The halls are alive...

...with the Sound of Music! I just had to share this video clip with you all! My co-workers are awesomely fun! We performed "How do you Solve a Problem like Mr Moimoi (our principal)" dressed as nuns in front of the students to advertise the Middle School Talent Show. It was funny! And a blast!

The Last Monday

Today was the last Monday of instruction for this school year. I can't believe how fast it is coming to an end. I can't say I'm disappointed, though. I can almost taste the end now. I'm so excited for the summer; I will be home in just over 2 weeks!!

I have been trying to make the most of these last few weekends because many students and staff are leaving TCIS. The past two weekends I have been to Taecheon Beach, about 1.5 hours from Daejeon. I can't believe I hadn't been there before. It is such a nice beach and so close.

The first weekend I went with 90 middle schoolers for Middle School Retreat. We had wonderful weather and stayed at a lodge right on the beach that is owned by our school. It was so nice to enjoy being outdoors and spend time with each other. We played games, sang, made skits, had quiet time, and even roasted marshmallows around a campfire. Here is a video of the kids during a worship time singing their favorite song. :)

This past weekend I went with my 4 best friends here in Korea. Sarah came down from Suwon, and we went on a road trip! Anna got a car this week so we all packed in a drove to Taecheon Beach. Although the weather was cool and rainy, we had a great time. We managed to avoid getting lost and found plenty to keep us entertained. We went to noraebang, had mud massages, and watched movies. It was a great getaway before we all get really busy with grading and packing and life. It was even better to spend the weekend all together for probably the last time since Lynz and Jenn are leaving TCIS after this year. I have attached some pics here. Enjoy! And see many of you soon!

May Madness

Wow. It's May already. One month from today I will be arriving back in Iowa! I'm so excited to see everyone from home, but it is bittersweet leaving knowing so many friends won't be returning. I have been making the most of the rest of the school year, though. Since my last post, I have been to the baseball game, had a cookout (yay for warm weather...finally!), went noraebanging, played some great staff volleyball, and attended I-Fest (International Festival).

I-Fest happens every year at TCIS, and it is such a fun event. There is lots of great food, plus tons of fun things to do like a dunk tank, shopping, henna tattoos, and tie dye. The highlight this year for me was the big inflatable slide. It was so fun! Be sure to check on the pics here. Unfortunately, I-fest couldn't have it's annual fireworks show to end the event because of the month-long mourning period for the people who died on the warship that went down in Korea last month. Instead, there was a guitarist who used to play for Kenny Rogers and some other well-known musicians. He was pretty entertaining.

School is quickly coming to an end. I counted today, and I only meet with each of my classes 7 or 8 more times. There is a lot to get done before the end of the year, but overall things are finishing strong. I gave proficiency tests last week, which is something that takes a lot of planning and time, so it feels great to have that done. Now it's just one final push to the end.

May is always such a busy month around here. Next weekend I am chaperoning the Middle School Retreat. This year we are headed to Daecheon Beach, which is nice because it is much closer than our destination last year, Sundae Beach. A LOT of kids are signed up so I'm sure it will be a crazy weekend. :) The next weekend I am returning to Daecheon Beach for a final hoorah with some close friends. We are taking a road trip--hopefully we don't get lost!

This month we also have graduation, a few more volleyball open-gyms, end-of-year trip, MS Talent Show, and Faculty Farewell (which I'm sure will be VERY long this year). Plus, I'm 99% sure that I will be moving in with my friend Anna next year, so I will have packing to do. Plus, now that the weather is nice, I have been going on a quite a few bike rides. Hopefully I can get in at least 100 miles before I start training for RAGBRAI at home--on my new bike! :) I would really like to do a triathalon in the fall, so I will have to split time I spent last year biking, with time spent running. My friends talked me into doing the 5k tomorrow so I will officially be starting my running career. Pray for me! :-P

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!

¡Amigas Aquí!

I was so excited in my last entry to tell you about my trip to India that I forgot what happened before that. Tami and Colleen spent an amazing week in Korea. Although the weather was a little chilly, I had a great time playing hostess. I took a few days off work which allowed us to do just about everything there is to do in Korea all in one week. The trip began in Seoul where we stayed in an ondul--traditional style--room where you sleep on the heated floor. We spent a day shopping in markets, drinking tea, and visiting a palace/museum, and going up Seoul Tower.

Tami and Colleen were so brave! They ate everything I put in front of them. :) We ate shabu shabu (similar to Korean BBQ, but in a hotpot), bulgogi (cooked meat), mandu (dumplings), dongas (pork cutlet), samgyetang (whole chicken in a ginseng soup) and bimbimbap (mixed veggies with rice). We also visited friends from Central and had a couple little reunions. Crazy! Tami and Colleen observed classes at TCIS on Thursday and Friday while I had to teach.

One of the best things about the week was that Tami and Colleen came when school was actually in session, which meant everyone was here. They met most of my friends, and we enjoyed doctor fish and going to noraebang, coffee shops, and photo sticker booth; all things I love to do here. On the last night we did something I've never done...slept at the jjimjilbang before the girls went to the DMZ.

In the middle of the week we took a day trip via KTX to Busan to see the fish market, cliffs, and ocean. We also met up with our friend Zach (aka G) from college. It was so fun to hangout and have G show us all around his city.

It was so fun to have my amigas here, but it has been a busy couple weeks. I'm definitely exhausted now. And, I'm having quite a bit of trouble sleeping...well, being able to fall asleep especially. Stupid jet lag!

Yesterday and today was World Language Festival, which also may contribute to my extreme sleepiness. Like last year, the Mandarin, Korean, and Spanish students all got together to play traditional games from the target countries. The year 1 kids enjoyed it, but the year 2 students enjoyed it even more. Their theme was food, and we cooked doekbokki (rice cakes in hot sauce), mapo tofu (yummy yummy Chinese dish), and quesadillas. It was a huge hit, and a lot of fun. Next year, when there are year 3 students, we are planning to have a section of music and dance. Looking forward to it already!

I'm happy because tomorrow is a half day of teaching, and since I don't have class until 10:40, I only have students for 40 min. Unfortunately, the half day is due to parent/teacher conferences, meaning I have to be at school until 8:30. Yuck! However, Thursday we get to sleep in and Friday there is no school thanks to good Friday. Yay! Happy Easter!

I ♥ India!

I just returned from a fantastic week at an orphanage outside of Bangalore, India along with 14 others from TCIS (11 high school students and 3 other adults). We spent the entire week at the orphanage playing with the 68 kids who live there. We worshiped together,  did crafts, played games, and spent time just talking and hanging out. It was a great experience. We lived in a guesthouse at the orphanage, ate wonderful food prepared by some of the older girls, and took bucket showers. And in every other moment of the day we were with the kids. It was exhausting, but so incredible; they taught us so much! From new games and songs to being grateful for what we have to having a childlike faith. The children there are wise beyond their years and are absolutely beautiful inside and out. I know the trip made a great impact on some of the members of our team, because on the last day everyone's eyes were full of tears as we said our goodbyes to our new friends. I have been on many mission trips, but I've never been on one like this where we see the same kids everyday and really know them by the end of the week. We also had a really great team, and by the end of the week had grown close, too.

Although we spent the majority of the time at the orphanage with the kids, we did experience a bit of Indian culture. Each day we took a break for tea time...I'm assuming this was started because of the British influence in the country. We had the chance to watch a couple of Indian movies with the kids; one of them My Name is Khan was sooooooo good and very interesting. I would recommend it. I learned how to count to 10 in Kannara, the language spoken in that part of the country. One night we had a dance show, so we watched some Indian dances and performed some Korean ones for them. We also spent half a day in the city of Bangalore shopping. I bought a beautiful Indian purse and shirt. (Their clothing is gorgeous! Very colorful and decorative.) We also had dinner in a restaurant before heading to the airport for our long trip home. As you can see, I had a wonderful time. Hopefully I can go back and see those kids next year. I miss them already!

Check out the rest of the pics here!

Jealousy

It's snowing here! And not just a little snow, but really snowing! We are forecast to get 7 inches in Daejeon, but I don't think that will happen. I thought spring was almost here, but then winter got jealous of spring (as they say in Korea.) Crazy weather! I hope it warms up before Colleen and Tami get here!!

March

Wow, it's March already. I'm hoping to get a few more posts this month, but I know time is going to FLY by. Since Spring break the weeks have been passing so quickly and now in just a couple short weeks quarter 3 will be over and it will be one last push until the end.

Here is an update about what I've been doing and will do. Enjoy!

The weather has been pretty nice so last weekend my friend Laura and I went hiking at Bomunsan, a mountain I had never been to but is actually in the city of Daejeon. After walking 15 or so minutes you get to a lookout where you can look down on most of the city. It was nice to rest, watch, and enjoy the weather (plus take lots of goofy pics). Then, we walked around the mountain about an hour before heading home. I really enjoyed it because it wasn't like normal Korean hiking where you walk on a cement path or up rock stairs. The trails were more natural...and thankfully there were way less people.

This weekend, next weekend, and last weekend was/will be filled with swim meets. Last weekend we went to SAHS--going to SAHS is always exciting because we get to go on the base and eat Taco Bell and toasted Subway sandwiches and get all kinds of good candy out of the vending machine :)--for the shortest meet in KAIAC history! I don't know if that's really true, but we were done before noon. Next week we will be on the base again at OSAN.

This week we had the first 10-team meet. It was at YISS and it was a great day! TCIS swam so well. It is so cool to see the improvements my swimmers have made since last year. A good chunk of them have cut 7-10 seconds on their 50 freestyle times (which is totally crazy)! The meet got off to a good start when both the girls and boys relay teams passed people on the last leg to win their respective heats. Another cool...well, probably the coolest part of the meet was that Gil Stovall, an Olympic swimmer was there! He is apparently best friends with the new aquatic director at YISS. He was hanging around the whole meet so we got some pictures and autographs and asked lots of questions about the Olympics and training and Michael Phelps. haha. Then, at the break, he swam an exhibition 100 butterfly. I have never seen an Olympian swim live, so that was really cool. To the swimmers out there who will find this amazing; he took 6-7 strokes per lap! And he was so smoothe in the water. Watch the video below to see what I mean. Anyway, after the meet he talked to us about his journey to the Olympics, where he was went in seeded 2nd right behind Michael Phelps in the 200 fly, expected to medal, but woke up sick on semifinals day and missed the finals heat by .01 sec. He talked about how his faith had kept him going through his entire swimming career, and how when he looks back on that day, he realizes that God was teaching him that dreams of the world can disappear, but God is constant and never leaves. It was a great message and we all really enjoyed listening to him.

Besides swimming, not too much has been going on. I have just been preparing for Tami and Colleen, who will be here 1 week from today!!!! I cannot wait. They will be here all next week and then the following week I will be in India. Be looking for a post after that for sure! :)