Time to play catch-up once again. You'd think I would learn to just sit down and get stuff written down on time. Oh well, busy (and maybe slightly lazy) Laura Teacher. To begin, I know that I'm not allowed to talk about the cold here as The States has been put into a giant freezer. So I won't mention that it is frigid here as well...because that's not fair to all of you back home. Moving on from weather, let's start by throwing a bunch of delicious food pictures your way (you're welcome). Two weekends ago (was it really that long?), Kaitie and I prepped for an Arabic feast I was going to hold at my place for a small group of friends. Shopping for the ingredients required for these recipes can be a bit difficult, as Koreans have different spices and groceries available. Finding parsley involved visiting a few different grocery stores in the area. Chickpeas for hummus were purchased online, and the falafel mix was brought back from Delaware. After chopping up about a bucket-full of parsley and preparing the tabbouleh, the next night we were all ready to go! Our friends filled the holes in the meal by providing veggies for the hummus, some roasted eggplant, and pita bread (because what's an Arabic feast without pita bread). It was a great evening with delicious food. I love sharing my family's traditional meals with friends over here, some of whom had never tried Arabic food before coming to Korea!
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| Kaitie Chef |
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| Spread |
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| Falafel (with some strange shapes thrown in) |
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| hummus |
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| tabbouleh |
The Wednesday of this week I had my third-and-hopefully-almost-last open house at Little America. With my three little ones, my open house tends to be much less hectic and stressful, just because they each have a significant time to talk and participate in the shortened lesson. In the lesson we each owned a different shop where, as the store owners, we had to help our customers buy an item of their choice. The girls did a great job selling clothes, ice cream, and pets. After we spent all our money, the girls danced and sang, presented their speeches, and performed a jazz routine with Katrina's kids. After that crazy week of open houses for all of the teachers, it was so nice to be finished on Friday! You could literally feel a weight lifted from the teachers' room that had been hanging over us all the past month. Now to just get through the last month of the semester before starting all over again with new classes, books, and schedules! I'm getting ahead of myself.
This weekend, even though every weekend I think I really would love to just relax and do absolutely nothing around the house, was full of some exciting adventures around Seoul. Firstly, on Saturday, Dan, Mike, and I went rock climbing at an indoor gym in Suyu. Located in a North Face store (appropriate), this gym has all four walls covered in brightly-colored climbing holds and surfaces of all different difficulty. The last time I had been climbing was the summer before coming to Korea. In less shape and slightly nervous, I don't think I did very well that time, so now I was excited to see how much better I felt scaling these walls. After a short refresher from Dan and Mike's friend Bill, we started climbing. This sport not only works you physically, but you also have to think about where you are placing your feet and hands the entire time, especially if you decide to follow a designated color path created by the people at the gym. It was a great feeling to work my way all the way to the top! After about 4 goes, my arms weren't too sure about the whole thing and they decided not to work too well. I decided to push myself up one last time and barely made it up without using my forearms to hold onto the wall instead of my fingers. If you are looking for a different kind of workout, definitely check out climbing!
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| bouldering |
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| master belayer |
Sunday, Dan and I went to see Jersey Boys, which is in Korea with the original cast spreading the incredible songs of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. While I did not know about the back story to this musical group, I recognized nearly all of the songs. Some of which I didn't know were all from the same group! The men of this cast had breathtaking voices, especially the man playing the role of Frankie who has to hit some pretty high notes! Having "Walk Like a Man" permanently stuck in my head for the rest of the day is a minor side-effect of seeing this show. If it ever comes out near you, I would recommend checking it out! That's after you take up my previous recommendation of rock climbing of course. You have some busy weeks ahead of you I think!
This week, due to Lunar New Year, we only have 3 days of school! As Friday is a holiday, we had our birthday party/song contest on Monday. Not having the normal week to rehearse the song, the girls had to go with what we had been practicing throughout the month when we could fit in time around Open House rehearsal (we are busy busy bees). The kids all got up and gave their best, as usual, making it another great Birthday celebration in the books!
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| "Music Man" |
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| "Ants go Marching" |
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| "Wheels on the Bus" |
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Here are my little ones singing our monthly song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". Hope it brings back some good memories of that gem of a film!
This song was much faster than I remembered when I chose it 6 months ago. I was actually nervous that it would turn into a jumbled mess as we rushed through it trying to keep up. As usual though, my girls pull through and do an amazing job with these crazy difficult song that Laura Teacher chooses for them!
I'll end here with a look-see into the rest of my week. Grad classes starting up again means I have a bunch of homework to stay on top of now, but hey, what's a few more essays added to the week. Tonight (Tuesday) a group of coworkers and I are off to see the new Disney film "Frozen", which my students have been absolutely raving about over the past two weeks. I encourage them as they randomly break out into musical numbers from the movie in the middle of class. At least they are using their English! Then starting Thursday, I have a 4 day weekend, during which a friend and I are planning to venture off, against the cautionary warnings from my co-teachers about traffic, to enjoy a few days off. Who knows what kinds of adventures will happen over this weekend! Guess you will just have to tune in next week (wow I sound like a Nickelodeon show) to find out!
I hope everyone is staying healthy, warm, and happy in these less-than-stellar winter months. I cannot wait until I can soak in some Vitamin D and get some color back, as I'm starting to feel like the ghost of Chuseok past over here. Love you all and can't believe next month will mark my 18th month here in Bucheon!
Korean Phrase of the post:
큰 소녀는 울지 않는다
(keun sonyeoneun ulji anhneunda)
"Big Girls Don't Cry" (haha stuck in your head now!)
xoxox
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