Chuseok "Fun"

I had a pretty mundane week here, so there's not much to share. It was the week before Chuseok, so my kids were a little, er, not attentive. I had some gems though, like my student who studied in France telling me that he wants to save his Chuseok money for high school and my 6th graders telling me they liked my eye shadow even after I yelled at them for 5 minutes in class about not bothering with class. I was a week. That's all I can say.

In my quest for more organization, I ordered a shelf for my bathroom to make room on my sink counter. My hair, makeup and skincare products and my dental routine stuff all make for a crowded counter. It's still kind of a mess, but it's a slightly more organized mess. 

I get excited about organizational things.
I'm the coolest person around.

Best moment of my week was the baller hair day I had. I don't know what magical combination of humidity, air temperature, hair gel, mousse, conditioner,or wetness produced this, but man, I felt awesome. So awesome that I took selfies, which I tend not to do unless I'm with friends or making stupid faces.

I'm a particular fan of this side. 

How do you know it's fall in Korea?? Not the temperature, that's for sure. We're still hovering at 80 degrees during the day, though the hints of fall are peaking through. No, it's the GOD DAMN GINKGO TREES AND THEIR STUPID BERRY NUT WHATEVERS. 

Seriously. These things are the bane of my existence. The orange bulby seed things are all well and good on the sidewalk.... UNTIL SOMEONE SQUISHES THEM. The consequence of squishing one of these monstrosities is the putrid smell of butyric acid, which, FYI, is found in RANCID BUTTER and VOMIT. Meaning walking around near these (apparently female) trees is an assault on the nostrils each and every day. Apparently, the seeds can be eaten, but only if cooked properly. If not, they are toxic. Or something. 

STOP SQUISHING THESE AND SPARE US

Thankfully, the smell is really only in the immediate vicinity of the squished seeds, so if you walk fast and hold your breath, you can usually escape the most damage. 

Everyone pretty much left early for Chuseok, so I hung out in the office, lesson planned and listened to Phantom of the Opera at my desk. Chuseok is nothing special for me, since I have no ancestors to pray to here, so I'm pretty much just on my own for the long weekend. 

This is some kind of cookie stand where they trust
people enough to leave it out with a slot for the money.

In an attempt to not be a bum all day watching TV, I headed out to get brunch with Janell on Saturday. The place we went was offering free mimosas, which lots of brunch places overlook in Korea. We were hooked.

They were so good

Strawberry cream cheese stuffed french toast

Sausage gravy and biscuits

Complete set of awesome.

Aside from that brunch and coffee date with Janell, I've been solo studying this weekend. Don't get over impressed, I only manage a couple of hours a day due to my attention span, memory and current shoulder pain difficulties. I'm still trying to get just a few more words and grammar points in my head each day, so I'll be ready for the TOPIK II test next year. I'm shooting for level 3 before I leave Korea. I doubt I could squeak out a 4, but if I can keep up the studying, who knows.

Oh yeah, jam packed fun.

Sunday was pretty much the same. Slept in, bummed around, watched TV (currently I'm not watching any dramas and I caught up on all of my American shows for the week, so this Chuseok, I'm watching Ink Master and various Korean variety shows), took a nap because I could, made a feeble attempt at cleaning, and then I headed to a cafe for like 2 hours to study. I grabbed dinner and then headed to see a movie that I've been looking forward to. 

I saw Everest and was like the only foreigner
in the packed theater. I guess movies are popular
on Chuseok.

This is a disaster film, and I went in knowing that the 1996 climbing season was the deadliest on Everest up until the avalanches last year and this year. In 1996, 8 people were killed during a terrible, sudden storm that struck late on May 10th. A series of bad decisions and overcrowding on the mountain, along with the sudden turn of the weather, made the climb that day the death trap that it was.  

I don't know why I find Mount Everest so interesting. If I could, I'd like to see the base camp, but I'd be damned if anyone asked me to go further. I'm not into cold, hiking or torturing my body by climbing so high that the air is so think and the oxygen so scarce that my body starts killing itself, thanks. Anyway, I knew the gist of the story before I went, but that didn't stop me from being scared or nervous as they got closer to the inevitable end of the story. That's how disaster movies go, right??

I tensed, I bit my nails, I shed a few tears. It was a slow but good movie, and I really enjoyed seeing it. It was a nice, albeit intense, break from my studies. 

I've got another bang up day planned tomorrow. Laundry and studying. Really living it up this vacation. Woop. 

I haven't really been listening to anything new this week. In fact, I've been back to Phantom and Les Mis more often than not, with some R&H Cinderella thrown in. Can't wait to see some shows soon!

Hoping the short work week will be a good one for me. Happy fall everyone!