Masterpiece!

I apologize for not updating my blog in like a month...

Over a month ago, some of my students approached me while I was sitting at my desk. "Teacher! Can we take pictures of you?" I immediately look around the teachers' room in hopes of finding some explanation. One of my co-teachers told me: "They are doing an art project...so they want to take a picture of you. Is that ok?" My response: "Um...ok..."  My co-teacher nodded her head to the students and all of a sudden, a million camera phones pop out of nowhere and all I hear is snap! snap! snap! snap! For that minute, I felt like a celebrity who just got ambushed by the paparazzi!

Weeks went by and there was no sign of any student having an "art project." So I began to wonder if they had lied and it was just an excuse for them to take my picture (I wondered how many students had my picture as their wallpaper on their cell phones)...I was wrong...well I was wrong about thinking that the students had lied about having an art project. Not long after I made the assumption my students were lying, I saw the MASTERPIECE! A student had drawn a picture of me! And it was shown at the school's talent show!

 

My whole school saw this MASTERPIECE!  There were 3 comments that stood out above the rest...

1. My beauty mark!
2. My eyeliner!
3. She did such a great job!

 

The girl who drew the picture is in one of my English classes. After the the talent show, my co-teacher pointed her out to me during class. She is very shy and quiet, so I thought she was going to throw it away (since she didn't acknowledge me when I saw her).  But my co-teacher told me that she wanted to give it to me...sure enough a week later she gave it to me as a present (she added some things to it)! I was so honored she gave it to me I almost cried! I gave her a HUGE hug and thanked her (I may have freaked her out, haha). I will keep it forever...at least I plan to.

1st Halloween in Korea: Richard Simmons 80's Workout Crew!!!

Halloween festivities came quicker than I thought...My group of friends came up with the idea to be Richad Simmon's workout crew...CIRCA 1980's. We went costume searching on Tuesday (the Halloween pub crawl was on Sat)...some of us found amazing pieces (Blondie sweatshirt, gold leggings, etc.) in downtown Daegu...not me of course. So the next day I bought a sweatshirt on impulse at Emart (similar to USA's Walmart)...it was stupid.  Its now a "home sweatshirt."  A "home sweatshirt" is a sweatshirt I wear at home and will NEVER leave the house in.  Its purposes now are to sleep in, lounge in, clean in...it might end up becoming a mop if I run out of Swiffer sheets and am too lazy to go to the store to buy more...

ANYWAYS...I ended up finding all the pieces to my costume at local markets that Thursday. 

Costume:

• Bright colorful leopard sweatshirt: 15,000 Won
• Pink and gold glitter leg warmers: 6,000 Won
• Sweatbands (wrist and headband): 2,000 Won
• Mike Grillo showing up as Richard Simmons: PRICELESS

 

Note: one member was MIA...missing in action. Good times...

Today's Lunch Menu: Stinky feet soup...

Today I didn't eat breakfast because I woke up late...the teachers at my school (assumed I ate breakfast) gave me: rice cake, sweet potato, pear, and warm bread ALL before lunch!  One of the teachers told me that Koreans have 2 stomachs: 1 for meals and 1 for snacks. 

The clock struck 12pm...lunchtime!!! We walked into the teachers' lunch room...it smelled like stinky feet...I was like "Um...what are we having for lunch?" They told me: "traditioanl soy bean soup."  It was really hard to enjoy my meal because the whole room smelled like a boy's locker room...and on top of that...I had a bowl of it sitting in front of my face...The teachers told me, "Tastes better than it smells."  I tried a spoonful and concluded that the teachers' statement is not necessarily a true statement.

After we left the lunch room, I asked one of my co-teachers: "why does it smell like that?" She said: "Its because of the soybeans."  I was like "Soybeans normally don't smell like that..." She replied: "Its like aged cheese." I googled it...its called cheonggukjang...FERMENTED SOYBEANS. 

I need to brush my teeth a few times...

Busan International Fireworks Festival

This weekend my friends and I decided to go to the 6th Busan International Fireworks Festival at Gwangalli Beach (surprisingly the same plans as many other people in Korea).  The fireworks were by far the best ones I've ever seen in my life (even compared to the ones I've seen at Mount Rushmore...on the Fourth of July)!  I tried uploading the video of them, but after waiting 2 hours I decided to quit...these pictures do not do them justice...what a shame.

 

While waiting for the fireworks extravaganza, we were entertained by magicians (the men sitting next to me)...after showing us multiple pocket magic tricks, he proceeded to show us pictures on his gold camera phone of "his girlfriends" (college girls at a car show)...ABRACADABRA...*POOF* the conversation ended.  We decided to watch the fireworks standing up...and 10 feet away.

And the aftermath of it all...

Am I really an ENGLISH teacher?

Growing up, my parents always told me I didn't speak English; I spoke "Mandanese".  "Mandanese" was my own dialect of English.  Only close family members and friends could understand the language.  Basically, I would talk to people as if they knew my thoughts, and I didn't practice censorship ("D"of mouth). I can still remember my mom saying, "Manda, you need to think before you talk."

Throughout my years of schooling, I've pretty much sqaushed Mandanese (on a rare occasion it comes out when I'm tired). Recently, I have not been able to form complete sentences...has Mandanese come back into my life?  The symptoms are unfamiliar...

SYMPTOMS:

• act out each sentence or phrase (as if I'm playing charades)
• talk like a cave woman.  "I go to park."

I hope there is a cure...

My favorite Korean invention...

So here is a small Korean bathroom (this is actually the one I shared at Jeonju University during my orientation week).  Notice there is no separation between the shower and the rest of the bathroom...super easy to clean, but may be inconvenient at times if you are used to Western style bathrooms.

Example: When I first took at shower...my towel got soaked...actually everything got soaked. 

This is by far my favorite invention I've come across while living in Korea...GENIUS! 

 I appreciate anything that encourages multitasking.

Busan or Bust! PART 3 (last part)

"Busan or Bust-Part II" told you of my food adventures in Busan.  This post will conclude the trilogy of "Busan or Bust"...

We had heard it was suppose to rain, so when we woke up to beautiful clear skies, we decided to venture to the beach!  This was at about 10am...

 The water was a perfect temperature.  As soon as I jumped into the ocean, I wanted nothing more than to be transformed into a mermaid...needless to say it didn't happen, but I swam as much as I could.  I almost got run over by a jet ski. I dove under a wave...when I bobbed up for air, a jet ski zoomed by my head (my friends were watching with their mouths open).  I suppose jet skis and people are suppose to swim harmoniously in the ocean.  We left the beach at around 4pm-ish.  We went back to the hostel to rest.  Later that night when we were getting ready, we all agreed we had been severely sunburned...a couple of us probably had 3rd degree burns...trying to coordinate your outfit with "red sunburn" can be annoying sometimes...

Later that night, we decided to walk to Gwangalli Beach (10min walk from our hostel)...the picture does not do justice to the breath taking view...

 

While walking around in Busan, we came across a couple business signs we just had to take pictures of...

So in conclusion, I love Busan and I may want to move to a beach some day...