Goodbye, Austin Teacher

My last day at school was a couple days ago, which was bittersweet, to say the least. I was sad to say goodbye to my fellow teachers and students, who I have become very fond of over the past year. In addition, I am very excited to be on the brink of some amazing travels (to Hong Kong, Bali, Thailand, and India), as well as to be closing in on my final destination, after 15 months away: home. To commemorate my leaving, one of my fellow teachers had a couple of the classes draw/write goodbye-cards, some of which were too precious not to be shared:

#KikinitinKorea

Along the lines of Chincha?!, another must-check-out: #KikinitinKorea. Same idea as #whatshouldwecallme, but exclusively about the experience of foreigners in Korea. Hilarious, and uncannily accurate. In fact, Chincha?! published an interview with the maker of this site (A fellow, Californian, represent!).

Chincha?!

I had to give a shout-out to this awesome site, Chincha?!. Any foreigners living in South Korea, thinking about living in South Korea, or just curious about why anyone would possibly be interested in moving to South Korea, should check it out.

Here's the About:
"Chincha is a magazine-style blog created, written, and curated by expats living in South Korea. We show what life is really like in Korea by bringing you current information about people, music, gigs, and events. We give a positive point of view - with a wry spin -  on the weird and wonderful things that happen..."

Just as an FYI, "chincha?!" is a Korean word that translates to something like "really?!", and  is used VERY frequently among Koreans. It's one of my favorites. So much that I'm going to have to make a conscious effort to cut it out of my vocabulary once I return to the US.

Mudfest!

A few weeks back I attended the  Boryeong Mud Festival, a.k.a Mudfest, which is held in an otherwise sleepy beach-town and basically involves coating your body in mud and frolicking on the beach, while drinking. Yes, it's as fun as it sounds.
According to the Korean Tourism website, Mudfest is the most popular international festival in Korea. "During the festival period, tourists flock to the area to experience the beneficial properties of the Boryeong mud, and alto to have lots of fun. Fully immersed in both the mud and the festival's great atmosphere, visitors enjoy mud wrestling, mud sliding and even swimming in the mud mega tub. Visitors feeling particularly energetic can try the marine mud-training course, whilst those looking for something more chilled can relax in the mud massage zone. In the evening, music and fireworks continue the party on the beach" (Official Site of Korean Tourism).

Some pictures of my friends and I at Mudfest: