Well, I have been in Japan the last couple of days hanging out with Mike my brother who has been taking better care of his blog on the subject than I have.

I came two nights ago and we stayed at a hostel, got up the next morning and wandered around Tokyo for a bit. We went to a huge park with several museums and a zoo. We went to art museum and saw Monet's "Water Lillies" which is one of those pieces popular on posters that you can get at Hobby Lobby. It was really cool to see the original. We also rented a swan paddle boat at the park pond and nearly were massacred by ducks and geese and sea gulls when we threw a bit of bread in the water. We had lunch at a little Japanese noodle restaurant, and had to just point at a couple of items in the menu since they didn't have pictures in them. It turned out alright. Then we made our way to ARI and got in, just in time to catch the end of dinner. The guys then proceeded to the guys dorm where we drank a bit of wine, and watched "Jesus Christ Superstar."

Yesterday I worked at ARI with him and it was fun. We took care of chickens, and collected fire wood. Last night a group of us went to a local church for candlelight service, then came back and watched "Love Actually."

We got up this morning and opened presents. Mike got a tarp tent, and I got a certificate for a monster puppet from monsterpuppest.com. We also found chocolate and the traditional set of legos in our stocking, along with a tooth brush and huge peppermint stick all we did was feed the chickens, and then had the rest of the day off. We rode bikes to the store, played ultimate Frisbee, read, played music, and walked to and around town.

We are heading out to north Japan tomorrow to look around and visit a Mennonite ex-pat and his organic farm.

I just wanted to say happy Christ Mass to everyone!!

Annyong!

Well, its my last day in Korea. I am almost packed. I said goodbye to everyone at church tonight and I am going to miss them.

I am not really ready to reflect on my eleven months here.

I have had a lot of fun the last few weeks. I have eaten way too many pizzas with Mike my roommate. I discovered some awesome hot chocolate at Accapellos, a coffee shop in Yesan, and wished I had tried them there earlier.

Last Thursday all the church and school staff went out and had a five course meal of Duck. We had it grilled, with kimchi sauce, roasted, and in a soup. Then we had a ice yogurt dessert. It was the most fantastic meal I have had here I think, and I have had some pretty good ones.

Then we went bowling in Yesan. We played two games, guys against guys and girls against girls. For the guys, the pastors (Pastors: Cheong, Kim, Lee and Kong) were on one team and the other four of us, (Mike, James, Brother Kim, and I) were on the other. The pastors won. James used to run a bowling alley in the states, so he helped me get from lowest of all in the first game to beating Mike in the second. It was a blast all the way around. Now before you go thinking they did all this for me, because I was leaving it was also the Pastors Wife's birthday, and a goodbye dinner for Pastor Kong and his family because he got a new job in another church. His daughter, Kong Ju'n A, or "Paige" (her English name) is in my seven year old's class, and one of my favorite students. I am definitely going to miss that family.

So now I am almost packed. I am going to unplug this computer and pack it as soon as I am done typing this. I am heading to the air port tomorrow, and flying to Japan to see Mike (my brother, not my roommate) who is working at ARI there. Though if you follow this blog you probably already know that. A week later it a nice long 11 hour or so flight from Tokyo to Dallas Fort Worth and home!

Peace!

Remember Remember...

Okay I suppose since I told everyone about a week ago that I would post another post, I should. Lets see, November...

Well the big news is that I am back to plan A2 v3.6. Plan A after college was: join Peace Corps, go to the Clown Conservatory, join Circus, Clown for x number of years, go to Grad school and get a doctorate in Folklore and study clowning academically. Well, the Peace Corps fell through and I came here to Korea and taught. Hence A2. After that I didn't really think about it. So when it got about three months out of leaving I started coming up with plan B which was stick around Korea and teach until the Clown Conservatory. Then it was B2 with staying a whole nother year and teach and save money. But I have now decided to face my fears of the unknown and go ahead and move back to a version of plan A2 which is to go home see the folks and maybe if I have the money to do it, see some friends around the states as well, and then set myself up in San Francisco and work and apply to the Clown Conservatory (just need to make my audition DVD now!). Also thrown into all of this, is seeing Mike in Japan for Christmas and probably new years as well. I am sure it all will work out.

But lets see. What actually HAPPENED. Not much. Well okay a few things.

Mike (roommate) and I went back to the National Park we went to when I first came here. It was absolutely beautiful. The weather was pleasant, and there was no ice like last time and the trees were all sorts of different colors.

One of the best pictures of Mike and me ever.

A pool. It was my desktop background for about a week or so after I got back
Stone staircases are awsome!

We had thanksgiving. Mike and I were going to make hamburgers with some very expensive ground beef I bought after a communication failure at a local butchers (I was trying to buy ground pork) but I had forgot to defrost the meat. So we ordered some pizza and ate that. I missed the family all brand rolls. As it turns out, we had the hamburgers on Monday, and they were amazingly delicious. I think they ground up some steak strips for me.

Sunday night was the church dance off. Yes, you read it right. Dance off. It was probably the most foreign thing I have seen here. All the various groups in the church, I am not even sure what all of them were, had a team and something prepared. The other teachers and I were a part of the Kindergarten team so we teachers acted out the Story tree Story "The Big Turnip" which is about a farmer and his wife who want this big turnip but it is sooooooo BIG! that the enlist the help of their animals one by one to help them pull it out. Originally it is the Farmer, his wife, the Cow, the horse and the lamb. Our version was limited by costume availability and was the farmer (James), his wife (Beth), the Kangaroo (yours truly), the Frog (Mike), and the Chicken (Mrs Lee) and the turnip was played by Mrs Chang.



Then we and the Kindergartners danced and sang the songs that go with the story. It was well received, and much to my surprise not the weirdest nor funniest dance that evening. There was the youth group who danced and then did outrageous things to each other, there was the synchronized swimming dancers, the middle aged ladies in black face doing the macarana to a praise song, the old men holding hands and rocking and singing for their dance, the satirical parade group, the group of middle age men in animal costumes (the same ones we wore, but more of them) and lipstick, and to cap it all off, the transvestite pastors. The macarana women won. Everyone walked home with washer detergent.

Yay Korea!

Oh and I shaved and got a hair cut. I have yet to hear anyone go "Aw you looked so good in that beard what were you thinking?" and lots of people going "Oh Robert very handsome" and giving me thumbs up signs so I suppose it is a good thing.

edit: My Blackbelt came in!!

Victory is mine!!