Today a 6 year old that doesn't go to my school followed me into the bathroom, used the urinal next to me,  intently gazing at what I was doing and possibly "sizing me up", he then  held the flush button until it built up with water, dipped his shoe in the pee-water mixture then got on his bike and left.

During 5th and 6th grade class, last Friday,  I placed 20 animal cut outs on the table. I was going to have them pick one to represent them in a race. Their grubby hands grabbed as many of them as they could (some having 4 or 5) before I told them what were doing or why they were there. So to teach them a lesson, I had them act in front of the class like each animal they took.......to my satisfaction. MUWAHAHAHAHA
I was called Devil Teacher by one of the students.
Rule #1: Listen to teacher..........If teacher doesn't say anything..... don't do anything.

5th and 6th grade got cancelled because I told them in class I was not feeling well, had a sore throat and a stuffy nose. They didnt want to catch what I had and decided not to come to class. If when a teacher is sick classes get cancelled, I think I caught something that I can get rid off, *wink* if you know what I mean.

So Cheon Taek, my delivery driver friend is expanding his business buy purchasing a brand new 15 ton transport truck to do late night runs in. Like Smokey and the Bandit. And since he bought this new truck, a celebration had to ensue to set it off on its maiden voyage correctly, Koren sytle.

Jay Op, Cheon Taeks nephew in front of the new truck and the "peace offerings" table.

Michael putting money in the "offering tray" keep note of this "offering tray".

Michael and I getting ready to bless the truck, which was just bowing down and then taking a big gulp from the communal Makali cup. Makali is a rice wine that looks like watery milk, though doesnt taste half as good as watery milk.

 Jay Op and Cheon Taeks mother, visiting from Seoul because of the celebration, watching as we kneel and bow. Funny thing is that Cheon Taeks sister was giving birth on this same day, and the family was split during the day for the birth of the newborn before 6pm and then afterwards the family came down for the celebration of the truck. Yes that is right, buying a big a$$ truck is the same as giving birth to a child. AHAHAHAHA crazy Korean culture. Now you remember that "offering tray" I was talking about earlier????

 Well this is it, that is cooked pigs head jammed with money in its snot, and mouth. Later we cut it up and ate it, just the pig head, not the money! Later on Michael and Cheon Taek went on a midnight Kimichi run all in a town 3 hours away. They didnt make it back till 3 am and Michael had to work at 8, I guess I am glad im not the Bandits right hand man, Snowman!

For those of you that dont have facebook I am going to start to post the same messages I put on my Facebook about Korea on here as well. Here are a few that have happened recently:

-I just saw a kindergartner spit out a non chewed hard-boil quail egg when told it wasn't for her, then she gave it to another kindergartner who was present during the regurgitation and he willing-fully and happily ate it.
Nom-nom-nom




-Just found my 1st/2nd grade girls styling and cutting the Kindergartners hair


-Joon, one of my Kindergarteners just whispered something in my ear. 
It could have been the answer to:
Is the Lochness monster real?
Did DB Cooper survive the jump?
Who was Deep-throat ?
Or if his butt itches?
The world may never know


-Walking down the hallway......

Paul: Teacher! Me girlfriend!

Me: Oh really? Who is your girlfriend?
Paul : Yes Me girlfriend!
Me: Yes, Who? Who is your girlfriend?
Paul: Teacher, Kevin girlfriend!!!!
Me: Kevin is your girlfriend?
Paul: YESSS KEVIN!!!!
You learn something new everyday




-Going for a run in America:
1) Leave house
2) Run (maybe stop for a water break)
3) Arrive at house

Going for a run in Korea:
1) Leave House
2) Run (maybe stop for a water break)
3) Say hello to elder Korean couple
4) Get invited out for drinks
5) Go to near by restaurant
6) Drink beer
7) Drink soju
8) Eat fish snack
9) Drink more beer
10) Drink more soju
11) Exchange information
12) Get invited to meet Irish Son-in-Law when he returns in August
13) Say good-bye
14) Finish running
15) Arrive home

.....exercise in Korean is more fun.......

So over the long weekend a group of us decided to venture to the East side of korea to the Seoraksan Mountain and visit nearby Sockho Chitty (City) to have a dip in the East/Japanese Sea. Koreans call it the East Sea while a lot of other countries call it the Japanese Sea , if you remember the Korean War and the invasion of Japan into Korea for a long ass time, Koreans are not too too happy with Japan, this is why they are adamant about it being the EAST SEA.

Of course since WE planned this trip, once we got to Seoul Friday night we packed it in early since we had to wake up at 6am to get our 7 am bus, we didnt buy tickets before hand, we just assumed we would get a seat. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH NO! My father told me never to assume because : it makes an ASS out of U and ME.

So what do we get for making this assumption, not catching the 7 am bus but having to wait for the 1pm. I think this trip is going great already!!!

So we went to a nearby temple of some old Kings that died a long time ago, and got buried in big mounds of  dirt, we were not too thrilled to be seeing dirt with old people in them right then.

Trees around the old dead kings.

All in all the temple was nice,but we slightly annoyed that we had to wait that long to catch our bus to start our trip.

Some stone sculptures of goats around one of the burial sites. Beats me why you would want to be guarded by goats for eternity, I would want bears and lions and tigers......something more viscous than a goat

Stone guy giving us the cold shoulder

These may be horses, mules or asses, not sure, I actually just wanted to say asses, now I did, TWICE!!!!

So we get our 1pm bus, and since the day was off to a wonderful start it seems that it should keep going that way right? Of Course because thats just our luck.The bus takes 6 hours to get there, and we are all tired, cranky, sweaty and just want to get to our place. So when we arrive we jet to the beach and crack some brews open and let the party begin. My buddies Rylan and Will enjoying their victory drinks.

The reason why we came all this way was to hike up Seoraksan mountain, we were told it has amazing views and great hikes. You be the judge from the following pictures.

Rylan, Will, Ara and myself with some buddah in the background.

Make sure to stretch it out, dont wan to pull a hammie half up the mountain.

Either breathing in the fresh mountain air, or "adding" to it with my own fragrance, hehehe

These guys were so excited we finally ended up coming to the mountain,

Getting a little sassy with golden buddah

Rylan doing the "V"  sign. Tons of Koreans do this in pictures, its actually because it stands for Victory, as in when Korea got its independence back from Japan, so since the 50s its been ingrained in their minds to keep the tradition alive

Wait wait wait

We are going up there?????

Some writing on the walls of some rocks

I have been here for about 6 months, so of course I am fluent in Korean and it states : "Prease, no pictures of locks"

Umm yea I guess we are going all the way up there

By a large rock with writing on it

Here it says " Prease, for the Rove of God, dont stand next to lock and take picta"

So after a million or so steps, yes I counted, we got to the top of the summit and this is a small town that we could see.

More summit pictures

Okay Ready! One.....Two.....click!
- Wait you didnt say three!

Wow what a bad smile

Rylan cheesing

Will and Ara to the other side of the summit

What I was looking at coming down the mountain, the back of Rylans head

Took about 45 mins to come up these stairs, and only 10 to go down, it was pretty rough going up.

At the base of the rock, still have 3 kilometers to go till we are at the base of the mountain

Korean rock climbers

Another trail that lead to a water fall

This trail was a lot easier

At the water fall

Okay so I was expecting something a little more, but oh well

Dried up river bed, that we decided to go into and cool off for a bit

"river"

The new gang that I hiked down from the waterfall from

We got yelled at for being in the "river" more like big puddles

Later that night after a nice shower and some korean BBQ

And the sparklers come out

That was the weekend in a nutshell. Monday we had off and were going to hike some more but it was rainy and overcast, so we headed home early. All in all Sundays hike made up for all the headache that the trip was. I hope this post wasnt too lengthy and shows you some of the natural beauty of Korea!