Christmas at LCI and Some Random Events

So lets start off with the random events first.  Hayley has left and is now getting ready to work in Malaysia.  Laura is our new foreign worker at school and she seems nice.  My friend Matsuko has to leave Korea earlier than planned so she came to visit for a weekend and we watched the Hobbit in theaters after we caught her up on the first movie.  The two Hobbit movies are very different as the first movie focuses on relationships and the second more on action but I enjoyed both.  I won't go into details as I don't want to spoil the movie for those of you who have not seen it yet.  I really enjoy going to the movies here and should do so more often. 

Anyway, while with Matsuko, we decided to check out some cat cafes as she hasn't been to one and we ended up going to both of the ones in Seohyeon.  As I was always around cats, it was interesting to see how she reacted to the cats.  She is definitely more of a dog person and I think she only found one cat that she was comfortable around but that's okay.  I of course had a cat jump on my lap at both cat cafes so I was happy.  (Sorry Bree, Gremlin, and Jasper.... I cheated on you again T.T)  Cat cafes are definitely nice though when you decide not to have pets of your own.  Though I must admit that I do miss having pets.  But when I never know where I will be in the next year and travel, especially international travel, is extremely hard for pets, I just won't put an animal through that.

I have a new student in 1st grade and she seems to be doing well.  I will also be getting a girl who is also called Jessica in my afternoon kindergarten when school starts again in January.  Sadly, I will be losing three of my seven morning kindergarteners in January.  They are all moving.  T.T  One is going to Malaysia.  Another is moving to America.  And one is moving into Seoul.  So my class will be down to four.  T.T  It is going to be a lot quieter I think come January and I will miss having June, Clara, and Daniel in my class.

So, then we have the spelling bee.  Now over the last two months, we have recorded which students have gotten perfect scores on their spelling tests.  After the two months were over, the students with the highest number of perfect scores got invited to the spelling bee with classes the same level as them.  A few of my students entered and they did quite a good job.  Diego, from my first grade class, and Dylan, from my third class each won their spelling bee.  I was so proud of them as many of the words were hard and I found myself writing the words on my hand to double check the spelling as I myself wasn't sure.  I ended up being the speaker at one of the advanced ones which is funny because I think I mispronounced a word.  Hahaha.  Then again, spelling has never been my strong point and I find my spelling gets worse and worse as I do this job.  Actually, I think my English speaking skills get worse and worse as I teach English.  Go figure.

Then we have the third grade little play.  In my third grade class, we have been reading Robin Hood.  At the end we do a short scene from Robin Hood.  They have to memorize their lines and perform a little on stage.  This class is usually not motivated to memorize anything and I was really proud that 6 of the students did not use their books and 1 only needed it half way through, and that was the student with the most lines.  Only one student did not have any of his lines memorized.  I have to say that for the first play they did, they did an excellent job.  And besides, watching Jason die on stage was just hilarious.  Even the shy students did a really good job.  And one of the girls who is really afraid of speaking is doing an excellent job and literature really seems to be her thing.  I wonder if she is like me and she learns better through stories because she is more confident and answering a lot more questions.

Now I will go into the Christmas events.  As I am a big fan of Christmas, I got each of the students and teachers a little something.  Mostly cards and some candy or chocolate.  First was the afternoon kindergarten Christmas event.  The students made cards for their parents and played games.  They practiced and sang Christmas songs.  My class did a really good job with We Wish You A Merry Christmas though Chris Teacher's class definitely was the best as they were so cute with their dance moves to Jingle Bells.  Though the song contest wasn't as big as it is for morning kindergarten, the students had a lot of fun.  But all the classes did well, even the newer classes.  Then the students got presents and a picture with Santa (**cough cough** Ben Teacher **cough cough**) and got ready to go home. 

Next is the staff Christmas party.  So we went to eat at a Chinese restaurant but I wasn't a big fan of the food.  But then again... when am I ever a fan of the food.  Mostly it was spicy or had a lot of seafood tastes so not really my thing.  But at least I tried it ... though I didn't go near the little octopuses or sea cucumbers or whatever the other fishy things were.  Chuck and I were the masters of ceremonies so we got to hand out all of the presents and stuff.  I was last so I knew my secret Santa was Mr. Hang.  Ironically he gave me the same thing Ellie gave me at the last Christmas party, a bath and body set or something.  My guess is no one knows what to get me as my interests are very different from everyone else's.  Which is fine by me as it's the thought that counts and I am sure I will use it at some point .... when I actually have a bath again. 

Afternoon Kindergarten Singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas

I gave Lucy an anime DVD that looked good as I thought she could enjoy it with her son.  And some nice chocolate that it looked like some people wanted to steal. ^.^  Obviously as I am the only one who would think of anime as a gift, it was easy for her to figure out it was me.  So I had to sing a song which of course I had no problem with.  Again I think I surprised everyone with my singing.... I wonder why that happens every time I sing.  Maybe it is just because it is so infrequent that people hear me singing songs that are not designed for children.  But I love to sing so I definitely won't complain.  They went out drinking after that and I went home to have a nice lazy weekend.  I even got to play some video games. O.O

So the morning kindergarten event went very well.  Thankfully I had finished all my work ahead of time as I didn't have much time to teach.  I gave my students their gifts and we practiced our song, which we did Jolly Old Saint Nicholas.  The students had pictures and presents from Santa.  It actually surprised me because one of the kids actually admitted to Santa that he had been bad that year.  I was quite surprised but he ended up getting his Christmas gift because he told the truth.  Then the students played with the PE teacher for a while.  After lunch was the song contest which I ended up the master of ceremonies for.  I actually volunteer for these positions as I really don't mind doing them.  Most of the time it is fun and it kind of reminds me of the days I used to lead the anime club.  Ah the good old days. ^.^  Anyway, the classes were so cute and it was hard to pick the best.  My class actually tied for second place in the contest, which was a really nice way to end as three of the students would not be returning after break as they are moving.  This is also the first time a class of mine has placed in song contest so I was happy about it too.  ^.^

So, I have officially renewed my contract again and will be staying in Korea at least until the end of February 2015.  I have to say given what the economy is like, it is nice knowing that I have a job for another year.  It is such a relief to have to worry about one less thing.  And I really like working at LCI for the most part and it keeps me busy.  Also, stay tuned for my next blog entry because you will get to read about the Christmas surprise that I have sent home for Christmas.  Hopefully it arrives by Christmas (tomorrow T.T).  I can't wait to find out how my family reacts.  Merry Christmas everyone and have a Happy New Year!

Field Trips, Festivals, Cat Cafes, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, and More

So here is another post after a while.  Sorry I don't update more, I have been REALLY BUSY (I even stopped my Korean class ... hopefully will have time again to at least self study once some of the bigger graduation preparations are finished.) .... but I feel like I should update some before the holiday stuff begins.  Hopefully I don't forget any fun facts because as always I forgot to write this stuff down to remember when I have time to update this.  Thankfully I take lots of pictures which always helps.  This will likely not be in time order but I will try to cover everything.

So we had some field trips with the kindergarteners.  First, we took them to the Gyeonggi Children's Museum.  It is one of my favorite field trips so far because it gave the kids a hands on approach and they could really do what they wanted and learn about different things.  They brushed a giant set of teeth, had a bicycle race with a skeleton, stuck balls up a nose, played in water, dressed up in all types of costumes (of course that was one of my favorite parts ^.^), did touch tests, and so much more.  One of my favorite reactions was when Amy did a touch test and shrieked and pulled her hand out quickly (by the way the mystery item was a feather but she didn't know that).  I spend most of the time helping kids from all different classes try on costumes.  I was sad that they were too small for me ... whenever I spend a lot of time in America next ... I need to go to an anime convention.  I think I am suffering from cosplay withdrawal though Halloween did help a bit.

The next field trip that we went on was to the bank.  Mostly we just went to the bank and the manager showed the kids a few things like how to use the ATM and things like that.  This went really well with our savings plans theme of the month and activities.  The part that I remember most is when they gave chocolate wrapped in gold paper to each of the kids.  June comes up to me and says that when he eats the chocolate he will turn into gold.  Then I can sell him and become very rich.  I just love my students so much sometimes. ^.^  As for the savings plan activity, I promised my kids that for every 1000 won they saved, I would give them two small candies.  It is a good thing I bought a really big bag of candy, otherwise I wouldn't have had enough.  I had a few students who got over 30 pieces of candy.

Speaking of my students, then we have Amy who takes in everything I say and somehow hears something else such as Teacher is not married but has a baby.... Now where did that come from?  (Just for clarification: 1. I am not married.  2. I have never been pregnant.  3. Do not want kids of my own.  I will be the aunt that spoils them rotten.)  Or another student, Ryan from 1st grade, really listens to what I say.  He knows that I like cosplaying and dressing up in different costumes so as an early Christmas present, he got me sleeves that attach to your wrists that some kind of Korean dancers wear.  I will have to try them out some time.

So, I have been playing some games with the dinosaurs in Hayley Teacher's classroom.  Her students enjoy coming in the next day and finding that the dinosaurs moved.  I'm not sure when I started to do this, but I teach in Hayley's classroom after her and my first graders laugh at me as I move the dinosaurs around while they are writing something down.  I think I am having more fun doing it than the kindergarteners are in seeing what the dinosaurs will do next.  So far I have had the dinosaurs play hide and seek, the T-Rex propose to the triceratops, had the dinosaurs on each others' backs, etc.  I find it a lot of fun but I think I will be running out of ideas soon.  Hmm.... what to do next .... perhaps have the dinosaurs party on the floor. 

We also had a minor in school speech contest and a few of my students entered and won from 1st and 3rd grade.  They did good jobs so I can't complain.  I also had my normally unmotivated 6th grade class do a project with the Eragon series (we read the first two stories in the series of four books).  Basically they had to write a story about how Murtagh got his dragon, Thorn, and why he ended up working for Galbatorix, whom he hated.  They all did an excellent job and wrote more than I required them, too.  They also had to draw comic strips to go along with their stories and it was a fun project to see come together at the end.

So that is all that happened with school, next I will talk about Megan's birthday and Thanksgiving.  First, we all celebrated Megan's 24th birthday at the Ashley's Restaurant (has American food and all you can drink wine).  Now I'm not much of a drinker but I figured I'd enjoy the all you can drink wine since it was all you can drink for basically $3.  Probably the second most I've ever drunk as the last time was an all you can drink for two hours at a Japanese Izakaya for my 22nd birthday.  I wasn't quite tipsy but it did make me sleepy.  I think Megan was worried about me because she insisted she get me a glass of water.  ^.^ Thanks Megan.  But wasn't too bad and the night air (it is getting cold here and soon it will be unbearable T.T) woke me up very quickly which was nice because after that I went with a few of the coworkers to a Noraeban (basically Karaoke).

Karaoke was a lot of fun and I love to sing.  I think I surprised a few of my coworkers (last time I went to Karaoke with them, most of them were pretty drunk and don't remember much of it) as they were saying I could really blast the songs out.  The first song I did was I'm Alive and it's pretty high paced.  Chris and I tried a Japanese song together but neither of us knew it well enough to sing it, though I did sing another Japanese song by myself earlier in the night.  I don't know enough Korean yet to sing Korean songs.  I will need to study Korean more when I get the time again.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun and the Noraeban people kept giving us free time so we were there for at least two hours even though we only paid for an hour.

Then Chris, Sarah, and I had Thanksgiving Dinner at Megan and Sarah's church.  Megan was there too, but she was working the event so we didn't see her much.  The food was a little cold but considering they had been cooking all day to feed over 500 people, that was to be expected.  But despite the food being cold, it tasted great.  I even ate this stuffing which I don't normally like.  And the pumpkin pie was so good!  This was my first Thanksgiving dinner in three years and I must say I enjoyed it.  Both Megan and Sarah won some prizes.  One for having a knock off item and the other for a birthday.  It was really entertaining as there was dancing competitions, rap competitions, music, etc.  Not quite what you would normally expect and even the pastor did a rap.  I liked it enough to go back the next day and try it out.  Everyone was friendly though I normally get uncomfortable in those situations.  Not sure if I will go back again or not but wasn't bad overall, just me being awkward in a new setting.

I also went to the Seoul Lantern Festival with Chris and Ashley, and even managed to convince Nathaniel to take a break and join us.  It was a bit cold and some of the lanterns were hard to see because they were facing the wrong way, but I really like them.  My favorite part was probably the area with all the fish lanterns high above our heads.  We ended up losing Chris and Ashley for a while but we saw everything and unlike the Fireworks Festival, our phones actually worked so we were able to get back to each other.  Either way, it was very colorful and though not my favorite festival I've been to, I wouldn't mind going to see it again. 

Okay, so some last minute small things before I post this (hopefully I didn't forget anything major).  I've seen two movies recently.  I love how Korea has a bunch of English films.  First, I saw the Hunger Games: Catching Fire movie and it made me go and read the first book and will soon be reading the other two books.  I saw the first movie a month or two ago before this one came out.  It was a really good movie but a lot more violent than the first movie and I wonder how the series will end.  I also realized that the first book is fairly similar to the first movie, which I don't notice very often with movies, though of course they did leave out some things that I wished they would have included.  I won't say more about it as I don't want to ruin the movie for those of you who haven't seen it yet.  I also watched a romantic movie called About Time where a guy can travel back in time and change how he reacts to different situations.

Other than that, I found this soda can with a cute anime style character on it.  Now, I don't really drink soda but I bought it just so I could take a picture of it.  I did end up drinking the grade soda just because but I honestly just wanted the picture.  I also went to a cat café again with Hayley as she wanted to go to one before she left.  We went to the nicer one, though I may go back to the older one as I believe the cats are more cuddly in that one.  Either way, I enjoyed it and one of the kittens, who was there the last time I was there, was still there and it had grown quite a bit.  The really grouchy cat was there too, but he didn't attack me this time, just stared me down.  I did get one cat to finally come up to me and got some cute pictures of him on my lap.  As you can see, I have been very busy lately and even more busy at work as I have literature schedules and graduation letters and speeches to work on. 

Also, as I already knew, Korea is much more efficient than America, and not just there doctors, this time I am going to talk about customer service.  Anyway, my phone broke down right as I was just about to get a demon that only 5000 people can get on my game T.T (I have a feeling I am going to be sad over that one for a while) and it wouldn't turn on no matter what I did.  Tried both batteries, etc.  I had to take it to the repair shop over lunch the next day, and not only was it fixed in 20 minutes but they didn't charge me anything.  The service was free.  I feel like if that had been in America, I probably would have had to wait hours or send the phone in and they would have charged me for it.  And charged me a lot of money.  Just another way that Korea is more efficient than America.  Anyway, Christmas is coming and that should be fun as I will be having two Christmas events, one with each of my kindergartens .... but that also means practicing for two song contests. T.T  Look for the next post to be about the Christmas events.