Avalon Academy threw all of us a wonderful party in the Gwangju Ramada hotel. It was a big event, all of the Avalon Academies were present. Over 90 of us met in a spacious event room and enjoyed awards entertainment and of course fantastic food!
When we first entered the event center lobby we were presented with name tags and gift (both were most welcome!)
Here is me with Adam:
The room was very nice, it looked like no expense was spared!
Now let's cut to the chase: The food.
The food was amazing! Never have I been so excited to eat such a feast of variety!
Now this is only a shot of about 2/3rds of one table. They had FOUR tables. Salmon, pastries, shrimp, an entire table of diverse hot sauced meats. Take a look at my plate:
The green dude at about 12:00 was like sushi, but packed in bamboo and baked. Massive prawns along with salmon (draping over at about 5:00) made me a happy man as well. My fears that I would be seen as first for seconds proved to be completely unfounded, as many went up a second and third time before me. Who am I kidding!? Their plates must not have been that full. But seriously DUCK! I commented to Koreans that I hadn't eaten duck since I shot it (or maybe since you did dad). It was another subtle reminder that made me think of the different world I come from.
Ok, now that I have expounded about the feast, let's gently roll back to the beginning. I had to chuckle to myself a bit when told of our assigned seating. Assigned seating for tables is A OK, but I was completely alone at the table for 10-15 minutes (don't worry, got up and mingled).
Apparently the members of my table were all getting ready together, and showed up all at once fashionably late.
The tables all looked great!:
After we were all pacified by decadent food, the introduction commenced. There was a slide show recapping the year, and then the awards!
I received two, one I expected, and one that took me by complete surprise.
First, I won "who can eat the most" this was was no surprise. None whatsoever.
But here's the real kicker. Not 15 minutes before I left for the party I asked my Canadian neighbor the same question I ask my sister and mother all the time "Can I wear these brown shoes these dark gray pants and black shirt, or should I wear black dress shoes?" The answer of course was "BLACK." accompanied a quizzical look, along with a tone that seemed to ask if I was joking. I was not, my brown dress shoes are really nice, and kind of dark so that could work....right?
Anyway I won "Best Dressed Man" at the party. I did not see this coming at all.
It had to be some bizarre combination of me "cleaning up pretty good," and generally wearing a well planned outfit.
My family can rest easy, for I did not win "funniest person to drink with." I was only second place. Only three of the people on this board are Western, the other 6 are Korean.
The votes for me must have been cast on the basis of assumption. I have been skilled at cloaking my debilitating and crippling alcoholism from the world by only drinking alone in my apartment... in the dark, gazing at photos of the life I left behind. In my opinion this should exclude me from said category entirely.
Then arrived the second highlight of the evening. The Skits!
I managed to film some of the more entertaining ones.
Here is a preliminary photo introduction to the first video.
This will help you understand when you watch it.
There is a prince and a princess:
Then a witch comes and steals the prince:
Many Santas show up to console the weeping princess.
"Have you seen this prince?"
Then there is a "Dance Battle"
The princess wins the prince back by being "hotter"
and then there is a big "Merry Christmas Dance" at the end.
The next skit was just as funny. The Korean teachers aides wrote a skit making fun of meetings with our schools manager...just watch and imagine this happening before your own eyes.
If you listen, you can hear me ask my Korean co-teacher Grace, to explain to me what is happening before my eyes
The sign saying "KENYA KENYA," has a meaning. It is the name of the coffee place right below our school.
I know this video was very long. I am just laughing at giving you a little taste of what life is like not understanding anything. This was only 3 minutes, try all day!
The school on the floor above us made human snow-people.
Our skit was a laugh riot (for us) We printed off a card for each one of the "12 Days of Christmas."
Each table had a day. We had one together and I sang "5 Golden Rings" in my best tenor voice.
There were numerous problems and setbacks. I loved every one of them, that's what made it so fun!
Here is another westerner skit. Each person came to sit down (one by one, adding to the song), playing a new percussion instrument each time, only to be lured away one by one by another teacher offering Korean adult beverages.
A few more photos for you:
After the crowds enjoyment of my solo during our skit, I was invited by John (the manager they were poking fun of in the skit) to sing a Karaoke song.
Here is the song I sang...much better than the original ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZeqwdWoeo
I rapidly perused the ailing list of English songs and selected "White Room."
It was the icing on the cake of a wonderful evening.
Here is our group picture, guess where I am?
I went to Seoul this weekend, so that will be the next post!
