"Sons of War"

It's been a fun few days.

After work Friday, there was a retirement party for the janitor held at an amazing, expensive Japanese restaurant. (Mike you would have LOVED the sashimi!) The whole school showed up (about 60 people!). I had a really good time getting to know other teachers, doing shots of soju, and did a lot of laughing with some other staff members. It was such a great time. I almost didn't go because I didn't think I was invited, and never met the janitor. However, it's considered rude not to attend. Jordan didn't go because he had other plans, and all the teachers were wondering where he was (not good!). But they were thrilled that I attended and supposedly it makes you look good to the administration and other teachers. I was told a lot of the teachers respect me for it and think highly of me for attending (as well as because I have teacher certification back home! - it makes you more "dignified").

I discovered a couple Korean customs. One of the teachers got married and part of the custom is to give all the co-workers a gift. She gave us all these sticky rice cakes. (which looked really good!). Sticky rice cakes suck! They are the most foul tasting dessert ever! Lesson: If it looks like a nice cake, and smells like a nice cake, still be wary. The other custom was for the janitor retirement - he too is obliged to give gifts to the co-workers. He gave this:
That's right (1) The JANITOR gave us a towel. (2). It's called a Luxury Romance Towel. (I didn't know he had such a crush on me and I had never met him before yesterday!)


Later that night I met up with Jordan and Ivan and we went to Bar 19, where we played some darts (I won the first game and got creamed the 2nd game). We had some drinks, and talked with a Korean girl we met last week. She's a physics teacher at a hagwon in town, but gets out of work at 10pm, and had just gone to the hospital because she wasn't feeling well. We found out she gets out of work 10pm, studies and surfs the internet until 5am, goes to bed, and wakes up at 7am. Apparently that's all the sleep she gets everyday according to her. Who sleeps 2 hours a day???! No wonder she was at the hospital, the poor girl is dying of exhaustion!

Today I went solo on the subway (it was simpler this time) and took a trip to the War Memorial of Korea. This place was simply amazing and has a ton of information and some great monuments. It's a history buff's dream! I highly recommend it to anyone who travels to Korea. Plus, I figured I better see it now before they have to put some of the equipment back in service to fight the North!

The album can be found here.

Enjoy!