Bugok: Hawaii

Having fun in Horrorland! Note: Squirrel, bear (?), horse (?), tank. 

one of the three ice slides!!!

This weekend was an absurd whirlwind, I'll try to compress the events into a palatable format.... though so many insane events warrant a novel. Anyway!

Friday night, I met some friends at the bar for a night of rummy. By some crazy (drunken) series of events which included an accordion and a lot of soju, I agreed to play keyboards in an already-established band of four other foreigners called The Gay Sexies. (?!?!) I'm not sure where this will lead, or even what kind of music they (we?) play, but I agreed to practice with them at their studio later on this week. Hopefully I can please them enough to get through the 4-5 shows they have planned for March... haha.

Saturday morning, Eve, Elliot, Juheon and I made the two hour trek to a town called Bugok to visit "Bugok: Hawaii," quite possibly the craziest/best place in all of Korea. When we arrived in the early afternoon, the town was mostly deserted. The resort, at first glance, looked like something pulled out of 1970s Vegas and dropped (completely out of place) in the mountains of Korea- an empty, grand, old, rickety hotel. The atmosphere was initially creepy, but walking past the hotel, the grounds opened up to a beautiful landscaped park and a complex of specialized buildings.

The main draw to Bugok: Hawaii is, of course, the natural sulfuric hot springs, promising bubbling hot luxurious outdoor pools. (In some spots, the water is hot enough to softly boil an egg- which, they do, and serve in an attached restaurant.) We first explored the grounds a little, then went into "the pool building" which housed an enormous set of pools, pirate ship and slide. We went down a hallway and into a different room- the hot springs entrance. Inside, there were three shallow bubbling pools (using the hot springs water): one containing lemon water, one with wine water, and a massage pool. Through a set of doors (to the outside) was the main attraction: a huge, natural pool that can only be described as a mermaid's lagoon. It was amazing- and so hot! It was really strange to be outside in 30 degree weather, swimming and having to get out of the water to cool off. We really enjoyed that, and I will DEFINITELY go back in the spring time!!!

After we finished with the hot springs, we explored the rest of the park, which included a sledding hill (real snow!!), a surprisingly difficult military style obstacle course, a botanical gardens, an amazing ice sculpture festival, a rabbit petting zoo, and, best of all, a SUPER creepy dilapidated amusement park, complete with rusting rides. A couple of the rides were functioning, including a roller coaster that people have to propel themselves using bicycles (it doesn't go upside down, or very fast, haha). We got the biggest laugh out of walking through there, though none of us felt very comfortable walking through. 

completing the military obstacle course!

the view inside hawaii

eve, elliot and juheon feeling happy and refreshed right after the hot springs

We left Hawaii in the late afternoon, and headed to the equally creepy/time-warp/desolate bus station to head to Masan (about 40 minutes away) to meet Tony and Jenna for dinner at a place aptly named "Mexico." Yum! We spent the evening smoking hookah and partying at the local bar popular with foreigners, followed by norebang (karaoke) and topped off with a late night McDonald's run. Tony and Jenna have a fantastic apartment, and since they had plenty of room for four house guests (absolutely unheard of here... I barely have enough room for ONE extra person), we stayed there. We woke up and had ibuprofen for breakfast :)

enjoying the hookah at jazz.
note: my shirt was a recent gem discovered at the dungeon, it says
"sensitive chris and luscious christy. luck come with smile
the wealth of god start to stop the keeping. gargoyle." ?!?

elliot, jenna, tony, juheon eve and me loving our mexican meal :)

It was 100% a fantastic time, but far too short. Last night when we got back, I was rendered completely useless, and decided an early night of sleep would do me some good. SO many things are happening this week, and I have much more to say... so stay tuned. More soon!

<3M

The Best Student Festival I've Ever Been To

Yesterday.... the festival. It was a lol'rcoaster of a day, from start to finish.
When I arrived at school in the morning, everything was chaos. Teachers and students were buzzing around like mad chickens, cleaning, "getting dressed" (?!), preparing snacks, and generally being stressed out and upset. It was really weird. I just kind of sat at my computer and calmly stared into space for a good three hours.

We had been scheduled to perform sharp and early at 9AM. Shockingly enough, the schedule changed last second (not once, but three times) and the performances ended up beginning after lunch.

Everyone had been walking on eggshells to please "the parents." I had never met my students' parents before, and there was a lump in my throat thinking about it after I had witnessed my co-workers change from happy, normal people into crazed nervous lunatics. It's funny that the second the parents step foot in the school, all of the sudden, we have toilet paper in the bathrooms again, a giant snack spread has been laid out, and the garbages have been emptied. Haha.

So, I walk into the gym, pretty apphrensive, and I look over to the "parents' section" which is basically three rows of chairs in the middle of the gym. And there are five pleasant looking people sitting there, including one infant, eating their snacks on their little perfectly arranged plates. They weren't scary.... at all. They just looked bored.

parent "snack plate"

"the parents"

It was just about this time that Ellen came up to me and said, "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you." (Her most overused line) "Tonight teachers will eat pork together and sing at norebang." (Not optional)

So the first few acts go on, most of them the exact same performances I had seen two weeks earlier. Then it's time for our "songs," which were supposed to be sung in Korean (I never learned the words properly) and our guitar player "dropped out" because he was "too busy" to practice with us. I'm set to sing acapella when, whoosh, out of the shadows, comes the art teacher with a guitar! We sing the songs, my microphone wasn't even turned on, and soon the humiliation was over. Phew. I've already blocked it from my memory.

Next was a weird, hilarious, and humiliating act by the boys of Youngcheon, the Ms. Youngcheon pageant. I was a judge.

the happy panel of judges

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Things took a sharply awkward and sexual turn of events as soon as the boys hit the stage, dressed in drag. (In the end, the slutty dancer with the big boobs won, furthering the lesson that the right moves and a big rack will get you just about anywhere in life. Above is first, second, and third place respectively. All three actually made pretty decent women.)

Next scene: 6:00PM, an eternity later, dinner with the co-teachers, who are getting wasted and stuffing their faces (and mine) with pork. I compete in a "one shot" game (exactly how it sounds) with my 65 year old Vice Principal and start winning.

the unsmiling reaching man is my terrifying principal. 

We then go to the norebang (karaoke) and stay there until 10:45PM. I did things I'm not proud of, I sang a few hilarious songs, my Principal (whom I've never even seen SMILE) slapped me on the butt with a tambourine, we all grew closer.

@ norebang..... it got very late.... very quickly

Ah me.
<3M