It’s another Sunday night and I’m home late, as usual, irritable at travel and buses, and more tired than I have a right to be. I sure didn’t do anything too draining all weekend. But there’s nothing like the prospect of another Monday to prompt preemptive exhaustion. It’s a good thing I have it pretty easy this week—at least three of my classes are canceled! Unfortunately, I don’t have a day off, but it is nice to have a lighter schedule.
I spent the last weekend in Jeonju, a city an hour or so south of me famed for its food (especially bibimbap) and liveliness. I’ve been wanting to visit and the excuse finally came—the sixth annual Jeonju International Film Festival was held, which I attended with three friends (Bianca, Susie, and Janaki). Luckily, Bianca’s really into films, so she poured through the movie descriptions online, all in Korean, and we got tickets to see four shows—a Chinese documentary called Dong on Friday night, a drama about life in Chad called Dry Season on Saturday afternoon, a Hong Kong thriller by the name of Eye in the Sky on Saturday night, and finally a Korean romantic comedy starring Bi (my fav actor) called I’m a Cyborg but it’s OK this afternoon. We ended up seeing them in my eventual order of preference. Dong was perhaps the dullest thing I’ve ever seen, and was also offensive and just plain stupid, I was told later. I actually slept for a good portion of it. The storyline wasn’t enough to keep me awake (not that there WAS a storyline) and I guess my early morning lifestyle is catching up to me…I was absolutely exhausted for a 10:30 showing! But my nap revived me enough that I was able to stay up ‘til 5:30 am with the other girls at a bar called Tombstone we found around the corner from our motel. I guess Janaki and Bianca had been there before and saw a fire show, so we went in expecting some sort of performance. These hopes were quickly dashed, as we were informed that there would be no show that evening, but the $6 cocktails were enough to keep us happy. And then, they surprised us by putting on a show, anyway! There was no fire, but bottle-spinning and juggling were prominent themes and it was very entertaining. The whole thing was prefaced by a speech given over the loudspeakers by the bartender, which essentially conveyed general affection toward the American visitors. Man, it’s fun sometimes to be a rockstar! This would NEVER happen anywhere else! It was all very funny because the bartender was clumsily trying to flirt, I think, and ended up giving Bianca a drink as part of the performance (he asked for the girl who liked him the most to step forward, and she was supposed to drink it as fast as she could for a prize—an ugly Tombstone baseball hat). It was quite a show. And then our waiter started doing magic tricks for us. Gradually, though, the attention waned and even cooled, so we recovered the scattered shards of our respective dignities and went home. This was definitely the most amusing part of the weekend.
The next day, we slept late, ate a leisurely brunch, and then went to Dry Season. This movie was okay, but definitely nothing remarkable. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, but it didn’t bore me to tears, either. I went into this movie festival experience somehow expecting that all movies at such events are spectacular, but I quickly found out this is not the case at all; in fact, it is often the opposite. Often festivals are the only places where movies can get played, so they attract all kinds. I was disappointed to discover this. I thought I’d be seeing all quirky, amazing films, but instead I got a complete dud, a mediocre film, and two that were pretty good. But still…an experience.
After this movie, we dawdled around the university area, got ice cream and listened to terrible college bands try to sing American songs, and then went on a hunt for the famous bibimbap. A friendly cab driver took us to a really nice restaurant, where we tucked away more food that is probably advisable. It was all so good! I suppose the reputation for good food is deserved—this place, at least, was pretty darn good! We took an after-dinner digestive meander back to campus, and then went to our second movie of the day. Eye in the Sky was pretty entertaining as a thriller. It certainly wasn’t the best movie of its genre I’ve ever seen, but it was good enough to satisfy me for the day. We ran into a couple other Fulbrighters afterwards, but they had more energy than us and went out that night, while the four of us wined (on 7-11 bottles) and dined (on fried goodness and kimbap) and watched Korean MTV. I’m too old to go out more than once every couple weeks nowadays…my body just can’t take that kind of abuse anymore! And to think I used to go out 4-5 times per week…pure madness!
Today we slept late again and then went our separate ways for the morning—Susie and Janaki to A Ha hair salon for perming and dyeing, respectively, and Bianca out to breakfast and me on a run. The run was not that successful (I had to stop 20 minutes in), but the day was gorgeous, so mission number two was basking in the sun. Bianca and I went to a beautiful park we discovered the previous night on our stroll and wrote and read under a spider-bearing tree while watching hordes of Korean families meander by. It’s so nice to see parks in real use! And afterwards, we met the now-transformed and remarkably twin-like (dark brown and wavy haired) Susie and Janaki for the last movie and the one I’d most been looking forward to: Cyborg. I really have a thing for Bi, so I knew I’d like it for the eye candy alone, but I actually ended up liking the movie as a whole, anyway. It was quirky, but endearing, and I enjoyed the cinematography and the vivid colors used. There was a whole yodeling sequence done by Bi (he’s also a wildly popular singer—as a matter of fact, that’s what he did first) and that was definitely the highlight of the film for most of us. Korean yodeling is surprisingly magical J. And then it was time to head home. I grew a bit irritable because buses were sold out and I ended up waiting an extra two hours, and then it took longer than I expected because the bus was actually much slower than the train I took on the way there, but I eventually got home. I feel like I need another couple days to recuperate from the weekend, but I guess I’ll have to cope. At least my back pain is finally gone!
I did a lot of hard thinking about the whole extension thing this weekend. I found out Susie’s going to be the new ETA coordinator and thus will be conveniently stationed in Seoul and Janaki is definitely extending to an as-yet-unknown location. This news, combined with my good feelings about Korea and work for the last few weeks, has really pushed me into the pro-Korea 2008 camp. There are really so many reasons to stay—earning more money in a cushy job in which I get over 2 months of paid vacation per year, getting to know this country which I’ve grown to adore much better, spending time with good friends, getting more teaching experience…what it really comes down to is how this decision would affect my family at home. I know they’ll be supportive in whatever I decide, but I still worry about my relationships with the younger kids in particular. I don’t want them to feel betrayed or abandoned, and I hate missing out on so much in their lives, and I fear that our relationship could be adversely affected by more time spent apart. I know I’ve been away for the last five years, too, but I still was home every summer and Christmas. I have it figured out that I’ll come home for six weeks this summer, but still…I know they deserve more. It’s something I still have to think through. But with the prospect of good times like this weekend stretching on to July 2008, and Bejing Olympics, and….well, how can I even consider missing out on THAT?!?