weddings, movies, work work work

So, last weekend. Pretty chilled out. Friday, I just relaxed. Literally. Just. I came home, sat around, the cat fell asleep on my belly, and I just vegged out. Teaching eight classes a day is hard work! And it does take it's toll. Finally stumbled into bed.
Saturday I cleaned up. I had planned to go shopping for a wedding present for Gumi with Laurien and Brooke, but when Brooke backed out to do some cleaning (eight classes plus a cold was hitting her too. haha!) I looked around at my apartment, the growing stack of marking, and backed out too. Money is a good gift for newlyweds too!
At five I went downtown to meet a girl that I met at the murder mystery party weeks back. We ran into each other again at the UNESCO Christmas dinner, and got to talking about the film festival and volunteer projects... she seemed cool so we met up for some dinner and chatting. I had been under the impression for weeks that her name was Skippy, because of a novelty name tag that she wore at the Murder Mystery Party. Turns out that it is Mellessa, which I have probably spelled incorrectly. Dinner and hanging out confirmed my earlier suspicions that she was in fact pretty neat.
Anyways, went out for spicy pork and to the dog cafe, and met up with Brooke and Ryan later at my new favourite place in the world "Cafe Provence". We had coffee and wine, and then Mellessa had to leave to catch a bus back to Gwangju. Ryan, Brooke and I stuck around for a while, finished our wine, then went out and found another little wine bar that I had spotted walking downtown earlier.
It was a nice place, but the colour scheme left a lot to be desired. It was like the Easter Bunny's fortress of solitude. All pastels and tiny dioramas of farmhouse rooms... very weird. But, good old jazz was playing and the wine was good. The "party" finished at my place with further libations. It was a great day, just hanging out and gabbing, loving life. haha.
Sunday was Gumi's wedding, which was very interesting. Oh, I forgot! When I was getting ready, Jessie called, and we had a great chat, which was nice. We hadn't talked in a long time. Anyways, the wedding.
I really enjoyed it. It was definitely not a wedding like I would have, but it was definitely an experience to see! When we arrived, Gumi was in a little room with an arched door. In the room, everyone would pass through to take pictures with her in her gown. Her whole family was outside of it, which was really neat. Gumi was beautiful, and it was nice to meet the families of the Korean teachers and see them outside of work. The ceremony was a full of pomp and circumstance. There was a soundtrack to everyone walking down the aisle. Like "INTRODUCING: THE FATHER!!!" and then a huge horn interlude as he walks to the altar area. "INTRODUCING: THE MOTHERS!!!" and then the mothers walk down the aisle in the hanbok. Then "INTRODUCING: THE BRIDE!!!" and then Gumi walks down, with the wedding march playing, and for some reason, bird song.
OH! I forgot the best part! During the processions, the parties are accompanied by these two girls wearing marching band uniforms and carrying swords. Then as Gumi walks down the aisle, they stand at attention half way and slowly cut an arc with their swords that starts when she starts and is completed as she reaches the altar.
I obviously did not understand much of the ceremony, but I was quite entertained by Ms Woo's son sitting in front of me, who has these unbelievably chubby cheeks and was fascinated with my camera, which I was more than happy to entertain him with.
The ceremony ended with a ton of photos with the wedding party, friends and family (and coworkers). Another highlight was constantly trying to snap a photo of my student Hyeong Deok who was apparently in Gumi's family. He's pretty shy, but it was fun. He looks like kids I have seen in old photos of my dad and his childhood friends, so I knew right away that he would be trouble.
After that I just chilled out for a while, and then went out to the movies at this cool theatre that I found. Actually, I was told about it. This is a really old theater that only plays independent and foreign and art films. So, a very cool discovery. I met up with Brooke and Ryan, and we saw that movie "The Science of Sleep", which I have wanted to see ever since I saw previews for it in Canada in the fall. I was super happy when I discovered that it not only played in Korea, but that there was an art film theater!
Anyways, it was a good time, and then we went out for shabu shabu, the perfect ending for pretty much any day. I also shopped for a black sweater, which I have come to require for two important reasons.
1) I have no black sweater. How have I been living?!
2) I've come to realize that a lot of my clothes have retained their pear shape even as I am losing it. It's kind of fun, because I can see my gut in the form of my clothes! hahaha. Anyways, not to make myself sound like an Adonis or anything. Far from it. But I'm feeling pretty good!

This week has been more of the same at work. I'm still frustrated about the projects in most of the classes. They just don't seem to get that when I say they need three pages, that I want three pages! I mean, they've had a month, and I've even cut it down to two pages typed or three pages written, both double spaced! The other class, the one that I cut down to just speeches, not only is not even close to finished, but since I threw down some deadlines, they've just BEGUN! They wrote things every day, I checked! But then they would apparently just throw it out! It's the whole "appearance of work" thing that seems to be everywhere here.
The other classes are all great. I had an awesome surprise yesterday when the schedule changed. I was expecting a new grade six class, and when I opened the door, my favourite grade four class poured in, and they all looked so happy to be back with me! I'm glad they're back too. I couldn't stop smiling, and I almost burst out laughing a few times because I was so happy!
I also headed back to the cafe yesterday for the first time this week... I've just been too busy! Her son was there, and I had my laptop, so we watched some of "The Incredibles" with Korean subtitles before I headed back to work.

Unfortunately... Sam is being terribly neglected in all of this. I've been making a concerted effort to give her a solid half hour of playing every day, on top of the other times I just sit with her. She's so highstrung because she's lonely... I'm going to be happy when the schedule returns to normal, and I think that she will be too!

But, Life is good. I have no complaints right now about my life.

Badabapbah bah! I'm loving it. I can't believe I typed it, but I'll leave it, because it's a good indicator of mood.