Well there has ben a serious turn in the weather here on my little sub-tropical island. Makes one wonder what exactly the definition of subtropical is. I definitely did not expect it to mean snow in mid november. Granted this is better than back in Canada but that is not why i moved here. Fortunately being on the south side of the island means it didn't actually snow here but on mt Halla and the north side of the island. It even came as a suprise to the locals, all of my co-teachers say that it usually doesn't snow until december or january. It would be a nice little treat to have it snow and be refreshingly cold, if there was central heating. But as it stands very few places have this. At the schools only the classrooms are heated so the rest of the building is freezing and as i do not have a classroom this means i am freezing most of the time, huddled in a ball in the computer lab. Fortunately my apartment is well insulated so it isn't too bad. But when it is cold the floor heating only actually seems to help if you are on the floor. So i wrap myslef in warm blankets and jump around my apartment when it does get really cold.
This week has not been all bad though, in fact it has been quite spectacular. I got an awesome opportunity to dance in a huge auditorium for the 2nd annual jeju foreign language festival. It was held on friday and was a pretty good little festival. Granted geting a day off teaching is always really nice. On top of that we also got to represent the countries we come from and teach the kids about them. There were booths for Canada, the US, Australia and new zealand. Each exhibited stuff about that country, trivia, games, food, etc. The kids loved it and it seemed like there was always a huge line up outside each tent. I was lucky enough to not have to be outside at a booth though as i vounteered to perform. The auditorium is really nice and probably fits 500 to 1000 people. All through out the day foreign teachers were performing their various talents and in between korean students performed different english plays they had produced.
I got to perform in the afternoon at 3:10pm. Despite having a few weeks to prepare a routine i decided to go for a more spur of the moment dance. I chose one song for my belly dance and then my friend Jason so graciously played a traditional korean buddhist drum for a hula hoop dance. It went so well, i was a little nervous but not too bad. It is amazing how teaching has helped me release alot of my fears of standing up on front of people. As far as i could tell the Korean students took it well and the govt officials loved it. I think it was a real treat for them as it is not everyday they get to see a scantily clad white girl shake it in front of them. In fact i am sure it was a first for many of them. I can't wait to get the video. I will post it as soon as i get it. The whole experience has reminded me how much i love dance and how i am really missing it here.
My mission this week is to find an outlet for this desire.
And on a very happy note there are only 4 weeks left until winter break and i am buying my ticket to vietnam this week. HOORAY WARM WEATHER!!!!!
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