Volleyball Overnighter!

Life in Korea is so busy this year. The good news is that it is a different kind of busy from last year at this time (when I was overwhelmed with school work). This year I am busy with volleyball. Since the "flu break," as we are now calling it, we are back to having practice everyday. Plus, we are in full swing with games every weekend and many Wednesdays.

Wednesday of this week we played GSIS, our sister school. In between the boys and girls game there was a big ceremony to commemorate the event since it was the first varsity athletic competition between the schools. My team didn't play well, but pulled off the win in five games. Whew! It makes me nervous when they are so close!

This past weekend we had our first and only overnight in Seoul. All fall sports travel together so there were probably 60 of us setting out after lunch on Friday. That afternoon we played at Korea International School, and Saturday we played Seoul International School. All the volleyball teams played well both matches, but the boys ended up losing to SIS in a really close game. I'm confident we'll get them next time, though!

Because there were back-to-back away games in Seoul, we stayed at SIS; boys on the gym floor and girls in the locker rooms. It was...interesting. I slept better than I thought I would, but it was quite an experience. Everything from no A.C. to a fan that shut off when the lights went off, to really bright exits signs, to students cell phones (that the coaches had collected!) going off at 5 AM, to a strange man walking in in his underwear clearly shocked to see so many girls sleeping in the room! haha. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it (especially my burger for dinner in Itaewon!), but I'm happy we don't have another overnighter!

Back in Session

School is back in session, and boy was everyone happy! Although sleeping in and teaching in my PJs was nice, teaching online was a real challenge! And it wasn't very fun either. We were quarantined...and alone. It was so boring that some days I just had to get out of the house for some social interaction. I felt like I spent all day sitting at my computer replying to emails. The students didn't like it much either and felt overloaded with homework. Poor kids! Some of them didn't even realize lessons were being posted online until this week. Unfortunately, with the way things are going, we may end up closing again. So far about 40 schools in Korea have been shut down.

We started up again on Wednesday. As excited as I was to be returning to face to face instruction, I was dreading the day. I feared it would be mass chaos because the school has begun to implement "Swipe Away the Swine Flu" which requires each student to get their temperatures checked before school starts, dismissing the kids early to wash their hands before lunch, and using paper cups at the drinking fountains. The day went a lot smoother than I was expecting and after today I feel like we are starting to get the hang of the new procedures. Every now and then I forget to stop class early so we can wipe down the desks, computers and doorknobs, but other than that things are back to normal. I can say one thing, this experience made us all a lot more thankful for the chance to come to school each day!

Besides Swine flu excitement, not too much has been going on. We aren't allowed to travel yet, but my friends and I did purchase plane tickets to Japan for Chuseok (hopefully the let us in and out of the country!). I also bought a new road bike so I enjoyed a couple rides during the school closure. Now that school is back in session, volleyball is in full swing (no pun intended! :-P). I enjoy coaching the boys more than I thought I would. They are a great group and it is such a blessing to be around them everyday. They are so encouraging, and there are some really great leaders on the team. We are supposed to have our first game on Wednesday, but it is against our sister school, GSIS, who was closed down all this week due to cases of N1H1. If we don't end up playing, we will play our first game on Friday the 4th. We haven't had much practice, but I am excited with the progress I see already. I can't wait to play some games!

Pass the Swine (Flu)

Ever heard of the game "Pass the Pigs". You know, the one where you roll the pigs and get points for how they land. Well, a friend of mine cleverly gave the game a new name..."Pass the Swine Flu." Unfortunately, but a bit ironically, this title pretty much describes TCIS today.

Since school began we have been giving our student H1N1 questionnaires each morning. I really hadn't been taken them too seriously and thought the measure was a bit ridiculous. However, this week a ton of people have become sick so the Korean health officials came and tested many people who had been sent home this week. It hasn't been as noticeable in the MS, but about half the senior class was gone as well as some faculty. Today, as school came to an end we got an interesting announcement. School will be closed until further notice due to confirmed cases of H1N1!!! All school activities were canceled, dorm students were sent home, and we were told that we will most likely be closed at least the rest of the week...maybe longer. I guess normal procedure is that a school is closed for 6 days! After an all-staff meeting to update us on the situation, media crews were swarming the front gate. It was surreal! We are the first international school to be closed by the Korean health officials, but more are expected to follow. Apparently there are already two people who tested positive at KIS in Seoul. I'm starting to think it will be a miracle if we get all of our volleyball games in this year...I mean, it would require that neither school has been shut down due to the virus. :-S

Although I am kinda looking forward to these free personal days (we aren't supposed to be in groups with TCIS people or anywhere with large groups of people), this will bring great challenges to a school year that was off to a smooth start. We are going to be transitioning to online learning so that students aren't sitting at home doing nothing. It means that I am going to have to rethink some of my lessons and come up with things the students can do at home. Most of them do not have their textbooks (and the school is closed as of 10 AM tomorrow so I can't even scan pages) so I will have to get creative. I think overall it will be a great learning experience with ODL (Online Distance Learning) and using various technologies to communicate with students; but it means I have a lot of work to do!

Be praying for the members of our community that have H1N1 and pray also that we are able to reopen soon. I have a feeling this no school, no friend gathering, no traveling stuff is going to get real boring real fast!

Arrrrgreat Weekend!

Saturday a group of RAs and teachers decided it would be fun to escape the heat by heading to Caribbean Bay, a huge pirate-themed water park outside Seoul. Unfortunately, due to Saturday being Korean Liberation Day everyone else in the country had the same idea! We arrived at the park around 12 only to learn that we couldn't get in until 5 since the place was over capacity. Stupid overpopulation! However, after pondering for awhile about what we should do, some fellow foreigners told us that we could buy the tickets to Caribbean Bay and get into Everland, the amusement park next door, for my favorite price of FREE! So...we spent about 5 hours at Everland where I rode a couple rides (including the T-Express...the best wooden coaster I've ever ridden), ate some great burgers, sweated out every cold drink I purchased. By 5 I was ready to hop into the pool! When we got to Caribbean Bay it was still packed. After finally finding a locker we hit up the wave pool, which looked more like a wave of human bodies. It was fun though because instead of many waves in a row. there is one big tidal wave that pushes everyone back about 20 ft. See video here (but with even more people!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQleV-uw_yY&feature=related. We also went on an awesome waterslide that was like a rollar coaster because we were in tubes and the slide went up and down hills. Tons of fun! Not to mention we had a great time floating along the lazy river.

Even though I was pooped after a long day of fun, I decided to join my friend Christine and head to Seoul to visit Sylvia, another friend who used to teach at TCIS. We spent the night catching up on our summer travels, current lives, and the new school year. The next day we slept in and met some of Christine's friends for lunch. We ate at Dos Tacos...a pleasant hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. Such a great find! It was a fabulous weekend, but today I'm exhausted. Time for some much-needed rest. Good night!

I'm back!

I have safely and smoothly arrived in Korea after a wonderful summer traveling, visiting friends, and spending time with my family. I have many stories from my around-the-world trip so if you want to hear some shoot me an email. In the meantime, I will be posting links to the pics I have. I also had a great time on RAGBRAI--Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa--with Tami (my roommate from college), Sarah (who taught with me here in Korea last year), and many new friends. It was a great feeling of accomplishment when I finished the 7-day, 442 mile ride. It was definitely a challenge, but it was also a ton of fun. Training consumed most of my summer days which prevented me from getting bored in Washington, too.

Although the summer and the break from work were awesome, it feels good to be back. The community here is so caring and supportive. I had missed them. There are some really great new staff members as well. I got in early on Friday morning so I am almost over jet lag. I have spent my time so far doing things around my apartment that I wanted to do all last year and never had time to do. In addition I have been preparing for the first day of school which is quickly approaching on Monday the 10th. I can't believe it is here already! There is a lot to do, but I feel so much more prepared than last year when I had no idea what I was doing. My class load is exactly the same; 5 Spanish classes and 1 7th Sheltered Bible. The biggest adjustment this year will be that I do not have a heavy and light day/week. I teach 3 and have 2 free periods everyday. I am curious to see how I will like it or if it will make time go by slower or faster. This fall I will be helping coach JV volleyball so that will be really fun, but will also be another adjustment as I will be busy everyday after school. In general, I am very very excited to see my students and start the school year. I will be busy, but I am going to try to keep my blog updated regularly. Thanks for reading!

1 Year Down, 1 Day To Go!

I have officially completed my first year of teaching. Today was the last day of school and it was by far one of the ost exhausting. But now...it is done! Tomorrow I am going to our last divisional meeting and then cleaning out my desk before returning home to start packing. I leave on Sunday for my long-awaited around-the-world trip. Eeek!

Since it is the end, I have been thinking a lot about the year as a whole. Here are some of my reflections: 1.) I have grown so much; I feel much more like an adult than I ever have in my life and am content moving past the college days. I feel as though I have settled into a real life. 2.) I have once again adapted to a new and different culture. Things that used to be foreign now seem normal. I still, of course, have the occasional surprise...which is good. Keeps life interesting. :) 3.) I have formed meaningful relationships with colleagues and students. The middle school teachers that I work with are incredibly supportive and I have learned so much from them. I don't think I could ask for better colleagues. Also, it was rewarding these last couple days to hear feedback from students about what they learned from me. Many of their comments related not to Spanish necessarily, but to the relationships we had formed after being together for a year. They are so encouraging and awesome! They were truly as sad as I was to say goodbye, so that felt really good. 4.) Life is good. I am so blessed to have a chance to live and work in a place as amazing as TCIS. I know I am in the right place and feel comforted knowing that the future, although unknown, will be full of adventures.

Ok, well I need to get some rest. Tomorrow is a busy day. And it won't slow down for a couple more weeks. Pray for good weather and smoothe travel because we will be on the move! As for those of you readers back in Iowa. I will see you soon!!!

May Update

I can't believe I haven't written the entire month! I thought I was doing better than that at keeping you all informed as to the happenings here in Korea. Well, I will do my best to give a brief rundown on what's been going on this past month.

The month started off with I-Fest (International Festival). It was good fun, good food, and good entertainment even though it was a little rainy. I sat in the dunk-tank for awhile which was more fun than I thought it would be. I also worked in the prize tent in addition to eating, shopping, and listening to music/dancing acts. The night concluded with a famous TCIS fireworks show.

Another highlight of May was visiting Busan the next weekend to see Ike and Bethany. Ike spent the week in Korea so it was fun to see him and hear his first impressions of the place. I took a much-needed personal day on Friday and met up with Bethany and her friend, Anne, early. Then, Ike came on Saturday evening and Sunday I took them to Taejongdae. It was just as beautiful as in the fall.

The next weekend was Middle School Retreat...a church camp-like weekend get-away for the kids. About 80 kids and 10 adults went to a place called Sunday Beach that was pretty much in the middle of the mountains far from all cities. It was beautiful and really peaceful. I stayed in a cabin with a group of 7th grade girls and I really enjoyed getting to know them better and talking about more spiritual things with them. The kids were funny though because they thought they couldn't survive in such a bug-filled, small, isolated place without their cell phones for a whole weekend. We all had a good trip though. Once again it was rainy and cool but that didn't stop the kids from swimming in the river or making smores. Mmm!

That brings us to this past weekend. On Friday after school I caught at train to Suncheon to see Bethany. I stayed with her host-family on Friday night and then on Saturday we got up early to hike Jirisan, one of the highest mountains in Korea. It was a great hike...up for an hour and down for about 5. It was absolutely beautiful because everything was green and it had rained the day before so there were waterfalls everywhere. I really enjoyed it but I am pretty sore today!

Today was church potluck, softball playing, and the swim team final dinner. Everything is starting to finish up here. Last week was the middle-school talent show (an year-end tradition) which was a good time. Also, we said goodbye to my friend Sarah who spent the semester student teaching here. Now there's only one more week of classes and then a fun week at the MS which will be filled with awards ceremonies, class parties, the creative arts show, and a trip to Everland--an amusement park in Seoul. Next weekend is graduation. I can't believe how fast this year has gone. Two weeks from today I will be starting my around-the-world trip and less than a month and I'll be back in the US of A!

End of Season 1

As I am sitting here listening to Big Bang, a famous Korean pop group, I decided that I should write a weekly update since I have nothing better to do. :) It's nice to not be too busy right now. I spent today at a bridal shower for my neighbor and resting at home. This week went super fast. It was my "light week" meaning I only had my full day of teaching on Tuesday and Thursday. On Thursday I gave all the students a proficiency test so I wasn't really teaching that day either. I spent most of Friday grading the tests, though. Tomorrow I will give the students the oral. It is interesting to see what they remember and see how much they learned this year. Makes me feel like I am doing something even when it sometimes seems like they aren't making any progress.

The highlight of the week was this weekend. On Thursday evening I went to the HS musical production of Urinetown. It was wonderful! Then, on Friday night I had all the girls on swim team over for a spaghetti dinner. We had a good time playing Catch Phrase and eating ice cream fondue. They also gave me a really cute giant card. It was nice. Then, on Saturday we had our KAIAC conference championship meet. We left at 6 AM and didn't get home until 7:00 PM so it was a long day, but a lot of fun. Most of the swimmers had their personal best times. Unfortunately, one of our last relays got disqualified for an early start so we ended up getting 7th place (our goal was 6th) by just 3 points. Overall it was still a good day though. It will be nice to have more time in my week, but I think I'm really going to miss seeing my team everyday. Luckily, most of them will be back next year!


Most of the swim team before the awards ceremony. The end of a very long day.

Time is flying...

Time is going so fast that before I know it I will be home! Ok, to update you on this week I have to start with last Sunday. I spent Easter Sunday at a Hanwha Eagles game. The Eagles are Daejeon's professional baseball team. It was a beautiful day to be outside so a bunch of us decided to check it out, and it was quite an experience! Baseball games here are so different than in the U.S. At home, baseball games are about socializing and eating, but here, the entire crowd was doing chants and banging thunder sticks for the whole 9 innings. It was unbelieveable...I felt like I was at a basketball game in the student section, not watching baseball! It was also funny because they didn't have a 7th inning stretch, but instead, after the 5 inning, the players came on the field fou about 10 minutes and actually stretched! haha. It was a good time, though.

Monday through Thursday our school was being evaluated by a visiting committee from WASC, our accreditors. It was kinda nerve-racking when they popped into my classes, but nothing too bad. The worst was on Tuesday when I wasn't teaching. They came and found all us teacher in our workroom and started grilling us about our curriculum writing and assessments. I tried to make an escape to the teacher's lounge, but was unsuccessful because I was caught by the WASC guy. Oh well, I think we got all good marks and feel confident that we will get the full 6-year accreditation.

This weekend went so fast. Saturday we had a swim meet (which I almost missed because my alarm clock didn't go off. Eek!) that actually went really fast. Our team swam well, too. We just have one week left; next weekend is our conference meet. Then, last night I went with some of my friend to Outback and then to the movie New in Town or Miss Lucy or whatever it is called in the U.S. It was hilarious because it is set in SE MN and it totally plays up rural life. It reminded me of home and made me laugh...a lot. Today the weather was so warm--80 degrees--so I went for a bike ride. I'm starting my training for RAGBRAI. I think I got in about 20k today and maybe 15k on Friday. I hope the weather stays nice so I can keep riding regularly. I don't have any more traveling planned for the rest of the school year so now it is a straight shot to the end. I'm looking forward to my around-the-world trip and for some time at home, but things are still going well here. I hope everything is going as well stateside!

Just call me nurse!

I have finally found time to write about my amazing Spring break mission trip to Boracay, Philippines. Early (2:30 AM!) on Saturday, April 4th, 17 of us--5 leaders, 11 boys, and 1 girl--left for our destination, and after 2 flights, a bus ride, and a boat ride we arrived...17 hours later. For being such a tourist spot, the island sure is difficult to get to. It was definitely worth the hassle, though, because the place and people are absolutely beautiful.

We were hosted by a ministry called On the Rock which is currently building a four-story community center for the people of Boracay. The 1st floor will be a preschool, the 2nd a Bible school, 3rd floor is a medical clinic, and 4th floor is a gym/auditorium. It is BIG project; we spent every morning of the week working on the second floor. We actually only poured concrete one day, but the other days were used preparing for the pour mostly by hauling endless piles of gravel and sand up the bamboo stairs via a bucket brigade, measuring them, and putting them into bags. It was tough work and it was hot so our biggest challenge was keeping everyone hydrated! Some of those boys earned the nickname "ox" because they seemed to never tire.

We mostly had the afternoons free to relax; however, we usually headed for the beach...less than a 5-min. walk away. The beach was lined with restaurants, shops, palm trees, and awesome white sand by clear blue water. Some days we swam, other days we got henna tattoos, we also enjoyed plenty of mango shakes and cerealicious (cereal, milkshake, candy, and ice cream in one!). My favorite day on the beach was when a group of us rode the banana boat and fly fish. We had a blast, but got thrown off a good number of times. hehe. Another highlight of the beach was the little Filipino kids who were always around. One day we played frisbee, volleyball, and rugby with them. They speak English pretty well so we could communicate with them. They were so cute!

We all had plenty of opportunities to interact with the kids at feeding sites. Everyday at four we split into two or three groups, hopped into a tricycle, and went to a more remote area of the island. Sometimes it felt like we were headed into the jungle! While we were there we sang songs with the kids, performed a short skit of the story of the lost sheep, played with the kids while they colored, made paper airplanes (they LOVED them), passed out candy and vitamins, and did basic medical treatments on their many wounds. They also receive a meal there. I think this was my favorite part of our trip because it was so cool to see the boys with the kids. They were so good with them!

Other highlights of the trip included eating dinner every night on the beach. I mean, our tables were right by the water so you could hear the ocean and see the stars. One night we went on a sunset sail. Absolutely gorgeous! On the way back we saw a beautiful moonrise, too. I had never been sailing before, but it was cool how we were kind of like flying on the water. So relaxing. On our last day we took an island hopping tour where we snorkeled and had a picnic lunch at a beach on the other side of the island. But despite all these awesome things, the biggest highlight was getting to know an awesome group of high schoolers. It's crazy how close we got in just one week. It was cool to see them all get along so well and grow so close by the end of the week. One of them even shared that they were "like brothers" by the end of the trip. :)

I think one of the reasons that we all grew so close was because this trip was far from perfect in that we had a lot of mishaps. The most evident being sickness. Now, before we left I had been declared the team nurse. Who knew it would be such a big job! The second day of the trip we had two boys come down with a very bad illness. Both had fevers and 0 energy. One even had to be on an IV for 2 days. One morning I woke up and took his temp and it was 103.5. It was scary, but a couple of the boys stayed behind and helped take care of him. After several visits from the doctor it was discovered that he had hookworm (that he apparently got in Korea...Yikes!) so he was given treatment and recovered in a day or so. The other boy recovered as well, but the next day 3 more people weren't feeling well. On the last day we made yet another trip to the clinic to find out that one of the boys had a perforated ear drum. Ay ay ay! We as leaders had to take turns staying behind with these sick people basically the entire trip. It was a lesson in service that I wasn't expecting. I was prepared to serve the Filipino people, but sometimes it is just as important to serve those who you came with. Luckily, they have all made full recoveries. :)

Well, this is quite long, but it was such a great week! We all had a blast and grew a lot. I feel so blessed to have been given the opportunity to go on the trip, to meet the amazing people on the island, and to help with a variety of really awesome things that On the Rock is doing there. Plus, now there are 16 other people on campus that just make me smile when I see them because we shared a week full of good, bad, hot, fun, challenging, rewarding, memorable times.

Be sure to check out the pics! :)