I saw this saying embroidered on the back pocket of one of my kindergartener's pants and I just have to share it with you guys. I think it encompasses Korea's mentality pretty well:
"If I go to sleep now
I will have many dreams
but if I stay up and study
I can make my dreams come true!"
Ahahaha. Poor children.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Cherry Blossoms!!
The good news: Spring is here! Warm air, bursts of colorful flowers in the otherwise dingy gray landscape, the pink kisses of cherry blossoms. They're all finally emerging! What a long and cold winter. I'm so glad we're (mostly) on the other side of it.
The bad news: I'm sick. Again. *grumble grumble* In an average year I get sick maybe two or three times. Right now I'm averaging about 1.5 times a month (about a week on, a week off). It's pretty miserable. I'm not sure how much of it is acclimating to Korean germs and how much of it is children continually sneezing in my face. Can't wait to get back and be healthy for longer than a month.
Over the weekend we took advantage of the warming weather and scouted out areas for David's cherry blossom photo shoots (he's really excited about them). We went to a big lake in the south east area of Seoul that is ringed with cherry trees. All of them were just starting to bloom. They were really beautiful! My first massive cherry blossom experience. They reminded me of the dogwood trees at home, only with more colors and a good deal more petals.
Cherry blossoms greeting the new spring!!
After our tour of the lake (which consisted of me sitting on lots of benches and rocks while David scrambled around with camera in hand) we took the subway to Gyeongbokgung palace (try saying that four times fast). It is one of the biggest and finest examples of ancient architecture. The palace was originally constructed in the 14th century, but the Japanese tore it down (of course). The place was really HUGE. Lots of wings and different sections of the palace to explore. There were lots of cool stone animals and such. There was also a great changing of the guard ceremony out front performed by reenactors.
We are well into the week by now. The days have been dragging, since it's been a long time since we had any vacation days. Our next day off is in May, on a Wednesday (rather random) for Children's Day. We're striving toward is eagerly. But after that (and one more weekend in May) we're trekking it all the way till the end of July (Thailand baby!). Hopefully I'll have the energy and patience to handle my little ones well. It's so easy to get burnt out when you're teaching 8+ hours a day.
Oh, and by the way, David has started a photography blog. So go on over and check it out!
The bad news: I'm sick. Again. *grumble grumble* In an average year I get sick maybe two or three times. Right now I'm averaging about 1.5 times a month (about a week on, a week off). It's pretty miserable. I'm not sure how much of it is acclimating to Korean germs and how much of it is children continually sneezing in my face. Can't wait to get back and be healthy for longer than a month.
Over the weekend we took advantage of the warming weather and scouted out areas for David's cherry blossom photo shoots (he's really excited about them). We went to a big lake in the south east area of Seoul that is ringed with cherry trees. All of them were just starting to bloom. They were really beautiful! My first massive cherry blossom experience. They reminded me of the dogwood trees at home, only with more colors and a good deal more petals.
Cherry blossoms greeting the new spring!!
After our tour of the lake (which consisted of me sitting on lots of benches and rocks while David scrambled around with camera in hand) we took the subway to Gyeongbokgung palace (try saying that four times fast). It is one of the biggest and finest examples of ancient architecture. The palace was originally constructed in the 14th century, but the Japanese tore it down (of course). The place was really HUGE. Lots of wings and different sections of the palace to explore. There were lots of cool stone animals and such. There was also a great changing of the guard ceremony out front performed by reenactors.
We are well into the week by now. The days have been dragging, since it's been a long time since we had any vacation days. Our next day off is in May, on a Wednesday (rather random) for Children's Day. We're striving toward is eagerly. But after that (and one more weekend in May) we're trekking it all the way till the end of July (Thailand baby!). Hopefully I'll have the energy and patience to handle my little ones well. It's so easy to get burnt out when you're teaching 8+ hours a day.
Oh, and by the way, David has started a photography blog. So go on over and check it out!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Easter Hike
And finally, I bring to you, pictures of our Easter Sunday afternoon! A wonderful family, the Millers, has us over to their apartment for a lovely Easter brunch and a walk in the mountains. The food was delicious and being around a family on a holiday was so wonderful. We had a great time with Eli, Sangju and their daughter Selah.
The beautiful family!
We had a really great view of Seoul.
Sangju and Selah.
Eli and Selah.
Me with a ridiculously heavy and somewhat painful hulahoop. This is a great example of Korea's mentality: no pain, no gain.
The rare couple's portrait.
The weather's finally warming up and spring is on its way. What a relief! Winter has always been my least favorite season, but this year it was particularly brutal. Makes me all the more thankful for the bursts of color and warmth that April has to offer.
The beautiful family!
We had a really great view of Seoul.
Sangju and Selah.
Eli and Selah.
Me with a ridiculously heavy and somewhat painful hulahoop. This is a great example of Korea's mentality: no pain, no gain.
The rare couple's portrait.
The weather's finally warming up and spring is on its way. What a relief! Winter has always been my least favorite season, but this year it was particularly brutal. Makes me all the more thankful for the bursts of color and warmth that April has to offer.
Monday, April 5, 2010
He is Risen!
Happy Easter everyone! We had a good weekend... Friday heralded the Easter celebrations. At Kids College we were told to explain to our kindergarten kids what Easter is all about. Explaining the gospel and Christian doctrine to a group of five-year-olds who aren't fluent in English is quite the challenge! I drew a lot on the board with my marker and had to fall back on a few Korean words (Hana-neem=God and Jesu-neem=Jesus). I'm not sure how much the children really grasped but they realized that the event was something very significant (as indeed it was!)
After the explanation of Easter we had an Easter egg hunt:
As you can see it was quite the experience. Nick burst into tears because he only found FOUR eggs. I tried to explain to him that he found just as many (if not more) than the other children, but he refused to be solaced. Logic+child=fail.
We also "colored" our own Easter eggs! There were no dye kits, so we used crayons and pens. The effect was interesting. Of course a few kids managed to crack/drop their eggs on the floor. It was still a really memorable experience. I had a lot of fun with my egg, as you can see.
After school, we headed over with our coworkers to a baseball game! Our local team is called the SK Wyverns (apparently Wyvern is some type of dragon). The game was a really fun experience. I hardly watched the playing since there was so much intense cheering going on. Many of the people in the crowd had a bunch of plastic clappers that they hit together. The collective noise is deafening! Here's a sample:
A dancing Wyvern.
The crowd with their clappers.
On Saturday we took it easy around the house, I worked on my writing and David worked on his photography. Early Sunday morning we went into Seoul and attended the Easter service at our church. It was a good service (although nothing close to what I'm used to at home) and afterward we got to enjoy the hospitality of our friends Eli and Sangju Miller and their adorable daughter Selah. We had Easter brunch with them and went hiking up the mountain. (Pictures to come, David hasn't finished editing them yet).
After the explanation of Easter we had an Easter egg hunt:
As you can see it was quite the experience. Nick burst into tears because he only found FOUR eggs. I tried to explain to him that he found just as many (if not more) than the other children, but he refused to be solaced. Logic+child=fail.
We also "colored" our own Easter eggs! There were no dye kits, so we used crayons and pens. The effect was interesting. Of course a few kids managed to crack/drop their eggs on the floor. It was still a really memorable experience. I had a lot of fun with my egg, as you can see.
After school, we headed over with our coworkers to a baseball game! Our local team is called the SK Wyverns (apparently Wyvern is some type of dragon). The game was a really fun experience. I hardly watched the playing since there was so much intense cheering going on. Many of the people in the crowd had a bunch of plastic clappers that they hit together. The collective noise is deafening! Here's a sample:
A dancing Wyvern.
The crowd with their clappers.
On Saturday we took it easy around the house, I worked on my writing and David worked on his photography. Early Sunday morning we went into Seoul and attended the Easter service at our church. It was a good service (although nothing close to what I'm used to at home) and afterward we got to enjoy the hospitality of our friends Eli and Sangju Miller and their adorable daughter Selah. We had Easter brunch with them and went hiking up the mountain. (Pictures to come, David hasn't finished editing them yet).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)