Don't mind doing it for the kids!

Yet again I have let the weeks fly by without updating my blog. It could be my aversion to technology, or it could be the more preferred reason that I am very busy ( however I feel it may be the former haha)!

I will start with the beginning of June when my friend asked me if I would like to go and help out at an orphanage with her. I have never really done a lot of volunteering, but I was willing to give it a go.  So we travel to the end of the subway line and meet a girl who was co-organising this trip and another volunteer. It turns out we were taking the kids to watch a baseball game, with our local team the Samsung Lions. So we get to the orphanage and we don't really have the time to spend with the kids and so we are put in a car and taken to the game. When we get there is was packed and it was all a bit hectic. When we got in the stadium, we had lost the organiser who worked for the orphanage and the kids were leading the way, not really taking any notice of the strange foreigners that were following them. They all sat down in one place (there were no seat numbers or any indication where we were supposed to go on the ticket) and got all the food out. Then we got told we had to move to the 'free-seating' area, which we did and the kids again wandered off and sat down. The place was packed and we ended up standing at the back while the kids were sat at the front. In the end no time was spent with the kids, but we watched the baseball game which was good, but the day didn't turn out as charitable as I had expected. Still a good time was had by all, there was pizza and coke and the Lions won which was great. The atmosphere was really energetic, there were Mexican waves and even a hilarious slow-motion Mexican wave!!! There were these inflatable things that you bang together and it makes a considerable amount of noise! By the end of the game I sort of knew what was going on and we are hoping to go again for our friends leaving do, I am definitely going to get myself some bangers (that's what I have been calling the inflatable noisy things, although it either sounds like some sausages or some well placed plastic surgery!).

On the evening we went to this lovely Indian restaurant called Maya. I do miss my Indian food and this place is delicious! It is owned by Indians and so the food is really authentic and the man is so friendly, whatever we ask he is like 'for you pretty ladies, I do'! We have now been back there a couple of times!

The next day we were off to Busan to the sand festival, which was a really good day out. We got there and there were loads of stalls and some amazing sand sculptures!!!

Of course as we are in Korea there was a Hello Kitty one!!!  There was a place where you could make your own sand sculpture and there was a really good concert. It was lots of different Korean bands that did some songs, but then we realised it was also a competition to see who could do the best rendition of Poker Face, because every band sang it at some point. There was this fantastic band that also did a great version of Rolling In The Deep (although that song is on everywhere here, it was still nice to hear a different version).


While we were there we thought we would make the most of it and go to the aquarium; it was great, there were loads of crazy fish and we got to see the sharks and penguins get fed (separately obviously hahah).

There was also this boat ride you could do in the shark area; the boat had a glass bottom so you could see the sharks up close. This seemed a bit terrifying to me, but I was going to pluck up the courage and do it, but they said there was a long waiting list. I was a little relieved that there wasn't going to be another jaws situation but also a little bit sad that I had missed the experience. All in all it was a great day in Busan and had changed my mind about the place (if you remember me and Mum did not have a great time there), the weather definitely improves visits to the beach!

Busan fake robot!

Busan shinanigans

A couple of weeks ago we had to go and present ourselves in a meeting for potential students' parents. The boys had to wear suits and I had to make myself look a bit more presentable (haha) and we all filed in and stood in a room with a lot of parents looking at the foreigners. As I have probably mentioned, as foreigners get stared at a lot anyway, this was a bit like a zoo situation with organised staring. Anyway my boss, Mr Lee, was saying something in Korean and then said my name (I had been warned I would need to say a little something to the parents that won't understand what I am saying). So, I stepped forward and said I was from England and I teach speaking and writing, I have a degree and whatnot. After my colleague, who can speak Korean told me what introduction Mr Lee had given me; it consisted of  me being the newest foreign teacher at Honors and that I had nice red hair!!! I thought this was an excellent reason for the parents to choose our hagwon!

The following weekend there was more charity work to be had. We went to the summer carnival which was held in a sports hall and there are different tables with different activities for the kids to do. So we go in and set up our table which was a name art station. Here kids can get their name translated into the English spelling and make a name plate for their door, we also tried to do a bit of origami but the kids turned out to be way better at it than us!!!!

One of the many concerts we have stumbled across

Egs of our origami at an impromptu concert

So after setting up we all sat down and the kids did a little dance for us which was so lovely! Then we all played that game where you have to get into a group with a certain amount of people in it and then sit down. The kids were so friendly!!!!! There was this adorable little boy who was loving hiding a pen and me pretending to look for it and then pulling it out from behind his back! There was also an older kid who liked to come up and scare me with vampire teeth in haha! The kids were all having a great time and it was amazing to see how happy it made them. There were loads of other stations like nail art, face painting, shooting basketball hoops and lots more. After we all sat together and had pizza and chicken. I met some really amazing people and some beautiful kids.

This was the cutest little boy!

This day was followed by a variety of people all going for pork BBQ and having a night out leaving me not too healthy the next day!!!

I know I don't talk about things that happen at school a lot, but there are many funny or lovely things that do happen. One such event was that we were answering the questions who makes us happy, and one of my cheeky (naughty but adorable) elementary kids stopped messing around and looked like he was thinking hard. He slowly and carefully formed a PERFECT sentence ... 'teacher...you...make ...me ...happy'!!!!!! I was so happy (and obviously a little bit choked up). Some of the kids I teach are amazing and makes everything so worth it!!!


Love to England!!!!!!

3 weekends worth of fun!!!

So (that 'so' was for my sister who as observantly informed me that I start a lot of paragraphs with a 'so'), I have been lax again and not updated the UK about my last three weekends!!! Sorry this is going to be a bit brief.

Weekend 1:
I actually went to Busan on a sunny day, and it turns out it is a great place with the right weather and when things are open. This day made up for the terrible, rainy day I had in Busan earlier on. The fun began at the very beginning when we encountered the tiniest sink in the world:

For our first port of call, we went to the modern history museum and learnt all about Busan, mainly about how the Japanese had oppressed the Koreans. However we managed to make this stop more upbeat by getting excited over the mini village they had:

 Then we went to the UN cemetery and saw all the graves and memorial fountain.

This is the Canadian memorial statue, the amount of national flowers  signify  the amount of unknown soldiers found.

We also got to see the changing of the guard:

After that we hit the beach!!!

 When it started to get dark we went to the largest department store in the world, its a Lotte department store and has a Guinness World Record!

On the night we all went on a night out and had a cracking time and introduced my friend's friend, who was visiting from England, to drink in a bag!

The next day we were going to go to the baseball  game with our local team, the Samsung Lions (that's right, everything is Samsung!), but it was sold out. So instead we decided to go to Duryu Park, where by chance there was an amateur baseball game on, so we stayed and watched that. We actually saw someone get hit in the face with a baseball at full speed but was fine! On the evening we went to a hookah bar, where they serve nice wine and cheese(both of which are hard to find in Korea).

Weekend 2:

This weekend was a pretty good weekend activity-wise, on the Saturday we went to an amusement park which is pretty close to us called Woobangland (or E-world). It was amazing and the highlight of the day was when one of my friends lost his hat on the roller-coaster -epic!!!

These were electronic and you could ride them!!!!

This was pre-coaster, before the hat was lost!

Me on the swinging ship!

Mystical smoky drink!

I met the Hulk and got all shy!

My friend's friend jumped off this tower!!!

Trick art seems to follow me!

Must be love!

On the evening we went for a lovely meal for one of my friends leaving the following weekend, and also for one of my friend's birthday. It was lush and I have been back to the same place a couple more times because it was amazing.

After that we went to see the new Johnny Depp film, Dark Shadows!

The following day I got to experience a Korea wedding which was a little different from a western wedding. All colleagues are invited to as Korean wedding and so we got there and it was in a massive building called the Prince Rooms, which is where there are many rooms and photo rooms, so numerous couples can get married at the same time. Guests are required to give money to the couple at Korean weddings, but my work paid for us. We went up to a photo room to see the bride getting her family photos, and she was nice enough to let me have a photo with her as well. She looked gorgeous:

 Then we went down these stairs to the room where they got married, which had a little catwalk type thing and the flower baskets hanging from the ceiling, that lowered during the ceremony. The groom walked down the aisle and did some bows, as did the parents of both sides.

 

The close family members wear the Korean traditional dress called a Han-bok. 

 

The bride then descended from the photo room. During the ceremony, people do not make any effort to stay quiet, people were talking, on their phones and wondering in and out of the room throughout.



After the ceremony a close family friend stood a very short distance away from the couple and sang at them. I thought this was quite strange, but what added to the situation was he was singing 'This is the Moment' (from Jekyll and Hyde for those of us who love musicals) in Korean. What was even better is that he was so nervous that the performance took a hit, and so later on, when there were less people, they did a second take which went much better. 

Another mystical drink in waterfall form!

The cafeteria

After this, there were a lot of photos, one of which I was in as they get everyone in one massive picture! There was also a few attempts at getting a photo of the bride throwing the bouquet to a designated recipient! That's right no brawl for the bouquet! Then everyone went upstairs to eat at what I can only describe as a very nice cafeteria, the food was lush but a bit of a strange situation for a wedding. I think all the different guests from all the different wedding go to the same room? 

The couple in their Han-boks in the cafeteria!

 While we were eating the family members go with the couple to do a traditional wedding ceremony in their Han-boks. So then after you eat you go home. It is a very short experience, I think I was out the house about two hours, but it was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.

After that I met with my friends for a little dinner, which was lovely.

Weekend 3:

This was the weekend I had been dreading, one of my closest friends was leaving on the Sunday, so I slept over her house for the last two nights. On the Saturday we all went to the army base, they were doing an open day for people to go and see the vehicles, there were also traditional performances with swords and even some Zumba to watch!!!!

Traditional sword performance.

In his element!

An 'oo' reaction from nearby Koreans!

Fire engine!

The Americans feeling right at home

I don't think the soldiers do Zumba in the field but it was fun to watch! The food was amazing, especially the corn on the cob, sounds strange but I don't think its as nice in Korea. Then we went for a delicious meal at a Shabu-Shabu place, where you basically boil everything in a pot in front of you. You get very thin beef strips and it cooks in the water, it was lush!


On the way to the restaurant we passed a parade in honor of Buddha's birthday, which is on the 28th (so we get an extra day off-woop!). It may have severely slowed our taxi ride, but it was worth seeing:

It actually breathed real fire!

Then the day was upon us, my friend had to go and we took her to the airport early in the morning. After that I got some sleep and then went on a shopping trip for some retail therapy. I also got the chance to go to a cat-cafe for the first time!!!!That's right- a cafe where you can just pet some cats while your there! Then more eating at that nice restaurant!!!! Just when we were going to wonder round downtown aimlessly, we stumbled across a live singing competition along with performances from (apparently) semi-famous groups! It was amazing! I love Korean pop!!!

So that concludes my last three busy weekends! Apologies for the terrible spacing, but me and technology do not mix and it's the best I could do! I hope you enjoyed it! Lots of love back to home!!!