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!

Thankful

Many people wonder why we need a car in a city that has such great public transportation, and so I just want to tell you how incredibly thankful I have been in the past few months for our car.

I'm thankful when it's 90 degrees out and I can hide from the sun. I'm thankful now that it's down into the 50s in the morning.

I'm thankful when it's raining and I don't have to rely on an umbrella to protect me right before I go to school. I get wet enough in the dash from the car to the bus and back again. I can't imagine how bad it would be if I had to walk Cade up the hill to get on the bus and then walk all the way down the hill to try to catch a taxi in the rain. (Not to mention how difficult it can be to get a cab when it's raining anyway.)

I'm thankful that I can count the number of taxi rides I have taken since our arrival in Seoul in July on one hand. Considering the fact that without a car, I could be taking taxi as many as four times a day, I am beyond thankful that I haven't had to do this. The stress from finding one when you need one and the headaches I get from crazy drivers and smoky cars are enough to make me wish I never have to take another taxi.

I'm thankful when I have soccer practice. I can make it home to change my clothes, pick up Cade, and back in time to get a few more papers graded before practice starts. At the end of the day, when all of the buses home are long gone, I don't have to try to find a cab, and I can even give somebody else a ride home!

I'm thankful when I can give another teacher a ride home, save them a few steps or a taxi ride. So many people have offered me (or us) rides in the past two years, and I'm so grateful that I can return the favor to singles who don't need a car or couples who are still holding out.

I'm thankful that I don't have to take the school bus to Costco on Thursday afternoons. I'm grateful for the years that I took advantage of that service, and I'm thankful that it's available to me when we're so busy that it makes the most sense. But, I'm so thankful that neither I nor Kennedy have thrown up on the way to Costco in the past six months. I'm so thankful that I don't have to deal with the stress of Costco compounded by the one hour time limit that is imposed by the driver and fellow shoppers. I'm so thankful that we can drive to pick up our groceries now!

I'm thankful when we have a lot of stuff to bring to school. In the past, it has sometimes taken us a week to get everything we need to school because we just don't have enough hands to carry it all onto the bus. We may have to take several trips from the parking garage up to the classroom, but that's no problem compared to several trips home!

I'm thankful when we have to carry suitcases. There are few things more stressful than trying to find a taxi for a family of four when everyone has a suitcase. Most taxi drivers will take one glance at us and speed right by. When one finally does stop, there is the rush to try to fit everything in followed by the rush to get everything out again. In our own car, we can stack those suitcases wherever we want!

Our car isn't particularly photogenic--though we did get a car wash yesterday--so, I thought I would share these pictures of the sunset our last night on Maui, instead. We attempted a silhouette picture, with help from Evan. The only view of the sunset that we get around here has a lot of buildings and power lines in it--and we have to drive to find even that!

Week Within Walls

Obviously, things have been pretty busy around here. Honestly, I just couldn't justify spending the time needed to write a blog post--long or short. I also still have lots of pictures to edit--all of those girls' soccer pictures that I'm supposed to share with parents and Kennedy's birthday party pictures, too. I haven't touched them, though.

Last week wrapped up with Fun Fest (where I did not take one single picture) and my girls soccer team winning first place in the All Star Tournament. This was the last week of the quarter, which always means a lot of grading and of course, preparation for the next quarter. I suddenly realize all that has to be done before we start our next book. I should have spent a lot of time re-reading Uncle Tom's Cabin, but that didn't happen, either. No, I have spent every spare minute grading sonnets. And exams. And blog posts. Oh yes, it's been fun!

I finally finished all of my grading today, though. Only a few more little late assignments trickling in, and then I can upload my grades and put in comments--all right under the wire of the due date, just like my students.

And, of course, last week was the week that Eric was gone for his Week Without Walls with the middle school. Four days with 250 middle school students doesn't sound like fun to me, but I think he enjoyed it. Thankfully, the kids and I managed within our walls, though it was pretty tough to get the work done that I was supposed to be doing. I ended up staying up late to work, naturally.

Our week ended with a professional development day where I was supposed to finally have a chance to work for a few hours. We'd gotten Kennedy a babysitter for the morning during our meetings and then she ended up with a pretty fun play date in the afternoon with one of her classmates. Cade was supposed to spend the day at school.

Around 10:30 in the morning, while I was in one of my meetings, Cade's teacher called and said that he had a fever. She said she wanted to give him some Tylenol and that she would call me back if it didn't go down--this was a much more relaxed approach to a fever than I had previously experienced in Korea. An hour later, she called back and asked me to come pick him up. Poor kid.

I'm not sure that I told the whole story about our first drive to Cade's school, but suffice it to say, I knew I couldn't find it again--easily. Luckily, it was right around our lunch break that the school called, so I had Eric come with me. This allowed him to read the iPhone map to me while I drove--it's really quite different from what we're used to in the States. We can't read signs and when we can the pronunciations on the phone tend to be different than the signs. Even the signs themselves are placed where you really can't predict which exit you're supposed to take until you're passing it. This is a problem.

Anyway, we managed to find it without much trouble--we took a different route from last time, so I'm still not sure how to get there. Because there were two of us, I was able to stay in the car while Eric ran up to get him. This is a real life-saver here where it's impossible to find a legitimate parking space. I'm sure the school has parking, but they haven't communicated to us where we might find it. We got the boy and took him back to school with us where he laid on bean bags in Eric's classroom for a couple of hours until I was ready to go home. Then he slept from 2:30 in the afternoon until 7:00 the next morning. He still hasn't totally recovered, but he doesn't have a fever anymore, thankfully.

This pictures in no way represent our week here in Seoul. It is starting to legitimately cool down now--I need to put away the shorts and get out the sweaters this weekend, I think. These pictures are from our last afternoon in Hawaii. Kennedy had been wanting to take some pictures of the flowers, so we walked down the street from Evan and Jen's for a few minutes to document them. What I wouldn't give for some relaxation on the beach right now!