Catching Up.

Do you ever have that moment where you realize how behind you are? I feel like I've let this blog fall to the wayside perhaps because so much is happening in life right now and I have a million things I could post about: another Kinder student, top Korea sites, an epic photo scavenger hunt, a goodbye to Dawna Diamon, God answering prayers, and a million more things that are part of this thing I call life. I spent the last few days trying to figure out what people would want to hear about most, how do I pick one thing out of the thirty that are happening? Then I had to remind myself this blog isn't ultimately for anyone but for me...if were for you, I'd have quit when I realized I'm lucky to get one comment :). And so I'm gonna post about what I want to post about: life. And if I get no comments I'll be okay because in 20 years when I'm trying to tell my daughter a bit about Korea I'll have this blog to point her to and she can comment then ;).

So to summarize it all up:

Dawna Diamon Leaves Seoul
So I'm not sure how to adequately explain how much I'm going to miss having this girl in my Korea life. She was the first friend I made in this new country, the first person I habitually teased, the first person to invite me to an activity, the first person to invite me to a weekend away, the first person to force me to try new food, and the first person to let me just be me. I so enjoyed getting to know her the last few months and am going to miss all of the late night chats, diners out, crazy group gatherings, and even the noreabang sessions. This girl is a legit person and I know that God is going to do some crazy good things with her and through her and I'm pretty excited to hear all about them in our Skype life :). I honestly believe that if I hadn't met Dawna Diamon I might not have stayed in Korea or even worse I'd have stayed and hated it. Plus, the girls got gorgeous eyes!



Photo Scavenger Hunt
Well Heidi Stromberg had a birthday and then Dawna Diamon left Seoul so we had to have two different epic photo scavenger hunts in honor of both those events. For Heidi's birthday; Dawna, Heidi, and I went to Sadang and Sukdea to check tasks of our lists. We found ourselves some epic Korean girl earrings, kimbapchunguks galore, a bench to fall off, and an awkward Korean man to hug.

For Dawna's Goodbye Hunt we had three different teams and roamed all over Seoul for hours completing a list of 53 items. I'm honored to have been on a team with Lauren, Holly, and Jennifer. Together we jumped on an off a subway car 13 times before the car left, stripped a Korean man, got fed oysters, ate live octopus, drank soju with ajuchis, bought team sweatshirts, touched a Korean man's bum, and a million more insane things. We managed to finish all but 8 on the lists and by unanimous vote were declared the winners.



Eating New Foods
For as long as I can remember I have been picky. My mom used to say all the time that when I was an adult my eating habits would finally change...she was wrong. I'm still just as picky, in fact, because I don't have a mom forcing me to take five bites I'm probably even more picky. I just don't like the way things taste sometimes or more importantly the way the feel when I eat them. And I've given up on trying foods because really what's the point when I could just be eating chicken tenders and ranch? In fact, last night I told someone I hated pudding to which they asked have you tried it? I of course had to answer no. Alas, coming to Korea has forced me to be a little different and having new friends who find my eating habits sad has also forced me to be a little different. I've started to trying things....and to my surprise even like some! I now can say I eat strawberries, blueberries, kiwi, oranges, tangerines, seaweed, lettuce, pineapple, cereal WITH milk, and maybe a few other things I'm forgetting. I've also tried and HATED live octopus (pictured), mussels (both for the scavenger hunt), cabbage, kimchi, fish, raddish, and again maybe a few more things I'm forgetting. There's also a few things I haven't fully decided on for example I'm eating a banana solely because a student gave it to me right now but I don't actually like it at all...maybe by the time I'm finished? Seems maybe I didn't need to just be an adult but an adult living overseas!



Cherry Blossoms
And here I thought they were only in D.C. but it turns out seeing them from at least the continent they came from is so much better. There's actually cherry blossoms growing all over Korea, including one four steps from my house BUT seeing them by the river is just what you do. I braved and shoved my way through the overcrowded subway station with Heidi and Ben to get a look at these beauties. We even took lots of pretty pictures...okay maybe mine weren't so pretty. Heidi and I competed in a Rock, Paper, Scissors contest which we lost in the first round. AND best of all a group of girls asked Heidi and I for a picture AND then two ajuchis asked for one as well. I'm not sure that I'll ever get used to being "famous" just for being white but gosh it does great things for self-esteem.




Hairbands are Still Great
Seriously, I realized at the beginning of this month how much money I had spent last month and was beyond surprised. These little things are pricey but they are worth every dime. I swear I get complimented by someone every time I wear one. And they just look awesome. And jewelry here is also great. But now I'm going to have to learn how to budget a bit better...it was so much easier when I made an intern salary and had to pinch every penny...having money is way too much fun to want to pinch it!



Kinder Class Rocks
Okay I know it's a photo of only Minseo--but seriously isn't she cute. I'll take time hopefully soon to introduce you to the other three, but let me just tell you they're great. Lately, I've noticed how hard they all work to talk with me or in Minseo's case to play charades with me. They've also gotten super protective and get pretty upset when other classes are "scaring" me (granted I'm pretending to be scared but all of the kids believe it to be true.) Eric even got bitten recently when he was defending me from the Libe class kids--yes, the other boy got in lots of trouble. All four--especially Eric--have also gotten very possessive of my time and hate when I interact with other classes too much. They'll usually work together to find a way to bring me back to the Kinder room. Finally, they all always want to talk with me and show me what they are doing or making. Whenever we play K-nex after lunch, I'm guaranteed to have to tell them all several times how great they're items are! But most of all, I love all the kisses. These four have completely captured my heart. And to be honest I don't even have a favorite...they're all that great.




Making the Better Story
I've been introduced to Donald Miller lately and he talks about how it's your decision to make your life a better story or to make it a boring one. I think I'm definitely learning to chose the better story. I've seen God answer so many prayers since I've been in Korea and I'm definitely learning to trust in Him so much more. I know with out a doubt that my time here has changed me and there's no doubt that the longer I'm here, the more I'll grow. I'm so glad that I came to Korea and that God always works in our lives. I never thought I'd work with little kids, I never thought I'd read the Bible everyday, I never thought I'd eat live octopus, I never thought I'd be patient, I never thought I'd go somewhere where I know no one, and I never thought I'd be who I am right now...but I am and that's all God. And I'm sure to become even more different as I let him be the maker and myself the clay.

김민서

김민서
Kim-Min-Seo



A Kinder class student. A slow eater. A hitter. A funny face maker. A gernous mom haver. A English learner. A well-dresser. A screamer. A funny story maker. A "a is apple" repeater. A character!

I am the proud co-teacher of four wonderful kinder students this new semester and thought I'd take some time to introduce you to the four little people I get to spend the majority of my day with.

And first up is Min-Seo. She's one of the only students of which I know a last name (which in Korean comes first) as I often hear my co-teacher Grace saying it and I have started to as well. I wish I could record a video of Grace and I saying "Kim Min-SA" to adequately show the way we have learned to say this name with as much "obey me now" inflection as possible. To be honest, I don't think it ever works :).


Her English name is Eileen, which is pronounced A-lean. Needless, to say I don't like it nor does my co-teacher so we seldom use it! I wanted desperately to name her Kara (as my co-teacher named another kid in our class after her and I thought it would be fair: I got vetoed).

My favorite time (right now) with Minseo is at lunch time. I remember every summer praying for patience and I think God's really started to answer that request with Minseo! She is a slow eater and takes nearly double the time the rest of the class does. Her old home room teacher used to feed her but thankfully my co-teacher and I are both firm believers that in 6 years or kinder class these kids need to learn to do it themselves! (though Grace will shove a spoonful or two in every once in a while)

A funny story: One day at lunch I had the other three kids eating super fast by judging all of their bites as tiny, little, big, or huge. The kids thought it was hilarious to show me a huge bite and hear me say in a great voice: "OH THAT IS SOOOOO HUGE!" And occasionally they'd laugh really hard when I pretended to be so sad that their bites were tiny!

Minseo was playing the game but it definitely was just succeeding in making her eat slower as she'd make a huge bite, which would fall off her spoon before she could get it in her mouth so then she'd do the whole process (showing me too) all over again. She also thoroughly enjoyed showing me tiny and little bites!

Randomly, Minseo looked at me and said, "Kara angry?" To which I laughed, fake sniffed, and said "No, I am sad because Minseo is not eating." My co-teacher translated that into Korean so that Minseo would understand and then Minseo turned and stared at me with this I'm-not-so-sure-if-you're-lying-or-not-face-but-if-you're-not-I-should-do-something-to-help. She must have decided I wasn't lying (the whole time she stared, I fake cried) because she looked at me, looked at her spoon, looked at me, picked up her spoon, looked at me, got some rice, looked at me, smiled and shoved that rice in her mouth. I sniffed and then said "no that was a tiny bite." So Minseo rushed to grab another tiny spoonful and shove it in her mouth, then looked at me, heard me sniff again, grabbed another huge bite and shoved it in her mouth, and looked at me, and smiled so big when I smiled big and said, "I am so happy." After that any time I sniffed Minseo would shove food in her mouth as quick as she could!

I'm proud to say, Minseo finished her lunch first today and that the fake crying thing is still working and working even better now!

I'm sure to introduce you to a million more Minseo's stories as time goes on. In fact, it was super hard to stop with just one. But let me just say I love this girl. Yes, there are days when I'm frustrated, angry, tired with her but at the end of the day she looks up at me and smiles and it's impossible to not love that little face. Or when she sees me in the morning and yells, "KARA!" in her little screeching voice. Or when she kisses my cheek randomly during the day. Or even when she's telling me "no" for the fifth time when she should be saying "yes, mam!"

I love Kim Min-Seo!.

Reason #1, You're DYING to visit Korea.

So someone recently asked me what I loved about Korea (perhaps in response to a bit of a rant I had gone on about all my dislikes) and it got me to thinking about how AWESOME certain things here are. So I thought I'd share them with you, honestly, in hopes of enticing you to visit me here...as I really, really, really want a visitor (hint, hint).

So Reason #1 you should come visit me in Korea (or just come to Korea sometime):

That's right the headbands in Korea are AMAZING! I mean seriously Korean girls understand the idea of bedazzling one's hair. You can get simple headbands that are one color, headbands with little bows attached, headbands with extra sparkles, headbands with crocheted flowers, headbands with polka-dots, headbands with butterflies, headbands with textured cloth, headbands with beads, and probably a million more that I haven't seen yet but will be excited to see one day soon!

And just to show how amazing these headbands are for you doubters I shall quote Pamela Parry (a recent headband hater turned convert), "I do want more now!"

AND BEYOND HEADBANDS, Korea has barrettes galore, hairbands with all sorts of embellishments, chopsticks with beautiful doohickeys on tops (but to be honest I can barely eat with chopsticks so wearing them in my hair is just too hard!), butterfly clips of all shapes and sizes, and probably a million more hair accessories that I'm too American to understand.

And where can you get these things you ask? Well you can get them in most any subway stations, a variety of streets (especially in Apgujeong), Myeong-dong, any of the numerous malls, my bedroom mirror (yes that's right if you visit, I'd let you borrow one of my own collection), OR you could go to Dongdaemun

Perhaps, I should have named this reason #2 or used it instead as #1 and just highlighted the headbands throughout. But this place is sensational. It's I believe two buildings with floor after floor of goods: clothes, jewelry, food, purses, hair accessories, shoes, fabric, and probably a million more things I didn't even notice because I was in sensory overload!

You can go through these vendors and find anything you're little heart desires. And after this post you'll probably be dreaming of headbands. And you can find these things at all hours of the day and night as this place is open to the wee hours of the morning. And you can earn yourself some deals as you can haggle over any prices presented to you and get them for even better!

Dying to come to Korea yet?

The End

The Haba students graduate tomorrow. All but five of the five-year-old students will be moving on to bigger and more English oriented schools and I am sad. I have grown to love this group of students and have so enjoyed having these 34 boys and girls teach me just how much I love the preschool age.

In the words of Ryan:
"Ryan sad. One sleep no Haba. Ryan give Ryan heart Kara, okay?"

He has my heart too...

An Introduction to Some of My Other Friends...

So I thought it was time to introduce you to some of my other friends (besides Ryan is what I really mean). There are so many kids at Haba that I absolutely adore! And so many diverse personalities that really just make me laugh daily.

I know I talk often about Ryan being my favorite and perhaps that's because he was the first student at Haba to not be afraid of me (there's something about being the only white person they've seen that scares 'em) and he immediately made me feel welcome. But now that I've been here long enough to not scare the kiddos (well most of them), I've really gotten to know and enjoy (and probably favor) a few more! Unfortunately with over 200 students, and some I only see once a week for 30 minutes, it's hard to get to know them all well BUT some have really stood out!

So without further ado:

Alex
One day in Mont class I was writing all of the kids' names on their crafts projects and adding phrases like, "Alex is wonderful," "Amelia is beautiful," "Minseo is amazing." Well Alex picked up onto these phrases really quickly and has since spent every other class telling me, "Kara is wonderful," or "Kara is beautiful." It does my heart good!



Amelia
Amelia is in Mont class also and in my afterschool class. Julia told me a few weeks after I started here, that Amelia's mom said in a phone conversation that Amelia really like me and didn't want to quit afterschool class. When I heard this I was a bit amazed because Amelia is so quiet! However, these last few weeks she's really started to come out of her shell (perhaps because Jay--the loud boy in her class--left). She has taken to copying everything I say and always laughs while doing it (I wonder if she realizes that she's learning English so well by doing this!). Seriously, anytime I look at her during class she starts cracking up. It's so much fun to see a kid that was so shy when we first met have grown so comfortable with me!




Roy
Roy is a whiner. I once made him color a crayon yellow (when we were learning colors) and he threw a tantrum over it. I've seen these tantrums from him time and time again and have learned to ignore them completely, though unfortunately, the Korean teachers often give into these tantrums...seriously what do they think that is teaching? Anyway, one day Roy was placed in mine and Julia's bus after a fieldtrip and sat right inbetween us. I said hi, he ignored me, so I continued to play with the girls in front of me. I'm not sure exactly what made me talk to Roy again but I believe Julia mentioned dinosaurs. I asked Roy if he was a dinosaur and he preceeded to spend the rest of the ride (about ten minutes) trying to scare me. Since that short ride, it's been love. I came into the aftershchool room and Roy ran up to me grabbed my hands and led me around the room singing, "bedebomdabom" (no clue)and then every few minutes dinosaur growling at me. Everytime I see him in the hall he proceeds to do one of those things (and amazingly almost every 3 and 4 year old now copies him and does the same!). I even made a special dinosaur craft for him in afterschool class which he loved! It's amazing how figuring out his dinosaur love has ceased so many of the whining and rebellious problems I was having with him. Sadly, I've figured it out just in time for him to switch schools next week :(.



Gop-Bin
Gop-Bin was one of the many students in Bili class who would cry whenever it was time for my class. He was also the tiniest and, in my opinion, cutest in the class too. So I would often seek him out for a high-five because he seemed to find those a worthy reason to come near me. Julia told the manager how he was one of my favorites (they always ask) and so she once told him to give me a hug...it melted my heart. During Bili class we sing a few songs and during these songs a few of the girls usually fight over gettng to hold my hands. During this fight I looked up and saw Gop-Bin (who had been participitating a bit more each class) walking towards me with his hand held up and saying "dado" (me). I wrenched my hand away from some of the girls and held it towards Gop-Bin and he held it. We walked around in a circle holding hands for a bit and it was just melting my heart to goo! It's nice to see how I gradually become less scary to these kids and they start to accept the fact that I look different and talk different! I'm glad I got to have one class with Gop-Bin liking me :)!


Michael getting kissed by Angelina
Michael speaks English. I'm not sure the specifics of how but I believe he lived in the US for a while and his parents are fluent as well. Whenever I come into Shutterun class, Michael immediately begins telling me a story. Most of the time, I don't fully understand it (not because his English is bad but because it's the English of a 3 year old!). And when I try to teach the rest of the class English vocabulary, he'll interupt to tell me another story. I love getting to actually talk with a kid and hear his stories, however, I'm not quite sure why his parents had him in a school where he was studying such basic English (they've switched him for the new year). Perhaps, one of my favorite memories of this English-speaking boy is at festival. Michael hates to sing and dance (he lets me know that everytime I turn on the "hello" song in class.) So at the English festival he stood up on that stage and looked at his hands and sat down and did pretty much everything but sing. Which I just find hilarious, considering he was the only one who could even learn and sing the English song!

Honestly, there are about a million more kids I could introduce you to and maybe one day I will (I want to remember the stories about them too so I can make an epic Korea scrapbook when I finish here! But alas, my hands are getting tired, I have work to do, and most of all I had to scour the network's computer (which is completely Korean) to find these photos as my camera cord broke :(!

Rewind and Fast Forward!

I've had a lot of inquiries about my daily activities in Korea, so I thought I'd give just a little more insight into my life here in Korea and the crazy things I get to do while living in this smog-infested land! As well as take you on a journey into some future changes that are happening in my Korean life!

1. I teach a lot. I've adopted the philosophy that routine is GREAT. So I've set up little calendars and such for all the classes I teach and have things fairly well planned out until the end of the year (which is March). But the creative person in me refuses to stop there so I spend a lot of time researching and looking for new things to add to our routine. AND part of the five year old routine involves a new game every other week and a craft every week. So I spend lots of time planning new games and way too much time preparing crafts (I can't wait until I teach older kids who can cut things out themselves!)

2. I have joined a Bible study so that's exciting. We meet on Wednesdays and so far it's really the only weekday activity I have. It's a nice mid-week break and is something to look forward to while I spend Monday and Tuesday doing all my graduate school homework!

3. I do homework; being a full-time graduate student is the pits sometimes!

4. I don't do very many touristy things :(. It's cold here. And you can freeze you're little bum off if you go view all the touristy things, so I haven't done many YET. But I have grand plans!

5. I hang out on weekends. Weekends have been great. I've gotten to see a 4d movie, explore Suwon, discover all sorts of fun restaurants, have late night conversations during sleepovers, and more. It's nice to see people on weekends and just spend time with friend. Sadly, many of them are leaving soon as their year in Korea is over...I hate them for it ;)!

6. I'm working on volunteering at an orphanage regularly and teaching Sunday School at my church...both are in the ground stages. BUT I am heading to the orphanage Saturday.

7. I'm discovering God a bit more. It sounds trivial, but it's true. The challenges in being here, working here, living here, surviving here, ect. have all really helped me to rely on God and fully love Him. It's been good and definitely makes me happy to have come here and still be here!

Not much too it honestly, I'm pretty much a simple person and am not afraid to do nothing quite a bit and enjoy being alone and relishing in it!

My future is a little more complex in terms of my job here in Korea. The school year ends in March and my school has opened a 6 years program. I will be a partner teacher for this class and will lose all of my free time/planning time that I now enjoy at work. It's exciting because it means I'll have a class of kids to call my own (or to share as my own) and we'll get to be a part of everything instead of feeling like I'm in the way (as I often do now). It also means that I'm in charge of these kids so I can do what I want with them and not worry I'm offending their home room teacher. I will teach phonics to the 6 year olds and 5 year olds now and am slightly excited because this change for me means I get to use workbooks and teacher manuals. So I'll have a bit of assistance in teaching, finally. The 3 and 4 year olds will be the same thing as now (once a week) and our routine is down pretty well now, so I think that will be a simple adjustment. My concerns with these changes:

1. The partner teacher is a bit of a beast. She is really jealous of the kids that like me and I think she treats them worse than others because they show me love and she gets very angry at me for it. She gets extremely upset with how much Ryan and his parents adore me and it's looking like he'll still be here next year! So I'm sure that will be an issue.

2. The school is way overbooking me at this point...even taking away my lunch break! So I'm concerned about that. I know no matter what I'll work more as well and that concerns me because so much of my free time at school is used for planning and preparing and I'm scared my teaching will get worse because I have so much less time to prepare! Also, I do homework at work most afternoons...so losing that time means I'll be more swamped with it in the evenings (trust me when I say I have ALOT).

3. Unrelated to school, a lot of people are leaving in March and that makes me sad. I feel like the people I hang out with on weekends are all leaving (except for like 2 people) so I'm worried I'll get lonely again.

So keep those things in your prayers! And mostly pray that I'll be accepting of whatever challenges come way and embrace them with a good attitude!

To be honest with everyone, I'm extremely glad I came to Korea. I'm so grateful for the friendships I've made and we'll cherish the times I've shared with these people. I'm glad to have separated myself from the customs of the States and have grown in unimaginable ways...I eat seaweed by choice now! I love seeing how God is challenging me to grow in Him more each day, heck, I love reading my Bible in the subway each morning! I enjoy my job alot and am glad to have gotten the chance to be sure that teaching was something I wanted to do before spending all the money on a graduate program in teaching! The kids at the school are awesome and I like teaching them but also just playing with them and letting them be kids (or going against the Korean way). And seeing and learning about Korean culture has been fascinating, I'm glad I get to experience it for a bit.

And lastly, Ryan. Ryan. Ryan.

Because seriously, how can I not love a kid that looks like this?



Yes, Yes, I've heard you shouldn't have favorites. However, I truly believe that teachers can never connect on a heart level with every student they teach. And that's what I feel with Ryan, a heart connection. That doesn't mean that I don't give my all to other students, and there are many I adore a ton! I even make an extra effort to love on the students that annoy me a bit. But at the end of the day, Ryan has a bit of my heart.

Keeping Optimistic

This is actually my second attempt at writing a post for this Blog today. My first attempt began well and was written with the sole purpose of me venting all of my frustrations about my current living/working situation. But the more I wrote, the more negative I got and I really don't want to pass that negativity on to you. So, I've decided to write a list of good things that are happening to me in Korea right now and simply ask you pray for the bad things!

Good Thing #1: I've discovered several restaurants that serve ranch. It does my heart good to walk in and see it listed on the menu and be able to eat it with my fries, with my sandwich, or just with my fingers ;).

Good Thing #2: Julia is still at Haba. She is leaving soon, but she's here right now and I get to enjoy her company.

Good Thing #3: I joined a Bible Study. It's small but it's nice to have something to do during the weeknights and the girls are pretty dang awesome.

Good Thing #4: I have a macbook pro. And I could really make this into a complaint... I'm glad to have had the funds to purchase said computer and I'm glad to have gone with mac again...I love him.

Good Thing #5: Dawna Diamon. She's pretty dang cool and she's become a good friend. I really enjoy her company and am excited to get to spend a few more months with her before she journeys to another land (or her contract ends). And she's going to give me a toaster oven next weekend which I could have had this weekend but didn't due to my inability to answer texts.

Good Thing #6: Got invited on a ski trip for my next break last night, I like that.

Good Thing #7: I still have Kindle gift cards left to use :)!

Good Thing #8: I lost one black glove and one black/white glove. But they were different hands, so I still have a set!

Good Thing #9: I'm a full-time student again for my master's program and I haven't killed myself or anyone else yet!

Good Thing #10: JESUS! It may sound Sunday School but it's true. He's a pretty cool dude.

So yeah, I could come up with a list of bad things too and maybe one day I'll share them with you all via this blog but for now I'm gonna just be grateful for the good things that I do have.