| For New Years Day, my host brother Yong Seok and I woke up at 4:30 am, walked to the top of the mountain that is near our apartment, and waited for the first sunrise of the New Year. Here are the pictures....click on them if you want a larger version. 6:20 am 
6:39 am 
6:48 
7:04
 7:08--now you can see the big Gwangan bridge, and out to sea...  7:12
 Me....
It was cold...25 degrees, with a stiff wind. When we got to the top, after trudging through the dark woods for an hour with flashlights,Yong Seok told me: "Back there, I didn't want to tell you because you might be scared, but there was a man called mudang. They go to the mountains, sit silently for a long time, and have a ceremony with candles to speak with the ghosts that live on the mountain. You didn't see him?" I thought he was joking but he wasn't. He said, that as a park ranger, he sometimes had to chase these people away, because their candles are a forest fire hazard, especially because after the sun rises and they go down the mountain, they leave their burning candles behind. 
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| My host father:
"Today is very important day.......Christmas..........Jesus Christ.....boring day."
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| Today was my last day at school until March. Next year I will be getting new students, so I had my current ones make a kind of farewell video. I'm so proud of my students! Feel free to comment on any cultural observations...http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3tlqs_my-students0001_people |
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Also, they have trucks that roam around the city all day blaring cheesy campaign music. The presidential election is 12/19. For me, that day is most importantly a free day from school. But, the winner is likely to be Lee Myeong-bak, a conservative who is pro-business, pro-American, and anti-making concessions to North Korea. Interesting Wikipedia article here. |
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| Well so far, this Monday has been pretty average, but the general consensus among the students is that my new haircut makes me look like Spiderman. "Spiderman? You mean Peter Parker?" "AAHHH yeehhhhh. Pee-ta Pa-kuh!" |
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