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

A look into my daily life.

This Thursday was the kid's last day in Kindergarten. They're starting Elementary school. I took my camera and took some videos to give you a glimpse of my current life. Prepare to have your mind blown.

Mind-Numbing Inefficiency

Hello. Well, February is winding down. My contract is winding down. Hopefully, my visa renewal goes as planned and my second year at this school will begin March 2nd. March second will also be the end of 14 months, the end of a completed year at my current school, and the beginning of my final 12 months. A year if you will. Confused? Me too. Usually.

Things are good. Our performance went really well-the kids did a great job and we're all super stoked that it's over. We have been talking about schedules and such for next year, and it's getting exciting. Remember- the Korean school year starts at the start of March. I do not know why-it just does.

It's been great having Peter here. He's doing a good job-the kids love him- the parents love him-the teachers love him-Sophia and I love him-it's good. Sophia and I can remember that we do like work again.

Socially, I've been hanging out with Ian, Sophia, and Peter. We have a lot of fun together. Sophia is officially leaving June 2nd, and I'm a little upset about that. Anyone want a job?

I have decided to put a few pictures up, but first I'm going to show you two lists. One of the things I say multiple times a day to the kids and one of the things we hear the most from them. Daily.

From the mouths of babes:

• Teacher! I am pinished! (f and p are interchangeable)
• Teacher! Liam me hit! (Liam was an example name; this means Liam hit me.)
• Teacher! Molly Korean! (Molly was an example name; this means Molly is speaking Korean)
• Teacher! Me water!
  
• Katie Teacher bad.
• Katie Teacher me no like.
• I love Katie Teacher.
• NO!
• AHHHHHHHHHHH!
• Teacher! See please! (Teacher, please look at what I am doing)
• Help me please, teacher.
• Meat more please. (lunch time)
• (Anyword) spelling is what?
• (Anyword) is where?
• This is what?
  

Teachers:

• Sit down please.
• What is this?
• Where is (anyword)?
• How do you spell (anyword)?
• Sit down.
  
• No running please.
• English only!
• Are you speaking Korean?
• SIT DOWN!
• Stay in your seat please!
• Who's sitting properly?
• Walking, walking, walking.
• No touching!
• No kissing!
• SIT DOWN!
• No Korean please.
• Yay! Story time!/LTR time!/Drama time!/English Village time!
• You're making me crazy!
• (any word) spelling is what?! I don't know...
• teacher water?! I don't know...
• Why?
• What did you say?
• Why are you running?
• Is this play time or class time?
• SIT DOWN!

Got the picture? Can you see me here? Sometimes, if I stop and think about it, it blows my mind too. Don't worry.

Robot Class boys at Performance. I think this was their music costume. Alex 2. Samuel. Alex 1.

Welcome to Puppy Class, Peter! His 3rd day of work-field trip.

Kevin. I have no idea where he got this face from.

Big John in The R.O.K!

Big Man. Small Tunnel.

Lunar New Year week rundown.

Sunday: Ian and Katie prepare to go to the airport to pick dad up from the airport. Upon a last minute email check, we discover that Katie has confused the time differences and he is still in San Fransisco.
Monday: Katie goes to work and is excitedly waiting for a phone call from her father. Dad makes his way to Katie's house! It is super exciting. We go to dinner and dad tastes his first Korean meal-pork galbi and kimchi. He enjoys it.
Tuesday: Dad and Katie wake up at 4:30a.m. Dad and Nick's mom go to the DMZ. Katie goes to work. Dad is excited to see the DMZ. Katie is sad about work. They regroup for dinner with Katie's amazing friends-BigGuyBill, James, Ian, Elise, Sophia, and Peter. Dad gets to try beef galbi, soju, a makli bar, Korean pancakes, and a favorite foreigner bar. They get home at 4:30 a.m. Dad is awake and busy for 24 hours. He liked it.
Wednesday: Dad and Katie are moving slow in the morning. They make the journey to Suwon with Sophia where they meet SaraBrown for lunch. Then to the Suwon fortress to meet up with Ian and see some stuff in Suwon. After an hour or so on the wall, Sophia and SaraBrown head home. Ian, Dad, and Katie wander through the streets of Suwon and manage to get lost. Eventually make their way back to the station where they sit down for beer and chicken. We decide to continue our evening of fun and go to Ian's town for "one drink". Katie has entirely too many Long Island Iced Teas and can't move on Thursday.
Thursday: This is the official New Year. With the thought process that everything will be closed for the holiday and we're tired, we chill out all day. Watch movies, walk around, show dad my school, go to the grocery store, and just laze around.
Friday: Dad and Katie wake up and head up to the Korean War Museum in Seoul. They learn a lot about every war Korea has been involved in. Ever. Learn a lot. See a lot. They then make the journey home and go to beef and pork galbi in Suji. Dad meets more friends: Yoanna, Sabine, Ian, James, and Peter. We have a fun dinner complete with beer and soju. The next step of the night was not Katie's idea and Dad experiences a norebang, Korean singing room, karokee. Dad and friends love it. The next leg of the journey is the Underground. It was a pretty standard night there ending with Ian, Dad, Sunny (bartender) and Katie in a 5 a.m. dart game and Sunny requesting that we go home. Ian, Dad, and Katie sit in a park, have meaningful conversation and beers and then notice that the buses are running again and we should go home. We get home and go to bed at 6:30.
Saturday: Wake up at 2. Move slowly and lazily. Eventually go into to Suji for dukgalbi with Elise and Sophia. We then have a few drinks at Batman bar. Then hometime for a movie and to check email to see how Little Man is doing at Regionals.
Sunday: Little Man got 3rd! Yay! We pack Dad up, go for a walk and Korean pizza and send Dad on his way.

Recap: it was a great week. I think Dad got a good taste of Korea. He met and seems to like my friends, and they like him. We walked a lot and I tried to make sure Dad got to try all of my favorite foods. It was a fantastic week and I'm sad that he left. I'm posting a few pictures, but Dad has a ton more that I'm sure he'd like to share with you if you ask nicely.

I'm not looking forward to this week at work. I have some administrative nonsense to deal with concerning my future as well as a performance the 15th that we are trying to get ready for. I'm betting on a pretty stressful week. IN OTHER NEWS! Peter has been here and working. And it has been fantastic! The kids love him, the parents love him, the teachers love him. Sophia and I have been working on making him our new best friend and he really likes that. So yay!

Dad at the DMZ-3rd tunnel.
D is for Dale!

First night-Makli Bar

On the Suwon Wall.

Desperado in the norebang. Dad, Peter, Ian, James.

Dukgalbi on Dad's last night. Notice the chopsticks?

The kids are bummed about not getting to meet Dad, so we took a picture of him in front of my school to show them.