Thankful for Thanksgiving

It's officially Chusok--as of five o'clock today (Friday). If I haven't mentioned it earlier, Chusok is the Korean equivalent to the Thanksgiving but Koreans get THREE days off of work and school! When you count the weekend, that adds up to FIVE days off for me!

Tomorrow morning Courtney and I are heading out for Yongju (don't know where it is) to meet her friend for a night and then we're going north to Seoul for the next four days. Monday: the DMZ or North/South boarder, Tuesday: hiking in Korea's mountains, Wednesday: putzing around Seoul and heading home. It should be exciting.

The guy on the right is one of my co-teachers from the girls school: Mr. Nam.

Me and Kate, another co-teacher at the girls school.

This week was pretty uneventful for me. I taught classes Mon-Wed, but yesterday was the mid-term exam at the girls high school and today was the physical fitness exam at the boys high school (basically the equivalent of our presidential fitness test). Pretty boring to say the least. I sat outside with the other teachers and watched the kids run in circles and do push-ups. It was super hot outside but the school kept a steady flow of ice cream and Popsicles moving among the teachers so it was bearable. I've been practicing the Korean language and trying to learn the alphabet, which is crazy but it kept me busy for the rest of the day. I also met a new teacher today who is an AMAZING photographer. I asked him to teach me some things but he doesn't speak English, so that makes things a little difficult. He's promised to show me some of Korea's more scenic places though and that satisfies me. :)

I was unable to gather many photos of the girls because they were always covering their faces. This was the only real smile I caught.

Another co-teacher from the girls school: Mr. Hong.

Below are some pictures from my classes at the girls school and a bunch of photos from the physical fitness test today. Enjoy! I'll be back on the 26th!