Where to Begin?

I am officially on Summer vacation and it has never felt sweeter! I get a FULL week off and have thoroughly enjoyed the sleeping in till 10:30/11 and hanging out and exploring Korea with some friends.  I have not had to wake up before 10:30am and it has been a blessing, I feel my body can FINALLY rest.  Being on go mode since I got here, I haven't really felt I had some time to relax but this week is perfect!

So let's go back to Friday since some pretty exciting things happened :P.  Friday morning the Kindergarteners went on a field trip to the swimming pool, which is not like the circle swimming pools we have in North America with the deep end and shallow sides.  This was more shaped like...swirly lines and it only came up to my knees.  The entire pool was this deep and allowed for a lot of children to crush in there and have some fun.  Now I was not under the impression we should bring our swimsuits and so I didn't.  However after much pressure from certain teachers and the amount of fun the kids seemed to be having, I rolled up my pants and went on in there.  I was not thinking about the fact that I would get incredibly wet or even the fact that I taught later that day...at that point in time the only thing that seemed to matter was playtime.  After many kids splashing me and making me increasingly damp, we had to get out and change the kids which made my soaking self feel a little jealous :P (only for a second though).  The bus ride home was pretty exciting, making the seat wet and dripping all over the nice bus while everyone else was dry and warm (the dampness did truly help keep me a little bit cooler). 

Once we got back to school some of the parents had gotten us kimbap and some fruits and veggies which was scrumptious.  All of the kids had packed lunches and we all sat in the multi-purpose room on mats on the floor and dug in.  There were a few interesting things upon sitting down to eat lunch, the first is that only one kid had a sandwich, all the rest had full out Korean style buffets :P.  The other thing that surprised me was watching all the teachers go around the room and look at what the kids had for lunch, going over to them and taking some of it.  The teachers walked around and peered at all the kids, some of them shared and some of them did not want to and yet it was completely ok for the teachers to take it.  I could not bring myself to do it however I watched in awe.  I know a day will come when I feel comfortable doing that as well so we shall see how long it takes :P So many cool cultural differences that I see on a regular basis.

The weekend was a good time, one of my friends had a birthday so a bunch of people got together at the church building and had a little thing for him.  There was SO MUCH PIZZA (the slices were literally like 3 times the size in Canada) and I was loving life very much. I have no idea how Koreans eat the amount they do and still stay so small...it amazes me.  As the party was going on, I met some nice Korean campus students and they introduced me to a game called "I am Ground".  It is a Korean game about memory and speed and is a pretty good time...until you lose and then have to kneel in the center while everyone hits you on the back.  Once my friend lost and got beat she left the game and refused to come back in...I got away by choosing to leave the game when I lost and no beats were delivered.  I don't know if I will get used to the physical assault that is involved in the games here haha it is all in fun though.

Over the summer break, a few friends of mine went to see the Batman movie, went shopping and got some stellar  knick knack in the subways.  It amazed me at how cheap things are and how large the world below the surface is, I am honestly amazed at the amount of things going on below ground.  So many stores with amazing jewellery and makeup and wow...so cheap.  I bought a few lovely odds and ends and some perfume that smells amazing for only $10.  It has been pretty lovely and exciting and I CANNOT WAIT to get my first pay check August 10th! No more worrying!!! yippeee!! :P

We also we able to go to Itaewon (the area near the army base that has A LOT of foreigners which is refreshing to see) and ate at an American Deli which was scrumptious.  A moment happened that I have never experienced, a group of very handsome army men in their uniforms walked past us and I can say that I was very...excited.  Ha I have never seen a group of men in the military that are dressed in their uniforms walking down the little cobblestone streets before but it was a lovely sight and they were very nice.

The busses here are so jammed that I honestly cannot express in words the feeling I get when I have to get onto a bus that I can see is going to be a nightmare.  When I got on my bus today there was no room at ALL and I was wearing a backpack so I had no idea how that was going to work.  I looked a little concerned and then an older man who had a seat took my backpack and put it on his lap and smiled at me.  It was such a beautiful moment and I felt so hopeful at that point in time that everything will be alright.  I was still crushed into a small area on the bus and the bus driver asked me to move a few times since he couldn't see (I was right up against him, awkward I know).  However the kind man held my bag on his lap the entire 1 hour and we got off at the same bus stop and I just bowed to him and thanked him.  He seemed so kind...little things like that give me hope.

There has been a lot going on here, the weather is KILLER...humidity is OUT of this world and sweating is a very very very common experience here this week, One step at a time.  I know that everyone says SUMMER is where it's at but I cannot WAIT for Fall and Winter to approach.  I am feeling the excitement just thinking about it! :P A girl can dream..only 3 months left!