Come fly with me...

So, a week ago, Ty and I went up to Daejeon for flying lessons. We'd found an ad on Facebook for "Expat Flyers in Korea" and decided to give it a whirl.

Now, when you say "flying lessons" to me, I picture an airport, maybe a few Cessnas or something, and, naturally, Tom Cruise in a leather jacket. It wasn't like that at all, but it was one of the funnest things I've had a chance to do in Korea.

We first had to get ourselves to Daejeon, and from there, to some small town. Arriving in Daejeon on Friday night, we decided to try to find the bus that we'd have to take the next day, just to be prepared. We ended up spending over an hour trying to find the elusive 104 bus, running around in the cold (neither of us was really appropriately dressed for a cold snap), trying to call the guy, Matthew, who was running the flying lessons, and e-mailing. We started feeling like we were on The Amazing Race as we asked someone where the 104 was, then ran in one direction, then had to run back the other way.

In case you're wondering, the 104 is pretty easy to find. Come out of the front doors of the Daejeon station, then cross the street in front of you and continue walking away from the train station, past the corner where the 7-11 is.

Having located the bus stop, we decided to try to find a love motel for the evening. Generally, most train and bus stations in Korea are absolutely surrounded by a variety of neon-lit love motels where you can have a pretty nice room for about $40. We found ourselves wandering around a street market that was closed for the evening. Old ladies, bundled up against the cold, huddling together around small fires made in oil drums... skinny cats darting between wooden shack-like fruit kiosks... shady characters lurking in corners... it was a bit dodgy, but only because we'd never seen anything like it here before. I think we would have been really scared in any other country but Korea (since here, the old bundled up people were more than happy to walk up the street with us, and guide us to a multi-storey hotel).

Once at the hotel, hunger set in but, without anything to eat and with neither of us willing to brave the cold dark streets again, we concentrated on not watching the other person through the glass bathroom door (like, why?)....

Matthew called us to tell us that he'd meet us in the morning at a different subway stop, meaning that the whole cold, confusing search for the 104 bus hadn't been necessary after all.

The next morning, we picked our way between dozens of farmers who were setting up shop in the market (which didn't seem half as spooky as it had been the night before), and headed off to meet Matthew, quite excited with the prospect of learning to fly. The weather was perfect, and it finally hit me that I was actually going to fly a real plane!!!!!!!

We found the subway, and were pleasantly surprised by a photo exhibit of the Masai Marathon (the barefoot marathon that I'd done a few months ago, just outside of Daejeon). Sure enough, Lindsey, Melisa and Nicola's photos were to be found amongst the rows of pics.

Nicola (2nd from left, top row), Melisa (middle row, far right, blue hat), Lindsey (lower left corner) in the Daejeon subway

At 8:15, standing at a subway stop an hour from Daejeon station, we got in touch with Matthew who was surprised that we hadn't received his text message in the middle of the night. His plane had been badly damaged by theives, and he'd been up all night trying to fix it, and he'd canceled his weekend customers.

He called us back and said, "You guys came all the way from Mokpo. I'm coming to meet you now." He was getting a friend of his to let us use his plane. We wouldn't be doing the full flying course, but we would at least get a chance to fly.

Armed with coffee, we set off in Matthew's SUV for the "airport", which turned out to be a few open fields in the middle of nowhere, with a couple of small tent-like hangars. It's a small, private flying club. Flying is an expensive hobby, and Korea is no exception. Flying small planes has become a popular hobby among older professionals, and as there aren't many people doing it, the skies are generally free from traffic, except the odd military helicopter.

Matthew showed us a few of the planes. My first reaction upon seeing the "Angelfish" was to giggle. It was the cutest plane I'd ever seen. Made of aluminum tubes and plastic?canvas? with a Bombardier snowmobile engine strapped to the nose, it didn't look like it should fly. Matthew's plane, which was larger and more sturdier (and with bits of it laying about the hangar) was still out of commission so.... we'd be flying the Angelfish????

Matthew and Ty inspect Matthew's plane ....

.... while I take glamour shots next to the pretty pink plane.

The Angelfish

Ty and the Angelfish

Inside the cockpit

Our Korean Tom Cruise, Mr Lee, arrived. He'd been a fighter pilot in the Korean Air Force (and there were photos of him in uniform and his camouflage Top Gun-type helmet in the office) and the little bright pink Angelfish was his. He was more than happy to help Matthew up and take Ty and I for a spin.

I was first, and the first challenge was, really, getting into the plane. Of course, you have to be careful where you put your feet and hands and such, and you're climbing into a wee door designed for elves. Once inside, you've got a stick between your knees and foot pedals and such. I'd already decided that I was not going to touch anything, trusting the guy who used to fly MiGs instead of me to handle the controls, but rather take photos of the whole experience.

Here is my video of takeoff:

Flying! I let Mr Lee do most of the work....

Our "airport" - you can see Ty standing near the car

Coming in for a landing. The prop is going slow enough to see.

It was a short flight, maybe about 20 minutes, where we circled over fields and hills, small villages and construction sites for larger complexes. We could see cranes taking off from the Keum river, and graves and temples tucked under the trees of the mountains surrounding the airfield. Surprisingly, it wasn't really that scary!

Ty squishes himself into the plane

After I was safely on the ground, it was Ty's turn. He did actually take the controls a bit more than I did, and managed to get a few good pics of himself in the cockpit as well.

My handsome boy flying a plane...

Needing parts for his plane, Matthew took us back to Daejeon where we, ravenously, made a beeline for Papa John's Pizza, where I fell in love with the garlic dipping sauce (which I dubbed "Garlic Pudding") ...
...then headed to the same hotel that I'd stayed at for the Masai Marathon.

The next day, Matthew met us and brought us back to the airfield. We were pretty impressed with him for going the extra mile for us. Flying, like scuba diving, never carries a 100% guarantee, since you are dealing with environmental forces like the weather, winds etc. Being safe sometimes means not going at all. Planning a weekend flight school means that, if you aren't prepared to wait for good conditions, or if you expect everything to run according to a tight schedule, you'll be disappointed. If you're willing to chill out and, as we did, sit in the sun and watch 5 Korean men try to fix a plane, you'll have a better day.

Flight School

In between fixing his own plane, Matthew gave us some flight theory lessons. It was all about drag and lift and wings and ailurons and rudders and controls. Basically, there are forces that work on the plane to keep it up in the air. By manipulating how those forces (of lift and drag) hit the bits of the plane, you either go up, go down or turn.

We were a bit sad that we couldn't give Matthew's plane a try. I'd been humming "Snoopy and the Red Baron" for 2 days now. Once again, Mr Lee took us up in his Angelfish. This time, however, I would have to actually use the stick and the pedals to turn the plane. I could no longer be the princess in the pink cockpit, just along for the ride and enjoying the view.

Well, I'd like to say that I steered the plane and all, but it would be more accurate of me to say that my hand touched the stick thing and my feet rested on the pedal things and Mr Lee did all the actual work.... which is fine by me. Ty said that Mr Lee actually took his hand off the steering stick thing and let Ty fly the plane all by himself. I'd say that Mr Lee is a very good judge of character and a very smart man.

With a long trip back home ahead of us, Ty and I got Matthew to drop us off at a town near Daejeon, then took a taxi ($25!) back to the KTX train station and a train back to Mokpo.

For a weekend thing, it's lots of fun. If you're coming from anywhere further than Daegu or Seoul, you do need to give yourself ample time to get there and back. Matthew has a lot of experience with planes and flying, and is a really interesting guy to talk to. Don't expect a very tight schedule, and take it as a nice relaxing weekend, and you'll have a pretty good time. For more information, take a look at Matthew's site, or shoot me an e-mail if you want to know more about it.

The week thus far...

Alrighty, it's been a really big week, and I've just got to update a bit.

Because I want to really do justice to the insane weekend that was our flying lessons, I'm going to write about them on Saturday, when I've promised myself a day of NOTHING (except writing about the flying lessons, of course).

As time is of the essence for the UAE job (possible starting time in January 2009), I had to get cracking on the paperwork that they requested. Because Korea has an awesome health system, I was able to get a complete physical (including blood tests, hearing tests, chest x-rays, and having the doctor fill out a 7-page form) just by walking into a hospital. The whole process only took about an hour and a half! Pretty good!

Oh, and I'm really really healthy, which is also good to know.

On Monday, I headed up to Seoul on the KTX with the idea of going to get stamps at the UAE Embassy in Seoul. Monday night, I stayed at the Dragon Hills spa, a jimjilbang just outside of the Yongsan station in Seoul. It's part bathhouse, part sauna, with restaurants, a pool, a patio... just about everything you might need... and the whole thing costs just $12. You have to pay extra for anything else you get, but it's all really reasonably priced. I decided that I deserved a massage, so for about $70, I got the best massage of my life. It lasted over an hour, and gave new meaning to the word "pummeling".

On Tuesday, I ran to the Canadian Embassy and the UAE Embassy on what was a mostly fruitless journey. My documents, it seems, have to be stamped in Canada because they come from Canada. Fortunately, after a good cry, I realized that my niece lives in Ottawa and, with a few frantic e-mails back and forth, she agreed to get the necessary stamps on the necessary documents for me. Big sigh of relief, and a big shout-out to Meaghan.

On Wednesday, I sent off almost all the documents and paperwork I needed to send off to either the UAE or Canada. You probably heard my audible sigh of relief once everything was stamped and sent through. You may also have heard my audible groans as, being in a Korean post office meant that while my things were being dealt with (poor guy had 4 different things to send off to 4 different destinations for me), I was also being pushed out of the way by random people who also had things to send.... or who just wanted to stand next to me and admire my beauty. Fingers are crossed that people in Abu Dhabi don't push as much as Korean women.

On Thursday, Ty took the cats to the vet to have them micro-chipped and vaccinated for the move. Yes, we are taking them with us and yes, it's probably a more complicated process than it needs to be. At the vet's, Jakob suddenly went nuts and shredded Ty's hand, was tranquilized (twice) by the vet, and then stood and glared at them - fully awake - until the whole thing was over. Sonagi was, naturally, calm and cool and didn't even wince when she got the micro-chip put in. Anyone who has ever been with *me* in a hospital will appreciate the similarities between me and Jakob when being faced with a doctor (Ty has been with me in a hospital, when my toenail came off in Seoul in August, and is just thankful that I don't come with razor sharp teeth and claws).

Amongst all this, there was also my real life of school etc happening. Today, I am one of the judges for a huge city-wide English competition, and tonight, my glorious Quiz team is hosting the Mokpo Pub-quiz Night, armed with MENSA level questions....

And so... things are generally moving along, but there is still so much more to do. I just hope that every week won't be as insane as this one.

Flying Lessons!

We had an insane weekend of flying ultralight aircraft - lots of fun, details and photos (including a video of takeoff shot from inside the cockpit) to come...

I've got a hectic week ahead of me - going to Seoul tonight to run around to various Embassies tomorrow (Canada and UAE) to get stamps on things. It feels like there is way too much to still be done.

Good News!

I have received a job offer for, and accepted, a position as a Partnership Teacher in English in Madinat Zayed, UAE.

A few frequently asked questions...

1) What will you do?
I will be working with a team within an Emirati school, helping the teachers with their pedagogy and classroom management as a part of a PPP (Public Private Partnership).

2) What will Ty do?
Ty will accompany me (of course!) and he will initially be a house-husband, until he gets his residency - I have to get mine first, then he gets his - at which time he can study, or maybe get a job, or spend his time sky-diving and scuba-diving.

3) Will you get married?
Yes! We will be legally married in Korea before we go.

4) When does the job start?
They've given me a start date of "To be confirmed"/January. This all depends on my paperwork coming through... oh, and there *is* a ton of paperwork to do.
However, the company is great. They've given me tons of information and will be guiding us (and paying for the whole process) every step of the way.

5) How about the cats?
Jakob and Sonagi will accompany us to the UAE. They aren't allowed to live in the house provided by the company so, um, of course, they will live outside. *wink wink*

6) What about your stuff?
We're giving awat/selling anything that we can't take with us. If there's something of ours that you want, start asking for it...

7) Where is Madinat Zayed?
MZ is in the Western part of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi... think, um, middle of the desert. However, there are quite a few ex-pats there already, so it's not like we're going to be out there alone.

8) What about the planned South Africa trip?
That's going to have to happen another time.

Umm.... any other questions????

Only FOUR distinct seasons?

I can't believe that I've been living here for 2 and a half years, and have yet to mention Korea's "four distinct seasons". It's kind of a running joke, up there with being asked 400 times if you like kimchi (no, I don't), or the feigned surprise that you can use chopsticks (thanks, used chopsticks more in Canada than I do in Korea, actually), that you will be told that Korea is special because it has four distinct seasons.

I first read about it before I even arrived, and I was a bit curious as to why they were mentioning it. Surely they don't think that they are the only place in the world with 4 seasons... or do they? Another blogger printed a part of a student essay in which the student asserts that other countries are "jealous" because of Korea's four distinct seasons.

Now... I have been giving this some thought. Maybe this is because yesterday, we had snow, sun, rain, high winds, a thunder storm, lightning, hail, freezing rain/ice pellets and then a nice sunset. Maybe the "distinct seasons" of Korea mean "every single kind of weather in the world in one 24-hour period"....

...but I digress.

Korea is not boasting about how many seasons it has, it's being boastful about how *different* (or distinct) each season is from the other. I'd like to go back and erase the word "four" from all the guidebooks and student essays, and replace it with "many", so it could be more like "Korea has many distinct seasons".

There's the pretty-flower-and-blue-sky season, the typhoon season (2 of them), the so-dry-my-lips-will-fall-off-unless-I-book-a-flight-to-Malaysia-right-now season, the please-turn-on-the-aircon-NOW season, the amazing-sunsets season, the I'm-at-the-beach-in-October! season, and so on....

Right now, it happens to be the fluffy-snowflakes season, with a dash of it's-winter-so-turn-on-the-ondol (and close the windows, no really, CLOSE THE DAMN WINDOWS!).

Safety and children and a general rant

Yesterday evening, I was looking out my kitchen window. What I can see is... a parking lot that leads to a busy street that runs parallel to the water. There are a few small fish markets on the other side of the road.

I leaned out my window and watched a family leaving the church next to my apartment building. Picture a mom, 2 kids, and a toddler wandering on ahead... The Mom and other kids are still about 10 metres behind the little guy, who has continued walking until he is standing about 1/3 of the way onto the near lane of the street.

In my mind, I am willing the woman (who *is* looking at her child) to call the kid back... to say, "Wait for us"... or to at least react as car after car slows, honks, and edges past the little boy. Suddenly, he breaks into a run.

He obviously didn't see the car coming the other direction. I've used to wonder what the term "sickening thud" might sound like in real life. From my vantage point, I watch the child run directly into the car, then crumple on the ground. I scream, "Oh my GOD!" and Ty runs to the window to see what's going on.

The car's driver slows and stops (causing, of course, the other cars behind him to honk... haven't they seen what just happened?).

The little boy stands up, and continues his run across the street.

He is joined by the Mom, his siblings or friends. They crowd around him. After what feels like 10 minutes (probably only 2), the family gets into the car that hit the little boy and drive off. On one hand, I am relieved... the man who drove into the boy (NOT his fault) is being a Good Samaritan and bringing them to get help. On the other hand, I also know that head and brain injuries do not immediately manifest themselves, and I am hoping against hope that the little boy is okay.

On this blog, I have generally been careful not to be over-critical of Korean culture. I may complain about the food, or state the facts of a school system that is so hard on the students... but these are, for the most part, observations.

But now, I am honestly wondering: Do Koreans hate children? I've seen enough kids standing up on the back seats of cars, or with their heads poking out of sunroofs. I've heard about the difficulties of other ex-pats who have had children here, and how they can't get safety certified car seats here, as most infants here are still carried on their mother's laps or backs in cars. I've watched kindergarteners carrying Exacto knives, and watched children with special needs be handed adult sized scissors, when they could barely handle a pencil. I've seen child after child at my school come in with a myriad of injuries (yes, including being hit by a car) caused by a general neglectful view of personal safety. It's quite normal for an entire class of students to be left unattended while the teacher attends "meetings" ~ a few months ago, I was the first person to intervene when a 4th grader put his foot through a window, leaving a jagged shard of glass poking out or his ankle. My school found me odd when I refused to have a ridiculous gas-powered, open-flamed heater brought into my classroom. Last week, when my classroom door lock was replaced, the custodian laughed when I asked him to do it again, as there were long rusty nails poking through the door at eye-height for a child.

Say what you will about North Americans being "too safe" or "paranoid" and then tell me if you would let your child run across a busy street without you... without holding your hand, or without at least knowing to look both ways. You know, accidents do happen... we all have battle scars from our childhoods (I even had a memorable run-in with a BBQ flame) but it doesn't mean that you need to stop doing everything in your power, as a parent, as a teacher, as a responsible adult, to prevent these accidents from becoming daily occurances.

Updates, School Festival, Cute Kitties, and the weekend...

Well... this is going to be a long one.

1. First off, a few updates. I have a real live telephone interview for a post in the UAE on Tuesday. I'm pretty nervous and excited about it, and just ask that you keep your fingers crossed for me. Both of our computers are functioning at the moment. My laptop has been limping along for the past few months, but our awesome external drive means that I didn't actually lose any data (like 3+ years' worth of photos), and I can actually use it again. Awesome.

2. Last Thursday was my school festival. For the past 2 months, I've been lucky enough (sarcasm) to get to listen to small children banging on drums in the hallway, or play the same 4 recorder notes over and over again. I've also got specific Korean pop songs that are indelibly etched into my brain matter from hearing them over and over again.

Alex joined me at my school for the morning performance which featured everything from traditional Korean dance to hoochie chair dances, to a homoerotic inter-species kiss, to some very racy outfits on very young children, to a dramatic performance that made no sense, and so on.

For all of you who have watched talent shows or recitals in North America, you need to understand that the way it's done in Korea is quite different. There is no intermission, or even a pause between performances. For two solid hours, you have show after show coming on, with each class doing up to 3 dances, songs, performances... whatever. I'm going to let my photos do the talking...

It started with the three Korean national anthems, a few speeches and a cake-cutting ceremony. Yes, it looks like a wedding cake with candles on top. We applaud when it is cut, but nobody gets to eat it.

Traditional hanbok. This is almost the cutest thing you've ever seen....

There is nothing in the world cuter than a 3-year old Korean boy who is overjoyed to find himself on stage in a sparkly costume. Don't even try.

The first and second grade girls did a few dance numbers. Alex and I were both a bit disturbed by what the girls were wearing and how they were dancing. It was over-the-top suggestive. After the performance, we were walking around downtown and saw women dancing like this downtown:

These are not the actual women that we saw, but this is a common sight here: scantily clad women dancing around in front of a store next to an inflatable plastic tube thing, generally used to advertise a big sale or grand opening at a store. Needless to say, Alex and I thought that my 2nd graders have bright futures ahead of them as street dancers. Disturbing, eh?

The world's least hygienic instrument. Try not to imagine a tube full of saliva connected to a keyboard. You're welcome.

If you go to a school recital, and your son/daughter is playing the triangle, this means that he/she is bad. Note that he has not been given a saliva-keyboard, xylophone, recorder or anything else. He's been given an instrument that requires him to stand motionless for 5 minutes, until he gets to hit it. Once.

The 6th grade orchestra features no less than 6 triangle players.

Seosan Elementary School proudly presents its future triangle section of the 6th grade orchestra, and future lead triangle player.

Super-wicked-awesome fan dancing. Photos do not do justice to the grace and beauty of this form of dancing.

It was a great way to spend the day, though, and the kids all performed well. For a small school that doesn't have a lot of money, they did go full-out on making it a good day. The audience (no photos, unfortunately) was mostly made up of old grandmothers with mouths full of gold teeth. It was probably the social event of their year, and just made me feel good about working at a small school like this one.

3. In other news, the cats have been excessively cute lately and I finally have had a chance to upload some photos (now that the laptop is working again). Keeping in mind that it will cost us quite a bit to export/import our kitties to another country, I wonder if they are just doing this on purpose so that we don't leave them behind...

4. Annnnnd, we've just survived an awesome socially-fulltothebrim weekend. Friday night, we shared real cheese fondue with our friends Wim and Fallon, then welcomed Jessika from Suncheon on her whirlwind visit to Mokpo. Saturday was a recuperation day, as Jessika, Zach and Fallon joined us for brunch and a lazy afternoon at our place before heading out for bowling and Vietnamese food with Stu.

Too much to blog....

I've got just so much to blog.... I know it's going to take me at least 2 hours to do, so I'm leaving it all for Sunday afternoon.

In the meantime, try not to explode from cute as you look at this.

Does this sound familiar?

Anyone who has read a few "expat teacher in Korea" blogs has read about the conditions in which Korean students learn and study in school. Their entire daily lives are taken up with studying, studying and more studying.... of theory, dictated by teachers (*if* the teacher is there) straight out of textbooks, so that they can later regurgitate this information in a multiple choice exam.

When ex-pat ESL teachers arrive here, they are often frustrated by the lack of participation, overt copying and low motivation of students in class. The students, especially teenagers, have been conditioned and trained to study for the tests, to value what is on exams as "important", while creativity, critical thinking and personal discovery is dropped. Imagine a science course with no experiments.... and you get the idea.

When I was at the high school in Suncheon, I was often surprised to learn that one kid might have 100% in English (without being able to say 2 words to me), while a talkative kid who could have a conversation with me had only 45%.

The ultimate goal is, of course, the SATs for University. But, the pressure starts much earlier. Study hard in 6th grade so that you can get into a better middle school, where you can study harder to get into a good high school, then find yourself constantly studying for exams, practice exams, and a few different national standardized tests.

This article asks us to..

Consider a school that constantly emphasizes the importance of performance! results! achievement! success! A student who has absorbed that message may find it difficult to get swept away with the process of creating a poem or trying to build a working telescope. He may be so concerned about the results that he’s not all that engaged in the activity that produces those results.

Hmm... I think I know exactly what you are talking about. Fortunately, my elementary students haven't succumbed to this yet... they are still happy and curious, in my classes anyway.

Open Mic Night

One of the great things about being in an ex-pat community is, well, the community! On Saturday night, Ty and I went up to Gwangju to attend the Open Mic Night. There's something so nice about walking into a room and having "Hello"s and waves greet you.

This Open Mic was one of the best I've been to, with the non-musical spectators vastly outnumbering the performers. They were originally started up by a guy called Matt, who would organize the whole thing himself. Since he left Korea, other people have taken his place with the arrangements, including my friend Jens, and it's become a sort of perpetual institution of music lovers. Since Gwangju is central to Jeollanamdo, you can end up with people (it used to be mostly Foreigners, but now there are a lot of Koreans who are getting into the act, which is great) from all over the province. I saw people that I hadn't seen in ages, and a lot of people that I only see at Open Mic nights.

And it's not just a cross-cultural thing, but one of different ages, abilities and music styles. Instruments (now and in the past) have ranged from guitars, drums and piano to accordion, mandolin and clarinet.

Other than that, our weekend was pretty quiet.... We're still waiting on news from the UAE, which we've been told is normal. Still, it's stressful.

In other news, today is Pepero Day. I've only been at school for 15 minutes or so, and I already have 8 boxes, 6 big sticks and a few other random candies. Makes you feel special...

On the Canadian side of things, today is Remembrance Day, and I hope that you are wearing a poppy. I haven't been able to wear one in 3 years, so someone has to do it for me!

Halloween, Suncheon Bay, Seonamsa...

This is probably going to be a long post...

On Friday, I went to my island school and had a great time with my 5 island students. I had brought 2 small pumpkins and they had a big orange one, so we spent most of our time talking about Halloween and making Jack-o'lanterns. I also had some masks with me, so the kids took turns trying them on and running around. It was one of those memorable classes that stay with you once all the readin', writin' and 'rithmatic is done...

At one point, we realized that we didn't have any candles, so my 6th grade boy ~ in a stroke of genius ~ rigged together a battery, some wires and lightbulbs so that we could experience our works of art in full glow-y happiness.

From the island, I ran home and grabbed our costumes, then went to the bus terminal to meet up with Terry (who has returned to Canada, finding more reasons to be there than here ~ it was good to have a last blast with her though), Zach, Luke, Wim and Fallon. We had to get from Mokpo to Yeosu for the big Jeollanamdo Halloween party. It can take up to 4 hours to get there from here, but somehow Fortune smiled upon us, and we got to Yeosu (even grabbing supper along the way, and changing buses) in less than 3 hours!

Just as we were getting to our motel to meet up with Stu (yes! He's back in Korea!), my phone rang. It was the recruiters from the UK, calling about one of the UAE jobs that I've applied for. There's still nothing set in stone, but all that finger-crossing seems to have paid off...

Anyway, once at the hotel, we had to get cracking on costumes. The thing about Korea is that Halloween isn't really done here, so you can't always find masks and makeup. Costumes end up being exercises in creativity. I decided to be Shrodinger's Cat (as Jessica says, my costumes often have layers of meaning to them...) while Ty was getting dolled-up as Hedwig.

Schrodinger's Cat, The Joker, Black Cat, Jack Jombie, Thalia (Greek Muse of Comedy), OB-Man, Hedwig...

The scene in Yeosu...

Bodhidarma Stu, and me (picking my nose apparently) beside a Rubik's cube

We got to the party and there was about a million people... including a few old friends from Suncheon, which was awesome. The costumes were amazing, and it was great to be in such a vibrant and fun atmosphere. I've posted a few pics (stolen from Zach), but people with Facebook can find tons of photos of that evening on there.

In a surprising twist, Ty ended up winning the costume contest (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), beating out a Sumo wrestler and an un-flushed toilet. Ummm, yeah...

The next day, we were suitably tired from so much, um, trick-or-treating until all hours of the morning. After a relaxing morning in Yeosu, we headed up to Suncheon Bay, where there was a reed-festival happening. Essentially, it was eleventy million people milling about, looking at the reeds.

Reeds

Although it is a really gorgeous place (and one of my favourite places in Korea), we were kind of "over" the crowds, and decided to head back to town.

The crowds

Zach and I are excited about all the crabs in the mud. The others... maybe not so much.

Ty and I had arranged to stay in Suncheon for the weekend, so we said goodbye to our Mokpo friends and went back to my old home of Shidae apartments. After supper with Melissa and Chris, we once again got costumes on, stopping at Nina's on our way to another Halloween party. We didn't stay long at this one, though, as we were a) too tired and b) hoping to get away early the next day.

Before I moved to Korea, there was a photo like this in my Korean guidebook. I remember being so excited about being able to see things like this here. This is one of my favourite things... the "Dragon Bridge" at Seonamsa.

Seonamsa, Seonamsa, Seonamsa... I don't even know where begin. When I was in Suncheon, I went to Seonamsa so often that I think I finally got sick of it. Not having returned there since my move to Mokpo, I was really excited about going back. I was also super excited about showing this gorgeous temple to Ty.

Making a wish on our way to the temple

Big old tree

We walked over the whole grounds, finding new places that hadn't been there when I'd lived there before. We went through all the structures, then up to the Turtle graves, and around to where we could sit and drink some local green tea.

Turtle graves

Playing in the trees

Ty took a bunch of great photos of the natural beauty around there, and the fall colours...

Sap on bark

He's a good photographer, eh?

One of the new bits that we found was a sort of Tea museum and pavillion, which I think has just opened. We didn't have time to try everything out, since we needed to get back to Mokpo.

It was a really full weekend... one of the best this year, I think. We connected with old friends, hung out with new ones, got to dress up and have fun, then got to experience the cultural side of Korea in a new way.

Obligatory self-cam couple shot.
We're just in front of the Dragon Bridge.