What if the names were Downton Family or Modern Abbey? Weird right? Thought so.

Andong Mask Festival

My 4th graders are currently watching The Lorax, which by the way is a pretty funny  movie! Since they're preoccupied I decided why not update my blog! It's been a few weeks since the Andong Mask Festival now, but I'm feeling much better compared to my previous post and I definitely wanted to share some of my favorite moments/pictures from the festival. Enjoy!

Festival snacks:

Even Shrek masked up:

Short story - A random Korean man approached us and wanted to take pictures with us. Don't be too surprised, this happens all the time! Literally all. the. time! Being great people we agreed, except it took FORever. He (nor the person with him) couldn't work the camera on his phone so it literally took 5 minutes of going back and forth trying to figure out the camera phone, it not working, pushing buttons again, it not working...and so on. During this whole process I lost interest and stepped out of the picture to capture this moment. The other girls stayed and posed nicely for the picture - you guys are better people than I, fo-sho!

The festival not only included traditional Korean dances, but also performances from a number of countries. Costa Rica dancing:

Malaysia:

Mexico was definitely my favorite! 

Traditional Korean mask dance:

Our turn to make a mask:

Finished product:

Everyone showing off their hard work:

Handmade t-shirts:

By far the best thing I saw that weekend:

Our downtown has a face lift! When I first arrived the downtown was in ruins. For months we've walked on dirt or carpet covering dirt all while dodging large holes so we wouldn't fall in. BUT GOOD NEWS...all of the construction is complete and it looks fabulous!

Next on the agenda, Fall Festival on Saturday and HALLOWEEN. Can't wait, I absolutely love Halloween - it is by far my favorite holiday! A friend and I are hosting a murder mystery party and I'm not only excited, but a little nervous considering I've only ever attended one and now I'm hosting. I'm sure it will go well! HAPPY FRIDAY!

This song is taking over the world...

My eye sockets hurt

It's Friday 2:30 pm and I'm sitting waiting for the clock to strike 4:30. Why? I want to go home! Yes I did just have five days of vacation, but who doesn't like time off?! Plus, I haven't felt too well the past two days and am ready to not work or be around sick children who just keep reinfecting me. Note to self - next week a lesson on how to sneeze/cough covering mouth. I don't really know what's going on with my body. Am I getting old? I am a whopping 26 (soon to be 27) years old. I also just can't seem to get over this tendonitis; it's either in my knee or my foot and now I think I'm getting the flu. Last night I laid in bed with an ice pack on my right foot, heating pad on my face while moaning "my eye sockets hurt, my forearms hurt, my left palm hurts, my insert body part hurts." This went on for a while until I stopped myself and finished season 10 of Friends. I don't know the last time I've been so pathetic. It's Andong's big Maskdance Festival this weekend and my friends and I have literally planned since moving here to experience the festival together. With that said, I need to snap out of this sinus infection/flu/tendonitis thing and get back to normal! I also can't believe I've never had the desire to watch Friends until recently. People have always said it's a great show and I would just roll my eyes and say "mmk". They were so right. What a great show! 

Chuseok was a great mini vacation. Like I've told a lot of people at home, it's similar to our Thanksgiving holiday and since it's only really celebrated by Koreans most foreigners see this as an opportunity to travel within and outside of South Korea. I myself ventured to Busan! Only 2.5 hours away and plenty of sandy beaches to lay on. The weekend was filled with a birthday celebration (hopefully you had a great time Steven), great food, shopping, drinking way too much, seeing old and new friends and spending WAY too much money! All worth it. I did unfortunately encounter some weird experiences. Before the actual weekend really started I did have a conversation with my friend Suzanne and I was telling her how I don't like talking to strangers. Not because they're dangerous (I'm sure some are), but because every time I open that door something weird happens or I can't get rid of them.

Weird encounter 1: Myself and friends went to Wolfhound (a pub) and barely started our night when this guy (I believe his name was David) comes over and points out another guy and screams, "Who's attracted to him because he wants to get L***." Just imagine my facial expression at this point. I don't really remember what exactly happens next, but this guy was clearly really intoxicated and feeling a little bad for him I laugh it off and ask the usual questions, "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" I figured by ignoring the question and moving on we could stop the situation from escalating. I was wrong. I've blocked most of this out of my memory so I don't really remember the details, but there was a lot of rubbing my love handle, back, shoulders etc. Also a lot of kissing my cheek except not just a simple kiss but his lips lingering on my cheek. I do recall at one moment I pushed his face away and screamed, "STOP TOUCHING ME!" Things basically continued until his friend came and took him away. His friend did say, "I'm not gonna let you disrespect my boy anymore." REALLY! I don't think you know the definition of that word Mr. Friend.

Weird encounter 2: I was lucky enough to have this weird encounter the next day. We of course decided to go out again and within ten minutes okay maybe thirty a girl comes up and wants to join in. I say why not, I don't ever really mind when more people want to join in. Right away she is clearly hitting on me. I didn't know what to say so I was just nice and kept simple conversation. HOWEVER, as the night went on she literally pissed everyone off. She was being very crude (I'm not even going to write what she was saying) and obviously saying things just to piss people off. She continued to hit on me and at one point I had to be blunt and tell her that I'm not a lesbian. I think she got the hint, but at the same time she kept asking really personal questions and I kept finding myself saying, "that's none of your business." By the end of the night I couldn't dodge the inappropriateness and went back to the hotel...alone. The girl stayed and continued to make friends annoy others.

New jam thanks to Tom!