All Work and No Play...

Where has the time gone? I feel like time is just flying by! I feel like I just got to Korea, but in reality, it's almost Thanksgiving and I've been here for almost 4 months. Life has really settled in over the past 4 months, especially in the past few weeks. While most of my life is pretty boring--wake up, go to school, tutor, come home from school, grade, and go to bed--I have taken the time to do something other than school the past few weeks.

First, I went up to Seoul with my roommates last weekend. We went to Insadong, which is a street in Seoul with lots of shopping. It is known for its art galleries, everything from paintings to pottery. Insadong is also a great place for souvenir type items, which happen to make great Christmas gifts. When we were in Insadong, I also bought a painting/wall hanging. These Korean paintings are painted on a thick, heavy paper and then mounted on a decorative background. There's a wooden rod on the bottom to help it hang straight, plus a ribbon at the top to hang it. I love these paintings! Most of the designs are of the Korean landscape, filled with mountains, trees, flowers, streams, and lakes. They are gorgeous! I bought one when I was here for student teaching, which is still in the States. I promised myself I would buy another one when I got to Korea to hang in my bedroom here, and I finally did it last weekend. Now I really smile every time I walk into my bedroom!

Here are some pictures from Insadong, including one with my roommate Jennifer. It was really crowded the day we went.

Now, before I go any farther, I'd like to take a few minutes to ask a few questions. What is the most commercialized holiday? What holiday was created solely to help a company sell more of its product?

If you answered Christmas or Mother's Day to either of the above questions, then you need to hear about Pepero Day. What is Pepero Day, you may ask? Pepero Day is celebrated on 11/11, and it is a day where you give Pepero to your friends, to your parents, to your teachers, etc. Now, I know most of you are wondering, what is Pepero? Well, Pepero is a Korean treat. It is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate. There a few different kinds: original, which is just regular chocolate; almond, which has pieces of almond stuck in the chocolate; and strawberry, which is strawberry flavored chocolate. The original are my favorite. Pepero Day was created by the company that makes Pepero as a way to sell more Pepero. And it worked! It is a very popular holiday, especially with kids. Student council did a fundraiser selling Peperograms, where students could buy Pepero to give to their friends, with a special note, that student council would deliver on Pepero Day. Since 11/11 was a Sunday this year, they did the deliveries on Friday. And, in case you were wondering, I did get Pepero from several of my students, including some homemade Pepero. It was yummy! Here's a picture of some of it:

Another fun thing going on right now is Fall Festival. Fall Festival is held at school every year, and every class creates and runs a carnival game out of its room. I am the 9th grade class sponsor, and they decided to run a game of Balloon Darts out of my room. Fall Festival is tonight, and they are getting ready right now. They just finished blowing up hundreds of balloons, creating a balloon mountain in one corner of my room.

Hopefully everything goes well tonight and there are no balloon avalanches! Or anymore water balloons like the one I just confiscated...