Let's get muddy...

A few weekends ago I finally checked off one of the first things that I had put on my "Korea Bucket List".... the Boryeong Mud Festival!

 I had been going back and forth between wanting to go and not wanting to go for 2 years. I'd heard great things and not so great things about it. Finally Adrienne decided to drag me along by force. I have to say, I'm extremely happy she did. Some of my friends had said it wasn't that fun. "There's a little mud puddle with a long line to roll in, and that's it," they said. "It's a big, drunken mess," they said. "It's all foreigners," they said.

Yes, there were lines. Yes, there was a mud "pool" place to get muddy. And "yes" it was full of drunk foreigners. But it was still a ton of fun. Luckily, the weekend we went was the last weekend and most of the groups had attended the weekend before, so that really helped with the lines and crowds. 

But the festival was more than just a mud pool. They had slides, games, staff throwing mud at you and hosing you down with cool water. But there were other festivities as well like live music and mud painting. I knew as soon as I walked up, it was definitely not the "tiny little mud puddle on the beach" I had painted it in my head to be. No, this was going to be fun. 

We ran in blow up obstacle courses. We climbed slides and enjoyed a mud "hot tub". We wrestled. We played mud soccer (well, it might have been more like we fell on our butts on the soccer field as the ball when wizzing by). We had a wonderful time. 

Oh, and the other great part.... the food.

Life changes so quickly

It's been a while, I know. I wish I could say I've been too busy to update, but I can't. To be honest, I just haven't gotten around to it. It's been over a year since I last updated, and let me tell you, times have changed.

I think the biggest change in my life is that, as of a few months ago, my program pulled all high school teachers from schools (which is where I was) and moved us all to elementary. I was nervous, sad, angry, and just plain disappointed. I loved my high school. I loved my students. I loved my teachers. I loved it all. But I have to say, I'm not disappointed any longer. Yes, I still miss my old students. Yes, I still miss my old teachers, but I go visit from time to time. But I love my new school. And the little bouncy ball students that I teach are absolutely adorable. They are so energetic and full of life. I honestly can say I'm just as happy here.

Another change huge change in my life was the tiny addition to my family. My baby girl (who isn't such a baby anymore), Kiki. It all started one day when a co teacher and I decided to join the local animal shelter dog walk. The day before we were going, I mentioned that the visit to the cat shelter was before, so we could just meet everyone at the dog shelter after the cat visit was finished. But when she expressed interest in going to the cat shelter as well, I (reluctantly) agreed to go. But once I was there, I was in love. These cats were so fluffy and adorable. I instantly realized that getting a cat was the solution to my pet-withdraw problems. Usually, I'm a dog person. I've only ever had dogs (mostly because my dad and I are both allergic to cats), but I realized my life is to crazy for the responsibility that having a dog brings. So after doing some research on how to manage living with cats while having allergies, I decided I'd adopt.

The first step was asking my landlord if I was even allowed to have a pet. So my co teacher went off to ask, and came back with an answer I was not expecting. "He says 'yes' you can have a cat. And he has a kitty for you." Huh? What? He HAS a kitty for me? Wait, kitty? Kitty as in cat? Or kitty as in kitten? "Baby cat!" Uhhh. I don't know if I'm ready for that. I've never raised a cat before, much less a kitten. "Just come see and then you can decide." Wait, what? It's here? At school? So we set off down the hallway, abandoning my newspaper students in the classroom to do their own "self study". I should've known. Who can look at an abandoned kitten and not take it home? Well, not me. They take me outside to our soccer field and unlock the equipment room door. And there she was, down in the bottom of a trashcan meant to keep soccer balls and hockey sticks, was my scared and shaking baby girl, no food, no water, no blanket. Just this tiny kitten. So I instantly scooped her up, wrapped her in my scarf, and whisked her away.

Once I got back to my classroom, it hit me. Uh, what have I done? What am I supposed to do with this? I found a box, put her in with my scarf, then took a picture, quickly sending it to my friends. "Um, this just happened." Luckily, Adrienne's boyfriend (who is Korean) was in Daegu, so after school, we met and he took us to the vet then to the store for all the supplies.

7 months and one bout of ringworm later, I've got the best cuddle bug in the world. Yes, she's still a kitten at heart, but when she isn't trying to chew off my hand or toes, shes the best companion I could've asked for.

Other than acquiring a family member and moving to a different apartment and school, not much else has changed. Friends departed, which was extremely hard, but we still keep in touch. And other friends moved to the opposite end of the city, but we still hang out regularly.

I've traveled a ton, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Myanmar (aka Burma), Japan (twice) and around Korea (partially with my mom, who visited in October!). But I'll get around to posting about those places, I promise!

Blooms and Blossoms

Every year in late March and the beginning of April, the most beautiful trees I've ever seen blossom here in Korea. Cherry blossom season. The time to enjoy these beauties is quite short, usually lasting from about a week and a half to just a few days. It was a shame that, this year, it was a pretty short cherry blossom season, with a cold front that came through coupled with some rain, but I did have a few chances to enjoy their beauty.

Cherry Blossoms outside of my school

Magnolia tree near my school

Sometimes I wondered if, because I was a foreigner that just stood in awe while everyone else looks at me like I'm an idiot. But we visited Keimyung University, a local university only about 20 minutes from my house. When we got there, we realized that it wasn't only us that thought they were so beautiful. Koreans were lined up everywhere taking full blown photo shoots. Not only was it wonderful seeing the beauty of the trees, but also great entertainment watching all the things these Koreans do to get pictures. They sit in the middle of roads, they climb in bushes and they do mass jumping pictures. It's hilarious. There really is no describing the beauty of these trees in words, nor with pictures, but I'll upload a few anyway.

Beautiful Keimyung University

 Don't worry about cars...

 

Me and my friends can't even coordinate 4 people jumping at the same time.... 

Of course some people needed the token picture with Wagooks

Pickle the Puppy

Recently several friends of mine have been posting quite a few pictures of their adorable pets and I've gotten quite home sick in the fact that I miss my dog. No she wasn't really mine, and no we didn't snuggle and cuddle like I would've liked (we had more of a jealous-sister relationship haha), but you ever really understand how much being around a pet makes a difference until they aren't around anymore (or in this case, I'm not around anymore). Being around dogs and puppies brings so much warmth and fun into you life, and I definitely missed that.

So a few of my friends and I decided to head to the animal shelter (about 45 minutes by bus from my house) to take some doggies for walks. My friends had gone before, but I had never made it out with them. When we got there, it broke my heart to see the adorable dogs in the cages, all I wanted to do was take them all home with me. After cuddling with several of the dogs (and one adorable, tiny puppy the size of my hand) we grabbed our harnesses and leashes and headed out with our dogs. Apparently they asked Adrienne to sign a little piece of paper with some of her information, but sometimes they don't even do that. You just walk in, grab a dog, and go play.

So we took our puppies on a quick 10 minute walk to Duryu Park, along the way giving our dogs names. Mine was Pickle, I have no idea why, it just seemed to fit. Adrienne's was Heisenberg because he was old, and Lolly's was Arrow because she had a 'v' shape on her head that looked like an arrow. We walked up the (extremely muddy and messy) path to the main area of the park where we were greeted with a huge field full of people and their dogs. It struck me as crazy that they would let their dogs run free (without leashes attached) but I guess that is just the sign of a well-trained dog. We plopped down in the middle of one grassy area (well, would-be grassy, but it is currently dead grass) and held on to our doggies tightly (we didn't know how well-trained they were). We were instantly swarmed by not only dogs wanting to play but also kids. It was adorable.

It was a ton of fun playing with the dogs, I definitely needed a little puppy love in my life. It was hard to take them back to the shelter, but I can't wait to go back and see them again!

Becoming a Snow Bunny

One of the things I heard about Korea long before I ever got here was the wonderful ski resorts they have. Now, being from Florida (and yes Kentucky as well) I've never been much of a snow person. I love it. I really do. It's beautiful and I love to play in it, for one day. Then it gets old because, well, it can be a pain. It starts to melt and gets all slushy and muddy. Not my cup of tea. But when I was in high school, I was lucky enough to go skiing over a vacation with family. There were no broken bones, no complete mishaps (that I remember) but that was also about 8 years ago. So when I forked out a large amount of money for a weekend of skiing, I didn't know if it was a good, or bad, idea.

Day 1: Before heading to the slopes (and before the weather turned ugly)

There were about 200 of us headed to the ski resort, the best ski resort in Korea. The condos we stayed in also had an awesome hot spring pool area, which was a definite plus. When we got there, we grabbed the clothes we rented, got skis and boots, and then had no idea what we were doing. Some of the gondolas were shut down, and this resort was a lot bigger than I had anticipated. The runs were FOREVER long, so as a beginner you definitely got tired.

Made it down my first run!

Notice the horrible weather

For our first run, my group decided to hop on a quick beginner slope. HA. Said beginner slope was up at the top, and there was no way down since the gondolas were shut down. And a "quick" ski lift trip later took us to the very top of the mountain. Not what we were expecting. I began freaking out about 2 minutes in. What if I don't know how to get off this thing? What if I break my leg right here, right now!? All the while Sarah (a girl from my EPIK intake) is sitting next to me cheering me on. You can do it! It's easy, you'll be fine! So we found a quick little slope and practiced for a bit, Sarah giving me a few instructions here and there. But it actually came back pretty easily. I remembered how to turn pretty well, though I would get really scared when I would get going fast. Please God, don't let me get hurt. After practicing for a bit, we decided to try to find a way down the mountain because we had to get our room keys. And the weather had gotten pretty ugly, so we were all pretty tired, and hungry. I ended up having to ski down an advanced slope that was said to be an intermediate slope. But I made it down without crashing or breaking anything. That night, I decided to forgo the night skiing and head to the hot tub, which was shut down about 15 minutes after we got there (2 hours early) because we were foreigners. Great. Later that night, we headed to the party with a live band and DJs. The night was fun and we all had a blast.

The next day was so much prettier. The sun was out! There was no snow coming down! And we happened to find the beginner side of the mountain. Good to know. We skied down a beginner slope to the other ski house, where we could grab breakfast, then headed up the ski lifts to the real beginner slopes. It was a really great day. I found a slope that I really enjoyed (probably because I actually made it down, but I could also take my time and actually enjoy it, rather than feeling like I could die at any given moment). Again, I didn't fall, but I didn't really push myself that much. Note to self, try harder slopes next time and don't be afraid to get a little snow on your butt.

I had a great time and can't wait to go again... hopefully I can make it back twice, but we will see!