My fetching kitty!

Some cats boast of their beauty, other boast of their long and soft hair, others of their stunning eyes, or of their cute little button noses...

But mine boasts for reasons that top all the rest!

My little Maverick can FETCH!

 

That's right people, I've got myself a fetching cat!

Kickball tournament!

Remember elementary school, or middle for me, when you would play kickball during PE class?!  I was always pretty coordinated sports-wise, but gymnastics was my sport of choice.  So, when kickball was on the PE schedule, I would always get so nervous! My heart would beat out of my chest when it was MY TURN up at bat kick!  What if I kick and miss?  What if I kick too hard and fall backwards?  What if I trip when I'm running to first base?  Ahh, the silly anxieties of a junior higher!

Well, today, the kickball tournament began at my school; one 6th grade class against another.  It was actually pretty funny to watch my studious students attempting to be sporty!  There are about 4 semi-athletically gifted kids in each class, and the rest fumble about!  I'm pretty sure I only saw a few catch a fly ball!  Sports obviously aren't a priority in Korea! :)

Here are some random photos of the tournament.

(*** I accidentally shot low quality resolution photos and was shooting manual with a 2.8 aperture in the sun! UGH, stupid Jillers!  I obviously wasn't thinking! I think I was just excited to get outside and enjoy the game.)  

Loola (my part time co-teacher) came out with me to watch the game!  Isn't she cute!?

The scoreboard girls!

And the tournament begins...

Most of the girls rigged it somehow to where it was never their turn up at bat kick!  

Clever girls.

The dugout!

I think they preferred being here over the field!

 After 45 minutes, class 6-2 was declared the big winner!

Good job kiddies!

Dongnae Eupseong Fortress

About 3 months ago, our friends Adam, Ashley, Stella and Chris posted a photo online of them sitting on a giant hill of grass (which is EXTREMELY uncommon in Busan) overlooking the city!  It was gorgeous and all I wanted to do was go and lay in the grass!  Sadly, it took Aaron and I three months to get our butts in gear and find it!  On Tuesday night, we jumped on the subway after work and had ourselves a little sunset picnic at the fortress!  It was sssoooo nice to get out and enjoy the fresh air together!

*** Take subway line 1 to Dongnae, exit 2. Then jump in a taxi and say: 

"Dongnae Eupseong- Jee"

...or, put your walking shoes on and follow this path!

  

*** photo editing credit goes to my awesome husband for this post!

Instagram Update

Ever since Instagram (an iphone/android photo app) came around, I've neglected carrying around my big Nikon camera and have resigned to "instagraming" instead with my iphone camera!  I realize that this leaves a few of you out of the loop, since you either don't have a smart phone, or don't have instagram...  

So, I'll call this the Instagram Update blog!  

Two weekends ago, Aaron and I went to Ashley and Adam's apartment to celebrate Adam's 25th birthday, fiesta style!  Ashley made everyone sport the fiesta hats and little maracas for a photo!  Aaron loved it!  lol

Last week, some of my 6th graders asked if they could interview me for a class project. "Sure!" I said, and the next day I got to work and this list of "Expected Questions" were sitting on my desk!   My favorite is #5! I kinda wish there was a comma after Baby.  :)

Last Thursday, Aaron and I met up with Meg and Dave for about 3 hours at Arun Thai in Nampodong!  They had e-mailed us last week asking if they could take us out for a welcome to married life dinner!  

How sweet and thoughtful are they?! :)

Last Monday was one of my best friend's birthday's (Gilly bean)!  We celebrated with about 15 friends at a hole in the wall beef restaurant in Kyunsung and then moved over to Thursday Party, on the beach, for some drinks and a ridiculously yummy brownie cake (custom made by the bakery owner at the bottom of Gill's apartment building!  She loves Gill.)

Sam, Gill and Me.

I love, love, love playing cards.  I had asked Aaron if he would play cards with me a couple times when we were dating and he always said, "Ehhh, I really don't like playing cards."  Come to find out, he didn't know any card games because he'd never played any!  Silly Aaron!  He didn't know what he was missing... To cheer me up from a frustrating day at work, he reluctantly agreed to learn SPADES and played a whole game with me.  Guess who won his first game of cards!  And guess who asked if we could play the next night!  I'll give you one guess... yep, AARON!   I'm pretty excited about our new (old people) hobby!

I snapped this picture on my walk home from work.  I'm so used to walking this street that it never really phases me anymore.  For some reason though, after I took this picture I realized just how cool it is that I live where I do, that I walk to work, and that I get to experience an Asia culture everyday! 

On Monday morning, I got a text from my co-teacher telling me that school was cancelled because of the Typhoon (Typhoon Sanba), but that all of the teachers had to come to work!  THIS IS KOREA!  Doesn't matter what's happening (There could be a serious N Korean threat) and school would be cancelled and the teachers would still be required to report.  It doesn't make sense to me, but I go with it because I have to.  The three of us spent the day drinking tea, reading books, playing on the internet and enjoying the Typhoon going on outside our wall of windows in our classroom (to the left of this picture)  

Luckily, by the afternoon, the winds had died down and I was able to check out early and head to the bank with Aaron.  The exchange rate is the best it's been since February, so we took advantage of it and exchanged all of our savings!  I'm more-so including this picture so I can look back 10 years from now and see what the exchange rate was when I lived here.

Last night, Aaron and I had a little picnic at a park that our friend Stella, Chris, Ashley and Adam found a little while back!  How awesome is this place? (A full blog is coming)

So, there you go... consider yourselves updated! :)

School uniforms!

Some of my 4th grade girls were wearing these uniforms for their choir concert today! How funny are they? I love the giant plaid bow ties and fluffy skirts and kinda wish they were our school uniforms!   Maybe next year!