Sean's Birthday

The past week has gone by pretty fast. I spent last weekend laying low in Suji and relaxing. It was nice to have time to just sit without rushing to get somewhere. Life in Korea has been pretty uneventful. We got another little snow storm that has made the roads and sidewalks a mess. I am hopeful that it will melt away soon. On Tuesday we actually had an earthquake. It was very small and only happened in the province that I am in. It was around 6pm and I was teaching. I felt something but I just assumed that it was construction in the building or outside. On Wednesday I learned that it was a small earthquake.

Wednesday was meant to be an exciting day in my Kinder class due to Sean's birthday. (Did I mention that he is my genius student and the one I would steal and take to MN if I could??!)However, the birthday boy was a little depressed. His mother works a lot and was out of the country over his birthday. His dad has written me a note explaining this and telling me that they (meaning his mom only as dads are usually not very involved here) would not be able to celebrate Sean's birthday at LCI. Based on this, Sean came to school in a little bit of a depressed mode. The party was much smaller than usual. We had no fried chicken, cookies or the normal treats. The cake that was bought for him was strawberry and it turned out that he doesn't like strawberry. As I was passing out the cake he just kept saying, "Teacher, I only like chocolate." I have to say that I was very sad and depressed for this boy. During the lunch break I went into my classroom and took Sean into the hallway. I talked to him and this seemed to brighten his spirits. He then grabbed onto me and gave me a very loving and strong hug. I have to say that I haven't felt this bad for a kid in a long time. In the afternoon he was happy and he seemed to enjoy the time with his friends. After work a group of us went out to dinner to celebrate Christine Teacher's birthday, same-same birthday as people say in Korea. It turned out to be a pretty good day.

Sean and his cake

Sean and I

Notice the smaller spread

Enjoying the treats

Opening presents

This weekend we have a 3 day weekend due to Lunar New Year. I am going with a group of people, including Fred, to Sokcho. We went there earlier in the year over Chuseok. I am excited to get out of Suji for a long weekend!