Kimchi Escargot

Let the week of field trips begin! Okay, well it was only two, but still...That means some long days for us Kindergarten teachers. Constant hand-holding (a dangerous sport these days with the cold weather) and picture taking. Our first field trip was a fan favorite from last year- Kimchi making! The kids were herded onto the buses to head 10 minutes away to the kimchi village right nearby my apartment. Taken into that familiar room with the long table down the middle, we were greeted by a cute little woman who would be teaching the students how to make this national dish. The 7-year-olds had already done this last year, so they were seasoned veterans. The 6-year-olds listened carefully and patiently (HAh) until it was time to get messy making their own kimchi. Provided with aprons, sleeves, AND plastic gloves, the kids wouldn't be getting ANY kimchi on their clothes right? wrong. My little one, Jean, a well known messy eater in the classroom, managed to paint the entire forearm of her sweater with the bright red, chili-pepper-based sauce. How, I inquired Jean, did you manage to do that? A smile and a shrug were my answer. Hopefully her mom has some investments in Tide stock.

The careful one

AAND the not so careful

As I was taking pictures and commenting on the excellent kimchi-chef-skills I suddenly realized that our group looked like some underground, child-labor, kimchi-making rig.

Just trying to meet today's quota

After they were freed...I mean...finished...the students skipped off with a bag full of the fruits of their labor. We then got to play around in the small museum area that resembled a traditional hanok village with the small houses and wooden pagodas. Students could participate in traditional Korean games, however, as I am not well-versed in traditional Korean frivolities, the students and I made up rules to the games as we went along.

Traditional Korean hacky sack

 

Traditional Korean hopscotch

 

 The girls didn't know the difference. All that mattered was that they could get a turn jumping around and kicking the shiny silver magic ball thing. We also saw this-

Old Korean Woman: "Dear, you haven't played this in years. It's time to throw it 

out"

Old Korean Man: "I was planning on picking it up tomorrow. I just needed to tune it up...give it a little shine...take out the small mouse family.."

Result--Compromise.

Finishing work on Friday it was an early night for us Little America teachers as it would be field trip number two the next day. Yes. Saturday. I love my job I love my job I love my job. Just kidding, I really do. This was the graduation trip for our 7-year-old students who will be going up to first grade in March! Due to March being absolutely freezing cold (yay) we have the field trip now. Logical...

Stepping onto the giant bus, a change from the usual Little America vans, the students were automatically excited to be able to sit wherever they want! All the boys went back to the "cool kid" section, which is obviously the back of the bus, then we had the teachers' pets located in the front with us, and those floaters in the middle. About 10 minutes into the trip the "Are-we-there-yets" began. The farm we were on our way to was about an hour and a half away (longer with traffic, and let's be real, when does Seoul not have traffic). Therefore, these inquiries in to the ultimate arrival time to said location were a tad premature. We attempted to distract them from this fact by having them sing songs, and play games together.

The weather wasn't exactly the nicest, but luckily the majority of the trip was inside. Unluckily, the bathroom was not located in this building, therefore hundreds of umbrella-clad trips occurred. Usually once one trip returned another student suddenly really-really had to go. Too much information? Sorry. Just that a majority of my time spent on this trip was walking to and from the bathroom. Which, might I add, was covered in palm-sized spiders. Those were cute.

We started off the session by making 화전 (hwajeon) which is a rice cake, decorated with edible flowers, and then pan fried in oil. Yum! They actually aren't too bad, but a bit too oily for my taste. The girls enjoyed making theirs look beautiful and then insisting that they would get to eat their own creations. In the spirit of sharing I proposed a compromise (similar to the tuba one earlier). They could eat their own cake first but then would eat any one. They agreed. Crisis averted.

Me pretending to be a 화전 expert- look at the face of awe over there

Final product

 a burnt smiley face

After we ate the oily flower cakes it was time to do some tie-dye! I think I got a bit over-excited at this point. I haven't been able to do tie-dye for over a year and I've gone a bit crazy. This was not really like the kind of thing Tairen and I would do as we took over the lawn outside our apartment and soaked 20-plus items in brightly colored dyes, ending up tie-dyed ourselves. We were given a small handkerchief and a bowl of natural dye made from a yellow radish. After seeing my swirled design my girls tried to copy it. I told them no matter what design they did it would turn out to be beautiful. Whether or not they believed me, I'm not sure.

Teacher, how?

All ready to go

Getting yellow fingers together

kimchi squat at its finest

simple and classic- words to describe my Jenna <3

 After tie-dying it was time for lunch. The farm puts up a lunch buffet for anyone visiting that day. The spread is all made on site with freshly grown ingredients. Complete with delicious veggies and of course some kimchi, it was a great meal! We were all full and happy and ready for the next item on the list. It was time to learn about snails and silk-worms...Yayyy...The students listened to a presentation (always the age appropriate field trip activities here), then got to spin a sewing wheel to collect the silk. They could also see a pupae inside an egg. We had a couple students brave enough to touch it! Next, they each were the lucky recipient of their very own....one of a kind...snail! The kids were pumped, asking questions about how to take care of it, why it was sleeping, and what color poop it will have...

The last part of the trip was pear picking. At this point, the students and more so the teachers were cold and tired. Ready to get back to the warmth of my own apartment, my fingers were numb and begging me to stop picking pears from rain-covered trees in 50 degree weather. Each student was shipped off from the farm with a bag of goodies including a snail, 2 pears, a handkerchief, and a bag of yummy snacks provided by Little America. After a traffic-heavy, 2-hour trip home, broken up by several pee stops on the side of the highway as well as singing the same song over and over, we finally made it back to Little America. The students were reunited with their parents and we were free to go have a birthday dinner for Seol! Overall the day was a long one. Could really use another to get work done and relax for this upcoming week, but its back to work tomorrow!

54 days until I'm in DE <3

Korean of the post:
"아니요, 너는 달팽이를 먹을 수 없어요"
(anyeo neoneun dalpeangireul meokeul su eopseoyo)
No, you cannot eat the snail.

Spooktacular Halloween-euh

 

Trick Or Treat

Smell my feet

Give me something good to eat

if you don't, I don't care...

I have cuter kids than you *shrugs*

It's that time of year once again! Time to completely cover Little America with orange and black decorations that they've used every year since the beginning of time only for one day and then take it all down again in a hectic flurry of scissors and tape. This year especially, Solomon teacher did not want decorations to go up until the very last minute. They don't look professional I suppose. So Thursday, Shine teacher and I went to work decorating Idaho classroom during the day and then the real work began at night when all of the teachers join forces to turn Little America into a Halloween explosion. There until 10:30pm, we put the majority of our decorating efforts and tired-loopy-energy into assembling the haunted house. After about an hour of cutting and getting tangled in packaging tape, the spooky maze was nearly complete. It was at this point that the foreign teachers pretty much lost it. We found a gross old blond wig and a scream mask and thus commenced a photo shoot. Unfortunately for you, these photographs will never be seen....ever...

*Distraction picture of the haunted house process*

One very exciting thing (maybe not for all of you) was the incredible purchase of new trashbags to create the narrow pathways of the maze! We had used old, tape covered, ripped, and sad trashbags that just weren't doing the job. These new ones made the construction sooo much easier. The Korean teachers sent us home so they could finish without us getting in their way. They would do test runs and finish hanging scary things throughout the maze.

happy balloon bat

Idaho's ghost door

The next morning, Kaitie, Katrina, and I headed into work early to get started on make up and costume assembly. The themed costumes of the teachers this year was a new component of Halloween at Little America. We each chose our favorite character from the well known, creepy, Disney movie "Alice in Wonderland". The cast list is as follows;

Alice in Wonderland

Brought to you by:

Little America

Alice: Kaitie Teacher

 

Cheshire Cat: Katrina Teacher

 

White Rabbit: Christina Teacher

 

Mad Hatter: Liz Teacher

 

White Queen: Shine Teacher

 

Red Queen: Laura Teacher

 

Teacup Mouse: Grace Teacher

 

Talking Flower: Joy Teacher

 

Card Soldiers: Alex Teacher, Jennifer Teacher, Claire Teacher

 

Special appearance by: Solomon Teacher, playing....Solomon Teacher

 

Throughout the week, we played the movie for the students in the morning so that they would be prepared for our group costume. Most of them had never heard of the movie! I love spreading some memories from my childhood (as creepy as they might be...) to the students here. Possible side effects might be Kaitie Teacher being called "Alice Teacher" indefinitely.

As we crouched in our dark doorways that morning, we heard the students being led into the main area of the school. This is when the crying started. The students refused to be led through the hall, stubbornly freezing to the spot in the doorway where that last bit of light could save them from the ultimate doom that was the dark hallway. I heard Idaho class being called in and when there was no movement at the end of the hall I deduced that my girls would need a bit of assistance. Walking towards them, Jean started crying harder and backing away. Until I held her and told her it was just Laura Teacher she was convinced I was some evil royal queen there to take her away forever. After leading them into our classroom and stopping the tears, I had them help me scare the other students as they walked to their classrooms. Once this tormenting was over, the lights came on and the festivities commenced.

 

 Iron man loves pumpkin carving

The day is fully packed with Halloween song contests, birthday celebrations, and trick or treating....and that was all before lunch. At some point during a break, the foreign teachers all ventured out to get coffee in full (or nearly full) costume and makeup. We all thought Katrina teacher would scare a few people with her Cheshire Cat smile, but no one seemed overly alarmed by her. They may have made a double take, but then they just pretended nothing was out of the ordinary. Watching her order at the counter and the cashier trying to pretend she wasn't talking to someone with a giant creepy smile painted on her face was pretty darn amusing.

After lunch the students would rotate among the different rooms, each containing a fun Halloween activity. Kaitie and I were in charge of the "scaredy cat" room aka for the students who opted out of going through the Haunted House. Although a lot of the students were quite brave, many of them broke into tears at the thought of having to go through that very dark, very scary pathway. Even Joy teacher wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she had to put on a brave face and lead the students through. Instead of being jumped out at and crawling through dark tunnels, students in our room could make scary monster popcorn hands. Sounds much more tame and cheery, yes?

Once the wee ones were all packed up and stuffed with sugary sweets, it was time to prep for the elementary students. I was put in charge of the dissecting room, where students had to put their hands into boxes and feel the disgusting body parts I set up for them. Due to some miscommunication and hectic planning, the items in the box were not as gross and slimy as I would have liked, but improvising is an important skill of a teacher. After telling the students a scary story about finding a body in the park and cutting it up for the students to touch, I led the students one by one down the line of boxes to test their courage. Despite my severe lack of scary-story skills, a lot of students wouldn't put their hands in the boxes! I was proud of myself when I managed to scare them that much. Is that awful of me? No...don't answer that... In the boxes were some brains, intestines, hair, and teeth (Aka rubber gloves smothered in lotion, a toy snake, a wig, and some corn kernels).

For the next group of students, my job was to scare them in the haunted house. Honestly, I absolutely hate going in there. Its just completely pitch black at first. I had to sit and allow my eyes to adjust for a while before looking around my hiding place. After a mild freak out because there was a terrifying mask on the ground next to me, I calmed myself down ready to terrorize some children (I'm a terrible person). Some students weren't phased at all by me jumping out and grabbing them. One girl actually said, "Oh hi Laura Teacher" like we happened to bump into each other in the cereal aisle at HomePlus. I got better reactions out of other students who refused to get out from under the table, which would lead them to the rest of the haunted house. By the end of my time in there the plastic bags were showing the wear and tear of being pulled on a run into by a small army of elementary and kindergarten students. The best decision made this year was to not let the oldest students go through the maze. Last year they got violent and would lash out haphazardly usually landing some solid blows on whatever poor teacher happened to get in their way. This year we used that time to completely tear down all of our hard work and set them in front of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" episodes instead. It's crazy how hours of work to put up the spooky haunted maze is erased in about 15 minutes. When the bell rang for students to head home, Little America looked almost back to normal, like nothing had ever happened.

We all know the truth though...

Hope everyone has a very spooky Halloween! xoxo

Korean of the post:
체셔 고양이는 커피가 좋아요.
(Chaesheo goyangineun ceopiga johayo)
"The Cheshire Cat likes coffee"

Caterpillars, Sports Day, and Sky Park

Anyeong :) I'm back again. This month is flying by, mainly due to the ever-exciting Halloween celebration that will happen at the end of this next week! It seems like it has not been a full year since the awesome ninja adventures from last year (miss you Shanna!) but I'm so ready to make new memories with new costumes and new friends. Before we get to Halloween however, I need to update you on the past few weeks.

Starting off with another cooking class with my wee ones. This time we would be making banana caterpillars using peanut butter glue, raisin eyes, and pretzel stick legs. Though half of the ingredients found their way into the students' mouths before they had the chance to be a caterpillar body part, the kids enjoyed this delicious and slightly nutritious snack. Most of the students didn't know what peanut butter was! My jaw hit the floor as I scooped a spoon full and stuck it in my mouth to comfort myself after that terrifying discovery. Peanut butter is a stable food in my life. But enough about peanut butter (how many times is she going to say peanut butter......peanut butter).

 This was one cooking class where I took some of the extras and made my own, because let's be honest. Peanut butter (hah) and banana is the best combination of foods ever invented by man.

The next event was Sports Day! Again, it feels like we JUST had a sports day but there we were again on the big green soccer field with Bear Teacher running around like mad people. The weather, despite it becoming a tad colder each day, was beautiful. A perfect day to spend outside playing organized relay games with 30 kindergarteners. Bear Teacher brought his usual bag of tricks with him including scooters, foamy six-legged-race-thingys (scientific term), and HUGE inflatable orbs for students to push around.

Jean racing around a cone

My Idaho Caterpillar

Adorable pigtails

Found someone.

Sadly, we lost Liz Teacher. Death by giant inflatable ball. You will be missed terribly <3

After sports day the kindergartners are either wired and full of sugary snacks that they parents pack for them (thanks parents...) or physically exhausted and passing out in the buses on the way home. The teachers usually take the second route but as we have a full afternoon of classes to teach, we don't get to take a nap and watch a movie that afternoon. *fast forward to the weekend*

Saturday, after getting some grad school homework finished, and a workout done with Kaitie, we met with Alex and Liz near the World Cup Stadium to grab some lunch and explore a plant festival at Sky Park. We stopped in a small fish market to find some deliciously fishy food, Kaitie's favorite.

The stew was perfectly spicy and had so many different kinds of seafood in it as well as the usual veggies. These giant tentacles didn't taste too bad either. After stuffing ourselves with marine life, we made our way through the market up to Sky Park to wander around the grasses.

Sky Park is located about a 10 minute walk from the stadium. Usually, you can walk up a winding staircase to the top of this hill, but due to the crowds we took a more gradual-hill-style route to make it up to the festival. The tall pampas grass completely takes over this park, allowing you to kind of forget you are in the middle of this huge city. The park actually used to be a trash heap, which was then converted into an eco-park. A layer of soil was put on top of the garbage heap and now it is covered with gorgeous plants and plenty of benches to watch the sunset over the river. Wind turbines and other green-technology makes for a very environmentally friendly Sky Park, well done Korea!

The winding staircase

 As the sun began to go down, the lighting of the park became even more beautiful. The grasses created an ocean-like effect around us. Koreans were going crazy with selfies and photoshoots obviously.

My beautiful coworkers

And then we found this human bowl...

Then, suddenly, I turned and saw a strange metal structure in the distance. I was pretty sure it was a UFO, so I decided to investigate. It turned out to be a giant, flower-shaped cheese grater. So, nothing to be afraid of.

 Unless you're made of cheese.

Then you can be afraid for many reasons.

The sun set as we stood facing the Han River together enjoying some bananas and dark chocolate (yum thanks Kaitie and Alex). Watching the sun go down behind the mountains of Seoul just reminds me how beautiful this country is. It is easy to get bogged down by the negative or less wonderful parts of city life. Like kimchi splats on the side walk or crowded-sardine-subway-cars. But there's nothing a good, old-fashioned, gorgeous sunset won't fix.

Once the evening is dark enough, the park shines colorful lights onto the grasses, creating a sea of rainbow on the fluffy white canvas.

Overall, a great way to spend the day. I love learning more about my Korean coworkers and getting closer to them. Both Alex and Liz are amazing people and they have so much love, advice, and support to give to both myself and my other coworkers. I love them both and can't wait to spend more time with them over this year!
That evening, Kaitie and I met a bunch of friends out to celebrate a birthday. We met at Reilly's Taphouse in Itaewon which turned out to be a great little spot up on the top floor where I caught up with a whole group of people I hadn't seen in a while. From there we ventured off to Hongdae for the usual debauchery at Thursday Party, enjoying the night full of music and yelling-conversations.

Today, after a bit of a slow start to the morning (a side-effect of Thursday Party) I met up with Kaitie, Katrina, and Tarah to get started on our Halloween costumes! Going with an Alice in Wonderland theme at work, I am prepping my "Red Queen" costume, Kaitie, her Alice costume, and Katrina has a great Cheshire Cat outfit coming along! Tarah, who doesn't work at Little America (unfortunately) is being a Loofa this year, therefore we had a bagillion yards of brightly colored tulle in Kaitie's apartment. After some math and calculations, Katrina and Tarah began the process of folding and cutting in order to create the human-loofa. I got my skirt all ready, a small crown, and created a Mad Hatter hat for Liz teacher's costume!

 Once we made some significant progress it was time to get ready for the Pretty Parti. This concept was introduced to us by a friend, Jeanine, who has had several of these with her friends from home. The idea behind a Pretty Parti is to get a group of girl friends together and ultimately share how amazing each of us is to one another. After some hilarious ice-breaker games, we pick a name from a hat and that person we must come up with 5 things that make them beautiful as a person, both inside and out. Going around the table we have girls who have known each other for varying lengths of time, sometimes only seeing each other twice to spending almost a year and a half together. It shows you just how quickly you can meet and make lasting friends here. As expats we do not have a lot of time with each other in the grand scheme of things. These friendships and connections make your experience here meaningful and amazing. I love each of the girls at the party tonight and I wish I could have picked everyone's name from the hat. After everyone feels happy and better about themselves and each other it's time to exchange gifts. This is the second aspect of a Pretty Parti. You must pick an item that is your favorite thing. Could be your favorite nail polish, or candy, or clothing item, anything. You buy one for every person at the party and so by the end of the night you leave with a goodie bag filled with one of each of everyone's favorite thing! I love the idea of this party. It helps us connect more with one another and also create a positive and loving relationship between us all. <3 As girls we need to stick together. Girls rule, Boys drool.

The clan

A pretty good haul, no?

Tomorrow is already Monday. This week will be spend practicing my Halloween song, making crafts, and attempting to avoid all Halloween candy so I don't turn into one of those giant inflatable balls (RIP Liz Teacher).

Until next time xoxoxo

Korean of the post:  
나는 찌개에 큰 오징어가 있애요.
(neoneun jjigae-ae keun ohjingeoga isayo)
"There is a large squid in my jjigae"