Baseball Update

This baseball season is finally wrapping up.

The kids and I hadn't been to a game in awhile, and since it was a postseason game, I figured we should probably make an appearance.

Gwacheon is far enough outside of the city to be really pretty in the fall.

It actually wasn't quite as chilly as I thought it was going to be, that was a result of the clouds, of course.

We were barely out of the car when it started drizzling. We had to buy a new umbrella within minutes of being there, so I didn't get many pictures.

I did get a few quizzes graded while sitting under the umbrella before the kids joined me.

Thankfully, the game went quickly and they were up by eleven runs in the fifth inning, so they called it right before it started really raining.

Eric also hit his first-ever grand slam, which he was pretty excited about! Next week both teams play championship games.

Our IJM campaign ends in just over a week, so if you've been thinking about donating, but haven't done it yet, now would be the time to do it (right here)!

Lost in Translation

Eric says that blogging gives me a unique perspective on events in our lives. I think he may be right.

Last night was one of the most stressful evenings we've had in a while. And really, it was only a stressful hour or so, but that's enough, you know? Because that hour feels like hours. I can't say that I wasn't a bit stressed at times, but I kept thinking to myself, "at least this will make an interesting blog post."

Kennedy had a birthday party yesterday after school. It was the first one of those parties. Last year, most of her friends had their parties at a "tumbleland" at the mall--just a place where they can run around and play. Boy, do they need those here! While it's not something that we can easily afford, it's okay. Understandable. Reasonable.

Yesterday's party was anything but reasonable, and Eric and I struggled a bit with whether or not we were going to let her to go to one of those parties. In the end, we let her go, and I have no fear that she has any expectations of her own birthday parties following in these footsteps.

The party began with a 45 minute ride around the city in a limousine--something Kennedy described as simply "amazing." The limo ride was followed by dinner in a restaurant that was catered specifically to the kids. Kennedy reiterated the fact that the "yogurt was better than anything she had ever had." And it had Fruit Loops in it. Doesn't get much better than that, I guess!

After dinner, they went to a pottery studio that had been rented out for the event. Each of the girls were able to make two pieces; Kennedy made what she describes as "sauce bowls." (Apparently, they're small.) Then, she decorated a pottery bowl that had already been made and prepared for them to paint.

This week the pieces will be glazed and delivered to school for the girls to take home. Yeah, our daughter's party consisted of painting and coloring in Eric's classroom. We like to set the bar low.

While Kennedy was at her party, we let Cade choose where he wanted to go for dinner. He chose Pizza Hut--again. So, we drove over to the mall and had pizza followed by hot chocolate for dessert. On the way, we saw the building where Kennedy was, so I was confident that we would be able to find it without too much trouble.

We left about 20 minutes before we were supposed to be there to pick her up, and I figured that it wouldn't take more 10 minutes to get there, even if there was traffic. Unfortunately, we chose to follow the pin on the phone, instead of the mental map that I had.

This resulted in driving to the pin and not being able to see the building anywhere. We found a spot to park, but that wasn't helping us orient, so Eric wanted me to start driving. This was about the time when Cade fell asleep. It was good timing, because I was just about to get on a highway which led me to a bridge, taking me the wrong direction over the river. Sitting in traffic. Fifteen minutes late. Heading in the wrong direction. Perfect.

When the divider finally ended, prayers were said, and traffic cleared in the other direction, I pulled a completely illegal U-turn (along with the car right in front of me), and we were at least headed in the right direction again. At this point, Eric tried calling the parents, but neither of them spoke English, so they hung up on him. Thing were not looking good.

After a few more wrong turns, we eventually started heading somewhat close to the right direction. After again, ending up driving way too far in the wrong direction, and getting stuck in more traffic, we were able to get ahold of the parents. This time, Eric was able to speak to someone in English and got some directions that were helpful. We were able to orient ourselves better on the two different maps we were using (both in Korean, of course), and we were getting closer. We were about 45 minutes late at this point.

We finally found the building, not surprisingly, it was right where we'd seen it before! Of course, there were two buildings, and Eric went up into the wrong one the first time, but it wasn't long before they made it out. Kennedy was tear-free, thankfully. It turned out that she wasn't the last one to be picked up, even though we were more than an hour late, so she wasn't too stressed about it. We finally made it home safely around 9:00, and we were all ready for bed by then!

Our "Halloween"

The quotes on that one are purposeful. Our "Halloween" wasn't a real Halloween at all, but we did have Korean-preschool and Christian-international-school-that-doesn't-celebrate-Halloween versions of Halloween.

About a week and half before Halloween (I have no idea how they decide on dates for these things), Cade had a Halloween party at school. He got to wear a costume, bring candy, and come home with loads of candy. I suppose it's no surprise that he didn't really relay the details of what actually happened at school.

This year, I was smart, planned ahead, and asked friends to borrow a costume for my Batman-obsessed little boy. He was beyond thrilled that someone actually had a Batman costume that he could wear. So was I!

Every month, our school has a dress up day in the elementary school. Most of the time, it's kind of a headache for me. Korean culture dress up day--yeah, we don't have a hanbok. I guess we should get one. Hangul day--no, she doesn't own anything with Korean writing on it--if she did, she'd probably have worn it for Korean culture dress day.

We were able to throw together something for the country dress up day. We've got jeans, boots, and flannel. We struggle with many of the other days throughout the year, though. We just don't have much stuff around here, nor do we want to collect it.

The week of Halloween, though, she had decades dress up day. That we can do. No, we don't have leg warmers or neon shoe laces. We were able to throw together some leggings, skirt, and a tutu (courtesy of Aunt Jen)--it's nice that much of this has come back. If we just throw together all of the neon clothing items she owns, then we can do 80s day!

That was the extent of our Halloween for this year. Last year we got the chance to go on base and go trick or treating with our friends. We weren't invited to do that this year, but the kids handled it pretty well. I certainly don't miss the candy or the walking around in the cold, but there's a hefty load of mom guilt that comes with watching your kids miss out on a holiday tradition that they enjoy.

This little balloon that Cade brought home from preschool was as close as we got to jack-o-lanterns. There are no big, orange pumpkins in Korea. The closest we get are little, green squash. I can cook them and use it the same way that I would pumpkin puree. They also meet my need for having some fall decorations in the house, but they really aren't big enough for carving. And they certainly aren't orange.

It is just the start of this season where things just aren't the same, but I think Halloween is one of the hardest. Not because it's my favorite holiday or anything, but just because it's so hard to adjust to make it fit here. I think I took it harder than the kids, though. My TCKs adjust pretty well these days, and I'm thankful for that.

Kennedy's Birthday Party

Obviously, I'm pretty far behind in terms of pictures here. Kennedy's birthday party was only a week after her birthday, and I just finally edited them. Of course, I sat down to edit some more recent pictures, but then I remembered that I still hadn't touched these since I put them on the computer, so this is what I worked on. Hopefully, I'll get to the "Halloween" pictures before Thanksgiving...we'll see!

We woke up this morning with plans to go take pictures in the fall leaves at Namsan Park and then Eric had a baseball game in the afternoon. Our plans for the day were thwarted by rain, though. It was a cool, rainy, gloomy fall day here in Seoul, so we spent the majority of the day in sweatpants in the house, just relaxing. In fact, the only work I did all day was respond to student emails. It was a nice reprieve, though I was very disappointed to still not get a chance to take pictures up at the park. Those leaves have been calling my name all week as I drive to school in the morning.

Kennedy began planning her birthday party for this year shortly after we arrived back in Seoul this summer. It didn't take her long to settle on an "art" party for this year. Then, Eric and I had the brilliant idea to involve our high school art teacher who is expecting his first child this spring. He had lots of great ideas and everyone was really excited about it.

We were excited until we realized that we were actually going to have to schedule a day for this little party. Then things started to get complicated. We started with one day in mind, only to discover we were double-booking ourselves and he had family in from out of town. Then we chose another day and quickly realized that wasn't going to work, either. We finally settled on a week--the week that he arrived back from Singapore and his soccer season began. At this point, I said that we would just pick a day--if he could make it, then that would be great; if not, that would be okay, too.

Not surprisingly, he didn't make it. We had (shamelessly) planned to have the party at school in Eric's classroom. It has more space, we didn't have to worry about people finding our house, and we could just do a short party after school with snacks and cake. The two hours before the party (Eric doesn't teach the last two periods of the day, thankfully), we were running around his room and the school putting together last minute decorations and trying to figure out what we were actually going to have these girls do for two hours.

Thankfully, we came up with something--Eric did most of the brainstorming--and we were able to get everything together (for the most part) before I had to leave to go get Cade. That left Eric in charge of picking up all 13 girls after school and then herding them up to his classroom amidst screaming middle school students. I did not envy him this task. By the time Cade and I arrived, they were all seated in his room, eating an after school snack of juice, cheese, and crackers. Pretty impressive.

 

Cade was a bit intimated by the size (and volume) of the group of girls and chose to spend the entire party standing outside the classroom door. Of course, the girls thought this was quite the challenge--he already knows how to get the girls!

They all had a great time at the different stations we had created--one for painting, one for drawing (with the world's messiest pastels), and one for decorating goodie bags. We had just enough time after cake for the girls to vote on their favorite drawings and paintings, so that we could award certificates.

And, yes, Cade did decide that he could enter the room, eventually...to get cake, of course.

We have already informed Kennedy that she won't be getting a big party next year; the first seven years of her life are long enough for that streak. It is always fun to see how she interacts with her friends, but we're looking forward to a year off! In our opinion, she is one blessed little girl, but she is being exposed to the fact that some of her friends live a much higher lifestyle. This week she has been invited to a birthday party that begins with a limousine ride around Seoul, followed by dinner in a restaurant, and then finished with a rented out pottery studio where they each get to make their own piece. Sorry, kid. Your birthday parties won't ever look like that!

Conferences & Maui Wrap-up

Thankfully, it has been just a bit less busy in the past week or so. Last weekend, Cade was sick for the entire weekend. The highlight of my birthday was getting out of the house in the afternoon to sit in a coffee shop that had all of the doors open, so that I could catch up on my reading for class. It was a beautiful day, and I was thankful for the fresh air that I hadn't experienced since early Friday afternoon.

The beginning of the quarter is always a little stressful--there is a lot of prep work to do--but it was so much nicer than the previous week! We only had four day of class and then nearly a twelve hour day of back to back conferences. We were exhausted by Friday night. 

Conferences with Korean parents are very different than what I am used to. Of course, much of my experience comes from meeting with parents at Sylvan. The meeting usually lasts between 15 and 20 minutes, and the parents do much of the talking. Sometimes, it seemed like more of a therapy session than anything else. The parents want to talk about their frustrations with their child, with the teacher, with the school, maybe even education in general.

This is not the case with Korean parents--even the ones who speak English fluently. Last year, when I began my conferences by asking a question to get them talking, I got a lot of responses about how they wanted to hear from me. It seemed that they wanted me to be that go-between, so that they didn't have to worry about actually talking to their child. This year, I told my students that their homework was to go home and talk to their parents about what was going on in class. Their parents' homework was to come in and be able to tell me something, anything.

I had an alarming number of parents tell me that yes, they were pretty sure their child had tried to tell them something, but they weren't listening. Seriously. They admitted to it. Suffice it to say, conferences are interesting. I do all of the talking--they have no questions, no agenda, which I suppose makes it easier. Honestly, it's not too hard. It's rare that I have an angry or rude parent. Most of them don't challenge how I do my job at all. They're concerned over whether or not their children have high As (an A- doesn't always do it) and how to prepare them for the SAT. That's about it.

Obviously, I am over-generalizing here. Some parents are legitimately concerned about their children's futures and others are just fulfilling the duty that is parent-teacher conferences. I am your parent, therefore I am going to check in with your teacher (just like we do for our kids). Either way, I'm glad they're over and I won't have to spend my day doing them again until February.

While we were in our long day of conferences, Cade got to go to his Halloween party at school and Kennedy spent the day with one of our high school neighbors. Cade was thrilled to dress up as Batman, thanks to friends who happen to have costumes hanging around. Kennedy enjoyed spending her day doing little crafts and getting treats with Kathryn.

On Saturday, Eric had a baseball game, of course. The kids and I decided to go out for brunch for my belated birthday celebration. Kennedy ordered the biggest plate of chocolate chip French toast that I have ever seen! They were both beyond thrilled by the experience! In the evening, we finally went out for my birthday celebration dinner, to a new Southern barbecue restaurant in Itaewon. It was pretty good!

I really planned on taking pictures this week, but it didn't happen. The leaves are still just starting to change around here, and Eric has been busy with baseball, so we still haven't taken our family photo that is becoming an annual tradition. Hopefully, we'll be able to make it a priority next weekend, though with playoffs for both teams beginning, everything else takes a backseat. 

I think this may be my last round of Hawaii pictures--all from my phone, obviously. Here's the recap from the top down:

Kennedy at the park in Evan and Jen's neighborhood :: Eric and I at the Maui Brewing Company tour sunset from Halealaka :: the kids enjoying homemade popsicles in the kitchen window

checking out a new beach :: baseball in the park :: preparing to watch the outdoor movie 

:: enjoying the outdoor movie--UP :: 

first experience with Hawaiian shave ice after an afternoon at the beach :: another beach day 

:: sunset dinner date night with good Indian food ::

Here's a completely random fact for the day: I was apparently published in the Stanwood/Camano Crab Cracker, which is a little publication printed in the Stanwood/Camano area. I used to peruse them every time I went somewhere in Stanwood and had to wait. They leave copies in the lobby at Sylvan, so I used to read through the calendar of events to find out what stuff was going on locally. One of my blogger buddies from Marysville happened to pick it up (and read all the way to page 39) where she recognized our picture and blog post. Apparently, my little blog is easier to find than I thought.  

I am also discovering that students are finding my blog at a much more alarming rate than before. Already, this school year I have had more than one student say that they have found it--that is not normal. It doesn't change what I post, but it does make me a little more aware that maybe it's not just our family reading what I write!