How's everybody?
It's been a while since I wrote you guys, but it's been kinda quiet here, just the normal humdrum for a week or two, but that's all about to change!
Well. 2 weeks ago it was Chuseok (pronounced "Chew Sock" - lol) , the Korean Thanksgiving holiday! Long weekend, hooray!!! A rare thing in South Korea! Man, these people work toooooo hard!!! And lately, everyone's been telling me that I look tired! This didn't make much sense to me, since I don't even do that much here..... Then finally, the penny dropped! If I were back in SA, by now, I would already have had 3 school breaks. But, being in SK, I've only had one :( No blinking wonder I look and feel tired!!! :)
ANYHOOO.... Back to Chuseok. This was the weekend that a few friends and I had planned on going to Andong for the big Mask Dance Festival, which was subsequently cancelled thanks to SI fears (Swine Flu). I eventually decided to stay at home and REST, since there would be many more eventful weekends coming up this month. Shehaam came to visit me on Sat, stayed over and we went into Daegu on Sun, just to feel like we had actually done something/gone somewhere on this rare opportunity of having some time off!
Much of the same thing the following weekend, shopping and movies, and vegetating!
And remember motor-mouth-American-make-
And then....this weekend. I had to attend an In-Service training conference on Co-teaching in Gyeongju on Thurs and Fri. This was great, as it meant only 3 days of school! Now, Gyeongju is another very famous city in SK. This used to be the capital of the ancient Silla dynasty here. The city is filled with museums and art dating centuries back. I had been wanting to go, but hadn't got round to it yet, so thoughts were to stay over on Fri night after the conference in order to do some sightseeing. Well, that was the plan. However...... there were a few hundred of us attending the conference (Korean English teachers as well as Native English teachers (that's me) ), so of course, I was making friends left, right and centre, as well as hooking up with some old friends. Bernice introduced me to some of her newly-made friends who had also just arrived in SK. So, Thursday night saw a massive group of people heading downtown for fun. We started off at a Western bar, then off to a coffee shop, then off to Noraebang (karaoke)!
Andrew, Bernice and Michael
Say "Kimchi!" With Paul and Cesar
Noraebang-ing
Got back to our very nice hotel at 2:30am - see, we were being responsible! - got to bed at 3am, couldn't sleep, so might as well have stayed out ALL night - lol! And boy, oh boy! Were we in a zombie-like state for the rest of the day! (Must be getting old - who would have thought!) I was asleep on my feet, but still couldn't stop singing at every opportunity. If a cell ph rang, I ended up singing along - and yes, it was usually K-pop! And yes - it was usually during a lecture! I must be starved for Western company or something, cos even I was aware that I was acting like a big kid all day! One by one, we ditched our plans to stay over, as a torture-rack began to look more inviting than the prospect of sightseeing in our zombie-states!
And back home, and here I am....
Next weekend, I shall fly to Jeju Island, the most beautiful part of Korea. News and photos of that next week.
Love you all.... Enjoy your nice warm weather. My side, it feels like winter already and it's only autumn here. BRRRRR! Better go ski-ing when Winter hits here :)
Ciao!
Andrea
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