Farms, Palaces, Decisions

WARNING: This will be a long one.

On Thursday October 7th, we had a field trip to a farm. The kids dug up sweet potatoes, thrashed rice, and chased rabbits and chickens around. It was pretty fun. They enjoyed themselves.

All the kids digging for sweet potatoes. They loved it.

Rex and one of his potatoes. A day to run around outside and be as loud as we like? OK!

Erin feeding rabbits and chickens and having a ball.

On Friday October 8th, I hung out in Suji and went to a goodbye party for some token Suji folk. I'm sad they're gone, but I did inherit a badminton set.

On Saturday October 9th, Sophia, Nate, and I went up to Seoul and saw a huge palace. This is what the back of my ticket says. "HISTORY OF GYEONGBOKGUNG PALACE: In 1395, three years after the founding of the Joseon Dynasty, the new main palace, Gyeongbokgung, was completed and the capital of the new dynasty was moved from Gaegyeong to Seoul. The palace was destroyed by fire during the Japanese invasions of 1592 and was not reconstructed until 1896. A effort to fully restore the palace has been ongoing since 1990 and in 2010 is 40% restored." Ok, so I paraphrased a little. Anyway, it was a beautiful fall day! The palace was huge. We got a free English tour, so we learned what some things were and the significance of some stuff. For example, the ground is covered in ~2x2 ft blocks of fairly uneven stones. There are two reasons for this. One is that so the glare wouldn't blind the king. And the second had something to do with them wearing leather shoes. But I didn't really understand what she was talking about at that point. After the palace, we got some Indian food for dinner. It's the first time I can remember going to an Indian restaurant. It was good. After dinner, we decided to head up the Han River to see some fireworks. Big mistake. It was the most crowded even I have ever been part of. I almost died on the subway. It was terrible. It made me very grumpy and ruined the rest of my night. We couldn't even see the fireworks and I was done with the whole thing. So we came home and went to bed. We played badminton on Sunday. That was fun.

This is me. Enjoying a gorgeous fall day in Seoul, South Korea.

Mountains, blue skies, and a palace. Awesome Saturday.

The ceilings of the King's main hang out. Vibrant colors and gold guard dragons.

I just couldn't get over how beautiful it was. Some sort of pagoda on the water.

Just a beautiful day and a history lesson. Love it.


This is us playing with my camera. I think this would look so neat on some fabric as a pillow. So neat.

Subway trip from hell. This is how I'm going to die. I may have had a minor panic attack.

There were some times when my feet weren't even on the ground.

Today. Monday, October 11th, 2010. I was in the office making copies for puppy class tomorrow. My boss came in and said "Katie, next year, you stay?" I said " I think I would like that." She said "six months? one year?" I said "Ummmm one year?" She got a huge smile on her face, gave me a high five and walked out the room. At this point, I came out of my black out and had to sit down. But it's done. As of today, assuming we get all the paper work figured out and I don't get fired for something, I will be in South Korea until March 2012. Start making travel arrangements now.

I want to thank everyone who helped me work through this decision. It was a biggie and stressed me out a lot. Thanks for listening and trying to put up with me. I appreciate it a lot.

Kid Quote:

Sarah (king class): Teacher, eye ball please.

Me: What?
S: Give me your green eyeball please.
M: But then I won't be able to see...
S: It's ok.
M: It'll hurt!
S: It's ok.
M: What are you talking about? Why do you want my eyeball?
S: Plant eye in dirt. It grow. Eyeball tree!
M: You're crazy. What are you talking about?
S: TEACHER! Green eyeball tree!
M: AHHHHH! NO WAY!
S: Hahaha TEACHER!