...and the Children Go Crazy! Thursday Oct. 11, 2007

So, I realized today that it really helps to have another teacher in the classroom when I'm teaching. I know this because today two homeroom teachers didn't come to class with their students. It really wasn't that horrible; I could just tell that the students are better behaved when their homeroom teachers are in the room.

From the one class that there was a teacher in the room, I had her take a few pictures of me teaching again.

I like this one, because one little girl is staring right at the camera!^^

We were chanting: Small, Small....

Big, Big....

These are my volunteers!! They love to volunteer; I'm really lucky!

There was an incident apparently last week during break where two sixth graders were wrestling; one of them broke his collar bone. Now, we are only allowed a 10 minute break between classes 2 and 3. The teachers and the students are kind of ticked off about it. I told my host mom about it at dinner tonight, and she asked Chan-i about it; he went off about it.

Oh, I forgot, this is what happened after school was over. I had no idea what was going on!!

This red smoke started pouring in my windows on the third floor.

The smoke was put out by this random firetruck that showed up.

These children were watching....

Ahhh...fire safety training...it all makes sense now!

After school, Julie came over for tutoring. Today I learned some really helpful phrases. I just have to make sure that I take the time to review everything that I am learning during tutoring sessions. I feel like my Korean ability is improving, but maybe it's my Korean language confidence that is improving. Eh, let's go with both!^^

For the club meeting tomorrow, I had to start thinking about 30 things that I want to do before I'm 30 years old. It's a little easier for me since I am only 22 years old and most of the others in the group are going to be 30 in a few years or over 30. There are so many things that I want to do, but they are things that I want to accomplish within the span of my lifetime, not just before I'm 30.

After Julie left, I went out to eat with my host family; we ate 갈만두국 (Kal Mandu Guk - a type of noodle soup). We stopped by my host father's 한야국 (HanYakuk - Oriental Pharmacy). My host mom, host bro, and host sis took a walk when we got home. I think my host sister's new favorite hobby is scaring the hell out of me. She rode a little scooter while we were walking and almost fell about 5 times. When we got back home, Kyung-chan and I sat down and snacked on 김 for a while. What a wonderful concept, sitting in Korea with my host sister eating dried seaweed!^^

*Update: I am now on the 11th episode of the second season of Prison Break!

Big Bad Stacey Teacher ㅠㅠ - Wednesday Oct. 10, 2007

Ok, so I hate yelling at students! I hate it, hate it, hate it! Especially because they are itty bitty!! Today, I kept 5 students after class and "explained" to them that when I talk, they listen. Well, it wasn't quite that simple. There were a lot of hand motions and very simple words. "I talk (point to myself and use my hand to indicate talking)...you listen (point to students and point to my ears)."

The form of punishment here is to make students stand, so I made four students stand today out of my three classes; two students were writing notes and not paying attention, one student was standing on his chair, and one student was playing with the phone that students are NOT supposed to play with. *The phone is really cool. It's like a phone booth type phone, and it can call the phone at the English Village information desk in the English room. So, it is really good telephone speaking practice. It unfortunately can also call every phone in the building, including the Kyomyoshil (VP and head teachers' office), principal's office, etc. Hence, it is a very dangerous contraption. Especially after a few students decided to prank call the Kyomyoshil repeatedly.*

Anyway, I feel like big bad Stacey teacher, and I hate it! I know it is necessary to discipline, but I don't like it! Any suggestions?! ...besides killing a student to make an example out of him, Nick!^^

Here are a few pictures of me teaching.
I start off every class by asking students how they are doing. I go around individually and ask anyone who wants to answer. It usually only takes a few minutes, and it makes sure that most students receive individual attention.




They think it is funny to either say very very very very very ______, or say that they are angry while smiling!^^ They're super cute!


We're singing the Good Morning Song!!^^


Literally, nobody showed up for my teachers' class. They're pretty busy preparing for the school festival, so I guess it is understandable, just slightly annoying. I delayed my tutoring lesson until 4:30PM. So, after school I headed home. Julie and I met for only an hour this time, because I had to meet Hae Yon and her friend for dinner. Her friend picked me up at the front gate, and we headed to Jung Ang Shikjang. We had Italian for dinner and sat around talking. I have now had women in two different Asian countries talk about my boobs. I just laugh about it now. I've gotten pretty used to it. After that, we randomly started talking about the fact that very few Korean women use tampons. Apparently, the education for that sort of thing isn't incredibly great in Korea. Sex education is also almost non-existant which is a pretty scary concept. Hae Yon and her friend talked about how they have almost given up on men. They are 33 and 34, but they are not married and they do not have boyfriends. They asked me how old I am and if I have a boyfriend. I told them what I have told myself: I don't want one right now. I'm too young and have too many other things that I want to focus on right now. Having a boyfriend is not even close to my top priority or my top desire. That led to a conversation about what I think of Korean men.^^

After dinner, Hae Yon's friend Hyo Jin headed home. Hae Yon and I kept walking around for a little whilte. I ended up spending too much money. There is a fairly big shopping area in Wonju, and I'm just now realizing it. I knew there was one, but I didn't realize how big it is. Well, I think it is big, but Hae Yon disagrees. She and I took the bus home, so now I understand the bus a little more. When I first started at Seowonju, I was a little scared of Hae Yon. I didn't think she liked me, but she and I get along fine. She has a bit of a brusk personality, but she is really sweet. We talked the whole way on the bus ride home.

The Western World - Tuesday Oct. 9, 2007

Today's teaching went much better! I'm always going to have up and down days just like any teacher. I really like the classes that get into what I'm teaching. I have them shout and sing loudly and just have fun. I've started having them sing a song by tables.

The song is:
Today is ________.
Today is ________.
All day long, all day long.
Yesterday was ________.
Tomorrow will be _______.
Oh what fun!
Oh what fun!

I have six tables in my classroom (each table is a color of the rainbow...of course!), so each table sings a line and then we sing the last line together...well it's more like shouting it together. They also think it is the funnest thing in the world to sing 10 Little Indians really quietly and then shout "10 Little Indian Boys." I actually get a kick out of it too!^^ It's fun seeing the kids so excited.

After school, I walked to Bean Club down the road about 15 minutes. I met Julie, my Korean friend who is tutoring me, and her friend who just lived in Italy for two months.
(This is a pic of Julie.)


Korea coffee houses have some AMAZING coffee!!

It was a mix between tutoring and just talking. I am slowly learning more and more phrases that I can use in everyday conversation. We actually had a really good conversation. Julie's friend doesn't speak English at all, so Julie acted as a translator. Sometimes, I just had no idea what they were saying but that's okay. Julie's friend (I can't remember her name) mentioned that many people she spoke to in Europe didn't know where Korea is. That makes me sad! Julie was shocked and asked me if Korea is a famous place or not. I told her that we learn about the Korean War in American history so most people should at least know where Korea is, but sadly, I think many people don't know much about Korea. I know I didn't before coming here.

When I told people that I received a Fulbright scholarship to teach in Korea, the most common question was: "South Korea, right?" At least they know that there are two Koreas, but seriously...! When I tell Koreans this, they just laugh out of surprise. I explained to Julie and her friend that my thinking is a little different than many Americans. There are many people who are naturally open minded, but I believe that Americans who have traveled outside of the country tend to be more open mind than those who have not traveled outside of the country. I explained that I love the United States, but I do not agree with everything that happens in our country. I do not agree with most of our current politics, I do not agree with the fact that many people act like the US is the center of the world, and I do not like that every country that I have been to knows more about the US than we know of their country.

If you know anything about my ideas of the world and my concepts of US politics, you may understand why our conversation ended up upsetting me. It is nothing that they said, it is simply my beliefs about where our country should be and my understanding of where our country is currently that upset me.

We also talked about globalization. There are certain aspects of globalization that have been very helpful for the world, but I feel like many countries are losing part of their cultural identities because of it. When I come to another country, I could care less about finding a Subway or a Starbucks; I would much rather find something that represents the country. Because many people in many countries have deemed the west, specifically the United States, as the pinnacle of everything that is wonderful in the world, they have chosen to "westernize." A few examples:

*Korean woman think it is incredibly important to have a double eyelid, and many have decided to have plastic surgery to create that extra lid.

*Eye-widening surgery. I think it is pretty obvious what the point of that surgery is...

*Starbucks on every corner in Japan and Korea. I can stand on the corner of one street in Japan and see three Starbucks on the three other corners facing me!

*Sitting with children in a Kenyan orphanage who have decided that God hates them because He didn't make them white. "God made you when his eyes were open; God made us when He was almost asleep."

There is so much that I still need to learn about the world, and my sincere hope is that I never forget that. I want to change so many things, but I am left to slowly try to improve one thing at a time. If explaining to Korean women that their eyes are beautiful will stop them from altering their bodies to incorporate a Western concept, I will do it. I will walk 15 feet past the nearest Starbucks just to go to a traditional Korean tea house. I will continue to tell children, in whatever country I visit, that they are beautiful despite their skin color. I am often sad when I think about these types of concepts, but I am grateful to have people in my life that have challenged my thinking and have helped me further discover what I truly believe and want for myself and others.

Anyway, the three of us had an interesting conversation. It ended up turning into a love discussion.^^ Julie's friend compared love to honey on the end of a knife. She said that the knife is very sharp, but to get the honey, you must touch the knife. Hence, love is dangerous, but in order to get what you desire, you must chance being hurt. I thought it was a good analogy, and I'm glad they could explain it to me.

I headed home for dinner after a while. Julie helped me figure out the bus!!^^ FINALLY!! I have been in Wonju for almost two months, and I had no idea how to use the bus. I still am not a pro, but I think I can figure a few things out from it. When I was almost home, my host mom called me to ask me where I was. Apparently, she was at her husband's pharmacy which is very near Bean Club. Ah...funny coincidences. I learned how to take a bus though, so it was no big deal.

I had fish cutlet for dinner, because my host father and mother brought food home. It was nice to finally sit down with them!! It seems like it has been so long! We were able to catch up, and I asked my host mom again about me volunteering at an orphanage. I think it will happen soon. I felt bad asking so many times, but I would really like to start. She and my co-teacher are going to work together to figure it out. They are so great about everything!!

Oh, sadness, I found out that my only free weekend this month is the only weekend my host father is busy! ㅠㅠ Boo! He is meeting a friend in Seoul next weekend. I think I am going with my host mom and sis on Sunday, but I don't know if I'll see my host dad at all. My host dad jokingly said, "You are not my family." He quickly told me that he was joking, and I know he was joking. It was still a little sad, because I know that I haven't been around much. I really want to spend time with them, but I also want to be able to travel and spend time with friends. It's a balancing act that I'm working on.

Tutoring Beginnings - Monday Oct. 8, 2007

So, today, I was a little stressed making sure I had a lesson plan this morning, and the first class I taught was somewhat uncooperative. They didn't really listen incredibly well and I'm still trying to figure out a more effective classroom discipline strategy for the class. Until now, I haven't really needed much. Usually, I can say, "Look at me," and I have taught them to respond, "Ok, I will." I also use the teacher stare. Those that are teachers or who have ever really worked with children, know what I'm talking about. The next two classes were much better, but I also did a little lesson plan tweaking.

During lunch, my co-teacher, Hee, helped me take care of some stuff. She is so amazing!! I want to spend more time with her, but haven't had time yet. She also just told me that she is pregnant, so she can't really go out and do much. Another teacher I work with is pregnant as well. She told me today that she has a cold, but she can't take medicine. That seems odd to me; is that odd?

After school, I had a tutoring lesson with Julie. I am slowly learning new phrases and hopefully will soon be able to comprehend better. We spent an hour or a little over an hour on textbook material and we spent another 45 minutes to an hour just talking. I like talking to her; she's really funny!

I had dinner with Kyung Chan, because my host mom was waiting for her husband and her son to come home. Soon, after dinner, I met with Howl, Julia, and Jia to go to a coffee shop. Howl has a car, so he drove us. It's nice to be able to hang out with Korean friends. We got home around 11:00PM. The only one still up was my host mom; she was reading a book with cheese and wine! ^^

*I'm way too addicted to Prison Break!!

PIFF Weekend - Friday Oct. 5, 2007 - Sunday Oct. 7, 2007

Friday, I headed to Pusan for the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF). I didn't make too many plans but figured that everything work out fine despite that. I only had one class to teach on Friday and it was cut to about 25 minutes versus the usual 40. The teachers were interviewing students for MC's for the school festival coming up at the end of the October. I really excited to see what all of the classes are doing. So far I know a class that is: Singing "I Will Follow Him," jump roping, doing TKD to a song, doing an English play, doing sign language to a song, etc. Many classes are singing and dancing. I have been helping the fourth grade prepare to sing "I Will Follow Him." They needed help with pronunciation.

So, anyway, my host mother drove me to the bus station after school. I left on a 3:10 PM bus for Pusan and arrived around 7:00 PM. Here's where it all goes downhill a bit. I was supposed to meet Ray at the bus station, but he and the group of ETA's we call the Korean clique had tickets to see a movie. Ray told me to take the subway to where the movie would be to meet them. First thought: Huh, how the heck do I figure that one out. This was definitely a challenge. Remember, I come from Indiana...South Bend, Indiana. Once I learn a subway system, I can do well, but at first glance it takes me a bit. I was supposed to go to Nampodong, which I confused with Nopodong. So, the first time I got on the subway, I only went one stop because I thought I was going the wrong way. I got off and had to buy another ticket. I asked a woman for help, and she was very sweet! So, I said "Nopodong" and she sent me to the right side. After I entered the gate, I re-read the message and realized it said Nampodong not Nopodong. So, I went back to the woman, looked helpless, and said "Nampodong." Turns out I was on the wrong side, so she instructed me to climb under the gate of the right side and climb under the gate of the left side. It was all pretty humorous, and I am very glad that everyone in Korea is so nice. I also met Brian Parsons (an OC from Orientation/ETA extendee) in the subway station between stops.

So, after that, I finally got off at the right stop. I found out that the group had already headed into the movie and was told to call the Jeju Crew (the group of ETA's that lives on Jeju Island). So, I did. They were all eating and had no idea how to tell me how to get to them. I called the other set of Jeju people there and finally we figured out a place to meet. The whole time I was also talking to the ETA extendees. I had never met them, but I am traveling with Nika at the end of October. I met up with the extendees in the basement of the Megabox (one location for PIFF) and then we headed to find the three members of the Jeju crew at McDonalds. Seeing as how Nika, Janika, and I are not from Pusan and didn't know anything about the city, it is a good thing that we met up with George, an extendee who knew exactly where McDonalds is. I ate at McDonalds with them; the first fast food that I have had in Korea. We then met up with the rest of the Jeju crew at the "Love Motel" that they had booked. A love motel is basically a small motel that is used for the purposes of...well...you can figure it out, but it is cheap and quite clean actually.

We then met up with many other ETA's. (List of ETA's that were there: Hillary, Elizabeth, Glyppie, Drew, Jon, Tom, Tony, Lauren S., Nikki, Jason, Jess, Christine A., Christine L., Diane, Ray, Brian E., Amelia, Maia, Franklin, Jamal, Vernon, Ariah, Luke, Bryan K., etc).

This is a group of ETA's on a stage near the beach.



Just catching up on the beach! The water was really warm too!



Because there were so many of us, we had a hard time figuring out what to do. We went to the beach for a while and played in the water and then tried to go to a club. This club had a $200 a table cover charge! Needless to say, we decided not to stick around. We headed to a soju club nearby. It was called Soju Town. We sat around and talked for a bit before we all headed out to our individual motels/hostels.

Me, Hillary, and Jon at SojuTown.


Christine A. and I decided to walk with Jon after we left; he wanted to find a 김밥 나라 (Kimbap Nara). We met up with Tony outside of McDonalds and we all sat around in 김밥 나라 for a while. I stayed with Hillary, Elizabeth, and Glippie in the "love motel." They slept on the round bed, and I slept on the floor. This was next to a very interesting chair...obviously designed for one purpose.

The next morning, I met Ray and Luke in the ticket line at Megabox. The line was pretty hellacious! We waited for an hour and a half as tickets quickly disappeared. We were only able to get tickets to one movie that we wanted to see. Ray also managed to get two tickets for another movie that almost everyone in our group wanted to see. The three of us hung out on the beach for a while after that; we climbed on the rocks that were oddly near a naked mermaid sculpture.

We met up with Diane to go to the movie we got tickets for. It is called Raised from Dust; it is a Chinese movie about Christians in China. When we got there, there was a long wait. We found out after about an hour wait that the movie was canceled. Everyone in the theatre was pretty upset and weren't incredibly pleasant to the volunteers. They called in the person responsible for the technological difficulties, and he came to personally apologize to everyone. They agreed to re-show the movie at 10:30 PM.

The four of us went back to the hostel to relax for a while. Ray and I fell asleep on the floor for a little while while Diane and Luke watched tv. We left to meet up with the rest of the Korean clique. Ray and I decided to eat somewhere other than the buffet; it was a little too expensive for my tastes. We ended up heading to see the movie that Ray had gotten tickets for instead. Ray and I were going to go, but we met up with Amelia, and Ray gave his ticket to Amelia. He and I ate at Burger King before the movie; yup that's right, fast food twice in one weekend. Bleh!
The movie that Amelia and I went to is called Meisie. It is a South African movie about a 7 or 8 year old girl, Meisie, who is really good at math. A teacher, Ms. September, moves into her village and begins teaching at the only school in town. The teacher sees the girl writing math problems on the blackboard in the next classroom. She walks 20 kilometers to talk to Meisie's father to ask him to send Meisie back to school. He refuses, saying that she needs to take care of the goats instead of going to school. So, the teacher makes a pact with Meisie to tutor her everyday; the teacher walks 20 kilometers everyday to tutor one little girl. The two create a bond. The father finds out that the teacher is tutoring Meisie and confronts the teacher. After he sees his daughter praying to go to school at her mother's grave, the father has a change of heart and accompanies Meisie to school. It was an incredible movie, and the director was there to explain the process and answer any questions the audience had. Apparently he has worked in Hollywood and hated it. His name is, I believe Darrell Roodt. When he realized that he hates Hollywood, he decided to stick to Indy films. The one and a half hour film was filmed in only eight days and edited in five weeks. There were only four people who helped film. The actors and actresses had never been in a movie before, let alone ever seen a movie. The director told us that the little girl who starred in the movie cried throughout the whole movie the first time she saw it. Amelia and I talked to the director for a bit afterward; he signed our movie tickets.

Afterward, the Korea clique went to a concert and Ray and I went to the movie that was showing from earlier, Raised from Dust. It was incredibly boring, and Ray and I both fell asleep. We met up with the concert group, and I went to the concert for a little while because Amelia let me use her wristband!

Christine, Diane, and me outside of the concert!


We headed out to a club called Foxy. We met up with Franklin, Jamal, Vernon, and Sarata. We danced until 5:00 AM; we had a lot of fun! It was nice to dance; it had been a while.

On the way to the club there was a sign that said "Indiana" (where I'm from), but what you can't see is the Indian head sign above it. The guys in the pic just decided that they were going to be in the pic rather than move!^^


I slept in the hostel Saturday night because the Jeju crew went to Jinju for the night. I slept in Diane's bed, because she had to leave at 7:00 AM anyway. I woke up and took the subway to the bus terminal. It was somewhat of a guess where the terminal was, but it ended up being a pretty good guess. I was going to take an 11:40 bus, but I got to the bus at 10:28, so the driver let me exchange my ticket out to take the 10:30 bus instead. I got back to Wonju around 2:00 PM and waited around for Lauren and Jenna to come to the station to pick Jeremy and me up. Jeremy came in at about 3:30PM. Jenna had been in Wonju since Saturday morning.

Lauren had to go to practice, but Jeremy, Jenna, Lauren's cousin and I headed to my apartment so I could change. We decided to watch a movie before Lauren's choir concert; Born Ultimatum was sold out so we watched Nanny Diaries instead. It was actually a pretty good movie despite the fact that we showed up 20 minutes late for it. We spent some time at a coffee shop before we headed to Chiak Yay Sul Kwan (Chiak Art Center). Cafe Novellino is quickly becoming one of my favorite coffee shops around my area. We walked to Chiak; Lauren's concert started at 8
7:30PM. Hwi Kyun met us there, and my host mom and host sister came to see it as well! The concert was Christian and there was a dancing along with singing; there was a children's dancing group and a really interesting adult dance.

Can you see Lauren? She is the tall one in the third row down.^^


This is one of the dances.




This is the kids dance!!




She danced while the choir sang. It was beautiful!


After the concert, Lauren's host family took us to eat Shabu Shabu, a Japanese dish where
vegetables and meat are cooked in a broth. It is really good! Lauren's host father, Hwi, and Jeremy were drinking together; they were drinking soju which I try to stay away from as much as possible. I finally headed home around 11:00PM and still hadn't lesson planned or showered. Lesson planning was delayed until Monday morning.



Hwi Kyun and Jenna at the Shabu Shabu restaurant.


Jeremy and me at the Shabu Shabu restaurant!

Random Quotes from Korea

A text from Lauren, before her choir concert.
"They did my make up. I look like a hooker."

"Yor're, Exuberant in Maskdance!" (Banner at mask festival)
Me: What the hell is Yor're?
Ariah: It's this magical word that when put in front of any sentence, it makes all Korean grammatical errors disappear.

Me: How are you today?
Student: I'm happy!
Me: How are you today?
Student #2: I'm happy!
Me: How are you today?
Student #3: I'm super duper!
(Where did that come from?)

"LUSTY...in good heart."
~A SECOND grader's shirt

"I went to ride my husband." (Translation: I went to pick my husband up from work.)
~My host mom

"Are you crazy?!"
~ My host dad to my host mom (in a loving way!)

"Buddha says, 'Don't eat dogs.'"
~ My host dad

Discussing stereotypical male ideas of women in Korea.
"Men think women should be in the house, not me. I don't want to work. (To his wife) Please, go work!."
~ My host dad

"If I drink Soju, I will sleep with toilet."
~ My host dad
*I then explained "Pray to the porcelain God.

"My host dad telling a story from the states:
Host dad - Do you have a righter?
Convenience Store Owner - Righter?
Host dad - Yes, righter...smoke smoke...cigarettes...
Convenience Store Owner - righter? righter? oh, lighter?
Host dad - That's what I said! Righter!

Korean shirt: "I'm afrain of Americans."

A Place I Called Home - Thursday Oct. 4, 2007

At around 9:30 AM I woke up to nobody in the house. Soon my host sis came back with a friend and we played a Korean game similar to Jacks that I'm slowly getting better at. I headed out to catch a taxi to meet Lauren at the bus station around 11:00 AM. We took a bus to Chuncheon to visit Hwi Kyun (our former RA during orientation who became a good friend). There is the KNU (Kongwan National University) Festival going on this Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Apparently we missed a famous K-pop (Korean pop) group last night. There is another performer tonight, but we missed her too because we had to leave so early. We walked around for a bit to see the small zoo and a few tents that were set up before we headed to get some lunch. We went to a 김밥나라 (Kimbap Nara) and I had 떡국 again. I think I'm obsessed! It's so delicious! After lunch we met up with Wany (a KEY Club friend) and kept walking around. I was talked into throwing waterballoons at a few college students! It was a lot of fun and they guys were hilarious!

This was at a soju booth. So as much as it looks like these students are planning to protest in the form of a riot, in reality, they are raising their hands to ready themselves to play rock, paper, scissors to win soju!^^

These were the final two players. She made it to the last round, because she did a little dance when asked to; the boys didn't want to dance. Unfortunately, she lost! ^^;

This is actually one of the grossest things ever! It was a milk drinking competition. Hwi really wanted to do this, but his friend who was supposed to be his partner was still in bed with a hangover from the night before!^^ This is a picture of the aftermath when most people in the competition had started throwing up.

I love Chuncheon! This is Lauren and me on a bench near the square!

Ha! Funny story! So after our five minute break sitting on the benches, Hwi drug me back over to the soju competition (there were several small competitions going on). He pulled me up to the front, the whole time I'm laughing hysterically, and kind of pushed me into the center. Hence, I was volunteered to try to hacky sack a Korean object of ribbons and sparkles. LOL! I did horribly, as I knew I would do, but it was a ton of fun! Luckily making a fool of myself is not at the bottom of my to-do-list. While I am an incredibly incompetent Korean hacky sacker, they decided to give me a big prize anyway. Apparently the translation goes something like this, "Audience, you don't mind if we give her a big prize do you?" "NO!!" So, there you have it! That is how I became the proud owner of 6 bottles of soju, a soju mixer container, and a funky pair of slippers that quite possibly could have the main purpose of cleaning the floor. We drank a bottle of soju and a bottle of Makkoli over dinner. We had a potato pancake thing that I can never remember the name of even though it is one of my favorite Korean foods.

Earlier, we had run into one of my favorite Korean guys EVER! This is Jin/Jonas (in the black); I call him Jin, but his nickname somehow became Jonas. We headed back to the stage area, because he was practicing with his dance group for a later performance that I couldn't make. He was performing at 8:00PM, and Lauren and I had to leave around 6:30PM. 1) She had to get back for choir rehearsal, and 2)The latest bus was only at 8:00PM anyway. It was so great to see Jin though. I didn't have his number, so I had no idea how I was going to get ahold of him. Randomly, he just appeared out of nowhere!^^

This was at the very end of the night before Lauren and I left. I gave Hwi Kyun all but one bottle of soju. He had been carrying it around like it was a baby ever since I won it.^^ I gave one bottle to Wany. I don't really like soju nor does my host family.

This is a random picture of Chuncheon's beautiful night sky!!

Lauren and I had a good talk all the way back to Chuncheon. It isn't too far of a trip for us, maybe about an hour. I think we are going to take a few more day trips there to visit friends. I didn't realize how much I missed Jin and Wany. I have seen Hwi Kyun a few times, but it is just as great each time I get to see him!! Weird experience when we got back to Wonju; we got out of the bus and headed to the taxi line-up. One guy asked us where we were going and then started announcing it to taxi drivers across the street until I think they decided which taxi I was going to take. I had never had that happen, but maybe they were working on their taxi driver communication skills... Anyway, it is about 10:30PM, I'm exhausted, I haven't really lesson planned for tomorrow, I haven't packed for Pusan tomorrow (nor have I completely decided if I'm going), and instead of paying attention to all of that I think I'm going to watch a few episodes of Prison Break. Ok, I decided that I had to get hooked into the Korean world and Prison Break is one of their number one faves. Now, I'm mildly obsessed and watched 6 episodes last night. Hmmm....this could become an issue...