KAIAC ㅋㅋㅋ

On Friday morning the swim team headed up for the 2-day conference meet at Seoul Foreign School. The girls swam so well! In every meet this year several girls finished just outside of placing for points, but this weekend we placed in 6 of the 13 events! Many had their best times, and we finished 6th overall (right where I wanted them to be). In other meets this year we have been close to Osan and sometimes ICS-Uijongbu in total points, but we were very convincingly ahead of them. We had the most points we have scored all year, and I think everyone had a great time. Yay Dragons!  I'm so proud of them. (be sure to check out the pics!)

Despite being exhausted and spending some much time stuck in Seoul traffic, I had a lot of fun. We stayed overnight at a guesthouse on campus and had a team dinner with the guys team and then a shopping trip to Forever 21 in Myeongdong. It was a nice bonding time for the team, and the girls really enjoyed it.

I think the best part of the weekend was the coaches relay. All of the coaches participated--and most were faster than I was expecting. Anyway, after the last event all the swimmers gathered around to watch "Event 27." We were paired off in schools; so two coaches from each team made up a relay team. We were paired with GSIS, our sister school. It was so fun...I love competing! Our relay team got second overall, losing by just 2 sec. I swam anchor and did all I could to catch the SIS coach, but she swam a 30.00! The girl who won the 50 Fr. swam a 29.00! I was happy with my 31.00 (this is meters remember!) even though I didn't catch her. It was a blast; hopefully it becomes an annual event. :)

Another highlight was the awards ceremony. Not only was the weather absolutely beautiful so we held the ceremony on the soccer field, but also (thanks to some rule changes) 3 TCIS girls and 3 TCIS boys received all-conference and/or all-tournament awards. It was great because usually we sit there and watch Seoul American HS accept every award. It was a great end of the weekend to see the girls so excited and happy to be represented on the conference team.

Now that swimming is done, you would think I would have more time. That, however, is not the case. Things just keep getting busier as we approach the end of the school year. I can't believe it is almost May! We have 5 weeks of school left, which translates to 10 more classes (since we see our classes every other day). So much to do, so little time! I also found out that I am moving in with a friend next year so I will be busy packing in addition to all the other end-of-the-year activities. I will try my best to find time to keep you posted!

Spring

Time for another update on life in Korea. The weather is finally starting to warm up, and the trees are blooming. It is so pretty; definitely my favorite time of the year here. On Friday it was finally nice enough for me to enjoy my first bike ride. I had ridden to the pool about a month ago and got a flat tire. I finally found where I could get it fixed and had my bike all tuned up while I was there. Last week, It had a pleasant ride along the river. I think I rode around 10 miles and felt really good...not a bad start. I wasn't even sore the next day!

Things have been busy around TCIS. Last weekend we hosted APAC Girls Soccer. This was the first time that TCIS has hosted an APAC tournament, but from now on we will host 2 per year. There were about 100 girls from international schools all over China and the Phillipines who came to Korea. They stayed with TCIS families, which from what I've heard was a positive experience for all parties involved. The tournament itself was a lot of fun, too. It started with an opening ceremony and all the 8th, 9th, and 10th graders were invited. They had traditional Korean drumming, a pep band, singing, and more. To make it even better TCIS placed 1st after the round-robin play and ended up 2nd in the tournament! A lot of people came out to watch the championship game (complete with painted faces and even some painted chests. hehe). Our swim meet was really short this weekend, so we even made it back for the game. It was great!

Well, there is one week of swimming left. On Friday morning we will go to Seoul for a two-day KAIAC meet. It will be fun to spend the night with the team to end the season. Last week TCIS was hit hard with sickness and many of the girls got it. Hopefully they will regain strength, and I can whip them back into shape this week. :) The team was swimming so well at the last few meets so hopefully we can finish strong. A couple of the swimmers are in the running for some all-conference awards so that's exciting, too.

I am really starting to look forward to the end of the school year. It will be especially sad this year since many staff members and friends are leaving, but I'm so excited to go back to Iowa. I arrive on June 8th and will be there until the end of July. We only have 6 more weeks of teaching so I know it will be here before I know it!

Adventure

This weekend, Stacey, a student teacher this Spring, and I went to the Southern coast of Korea for a little adventure. We spent a day/night in Mokpo and another day in Jindo. We didn't plan the trip at all and didn't know what to expect. Check out the pics here. The captions pretty much describe the trip. Enjoy!