The Best Teaching Week :P

This week has been the best week of school because I have really only had to work 3.5 days! I wish every week were like this :P ha  

Wednesday was a national holiday and SUPER rainy but I was able to go into Seoul and hangout with some of my friends!  We did some shopping for our families back home and it was a pretty exciting experience.   As if that wasn't super fun on its own, I was also able to celebrate my friend's birthday and go out to dinner!  It was a super awesome Wednesday off!!  I then returned back to Dongbaek and went to school Thursday morning to have a FIELD TRIP with the Kindergartens! We went to a Korean play, fortunately for me it was a play about Peter Pan so I did a pretty good job following the plot.  The kids were so excited and screaming out at Captain Hook when things were happening that they didn't like, I don't remember seeing the kids so excited!  All in all it was a pretty good time, I am starting to fall more in love with these kids every day...who knew? (this is where all the mothers say "OF COURSE WE KNOW :p).

The Cast and one of the kinder classes :P

 I have been able to do a few exciting things the last couple of days that consist of some pretty great opportunities.  Thursday night my coworkers had a welcome party for me while also having a goodbye party for another person who works here at the school and is moving to Canada.  It was a lot of fun getting to know the teachers on another level.  Seeing who people are outside of work is truly a hilarious experience and the bonds that it creates are wonderful.  To start off the night we went to a restaurant called Pasta Bene (a lot of places here take on Italian or French names...very interesting) which is owned by a American-Korean guy from NYC.  Apparently he owns a bunch of restaurants in the States and is pretty much a BIG deal :P He also happens to speak fluent English and is super kind from the ONE interaction I had with him.  I will definitely go back and eat there again, the food was great! The teachers paid for both myself and the other girl who was leaving, which was SUPER encouraging.

The front of the room

After dinner we headed to Nora Bong which is their version of Karaoke.  It was AMAZING!! SO much fun!!!! First of all the room was huge, there were two large televisions with a flashy stage around them, so singing here is on a WHOLE NOTHA LEVEL! haha They gave us three microphones and a bunch of tambourines! It was truly an experience I will never ever forget and now that I know what it is like, I will be visiting again in the near future.  One of my coworkers and I really rocked it that night, we sang almost every song and had some actions to go with it. 

The Other side of the karaoke room

After the group split up and we went to a bar where I played darts.  I GOT A BULLSEYE!! I was so excited, however I lost twice against a drunk individual, which speaks volumes about my lack of skills OR her awesome skills.  Either way it was a lot of fun, I felt like everyone in the bar was cheering us on or at least watching us and making comments...it was a small bar and very community oriented.  We got free drinks and played darts for an hour or so before going home.  It was great to meet different people in my area and also spend some time with my coworkers. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and work with some really great people.

To make this week even better, I got a letter from a friend at home AND it is my sisters birthday and I was able to get her some pretty neat Korean things.  I am missing home but not in the way I have ever missed it before...it is more of a 'I miss the people but I do not want to leave Korea'...ha I am sure once my year is up I will be ready but I am looking forward to another 10 months here :)

This weekend I am heading into Seoul where I get to work on my TESOL while also going onto the army base to bowl with some friends (which should be super fun).  We shall see how the rest of the weekend unfolds.  This week was the perfect teaching week for sure :)