Anyway, 2 weeks ago we were invited to our Taekwondo Master's daughter's 1st birthday party. It is a HUGE deal in Korea to celebrate the first year of their little ones' lives. They invited all of their friends - so the adults outnumbered the kids - although there were some there and they are soooo cute!! There were about 15 'tables' for people to eat duck from. our first time with this yummy dish. We were surrounded by Takewondo Master's students who are learning to become Masters, so some of them spoke some English and Craig knew some of the guys. Invited were some of the head Takewondo Master's in our taekwondo group. I don't know exactly what their official titles were - but i do know that every time one came in the room, we all stood up out of respect until he sat down. We were all sitting on the floor and stood up at least 7 times throughout the meal. Of course i was thinking how much more efficient/convenient it would be if they all came to the party at the same time - then we'd only have to stand up once! but it was a cool experience. Also, when the men asked the 20 year old guys to have a drink with them, they would pour with their drink and the younger man would turn his head away from the older man to drink out of respect. and you just can't refuse when offered!
Our Taekwondo Master and his family are Christians. There were 2 eating rooms, one for his friends and another for his family and church family. The pastor was at the party and said a 'sermon' and had a blessing for the baby girl. It was a really neat experience to see that the baby wasn't showered with gifts, but that the family extended their appreciation to their friends for helping celebrate their child. All the guests gave the family 'envelopes' with money for the baby, but we didn't know that before hand! so, the baby got some bath toys and they were grateful.
The next Friday night we were invited for dinner by our boss. It was just us 5 foreign teachers (rachel, robin, tracy, us) with Mr.Kim who also took us for duck. It's not quite as expensive as back home as 4 of us can share a $40 serving. We had smoked duck with mustard which ROCKED and also marinated duck. it was a feast! at the end of the meal, Mr.Kim handed Rachel an 'envelope' saying we should go enjoy ourselves at a noraebong (singing room). We were blown away by his generosity and headed out to sing it up! Then we headed out with the foreigners for Quiz night put on by Robin, rachel, julie, Nicole team. the big hit of the night was rachel's round of '90s music questions - with groups like belle biv divo, c+c music facory, technotronic, and the verve pipe. what a night!
The rainy season officially started on North American's first day of summer - so it is as humid outside as it is in our bathroom after taking a shower. yeah. sticky. and will stay this way for at least the next month. not a great time to come and visit! not that anyone has...
This week has been the craziest one for us at school thus far! it is week 8 of our 16 week semester, so i had 88 diaries to mark, we had midterms to give and correct, and had monthly reports to do for each of our students. This picture is for you, Mom, so you can see us hard at work in our living room. we stayed up until 2:30am so we would finish marking our reports. And we are now finished our monthly reports - all finished 3 days early! YES! I am a teacher! even i can't believe it somedays...
We're looking forward to enjoying the rest of the weekend now that we aren't tied down to papers - but it's pouring rain. Guess we'll stay in for a bit and watch Lost season 2 episodes. We're off to a Murder Mystery meal this evening put on by a foreigner, then off to Daejeon tomorrow so Craig can preach, then to Costco to buy some MEAT!! something not very abundant in Korea!
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