My Year in Daegu: Korean in Motion, Daegu and COSTCO!

The DMOE gave us Native English Teachers the special opportunity of going to some Korea in Motion shows for free during the weekend of November 5-7. Korea in Motion is basically a weekend long event with many non-verbal shows being performed per day. These shows are performed in an effort to bring together people from all around the world in Korea, despite language barriers.

I went to 3 shows total during that weekend: Breakout, Return, and Sachoom.
1. Breakout was about a group of men who dance, breakout of jail, and befriend some nuns at the local church (I don't even know, I was confused for half of it!). The break dancing dancing was great, there were some humorous parts, and it was one of the smaller shows of the evening.
2. Return was by far the best show. It was performed in one of the culture & arts centers in Daegu. It was about 2 groups of rival break dancers who were competing to become the World Champions. Amazing dancing and extremely entertaining.

No, no. Not "World Championship"... it's "World of Championship"

3. Finally, Sachoom was also one of the bigger shows of the weekend (but I can't say it was the greatest). First off, I got there a little late....... cue confusion. Then, just minutes after I arrived, there were people with weird costumes squirming about the stage. Me to Shelley: "Ummm, are those sperm dancing on stage?" Sure enough, sperm appeared on the screen alongside the wiggling dancers. Soon after, a woman in a white, round costume came onto stage and a sperm dancer raced toward her. A baby swimming through fluid came up on the screen. Shelley and I burst into laughter... How did no one else think this was weird?! And why were there kids in the audience?? Either we are extremely immature or didn't realize this is completely normal in Korean culture. I vote for the immaturity (but common, dancing sperm and eggs? Really?!) I guess this show was about the cycle of life but it was a little (ok, a lot) strange. And it got better... the English translations of everything they showed on the big screen were completely off. They didn't make sense and by the end, I was laughing so hard that I was tearing up.

That weekend I also made a trip to Costco! YES we have Costcos in Korea, YES there are samples at Korean Costcos, and YES the Costcos just as amazing as at home. Our Costco in Daegu is 2 stories, one for all of the food products and one for electronics/clothes/etc. The food court has all of the essentials that American Costcos have such as Costco pizza and hot dogs. But, one major thing that is different is the existence of the bulgogi bake (similar to the chicken bake). I have yet to try it, but it is on my to do list :) I only bought a few things considering I was taking the bus home: big bag of Kettle chips, coffee, soy milk, a soft blanket, and a block of cheddar cheese (the only place you can find real cheese... unless you don't mind Kraft single type cheese). I told one of my coteachers about my trip to Costco and he didn't understand why I was so excited... uhhh because it's COSTCO (in Korea nonetheless)!