Weekend Report

This weekend, went to Korean class Sat AM. It was pretty advanced; I told the sungsaynim I will return on March 18th, when the new class starts. Went for bokimbap with some of the weigooks after, which was pretty ironic considering Brent wasn't even there (It's sort of a running joke that he's dragged them there so many times, he made them sick of bokimbap). Susan's in her late 40's and teaches in a remote village, I think called Changnyeong. It's an hour south by bus. Mora, in her mid 30's, teaches at Moondong, which is my school's competition. Daniel, who is 30, teaches adults. He mentioned that it's not quite as gravy as one would imagine. The students can be feisty; one girl argued with him and ran out. Or they can be quiet and shy and not want to participate at all. Today is the full moon festival. Susan told us about this mountain there that's currently on fire there today and all through the night. They are burning off the overabundance of azaleas, but Koreans also gather on the mountain to watch, eat snacks, and celebrate. They also eat a special '5-grain rice.'

Then Monica and I met up for shopping! We did some serious damage at Debec Department Store. I got a jean skirt, a black top and a camisole. They all look pretty basic for the amount spent, but they'll last a long time. Monica got this really nice beige pencil skirt from the same store. We share a really similar taste in fashion. After, we went for some dolsot beef and seafood udon. Then I went home and stayed up till 4 am watching episodes of Lost. Lost is probably my all-time favorite TV show. It is also F*D up, and that's why I like it so. I'd compare it to the likes of Memento and Being John Malkovich, two of my favorite movies.

Sunday morning (this morning) I slept in and was late meeting up with Pill Ku. He lives in Gyongsam, close to Yeongnam University, where he and his gf study. He has never been outside of Korea and has never had a foreigner friend... until I stopped him on the street for directions! Kim Pill made a traditional Korean lunch with lotus root, 3 types of kimchi, bulgalbi, good-health bean sauce, rice, chamchi (tuna), glutunous rice balls, and these really interesting nut-like objects that he said are good for your stomach, and also are part of the 5-grain rice ingredients.



We traded English / Korean lessons, did some norebang, and then rode his motorcycle to his dad's workplace (his dad manufactures window frames). It's cool because motorcycle laws are much more lax here; you can weave in and out of traffic, make turns that would be illegal back home, and pass cars on the shoulder. My knees were nearly scraped off as we squeezed through traffic. We went by some humungous, neatly stacked piles of shrubbery, some of which were being lit on fire, probably for the moon festival. People milled about, flying old-fashioned kites. Then Kim Pill stopped and asked if I wanted to go slow, or fast. FAST!!!!! I said, and we reached a nice healthy 147 km/h on an open stretch of countryside, with brown, sunny mountains all around. There was a small cat at his dad's company that was so docile, you could pick it up by the scruff of it's neck or pretty much any body part and it kept purring.





I was going to go shopping downtown again tonight for the trip next weekend, but I was too tired, and by the time I woke up the stores were closed. So I'm just staying in to pack and watch more Lost. Brent just got back from Seoul with his gf. They went to club M2 and danced on the stage all night! Woo!