Week 43: Leaves

What a week! It really wasn't too bad, there was just so much going on. Eric and I had parent-teacher conferences this week which was a new cultural experience for me. Interesting to say the least. Kennedy has had an awful ear infection. She's been up in the middle of the night all week in pain. Cade has had a fever, too. The only upside is that they've both wanted to take naps! Thankfully, they were both feeling well enough to go to Fun Fest last night at school to round out a long week.

Day 289: One of the kids' favorite things about Korea: the ice cream cones! (bad iPhone pic in the dark)

Day 290: One of my birthday gifts from my family: we went to the park to get another shot of all four of us on the same rock where we took one last year. We only lasted about 10 minutes before we had a meltdown, but we managed to get a couple of shots. Too bad the leaves hadn't quite turned yet. By now, they are all red and yellow.

Day 291: The subway station that is right next to where my Sunday night class is. It's kind of a weird one.

Day 292: Had a 12 hour day of parent-teacher conferences. No picture.

Day 293: A shorter day of conferences with more gifts!

Day 294: Kennedy missed her first day of school because of her ear infection.

Day 295: A long day at school, but it was nice to get out of the house and interact with my chatty teenagers. Kennedy stayed home one more day. No picture, though.

Glad this week is over! Hoping for a better week next week!

To see others' photo projects, check out the links:

 www.styleberryblog.com

Kennedy's Zoo Field Trip

Kennedy's first field trip of the year was to the zoo. By now I think she's been on four, but I was only able to go on that first one. I have been working during all of the others.

Cade was very excited to get to come along, too. He was even more excited that he had a matching red polo so that he could look just like one of the class!

We had to do a little picture-taking scavenger hunt as we went around the zoo, so I ended up with a lot of pictures!

This was our little group...

Cade checking out the lions...

Kennedy leading the way, of course...

Checking out the map to see what else we could fit in before it was time to head to the bus.

Photo op in this funny bird-inspired tree house.

Hard to believe that now Kennedy has completed her first quarter of Kindergarten. She's gotten her first report card, and I had a conference with her teacher this week. She's doing great!

Week 42: Sad

Well, I can't say that we encountered much sadness this week, aside from my frustration with students and lack of communication which made grades a never-ending process this week. Otherwise, not a bad week!

Day 282: A new bakery opened up in our neighborhood--big excitement around here. This clown was outside for three days making balloons for kids! I like how Kennedy is taller than he is even though the clown was on stilts.

Day 283: Had kind of a bum day--the kids and I traveled the hour to watch Eric's second game on Saturday which got cancelled at the last minute. Kennedy was in such a bad mood that we ended up turning around and heading home to grade papers instead of going to the park. I guess if I'd been in a good enough mood to take a picture, it would have been a good example of sad for this week!

Day 284: Studying for my Sunday night class right now--Truth Project.

Day 285: Had an insane amount of work to do on Monday--starting a new unit, the Epic of Gilgamesh, finishing essays, and working on grades.

Day 286: Finished grading essays at the park in the sunshine while Cade played Tuesday morning. Can't believe it's 70 degrees at the end of October!

Day 287: Finally finished grades...again.

Day 288: Cade loves to watch the neighbors move. They open the windows or the doors and all of the stuff goes up on these trucks outside.

It will be another long week for us. We've got parent-teacher conferences for the next two days--nearly 12 hours of talking tomorrow. Pray for us!

To see others' photo projects, check out the links:

 www.styleberryblog.com

Hummus 101

So, hummus has been a staple in our house for years now. We love that big container that you can pick up at Costco for about five bucks. My kids have been dipping their carrot sticks in it from a very young age. But that all changed when we moved to Korea.

First of all, Costco does not carry my beloved hummus--or any hummus--yet. I have faith that they will. Secondly, garbanzo beans are hard to come by. And if you do find them, you know, it's about four dollars for a small can. Ouch.

So we've been getting our hummus fix from one of the local Turkish restaurants. Not that I'm complaining. It is probably my favorite restaurant in all of Seoul. Pita, chicken, and hummus? You can't go wrong!

But, recently I heard that you can buy cheap dry chickpeas from one of the local international markets, so I set off in search of the store and the beans. I was able to get a 5 kg bag for less than four dollars! Very exciting! My next task was to try my hand at homemade hummus.

I quickly realized that I was going to have make my own tahini to start which was an experience. Then I realized that my blender is pretty weak and making two pounds of chickpeas (after soaking for 15 hours and boiling for 3 hours) was going to take quite a while in multiple batches. But, after about a 3 hour operation (not including the boiling), I finally had some beautiful, creamy homemade hummus. I adapted this recipe to work for me.

And nothing for dinner at 5:30 on Sunday night except hummus. So, I rummaged through the fridge, took a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer, sent Eric to the nearby bakery to pick up some delicious pitas, and by 6:30 we were having our own Mediterranean feast. Yum! (Now if only I knew what I threw into that skillet so that I could re-create it!)

Daechon Beach

A few weeks ago I mentioned that we went on our staff retreat. (Actually, I'm not sure how long it was. I really seem to have no concept of time lately.) Anyway, last year and for many years before that, the staff retreat has been the first weekend of full staff before school starts. In other words, we were in country for about 10 days before we had to go spend the weekend at a retreat center with 150 people we didn't know. Not so much fun. Especially not fun when the sleeping arrangements consist of large rooms of women and children sleeping on Korean mats (yoh). Not so much sleep to be had.

Not surprisingly, it was not a favorite activity amongst the staff. Thankfully, last year those in charge of planning the staff retreat listened to the complaints and chose something much different. This year the retreat was not only not the week before school starts, but it was also optional, held at the beach far outside the city, and there was no structured activity whatsoever.

We got to spend two full days just relaxing and getting to know our fellow colleagues and their families better at the beach.

We even had Monday off from school, so we were able to leave Saturday afternoon and not come home until Monday afternoon. Nice.

The place that we stayed was actually developed by missionaries for missionaries in Korea about 30 years ago. So, it's rustic, but it's American-style rustic. There are cabins (that look like American houses) and that have real beds. A whole lot of bunk beds!

There were two different beaches that we were able to explore, and the kids loved digging in the sand!

It was one of those weekends where we didn't really have to worry about the kids because they were either with another set of parents or surrounded by a bunch of teens playing games.

It was so amazing to see sky and real sunsets in Korea with no skyscrapers in sight...our view of the Yellow Sea.

True, it wasn't a long walk to the nearest coffee shop or 7-11. I wouldn't say we felt that we were in a remote location, but we could definitely tell that we were outside the city, which is pretty exciting!