Waygooks Wandering

It's strange to think that we have been in Korea for the entire year of 2014 and that this is now our second Christmas in Daegu. It becomes really taxing being in Korea around the holidays. Home sickness gets really hard because Koreans celebrate Christmas in a really different way than in Western countries. As I said last year, Christmas in Korea is a couples holiday. Some of the Christian people might go to church, but the restaurants and stores are all open and really busy on Christmas. It's the total opposite of what it is like at home, which makes it hard to be here for the holidays.

Gianni and I tried to make it as Christmas-y as possible though. We spent a bit less on each other than we did last year, since we want to make sure we have a nice time in China. But we still got presents for each other to put under the tree (small and plastic though it may be) and in each others' stockings (though they are small and not the ones Aunt Nancy made us). On Christmas Eve, Gianni worked really hard on dinner. He made some tasty chili and potato latkes (we got a little bit of Hanukkah in our Christmas). It was nice to have a good Christmas Eve dinner, according to my traditions, even if it wasn't ham and all the Christmas dishes I'm used to. Instead of opening Christmas PJ pants on Christmas Eve (my family's tradition), Gianni and I gave each other 2 pairs of Korean socks to open instead. I got two pairs with mustaches on them that are pretty amazing (I love mustache socks). I gave him a pair with a guy with a head of poop giving the thumbs up and another pair that have a thumbs down symbol and say "안좋아요," or "not good," on them. Thoroughly happy with all our sock presents I think. We watched Wolf of Wallstreet finally that night. What a LONG movie, and completely un-Christmas-y. It was still good though.

On Christmas morning, Gianni and I woke up a bit early to make sure we got to talk to our parents. We opened our presents first. I mostly gave Gianni Korean knock-off legos. He got a pirate set that he saw at a store and really wanted. I made him put it down because I had already gotten it for him. I also got him some amazing Simpsons legos. I got as many of the characters as I could find at the store. Each character comes with some other little object that you have to put together, like a desk or a mailbox or something. Gianni is already finished putting everything together. I'm very proud of my gift-giving ability. He also got some touch-screen gloves that fit nicely. Gianni gave me some nice things too--candies and cookies mostly. He gave me one Japanese candy kit that I'm really excited to try. Apparently, in Japan they have a lot of these kits where you can mix or make some sort of candy yourself. I really like the idea, and I've seen people do them before. They are really cool. I also got some nice notebooks, a Tutoro ring and pin, and Christmas pencils. After opening gifts, we started making Christmas morning breakfast. It was no where near the elaborate one my mom makes with wife-saver and a cinnamon bun Christmas tree, but it was the best I could do. Gianni made eggs and bacon while I made french toast for the first time ever. I think I did a decent job. We cooked while talking to our parents on skype. They were all at my house for Christmas Eve dinner at the time. I don't know what I would do without skype. It was also great to see the Bonica family: my lovely cousins, aunt, and uncle. After a nice long chat, we signed off to eat our breakfast and let them get back to their little party. We spent the day watching TV together before our lovely Christmas dinner with our friends.

We are so blessed to have the best friends in the world in Korea. Honestly, over this past year, they have truly become our second family. They make being away from our families over the holidays an actually bearable experience. Sian was wonderful and made a reservation for 20 people at Ariana Hotel's buffet restaurant for Christmas dinner. It was ten-fold better than last year's crazy trip to Busan. Ariana, like most restaurants in Korea on Christmas, was super busy when we arrived at 6pm. It got less busy as the night went on, and we didn't end up leaving the restaurant until like 10pm. Ariana is a buffet that makes its own beer too. It's a kind of expensive place, but you get free beer and wine included, so we definitely made the price worth it. We all ate a lot of food, drank a lot of beer and wine, and danced to the music when the band started playing later in the night. All the Korean kids out with their families were dancing adorably by the stage too. We even did a Yankee Swap with about 15 people. Gianni ended up with way better gifts this year than he did last year. He got an ax pen and a funny chicken button, and I got a kit for staying warm in the winter, which included a mug and hot coco, hot packs, and a dragon microwave hand warmer. It was a really fun evening spent with awesome friends as well as some cool new people. The food was delicious as was the wine. It was a really great Christmas, even though we didn't get to be home for it.

The week and weekend before Christmas were pretty low-key but fun. We took the week off from taekwondo because we needed it after practicing everyday for just over a week before our black  belt test. We did a couple of new things and hung out with our friends instead.

Last Tuesday night, we met up with Niall and Tara at a board game cafe we had never been to before. They are friends with the owner, so they go there all the time. Although it has board games, it is more of a cafe, so not the same selection of board games as we usually get. The food there looked amazing though, and I'd love to go back for dinner. I just got a chocolate muffin with ice cream on it. It was huge and delicious for only $4. Our board game cafe doesn't have food or alcohol, so I would definitely go back to this place too. I think it just depends on whether you are more interested in playing a ton of different games or whether you want some dinner and you are happy playing a limited selection of games. This cafe also had a few adorable cats walking around that would steal your seat if you got up to order. Too cute! Niall and Tara taught us to play a game we had never played before called Citadel. It was really fun, and I definitely want to play it again. It was really nice to spend a few hour with Niall and Tara because it has been so long since we'd seen them. It was a really fun night.

On Wednesday night, we did another thing we haven't done in a while: quiz night. Maria, Matthew, Gianni, and I called our team Mr. Plow (Simpsons reference). There was one Christmas round, but the other ones were sex and name the movie from the picture. As usual, it was really fun. Our team ended up tying for first place! To decide which team got first and which got second, Niall and the other quiz-makers decided to have us write down the names of all Santa's reindeer and the items that go along with all 12 days of Christmas in the song. Both teams managed to name all of them, so them we just had to rock, paper, scissor for it. Although we suggested simply splitting all the money in half for each team instead of going for first and second place, because the second place team gets significantly less than the first place one, the other team didn't want to take the offer. Maria is the best at rock, paper, scissors, so she won us first place! It was awesome. We won 133,000 won for the team! Not bad at all. Paid off our Christmas presents this year and our dinner for that night.

Thursday night was the end of year teacher dinner. We went to a really expensive buffet called Ashley at Daegu Tower. It's a Western style buffet where they serve little pieces of cheesecake for dessert that are amazing. The dinner was excellent. The school even did a raffle where some of the teachers could win money. My number was 44 though, so I had double bad luck. In Korea, the number 4, or "sa," is bad luck because "sa" also means "dead" in Chinese. I didn't win any money, but a few of my coteachers did. After dinner, my main coteacher, Sun Mi, wanted to go up to the base of the tower. Even though she's from Daegu, she had never been there before. It's so surprising what people don't do in their own cities. She didn't go up the tower, but even from the base, you can get a nice view of the city. We walked down the path back to the restaurant outside. They decorate it with all kinds of Christmas lights, so it's really pretty. Gianni and I were going to go to taekwondo that night, but the bus took longer than expected to get home with all the traffic. Oh well, too bad. (You can hear how disappointed I was *hahaha*)

Friday night, Gianni and I went with Sian, Thomas, Maria, and Matthew to see The Hobbit. I think the general consensus was that it was way better than the last movie. It still had tons of horrible CGI, but it was more fun. They could easily have put the first 20 minutes of this movie into the last one, and the ending of the last one would have been much better. Anyway, splitting a really short book into 3 movies was insane, but whatever. It's annoying that that's the new Hollywood trend.

The weekend before Christmas was spent baking. I baked both Saturday and Sunday all day, and I barely left the house. On Saturday, I made banana bread muffins, nutella cupcakes, and my mom's Christmas frogs (most people call them haystacks). It feels much more like Christmas for me having those frogs in the house. I divided it all up to give to our coteachers as their Christmas presents, so we didn't eat all of it ourselves. It would have been gross if we had. It was A LOT of baked goods. On Sunday, Maria and Matthew came over to bake with us. Matthew really like anise cookies, and I made them last year, so he wanted more. Matthew made buckeyes (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate) in the kitchen while I made anise cookies. I made entirely too many anise cookies. I made one batch with a recipe that Auntie Teresa gave us before they came over to the house, but I decided that it wasn't enough, and I wanted to make a different recipe that I had a home to see what the difference in taste was. I can't really tell the difference in the end, and both are really good. But the second recipe I made had 7 cups of flour! That should have been the indicator that it was a huge recipe. It made too many cookies. It was also a lot stickier and harder to roll into balls. I think I'll stick with Auntie Teresa's recipe. Anyway, we sent Maria and Matthew home with lots of cookies, and I had enough to give one to each of my coteacher as well as a whole tray to bring to the taekwondo Christmast party we have tonight (day after Christmas). Gianni gave his coteacher 1 cupcake and 1 muffin each, and I gave mine 2 frogs, 1 anise cookie, and a bookmark I made each. I think they all appreciated the effort I made in baking them. A lot of things in Korea are labeled "handmade," and I think they really appreciate handmade things in Korea. Baking is way more fun than cooking, in my opinion.

The week of Christmas, I just watched The Santa Clause with my kids. They really liked it I think. They were laughing and getting really into it. After this week, there are just three days of class next week, and I really don't feel like actually teaching (and they don't feel like learning). They just informed me that my third grade classes are cancelled for the last 4 days of the semester, which is kind of sad because I like teaching 3rd grade, and the kids are graduating, so I don't get to see them anymore. At least it gives me time to continue planning my travel-themed camp and our vacation to China in January. I need a vacation!

Gianni and I were completely dedicated to taekwondo last week. We went every night to practice our forms for our black belt test. We felt really confident about them going into our black belt test on Saturday afternoon. Luckily, we didn't have to wake up as early as Serena did for her test, but we did have to wait for quite some time beforehand. We met at the gym at 12pm on Saturday, but we didn't end up actually doing our test until around 4:30pm. It was a long time to wait and watch, and I definitely started to get nervous as the children were finishing their tests.

Me doing the 8th form at the back, and Gianni doing the 3rd

The way the black belt test is structured is that everyone demonstrates 3 of the 8 forms and does a minute of sparring in groups of 6. The first form is the same for everyone: the 8th and most recently learned form. The second form is, again, the same for everyone, but for this one, the form is chosen at the start of the day. For our test, it was the 3rd form. The last form is completely random, and the judge changes it with each group of 6 testers, so you don't know what exactly it will be until you get in front of the judge. Gianni and I both were asked to do the 5th form. The last step is sparring, and it's pretty simple. You just have to remember to kick with both your legs, do high kicks, and do a variety of different kicks.

Gianni doing the 8th form

Me doing the 8th form

When it was finally time for our test, we were arranged in our groups. I was only in a group of 3 because I guess there weren't enough adults testing to make a full group. I was a little worried because I was supposed to have taken off all my jewelry beforehand, but I don't actually know how to take off my cartilage piercing. It cause a bit of a disturbance among the people checking us in, but Master Hwang got it sorted out. I was in a group with one guy from our gym and another girl who was from another gym. The forms went by really quickly  because I was totally nervous. Still, Gianni and I are both confident about our performances. I don't think I made any mistakes on the forms. My leg did start shaking at the end of the last one, but that was partially because it was really cold once you got to the stadium floor, away from all the heaters. So we moved on to the last part: sparring. I was paired with the girl who was in the forms group with me. Now, it is my understanding that this sparring is meant to be friendly because we both need to make sure we get some kicks in to pass the test. At practice, some of the girls at my gym and I were basically just taking turns doing some kicks, and that was fine. Well apparently this girl didn't get the memo. She started in on me really fast, kicking me really hard. Gianni and his partner in the group before me were actually told to stop kicking so hard by their judge, so I'm not sure why our judge didn't stop us. Anyway, the girl started kicking me hard and made me fall. Then, she proceeded to kick me in the face! After that, I completely forgot the rules of what I was supposed to be doing to pass the test, and I just wanted to go after her. I kicked her as hard as I could and made her fall once. I know I kicked with both my legs, but I'm not sure I did enough variety of kicks. Master Hwang said I did well though.

Gianni sparring (left)

Me sparring (right)

After the test, the girl was very apologetic about kicking me in the face because I don't think she meant to. Still, I now have a cut/bruise on my lip, and it hurts to open my jaw very wide. It's better than it felt on Saturday though, so nothing really damaged. I felt like a baby, but I definitely got teary-eyed afterwards because I was in some degree of pain. I tried not to cry because I was with the other gym members and Master Hwang, but they kept noticing me getting teary and pointing it out, which only made things worse. We all went out for dinner afterwards, but I kind of just wanted to go home and take some motrin. Oh well! Master Hwang called it my "injury of glory!"

Despite the knocks I took during it, I think I did really well on my black belt test overall. Gianni feels good too. I thought we would have to wait a few weeks to find out if we passed, but Master Hwang just called to let me know that Gianni and I both passed! We are officially black belts!!! yay! We do have to still wait for the actual belts with our names on them though, but that's ok. Now, we need a little break for this week.

This past weekend, Gianni and I practiced taekwondo with Max both days because it is just one week before our black belt test! It's really scary, but we are getting some good work in, and I think we should be ok...at least I hope so! I hate doing tests like this though. I always get really nervous and screw up in front of Master Hwang. The black belt test is at a big stadium place with judges scrutinizing us, so I just hope I do well. We plan to go almost everyday this week to make sure we have everything perfect.

Even though we did a lot of practicing, we also found some time to do some fun stuff too. One thing I

love about a city like Daegu is that there is always something new to do--something I haven't seen or a restaurant I haven't eaten at. On Friday night, Lily invited me to go out for her birthday girl's night. We started at a new restaurant called Bubba's where they have delicious salads and pizza. I got a ricotta cheese salad, and it was basically some lettuce with a big glob of ricotta on top with some nuts and dried fruit. It was alright, but probably too much cheese. Next time, I'll get the 4 cheese pizza! After that, we went probably the coolest place I've ever been: a wine and hookah bar that smelled of incense and was very dimly lit. There were Indian-style wall hanging all over the place, and we sat on a bunch of pillows on the landing on top of a staircase. It was like our own little alcove. The whole place was very relaxing and romantic. I'm definitely going back there. After spending a few hours chatting there and drinking our bottle of wine, we went to gogos and got cocktails in a bag to bring with us to the noraebang. We spent an hour or so singing some lovely songs before heading home. It was an awesome birthday party, and I had a great time. Happy Birthday Lily!

On Saturday after we finished practicing, we met Maria and Matthew downtown for a game night at the board game cafe. Beforehand, we went to dinner at a jjimdak place they had been to before. Jjimdak is chicken in a thin, brown marinade with thin rice noodles, potatoes, and other veggies. We also got it topped with cheese. It was really delicious. I was so full when we finished eating it. The restaurant is called Rose or something having to do with roses, so they give your table a rose made of soap when you go. They also had a spin the wheel at the front of the store, so I spun it before we left, and I won another soap flower. We also got 4,000 won off our meal because we each posted a photo of it on facebook. We played 6 games at the board game cafe, and I think it's safe to say that Maria has won our little contest to see who could win the most games this year. That means Maria is going to get a pair of socks from each of us.

Sunday we went back over to Max's for an hour-long practice session. Afterwards, he took us over to EMart Traders. EMart Traders is like a Korean Costco. They have stuff you can buy in bulk, but it is mostly Korean brands and foods. Still, they have some good stuff. We had some food at the delicious food court and did a little bit of shopping. Gianni and I are buying some gifts for two orphans for the charity called Daegu Time to Give. We have a preschool boy and a preschool girl. At EMart Traders, Gianni got the boy a truck filled with all kinds of toy cars, and I got the girl a Frozen drawing set and some extra markers. I hope the kids will like them!

This year, I am thankful for how easy it is to celebrate Thanksgiving in Korea. We did, roughly, the same thing as last year, so we got to celebrate the holiday twice with different groups of friends.

28 pound monster turkey!

On Friday night, we went to Max and Serena's house for their wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. They made a ham and a 28 pound turkey! It was massive, and they sent everyone home with leftovers. I made an apple crisp (with real Quaker oats that I brought back from home this summer) and two loaves of pumpkin bread. Serena bought me the pumpkin spice and canned pumpkin for the recipe on base, which was really nice of her. The recipe was huge, and this was the first time I had ever made it. I think it turned out really well. This year, Lily and Jonathan, two of our teacher friends who we don't see often, also came to Serena and Max's. Serena and Lily know each other from their running group. It was really nice to be able to see them as well. Everyone brought side dishes, and they were all really good, especially Deb's cornbread casserole!





On Sunday, our teacher friends ordered the turkey from the English magazine, The Daegu Compass, like last year. This time though, we had the dinner at Marie and Ben's new apartment since it's also a bigger place. Marie is a fantastic cook and baker. Everyone brought the side dishes to go along with the turkey. Again, our friends are amazing chefs. I brought some corn bread muffins and a pumpkin pie I bought from Costco. There were about 14 of us at their place, and it was really nice to catch up with people we don't always see.

I'd say Thanksgiving was successful again. Even though we don't get the day off from work, at least we can celebrate it with friends.


The Monday after Thanksgiving, a bunch of our friends (Marie, Ben, Thomas, Sian, Maria, Matthew, Gianni, and I) got together and went to one of the photo studios downtown. There are a ton in the main subway station, and I always see teenagers down there crowding around. Big groups of friends will go down there and get their photos taken together. We decided to celebrate December 1st by doing the same. We all got in our best Christmas outfits and took some Christmas pictures together. They take a bunch of pictures for like 10 minutes or so, and then you can pick which ones you want. $7 per person gets you one picture, but we chose 3, which ended up costing about $17 per person. They also edit the pictures for you to make you basically look flawless. I can say that I know why all the celebrities are talking about not wanting their pictures photo-shopped; it feels awful to have it done to you! I watched my legs and butt go from big to small as she edited, and it feels really judgey. That was the only bad part of the experience. I know they just wanted to make the pictures good, but the editor was pointing out all my flaws and correcting them. It felt weird. Some of you have probably seen the one I posted on facebook already, but there are two others I'm keeping secret for a Christmas card. They are really cute pictures, and I didn't have any pictures of the 8 of us together, so it's nice to have that now.

Finally the dry spell is finished! We haven't been to see a movie in Korea in AGES! And we were really missing it. Last week, we went to see Interstellar, which I thought was really good...at least until the ending. I thought Matthew McConaughey was really amazing in it. The ending fell a little short of what I wanted, but (little spoiler here) at least it didn't involve aliens or anything cheesy like that. The movie is about a time in the not-so-distant future when the Earth has been nearly completely destroyed. There is a group of scientists who has built a spaceship and sends out some inexperienced astronauts to attempt to find a new planet to settle on by traveling through a worm hole that has recently appeared. The movie hits close to home in dealing with the Earth's deterioration and the attempt to find a place to resettle. It made the movie really tense and real. Additionally, the idea of time being different on other planets and other dimensions is explored, with serious repercussions for Matthew McConaughey's character. That was the part I found really interesting and very sad.

This past weekend, we seriously had a movie weekend. I caught a cold at the end of the week, so we took some time off taekwondo, so I could feel better. We decided to relax by seeing a movie on both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, Gianni and I went by ourselves to see Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. Now, I completely am against splitting books, especially short ones, into two different movies. I think it was Harry Potter that started the trend, and that I understood because the book is freaking huge! Still, the 7th Harry Potter movie (the first part of the last book) was a pretty boring movie. I figured Hunger Games was going to end up like The Hobbit, which is one short book divided into 4 movies. The Hobbit ended on a totally ridiculous and stupid cliffhanger. Most of the movie had almost no action, and as soon as something was going to start, the movie was over. At least Hunger Games is actually a 3 book series, but they are short books, so I was a bit worried about how they would divide the last book into two movies. I thought they actually did a really nice job on this end, and I was pleasantly surprised. There was action in the movie. The pace of the movie wasn't too fast or too slow, and it didn't feel like it was drawn out for time. Also, it ended in a place that made sense and wasn't too much of a cliffhanger. I thought it was a really interesting movie anyway. I really enjoyed the book series, and I think the movies are doing it justice. The second book was my favorite, but I think this third movie has been my favorite so far. The movie focused on the propaganda campaigns being flung on both sides. The Capitol using Peeta (poor guy being tortured and starved) to stop the rebellions in the Districts, and District 13 (the leaders of the Rebellions) using Katniss to incite further rebellion.

On Sunday afternoon, we met with Maria, Matthew, Sian, and Thomas to see Fury, a movie about World War II with Brad Pitt. The movie is about the five guys who have been manning a tank together since the start of the war. The movie starts towards the end of World War II, when it is clear that the Allied Forces are going to win. One of the five guys dies, and he is replaced by Norman, a complete newbie to both combat and tanks. It was a really interesting movie and very well acted. Even though you know what's going to happen (obviously, we know the outcome of the war), you really feel for these guys who are trying to make it out alive at a time when the Nazis are doing everything they can in a last ditch effort to win the war. This was the first movie I've seen Shia LaBeouf in for a long time (or I should say the first good movie), and he was, surprisingly, really great. All the guys in the tank were really good.

We saw two really good movies this weekend, and I got the much-needed relaxation and healing time I needed. Next week: double Thanksgiving weekend!!! I couldn't be more excited!

Photo by Marie Unruh

Photo by Marie Unruh

"Bang" means room in Korean, and there are all kinds of "bangs" here. At a PC bang, you can play computer games or surf the internet. At a noeraebang, you can sing karaoke with your friends in a special, private room. At a DVD bang, you can rent a movie and watch it on a nice, big screen on a comfy bed (and teenagers can have sex...not a joke!). Multi bangs take all the amazing things you can do at the other bangs, and put it in one convenient room. Gianni and I went to one for the first time last weekend to celebrate our friend, Stef's, birthday. There was a massive group of us that met at traveler's for a burger dinner, went to the multi bang for a few hours, and then went out drinking near Gogo's (the drink in a bag bar). The multibang only cost about 20,000 per room, so it was really cheap to split between all of us. We started out playing mario cart on the wii, which was awesome. Some of the other rooms were doing a bit of noraebanging. After eating Marie's fantastic oreo cheesecake for Stef's birthday (Marie is a superb baker!), we switched over to playing Just Dance, a game where you hold the remote in your hand, and you have to match the movements as they come up on screen. I thought it was going to be awful at first, but we all got really into it. Gianni and I want to buy it for my Wii when we come home. It was that good. It was really fun to play games in our big group of friends.

Photo by Marie Unruh

We also went to taekwondo last Saturday, which we usually don't do. The date for our black belt test is set as December 13th though, so we've really been trying to practice. Unfortunately, this week I had a couple really bad headaches and then I caught a cold, so we were only able to go twice. Hopefully, I'll feel better tomorrow, and we can practice at home. We are also planning on seeing The Hunger Games today and Fury tomorrow, so it's a big movie weekend for us. Our weekends this month have been really low-key and relaxing. Sorry if the posts are really lame :)

Pohang is a city on the eastern coast of Korea. It's only a little over an hour away from Daegu, so it's really easy to get to. I've heard a lot about the nice beaches in Pohang, the fireworks festival they have their in the summer, and the hand sculpture built on one of the beaches. Instead of seeing any of those parts of Pohang though, we went with Maria, Matthew, Sian, and Thomas to do a little bit of hiking to see some beautiful waterfalls and fall foliage. Matthew and Maria did this trip last year with another friend, and they liked it so much that they wanted to go again.

We left on Friday night right after school from two different bus terminals in Daegu. Sian and Thomas met Gianni and I at the bus stop near where the 4 of us live, and Matthew and Maria went from one closer to their house. We met up in Pohang at around the same time. We were all a bit worried about making sure we caught the city bus from Pohang Bus Terminal to Bogyeongsa Temple, which is the start of the hiking trails. Our buses arrived in Pohang really close to when the city bus was supposed to be stopping for the night. We ended up catching the last city bus, which is good because the taxi would have been really expensive. The city bus took a little over an hour to get us to the temple area. My coteacher, Sun Mi, was nice enough to book a Korean-style hotel for us, and it was right next to the temple. The hotel was really nice and clean, and our room was really big. Korean-style hotels are ondol (heating in the floor) rooms where you sleep on the floor on mats. Unfortunately, soon after we arrived at the hotel I realized I didn't have my phone. We tore apart the room looking for it, but it wasn't there. I went to the front desk, and the ladies who worked there tried as best they could to help. As we had taken the last bus of the night, the city bus office was now closed, so they told me to come meet them at the front desk at 6:50 the next morning and go meet the first bus of the day to talk to the bus driver and search the bus. I was pretty bummed, but I thought there was a chance of getting it back since we were on the last bus, and by the time we got off the bus, we were the only passengers on the bus. Also, Koreans tend to be very honest and don't steal as much as people at home. I've had several friends recover lost phones that were turned in to the bus lost and found. Anyway, I was a little bummed but I couldn't do anything about it that night. We spent a few hours before bed learning a fun card game called Shanghai Rummy and watching part of A Knight's Tale (my favorite movie, which Maria brought to Pohang just for me!). Maria and Matthew love playing card and board games, so they always have something new to teach us.

The next morning, I got up early to go look for my phone. The younger woman who works at the hotel, Hye Jin, walked me down to the bus stop, which is about 10 minutes walk away from the hotel. We chatted as we went, in broken English and broken Korean. She was very sweet, and I kept thanking her for bringing me and apologizing for making her wake up early. We had good timing because the bus was just pulling in when we arrived at the stop. Hye Jin talked to the bus driver and explained the situation, and he told us to take a look on the bus. I looked around near the seat I was sitting on the night before and under the seat in front of me, but I didn't see it. Hye Jin told me to call it, and I did. I heard my phone vibrate, and I was thrilled! I found my phone between the seat and the window, right on the window sill! It was amazing. I'm so happy I got it back. My phone had 1% battery left when I found it. If it had died, I wouldn't have heard it vibrating. Lucky lucky me! I went back to the room for a bit to sleep. We woke up and went in search of breakfast. Gianni, Matthew, and I opted for the free Korean breakfast provided at the restaurant on site. We got two free breakfast tickets, and Gianni paid for his. The food was a Korean stew and rice. It was pretty tasty. Sian, Thomas, and Maria had a bit of a difficult time with breakfast. There aren't really any breakfast places in that area, so I think they ended up with convenience store snacks instead. After breakfast, we cleaned up the room and packed up. We checked out and left our larger bags behind the front desk. At about 10:30am, we were totally ready for our hike. The hotel is very conveniently located right next to the temple, where the hiking trails begin. You pay about $3 to get into the temple and access the trail.

We spent about 4 hours on the hiking trails, taking our time to check out the foliage and the various waterfalls. It is a beautiful and relatively easy hike through the forest and mountains. There were a ton of people hiking with us, so it was kind of hard to stop for pictures unless you pulled off the trail for a minute. The river water was beautiful and super clear, and there were so many different kinds of trees in the forest, so we got to see the full spectrum of foliage colors. Since there was rain the previous day in Pohang, the waterfalls were really full. Some of the falls were smaller and more like rapids, but other ones were quite big. At one point, there was a bridge to cross over that took you to a really nice big waterfall. People were crowding around trying to get pictures, and we got some pretty nice pictures. My favorite picture that someone took for us includes a group of Koreans standing near the waterfall taking a selfie with a selfie stick. Such a Korean thing to do! It was really funny. There were a lot of people picnicking on the rocks in that area, but we decided to walk up some steep stairs and look at the view from a cliff face that Maria and Matthew went to last year. You actually have to rock climb for a bit to get to the top of the cliff, but once we were up there, we were totally alone. No one else came up, and we decided to eat our lunch there, looking at the picturesque view of the valley, mountains, and foliage. That point was where Matthew and Maria stopped last year, but we decided to keep going a bit further to see one other waterfall. We successfully crossed over the river without falling in and did a bit more rock climbing to get there. It was really fun. This waterfall was really beautiful and had less people around it because most people head back where Maria and Matthew did last year. I took some pictures from the bottom of the waterfall as well as from the top. There was a staircase leading to the top, and when you got closer to a rock wall at the top of the waterfall, the noise of the falls seemed to be muted a bit. The opening between the rocks at the top of the falls wasn't really that big, and you could climb around and take pictures from up there. It was very peaceful. The waterfall itself was also cool because there was a kind of circular indent in the rocks behind it, making it look almost like a little cave. It would be cool to swim by the base of the falls in good weather. After spending a bit of time at this waterfall, we decided to turn around and get back to the hotel. We were worried about making sure we got the city bus back to the bus terminal and also got a bus back to Daegu.

Notice the selfie happening behind us! hahaha

Back at the hotel, we collected our stuff from the front desk. As part of the hotel room, we got 4 free tickets to use the hotel's sauna. A Korean sauna might have one traditional sauna room, but it also has various hot tubs of different temperatures and a place to thoroughly scrub and clean yourself. Also, they are divided by gender because you are completely naked walking around in this big room filled with hot tubs. We all decided that we smelled gross from the hike (the weather wasn't that hot, but the hike made us all sweaty anyway), so we wanted to get cleaned off before heading back on the bus. The girls went in the girls room, and the boys in the boys room, and we all spent an hour in the hot tubs and showered. The ladies in the sauna were very interested in talking to Sian, Maria, and I, which was pretty funny. We did the best we could with our limited Korean skills. One of the hot tubs was a luke warm green tea hot tub, so we went in there for a bit. It felt so nice to take a good shower. I really didn't want to smell up the bus on the way home. We met the boys when we were done and started walking back to the city bus stop. On the way, we stopped for hobak jeon (pumpkin pancake) in the tourist village. Hobak jeon is my favorite kind of jeon in Korea. It is sweet and perfect for eating in the fall.

We got to the bus stop a bit before the bus came, and there were a lot of old women waiting for the bus. When we first got to the stop, there wasn't a line, and we were standing up waiting. Apparently, a line formed at some point, and we didn't notice. One of the older women told us to get to the back of the line, so we ended up behind about 40 people! Even though we had to stand for a good portion of the hour-long drive, we did get a seat eventually. We got back to the terminal and bought bus tickets to our respective bus terminals in Daegu. Before leaving, we had time to get some dinner at the food court in the Home Plus next to the terminal. This is a massive Home Plus with a movie theater and shopping mall inside, so we had to book it down all the stairs and escalators to catch our 7pm buses back to Daegu. Sian and I played a few games of our favorite board game, Ticket to Ride, on the app on my phone on the way back.

Today is Sunday, and I plan to just do a few errands and get some chores done. It will be a relaxing day. That was the only trip we had planned for this month because we really need to start saving up for China. After being gone every weekend in October, I really need some relaxation time. I think for the last trip for a little while, Pohang was excellent! The weather, mountains, waterfalls, and foliage were all stunning, and it was great to hang out with our amazing friends. I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Last week, Gianni and I finished up our second Korean class at the YMCA (our third Korean class total since we've been here). I feel like I'm really started to understand more, especially in reading it. I've learned a few more useful phrases and things to use with my students. I still really enjoy learning Korean, but we're going to take another break until Spring to save money and get a lot of practice in for our black belt test in December.

On Friday night, it was Halloween. Gianni and I decided to have a Halloween/scary movie marathon with Maria and Matthew. We met them at Costco right after school. We did our shopping quickly and picked up a big bag of chocolate and a pumpkin pie to share with them for our 4-person Halloween party. We took a taxi back to our apartment, which took forever because it was raining, and I'm convinced that people around the world get stupider when it rains and forget how to drive. We watched House of the Devil, Casper, and Nightmare on Elm Street. It was so late by the time we were finished that Maria and Matthew decided just to sleep over. In the morning, we watched Paranormal Activity as we ate breakfast. I know there are a lot of sequels to that movie, but I can attest to the fact that the first one is actually really good and very freaky. I don't usually like scary movies, but I think I was feeling bold with my friends there. Also, I'm okay with scary movies as long as there are no body contortions and things--that's the part I really hate.

When Maria and Matthew left, Gianni and I got ready to go to Magic Flute, an opera being performed at the Daegu Opera House as part of the Opera Festival. I got free tickets for working for the Colorful Daegu blog, so now I just have to write about it. I'm not really a big fan of opera, but I think it's nice that they have a festival in Daegu. It teaches people about a different time and culture, bringing art and music to the city even further. Outside the opera house, they had a few interactive booths set up. In one booth, both children and adults could dress up in period costumes, immersing themselves in the time of the opera. People really like "photo zones" in Korea, which is pretty silly but cute. So at this festival, they had a fake stage and curtains set up to use as a photo backdrop, and tons of people were taking pictures by it.

The cast of Magic Flute

Magic Flute is an opera in German written by Mozart. The opera provided both English and Korean caption screens to either side and above the stage. The opera was about a prince who is found by a Queen. The Queen enlists his help to find her daughter, who was stolen by Sarastro. Turns out, the Queen is actually the villain in this opera. Sarastro stole the princess, Pamina, in order to unite her with the prince, Tamino, her true love. A prophecy said that Tamino and Pamina needed to be together, so he captured the princess in order to introduce them to each other. The opera has a really funny character named Papageno, who is Tamino's friend. He is the comic relief of the show, and he was totally pandering to the audience. He even ad-libbed a bit of Korean, which the audience ate up. It was really great! Another random note: the girl who sings opera in Miss Congeniality sings a song from this opera--if you remember that part in the movie.

On Sunday, we slept in for the first time in a long while. I helped Gianni change the scores on his students' writing tests. We ate dinner at home and met Maria and Matthew downtown to see Gone Girl. We had never been to this movie theater before, and it was okay, but the seats were definitely older than we are used to. It was a little bit more of a run-down place. Gone Girl was a fantastic movie! I recommend everyone go see that. It's a movie where Ben Affleck plays the husband of a woman who is missing. He is suspected of having murdered her. I won't give away any details. There were some disturbing scenes, but it was a great movie.

the amazing fireworks from the bridge

This past weekend was the second weekend this month we spent in Busan. This time, though, we went for the 10th Busan Fireworks Festival. Our friends went last year and said it was phenomenal, so we decided to join them in it this year. We went down to Busan on Saturday afternoon. The big, hour-long fireworks show started at 8pm on Saturday. Last year, it was so crowded, our friends couldn't even get to the beach at all, so when we arrived in Busan, some of us went to the hostel to check-in and others laid down mats on the beach to get a good viewing spot. The Fireworks Festival takes place on Gwangalli Beach. The focal point of the beach is Gwangan Bridge (also called Diamond Bridge), a suspension bridge and the second largest bridge in the country. Fireworks are actually shot off the bridge and all around it. We ended up getting a great spot right between the two towers of the bridge. We had four mats for he 14 or so people who were coming. We had a 6 hour wait, so we busied ourselves with talking, snacking, and playing card games. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. It was difficult to get to the bathrooms though because you had to climb over people. Literally every available inch of the beach was covered with mats by the time the show was about to start. People would find any available space to put their mat down, including on a long, narrow strip right in front of us. Eventually, we started to sit closer to the edge of the mats to protect our space and make sure no one encroached on it. During the day, there were people selling mats, blankets, kimbap, and chicken all on the beach. We packed our own snacks, but it was very convenient. They knew that once you sat down you couldn't get up. About an hour before the fireworks show, there was a K-Pop performance on the main stage, which we were sitting pretty close to. It was something fun to listen to for a bit while we waited. The fireworks show itself was incredible!!! They used fireworks I'd never even seen before, and it was longer than any fireworks show I've ever been to. There are no words to describe how breathtaking it looked. On top of the fireworks themselves, the bridge already has laser lights on it, which were also incorporated into the show. There were two barges that had fireworks on them as well as these large circular things. The circles had lights attached, and they were like an awesome light show in themselves. There were a

crazy light show + fireworks, and a couple taking selfies!

few fireworks that stood out to me; first, there was one that looked like rain and kept going for a while. I would think it would have burned out, but it didn't seem to for quite a while. Then, there was the ones attached to the bottom of the bridge that made it seem like it was raining color under the bridge. Another time, there was a pretty epic song playing, so the audience was gearing up for something awesome. The firework they shot off though went up really high, but was lackluster when it exploded. Everyone was kind of like, "oh, well that was ok" UNTIL the branches of the firework each exploded into big bursts of colorful fireworks themselves. It was like a ton of fireworks in one. They also shot fireworks in all different shapes, like hearts and planets. It was a beautiful display, and well-worth the trip and waiting 6 hours. Luckily, the weather was beautiful and not too cold for October. Sidenote: there was a couple taking selfies throughout the show. They hardly ever turned around to watch it at all. Why bother waiting all that time and not actually watch it anything!? Dumb people! We didn't want to head out right after the fireworks because the trains and taxis and traffic would have been a nightmare. Instead, we collected our things and ate a late dinner at a Japanese curry place on the beach. Eventually, we made our way back to our hostel and played a card word game before getting some much needed sleep.

This past weekend, I celebrated my 24th birthday with friends and was able to finish the Daegu Stamp Book! It was a really good weekend, and the only weekend this month that we are spending/spent in Daegu.

On Saturday afternoon, I had planned to visit Dodong Seowon Confucian Academy with one of my coteachers at school. Unfortunately, she had to cancel because she was feeling sick. Instead, I recruited the help of Max and Serena (who have a car) to get me there. You can get there on public transport, but it's a big hassle. It takes about 2 hours, and you, basically, need to take a taxi part of the way. It's about a half hour away from our house in a really remote section of Daegu.

Dodong Seowon Confucian Academy is one of the five most important Confucian Academies in all of Korea. It was first established in 1568, but the original buildings were burned by the Japanese during their invasion in 1592. Dodong Seowon was reconstructed in 1605 in its current location. Outside the Academy, there is a 400 year old gingko tree. The Academy is surrounded by beautiful mountains and feels as though it is hidden from the outside world a bit. Waking around there was very relaxing. After Dodong Seowon, we all went back to Max and Serena's place for a bit until it was time to head downtown for dinner and a trip to the cake cafe for my birthday!

I decided I wanted to get pasta as my birthday dinner, so Matthew suggested a place called Italy Italy. The food was really good, and the concept was unique. Italy Italy is a make-your-own pasta and pizza place. You get a form (that is written in English as well as Korean!) and on the form you choose either pizza or pasta, what sauce you want, what toppings, etc. It was really cool. Serena, Max, Matthew, Maria, Ben, Marie, and Stef were there to celebrate my birthday. During dinner, Matthew and Maria gave me an awesome canvas bag with a mustache on the front. I love all the mustache products that Korea sells, so it was the perfect bag for me. Inside, they had given me a shot glass from South Africa (thanks Sian!) and some really cute stationary stuff, including some finger shaped post-its that are called "Finger It"s! That's up at the top of my list of poor English used in Korea. Hilarious! I didn't even notice the best part of the present until Maria suggested I continue to look at the bag. When I turned it over, Matthew, Sian, and Thomas had decorated the blank side with a very realistic drawing of Korea made to look like our favorite board game, Ticket to Ride. My friends are so freaking creative and wonderful! It was a really awesome gift. Thank you so much guys!

I have wanted to go to a cake cafe for a really long time, and what better time to go there than on a birthday!? Cake cafes are places where you can buy a blank, undecorated cake or cupcakes and decorate them yourself! It's an awesome idea, and not that expensive at all. We all ordered 4 cupcakes, which cost about $10. Each cupcake was a different flavor: chocolate chip, strawberry, cappuccino, and almond. With the cupcakes, you get two kinds of frosting: white and a flavor of your choice. Gianni and I got coffee frosting. The middle section of the cafe has display cases full of all kinds of sugar decorations to add to the cupcakes. Each thing is a different price, but Gianni and I spent around $5 extra on the decorations. Not bad for 4 cupcakes! I made myself a birthday cupcake, which was probably the best one I made. It didn't take long to do, but I think we all enjoyed ourselves. My friends sang me "Happy Birthday," and Maria attempted to put frosting on my face, but it ended up in my hair. :) Everyone decided to go to the board game cafe for a few hours after the cake cafe. It was a really great birthday party!

On Sunday, I had two more places to visit in order to complete the stamp trail. Gianni didn't feel like getting up early with me, so that was fine. First, I went to Yuksinsa Shrine. I was a bit worried about getting there because it's in a remote part of the city. On Google Maps, it looks like there's nothing around this place. I purposefully got off the bus in a more populated-looking area so that, in case the second bus was going to take too long to come, I could easily get a taxi. Fortunately, I got to the transfer stop, and the bus to the shrine came very soon. It was a branch bus, which Gianni and I have had trouble with in the past, but, luckily, this was the correct branch of the bus! I was the only one on the bus, sothe bus driver tried to make conversation. I think he thought I spoke more Korean than I do, but he was very friendly. He even tried to help me figure out where I was once we got to the stop. The Shrine itself is located in a small village comprised of traditional Korean homes, or Hanoks. The history of the shrine is an interesting one. King Danjong of the Joseon Dynasty succeeded to the throne at age 12. Given his young age, his uncle, Sejo, decided to stage a coup and seized power in 1453. The following year, six officials of court attempted to put Danjong back on the throne, but their plan was discovered, and they were executed. Yuksinsa Shrine now houses the mortuary tablets of these six men. Memorial ceremonies are held yearly for the men, and I happened to visit the Shrine on one of these days! I took some pictures of all the men praying and doing the ancestral rituals in their traditional attire. People kept trying to talk to me, and, again, I think they thought I spoke more Korean than I do. Still, they were very interested in me and kept offering me lunch. I was a little confused about what was going on. Once the praying was over, a few more men started talking to me and taking pictures with me. They thought it was hilarious that a foreigner was there I think. One of the ancestors of the Korean heroes sat me down at one of the tables to eat lunch with them. He put me down next to two other visitors of the Shrine who were from another city in Korea. They didn't speak much English, but they were a very nice couple. The food was delicious! We had a stew, fruit, rice cakes, and some bonchon (side dishes). When we were finished, Mr. Park (the man who sat me down to eat) gave me a big bag of rice cakes and a small towel commemorating the event! What a sweet thing to do for a foreigner who has no idea whats going on. The couple even drove me back to the bus stop so I didn't have to wait for the bus! 


My final stop in the Korean version of the Daegu Stamp Trail was Daegu Shooting Range. I had never been shooting before, so I was really eager to try it. It's actually really close to Maria and Matthew's house, but you have to get a taxi from that part of Daegu since the buses that go to the shooting range are really infrequent. The shooting range is apparently way more expensive than it would be at home, but shooting isn't something a lot of Koreans do, so it's kind of a novelty I guess. There are several options for shooting: "combat zone," screen shooting (which is just like a video game on a large screen), air rifle target shooting, pistol shooting, and clay target shooting. The shooting range has a "combat zone" area set up outside for practice shooting around barriers. Maybe they use paintballs or airsoft or something. I opted for the pistol shooting. They had two guns available to choose from, and I chose a 9mm automatic gun. It cost $16 for 10 shots. You have to put on a vest and headphones before going in to shoot. The staff does everything for you, and the gun is actually attached to the sides of the booth in order to prevent you from turning the gun around to face the people looking through the glass windows. The staff, in broken English, explained how to aim and let me take a few practice shots. Then, he loaded the gun for me, and I just shot. I had no idea what I was doing really, but I ended up getting 9 shots on the target and four of those were 9's! I was kind of proud of myself for this being my first time! I didn't do any other shooting, but it was really fun to try it for the first time. I'll have to make dad take me to another one when I get home.

So the stamp trail is finally finished, and I am all set to submit the book and get my surprise prize for finishing it. It was really fun to do, but it came down to the wire, and I am glad to now get a break from it for a while. I saw some really cool places in Daegu that I would otherwise not have seen, and I feel like I understand and know a lot more about Daegu than I did before.

Because Sian and Thomas were unable to make it on Saturday, Gianni and I got dinner and went to the board game cafe with them on Tuesday for birthday shenanigans. We taught them the new game we played on Saturday. The owner of the board game cafe, who knows us all since we go in so much, just gave us this game, called Love Letter, on Saturday. We didn't ask him for it, but I think he wanted to watch us play it since it was new. It's a really simple card game, but it's more fun than it sounds at first. Sian and Thomas and Gianni and I don't really hang out a lot without other friends around, so it was really nice to spend some one-on-one time with them. I really appreciate that they cared enough about me to celebrate my birthday separately since they couldn't make it on Saturday. Love you guys!

On my actual birthday, I had a really funny interaction with one of my students. I told them it was my birthday, and I wrote my age on the board. One of the kids looks at me and goes, "Oh! Teacher German!" I was like "Ummmmm....I'm not German." My coteacher then explained that the word "German" in English sounds like the Korean word for "young!" It was really funny. Gianni and I decided to go to a restaurant downtown to celebrate. We went down right after school and spent some time browsing our favorite shops to check out the new products. We also went to a new store right across from the board game cafe, called Neverland. No idea how long that shop is going to stay around, but it deals exclusively in realistic animal stuffed animals! It's the weirdest/cutest thing, but they are really expensive stuffed animals. I don't see how this store could actually turn a profit, especially since they have several $2500 massive stuffed animals in the windows to attract customers. After walking around for a bit, we got dinner at 55 Dining, the place we went to for our anniversary. It is a set 6-course menu for only $16 per person, and the menu changes depending on the season. The spring menu was fantastic, so we really wanted to go back and try it in the fall. It was partially Italian influenced. One course was a pizza on a flaky pastry, and another was fried chicken and risotto. All the courses were really delicious, especially the blueberry pie with canned milk served in a little jar. I decided that wasn't enough dessert for my birthday though, so we stopped to get pieces of cake on the way home.

sign says "no money for long sleeves"

In addition to it being my birthday week, my school had two special days in a row this Thursday and Friday. They were both awesome! Thursday was Sports Day. They compete with their homerooms against the other homerooms in the grade. I believe there is a winner from each grade, and the winning team got money to get pizza for their class--sounds like a fantastic prize to me! To start the day, the PE teachers led all the students in a group stretch on the soccer field out in front of the school. All of my grade 3 kids were dressed up in all kinds of crazy costumes. I asked Sun Mi why none of the other

relay obstacle course

grades were wearing costumes, and she told me that the grade 3 students had told the grade 1 and 2 kids that they weren't allowed to wear any! What bullies! hahaha. I guess it's their prerogative as the oldest kids in the school. There were some really great costumes--hanbok, Simpsons PJs, Hawaiian, etc--but my favorite costume was the team wearing matching blue floral t-shirts and shorts in October! The sports day was supposed to have been in the Spring, but it was delayed because of the Sewol ferry accident. They ordered their costumes before the date was changed and decided not to get new one! They actually went

Mrs. Bae cheering on her team

around with a big sign that said, "No money for long shirts!" It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen! These kids are hilarious. The sports day competitions included relay races, obstacle course relay races, tug of war, jump rope, and a Korean game called Nott Dari Balgi. In that game, one students is lifted by two other students on either side. The student then walks over the backs of his or her classmates who are bent over. The line moves across the field as the person walking get towards the end of the line. It was kind of a dangerous game. There was another Korean game where all the students in one class lined up on the

Korean game called "Nott Dari" or bride walking

field. Then, two students from the class had to run across the field each holding one end of a rope with a plastic tube in the center to hold it to the ground. Basically, they are dragging this rope across the field, and the other students need to jump over it when it comes in one direction and duck under it when it comes in the other direction. There were some serious spills and a few tears, but it was fun to watch. It's interesting to see the games that are played in other countries. The tug of war was really fun because, after the students competed with each other, there was a special teacher and parent against student competition. The students seemed to select mostly really strong boys to go against us, which, if you ask me, isn't fair at all. We obviously lost, but it was a lot of fun to try. My hands were shaking after! Even though I didn't get to participate in sports day very much, it was amazing to get to interact with my students outside the normal classroom setting. I just kept walking around to the different homerooms and talking to my students on a more personal level. It was a really wonderful day, and I wish we could have more like that.

The beautiful, talented girl in front speaks wonderful English

The boy on the right in white is my c-level who is a great dancer.

Today was the school's talent show AND school festival day. In the morning, we got to go to a nearby church with all the kids to see the talent show. It was excellent. This year, they did a much better job with the flow between performers. The first part was all very cultured and sophisticated--one girl did ballet, a few girls played piano, a body played the trumpet, and one class played the recorder together. The transition to the second part was listed in the programs as a "flash mob," but I don't think Koreans really grasp the concept. It was just a few friends who got together and did a funny dance. The second part of the show was all singing and dancing to K-Pop songs. I really wish we had gotten to see more magic tricks, like last year, but the amazing piano players more than made up for it. There was a slew of what I would deem school-inappropriate dancing from the girls again. I am really torn in my head between "should I be watching this?" and "damn, these girls are really good dancers!" Some of my best students are up there shaking their bums and humping the floors...it's a strange situation to be put in. What stands out to me the most is just how supportive the students were of their classmates who were performing. One girl in my C-level class is very quiet in class but also quite good at English for her level. She stops to talk to me a lot after class is finished. I always thought that, because she was so quite, she might not be very popular. She performed at the talent

my C-level girl can belt!

show, and there were plenty of people cheering for her as soon as she got on the stage. I had no idea, but she has an incredible singing voice. I absolutely love

He is playing the janggu

being able to see a different side to my students. That's what these last two days were about--getting to see other facets of their personalities and interact with them outside the classroom. It's an amazing feeling. There were other times when a student would make a mistake or forget some words to their songs, but the entire audience cheered them on for encouragements whenever that happened. The students were all so kind and supportive of one another! They are really good kids. Another one of my c-level students danced. I suspect that he is a c-level more because he doesn't care about school than because he doesn't understand English well. He was at camp, and he has told me he likes dancing before, but it was nice to get to see it for real. He and his friends were incredible! They did some very popular K-Pop songs that I know and enjoy.

Doing their zombie makeup on their hands

making masks

After the talent show, we ate lunch and got ready for the school festival. Rhys and I were tasked with creating an English booth for the festival, and it was suggested that we do the topic of Halloween. I took the lead as Halloween isn't as popular in England as it is in the US. For a few weeks, I've been planning my activities and making signs. I chose to have the students really experience Halloween by making costumes (face painting, doing zombie makeup, or making masks), taking pictures with their friends (photobooth style with instant cameras and Halloween props), and getting candy when they say "trick-or-treat." This is something that I couldn't feasibly do on a normal day in class, but I think it's wonderful that they see what it's like to celebrate Halloween in the US. I think they really got to experience another culture without me just telling them about it like I usually have to. I think it was fairly successful. Most students didn't really go all out with the costumes, but we ran out of masks, and I was teaching them to do zombie makeup with toilet paper constantly! Rhys and I wore Gianni and my dinosaur costumes from last year, and the kids thought we were really cute.  Sun Mi was kind enough to take a whole bunch of pictures for me while I was working. It was really nice that all my coteachers were so helpful is setting up, running, and cleaning up the English booth. It was definitely a team effort. It was probably one of the most fun experiences I've had at school so far. I hope the students had as much fun as I did.