The week was long. I guess it was just busy. It flew by really, but we were crammed with work and the weekend didn't slow us down.

I went to the English exchange after work as usual on Moday. Jenny and I went out afterwads with Joel, Hero and Lawrence to this charming Korean restaurant. I love finding new places outside of my neighborhood. They are really inviting and friendly. It's nice to feel like every Sunday and Monday is a new change of pace from the work place.

Tuesday night was something else. Jenny, Josh (her husband) and I went to see the Korean beauty pageant (miss america basically). Just getting there took some energy. We didn't know exactly where Samgeori park was so we just winged it. We were on that bus for something like an hour, asking everyone where the park was. We had the whole front half of the bus trying to explain it to us. We got there. There were plastic chairs PILED high everywhere, with people standing in them to watch musical performances the pageant had put on. Kids were geeking out over K-Pop artisits such as CnBlue, 2PM, and After School. I know a few of their songs and bragged to my students about the event the next day... major cool points for Emily teacher (well, atleast I think it's fair to assume that makes me cool). Anyways, we followed suit and climbed into these wobbly chair stacks to see the show too. I was in the middle in a shorter stack, with Jenny and Josh on slightly higer piles to my sides. We had so many Koreans come over to us to say hello, tell us we were beautiful and photograph us. We were like royalty in our high stack of chairs, towering over those that came by to....stare at us.

The rest of the week is just a terrible blur. I didn't even exist. I fell into a black hole and had the life sucked out of me.

Then I came back to life Saturday night. But before Saturday night, there was Saturday day. And it was weird. A few of the teachers, myself included, attended what we call "Sports Day" for the kinder kids. Jenny, Reuven and I were exhausted from staying out till 4 the night before at Boom Bar. All of the parents and our students were in this huge gym. First thing first, we had to introduce ourselves. Then we danced a childs dance infront of everyone. Not only was it incredibly intimidating having all of the intense parents watching us do this gross dance, but it was awkward. Then the children and their parents competed in games, while we basically stood around, pointless, occassionally playing with our students. The kids were competitive, but these parents were insane. A lot of children were bawling because they didn't all win prizes. It was insane. I was in a zoo. We finished the sports day with a cool down, which was a massive circle link of everyone massaging each other. Weird. Pull that little stunt in the US and you have a law suit on your hands. Luckily I was inbetween two of my students and not their parents. I don't need so and so's mom rubbing my back, though I believe I deserve it at this point. I like my students a lot. Really. I was happy to be there.

BUT because we were at Sports Day till 6, Jenny, Reuven and I were late to Global Gathering in Seoul, which was just a huge techno festival! It was a beautiful night and the venue was right on the Han River. It was EXACTLY what I needed. I cannot express that more. Unfortunately I missed most of Justice (my favorite) but Fat Boy Slim put on such a crowd-pleasing show! I danced my little heart out. I was so physically drained from the week, Friday night's late hours and Sports Day, but it was the perfect wake-up. It's nice to know I'm still alive. Reuven and I were living it up. I like Seoul a lot. I think I can see myself moving there sometime if I were to teach in Korea again. It was so diverse. The young Koreans  that attended were also more liberal and international. In Cheonan, the younger Korean crowd is still a little traditional, which is great, but it's harder to relate. We got to bed sometime at 5 and woke up and got American style brunch in Itaewon, the foreigner neighborhood in Seoul, which is like a mini America. It's something else.

Now I'm home... just up from a nap. About to start week two of life-suck.