Christmas song follow-up

Hello! First, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR! I realize it's early, but I'm going to be busy for a while, and then I'm going to Bali for the new year, so here it is. Second, things are good here. The weather is cold, but not too bad yet. Only a little morning ice and less snow so far. I seem to have finally got that cough that I get each year around this time, so I've been going to bed around 10 each school nights. I've spent my weekends playing Wii golf and screen golf and watching movies with dear friends. KakaoTalk has made it easy and fun to stay in touch with friends and family at home. If you have a smart phone, and would like to know more, please let me know. And thirdly, today we had our school Christmas Extravaganza. It was a normal morning and then we all went up to the fifth floor for a classical music concert (with parents) and a visit from Santa. Sadly, I missed all of this because due to stellar planning and foresight, I was teaching elementary students. I did manage to get some adorable pics of my girls in their Christmas attire this morning as well as a video of Robot Class attempting to wish all of "Katie Teacher's America" a Merry Christmas. Maybe you'll get a better sense of what I was talking about in the last post.

Have a warm, safe, and happy holiday season. I'd love to hear from you!!

Sally in her hot-pink "Christmas" wings.

Amy in her sparkly pink "Christmas" ears.

Jesskimo. Looking adorable with a reindeer "handa-baga"

Christmas Song Nightmare

We just spent an hour trying to teach Christmas songs to 50 babies. It didn't go well for multiple reasons. The first being, Christmas songs are HARD. I really just know the chorus to most of them. Who knew? The second being that as soon as they recognized the tune they started screaming the song in Korean and not listening to English at all. I contemplated ripping my hair out of my head. These irrational balls of endless energy. Nightmare in situations like that.

Winding down year two

January first, two thousand and twelve will be the official end of my second full year here and the beginning of my final final five months. However, this is an anniversary that I will be celebrating in Bali. Yay. Anyway, tonight I am presenting a list of things that I have not done for two entire years. For real.

• Driven a car
• Pumped gas
• Used an oven
• Used a dishwasher
• Used a dryer
• Used a sewing machine
• Touched a cow
• Fixed a fence
• Hugged my mother
• Heard only one language for an entire 24 hour period
• Not eaten rice for longer than 48 hours
• Been able to fully understand signs
• Had to worry about open containers, public intox, or being a designated driver
• Tip
• Rake hay
• Swim
• Leave or receive a voice mail
• Fully understand what my boss is asking me to do
• Pierced anything
• Chased cows around a yard
• Really seen the stars
• Known what the lady at the grocery store is asking me
• Carry wood in
• Family reunions
• And some more silly things that I had all mapped out in my head about twelve minutes ago, but that are escaping me at the moment. 

As you can tell, some of them I miss more than others. But I wouldn't trade these past two years for anything. Happy Holiday season guys. Lots of love. 

Quarter of a century

Wednesday is Jessica Sender's birthday. Jess is my best friend and an avid blog reader. Jess, this is for you. Enjoy.

What else do I have for you? Mark's got two things that he said today that are pretty funny/interesting. In art today, we made finger puppets. Mark finished first and ran to the front of the class. He held his green tiger in front of the class and SCREAMED: HELLO ROBOT CLASS! I AM A TIGER. BUT, UH, MARK IS MY FRIEND. WHERE IS MARK? UMMM MARK IS ON A DOUBLE-DECKER BUS. GOODBYE ROBOT CLASS. That made me giggle. I usually sit with him at lunch to make him eat his kim-chi. The past week or so, we've had this conversation. M: Teacher, do you like Japan? K: Yes I do. M: I do not like Japan. K: Ohhh, why? M: Because Japan eats Korea. K: Ohh. M: Do you like Korea? K: Yes, I do. M:Why? etc etc etc.

We had a field trip to Canny Village. I believe they talked about why you should recycle. Pretty boring.

Me and Tom. He was giggling through the entire performance. It was cracking me up.

Robot Class. Mark, Amy, Daniel, Tom, Jenny, Jessica, Sally.

Daniel's SWEET new fire shoes. Yeah, your eyes are working. They do light up.

My favorite part of the field trip. A rhino made from Cass cans.

Thanksgiving on Thursday. I hope you enjoy time with your family and turkey. I think I'll probably ignore that holiday. I mostly hang out with Canadians anyway.

December next week. Weird. It's getting cold here. There was ice on the walk to work yesterday. I'm not ready for that nonsense.

Happy happy holiday season! I love you and I miss you. Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!!!

Snot Here

November is on the way out. The weather's getting colder. The kiddos are starting to speak of things like Christmas and being 7 years old. (since they will get a year older on January first. I mean I will too I guess, making me officially 26 in Korea, but still 24 in real life) I've been conducting phone interviews for the person coming at the end of February when Peter leaves. It's only logical that at this time of year the snot comes. These kids. Seriously. How is there so much in such tiny people. This is what I've seen done with the stuff. Wiped on the floor, wiped on desks, wiped on chairs, wiped on their clothes, wiped on their friends' clothes, wiped on my clothes, wiped in their hair, wiped in their friends' hair, eaten, ignored, and finally, WIPED IN/ON A TISSUE FOR THE WIN! Seriously. I know it's gross, but it's what I've been dealing with lately and thought you'd want to share all of my experiences.

Funny thing happened in my elementary class the other day. There are four of them. Liam loves to talk and does not take his turn doing so. I asked him a question and Sally knew the answer and was too excited to wait for Liam to think. As a result they were both yelling the answer at the same time so I could hear nothing that was intelligible. They then started yelling at each other and Liam's temper got the best of him and he took the physical route of hitting Sally. I finally got them calmed down and tried to have a conversation about what had happened with Liam. It went like this. K-"Liam, why did you get so mad?" L-" Because Sally no be quiet when I talk." K"Ok, Liam so that was hard for you, right?" L-"Yes" K-"Ok, so do you think that maybe you should be quiet when its not your turn to talk? Do you think your friends get mad when you do that to them?" About half way through that sentence, Liam put his fingers in his ears and started yelling "WHAT!? WHAT?! TEACHER I CAN'T HEAR YOU!?" I was on the edge of laughing and wanting to lose my mind.

These kids. I tell you what. They make me crazy.

 I started working out again two weeks ago. That's been weird. Easier than I thought it'd be, but not that fun. We'll see how long it lasts.

Standard weekend. Hanging out with friends, nothing too fun. I did come across this quote while reading this week and I like it. Here it is. "In nature, there are no rewards or punishments. There are consequences."

Happy second half of November! I hope everyone's getting their Thanksgiving plans situated. I think I will ignore that holiday this year. We'll see.

Kisses and misses!

News and pictures

1. I have tickets to Bali for Christmas break. Yay.

2. I'm staying here until the end of May. (That's why I changed the title of this blog.)

3. We had a field trip. Here are pictures.

4. Since I'll be here for a while, you should come for spring break.

Some puppies. Elly Julie Tei and James

A troll and Julie. We've been talking about belly buttons. When you pushed the troll's belly button, he talked. Puppy class loved it.

Daniel and Tom in a bubble.

Princess Jessica.

Tei and James. Love his dimples.

Gazebo. Beautiful fall day.

Danimal and Tomman.

Robot Girls. Amy Jessica Sally and Jenny.

Amy and "my baby". Her little sister-shes 4. They are very similar-loud and a handful.

5. Happy November!

Happy Halloween!

Monday is Halloween. That means that Tuesday is November. That means that my scheduled departure date in 4 months away. Psych! I've been asked to stay until May. I probably will. I have a meeting with my boss tomorrow to discuss it. We had our Halloween party on Friday. It was pretty fun. The kids were pretty cute. Pictures to follow. We had staff beers after work. That was fun. The Korean ladies are hilarious with a little beer in them. Saturday I played screen golf with some giant boys. I did not win. Unless high score wins, in which case I destroyed them. Three things that I hate about Korea are 1. No Reeses Cups. 2. No tampons. 3. Squat toilets. That's all. I hope you're doing well. Since I'm probably staying until May, you have that much more time to plan your visit to see me!!
Strike that. I seem to have lost the pictures. Lame. But I promise, they were all super cute. I was wearing a gold cape. That was fun for me.

Breaking my heart

Today was Peter's birthday. I was explaining to Robot Class that we were going to sing to him. Mark starts yelling ANGRY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! ANGRY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!  Etc... As I'm talking to him about this (cracking up and trying to be serious), he stops me and the following conversation happens::

MARKMAN: Teacher, when you go to America?
Me: In four months.
MM: Teacher, how old am I when you go to America?
Me: (Keep in mind that he will turn 7 in January, but will not move to King Class until March-when the new school year begins) Mark, I will go to America when you go to King Class.
MM: TEACHER! NO!! PLEASE DON'T GO TO AMERICA!
And Giant hug. The hug was weird because Mark does not like to to be touched, nor does initiate hugs with us that often.

Broke my heart.

Annoying

Imagine this. It's almost quiet in the class. The kids are working hard(ish) on their worksheets. Suddenly, they remember that they're babies who have no coordination whatsoever. And the ball drops. Except its not a ball. Its pencils. I think on average, each student drops their pencil seventy five thousand times a day. The thing is, its not just the sound thats annoying. Its the result of the drop. There are three scenarios following a pencil drop. The least likely is the student picks up the pencil and continues to work. The next option is I hear "Teacher, me pencil no" coupled with a shrug and getting up to get a new pencil. However, the most common effect of a pencil drop is "Teacher! Me pencil is broken. Helpuh me please." Why do they need help? Because Korean pencil sharpeners are stupid. I'm going to try to explain. There is a plate with a hole in it and two levers at the top. In order to sharpen the pencil, you pull the plate forward until it locks. Then you move the levers to open the pencil hole. You insert the pencil, sharpen it, move the levers to release the pencil, and you're set. Here's the thing. Most of the babies are unable to complete this task by themselves. The kids who can actually move the plate and insert the pencil either rotate the sharpener the wrong way, or it takes them about eighty five minutes to sharpen the pencil. IF they are successful, there is then a fifty percent chance of them immediately dropping the pencil again.

October is well on its way. Its fall here. I have some potentially fun and very Korean-oriented weekends lined up, but I'll wait til they are completed to share that.

We had Sports Day Wednesday. The kids had a great time. I had a lot of fun. Pictures to follow.

Robot Class continues to get smarter and smarter and rowdier and rowdier. They're entirely too smart for their own good. It never ceases to amaze me: So much personality in such little people. I love my one on one time and conversations I have with Robots and Puppies, but the classes make me a little crazy.

Still no new plans for the future. Still no facebook. Still very happy here. I'm trying to make the most of my time. I think I am. I'm currently planning(ish) for the following events. Christmas. March-May. June-August/September. September-Retirement. Always open to suggestions.

Super happy Tom. Ring toss.

Little Babies. Big Ball

Throwing balls to the other side. Whoever has less, wins.

All the babies. Stretching to start the day.

Jason (King Class) reaching during Ring Toss.

MarkMan. Ring Toss.

Sally. Ring Toss.

Danimal. Ring Toss. (Daniel. I call him Danimal when his temper gets the best of him and I really really need him to stop ninjaing people and smile.)

Amy. Ring Toss.

Rachel (King Class) Ring Toss. Her mom told her to write neater. So she erases EVERY SINGLE LETTER at least once and re-writes it. The result? Shes about four thousand pages behind her classmates.

Happy fall! Trick-or-Treat.

Not a Coliseum, but the other thing

Its the eve of the final Monday of this month. This will not be a post about the kids, rather it will be a post about my weekend, my thoughts, ideas, and experiences of the past three days. It's not going to be that exciting. Don't worry.
Friday. Work was good. It ended on a weird note. First, after lunch, (not on my watch), Mark was playing ninja. He turned his head too fast and gave himself a GIANT paper cut on his nose from my laminated calendar. Then, when I was vacuuming, Peter opened my door and yelled "IT'S FRIDAY!!" this startled me and I screamed and jumped and fell down. Then, I was working on a 26 page document of spelling words. I was finished with A-K and Z-S. I had been periodically saving it, but the last time I clicked save, the network crashed and the whole document got deleted. Awesome. See? Friday was weird. So I stayed in that night. I watched T.V and knit. Knitted? I don't know about the past tense of that. I went to sleep at about 12. That was awesome.
Saturday. I met Ian on a bus and we went to Itewon. Itewon is a section of Seoul that in by an U.S Army base. There is a lot of shopping and souvenirs there and stuff. Its not a bad place during the day, but its super sleazy at night time. Ian did some shopping. We then went to a casino. My first time. We did some slot machines. Then Ian played Roulette. I watched. It was an interesting experience,  but it was super crowded and we really just wanted to play black-jack. We could not get on a table. So we stayed for about an hour. We then journeyed back to Suji and met up with Peter, Bill, and James for dinner and a standard Suji night.
Sunday: Hung out with Ian all day. Listened to music and discussed philosophy. We had Mexican/Korean food for dinner and I went to bed at 9.
I'm still trying to decide what to do with my future. I still don't know. I am still not on facebook. I feel good about that. Here is a picture of my super short hair.

Things are good. Five months left. Starting to freak out. Three day weekend this weekend. And then no more time off til winter break.
It is fall here. The weather is not humid anymore. Mosquitoes are out with a vengeance. Its getting dark earlier and earlier.
I hope all is well. Keep my future in mind and shoot me an email with thoughts or even just an update about YOUR life. I love you. I miss you. Keep on trucking!
katiedale09@gmail.com   OR youreahoagie@gmail.com

Earth Fire Wind Water Heart

Chuseok was a four day weekend. I really wanted to go to a beach, but its a terrible time to travel, so noone was up for it. It was a pretty standard weekend. I did go for a hike and hung out with some friends. 
I shut off facebook. I chopped my hair off. I have been avoiding making any real choices and focusing on teeny, tiny things that I can made a choice about. I played screen golf last weekend. That was fun. I'm not that good at it, but I enjoyed hitting things as hard as I could. We had a field trip today. It was a traditional Korean village/temple/palace thing. They're all over and I've been to a few, but they're also usually a good time. It was a tad more stressful this time, mostly because I was responsible for a lot of little people who were more interested in running around and playing with the dirt than listening to anyone. They did have a drum lesson. They did a good job. The funniest part was that all the kids were doing a good job and playing on rhythm and as I was thinking WOW! I'm impressed, I saw Markman. Mark was sitting in the middle of the group hitting his drum at random intervals and singing to himself. I started laughing and the boss saw me laughing so she started laughing. Elise is back from Canada. Yay. Shes up in Seoul, about an hour subway ride. I'm excited. That's the big news of the week. One week of this month. Then five months and I'm out. Pictures of Chuseok. Pictures of the day. Happy fall!

 Kristen and SaraClark at the top of a mountain. Chuseok.

 Looking down on Seoul. Chuseok.

 

 The corner of the guard post building at the top of the mountain. Chuseok.

T

 SaraClark and Peter. Travlers. Chuseok.

 The place we went today. That tower in the back is that Namsan Tower that I went to with Sophia that one time last winter.

 Robot Class. Sally, Daniel, Jessica, Mark, Jenny, Tom, Amy. Sally was mad because I made them stand girl-boy.

 Peter Teacher and King Class.

 The drum room. In black and white.

 Black and white building.

 Field trip lunch time circle. Lunch: kimbap.

 The corner of the building. Yeah, they all look the same. It was a beautiful day.

 My little drummers.

And again. Drumming ad loving it.

51! Plus, adorable hanbok overload!

Dad's birthday is Saturday. In honor, I had Robot Class sing. Please keep in mind that this was done on Chuseok, and they were extremely wound up and had trouble focusing on anything.

 

You may be thinking, "man they're wearing weird clothes." Yes. They are in fact wearing traditional Korean clothing called Hanbok. They wear these for Chuseok and weddings. Chuseok is sort of like Thanksgiving. Its in September, and its based on the full moon I believe. This year it falls on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. They also observe the day after. Therefore,we have a four day weekend. Yay. The following are pictures of Puppy and Robot classes looking unbelievably adorable. Adorable.

 Amy. (R)

 Tom (R)

 Thomas (P)

 Julie (P)

 Mark (R) (POWER!)

 Daniel (R)

 Elly (P)

 Jenny (R)

 Sally (R)

 Jessica (R)

 Tei (P)

 Jini (P)

Me and Robot class.

Puppy class is five. Robot class is six. Kate left our school because she lives so far away and her four year old brother is ready to start school, so they moved her to a closer school. Happy Chuseok!! Happy Birthday Dad!! Love you!