7.28.vaca.4

7.28.vaca.4, originally uploaded by ekissam.

from inside the tomb of the two brothers. . . stained glass filling the fissure.

7.28.vaca.5

7.28.vaca.5, originally uploaded by ekissam.

the korean war memorial entrance.

7.28.vaca.6

7.28.vaca.6, originally uploaded by ekissam.

korean war monument, with some detail.

7.28.vaca.7

7.28.vaca.7, originally uploaded by ekissam.

torches for each country that helped south korea.

7.28.vaca.8

7.28.vaca.8, originally uploaded by ekissam.

i didn't see a liberator. . . but there were a lot of planes out.

7.28.vaca.9

7.28.vaca.9, originally uploaded by ekissam.

the war memorial is located across the street from the air force base. . . seeing all the military personnel made this vehicle graveyard a little creepier.

7.28.vaca.10

7.28.vaca.10, originally uploaded by ekissam.

for all your rocket needs.

7.28.vaca.11

7.28.vaca.11, originally uploaded by ekissam.

a memorial to the UN troops that aided. it's called the teardrop and is made from the dog tags of the fallen soldiers.

i was impressed at how much space was given to thanking and remembering all the foreign troops that helped south korea.

7.28.vaca.12

7.28.vaca.12, originally uploaded by ekissam.

more flight vehicles inside.

7.28.vaca.13

7.28.vaca.13, originally uploaded by ekissam.

so after all that intriguing artwork outside, and some interesting stuff inside. . . there were a couple of things that bugged us about the war memorial.

A- a laser guided pretend shooting range right next to the 'pistols through history' exhibit.

B- the inflatable playground for kids on the right side of the first floor. . . because when i think war memorial. . . i think bright colors and playtime?!

i might be mistaken, but it seems like they have a different relationship with war than i am used to.

7.27.vaca.1

7.27.vaca.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

my vacation plans of hanging out with swon kinda fell through, no thanks to the president who decided to unveil a new helicopter a week earlier than anticipated. . . necessitating hours and hours of meetings to plan the event. . . hope she's having fun in the south with all that.

with no swon, i'm hanging out with a co-worker and her friend that flew in for a vacation from new zealand.

looking forward to a week of some touristy type outtings. . . but it's really hot. . . errr.

saturday night we were in itaewon for dinner. . .and while we were there, why not hang in for a midnight showing of the rugby match between new zealand and south africa?

sunday was all about insa-dong.

here's where we had delicious hand made noodles for lunch.

7.27.vaca.2

7.27.vaca.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

i'm so glad it's too difficult for me to carry these home. i would have a hard time not buying up the store. though the woman who makes them says she'll ship worldwide. . . and made the right electrical connectors for whatever country. . .

mom, dad. . . want a really cute paper lantern?

7.27.vaca.3

7.27.vaca.3, originally uploaded by ekissam.

camille with margarita glasses.

7.27.vaca.4

7.27.vaca.4, originally uploaded by ekissam.

kirsty in beer glasses.

7.27.vaca.5

7.27.vaca.5, originally uploaded by ekissam.

always nice to stop by the jogyesa temple while in the area.

7.27.vaca.7

7.27.vaca.7, originally uploaded by ekissam.

how to end a long day of walking and shopping through insa-dong?

how about harry potter at the CGV in yongsan? oh, yeah, and some crepes for the movies. she's making my chocolate and almond one here in this pic.

character.conv.1

character.conv.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

my first official full day of vacation. i met up with my partner teacher and she took me to a character convention at COEX. (massive shopping mall/ convention center- i think there was an aquarium as well. . . and i saw a bon marche!)

anyway

hazel used to work for this animation company in seoul that created pucca. visiting the pucca booth at the character convention was a little reunion for her. we walked around to look at all the other booths a bit, and then came back for the pucca fashion show.

i scored some sweet swag as well- a 2G pucca flash drive. . . whoo hoo.

after the convention i met with camille and her friend, kirsty, in itaewon for dinner and drinks.

character.conv.2

character.conv.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

pucca and garu.

character.conv.3

character.conv.3, originally uploaded by ekissam.

the fashion show starts in the pucca booth.

character.conv.4

character.conv.4, originally uploaded by ekissam.

striking a pose.

character.conv.5

character.conv.5, originally uploaded by ekissam.

no lack of cameras here.

character.conv.6

character.conv.6, originally uploaded by ekissam.

here's the pucca exhibit, sans models.

character.conv.7

character.conv.7, originally uploaded by ekissam.

lots of fuzzy dolls, inflatable playgrounds, bright colors, and twinkling music around.

character.conv.8

character.conv.8, originally uploaded by ekissam.

i only took a picture of this because it completely reminds me of one of my students.

character.conv.9

character.conv.9, originally uploaded by ekissam.

here's hazel trying to grab hold of the tale of one of her favorite characters.

7.23.work.dinner.1

7.23.work.dinner.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

thursday evening, with the arrival of a former teacher, the brighton staff headed out for some gobi dinner.

7.23.work.dinner.2

7.23.work.dinner.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

natalie, camille, kelly, and lucia waiting for our meat to grill.

7.23.work.dinner.3

7.23.work.dinner.3, originally uploaded by ekissam.

so a peruvian band started playing down the mall a bit. i guess we will be protected from the giant gerbils. . . . however, i was wondering why a peruvian band was wearing a typically north american native head-dress?

7.23.work.dinner.4

7.23.work.dinner.4, originally uploaded by ekissam.

natalie, hazel, sophie, and will.

7.23.work.dinner.5

7.23.work.dinner.5, originally uploaded by ekissam.

as usual, our evening ended up at the noraebong.

we had a cute little stuffed animal that somehow made it's way into our room and kept us company.

t.station, really?

t.station, really?, originally uploaded by ekissam.

not really sure what this is all about, but it caught my attention.

alp.07.1

alp.07.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

someone finally saw fit to turn on the lighting accents throughout ansan lake park. i've been waiting!

here are the light up 'cattails'. . .

alp.07.2

alp.07.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

. . . teehee. . . they change color. . . ahhh, the small joys. . .

alp.07.3

alp.07.3, originally uploaded by ekissam.

here are the stumpy little rocks with their lights on.

scrooge's

scrooge's, originally uploaded by ekissam.

so, here's a lousy shot of the bar where i watched my first rugby match. new zealand vs. australia in the start of the tri-nations playoffs.
our bar was flooded with kiwis. . . and one aussie. he was trying really hard to hold his own. the bar across the street, which was also following the game, was filled with aussies from the sounds of their cheering. we tried to tell the guy he just had the wrong bar.
anyway, the game ended well, the new zealand all blacks took it, 22-16. whoo hoo! ps. the haka (the maori posture dance) that the all blacks do before the game is so freaking rad. . . and intimidating.

hongdae.noraebong

hongdae.noraebong, originally uploaded by ekissam.

i don't think you'll catch me in this noraebong anytime soon. but it's entertaining from the street.

street.corner.crabs

street.corner.crabs, originally uploaded by ekissam.

so, mom. . .how much would you like to have a truckload of cooked crabs for sale on the corner on your walk home?

gs.drinks

gs.drinks, originally uploaded by ekissam.

a group of co workers having an end of week drink outside the GS (basically like a 7-11, but not, because we have 7-11's). here in ansan, practically anywhere you can buy alcohol, there is a set of picnic tables outside to sit at and enjoy aforementioned drinks.

teddybear.ticket

teddybear.ticket, originally uploaded by ekissam.

i couldn't really decide if this looked like a teddy bear suicide. . . or a teddy bear ticket.

diana.magnifies

diana.magnifies, originally uploaded by ekissam.

diana class made magnifying glasses out of drops of water in their science class this week.

mercury.sings.1

mercury.sings.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

arts and crafts in mercury class this week involved making fake microphones. loud singing commenced.

mercury.sings.2

mercury.sings.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

kind of like kiddie noraebong. . .only each kid was singing their own song. . . and there was certainly not enough alcohol going around.

seriously?

seriously?, originally uploaded by ekissam.

how am i supposed to take my job seriously when i look under the desk and see this?

folk.village.1

folk.village.1, originally uploaded by ekissam.

june's field trip was to suwon's folk village. i hope to go again, without a bunch of students to watch over. there seemed to be some great artifacts and things to check out. . . aside from it being real pretty.

folk.village.2

folk.village.2, originally uploaded by ekissam.

these are sort of akin to totem poles. the marked the entrance of towns and hopefully warded away anything dangerous.

folk.village.3

folk.village.3, originally uploaded by ekissam.

the traditional dancers proceed to the performance area.

folk.village.4

folk.village.4, originally uploaded by ekissam.

some of the students, ok. . . one of the students getting excited for the traditional dance.

folk.village.5

folk.village.5, originally uploaded by ekissam.

here's a shot of the folk farmer dance, nongak. i really dig the streamer hat things.

folk.village.6

folk.village.6, originally uploaded by ekissam.

the last performance we saw was a tightrope walker. . . the students were more fascinated with the bug crawling near where we were seated.

folk.village.7

folk.village.7, originally uploaded by ekissam.

this guy had an extra long stream hat thingy. . . i can't stress how much i want one of these streamer hats.