So... im horrible at updating my blog :P

I guess i will just give an overview of my life here since october

November:

The 3 american teachers had a 'Thanksgiving' dinner that consisted of Fried Chicken, Instant Mashed Potatoes (courtesy of one of the Korean teachers sister), Salad, Walnut pie (no pecans) and chocolate cake. I did have a photo of the dinner but it has mysteriously disappeared from my computer (or maybe I just imagined taking it).
November also brought the first snow fall - Here is a photo album of the first snow fall of the winter
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041488&l=47a7a&id=55500987

December:

December came unfortunately did not bring much more snow then November did. I almost had a white christmas. It snowed on the 23rd but melted away before christmas :(.
The kindergarten had a winter festival on the 23rd of december that included English songs and skits that I had taught them.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2042677&l=ffcdc&id=55500987
The photo album includes pictures from the festival, and also other Christmas activites that happened at the church. (plus the little bit of snow on the 23rd)
Christmas: Got a christmas package from my family that included some nice warm gloves, stuff for my camera and a scarf that was made here in Korea - traveled to America to be bought and then shipped back to Korea.
I got a winter vacation from Christmas day to Janurary 4th. I spent a few days in Seoul and then traveled down to Busan for the new year.
Album 1
Album 2
2 photo albums of my winter vacation. I got to see a temple, a fortress, the first sunrise of the new year, and the biggest Methodist church in Korea (to name a few)

Janurary:
Nothing special has happened so far this year. I went bowling with the college group on Sunday and that is about it :P

Non-dated randomness:
I am now a part of the young adults choir/praise band. I can sing parts of the songs and frantically try to read the parts I dont know so i can sing along. Most of the time though I am standing up there with a confused look on my face while staring at the paper (trying to decipher the Hangul) No pictures of it yet but i will try to get someone to take a picture of everyone on stage as proof that i can sing in Korean :P


Yep... so that is my life in the last few months

Halloween - Korean Style

Halloween is not a holiday celebrated here in Korea so at my school we decided to take a day and have halloween lessons/parties. The youngest kids (kindergarten and preschool) got to make halloween masks and go 'trick or treating' by knocking on the door of the classroom with me on the outside. And the older kids had reading exercises about halloween and a fun vocabulary activity. When asked what halloween was before had one kid said 'candy day' which is correct :P
Here are some pictures of the kids with their masks or working on the crossword.
7 year old class with their masks.
Preschool class (4-7 yrs old)
One of the 5 yr olds with her ghost mask.
3 6-year-old frankensteins
Working hard at coloring the jack-0-lantern mask so we can go trick or treating. After the preschool class finished their masks we went to the other classrooms and knocked on the door saying Trick or Treat.
One of my level 3 boys working on the halloween crossword
The other 2 level 3 boys. (The girls of this class didn't want their picture taken... so only the boys)

Edible Hand warmers

I have discovered Edible hand warmers in Korea. They are a pastry sold on the street that are quite yummy and if you stick them in your pocket and stick your hands in they keep your hands nice and toasty. They are fish shaped pastries filled with a red bean paste. Unfortunatly they are only sold in the afternoon/evening so i dont have the hand warmers/breakfast in the mornings :(

Yummy!

Passion, Jubilee and great Friends

A few weekends ago I was able to go to Seoul with Amy to attend the Passion Seoul Conference. I got off work early so we could get into Seoul for the start of the conference but we had some adventures getting there and got to Olympic park at 9ish instead of 7:30.
Our route from Asan to Passion was a taxi to Cheonon KTX station. KTX train to Seoul station. Metro around Seoul (getting kinda turned around and running through multiple subway stations). Taxi from metro stop to olympic park. Power walking around entire olympic park to the right side of the park where everything was happening. As my dad would say we didnt get lost - just had adventures :P.
We got there in time for Louie Giglo to speak and to hear Chris Tomlin play a little bit. Headed out for another adventure in Seoul travel (finding our hotel). This one was my fault because I hadnt printed out the actual addres to the hotel, just the psudo directions from the metro stop. So Amy had to stop and ask some guys where it was and we got in another taxi to get there. After collapsing in bed for the night we got up the next morning ready for Matt Redman and David Crowder.
Saturday morning we got up and were back on the metro to head back to Olympic park. On the subway we met 2 AMAZING girls who we quickly became good friends with. (Love yall!) Saturday was another great day with Matt Redman, David Crowder and Chris Tomlin all rocking on stage. All the speakers were tuned into the Korean culture and problems that Korean youth face today. Also had fun rocking out during lunch break at a 14 couple wedding. (yes 14 couples getting married at one big wedding type thing). Saturday afternoon we had a 3 hr break so I got to explore around Olympic park and get some coffee before getting in line to go back inside. There were people who sat inline for the entire 3 hours to get the good seats once we were let inside.
Took the bus back to Asan Sunday morning with the invite to come back up to Seoul to go to Jubilee Church with Choua and Pajai.
So this Sunday I went back up to Seoul on the express bus to go to church with them. The day was an amazing God filled day of church and then hanging out with friends. After church we went to a Thai resturant in Itaewon (after a taxi ride rollarcoster through seoul) and then went off shopping for a few hours before heading home for sleep.
I am so thankful that God gave me these wonderful friends in Korea.

Pictures from Passion Seoul:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039848&l=29b28&id=55500987
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039847&l=de868&id=55500987
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039846&l=de868&id=55500987
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2039845&l=de868&id=55500987

The kids are so cute!

So i just have to say that Korean kids are the cutest little kids (especially dressed up in their traditional Hanbok outfits) Last friday the kindergarten went on a field trip to a traditional folk village near Asan and they were all dressed up in their 'costumes' So of course I went picture crazy and got lots of pictures of them.

Me and the 5 year old teacher showing the students how to walk arcoss the rope (or trying to show them)

My 2 classes


Some pictures of individual cuties

1 term finished as 'a Englishee Teecher'

I have finished the first term here at the school and monday starts a new term. Again I will be teaching 4 classes in the afternoon but different levels. I have a level 1 (those that passed starter), my same preschool class, Level 3 (those that passed level 2), and my same Middle School Class. I figured i would say goodbye to my old classes with class pictures I took of the students during the last week.

Kindergarten classes


Backpack Starter Class



Preschool Class

Backpack Level 2 (the boys and girls refused to get together for a picture)

I dont have any pictures of my advanced class (Because they always hide if i pull out the camera)

So those are my students for the first term. Next week I will see who my new students are and who i have again from previous classes.

Weekend Beach Retreat with College Life

August 15th was Korean Independence day so I had the day off from teaching and was able to go with the Korea Young Adults group (AKA College life) to the East sea on a end of summer retreat.
It was a long and busy weekend but lots of fun. We left Thursday around 9 pm and after a midnight breakfast (yes midnight breakfast on Thursday night) we arrived at the church we were staying at around 3 in the morning. Friday we woke up to rain so we spent the morning just being lazy and getting to know one another. By the afternoon the rain had slowed down and we went to the beach for a few hours before heading back to the church for dinner and worship. After worship there we had an intensive prayer time that went about 4 hours. There was another midnight breakfast that night (fried chicken this time) and then to bed around 2 am. Saturday we woke up and had another worship/devotional before hitting the road around noon. We drove to another town and had raw fish for lunch (which was actually edible). The soup with lunch had whole fish heads in it and my table gave me a nice big one :X I picked the pieces of meat from around the head and avoided the eyes and brain. Overall it was a nice meal and everyone was suprised that I actually ate the fish. After lunch we piled back into the bus to head home (so i thought) but instead went up a mountain to a cave. We didnt get to explore the cave because of a lack of time so it was just a detour up and down the mountain to look at some lovely scenery. We finally arrived back in asan around 11 PM (after leaving around noon).
Over all the trip was lots of fun. I met more of the Koreans my age and found 2 that spoke pretty good english (i thought they didnt speak any). Even with the long hours in a cramped bus the trip was definatly worth going.
Pictures will follow in another post (because the photo uploader is not working right now)