Day 7: In the Village

Day seven was pretty similar to day six. We had our normal routine and free time in the morning and then we went to the village again in the afternoon.

This was the crowd of kids we found when we arrived at Jang island. They were so excited to see our kids!

This was my second day in the classroom, but it was the first day for my five 7th grade girls.

They were not pleased when they heard that they had to teach simple and compound sentences to the 4th and 5th graders. We had just covered this a week or two before we left, so they were prepared, though!

Most of the girls finished the day saying that they did not want to become teachers.

They couldn't figure out how to make simple and compound sentences fun and engaging, either. Somehow I don't think they have any empathy for me, though!

Apparently, teaching the same lesson three or four times in a row is "boring". Who knew?!

Nonetheless, I think they enjoyed working with the kids and seeing their enthusiasm for learning!

At the end of the day, we presented each of the teachers at the school with a bag of supplies that we had brought.

Our students had run a school supply drive, as well as doing a bake sale, and a walk-a-thon to buy supplies for the school. The teachers were very grateful, and our students were very proud to hand over the fruits of their labor.

It was really an amazing experience. I'm so glad that I was able to be a part of it, and I'm really enjoying hearing my students talk about how much they enjoyed playing with and working with the kids at the school.

I don't know if I'll ever get to go on this trip again, but I do know that I will never forget how much fun it was to work in this school and experience the Indonesian culture.

Bubbles

Now that the weather has warmed up, we have been busy! And now that I am back to part time, hopefully I'll have a little more time to fill you in on what we have been up to. Well, for the next three weeks, anyway. Maybe.

Since I've got so many to share with you, I'm just going to start with my favorites.

Last Sunday, I spent the morning in bed while Eric and the kids went to church.

Then I managed to get up to grade some essays

and to take the kids to the park in the afternoon.

Cade enjoyed the bubbles more than I have ever seen someone enjoy anything, I think!

Kennedy and Baby Jane had some fun, too, though.

And while I struggled to get some good shots, Eric just kept blowing bubbles.

And the kids just kept chasing them.

A fun time was had by all.

Tomorrow is my first day back to part time! Yay! And we made it through the weekend without Daddy. Impressive! It's amazing how much my children will let me do for them when they know I'm their only option! Only five more days on our own, but I'm not counting or anything.

Week 18: Fiesta or Siesta

I struggled a bit with the prompt this week--neither fiesta nor siesta seem to fit in with our American-Korean lifestyle!
And, this was the first week where I honestly thought that I had forgotten to take a picture one day. We have been so incredibly busy this week (I know I say that every week) that I thought maybe I just missed a day. But, no, it turns out I took plenty of pictures on Friday, too. Just like every other day!

Day 118: Kennedy and I went to see the school's production of Aladdin Jr. The kids did a great job, and Kennedy and I thoroughly enjoyed the show! It looks a little fiesta-ish, I think!

Day 119: We had plans to go to a Korean baseball game on Saturday with friends. When we got to the stadium, we discovered the game was sold out. So, we went to the nearby Lotte World...except we just walked around the outside of the amusement park, rather than going in (because it's a beautiful area). Kennedy was not pleased with the change in plans and the fact that we didn't actually go to Lotte World.

Day 120: We took the kids to the park on Sunday afternoon, and Cade had a little "fiesta" with the bubbles! I love the pure joy on his face!

Day 121: Eric and I had a teacher work day on Monday, but we got out early and took the kids up to Namsan Park after school.

Day 122: Tuesday was Korean Labor Day and the weather was beautiful. We went on a bike ride along the Han River, and we all got our first sun burns of the summer.

Day 123: We had a teacher appreciation day last week and one of our (many) gifts were these delicious chocolates!

Day 124: I finally got a shot of one of the kids sleeping. Since they don't take "siestas" any more, this is after she went to bed for the night. It was our first night without Eric, and Kennedy was so tired that she fell asleep before I finished reading Cade his books. Poor kid.

I think my favorite this week is the shot of Kennedy going down the zip line at the park on Tuesday. She loved it, and she was so proud of herself for doing it on her own. I love to see her come out of her shell!

I finally figured out how to get my Instagram photos on here! Check 'em out if you want!

If you'd like to see others' work on Project 52, check out the links:

www.styleberryblog.com

Katie's Visit

One of my best friends from high school, Katie, had a whirlwind trip to Seoul last week!

Last spring, she applied for and was chosen to get a grant from the Rotary Club.

Basically, she and five others have spent the last year preparing to spend a month in South Korea visiting the Jeonju area (about 2 hours south of Seoul).

She stayed in the homes of Koreans who volunteered to host her and teach about their culture. They also visited various businesses and did some "networking".

So, Katie arrived in Korea while I was in Indonesia and because we don't have a car and are (crazy) busy all the time, the only time I got to see her was the day and a half that she got to spend in Seoul before flying home.

She met me at school after I got out of a meeting and we walked through Itaewon. Then, Eric and the kids met us for dinner at one of our favorite Thai restaurants.

After dinner, Katie and I made our way down to the Banpodaegyo (daegyo means bridge in Korean) to see the world's longest rainbow bridge fountain--complete with a K-pop soundtrack.

There was a crew on-scene filming the bridge, so they had a bunch of bright lights shining all around us--not so ideal for my night photography practice!

The weather was beautiful Tuesday--a balmy 80 degrees F, making it a very pleasant evening at the bridge, but a very sticky walk home!

You can see the neon Han River tour boat about to go through the fountain and under the bridge.

I was not pleased that the fountains stopped in the seconds that this picture was taken!

On Wednesday, I was able to take the day off and show Katie around town a little bit. We took the Seoul City bus tour, but we spent the majority of our time in Dongdaemun and Namdaemun.

It poured down rain all day on Wednesday, making it very difficult to take pictures! The kids were troopers most of the day even though we dragged them through shop after shop after shop.

You can see that Kennedy is soaked through. We stopped for a break from the rain at Starbucks in Namdaemun and Kennedy and Katie played DrawSomething.

We were all pooped by the time the tour was over! In spite of it, we all made the trip back into town for dinner with friends. Umbrellas and all!

Tonight, Eric left to go back to Seattle for his grandma's funeral, so I finally have time to some blogging now that the kids are in bed. I came home from school this afternoon to discover that Kennedy has pink eye. It's going to be a long week and a half for us!

And now, I must eat some dinner and go to bed!

Favorite Photo of April

It's been a tough (albeit long) weekend, and our week is going to be even longer. But, if I don't post this now, I won't ever remember to, so I've got to stay on top of it!

My favorite photo of the month:

It's always hard for me to choose a picture of a person or of something inanimate (usually in nature), and I'm happy that I can finally include the two together this month! Cade and the beautiful (short-lived) cherry blossoms!