Festival...a time for celebration!

Last I wrote, tension in the office was quite high. I can officially say that Monday will be a different story. Festival is over, old teachers are wrapping up their contracts, and new ones are arriving.

That being said, the end of the school year Festival was a huge success, and I think, worth every bit of stress and whining. I had the honors of being MC with my Korean supervisor Katie. That meant I got to watch everyone's classes perform their speeches, songs, and instrumental pieces while the other teachers were back stage helping keep the kids in line. Unfortunately, that meant I didn't get to take any pictures of my class throughout the day. The pictures I have are almost all from the other teachers who snapped a few good photos for me...thank goodness. Besides the loud, distracting audio that randomly came on during my students play
that sounded like we were flying through space AND Kelly raising her fist at Ann and nearly punching the girl for trying to show her where to stand on stage, the day was quite successful. My students performed Wizard of Oz and sang Any Dream Will Do (from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). The highlight was by far the adorable costumes that each class had for their songs and plays. They ranged from scarecrows, tin men, lions, Dorthies, and Wizards to Elvis, astronauts, and flowers with white tights. I was so proud of all the classes, especially mine of course, for their hard work and success on Saturday! Each teacher also had the chance to speak about their experience teaching during our time here. That was followed by massive bouquets of flowers being given to each teacher. Like I sad, it was all worth every minute of stress. Take a look at the days events...

LCI Madness!

So...tension is a bit high in the office right now. Immediately after we returned from Christmas break, rehearsals began for Festival, the end of the school year celebration. Each Kindergarten class is required to perform a play and song. The children are expected to memorize many lines, many of which they don't understand at all. Play time in class, big gym, and various other "fun" activities have been taken away to be replaced with rehearsals. You can only imagine the outbreak in behavioral issues we've had since then. We now have no "fun" to take away, which leaves no incentive for the students to behave well in class. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous at first. Each of my students have to memorize 8-10 lines for their part in Wizard of Oz that we are performing. Some of them literally could not even read their lines at first. Slowly but surely, my hope has been renewed with only two out of my nine students left to memorize their parts. I have no doubt that they will all do a wonderful job! If all else fails, they will look absolutely adorable singing their song Any Dream Will Do from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It's Friday night and I work tomorrow to make up for our snow day. Festival also happens to be on Saturday, February 20th. Luckily we have a three day weekend between our working Saturdays to celebrate the Chinese New Year. One would think working a few Saturdays in a year isn't too much to ask, but keeping up enough energy to work with kids for six days straight and having only one day of rest between the next week can definitely drain you. However, I usually take full advantage of the weekends by sleeping in until noon at the earliest (seriously) on Saturdays, getting a good workout in, church on Sundays, and relaxation time at a local coffee shop to read, write letters, and study Korean with Britney and Shauna. I think I'm doing all right. ;) Wish all the LCI staff good luck as we push through this busy, stressful, and exciting month!

Good Bye Global!

On Monday, I said, "good bye" to a very special group of people. Twenty-five (all girls, except for two boys!) St. Olaf students were here for three and a half weeks after traveling the world for the past five months. I knew one of the girls in the group and had anticipated her arrival sometime in January. What I didn't anticipate was how God would bring us together. The first Sunday of Epiphany, I arrived as usual at the International Lutheran Church in Seoul. The first face (honestly!) I saw when I walked in the doors was Ali Wertz, daughter of pastor Tania Haber, who I had done my Junior year ministry internship with! Ali and I were more like acquaintances than friends, but I was I still eagerly looking forward to her arrival. When our eyes connected (ahhhh), we literally jumped into each other's arms. From that moment, I knew we had a different connection than before. We were both far from home, but felt so at ease in each other's presence. I sat with Ali and her other travel buddies in church. We could hardly stop whispering like giddy, young children the entire service. Ali also asked me if I was still considering seminary in the future (which now is a whole other blog posting to come soon), because she was now considering it after her travel experience. Pastor Steve also pointed us out in his sermon as an example of God's epiphanies in our lives, like the unexpected meeting of two people who know each other. God's epiphanies are what make us, as he said, go, "Ooooooh...Ahhhhh!" That's pretty much what Ali and I thought when we saw each other.

Immediately after the service, Ali and I made plans to get together the following weekend. The next Saturday evening, Britney, Shauna, and I met up with Ali and friends for dinner and some drinks. We ALL had a delicious Cheeseburger and fries (I guess we were craving American) before heading to the "free drinks for women" bar in Itaewon. We were literally the only people there when we walked in at 9:30pm, which gave us lots of time to chat and get to know each other more. By 11pm, the bar was filling up and we sent the girls home on the subway with plans to meet up the following weekend. Shauna, Britney, and I all headed to Seoul right after work the next Friday to meet the girls at the university they were staying at. We spent two full hours singing at the top of our lungs at the Noraebong (Karaoke bar) before parting ways once again. I met Ali that Sunday for church and lunch and then saw her for the last time on Sunday, the day before she headed home to MN. I had NO IDEA how close you could become with someone in such a short amount of time with just a few encounters. Ali and I both feel a strong connection to each other now and joke about being roommates at seminary just a few years from now, which actually might not end up as a joke after all. While I said, "good bye" to Ali and her wonderful friends this week, I can't wait to get back on Olie ground to see them all when I return in September. I haven't heard from any of them yet, but I pray that had a warm lay-over in Hawaii and have arrived safely home to the arms of their family and friends in MN. The St. Olaf Global group has added another rich memory to all my South Korean experiences.

Snow Day Sensation!

In the last century, South Korea has not received as much snow as they did this week. In one night, 25.7 centimeters (about 10 inches) fell making for a beautiful, white, MESSY city. Now...for us Minnesotans, less than a foot seems like nothing. However, it's so unusual for Korea to get this amount of snow at one time that they have no real form of snow removal...meaning no plows and few shovels. One teacher's Facebook status claims she saw people removing snow with

laundry baskets, blankets, garden shovels, and cardboard attached to a stick. Now, that's getting creative! While it was entertaining to watch, it caused quite a commotion throughout the city. The roads were thick with snow and slush, making difficult and dangerous driving conditions, especially for buses. You know what that meant! For many English teachers, it resulted in an extended winter vacation! LCI Kids Club got 1 1/2 snow days! What did I do with my time? I filed through 450 pictures to post nearly 200 from my trip to Hong Kong, blogged, took pictures of the snow, napped, and worked out! Basically...I relaxed! Oh, and with all my time, I got the spontaneous idea to try a new look. My hair has taken on quite the Asian look in the last few days going from blonde to dark brown with bangs. Take a look at the the aftermath...

Hong Kong Christmas!

In general, there is no place I would rather be than home for the holidays, surrounded by my family and friends. Yes, I did cry when I talked to my parents and my best friend the day before I left for my Christmas vacation knowing I wouldn't get to see them on Christmas, even over the computer. But, I knew I was going somewhere I would never spend Christmas at again. Only one time before that did I miss Christmas with my family, but still I was with my best friend in Mexico celebrating the holidays. This would be the first time I would be away from the people I loved on the holiday we value the most.

HOWEVER...Britney and Darren (her boyfriend) were wonderful friends to spend my Christmas vacation with. We taught until Wednesday at LCI, packed our bags, and headed to Hong Kong on Christmas Eve Day. After hours of travel, we were greeted in the city by Britney's best friend from college who is a volunteer through the Maryknoll program and also was a crucial in helping us receive a Christmas miracle! Here's an overview of our wonderful trip with a few added details.

Thursday, December 24th- We traveled from Korea to Beijing and finally Hong Kong. Molly and another Maryknoll volunteer brought us to our very depressing hostel where we were supposed to stay for the next two nights. There couldn't have been a worse place to be on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! Aside from that we freshened up, experienced Wan Kwai Fong (a busy bar area with lots of shopping) craziness, and made it just in time for Midnight Mass at a beautiful Cathedral that was packed inside and out. It was a wonderful end to Christmas Eve.

Friday, December 25th- MERRY CHRISTMAS! We slept away our only sunny day of the trip until 11:30am, but the rest was very much needed. We took an over-the-edge (quite literally) double decker bus ride out to Stanley Island to meet Molly. After hours of looking for the Maryknoll house to find her, we looked up. At the highest point you could see from Stanley was a red and green building with a white cross on top...we found Molly and the Maryknoll house! After what felt like a hike up the long, steep hill to the house, Molly once again greeted us. We were in awe! Molly and a few other volunteers had the entire place to themselves! This is where and when the

Christmas Miracle happened.

Molly talked to her boss

and got us our own rooms with balconies overlooking the South China Sea in the Maryknoll Rest House as long as we wanted to stay, meals included, for just a little more than we were paying for our dump. We felt like we were staying in a mansion with our own personal chefs! We

couldn't have asked for a greater blessing on Christmas Day-THANK YOU MOLLY! The rest of the afternoon we spent browsing the town market and sites of Stanley and retired very early again that evening with our spirits lifted from the night before!

Saturday, December 26th-Wednesday, December 30th- Let's just say we did a lot of relaxing, which I think is exactly what vacations are for, but don't always end up to be. We slept in every morning

and were in bed before midnight the entire trip! Before Molly left to go back into mainland China, she took us to fish and flower markets where we experienced the most rancid smell (I've ever smelt-HONESTLY!) of stinky tofu, showed us different areas of Hong Kong, took us up the world's longest escalator, and out for a nice dinner. When she left, we ventured off on our own. We checked out all the beautiful beaches

of the South China Sea around Stanley. Unfortunately we couldn't swim in it like we had done in Taiwan due to the chilly weather. We took the world's steepest tram up to Victoria's peak over looking Hong Kong at night. It was a breathtaking experience in more than one way. The ride up was a bit intense, there were only glass walls keeping you from going over the edge, and the site was spectacular! On Tuesday, we moved back onto Hong Kong Island where we fortunately had a much nicer hostel booked for our last two nights to be closer to the subway. We ate the traditional

Chinese meal of Dim Sum, that I would describe as a variety of very interesting appetizers including chicken claws, on the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. The night light show from the water was also quite a site! Finally, on our last (rainy) day, we took cable cars with a see through glass bottom to the top of another mountain to see a beautiful monastery and the world's biggest Buddha! It was definitely a highlight of the trip and very humbling. We ended our vacation and Hong Kong Disneyland. The Christmas parade and lights, It's a Small World, and Space Mountain topped off our Disney adventures!

Thursday, December 31st- HAPPY NEW YEAR! After another day of flights, we celebrated the new year with our Korean taxi driver just minutes from our apartment. Other than charging us way too much for the ride, he was in good spirits telling us USA is #1 and Canada #2. He was a bit confused when we yelled "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" multiple times, but quickly joined the celebration when we pointed at his clock that read 11:59pm. Guess where we started the new year? McDonald's!

Okay, it was the only place open for our hungry stomachs. This New Year's definitely beat last year's after having my wisdom teeth out the day before! Come to think of it...I was probably sipping on a McDonald's milk shake on the past two years...I might make it a tradition!

All in all, it was a great trip. My body was resting while my mind was distracted from missing my family and friends at home with all the tourist attractions we saw. Britney and Darren were a blast to travel with. I know you all had a white Christmas this year, but I hope you all had safe travels and a happy holiday season! HAPPY NEW YEAR AND BEST WISHES FOR 2010!

Good Bye For Now!

Who would have thought that you could go to another country and see family more often than at home where you both live? Well, that's been true for me. In the past four months, I have seen my aunt and uncle from Virginia five times. That's more than we've seen each other in the past five years! Our first visit was the Seoul City Bus Tour in September when uncle Bob came to the city for work. Then, uncle Bob made a short stop in Suji to see where I live, help me find the basic necessities at Lotte Mart (detergent, hand soap, Sung-pyeon, etc.), and got a chance to eat at our favorite local Korean restaurant. In October Britney, Shauna, and I spent Korean Thanksgiving (Chusok) at Bob and Shina's doing lots of fun activities (site seeing, hiking, shopping, eating, eating, and more eating). We also visited Shina's family's who prepared an amazing Korean meal for us and generously gave us a tour of the main attractions in their city. This will be on of the most memorable weekends for me in the entire year, I'm quite sure! Then, I visited Bob and Shina once more in November and December. They took me to the Jeonju paper museum, a traditional Korean drum concert, a fun market, the movie 2012, and Korean church. On Sunday evening, I had to say good bye. They are going back to Virginia on December 27th. I thought it was going to be harder than it was, but I could hardly be sad after being so lucky to see them so often in such a short time. My relationship with them has grown tremendously and I feel blessed to now be so close with relatives who are soon to be far away again. While I am definitely sad to see them go, I am now motivated to take a trip to Virginia when I get home to see them again. So...I know it's only good by for now.

The Good with the Bad

As life gets more and more routine, I feel as though I have less and less to tell you about! But, in the last few weeks, I've had a variety of fun and not so fun things happen. Let me give you a quick (yeah, right) summary, add a few pictures, and get on my way.

NOT FUN THINGS (saving the best for last is always better):

-Losing Rachel- What a sad loss! She was so smart for her age. My little Rachel, who hadn't missed a day of class since I

started didn't come to school one Thursday and Friday. I for sure thought she had H1N1, but never expected to hear that she wouldn't be back. On Monday, my 2:30pm elementary class was interrupted when my supervisor came in to

tell me that Rachel was leaving LCI, as her family was going to take some time away to travel. It was such a shock that I immediately started crying. We took one last picture together as I was in tears, her parents thanked me for being such a good teacher, and then she was gone. Needless to say, I was a pretty ineffective teacher the rest of the day. Rachel wasn't even my favorite student, and I was so sad to see her leave. I can't imagine how attached I'm going to be to ALL my students after a year!

-Battling Bronchitis- I'm feeling better now, but I should be from the drug overdose I was on the last week. The Korean doctor I saw prescribed a shot in the rear and six pills, thee time a day for my first case of my never failing winter Bronchitis!

-Korean Funeral- It never once crossed my mind that I would be attending a Korean funeral when I came here. In Kore

a, funerals are the most important event to attend for a family/friend. Last week, our Korean supervisor's

(Lucy) mother, who we knew was sick, passed away. The funeral started the day she died and lasted for the next three days. They take place in the hospital on a "funeral wing" in large public rooms. No embalming is done; there is just a large photo surrounded by many huge, beautiful flower bouquets. Each of us (teachers) placed a flower on the alter and shared a moment in silence with Lucy's family (similar to a wake in the US). After, we entered the room next door to enjoy a traditional Korean meal. Certainly sad, but another unique cultural experience to take home. I'm glad we could all be there for Lucy.

FUN THINGS:

-Thanksgiving- I was lucky enough to celebrate Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving) with fam

ily in October, and then our English staff celebrated our Thanksgiving together! We all pitched in for a potluck style meal that truly turned into a feast! Although we didn't have turkey, green been casserole, or pumpkin pie, we did have rotisserie chicken (hot dog flavored-a surprise to us!),

corn, vegetable and fruit trays, twice bakes potatoes, salad with feta cheese, grits, a DELICIOUS homemade apple pie, and many bottles of wine! We ended the night (or morning) together around 3:30am after an evening full or Noraebong (Karaoke) singing...what a blast!

-Decorating My Apartment- Across the street from our school is a Korean version of the Dollar Store, which I LOVE! I bought garland, bows, poinsettias, and bunch of fun hanging decorations to get my apartment in the Christmas spirit. It was a blast decorating my own

"home!"

-Christmas Card Making Party: Britney, Shuana, and I cozied up in my apartment with hot chocolate, ice cream, songpyeon (the delicious Korean rice cakes), and Christmas music to make Christmas cards. None of us got anywhere near done with them, but it was such a relaxing evening kicking off the holiday

season!

-Kevin K.- I got a third new student last week. I now have a Kevin and a Kevin K. Our Korean sta

ff asked his parents to change his English name, so they went from Kevin to Kevin K. Too funny! I was told he was a good reader, but would have trouble speaking and understanding me,

so I was worried. Turns out, he's my smartest boy in the class...and SO CUTE!

-New Glasses- Not that exciting for you, but certainly fun to tell that I got a new pair of glasses for a total price of 35,000 won, which would be less that $35! Can you believe that? I'm still in shock. I went to one of the big markets in Seoul where there are glasses shops every other direction. They checked my eyes (for free) on the spot and had my new glasses ready in 20 minutes! Can't get any better than that- and yes, I can see out of them!

-Shauna's Birthday!- Most recently, we celebrated Shauna's 23rd birthday.

We had another fun night out bar hopping in Seoul. Let's just say, it's a good thing we don't live in Seoul- way too much fun to do that often! :)

So...I guess I had more to share than I thought! Life continues to be busy as we are all getting our classrooms decorated for Christmas and getting gifts sent home for the holidays. Time has been going so fast that I thankfully haven't been able to get too sad in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I still can't imagine not being home for the holiday, but I'm sure I'll be having quite a good time in Hong Kong!