Only two? Nay!

Josh:

I noticed that I only did two updates this month and I thought that seemed a little sad so I said, "I will make it three on the last day!" Basically I'm cheating so it looks like I write more than I actually do. You sly devil, you.

Let's keep trying to catch up. It seems I have fallen behind by almost exactly two months. Not much happened after the lovely picnic with Mr. Chu until Wednesday (4/28/10). My school had no teaching that day for some reason (I don't remember, Mid terms maybe?) so the English teachers decided it would be good to go out together. I thought this was a great idea and they even invited Audrey along. They also extended the invitation to Mr. Chu. It was going to be really fun and we were looking forward to hanging out. The day before (or the day of) we learned that Mr. Chu would be unable to go and then I learned that Audrey wouldn't be able to go because of that. Why? Because we had five people already and that filled up one car. Needless to say that caused a little bit of a stir. They asked, "Is that okay?" I had to beat around the bush and say that it happens but it would have been nice to get a warning or, even better, not invite Audrey and get our hopes up unless you know there is room. Another unfortunate event happened when Mr. Chu heard that Audrey couldn't go and then said something like, "So they only invited me to give a ride?" Audrey didn't know what to say and I, of course, didn't know what to say when I heard that because it made me feel really bad. I believe that my co-teachers didn't mean for that to happen or for it to seem that way but that's how it came off. The bright side was that Audrey's school was going out for dinner also so she went out with her teachers and I went out with mine. In the end it worked out but I really wish that we didn't have to go through the discomfort of worrying about who got invited and why.

After the dust settled and Wednesday came, we loaded up into Mr. Hong's car and headed out on that lovely rainy day. On the way over we talked about various things but the thing that sticks out in my head most is when Mr. Hong asked everyone what the top ten exports of California were. Apparently he had looked up the list and was trying to get everyone to guess. I had a slight edge so when the ladies were completely stumped I took a guess and usually within three or four tries I got it. It was very strange, but fun. This conversation conveniently leads into where we were going: an agriculture place. I don't remember what it was called (I have the brochure so I'll have to dig it out sometime) but it basically was a couple of buildings as museums and fields of flowers. We stepped inside the first building and it was a greenhouse filled with a multitude of flowers, trees and sculptures. (Remember you can click on an image to enlarge it)








































































The last two are pictures of me and the other English teachers. The picture on the left has (from left to right) Ms. Kim, Ms. Kim, Me and Mr. Hong. The right picture has Ms. Han, Ms. Kim, Me and Ms. Kim. The two teachers that I co-teach with are Ms. Han and the Ms. Kim on the far right in the right picture. I'm very lucky (as I said before) because all of them are really nice.


THE TURTLE IS DISPLEASED WITH YOU!















And, of course, all great agriculture museums have giant giraffes made out of grass in the parking lot.












For those of you who don't like pictures, here is a short video:



So after we explored the greenhouse we continued to a small hut that was full of metal sculptures. They took old garbage and made it into all sorts of random objects. It was really impressive. I don't have good pictures so here is another short video. My two favorites are the mini-helicopter made out of a rice cooker and the giant helicopter.



Anyone notice how odd the word "sculptor" is? I've never even thought about it before.

After that we moved onto a museum with old farming tools, pictures, paintings, etc. I didn't really take any pictures but I did take a few videos. I'll have to post those later or on another web site because they are much bigger. One is eight minutes. I figured everyone back home wanted to experience a Korean museum so I took some videos. I actually don't know if it was okay for me to record it but no one was around so I did. I'm such a rebel. And I have no cause, ladies.

After a bit of time in the museum we moved onto another building that seemed to be preparing for some sort of festival or show. We didn't really stay too long because we pretty much had seen everything in a few minutes.

After that we decided to head out and I took a few more pictures of the flower fields as we departed.

We all started to get pretty hungry so we headed over to AK Plaza (the train station/mall) and we went to a Chinese restaurant. They ordered some sort of "meal set" and they brought out giant plates that everyone was supposed to take a piece of and eat. Some of it I liked, some of it I wasn't a fan of, but overall it was filling. They kept bringing more and more food and I asked, "Is this the last dish yet?" Of course the reply I received was, "Nope. Two more." Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and Mr. Hong brought up the idea of seeing a movie so we headed upstairs to see what was playing. The only English movies were rated R and I thought it might be a little awkward to watch Kick-Ass with my co-teachers but (luckily) they decided on Hurt Locker. I enjoyed it enough, but because it was based off of American soldiers and it was a dialogue heavy movie, I don't think any of them really enjoyed it that much. There was a lot of swearing unfortunately and I felt a little awkward sitting next to my co-workers. When we got out I asked if anyone liked it and I got the same response from everyone, "Uh, it was long." We decided to part ways after. Everyone had a good time (I think) and they seemed to want to have another "English Teacher's Day".

After I got home, I called Audrey and she was still busy playing pool with her co-teachers so I decided to explore Pyeongtaek a little more. I ended up walking to Lotte Mart (the store with the hedgehogs) so I picked up some groceries and headed home. I mention Lotte Mart because it took me half an hour to walk to and we had never been there except by jumping on a bus and taking a taxi home. It was good to start a mental map of the town just in case we need to get anywhere. I know a lot more of the layout now but back then I was excited that I was starting to learn some landmarks and what stores are in what direction (for those of you who know me, I'm not the strongest at memorizing directions so this is an accomplishment).

And with that, I give you three entries for June!