One month

A few short observations:
1. Korean people LOVE SPAM. I can't explain it, but it's everywhere in the supermarket. Though I think it's kind of weird/gross, I certainly can't judge, given the fact that I'd eat a block of velveeta every day if given the opportunity.

2. Old Korean people age really well. I've been in Jinju a month and still have yet to see a wheelchair bound person. Every day, I see scores of old folks in their 80's walking all over the place. No canes, no wheelchairs, no walkers to speak of. Today a woman who was probably at least 2000 years old walked up the steps on to the bus. Out of curiosity I also watched her as she got off the bus; she got around better than most 65 year olds in the US! Weird.

3. The time it takes me to spend $50 at the grocery store has decreased from 60 minutes to 10 minutes. It's good that I'm confident enough to now buy a lot more food wise, but also.... not good, haha. I just spend more.

4. Today was my first day using a cell phone in a month. I grew so used to not having a phone, and I liked it. I kind of don't want one, but I do need it for emergencies I guess.... It was pretty refreshing for a while to not be looking at my phone every 20 minutes.

Lantern festival tomorrow!!!!! Woop!!!

Scarecrow Party Time!

Today I was taken on a trip by Ellen, my co-teacher, to a small nearby farming village called Munsan. This week is the annual Cosmos Scarecrow festival, where THOUSANDS of scarecrows, called "Cosmos," are put up in rice paddies and fields of wild flowers. The clothes these scarecrows are wearing are donated by the community, and there were a lot of scarecrows who were wearing more stylish outfits than me, haha.

I took a lot of photos.... but understand, these fields go on for MILES. There were so many I wanted to capture!! A lot were posed in hilarious poses (a conga line, a family portrait, etc: it must be a real art to make these things, clothe them, and arrange them!). It serves as an attraction to draw people out of the city to come and buy freshly harvested fruits and veggies from the farmers.

From far away, they look like people, don't they?

The flowers are planted after the rice is harvested, and give the soil a break from the strain of growing a staple food, for a couple of years. They also smell so nice :)

a lady scarecrow in traditional korean dress

Stylish stick men, the 2nd one has a purse :)

Scary?

He doesn't want his hood up!

Running towards us!!!! In a rice paddy.

Frolicking together through the rice!!

Scaring crows!

Ellen also helped me get a cell phone today and showed me how to work my hot water heater. First hot shower in a month!!! Yay!!

More soon,
M.

Here Come the Lanterns

This Saturday kicks off the Annual Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival. Basically, what this is, is a WHOLE lot of huge, brilliant lighted floats shaped like dragons, drums, teletubbies (haha... seriously!), etc, that are set in the river.

When the festival kicks off on Saturday, it will last about 10 days. The lanterns will be lit at night, together with a ton of fireworks, awesome street food, lantern making, dancing, drinking, etc. Jinju is set to be packed this weekend; people stream in from all over Korea to celebrate the awesome defeat of Japan*.

The floats are already in the river!!! I got so excited when I saw them, looking like a giant fleet of gay pirate ships. There are hundreds of floats in the river, dozens at each bridge and even more waiting on the shores. I snapped a few pictures of the floats tied to the bridge nearest to my house. (I assure you.... it will look MUCH more impressive this weekend!)

Amazing fleet of mini-gay pirate ships on the river, stretching a very long way!

A HUGE dragon float.... Probably 40-50 feet long!

More floats waiting to be put in the river :)

*A little history on the festival: The tradition of floating lanterns on the Namgang in Jinju City dates back to the 1592 war between Korea and Japan. By October 1592, the Japanese had brutally taken pretty much every other city in Korea (including Seoul and Pyong-yang). They destroyed whatever was in their path and lopped off over 20,000 noses and ears of Korean people, taking them back to Japan to make "nose tombs" (seriously) and other trophies of war. Soon, however, the Japanese soldiers had run very low on supplies and needed to cross through Jinju to access the plentiful rice fields to the south. They met in battle at Jinju Castle in the cover of night. The people of Jinju flew lanterns high up in the sky as a military signal and communication tool with soldiers outside the fortress, while floating lanterns and torches along Namgang River. Over 30,000 Japanese soldiers died during this battle and they were forced to retreat. Yay Jinju!

Notice the orange covered walkway

All lanterns!!!

I can't wait to see them all lit up!! It will be such an amazing celebration. Pictures to SURELY come :)


In other news, today I got an apology via facebook from the guy who was mean to me and hit Francois a few weeks ago. The air is now clear!

KAPS/Streetcar in Daegu

Yesterday six friends and I travelled to Daegu, a big city a two hour bus ride away. The trip was full of anticipation for me. We arrived to a clean, cool metropolis easily accessible by a nice, new subway system (that my friends luckily knew how to navigate!). We first went to our hostel and dropped our stuff off, and then made the journey to the Korean Animal Protection Society (KAPS) and volunteered our time walking dogs. The KAPS does a lot of really good work in Korea; similar to the SPCA, they work to rescue and rehabilitate animals who have been abused, abandoned by their owners, or are simply roaming the streets. They also work to save dogs from meat markets in Daegu- that's right, dogs are still sold (alive) in Korean meat markets. The KAPS saves these dogs and helps to raise awareness about how abominable a practice it is to eat a family member. They fix these animals up and work on finding them forever homes.

When we finally made it to the shelter (after about an hour of searching for it), we were greeted by about 50 excited little dogs who were so anxious to get out of their cages and come for a walk with us! An American girl who either works there or volunteers really regularly guided us through the volunteering process, and told us to each pick a dog we'd like to walk, and she would aid us with finding a harness and leash for the little guys. It was really hard to choose; these poor animals looked up at me with such sad eyes. Some were really sick, or really skinny. I wanted to hug and walk them all. It was really kind of heartbreaking, but at least I know they won't end up on someone's dinner plate.

I ended up choosing a small, nervous Daschund I started calling "Oscar." Everyone else quickly found their dog and soon we were off. I couldn't stop smiling, I loved it so much. Everyone was so happy, and the dogs were, too. We stayed for a good while!

A tiny baby puppy sleeping in his food/water dish 

Me and Borges!!! A crazy little Corgi <3

By this time in the walk (3/4 of the way through) poor little Oscar's legs were too tired to keep going. He lay down like this and refused to get up; I had to carry him the rest of the way back, haha)

From left to right: Me + Oscar, John, CR + Borges, Aine + Shag Pile, Gareth + Stumps, Jess + Gus, Sarah (Her dog is hiding, haha) 

After walking the dogs, we went out for Indian food. In Korea, it's pretty difficult to find "exotic" food- that is, anything that isn't Korean or a Western fast-food chain. The demand just isn't high. So, we took full advantage of being in a city with a lot of choices and enjoyed curry, nan, and chai. It was great.

Next, we went to a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" at the Daegu YMCA (about a 10 minute walk from our hostel!) The play was performed by foreigners, and though it was over THREE HOURS LONG!, it was actually pretty good, having both read the play and seen the movie before. Most of the people in the play had never acted before, and I was impressed by some performances. There was also a bake sale there and all of the proceeds from it went to KAPS!! So I was extra happy to buy fresh baked chocolate chip cookies (exceedingly rare!).

After the play we decided to join the cast party at a downtown bar called "Who's Bob?" When we got there, I was seriously overwhelmed and kind of got really shy; there were 100 foreigners there! The place was packed. It's been so long since I've experienced a packed bar where I can understand everyone in the room, and it was overwhelming! I knew every song the jukebox played! A real toilet! Signs and drink specials in English! It blew my mind. We had a great time there and even were able to talk to the cast a little bit. It seems the western scene in Daegu is much more lively than in Jinju.

Aine, me, Jess and Sarah outside the bar. 

This morning we woke up and everyone wanted pancakes (pretty difficult to find here). We searched the city for some kind of diner, but we ended up at McDonald's (the worst McDonald's ever... but it still tasted delicious to me). Then we caught the bus back to Jinju and I resumed my ordinary weekend duties. Overall, it was a great time. I'm so lucky to have met these people; everyone is so cool and nice and funny. We make a good group I think. I can't wait to go back to Daegu and visit the dogs again; I know I'm not alone in that.

It's getting better every day!
More soon,
M

Hot Child in the Country: Air Show Field Trip

 Today we had a field trip at school! Myself and 11 other teachers were chaperones to the 120 kids, which was really, so much fun. (Actually... three field trips!!) It was the craziest field trip experience of my life, I really bonded with my kids today, and I loved it. I came to school, we had this itinerary printed out on our desks saying what time we would do everything. It said, "Leave at 8:44" (HA!) I read that at 8:47, so..... WE WERE BEHIND SCHEDULE. Haha, krazy kardashian koreanz.

Above: adorbz Korean babedog

My BFF at school, the wonderful kooky and colorful Yang Hae-Suk, She insisted we trade sunglasses, and kept my pair.  

So we leave at like.... 9:03 on this gigantic bus. And, all of the sudden, we get on the road, and one by one, like 20 kids came to me at my seat and handed me a snack. We were going on about a 45 minute bus ride.... and I had a lap full of snacks. Soon the entire bus was, in turns, screaming and singing the Korean national anthem (?!) and I was just laughing and taking pictures. Then we got to our first destination- the thrilling energy plant (not thrilling at all actually). We were "so late" that we couldn't even get out of the bus and go on the walking tour, so we just drove through the grounds and the kids watched a DVD about what they were seeing. It was LAAAME

At approximately 10:42 (on the itinerary), we left the energy place and drove to the Sancheon Army/Air Force Base where there was an air show and fall festival being held. There was something for everyone there: face painting (Ellen got an arm "tattoo" so she could be "cool like me"), posing in ridiculous pictures with wigs, making crafts, and a full exhibit dedicated to the Korean Space Program (which I really wasn't even aware existed).

Above: "Georgie," one of my very favorites. I wish you could hear his voice. It sounds exactly like you'd think it would.

Ellen getting her arm "tattooed".... "Just like Mandi"

"Katie" as "Spider-girl"

Some of my boys playing with some weird wheels

planes in the blistering sun

The kids went crazy, I got my face painted, played a bunch of games, drank fresh squeezed kiwis for the first time (delicious!) and mostly baked in the blazing sun.

Myself, "Wanda" and "Rhianna" with painted faces. It's also mandatory to give the peace sign in every photo here.

I was also approached SIX TIMES by strange men asking to take a picture with me. I kind of felt like a movie star! I was quickly dragged back to reality when I realized people were pointing and laughing at me for being the only adult in the entire place with a painted face, haha. Oh well. Everyone was allowed to kind of scatter and do their own thing, and the kids were encouraged to run off and be by themselves, which was cool, I didn't get stuck hanging out with a big group of kids all day. I hung out with a few here and there, it was fun. They completely took care of themselves, though, and each one made it back in one piece (not even a head count was done by any teacher- which I found very impressive! This kind of independence/not worrying about where every single student is would probably never happen in the USA, lawsuits and such) We ate lunch as a huge group and even though I couldn't really understand much of what they were saying, I felt included.

The gang and me sweating our faces off! Next to me is bff Yang Hae-Suk. 

Next we went to the Sancheon Aerospace Museum which is half dedicated to being a Korean war memorial/housing airplanes from the war and half dedicated to their space program.

"Nani" and "Monariza" (a shy and quiet bro+sis) posing in front of a helicopter

Nikoon (one of the smartest and most respected kids in school!) and Me in front of a tank from the UK used during the Korean war

"Jonsen" and "Timi" in outerspace

By the time we made it back to school, I had a package from Robin Clark!!! I opened an album she had made for me with pictures from this past summer with my friends at "the docks" in Lewiston. I immediately started crying, it was so thoughtful and there was a wonderful note included. It was such a lovely thing!!! Thank you Robin!!!!!

Next, the teachers went out for dinner to a restaurant in Jinju where they serve "Shabu Shabu," basically a giant boiling bowl of stock that you add meat, fish and veggies to and make a really delicious soup at the table. It was FREAKING delicious. Every teacher kind of got wasted.... I just sipped. I was too tired to really drink much, especially after eating. At the end of the meal, my vice principal was SCREAMING at me, literally, screaming, in very broken English, asking why Americans get so fat when they get older. (?!) He also asked me about ten times to point out who I thought the prettiest teacher was (there were nine female teachers present.... I did not choose).  It was also the first restaurant I've been to where I had to sit on the floor (totally uncomfortable!). So it was a little weird, mostly fun.....anyway.

Today was so, so great. Tomorrow is my trip to Daegu with my pals!!! We are going to the animal shelter to walk some doggies, cat cafe, Streetcar Named Desire, a hostel, and an amusement park! Can't wait!!! More so soon,

<3
M

Clothing Dump Trip

Over the past few weeks, I had heard some rumors of the thrift stores of Jinju. (I, of course, asked about them first, haha.) The responses were varied, but I got some good information: thrift stores are a bit different in Korea. About 99% are actual businesses run by just a couple of ladies selling clothes they'd picked from the garbage for way too much money. (There's one of these in my neighborhood, but the clothes are actually kind of nice in there.) No proceeds ever go to charity, so no one really donates clothes.... There are a FEW, however, that are basically garbage dumps for clothes. Koreans are huge on recycling (they even have a separate collection for food... which is disgusting to collect in my house but it gets turned into city compost, so that's cool) and so they collect clothes in these warehouses and "last chance" sell them before they get turned into rags, etc. The Koreans I've met so far would probably never, ever shop in a clothes dump, so I can only assumed that these kinds of stores are set up and run for the REALLY poor people (which there are a lot of hanging round).

Saturday morning, I decided to seek out the clothing dump: my sources told me to look for a giant, abandoned warehouse behind the grocery store completely filled with piles of clothes. And the second floor was supposedly carpeted with shoes. I was captivated. It was about a half-hour's walk in the blinding afternoon sun, but I found it quite easily actually.

It was as described: a giant abandoned warehouse, two blocks behind the grocery store, with more windows broken than not. I entered through a sketchy looking back door and it took my eyes a minute to adjust to what was before me: literally, mountains upon mountains of piled up clothing. I was pretty much dumbfounded, and I was the ONLY person in this cavernous, very dimly lit, damp warehouse. I felt like I was doing something very wrong.... (The woman working there I later saw passed out on top of a pile of clothes, haha... it was pretty creepy in there) So, I slowly began picking things off of piles. Though there was the occasional very dirty pile, most of the clothes were in really good shape and there were even a bunch of fur coats. Then, I ventured onto the second floor via a very creepy wide cement staircase blanketed with mismatched shoes. And, my jaw dropped. The celing on the second floor was completely caved in in the middle, leaving a very large pile of debris in the center of the room so tall you couldn't see the other side. There were mismatched shoes everywhere, just a small pathway to make your way around and try to find a match. When I finally came back downstairs, one of my friends, Justin, was there, having heard me talk about this place earlier in the week. Together we kind of just laughed at how crazy everything was inside.

I'm standing on top of a pile of clothing here, looking at the corner of the warehouse. All around and behind me are mountains like these.

A (small) organized part of Floor Shoe Chaos and pile of ceiling in the center of the room

Having immediately returned home to shower and wash the clothes I bought, I loved every second of it. Most things inside cost less than a dollar... and everyone haggles here so it costs even less. I can't wait to go back and find a (literally, DIRT cheap) Halloween costume.

Otherwise, school is going ok, and I'm finally about to be paid! For the past three weeks, I've been living off of the $1,000 USD I brought with me, and after really only purchasing the bare necessities and food, I have a couple hundred left. I think it will be pretty easy to save money here, which is awesome.

I say hello to this teeny guy every day while I walk home. He barely sat still long enough for me to take a pic!

Sunday, a few of my new friends and I took a trip to a lovely, still lake on the outskirts of the city which functions as the fresh water resevoir for Jinju. It's also a beautiful park with some lovely hiking trails and some burial shrines scattered. After sitting by the lake for a while we had a delicious barbeque dinner.

The intricate ceiling of one pagoda in the lake park. 

Above: an advertisement from a photo store. Koreans being hilarious.

This upcoming weekend, CR organized a group trip to Daegu, a very big city about an 90 minutes by bus, to see a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire." Excitement!

Two Weeks Noticed

The biggest piece of advice I've gotten regarding adjusting to such a different place was, give it two weeks before you make any judgements. As of today, I've been teaching for fifteen days, out of the US for seventeen days. I still think it's too soon to say anything, but I'll try to sum up how I'm feeling about things anyway.

I like it in Jinju. It's a completely different life than the one I just left, and I'm not going to quit. But, my life here is not special to me yet, and I don't feel connected to my surroundings. 

I still get lost or take the wrong bus everyday, I have problems of communication on every level almost constantly. I attract less attention now than when I got here, but there are still a lot of older people and little kids who stare unflinchingly. In restaurants, I usually rely on pointing to a picture.... and never get what I expect, haha. I'm already used to not being able to understand anything that's going on around me, but in a peaceful way, it all becomes white noise. 

I've made a bunch of friends, all great, welcoming people and all fun to be around. I miss my friends from home, though like crazy, and my family, and in my mind you guys can never be replaced. I guess I'm waiting to meet people who are like you; it may never happen here. It's all a learning experience.

Teaching is great one day, and terrible the next day. I have so many ideas that I think are great and exciting and they totally fall flat with the kids. Other times, I think something is impossibly boring, and they love it. My students make me laugh a lot, and I'm thankful for them. I think things are just about to come to the point they feel comfortable around me. I'm learning, too. Korean English students certainly aren't as disciplined or interested in learning as I had thought, particularly those who will more than likely grow up to be farmers in about 3-4 years (my male students). I know as time goes by, my teaching experience will even out (good/bad) and I will love it.

Today my co-teacher came to school with a rather large hickey on her neck, with no effort to cover it up. I definitely wasn't judging her, just kind of alarmed that it was NBD. And also, kind of jealous, haha. 

M.

CAT CAFE!!!

My last day of the Chuseok holiday was today, and there was no better way to spend it than to have a picnic in the park with my great new friend CR (I know what the 'C' stands for.... but I'm not allowed to tell anyone, haha). We met at Gyeongsang National University (GNU) where CR is an English teacher. The campus is beautifully landscaped and well planned, and definitely a place I will go back and explore a bit better. There are a lot of hiking trails as well that go through some of the hills in Jinju, and I can't wait to walk through those as well. CR loves to cook, and brought BLTs with homemade basil/garlic mayonnaise and fresh squeezed lemonade! I brought a bottle of wine and we had a lovely time sitting in the park and talking. The weather was beautiful (though slightly too hot) and CR promised to take me to a really special place next.....

A CAT
CAFE

When he originally told me about this, I was in disbelief. A cafe! With cats in it! That just walk around and want you to snuggle with them! And you drink coffee and get snacks there! It was really clean, too. Whatever, you guys probably don't care but it was like heaven to me. A genius business plan!

I definitely plan on going back, and CR told me there are definitely TWO of these in Jinju, one closer to where I am. I loved it so much, words can't describe.

Below: CR and this crazy little cuddle monster (laying on our beverage tray) who tried to eat my rabbit's foot

Little kitties everywhere!

"Mama"

Fluffy whites

Note: little blackie lounging on CR's lap. My heart melts!

Lastly: One of many hilarious signs around Jinju 

Such a great day!

The Boxer

My first night out on the town in Korea was two parts great fun to one part insanely dramatic and terrible. 

To begin, I got on the bus and met Francois at City Hall, where we went together to a going away party for a (foreign) girl who is leaving Jinju. Because the circle of foreigners is so small, it was a good place for me to meet tons of other people. We got there, and it was overwhelming to me. After going an entire week of seeing one or two foreigners, total, I was suddenly in a room full of them, and we were all speaking English. Everyone was pretty much already drunk by the time I got there. It was definitely not what I expected, but I had a fun time and met a few great people, namely: Janice, a tiny little thing from Northern Ontario who sings karaoke songs in Japanese and speaks a lot of French when she is drunk; Justin, quiet and witty, from Montana; CR, who loves to cook and write screenplays, from Northern Michigan; Caroline from England, I'm certain she loves Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Agitha from Brazil who had the best laugh I've heard in Korea; and lastly, Gareth from Wales who loves to watch rugby. It was a great time.

After about an hour or so, myself, Francois, Justin and Janice went to a Noriban, or a singing room (karaoke). We tore it up for an hour; I sang a thrilling rendition of "No Scrubs," everyone yelled at the top of their lungs to "Sweet Child of Mine," Janice sang a weird Japanese song.... it was great. 

Above: Janice and Francois choosing songs.

We then decided to go back to a different bar for one more drink. This is where things started to take a turn for the worst. While walking to the Terrace Bar (maybe a five minute walk?), I was accosted by some douchebag from Scotland named Allie. He just started grabbing me, and pushing me and stuff. A complete stranger to me at this point; it was completely inappropriate, even if we DID know each other. So, I turned around and promptly asked him to stop touching me; I told him that he should not touch strangers in this way, it was totally inappropriate. He had a few choice words for me and flipped me off, walked away, and that was that. 

We soon arrived at the bar, and Allie was of course there; Francois immediately wanted to leave, and I said I'd go with him. (I don't know my way around yet, and Francois was going to help me find my way back.) As we began to head out I was saying goodbye to the people I had just met when Allie called out, "Goodnight, you fucking nutjob." This was of course completely uncalled for, but I was ready to just ignore him and leave. Francois, however, was really upset by this and punched Allie in the face. Soon, to the horror of everyone else sitting in this bar, a full scale fight erupted, complete with Allie catching Francois on the eyebrow and busting his face open. There was blood everywhere, I stepped through it on my way out. In complete shock, I fled the scene, Janice and Justin helping me into a cab and getting me home. 

So it was kind of a terrible night. I woke up the next day with a sense of dread; was EVERY night out in Jinju going to be like this? I decided to meet up with Caroline and Gareth to watch a Rugby game later on that evening to try and make a better impression. We drank a few beers, ate some delicious barbeque pork, and all in all had a lovely time together. It was much more low key, and much more to my liking than the previous night. These people are really nice and cool, and I can't let one bad apple ruin my time here (even if he's a REALLY bad apple). I'm so thankful for friends like Francois who stood up for me (even if picking a fight with a crazy drunken idiot wasn't the best way to do it). He had to have stitches on his left eyebrow and his face looked pretty banged up... and I felt terrible. 

This is Francois today, looking much better than yesterday. We got a pizza (!) at the grocery store and had a great time. If you look closely you can see the stitches and the black eye, though. 

All in all, the dust seems to have already cleared, though no one remembers seeing a fight between the foreigners before. Of course this happens on my first night out in Jinju. I won't let it keep me in the house though. 

In other news, I've already resumed my role of official cat sitter; this weekend, I cat sat for a girl named Colleen who went to Tokyo. I played with her tiny little kitten named Chester, and it was lovely. It was a really rainy day and we snuggled and watched Mrs. Doubtfire together. She informed me she's actually moving back to the states in November and will not be taking Chester with her, so she's trying to find a good home for him. As much as I love kitties.... I have to think about this one.... After all, I'll be returning too, one day.

Above: Chester being adorbz. 

More soon,

<3 M.

Chuseok

My co-workers at school are pretty amazing, all very kind and so excited to have me here. I'm the only foreigner here, and they have been very welcoming to me. They are constantly giving me little gifts (a lotion set, rice cakes, energy drinks, etc) and attempting to speak English to me, however broken the communication may be. 

Our desks are all pushed together in one room, so they also serve as my neighbors at work. There are probably twelve in total, all the usual suspects: the cute young male math teacher all the women teachers giggle over; my next door desk neighbor, the maternal home-ec teacher who speaks good English, brings me juicy asian pears and delicious sweet rice cakes for snack every day (and also serves as the school nurse); the gym teacher who wears Abercrombie & Fitch clothing every day to school and asked me to join the school's volleyball team on Wednesdays; the older social studies teacher who brings everyone "Tzan-Tzam," for EVERYONE, which is a ginseng/power energy drink; and by FAR my favorite, the kooky athletic Korean teacher with frizzy hair and a huge smile who keeps asking me for my address so I can climb mountains with her.
Today she asked me (in almost unintelligible English) why I always wear long sleeves and long pants to school. I showed her my leg tattoo and she was very intrigued. She began a long paragraph in Korean (probably about how shocking tattoos are in Korea) but ultimately she made me show every teacher in the room. Four teachers gathered around my desk and looked at my arm and leg, and shockingly, everyone loved them. I told them it was very common in the USA to see tattoos in public, and does not mean that someone is bad. I think this point was driven home due to the fact that I am a girl, and clearly not in the Korean mafia, which is what everyone assumes when they see someone walking down the street with a tattoo. I guess I feel a little more free about showing them in public (though not in front of the children).

So far I'd say we have a fantastic rapport. I realize, to be polite, that this gift giving and snack bringing must be reciprocated at some point in the future, which kind of terrifies me. I don't know anything about what kinds of snacks these people like, or what would be considered tacky. I think fruit is my safest bet; maybe next week some nice looking apples would be good to share. I'll keep that in mind.

This weekend, through Wednesday, is Chuseok in Korea, which is their three-day version of Thanksgiving. It begins a very solemn holiday; on Monday morning, people travel to their ancestral birthplaces and visit family tombs together. Monday evening, they share a traditional harvest feast and offer simple sacrifices for the upcoming rice harvest.

Above: A traditional Chuseok table.

It's one of the biggest travel times of the year in all of Korea; to allot for this time, my school will be closed Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I am off of work for five days in a row! This is kind of great, and kind of sounds like doom. While it will certainly be nice to have five (paid!) days of freedom to better explore the city, and to get a better grasp of directions, everything will be closed in Jinju Monday and Tuesday, except maybe the movie theaters. Tonight I have plans with Francois to meet some of the ex-pats, get some food and drinks and most likely sing some karaoke. Luckily, they have hundreds of places where you can do all three at once, called "Singing Rooms." I'm not sure Korea is really ready for my karaoke swagger...I have a few songs already picked... and some Destiny's Child as a backup. We'll see how it goes.

As for the rest of the vacation... I'm not sure what will happen, but I know it will be good. Tomorrow morning I'm supposed to be going to church with Francois. Maybe this is a good time for me to catch up on some reading, or walk by the river. Happy Chuseok!! I wish I could celebrate it with all of you while drinking a nice tall glass of Pumpking :(

Love you all!!!!!

OR-E-O

Small victories of today:

1. I successfully navigated the bus, alone, to E-Mart and back. I made it in one piece! (Though, I did take the bus the wrong way home, and a trip that should have taken 10-15 minutes took about 45, haha. I'm learning.)

2. E-Mart is the massive four floor sell-it-all store (and I mean IT ALL- they sell shoes, groceries, furniture, and even cats + dogs! -- NO, NOT TO EAT, you sickos!). It's by far my favorite place in Jinju thus far. I made it out of there and onto the bus with a loaf of bread!!, peanut butter!!, nutella!!, fabric softener, and, my biggest delight of the day, Oreo-Os. I've been searching for this cereal in the US for years now, and even looked for it the week before I left home. Leave it to Korea of all places to have the world's stock of Oreo-Os. Anyway, awesome.

3. Skyping is really helping me not to feel so homesick, and it makes me so happy to be able to still see the faces of my peeps.

4. Finally, I got my teacher to write down my address for me! Here it is!!

I'm feeling good today, staying humble.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

The view down my street, Jinju-Daero Road. Lovely!

Below, a very common theme for family portraits in Korea. The ones the photographer is most proud of are posted outside of shops as advertisements for the shop. Everyone in really awkward/uncomfortable looking poses, no one really smiling. Kind of like America!

Below: a public sign, located right next to the river, telling people how toxic the fish in the river are that day. Approaching downtown Jinju.

Behold Nam Gan, a peaceful winding river that is the basis of life for Jinju and connects it with the Pacific Ocean. The water is very clear, and from high up on the bridge I could see white fish swimming in the water. There are many kinds of fish in the water, including fish that can only swim in salt water, like squid, etc. The big buildings are a couple of hundreds of apartment buildings that pepper the city.

Japan ruined kit kats

These Buddha statues are in every neighborhood. They are completely hand carved out of solid stone and are as big as most cars around here.

More soon <3