Museums and Halloween

We had a Halloween Party for our students on Monday. Yes, it was November 1st. But technically in the US it was actually Halloween when we had the party, so it works. The guy with gray hair is Dr. Kim, who is over the international department. I still can't believe we got him to play!

Sony and I at Karaoke with all the International students:

We made masks as part of the Halloween Party. They don't really do Halloween here at all, so we had to come up with some kind of easy constuming for about 50 people. They really seemed to like decorating them.

I-am-a-robot.

Wait a second! The PARTY room they've been trying to get us to use is actually a huge DRESS UP CLOSET!!!! So glad they finally unlocked the door and let us in!

Aw, my students. Betty, the one on the right, is intent on teaching me Korean.

Becky is so creative! She apparently whipped up this costume in a matter of minutes. Just before the party, we suggested to Jon-David, her husband and my co-worker, that he put on the huge headphones from the office to walk around and listen to his "Ipod" for his costume. I think she even had a little ipod with speakers that she carried around with her so when people pressed the play button she could start up the music!

We always laugh when we go to church in Chungju, because they tend to add amazing adjectives to the beginning of the name of a city. For example, Busan (which used to be spelled "Pusan" but is now spelled "Busan"...I was confused over that when I got here) is known as "Dynamic Busan." We're still trying to hunt down nicknames for all the rest of the towns, but Chungju is also known as "Good Chungju." We laugh about it all the time, but as I find places like this--Hoamji Reservoir, which is just a few blocks from the church--I can't help but think "Ah! Good Chungju!" =]

So, I've been tutoring this girl in Seoul in order to help her get ready to possibly go live in the US and attend a private school there. The first day we met, they had arranged for me to stay the weekend at a hotel nearby. Guess what the name of the hotel was?

Oh Dear! What have I gotten myself into? =] Aside from the name, everything about the hotel seemed just fine. Except for someone smoking in the hall late at night. But I plugged the bottom of the door with towels.

I won't bore you with too much of my museum fanatacism, but check out this statue outside the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul:

Isn't it cute?! And HUGE! I want one for my front yard, when I have a front yard some day. It looks like what I would picture Hugo from Fablehaven looking like...except maybe not such a pointy head. And don't miss those flower bushes in the right hand corner! Who knows why they're bent over like that, but it's clever and entertaining looking.