One Month Anniversary

I've been in Korea for exactly one month! The time really has flown by, cliche as that sounds. I've gotten familiar with my job, settled in my apartment, made some new friends, and learned a little about Korean culture. Now that I'm past the very initial stages of getting comfortable, it is time to do some weekend trips and focus more seriously on studying Korean. I feel like such an idiot sometimes only being able to say a handful of words. Bring on the workbooks and audio CDs!

In other news, this weekend was the first annual Gunsan Lifelong Learning Festival. Our school had a booth, so I was working there Friday and Saturday.

It was a city festival with participants ranging from schools to businesses to artists to public health advocates. There were a lot of interactive booths, free food, give-aways, traditional dances, and musical performances. I was mostly speaking English and playing games with little kids, but had some really interesting adult conversations and also snuck away to visit the other booths.


You could drink Korean tea, make squid pancakes, bind a journal, play Korean games, have your face painted, play dress up in traditional clothes, get acupuncture, play with robots, get your nails done, snack on popcorn, throw pottery, and eat sweet bean pastries.

The only bummer was that they tried to time the event to coincide with the cherry blossoms. The festival was in a park with a lot of cherry trees, and all the advertising banners showed trees in full bloom. Unfortunately, it's still been wintery and the trees haven't really blossomed yet. We are finally seeing a few flowers on a few trees, but no explosion of petals. Soon, very soon... and I will be very excited.

Also, if you're reading this, I would love to know! Please feel free to leave a comment, it's always nice to know who's reading.