School Festival

Every year around this time schools take a break from their normal curriculum to have a festival in honor of Buddhas birthday. That meant no classes after tuesday which is always nice. The first day was sports day for the students. Each class created uniforms in advance and competed in all sorts of events including ping-pong, kickball, soccer, track, tug of war, and the very unusual and funny Pec jok. In this race the kids linked up in a very... awkward proximity to one another. Hopefully there were no...personal discoveries in those races.
The games finished up the next day and that evening a special event was held in the schools gymnasium. It was a show consisting of musical performances, magic tricks, and acting skits done by the students. It also featured a song performed me and four other female English teachers "How Deep is your Love". How I was drawn into this I will never know but I went with it and the song went really well. I am a terrible singer but singing with four other girls really made my voice sound better. Everyone sung the chorus but we divided the lyrics up. I sung the first bit with another teacher and I must say we sounded fantastic! After we finished the other teachers who could actually sing took care of the rest. I thought the chorus sounded okay. It was fun getting up on stage in front of such a large crowd. There was quite a bit of smoke on the stage so for a few seconds there I really felt like a rock star. If I can get ahold of some photos of the actual song I will be sure to put them up.
I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with the other teachers. Although communication is very limited with the exception of the female English teachers, the school appreciates that I stick around and make an effort to socialize. I am making progress learning Korean words but I have a long way to go till I can have a real conversation in Korean.

Jeju Island ( Frisbee Tournament)

Jeju Island is a sub-tropical Island located off the southern coast of South Korea. It is a volcanic Island not unlike the Hawaiian Islands and there the 3rd annual Ultimate Frisbee tournament was held. This tournament was fantastic. Each team paid a $300 entry fee that covered hotel, food, and drinking expenses. The tournament was held on the World Cup practice field which had the nicest grass I ever played on.
On Friday the tournament hosted an all you can drink party at the hotel. They only offered one kind of beer which was the very ordinary Cass beer. Despite the limited selection no one was complaining about a free beer that can be can be consumed in very large quantities. I learned quickly that Ultimate players take their drinking very seriously. Frisbee and Beer seem to go together and on this night I was introduced to a new kind of chug; Frisbee Chug. Did you know you can fit nearly forty ounces of beer inside an inverted frisbee? It took me a few minutes to finish my disk of beer and I quickly felt sick afterword.
The night ended on the Fourth floor where a large group of us formed Frisbee baseball, with an empty water jug being the bat. Being considerate folk, some diskers took down the hotel pictures and some other loose objects before beginning the fun. I am happy to report nobody got hurt during this game and I only wish I pictures to show of this great game.
The next day was a painful one initially. Once I got to the stadium and walked in the sun I felt better. On my way to the field I walked past a giant stack of Cass, Soju, and Water, yes drinking was allowed at the tournament. There were teams from all over Asia at this tournament and many were very competitive and fun to watch. It was great to see Ultimate played by people who understand the game. Team Gongshow could be described as the ultimate recreational team. I knew we wouldn't compete with the good teams but it was great getting out on that field and playing.
That night was another buffet and all night drinking party. Two people I travelled with brought a single and couples beer bong that was readily embraced by all the players. It was these beer bongs and the general party attitude of the Mokpo crew that led us to receive the award for best spirit/party attitude.
The next day was very very painful but thankfully there were only a few games to be played before the playoffs started. My group watched some very good Frisbee be played while drinking the Cass from the grandstands. Took off late that afternoon for the five hour ferry ride back to Mokpo. I slept much of the way in my cabin which is a giant room that dozens of passengers share. I will have to return to Jeju and check out the beaches next time. It was a great tournament but it took up all of the time there.