시간 때 재미 날아!

My, my, my, what a week it has been since we last spoke. This was a Crazy week at camp, and I mean crazy. Our capacity, maximum capacity, is around 56 kids and we well exceeded that all week. We had about fifteen new Korean kids this week, school just let out and rich parents pay a hefty price to get their kids in an American camp program. Monday was the wildest day, we were given no warning about the amount of kids to come and were bombarded about fifteen minutes before camp started with the realization that there were about fifteen extra kids, a mix of Koreans and Americans, apparently we are doing a good job and word of camp is spreading as many parents try to sign up their kids. We had to switch around small groups to adjust to the size. My small group is generally 12-16 kinders, changing daily, in a room with a fire capacity of 18 children. This week I have had a constant 20 campers a day in the same room. I know have all the kinders and about half the first graders, the spawn of Satan half. Normally in small group time in the morning we go around and share something individually, then learn six new words, then do a coloring art project. When you have 20 kids in the room you can’t have individual time and expect the other nineteen to sit quietly and listen. The coloring activity went decently but the older kids kept saying it was for babies and had stinky attitudes. Everyone was just testing their boundaries on Monday since the routine was basically shot and we did a lot of sitting quietly and I was without a voice by the end of the day from shouting. Lunch was a disaster. Normally it is hard enough to get the kinders quiet and fed, but we had no extra room and were just pulling chairs up to tables and scrunching chatting kids. My camp this week is musical theater camp, basically my sanctuary from the craziness. We have been singing Disney songs and the kids get really into it. Two in particular, brother and sister, Shyana and Jerrell sing their hearts outs, eyes closed, hand motions; it takes all I have to not laugh. I also taught them the doe a deer a female deer song from sound of music which they sing all the time like opera singers. Monday afternoon rotating activities were also stressful because I was in charge of painting and fifteen kids painting isn’t hard, 20 each rotation is. I had paint everywhere on my uniform, which is about normal for any paint activity. Monday night was filled with programming for our last few weeks of camp and getting into a heated, ugly debate about the rock cycle.

Tuesday was a better day, thank goodness, still rough though. The kids realized the way small group would be this week and have accepted it more or less. In musical theater camp we continued to sing from the nine songs I printed out lyrics for. I had all the song lyrics in stapled packets and as we sang I had them go to the back table and put a smiley face next to three songs they would like to perform on Friday in Camp A presents. I thought they would put simple little smiley faces, but to my delight I noticed when I picked up the paper and tallied the marks they had intricate, unique faces with hair styles and it was really cool to see their inventiveness without specific instructions. That afternoon we went to the pool and enjoyed lots of fun times swimming and having them hang on me. I probably hear my name 15 times a minute, miss smartie wanna watch me float, miss smartie dunk me to the bottom, miss smartie how long can I hold my breath, miss smartie watch this, miss smartie will you pick me up, miss smartie watch me swim, stand there miss smartie and I’ll swim to you. I’m constantly moving in a circle applauding small swimming accomplishments and pretending to be interested in how long they can hold their breath. Closing was fun, swimming tires them out so when it’s time to sit in a circle and sing songs I put my legs out straight in front of me and four kids will be asleep on my thighs by the end. After work Tuesday night I convinced Jesa to skip our work out and instead go for a long walk off post down by the river. We walked about fifteen minutes to find the river we taxi past all the time, we walked and talked and jogged for about two and half hours enjoying the Koreans and fountains and amazing environment. We got slightly lost and had to do a bit of wandering to find base. We often get to chatting and don’t realize how far we have gone. On our way back we walked through a small forest grove around the sidewalk between the main road and the river. The cicadas were so plentiful and loud that we literally couldn’t hear each other talking, they were deafening. We would look at the trees and they were covered with exoskeletons and living cicadas climbing up and down the trees, in my opinion it was one of my favorite Korea experiences. I have never heard them so loud that I couldn’t hear anything else, or seen so many up close with their claws and wings.

Wednesday was a fun day at camp. We practiced very hard in musical theater camp and we were trapped inside due to rain for the rest of the morning. In the afternoon we went bowling and I again sat in the lane with a bunch of first grade boys and Jirah and Kalisha. We again played crack the egg and tickle monster while they bowled around a 60. Wednesday night one of our campers families, Dawson, invited us over for dinner. We enjoyed a delicious steak, cuscus, Asian pear, salad, desert home cooked meal that my mouth was salivating over with delight. They were the cutest married couple ever and had been all over the world. Their living room was littered with trinkets from far off lands and she had the most incredible stories to share.

Thursday was a long exhausting day, field trip day. We loaded the buses bright and early, eight thirty, Devin and I with our 18 kids, 57 total kids that day. The bus had one small TV screen in the front and we decided to play the lion king. First problem, the kids sitting in the window seats were too short to see above the seats in front of them, thus we entered into a tear fest for the first twenty minutes. The bus ride was our longest one yet, two hours, and of course we had to make an emergency bathroom break. One of my little trouble makers Sammy, who happened to be sitting next to me, was crying because he had to use the restroom so bad and the bus driver took his sweet time getting there. After our break we reloaded and about ten minutes into the ride Sammy throws up, luckily I see it coming and dump out an old ziplock with toys in it to catch his puke. I thought we were in the clear until the bag of vomit began seeping and leaking all over my hands and down one leg, I almost lost it. After cleaning up and rubbing his head, he puked up the rest of his stomach contents, this time in a sealed bag about five minutes later. We finally arrived in Tongdo Fantasia amusement park. We rode the carousal, balloons, some other circle ride, and mini rollercoaster. We attended a 3-D dinosaur show which was hysterical in his awfulness. These small terrible glasses made me sick so I watched without. The entire movie was about a dinosaur who’s egg was beamed up onto a spaceship so he has to save it from the alien robot dinosaurs. The whole thing was without any dialogue and it contained more sound effects than every action movie I have ever seen put together. When he blinked there was a sound effect. After a tiring bus ride back, I sat next to Keyona who was hyper on life for an hour before crashing hard, we left work and Devin, James and I went out to dinner at some BBQ chicken place. They had the spiciest wings available and cried openly at the dinner table, why would you want to eat something that physically causes you pain. After dinner we all piled into James room, Jesa included to watch thank you for smoking, which was pretty funny.

Friday was a generally good day at camp. We had Camp A presents and the Musical theater camp had their big performance. You should have seen the kids freak out in the hour before club time, the pressure of the performance must have been getting to them because I had four different kids crying in the separate corners. The day dragged on and I anxiously waited four thirty, when cream the counselor would be over and I would be free at last, at least for two days. After work Jesa and I decided to spend some quality time together and go downtown for some shopping while the boys headed to a baseball game with a staff member. This girl time was much needed. We stopped in Baskin Robbins and enjoyed the taste of home. We then spent too much time and too much money shopping the streets of Daegu, trying to find the best deals and think of gift ideas. We are also trying to Korean ourselves up before leaving the country so we are desperately trying to copy the dress of one of our coworkers Miss Moon with little success. We returned enjoyed a relaxing night of staying up late, chatting, watching a movie, and braiding hair.

The next morning came very early and I was not excited to hear the 7 am alarm chime. We met up with the boys and headed for the bus stop where we caught the 8:30 hour long bus to Gyeong ju. Gyeong ju is the historical tourist attraction of South Korea. It has a bunch of history and artifacts from the Silla period and we were looking forward to a traditional, educational weekend. We discovered that none of us really get along till after two pm so the morning was argument after argument and very tension filled, but that won’t bring me down. Our first stopped were the Royal mound tombs. We walked for about ten minutes and were surrounded by grassy hills, right between buildings and next to gas stations. These hills were old burial mounds during the Silla dynasty and have been excavated to reveal some of the nation’s most prized national treasures. We found a small park, Daeneungwon, and spent time wandering around the mounds, lotus ponds, and taking pictures of the many dragon flies. Next we headed back to the bus stations, after failing at figuring out the bus schedule, to ask the tourist information desk how to get to Bulguk-san temple. We were overly confident with our transportation skills coming into this weekend and karma several times spit in our face and made us problem solve and wait patiently. After finding the bus and boarding we enjoyed a short bus ride to the temple. The temple was incredible and I am so glad we were able to find it. This temple is the best known in all Korea and we were able to spend a few relaxing hours in it. Oh I also completely forgot to mention that this was the hottest day I have ever experience in South Korea. There was not a cloud in the sky and the sun was beating down on us in this 100+ weather. So obviously we were shade seekers and wandered around the lotus pond and shadows of the temples. We were asked to pose with Korean military men in a picture, and took a picture with our camera too. We found a ton of pagodas, small rocks stacked on top of each other to make a tower, behind a tower and enjoyed seeing their different shapes and stacking strategies. We decided to next head out to the coast and see the Underwater Tomb of King Munmu. We have heard so much about this tomb that we figured it was a must see, people have said you have to get there at low tide to see it and it’s so beautiful so we were determined. We sat at a bus stop for an hour, we were seeking bus 150 and we sat and watched bus 100 pass by 3 times and bus 10 taunt us 5 times. Eventually an impatient Devin decided we should get on bus 100, heading in the direction of the coast and work with what we get. So we bused and got off in a strange town on the coast, north of where we wanted to be. There were tents everywhere, Korean camping is very weird and different, and we began our search for a connecting bus down to the tombs. After walking in one direction, turning around and walking back, and looking confused I popped into a convenient store to ask the shop owner directions to the tombs. He said one block, said ten minutes, and pointed straight. We wandered and he came huffing and puffing after us pointing that we had traveled too far. We boarded a questionable bus that rolled in right at the ten minute mark and it fortunately took us right to the tombs. We got off the bus and were instantly disappointed. Our two hours of problem solving and patient waiting had gotten us to a pebble beach and a small rock formation off the coast, where supposedly, possibly his ashes remained. After a good laugh we ouched and oohhed our way across the pebbles to the water. We spent a good our rock collecting, everything was covered in water and smooth like it had just gotten out of a rock tumbler and they were made up of magnificent colors. Obviously I brought home around four handfuls. We met a tall, skinny, red headed, British boy that was just traveling around South Korea alone for two months. I enjoyed his accent, especially when talking about “contraband activities.” Finally it was leaving time and we were all in high hopes that the buses would be much easier to figure out. We found the stop and waited 45 minutes for the fabled bus 150 to pull up. The bus took us back to the bus station and we bused back to Daegu. On our way back to our hotel we stopped at a rest and hof and spent the rest of the evening chatting and winding down. All in all it was a relaxing, spectacular, hot, great day.

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early to hit up church before moving onto our festivities. We decided to head out to Busan, beach, for potentially our last ocean excursion. It was another hot day and busan is just a 7000 won hour and a half train ride and 30 minute subway ride away. We played Euker on the train down, stressful as always. James and I vs. Devin and Jesa, and the boys don’t like when you lose. The subway was packed which was clue enough for how the beach would be. If you will recall back to the first time we visited Busan it rained the entire time and we were four of 75 people on the beach. Take that number and add about three zeros to the end and that is still less people than those on the beach. All you could see were people laying out under rows and rows of umbrellas and people stretching down the beach playing in the ocean as far as you could see. We were luckily able to find a small patch of sand to lay our towels on. Jesa sunned and read while the boys and I went out to play in the huge crashing waves. They yelled their catch phrase, como se dice, and we drank our fair share of sea water. After about three hours of playing on the beach and laying in the sun it was time to head home. We got back on the long subway ride and grabbed some burger king before boarding our train home. Unfortunately we were all in separate cars on the way back but we were able to relax and read alone. That night back in our hotel we hung out and prepared for the next week of camp, the weekend was very refreshing and relaxing and exactly what the doctor ordered. I can’t believe I only have three more weeks left in this beautiful country, poo poo.

Miss you,
Elizabeth