One era ends and a new one begins.

The end of the Age of KatieDale and Sophia. (for now)

It is currently Thursday night. In order to explain my feeling of total exhaustion, I need to go back two Fridays. Hold tight please.
Friday. We had a field trip to a role playing facility. The kids went to stations practicing various dialogues (market, hospital, bakery, etc.). We went out for staff dinner. We had traditional Korean food. It was delicious. After that we went to a chicken and beer joint. Followed by a norebang (Korean singing room).
Saturday. We went to BigguyBill's roof for a cook out. Typical Suji night followed.
Sunday. I went to Ians. Typical Sunday followed.
Tuesday. The new girl (Beth from Hawaii) arrived at 7. It was also James' birthday. Sophia, Peter, Beth, Ian, and James did dinner in Suji. Beth experienced galbi and her and Sophia went to bed. The boys and myself stayed up entirely too late for a school night (3am) celebrating the birthday.
Thursday. We all ventured to Traveler's for Sophia's final cheeseburger and rum-and-coke night. We dressed as pirates. It was a fun night, tears and all.
Friday. Sophia cried all day saying goodbye to her kids and our amazing coworkers. Sophia, SaraBrown (it was also SB's birthday), Ian, Peter, and BigGuyBill went out to dukgalbi (chicken) and makgeli (rice wine). We had some great laughs and cried a lot. Final goodbyes were said. Sophia and I returned to my house at 3. Sophia needed to get the 4:30 airport shuttle, so we stayed awake. We talked, repacked her bags, did some bank nonsense, and at 4 am we started the walk. It was a horrible morning. Said good bye. Cried. A lot. Got her on her way and I came home and showered. At this point it was 5:15 am Saturday morning.
Saturday: I woke up at 8:28. Peter, Beth, James, Ian and I caught a bus to the beach. It was a 4 hour trip. We got there, set up tents, played a little, met some friends there for dinner and drinks. We came back to our tents, put Beth to bed, and Peter and Ian and I played frisbee and drank some soju until 4.
Sunday. We woke up around 8 due to a sweltering hot tent. I dug some holes, buried people, read a weird book, played football, walked a lot, ate some galbi, general dicking around on the beach. Dinner and drinks again. Again, Ian, Peter, and I stayed up with soju, although this time with some random Koreans, until 4.
Monday. Woke up at 8. Played some football, layed around. Caught the 2:30 bus home. I could not keep my eyes open. Got home at 8. Showered. Passed out.
Tuesday-today: work as usual.

Let me clear some things up. First, this past Monday was a national holiday. Memorial Day I believe. Second, I have been totally exhausted at work the past two weeks. I think that sleeping only 8 hours this past weekend did not help, but I also think that I am not used to dealing with so many emotions and it just wore me out. Third, Sophia is safely in Vietnam and having a great time. I miss her a lot and it's been a slap in the face-how much I counted on her and enjoyed our conversations and routines. Fourth, Beth is great. I think when I'm more used to the idea that she's not Sophia, it's going to be great. I'm just not there yet. Fifth, I cried randomly all night Saturday-which I was super embarrassed about, cause I don't like crying that much-and Peter and Ian were super nice to me.

Things are good here. I'm going to be 24 next weekend. That's weird.

Here are some pictures.

Thanks for reading. I hope it wasn't too confusing. Kisses!

Traditional Korean Dinner. And awesome hoodies.
Our great boss and the white people.

Friends on the roof. Sophia. Peter. Bill. James. Ian. Me.
Last time at Traveler's. Pirates. Duh.
Beth. Peter. Me. At the beach. Can you tell I've been crying?

James is buried.

Hawaiian in the sand. Don't worry guys. It was totally consensual.

Robot Class: The reason I drink

I know you've been eagerly awaiting this run down of my chaotic babies...so, with out further ado, I give you Robot class.

Tom. Super smart. An excellent reader and speaker. He loves to hit his teachers and karate chop his classmates. He is also one of the slowest eaters I have ever seen.

Sally. She has a great attitude. She also loves screaming, dancing, and laughing. Sally does not try to sound out new words so much as look at them, look at me and say "Teacher, what?!"
Mark. I don't know what to say about this child. He has never sat in a chair for longer than 2 minutes. Tops. He is extremely smart, but does not sit, does not complete his workbook work, and he says odd stuff. Stuff like "Teacher, me no like workbooks. It's not funny." "Teacher, me good job?" This face? This face is the result of "Hey Mark, Smile!" He also loves to dance, shakes his butt in the air, and rolls around on the floor.
Kate. A really good reader. She doesn't really speak that much, and she just stares at her teachers when she needs something. She loves to laugh and she has a great attitude. She lives in Kate world. 100 percent.
Jessica. Loves school. Hates sitting down, reading, writing, speaking, listening, and generally paying attention to anything that I say or do. Jessica gets tired of feeding herself somedays. So she looks at me and says "teacher, help me."She laughs and laughs and screams, and dances, and takes years to eat her lunch.
Jenny. An excellent reader. She refuses to speak to me when I have a question, but loves to mimic me and ask silly questions. She talks and talks and talks and talks when I'm trying to teach. She also has a great laugh. She is another slow eater. Super slow. And adorable.
Eric. This little mad usually just says "teacher, I don't know." and then continues to draw on the desk. He loves to play power ranger. Some days, he's really good at reading. Some days, he's not. He generally stays in his seat,although he's rarely quiet.
Daniel. This child has a temper! He also loves to answer questions and scream as loud as he can. He rarely stays in his seat for longer than 3 minutes. Daniel either loves me or hates me, and it usually changes about every 15 minutes.
Amy. The boss of the class. Completely ignores anything that any teacher has to say to her. She has a great speaking and reading level. She loves school and as far as she's concerned, she's the teacher. Her new favorite move is to hold out her hand and say "teacher, wait. Wait." I really like that...not.


I love these kids. They are a handful. They have improved a lot as far as class time behavior goes, but break time and lunch time ruin my life. I have included three videos that I took at lunch time today. They are about a minute long each. It's going to blow your mind. This is my life at lunch time. Everyday. But, they are adorable and I really do love them. All. They just make me so tired and crazy.

Enjoy!

Cinco De Mayo!

In Korea, May 5th is Children's Day. It is a national holiday-schools, businesses, everything is closed. Kids receive presents and get to spend time with their parents. (Don't worry, Sunday is Parent's Day and Teacher's Day is in the next couple weeks-we still have work, but we get presents.) I think this holiday is a good idea, first because I like days off. Second, because many of my kids don't see their dads during the week because they don't get home til after midnight, so the nation recognizing this and giving them a day seems like a good idea. Sophia and I started to wonder about the holiday- was it the result of the cultural love and protection of children that is is very apparent here? Or was it the result of Korea's move up the economic ladder of the world and their work ethic? So, I looked. This is what I found. Take it or leave it.

In South Korea, May 5 is officially recognized as Children's Day (어린이날). Parents often give presents to their children, as well as spend time with them. The children are taken on excursions to zoos and museums.

The children's day was firstly gaining attention from innovative students and leaders on the basis of independent movement of March first in 1919. From Jinju, many people gathered to bring up the recordable and respectable status of children and encourage adults to teach awareness of the deprived soverignity. Since then, several groups of children and students studying in Tokyo agreed to designate May 1 as the day in 1922. Predominant figure, Bang Jeong Hwan greatly contributed the enhancement of participation from the intelligent, while the laborer's day also tapped together and moved the day toward May 5. Until 1939, Japanese authorities based in Seoul oppressed the movement to stop the congregation of Korean people for the festival. After the independence,the intetion for respecting children came to revive from 1946. The children's welfare law written on the constitution officially registerd May 5 as children's day in 1961.

What did we do on our day off? Read this. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/asia/southkorea/flag/

Now, look at my pictures.

Before

Planning.

During.

Halfway?

I forgot to have Sophia take a picture of the finished product. Good news-it looks really good and I'm really happy with it. Cool news-You can see it next time you see me. It'll still be there.

Happy Mother's Day!

My pants are on fire.

I know you were eagerly awaiting information about Robot Class. However, I have made the executive desicion to do Puppy Class today. First, because there are only 6 of them. Second, because they don't make me as crazy. Third, because I have their birthdays written down and I keep forgetting to get Robot's.

Puppy Class is Korean age 5. There are six of them. I see them twice a day, five days a week. Let's meet them!

Thomas. Date of birth- April 2007. Jini's twin brother. Doesn't speak so much as grunt. Everyday I say Thomas, How are you today? And everyday he says "I am a wonderful red engine power ranger." He behaves well and loves high fives.

Jini. DOB-April, 2007. Thomas' twin sister. She also does not speak, she doesn't grunt either. When she needs to use the bathroom, she waits til the last possible second, gets a panicked look on her face, stands up and yells "TEACHER! BATHROOM!" then its a race-can Katie get her there in time? Or will Katie be cleaning up pee? She really likes hugs.
Tei. DOB-July, 2007. The boss' nephew. Very smart. He also has a whole lot of attitude for such a little body. I call him TeiMan, and he thinks thats hilarious. He also frequently gets in screaming matches with Julie and James. Usually over whose turn it is to use the princess pencil.


Julie. DOB- December, 2007. If you remember Cindy from King class last year, this is her little sister. Julie barks at me regularly. She is not allowed to sit next to Tei. She finds it hilarious to speak to me in Korean.

James. DOB- May, 2007. Has a great smile and a fantastic laugh. He's very smart, refuses to use a color pencil thats not red. He is also not allowed to sit near Tei. When he shows me things, he hold them in front of his face and closes his other eye. I call him JamesMan. And then he calls me TeacherMan.

Elly- DOB- May, 2007. I know Elly better by her Korean name, Mina, from last year when she was in day care. She cannot say "S" so when I say How are you Elly? She says I am a tad princess. That means sad. She loves songs and dances and has the biggest cheeks I've ever seen.

So that is Puppy Class in a nut shell. They are all well behaved, they sit properly, they can't hold pencils, and they make a day filled with Robots better.

In other news, tomorrow is May. We found a ping-pong room and I've played ping pong a few times. It's ten bucks for an hour. I've been to a few soccer games.

Somedays the weather is awesome and some days its rainy. It's currently rainy, dark, and I think it's humid. At 3 on Saturday.

Happy spring. I hope everyone is staying safe from the tornadoes and gas prices. I love you. I miss you. I think about you often.

Spring (round 2)

This year's attempt at the Cherry Blossom Festival was much more successful. We found it. Saturday morning, Sophia and I woke up at school time and ventured up to Seoul to see some cherry blossoms. It was a B-E-A-Utiful day! There were tons of blossoms. We were there for about 20 minutes. It was cool, but it was also trees with flowers. Then we journeyed home, via a stop at Coex, a giant underground shopping area, in search of Mexican food. Coex is also where the G20 summit was, therefore where Obama was when that was all happening in the fall. We returned and met up with the boys for some football and soccer in the park. We then went to a roof and grilled out and did the usual Suji night activities. A pretty fun weekend.

Playing with the camera settings.
Cherry Blossoms
Zoom action
Sophia.
This week, we had a field trip to a car museum. We looked at about 10 cars then had a picnic and ran around all morning. The kids had a great time. It wore us out. These are my kiddos. Robot class. I still need to explain whats happening at school for you and give you a personality run down, but frankly their personalities have run me down and I'm beat.

Last week was rough. I was in a sad mood. I missed home and didn't want to be a responsible adult. I'm better now. Sophia really helped keep me afloat. That was nice of her.

I also spilled some water on my keyboard. It seems to be ok, although the b key doesn't work that well. I'm planning on buying a Mac pretty soon.

Cheney is 20 today! Happy Birthday Princess!!

I love you all and I miss you! Happy Spring!

Thanks for reading. Tune in again for Robot Class rundown-coming soon to a compy near you!

Life's Biggest Mystery

Currently, the biggest mystery of my life is: what do 5 year olds have to talk about all day? Seriously. These kids talk all day. I am very curious about what they are talking about. Very curious.

Things are going well. We have a set routine at school and the weather is getting nice. I already got my first sunburn of the season. Ian and I went on a all day long picnic last weekend. This weekend, some of us played in a park all day. We played football and Frisbee and grilled out. It was very fun. We did a lot of running around.

Sophia has 8 work weeks left. We're going on a field trip Friday. I'll take some pictures of the kiddos and talk more about them next weekend.

My hot water has been broken all weekend. Sophia has been sharing her shower with me. She's nice like that.

I've been watching MASH all day today. It's a funny show. I've also been trying to remember what my favorite books are. It's hard. I can remember reading and I can visualize myself sitting in places and reading for days. But I'm having a hard time remembering the titles. I can never remember the names of songs, shows, or movies though either. Memory is a weird thing.

Cheney is turning 20 very soon. That's weird.

I've been having really weird dreams lately, so I made a dream catcher. That's been working pretty well.

I miss you guys and home alot. Right now, I really really really miss home. I don't know why. I just do. Love to all!!

First Day of Spring!

Ian and I decided to do a theme night. Why? Why not.

March is half-way over. It's the first day of spring. Life is good.

School news.

We've been on our new school year for 2 whole weeks. Things are good, but very different. I work with Puppy Class (5years) and Robot Class (6years). I also see King Class (7years) 3 times a week. Puppy knows no English. Robot is last year's Puppy Class, and they are insane. There are 6 puppies and they are cute, happy, and they sit in their chairs. There are 10 Robots who speak very little English, run around screaming, and do not sit. At all. I'm thinking about installing seat belts. Or velcro pants. Days are chaotic and require a lot of patience and a smile. It's fun though and the kids are getting used to the routine and settling down a little. A very little. I have a class of elementary kids, they were in King Class last year. Sally, Polly, Liam, and Chris. They are struggling with adjusting to being older and having daily homework. Chris cracked his head open this week after class when he was running around outside. He got 9 stitches and doesn't want to talk about it, but he's ok and his mom's not mad at school or me, so it's fine.Robot Class at Lunch time.
Robot Class decorations. Like my tree? I'm proud of it.

Life news.

Sophia is leaving at the end of May, so we have been trying to do cool things every weekend and we've been hanging out a lot. I'm going to miss her a lot. I don't like thinking about that. But, two weekends ago we went up to Seoul and went to Seoul tower. Its a huge tower in the middle of the city. At the bottom is a thing called Locks of Love. It's not hair, its where lovers and couples go and write love things on locks and then lock them up on a bridge thing. It's pretty cute. Last weekend we went to a Suwon soccer game and got to sit outside in the sun with our friends. It was very much fun. This weekend we went to Yatap, a city a couple stops up the subway. A guy that was here before I got here and hung out with the boys I hang out with came back to Korea and that's where he lives. So we had dinner and went to a beer bar and played darts. Saturday I got to talk to Molly on skype! And that was awesome. Ian and I just hung out all day, went to dinner with Peter and then paid a visit to Sunny at Underground. I've just been watching Scrubs all day. Also, SaraBrown got a new job in my city! She lives 3 minutes away. It's very exciting although I keep forgetting that she lives so close now and we've only hung out once. But that's bound to change. Oh yeah! Tuesday was Ian's birthday so we went out to dinner. I got him a harmonica and he's been learning how to play it. Sophia and I have decided that we have a great group of friends here. I know you're curious, so I'm going to tell you everyone's name. Ian. Peter. BigGuyBill. James. Mike. Sophia. Katie. We like them a lot and we have a lot of fun.

At the top of Seoul Tower.

Locks of love. Just in case?

So much love.
On a lovers bench. Alone. That's fine.

At the soccer game. Tee-shirts and sun!

Other thoughts.

Wooster Basketball made it to the final round of the tournament. I think that means they got second, cause they did not win the championship. Wooster is on spring break, which means IS Monday is soon. Which means I've been out of school for 2 years and broke my leg 2 years ago and it was 2 years ago TODAY that I started walking again. The Wooster diver made it to nationals which is pretty cool. On Monday night I had a dream that my elephant necklace broke and fell down a drain. On Tuesday night, my elephant necklace broke at dinner. Weird! I'm currently wearing the green rock one that looks like a lifesaver. Two kids grabbed it, yelled CANDY! and stuck it in their mouth. Awesome. Another awesome thing is that two of the puppy class kids dont' ask to go to the bathroom. They just stand up and pee. That's fun.

These pictures are because we thought this was a cool wall. Possible album cover? Just cool.

That's all I have to share with you for today. I bet you're sitting there thinking that I did a really good job organizing this post. Haha! I kid. I know its a rough read. My apologies. I'd love to hear from you! Email: katiedale09@gmail.com. Address: Line 1- KAtie Dale
Line 2- Green Tower Building 495-3
Line 3- Jukjeon - 1 Dong
Line 4- Yongin-Si
Line 5- Gyeonggi-Do
Line 6- South Korea
Line 7/Zip Code line- 448-803