Audrey's Birthday Party

On Friday we celebrated Audrey's birthday. She is a perfect student. She tries so hard, she is always focused and listening and she is SO cute! Her mom and older sister, Loann, came to LCI with treats for the party. We all got cupcakes with our names printed on them. Some of the students ate letters inorder to have their cupcakes say strange things: Johnson=John on Young=You. We also had strawberry cake, orange juice, candies and some fruit. It was a very fun Friday!

Judy's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Judy-juice's birthday. She came to school in a beautiful red and black dress and proceeded to tell everyone that it was her birthday. She was more than a little excited. We all prepared for her mother and younger sister (whom I have named Ruby) to show up with the treats. Around 11am they came with bags full of cookies, candies, oranges, strawberries, cheese, chocolate milk and a delicious cake. We took a bunch of photos and enjoyed the day. Out of all of my parties so far, this is the one that I was most excited for. Judy is so outgoing, super cute and very interesting. She is also the smartest in class as she can read at least 2 levels above our books. She is truly a great student to teach.


Audrey, Judy and Juliana


Cheny, Judy and Young


Jacob, Judy and Johnson


My class


Judy and I


Blowing out the candles


Johnson and Young


Judy, Audrey and Juliana


Judy, her sister and their mom

Lunar New Year 2011

This past week we had a two day work week due to Lunar New Year. On Tuesday we all headed out for dinner and drinks after work. We went to this great hamburger place in Suji. After dinner we relaxed and headed home. On Wednesday we relaxed around Suji. We did not want to travel on Wednesday because it was the first day of the holiday and we thought that traffic would be bad. On Thursday morning we headed to the bus station at 7am and took a bus to Sokcho. Sokcho is a city on the north/eastern coast of Korea. It is one of the largets cities closest to the North Korean border. It is one of our favorite cities in Korea (we have been there four times). The bus ride took about 2 hours and 40 minutes. Our bus had to stop at three check points along the way to get sprayed with pesticides. There has been an outbreak of foot and mouth diseases in cows so the country is trying to stop it from spreading more. Anyway, we arrived and bought our return tickets for Friday because we were worried about them selling out. Next we jumped in a cab and headed to Seorak-san National Park. We went up the cable car and explored the top of the mountain. There are no barriers or bars so you have to be very careful when climbing around. There were a few points that we had to kneel behind a rock due to the strong winds. After climbing around we explored a temple in the Park then headed to our hotel. From there we went straight to Waterpia which is indoor/outdoor springs and hot tubes. Our hotel was located very close to Waterpia and had a shuttle bus which took about 2 minutes. After relaxing in the tubes for about 3 hours we left and went to dinner. We had chicken galbi which is cooked on a grill on your table. It had spicy chicken, rice cakes, mushrooms, oninos and cabbage. It was so good! After dinner we played cards then went to bed. On Friday we had lunch then headed back to Suji. The bus took about 40 minutes longer to get back due to traffic. We arrived at the bus terminal (7 subway stops away from our apt) and decided to stop at a Mexican restaurant on our way home. It was a quick trip but it was so nice to get out of Suji for a little bit.







Frozen Waterfall

Lunar New Year

Today we celebrated Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) at LCI. All of the Kinder students came dressed in their Hanboks, traditional Korean clothing. We spent the day taking pictures and playing. After lunch all of the students bowed to us and told us Happy New Year. Respecting your elders is very important in Korea so they did this as a sign of respect. After they each bowed, we gave them 1,000 Korean Won (about 90 cents). They were all so excited to show off their Hanboks to their friends and the teachers.


My class and I


Bowing


Juliana, Judy, Audrey and Cheny


Jacob, Young and Johnson


My class


Fred and his students: Kelly, Issac and Eric

Sad Times in 7-3

This past week was sad for Fred's 7-3 class (meaning the kids are 7 years old and in their 3rd year of English). Four of his eight students left LCI for another school. They are all changing schools together as they prepare to become first graders. On Thursday we said goodbye to Hailey, Sally, Kevin K and Chloe. It was sad to see these kids say goodbye to their friends that they have been studying with for the past 3 years. Fred spent the day playing and taking a lot of photos. Friday was very interesting, as his class could now all sit around one table. His remaining students are Kelly, Ann, Issac and Eric. They will all become very smart students over the next month based on their small class size.

On Saturday Fred, Steve, Josh, Ann and I headed bowling. We have passed this bowling alley many times but we have never gone. Yesterday was the day. We entered the 14 lane bowling alley and had to wait for about 10 minutes for a lane to open. It was exactly like at home but there was no restaurant/bar for food and drinks. We were put in a lane next to some very intense Korean bowlers. They were fun to watch yet intimidating at the same time. After bowling a few games, we went to dinner than came home. This morning we headed out for lunch and coffee. It has been a very relaxing weekend. Tomorrow we are celebrating Seolnal (Lunar New Year). The students are going to wear their Hanboks (traditional Korean clothing) to school. Then Tuesday is our last day for the week due to the holiday. I will post pictures tomorrow!


Chloe and Fred

Ann and Hailey

Fred and his class

Fred and his class

Kevin K and Hailey

Danny's Birthday Party

Today we celebrated the birthday of Danny! He is the cute, quiet yet tough, and loving boy in my class. He is loved by everyone even though he sometimes is a little rough with the others. He showed up today with a stylish t-shirt. He walked up to me and said, 'Teacher look at my shirt.' My response was, 'Wow Danny! You have a necktie!" He looked at me very seriously and said, "No teacher. It is a necktie picture." He was right. I was wrong.



After lunch we had a great party. His mom brought a chocolate cake, juice, strawberrys, rice cakes and individual boxes full of treats, cookies and school supplies for each person. Each box had our names on them with hearts and a large bow. We all filled up on the treats then opened our presents. As exciting as the party was, it was also bittersweet. This is Dannys last week at LCI because his family is moving to Seoul. When I started teaching this class Danny did not know the alaphbet and he could barely write his own name. Now he can read, write and speak in full sentences. He is quiet in class and based on his observate behavior, he had become one of the best speakers in class. I am so proud of all of his achievements over the past 9 months. He has improved the most out of the class. I will truly miss him and I am sad to see him leave!


My class and I


The food


Johnson and Danny


Judy, Danny and Juliana


Jacob, Danny and Young


Cheny, Danny and Audrey

Kevin's Visit

Fred's dad came to visit us for the weekend. Last week he was in China for business and was able to come to Korea for a day and half before returning home. We picked him up at the airport on Friday after work. One of our Korean friends, Yumi, drove us. It was so nice of her to take us because we didn't have to worry about taking buses. Once we got back to Suji, around 11:30pm, we headed to Batman Bar. We met up with a bunch of our foreigner friends and then headed to a Noribong. A Noribong is a kareokee room. After being out for a few hours, we headed home.

On Saturday morning we took him to all of the Suji hotspots (school, our favorite Korean restaurant Tomato Place, Lotte Mart, etc.) and then headed into Seoul for the night. We went to Insa-dong, which is Seoul's art distict. Next we tried to get into Gyeongbukgung Palace, but it was closed when we arrived. We then headed to a tradational Korean tea house to warm up. We all enjoyed delicious tea and green tea chocolate. We decided to grab some Korean barbeque for dinner, then went to Itaewon for the Iran v. Korea soccer match. After watching the game, we headed to the airport. After seeing him off, we came home and slept for most of Sunday. It was a really fun weekend and I think he enjoyed his time. Maybe he will be back soon!


Batman Bar


Gyeongbukgung Palace






Korean BBQ

Meet Juliana

This week my class welcomed back Juliana!


Juliana was with my students when they were five years old then her family moved to Greece for a few months because of her fathers job. She is now back in Korea and back at LCI. Her speech is very good, at the top of the class. She has a hard time identifying each letter so her writing and reading are behind the others. However, she is very sweet and she is always focused on the classwork. I am confident that soon she will catch up to the others.


Jacob, Judy and Johnson

Cheny and Juliana

All of my girls: Audrey, Juliana, Judy and Cheny

Sunday lunch

Fred and I woke up pretty early today and Skyped then we headed to lunch. We decided to go to our favorite Korean restaurant near LCI. I took a few pictures to give you an idea of what we normally eat.


A bowl of Kimchi: fermented cabbage

Mondu: Korean style dumpings filled with meat, noodles and veggies

Tuna gimbap: Tuna, veggies, egg and rice wrapped in seaweed

Doenjang Jijae: Tofu and zucchini soup with rice and mushrooms