Hi there! Sorry for the long wait. Long time no see....
This week's been an interesting one.
First of all, the rains came. Last week felt just like living in Texas. High 90's, and although I never checked the weather forecast, I'm pretty sure it felt like 100. The humidity was pretty strong. It didn't take long to start sweating after walking outside, and the sun was as piercing as ever. Then, the new week brought new weather. Though it's still hot on occasion, the rain has been a welcoming change. Well, almost welcoming. *scratches mosquito bites*
Jecheon has an annual music and film festival, titled, "Jecheon International Music & Film Festival." It started on Thursday of last week, crossed into the weekend, and ended on Wednesday of this week. To be honest, I'd been waiting for it since I moved here. After finding out where I was staying, I looked up info about this city and found out about the festival. However, by the time it rolled around, I wasn't sure if or when or even how much of it I'd get to see. To my luck, I managed to catch two movies and one band. There were tons of films and music going on all at once, so it was impossible to catch everything, but to me, just experiencing a part of it was satisfying enough.
It reminded me of my childhood. One of the things that made my family feel like a family was going to festivals together, and boy, we went to tons of festivals when I was young. It's something that will probably always make me happy: the festival atmosphere. All I have to do is sit in the center of it and I'm good.
So, I caught one movie in particular called, "The Peach Tree." It was directed by Ku Hye Sun (who played Geum Jan Di in Boys over Flowers). Here's a link to the film description:
[http://www.jimff.org/en/movieprogram/movie01view.asp?idx=155&sec_idx=28&sec2=Feature]
Let me just say it was a very powerful movie. It makes you think; it's intriguing and sad, but also somewhat wonderful in a way. My review sounds mysterious? Yes, somehow I can't quite desribe it in just a few sentences, but that's the kind of time I have right now, so sorry!
On Monday, I decided to go out to eat instead of go straight home. This random change in my daily schedule led me to meet the mother of one of my students. This lady, her daughter, and two other classmates (one of whom was also my student) were having lunch at the restaurant I'd chosen. The girls saw me and the next thing I know we're all eating lunch together. The mother bought me lunch, actually, even though I tried to pay. I feel a bit weird meeting parents. I'm not sure if it's ok to "hang out" with them outside of school. Even so, I became friends with her. We (she, her daughter, and I) ended up going to a movie, eating lunch/dinner (linner?), and snacking at a coffee shop on Wednesday. She's a really nice lady, and I sorta feel like I'm slowly being adopted lol.
Tuesday night was movie night, but before going, I stopped by my friend's phone shop to ask for help with Korean. (I plan to make a video response on Youtube in Korean soon. I'll post it here when it's done). He told me it was going to rain, but honestly, it'd just been super-cloudy all day and I didn't really believe him. He playfully argued about it with me, and I ended up leaving with one of the many spare umbrellas in the shop. It's a nice big one with rainbow stripes near the edges. I told him I'd bring it back the next day, but he just said keep it for a month or two. Haha, like it'd rain nonstop for 2 months. Anyways, I have my own umbrella.
Oh, and before that! I met two Korean girls around my age (FINALLY!) who live in Jecheon. I met one of them in a Family Mart over the weekend, and we agreed to go to a coffee shop Tuesday with another one of her friends. We enjoyed each other's company, making fun of Twilight movie stars (among other things), and speaking Korean and English. (Well,,, I tried at least).
Today, when I get home, I have to get ready to go traveling again. This time I'm going to Jochiwon, the place where this Korean journey began. You see, the 9th generation TaLK scholars are there right now having training, and I want to spy on them. Ok, not really, but I am going to visit the camp nurse and her son. Hopefully I'll make some new friends there. There also might be a trip to Seoul this weekend if things end up that way.
'Til next time!
-Shirby
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