Dashing Through the Subway

Merry December everyone! I'll start by apologizing for not updating in a couple weeks! Hope you haven't given up on me. I will spend this post updating you on all the fun and exciting things to happen...leaving the best for last obviously.

I suppose I should start with something you all have probably seen already on Facebook, but I will talk about it anyways! We had our November birthday celebration and song contest a few weeks ago. My Texas class performed "From Me to You" by The Beatles. The video on Facebook is from a few days after the song contest because we had some students absent and the dance just wasn't the same without them! Actually that is putting it mildly. The dance was a bit of a mess with one student absent from his spot. My kids tried their best to be flexible and change the routine but we had practiced SO much that they knew the old way too well! After laughing and bumping into each other ending in an awkward-confused-this-isn't-where-I-should-be final pose, we shrugged it off and decided to film a retake later on.

 They do such a good job performing their songs. I am looking forward to our Christmas rendition of "Run Run Rudolph" which is basically going to be a cardio class for the kids. Their parents will thank me when they all just want to take a nap when they get home. You're welcome.

The weekend after this performance Shanna, Katrina, Seol and I made our way down to the Osan Airforce base to celebrate a friend's promotion to captain! When we entered the "Captain's Club" we were greeted by a sea of bright green jump suits...with flared pants and bedazzled collars. I looked at my friends for reassurance that we did not interrupt some Elvis Impersonators Conference, but nope, we were in the right place. Apparently these guys are the "Flying Elvises", which explained the attire. I had trouble taking them seriously all evening. Overall this was a long night of celebrating ending long into the next morning. The next day was spent watching Home Alone 1 and 2 while putting off the inevitable subway trek home.

This past week has been a regular week of teaching, I did get a new student in my oldest beginner class, which has been interesting! He has had some difficulty getting used to speaking English only. His classmates kindly remind him to not use Korean in the classroom. I can only imagine how difficult it is to not speak your native language when you barely understand the language you are supposed to be using! We will see how he does over the next few weeks. As for the rest of my classes, I am teaching two songs and dances for the Elementary Christmas party in a few weeks! One of my classes is doing "Jingle Bell Rock". The three girls are the previous winners so I have a lot of pressure from them to make their dance "cool" so that they can keep the crown for another year! My other class is a group of 6, 3 girls and 3 boys. They are a little older, and therefore are at the age that girls and boys DO NOT TOUCH EACH OTHER. God forbid I put anything in the dance that involves physical contact with someone of the opposite sex. The boys almost left the room when I suggested that they blow a kiss to the crowd. While trying to accommodate for their social awkwardness as well as maintaining some cohesion as a single group, I came up with a simple dance to "Let it Snow". Both of these videos will be up soon after they perform! We will see how we do.

Hearing Christmas music throughout the school all day has definitely gotten me in the Christmas mood. I surprised my co-teacher when I got to school early and wrapped our classroom door in wrapping paper and a bow. I have some lofty craft goals to decorate our room further over the next few weeks. They will most likely result in me making 10 of whatever craft I choose while the students sit confused and covered in glue and glitter. I did have them write down one thing they want for Christmas this year and I got some classic Texas class answers, "I would like to be a little mouse and stay a little mouse forever", "I would like to live with Laura Teacher", "I would like a robot computer"...I don't ask questions anymore. And no I do not have one of my students living with me at my apartment.

This past Friday was yet another field trip for our Kindergarteners. When you are given the task of planning a field trip for a large group of young kids in the middle of winter, what would come to mind? Maybe something warm...inside...with heating...OR you could do what we did and go to an indoor skiing and sledding hill! Perfect. Lets get the kids all bundled up like the kid from a Christmas Story and take them into a freezing cold warehouse with snow and thousands of other small children. Perfect. Ok, rant over, the kids had fun which is all that matters! I am willing to sacrifice a couple toes to see them enjoying the snow.

Texas Class

Kelly Bundled and ready

Jay's bundled

Riding the ramp up to the top

I think he liked it?

Oh Jay, sucha stud

The tubes we rode down in

We got back numb, tired, and hungry. The little ones got to go home, and we got ready for Elementary kids! Life of a teacher!

Now, to the highlight of the weekend! Last night, Shanna, Katrina, Seol and I got all dressed up (a relative term for Seol who had a beard and a red sweatshirt haha) and participated in Santacon 2012! The basic gist of this event is hundreds of people...all dressed up as Santa...traveling around Seoul together drinking and singing carols all the way. Firstly we had to get to the meeting spot for the hoard of Santas! I therefore dressed up in my Mrs. Clause suit complete with red booties to go over my boots shocked several people in the elevator and convenience store as I charged up my subway card.

As we made our way to Sinchon we spread Christmas cheer along to people staring at us. Everyone was smiling, and although I know it was more laughing AT us then anything, we took it as making everyone happy for the holidays! When we finally got to the bar with all the other Santas, this is what we saw!

packed bar of santa hats

After an hour or so the entire group headed to the subway to go one stop over to Hongdae. Imagine an entire subway platform overrun with Santas and Christmas carols! Well that is what the nice people in the subway train were welcomed with as we swarmed inside singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of our lungs.

She was enjoying it, the guy...not so much

packed with jolliness!

As we walked through the streets we greeted everyone we met with a "Merry Christmas" and a smile! The night was so much fun and it really got us all in the holiday spirit! We met several new Santa friends as well as some slightly frightened non-santa friends! I am so glad we could be a part of this event :) Merry Christmas everyone!

Only few more weeks now until Thailand! Until then we have a Secret Santa gift exchange this week, Christmas song contests, a staff Christmas party, another holiday get together hosted by Amanda next weekend, and a partridge in a pear tree!
I am going to try to keep warm, the temperatures have dropped and we had a lot of snow last week turning the sidewalks and streets into ice skating rinks! I've fallen a few times (the only thing bruised was my pride, I'm fine) and I have almost had to catch a couple people from slipping as well! As many innovative things Koreans have come up with, they have absolutely nothing for snow and ice removal. Maybe I'll try to make some money on the side and sell salt to stores and restaurants to sprinkle outside their doors? I'll let you know how that business venture works out.

Until next time xoxo
이 산타 봐! (i san-ta boa)- Look it's Santa!

Turducken and Bicycle Kicks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Even though we do not celebrate Thanksgiving over here, I still took my Thursday to think (even more) about how I am thankful for my family, friends, and opportunity to come over here to have this adventure! This year the Delaware Saad family was all around the world for the holiday! I'm here...duh... then Mum, Beth, Alex and Edward flew off across the pond to see our family and friends in England and go to a lovely wedding (Congratulations Haley xoxo!) and then Dad pulled the short straw and had to work over the holiday so he is manning the fort back home. I'm guessing he and Henry are enjoying the quiet house and celebrating with a Guinness and the crossword at the moment! 

My Thanksgiving did not go without the food however, as a "western" bar nearby held a Thanksgiving feast for anyone who wanted to enjoy it this past Saturday! Obviously, we could not pass up a turducken and all the regular side dishes including stuffing, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce! Katrina, Shanna, Seol, and I arrived super early hoping to beat the crowd to the food. We were the only ones there for a while...we must have looked desperate for Thanksgiving food...Lots of people showed up eventually! So many that the bar actually started to give out serving platters and chopsticks for people to use to eat their meal! I'm so glad I got to celebrate the holiday with good friends and good food!

Thanksgiving plate

Nice Seol!

After a fun evening Saturday night, Shanna and I head out today to the Seoul Worldcup Stadium to watch an FC Seoul soccer match and explore the Expat festival that was put on at the stadium as well. The festival was small but had some neat areas to check out. They had 4 stands each showcasing the traditional foods of a certain country. We tried some khuushuur from Mongolia, which is lamb in a pastry-like dough and a sweet, marshmallow type candy. Both were yummy!

Shanna trying the candy

Russian Toast with Cream Cheese...

Next was the booth from Russia, where we decided that they were serving cream cheese on toast. Tasted good, but slightly less exotic than we imagined.
 Shout out to Aunt Nyree for the next booth from the Phillippines! They served some dried mango and a delicious noodle dish called Pansit Bihon. Could have definitely gone for seconds of this dish!










And lastly we stopped at the Vietnamese tent serving plantain chips and Gui Cuon which was like an egg roll with a thin noodle wrap instead of the deep fried version at your local Chinese buffet.

It was very cool to try all these different foods! Sadly, the line for fried chicken and waffles across the festival was about 50 times longer than the line for these foods. Even though foreigners travel thousands of miles to come and experience new cultures and traditions, they still can't get enough fried chicken and waffles? Oh well, to each their own.

Another a part of the festival was a performance by multiple dance troops. One group did some show tunes including a song from Chicago, which was fun to watch, if not just for the overly-enthusiastic-and-probably-high-on-hairspray-fumes lead male dancer...

Couldn't get a good photo of him without a flailing limb or goofy face

There was also a group of ballroom dancers that did about 50 tango pieces in a row. One tango is great, two is pushing it, but after the eighth one we were all tangoed out. We took a walk around to kill some time before heading into the stadium and stumbled upon the next act...

We had matching hats!

These next guys would be performing the traditional Korean folk dance called "Pungmul" which combines dancing, drumming, and singing into one amazing performance! They wear headdresses called "sangmo" that have long ribbons attached which they twirl and spin throughout the performance. Seeing them keep time with their instruments, coordinate a dance, and ALSO do ribbon choreography was so impressive! They all had huge smiles on their faces the whole time too which made it that much more enjoyable to watch!

After their performance, we joined the crowd into the stadium.

Surrounded by red and black, Shanna and I found seats and got ready for the match to begin. On one side of the stadium sat the HUGE section of loyal fans that do all the dances and cheers while jumping up and down the entire time. Not only did they have circus-tent-sized flags, but they also showered the stands with confetti and had fireworks at the beginning of each half as well as when a goal was scored! This brought back memories from the Philadelphia Union game this past summer! A lot of my students are big fans of the FC Seoul team- I wonder if any of them were there among the hundreds of people in the stands? Anyways, the game got off to a great start and FC Seoul scored a goal in the first few minutes of the first half! And with a bicycle kick no-less which makes it 10 times cooler obviously! The fans went crazy! Such a fun atmosphere to be involved in! That goal would be the one and only goal scored throughout the game, so my first FC Seoul experiences was not only a blast, but it was also a winning game! Can't wait to check out more games once the weather gets nice, maybe one day we will go sit with the crazy jumping fans instead?

Confetti, Flags, and ots of cardio

They gave a specific time for vuvuzelas- smart move FC Seoul, smart move.

All bundled!

 So it is already the last week of November, and you all know what that meaaaansss! Another hilarious video of my students dancing! This month is "From Me to You" by the Beatles and my students absolutely LOVE the song and the dance. They want to practice it every day and cannot wait to perform in front of everyone. Make sure you keep an eye out for the video next week!

The next few weekends are going to be full of birthday celebrations, Christmas parties, and other fun activities, and then it will be time for my Christmas in Thailand! Getting so excited to see that part of the world and experience yet another new culture!

Korean Word of the post:

내 발가락에 감각이 없어요 (Nae balgalage gamgagi eopseoyo) "I can't feel my toes"

Miss everyone- sending my love from over here! xoxo

Lanterns and Falafel

Yesterday I was able to cross yet another thing off of my "want-to-do" list here in Korea! This weekend was the last few days of the 3-week-long Lantern Festival in the heart of Seoul! This annual event brings people from all over the country to see the amazing artistic showcase that is the hundreds of lanterns displayed through the Cheonggyecheon Stream. We arrived around 5 o'clock when the festival began and with a hot drink in hand we began our walk down the stream. Luckily for us we got there at the perfect time! Because it was still light out, the crowds hadn't really formed yet so we made it into the venue with very little trouble. 

As the sun set, the already gorgeous lanterns became even more impressive! The lanterns represent important parts of Korean history and cultural traditions such as music, dance, and occupations. The lanterns are made with paper, and then covered with some type of protective plastic I think? We wondered how the lanterns would not turn to piles of mushy pulp after some of the storms we've had here. They had been up for three weeks, so they must be pretty resilient to weather! We made our way down, commenting on the intricate details of facial expressions and colors used for the lanterns. Some of them had moving parts and lights as well! 

Lanterns at the beginning of the show

You might recognize the drum from other posts!

Not only could you look at the lanterns but you could also add notes and wishes of your own to several lantern frames along the way. It was amazing to see one of the huge dragon frames covered with small paper notes from visitors over the past three weeks. You could also make your own small lantern to float down the river with a small candle inside! I couldn't get a good picture of this but it was beautiful to see the hundreds of small lanterns floating in the water together.

Notes on a paper dragon

Happy Little Lantarn Man

As the display continued down the river the lanterns became more and more elaborate and modern. One of my favorite displays was one that had lantern children from a wide variety of countries. Surprisingly to most of us the UK child was donning a Scottish kilt? I suppose its better than holding a pint of beer and having bad teeth. America, naturally, was represented by a Native American child. Overall though this really represented the coming together of all nations peacefully; I really loved it!

Once the sun was completely down, the crowds came. The side of the river became so crowded with people that it was difficult to get good pictures of lanterns or ourselves in front of lanterns without being jostled around or accidentally pushed into the river to become a human Popsicle (It was very cold...). I suppose because it was the last day of the festival, a lot of people followed our thought process and wanted to see it before they took it all down! There were volunteers in bright neon vests and star wars style light-sabers to guide the crowd down the river and keep everything in order. Thanks volunteers!


 Near the end of the display the lanterns turned into more recognizable characters such as superman, batman, and of course, spiderman. As well as a giant pineapple. Naturally.

No Spongebob though :(

Thank goodness you came Spiderman!

Overall, I loved being able to go to this festival! It was gorgeous and such a fun way to spend the evening with friends! I wished I could have seen the process of making the lanterns. It looks like it takes endless hours of work! The result is an incredible show of artistry and beauty for us all to enjoy. After walking the length of the display along the river and back, it was time to get some grub. Katrina and I had found an Arabic restaurant in Itaewan (near the army base) that we both wanted to try, so this would be our next stop! The owner is from Jordan, so I was looking forward to some authentic Arabic dishes. When we arrived we were greeted by the wonderful smell of cumin and tahini as well as Arabic music.

 
According to the others, this was the most excited I've been about food since I've arrived...you can't keep me from my falafel for that long! I go through withdrawal! We ordered a sample platter of hummus, baba ganoush, and labneh to have with our pita bread. We also got falafel...duh...and some delicious chicken and lamb dishes! The food was so good and it brought back happy memories of home. When we were full of yummy food, we decided to head out in search of a place to grab a drink or two to finish off the evening. After finding a lot of places completely full we stumbled into a Spanish Tapas Restaurant that has a wine bar upstairs. We spend the rest of the evening swapping stories and planning for future trips together.

Tonight we are sharing some Manchego cheese (thinking of you Papa!) and wine together before heading into the week of work. I hope everyone is looking forward to their Thanksgiving coming up! Although we will not really be celebrating it here, I will think about how thankful I am for all of my friends and family back home supporting my crazy trip out here and sending their love across the world. Miss you all and wish you a safe and happy holiday!

xoxo

Korean word of the post: 치구 (chingoo) "friend"

Kimchi Chefs

Shame on me, I posted out of order! Prior to the incredible experience of the temple stay, my kindergarten class had yet another unique field trip at Little America! Last week, we headed out to the Kimchi-making school about 5 minutes from our building. It is actually right next to Aiins World which has replicas of famous monuments and other landmarks from around the world. I have yet to visit, but as soon as the nicer weather returns I will definitely pay a visit!

When we pulled in, another school group was on a field trip as well. It was at this moment that I realized our 90's style sweatsuit uniforms are not as bad as old-man-golfing pants...

Yikes

 Kimchi (김치) is Korean's national dish. Whenever I ask my students what Korea has that no one else has, kimchi is usually one of the first answers (besides "Norebangs" and "Laura Teacher"). Not only is it eaten with almost every meal here, it is known to be one of the healthiest foods on the planet. Now whether that is true or not, there has been a lot of research regarding the pro-biotic content and its effects on cancerous cells as well as aiding digestion. Now enough of the scientific talk- lets get on with what happens when kindergarteners get to make this super-food!


The students were ushered into the kimch-making building where they were seated at a long table in front of a display table at the front of the room. It was at this table that the head kimchi chef would demonstrate proper technique and introduce the recipe to the group. There were even TVs further down the table so that students did not miss one step in the process! Unfortunately, the teachers did not get the opportunity to make kimchi (aside from Amanda Teacher who made her way into an absent student's seat...sneaky sneaky). We were on picture duty as we made our way through the kimchi splash zone that was our students' work station.

Yes Chef!

Even aprons, disposable sleeves, and long plastic gloves couldn't keep the mess of their uniforms.

Raddish kimchi roll

To begin, the chef introduced the different ingredients of the kimchi we would be making that day. Around the hall were pictures of all different kinds of kimchi. It is such a versatile dish that it has endless possibilities of ingredients and variations!

cabbage kimchi roll

Variations of kimchi

Even more variations including chocolate kimchi?

The students were then guided through the process. First, they mixed the kimchi "dressing" which includes a chili pepper sauce and several other ingredients. This had many students squealing and squirming because it was quite the messy task. Others had a blast and did not want to move onto step two! The next step was completely covering a head of cabbage that had been saturated and pickled in salt water. They spread the dressing into every nook and cranny (technical cabbage terminology) of the cabbage before "wrapping it up like a baby".

pre-squished plates

tentative squishing

proudly displaying her messy hands

The students really did have so much fun with this activity. They were able to not only get exceedingly messy but make a traditional Korean dish that they have been eating since day 1! Many of the students shared that they have made this with their mother, grandmother, or have seen them make it before. The tradition of several women getting together and making a gigantic batch of kimchi and then portioning it out for each family has been a part of Korean history for a long time. I hope that I will be able to make some kimchi while I'm here! The kids can't be the ones to have ALL the fun right?

I know you are all thinking- get on with it- how did it taste??
Oh
My
Goodness....
I am a huge fan of kimchi in the first place, so I really wasn't expecting anything better than it already is, but this kimchi was made with sesame seeds, honey, and some other sweeter ingredients that completely changed the taste! It was sweet and tangy and spicy all at the same time! The teachers got to sample a little of it, while the kids took a huge bag of their creation home with them...I warned my students that if they misbehaved for the rest of the day I would take their kimchi home with me instead. If you haven't tried kimchi before, you must go to a Korean restaurant, grocery store, or bug your closest Korean friend (or stranger...) to share some kimchi with you!

After the students were cleaned up through whatever means possible...

We of course had the usual photo shoot before we made our way back to Little America.

Swag

My kiddos

Another successful field trip day for all and the kids got to take home some amazing kimchi to their families! Lucky ducks...no... I'm not bitter...


Kimchi phrase of the post:  
야! 그건 내 김치입니다 
(ya! geuhgawn neh kimchimnida!)
 "Hey! That's my kimchi!"

Until next time- headed out this weekend to the Seoul Lantern Festival! Hopefully will be able to get some amazing pictures to share with you all! xoxoxo