One Month!?

Milestone time! I've officially been here for (a little over) a month. It does not feel that way at all! It feels like I just got off the plane and experienced Solomon's driving for the first time. Overall I am still loving every minute of it :) The other teachers are awesome (both the western and Korean teachers), my students are sweet (with very very few exceptions), and the area has been a blast to explore! This past week was super fast. Preparing for the song contest took up most of our time and energy for Kindergarten, and looking forward to movie day on Friday kept elementary classes moving quickly. I thought I'd begin by finally showing you my journey to work everyday in a slightly motion-sickness-inducing film where I try to pretend I'm not video taping as I walk by people...Enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed that and did not need a doggy bag!

On Thursday this week, the kindergarteners had a cooking class. We made "songpyun" which is a small rice cake made out of a rice flour dough and filled with sesame seeds, beans, or chestnuts. It is a traditional food made for Chuseok (which if you have been paying attention to my lectures is the Korean Thanksgiving...there will be a cumulative final everyone!). We filled ours with a sweet black bean. The students learned how to make the dough into a little bowl shape and fill with the beans, and then mold the songpyun into that traditional moon shape. The teachers got fancy by putting little flower shapes to decorate the students' handiwork.

So after cooking class Thursday, all that was left was singing our song on Friday! I realize this is a long awaited video for you all so I won't delay any longer. First though I do have a funny story. I've been playing the CD with all of the monthy songs on it for the kids while they do other work in the classroom and one girl, Kelly, has already memorized all of the songs! I captured a short video of her singing our January Song (This will be our year-Ok Go).

Friday I also had to teach my kindergarteners fractions...which was somewhat daunting because my 5th graders last year had difficulty understanding fractions. Anywhoo I printed out a bunch of pictures of pizza and dove in head first. Some of the students actually grasped the concept pretty quickly! Or they seemed to at least. Maybe they just thought I was going to give them pizza.

Oh look what I've done, I've delayed the song even more! I apologize I won't do it again. So the birthday celebration/song contest day follows a schedule. First, songs, Second, dance party (of course which song do you think they all want to dance to...hint: rhymes with shmangnam shtyle), and third, birthday kisses for those students with September birthdays. This month was Jane's birthday! This means that after dancing she got to choose 2 boys to get birthday kisses from (I still can't get over this tradition).

 Ok ok ok I'll get onto it haha here....in living color...is the moment you've all been waiting for...the one...the only....TEXAS CLASS SONG CONTEST!

*applause! Encore! Encore!* Weren't they wonderful? The shimmying was a bit lack-luster compared to previous rehearsals, however overall I am very proud of them completing this classic Broadway tune! Now it is on to our Halloween song...I found it on Youtube so it is nothing well known. Several of my students are afraid to hear it which should make learning it slightly challenging. Oh well- we're up for it! Halloween here is apparently very scary? The teachers stay late on the Thursday before the celebration day and decorate the whole school. We make the lobby into a haunted house and each room is decorated using the crafts that had been created over the past few weeks. The haunted house is the teachers' turns to scare the living daylights out of the students, who pretend to not be afraid as tears are pouring out of their eyes and their hands grasp each other so they are one giant blob of small Korean children. Should be exciting huh? We do the same for our Elementary students. One girl asked me if it is ok if she hits me during it...she says when she gets scared she gets violent haha (if anyone here knows Tairen you know exactly how this can happen. Lovvvee you Tttttt).

Back to the present. This weekend is what everyone? (you: "Chuseok") Very good. So pretty much all of the stores and markets are closed for today and tomorrow. I am going to head over to the park and enjoy the sunshine while the weather is still somewhat warm. Bringing my kindle and a lunch with me, I think I am going to reflect a bit on the past few weeks. I am missing everyone at home- Mum, Dad, Beth, Alex, Edward, Henry, (I'm putting Lucy's name anyways), Mike (shout out to GA), and all my friends from school. It has been amazingly easy to stay connected with people while I've been here which makes it a lot easier I think. If I had dropped off the face of the planet I'm sure I would feel a bit more isolated here without you all. Thank you for your love and support (and care package...which was AWESOME)! Oh ps- should be getting a Korean phone number in the next week, so no more texting via wifi I don't think! If anyone with a smart phone wants to download a messaging app (I will let you know which one I download as soon as I do it...) then we can stay in contact that way!

Next week we have Monday off for Chuseok, so Shanna and I are going to Bupyeong underground market in Incheon to do some shopping. Some clothes there are known to have some pretty terrible "Engrish" where words/phrases are completely bungled up. Pretty excited to find some of these gems (photos will happen). We then go to school Tuesday, but then have Wednesday off as well for "National Foundation Day". I will be spending this public holiday by traveling on my first solo trip through a program called Adventure Korea. They plan trips and excursions for expats and other western travelers over here. The trip I am headed on is to Gongju, which was the ancient capital during the Baekjae Dynasty. We are get to go to the local museum, visit the ancient fortress walls, and explore some tombs! The trip also includes chestnut picking (we get to bring these home with us!) and participating in a festival and parade. Should be a very long but very exciting day! Can't wait :) If you want to check out more info about the trip go to this website http://adventurekorea.com/ and look up the "Baekjae Dynasty and Chestnuts" trip! 

That's all for now--

Korean phrase of the post: 처음 (chaw-euhm) "for the first time"

xoxoxox