Boryeong Mud Festival 2012

Miranda rocks the boryeong mudfest :) A couple weeks ago, on the 14th of July, I took the fabulous opportunity to attend the Boryeong Mud Festival.  I love being dirty.  I'm the kid who came home from art class with charcoal all over her face.  Every day. History: According to the official site, the Boryeong Mud Festival, or Mudfest, was started in 1998 as a way to publicize the local mud cosmetics and beautiful beach (Daechon).  It grew in popularity over the years with both Koreans and eventually foreigners enjoying themselves with mud games, contests, slides, etc.  It now supposedly attracts over 2 million people during its two week run. Events/Attractions: - There is a closed off area with a 5,000 won...

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Peanut Butter and Hangover Soups

You learn a lot about yourself through the food situation in Korea.  You learn what distance you are willing to travel and what price willing to pay for familiar junk foods like peanut butter, Mac&Cheese, Dr. Pepper. You learn some weird stuff about your psyche: you start craving foods you never cared about in the States, simply because you can't have them.  Like Toaster Strudels. I never ate them in the States. I want them now.  You learn that there are different types/qualities of kimchi, and that cake can be eaten with chopsticks. And more.  ** School is out for the next month, starting tomorrow.  Which prompted the following conversation between my co-teacher and me. SH: Principal will buy lunch for teachers on Thursday. ...

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Fat, Tired, and Beautiful

"You look tired.  Students say you look very tired.  Are you tired?" I've been getting these questions quite frequently lately, partly because I am tired after working full time for five months without a vacation.  And partly because, at about the three month mark I stopped regularly wearing makeup.  Yes.  I will be the wife who cuts her hair off and gains 50 pounds after the wedding.  Lake Park picnic...before I was tired:) Koreans tend to be extremely blunt about appearances.  Actually, this seems to be an Asian thing: two of my besties grew up in Asia (Japan and Thailand) and had many stories about their classmates/people on the street commenting on their appearances.  It's pleasant to...

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Plumpy Kittens

Our fifth grade just finished a unit on daily routines.  Some of the key phrases they needed to learn were "What time do you...(get up, go to bed, etc.)" and "I .... (get up...) at (time)".  The songs that accompany the units are pretty hit or miss, but this one was quite catchy and the boys loved dancing to it.  Check out 25 seconds into the first video when I film the character on the screen dancing.  He has amazing skills with his hips. The second video is the same song in a different 5th grade class.  The main dancer is a kid named Sang Pum who is an adorable little ladies' man who likes to tell me I'm beauty-ful.   ** I've stopped posting with regularity on here, partly because my schedule is much busier, but mostly because...

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Lost in translation...and relationships

My co-teacher uses quite a few special phrases/adjectives in English.  I can't really complain because she's far better at English than I will ever be at Korean, and I know there are many ESL teachers here whose co-teachers don't speak any English. Still, some of our conversations are too priceless not to share.  For example, today I told her I was really hungry. SH: Why are you so hungry? Me: I don't know.  I ate breakfast. SH: Maybe you are hungry because of food baby. Clearly I explained the concept of food baby wrong to her (no, it's not something that makes you eat more food.  that's a real baby).  But I don't actually remember telling her about food babies, which is even scarier...did she pick it up somewhere...

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The Fourth of July: Celebrating American Holidays Overseas

Experiencing national holidays away from your home country/family/friends, can be excellent or depressing depending on the circumstances.  The Fourth of July is a minor holiday compared to Thanksgiving/Christmas/Easter, but it's one that most Americans celebrate, and it's often more communal and friends-oriented (vs. more family oriented holidays).  Growing up, Independence Day was the one American holiday I often spent in the States, and it has a distinctly American flavor in my memory. (weird, right?)  I love the fireworks and the colors, the food, and the sense of unity. I really enjoyed my Fourth of July in Korea, but it was definitely different than celebrations back home. My Fourth of July in Korea: Similarities to celebrating in the States: - Food....

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