Weekend Festivities

Sorry it took me so long to give an update.  Life has been busy around here and what a weekend it has been!  Let’s begin with Friday...I already mentioned that we went out with the All Day Club.  Friday night was business as usual and included vespers and afterglow.  The vespers is called Friday Night Fellowship (FNF) as to encourage the students to come continue to practicing their English while learning about God.  It’s a pretty nifty idea, and there were several students who attended.  

This program was a bit usual, but customary for the last FNF of the term.  The new teachers and current teachers were both present.  But what made it unique was the musical focus of it all.  Students and teachers were able to display their musical talents over the course of the 1 1/2 time we had together.  I must say that I am completely amazed how well the Koreans here can sing.  It totally blew me and the other new teachers away!!  After the conclusion of what was one of the most amazing vespers I’ve ever been a part of, I mingled with the current teachers and students.

Saturday had it’s own set of craziness.  Breakfast, sabbath school, clubs, church, lunch, nap/rest time, dinner, and some more free time.  Let me start with the explanation of clubs.  Clubs are kind of like attending sabbath school but with more emphasis on English.  There was a Breakfast Club, Conversation Club, Music Club, and Signs Club (which I joined).  Signs Club consisted of an article from Signs of the Times, which was then broken down.  We were able to study vocabulary and pronunciation all while reading the informative article.  We then had discussion questions to talk about what we read.  It was really fun working with the current teachers during the club and now I have a better idea of what to look forward to once I reach my institute.  Church was pretty interesting as well.  The Academic Dean, Leo, who I admire and now have a good working relationship with, was the preacher for the day.  Church alternated between English and Korean speech, and there was a translator there to translate into the other appropriate language.  It was indeed and interesting service to attend.  Surprisingly everything turned out ok =)  

I spent my afternoon napping and finally getting a hold of family and friends via Skype and Facebook.  It was nice to see my family’s faces and hear their voices.  Side note - for those of you who have yet to contact me, shame on you!  Anyway, after dinner I spent my Saturday night in because I didn’t want to over do it on the weekend.  Sunday was going to be a busy day and I was already preparing myself.  I had a good time cracking up at Happy Feet and eventually fell asleep pretty early.  

Sunday!  Today was the beginning of our adult teacher training.  We ran through most of the basics in our three hour morning session.  Everything seems very organized and understandable.  From what I’ve seen so far, it seems as if I will be able to adjust rather easily to the format, schedule, and even expectations.  Aaron is our trainer for the adult training and he did a great job explaining the nooks and crannies.  After lunch we had lunch which consisted of pizza (tasted like actual pizza), kim bap (seaweed+rice+vegetables), pineapple, and aloe juice (which everyone here has become so fond of).  

Today, we had an excursion planned for the afternoon/evening to go explore Seoul and see an Original Korean musical.  I can’t even begin to tell you which sections of Seoul we were in today namely because I can’t spell them lol...  The musical was called Miso and ran about 1 1/2 hours.  There were several drums, costumes, and spectator interaction.  I didn’t care for the show all that much and actually fell asleep for about 10 minutes of it.  All the walking and sun had drained me of my energy, so there!  That’s my  excuse haha.  Afterwards we walked over 15 blocks, in humid and sunny conditions mind you, to a Subway of all things.  It looked like a Subway.  Smelled like a Subway.  Even had sandwiches like Subway.  But in the end, it didn’t taste like Subway all that much.  Either way we were all satisfied to finally get some food and liquid in our starved and dehydrated bodies.  

Pictures to come later!  Goodnight for now =)