the hive

in light of anna cotter's counsel, i have chosen to break up these entries so as to not inundate the reader with awesomeness.

last week was full of dubu kimchi and beksaeju, as any good week is. "scott what the fuck you broke the bottl- john where did you just get that from?"

school was pretty awesome, also. tuesday and thursday i got to decorate my classroom for halloween with my kindergarteners (i neglected to take pictures) and they were so excited to do it that they worked really well together. also, after some mild emotional abuse/prodding, even jin woo became my best friend after we solved the issue of "TEACHER WHY NO SPIDER?!?" wednesday, i became responsible for mc-ing an entire event on recycling, for which i had only prepared by finding that musical spring cleaning episode of rocko's modern life (zanzibar).

on friday we spent about three hours at a massive awards ceremony slash birthday party for all october birthdays, wherein the kids were rewarded for apparently every success they've had in the past month, no matter how small. and i mean EVERY kid. at one point one of the seven-year-olds just looked at me, certificates and decorative pencils flying out of his hands, and said tragically, "teacher, TOO MANY presents."

AND, check out clara's baller sweatshirt:

and, because they're all attention whores, here's everyone else that had to jump on board:
daniel, marian, and andrew (who just started wearing that FABULOUS vest over his uniform this week).

eric (who needs a nap), marian, and jin woo (who is clearly plotting to make me feel like a bad teacher).

JIN WOO I LOVE YOU PLZ LOVE ME BACK

and while we're on the subject of school, the fantastic birthday card that my kids made for our kid in indonesia, which my korean teacher promptly folded like four times and shoved into an envelope:

over the weekend scott and mike and john and i had every intention of going to everland with andrew and angie on saturday because they could get us half-off admission. for this reason, we decided that we would have a low-key friday night, just a small book exchange at a bar in seohyeon. this place has darts, it'll be fun. well i guess while we're here, we might as well do shots. well, if we're doing shots, we should eat. well, if we're going to eat, we should get some beers. no don't worry i'll cover this tab. oh shit korean cards get turned off between midnight and two am, what the fuck is that shit? no it's cool i have cash to cover us. WHAT WHY ARE WE GOING TO THIS FIELD. are we really going to play capture the flag? ok we're on opposite teams but i'll just get myself in jail and we can just sit here and drink together.

suddenly we look up and this kid is on the ground and clearly in a lot of pain, insisting that his shoulder has been disconnected. after scott and junyoung investigated, they established that he had obliterated his clavicle and also that any sudden movement would result in an instantaneous puncture wound to the lungs. our medics then rushed him back over the river and through the woods (legitimately - there were stepping stones to get to where we were) and called an ambulance before realizing there was a cab in front of us. clavicle, his wife, junyoung (to translate), and scott hopped in the cab, leaving me and john high and dry with a disbanded game of capture the flag and nothing but our small strips of red ribbon hanging pathetically from our coats.

john and i managed to grab a cab back to civilization, and after some street food got in touch with scott, who reported that he and junyoung would head home to meet us at bargules (it was about three, and we were all still working on an early evening). unfortunately, immediately after arriving at home, scott and i spoke, and he reported that they were at mad dog's in seohyeon, and obviously they couldn't leave, they just ordered food. so john and i track down another cab, pile in, and i tell john to tell the driver where we're going. unfortch i didn't listen, and was utterly confused when we got to mad dog's and found it closed. "that's because we're in seohyeon and you're in ori." another cab. "you're at seohyeon yuk." "yeah but we're in the middle of a road under an overpass." "IT'S COOL WE CAN GET OUT HERE." another cab. W2300 and i realize we were a block from where we needed to be. i manage to find scott and junyoung, the latter of which peaces immediately (after learning, i suppose, that we just were not going to work out) and john passes out in the booth. where he remained. until we left at five thirty. and after. because we can not carry him.

needless to say, no everland happened.

and thennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn saturday night we had a "table" reserved in a "vip room" at a "club" where we got half-priced "bottles." i am not a bro. though maybe i am, because it turns out clubs are pretty lame. we went to hear this band (ensemble? dj/house musicians?) because we know some of the guys in it, but the whole experience was kind of odd. "soo ... do we just hang out with each other in this corner? how do we make friends? wtf, stop giving our alcohol to random dudes." i also gained and lost an immense amount of street cred in the period of about six seconds with this huge black dude that sat next to us.

s: where you from, man?
hbd: baltimore.
s: she lived there!
a: i went to hopkins!
hbd: ...
a: :(

this is what having fun in a club looks like, apparently:
"I GOTTA GO I'M ENJOYING MYSELF IMMENSELY"

"IF WE PRETEND TO BE DRINKING MAYBE WE'LL GET DRUNKER"

"THIS IS WORKING OUT SWIMMINGLY"

i DID successfully get everyone home (such a good mother hen!) and convince byung not to sleep in his car, though apparently did not successfully convince him not to drive it. i can only do so much.