Shark Dive

This past weekend was my first SCUBA experience ever; it went far beyond what I expected. It was one of the most surreal moments of my life, having several gigantic sharks swim inches away from my face.

what i was in the water with- wearing no protection

Sean and I arrived in Busan Saturday morning and went immediately to the aquarium where we met his friend Ryan. We had to start off by taking "the driver's ed of diving"- an informative class (in a classroom) and squaring away our paperwork- it took about an hour- and then had a two hour wait (while the first group dove) to walk through the aquarium. We left the aquarium and got burgers and also free acupuncture (? I know, so weird but hey) on the beach while we waited.

When we came back, we were handed wet suits and changed. Then it was time to put on the 30 pound lead belt (to help us sink) and the oxygen tank. Altogether I'm estimating we tacked on an extra 50-60 pounds- it was so pretty hard to walk, and I kept almost falling over! Once we got into the water, though, the weight was nothing. We trained in a shallow pool for maybe an hour- I learned the basic skills of SCUBA! And then, before I knew it, there we were, in a huge 300 million gallon tank, surrounded by sharks, rays, and a huge grouper. It was weirdly peaceful- at no point was I ever afraid of being attacked. We foraged the bottom of the tank and came up with about 20 shark teeth- the sharks in the tank will each lose about 300,000 teeth in their lifetimes!

The change in pressure was very strange- it oddly enough didn't hurt my head at all, but instead it felt like one of my teeth was going to explode. I asked the diving instructor later about this, and he said it's rare but it happens, especially in military planes that can't pressurize (people have to jump out)- sometimes air gets trapped above your tooth, and rarely, people have actually had teeth explode. It was scary- and I had to resurface a little bit to equalize the pressure. After that, though, it was totally amazing.

not us.... but this is what we did! you can see the bright yellow lead belts that keep you "sunk"

We didn't get pictures, but we did get an HD video made- I can't wait to see it. It was so, so amazing and I would definitely recommend the program to anyone.
More to come,
<3 M

Camp Rocks

Happy New Year!!!!
I've been so busy planning camp that I've barely had time to do much else. I am right smack in the middle of teaching my kids the basics of movie making- and I am completely loving it.

I am teaching totally alone for the first time: my co-teacher is on vacation on a beach in Guam, probably loving every second of it. It has been intensely difficult without her- there are virtually no other teachers here (no one who speaks English anyway), and I'm dealing with a broken computer and frozen pipes (no running water at school for eleven days!). I arrive to an office that is kept around forty five degrees: I can see my breath, and the water in the toilet tanks is frozen. Every day is a total zoo- I teach eleven high level thirteen year olds and one super low level fifteen year old (I discovered yesterday that he can't read!). The kids are mostly out of control and wild, but they are actually enjoying the material I'm teaching: and I have to say, as corny as it sounds, it makes everything else a cakewalk. I don't really mind that I can't really feel my toes, that there's no lunch, no working toilets. My students make me laugh so much, and for the most part, are really understanding what I'm saying to them. It has been amazing to finally communicate with them, without the crutch of my co-teacher translating everything for them. The days are flying, and though I'm beyond excited to begin writing scripts and filmng next week, I'm kind of sad for camp to end.

My New Year's celebration was nothing short of fantastic, just as I knew it would be. (Coming Soon: Pictures) I went to Busan with my friends and had a blast. This weekend is going to be much more low-key (I hope) with a "temple food" (vegan) dinner on friday and a boardgame night on saturday.

With the beginning of a new year, I've been forced to finally think about what my future holds, in terms of returning home to Buffalo, staying in Korea another year, or going somewhere else. I feel so uncertain about everything, and extremely conflicted. I know that September is still a long ways away, but with the way the last four months flew by, it will be here before I know it. I'm determined to enjoy every minute of my time here, and so far it has been beyond amazing- am I willing to give this up?

More soon: pictures too!
<3M