Impromptu Field Trip

Hi again!

So as I write this blog I am laying in bed feeling like I'm dying. I just got back from the hospital after getting a swine flu test. Its negative, but I definitely have some sort of sickness and I feel miserable. Just a little disclaimer - in case anything doesn't make sense please know that I'm sort of drugged up and not completely clear-minded. Also won't be super detailed since all I really want to do is sleep. Sorry.

Compared to previous weeks I don't have a ton to say. I did go on a field trip with some of my students (where I'm pretty sure I picked up whatever sickness I have). It was sort of sprung on me last minute. Jin had mentioned it to me before but didn't give me many specifics and then last Tuesday she "reminded" me that the following day I should bring my bags to school because we were going on a retreat with the students until Friday. Ok then.

So Wednesday we took 3 buses full of the first grade students (high school only has 2 grades here - first and second) to a small town called Chungju which is in Chungcheongbuk-do province, just southeast of Gyeonggi-do province where I live. From the time we got off the bus until we got back on on Friday afternoon we were not in charge of the kids and it was soooo nice. The 3 days were sort of a team-building retreat for the kids, which meant the teachers didn't really have any responsibilities. It was like more paid vacation :)

Our first stop was an old palace and another version of the Korean Folk Village in Yongin.

This place is also famous for apples.

Apple replica of the entrance gate to the village (visible in the background)

There Jin made me dress up in a hanbok and took a bunch of pictures of me. Like my new hairdo?

We left there and went to the resort where we were staying. It was really nice, nestled at the base of a ski mountain. I shared a room with Jin and the other 2 female teachers that were with us on the trip. Our room was pretty big - actually it was 3 rooms. We had a sort of living room/kitchen area and then 2 bedrooms. We spent the afternoon and evening watching TV and reading. I showed them some of the magazines that I had sent from home, and educated them on some American pop culture and celebrities. They wanted to know why Nicole Richie was "so fat" and how she possibly ended up on the best dressed list. (Answer: she's pregnant and she got best dressed maternity). They got me hooked on a Korean TV show (IRIS). I would love to continue watching it but its sort of difficult because its entirely in Korean obviously and there's no subtitles. Jin translated every few minutes for me the things that I wasn't able to pick up on just by watching.

The next day we pretty much did nothing again. I spent a little bit of time with the kids but other than that it was more TV watching and reading (I finished an entire book) and a little bit of hanging out outside since it was in the 70s. Soooo nice. My students talked me into practicing archery with them, which naturally was completely disastrous but the kids thought it was hilarious.

Thursday night after dinner we had pizza ordered for the kids (and ourselves of course). So after we delivered the pizzas to the kids' rooms, all of us teachers gathered in a room to have pizza, fried chicken, and beer. I explained to them that I pretty much lived off of these things in college. Great meal. I think I had spoken too soon though, because then they brought out a bowl of fried grasshoppers. Some of the male teachers had spent the morning catching grasshoppers in the fields near the resort and had fried them up to have as a snack. At first I was freaking out because they were all bugging me to try it. I initially refused. But then Jin found me a nice little tiny grasshopper and dipped it in some salt. I gave in to peer pressure and ate it. I washed it down with a slice of pizza, a beer, and 3 chocolate cookies. I'm not going to lie, it didn't taste like much - just sort of a burnt salty crispy thing, but it was still disgusting.

Ok so you can't see that I'm holding the grasshopper but I am. And I ate it.

Grasshopper sandwich

So we just sat around eating our pizza, fried chicken, grasshoppers, and beer. Totally normal right? After a few beers we (naturally) ended up in the noraebang in the basement of our resort and sang until 2 in the morning. Jin was the only one who knew any songs in English so of course she made me sing Sk8er Boy and Baby One More Time. Yeesh.

The next day we headed home after lunch and the principal took us all out for dinner once we got back to thank us for going with the students. I called it a night after that and spent Friday night doing laundry and catching up on my American TV shows. I'm old.

Saturday was Halloween, and although it didn't even come close to comparing to Madison, it was still fun. We started the night in Itaewon which is full of foreigners due to the US Army base nearby. Overall I wasn't a huge fan of Itaewon. Partly due to the foreigners that were everywhere (I could've been in a bar in Madison for all I knew) and partly due to the abundance of prostitutes everywhere (we were near Hooker Hill). Eventually we ended up in Hongdae and of course stayed out until 5:30am once the subway opened.

YouTube costume

Me and Gq - I did his makeup - isn't it fab?

Me Rebecca and Sara

And that brings me to today. I started feeling sick last night, and even after more than 10 hours of sleep I wasn't feeling any better. So I called in sick to school and then Jin took me to the hospital to get tested. Typically I would just go to the doctor by myself but nobody can speak English so I need a translator. Bah. Luckily everyone is putting up their Halloween albums on Facebook and there's a Sex and the City marathon on TV right now which is keeping me from being incredibly bored.

And of course there's always K-Pop videos on YouTube. My latest obsession is Taeyang from Big Bang. One of my students showed me this video, also informing me that Taeyang is from Uijeongbu (where I live!). Here's his video Where U At. He's a serious babe. Also popular in the clubs is a song by Big Bang and 2NE1 called Lollipop. Its a favorite in the noraebang as well. Enjoy!

"Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." --Miriam Beard