just one more week

so it's the count down week here in lily class. yep christmas vacation is just around the corner and i've got everything all decorated. the hallway outside has been changed. all the kids have made ornaments for our tree, colored candy canes for the door, and we've even made a hand wreath to go around our window! they're really excited for the christmas party. santa is visiting. of course what child at the age of six doesn't get excited about christmas?! you forget that level of excitement after the 'long hard years' (giggle) without santa, and being around children only makes it more important keeping the secret... now i understand what conflicts my parents went through!!!
anyways, we've read the polar express, watched the movie, and even wrote to santa telling him what we wanted. i explained to them that if we didn't mail letters santa, wouldn't know what to get them, they each even made santa a shopping card (essentially a tiny pocket sized picture of what they wanted so he'd be able to find it or make it! something my mom had us do as children)... so, i sent a copy of each 'child's' letter home to the parents. then i encouraged the parents to put their own 'santa' letters in the gifts that they would open during the christmas party.
almost everyday after 'mailing' the letters, the friday week before the party, many of the kids would come up to me asking if santa got the letter. i kept telling them they would find out soon enough!!! i was thrilled when each parent hand wrote on a card or paper a reply letter to each of their children. it made the day just that much more thrilling for the kids who were really looking forward to it. a great classroom christmas' i've seen here in korea.

letters to santa, complete with colored envelopes and addresses

candy-cane door and wreath

no standing tree, but we had to have something!!! so i made one and then they made ornaments for it and on the day of the party we sang carols and put a star on the top!

our hallway wall

so with just a few days to go before i board the airplane home for my first christmas in a couple years, i have reminisced the childhood excitement of preparing for that day, but this time with a little bit of the bitter-sweetness an adult has of knowing the truth and for myself knowing that stephen will be here by himself though the holidays.

family is just around the corner, and sure we'll see how things are there. it's been a while, and it's bound to be difficult going back for just a short time. it'll be worth it and i think for me it's bringing back that feeling of excitement that christmas misses once you realize magic doesn't exist. as grown-up my magic has become airplanes and skype. hopefully i can close the gap between childhood and adulthood for just a little while.

merry christmas and happy holidays. x

november brings on Mo-vember

a simple enough statement, as murphy shaves a stash to fight cancer

Halloween School Vs. Halloween Weekend

equally as tough. grueling. fun filled... but with different scales.

halloween at school was an interesting time. as foreign teachers we were requested (i say requested meaning 'told') to decorate the library as a haunted house to incite fear and terrorize little children. the day was filled with kiddies running around dressed up to the 9's in all sorts of outfits you could imagine. it seems the traditional make-your-own-using-your-imagination costume has mostly been forgone in the speediness at being able to run to the store and just buy one. but, there were some good ones.

a scary mouth to duck under in the beginning

the work in progress

bloody signs

the 'gates' of the library

talking wall painting

our alien

haunted forest, complete with alien, grave stones, and random bugs flying around

pumpkin carving

lily class 2011

vampire and bumblebee

my favorite - the astronaut

to cute

howdy partner

twin brothers as buzz and woody!!!

after struggling myself to come up with a costume idea. i landed on frogger. however, it turned into just being a dead frog because after multiple attempts as explaining the meaning behind frogger itself and even showing my kids youtube videos... i decided it was just easier to explain that i was a dead frog, and not a video game they know nothing about. they thought it was funny enough though.

soon enough the weekend came and as all halloween weekends end up. it's worth a couple pictures of reminiscing at least.

woodstock - gangnam

so wait, that's a squid ring, are you sure?

let's just settle this now. yes, you ate a squid ring

kids dig it, parents love it, teachers dread it... you guessed it! PARENTS night

two months in the making. hundreds of hours spent teaching and preparing for a 2 hour program. a performance you may ask? something like that. more like tying 20 screaming kindergartners to strings and making them dance and sing to random english songs while their parents snap pictures and you put on an incredibly good fake smile in hopes that your panic doesn't seep through, cause you're sure someone's going to forget something or burst into tears. inevitably it all happens. kids cry, parents laugh and take pictures, i fumble the words and try to make stupid jokes on the fly to cover up being nervous in front of 40 odd adults some of whom can speak my language just as well as i can. and in the end what do you get....

a lovely fall hallway

filled with family pictures

children's writing

a tastefully decorated classroom. 1 part halloween, 2 parts parents night

your kids in matching outfits

trying to sit nicely

happy moms, dads, kids, and teachers

your guess is as good as mine. an enigma i'll probably never understand till i go to my own child's

World DJ Fest ... $0$

pre-game affair. ireland lost

minor upset. no tickets

not a problem

got in for free

ingenuity ftw

nate-dawg

digitalism

katlyn, spinning some magic

world stage

open grassy knoll? i dunno i only ever saw it late at night

happiness, doesn't cost a thing... you just need to see it 

Hoo-Ray for Han-Bok Day!

It's that time of year again... Chuseok! The kids love it, I enjoy it... everyone gets to eat a lot of snacks and wear funny clothing. We also get our pictures taken and practice bowing. That way when the kids see their grandparents later they'll be able to properly address them for the holidays.

This year at my new school they weren't as extravagant as the last one. YBM PSA took pictures and we bowed, but no one showed us a tea ceremony or how to hold our hands. My co-teacher brought in her mother's hanbok for me to wear. Pretty nice. Very Yellow. The kids were adorable as always. Not to mention insanely excited to be showing off their traditional clothing. They found it really silly that I was in a Hanbok, and wanted to know if I brought it from home. Explaining my borrowing it and not knowing that much about it because it's only my second time in one wasn't as easy as i thought, haha. No big deal, we all found each other insanely hilarious!

kevin, aaron, and lina (l to r)

studying mushrooms before his big adventure on the mountain

can't look right now chelsea teacher, i'm working!

sarah, with the cutest hair piece ever!

amy...adorable and daft

Jiho, in his natural state... my co-teacher, also in her natural state.... looking into the mirror

ahhh, that's better. work finished, smiling tony!

Though the day can be stressful, trying to manage twenty kids in outfits their parents pay a lot of money for. They're not supposed to get them dirty, play in them, or just in general be rowdy (yeah you try telling that to twenty 6 year olds!)
Needless to say Stephen and I paid a much needed visit to Bob @Echo Point later that evening for a few rounds of pool. So, with our friends June and Kyu we passed the night in relative ease and laziness.

Rumicube!!!!

June 

Kyu and I

Stephen, Bob and myself arguing over music

Temporary DJs