MudFest

In Boryeong, on the East coast of Korea, there is an annual Mud Festival. It is apparently quite famous, so we checked it out. It was very interesting, and also fun! For whatever reason, be it the festival, or a proximity to Seoul, or a massive amount of foreigners (including beefy military dudes), but the Korean modesty and conservative vibe totally fell away that weekend. Foreigners and Koreans alike pranced around in bikinis, covered in mud, and exposing tattoos! We got to play on bouncing mud castles, swim in the ocean, and see a super awesome airshow. The 6 hours bus rides to and from nearly killed me though. I am 100% not social enough to deal with obnoxious people for that long. Koreans are so right when it comes to bus comportment - SILENCE. I didn't bother to bring my camera since it's a notoriously muddy event, but here as a few murky phone shots.

Being around so many foreigners was also very weird. The vast majority of people are stupid and dumb, but when they speak another language I at least can't tell. With everyone speaking English I was reminded. It didn't help the influx of the beefy bros from army bases. I literally heard some gross foreigner beefcakes ask some Korean girls walking by "Hey how much did those cost?" People suck.

Get yo mud on

I kept thinking I was seeing blackface everywhere.
But happily it was just mud face!

Sad shark awaiting to be eaten :(

Adorable performance

This week I have no classes so have just been hanging around planning summer camp (I made some pretty awesome powerpoint animations to explain card games) and reading my awesome Kindle. So today my grade 5 coteacher asked me to join her to see a performance.

It turns out there were a few Japanese exchange students coming to our school to spend a few days. So we went to the welcoming ceremony. All the grade 5's and a few kids from other grades were sitting on the floor. As we walked in, I was suddenly blown AWAY by kids screaming "ANNE TEACHER!!!!" in extreme excitement. I have no idea why they were so excited! I see them in class weekly and and always around the school. It was insane! As I walked through them they were even reaching up to touch me. I felt like a celebrity walking through my fans. Funny kids!!

The performances were cute! First, a sixth grade class played on their recorders. They had regular recorders, but also crazy looking bass and bassoon like recorders. 

Then a group of adorable grade 5 boys did some taekwondo. Finally the bedazzled grade 4's did a dance to none other than Gentleman by Psy. It was lovely. You can hear me laughing in the video because the uncensored Psy just sang "You so f***ing sexy!" And here I was wondering why all my kids have been fond of that word recently!

It was also neat to see the Japanese kids! My coteacher said they didn't speak English, or Korean, so they were having some trouble communicating. I'm sure they managed just fine though, I know the usefulness of miming!

Each boy performing is adorable. It was nice to see
a bunch of my favourites perform!

"Swimming"

I went to "California Beach" and Gyeongju World with the grade 6s on Friday. California beach is a water park, and I was pretty excited. I brought 'swimming clothes' with every intention of swimming with the kiddos.

Call me crazy, but sweating in a mandatory life jacket while wading in hot thigh high water is not my definition of swimming. There were rides, but the lines were 50-100 minutes long. I felt massively claustrophobic, one of my first "Ohmygod I'm in massively overcrowded Asia" moments for a while. SO I just hung out with the teachers and ate pat bing su, a Korean icy dessert. Not a bad day!

Patbingsu - a Korean dessert that originally
baffled me. Ice cream, sweetened red beans,
fruit, rice cakes, and cereal all piled
on top of shaved ice? Like most
other Korean foods though, I now
love it. Especially since the weather
has consistently been "feels like 45"
the past few days!!

Lotus Blossoms and Gourd Tunnel

Yesterday I biked downtown with my friend, Samantha, to go see the lotus blossoms. While I have been eating their roots for months now (delicious), I've never actually seen a real lotus flower. We both dressed in our most extreme heat appropriate clothes, slapped on some sunscreen, and ventured out into the extreme humidity for an adventure.

 First, on our way down, we passed some vine covered tunnels. I had seen the scaffolding of the tunnels in winter, and had assume they would plant flowering vines on them. But I was wrong! They planted amazing gourd vines! Photos really don't do these tunnels justice. I absolutely felt like I was on another planet. It was particularly amazing how these massive gourds were so strongly held up. I could hit them and swing them and they didn't fall. I even saw some little gourds that back home we use as decorations. It was totally awesome.

Magical gourd tunnel!

Anne and gourds

"I love you"

Decorative gourds!

Exterior view of the gourd tunnels.

Next, we continued on our way to the blossoms. Suddenly, we had to get off our bikes because a large group of women seemed to be having a picnic in the middle of the sidewalk. As we passed by, I peeked over to see what they were up to. They saw me and began frantically inviting me to sit! So Samantha and I saw, and these lovely ladies fed us lotus tea! The tea was a steeped blossom, which they poured into big lotus leaves, and then we drank through lotus stem straws. It was unbelievable. We comminucated a big through our tiny bit of Korean, and their limited English. They insisted on giving us cookies too. I even managed to spill a bunch of tea on myself and was instantly given a bunch of towels. Luckily, I was so insanely sweaty that dropping tea on myself didn't really make any difference to how wet I was.

The woman smiling behind me is a perfect example
of the amazing hospitality of Korea. 

Behind us you can see some Korean pedestrians also
being given lovely tea. Note the snazzy parasol.

Thank you ladies!

Next we walked through the lotus garden. Amazingly beautiful. I have been waiting to see them since I got here!

I'd love to learn about the biology of these crazy
water plants. Look how alien that stamen is! 

Not a lotus, but look how neat this flower looks
when closed?

Same flower as above. What is it, mom?

Amusingly decrepit bathroom. Two men and
one woman? What kind of crazy design
is that!

I tried to take a picture with my hand to show how
huge the leaves were. 

I don't think Buddhism could have picked
a more beautiful symbol.

I think this is the money shot. Gorgeous.

Teenage ducks hiding as we walked by.

This photo truly encaptures all that is Korea.
Mountains + historical buildings + hilarious cute-ness.

Finally, on our way back I took this set of pictures. I still find it interesting seeing relics of Korea's impoverished past mixed with their prosperous present. The photos are of two adjacent buildings.

All in all, it was an excellent day and a lovely impromptu adventure. I can't express how insanely sweaty and hot we were, but with the right mindset and knowing we were going home to showers, that isn't too bad. 

Teacher, your arm is white fur!

So today I had my very funniest "you are different" moment. Well, maybe tied for that time the girls combed my back looking for loose strands of hair to bounce... At lunch three girls happened to be in my classroom and came over to say hi. Suddenly, one started petting my arm and exclaimed 

"Teacher! Your arm is white fur!!"

This took me quite a bit by surprise. I laughed, told her I was not a polar bear, and that fur was for animals. She laughed when she realized her mistake and corrected herself.

"White hair! My arm is black hair, your arm is white hair!!"

Her friends proceeded to pet my arms as well.

I tried to explain the sun bleaches my hair, but they couldn't understand. I'm not blond by Western standards and I would consider my arm hair to be brown.. except in the summer when the sun bleaches it! She then discovered the hair on the side of my arm, out of the sun's power.

"Teacher! Here black hair! And here white hair!!!" It was amusing. 

I then had the brilliant idea that maybe if I showed them how my head hair was lighter on the tips they would understand the sun bleaching process. So I took my hair down from a bun (it's so insanely hot it is usually up these days) and tried to show them. Instead of understanding, they instantly began to pet my head. I really need to emphasize they weren't touching my hair, they were full on petting me. 

Their cute oohs and aahs made it hilarious and I was full out laughing, but I really could not have felt more like an animal! I soon brushed them off cause even cute hands will ruin my curls and then we chatted a little.  I told them in October my parents were coming and one said, very seriously: 

"Teacher. You must show me."

So there you have it mom and dad. Your first fans await!! 

PS The other foreigner teacher at my school is a man with a darker complexion and very persistent facial hair. When he heard the story he simply said "Just be thankful you don't have a beard!!" He hasn't worn shorts in this insanely hot weather because he knows how much he will get petted. Oh the wonders of the crazy foreigner beasts!

PPS I have one persistent letter writer. I was running out of small talk, so at my friend's suggestion I added a joke in my reply. I'm pretty proud of my artwork.