Winter is here!

Well, winter has officially set in here. Not only have the highs been below 0 (celcius, that is), but Friday morning I awoke to see snow falling outside my window! This weekend is definitely the coolest is has been so far, but that didn't spoil it. On Friday night I ran the scoreboard for the basketball games...4 in a row! Then, on Saturday morning I got up early to go to the MS swim meet at KIS (click link for pictures). The ride there was early and freezing. I think there was a problem with the heat on the bus because the windows had ice forming on the inside. It was nice and toasty in the pool area though. Everyone had a good time at the meet. Although most of our swimmers are beginners, they were excited about their swims all the same. Some of them did really well and it was good to see them succeed; especially those who don't exactly succeed in school. Saturday night it was so cold I didn't want to leave my house, but luckily a friend called and I enjoyed a night of hot tea and card games. It was a lot of fun. Then, today after church I went to a local orphanage. We had pizza with the kids and then had a Christmas party. Santa was there and delivered the gifts we had brought. It was great, but it was the first time I was really frustrated not knowing Korean. It definitely motivates me to keep studying. Now I just have to find the time!

Thankfulness

Since Thanksgiving was this past week, I have been trying to take time to think about all the things I am thankful for. I have realized that they are numerous. Of course, I am thankful for the normal things...a loving family (who is coming to visit me soon!) and great friends. But I am thankful for much more than that. My life has been truly blessed. I am so thankful for the opportunities I've had to live all over the world and experience new and different things. I'm thankful I have a job that I love and to which I enjoy going most days. I'm thankful to have colleagues that are incredibly supportive and caring and willingly teach me how I can improve. I'm thankful that I am financially stable and am able to spend money on myself and my travels often. :) I'm thankful to have a job and lifestyle that allow me to travel. I'm thankful that my life has purpose. I'm thankful for friends who challenge me. I'm thankful for strangers who encourage me. I'm thankful for my safety; something that is usually taken forgranted, but has been on my mind since people from my school left Mumbai (even the same part of town!) just 1 day before the terrorist attacks. I'm thankful that I always have people to lean on...near and far. Life is so good, and there is so much to be grateful for. When I stop and think about it, it amazes me.

This week was a good one. On Tuesday I received a package from people at Central. Inside were about 100 notes of encouragement. Some were from friends and others from complete strangers, but all of them brought a smile to my face. Not to mention a few tears at the incredibly kind words and rush of memories from school. It was great. Then, on Friday, Bethany came to Daejeon to visit me. It was a blast...we ate a lot at Thanksgiving dinner on Friday night then went to a DVD bang. On Saturday we spent the day shopping for xmas gifts, decorating my apartment, eating French toast, and hanging out at a coffee shop playing uno and dutch blitz. :) Sunday was church and shopping at Costco before she caught the train home. It was awesome to have her here; it's so fun to have such a good friend in Korea, too. Someone to share my experiences here.

Alegria

Alegria means happiness, but I didn't name this post just because I am happy. Alegria is the cause of my happiness! Yesterday was a very productive day. In the morning I did my dishes, cleaned my house, and did grocery shopping all before meeting Sarah, Janey, and Lyndsey. We hopped on a noon train to Seoul and after a quick bite to eat at Coex Mall we were on our way to the Big Top to see Cirque du Soleil: Alegria. I was so excited because ever since I was in Jr. High and saw Cirque du Soleil on TV I have wanted to see a live show. I was not disappointed. It was absolutely AMAZING! Unfortunately, I couldn't take any pictures, but if you want to see some of the unbelievable acts I saw you can search "Alegria, Cirque du Soleil" on Youtube and almost all of them come up. Some of my favorite acts were the hula hoop girl, the contortionists, the trampoline gymnasts, the high flying trapeze artists, and the Russian bars. It was so incredible to see the strength and athleticism of the performers. They were seriously better than Olympic gymnasts (0f course, they are getting paid), and many of them were really young. The music was great, too; I have been singing it all day! So...I am happy. Another one of my life goals accomplished. However, I wouldn't hesistate to accomplish that one again. :-D

Updated photo album

I ♥ my students

So, I know my last post was about school, but lately that's mostly what my life has consisted of. Besides, I can't emphasize enough how awesome my school is...the students, my colleagues, administration, everyone! This was a great week for me. I was in high spirits because I feel so comfortable and happy where I am. Swimming has been going well, and I have enjoyed getting to know more middle school students. Our first meet is December 6th and I'm so excited just to be at a meet again! On Tuesday of this week, the middle school celebrated fall by bobbing for apples. It was hiliarious; not just because of the dripping wet students but because it was so cold. It snowed a couple hours later! I have some great pics though (see link below). Even our principal did it. :-P My favorite thing about TCIS, though, is the relationships formed between the students and the teachers. You have to be so careful in the U.S., but here it is completely different. I just got back from 8th grade party. We invited the entire 8th grade class to come to one of the teacher's house for pizza and then to another teacher's house for dessert, games, and a movie. It was a blast! What a great group of kids! We ate yummy food, watched Lady in the Water, and played Uno, poker, and other card games. 30+ students came and everyone really enjoyed themselves. I think we are already planning another class party for the spring. hehe.

More school pictures--updated Nov. 22

Middle School news...read all about it!

There was a lot of excitement in the middle school this week. Of course, there is always a lot of excitement at the middle school, but this week just seemed a bit more hectic. Maybe it is partly because I was busy writing assessments and making rubrics before grades are due again on the 19th. All of my classes either took a test today or will take one on Tuesday that is different from "normal" Spanish tests.

In the midst of all that, the middle school was hit with a bout of head lice. It started when one of my students came to school Tuesday with a really severe case. That led all 6th graders to get checked, and 2 boys were sent home. The next day 7th grade was checked and yet another girl was found to have head lice. By this time I was super paranoid because 1.) all of them were my students and I only teach about 1/4 of all the students in the school and 2.) because we have been doing a clothing unit and had a fashion show this week. I brought in clothes to wear...including a sombrero (hat) and I am almost certain that the girl wore it! I was so worried that I had infected the entire 8th grade class, too. Today, however, the 8th graders got checked and no one had it. I went to have my head checked, too, just to be safe and it was all clear. Whew!

The other exciting thing about this week was that swim team started. I love coaching! The kids who signed up are so fun. I think they are really enjoying it (dying, but having fun. hehe). The other coach and I weren't sure how practice was going to go because there are over 30 kids and the pool we usually used is "under construction" (whatever that means). Anyway, we thought we were going to have to use a pool with only one lane for all the kids, but we ended up going to another one that was a little further away but gave us three lanes. It was a lot of fun and I am so excited for the season to get underway.

Mission Impossible

This weekend I met up with Bethany in Seoul and we took a four hour bus ride to Sokcho, a really nice city on the northeast coast of Korea. It was beautiful...mountains on one side, ocean on the other. I would really like to go back when it is warm and hit up the beach. Anyway, our purpose for the trip was to hike Soeraksan, the 3rd tallest mountain in Korea and supposedly the most difficult hike. We arrived in Sokcho at ~1:00 am Satuday morning and awoke at 6:00 sharp. Unfortunately it was raining...and kept raining. Since we had come so far we decided to try the climb anyway. We dressed in lots of layers and hopped on a bus to the base of the mountain (well, to the side of the closest highway). When we got to the info booth at the bottom the guy looked at us and said..."impossible." He went on to tell us that there was heavy rain, it was a difficult hike, it would take us 7 hours, that we didn't have proper gear, etc. (Sidenote: when Koreans hike you would think they were climbing Everest. They are always decked out in hiking clothes, big backpacks, and trekking sticks. hehe.) He was so concerned that he wasn't even going to let us go! We explained to him that we had come so far and that we were going to hike the mountain no matter what. After about 10 minutes we finally talked him in to letting us go by saying we were only going to go a little ways. The hike was quite intense; the first kilometer was so steep and didn't have any flat areas to even rest for a little while. Sadly, the clouds were so low that after about 15 min. we were in them and couldn't see what I'm sure were breathtaking views. We did, however, see beautiful fall colors all around us, take in lots of fresh air, and get a great workout. After 2 hours, we were halfway up the mountain we arrived at some waterfalls, the air was getting cold very quickly and the rain began to mix with snow. Not to mention that the rocks were quite slippery. Everyone coming down was warning us about the conditions ahead. We had to decide whether or not we would go to the peak and stay at the shelter, or turn around and go back to our warm hotel room. We decided for the hotel and headed back down. I definitely want to try again in better conditions.

After the hike we grabbed some lunch at went the the "bus station," which was actually a little convenience store, and waited for the 3:35 bus. At 3:30 we headed outside to the side of the highway. Buses in Korea are basically always on time so we thought it a little strange when so much time was passing without it coming. We were still damp from the hike and were freezing just waiting! Finally, one of the other girls waiting for the bus went inside and learned that the bus wasn't coming for another half hour. She and her friend, who were Korean girls about our age, flagged a taxi. We told them we were going to Sokcho too and shared a cab. Between the four of us it ended up being cheaper than taking the bus, they dropped us off right at our hotel, and we got back in 20 min. instead of 50!

On Sunday morning we wanted to get up early and watch the sunrise over the East Sea; but, we woke up and...you guessed it...RAIN! We walked to the beach anyway and took a few pics before catching the bus back to Seoul and then home. All in all it was a good trip because it was fun to hang out with Bethany. We've already made plans for her to come visit me in 3 weeks for Thanksgiving!

Pictures from Sokcho/Soeraksan (the last 30 of the album are new)

Happy Belated Pepero Day!

You are probably asking yourself, 'what the heck is Pepero day?' Well, Pepero day is this incredible marketing scheme by a Korean candy company that is celebrated by giving the chocolate-dipped sticks to other people. I guess it is kinda like Valentine's Day or something. Genius though...create a holiday that makes people buy your product. It was fun, and I received a few Peperos myself. Mmm... :-D

Two thumbs up for Tokyo!

I returned from my long-awaited trip to Tokyo yesterday, and although it involved 2 long days of travel and 3 days of meetings, it was still an awesome trip. The conference was actually really good, and I learned a lot about what I can do better to meet expectations of the MYP (Middle Years Program of the IB). We did have some time for fun though. The conference got over each day around 4. The first day, though, there was a reception for the 350 of us who were there. At the reception they had the father of one of the student's perform a tradiational noh dance. It was...interesting. Not something I would want to watch for a whole show, but I was glad to see it and experience a bit of Japanese culture.

While in the city we also saw a shrine, a palace (from the outside. It closed at 3:30 because of shortened days. :-S), Odaiba--an island district of Tokyo, Harasuka and Shibuya--two of the largest areas of Tokyo, lots of pretty parks, the Rainbow Bridge, and of course, we found some shopping areas where I bought some Japanese lanterns, a bamboo bookmark, and some socks with the big toe separate--a Japanese specialty I hear. We also ate a variety of foods while there. Japanese, of course, but also Chinese, Indonesian, Italian, and Turkish. Overall, a great trip.

I loved Japan not only because of the sites, but also because of the many cultural differences. It's even very different from Korea. First of all, they drive on the left, which completely caught me off guard. But from there, I couldn't stop taking pictures of all the fascinating things around me. There are bikes everywhere; the taxis are old models in new condition; the traffic yeilds to pedestrians; and there are metro stations every few blocks (and 3 different companies--below ground, above ground, and monorail). The food is different...but good; they use wooden chopsticks, not metal. They read from right to left, up and down, and they have 3 different writing systems. The streets are quiet and organized in a grid, and the buildings all look different (as opposed to Korea where each city has many white high-rise apartments that all look the same). The fashion is completely different; anything goes. All the girls wear boots, fuzzy sweater things, and they don't wear pants. Many of the guys carry purses. The toilet fills with water when you sit on it; however, I didn't really understand why it needed to be so full. You can drink the tap water. Even the mirror in our bathroom was even interesting! A square of it didn't fog over when you showered, so you could still see. The city itself was beautiful, but very expensive compared to Korea. And, there were lots and lots of people! It was still great, and I'm already planning a trip back to Japan in January to visit my friend from high school, Ike.

I could go on and on with stories from the weekend, but if you want more details send me an email or give me a call and I will be happy to elaborate. :) Also, check out the following pictures and videos that I've posted to facebook.

Tokyo pictures

I hope this finds you all well! I am still enjoying life here a lot. Work is going well and getting better each week. Last week we celebrated Day of the Dead and built an altar in the classroom. Returning from japan made me realize how much Korea has begun to feel like home. It felt good to return to by apartment, which btw, I just decorated it with Christmas lights today! That means only a little longer until my trip to Thailand and Alicia comes to visit me!

The un-DMZ

I just returned from a trip to Seoul to tour the DMZ (De-Militarized Zone). It is kind of an ironic name for the place since it is probably one of the most miliarized places on Earth. The tour was super interesting and I learned a lot about the history of Korea since its division. We began the tour at the JSA (Joint Security Area) where there are both American and Korean troops as a part of the UN Command of the area. You could just feel the tension there. The North Korean soldiers are carefully monitoring everything and vice versa. There are microphones and video cameras that are monitored 24/7. There are also several watch towers and we were told each place we went from where we were being observed. We were told several times not to point, make gestures, or communicate in any way with the North Koreans so that they wouldn't have anything to use as propoganda. I wondered if we were being fed any propaganda, but I guess there is no way of knowing for sure. Some highlights of the JSA were going ito a negotiation room which is split right over the border of the north and the south, the view from Checkpoint 3 where we could see into a North Korean village, visiting the infamous Bridge of No Return (where the POWs from both sides were released and told to pick a side and stay there), and learning a lot of the current state of the division, as well as the history.

In addition to the JSA we had a nice Korean lunch, went to an observation deck where we could see 25 km into North Korea, and went into a North Korean infiltration tunnel, one of 4 discovered by South Korea in the 1970s. As can be imagined, these tunnels caused quite a scare at the time so South Korea had the tunnels filled with water so they could not be used for an attack. Now it is just opened for tourists. The tunnels were 75 meters underground and went under the Armistice Agreement line to the city of Paju. The one we went in, the 3rd one discovered, caused the most fear since it came out only 52 km from Seoul. It was pretty cool, but they wouldn't let us take any pictures.

Because we had to be at the USO by 7:00 am this morning, we stayed overnight in Seoul. We stayed in an ondol, which is a traditional-style Korean room where you sleep on matresses on the floor. It was fun and more comfortable that you would think. I slept like a rock. Our hotel was located in Itaewon, which is like the foreignor's area of the city. (I guess kinda like Chinatown would be to us. hehe) It was so awesome because everyone was speaking English. And, I found some size 10 shoes--basically impossible here--but the best part was the food. We had burgers, ColdStone, and Mexican food. Yum!

A statue at the 3rd Tunnel representing the division of Korea

Kijong-Dong(peace village), North Korea from checkpoint 3

A North Korean guard tower...and beautiful fall scenery

Sleeping in our ondol

I took lots of pictures this weekend. I also have captions on all of them explaining some of the previous info in a bit more detail. Follow the link to check them out! "A look into my Seoul"--updated pics

I'm alive...barely

Sorry, time has been flying and it just realized that it has been almost 3 weeks since my last post. Things have been crazy here. School has been hectic lately due to ISA testing (International standardized tests similar to ITBS) and the MS creative arts show other various missed blocks. It has been stressful trying to plan, but even more stressful was first quarter progress reports, which came out last week. We do not give the typical letter grade with the IB program; instead the students receive a "level", determined by a rubric (and our professional judgment) for a variety of criteria in each subject. They also are assessed on 7 skills--some related to behavior and others to study habits--which are all given a level. So pretty much they get 100+ numbers and the parents are left to figure out what they all mean. :-P  We have parent/teacher conferences in the upcoming week and we are expecting a lot of confused parents.  Anyway, in Spanish they receive five levels. So I was busy giving each student their five academic criteria, their ATL levels, as well as writing a narrative using the specific guidelines and language of the middle school. This weekend is pretty much the first Saturday that I haven't gone into work. There was just so much to do!

Life isn't all bad though. I really do like teaching. Some days are hard, but most days are very enjoyable. My 8th graders are my favorite because they are such a fun group of kids. They aren't afraid to do the crazy dances or sing the songs I teach them. hehe. They even helped me make an Emociones poster by taking pictures displaying a variety of emotions. It turned out pretty funny. Now they are trying to get me to take them to Spain since the Korean classes all went on a field trip. I am trying to find someplace local I can take them to see the culture, but we'll see what I can find here. 

Besides work, not much has been going on these past few weeks. Last weekend was our Homecoming/50th Anniversary celebration so Friday we had a big assembly. They brought back distinguished alumni, some of which had amazing stories about how much has changed since they were here 50 years ago. After the assembly on Friday there was an awesome buffet, however it got really cold and we were eating outside! Saturday was when most of the festivities were held. They had an event in conjunction with the XC meet down by the river where people had 50 minutes to visit 6 stations, do tasks, and get points. I helped man one of the stations. After a BBQ lunch, they had a lot of yard games, soccer, frisbee golf, food, crafts, etc. I went to visit the location of our new school (to open Aug. 2010). It was really nice, but really far outside the city compared to our current location. Then, I came back to school to work a bit before joining everyone for dinner. It was fun to see so many of my students outside of school and with their families.  And the food was delicious. We had a hog roast...real pork!! Like IA style! :) Afterwards was a great fireworks show and a good night's rest. 

Well, this post is kind of long considering not much has been going on other than school, volleyball games, local shopping, and resting when I get the chance. I promise it will not be so long until I write again because I have some travel plans coming up. Next weekend DMZ (I'm going to N. Korea!) and the following Thursday Tokyo!