As a school we started volleyball up again. We are just playing one of the nearby schools for fun. We only have a week left of school...so technically just a few days of volleyball, but it's felt good to be back on the court. Yesterday was a doozie...I jammed my thumb receiving a serve. It wasn't even my ball....I don't like playing with new players, they duck and then I get hurt. I was a little hesitant in even saying anything to the teachers. In Korea, if you have a hang nail they would probably have you on bed rest and in a cast for 6 weeks. It hurts so I tried explaining that I would put some ice on it and take some pain medication and they told me to not take any pills for two days. It already feels a lot better, so if I just keep ignoring the topic, they'll forget about it.
Last Friday, the 10th, I had a Family English Camp. It was actually quite fun. The parents came in with some of my students and we cooked, sang, and made posters of each family. It was good times and it was nice having the parents there. It really helped with managing the kids. The camp was about 3 hours in the evening, so after my co-teacher took me and a few of the other teachers out for drinks.
Saturday and Sunday was Mud Fest! It's a huge festival in Boryang on Daechon Beach. It's about 6 hours away and the hype of conversation for the past 4 months. As soon as we arrived in Busan, all we could hear about is how amazing Mud Festival is and how everyone should go at least once while there are in Korea. It was pretty fun. We left at 6:30 am and took 3 buses filled
with around 40 DRUNKS in each. My friend Nikki and I were on the bus with a fairly tame group but the music they played was a little loud and obnoxious. One of the other buses apparently had a huge baby powder fight...glad I wasn't on that bus. We got to Mud Fest pretty early in the day...maybe 2 and started out fun. There was a carnival (which I never saw) huge blow up slides and pools filled in mud, and a main stage that had performances throughout the day. There were little stations where you could paint mud on people and there was a small hut, which they named the "Mud Prison" where if you stood inside, you'd get buckets of mud thrown on you. To be honest, overall, I wasn't that impressed. I assumed the mud would just be everywhere...but it wasn't. It was strategically placed in various parts of the festival and sometimes it felt like they ran out. Nikki and I were fast to get our party going and then crashed early and was in bed by 9. Long ride to only be awake for 6 hours....but it was fun and I'm glad we went.Saturday we had a teacher's retreat in Miryang. It's about an hour away. We stayed in a cabin and had a lookout to a great view of the mountains and a river. It was beautiful. We unpacked and headed down to the river. We found our principal there....fishing, of course...? It was peaceful
and was nice to stick our feet in the water. And then...some of the younger men came and decided to throw all the women in the water, including myself. I'm not a big fan of swimming with all of my clothes on. We ended up playing a volleyball game in the water which turned out to be a great game that I'll have to come home with. After our swimming adventure we came back, showered, and started preparing our night of food and drinks. Being a good little foreigner, I brought with me ingredients to make my co-workers a special "American" drink. I made Jungle Juice (Spodie, fruit in vodka with juice). It was a big hit and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I think we had more drinks than we had food...and we had a lot of food. After dinner we were teamed up into pairs. The way the decided this was by taking these green peppers, cutting them in half, giving the guys the ends with the stem, and then women got the other half. Then you go around and find your second half of the pepper and that person is your partner. Pretty clever..haha. My partner was
my friend Sancheol/Tyson. I'm not quite sure why we needed partners, most of the night it was unnecessary to be paired up, but it was definitely good to have a partner that spoke some English. Our first game was a miniture volleyball game. We were all told to sit on our butts and kick this long balloon around, same rules as volleyball. It was pretty entertaining and funny. It went a little LONG though... After volleyball the whole school gathered around the living room and we sat and played drinking games. Koreans are serious about their games. It was intense. Overall, the weekend had great moments, but I was still quite bored with the language barrier. I am happy I had an Ipod and a book. The next morning we gathered and did the "workshop" part 
of the retreat. We sat around and everyone reflected on the past 5 months, their relationships with each other and the students, and what they look forward to for next term. I was forced to give a speech spur of the moment to, what I'm sure, was about 2 people....the ones that could actually understand. Going away for the weekend and not speaking NORMAL English is exhausting...Ahhhh Tuesday was the last day of SCHOOL!!! Whooo hooo. The students have been nuts for the past month...itching to get out of here I'm sure. I'm so happy for the summer break. Although, technically I'm not on break. I get to come into school every day, even though I don't have students, just in case some stop in to use the English room. Oh well, the extra time will be nice to prepare lessons, get some summer camp materials ready, and I'll be able to organize everything on my laptop!
Last week I was invited to spend a few days with the Scouts/Leadership kids on a field trip at Maritime University. Of course I agreed and on Wednesday we left for a little water adventure.
This little boy is Brian. He is a 4th grader and a little shrimp. I showed up to leave for the trip and this is what he packed his belongings in for the two days. Guess who was carrying it most of our trip?
We went down to a docking area where the kids were instructed on proper paddling techniques for rafting and canoeing. Again, lots of down time so the lifeguards used it by singing, throwing innocent children in the water, or splashing water on them using boat paddles. Again, a little (cho goom 초 금, not really sure if that's how you write it in Hangul, but I think so) entertaining. Some of the students were so bored they went looking for crabs instead. It was great because there were so many lifeguards that the teachers really didn't have to do anything but watch and relax. The students rode on a banana boat and rafted on Wednesday.
Before rafting, Koreans must warm up...so the instructors have them do jumping jacks. It's quite an interesting process. There are a few leaders and they count to three, and then the rest of the group has to count also...eventually the group will be too tired and depend on the others and no one will say anything and they will have to start all over again. Haha. I was able to go with the other lady teachers on a boat around the little cove we were in. It was really nice to be on a boat again!! I love boats. Then when we got back I went rafting with the students. It was fun. They had us in 3 different rafts and we paddled out and had a paddle water fight with the other boats. Apparently, my lifeguard was unimpressed and as we were approaching the dock...he threw me out of the raft, and when I attempted to climb the ladder, was thrown back in. My co-teacher and James Bond (5-1 Teacher) also wanted to go swimming so I pushed them both in. Another one of the lifeguards thought he would be tricky and throw me in when I wasn't looking, but I taught him and took him in with me. The students had a quick snokeling lesson in a big bin of water and while they were waiting (again), I showed them how to make a whistle out of grass. Big hit...not too much grass in Korea so it was fun to see
them play with it. The night was filled with snacking and sleeping (for some) and then the next day we got up early to do more water activities. The students started Thursday by canoeing around the cove followed by some snokeling and swimming. I got in the water again. Did a little snorkeling but saw NOTHING. Then took a swim while the kids climbed up a blow up mountain and slid down. They were quite impressed that I could swim without my lifejacket. Koreans don't swim well... That basically wraps up my little field trip with the students. It was great and relaxing and am blessed I get invited on these little outings.And...for the last major event of the month, I went with the students and a few teachers to some professional Men's Volleyball games. I have been watching volleyball on TV since the day I got to Busan, so it was quite exciting to see these players in person. The students could only sit still for one match, but I was allowed to stay and watch the other 2 matches! It was great! I was also given 2 more tickets for another game later on this week. I missed my "team" tonight because all of my friends were busy with English camps, but I'll try and watch one of the playoff games.
Hope you've enjoyed July as much as I have!
Love you!
And if you didn't know already, Kyle is home safe from Iraq! Yay!!
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