Insadong, Bubble Show and Dancing - My Week In Review

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I have not had a chance to update in a few days but let me first say I'm feeling much much much better now. Last week it was St. Patrick's Day which is not really celebrated here by many Koreans. In school there wasn't any mention of it, no 4 leaf clovers cut out in art class, or green stickers to pass out. It was kind of sad! I went to Itaewon with Pam and met up with a few of her friends for a green beer at an Irish pub which was fun but it was mostly Westerners. I saw a huge group of rugby players (possibly New Zealanders..yum!) It was nice to see people wearing green and some even wearing those funny antlers of green clovers..sigh, I miss the kitchy western ways.

Before the beer she and I went to an area called Insa-dong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insadong) which isn't too far from me on the subway line. It is a place known for it's little antique and pottery tents, there are a lot of jewellrey tents and booths to buy from. I can see myself enjoying it there once I get paid. I'm always on the lookout for things for people back home, something special that reminds me of a friend. Different areas that I got to always remind me of someone and I think my Mum would have enjoyed Insa-dong. It wasn't as crowded as most areas I've been to and there seemed to be a few cute places to eat as well. Antiques, art vendors on the street, art galleries and the like, that is very Mumsy style. Pam and I went up Jongo Tower which is 30+ floors and has a restaurant at the top. The lunch menu is nice and fairly cheap and I can picture mums and I having a latte overlooking the city! Ah, I miss you!

This past Friday at work was a field trip which meant no teaching for the morning classes. We herded the preschool and kindy kids onto the buses and took a short trip to the "Magic Bubble Show". The first part of the show was a man doing shadow puppets onto a big projection screen. The hand puppets were timed to music such as 'Mambo #5' and the entire cd of Abba's greatest hits. The second part was the same man (he was masked, maybe out of shame) and he did cheesy magic tricks. He really impressed the kids and well, me. I am a sucker for anyone who can do a magic trick regardless of cheesiness. I also enjoy the company of anyone who can juggle but I won't go there today.. the final portion of the show was the bubbles. The masked shadow puppet-magician-bubble man blew bubbles out of tubes with dry ice inside, he blew bubbles out of his own fingers and invited children up on stage to dance and make fun of them. I'd give the show 2 stars out of 5, but since I didn't have to teach my preschool kids all morning I'd give it a 3.5 out of 5. Bubbles don't really impress me all that much- unless they are in my gin and tonic.

After the show it was business as usual but at the end of the day another teacher (Anastasia) and I went to Hongdae for Greek food. Pam and I had been to this restaurant and Anastasia wanted to check it out. So we went and ordered too much food and too much wine and after we were satisfied we went out to the park and watched a band play some music. A few guys got up to show their b boy skills (also impressive!) and Anastasia and I enjoyed a couple of beers on the street. In Korea they do it right, you can not only buy wine, beer and soju in convenience stores but you can drink it on the street. Love that! I realized the time was about 11pm and I was supposed to meet the other 2 female teachers that live by me to have a few drinks and go to a club to see a DJ that was spinning. I rushed home and changed and sprinted (not really) to Yujin's house where we had our drinks and caught a cab to Volume. It was a really nice place from what I remember. HUGE loud sound system with an amazing stage for the Dj. Dancing in a Korean club is very different than at home. I had tons of space and no one came up behind me to try to dance with me. Plus Koreans don't seem to sweat and the constant flow of air shooting down from the ceiling not only aided my body heat but it helped me with my sexy hair flips while dancing.

Yujin is really into this kind of music and introduced me and the other teacher to Andy Moor (http://www.andymoor.com/), apparently he is a pretty famous Dj in the music world (top 18) and I can see why. It was so much fun! I danced all night, lost my voice and fell into bed at around 5 am. Unfortunately the next day Poly had a workshop for all of the teachers and every campus met to do 5 sessions each. I chose classroom management and other areas that I've been struggling with since coming here and it did help me out considerably. It just sucked that it was the morning after such an exhausting (but fun!) day/night. Obviously I came home after the 8 hour workshop and fell into bed but this time it was 9:30 pm and I didn't get up again until this morning at 11 😊

P.S- I forgot my camera at work but I will add pictures to this entry tomorrow night, there are a few of my kiddies that I'd like to share!
xo

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