Merry Christmas

" I'm dreaming of a white Christmas..."  So it still can be a dream.  It snowed last Thursday but since then it hasn't snowed. For that matter it has been warmer the last couple of days.  I hope everyone has a good Christmas.  Here is simply some pictures of the snowfall so far this Winter.

Snow on the beach?  Not a typical beach scene

  

Main Dishes

With Korea’s main reliance on side dishes it does mean that the main dishes aren’t as memorable when it comes to the food experience.  Of course this doesn’t mean that they don’t exist but for some reason we always seem to be getting the same dishes.  I guess what I am trying to say is that Korean cuisine doesn’t have much variety.  Some of the main dishes include: bulgogi (marinated beef), fish, fried pork, soups (big pots for the whole table to share), raw fish, chicken, samgyeopsal, and dak galbi.  The last two are foreign to most people but they are the two biggest main dishes us foreigners partake in and so I will describe them in further detail.  Of course that list wasn’t exhaustive and I am saving some stuff for a future post talking about strange food. 

Samgyeopsal is essentially pork belly meat that is cooked on this grill that is right at the table.  The meat itself typically isn’t marinated and so to add flavor you take use of the side dishes and a few other things that is commonly served with samgyeopsal.  Pieces of garlic and green chilies are a standard side items to be eaten with the meat.  Plus lettuce leaves, sesame leaves, or other kinds of leafy vegetables to make a lettuce wrap.  Another thing to flavor the meat is a sauce by the name of ssamjang.  Ssamjang is a chile paste type of sauce that can really be mixed with any type of meat.  Not only meat but it’s not uncommon to dip garlic into the sauce and eat the garlic raw.  One place in Boryeong has the option to have the meat cooked alongside this heap of a “kimchi” style vegetable medley.  It’s not that bad because the juices from the vegetables flow over to the meat side.  For Thanksgiving this year there was a group of us who went out for samgyeopsal because it is a bigger dish that is usually eaten on a special night or on the weekend when there is a lot of time for dinner.  After eating we proceeded to have a mini- snowball fight (I am sure we will have bigger ones) while walking home.    

samgyeopsal plus the sides

ssamjang is the red paste in the middle

Dak galbi is a dish that is real good and we do eat it quite often.  Basically it is some chicken that is spiced up and cooked in this skillet type pan.  Besides chicken within the pan there are usually other items including: mushrooms, carrots, scallions, cabbage, sweet potatoes, onions, potatoes, sesame leaves, and sometimes a few other things.  One other thing that is found in any Dak galbi place is a thing called dhuck.  Now this isn’t the animal (there is another word for the animal) but instead is rice cake.  Cooked in with everything else it usually does have a soft chewy texture.  Plus in some spots we know of where to get cheese infused dhuck.  It is similar to a mozzarella stick but with a different type of breading.  This mixture of stuff is cooked together in the same pan and then you simply eat out of the pan.  Of course the side dishes are right there so you can mix and match what different bites will go along with the dak galbi.  Again here they do have lettuce, sesame leaves, or other kinds of leafy vegetables to make your own bite size wrap.  I usually will put a piece of chicken along with some of the other things in the pan and top it all off with the ssamjang sauce.  

dak galbi being cooked all together

This has been a quick look at a couple of the main dishes that is best eaten in a group because of the quantity received from these meals.  A future post will look at a ‘diner’ type atmosphere food establishment or street food.  Here in Korea all the food is pretty much fresh, so saying street food or ‘diner’ type food isn’t that crazy.

Majority of yesterday and currently it has been snowing.  This weekend is supposed to stay cool but by beginning of next week it will warm up to the mid fourties.  Classes are still happening even though finals have already been taken.  The 27th is the last day of classes until January 2nd when there is Winter school for some students.  I will be staying in town this weekend.  I am hoping for some good snow build up soon so that way we can go snowboarding.  Pictures have been giving me issues to load so that is why its been a while for a post.  I am pretty sure I have figured out the issue.  Will write later. 

The button to get servers attention (mentioned in previous post) 

Introduction to Korean Food

On this day associated with a lot of eating I will start to tackle the subject of Korean cuisine.  This is going to be a multiple post subject because there is a lot of stuff that does go along with food.  I have been here around seven months and so of course I have been eating Korean food for some time now.  I have waited in order to gather some pictures and to figure out how to describe the food.  For this post I will start with the very basics of Korean food.   

First thing to talk about regarding Korean food is the utensils used to eat Korean food.  Every meal you get a spoon and two sticks.  Of course these sticks you work together in order to form chopsticks and eat with them, but they essentially are sticks that are a tiny bit thinner on one side of the sticks.  This thinner side is where you pick up the food with and grip with the thicker side of the chopsticks.  When I first did get to Korea I wasn’t that good with chopsticks and essentially had to learn fresh.  By now though they are no issue and I can pick up anything even all the way down to a single grain of rice.  There is one dish that you do get a fork, but to my knowledge that is the only exception.   To cut stuff in Korea you do use the chopsticks or for some dishes you do get scissors. 

After the utensils the next biggest point in Korean cuisine is the side dishes.  Some people may have heard of Korea being the “land of the morning calm,” which is true.  Another accurate known thing about Korea is that it is the “land of the side dishes.”  Koreans pride themselves on their side dishes and it isn’t quite the same as back home.  So side dishes come with every single meal and they are endless.  Essentially meaning you can get as much as you want and there is no charge to these side dishes.  They usually come on little white plates and fill up the table.  There are multiple different side dishes but going from one restaurant to another you will have overlap of the side dishes.  Some side dishes range from: onions, garlic, bean sprouts, anchovies, seaweed, mushrooms, fish cake, pickles, corn, rice cake, radishes, spam, and the list goes on.  Some of these side dishes are by themselves or are mixed with a red sauce.

The main side dish of Korea is known as ‘kimchi.’  In fact it is known as their national dish.  When people think of Korean food usually kimchi is the first thing that comes to their mind.  There are many different types of kimchi but essentially it is: vegetables mixed with spices and a chili paste left to ferment for some time.  By the time you eat kimchi it can have a pickled kind of taste, along with a spicy, or sour taste.  The traditional way to prepare kimchi is to bury it in the ground for some time.  Of course it is in a container but it stays in the ground to ferment and turn into kimchi.  Some main ingredients for some different types of kimchi include: cabbage, radish, scallion, and cucumber.  Kimchi does come with every single meal.  At first I didn’t touch the kimchi because I didn’t like it at all.  Now slowly I can tolerate it a little bit.  It does help mixing it with some rice or other piece of food, but still not my first choice. 

Last thing for this post is the ‘button.’  The button is essentially a button that is at every table which is used to get a hold of a server.  After walking into a place and sitting down you simply take your time thinking of what to order and push the button.  This button does a ringing noise and then you know someone will be over shortly.  The button basically means you won’t be bothered unless you need something.  Now keep in mind, there is no tipping at all in Korea.  So before thinking you need this button in the United States the servers here don’t need to work extra for any type of tip.  So back home if your service is good don’t forget to tip your servers. 

This post has started to look at the food situation in Korea.  Start practicing with chopsticks, be aware of side dishes, and of course the button is important, or you will never be served.  A future post will look at some different types of food that is commonly eaten.  Then eventually work my way to the crazy food that can be eaten.  Some of this food might not be considered ‘normal,’ but who is to say what is ‘normal?’  Snow is officially here.  Monday night I did see a little bit falling, but last night there was a lot.  It is currently snowing right now!  Not white out conditions but enough to stick around for some time.  Pictures aren't cooperating and loading up.  Will write later.

     

Season Change

One interesting fact about Korea that is different from back home in Arizona is that here there are four seasons.  Sure I have heard multiple times that the spring and autumn season are becoming shorter the last couple of years, but either way they still do have these seasons.  This last week alone I have noticed a big change in the weather and for about a month it is noticeable in the surrounding nature.  The leaves have been falling off trees for some time now.  Not only falling off but also changing colors that are quite bright. 

This picture was taken in a city by the name of Asan.  On Saturday I planned on going hiking around Boryeong because I never did make it last weekend.  I was walking towards the small mountain when a friend of mine pulled up in his car and said he is going up to Asan if I want to join.  It is about a two and half drive up to the Northeast of Boryeong.  Our destination was this temple that is also known to have some good Fall colors.  It was a fun little adventure.  

Not only the trees give the hint that it has been autumn but the main give away is the weather.  A couple of nights ago it did get into freezing temperatures and it is only November.  The forecast in the next week or so has the average high somewhere in the mid-forties to the low-fifties.   While on the other hand the average lows is around low forties to the low thirties.  So if you are reading the Celsius scale that would put some of the numbers on some of the nights at 0 and below.  It is just beginning and probably will be a long cold winter here in Korea.  Definitely something new for me to experience.  No snow is in the forecast yet, but looking at past years, snow does start around November.  Then December is when the snow will actually stick around and not simply melt away right away.  Most likely January will bring most of the snow.

It is kind of funny seeing what the students are wearing at school already.  They all have on these big jackets.  The heat isn’t on yet and I don’t even know if we will ever get heat turned on in the classrooms.  Koreans are kind of strange with how they deal with the weather.  They will have windows wide open but at the same time multiple layers including a big jacket.  So typically if the windows are closed in the classroom then it will be a little bit warmer than out in the hallways which are all tile and cement.  This isn’t always the case and sometimes a window will be open.  It is kind of strange and doesn’t make much sense.     

I will report later when it does snow.  For now though the colors are nice to enjoy especially knowing it will eventually lead to a dead looking environment that is really cold.  This week has been a typical week at school with not that many changes.  I didn’t make it hiking two weeks ago because of playing football on Saturday and proceeding to hurt my ankle a little bit more.  This week I have been good and haven’t participated in any sports or strenuous activities on my ankle.  It hasn’t been easy and I can’t wait for next week when I will be giving myself the go ahead to start playing again.  Here are some more pictures of the scenery this time of the year.  I will write later.      

*Snow Update-I originally wrote this post over this past weekend but pictures weren't loading so I didn't post it right away.  Yesterday morning and even today there were traces of snowfall over the night.  A mountain close by does have a small dusting, even now after a whole day of sunshine/ cloud coverage.  

Trees by my school in Spring

Trees by my school in Summer

Trees by my school in Autumn 

Busan Fireworks Festival

A couple of weekends ago I took a trip down to Busan.  This is the second time heading down to the coastal town of Busan.  I went down there for a weekend away plus there was also a fireworks festival happening.  It was a good weekend with a chance to ride a bullet train, visit a temple, visit a bigger city, and see a firework show.

To get down to Busan a few friends and I took the train on Friday night.  In Korea there are different types of trains but for saving time we ended up going down on the bullet train.  It is a quick train where the average speed is around 300 kilometres per hour.  Once we finally do get on the bullet train it does only take two hours to get down to Busan, but it is two hours before that for a slow train and a layover.  For math deficient people that does add up to a four hour commute.  Once down in Busan we went out for some dinner and walked out by the beach setting off our own fireworks.  Of course our little show was nothing in comparison to the show the next night, but still was fun setting off fireworks along the beach.  We were staying at a hostel that is about a two minute walk to the beach and so that is even closer than my place back in Boryeong.

On Saturday we did get up in order to go see some of the sites in Busan.  Our first stop was a temple.  This temple is an older temple but at the same time one of the busier temples when it comes to having tourist visit it.  It was my first temple in Korea of that size.  It was neat to see how old the buildings were but at the same time still had a commanding presence.  I still don't know much about what each building or statue signifies in regards to the Budhist Temple, but I will describe what I did see.  Walking along the path towards the main building there were different statues that resembled each different symbol in the different Chinese years.  Then we walked down this path that eventually led to the biggest building where it looked like prayers or meditation happens.  Next to this building there was some smaller building that looked like shrines for different things.  Plus there were a few bigger statues that were of figures of importance.  The only one that I did recognize was Buddha.  Plus throughout the whole thing there were mini Buddha figurines just sitting or laying on the rocks.  The whole time we were there some music that was more like chanting was happening by the monks.  I am sure I will visit other temples while in Korea because the temples are all over the place.

After the temple we headed back into town to grab some food.  Shortly after that we heard from other people we have better get down to the beach where the fireworks are going to be because it is starting to fill up.  We ended up on Gwanghali beach about four-thirty in the afternoon, and about ten minutes later there might not have been room for us.  It was the busiest and most unorganised crowd of people I have ever been amongst.  Obviously we had to wait around for dark for the fireworks so one person would leave our spot at a time to go get various items such as: food, drinks, and blankets.  Only one left at a time for fear of losing our spot, but leaving and getting back wasn't easy with the crowd of people.  Eventually the show started at 8:00 and it went on for a constant 50 minutes.  They also did have some music that was synced with the fireworks.  Plus there were a few fireworks I have never seen before.  Overall it was an amazing show and well worth the wait and crowd.

That was a pretty fun weekend down in Busan.  This week has been normal classes for the students until tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a huge test for all high schoolers and is basically the college entrance exam.  How well they do tomorrow could potentially have an affect for many years down the road.  Basically saying if they can go to college and if so what they can study.  So it will be interesting to see how that changes things tomorrow.  This weekend I am going to try to go hiking somewhere to see the Autumn colors.  I wanted to go last week but I rolled my ankle playing soccer so I needed to rest.  I am sure there still will be some leaves left before the cold comes and ushers everything away.  Below are some pictures from the weekend in Busan.  Will write later.  

Statues representing Chinese years 

Little figurines on bottom right were all over the place

Interesting dragon, deer, snake looking creature.  Notice little figurines all aver the rocks below creature. 

All of the people still weren't there.  You couldn't see a single piece of sand on the beach. 

Cell Phones

It seems like everyday everyone is constantly on their phone.  Korea is an advanced country when it comes to technology.  Pretty much everyone has a smart phone.  This is even true for young kids that are at an elementary level.  I constantly see them on their phones as they are riding a bus, walking down the street, or even while eating food.  While at restaurants it seems like that they are more interested in the phone then the actual person or people they are having food with.

Another thing that does happen that is annoying is phones in the movie theater.  On a couple different occasions a phone will ring while watching a movie.  What makes it worse is that the person will usually answer the phone and proceed to have a conversation.  In one particular case the conversation went on for a good three minutes. 

At school I would say about 95% of the students do have a smart phone.  There have been some occasions where I have taken a phone from the students when they are using it during class.  When this happens they think I am the meanest person in the world.  They think they are being sneaky but it usually is pretty obvious if they are using their phone.  Plus I have also heard that some teachers do answer their phone in the middle of class if it does go off.  Personally my phone is left at my desk which is in the teachers’ room where no teaching does happen.  This is what I have seen when it comes to phones in Korea.

This past week the students finished up mid-terms and then they had field trips at the end of the week.  That basically means there was no actual teaching and so I did get ahead a little bit.  I did stay in town this weekend and went out to the beach yesterday.  I didn't get in the water because it was pretty windy and not that warm.  Lately it has been in the mid 60's to low 70's for the high of the day.  At night it is already pretty chilly, but I know that it is just the beginning of the cold weather.  Besides that not much else is planned for later this month.  Will write later.  

Take me out to the ballgame

Last week I took a trip down to the port city of Busan.  This is the second largest city in South Korea.  I had a five day weekend because of a national holiday called Chuseok.  This holiday is essentially there version of Thanksgiving.  Everyone gets together as a big family and they eat food.  Plus in Korea they do take this time to visit graveyards and pay respects to their ancestors.  I guess you can say they are combining both Thanksgiving and "dia de los muertos" into one holiday.  When visiting the graveyards they trim plants and clean up the immediate area around the location.  Then they do also leave out food and drinks which is very similar to "dia de los muertos."  As foreigners we basically have a long weekend and so I was able to head down to Busan and see some of that big city.

One of the things I was able to see was a Korean baseball game.  In Busan the team is known as the "Lotte Giants."  So a couple friends and I headed to "Lotte" stadium to catch a game.  Here in Korea you are allowed to bring anything into the game.  This includes drinks and food.  So I did see people bringing in boxes of food and drinks to enjoy during the game.  We ended up getting tickets right next to third base for 12,00 won a ticket.  It isn't the closest I have been to home plate but we still were real close.

Now in Korea baseball where you sit in the stadium is an important fact in who you will be cheering for during the game.  For this stadium the third base side is actually the visiting teams dugout.  So we were cheering for the "NC Dhinos" who were playing the "Lotte Giants."  At the beginning of the game they did the Korean National Anthem but then nothing else. No first pitch which they usually do have at most of the Korean baseball games.  Obviously baseball is played the same with a little different style.  For example there were a lot more attempts at running while batting (think Ichiro even though he is Japanese) during the game then a typical American baseball game.  The particular game I watched was a back and forth game.  In fact it came down to the bottom of the ninth for the home team to win.  Baseball the game itself didn't change however there was some big differences between a Korean baseball game and American baseball game.

These differences could mainly be seen in how the crowd reacted to the ballgame.  So how it works is that while your team is up to bat there is constant chants and cheering.  These chants were done in unison and there was a person who was the ring leader for all of these chants.  In fact for the home team they had cheerleaders and a whole dance crew to lead the chants.  Where I was sitting (visitors side) it was one of the spectators who was in charge of all the chants.  It did feel more genuine on my side because we didn't need the extra motivation from a dance crew.  The chants were in Korean but some were universal because both side of the fans were using them.  Another difference was during a pitching change for the home team the pitcher did get a ride from the bullpen to the mound in a car.  Now I am not sure if that is only for that team or maybe it could be a give away, but either way it was kind of crazy.  Another interesting thing that happened was one time when the grounds crew was cleaning the field, both teams had everyone playing catch in the outfield.  This random break (in the middle of the sixth inning) lasted for about ten minutes and then the game resumed.  One thing that was a little disappointing was they didn't do a seventh inning stretch. So at a ballpark in America I would get a hot dog or a pretzel as something to snack on during the game.  Well in Korea they didn't have those items at the ballpark so instead I had some dried squid.  I have had it before on many different occasions, but I figured at a Korean baseball game I could have something that is definitely Korean.

Overall it was a  fun experience but did kind of remind me of a minor league ballgame atmosphere instead of the top level of play.  The season is pretty much over and they have a mini playoff.  They have less teams and so the playoff is against the top four teams.  This upcoming week there is midterm testing for some of the days.  I still am unsure of what days exactly but for those days I won't be teaching.  Plus usually it does mean we will have half days.  I need to plan a couple lessons for tomorrow.  Will write later.
 

Bag with drinks to bring into the stadium

The car used during a pitching change for the home team

Korean style snack bar

Squid at the ballpark 

  

First Responders Across Countries

So this picture here is in the English room at my school: 

It is one of the blinds that does keep the sun out when it is down (hence it being a blind).  Anyway there are seven total blinds and the pictures are of different landmarks including the Eifel Tower, London Tower Bridge, Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers, etc.  It is safe to assume that these blinds have been here for some time now and that the various landmarks portrayed could have changed.  In fact today there is currently one new tower instead of the two pictured above.  It has been twelve years now since that horrible day and in that time frame a lot has changed.  I did ask my higher level students if they do know about that day in history.  Now keep in mind these kids for one aren’t from the United States and also were babies when it did happen.  Some of them did know while others did not. 

Each day I do see the blind it does make me think of all the people who were lost that day.  The various different types of first responders and citizens trying to help everyone out.  At the same time though it does allow me to think how lucky everyone is in the United States to have such dedicated individuals willing to help out. 

Here in Korea that isn’t the case.  Since talking to some co-workers back when we were having the fire drill it was interesting their reaction to the firefighting profession.  Here in Korea it is something you do not want to do and in fact the profession here is kind of looked down upon.  Basically if you are a firefighter than you are at a lower status than some other people.  Instead of being a firefighter it is better to be a business person, a doctor, a teacher, a general manager, or an engineer.  I know throughout the United States that isn’t the case.  You can go into any elementary school and some of the kids there would want to be firefighters when they grow up.  I personally have never seen a fire here so maybe they have nothing to do.  At the same time there is a lot more things firefighters do on a daily basis (at least in the United States). 

So the outlook on the fire profession here is different but what about the law enforcement.  Law enforcement here is in kind of the same boat as the fire profession.  It is something that isn’t a dream for people to pursue.  From what I can tell they basically are the individuals who didn’t do well in school or have no other job prospects and so they end up being a police officer.  A funny part to this though is that crime in Korea doesn’t happen.  Now I am not making the place like a utopia, but since living here I have not heard of anything illegal happening or seen the police have to deal with anything (the ‘crime’ numbers also back this up).  I know some people who leave their apartments unlocked all the time and nothing has been stolen.  Now I don’t think this idea of no crime is because of the great work the law enforcement does here.  Instead I would claim it is more of the culture and Confucianism playing a role in society.  Koreans have a very structured society and so I think that is what keeps the streets free of crime.

I just simply wanted to write showing that between different countries there are different outlooks on people who are first responders.  I guess it is a good thing that I am from the United States since one day I want to be one of these professions.       

"Color Me Rad"

This last weekend I went on a little trip.  This trip took me up to Incheon.  Incheon is a city that is up next to Seoul.  In fact Incheon is considered part of the Seoul National Capital area.  Whenever someone flies into Korea they are in fact flying into Incheon instead of Seoul.  From Incheon to get to the center of Seoul it can take up to an hour considering the amount of traffic.  I was able to take a direct bus up to Incheon so that way I didn't have to deal with the Seoul traffic.  The reason I went up to Incheon was for a little run.

It was a 5 K race and is known as "Color Me Rad."  These runs happen all over the world and it happened to be in Korea this last weekend.  The idea behind these runs is it is a fun run for the people who participate and then the money goes to a local charity wherever it is being held.  The local charity was "The Special Olympics Korea."

 Now the question of why it is called 'Color Me Rad?'  That is because you start off the race with a white shirt and then by the end of the race there is all kinds of color all over you.  This works by every so often you run through these areas where they throw color all over you.  So at the beginning of the race I ran through an orange color, then some ways up it was purple, then blue, then pink, and then finally yellow.  The colors are a powdery substance that is basically corn starch with some other things.  It didn't taste that good.  When running through the area it was really dusty so it was kind of hard to not taste the color.

I was up there with some people that I had met in orientation and we also ran into other people we knew.  Since it is simply a fun run they were letting people start in waves.  We were in the first group and started at nine in the morning.  When we did get back to the finish it was a lot busier with more people.  So I am not sure how many people ended up running but it seemed like a good amount of people.  We plan on running a 10 K in November so I will need to start running more often.

These last couple of posts have been about some fun activities or festivals that I have been able to attend.  I bet the next couple posts will show some more insight into Korean culture.  This week is a normal school week with nothing big happening at school.  At least I don't know about anything big yet, and actually I would find out at the last minute anyway.

Boryeong Mud Festival

This post will talk about a festival that happened earlier in the summer.  I didn’t have a chance to post about it back then because it happened right before going to Thailand, and I was busy getting ready for an English summer camp.  First a little background knowledge.  Before coming to Korea I found out that I was going to be living in the state that I live in now (Chungcheongnamdo).  Once I found this out I did look up the different things that happen around my home state.  I did find out about this particular festival I am going to describe in a minute and I thought it would be pretty neat to go if I have the chance.  About two days before getting on the plane I found out that I will be living in my current city (Boryeong) and that happens to be the location of this particular festival.  Once figuring that out I knew that I would be able to make it to the Boryeong Mud Festival.

This festival takes place for two weeks usually around the end of July and has been going on for fifteen years.  The reasoning behind the festival is because there is natural mud pits somewhere around my city.  This mud is nice for the skin and they compare it to the mud at the Dead Sea (I think the Dead Sea mud was better).  So this festival is held to draw attention to the mud and the health care products that go with this particular mud.  It does happen out at the beach which is about a five minute walk from my school.  The festival started on a Friday night but for that whole week leading up to the festival they were setting up the two stages and everything else that went along with the festival.  Then on Friday the South Korean Black Eagles (air force aerobatic team like the Blue Angels) were practicing it seemed like right over the school.  Plus there was music being played from the stages so the students were pretty distracted. 

The festival basically is a huge party with mud, blow up slides, music performances, Air Force Aerobatic team performances, fireworks, and more mud.  On the weekends there were a lot of foreigners out at the festival.  It was the busiest I have ever seen the beach.  Then during the week (after school I could check it out) it was mainly Koreans.  Since it is in my hometown I was able to go each day.  The first weekend was the Air Force performance and fireworks and so that was pretty neat.  We barely found a spot on the beach.  Then the second weekend it wasn’t as busy but still pretty crazy.  That weekend there were some music performances that I watched.  Plus the whole time there was free mud with paint brushes to get covered in the mud.  Of course the Sea is still right there and was the best way to wash off the mud. 

Overall it was a couple good weeks and with the festival being so close was pretty convenient.  Even though I have played in the mud before it was pretty interesting to have a festival solely for mud.  This week it has been back to school like normal.  I have the same amount of classes as before but different times to teach.  Basically it is about twenty different classes.  The level of the students range from false beginners (act like they know nothing, but in fact know some of it) up to my conversation class where the best English speakers at my school.  Still the highest students I would consider at a low middle school level compared to students in the United States.  This weekend I will be going up to Incheon.  It is right next to Seoul and is actually where the airport is located.  I will be heading up there for a 5k race.  It will be a fun run because it is a "Color Me Rad" run.  I will leave it at that and describe it in another post, but first I need to go to the run.  Attached are some pictures showing the mud festival.  I will write later.  

Beach with no Mud Festival (picture was taken yesterday) 

Still known as "mud plaza" even without the festival (picture was taken yesterday) 

Mud Festival (Taken about the same spot as picture above)

View from English room at school (Can you see the big slides where "mud plaza" is located?)

Before the actual show (picture taken from English room at school)

One of the designs they did at the Mud Festival

Over the water during the performance at Mud Festival