'Twas the day of a field trip!

'Twas the morning of Wednesday, when all through the school

Not a 5th grader was stirring, none breaking the rules;

The padlock was hanging, from the 6th graders room

All the students were missing, one could assume.

  Their slippers were stored, in their cubbies with care,

  Each pink one and blue one... yes, all were there!

 The windows were closed and the hallway was bare.

No fighting or laughing, a sight surely rare!

 When, what to my wondering eyes did appear,

But a big black school bus coming near!

 While looking out the window, I saw each one,

the boys and girls all having such fun...

Boarding the bus, with backpacks in hand,

The students were traveling to a far off land!  (Seoul!)

The teachers with whistles, helping the flow

Yelling, "Come along kids, it's time to go!"

"Now, Jenny! Now, David! Now, Kari and Brandon!

On, Lisa! on Nathan! on, Justin and Shannon!

I ran down to see them and bid my farewell,

"Have a safe trip, and make memories to tell!"

Now Ella at her desk, and I at mine,

It's a quiet morning for she and I.

All classes are cancelled and we have a break!

because the students aren't returning until next week!

So, thank goodness for Gosspip Girl, Mad Men, and Glee

Cuz with no kids to teach, I'll be watching TV!  

So, peace and quiet today I will seek

Happy Wednesday to all, and to all a good week!

Tea for Three!

Don't you love when you and your girlfriends decide that you're all going to get together  every so-and-so night of the week for tea and coffee... and then everyone actually follows through each week!?  Me too!  That's why I love these two!  Tuesdays are our Tea for Three nights, and we REALLY cherish the girl time!

Gilly brought gifts tonight... matching pearled earrings for each of us!

Girlfriends are one of God's greatest gifts!

Date night to the Film Festival

Last night, Aaron and I ventured over to Nampodong to see "Inside America," a film playing at the Pusan International Film Festival.  

It was a documentary style film, about students attending Hana High School in Midland,Texas, near the border of Mexico.  It followed a coke (the drug, not the soda) addicted beauty pageant cheerleader, a kid in the ROTC, 2 gangs, a boyfriend and girlfriend, a girl in fostercare, and a boy with a crippled arm, who was trying to sell cookies for a fundraiser.  

It was depressing on all accounts, and shocking to know that these types of towns exist in America.  Aaron and I were both wondering what the Koreans all thought after watching that.  I'm sure a lot of them are terrified of visiting America now!  

Regardless, we were glad to be a part of the festival and are hoping to get back in the theater to see a couple more films before it ends this Friday!  Hopefully our next film choice will be a little more uplifting! :) 

Basil Adventure!

Aaron and I rode the scooter around town, in search of some Basil and Thyme seeds to start a little garden in the sunroom at my apartment!  We had heard of a seed store in Nampodong, so we started there.  NO LUCK... so we tried another place, and then another... until finally, we landed here, at a family run gardening shop!  

NO LUCK again. :(

But the old man running the store jumped on his scooter and made a "follow me" motion with his arm, and off we rode behind him down the street!  (I love that he left his store, un-manned, just to help us!) 

 

He ended up pointing us in the direction of a store called 한 일 사!  We were so excited...  until we realized he had sent us to a pharmacy, who as I'm sure you've already guessed, did not sell basil seeds!  The language barrier can sure make for some interesting little adventures around here!  

*** As a side note, we did end up finding basil and thyme seeds at our local dollar store: 다이소, which I go to at least once a week!  They were right under my nose this whole time!  Go figure!  So... my teeny tiny garden has begun!  

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No more nasty flowers!

I've been dying to paint over the ugly 70's style, orange and gray flowered, wallpaper in my apartment for, well... about 18 months now!  Problem was... Koreans don't paint!  They only wallpaper, and I have no clue how to wallpaper!  But, I decided, with my sister coming to visit me this week, it was time to bite the bullet, and find a store that sold paint and buy some!

So, this morning, Aaron and I scooted around until we found a paint store, where we were met by a groggy old korean woman, who didn't speak a lick of English, and who didn't seem too excited to see 2 foreigners in her hole-in-the-wall paint store. (Yes, this happens once in a while).  Long story short, she haphazardly poured 4 different colors of paint into a can, stirred it around a couple times and then handed it to us.  We crossed our fingers that it was the color we asked for, and off we went!

I may be smiling in this picture, but don't let it fool you.  This was a there's no going back moment, which typically bring on an anxiety attack! 

While I'd like to say I'm thrilled with the outcome, unfortunately the latex paint feels more like I covered my wall with a glue stick!  It's sticking to everything, and the color is much darker than we had anticipated!

So, tomorrow, we're heading back for more brushes, another roller, and we're painting it white!  I guess anything is better than those nasty flowers! :)

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