Merry Christmas from Mojo Class

My class performed “Jingle Bell Rock” for caroling contest at our school…Here it is…

Pancakes…

Every month we have a cooking class.  This month got to teach them how to make Pancakes

Listening…

Taking turns…

Wathing, waiting, anticipating…

Delicious!

What a good looking group of Chefs…

Another adventure : A day trip to LotteWorld!

We had a day off work last week, so Annie (one of our favorite co-workers), Aimee, and I decided to go to LotteWorld, one of Korea’s versions of DisneyWorld.  We had a great time together, despite the fact that it rained all day, and were freeeeezing.   Just another fun adventure to add to the list  Thanks Annie and Aimee for the great day!  

Tickets! Here we come!

Im really excited, can you tell?

…and so is Aimee…

Welcome! Does anyone else think its funny that their mascots are rodents as well…

Elena – “I want to do this, and this, oh and that…” Annie – “Ok, Ok,Ok….

Sorry Aimee, you’re too short for the rides….. not really, but it would be funny if she was…

This is where Korean dreams come true…

Annie is ready for the water ride…

Locked up…

Haha, I don’t really know how to explain this one…

Christmas Card?

Aimee is a tree hugger…

Merry Christmas?

Our “scared” face…

Oh Annie….You’re our favorite!

Peanut corndogs!

It’s Lotte Castle!

It was really funny to watch the people before us try to avoid other cars….But don’t worry, we showed them how to play

A lot of waiting in the rain….

…But yet it was still fun :)

Magic Donkey?

Good-Bye LotteWorld, it was fun!

My Heart Is Sad :(

This week, Aimee and I say good-bye to our “weekend friends,” Jon and Cinthia.  I call them weekend friends because our work schedules are exact opposite, we work morning, and they work till late night at another school.  Jon and Cinthia are a married couple from Canada, and they have been our family here in Korea.  We have shared SO many adventures while we’ve been here, they have been such a blast!

Their friendship has meant so much to us during our time here in Korea, and I feel so blessed to have been able to spend this year together.  I am excited that they are soon to start on an amazing trip called “The World Race.” It is a  eleven month  mission trip where they travel to eleven different countries, sharing the love of Christ through work and teaching.  To learn more about it, check out

http://www.theworldrace.org/

If you would like to learn more about the couple, and how to pray or finacial support them, you can go to their sites at

http://jonathanbunford.theworldrace.org/

http://cinthiaramirez.theworldrace.org/

I’m going to miss you guys!

I Fell In Love…

I love my kindergarten

The Girls and I

Gotta be prepared for Swine Flu…Might as well have a cool mask and a funny face to scare it away…

Miss Lauren during snack time :)

The “gang” minus Angelina who so graciously took the picture

My handsome boys

My chair is high on demand at all times… Thomas captured it…

They are so kind to each other…99% of the time ;)

Miss Lauren and I traded necklace…It might be a little long on her….

Then Kevin asked if he could have a turn…

Yes, I taught him that….AND am proud….

Sitting still for once in his life….

class.  I truly do.  Since I only a month left, I have really started to realize how much it’s going to hurt to leave them… I mean, look at the pictures…

Stories

One day after speech class, we had about  5 mins left, So Angelina asked if she could tell me a story.  This is the second part of the story, because i didn’t think to start when she first started telling me the story.  The first part of the story was extremely funny. She had just told me that she had come back from the park one day and found that the picture of a doughnut she had drawn had come to life, and to quote “I turned around, and my mother was dead…because of the doughnut…”  This is the next part…

Lesson, killer doughnuts, you might be able to cheat death….but watch out if you eat too many, then there is no hope…

Folk Day

Mojo Class in our tradition clothes for folk day

All dressed up for folk day

Kevin – My fireball. Kevin. Kevin. KEVIN!. The name on my lips all day long. “Kevin, good morning!” – (Kevin)”Goodnight!”

Ryan – Yah, I am that funny. Ryan is the big dog. Whatever he like, so does the rest of the boys. He also threw Angelina’s socks out of our 6th story Window this morning…

Patrick – My genius, he is a little sponge…He also loooooooves it when i make faces at him….Might be why he is laughing in this picture…

Lauren – My angel. She wants to be an artist/ballerina. Her favorite color is pink and loves rabbits, and whatever else Angelina likes

Angelina – Every moment of her life is a dance. She wants to be a ballerina/Artist. Her favorite color is pink and loves rabbits, and whatever else Lauren likes

Thomas – My sweetheart

Elvis – The future heart breaker…With a name like that, what could you expect…

My girls taking a turn

Playing “hole shoe” a version of Horse shoes

:) Seemed like a good idea at the time

Boys having a “chicken fight” tournement

The girls got to have a arm wrestling tournament due to the fact they could not “chicken fight” in their dresses

Then they had Aimee and I arm wrestle…We won’t talk about who won ;)

The kids cheering us teachers on while we arm wrestled.

Chung teacher helped us all day with “teaching” in our outfits :) It harder than it looks….

Annie, Aimee, and I sitting in our traditional outfits

What a day!

It’s been a while… :)

I laugh when I realize how much catching up I need to do.  In some ways, I don’t even know where to start.  So i will try to catch you up with pictures rather then a lengthy essay

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And sooo much more….

I am aware that I never posted any new pictures of my new kindergarten students, so I will need to bring a camera to school sometime this week so you can meet them!

I hope that everyone is well, and hope to do a better job over the next few months keeping you updated!  Can you believe I have been here for 9 months!  Crazy!

I’m a slacker, I know!

I am really sorry for those who have checked my blog recently and have  not seen any updates.  The last month has gone by so quickly!  I feel like the more i get into living here, the less it becomes a trip, and more like real life.  We work really hard during the week, and play on the weekends.  Aimee and i have been determined as of late to explore and go on as many adventures as possible.  We have walked around more, taken more chances with public transportation, and have really enjoyed it.  A new event we have added to our weekly schedule is a small group bible study.  It has actually been really encouraging and much needed accountability.  The people are mainly other foreign teachers that need a time to come together and pray for each other, and be an encouragement to each other as well.  On Easter Sunday we came up with the idea to have an Eater picnic, and we spent the afternoon just playing sports and having an easter egg hunt.  Im pretty sure all the Koreans at the park were scared of us all when we were dashing around the trees in serious hunt for easter eggs..

      I have been enjoying my student more and more each day.  I went through a really discouraging spell when i lost my morning kindergarten class.  Lately though, God has blessed me with the opportunity to pour into my afternoon elemntary and my pre-schooler students.  The elementary kids and I are having a  blast doing activities and engaging in conversations. My preschoolers are now getting to the phase where they are actually learning, and not just speaking in Korean.  For the the first month, the preschoolers would just sit in there seats, hardly moving, and then only speaking Korean.  NOw, i can barely keep them in there seats! They love to sing, dance, and randomly, sneak up on me.  I will be teaching in class, and suddenly feel arms wrapped around my legs, little sneakers.  It’s really precious.  I actually had one of my boys cry when he left class last week. That is always encouraging (not that he cries, but that he like english class).

I have started to walk to and from work everyday, and really enjoy walking along the river.  There is a path that goes around the river where walkers, joggers, bikers, and rollerbladers can do there thing.  A random little fact about Koreans is they love to exercise.  You can go to any park or path in Korea and just find random work-out equipment.  So this path is my favorite place to  people watch because you finally are seeing Koreans not in the work atmosphere.  Koreans are a HARDWORKING people.  I can not stress that enough, so this rare sight of relaxation and recreation is fascinating to me.

  I believe that is all i have for now, just thought i would jot down some thoughts and news…

Hope Everyone is well, and I really enjoy receiving your comments!  I love and miss you all!

Cherry Blossom Festival 4/11/09