ve also hit crunch time at CIS - our first round of report cards was due today (I had 21 to knock out this time), we have conferences next week, and the CIS basement (ie gym, art room, and music room) is getting re-done resulting in slashed prep time, no gym/music/art and teaching while feeling light-headed due to all the chemicals wafting up from the basement. (Korea is not known for its safety while completing construction projects. I have had to walk within 2 feet of people welding on the sidewalk, no one really wears hard hats, and there is no concern about workers or others breathing in chemicals). I have also joined a hot yoga studio, and have been going to class about 3 or 4 times a week after work.Last Friday night most of
my co-workers went out for 닭 갈비(tak galbi. Basically marinated chicken, pepper paste, cabbage, sweet potatoes, scallions, onions, and rice cake are thrown in a skillet and cooked together) for Marie's birthday and Teacher's Day. Since the new school year started, my staff has gotten really close and we all get along really well. This makes for not only a great work atmosphere, but fun downtime as well.On Saturday, a group of us got together and went over to Sports Complex to check out the LG Twins vs Lotte Giants baseball game. Koreans also come out in throngs in baseball, despite the sun. I can't tell you how many people where using umbrellas to stay in the shade, wearing long sleeve shirts with hoods pulled up, or folding newspaper into hats to shade themselves. We got there about an hour before the game, only to discover that it was sold out. We managed to get some general admission outfield tickets off a scalper but by the time we made it into the stadium, there was not a seat in sight. Korea tends to oversell the general admission and then (in a clear violation of a fire code - if fire codes existed here) lets all the extra people sit on the stairs or in the aisle behind the last row of seats. The entire walkway was filled with people who spread out flattened cardboard boxes or newspapers and then took their shoes off and sat on them to watch the game (not that you can really see over the row of seats in front of you). Not really keen on the idea of not being able to see the game (plus, we had forgotten our newspapers to seat on) we started searching for a better place.
Luck was on our side as we discovered (what we believe) to be the best seats in the stadium. In front of the rows of seats in right field there is a small stage which I am assuming is used for the cheerleaders (although I have never seen the cheerleaders leave t
heir perch on the first base line). We saw some Koreans sitting on it, so we figured we would play our odds and see if we could sit there without getting asked to move. Sure enough, we were allowed to stay there the whole game. This meant no one in front of us, lots of room to stretch our legs, and a great view of the whole field. The game was a blowout (Lotte won 13-0) but what I find amusing about Korean baseball fans is, unlike fans back home who would have left the game early, all Korean fans stay until the 
end of the game and continue to cheer their hearts out, even if their team is the one down by 13, in the ninth, with 2 out and no one on.
The weekend fun continued on Sunday, as Marie and her friend Liz (who was visiting from America) headed to the 63 Building. The building overlooks the Han River and was the tallest building outside of North America when construction finished in 1985 (it is 817 feet tall). It was South Korea's tallest building until 2003 when the Hyperion Tower was finished. The top floor is an observation deck that offers a good view of the city (on a clear day you can see all the way to Incheon, where the airport is!) There is also an aquarium (complete with seals that can see-saw and swing) and a wax museum featuring various famous people.
From here we headed towards the main part of the city for the Lotus Lanter
n Festival. You may recall reading about this event from last year, as it is held annually on the Sunday before Buddha's birthday. Over 100,000 individual lanterns and floats fill the street in a 2 hour long parade. The lanterns were just as spectacular and the parade was made even better by the warm weather (last year was definitely a little chilly when the sun went down).
Not sure how much Korea makes the news over there in America, but one story that has been a hot topic among the foreigners over here is the sinking of the South Korean warship in late March. The ship was ripped in half in a mysterious explosion in disputed waters off North Korea that left 46 sailors dead. South Korea was very hesitant to point fingers at North Korea until after an official investigation was conducted. The results of the investigation (which was completed by American, Swedish, Australian, British, and South Korean experts) will be announced tomorrow morning, but early statements by the foreign minster are pointing to North Korea as being behind the attack (See article here). I am not really sure what this means for South Korea, but I will definitely be following this story over the weekend.
Speaking of the weekend, tomorrow is "fake Friday" here as we get real Friday off for Buddha's birthday. I am finally going to make it to Busan (the last place on my list of places I want to go in Korea) and hopefully the weather stays nice so we can get to the beach as well as other places in the area.
Lastly, here is a recen
t video I took in Bambi class. I have begun reminding the kids that they need to speak English and not Korean (although not enforcing this with consequences yet) and the kids are taking pretty well to it. However, my kids are on a "garbage" kick and a "crazy" kick (EVERYTHING is garbage and or crazy) so the following is what often happens when I ask them to not speak Korean. The video starts on Justin, moves to Jaden, then Gina, then back to Justin, and finally at the end you get a nice visual of Ian's angry face that he makes several times throughout the day, complete with angry noises.
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