A week in review.

Heeeeeeeeere's Buddha!


Last week was my birthday, so while the days were spent at work 'teaching' many of the nights were spent 'celebrating' (both left me slurring my speech and needing to pee). For some reason I had at least one kid every single day have some kind of minor breakdown, from a little girl named Kelly weeping sadly because she lost a spelling game to some crazy kid named 'Tiger' coming at me with scissors before proceeding to sit down and shred his pencil to bits cursing my name (I couldn't pry the scissors out of his strong, masculine hands - and I'm not joking about him cursing my name while killing his pencil).

Anyways, on my birthday I came in and no one wished me a 'Happy Birthday Ken!'. I was very sad assuming they'd all forgotten, but of course, as they've done before with others they waited until all the kids were safely locked away in the classrooms before turning off the lights and doing the whole cake and song thing (I'll put a picture of that up later as its on someone elses camera). After work I just wanted to go home (as I had been out late the Tuesday night with Kyle) but after agreeing to go out for some chicken and beer, we ended up at the local foreigner bar U2 drinking lots. After Kyle and Blake and others showed up, I stayed there until about 4am.

An old Ajumma trying to launch a surprise attack at the temple in Kyungju. Her tactic was "If I can't see you than you can't see me". She couldn't see the stairs either!


I felt okay the next morning, but after stupidly having 3 coffees and nothing to eat before I went to work - the coffee mixed in with all the booze made me feel incredibly nauseous (the shakes, clammy hands, spins) and I was just beginning the monster class with crazy, rude kids. As soon as that class ended (longest 50 minutes OF MY LIFE) I explained to our understanding boss (who was hungover when he first interviewed Kyle for his job) who let me go home for a couple of hours - but he asked me to come back if I felt better. After getting sick, I reluctantly returned to work for the remainder of the day.

Now, after feeling this crappy I would usually say "I'm never drinking again", but I knew the following day that my entire work (except the other 2 foreign teachers Nicole and Blake) were going away for the weekend, and I'd already seen our Director walk in with a huge box filled with bottles and bottles of SoJu. All I could do was cry and pray my liver held out.

Just arrived at the temple.


So Saturday morning we met at GnB and drove in a few different cars the 2-hour ride to Kyungju. The 3 Korean teachers I was with played Korean songs and were generally very excited (its not very often some of them get away from their parents for a full day...while I have a full year!). Kyunhju is a very popular spot for all Koreans as it is a gigantic heritage sight, so there are basically just hotels, restaurants, old temples and lots of mountains. After we got there we walked around a very old Buddhist temple built in 750 a.d.

Kyle in front of a bit of the massive temple.


I was awed by the history behind the place but I was more impressed with the staggering number of photos the Korean teachers took of each other. They literally took hundreds of photos each. Some were posed near a pond, others posed in a parking lot. They were just taking pictures for the sheer joy of it.


This little stone pagoda is very famous as it is the exact one on the back of the 10won coin here.


After that we headed to our 'condo' to drop off our stuff (we would stay here for the night). It was really nice compared to the time I went up to Jiri-San and had to sleep in a corner. This place had 2 TVs, 2 huge rooms, and it was new and clean. Instead of biking around like people usually do in Kyungju we decided (after discovering we could get a discount) to go to a local amusement park called Kungju World.

Some of our Korean teachers waiting for fun to be had.


In no way could you compare it to Canada's Wonderland but it wasn't bad. There was a great brand new ride called Phaeton which was really good (like the Top Gun ride at Wonderland). Oddly, lots of times we would just sit in the rides all buckled up waiting for more riders to join, as the place was so quiet and they didn't want to start the ride until it was fuller.

Very typical Korean couple. Many dress exactly the same, it is both sad and funny (like getting caught touching yourself)


The only busy ride was the bumper cars which my work insisted on going several times. One ride made me sick, another was abandoned and near falling apart (its paint was all chipped, metal was protruding out - it was dying). Fun times though.

What kind of park is this!?!


So we finally returned back to our condo and broke out the meat, SoJu, and beer. Other groups away for the weekend were sitting at their tables nearby, but no one talked to each other (they really don't mingle like that here). It was about 7pm when we started eating, and as per the usual eating/drinking marathons that Koreans do everyone was hammered by 8pm. Bottles and bottles of SoJu littered the ground and nauseous looking Koreans were everywhere. Suddenly our director yelled "Noraebahng!" and next thing you know we are all piled into a tiny van careening down a street singing and yelling. At 9pm we get to the place and instantly 5 of our Korean teachers went to the bathroom, threw up, and passed out in the various empty Noraebanhg rooms (there are several inside one place). Drunk but still very much alive Kyle and I started off the night by singing 'Livin' la Vida Loca', and 20 minutes later Mony Mony. By 11:30 only our very drunk (and quite affectionate) director, Kyle, myself and the 2 sober Korean teachers remained standing. One drunk Korean teacher was half-standing and singing - she was a real trooper.

So after we piled everyone into the van and came back Kyle and I ended up drinking and speaking very very broken English with some other drunk Koreans until about 3am as everyone from our staff had fallen asleep.

One of the many times I've looked at a photo and thought, "who the hell was this person?" - one of the late night random people we met.



7:30am the next day, 9 of the Korean teachers who had passed out early were up and talking, cooking very loudly right next to mine and Kyle's heads. You know how in Canada if you wake up early you just quietly sneak outside or continue to lie there until a decent appropriate time? Not here. It was not cool. Also, in the middle of the night I woke up dripping with sweat (I had accidentally laid upon the hottest area of the ondol floor) - ondol is a heated floor - every place has one. So I went outside to get some fresh air and ended up falling asleep for about an hour. I woke up and there was a puppy sleeping right beside me - really weird.

The puppy who fell asleep at my feet - he was delicious mixed with Ramen noodles.


I know what your thinking, your saying, "well you didn't have to stay up so late and drink so much" - yes, we did actually. You see, the whole points of these get-a-ways is for the boss to get hammered with his employees and have a good time so he can brag to other directors about his staff, but every teacher passed out early on - so Kyle and I (who were pacing ourselves) had to stay up with him to ensure a fun, drunken time. Were we successful? What do you think?

I poked and pushed and elbowed but he wouldn't stop snoring.


Anywhoo, I ate some Ramen noodles and rice in the morning - and slept most of the way home.

Blake has dropped out of our August trip to Japan, so it looks like I'll be doing it solo. It is an incredibly expensive country so I am thinking about spending a couple days in Tokyo (one of the most expensive cities in the world- like London) and than taking the train down to Mount Fuji - where you can climb it in about 15 hours. You have to do it in stages because of altitude sickness (you can also spend the night in one of the many 'huts' that cater to the over 200,000 tourists who climb every year).

We'll see.

Thats the price you pay for rolling up your sleeves trying to look strong.