Teacher's Day Presents and F.I.N. Trip

So it was recently Teacher's Day here in Korea.  I got a few presents from my students. 

This is a personalized stamp with my name on it in Korean!

My name in Korean.

How thoughtful!  You'd be surprised how expensive sunscreen is here.

From one of my little preschoolers.

Last weekend I went with Kodi and some other friends on an overnight trip.  My friend Patty runs another English school called F.I.N. English (Friend In Need).  Her school had planned a trip and was in need of some English-speaking chaperones (the goal of the trip is for the students to be in a mostly English-speaking environment for the weekend, so the parents are usually keen to sign their kids up).  So I cajoled a few friends into coming on the trip.  I had missed the trip last year for some reason or another, but my other co-workers at the time all went and had a blast. 

We headed out on Saturday morning.  We were split into teams; about 4 students to an English speaker.  Kodi and I headed Horse Team!  First we drove a couple of hours to a small amusement park, rode a few rides and bumper cars.  There was also a huge cave system right next to the park, which was originally made to mine amethyst.  We walked around the cave a bit and then there was an acrobat/contortionist show.  It was very... interesting.  After that we headed to a nearby building to do some pottery.  Most people made the usual: bowls, cups, and ashtrays.  I was stuck for a moment on what to do but ended up making a pyramid.  We'll see how it turns out.  After that we headed to our pension.  It was a great place!  Nice big buildings, a grassy area for games, a pool (currently drained, but we still made use of it), karaoke machine, and a fresh-water spring running from the mountain.  Really beautiful area and we had great weather all weekend.  We played a bunch of team-based games (of which, Horse Team was usually the winner!).  One was a game where we all tied balloons around our ankles and ran around trying to pop other peoples balloons.  Then we had a team jump rope contest.  For dinner, we had samgyeopsal (BBQ pork), sausages, sweet potatoes, and kimchi.  Delicious.  After dinner, there was a soccer game inside the drained pool.  The losers had to do the dishes. It was a close game, but our team finally won on the last point.  Later, we played a traditional Korean board game called yutnori.  The order in which the 4 teams finished denoted how many marshmallows each team got.  We got second so we all ended up with about 3 marshmallows.  The losing team only got one each, and they had to drink a big bowl of this foul-tasting herbal liquid which is supposed to be healthy but just tastes bad.  After that, people hung out around the fire, played ping-pong or other games.  The next morning we had a singles badminton tournament.  All of us foreigners got out pretty quickly!  We headed to a nearby temple, which was special in that it was populated by female monks.  We had a tour guide who spoke in Korean and each team had to translate to the foreigners, and at the end we had a little quiz.  After that, we headed back home.  It was a long, activity-packed weekend, but heaps of fun and a great experience.  I really enjoy spending time with students outside of a school environment.  Field trips with my little preschoolers are especially fun.  Anyway, here are some pictures!

Follow the Yellow Dust Road

So maybe you've heard about Yellow Dust or Asian Dust.  Essentially, strong winds in the Spring catch sand/soil particles from the desert regions of Northern China and Mongolia.  The winds carry these particles through China, Korea, and even Japan, picking up aerial pollutants as they go.  It gets pretty nasty in some parts of Korea, especially Seoul.  If you google "Yellow Dust" you can see some images.  Here's the wikipdia link if you care to read more.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Dust

It came through Daegu last week and you could see it clinging to cars and other surfaces.  Today, we got a short little rain storm that starting washing all the Yellow Dust into the street.  I went outside and snapped some pictures of it running through the streets.

Cats and Christmas

Been a bit busy the last couple weeks.  It's so great to be back at school and getting into the rhythm of teaching again.  The first day was fun because all the kids would see me and be so surprised that I was back.  Most teachers only do one year and then move on.  I was also gone for about two months so to see me back was shocking for some.  But hearing the dulcet screams of "EVAN TEACHER!" throughout the day was delightful.  I don't really have a lot more duties as the "Supervisor Teacher" but they did give me a nice big desk all to myself!

About a week after I got here, one of Kodi's coworkers heard about a stray cat that needed a home.  I had thought about getting a cat my second time around but it's obviously a bit commitment, and the biggest issue is what to do after the year is up and you head on to new ventures.  Some people take their pets, but the immigration and quarantine laws can be rough.  Other pets just get passed down from one teacher to the next.  Kind of a cool idea but not everyone wants a cat over here.  So Kodi and I talked about getting this cat and bringing it to my apartment.  The only problem is that Kodi is allergic to SOME cats.  So we figured we'd give this little kitten a chance and see if he wouldn't set off her allergies.

But first, there's a bit of a story behind this guy.  Originally, some students came to one of Kodi's coworkers and told a story about seeing an old woman throw a kitten in the trash on the street.  There are lots of stray cats that live on the streets and live off the garbage piles.  Quite sad.  So these two students took the kitten to the roof of their apartment building and bought him a sweater and some food to keep warm.  The teacher told the students that it was much too cold to keep the kitten on the roof and that it might die but they didn't want to tell her where it was because they thought their parents might be angry.  She gave them her phone number and told them to call her if they needed help.  A couple days later the students said that the cat was gone.  Presumably the parents found it and put it back on the street or it just wandered away.  Then a few days later another foreign teacher in the area found the kitten again on the street and took it in.
 
Kodi got the kitten one night from the other foreign teacher who found him on the street.  He stayed at Kodi's apartment for one day and then we brought him to my apartment.  He's a really fun kitten.  Full of energy and cute, like all kittens.  But unlike most kittens, and all cats really, he likes to play fetch!  You can sit there and throw one of his little fuzzy balls across the room and he'll go get it and bring it right back to your lap to throw again.  I've never seen anything like it.  He's quite sweet too and loves to rub against you and lick you.  After a few days, we realized that it just wasn't going to work out because he was driving Kodi's eyes and nose crazy.  She even got conjunctivitis (pink eye)!  My two coworkers Misha and Catherine agreed to take him until we could find a good home for him to go to.  I hated to see him leave but a kitten does require a lot of attention and I'm gone for most of the day so I felt bad leaving him alone all day.  Hopefully it won't be too hard to find someone who wants him.  He is a kitten after all, and who doesn't love kittens?!

Naughty kitty after I came home from work.

Playing fetch!

Last week I had a nice Christmas with Kodi and we exchanged lots of presents!  I got a loaf pan and muffin pan for my new mini convection oven.  I've been cooking and baking loads more this year already.  Having an oven is great, especially for making cookies!  I also got some new shirts and a new jacket.  But my favorite gift, by far, was the pair of custom made shoes with my name stitched on the back!  Kodi designed the color scheme and everything.  Now I have a very unique pair of shoes; the only pair in the world!  On Christmas day we first went to my coworkers' apartment where we had  nice meal, and then on to Kodi's friends' apartment for some more delicious food and a game of White Elephant.  If you don't know, White Elephant is where everyone brings a presents and puts them in a pile.  Then everyone draws a number and you pick out a present to open depending on the number you drew.  If you want, you can steal away a present that someone else has already opened, and then they will get to open a new one or steal another present.  Pretty entertaining game.  There were some good gifts and some terrible ones, but everything had to be about $10. 

Whoaaaaaaaaa!

Explaining White Elephant.

Kodi is a bit cold.

At school we had a Christmas party for the kindergarten classes.  One of our coworkers dressed up as Santa and all the kids got presents.  Then we sang songs and had snacks.  And we didn't have to teach!  How excellent.  The only downside is that we don't really get much vacation.  We got off December 30 and 31, but that's all the vacation we get in Winter.  There will be more days in Summer, and plenty more national holidays in between.

This weekend we're going on a massive ski trip to one of the ski resorts a few hours away.  There will be about 70 people on two large buses and we're all staying in some executive sweets at this resort.  It should make for an interesting New Year's weekend.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!