Xiu Ru Ji

I took Meagan to the Chinese Opera tonight! 

I was actually given two free tickets by the Busan International Performing Arts Festival organizers, since I trained 12 adorable elementary aged Korean kids to welcome people to the show in English!  The little girl who opened for this performance did AWESOME!  As soon as she started speaking English, the audience erupted in ooh's and aaah's and clapping!  I felt like a proud mom, cheering her on!  She ran up to me after the show yelling, "Chelsey, teacher!!"  I immediately gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her! 

I knew the performance would be in Chinese, so I asked the festival origanizer's before I came, "How will I know what's going on?!"  I was told, "There will be subtitles for you!"  Well, there were... but they were only in Korean!  FAIL!  This was all we had to tell us what the heck was going on... a small summary.

We may not have understood what was happening, but we chalked it up to a cool cultural experience.  Not many people can say they saw the Chinese Opera on a stage in Korea, right... and in the 5th row for heavens sake!

Here's the cast, after the performance, taking photos with the mayor of Busan and 

the President of the festival.

I actually saw Monica there, too!  Remember her?!  My awesome co-teacher from last year!  She was there with her husband... such a fun surprise!

  

Absolutely NO Korean festival is complete without a "foreigner interview."  Literally, anytime I go to something like this, I get stopped and interviewed.   

It's just one of the things you grin and bear when living in Korea.  

I never thought that the first time I saw the Opera it would be in Chinese... but I never thought a lot of things would happen to me, and look at me now!  haha!  Cheers to a fun cultural experience with a fun friend!

Field Day - 4!

I successfully photographed my 4th Korean elementary school field day today.  

The kids were darling and perfectly trained to sit when it wasn't their turn and march in when it was their game to play!  ... and who doesn't love being outside on a beautiful sunny day?!  

... and in case you were wondering, the BLUE TEAM won!  :)

Aaron's fingerprint ring!

Most couples I know want their wedding to be unique, and the way I see it, why stop at the wedding?

A couple weeks ago, I came across this picture online... a FINGERPRINT WEDDING BAND! 

I sent the link to Aaron asking what he thought, and as soon as he saw it, he was sold!  After a little research, we found Brent and Jess Williams, the fantastic couple who hand makes these beautiful fingerprint rings at their home studio in Maine!  They are so good at what they do, that they have 100% feedback!  

** I was so happy that he was in!  The thought of Aaron wearing a wedding band with MY fingerprint engraved on the inside was so romantic... but the fact that it's made by an etsy dealer instead of a chain jewelry store just made it that much more fantastic!  

WE LOVED THE IDEA!  

Within 10 minutes of Aaron giving the go ahead, I had my wallet out, my debit card in my lap, and was clicking "checkout", with absolutely NO REGRETS!  In order for Brent and Jess to create a one of a kind fingerprint ring, they had to send me a package with the fingerprint wax molds!  Unfortunately, they don't ship to Korea, so I had them mail it to my wonderful mom in California, who then took it to the post office and mailed it off to me in Korea for $7.00!  YAY!  The box arrived today! 

Upon opening the box, I started getting really excited!  

Luckily Maverick (yes, that's his official name now) was there to help me sort through everything!  

He's such a project kitty, just like my sweet Macy girl (my dog before coming to Korea)... 

I loved this little sticker they placed on the back of the example fingerprint strip envelope.  I would have never thought of figuring out which of my fingerprints had the swirl on it!  Turns out I only have 2 swirly fingers, one of which was my thumb, so that narrowed it down to one!  My pointer finger! :)

There was a 13 step instruction manual that came with the package!  ... and it seemed as if every step had to be done perfectly in order for the fingerprints to work... Eeekk, talk about stressful!  I read it about 5 times before starting, and typed really simple directions onto my phone to follow, but still totally messed up the first one!  Luckily, they sent me 4 wax strips, so I had at least 4 chances to get it right!  haha.

The first step in the process is to soak your finger in warm water for 8 minutes... just long enough to get it kinda pruney!  Apparently this helps to make a better imprint!    

 The next step was to boil 8 ounces of water and pour it into a bowl.  I used my kitchen scale to figure out how much 8 ounces of water was... lol.  Then, wait for it to cool to between 145 & 150 degrees F.  

They sent this handy dandy thermometer to help me!

When the water's the perfect temperature, you drop the fingerprint wax (not sure what it is actually), into the water and count to 30!  Then, carefully remove it with tweezers.

Then, you have to immediately lay it on a hard surface and push your finger into it

as hard as you can for another 30 seconds! 

 Then, run to your neareast sink and rinse your finger off with cold water for another 30 seconds! 

This helps to cool the wax, so you can remove your finger from it! 

Slowly, slowly....

And wala... That's it!  It wasn't so hard after all!   

Then repeat, repeat, repeat... mail it back to Brent and Jess in the U.S., 

and wait patiently for them to work their magic!     

Can't wait to see Aaron's one of a kind wedding band!  

Heck, I can't wait to see him wearing a wedding band!  87 days and counting!