"Thanks a Million"

Today was my Korean co-teacher's last day at school. A good thing for her because her morning sickness is now turning into "all day sickness." She gave me a thank you gift along with a lovely card for helping her out so much with the kids. It is a lovely teaset, which is awesome, as I can use it with my tea that I got for Christmas. An unexpected gift, but much appreciated!

Interesting Read

Here is an article that conveys the life of a teenager in current South Korea. It also gives some insight into the Korean way of life, such as food, recreation, religion, etc.

http://www.fiu.edu./~dwyere/teenlifeinkorea.html

Korean Christmas

Christmas sure is a busy time, no matter where you are. The weekend kicked off with a Christmas party at my house. A festive feeling was created with the decorations and the tree, but, break out the beer and alcohol and you always have a party! Saturday saw dinner and then the bars in Hongdae. I had brought wine to dinner, and it was the death of us because I forgot to bring a corkscrew and we had a hard time opening it. That became the butt of our jokes for the night. Getting back home at 8am and up again at 11am was not so good, and I was exhausted the next day for ice skating. But we had an awesome time on the ice and I nearly knocked down a few kids. But I managed not to fall! The phone rang early Monday morning and I opened my gifts as everyone listened on the other end. What geeks we are! The weekend closed with a Christmas Cruise of the Han River that runs through Seoul. I am used to eating turkey on Christmas day, but who can complain with a fat steak from the Outback Steakhouse!? Thanks everyone for the gifts, cards and phone calls that made it an unforgetable Christmas!!

Christmas Concert

Today the kinder kids held their Christmas Concert at the International Korean School concert hall, here in Bundang. We all worked hard at it and the kids did an awesome job! And they looked great. The day was filled of "where is my costume" and hauling clothes off one kid and hastily putting them on another (Was dressing kids in the contract??). In the audience, I could see one mother mouthing the words as her kid was reciting his lines! Afterwords, there was a lot of pictures with kids, and mothers lining up to say thank you. I even got flowers and gifts! As a Christmas gift to my kids, I gave them all a little gift bag to say "good job" that contained such things as stickers, balloons and other goodies. The video below is just one of my classes performing their song and dance. Many thanks to Tron for his expert photography skills!

Da Tree

Christmas is not a huge big deal in Korea as it is at home, so only for outside influences, I probably wouldn't even realize it is Christmas. But Keeping with tradition, I put up a tree and created sort of a "Christmas Corner " with decorations left behind by past teachers. I guess it is pretty good I have an actual Christmas tree. At least I don't have to resort to hanging a homemade paper tree on the wall! Haha

He kicked the bucket......err fishbowl

Today has been a sad and somber one as one of my fish did not make it to see the light of the new day. Remember Yellow Tail, all drains lead to the ocean!

Shinmyung Pics

Inwangsan and Shinmyung

Inwangsan is a great hike to catch a glimpse of the President's house. And because it is the president, there is a small army base near the bottom of the mountain and along the trail, there are guards carrying guns. I got told off for taking a picture of the president's house! We stopped at the top for a bite to eat, as well as a few pics. Afterwords, we made our way to Itaewon for a play called "And They Used to Star in Movies." Sipping on beer in the bar and laughing at the humour, the play was about the washed up lives of Mickey, Minnie and Donald after they became famous.

Group shot at Inwangsan: Tron, Tom, Rani and me

The president's house is amoungst the haze: it has the white outline on the roof in the far back.

Today was the first real snow in Bundang. Here is what I saw from my bedroom window this morning that made everything look so pretty:

And this weekend was not just about me either. I volunteered with the Shinmyung Orphanage to serve food to homeless people in Seoul. The top three areas for homeless people in Seoul are Yongsan, Seoul Station and Yeongdeungpo Station, which is where we were helping out. We fed about 200 people, most of whom were men as well as a lady with a cute little baby. There were also gift bags that contained some rice balls, oranges and socks, amoungst other things. These we gave out at the subway station where more people were lined up for food. It was fun working with the kids from the orphanage as they have a great outlook on life and it really opened my eyes about what the real world can hold and how lucky I really am.

63 Building

Yeouido Island in Seoul is home to the Stock Exchange and the National Assembly. You can also find here the 63 Building, which is the tallest skyscraper in Korea. On Sunday, we took in this magnificent tour attraction. The observation deck, located on the 60th floor, overlooks Seoul city.





We also observed the many fish in the aquarium. Surrounded by colors, I was in awe as the beautiful fish and other aquatic animals swam before me.

Man's Best Friend

Champy is always my puppy, no matter where I am. But here is "my dog" while I am in Korea. His name is Con, an American bulldog owned by a teacher that I work with. Isn't he cute?