My Last Weekend in the ROK

A large chunk of meat and the chefs.

Well, it's here. My last weekend in Korea happens to be a three day weekend for Buddha's Birthday. So happy birthday to him. On Friday I went to my favorite Korean meal, dukgalbi with SaraClark and SaraBrown. Then I went to say hello to Yoanna. Next I traveled to Underground to say goodbye to Sunny, the first Korean "friend" I had. Surprise surprise instead of the easy, early night I was planning, I got home at about 5am. I got up Saturday and packed a lot of toys up to take to some friends who live in the back part of Suji. They happen to have a roof, so we had a pool party. It was really fun. Sunday we were going to repeat the experience, but it was stormy, so we did a movie day instead. Today, Monday, it was also stormy so I slept way in (til 1) then I packed and cleaned all day. SaraBrown came over for a bit to watch me and hopefully not judge me too much. I fell pretty good about the attempt made today. I'll totally have to repack about 75 more times, but we're getting there. Four more days of work. I'm in for a busy week. Tying things up at work, packing, cleaning, goodbye dinners. States on Saturday. THIS IS SO WEIRD.

Anton and I celebrating that Korea now has Doritos!

BigGuyBill headlocking me and admiring the hunk of meat.

Izell and I cracking up at the boys' and their shenanigans.

Anton in the pool.

Not sure about this pose...

Pool time.

Cool sky!

The last of my group.

Izell and I shortly before I retired to the couch for a 6 hour nap, which ended at 2am. Just in time to watch Rugby and learn a little more about South Africa from Fracois and Anton.

Sunday Movie day.

Poop

We had a field trip to a farm today. It was fun for the kids to see animals and tractors and stuff. I heard my boss telling them all that that's what my house in America looks like. At least I'm pretty sure thats what she was saying. The kiddos had these baskets of food to feed the goats and sheep. I was with Robot Class on the sheep side when StickyRicky ran over, grabbed my hand, and said "Teacher! Come here! I have a BIG problem!" So I ran over to the goat side with him. He squatted down and pointed to the goat pebble poop. "Teacher! They are pooping EVERYWHERE!" I cracked up and told him he was correct and it was ok because they are animals. Next we went to the horses. Sticky again was very concerned with the poop. "Teacher, why is there grass in the poop?" "Well Sticky, the horses eat grass and then they poop grass." "Teacher, are you sure they don't eat the poop too?" "No, they don't eat the poop, Ricky. They eat the grass and then poop the grass and then they eat more grass." "Teacher! What happens when they eat all of the grass?" "Well, I think they move them over to this field." At that time, Ricky ran across the enclosure to look for poop on that side. Sure enough "OH! TEACHER! Poop is here too!"

Sticky Ricky and James man.

Kevin and kimbap.

James from Zebra Class. The LOUDEST person I know.

Jason Elly Cow Ricky James

Robot Class at the end of the day.

Lily Kevin Cow Christina Tei.

Five days of these kiddos. Weird.

Rawr

Korea.

Well, it's finally happened. I have nine days of work left. I don't know what that means. Ian made it safely home to Canada. I went to dinner and drinks with my coworkers Friday, funny as usual. Saturday I went up to Seoul with SaraClark, SaraBrown, and my co-worker Kelly. We did a little bit of shopping and some sightseeing. We then came back down to our area for a dinner and some drinks on a roof-bar. It was a very relaxing, fun day with my girls. This week we have a birthday party and a field trip. Next week, we have Monday off for Buddha's Birthday. I am unsure of my plans and it's my last weekend in the ROK! AHHH. I feel as though I'm losing track of time. Where is it going?! What is going on!? I do not know. Nine more days of employment, guys.

Ms. Brown, Kelly, Ms. Clark and some goofy trees at the Folk Museum.

Sara Sandwich at the museum.

1987- The Year of the Rabbit.

Kelly Teacher and I at an Indian restaurant for lunch.

Yoanna and Ian not letting me take a picture of them.

A surprise parting gift (?) from Ian.

Maybe not the place for it, but I'm doing it anyway

Hello! Happy May eleventh. Time's flying.

Ian, my Canadian, is leaving Korea next Friday. We went out to a bar last night (Thursday). This is a bar that is owned by a Canadian who married a Korean. They used to have Thursday night drink specials which were fun. They cancelled those and have implemented  6 dollars for make your own drink. They give you a cup, ice, a mixer of your choice, and a bottle of liquor and you can do what you want. I feel like this is terribly irresponsible and I did not partake in it. Sorry about that tangent. Anyway, I was out with Ian and I got a Kakao from my mother. (Kakao is free international texting) She had some very sad news. My Grandmother, Amy, GrandmaAmy if you will, passed away.  As you may know, she has been battling Parkinson's Disease for a number of years. I'm sad. She was an amazing woman and I am very lucky to have had as many years with her as I did. Lots of love to my amazing family!

GrandpaBob, Me, and GrandmaAmy in 2005.

Ticket in hand

I have my ticket. I'm leaving June 2nd, flying through Tokyo and to Chicago, when after 16 hours of trravleing, I will land "3 hours" after I left on June 2nd. Weird.

Flowers.

Cherry blossoms from a few weeks ago. They already did that thing where it looks like snow.

Screen golf. I WON!

Things are good. The weather is beautiful. The kids are doing really well.

That's all. It's weird to finally have a ticket and a final day. It's been quite the journey. Who am I kidding. It's not over yet!

Mayday! Mayday!

May is here. I'm FREAKING out about many things. Tying things up here, saying bye to here, saying bye to the kids, the teachers, and my friends, Ian's leaving soon, getting home, the jetlag and culture shock, seeing my ENTIRE family for the wedding 5 days after I get there, my little brother getting married, what I'm going to do next, what I'm going to do this summer, how I'm going to be in touch with people, insurance, loans, and loads of other stuff. I AM FREAKING OUT. But, I'm doing my best to deal with it in typical katiedale style--ignoring it. As a result, I find myself to be pretty cranky.

ANYWAY, May first we had Family Olympics. It was fun. Moms, dads, and grandparents came and we played outside all morning. It was a beautiful day. We were red team and blue team. The kids had a great time. When that was finished, the boss took us all out for cold noodle soup, Nang-myeon, and beer. Then she gave us the rest of the day off. YAY! We wanted to go to a bar and have a few more beers, but no bars or chicken joints open until 4. I mentioned that if I was with my foreigner friends and it was this beautiful of a day, we would get some beers from the corner market and sit in a park. So, we did. It was really fun. I really like the ladies I work with.

Helen Teacher, Puppy Teacher, Anna Teacher, Apple Teacher, Sunnie Teacher, Becky Teacher, and Michael. Red team vs Blue team. I was blue team. Beers in the park on a Tuesday afternoon. OK with me.

I'm flying home June 2nd. Catch you later alligator.

P.S. I'll be fine guys.