Happy Halloween!

I LOVE Halloween. It is my second favorite holiday of the year. (after Sept. 22-Bilbo and Frodo's birthday) I've been a little sad that I can't celebrate with the annual ND costume party, but decided to bring the party to P*ngsan.

Yes, I went to school with that on my face. Yes, people stared at me. The funny thing is people stare at me regardless of whether I have a giant insect on my face.

Activities today included an extremely entertaining round of student face painting. One of my punks got really into it. Only one girl was brave enough to put anything on her skin - cute little butterflies and a heart on the tip of her nose.

The guy second from the right painted bruises and a cut on his cheek, then ruffled up his hair and clothes and walked around like the resident bully had just shook him down for milk money (if P*ngsan had a bully, which it doesn't).

Sigh. I really love this holiday.

The Fluid Schedule

I missed a class completely today and walked in the wrong time slot because no one told me the schedule changed. Yeah. That's an AWESOME way to start the week. I HATE feeling embarrassed in front of my students. Woops. My co-teacher doesn't seem to think it's a big deal to have missed that class completely. Now, I've gotta figure out how the hell I'm gonna play catch-up with them tomorrow. Grrrrr.

Shelece and Arun's Wedding

This photo pretty much sums up the whole wedding extravaganza.

carrot cake
chocolate mousse cake
strawberry cheesecake
pumpkin pie
chocolate truffles
triple ginger cookies

Andong Mask Dance Festival

Gyeongju

Box of pears

Frequently, Korean teachers receive gifts from students and parents. Most of the time, they give food. I've been treated to an occasional apple, juice box, and even piece of pizza. It's a great pick-me-up. However, I was still shocked with my latest gift.

Wednesday morning I arrive at school and discover a whole box of pears sitting on my desk. Not just one pear. No, an entire box of the things, 30 x 18 x 8" big. The sucker weighs 7.5 kg! Many times, when the teachers room gets goodies, they'll put one on my desk when I'm gone. Well, apparently one student's parents felt it necessary to bequeath boxes of pears to the teachers. EVERYONE got a box of pears. Why? They felt like it. Dude.

Downtown

Saturday was an exciting day for me. I managed to 1. get out of the house, 2. see another foreigner in Andong, and 3. acquire a striped shirt (they're all the rage here).

The afternoon was spent "downtown" with Min-yung and Oni. First, Min-yung got a haircut. Get this. Korean haircuts cost ~$8. I'm not exaggerating. The hair stylists were shocked to see a foreigner in their midst and kind of nervously glanced in my direction, probably afraid of me assessing their work. The place we went to was a little trendy and on the second floor of the building. So, there I was, sitting in a window seat, staring outside because I didn't want to make the stylists nervous and I could people-watch inconspicuously. Who do I see? A foreigner. He was a 20-something white guy with a large traveling backpack. I almost ran down the stairs and flagged him down. "Do you speak English? Will you be my friend?" However, the intensity of that greeting may have caused the poor guy to, well, mace me. Besides, he was far away and disappeared within seconds. Damn.

After the haircut, we strolled through the pedestrian friendly streets. Oni steered us into a trendy clothing store. Now, in America I would not have gone into this store out of principle. It looked too expensive (which, for me, is anything more than $15) and too...trendy...for my tastes. But, I go where they go, and I entered a domain more unfamiliar than Korea. It wasn't so bad. There weren't those annoying commission-happy workers with fake smiles and strong cologne. The store wasn't outrageously expensive either. Min-yung picked out a shirt for $20.

I was busying myself with looking at the current fashions (colorful plaids and stripes, if anyone's curious) when Oni asked me which one I liked. "Oh, no thank you," I graciously declined the offer. She then continued to hold up shirts under my neck commenting on whether they suited my complexion. "Noelle, pick something out," Min-yung said. "I have to?" "Yes." "But, I already have clothes." "You must." Uh. Alright... "Wait, these are Korean sizes. They probably won't fit...unless there's a maternity section..." "No, size issoyo." *translation "Size present." I didn't believe her, but I was obligated, so I looked through the racks. I decided I was undecided. I told Oni that she needed to pick something out for me. She grabbed a hanger suspending a cherry-red striped button down shirt. This thing was bright! If I wear this, I thought, I will become the Where's Waldo of Andong. Thankfully, she pulled two more from the rack, the same style, but in blue and purple. Even these were attention-getting, which is not what I need. Yet, I didn't want to disappoint, so I chose the purple, it being halfway between the red and blue. This pleased Oni greatly, so much so that I was required to wear it right then and there. "It is not necessary to buy me clothes," I told Oni. She explained that it was a present for the upcoming holiday, Chuseok. She's buying all her kids clothes and included me. Aw.

The next store we visited was a cheaper and more comfortable version of the previous one. The great thing about this store was the t-shirt section. Most of the t-shirts had messages in "English" printed on them. Yes, it was hilarious. I couldn't help but giggle incessantly at the bad grammar and their downright bizarre nature. My favorites are:

Scream the Mousse.

and

Bend over
Back Ward
Have a Prayer
I Entrust
You With
Player

It's times like these I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.