Chuseok Event and First Day of Visiting Japan

So right before our vacation we had a little Chuseok event at school.  The students dressed up in their hanbuk and we made songpyon (not sure how to spell) in class.  Of course all the kids in their hanbuk were just adorable and of course they wanted to play with teacher's camera, so I thankfully have some pictures with me in them.  ^.^ Yay!  Anyway, I also bought a little hanbuk to send home for my niece.  It was a fun day and then vacation started soon after.

So I finally got to return to Japan but it meant getting up really early in the morning to catch the bus to the airport.  And I mean like 4 am.  And of course, like may people, I have trouble going to sleep when I am excited or have a big event coming up so that started my 5 day trip of little sleep.  But at least it was fun.  Anyway, I packed everything into a backpack that I borrowed (as mine was too small) and just took that and my purse as a carry-on.  I only forgot my towel which wasn't too bad considering I wasn't sure what to bring as I had never stayed at a hostel before.  Sadly, we had to stand on the bus because it was crowded but that is ok.  We got through airport security ridiculously fast as the place seemed deserted when we arrived and we had a least a good two hours of waiting for the plane.  Ashley fell asleep at this part as, unlike me, she got no sleep at all.  The plane ride was uneventful.  And they served us some beef dish which they called breakfast.

Now, I only brought the equivalent of $300 with me which of course was too little.  I had to withdraw another $200 and ended up only having like 50 cents by the end of my trip.  I seem to like to buy presents for people too much. ^.^ Oh well.  I figure as long as they enjoy the gifts, I don't mind spending the money.  Besides, on vacation, you shouldn't have to worry about money too much.  Though I knew Japan was going to be expensive, it was a lot more expensive then I remembered it, especially the transportation.  But maybe that is just because I've lived in Korea for a year now. 

Anyway, so we get through customs and all that and need to find our way to the hostel.  Now, I used to be pretty good with Japanese maps but as I had rarely used the JR Line, it took me a day to get used to the maps and we ended up taking the more expensive train to get to our hostel which was in Nishi-Kawaguchi.  We made it safely, though the sign to the hostel could have been better positioned to make it more noticeable.  At this point, we arrived pretty late and were unable to meet with Ashley's old students.  Another girl arrived right after us and had some communication issues so I ended up translated between Matsuko (another teacher from Korea) and the hostel worker.  I'm actually surprised just how much Japanese I was able to use and retain despite not speaking the language for over a year and a half.  Also, a lot of the people staying at the hostel were other teachers from Korea on Chuseok break as well.

After inviting Kyle and Matsuko who were also staying at the hostel, we went to Asakusa where we explored some shops and stuff.  As most of us were pretty hungry by that point, we stopped at a tonkatsu place for dinner.  It wasn't too bad though I have had better.  It was kind of greasy.  The Japanese men from the other table found us amusing as I was trying to explain how much each of the different Japanese coins were worth.  After that we continued to explore where we ended up in a temple area.  It was really pretty at night and of course my camera hates dark pictures.  But it was still really cool to see and we could see the Sky Tree Tower from where we were.

So, the Sky Tree Tower was finished a little after I left Japan a year and a half ago if I have my facts straight.  I hadn't gone to Asakusa or the Sky Tree Tower during my previous stay in Japan so it was nice to have some new experience.  Because the tower looked so close, we decided to walk.  Not that it was a long walk, but it was much longer than we expected and we had to cross two rivers and a lot of back streets to get there using only the tower itself as our guild.  But we safely got there and it was HUGE!  I mean it hurt my neck to look up at it but still it was really cool.  We decided not to go up the tower, most because of money as it was $20 for the lower part and $30 to go to the top.  Though my reason wasn't so much as money as a fear of heights and no desire to push myself.

After that we had some ice cream and decided to head back to the hostel where we met even more awesome people.  It was someone's last night and a bunch of people ended up going to karaoke, so I ended up tagging along with them.  I was quite surprised that I went as these were all people I had just met that day (considering Ashley decided to hang around the hostel instead).  But still, it was a lot of fun and some of them were really good singers.  I sang a mix of songs which the others seemed to enjoy.  The girl from Poland was an especially good singer.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun despite the broken glass (someone bumped into it and no one got hurt thankfully).  After that we returned to the hostel and I finally went to bed as it was 3 or 4 in the morning and we were getting up around 6 to go to Tokyo Disneyland the next day.

Goodbyes and Hellos, Trip to the Zoo, and Field Trip

 

So, this is the time of year where we get new teachers and a few old teachers leave.  This time, it was Rachel and Grace's turn to leave so before they left, we all hung out one final night (they did a weekend thing, but I just hung around for the Friday night events).  Anyway, originally I only planned on going to dinner at Green Galbi (that's what we call it anyway) as I am not much of a drinker, but I ended up staying out the entire night.  Dinner was good and I was already in a good mood because I had a class switch that I was happy about.  Then they took us to a bar called Bottlecap.  As you may know, I don't really drink, but I did have a bottle of something that tasted like carbonated lemonade.  It was good and I wouldn't mind having it again but I stuck to the one drink.  I watched Ashley beat the guys big time in a game of darts.  It was fun to watch as I have never played darts.... though I have thrown shurikans (throwing stars) before.  Odd, right?  Have never played darts but have used shurikans ^.^ .

Anyway, after Bottlecap, we ended up going to a small club called Underground.  This was my first time ever in a club and I have to admit it was an interesting experience, especially considering I was the only fully sober person in the entire place, except maybe the bartender.  At this point it was around midnight and I surprised myself when I actually relaxed enough to try dancing.  They had another fruity drink there that I tasted but didn't actually drink.  So that was going alright, though I think I was more comfortable at Bottlecap than I was in Underground.  Maybe that was because people were less drunk.  Who knows *shrugs* but it was a fun night.  Though I did have alcohol spilled on me twice and someone in heels step on my foot smearing cigarette ashes all over my foot.  T.T 

After Underground, we went to a Noraebon, which is basically a karaoke place, which of course if something that I actually like to do.  I was surprised again that I didn't get too nervous singing in front of everyone though again that may just be because they were drunk and wouldn't remember much of it anyway.  I managed to find one Japanese song to sing, and sung a bunch of other English songs.  I think I surprised some of my coworkers when I sang because, though I'm not the best, I'm not a bad singer.  Granted, this is probably the first time they have ever heard me sing something other than Christmas songs, and Christmas was a long time ago .... and there was a lot of drinking that night, too.  Hehehe.  Anyway, after two hours of Noraebon, we finally got back home around 4-4:30 in the morning.  Sadly I couldn't go straight to bed as I really stunk of cigarettes and needed a shower.  I had to wash everything in the morning.  It took a while to get rid of the smell.  T.T  But it was a fun goodbye night for Grace and Rachel.

 

 

I think it was the next weekend, but I went to Myeongdong with Megan where we went clothes shopping and ate at the really good curry place that we hadn't been to since her birthday last year.  Yay for nan!!!!  I bought some cute kitty socks and a funny cat shirt (no surprise there).  Afterwards we went to a foreign food store and then back home to catch a movie at the theater by the station.  We watched Snowpiercer, which is a Korean film actually made in English.  It is about what happens when the world freezes over after global warming and the only survivors are on this train separated by class.  The lower class tries to revolt over the rich and find out some shocking information.  I really liked it because it touched upon the darker sides of humanity.  Since then, I have gone to the movie theater to watch Elysion (which had similar themes to Snowpiercer except the guy starts out thinking only about himself rather than all of the poor people with him) and Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters (which was my first ever 4D movie).  It was interesting to have the water splashing in our faces and the seats moving around as if I was on a rollercoaster.  I think the scents were the part that I liked the most.  A strong smell of pine trees.

 

 

 

I went to the Seoul Zoo with Ashley.  We went halfway through the day but you really need a full day to see everything, so we may have to go again.  We saw a lot of animals but for the most part the space for the animals was too small.  Though it's a big zoo, they tried to put way too many animals in too small of a space.  Otherwise, we saw them feeding the lions, baby baboons playing, an orangutan (I think) showing off, etc.  They had animals such as zebras, lions, tigers, wolves, giraffes, kangaroos, alligators, etc.  It was nice to see so many different kinds of species such as with the monkeys and bears.  Ashley really wanted to see the elephants but we had a hard time finding them.  We were surprised to find that they were put in a small indoor exhibit.  Like I said before, though the zoo was big, it was still too many animals for that place.  I still had a fun time but I will admit it would be even more fun to see these animals in their natural habitats in the wild.

We had a field trip to the Suji Energy Plant again.  My students seemed to have a lot of fun.  Just like last year, somehow I got picked to do a bike experiment.  Though this bike was more interesting than last years as when I pedaled it played music.  The kids enjoyed it, especially when I slowed down and made the music go at a really slow pace that sounded like a robot dying.  Also, three of my third graders did well in the Reading Champions at school.

Other than that, I have a cat or two who like to escort me to my apartment.  The orange one even followed me inside one rainy day.  It was cute.  I call him Reggie now (it was the best out of all the random names Megan and I threw out one day).  I bought a hanbuk (traditional clothes that Korean's wear) for my niece.  Hopefully she will get it by her 1 year birthday as usually Korean children get their first hanbuk for their 100 day birthday which is when they turn 1 year old.  Also, I am getting ready for my trip to Japan over Chuseok.  I am very excited to go back to Japan and also to visit not only Tokyo Disneyland again but also Disney Sea which I have never seen before and is the only Disney Sea in the world.

Miyazaki Exhibit at the Seoul Arts Center

So, many of you have heard of Hayao Miyazaki, the world-wide renown Japanese director and animator for Studio Ghibli.  I am a huge fan of his and own many of his movies, though sadly my collection is incomplete.  I was teaching a newspaper class and one of the articles was about a Miyazaki exhibit at the Seoul Arts Center.  This exhibit had the original story boards for many of Miyazaki's movies.  Now I never go anywhere by myself but this actually made me go find the Seoul Arts Center on my own.  Shows you how much I wanted to see this exhibit. 

So, I printed off a map but it wasn't very good.  Luckily is didn't take me too long to find the Seoul Arts Center after exploring some back roads.  The art center was really crowded and the exhibit was on the second floor.  It was a little confusing as I still needed to buy a ticket but I found it eventually.  The ticket cost me 15,000 won (basically $15) and then I had to wait.  The Miyazaki exhibit was so popular that they had to have numbered tickets for entry.  So I had to wait an hour.  While I waited I took some pictures of the Miyazaki designs and pictures that they had outside the exhibit.  While I was waiting, someone dressed up as Noh Face from Spirited Away came out and people were taking pictures with him.

So, I was the next group to go but the Korean lady allowed me to go with the group before mine which was nice.  Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures of the original story boards but I expected that.  The artwork was amazing and had notes written on them by Hayao Miyazaki himself.  Most were drawn by Miyazaki.  Some were really simple designs while others were so detailed that they made my eyes widen.  Remember that these are just the story boards and not the end products, so to put so much detail into the story boards just shows how much effort and skill Miyazaki puts into his animations.  Along with the original story boards, there were also short movie clips showing the final product next to the original story boards which was neat.  Also, there were some paintings from Ponyo next to the Ponyo story boards.  It was really cool seeing the pencil sketches next to the fully painted images of the same scene. There were story boards from many of his movies, including a few I hadn't even heard of before.

So there were 1300 original story boards which took a while to see them all but it was definitely worth the time.  There was also a room that was designed to make it feel like you were walking down the long corridor to Yubaba's office to sign a contract.  That was really cool though I almost walked into a mirror.  At the end of the exhibit was a place where people could draw there own Miyazaki characters and put them on the wall.  Though I didn't draw anything (because I could never do Miyazaki justice) but I did take some fun pictures of that room since I couldn't take any pictures of the original story boards. Then there was the gift shop where I could buy some replicas of the original story boards .... which of course I did (though some are for gifts and not for me ^.^).  And that was all there was to the Miyazaki Exhibit.  I found it exciting to actually see the original story boards that Hayao Miyazaki created.  I recommend anyone interested in Miyazaki or Japanese animation should definitely check out this exhibit at the Seoul Arts Center.