추석 Reflections (Green Chair)

I have so much to catch up on, but I'm really tired. I suppose I'll begin, as always, at the beginning. Chuseok was... not the most terrible experience of my life.

In the morning I went with host dad and the kids to a rural village and put fruit and alcohol on the graves his grandparents and father. It was a long drive, because of traffic, and hot, and we did a lot of traipsing through fields, which was frustrating, since no one bothered to tell me to wear tennis shoes. And then we ate lunch at a restaurant. My host kids were especially annoying on that day, for whatever reason. My host sister called me fat, my host brother called me pig, although that's not uncommon, and I basically just wanted to strangle them. You'll be pleased to know I refrained.

Then we finally came home and I took a nap, but my host sister informed me we were all going to Gwangju to visit host mom's family. joy of joys. I was really not in the mood, so I faked a headache, but things weren't actually so bad. We didn't arrive until nearly seven, and we ate. It was awkward, as always, with all of those people I don't know who don't know English, but one of my host mom's brothers spoke English very well, and it was okay. And after dinner, all of the adults and me went to the bar! I wasn't actually that excited, because I don't like drinking that much, especially not with strangers, but then my host mom's other little brothers arrived. There were three of them between 25 and 30, I'd guess, and they were pretty nice. One of them majored in English, so he spoke fairly well, and I just tried to drink a lot of beer. We came home to grandparents house around 12, and then the men proceeded to drink more soju until nearly 1:30, when we finally went home. I was tired and irritated, because once we got home it was just the old people drinking and speaking Korean, and I was bored. But I was really happy to see my bed.

I don't really remember what happened the next day. The rest of the week-long Chuseok holiday just kinda runs together. I studied quite a bit, hung out with Meghan a lot, and I was ready to go back to work on Friday when I went, although I was tired. Classes went really well, and I love my students, especially at DMS, a little more everyday. I've started just hanging out outside after lunch, when my classes are finished, studying Korean and studying names. Then various students at recess and P.E. just come and sit next to me and stare at me or vaguely attempt to talk to me in English or Korean. A few of them I really really love. See pictures.

This weekend I hung out with Tim and Meghan. We watched a movie which turned out to be erotic. Not porn, but it's a Korean category, ero-movies. It had some extended sex scenes, but probably not much more than Eyes Wide Slut. Anyway, I give it 3 and a half B's out of 5. The plot is that a 32 year old woman falls in love with an underage boy. I think I remember him as being 19, but that doesn't really make sense. Anyway, he's two months from being not underage. But then they get caught somehow, and she's sent to trial and sentenced to community service. And the boy shows up as she leaves the courthouse and they leave together, because they're really in love. And in the movie, they work through their age issues, and their relationship continues to blossom (I guess). It was an intriguing plot, and the male actor was really cute, but there were a few things that made it frustrating. Like for one, the female lead was insane, or something. She was really irrational, and did strange irrational things regularly which made her annoying. And the guy was really mature, and dealt with her really well, which is I guess what made their relationship nice, but I just found her kind of whiny and annoying and delusional. (Takes one to know one?) And the last thirty minutes were just weird. I guess I appreciated them in an artistic sense, but they were jarring as a conclusion to a movie that had otherwise walked a fairly realistic line.

Then we drank soju at a hof near Meghan's house. Tim and I had two bottles each, and I didn't really get drunk. Blah! Sobriety! But otherwise fun.

Here's some pictures. I love my kitty!
September in Naju...