Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Okay I know I'm late this time.

Okay epic fail on my part. I meant to update on the weekend but that didn't happen.  I was really busy.  I went and got CDs on Friday because my favorite Kpop group just had their comeback and released a CD so I had to buy it.  I was busy Saturday and Sunday I went to a concert.  The concert I went to was for the oldest Kpop group that is still active.  They are called Shinhwa and have been together for 14 years. I went with another teacher who has been a fan of them for 12 years!  It was an amazing concert.  It lasted over 3 hours.  Anyways my week has been busy with test writing and many other things I do at work.  When I get home I am super tired. So I don't talk too much about my elementary classes but I am the main teacher for 3 classes.  In one of my classes I actually have a student named Tara and it can get a little confusing because when they say Tara I think they are talking to me but then I have to remember that they call me Teacher. 
This is Tara Teacher and Tara.

This is Lucy and I.

This is David and I.
Okay so here are a few pictures from one of my classes.  Lucy is really cute.  Tara and I have a lot in common and David is really affectionate.  lol This class is really funny.  I like teaching this class.

Oh we celebrated birthdays last week so here are a few pictures of my birthday kids. So first off they kids who have a birthday in the month we are celebrating come to school dressed up in their Homboks which are traditional outfits.  Why my little Melissa is dressed up in a dress that looks like a wedding dress I couldn't tell you.  Anyways each student gets sang to and walked down across the gym to a cake and food. So for these two I walked them down.  Kevin the secondary foreign teacher took the second picture and wrote the card. So each student gets a present in which they pick a student of the opposite sex to give them their gift and a hug.  So these are the pictures.
Melissa and Dana


Christopher and Dana



Lucy Teacher, Dana and Kevin Teacher

Melissa and Robin

Melissa didn't understand the hug part.

So cute! I love Robin!!!


Lucy Teacher, Melissa and Kevin Teacher
In case you didn't figure out from the pictures Lucy Teacher is my co-teacher for Davinci class.  My older class didn't have any birthdays so no pictures yet.  Lucy Teacher and I are the same age which she thinks I look younger then her.  She kind of freaked out when she found out we are the same age.  She is really sweet.  I like hanging out with Lucy Teacher! :)  Emma Teacher is my other co-teacher for my older students (Edison).  I really get along with Emma Teacher.  She is my unnie (older sister).  lol shh... don't tell her I told you that!  :)

Okay I think I better get to bed.  I'm tired and I have a busy day tomorrow!  Goodnight!  I'll try to update soon! Besos!

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Okay it is about time I post again. haha

Haha sorry for the title.  I don't know what else to put.  I'm trying to update once a week.  Kind of hard.  I haven't don't anything super exciting lately.  All I do is teach!!! haha Well anyways like I've said before I have 12 students in my baby class.  I finally have pictures of the 4 new students so here they are.
Matthew, Emily and Lumi.

Melissa

Dana and Melissa

Matthew and Emily

Emily and Dana

Matthew

   
Dana and Melissa
Okay so Dana is not a new student but she loves pictures and they were too cute not to put up.  haha.  Anyways my students are crazy and hyper all the time.  They are getting better.  They like to fight for pencils and erasers.  So on Thursday I resorted to putting the pencil case on my head so they couldn't get it.  Let me tell you it was so funny because they were all so confused because I stood their and walked around balancing this plastic box on my head.  It got them to pay attention to me long enough to listen to what they have to do then I gave them pencils and they still proceeded to do whatever they wanted.  (At least they listened this time. haha).  I did it on Friday too!  They thought it was the coolest thing ever.  Too funny!!!

Hmm...White Day was on Wednesday.  It is when the boys give girls candy since girls gave candy to their lovers on Valentine's Day.  Anyway to my surprise I got candy from some of my students.  It was really cute and it put a smile on my face.  I have one student named Alex (he might be my favorite) and he runs up to me and asks for a hug.  He then asks for me to "spin please" so then I spin him.  When I stop he will hold my face and say "po po" (meaning kiss in Korean) and he will give me a kiss.  It is about the most cutest thing ever!!! lol I know I'm weird!  I have another girl in this class named Jennifer.  She likes to hit me (not hard of course).  Anyways I didn't think she liked me too much sometimes, because she loves to pick on me.  Sometimes she will give me a kiss on my nose or cheek but other times she will get mad and not listen to me. Back to my story I met her parents this week.  Turns out that this little girl doesn't stop talking about me at home.  I was very surprised to speak to her parents and find this out, which by the way her parents spoke in English to me.  They also told me that they would support me as her teacher.  Made me feel good to know that my students like me.  No matter how mad I get at this class for not listening or whatever I really do love them and they always do things that make me smile.  I wish I could film a class sometime so you all can see.  Maybe I will... :) 
My older students tell me they don't like me but when any of the other students come talk to me they get jealous and start holding onto my hands and they like to sit in my lap or lay their head on my shoulder.  They are actually very affectionate kids, but I don't think they will admit it.  haha I do love Emily and Aiden though.  They are really sweet kids for the most part and are the smartest kids not in Kindy.  They are funny. 
I took pictures with both of my classes this week.  I am the main foreign teacher for Davinci (baby class) and I am the secondary foreign teacher for Edison (older kids).  So with Davinci we have 12 kids and all the girls sat in front, the boys stood behind them and then the 2 foreign teachers and the Korean teacher stood behind the boys.    However for Edison there is only 2 students so for this picture it was Philip (main foreign teacher), Aiden, Emily and myself who sat in chairs and our Korean Teacher stood behind all of us.  It was kind of funny because it looked like a family portrait.  One of the other Korean teachers joked that it was mom, dad, 2 kids and grandma in the back.  It was so funny but really cute.  I guess I will never escape the mom title.  haha.  Have I mentioned that the foreign teachers call me "Omma" or mom in Korean.  It is funny!  It is just how I am I guess.  Okay I am done rambling on about random stuff.  Hope you all enjoyed my randomness I'm going to make some tea!  Besos!!!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Blah...

Okay it has been over a week.  I'm trying to update just been too tired to be honest.  This week we started a new schedule which means that foreign teachers are now teaching Kindy all day all classes.  That is from 9:30am to 3pm.  The only break I get is lunch or if they have a special class like Ballet, but usually only lunch which is 35 minutes long. After Kindy we then have to teach Elementary which depending on the day I am done the earliest at 5pm and the latest at 8pm.  So by the end of the week I am super tired. Most of my classes are good though. Kindy can be very hard especially when all of the kids want your attention all to themselves.  They don't understand the concept of waiting.  Also my students get jealous very easily because they just want you to themselves. 
The kids are so lovable though.  haha I'm such a sucker!  On Thursday I had all day Kindy for an hour and I was doing a computer activity with them.  So I put it up on the projector and all of my students started in their seats.  By the end of the lesson I had my student from Davinci (Robin) on my lap.  I had Dana standing in between my legs.  I had Alex hugging my back and sitting between me and the back of my chair.  I had Amy (new girl) crawling under my chair and I had Victoria (who is 3 year old) on my lap with her head on my shoulder.  Lastly the remaining 3 students on sitting on me were pulling at my arms.  I almost sat like this for an hour and the whole time I had to control the computer.  Oh my god!!!! Let me tell you it hurts to sit like that for a long time.  Also the new girl Amy told me she loved me 5 minutes after I met her!  What?!?! lol the 3 year old Victoria crawled in my lap and whispered in my ear that she loved me! It was so cute!  She is one of my favorites! :) Don't get me wrong though I do love them all!!! She also almost fell asleep by the end of class.  Alex from my Davinci class tells me he loves me and gives me a kiss on my cheek pretty much everyday.  So does my new girl in Davinci named Emily.  I have two Emilys one in Edison and one in Davinci.  Edison is my older class.  They are cute. I only have 2 kids in that class.  They speak English pretty well, but since they are older they can be hard to handle some days.  I love them though.  I could tell you for sure if they like me since they never tell me they do, but they do get jealous when other students come and hug me or anything.  Especially if any of my Davinci students come and hug me or anything.  They start hanging on me and holding my hand. 
Hmmm...so yeah I'm tired so I think I'm going to go to bed soon. haha I don't know what else to talk about.  I haven't done much lately.  I hope everyone has a good day!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

2nd month

Wow time has gone by so fast! Been in Korea for 2 months tomorrow.  In some ways I feel like I've been here for a long time and in other aspects I feel like it is my first day here.  Living in Korea has had its challenges and adventures.  I've made many friends here and I am grateful for them.  I also have learned a lot about myself.  A good friend of mine back home said I had this gift of creating community and having friends.  It's funny I always had a hard time seeing that back home.  A part of me didn't believe in a sense.  However, I've started to see it since I've been here.  Kind of funny really.  I should have been able to back home but I guess it didn't click.  Also again I have heard I give the best hugs.  As one of the teachers put it my hugs "exudes happiness".  Not sure what that means but it could be one reason why my kids like to hug me.  lol Okay time for some pictures!
So Kevin is pointing to a random head rest on the bus that has no seat to it. 

At Seoul Station for ice skating.

This is me freezing while everyone is skating.  I couldn't because of my knee.  Still healing from my car accident so I have to be careful.  It kind of sucks because I wanted to skate. Oh well I looked like an Omma standing at the side hold everyone's stuff with all the other Ommas.  haha

Andy.

Leah, Philip, Megan and Matt.

So my baby class is now up to 12 kids!  I started with 8 then got 2 and had 10 now I have 12! It is so hard to teach and control 12 four year old when they all want attention at the same time.  I really love them though.  They are really adorable. 
 
This is Kyra.

This is James.

This is Dana.

This is Jennifer.

This is Alex.

This is Robin.

This is Joey.
These are just some of my kids. Not all of them were there to take pictures.  I'll have to take more soon and put them up.  Here are my older babies and some of my grade school kids.
Emily and Aiden


I love this picture!

They did this on purpose.

Rebecca and I

Harry, Adam and Andrew

Maria, Vivian, and Sunny


Oh here is something fun.  Back home when you get pizza you get sauce but here you get...


Sweet pickles!!!!!

Okay I put a lot of pictures this time.  I have to get ready for bed.  I have a meeting at 9:30 am tomorrow so I need to get some sleep. I'll update soon now that I have internet.  If you have any question feel free to ask.  I'll try to answer! Besos!