Puppets

This is the ceiling of my apartment. I came home to my room last Wednesday only to find water all over my little table. I figured my water bottle fell over but nope, sure enough I look up and water is coming down from the light. Excellent! It was leaking a little bit this summer too but nothing was done because it stopped. It isn't leaking anymore right now so I'm not too concerned but it was a little annoying. My director told me it was because I live in apartment 404 and the number 4 is extremely unlucky in Korea.... makes sense. Oh well.

Last week we went on a field trip to Chuncheon to see a puppet show and museum. It was probably the worst puppet performance I’ve ever seen. That’s saying a lot based on the fact that I haven’t seen many puppet shows in my life, probably only the ones my classmates put on in 6^th grade. It didn’t help that the puppet show was in Korean either I suppose. One of my 6 year olds was translating a bit for me… it’s pretty bad when you count on a little kid to translate things for you.  We also walked around a puppet museum next to the theater that was fun to look around in with the kids. 

The 6 year olds with Sharon Adam and I. You can get a glimpse of the scary looking puppet behind us on stage. The play was of Hansel and Gretel. 

Little Scott wanted me to sit next to him. He said "Julie teacher, come here. Sit. Scott is a little bit scared of witch!" He's so fricken cute, I will miss him for sure! 

Sharon, Scott and Joseph were interviewed for some local TV show that was filming the play apparently.

The crazy 6 year old class. I love them! 

Alex Lee, Alex, Connor, Julie, Scott,  Joseph

Kyle playing with the big string puppet

Joseph and Kyle showing me how the hand puppets work!

Last weekend I went to Suwon to go greet a friend of mine, Mike, from home that just arrived in Korea. Mike is good friends with Clayton from back home. Clayton and I met up with him on Friday after he had dinner with his new co-teachers. We showed Mike a classic night out in Korea filled with darts at the bar, a stop at 7/11, noribong, and attempted to find street food to munch on but had no success. I think we were pretty successful at showing him a good time, Mike seemed pretty happy with his first weekend in Korea. 

Mike and I 

Trevor and I. I've known this kid since junior high. We randomly saw each other in Korea. It really is a small world! 

Clayton and Mike rapping at the noribong (karaoke)

Saturday we headed to some town outside of Suwon where Mike’s Korean co-teacher, Sally, lives. Her family owns an apartment complex where Mike will be staying for a week while the other teacher is getting ready to go home. The apartment was pretty nice and clean but there was nothing to do in the town. Sally’s mom saw that we looked hungry when we got to the apartment around 3pm and she instantly made us some food. She was so cute and kind to us. After our late lunch we hung out with Sally and ended up at a pool hall. She loves pool and you can tell because she’s amazing! Clayton and I stayed the night at the apartment with Mike and just relaxed and hung out. It’s always great seeing friends from home. Sunday, Clayton and I headed off to Seoul to make our way home. When we got to Seoul Clayton told me he was going to take a bus home. I then got a text a half hour later saying; I got on the wrong bus. Going the opposite direction… hahaha. Then about 3 hours later I finally got a text saying that he was home! It was way too funny and a typical Clayton move. 

I'm terrible at pool, by far the worst one! 

Clayton breaking the rack. He's a decent pool player but doesn't think too much. When I was on his team, Sally told him to hit her solid ball in as a joke. Clayton, however, didn't realize it was a joke and proceeded to hit her ball in. What an idiot! It was so funny. Don't worry though we ended up winning in the end! 

Sally, me, Clay, and Mike at the pool hall. 

I think this is one of the smartest things Koreans do. They have these permanent gloves on the handles of their motorbikes (which they have a TON of).