Making Rice Cakes!

I decided to take a nice little walk to the outdoor market by my place this afternoon.  It's one of my favorite things to do, especially on the weekends.  As I was walking by the rice cake store, I noticed that there were 2 women in the back, making them on a large steel table.  I've always been intrigued with the process, and have wanted to learn to make them, but have never had the chance to do it... Today was my LUCKY DAY though!   As I was standing there, outside the store, watching them add ingredients and smoosh them together with their hands, one of the ladies motioned for me to come over!  I was shocked, but super excited at the invitation.

As soon as I walked over, I stood over her shoulder and began to watch.  Before even 3 seconds passed, she motioned for me to get my hands dirty and make some along side her!  She also yelled for her 7 years old son to come over and help (and practice his English with me!)  The 4 of us made rice cakes together for at least 30 minutes!   Noah, her son, was one of the most adorable little Korean kids I've met to date. 

The rice cakes on the tray were the ones WE made! :)

Me and Noah!  

*** As a side note... She never asked me, or Noah to wash our hands before we started making them... Kinda made me think!!!  I wonder how many other places don't care about having clean hands before touching food!   eeehhhh

So Sweet

I walked by the Library this afternoon and peaked my head in to say "hello" to Susan, our school librarian. Susan is a really sweet single mom of 3 children at Gamjung School. Her 6th graders are twins: Travis and Jenny, and her youngest son, Scott, is in 3rd grade. She is an avid attender of my English for Parents Class, and in the past 8 months we have become good friends... Well as good of friends as you can become with a substantial language barrier between you. Anyway, all that to say, she motioned for me to come over to her desk. She humbly handed me this pencil carrier, and said "Everyday, everyday, thank you! I make for you Alexis. I love you!"

Everyday I am reminded of how loved and supported I am here... and how lucky I am to work with such wonderful, giving, and appreciative people. I am blessed beyond what I deserve!

Korean Pupps... All Dressed Up!

If you live in Korea and you own a small dog, chances are, your small dog has it's own personal wardrobe!! Don't believe me.... just look! FYI: The pictures below are pictures I personally took of dogs on the street with their owners. These are my neighbors...

"Does this green shirt make my muscles look bigger?"

"Isn't my sundress soooo cute?! I got it on sale last weekend!"

"Do I look like the bunny on my sweatshirt?  I think so!"

"It's real Burberry!  My mom doesn't hold back when it comes to my wardrobe!"

"How cute are my new shoes?!"

"I'm a poodle... We are bread to walk around looking prissy and wearing cute pink outfits! Why are you so surprised?!"

"I'm a straight A student... I follow the rules... and I always wake up early to iron my dresses!"

"Yea, I'm wearing a raincoat!"

"I was hoping this cute outfit would takes people's focus off of the nasty brown circles under my eyes! What do you think? Did it work?"

"Don't be jealous of my 9.25 silver Tiffany necklace and flower barrette! I'm a DIVA."

"I'm not walking... are you kidding me?! I'm not a dog... I'm a princess!"

"I went to the salon this weekend... What do you think?"

"I didn't think the dogs should have ALL the fun... So I convinced my mom to let me dye my tail! I think I look hot!"

I was able to get these dogs pictures by saying, "Aaahhhh geeyupta" (oooh, cute!) Their owners love, love, love that, and always stop to make sure I get a good picture of their little prized possessions pupps!

This is one of the greatest videos ever... (Thanks to Aaron for taking it!)

**** I LOVE MY MOM! This was what she wrote me after she read this blog "Isn't it funny how some Koreans revere their dogs and others eat them?!" Touche, touche mom!

Rock, Scissor, Paper...

Rock, Scissor, Paper (or in Korean, "gawi, bawi, bo") is the most common way to solve a dispute in Korea. I have been at restaurants where tables full of adults play the game to see who will pay for the meal. My students play it to break a tie when we play games in class and I've seen my co-workers do it at teacher dinners to see who has to take the next shot of soju.


Today, however, I saw my kids playing a whole new style of Rock, Scissor, Paper. 2 girls were playing the game together. The loser had to do a semi-split. They played it again, and again, and each time a person lost, they had to go further down into the splits! The person who ended up doing a full split was the loser! It looked painful... especially when the boys started joining in!

The Piggy Sickness...

It hit my school and 2 of my students have it... YIKES!!! :(

The Hair Accessory Phenomenom...

When it comes to hair accessories in this country, the slogan seems to be, "The more the merrier!" I snapped this picture of one of my students yesterday. Keep in mind, this is a subtle example of the hair accessory phenomenom... Usually my girls have anywhere between 5 and 10 different barrette's, clips, ribbons, etc... in their hair at any given time. The rule of thumb seems to be, the younger they are, the more they should wear. Sometimes bedazzled playboy bunny barette's even pop up on my 1st graders! I'm not gonna lie... It's kinda funny!

Sweet Irony

Yesterday, I wrote about eating Octopus for lunch at school and mentioned how I wondered what ever happened to having corn dogs for lunch... Well today, we HAD THEM! I couldn't believe it! The funniest part though, was the fact that they were served with rice and yellow Indian curry.

Walking to Class!

At my school, students switch classrooms for English, Science, Music, and Dance class (Yes, they have a dance class once a week!). When they switch classrooms, the follow a very organized and precise ritual. They make 2 lines; 1 girl line and 1 boy line, and it's organized by height.

They all line up in the hallway outside their classroom and hold their books against their chests. When they are all in place, they walk, single file to their next class! Oh, and the teachers never have to tell them what to do... It's all student run. It's amazing! I snapped this picture when the 6th graders were coming to class this morning!

My Little Babies!

I love, love, love teaching my kindergarten class!

Everyday, when I walk in, this is what I see! They are always sitting on this bench, and they always turn around, smile, wave, scream "wwaaaaa!! (The Korean version of: yea!!)" and say "Hi teacher!" (I taught them that!)


Today we worked on our ABC's! I'm amazed everytime I teach that class how my creative juices flow! I remember before I came here, being scared to death that I would end up teaching little kids, because I had no idea what to do with them! Now, I'm a natural and wouldn't want it any other way! I have no idea, sometimes, how I ever taught High Schoolers!!

They loved this game that I made up on the spot! (The lady, 2nd from the right, is Rina... She's my teacher's aid in that class! I absolutely adore her.)


We started learning to write the alphabet this week! I knew kids would rather write on white boards than paper, so I bought these nifty little boards! They were a big hit! Notice some of them are already starting to write in bubble letters! I'm just that good of a writing teacher (insert sarcasm)!!


Then we did some coloring! They didn't know it, but they were learning English while they colored!


How great are the colors I chose for them to color Pooh?! They had to wait for me to tell them what color each number would be... I did that so they wouldn't cheat and color things before I told them what to do! (I made this by the way! I found Pooh online and used the paint program to insert the numbers... My kindergarten teacher used to do this same thing and I loved it.)


My little munchkins! (5 of them were absent today because of a cold...)


Tah dah!


This is how we say goodbye every Tuesday! We put our hands in the shape of a heart on our heads and say "Bye bye, I love you!"


... and then give each other a nice big squeeze!


You wonder why I'm in Korea... This is just one of the hundreds of reasons!

Octopussy, mmmm!

We had octopus jap che for lunch today and all of the teachers were saying things like: "The octopussy is very good today." or "Oh, octopussy! mmmm" I'm not sure why they call it that, but it definitely still makes me laugh!

On another note... I still can't believe I eat this stuff for lunch! Can you?! What ever happened to getting pizza and french fries, or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or corn dogs for lunch at school?! Octopus pasta, really?!

No Accidents Tally!

I just noticed this, on the board, this morning of the 4th grade classroom next to our English class. It means that there have been no accidents (fights, broken bones, broken desks, broken windows, etc...) for 4 days in their class! This is a HUGE accomplishment for this class! They are crazy! If they make it 10 days in a row, they get a prize!

Gmarket.com

There's about to be trouble, and my nice little pile of savings is not gonna be too happy about it! This afternoon, Stella helped me create a Gmarket.com account, which is the Korean equivalent of a discounted amazon or ebay maybe, but 100 times better! You can buy anything and everything you could possibly imagine and have it delivered right to your door, or in my case, right to my school's front office! Everytime Stella has on a cute dress or shirt, I ask her where she bought it and she smiles and says, "Gmarket!"

My first purchase will be a much needed flash drive to replace the one that died on me last week... and maybe a pair of shoes, or a winter scarf. This is all pending whether or not I can navigate my way through all the Korean writing! Guess that just gives me another reason to keep studying!

www.gmarket.com

Ouch!!!

This is hilarious! All of the teachers from my school went to the country this weekend for a teacher training. One of the male teachers got really drunk and ended up passing out on one of these electronic heating mats that had been turned up to the highest setting. (By the way, getting drunk at teacher outings is not only acceptable... It's encouraged!)  Talk about a culture difference...

FYI: You always lay something over these so they don't burn you... you don't just lay on them. In the morning, he woke up with a gigantic burn / blister on his calf, about the side of an adult hand! He's had to go to the hospital to receive burn treatments. This morning, he's limping around like a gimp, and everyone is making fun of him! That's what you get for getting drunk cool guy!

"Umm, Thank you."

I was just given this vegetable, or root maybe... by a co-worker. She said it's not a potato! What the heck is it?! It's huge!

Korean Church

The Che's invited me to their church last weekend for a special service. It was their church's 60th birthday, and an orchestra/choir performed famous hymns throughout the service. It was an interesting experience, as it was my first experience at an all Korean speaking church service. I had no idea what the pastor was saying, but I stood when everyone else stood, clapped when everyone else clapped, and laughed when everyone else laughed. I didn't want to seem out of place, you know?!


The choir sang 7 hymns. I knew most of them, not by their lyrics, since they were sung completely in Korea, but by their rythm. I loved it!

7 Luck Casino

I'm having a lot of luck these days at the Korean casino and am starting to think of it as my new source of added income! I played roulette tonight, and put between 2 and 5 chips down every hand and literally only lost 3 hands the whole night... and I was there for about an hour and a half! That's incredible, incase you weren't aware! I ended up walking away with 57,500 won. Thank you Lotte Seven Luck Casino!

Go With The Flow

This morning, I walked into my classroom at 8:45am (15 minutes before school starts) and my kids were already sitting in their seats. Come to find out, school started at 8:45am this morning, instead of 9am, and Stella forgot to tell me!

Then, instead of 10 minute breaks, we had 5 in between classes! This surely was NOT enough time for the kids to release all their built up energy from sitting in class for 40 minutes, and definitely not enough time for me to have some peace and quiet to prepare for the next class! They were crazy and nearly uncontrolable today - which is NEVER the case!

And I just found out that I can leave work at 1pm instead of 4:40pm today! I have no idea why, and I'm not gonna ask! I'm learning to go with the flow around here, and am becoming surprisingly more and more laid back as the days roll by! - And to be honest... I kinda like the new me!

Picture Day

Today was apparently picture day - Would have been nice to know! I apparently wasn't the only one who didn't know though... Teachers were pulling out their extra blazers and coats to give to fellow teachers to spruce up their otherwise casual outfit! Note, the teacher 2nd in from the left in the front row, Lisa, is wearing my shoes! :)


1st row: (L - R) Laura, Lisa, Barbara, Principal, Vie Principal, 6th grade Teacher , Mr. Jo.
2nd row: (L - R) Crystal, Nicole, Susan, Administrator, Ella, April, Lindsay, Charity, Lee.
3rd row: (L - R) Vivianne, Me, Stella, Chloe, Kindergarten Teacher, Josh, Jason, Mr Beck.

Here, Have My Credit Card!

Yesterday, I was given my school's credit card to buy some bookshelves for my apartment!


I was shocked, to say the least, that they simply handed me the card and said I could buy whatever bookshelf I wanted without an Administrator to accompany me! Although, then it dawned on me that when I was the Office Manager at Millennium High School, I basically had the school credit card at my disposal because I was incharge of the $20,000 Maintenance and Opperation Budget and the $200,000+ Capital Budget and Dr Runyan (The principal) certainly never knew or cared about what I was buying with the money, because he trusted my bargain shopping skills and the way I always stayed in budget! He trusted me as if I were his own personal accountant! Maybe I should be some sort of accountant when I come back to the US! Sure seems like people trust me with their mula~!

Fight! Fight! Fight!

All around Busan, outside of arcades, or just simply on the street in random areas, you can find these boxing games! Ususally junior high or high school aged boys are crowded around them, ready to take out all their anger on the bag! I cringe everytime I see them hitting it, because they come sooooo close to hitting the metal at the top of the machine that holds the bag!

Busan Fireworks Festival

Last night, I went with a group of friends to the most incredible fireworks show I have ever witnessed! It was 45 minutes of over 80,000 fireworks, set to music, and spread out over the ocean and bridge at Gwangali Beach! (When you watch this video, look for the old woman who is trying to touch the fireworks with her hands! She was sooo funny!)


It wasn't a suprise at all that over 1 million people were packed on the beach to get a peak at Korea's most famous yearly firework display! We got to the beach 3 hours before it started, thanks to our co-worker's advice, just to steak out a seat on the sand... Luckily we had some dice to play farkle and lots of friends to talk to to make the time pass while we waited for the show to start. I took these pictures when we arrived (3 hours before it started, and look at how crowded it was then! It was 5 times more packed by the time it started!!)

If you ever have a chance to come to Korea, I would highly recommend planning it around this event! It was soooo awesome!

Rated R T-shirt Warning!

This blog is going to be blunt! Many of you will laugh... some of you will cringe - Regardless, I'm about to show you the reality of English T-Shirts in Korea. If I had to guess, about 70% of them either make absolutely no sense, or they are like the following:

1. "Jailbait" - worn by an elementary girl.

2. "Play Like a Mutha Fucka" - worn by a 1st grade boy

3. "In My Prime" - worn by a 4th grade girl

4. "Happiness is a strong cocktail" - worn by a 3rd grade girl

5. "No colon contact, no kiss." - worn by a 6th grader

6. "I am so fucking disco" - worn by a middle school girl

7 "Giant Cum" - Korean man

8. "Party Naked" - middle school girl

9. "High School girls rule!" - A male school Computer Technician

So, moral of the story is... When you're in another country, don't buy a shirt with foreign writting! Well, unless you don't mind having something like this on it!

Interview Day!

Side note: I thought my camera took bad pictures... but it's nothing compared to my student's camera... see pictures below!

The 6th grade students at my school are working on an "interview project" for their homeroom teachers. The assignment was to get in groups and choose an adult that everyone in the group looked up to and interview them. I was honored when some of them chose me! This afternoon was the big interview!


I was so impressed by how prepared they were. They had translated all of the questions into English and were ready, with camera and notebooks in hand to document the whole experience.

At the beginning, I would answer their questions and they would take forever writing my answers, so I offered to type them on my computer for them! They were soooo excited. I even went one step further and cut and pasted my answers into a Korean translating website and printed that for them too! I may be the coolest teacher in school now. :)


Part of the interview was about my job and how I teach in Korea, so we had to get some action shots! I hammed it up as usual! :)

Looks like a real class huh?!

This was the group! I love, love, love these kids... especially Seth (the boy on the far left). He is ALWAYS smiling... despite his angry mug in this picture and speaks English really well!