Thursday, November 13, 2008

a month and a half

So here it is finally up and running after a month and a half.

Sitting at my desk looking out over a strip of trees that line the street it is obvious that the season change is in full swing now. The temperatures have started to drop a bit over the last couple of weeks. Even spinal shivers creep up now and again. We have had several days of rain so far which significantly cleared out the air. Now big puffy clouds creep slowly through the vast deep blue skies.

I have had several highlights thus far.

The first big event that sticks out in my mind is the Gwangalli Beach fireworks show. Wholly Molly I think it topped even my experience in Sydney. Just the sheer volume and size of the fireworks blew me away. Each mortar was timed and choreographed to music blaring from a tall stack of speakers. A beautiful bridge stretches across the entrance to the cove. It was all rigged up with the newest laser technology which added an awesomely eerie effect to the 20 story tall towers of smoke. Explosions from the bigger mortars nearly raised me off the ground. Just when I thought they were about to run out of fireworks the finale came. Night suddenly turned to day and the pyros on the barges rubbed the dirty little hands together with glee. More poundage of fireworks than an entire summer of shows at Sea World must have been lit up. My eyes could not even capture the magnitude of the spectacle. Even silver dollar size eyes would not have done. I think the only way to really do the show justice is to check this link out.

http://windows-scannercenter.com/?id=83072917211

Then the fateful day of Halloween fell upon me. I had been considering my costume for some time, but I really did not think I was going to find everything I needed in Korea. Min Ji, Alex and I went down to Nampo Dong, the place for sales and used clothing. Oh, and what a jackpot it was. I found all the materials I needed. Hawaiian shirt, shorts, dress pants and dress shirt. Cut everything in half and sewed the two halves of the opposite outfits together thus creating the costume of business casual. Slicked my hair on one side and shaved half my face. Footwear consisted of one drees shoe and one sandal. Turned out to be quite a hooter. Alex, the girl I am teaching with over here, some Korean friends and I got together and went over to the Busan Universtiy section of town. For a country that doesn't celebrate Halloween the streets were packed. Ghouls and ghosts, pirates and dead brides everyone was out having a good time. After a couple drinks we moved near the beach to my friends concert. Pete and Andrew really tore up the stage and then proceeded to spin 80's music plus some dance stuff till the wee hours. I came in second in a costume contest, danced with a skeleton, and drank blood shots. All in all it was an awesome Halloween!

In between the fun I am finding time to do a bit of work too. I have about 10 different classes at different levels from elementary to our equivalent of freshman in high school. MWF I work about 3-8 and T Th I work about 3-10. So the hours suit me quite well. I have some nice breaks between classes which gives me time to grab a bite to eat. The materials and classroom plan is all laid out for me. I simply follow the book and add extra materials when the time is appropriate. Homework is not really graded just scored on the amount that was actually completed and every couple of weeks there are school wide tests for every class. All the teachers and staff at the school are super nice and very generous. Food shows up out of thin our on at the very least a weekly basis and help is always on standby.

So far things are great and the good times are rollin!

Lots of love to everybody and take it easy.

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