Korea: my life, my story: 4th of July & Boryeong Mud Festival [& temporary goodbye to Chelsea]

( Mud Fest Mascots 귀엽다 )

Life has been extremely busy lately. Work is hectic and the weekends are packed with things to do. We've all been teaching extra classes all semester and were assuming that things would get easier once Katrina arrived to teach some of our classes. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that things would be easier for a total of three days, then our Intensive classes would begin. Although we are teaching ridiculous amounts of class, it is still nice that now I have a break every single day!

Happy Birthday America
(7/4/2011 @ Manseok Park - Suwon [만석공원 - 수원])

Of course, Captain America, Mr. Matthew Malecha, planned the festivities for the night. We met at the park after work was over and had a few beers and commenced with an arts and crafts rocket project. We were given a set number of materials that were to be attached to our rocket, and after assembly, the rocket that travelled the farthest was the winner. Our required materials were three straws, a pair of wooden chopsticks, half of a paper plate, & two dixie cups. [the chopsticks were removed from the list because of their weight.] Let's just say that bottle rockets were not made to carry extra materials, because they didn't travel farther than a couple feet at most. Most of them fell straight down and didn't go anywhere, but one went about 3 feet. I think it was Calvin's. I got second place with about six inches. One didn't even leave the bottle, and another actually went backwards about a foot. After this some played basketball, and Erik & I did a little skating. Sadly, Erik broke his board doing an ollie. I have a nice video of Erik finishing the job.

( JC & Justin having 4th of July hotdogs )

( JC started the National Anthem with sparklers )

( Connor's Rocket )

( Matt's Rocket )

( My Rocket )

( Calvin's Rocket )

( Sparklers )

( We spent too much time trying to pose a slam dunk )

Broken Skateboard from Spenser Ford on Vimeo.

Farewell Chelsea [for now!]
(7/9/2011 @ Boemgye [범계])

I spent a fair amount of time being sad about Chelsea's departure. With my first year finished, I knew that her time to go was here. I know that it wasn't my doing, but I like to think that I had a little to do with her new decision. She was set on being finished with Korea, but I kept telling her that she'd be back and that I was upset with her for leaving me here. She has already signed a new contract to return to Korea at the end of September! I'm very happy with her decision. Good job, me. For her farewell, we met her in Boemgye [범계] for makgeolli, beer & Norae Bang [노레방]. It was great, and at the end of the night, the sun was shining, and she promised that she'd be back in the fall.

( Will, David & Justin at the Makgeolli Bar )

( Chelsea )

( Harry, Justin & Calvin )

( Sori [소레] & Erik )

( Examining the North Korean liquor with the key ingredient of Fur Seal Penis )

( 노레방 )

( David fell asleep )

( Chelsea & Will )

Boryeong Mud Festival
(7/16/2011-7/17/2011 @ Boryeong [보령])

Mud festival was last weekend. It was a good time. I didn't actually get muddy; I was more of an observer. Also, I was sort of third wheeling the entire time. It's a good thing that I really enjoy both Erik & 소리. We took the earliest train possible on Saturday morning at 6am. We arrived and dropped our things off at our hotel, then we went walking until the water park [attached to the hotel] opened. We had a great time going down water slides and swimming around. The one negative thing is that the Flow Rider was closed for maintenance. The Flow Rider is a fake wave that is constantly breaking. You can surf or wakeboard. Maybe next time, it'll be open. The park was still fun, nonetheless. After this, we spent the day drinking, eating, and lounging on the beach.

At some point, I fell asleep on the beach and was awoke by Justin, Calvin, Matt & Harry standing over me. They were on their way to get muddy. I woke up and called Erik and 소리; we had a have shell fish dinner. This is one of my favorite things about going to the beach. You pretty much get unlimited clams and a random assortment of other shelled delights. Mmhmm. We actually didn't last too long into the night when it came to drinking. The whole day of drinking put us in bed before midnight, but this wasn't before shooting fireworks off our balcony and having birthday cake for Erik's thirty-first.

On day two, I played parent and watch all of our stuff while Erik and 소리 got muddy. We actually were separated for about four hours, because I zoned out and didn't bother to check their phones for calls. We found each other and proceeded to take a swim in the ocean. Unfortunately, I also took my iPod for a swim. It's finished ㅠㅠ. After this, we partook in a beach rave complete with a manmade rain storm. They had a huge cannon shooting water at us, as well as four guys with hoses spraying as down. It was ridiculously fun. We ended the day with a sunset swim, another shellfish dinner & a nine o'clock train ride home.

( You were required to wear a hat in the Swim River. I was told to leave. )

( Water park )

( They served beer )

( 소리 loves to cook us shell fish! )

( Mud Fest parade )

( Muddy Matt & Calvin )

( Justin, Harry & Erin )

( Matt )

( OH! BEER! )

( Calvin, looking like the poster child for Mud Fest )

( The Suwon folk were having tube fights )

( Erik & myself )

( This may end up being Erik's summer style )

( The view from our balcony )

( One more )

( Happy Birthday, pal )

( Mud events )

( MUD! )

( 소리 & Erik, post-mud )

( "I think I can climb it." WRONG! )

( Sunset )

( disgusting! )

( We play fight sometimes )

( Throwing the ball around with a bunch of tattooed Koreans )

( Seafood )

Yesterday
(7/23/2011 @ Yongsan & Hongdae [용산 & 홍대])

Yesterday was pretty mild. I woke up early and went out to Yeouido for brunch with Amarisse & her friend William. We ate at this fancy French place called, Paul. I would suggest it to anyone looking for nice brunch and nice atmosphere.

After this, I went into Yongsan [용산] and bought myself a brand new lens for my camera. It's a Sigma 30mm f/1.4. I'm pretty excited about it. I'm just looking for excuses to go out and take photos.

After this, Erik met up with me, and we wasted time waiting for the sun to go down and for the day to cool off a bit. After walking through the electronics mart, we ate at a soju tent. We had lots of fried stuff, beer & soju. This was a nice start to get us out to Hongdae [홍대] where we drank a little more and called it a night early.