Last few weeks in Korea: July 17th-29th, 2013

It's hard to believe we have 32 days left til we are Canada bound, and ten of these days will be spent in Vietnam meaning we have only 22 days remaining in Korea! I have mixed feelings about August 30th, 2013. I am definitely excited to be heading home, to see family and friends, and to eat Western food. At the same time, I know it's going to be really hard to part with Korea, and all our friends we have made here. This has a been such an amazing year, it is sad to see it come to an end.

While I still get lost on occasion, I haven't felt like a tourist in several months. Having my parents and friends visit confirmed this and showed me how settled I am in my life in Korea. September 2013 will bring lots of changes for us, but I am looking forward to what comes next.

As for updates from us, we have been busy soaking up the last few weeks in Korea. I am happy to announce, I think (fingers crossed) that the monsoon season is finally coming to an end. I saw blue skies a few times this past week and it has put me in a great mood. It surprised both Ian and I how much the constant downpour of rain affected our mood. We missed the sun so much! The weather did behave itself two weekends ago when we went on a trip to Boryeong for the annual Mud Festival. Boryeong is on the west coast, about 2 hours south of Incheon. We took a bus on Saturday morning, and spent the day in the mud. We painted ourselves with mud, and there were several activities. It was a lot of fun, but the area with all the activities was very small. Unfortunately, when Ian was in a wrestling pool of mud he fell back out of the arena, and slammed his back on the ledge of a trash can. We took a break after this, for him to rest and ice his back. After resting the past week, he is basically completely healed now. After this incident, we all went swimming in the ocean to wash off the mud. Jumping in the waves was my favourite part. That night, we got dinner with friends and ate it by the beach. We watched the sun set and then got drinks and chilled at a convenience store patio (surprisingly a very popular activity in Korea). Overall, it was a fun experience, and I wish I had pictures to document it. I didn't bring my camera in the mud because I knew it would get ruined.

This past weekend, we had dinner with Ian's co teacher Wonsoon and his girlfriend, Inhee on Friday. We went for a traditional sit on the floor Korean meal, I had yet to try - hoe, sliced raw fish. It reminded me of Japanese sashimi. It was a great night chatting with them. We went out for drinks with them after as well.

On Saturday, Ian and I went shopping in Seoul to get some souvenirs. It is crazy how fast August 30th approaching! That night, we went out with friends starting in Hongdae and eventually making our way over to Sinchon, a neighbouring area. It was another fantastic night out in Seoul.

As for our work lives, we are now on summer break, but this doesn't mean it's our vacation quite yet. It is hard to explain how busy students are here. Just like in the winter, we are now leading English Camps at our schools. On their vacation, students still come to school to study English, something which Ian simply refers to as "glorified babysitting." He had his camp last week and chose to lead a Music English Camp, where students learnt about different music genres and their history, they made bands, played vocab games, and sang karaoke on the last day. Ian let them choose a song for him to sing for them - they chose "I'm yours" by Jason Mraz which he said went over well. Students love listening to music, but I find they mainly listen to kpop, so this was a chance for them to be exposed to different music. In the afternoons, Ian has to call his students and have a five minute conversation. This week, he is also leading a high school camp. Although, I am leading three camps over ten days, I think Ian is a lot busier at work.

I am just finishing off two camps (grade 3/4 high and low level). We have had a cooking, superhero, travel, and movie day. It was been fun getting to know my students better in a small group setting. On Wednesday, my grade 5/6 holiday themed camp starts.

That's about it from us! Here are a few pictures. Hope everyone is having great Mondays :)

This is our first glimpse at blue skies since the rainy season started a few weeks ago. It was very exciting.

This is a picture taken while walking around Seoul one weekend.

I forgot to add this picture last post. This is Ian playing with a cat at the cat cafe in Bupyeong (yes, many of the cats wear ridiculous outfits)

Sunset post mud at the Boryeong Mud Festival. 

Isabelle, Emily and I wearing the "scaries". Emily has had these "scary" looking sunglasses for a long time, and when she travels she takes a picture with them on. After 11 months of traveling Korea together,  Isabelle and I have a pair of our own now!

Here is a picture of the three of us with our "scaries".

Adam, Isabelle, Ian, Nadia, Ryan, and Emily getting drinks at a GS25 convenience store patio. It was one of our items on our Korean bucket list. 

Great fireworks to end the night at Boryeong.

Ian and I out to dinner with Wonsoon and his girlfriend, In hee. 

This is the second dish that had an assortment of raw sliced fish.

Saturday night out in Seoul with Isabelle and Emily.

Summer English Camp! Here are 2 grade profiles from girls in grade 3.

Cooking day with my grade 3s. We made sandwiches.

Superhero day: the students designed their own superhero  (although almost all the boys just drew Ironman).

After designing their own superheroes, they became superheroes! 

Travel Day: the students learnt about other cultures and made a travel book.

Their travel books.

A sample of their work.