Country round party tour

Well this week was wild from the get go and seemed like it would never round out. We officially entered the monsoon season and it rained almost everyday for at least half of the day and between a medium to a heavy rain.
Monday and Tuesday went by like any other days. I got to meet the rest of my students since holding had pretty much run its course and was doing my best to get them all caught up with the teacher change situation and return to the regular work schedule. Then Tuesday at the end of the night Margaret and I got the news that we would both have to go to the elementary school Wednesday to observe a class so that we could teach in the coming week after David and Brady leave. Allow me to vent for a minute but this fucking country has absolutely no idea what thinking about the future means. They never seem to be able to get teachers here before the ones they are replacing are gone, and it has gotten especially bad since the whole swine flu scare because they make all the teachers stay in the country for 1 week before they can come to the school. all in all it makes everyone ridiculously pissed off but the company won't open their eyes and it is really starting to break the system down.
Anyways, we went down and observed a class and it was awesome. the kids are so adorable and eager to show you their skills, instead of worn out and full of spite like at the middle school. We really enjoyed it and think next week when we have to teach down there it will be a great break. It does mean that we will have to run between campuses but whatever.
Thursday was a big planning day around the office for the weekend getaway "The MT" we had planned for all the Nokchiwon staff. Classes went by and I just rode it out until Friday. Friday after work we piled into a couple Avalon vans and headed to YeongPeon, a city south east of Seoul, for our overnight getaway. It started with 20 pounds of sam gip sal (thick bacon), 10 pounds of prawns, and 6 large clams for dinner, which we cooked in our hotel; followed by beer and soju drinking. After that, so around 2 am, we went to the hotels norae bang and sang for a few hours to start the fun stuff. After singing our heads off we went back to our hotel room and played a few more games including a rock paper scissors (Ki Bi Bo) contest, single room blindfolded dizzy hided and seek, and team mouth to mouth tissue tearing. (I couldn't explain in full on here it if I tried.) It was a blast, but around 7 am I decided to call it a night and found a room to pass out in. Turns out it was the same room our director was sleeping in (they are all open rooms with sleeping pads on the floor) which made everyone but me uncomfortable. When people realized where I slept after I had passed out and in the morning they were all confused as to why, especially when the director woke up and saw me passed out with out a shirt on and went to tell everyone I was sleeping half naked in the same room as her. In my defense I could have cared less who was in the room, and I was more than 5 feet from her. I'm sure I'll hear about it this coming week.
After sleeping for a mere 2 hours I got up and we all had some instant noodles for breakfast before cleaning up and getting ready to go. Instead of going back with everyone else I went to the bus station to get a bus to the other side of the country, to the town of Boryeong, for a little thing called Mudfest. The plan was to get on the 11 o'clock bus and get there by 3 or 4. Unfortunately I missed that bus and had to take the 1230 buss which meant I never arrived in Boryeong until 5.
Mudfest is a festival in the town of Boryeong that has been going on for about 10 or so years. It involves covering your body in a very mineral rich mud found in high quantities in that region. People go and play in the mud and have a party for an entire week.
Since I got there late, I never found my friends until most of the mudding was calming down and they were all heading back to get cleaned up and eat dinner. I went with them and cut my losses because I knew the party wasn't even close to being over. While they ate I got changed and walked around for a bit. Eventually I met back with them and we got some beers and went back to the party area for the opening ceremony concert and fireworks. And if I hadn't mentioned it before, it is monsoon season and it was and had been raining all day. At the stage we found an open area near some trees where we could see the fireworks from and hear the music and waited. Then it came in torrents. It rained hard and everyone partied. It was really awesome to be watching a great firework show in the pouring rain and not be getting trampled by people running away. After the show we went back to near our hotel since it was far enough from the main party that we could relax a bit. So we thought. We sat down for some late night food and some random guy came over to drink with us. As fine as that was, when we asked him to pay for his $3 beer he flipped out. Trying to keep things from escalating we tried talking him down and eventually had him convinced that things were alright, but there was a few moments when there were clenched fists and homeboy was close to having his night ruined. After that we went back to our hotel and drank on the patio with just friends.........and one random guy who could barely stand he was so drunk. He mostly just babbled while we drank.
On Sunday we all got up around 11 after sleeping for only a few hours and got into the vans the others had rented to drive down in and came back to Seoul. I was lucky that there was an extra seat for me and got back to Seoul with all my friends. After we got back everyone dispersed to shower and get some rest. Later Sunday night David, Alex and I went to a Jimjil bang (sauna) to have a soak and relax.
There we go. I'm all up to date. I hope you are all enjoying your summer. TTYS