Halfway home!

We are officially halfway home! Yay! Today marks our 6 months and it now seems like it's going by much faster. School is mostly enjoyable for me now. I have pretty good classes, and LOTS of breaks throughout the day, which is nice. Two teacher are leaving soon, so we will be given many more classes, so hopefully getting overtime, which will be nice.

This past weekend we went to Busan, a big city about 40 minutes from here with another couple we met recently. We spent all day shopping (I got some red new balance knock-off tennis shoes for about $22) and checking out the "World Famous Fish Market." It was interesting, but pretty gross. A HUGE indoor fish market is bound to get a bit messy and smelly. After walking around all day, we went to a Mexican resturant (oh, how we have missed out Mexican) and had a few drinks while waiting for more people to join us. A couple hours later, we finally had a delicious dinner or burritos and fajitas...wow, it was amazing. The bus is only $1 each way, so I may have to drag Jared back there this weekend!

After dinner, we went to a casino...one of a few in Korea I think. It is illegal for Koreans to gamble, so there are only foreigneers in the casnio, and most of them Japaneese it seemed. We stayed for a few hours and didn't lose too much money compared to others in the group...two of the people we were with each actually won over $100, so it was a pretty sucessful night overall. After the hour long busride home, we didn't get to bed until after 3AM...very late for Kate teacher!

I am learning more and more each day, as far as teaching goes. I moslty like my babies...the youngest kids in the school. They are 5 years old Korean age, so between 3 and 4 American age. They are so fun to sing a dance around with.

One of my babies is named Blue. His Mom wanted his English name to be David, but he insists on Blue. He is incredibly smart. While the rest of the class has recently learned "Hello Kate teacher," he reads the name of the current book I'm reading (which is "Lamb," and is amazing, if anyone is interested). He is so funny and smart. It always puts me in a good mood to go say hello to him.

My terrible child, Kevin, has finally mellowed out a bit, and I'm learning how to work with him more. I still have to constantly remind him to speak in a quiet voice and to stop speaking Korean, but he hasn't spit on me or stuck his tongue out at me in almost two weeks. So theres is progress.

Jared brother sent us a Nintendo Wii...it's been really fun so far. We have downloaded Super Mario 3, Super Mario World, Pacman, Tetris, Dr. Mario, and Mariocart...all old Super NES games. I don't know anythign about Wii games, so if anyone knows anything good, let us know. I am planning on getting Wii fit, as my gym membership is running out in a few days, and I'm not one to make up my own routine.

We find out today if we are accepted into a rock climbing club that will start in a few weeks. Regardless, we have ordered shoes and harnesses that should arrive in the mail next week...exciting!

Hope everyone is happy! I'll try to attach more videos.

Awhemawhey!!

Here's my 6 yr. olds doing...in the jungle. They are soo adorable, aren't they?

Bad Day!

This is video of my 8 year olds singing "Bad Day, by Daniel Powter...they got pretty into it.

We are now over two weeks into our new semester and still have yet to get all our books in for our classes...frustration is a daily emotion now, whether or not we try to avoid it. For most classes we have to come up with busy work, or find something to teach the kids...or like some of the teachers, just talk to the kids for 25 minutes. Luckily, there are a lot of us in the same boat and we can share resources. I think after this weekend, all the books will be in and we can finally start a more normal routine with the kids. Yay!

I have really enjoyed my classes this semester, for the most part. They gave me the problem child again, but this time in a smaller classroom that gives him no room to get up and down from his seat. He also has better classmates that encourage him to stop speaking Korean, and to behave better. He has still been somewhat of an issue, but he hasn't hit me or spit on me...yet. He has, on the other hand, stuck his tongue out at me and a number of occasions, but now that he has a meaner Korean charge teacher, he is starting to figure out he doesn't want to be kicked out of class...it's starting to work better with him. So that's good news.

I also have the babies of the school. They are 5 yrs. old, Korean age...so that is between 3 and 4 American age. It's pretty tough because they don't even know how to pick up a pencil, yet the school has ordered them books that has them tracing full words already...ahh, again, frustration with the school. Luckily their Korean charge teacher is great and has allowed me to make them an alphabet book that consists of coloring and tracing one letter on each page. After this, I hope to slowly start their phonics book. They are adorable and I love singing songs and dancing around with them, but it's definitely the biggest language barrier I have throughout the day. I get by with a lot of hand gestures.

This past weekend, we went to Jingu, a city 2 hours away. Our friends Hannah and Daniel had been there previously and told us they had delicious thin crust pizza and Red Rock Oregon beer at a cool Italian-style Restaurant. We went with them, and had a great time. The restaurant had a live jazz band, and we ended up staying for 3 hours, eating tons of pizza, drinking beer, and playing games. The pizza was no Local Myth, but it was better than anything we've had in Korea. The beer, same...not amazing, but better than anything we have had here. We also spent a few hours at a huge fortress and an interesting museum about some Japan-Korean war. We spent a lot of time in the kids room and made some awesome artwork, using some ink pads and patterns...all in all, really fun weekend.

This weekend, we plan on hiking on Saturday, then going to see 3D Alice in Wonderland on Sunday. Oh, how I love weekends!! Tomorrow, we have bus duty in the morning, which despite the fact that we have to wake up a couple hours earlier, is actually pretty fun...then only 9 classes (for me) til finishie!!

It snowed a few days ago and has been cloudy/rainy for over a week..back to cold weather. But today was sunny and beautiful, so hoping it'll stay nice. Jared's back is feeling better and he is looking forward to getting back on the trail this weekend.

My parents said it was 70 degrees in STL a couple days ago...I wonder if Washington is getting warm already too??

Miss and Love to All!

New School Year

So this past Wednesday was a regular Wednesday. We taught the same classes we do every day, although many of us played games or colored with their children. This was because Thursday was a new school year. One day, the kids are on one schedule, and the very next day, they have a totally new schedule. New classrooms, new classmates, new teachers, new books (although our school is very disorganized and didn't actually order the books to be in for the beginning of the semester..they, of course won't be here for another week or two).

We didn't receive our schedules until after school on Wednesday, giving us no time to prepare for our new classes on Thursday. It didn't help that they don't have books for any classes either, so we are again playing games, getting to know kids and their English level, and coming up with busy work until their books do come in.

The two teachers that left a few weeks after we arrived are coming back this week. The school loves them, as they should (they are excellent teachers), and they packed their schedules with hours. Everyone else had their schedules butchered with no chance of getting overtime. Wednesday night, I was upset. Maybe that's an understatement. I was looking at flights home, cursing our school, and thinking of any way we could get out of this place and leave them hanging. After talking with Jared, I decided to go to school on Thursday and give them a chance. When I arrived, I saw they had changed the schedule again and taken more classes away from me. Again, I got upset. They have only given us positive feedback (while others have received much negative feedback), but didn't reward us in any way. I thought (and still think) it was rude!


I was embarassed and took their scheduling way to personal. But by Thursday night, I realized it wasn't meant to be personal. They did mean to load up the new teachers with hours because they are amazing, but besides that, they just didn't think. Like I said, they are completely unorganized and don't worry much about the foreign teachers. So we finished out the week, working very few hours. It seems okay now, though, because any hours less than 30 a week, we get the base pay. You only get overtime if you work more than 30 a week. Now I have a huge gap in the middle of the day where I can work out, which is kind of nice...so I'm done complaining.

Jared and I have signed up to take an online TEFL/TESL course, which we started a week ago. It consists of 20 units with a worksheet to fill out at the end of each unit (to organize thoughts/notes), then a 6 hour test at the end. I just finished unit 2 and it is hard! I didn't realized I knew so little about the English language..like 'gerunds.' I know I learned about them before, but it seemed like a new concept to me this time.

Hmmm...what else? We are still going hiking most weekends. It is a 3 day weekend now, so that's nice. Today is Korean Independence from Japan day. We are going to dinner with a coworker and his girlfriend tonight.

Jared's back has been hurting recently (he thinks related to a ski accident 20 years ago). Yesterday, our Korean friend took us to a back specialist that practices Korean tradition medicine. He got acupuncture in his back, and today got acupuncture in his back, hands, feet, and stomach..and they burned these incense on the needles which created a relaxing smell, as well as heated the needles. It looked painful to me, but Jared says it helps. He is supposed to go everyday for the next week.

After coming so close to giving up and coming home, I again realize how much I miss everyone. I had to pull myself away from the thought of leaving, because I became so excited to come home...but things are okay. It will work out. We will finish the year here, and will have fun doing it. :)

Random

We have been hiking every Sunday now for the past four weeks. We have been going with our Korean friend and her kids, and are so happy we have finally found some trails and mountains to explore. This past weekend, we went to Gyeongju, a city we had visited before to go to temples. This time, we hiked up above a temple and visited the Seokguram, one of the most special hand-made Buddahs, high on a mountain. It was very nice. We had a great lunch, then headed back down.

On our way home, we stopped at this cool rock beach. There were a ton of people flying kites and hanging out. We got coffee, hunted for special rocks, and hung out for awhile. I will try to include some pictures of this beautiful beach.

A couple weeks ago, we were hiking up Munsu Mountain, the tallest in our area, and were almost to the top when we saw a kitten. It looked to be around 3 months old, so not tiny, but small. It was just sitting on the side of the trail. We sat there watching it, but it didn't move. A minute or so later, a man walked up past the kitten, called for it, then then kitten followed him. We were above them, so we could watch them for quite a long time. The kitten followed this man, just like a dog would. It was the first hiking cat I've ever seen...it put some thoughts into my mind about future hiking cats that I will have. :)

An interesting thing we found out about Korea is that if you have a smaller car (and most do) that runs under 1000cc, you become part of a 1000cc club. The government gives you many benefits, including about 30 cents off each liter of gas. I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

Anyway, this is all pretty random. We still have 2 weeks until the new school year starts, which is something to look forward to. New hours, new classes, shake things up a bit.

We hope to be getting the Nintendo Wii soon. I would like it for Wii Fit, but also for the classic Super Nintendo games...

We miss you all!

Yay Hiking!

Hello..greetings from Korea! Since the last blog and going to Taiwan, we are definitely back in the swing of things at school. We are also now on our 3rd or 4th round of sicknesses. I had it last week and Jared has it this week. Hopefully this is it for being sick and our immune system keeps away everything else for the whole year.

School is okay.

Two weekends ago, our Korean friend took up hiking up the tallest mountain around here, called Munsu Mountain. It took us about 3.5 hours to get up (we did have a 9 and 11 year old with us), and it was beautiful from the top. We could see the ocean and the whole city very clearly. It was a nice, sunny day, although a bit cold when we stopped for breaks. On our way down, we took a shorter route and stopped at a mountain Buddist temple. We spent some time exploring, then headed all the way down for some delicious BBQ and Baskin Robbins!

The past weekend, with Jared being sick, I went hiking again with Eunmi (Korean freind) and the kids. We took a shorter way up, and stopped at the temple for lunch. It was another clear, much warmer day, and we had a great trip.

We are still enjoying the food and the weather has turned warmer now. I think we are past the really cold stuff.

Hope everything at home is super!