Its not a Halloween / Cultural Day without Mr. Bean.

This Wednesday was Halloween and also a culture day at my school. I dressed up as a cowboy in hopes of convincing students that Psy dances like a cowboy, but they didn’t believe it. It was also an excellent excuse to wear jeans. After teaching my final class of Grade 4s until December, I distributed ample amounts of candy to staff and admin. The exciting part is I still have candy to give away as prizes for special occasions and to snack on throughout my lonely afternoons in the library. Mmm green apple. Nonetheless, once the students caught wind that I had candy my class room was full to the brim with little faces eagerly saying, "Twick or Tweat" on every break, then in my afternoon as well. Luckily, that ended 2 hours early.

The specialist teachers (being science, art, English, P.E. etc.) Went to Igdae Park, the same place I went on Sunday. My camera was out of juice this time, so I didn't get any new photos, but the art teacher took it upon herself to be the photographer. We didn't walk as far as I did on Sunday, but it still beats desk warming. While walking back we saw more teachers from the school that left after classes were finished. Waiting at the highest point near the entrance, looking out at the skyline, I marvelled at the largest wild land animal I've seen since coming to Korea: a praying mantis, man-eater of the insect world, the size of a small bird. There’s reason to go back with a fully charged camera.

Next stop was a coffee shop. Like back home, its student central with very bohemian vibes and a blackboard. Being there made me feel old, and reminded me how stress-free I am here. Hey Professional Development, take the year off. My liver was not so fortunate. On we go to the restaurant. We arrived relatively early so I was sitting on the floor by myself for about 5 minutes while the PE teacher was catching up with the rest of the staff. In a rapid sequence one of the older gentlemen from the guy's night about a month ago (oddly enough I haven't seen him since then) kicks off his shoes orders two beers, sits across the from me, nods and smile takes the beers from our server, flips 2 glasses over, pops the cap off, and pours away. The two of us drink and snack while admin and the other guys filter in. Then those little green bottles of pain and memory loss rear their ugly labels.

I tried to avoid it as much as I could by shovelling deliciously spicy octopus meal to chase down those shots that are carbon-copies of vodka. The older teachers leave after the meal, along with the Principal and Vice Principal (the latter was staring me down the whole time we were eating, why I don't know, nor will I ever) leaving my youthful and fun-loving colleagues, most of whom speak enough English to carry a conversation about students, the school, being handsome, and being able to answer my ever so popular question "How do you say _____ in Korean?" (Grade 6 Lesson 12, they must have had a great teacher then). Once all the food was gone, the eldest paid on the school credit card and we went on ward into the night.

We travelled down a street, to the left and up another to stumble into a quaint restaurant with a second floor like the one in my loft. We travel up the narrow steps and are presented with some beers, soju and snacks.

One teacher who is very talkative and constantly happy tells me, "You are so handsome."

"Thank you but I'm handsome like famous people." I replied

"Yes, you are; you look like Mr. Bean"

Everyone erupts with laughter except for me and my rosy red cheeks and furrowed brow. REALLY? I think. He then proceeds to find pictures of Mr. Bean on his phone, showing them to me, then laughing even harder. I'm glad I'm loved here. I'd also like to point out I've been wearing a cowboy costume this entire time. For the rest of the night we talked about our favourite Mr. Bean moments.

One of the coolest things I witnessed there was the mass boilermaker line. Our eldest teacher poured out beer into 6 glasses in a tight line, then put half a shot of soju in each shot glass and stood 5 of them on the rims of the 6 glasses. It looked like the base of the pyramid. The last shot glass is the starting domino, you merely clink one of the shot glasses on the end and they all slide into a beer. What a clever way to serve such a delicious drink! The rest of the night, just as any other soju-related night, was forgettable (but for different reasons); nothing was lost, forgotten, or brought up that was out of the ordinary. Since Movember starts today, I asked the 3 male Korean teachers if they would grow mustaches. None of them would because their wives don't like it. Whether you're in Korea or Canada you have to abide by the wife/ girlfriend, guess I'll have to accept that eventually. But for now, I'll keep my Mexican stash in the making, my nights long, in hopes working my way up, or down actually, to a more respectable celebrity look-a-like.