Monday, September 15, 2008

Last weekend and this one

Last Saturday I went to an English Festival in Incehon with my co-teacher Se-Jeong. We were in charge of the Beads! booth, but I didn't have to hand around that much and roamed more than made bracelets. It was basically a big carnival where everything was based around English. My friend Casey who is also an English teacher was there too, so we went around with our co-teachers and played all the games. We learned the cha-cha, had our Taro cards read, made buttons, got our faces painted, rode in go-carts, etc. It was fun just playing all day, though it was extremely hot out. I fell like I sweat all the time here. Not only that, but the school doesn't use the sir conditioning in the classrooms, so I am up there sweating like crazy while my teacher says, "you look a little hot." haha. I also met up with some friends on last weekend and we went to Bupyeong Underground Market. It is a crazy mobbed, maze of shops that sell anything and everything. It is all underground in the subway. I got a pair of sunglasses and a pair of shoes, each under $10.
This weekend I have a 6 day holiday!! I got Friday off and then I am off until Wednesday because of the Korean Thanksgiving called Chuseok. I didn't find out until Wednesday that I would have such a big break, but it was a pleasant surprise. So, on Saturday I went to an island off the coast of Incheon in the Yellow Sea. I went with Rebekah and our friend Mallory we met from orientation and a big group of people we met that we play ultimate frisbee with. We left Saturday morning and got back today (Monday). The island, Doekjoek-do, is apparently the unofficial Chusoek holiday place for foreigners to go. I didn't know this before I got there and was amazed by how un-Korean it felt. There were lots of foreigners, almost all of whom where English teachers. We camped on the beach with our group of about 20 that came and played frisbee, swam, hiked, and laid in the sand. It was really relaxing and it was really really beautiful. The first couple of pictures are me and Rebekah being goofy on the ferry to the island. The next one is of this lady who was selling crabs and she wold just pick them up with her hands. The second evening some of us went on a hike to the top of a little mountain where there were some amazing views. From the little gazebo we watched the sun set. The last few are of our camp site and such. The island was really beautiful and relaxing and I even got a little tanner!