Snowballs and a green Christmas

Christmas in Korea... I will get to that, but first, here's a summary of my last week or so. Well, part of it at least. We'll see what interesting stories I can remember.

These first couple pictures are of a walk Kris and I took on the hill/mountain next to the park I go running at. This was after one of the snows we had last week. We no longer have any snow which is really disapointing. No white Christmas for me! But then, no white Christmas for you guys either so I am not quite as disapointed as I would be if you guys had a white Christmas!

Crap. so I just accidentally deleted the next picture which was another one of the walk. I have deleted six pictures in this post already and it was a pain to upload them again and get them into the right spot so I give up and I'm not uploading that one. It was just another sunset picture from the park. I will put it on facebook if you really want to see if that badly.

This is of part of the walk way in front of my apartment after one of the snows.

My school after a snowfall. Sachung gets more snow than Gwangju does. As of this past week I have officially had snowball fights with every single school. Usually it involved me being covered in snow by the end. The day of this snow, Cindy and I got into a snow fight as soon as we got to school in the morning. There were students hanging out the windows cheering for us. Later, when I was teaching third grade, one of the boys says "Teacher, I saw you and Jae Kyung (Cindy's Korean name) teacher having a snowball fight this morning". I denied it. He persisted. The rest of the class then took his side saying they ALL saw me. Eventually I admitted that I did. So at the end of the class him and his friend come up to me and tell me that we should have a snowball fight together. Him and his friend verses me. I agreed. He was shocked that I agreed. So we said after lunch. Going to lunch that day Cindy and I snuck through another building to avoid them and on the way back he was already inside. Unfortunately for us the grade 2's were still having a snowball fight which we got stuck in the middle of. Cindy, being one of the least athletic people I know was getting creamed so I had to dodge snowballs being thrown at me while catching the ones being thrown at her. The students were surprised I could actually throw a snowball which was rather amusing when I saw their faces after being hit by a snowball thrown by me. The boy who I had a snowball fight date with saw me, yelled something out the window I said "ok" to even though I have no idea what he said. We still haven't had the snowball fight.

In the end though, I was covered in snow and spent the rest of the day kicking myself for being so stupid because I was freezing. I now bring extra socks to school when it snows.

Lucky for me, I didn't learn from the first, second, or third time and last wednesday I had a snowball fight with my kids from Samseo. They weren't sure how I'd react to snow so at first they were just throwing it at my feet until I grabbed a snowball and threw it at them. Pretty quickly the other teachers bolted it for inside and it was left at me against all the boys in the school (only about 15, but still, I was alone). In the end, to make a long story short, I came back to the teachers office with snow dripping down my face, all over me, and in my ear. I lost. In my defence though, the teams weren't exactly fair.

Ok, here's the last of my class pictures. This is the only grade three class at Samgye that I was able to take a picture with since the other two classes over half the class was at some trip of some kind so I couldn't get pictures with them. I have class shots of them on facebook though. This is 3-1, I think. This is my favourite class. But then I always say that about almost every class. They are also the one that is always late. Go figure.

Samgye 2-3. The boy in the middle wearing the hat is actually wearing my hat. Cindy gave me the hat at my Christmas party. It was from Baskin Robins and came with the cake she bought. I wore it to school that day, much to the delight of my students, and he wanted to wear it for the picture. He used to be a pain in the ass in my classes, but we understand each other now so it's all good. The other teachers complain about him though.

Samgye 1-4. This class is one of the best behaved and are very good at English.

Three of the students in Grade three painted pictures of all the teachers. I was told she picked my green shirt because she likes it the best. She also either started this before I got my hair cut or likes my hair better the way it was before!

Christmas! On our way to church and me not being impressed at the greenery. I wanted a white Christmas... After church at the pizza/amazing better than KFC and much less greasier chiken party/gift exchange.
Joelle and me during the gift exchange. Kris won a massive bag of chocolates for one of the trivia questions and both Kris and Gabrielle got their names picked for the bike that could be won, but they didn't get it in the final draw. Everyone brought 10,000 won gifts and we played this game with them. I wanted a hat that some guy got, but I never rolled an even number so I couldn't switch my gift. I ended up with a book of some kind and a picture frame. Not the worst there was (I really didn't need an umbrella or bottle of olive oil). It was a lot of fun though.

So I'm pretty sure I have other stories that don't have pictures with them, but I'm going out tonight and I really need to shower (really need to shower). Plus my neck is sore from writing this.

Un-am Dong and Sachung

For some reason I now have a ton of pictures. Here's a sample of the most recent ones I took. The first bunch are of the park that I go running at ALL the time. It's about a five minute walk from my apartment and is a great place for me to clear my head and get some exercise. However, my running days have come to an end today because we got our first snow and the temperature has dropped. My ears and throat don't like it when I run in the cold so I'll have to find a gym now. Or else just get fat for the next couple months until the weather warms up again. Either will work. Jung-oe Park. My home away from home.

It was so peaceful the day I took these. The two days later it snowed (today). Now I'll have to get winter pictures of it!

There's outdoor exercise equiptment and an archery pitch just to the left of this picture.

View from the other side. Behind me it the kids equiptment too.

At a UNESCO (United Nations something something seomthing Organization) family friendship international something-or-other FREE dinner. I wouldn't have gone if it wasn't free, but it was so I went! Amazing cultural entertainment which I didn't feel like putting pictures here so look on facebook for those.

Laura and I wishing it was time to eat. This dinner had the best Duc I've ever had in Korea so far. Duc being rice cakes (but not the ones you think of in Canada. These are actually good).

More classes!!! Yay! My last small school class picture. Samseo grade 3. I love these kids to death and my last time teaching them is next Wednesday. Forever. I will cry. Inside me of course. That would be awkward if I cried in class. Not sure what my students would think. "uhhh what do we do? Teacher is crying. Maybe she's more weird than we thought...."

Samgye (my main school) grade 1. I have four grade one classes. This is 1-2.

Samgye grade 1. This is the 1-4 class I think.

Samgye grade 1. This one is 1-3, I think. Classes were switched around this day so I got confused which was which. Either way, they're grade 1.

Samgye grade two. I have three grade two classes. (missed one class so that'll be posted later. Same with the 1-1's. Forgot them!) This is the 2-2's.

Samgye grade 2. The 2-1's.

I'm really tired. I told myself I'd go to bed on time tonight, but like usual that didn't happen. the grade 2 and 3 boys at Sinheung tried to hit me with snowballs today. My co-teacher, James, was trying to protect me though I think he made it worse. He almost got me hit. Thankfully I saw the huge snowball hurdling towards me and stepped out of the way in time. Looking at the boys face though was hilarious! He had this look of eager anticipation for the snowball to hit me and when I moved his face looked crushed! The rest were either way off target or I'd catch them. The grade 1's gained up on one of the teachers. They had shovelful's on him. He was loosing badly. James told me to help him out, but I wasn't about to underestimate those kids. Plus, I didn't want the grade three's sneaking up on me and getting me.

Korean's are definitely paranoid when it comes to snow. They ended my workshop early when they realized it was snowing again. I could hardly see the snowflakes. They were also wet so they melted right away. They should come to Canada and see what we drive in, I think.

Our Christmas party is this Saturday. I can't wait. It's going to be awesome. You're all invited of course. Bring snacks.

Ok, now I really need to go to bed. Enjoy.

Two Weeks Later...

So, I definitely didn't realize that I didn't post last weekend. I wasn't even busy so it's not like I didn't have the time. So, here is my last two weeks summed up. First, last Wednesday Kristen, Gabrielle and I had an English Town camp meeting in which we did no planning or talking about the actual camps and instead went to see this really cool ancient school where this famous teacher taught so all students wanted to go there. It was beautiful and in the moutains. I'd want to go there too, but not because of the teacher! Here's those pictures.

The front entrance to the school. We had to duck to get in. Even our Korean friends had to bend over. We made jokes about how they were shorter then and are still short now. They said it was because it's so that you're forced to bow when you enter. Makes sense.

Next to the entrance was a 200 year old tree and we became tree huggers for a little bit. There was a lot of really old trees there actually. That's what made it so beautiful.

The library. Very small in my opinion, but this was also in use in the 1600's, not the 21st century. But then, they had a ton of books then too, but they were worthwhile books, not the stuff we have in our libraries where any blow joe can publish stuff now a days...

The dormatories. Notice the fire extinguishers... They were EVERYWHERE. Apparently they are more concerned about the school burning down than the apartments we live in now...where living humans actually live... I wonder if they have fire alarms there? Probably not. I don't think those exist in Korea. (seriously. I haven't seen a building with them yet).

A look across the courtyard into the next section. Our director was droaning on in Korean about this, that and who knows what. Sometimes a teacher would be kind enough to translate, but other times I'd just nod pretending I knew what he was saying. I was actually really interested in it, but the language barrier was a bit of an issue.

Beautiful scenery all around. I love it.

We went to "lunch" (which turned out to be dinner because it was 4pm before we got our food) and saw a tractor! Ok, so I've seen them before in Korea, I do teach at three very country schools, but those were all in use. This one wasn't so of course we had to get a picture. You can see a Korean man to the left of the picture. Him and another guy and girl were looking at us like we were crazy or something.

In the resturant where randomly one of Kristen's students Mom's worked. It was funny. The lady went all excited like when she saw Kristen and realized she taught her daughter. Can't say the meal was the best I've had in Korea, but it was decent. Lots of beef and no live octopus so I guess I can't complain! I missed a Samgye teacher's dinner for this excursion though. That made me sad.

Then afterwards the three of us went and got Gelato... huge gelatos. The guy thought we were all sharing one and the look on his face when we EACH bought one was priceless. When Gabrielle ordered he gave her three spoons. Then Kristen ordered and he gave her two spoons. Then I ordered and they finally realized we all wanted one to ourselves! Yes, we love ice cream. Can't say I'm a big fan of gelato though. Give me real ice cream anyday.

Oh, these aren't in order. These should be the last pictures, but I uploaded them wrong. Oops. This is baskin robins ice cream from last night. We got our hair cut and then went there. We're doing a love shot...with ice cream.

Then we had a bake sale party. There's a bake and book sale at the Speakeasy, a foreigner bar in downtown Gwangju and the regularly put on events and fundraisers and stuff. This one is for a girls orphanage in Gwangju where a lot of foreigners volunteer at. We baked for it and it's today at 1:00pm. I made fudge puddles. I might buy some back at the sale... so good! ANyway, at our baking party we took pictures. Duh. Kristen and I have a slight obsession with the Korean actor Lee Byung Hun of the Korean drama IRIS (we watch with subtitles online) and he was on posters on our apartments advertizing Missha so since Koreans throw the on the ground all the time anyway we went around to all the apartments, up all the stairs and collected them and made collages in our apartments. Think what you like about it, but we love it!

I'm taking class pictures with all my classes. I've only done five classes so far and they're all at my small schools. Warning: Korean kids don't like pictures and hate smiling in pictures. They just don't seem to do it in Korea. No matter how much I beg them to smile, most won't do it. so I'm usually the only one smiling.

This is Sinheung Middle School, grade two. The ones I always complain are little asses all the time... the boy who always disrupts the class is the middle boy. The girl behind him sometimes does too, but usually she's good.

Sinheung Grade three. I love these kids. The boy in the blue jacket is the one who complained about James trying to take my class away from me and said he really missed me. The boy who's beside me is taller than me and just before this was taken I was going on my tippy toes to be taller than him, but then he went on his too and was taller still (obviously) and then as soon as we stood on flat feet the picture was taken which is why I look like a loser here.

Sinheung grade one. These are the best kids at the school when it comes to English. Some of the girls as shy as anything, but the boys always joke around so it's fun.

Samseo grade one. The middle girl and the one kneeling are hilarious and really good at English. The boy on the left ALWAYS wants to play games and loves making fun of me. These kids are the best. We have a lot of fun in their classes because they always want to learn. Samseo Grade Three. Some of my favourite kids are in here (yes, I know, I have A LOT of favourite kids. I just love them all!)The boy in the red jacket is the one in the red dress from the last post and the boy kneeling on the right is the other one in the dress who won the competition. Those two boys also seem to have a competition to see who can get my attention the longest in each class. The boy kneeling won last class. The girls are the sweetest things ever. The one in red made a flower thing for me this week. It was so cute. Then it got wrecked in my purse on the way home, but I fixed it so it's all good.

So that's been the last two weeks. Today is the bake sale, paying for my plane ticket, and dinner with friends. Tomorrow night is a foreigner Christmas dinner. I'm so excited for that!

I hear at home there's snow. Here, I still go running outside and sometimes don't wear a coat. Although it's rained a bit the last two days which kinda sucked. I just want snow soon!