Life in Korea

Its been a little while since I've blogged and its been requested that I do some updating soo here we go....

I had a birthday celebration. I turned 23! Twenty three years old doesn't really mean much to me this time around but it was really nice to have a birthday celebration across the world. I was actually kind of dreading it when I was back in the states. I saw a picture of a korean tootsie roll shaped pastel green cake and it looked just awful. I figured I'd be getting one of those and I'd really miss being home. But instead I started the korean celebration with Chinese food bought by my boss Suzie Teacher after work on Friday. The other teachers and I shared a nice meal in one of the classrooms, followed by cake and a card by Suzie saying that she'd take care of us the best she could all year. It was really sweet and she also gave me two postcards of watercolor paintings that her sister had made and I really appreciated them! Oh and to my suprise i didnt get an awful green cake, we had a nice cheesecake from the local bakery that was really good! They sang a korean birthday song and I even blew out candles. :)

Amy and I went out over the weekend and met some new friends, who we obviously told it was my birthday celebration on Saturday. They bought us drinks and we celebrated korean style with staying out much too late.

Then on Sunday it was my actual birthday and my sweet roommate made me dinner bought me a slice of pecan pie cake. :) Then on Monday I got all the birthday wishes back from back home on facebook (which is because you are all a day behind time wise, not because you forgot my birthday). It really made me feel good to have you all thinking about me from so far away. Then I got a package in the mail from my Mom on Wednesday at work, and that also made me feel very special.

With the combination of celebrating with new friends and the comforting thoughts of love sent from home I had an awesome birthday.


Then it was back to work for a week.....



Then it was the weekend again!!! :D

We met new english speaking friends who we went on a beach trip with. They had rented a condo at pebble beach and we had tons of fun. The best part was swimming in the ocean at night. I took a quick break from the card game we were playing because I had been sweating from the humidity and the water felt so so refreshing. The moon was just rising over the jagged rocks that were sticking out of the dark water. And even though my feet hurt from the rocky shore my heart was so happy.

On Sunday we laid on the beach and got the sun that we'd been missing. With the humidity and cloudiness it had been pretty scarce since we've been here. Then my new friend Ryan took me on a ride on his motorbike. As my girlfriends should know, this was a huge accomplishment for me. It's been a strange goal of mine to ride on a motorcycle alll summer. And considering I'm in Korea, it was still August, and it was a exhilarating, beautiful ride, I'd say I not only accomplished but exceeded my goal! We went up and up the mountain on dirt roads and finally saw a Buddhist temple and a old smoke signal tower that over-looked the ocean. It was awesome.

And, Monday was back to work.

And now its Friday again! wohoo!!

haha I'm partially kidding. I don't just live for the weekends. But time flies by and I don't have time to blog about every minute. So I'll try to summarize what its been like at work....

Well, this last week I had a cold so that was pretty rough. I was exhausted all the time and had little voice left for half of the week so getting the attention of my kids was that much harder. But regardless, the week went well. I am getting a handle on the kids names and my schedule and most of my kids are still angels. Its hard to give attention and love to all my kids in class at the same time. But I'm learning little tricks.

With my 4 year olds this week I sat down at their table, and one by one, (by moving around the room and hoping the other kids weren't going to stab each other's eyes out while I wasn't looking...) called them by name, tapped them on the shoulder, tilted their heads toward mine, made eye-contact, smiled and said "umbrella." and repeated it as many times as needed until they said it back, and then gave them the umbrella sticker to put in their book. I think it was the eye contact and the sticker that made it a success. But I wont forget that trick as it worked so much better than standing in front of the class blowing a stupid party noise maker screaming umbrella at the back of the heads of 12 Korean speaking children.


I messed up today and forgot my "Friday Hugs" with a couple of classes. this breaks my heart, I guess I'll have to make it up Monday :)

alright that's all for now. :) talk to you soon...