The man in the box

So, they turned off my internet last Wednesday in order to settle the bills before I move. The computers are not hooked up at the new school yet because everything is being moved around, so I've been going to a coffee shop every day to check my email. Let's just say I've been drinking a lot of coffee, and I've been rotating coffee shops because the workers know me now... :) In fact, a few minutes ago when I ordered, the girl gave me a discount because I've come in so much! How embarrassing!

Today was my first day at the new school. It was pretty good. Everyone was pretty friendly. I am taking over another girl's classroom because she is moving to a new classroom. She hadn't taken anything down, so pretty much my whole day was spent taking down her things, putting up some of my own and trying to figure out new systems of how things work. It was a little overwhelming, but I guess that's to be be expected at a new job. I put up my own things and made some new decorations, so I feel like it's my classroom now. The new school is really nice and everything is pretty new and clean. It's a whole lot better set up than my old school.

It's probably not a good sign that when I asked one of the other girls if her apartment had a dryer she laughed in disbelief... hah. So, I guess that means no dryer! I don't really dry many things anyway. She said it's small, basic and that her apartment doesn't have mold...but some of the other co-workers' apartments do. Shoot, I didn't even think about that! So, I'm hoping mine doesn't either! Well I was kind of getting excited about the move, thinking that it'll be fun to decorate a new place and start over again...but now I'm a little leery. Oh well, it will be ok whatever it is. When I came to Korea, one of my thoughts was that I wanted to live as simply as possible for a year. Well, here is my chance!

I'm really going to miss our door man (who we affectionately call the "man in the box"). He's always so friendly and gives me the "thumbs up" as I walk by the door. Maybe my new place with have a good "man in the box" too. Tomorrow I don't have to work because it's Korea's independence day, Wednesday I only work half a day and then Thursday the new kids come. With no school tomorrow, I am hanging out with Angie one last time because she leaves for America this weekend... :(

And the new chapter begins...

Today was my last day at my school. I begin at the new school on Monday. During playtime today, I started thinking about all the life lessons I have learned from these little kids. As I sat just thinking and watching the kids play, I noticed Dean, off in the corner of the table pouting. Sadly, this is kind of a common occurance. He's not the best at dealing with his sharing problems and always wants me to come to the rescue. I decided that today was the today he was going to learn to solve his own problems! :) He put his head down, only to peek out from under his arm every so often just to see if I was noticing him pout. My thought was that I should let him sit there long enough that he would get tired of being sad and then he would forget about it and get up and play some more. This is usually what happens. As he sat miserably pouting, I thought, adults aren't too much different from kids. Yes we don't go around pouting (hopefully!) but just like Dean, we all want attention and we seek it in some pretty interesting ways.

As I was sitting there, Jenny came up and climed on my lap. I love it when she does this. Sometimes she is too busy playing, but many times she will spend the whole playtime happily coloring on my lap. Today she just sat with me, leaning against me. She didn't have a care in the world. It's really cool to be able to make a kid feel that way... I just found out that my new class will be 6 year olds. I hope they aren't "too cool" to sit on their teacher's lap :)

As Jenny and I were sitting there, I noticed Kate carrying a big basket of probably 100+ crayons. You probably already know where this is headed. SPLATTTT! I looked over and Kate had this horrified, guilty, please don't get me in trouble look on her face. After a moment of shock, I just laughed. A look of relief and a big grin spread across her face and she laughed hysterically as if it was the funniest thing in the world that these crayons had ALL spilled. Her look of guilt stuck with me. I wonder what would have happened at her home if the same thing occurred. Could it be her mom or dad's yelling from a previous time that caused this look of shame? Maybe....maybe not... Kids make mistakes. Of course I wasn't the most excited about cleaning up 100 crayons, but really, things are so much better if we just laugh at them! My friend Angie always says, "Life is so funny." So true. Kids make mistakes. Most of the time their mistakes are funny and don't require the big deal that we usually make out of it, as are most things in life.

I was genuinely sad to say goodbye to these kids. This week they had been talking about how they have new backpacks and new lunchboxes for their "cool new school!" I know they don't understand goodbyes, but it was kind of sad as they skipped out of school today as if it was any other day. I remember feeling the same way with my Chinese little kids. Probably never again will I see these kids. I am so proud of them, after only teaching them for 4 months! I just wonder what kind of people they will grow up to be. What will their job be? Where will they live? Who will they marry? I guess my teachers probably thought the same things about me...and here I am in Korea. Who would have ever thought!? :)

Different ways to use Electronic Dictionaries

There are only two girls in my afternoon 2nd grade class. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this, but I think I should share a smile with you today :) You would assume 9 year old BOYS would talk about poop...but my two GIRLS have become obsessed with this particular English word! I'm not exaggerating, everyday they make some mention of it. Today, as they were supposed to be copying something on the board, one of the girls started typing something in her electronic dictionary. This is kind of usual if they don't know a word. In the middle of me explaining a new word, all of the sudden this electronic dictionary says the word poop! The girls just giggled and giggled! They wouldn't get serious for at least 5 minutes after that! So funny...and weird. Girls, girls...

This past weekend was our Kindergarten Festival. This was no ordinary kids recital! This is a BIG deal around here. We practiced for 2 whole months for this performance. My kids did a song and dance to "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom," and we did the musical of Jungle Book. I was so amazed that these kids could memorize so many lines and songs. Their whole performance was about 45 minutes long! Here's a couple pictures from our performance.

Well, January and February have come and gone... So crazy that I've been here 4 months already! Wow, these months are going so fast! I start at the new school on Monday. I'm sad to leave my school. I'm trying to have a good attitude about the new school. I'm sure it will be great. Hopefully even better than this one! I won't move into the new apartment for another week yet. I went to visit the new school two times last week and it was really nice. The school building is much newer and more modern than my school now. I'm not sure who my class will be yet... I'm learning to be really flexible! It's good for me!

New Address!

Here is my new school's address:

LCI Kids Club (Sara Hornback)
2nd Fl. #228-8 Jamsil-dong, Songpa-gu
Seoul, Korea 138-220

Thanks to all of you that send mail! It definitely makes my day :)

Jenny's Legs

One of my favorite students is named Jenny. She is five years old, and it just so happens that her legs are the slightest bit bowed. I really wouldn't have even noticed, until she told me that that evening she would go to the "leg hospital." I was shocked when she told me this. This was about a month ago, when she told me. Last week, I asked her if she had gone to the "leg hospital" recently. She told me that she was going that night. I said, "Do you go there a lot?" She said that she'd gone 100 times. Now I'm pretty sure that was just a 5-year old exaggeration, but still, she must go often enough to say that.

It makes me frustrated that her parents think she is not good enough the way she is. Everything is all about appearance here. I thought appearance was a big thing in America, until I came here. It's so much more so here. Just because Jenny's legs don't look "perfect" she has to go the the doctor so that they can fix them. When I starting thinking about it, I thought about the braces on her legs she would probably have to wear, and the pain she would uneccessarily have to go through, all to appear perfect on the outside, yet someday she will realize that her parent's didn't think she was good enough the way she was.

I'm never a fan of plastic surgery (which it seems almost all the girls get here!) but I guess if you are old enough to make your own decision...fine. But Jenny is five. She couldn't care less if her legs are a tiny bit bowed. It's just very sad.

Not Forgotten

Today as I was sitting at my desk before school started, I was delivered a letter from Katrina, a friend at home. I was already excited to receive a letter from her, but as I opened the envelope, I discovered that she had had each of my friends from college and camp write a little note to me. I was BEYOND happy! I guess it is selfish of me, but at times I've felt forgotten (which really is my fault for moving away) but this was SUCH an encouragement. I think it just made me realize how blessed I truly am to have friends with depth. I have some amazing friends. They all wrote such encouraging things to me and it truly made my week! I can't even express how awesome it felt to know that I am not forgotten and that people are praying for me each day.

Minor Differences

Today in one of our textbooks (which I might add are really American textbooks, which doesn't make much sense when it keeps asking the students which state in America they live in) there was a story about a Woodpecker. After the story, I asked the students if they'd ever heard a Woodpecker before. Of course they didn't know what a Woodpecker was, so I demonstrated it for them. I know, you can only imagine! I told them that my house in America is somewhat in nature and sometimes we can hear Woodpeckers in the back yard. One of my students said, "Oh! I know! I can hear this sound out my window." Skeptical, since she lives in the city, I said, "Really?" She replied back, "Yeah, the same sound from a.....a.....I don't know." She then proceeded to demonstrate the sound of a jack-hammer breaking up concrete! You know, woodpecker, jackhammer, almost the same right!? Oh boy, city life is a whole different world! That was my belly laugh of the day. If only the students knew they were so funny! Usually I'm the only one laughing!

Head in a bucket: Part 2

These last three days I went to Tabeak, a different town up in the mountains. It was about 5 hours away from Seoul. Angie and two of her friends invited me to go along with them to this retreat center called Jesus Abbey. It was awesome to say the least! Our first adventure was the train ride. We were too late to get seats, so we had to go in the standing area. We were able to just sit on our bags, but it was so cramped in there! Here is a picture of us riding on the train. We felt like we were train-hopping, but I promise it was legal!

When we arrived, we took a walk outside because it had been so long since we'd seen stars! They were beautiful! The girls had a room and the boys had a room where we slept on the floor on these mat type things. There was a Korean girl in the room with us. She snored SO loud. Angie and I didn't get much sleep, but like the snoring girl slept great! ;)

Each morning we had to wake up at 5:30 to go to the 6:00 prayer meeting. The first day was the actual Lunar New Year's day, so there were special activities, special foods and clothes. After breakfast they celebrated the New Year by bowing to the elders to show their respect. This is the Korean tradition, and then in a family, the elders give the children lots of money. When we did it, we got the equivalent of $1 because there were so many people.

Even the baby bowed! This community is made up of a bunch of families who live here year round and during the week they open it up to visitors like us who wanted to come and just experience a quiet, peaceful time away.

After the bowing we were invited to play many of their traditional Korean games for the holiday. Some of those Korean men got so rowdy! It was so funny to watch them act so goofy, just dancing, shouting and having fun. They really just accepted us like family. It's like they didn't even notice we didn't speak their language or look like them. They accepted us just as we were. Many of them even wore the special Korean clothes. The kids looked so cute in theirs!

At meal times we all ate on the floor, around in a circle. The food was really good!

They had a piano, so after lunch yesterday and today, once everyone had left the eating room, I was able to play for about an hour each time. Man, I forgot how much I miss playing the piano! Last night the four of us met and I found a guitar, so we sang. It was so nice to have time to really do whatever we wanted.

There were three prayer meetings a day and here is a picture of the set up. We sat on the floor to listen. All of it was in Korean though, so we did our fair share of daydreaming :) There was a bell that they rang whenever it was prayer time or meal time.

The old missionary woman who started this place turned 90 today and she invited the 4 of us yesterday to her place for "afternoon tea." She was so sweet to want to get to know us.

Today the lady in charge took Angie and I on a hike to the top of a mountain to see "the ridge." I wish my pictures could show how beautiful it really was! Above are some pictures of the mountains from the top.

Last night I went to take a shower and discovered it would be a repeat of China's shower experience. There was only a hose and a bucket. I'm sure there is probably some sophisticated way to take a "shower" this way, but all I could think to do was fill up the bucket and dunk my head in! At least there weren't cockroaches like last time in China!!

It was SUCH a cool experience. The four of us were really the only visitors there, so I think we got the royal treatment! I really got to see a different, more traditional side of Korea. It was so cool to be a part of their Lunar New Year activities.

What an unexpected way to spend my vacation! But I am so thankful it worked out. It was nice to get away and see the country and mountains of Korea. We had no phones, no computer and really no distractions there. I feel completely rested...

My New Year's Gift

Before I forget, for those of you reading this, I should probably tell you to stop sending mail to my school address now because I will be moving in about a month. When I am at the new school I'll give you the new address so you can continue sending mail :) I SO appreciate getting mail!!

Today was the last day before our Lunar New Year vacation (5 days!). This is one of the two biggest holidays in Korea. One of my students brought me a present today. He was so excited to show me what was inside, that he practically opened it for me! It was a bottle of vitamins! HAHA I thought this was the funniest gift. The students' moms are all about practicality here, which is great. Of course I can use a bottle of vitamins, and actually they're pretty expensive here, so I was glad to get them!

Getting the kids out the door this afternoon was a little hectic. I'm not sure why today was more rushed than others, but I remember regreting the words, "Hurry! We must go very fast!" almost as soon as they came out of my mouth. I hated for these words to be the last that I said before their vacation. Really it's my fault that we didn't start getting ready ealier!

Anyway, one girl Kate was especially slow today. I must admit I was loosing patience with her as she dilly-dallied. She was the last to walk out the door and I was holding her coat as she had two armfuls of everything else that should have been inside of her backpack. I took her to the side of the hallway as other kids raced past us. I helped her put everything back in her backpack and I hurriedly put on her coat. Just as I was topping her off with her fuzzy penguin hat, her mask and her mittens, I said, "Ok ready?" What she said to me totally caught me off gaurd. She said, "Reeeaddddyyy...ACTION!" It made me laugh and realize wow, these kids are so little (just 5 and 6 years old). They're only kids. They don't care at all when everything is out of their backpack or if they walk outside with no coat on. Life is so simple to them, and they are so happy.

I will be more careful not to rush next time. Does it really matter if they're a few minutes late? Better that than me getting impatient! Lesson 104 learned.

Angie and I had planned a little trip for this week's holiday, but it had been cancelled. She just called me to tell me it's back on!! So now I leave tomorrow for this retreat center 4 hours away in the mountains! I am more than excited! I'll write again when I get back on Friday :)