I think we always knew it would happen one day, but never quite knew when the right time was. We’d actually been talking about it a lot recently, and have been getting really excited about the possibility... Although, to be honest, I NEVER thought it would happen while we were living in Korea... but yesterday we sealed our fate… and bought a scooter! :)
Monday, May 18, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Just some funnies!
Mmmm... "Chocochip cookys!" Not only was this signed spelled wrong, they weren't even cookies!
Check out this brand's slogan: "Small Face, Lovely Breast."
Friday, May 15, 2009
Happy 28th Birthday to Me!
I woke up this morning to the aroma of french toast filling the air of my apartment. When I opened my eyes, I saw that my wonderful husband was cooking it! I knew it was going to be a great day!
Today was an extra special birthday because it was also Teacher’s Day in Korea! It’s one thing to work on your birthday… It’s another thing when you go to work and are showered with birthday gifts and Teacher Day gifts! Who ever said working at an elementary school didn’t have its perks?!
I haven’t posted many pictures lately, so I made it a point to bring my camera along for the day! When I arrived at school today, all of the boy scouts and girl scouts greeted me with a “student tunnel!” They all yelled, “Happy Birthday Alexis” and pinned a paper carnation on my sweater. J (Sorry this picture is blurry… I forgot to switch it from manual focus to automatic focus.) I felt like a princess!
When I arrived at my first class of the morning, my 6th graders screamed “Happy birthday Alexis” and threw all these balloons in the air! It was quite the welcome! 
When I got to my second class of the morning, my 6th graders all sang happy birthday to me...
*** When they sang happy birthday to me, they changed the lyrics and sang this: "Happy birthday to you... Happy birthday to you... We love you Miss Alexis... Happy birthday to you!" J
When I arrived at my third class of the morning, one of my 5th graders, Brandon, performed a taekwondo dance (set to Korean hip hop music) for Stella and I as our teacher day gift! It was very cute! 
These are two of my 5th grade girls who are really shy, but they gave me a gift; a bag full of candy! mmmmm.... (not good for my "summer body," but yummy none the less!) They were so excited to see how excited I was about their humble gift!
Here are some of the notes I got… (Remember, I teach conversational English, NOT SPELLING!) You can double click on these pictures to see larger versions if you want to read them. They're all very funny!
This one is a picture of Stella and I.
These are some of the notes written in Hangul.
This is from my vice principal. I thought it was very sweet and thoughtful of him to buy my chocolate and put it in this nice little bag for my birthday!
These are some of the notes written in Hangul.
This is from my vice principal. I thought it was very sweet and thoughtful of him to buy my chocolate and put it in this nice little bag for my birthday!
I thought about it all morning, and felt so special! When I got to lunch, he asked, "Did you enjoy my gift? My daughter gave to me when she visit last time." As you can imagine, my day dreams of him thoughtfully walking down the isle of the grocery store, choosing just the right chocolate and driving to the market to find just the right bag were completely shot to hell! Oh well, he may have re-gifted, but I'm still happy because it's chocolate!
This is Stella holding my present!
In Korea, everyone and their mother has a cell phone charm on their phones - YES, even the men! So since, I didn't have one, she bought me this one.
It has green beads, silver bows, and a glass square with an emerald inside. She said she picked this one because it's my birthday stone! She told me she wanted to buy one for Kevin too, but didn't know when his birthday is. Apparently couples in Korea have matching cell phone charms. I'm sure Kevin is thanking his lucky stars right now that he never told her his birthday! Can you imagine him walking around with this charm on his phone? Everyone already thinks he's metro!
Tonight, Kevin has planned a surprise for me! I have NO IDEA what it is... but I'm really excited! And as a gift to myself, I think I'll take a taxi home from work today... because I think birthday girls should never have to ride the bus or walk home from work! Haha! :)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The funeral...
One of the teachers at my schools mother in law died this past weekend, so all of the teachers went to the funeral after school yesterday. I was told to wear black, so I did... and so did everyone else.
When we arrived at the funeral home, we (the teachers, principal, vice principal, secretaries, assistants, etc) all piled into a little tiny room, filled with flowers and a single picture of the woman who had died. The family members all stood in black robes with yellow arm bands, on the side of the room. My Principal and Vice Principal walked up to the front of the room, where the 8 x 11 picture of the womasn was standing, picked up a stick of inscense, lit it, and placed it in a bucket of sand. They then, with all of the teachers, bowed to the picture 3 times. And not just a little bow... They were on their knees with their heads on the ground. I began to kneel down, because I thought it would be rude if I didn't, and my friend April (also a teacher) tapped my shoulder and said, "We don't do this part." She was implying that Christians do not participate in the bowing. So, we stood in the back while everyone bowed. At the end of the 3 bows, we all walked up to the front of the room, where there was a wooden box with a small slit in the top. Just like at weddings in Korea, you have to bring money to offer to the family. So, dropped my 30,000 won into the wooden box and tried to convince myself that it would be spent on something worth while.
After we "paid," we all filed into the dining commons. The family served us soup, rice cakes, vegetables, and Sprite. We all sat and talked for about 10 minutes, and then off we went. It was a strange experience to say the least, but like all of my strange experiences in Korea, I'm glad I was given the opportunity to experience it.
When we arrived at the funeral home, we (the teachers, principal, vice principal, secretaries, assistants, etc) all piled into a little tiny room, filled with flowers and a single picture of the woman who had died. The family members all stood in black robes with yellow arm bands, on the side of the room. My Principal and Vice Principal walked up to the front of the room, where the 8 x 11 picture of the womasn was standing, picked up a stick of inscense, lit it, and placed it in a bucket of sand. They then, with all of the teachers, bowed to the picture 3 times. And not just a little bow... They were on their knees with their heads on the ground. I began to kneel down, because I thought it would be rude if I didn't, and my friend April (also a teacher) tapped my shoulder and said, "We don't do this part." She was implying that Christians do not participate in the bowing. So, we stood in the back while everyone bowed. At the end of the 3 bows, we all walked up to the front of the room, where there was a wooden box with a small slit in the top. Just like at weddings in Korea, you have to bring money to offer to the family. So, dropped my 30,000 won into the wooden box and tried to convince myself that it would be spent on something worth while.
After we "paid," we all filed into the dining commons. The family served us soup, rice cakes, vegetables, and Sprite. We all sat and talked for about 10 minutes, and then off we went. It was a strange experience to say the least, but like all of my strange experiences in Korea, I'm glad I was given the opportunity to experience it.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Black Ribbon...
A couple weeks ago, I wore a black ribbon in my ponytail! I was so proud of my accessory, because soooo many Koreans wear hair bows and barrets! I was just trying to be more trendy, I guess. I walked into school that morning and was abruptly stopped by one of the teachers who asked me: "Alexis, Is your family okay?" I quickly answered, "Yes, why?" She replied, "You have black ribbon in hair." As it turns out, Koreans were black ribbons in their hair when a close relative has passed away as a sign of their mourning.
After school today, I am heading over to a funeral home to pay my condolences to one of the teachers at my school whose mother in law died this weekend. I was told to wear black clothes today... so to go along with my new black dress, I attached my good old black bow... I'm hoping she notices and appreciates my sentiment.
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