iif all the snowflakes were candy bars and milkshakes...

First real snow of the winter in Seoul! I might have been more excited than the kids.

thanksgiving in korea

Even though Korea doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving we had  a feast of our own. We got a Thanksgiving turkey dinner from a nearby army base that included a turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, cranberries, and a pumpkin pie! Everything was already cooked and ready for us to eat. It was delicious and I was happy and thankful to celebrate the holiday with good food and good friends.

can a bum get a ride?

Someone might come visit me very soon!

happy pepero day!

Today it was Pepero Day! Apparently it is somewhat treated like Valentine's Day and these little cookie sticks dipped in chocolate are given to friends, family, and loved ones. I have had Pepero sticks before, and though they are pretty delicious, I did not know there was a special day for it!
The "holiday" is on 11/11 because the 1's look like the sticks. The grocery store on my corner has had huge stacks outside for sale all week long. I went to the store yesterday to buy some soup and there was not one person in line who didn't have a box of Pepero. So I grabbed some.
The positive to Pepero Day? Students and teachers gave me Pepero all day! The Negative? My stomach hurts and my kids were hyped up on sugar all day being more crazy than usual.

two & 2.

Two months and two weeks down. The leaves started changing and it has gotten very cold here. My school does not have heating in the building so I have to wear my winter coat all day while teaching, as well as my boots. It is going to be a long winter. Thankfully I have heating in my apartment. After much googling to figure out how to work it, i got the floor turned on! The heating here comes from the floor which is amazing! The apartment heats up quickly and then after turning it off, it stays warm for hours. The heat rises and I stay warm all night.

Made a trip to the eye doctor last week. I knew it would not be a normal experience. Whenever I go anywhere I am stared at and this was no exception. Hannah teacher came with me so she could translate. I sat there the entire time listening to them blabber in Korean. Hannah is very helpful but she tends to not translate anything back to me. She just looks at me as if I understood what was said. When I do ask her what was said she tells me about three words. Really? You just talked for about ten minutes straight and that's all I get? After a quick eye check with slightly weird equipment we ordered contacts and glasses for me. The glasses were done that day and the contacts a few days later. Korean service is a lot faster and nicer than back home.

Kaitlin and I played in a soccer game on Saturday with our foreign team. We played a high school boys team who killed us. It was fun to run around though and have a hard game! I was bleeding from my knees and my thigh. I should maybe take it a little easy; I am getting to old for this! After the game we met up with some friends at On the Border (a mexican restaurant from the US). Mexican food has never tasted so good. A quesadilla stuffed with cheese, chicken, avocado, peppers, sour cream, and onions is exactly what I needed. It is very pricey but absolutely worth it! I am thinking this will be a once a month deal.

korean halloween.

Who says they don't celebrate Halloween in Korea?

Kaitlin and I spent Friday night making our costumes and preparing for Saturday's Halloween festivities. We cut, glued, and painted all night until we had the perfect Rocky and Bullwinkle. Saturday we set out on our adventure and started on the subway. I am not kidding when I say every single person was staring at us. Every head was turned our way and camera phones started popping out. We then made our way to a few parties  where some people didn't know who Rocky and Bullwinkle were. What on earth?! Then we ended our night in Itaewon, a popular foreign area, where we danced the night away with everyone dressed in costume. It was nice to have a Halloween and feel somewhat at home.

Halloween is over and the next Holiday here is the Christmas season. Decorations HAVE started going up today!

School update: Everything has take a total spin in the right direction lately. My schedule has become a lot less stressful these past 2 weeks. I had quite a few lower level classes which was becoming way to overwhelming. I know I should embrace the hard challenge but it is better for me and them that I don't teach them so often. They can't understand me, nor do they try too; I don't blame them. If I was 10 years old and someone was babbling to me in a different language I would be a little brat too. I now only teach the lower level classes once a week and I have been a lot happier with this new change.

halloween shmalloween.

In honor of Halloween we had a "Halloween party" yesterday at school. And when I say party I mean we gave them a little bit of candy and called it good. Decorations did not go up until Wednesday so Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I did Halloween crafts with my kids to add to the decorations. There just wasn't enough! If I would have known there wasn't going to be anything planned I would have done more. There should have been more treats! I understand I am in Korea where Halloween isn't even celebrated but if we are going to celebrate at school, we should celebrate it! However, I did face paint my students faces all day and I might have found a new career option. Either way, it was still a fun day and cute to see my kindergarten kids dressed up and being dressed up with them. I turned an old umbrella into some wings and became a bat! Cinderella was pleased and the kids seemed to like it too. I was the only teacher dressed up...