Video of the Market.

Insadong

This past weekend was Korea's Independence Day and there were flags everywhere. Koreans are also feeling very patriotic because of their victories in the Olympics.

The streets were crowded with people walking, scooters, motorcycles and the occasional car made its way through all the people as well.



Yesterday we made our first official trip into Seoul. Loren actually went without me once, on accident. He jumped on an express with the intention of going in to work on a Saturday and realized that he had missed the stop and was then on the freeway with no hope of getting off the bus until 20 minutes later, he was in Seoul. I forgave him for going without me.
We went to Insadong, which is an arts district with all sorts of shops selling traditional wares such as tea sets, pottery, jewelry, paintings, scrolls, statues etc. It was kind of overwhelming with so much to see and so many people to navigate through.
Check out these photos.

KIS

This is a mini-amphitheater between the middle and high school buildings.
A view from the high school looking towards the middle school. One floor from the top and on the left is my classroom.
This is the lounge/magazine/reference section of the library. LOTS of room in the library.

This is looking at the school from the soccer field.

This is the elementary school. See those blue things on the roof, those are foam mats. They are necessary because that is the playground for the elementary school. Don't worry, they don't know they are that high up.

Here are some pictures of the school. I know we gave the web address of the school to many of you, but here are some other pics of the school.

KIS has been great to us so far. Since Sarah is hidden in the bowels of the Elementary building and I am atop the fourth floor of the Middle School we don't get to see each other much during the school day. It was nice at Global because we were just down the hall from each other. Actually, we do get to see each other occasionally during one of our 3 prep periods built into our 7 period rotation. (Sorry, had to say it.)

It has been interesting getting to know our students. Although classes are filled with Korean kids, many of them are from the states. They are amazing students. Give them homework and they almost ask for more. Give them an assignment and they actually want to do it. Of course since some of them are 6th graders there are definitely maturity issues. For example, while we were getting to know each other with an activity called the human knot, some of my male students grabbed markers to act as cootie barriers. The wanted to hold onto one end of the marker and have a girl hold onto the other end of the marker. This way they didn't have to actually hold hands. I told them to wait a year and they will want to hold hands with girls. They quickly replied, "Yech!" I can't wait to say, "I told you so."

The staff is great. So far everybody seems nice. It is very interesting talking to people who have come from different parts of the world. We have met people from Tunisia, Thailand, Mexico, Columbia, Kenya, Doha, Seattle and L.A. just to name a few. I will try to include some pics of our new friends soon. We hope everyone is well.

Oh, lastly, did you know that "boneless chicken" in some Korean restaurants means chicken feet? Neither did I. Now I do. Mmmmm crunchy!

First Impressions

Loren and I have both made the switch to Middle School this year. I was a bit nervous about it. My impression of middle schoolers was that they are crazy, twitchy, immature and unable to control themselves. I found I was mostly right! They are twitchy and immature, but they are also super cute so far. The boys don't like the girls and vice versa. The boys range from little kids to tall things with peach fuzz mustaches and squeeky voices. The girls range from little kids to 5'6 somthings and they either are in controll of themselves and somewhat confident, or giggly and unable to sit apart from their best friend who is wearing the exact hair style as they are.
I still vividly remember my 8th grade year as most everyone does remember some time in middle school and not fondly. But, I do have some shining moments that have made an impact on me even to this day. I hope that I can provide some of those moments for my students and help them through this tough time.
Pictures of the school will follow sometime soon!

Checking out the equipment

Park in Bundang

On one of our recent adventures right outside our doors, Loren and I stumbled on to this awesome park.  It has a full sized running track, soccer field, a place for roller blading, a hiking track over a hill and some very interesting workout equipment.  It was packed with Koreans working out!  How inspiring.  I hope to go running there soon.  So, check out these pics .