns racing down the middle... some teachers had to demonstrate this and Roberta the lucky girl (completely sarcastic) was fortunate enough to do it. They tried to get me to but I balked... only because I could imagine myself falling on to an unsuspecting parent!
5) Big Balls-- They had these monstrous big balls that again the line of parents had to bounce down and back--- the first to get it back wins
6) Relay race-- First teachers/then two students represented each age group/then 6 moms/6 dads--- running half way around a circle with a baton
7) Tug o War
8) Big Banner Game- Again with the long lines (about three wide/ one for each team) and then two of the sports guys each grabbed an end to a long banner and the whole team had to jump over the banner than duck under it as the sports men ran down the line with it--- again first team to finish wins
9) Couples competition- This one was hilarious!!! The dads and moms ran together to a center flutter board.. the dad laid down and put a balloon on his butt...then the mom took out the huge wooden paddle she was carrying and whacked the balloon till it popped and then both mom/dad ran around a pylon and back to the line for the next group to go! Obviously not everyone participated (not all couples were present)
10) Race to blow balloons.-- the red team got red balloons/ the blue team blue balloons-- each team then competed to blow them up the fastest and put them in a large clear bag... then the object was to stand the large clear bag upright (it worked really well). The first team to do this the fastest of course won!
11) Balloon Bag race-- we then used these balloon bags and had six contestants from each team straddle the balloon filled bags with their legs and then they had to move as a team around the line (again about three wide) of their team members-- first to finish wins! (I did this one!)
These games were interrupted by about an hour lunch in which the parents ate with their kids a picnic they had brought. The teachers had our own picnic but supplied by the school which was korean bbq style. (Rice, dried sea weed wraps, meat cooked on coals, kimchi)
During all of this I also was cheering my heart out. Camille (New Zealand Teacher) and I had made up our cheer for the red team.
“Our team is What?”- Camille/me
Red Hot (students/parents)
“Our team is What?”- Camille/me
Red Hot
Team red, Let’s show them what we’ve got- Camille/me
GO RED, GO, RED (then faster) go red, go red, go red
Yeah I am surprised i had a voice by the end.
I also had to lead all the red team in dancing-- by standing in the circle and getting them to do what I was doing-- completely improvised but it worked out!
At the end of the day--- their was a closing ceremony where another student made a speech and then wrapped presents were drawn for.
Then the parents left in their vehicles and the teachers all stood there for the huge procession of them leaving and waving goodbye.
After, the owners of our school, took us out for supper to a korean bbq place (do you sense a theme) any hoo so we ate well on them.
After Sports Day-- Seoul International Fireworks Festival
So I had heard about this International Fireworks festival via facebook and was considering on attending depending on how wiped out I was from Sports day. Well I was super tired and all of us teachers were finished supper and sitting outside of GS25. The teacher that I had replaced, Brian, met up with us and kind of gave me and Roberta the shove to go. The others were content with not going. Now not that I am a huge fireworks lover... but I hate missing opportunities and honestly I thought of my mother and how she loves fireworks so much... so I should go. (There mom and you think I don’t think of you! jj)
Ok so we embarked on the subway and found it completely crowded. We were definitely a little too friendly with about 1000 people that day. I believe Roberta said “This is my idea of Hell” and regretted having gone. I also was considering turning back...but we had made it to our first transfer stop (where you switch lines) and there was only one more transfer to go so I thought I could manage. (ohh and you should know I still have on my red- sports day t-shirt and red face paint whiskers). Once we reach the last transfer stop it is feels like it is about 35 degrees and is crowded with people... we round a corner to take the last set of stairs down to our awaiting train and it is a SEA of PEOPLE! I can not begin to describe the amount of people! It was complete CHAOS! We have a video clip of it which I will try to load. But it was something to see! And we saw it and thought screw that! There was no way we would have ever gotten on the train to see the fireworks that were starting in about 20 minutes! So we turned right back around walked up the stairs but before leaving we decided we might as well run up out of the station and see if there was any possible way we could see them. Once out of the station we could hear the fireworks. Brian got his bearings a bit (he has lived in korea for 2 years) and we wandered around. Then to our surprise we found this great, quiet dark niche, that overlooked a highway and one could see a couple high rise buildings.. and between those buildings.. the fireworks!!!! ASSAHH (Korean word for hooray) so we merrily watched the fireworks for at least an hour. The fireworks were put on by the U.S., China, and Korea. We obviously couldn’t see all the fireworks (not the low ones)... but I think we lucked out because I couldn’t imagine how big the crowd would have been by that river and how awful it would have been trying to get home. So I was content reflecting on my day in front of million dollar fireworks... thinking that this was a pretty amazing day, that we are so fortunate (or that my belief “ask and it will be given to you” keeps working out,) and I couldn’t be happier with all the new experiences Korea has been handing me.
So with that I’ll sign off that I am missing all of you wherever you are in the world!
Co op people, School friends, the girls whom I am sure on not reading these novels ha ha, teachers, and of course family
Definitely one of my top three best days thus far was yesterday, a Saturday that I had to go to work. It was the annual “family sports day” which means that all the parents of the kindergarteners came to a school playground to play games with their children and their teachers. Imagine that! Us foreign teachers leading/ pretending to converse with the solely Korean speaking parents! It actually panned out quite well. The conversations with the parents consisted mostly of me bowing (out of respect... their way of greeting) and saying “hello.” One of my student’s mom’s could actually speak quite good english. She told me that her son really liked me and that he said I always had something fun to do with the children. This meant a lot to me because her son is one of the brighter students in the “devil” class who I am constantly trying to challenge and keep busy to prevent misbehaviour.
So the days activities. The students arrived before the parents we put stickers (red for red team, blue for blue team) on them with their names. Then when the parents arrived they also got the same large sticker with their child’s name on it. This was so helpful in identifying whose parent was who. So the students got names, then facepaint (I had red face paint on that was supposed to be war paint... think football player... but ended up looking more like whiskers!)... finally we had to tie on the wrists of the students helium filled balloons with a paper that they had in class written a wish on. Later in the morning all the students were standing in a big group and we let the balloons all go into the sky... with the anticipation that their wishes would come true. I know I know so cool!
So once we have almost all our students ready the parents being to arrive. My job was to keep the students occupied while Michelle, my Korean teaching partner, got the stickers on the parents. It was a little tough to keep their attention for what seemed like too much down time but I managed. I play head and shoulders with them and go really slow and then crazy fast which makes them laugh really hard. ( I can only imagine what the parents think of me) I also taught them the chicken dance without music so that involves me humming it out... (ha ha ohhh dear).
We then led our students to the center of the field (coarse sand field). This is when the team of “sports guys”, the school hired, took over. We had the students line up and then the father’s come stand on one side of each student and the mothers on the other. If only one parent was there that was ok. We had an opening ceremony where we walked around in a semi circle (blue team one way and red the other) to form a large circle and then through a balloon archway. A student from one of the older kindergarteners read an oath about sportsmanship and then the games began.
The games are in no particular order:
1) dancing as a large group spread out --- led by two sports guys with crazy moves that would put dance moves like “the sprinkler” or “shopping cart” to shame--- Us foreign teachers loved it!
2) Tile Game- blue team parents against red team parent-- playing area split in half--- tiles that are one side blue/one side red and then on go the parents have to compete to flip as many over as they can to their teams colour.. when the time is up who ever has the most of their colour wins (great game but the parents were crazy competitive like an old grandma pushed another two women to the ground--- NUTSO!)
3) Piñata Type of game- Blue team and red team each had a piñata that was like two large plastic bowls lightly taped together to form a circle... then the students had to throw bean bags at the bowls and whichever team was the first to knock it open won (inside was a streamer that flew down with balloons.
4) Running on an elastic band-- each teams parents squatted opposite a partner and held a large elastic band tight... then the students took turns racing down the middle... some teachers had to demonstrate this and Roberta the lucky girl (completely sarcastic) was fortunate enough to do it. They tried to get me to but I balked... only because I could imagine myself falling on to an unsuspecting parent!
5) Big Balls-- They had these monstrous big balls that again the line of parents had to bounce down and back--- the first to get it back wins
6) Relay race-- First teachers/then two students represented each age group/then 6 moms/6 dads--- running half way around a circle with a baton
7) Tug o War
8) Big Banner Game- Again with the long lines (about three wide/ one for each team) and then two of the sports guys each grabbed an end to a long banner and the whole team had to jump over the banner than duck under it as the sports men ran down the line with it--- again first team to finish wins
9) Couples competition- This one was hilarious!!! The dads and moms ran together to a center flutter board.. the dad laid down and put a balloon on his butt...then the mom took out the huge wooden paddle she was carrying and whacked the balloon till it popped and then both mom/dad ran around a pylon and back to the line for the next group to go! Obviously not everyone participated (not all couples were present)
10) Race to blow balloons.-- the red team got red balloons/ the blue team blue balloons-- each team then competed to blow them up the fastest and put them in a large clear bag... then the object was to stand the large clear bag upright (it worked really well). The first team to do this the fastest of course won!
11) Balloon Bag race-- we then used these balloon bags and had six contestants from each team straddle the balloon filled bags with their legs and then they had to move as a team around the line (again about three wide) of their team members-- first to finish wins! (I did this one!)
These games were interrupted by about an hour lunch in which the parents ate with their kids a picnic they had brought. The teachers had our own picnic but supplied by the school which was korean bbq style. (Rice, dried sea weed wraps, meat cooked on coals, kimchi)
During all of this I also was cheering my heart out. Camille (New Zealand Teacher) and I had made up our cheer for the red team.
“Our team is What?”- Camille/me
Red Hot (students/parents)
“Our team is What?”- Camille/me
Red Hot
Team red, Let’s show them what we’ve got- Camille/me
GO RED, GO, RED (then faster) go red, go red, go red
Yeah I am surprised i had a voice by the end.
I also had to lead all the red team in dancing-- by standing in the circle and getting them to do what I was doing-- completely improvised but it worked out!
At the end of the day--- their was a closing ceremony where another student made a speech and then wrapped presents were drawn for.
Then the parents left in their vehicles and the teachers all stood there for the huge procession of them leaving and waving goodbye.
After, the owners of our school, took us out for supper to a korean bbq place (do you sense a theme) any hoo so we ate well on them.
After Sports Day-- Seoul International Fireworks Festival
So I had heard about this International Fireworks festival via facebook and was considering on attending depending on how wiped out I was from Sports day. Well I was super tired and all of us teachers were finished supper and sitting outside of GS25. The teacher that I had replaced, Brian, met up with us and kind of gave me and Roberta the shove to go. The others were content with not going. Now not that I am a huge fireworks lover... but I hate missing opportunities and honestly I thought of my mother and how she loves fireworks so much... so I should go. (There mom and you think I don’t think of you! jj)
Ok so we embarked on the subway and found it completely crowded. We were definitely a little too friendly with about 1000 people that day. I believe Roberta said “This is my idea of Hell” and regretted having gone. I also was considering turning back...but we had made it to our first transfer stop (where you switch lines) and there was only one more transfer to go so I thought I could manage. (ohh and you should know I still have on my red- sports day t-shirt and red face paint whiskers). Once we reach the last transfer stop it is feels like it is about 35 degrees and is crowded with people... we round a corner to take the last set of stairs down to our awaiting train and it is a SEA of PEOPLE! I can not begin to describe the amount of people! It was complete CHAOS! We have a video clip of it which I will try to load. But it was something to see! And we saw it and thought screw that! There was no way we would have ever gotten on the train to see the fireworks that were starting in about 20 minutes! So we turned right back around walked up the stairs but before leaving we decided we might as well run up out of the station and see if there was any possible way we could see them. Once out of the station we could hear the fireworks. Brian got his bearings a bit (he has lived in korea for 2 years) and we wandered around. Then to our surprise we found this great, quiet dark niche, that overlooked a highway and one could see a couple high rise buildings.. and between those buildings.. the fireworks!!!! ASSAHH (Korean word for hooray) so we merrily watched the fireworks for at least an hour. The fireworks were put on by the U.S., China, and Korea. We obviously couldn’t see all the fireworks (not the low ones)... but I think we lucked out because I couldn’t imagine how big the crowd would have been by that river and how awful it would have been trying to get home. So I was content reflecting on my day in front of million dollar fireworks... thinking that this was a pretty amazing day, that we are so fortunate (or that my belief “ask and it will be given to you” keeps working out,) and I couldn’t be happier with all the new experiences Korea has been handing me.
So with that I’ll sign off that I am missing all of you wherever you are in the world!
Co op people, School friends, the girls whom I am sure on not reading these novels ha ha, teachers, and of course family
Field Trip #2
Field Trip #2-- Pear Picking
Every Second Tuesday of the month we take our kindergarteners on a field trip. October’s took us to an old Grandpa’s farm to pick Pears. To be honest, it was less than exciting. We had to travel on the bus with our students for about an hour. When we got there we lined them up and then asked where we could have the children use the washroom. To this “grandpa” replies “EVERYWHERE”. AHHHH!!! ha ha so imagine little kids whipping down their pants and squirting in all directions! We then lined them up walked through the trees and lifted each child up to pick a pear off of the branch. Interestingly, the pears here are not like pears back home. Instead, they are huge (two times the size of a large apple) and are round like an apple but a light brown colour. So the pears were oddly already wrapped in paper and each student picked one off the tree (trees are about as tall as me 5’3). What was cool about this pear tree area was the lines with bells on them that hung a little over the trees that rang periodically to scare the birds away. Apparently this is how it is in Canada too... but having never been to an orchard before I have never seen such a thing. Once the pears were picked we walked around and through a garden and then had too much down time hanging out in the trees doing nothing. My students were fascinated by the earthworms which didn’t bother me until they got out their twigs and started breaking them apart and poking them. Ugh! I didn’t like that and tried to stop them but my efforts only worked a short time. Finally, we boarded the bus and the field trip was brought to an end. A huge bonus to the day was that i did score some free peaches! I’ll take that any day!
Every Second Tuesday of the month we take our kindergarteners on a field trip. October’s took us to an old Grandpa’s farm to pick Pears. To be honest, it was less than exciting. We had to travel on the bus with our students for about an hour. When we got there we lined them up and then asked where we could have the children use the washroom. To this “grandpa” replies “EVERYWHERE”. AHHHH!!! ha ha so imagine little kids whipping down their pants and squirting in all directions! We then lined them up walked through the trees and lifted each child up to pick a pear off of the branch. Interestingly, the pears here are not like pears back home. Instead, they are huge (two times the size of a large apple) and are round like an apple but a light brown colour. So the pears were oddly already wrapped in paper and each student picked one off the tree (trees are about as tall as me 5’3). What was cool about this pear tree area was the lines with bells on them that hung a little over the trees that rang periodically to scare the birds away. Apparently this is how it is in Canada too... but having never been to an orchard before I have never seen such a thing. Once the pears were picked we walked around and through a garden and then had too much down time hanging out in the trees doing nothing. My students were fascinated by the earthworms which didn’t bother me until they got out their twigs and started breaking them apart and poking them. Ugh! I didn’t like that and tried to stop them but my efforts only worked a short time. Finally, we boarded the bus and the field trip was brought to an end. A huge bonus to the day was that i did score some free peaches! I’ll take that any day!
My Birthday
My Birthday
I will start by writing that I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating my birthday three times in Korea!
Friday
On Friday, I went to school and everyone at school thought my birthday was on Saturday (it really was the following wednesday but we were celebrating saturday and invited to staff so we just let them think the birthday was saturday). Anyway, so my Korean Teaching partner, Michelle, had all the students draw me a picture in secret and then laminated them all as a keepsake for me! How Special! And then with my afternoon elementary students I brought in suckers and cakey cookies to celebrate with each class. They liked that!
Then that night we left the school and headed to GS25 (the convenience store/plastic chairs to have some drinks)... well Ansan (my city) was having a food fair and the pedestrian streets were littered with little white tents and different foods and carnival games (dart balloons, throw the baseball at the wooden blocks, shooting games).
So we toured around a bit and then ended up in front of GS 25 because conveniently a stage was set up right there with all of these chairs for some sort of concert. As we are standing there, taking it all in, a Korean man approaches us and asks us to come into a restaurant for some soju and to meet his band!! ASSAH (Korean for hooray!) so not wanting to pass up an opportunity that will for sure bring laughs we go in and have some soju shots with the band members whose names included; Rocky......................... After this we continued our wandering and ran into men/women dressed as soju bottles! Think of a large costume Absolute bottle walking around with a face and posing for pictures (ohh Korea korea). The night pretty much continued like this until after dark.... at which point we shot off fireworks in the middle of the street (the prize we won from the carnival games). Then we met up with some more foreigners who were heading to “BEER PLUS” We got in there and there was literally 50 foreigners there!!! We had 6 tables pushed together and a massive row of people. Word got out that it was my birthday and the owner brought out a hat and a cake and everyone sang.... and because 50 people were in attendance it turns out that it was two other guys birthdays too... so not wanting to be selfish I made them wear the hat and we all blew out the cake together!!!! It was GRRRRREAT!!!
Saturday
Then Saturday was the big night out in Seoul. We all didn’t do a whole lot in the day and then left at about 4p.m. for Seoul. My friend I met a couple of weeks ago came to celebrate, then the sweetest Korean girl I had just met on Friday came out with us, and then it was the regulars, Camille, Bridgett, Roberta, and Will. We all took the subway to the University party district. Started the night out at a lounge, then ate at a spicy chicken Korean BBQ type of place. Then as I was standing on the street with Darin these three Korean University aged boys come up to us with video cameras. They ask if we could do this test for them for a school project. Of course, we don’t want to turn something down in the name of “education” so we say yes. They get us each to suck on a piece of litmus paper and then make out for the camera!!! ha ha ha I have since seen the video of this after (the one Camille taped) and one of the Korean boys is saying “good.. “G” “O” “D”... good” haha. We then had to suck on the litmus paper again to see if it changed colour. Of course it never, so we took a swig of orange juice and then the litmus paper changed for the test. Who knows what it really was all for but it was pretty pretty funny. We then continued merrily wandering around. And ran into our same costume soju bottle friends that we saw in Ansan the night before... like what are the chances! In a city of 7 million! From there we met up with a couple more army boys (that Bridgett/Camille knew from months back) and all headed to the “ice bar.” This place was so COOOOL (pun intended). It was -5 degrees Celsius and they gave us silver coats to wear with a fur trim. The walls had ice on them, the bar was made of ice (even the stools), the cups we drank out of were ice, and there were some pretty cool statues of ice. Roberta’s friend Anne Marie and her Korean boyfriend and friend also met us there. At one point, all lights went out and they gave us sparklers and played a birthday song for me... it was all AMAZING!!! From there we went to a club danced around and then caught a taxi home to Ansan which only cost about $50.00 split between us five so well worth it!!! The birthday was all and all one for the books!
I will start by writing that I thoroughly enjoyed celebrating my birthday three times in Korea!
Friday
On Friday, I went to school and everyone at school thought my birthday was on Saturday (it really was the following wednesday but we were celebrating saturday and invited to staff so we just let them think the birthday was saturday). Anyway, so my Korean Teaching partner, Michelle, had all the students draw me a picture in secret and then laminated them all as a keepsake for me! How Special! And then with my afternoon elementary students I brought in suckers and cakey cookies to celebrate with each class. They liked that!
Then that night we left the school and headed to GS25 (the convenience store/plastic chairs to have some drinks)... well Ansan (my city) was having a food fair and the pedestrian streets were littered with little white tents and different foods and carnival games (dart balloons, throw the baseball at the wooden blocks, shooting games).
So we toured around a bit and then ended up in front of GS 25 because conveniently a stage was set up right there with all of these chairs for some sort of concert. As we are standing there, taking it all in, a Korean man approaches us and asks us to come into a restaurant for some soju and to meet his band!! ASSAH (Korean for hooray!) so not wanting to pass up an opportunity that will for sure bring laughs we go in and have some soju shots with the band members whose names included; Rocky......................... After this we continued our wandering and ran into men/women dressed as soju bottles! Think of a large costume Absolute bottle walking around with a face and posing for pictures (ohh Korea korea). The night pretty much continued like this until after dark.... at which point we shot off fireworks in the middle of the street (the prize we won from the carnival games). Then we met up with some more foreigners who were heading to “BEER PLUS” We got in there and there was literally 50 foreigners there!!! We had 6 tables pushed together and a massive row of people. Word got out that it was my birthday and the owner brought out a hat and a cake and everyone sang.... and because 50 people were in attendance it turns out that it was two other guys birthdays too... so not wanting to be selfish I made them wear the hat and we all blew out the cake together!!!! It was GRRRRREAT!!!
Saturday
Then Saturday was the big night out in Seoul. We all didn’t do a whole lot in the day and then left at about 4p.m. for Seoul. My friend I met a couple of weeks ago came to celebrate, then the sweetest Korean girl I had just met on Friday came out with us, and then it was the regulars, Camille, Bridgett, Roberta, and Will. We all took the subway to the University party district. Started the night out at a lounge, then ate at a spicy chicken Korean BBQ type of place. Then as I was standing on the street with Darin these three Korean University aged boys come up to us with video cameras. They ask if we could do this test for them for a school project. Of course, we don’t want to turn something down in the name of “education” so we say yes. They get us each to suck on a piece of litmus paper and then make out for the camera!!! ha ha ha I have since seen the video of this after (the one Camille taped) and one of the Korean boys is saying “good.. “G” “O” “D”... good” haha. We then had to suck on the litmus paper again to see if it changed colour. Of course it never, so we took a swig of orange juice and then the litmus paper changed for the test. Who knows what it really was all for but it was pretty pretty funny. We then continued merrily wandering around. And ran into our same costume soju bottle friends that we saw in Ansan the night before... like what are the chances! In a city of 7 million! From there we met up with a couple more army boys (that Bridgett/Camille knew from months back) and all headed to the “ice bar.” This place was so COOOOL (pun intended). It was -5 degrees Celsius and they gave us silver coats to wear with a fur trim. The walls had ice on them, the bar was made of ice (even the stools), the cups we drank out of were ice, and there were some pretty cool statues of ice. Roberta’s friend Anne Marie and her Korean boyfriend and friend also met us there. At one point, all lights went out and they gave us sparklers and played a birthday song for me... it was all AMAZING!!! From there we went to a club danced around and then caught a taxi home to Ansan which only cost about $50.00 split between us five so well worth it!!! The birthday was all and all one for the books!
Electonics Market
Electronics Market
We had one random Wednesday off so we decided to head to the electronics market it Seoul. It is a whole area of Seoul known for it’s cheap electronics. Bridgett needed an external hard drive and the rest of us (Camille, Bert, and Me) were up for the trip. It was fun wandering the jam packed stalls/ or small rooms full of all kinds of gadgets. Apparently one can bargain in Korea... but I was working my magic and only got $5.oo off so I am not so sure about this bargaining thing.
From there we went to Itaewon, (foreigner trap of Seoul-- worst of Korea/America in one place) but the girls wanted SUBWAY and I lucked out with Starbucks. So not much to tell from here... except that I got lost! I really had to go to the bathroom so I left the girls and then when I came out I couldn’t find them anywhere! I felt like a small child who looses their mom in a supermarket. I also was wondering about how if worst came to worst how I would manage finding my way back on the subway. I think I could have done it... but luckily I didn’t have to because I gave my head a shake and remembered I had Camille’s cell phone number on a scrap (literally scrap and torn piece of paper in my wallet) so I saw two foreigners and shakingly asked if i could borrow their phone. They were nice and obliged and phoned for me. I asked where they were.... and then Camille is like “hold on I can hear you!” and then guess what happens... she pops out of the store beside where I am standing with the strange men!!! HA HA HA... of course! stuff like that would only happen to me!
We had one random Wednesday off so we decided to head to the electronics market it Seoul. It is a whole area of Seoul known for it’s cheap electronics. Bridgett needed an external hard drive and the rest of us (Camille, Bert, and Me) were up for the trip. It was fun wandering the jam packed stalls/ or small rooms full of all kinds of gadgets. Apparently one can bargain in Korea... but I was working my magic and only got $5.oo off so I am not so sure about this bargaining thing.
From there we went to Itaewon, (foreigner trap of Seoul-- worst of Korea/America in one place) but the girls wanted SUBWAY and I lucked out with Starbucks. So not much to tell from here... except that I got lost! I really had to go to the bathroom so I left the girls and then when I came out I couldn’t find them anywhere! I felt like a small child who looses their mom in a supermarket. I also was wondering about how if worst came to worst how I would manage finding my way back on the subway. I think I could have done it... but luckily I didn’t have to because I gave my head a shake and remembered I had Camille’s cell phone number on a scrap (literally scrap and torn piece of paper in my wallet) so I saw two foreigners and shakingly asked if i could borrow their phone. They were nice and obliged and phoned for me. I asked where they were.... and then Camille is like “hold on I can hear you!” and then guess what happens... she pops out of the store beside where I am standing with the strange men!!! HA HA HA... of course! stuff like that would only happen to me!
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