Teachers day.

Good Weather and Good Times

Suseong lake.

On zee lake.

Jeff is pedaling hard because I was taking a little break…

Rice jeon with fried eggs and magkoli.

Boatin.

We decided to stop in for a little singin’.

Stopped into sing for a bit.

RIP Spring

Why hello there 😉

some flowers I spotted on a stroll around my school.

I have been pretty busy lately. I am trying to stay on top of running and that tires me out. Despite being really busy I have time to realize the weather has taken a turn for the better. This weekend it was 80* I think its good and bad…I just know that some hot weather is in STORE for this summer then.
Anyways, here are a few pictures that sum up spring for me because honestly….its over already Haha. So here’s to a great spring until we meet again! You were fun.

mojito after my 10 k for Cinco de Mayo.

sports day!

more sports day!

view from the English room window.

The Food From My Trip Part I

FINALLY. Honestly, I have tried to post this blog several times before now but I ended up getting inspired by looking at my pictures of food and went to foodgawker.com or something. Today, I am focused.

I love eating. I love talking about, looking at , thinking about, dreaming about…food. When researching food in Singapore and Malaysia beforehand I was already drooling. This post will be all about my food pictures from my trip. There were times when I was eating and it just didn’t seem right to take a picture, or I finished it so fast that when I remembered it looked too eaten. : / Please enjoy.

Singapore, Singapore. While I was in Singapore I would eat 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and 2 dinners everyday because I didn’t want to miss anything. Can you imagine???

Dragon fruit and others fresh smoothie.

coffee and kaya toast @ Ya Kun Kaya Toast.

Kaya toast @ Ya Kun Kaya Toast.

Apple and Aloe Juice : )

Mint Marsala Thosai.

Roasted chicken, rice, cucumbers and some sauce. Food stalls.

Food stall dinner #1 complete with a coconut.

Sugar cane drink.

Chicken wings, eggs with oysters.

Satays, oysters and egg, chicken wings.

Unidentified fruit smoothie from OOMPH!

Coffee at Old Town White Coffee.

Of course, I got kaya to go with it. @ Old Town White Coffee.

Potato curry and paratha.

Soft boiled eggs with a little soy sauce.

Ice cream 'sandwich.'

I drank coconut juice everyday.

Vegetable stuffed rotti.

I know there is so much more to eat in Singapore, but I definitely ate a lot.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Coconut. Nuts. Curries. Vegetables. ROTI. Malaysian food was so delicious.

Some spongy bread with veggies on top and lots of dipping and a mint, lime aid.

Juice= walking around.
Beer= tired of walking around.

DELICIOUS coconut rice sweets. Everything in it was made from a coconut.

Veggie Indian platter.

Clams with tumeric.

Chicken fish.

Mangostien.

Steamed bread with kaya and butter @ Old Town White Coffee.

The Creatures From My Trip

How do you write a blog post about a 17 day long vacation? When everyday you were doing something new and exciting? I decided to break it down into some categories, first being; creatures. At the beginning of February I got back from a 17 day vacation in Singapore and Malaysia. During that time I spent a lot of time in the rain forest. I was lucky enough to see a lot of wild life. I have to preface this though…I have a phobia of creepy crawlies…I knew that I was going into the jungle and that there would be a whole new world of creatures but nothing would have prepared me for it. My time spent in the jungle was exciting for every second and I wouldn’t take any of its time away even though at times I was really scared. I was able to push through and begin to conquer my fears!

Singapore, Singapore. No wildlife in Singapore! Seriously! I was happy to not worry about mosquitoes but…there was nothing!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 

Butterfly Garden.

Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park.

Butterfly that I saved from getting trampled with that leaf.

Box turtle soakin' up the sun.

Mulu National Park, Mulu, Borneo, Malaysia.

The picture barely captures how shiny this guy was!

So blurry because I was so scared and not stupid enough to stop to take a picture. A pit vipor snake, one of the most deadly poisonous snakes!! It was on the rail of the path we were on...sticking her tongue out!

Deer Cave, where the bats fly out of.

Bat Exodus. About every night close to 3 million bats fly out of Deer Cave and go hunting. They would come out in waves of a couple hundred moving in a swirling motion.

More bats flying.

This guy look familiar? He is like a giant pill bug! He curled up when we got close.

The GIANT month that inhabited our bathroom.

Can you see this bug? It looked like white moss!!!

Hairy guy.

Long millipede.

Big dragonfly.

Bako National Park, Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia.

Monkey X-ing.

Macaque's lands. Looks like they have pillaged.

Hermie.

Another shiny lizard, this one sunbathing!

The lost crab.

The lost crab in the middle of the jungle. Flew out of nowhere and nearly hit Jeff in the face. Had some babies following her!

The Night Walk @ Bako National Park.

See that green thing??? Its a scorpion!

Poisonous frog.

Stick bug.

Out and Around in Bako Park.

Probosces Monkey.

Family of Probosces Monkeys.

Probosces eating the yummy leaves.

Semenggoh Wildlife Reserve, Kuching, Malaysia.

BIG Ritchie eating so many bananas.

Swingin' to bananas.

Baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Post acting as a Snow Dance.

Snow. You always want it when you can’t have it, and want it gone when it persists. Here in Daegu, snow is somewhat rare. Not counting last year where it snowed quite a bit and for an extended period of time… None the less, I want some snow! I want to walk and see my foot prints. I want to make a SNOWMAN! I want to see the city turn white. I want to see it slow down a bit. I explained the concept of a snow dance to a couple of 5th graders yesterday…I hope that they really understood me and did their part. I certainty did.

School is out, but the kids don’t really get a break. I see kids out and about, at school, heading to their hagwons. None of them are just playing or relaxing. Neither am I! I have 3 weeks of winter camp and I have already finished 1. It went really well. I am starting to get the hang of camp! It is now week 2 where I am teaching the beginners alone. They are all 3rd graders with a few 4th graders. We are studying about winter. Today revolved alllllllllllllllllllllll around snow. We read this book:

This book is about how a little boy begins to see a few snowflakes but everyone around him is doubting the snow. As he says “Snow doesn’t listen to the radio. Snow doesn’t watch T.V.”

Counting the snowflakes.

The kids listening to Snow.

So I am hoping that this post acts as yet, another snow dance. As I started this post it was snowing, tiny little flakes. Since then it has stopped : / We got a few hours of snow on New Years Day but it didn’t stick anywhere except peoples cars. If you have snow please, send some my way!!! Next weekend I will be going up north in Gangwon province to an Ice Fishing Festival. It looks really exciting and FULL of snow! Jeff might even jump in freezing water to go fishing…aka CATCH a fish. ahh!

 

UPDATE: 10 minutes after writing this post THIS is what I saw out of my window…   ; )

Outside of my bedroom window. : )

Can you see the snowflakes in the light?

Holiday Time!

Jeff and I next to our fakey tree. I sure do miss the smell of pine though...

Keepin’ Busy

I have been really busy, lately. I made a goal about this year to try to do more at my school and be more involved. I really got what I wished for. Teaching my regular classes had gotten a little boring~ just the same stuff over and over again. Not much creativity involved just teaching about the book and making sure they get a good grade on their tests. That kind of attitude and teaching realllllllly brings me down. SO, when I saw an e-mail from the DMOE offering teachers a chance to teach after school English classes twice a week, I jumped at the chance and applied. Soon, I was going to be busier than I ever thought I could be!

My After School Class

I was assigned to teach 3rd graders. I was a little nervous since…that meant…the students had been studying English for less than a year. Following me for 2 hours  was going to pose as a struggle for sure. I have to admit, I really struggled with this class for the first month. I had to make assigned seats, assign daily positive reinforcement deals and a warning system! I reviewed the rules before class everyday. I even had to speak with a mother about her son’s behavior. Me…speaking to a mother…in Korean was really interesting. I hope she understood what I was trying to get across! Anyways, if there is one thing I learned that stuck so hard with me from graduate school its that the #1 step to improving classroom behavior and having good classroom management was good curriculum. I tried my best to plan intersting and challenging lessons, but so often they ended up being…재미 없어, not fun. Through the struggle, we all started to get into a groove and I started to know what they liked and what their needs were. In the end it was such a great experience. Here are some highlights of what we did for the semester~

A-1 Class Portraits

Tom, hehe, sometimes kids have English names

Angry Bird Number Game

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Choosing a Pen Pal letter.

Se hee's name poem

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chae Won's poem

Best. Mask. Ever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Origami

Monster.

Halloween Masks

I feel book... he wrote when it was made and by who.

His page 2, can you see the number two on the left side?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I feel sad...when I fart?

 

 

Pen Pals

My old mentor teacher from Portland, Phyllis, was kind enough to start a pen pal correspondence. It was a really big motivator and sooo much fun!

Our pen pal letters have arrived!

Hye-in's letter.

Tom's letter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About to send their pen pal letters with the origami that they made.

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in Korea but…

Ah. Blogging? What’s that…? Whoops.

I recently got back from a long and very beautiful vacation back home in Portland, Oregon. (Will blog about this later because I am sorting my pictures.) I have been back in Korea now for about 8 days and it didn’t take long to readjust and to have things go back to the way they were before I left. There is a catch, not exactly the way they were before I left. Over the past year I had made a lot of good friends; some of which who are not staying in Korea for another year. So upon my arrival of feeling refreshed and ready to welcome another year in Korea, I was quickly reminded that it would be the last time I saw a lot of the people that I met here.

The day I got back I had to say goodbye to three great friends. That was the most in one day! After a night of sangria and talks of reunification in Ireland, in a barn, I felt much better about our futures!

Da Girlz.

The going away parties didn’t end there-

Camtu's going away brunch.

Goodbye everyone, good luck and I’m so glad that I met you here! Daegu will always welcome us all back! haha

Despite saying all my good byes, I feel really great about this year to come! It will be different, but it will allow me to grow. In my new apartment, with a new attitude and a new appreciation for all things in my life~ I do believe it’s going to be a great year.