Great Endings and New Beginnings

Captains log: Month 19 here in Korea. Moral is low as a result of fellow sailors jumping ship as their bonds to this country are released. Made a list of silver linings...

1. New teachers coming to the Little America team = new friends = new adventures
2. Being sent pictures from Kaitie and Katrina throughout their 3 month adventure...oh wait that's not really a positive...that'll be tough
3. Getting another Korean summer in before I figure out what to do with the rest of my life
4. ....

 Okay, so the list isn't long, but it's a work in progress. In all seriousness, I am really looking forward to this new year. Classes are changing up and in a strange turn of events I might be given a new project at school instead of teaching Kindergarten? More on that once details are provided (because said details and other very important information is usually given with the least possible notice ever, just to keep you sprightly and on your toes). The end of the year not only means two of our amazing teachers are leaving us but also performances, song contests, and graduation ceremonies are upon us. Two weeks ago, the students presented their Musical English plays where they act out famous childhood stories using simple English songs and dialogue. The 7 year olds put on an excellent rendition of Pinocchio, followed by the 6 year olds with Peter Pan. The students work so hard (let's be real, they always work hard) to remember their lines and dance moves. Taking their parts super seriously, some of these kids should look into a career in Broadway...and some should probably not...

Tinkerbells

 

 

 

 

 

 The students are adorable and most of them (definitely not all) love performing for their friends and teachers. The singing, I must say, turns into a bit of a screaming match, but that's what happens when you are told to sing louder and louder by the teachers who want your parents to hear you on the video.

Last week, we had our LAST SONG CONTEST OF THE YEAR.....*cough* excuse me. Crazy to me that my little girls and I did 12 songs! They put up with Laura Teacher's ridiculous choices including several show tunes and other unknown hits that were super fast and super complicated. They pulled them off though, surprising me with their ability to pronounce difficult words very quickly such as "satisfactual", "thoroughbred", and the entire song of Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang which, let's be honest, you can't take a breath during to save your life. Looking back...I might have changed some of my choices, but there were some winners in there! For this last song contest I chose "Count On Me" by Bruno Mars. This song is adorable. Despite the vocal range being awkward as hell, they worked it out and did a great job!

This weekend started out with a girls night with Kaitie where we drank wine and watched several episodes of "Girls", a show I might actually think about watching regularly if I a) find time to watch it and b) want to watch it without Kaitie. We also watched Pitch Perfect, which despite some very cheesy, predictable moments, was actually a pretty entertaining film. The singing was obviously awesome, and who doesn't love Rebel Wilson?

The next day, we got up bright and early to get out to Mia, which is near Dobongsan, which is a mountain in Seoul....not a very good reference for those of you not in Korea, nonetheless- it is about an hour and twenty minutes away and it is the new home of a wonderful friend Tarah who moved there for a new job at a university (oooOOOooo fancy shmancy!). She hired a moving truck to help to all the heavy lifting and we (Kaitie, Tarah, Lysianne, and I) got the task of unpacking and organizing her things into her new place, which is a bit smaller than her old place but cute and clean! Laughing and swapping stories throughout the unpacking process, it was nice to help Tarah settle in her new digs and to let her know that just because she is not in Bucheon anymore, we won't stop spending time together! In fact we might even hang out more than we did when we lived down the road from each other...because that's just how these things work.

 

 Lysianne making tea

Lovely organized new pantry

 industrial lint roller...

After leaving Tarah to get acquainted with her new place, Kaitie and I made the trip back home only to head right back out again to Hongdae for an evening of being squished, pushed, and stepped on in Thursday Party. That place has gotten so over-crowded it's not so enjoyable anymore. My theory is that in the next few weeks, old teachers will be leaving (ending their contracts) and new teachers are coming. Therefore, not many people will know about it, thus making it less busy? Maybe I will have to test my theory some weekend in March...If it is still that busy I'm definitely just going to go hang out in Suzie Q's with the cute little old couple and jam to rock n' roll records all night. Actually...I might just do that anyways.

Today has been pretty productive so far. Homework is done, gym is done, this blog is almost finished, and tonight the two new teachers for Little America are arriving via Solomon Teacher chauffeur. The current teachers are going to take them out to a nice dinner to welcome them to Korea and into our little group! I'm really looking forward to seeing what these gals are like. Solomon usually is pretty good when it comes to picking teachers, so I'm not worried.

Changes have begun! No turning back now...

Until next time oxox

Korean phrase of the post:
"나는 취해 아니에요.
당신이 흐려."
(naneun chuihae aniayo. dangshini heuryeo)
"I'm not drunk. You're blurry."