Rich Valley

So it's Monday after work, and I'm home alone, which is a mighty rare occurrence in ol' Dongtan. But the Hulk went to the gym while I decided to come home and chill after a long weekend of Poly partying.

This time around was an overnight staff party. Our boss took our 20 or so staff members to Rich Valley, a small pension resort on the West coast. We woke up early Saturday morning and piled into our Poly bus, ready to rock. Of course, it rained the entire weekend. (2/2, at least we're consistent.) But like the last getaway, it didn't stand in the way of solid times, solid food, and solid drinking game discoveries. (Gahnda, gahnda, peong, GANDA!)

Sounds lame and much too cliche for a blog, but my favorite part of the weekend was actually getting to experience Korean culture. Since I live in it, I obviously experience it everyday, but I often experience the city culture, and rarely get to see day to day familial quirks. It was cool to see how they camp (bbq masters) the snacks they choose (always fresh fruit) and their breakfast choice (ramyen and kimchi - ouch.) The whole weekend was on the boss man, another display of Korean generosity to add to the list.

We had a really great time bonding with our staff and certainly have some stories for the water cooler. And if there is any lesson to be learned from this weekend, any words of wisdom from the wise of the West, it is this: When in doubt, fake unconsciousness. (But don't forget to check back every 4 to 5 seconds, just in case.)

So as per usual, there have been many going ons as of late. The most obvious being the new blog design. Bryan doesn't like it, but he's too lazy to ever blog so his vote no longer counts. Hope you like it!

So we both agree that spring is the best season yet. There's tons to do and we've been doing most of it. For Buddha's b-day (He's 26, I think) a big group of us headed out to Seonyudo, an island off the west coast of Korea. There were about 13 of us crammed into a little pension ready for a weekend of beach and sun. And then it rained the entire time. I would say too bad, but it was the complete opposite: we had a hilarious time playing board games, cards, catch phrase, and charades all weekend long. We drank, ate, and even found a random noraebong to belt out some tunes before bedtime. We ended up making friends with some pretty awesome people too, from all necks of this wonderful Earth: Some South Africans, Scots, Brits, and Yankees. The community of Korea is one of the parts I'm loving most, and it's great learning about new places through stories and the people telling them.

On the topic of meeting new people, we've also made friends with another group of Waegooks in Dongtan, who had a party a few Saturdays ago. There was about 20+ people, which is a big gathering for Korea (considering most people live in studios). It was nice to be back in the house party vibe, and we also made some cool new amigos, 2 of which are going to be in Bali the same time as us. International double date traveling, bring it on.

The latest news in the news is World Cup 2010. In case you were unaware, South Korea is a tad into soccer, and since Canada is so painfully not, we've jumped on board. This past Saturday was their opening game, which the entire country came out for. By some Saturday night miracle, we landed best seats in the house, in a sports bar downtown Gangnam. We won 2-0, the roof was blown off the bar, and I've never hugged so many strangers in my life. KOREA #1!

Today we went to a friend's bbq, where we cooked up some delicious grub on a rooftop patio. Met some new people and experienced some new food, like a toasted South African sandwich that I'll be sure to make a part of my life rather soon.

So those have been the highlights as of late. At this point (June 2010), we're exactly half way through our 16 month contract, which is crazy. Time has flown by and I'm sure the next 8 months will go even faster. So much still to do! Like, go to bed for example. It's currently midnight on a Sunday. I'm the most rebellious preschool teacher I know.

Goodnight, friends.