Santa Claus is Coming...

Angela, Alvin, Liang

Listening to Christmas music, sipping my peppermint tea, laundry is going...my apartment is a disaster. What with my drying rack out, add to that piles of things I need to pack for Thailand. I had a very productive weekend, shopping for some elephant essentials: a mosquito net and repellent, sunscreen, a hat, rubber boots, work gloves, boys bathing suit shorts (we have to be covered up when we go in the water)...all those important things. On Saturday I did my shopping in Yongsan, in Seoul. There is an electronics MALL there...I mean, each floor is dedicated to a different type of technology. It is nuts! I AM SO EXCITED!!!! The week is going to go so quickly. Tony is having a Christmas party on Thursday. We're playing the game (Yankee Swap? White Elephant?) where everyone brings one gift, then everyone draws a number. Number 1 picks the first gift. Number 2 can pick the next gift, or steal the first gift, etc. etc. So I have to go shopping for that gift, and figure out what snack I am going to bring! I am also making cards for my Mercury kids, have Skype dates like it's my job (which I love), and have to pack! That on top of my regular work hours. This is ALWAYS a busy time of year. A good busy though.

Today was my last time to the gym for the year. My pass is up next week, but I have too much going on, so I'll renew in January after the holidays. Maybe this is cheesy, but I am proud to say I've lost 15 pounds since joining. Woo!

Me and Christian

I went out with a group of friends on Saturday evening, and our night ended at Nori Bang, my first time (finally)! Nori Bang (pronounced no-rae bong) is a singing room...basically it means kareoke! You rent out a room for a set amount of time with the group you're with, and sing to your heart's content! Simon and Garfunkel's Mrs. Robinson was my song of choice for the night. I would totally do it again. The night started at Happidus, and Christian and his friends ended up being there, too. Extra fun! The more the merrier.

Nori bang!

We had another field trip today, to a fire station! Once again it proved a "scary" trip for some of my kiddies...the simulated smoke and fire house drill was quite traumatic and tear-inducing for some. They survived it though.

Mercury

All the kindergarten kids

On the bus ride to the fire station, I asked some of my students what they did on the weekend. Keep in mind they don't always speak in full, complete, correctly-ordered sentences, though they have enough vocabulary so that we communicate quite easily together. Anyways, John, without skipping a beat, says, "We didn't do anything!" I burst out laughing, because this is a line from the play they are practicing for festival in January. I thought it was so clever, because his answer made perfect sense! My students amaze me every day.

Not sure I'll get a chance to blog before I head out on Christmas day. Have a safe and merry Christmas! And all the best for a wonderful new year! Miss you all! xox

Baby, it's cold outside

Eesh! Sipping my morning cup of Earl Grey tea and listening to Christmas tunes, not REALLY wanting to leave the comfort of my cozy bed for the day. It's chilly out, about -13! No snow. We had a pretty snowfall last Wednesday, it didn't stick though. I've been feeling extra busy as of late, with Christmas coming up very quickly. With that comes report cards, tests, parties, and prepping for my holidays.

In case you didn't know, I'm going to THAILAND for Christmas!!! To work with ELEPHANTS!!!! YEY!!! I fly out Christmas day and return January 2 (as work starts January 3). I'll be out of touch for that time, staying in a remote-ish place south of Bangkok. I'll be housed with the other volunteers (8 of us total), food provided, and hanging with the elephants - walking them, bathing them and swimming with them...some dirty work is to be expected, too. I love elephants and am beyond excited for this opportunity! This weekend I'll be busy getting some last-minute items for the trip: mosquito repellent and a mosquito net, sunscreen, and other outdoor essentials. I already found the gardening/working gloves that are recommended, for picking pineapples, of course. This time of year in Thailand is the cool and dry season: temperatures ranging from 18-30. I can totally handle that.

Breakfast with Hunter a couple weeks ago fell through but I went anyways. I had a book with me, and nothing was stopping me from having french toast! It's a good thing I remembered where the place was located! I had a productive shopping day following, at Dongdaemun market, getting some clothing for Thailand, and other fun things. Monday I went out for dinner with one of my new gal pals. Melissa took me to a great Korean BBQ place.

On Saturday I volunteered for Animal Rescue Korea, standing outside at a booth, selling jello shots, delicious vegan baking, and donation for the shelter. Karen has a cat from the shelter, and is therefore connected to the events they organize. The two of us had a three-hour shift in Itaewon, the foreigner neighbourhood in Seoul. Despite the cold, it was lots of fun. We met some great and generous people. When we finished our shift, one million Won had been raised, and the grand total was 2.5 million Won. Awesome! After that I went out for dinner with some new friends. It was nice.

Time is going so quickly! Bah! Oh! I saw Harry Potter last night! It was opening night here. The theater wasn't even full! Can you believe that?

I apologize for the shortness of this post. I'll write again before I leave for Thailand! In the mean time, stay safe and warm! xo

Good morning, Sunshine!

Besties Scarlet and Christine

It's another wonderful sunny Saturday. Mild and perfect for being out and about. Yey!

I have to share some class highlights from this week:

-earlier this week Julian was not behaving very well, and I reminded him that "Julian, you only have one point left"...to this he replied, "No, one point right!" WHERE DOES HE GET THIS STUFF? So clever!

-I like reviewing shapes with my kindies, and I have taught them pentagon, hexagon, and octogon. They sometimes get those mixed up, and fair enough. Wednesday we were studying sea animals so I drew an octopus and an octogon and we counted tentacles and sides, and I could see some of them lighting up and making the connection. Then, when I showed an image of a starfish and asked how many points there were, they answered, "Five!" Sunny shouts out, "Like a pentagon!" I love my kids. They are actually listening to me!

-I don't usually wear my glasses at school but I wore them to my last class of the day on Thursday, when I teach my elementary 10-year old girls. Nina saw my glasses and asked, "are you tired?" Ha. Smart girl.

-The same group of elementary girls said to me another day, "Teacher, you are exhausting!" It was too funny because I was trying to get a lot accomplished in that particular class. Exhausted was a new vocabulary word for them a couple weeks ago, but they added the -ing mistakenly. It was well played though, and they didn't even know it. (Of course I then explained the difference to them.)

-Occasionally I sit down at the Mercury table with the kids (in the teeny tiny chairs) to read them their story. This week, for every story book class, Alvin has made it his job to pull out a chair for me. I was standing and showing the pictures and he goes and gets a chair and pulls my shirt and says "Teacher" and points to the chair. I guess he likes when I sit! Cutest thing ever.

-Liang, little terror number two, next to Julian, has been much better lately. He actually hugs me all the time now and never used to. Angela, another really young one (3 and a half years old) is so quiet and sweet and has started hugging me and never used to either. Yey! I swear it never gets old, but every time I enter the room or see Mercury kids in the hall they SHOUT at the top of their lungs, "LEAH TEACHER!" Makes me feel like a rock star.

In January, the school puts on Festival. It's basically a recital, and all the kindergarten classes perform story book dances, plays, and speeches. My class is performing "The Ant and the Grasshopper" as their play, and I chose the song "At the Hop" for their closing number. It's SO fun playing dance teacher and choreographing routines. I can't wait to see it all come together. For the instrumental part of the song, I just have my kids playing air piano, guitar, and saxophone, and every time I do it they are all in stitches laughing (I rock out pretty hard, after all). I've been helping Karen with her dance routines too, and came up with a sweet number to "Rock Around the Clock". There is also a school-wide dance routine to "Hey Mickey" - costumes and everything! I guess this is kind of a big deal. The six-year-olds are doing a drumming and tambourine routine to "Mamma Mia", so that's been fun to help out with as well.

Mercury rehearsing for festival

All the kindies (5-, 6-, and 7-year olds) rehearsing

Thursday I went out for dinner with Tony and two of my Korean coworkers, Selina and Elly. Then I met up with Christian for a drink. Last night I was at Happidus again, where everybody knows your name! Yet again, met some more cool folks, good tunes, fun times.

Elly teacher!

Happy weekend! I'm off to Seoul tomorrow for breakie (Hi, Hunter) and to check out some markets! xo