Chuseok! A Happy Holiday!

Last week we had around 500 students again, but these kids were quite a bit more fun than the previous set. They were more outgoing and willing to participate in class. Friday we had our closing ceremony in the concert hall, but this time there were two musical numbers. There were a couple of boys that had a dancing group at their school, so they performed for everyone during the auspicious occasion. The kids all seemed to enjoy the dances, as is evident by the constant screaming and cheering in the following video.

On Saturday I went shopping for stuff to make a pasta salad that never actually came to be, but while traveling to the store I passed this strange house:

It was made out of dark purple glass! It was the first actual "glass house" I'd ever seen, but as I looked around more as I traveled, I noticed other glass houses to, some dark blue, others sky blue, some black...I wonder why?
Later, when I was at the store, I was browsing for food, and I came across the "International Cuisine" isle. The various countries featured the expected traditional foods: Japan's section had rice and different sauces and stuff, Italy had various pastas, France had some breads and fine chocolates. And then dear ole America had nothing but candy.

It was so funny to me! I had to take the picture. I was happy that there were Mentos in a three-pack for super cheap, so I totally stocked up/went crazy on those. I could eat a Mentos roll everyday for almost a month. I might do it, too.

Here is a picture on the train going into the heart of Seoul.

 While waiting for a certain bus to arrive....

This week, Korea celebrates Chuseok. From what I've gathered, it is a mix of Memorial Day and Thanksgiving. Families all gather and visit ancestral burial places and such. There is  HUGE cemetery by EV and yesterday there were countless cars and  families lining the streets. Because of this holiday, no students come to EV, so the teachers are given the week off! Paid vacation rocks!
To start out the week, I, along with some coworkers (now classified as friends) went to a theme park called Everland! It was very fun, and I took lots of pictures. Instead of doing another photo dump, I made a video using the pictures and videos from my camera (set to music of course), and I hope you like it! I doubt it will have 18,000 views though.
If the video of me on the spinning ride makes you dizzy, just imagine being on the ride itself...

After the park, we stood for about 45 minutes on a really crowded bus back to Seoul, then subway'd back to the other bus station, but the buses were finished for the night. We ended up taxiing back to EV with a very confused cab driver. When I got back in my apartment around 1:20 or so I was so tired! I fell asleep as soon as I got in bed.
It was a great day!