Exciting weekend ahead...

Check back at the end of the weekend for some great photos. Milton and I are heading to the Jinju Lantern Festival.

Here's the blurb I got about it from Wikipedia: "There are cultural events held in Jinju every year. Among these are the Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival which is held in October for approximately ten days. This nationally designated cultural tourism festival, found only in Jinju, features a spectacle of lanterns floating on the Nam River to commemorate the patriotic spirit of the 70,000 militia corps and government troops who died for their country defending Jinju from the Japanese forces during the Imjin War (1592-1598)."

The photos on the net look amazing! There are MILLIONS of paper lanterns everywhere - hanging and floating down the river. There is a big fireworks display on Saturday night, we can make our own lanterns, make a wish while we light the candle, and send them floating down the river. We also plan to dress up in traditional Korean clothing. So we may be missing Thanksgiving weekend, but I think this event should distract us from feeling too homesick! Check back soon...

Side note: You may be wondering how I have time at 10:20 am on a Friday morning to be updating my post while I am at school and should be teaching. This is a good question! I too, am trying to figure out why I am not teaching. My lessons are all planned and I was ready and waiting in my classroom for the grade 6 class from next door to come see me, and instead, they just kept walking right past my door and went outside (along with my co-teacher who is responsible for telling me about schedule changes etc). This is not the first time this has happened. Usually when they all go outside like that they are having an assembly that lasts about 15 minutes. Well, today I watched them out there for 15 minutes while they did various warm up type activities. I thought, this is strange. Then I saw a few of the boys carrying over some measuring tapes, mats and other track and field type equipment. The three classes that are out there had spread out about the schoolyard and the their teachers were standing nearby with clipboards. I guess its track and field day and, of course, no one thought to tell me! Just another typical day in the life of the forgotten English teacher!

My co-teacher even came in to see me 10 minutes for class started to have me translate something for her and saw me preparing for her class but didn't say a word. Milton and I have decided that they love doing this to us on purpose - so annoying!!! (but really, I'm super happy to have the morning off! )