OMG! It's Girls Generation!

When you start getting into your late twenties, which I guess I can officially say I am, you start being less and less interested in celebrating your age. Birthdays kind of just become another day, not really because you don't want to be celebrated, because let's face it, we all love that one day a year belongs to us, but I think because you just don't want to acknowledge the new older age. I'm probably starting to paint a more dire picture than how I actually feel, but when I think of the number, 27, it does kind of bum me out. I hear that number and just can't believe that's how old I am. I mean I feel I just graduated high school, but that was almost TEN YEARS AGO! Jeez!

Anyway, my first birthday to be celebrated outside of the United States without all my closest family and friends was pretty cool. On the actual day of my birthday, Brent and some of our other friends took me out for dinner and to this board game place, which has become one of our favorite activities here. They all got me awesome gifts and we had a good time just hanging out.

On the Monday after my birthday, which was on Sunday this year, I was walking into school with Mrs. Sung and she told me that we were having computer class that day, because there was a problem with the computer in the English classroom. So I went straight to the computer classroom and set up shop for classes in there that day. Well, just after the bell rang at 9 a.m., she came in and said the computer in the English classroom was fixed, so we could have normal classes that day. I grabbed my stuff and headed with her to the English room. Well, little did I know that when I got there, the room would be completely decked out with balloons, while my students would be donning party hats and holding party poppers to surprise me with a cake and birthday celebration. One of my fifth grade classes spent the morning decorating the place and setting up for the party. It was really a cool surprise and I was totally blown away. They even made me this "happy birthday" banner using the best English they could, which of course means some pretty hilarious comments. Anyway, it was really fun and overall I couldn't think of a better way to have spent my birthday this year.

This past weekend was the Chuseok holiday here in Korea. This is the biggest holiday of the year, and apparently it's similar to American Thanksgiving. The last day of school before we went on a mini-break definitely had a holiday feel to it. You know kind of like how it feels the day before you break for Christmas? You could tell everyone was just happier and excited to celebrate and spend time with their families. Of course for me this day was like any other day. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to be having the next four days off, but I wasn't in a holiday mood. Speaking of those four days, I took full advantage of them, sleeping in late everyday and just relaxing as much I could. The earliest I left my apartment on any of those days may have been 4 p.m. It was really nice.

Last night marked the opening of the 14th annual Pusan International Film Festival, and thanks to our Korean friend Faith, who had some connections, we were able to get tickets to the opening ceremony and movie premiere. The event was held outside near Haeundae with approximately 5,000 people ticketed to see the ceremony, and many many more outside screaming along the red carpet when their favorite Korean celebrity made his or her entrance. The massive crowds outside along the red carpet area made for some confusion for Brent and me trying to meet up with another friend, but eventually we figured it out and got inside. Unfortunately we got there about 15 minutes or so before the event was to begin, and it wasn't assigned seating. We walked in, saw no empty seats and began mentally preparing ourselves to be standing for the next two and a half hours. By the grace of God we managed to find four consecutive open seats near the back corner of the floor seating area. It truly was amazing that we found these seats, because this place was packed. I have no idea how they were passed up by other people. Anyway, the opening ceremony part of the night was an unexpected treat for us. Of course it all happened in Korean, but there were English subtitles on a couple of the screens set up in front, so we knew what was going on. The only recognizable American celebrity in the audience that they showed on the screens was Josh Hartnett. Random I know. He got a pretty big scream from the girls though when they showed his face, so I'm sure that made him feel right at home ... if it were about eight years ago. He should have known there wasn't going to be a sequel to Pearl Harbor. There were fireworks and other little elements to the ceremony, but by far the biggest surprise and most enjoyable moment for us was when they introduced Girls Generation to the stage. We, nor anyone else in the crowd, knew that they would be there performing, and if you remember, we are both fans of their song "Genie." Now, before you go to that place where you're imagining Brent and I screaming like little girls and saying "OMG" over and over, stop! We weren't THAT excited. Though there was a point during the performance where Brent noticed his favorite girl wasn't there and got genuinely upset. I was filming at the time and really hoped that his rant would be audible in the video, but it's really not. I have the video attached below, and if you listen carefully towards the end, you can just barely hear him say, "She's not here, there's only eight of them." The group has nine total members, so Brent's girl was the only one missing. Anyway, it was just cool to see a famous music group perform, because we see and hear all these groups a lot, and we knew how cool it would be to tell our students. The fact that it was Girls Generation performing a song we like was a bonus.

After the opening ceremony concluded, the festival officially premiered its first movie, "Good Morning President." It's about three Korean presidents and their terms in office, covering everything from the politics they had to deal with to issues with the personal lives. It was fiction of course, which you'd know right away when you saw that one of the presidents in the movie was a female. Our Korean friends assured us after the movie that this would not happen in our lifetimes. They are just a tad behind on some social and civil rights issues here, but let's save that for another blog. The movie was actually pretty good. It had a good mix of comedy and drama and was genuinely entertaining throughout. That was actually the first of a total of five movies we'll be seeing throughout the festival. Hopefully the rest will all deliver the same satisfaction.

I'm back at school now for the "stretch run." I've got 11 straight weeks until the winter holiday with no breaks or extra days off. From there it's a trip to China, winter English camp, about two weeks left in the school year and then my return flight home. I'm expecting to cruise through these next 11 weeks, seeing as how fast the rest of my time here has gone. I hope you all are doing well. Take care!

That big screen did eventually turn upright when the movie started.

This is the entrance to the seating area.

My student, Krista, made this puppy for me.

The fifth grade class that threw me the party

The funny thing is that she bought me this shirt as a birthday gift after having seen me that day. I wonder what could have inspired the purchase.