May Daze!

Seoul Tower: Reminded me of our Space Needle in the U.S.!




Seoul Tower: “Locks of Love’ where you supposedly write your name and the name of the one you love, a wish, or a love message on a lock put it on the fence and throw away the key!


"LOCKS OF LOVE" Seoul Tower 2010



Saw this lock and it reminded me of Tanya :)



Gondola ride! So beautiful!



Martial Arts show at Seoul Tower! coool


cutest thing ever! I willl be taking one home w/ me..just like ang and brad.



my little prince! i loved him so much i asked his parents if i could take a pic of him..he says " anh-nyuhng-hah-seh-yo" (hello) and then bows!!!!!!! Sooo cute!



View of Seoul from Seoul Tower! 2010


Tia-Bo-BIA overlooking Seoul and thinking some deep thoughts ;)


My very first night in a Hostel!!! I was terrified at 1st…I kept thinking of those scary movies. Once I got there the woman that owned the hostel was incredibly sweet. She had two puppies that Tia was obsessed with! I shared a room with Bri, Katelan and some Korean girls. It reminded me of the sleeping porch of AOII!



Beds in my hostel room! Not bad



Me with my morning class before the English Village field trip



Faith with his 'passport' to get into the English Village! haha too cute!!!


My morning class visiting the mock American fire station! THEY LOVED IT!



Sleepy heads after our long field trip to the English Village! This instantly reminded me of when my little brother was a baby and would be so adorable when he was sleeping and my mom would say something like, “such an angel when he’s asleep…but when he’s awake it’s another story!!!” ha ha. My kids were so peaceful on the way back to school and I was so in love, well…then they woke up! ;)



Katelans mama came to town! We went to dinner in honor of Tanya.


Cheers to Tanya! (or like they say it in Korean, 'Gun Bae' sounds like commbayy!)



Seoul Tower:

“Viewable from almost anywhere in Seoul, Seoul Tower serves as an excellent landmark. Built on a 262 meter peak in Namsan Park, the tower reaches to 480 meters above sea level. When the weather and pollution levels cooperate, visiting the observation tower (370 meters above sea level) allows you to view the entire city and surrounding areas. Because of the vistas, many people enjoy climbing up here for early morning exercise or for a romantic stroll after dark. “

We visited Seoul Tower, and the view was amazing! We walked up a hill to the base of the tower where there were venders, local artists and a martial arts show! My favorite thing to see was the “Locks of Love’ where you supposedly write your name and the name of the one you love, a wish, or a love message on a lock put it on the fence and throw away the key! I didn’t get the chance to write a message (because I didn’t know about it until I got there) but I will be writing one before I leave! We took a gondola ride to the bottom of the peak, and the outlook of Seoul was spectacular. However, the ride was a bit squishy, (I swear we were over capacity on the ride!) I had to push, shove and throw some elbows in order to get a window view...totally worth every second!!!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

To my Tanya:

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive,
and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.

I'll hold you in my heart forever. I love you Tanya, and it's been a year too long since I've seen/talked to you last. You've touched so many peoples hearts and you are so loved and thought about everyday. You’ve always been such an amazing friend to me and I’ll be forever greatful for the 4 years we shared together. My memories will last forever, therefore you will always live on <3

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~




We had a field trip today with our morning classes to the 'American English Village'. English villages are institutions which aim to create an environment for the local students to emerse themselves into the English culture. Each student was given their own ‘passport’ in order to enter the village. By entering the students were able to experience a short-term English environment where only English was (supposed) to be spoken. I learned that many families in Korea seek to improve their childs English speaking ability. English Villages are more cost effective (instead of sending them aborad) and were bulit to make the English experience more accessable. Many schools use this as a field trip opportunity.

When you walk into the village there are rooms set up to reinact different business’s such as a post office, bakery, fire station, hair salon etc. Our school was on a time crunch so we were only able to visit the mock fire station and ‘ymca’. The students loved it, especially the fire station where they were able to slide down the fire pole. Our guide was really expressive and energetic (his accent made me think he was from Jamaca!) my class loved him and it gave me a break from teaching for a few hours!

After school Brianna and I headed up to Seoul to meet with Katelan and her mom for dinner in honor of Tanya and her one year anniversary. We we went and got drinks (White Russians and a Tequilla sunrise) in her honor and we all shared memories of her. It was good to be able to be in such good company on such a sad day. Katelans mom rented a hotel room for us to stay in for the night.

<3Katie

Special Classes

LOGAN, KRISSY & JACK working on their science! Logan kept poking Krissy and Jack got jealous because he likes her...Krissy is such a heart throb and Jack and Logan are little punks! ;)



RUTHIE-workin hard on our science lecture about outerspace! Love!





STEPH-named her after my mama :)






Remember when it was fun to play ‘thumb war’ in like 3rd grade? (well let’s be honest I still enjoy it haha) The kid’s here have a game a little more intrusive…they have a game where they go and jam there fingers up your bum, not a joke…I have 6 year olds that run up to me and go straight for the kill…they do it to each other all the time, mostly the boys. My girls are really sweet. Place your hands like you were to ‘pretend’ shoot someone with a gun, that’s what they do but then stab your rear with it…not okay!!!!

I’m starting to really like my ‘special classes’ well my 1st one more so than my 2nd. My 2nd knows less English and are really rambunctious. Most days I feel I’m more like their babysitter than teacher. We have Korean helper teachers for those classes and I just recently got a new one, which has been a blessing! My old helper teacher was sweet and super cute but she didn’t really care and usually spent her 80mins texting or taking pictures on her phone with my students. My new helper teacher actually scolds them when they get bad. She took a long skinny red wooden stick the other day and slammed it on the desk saying something in Korean, and it reminded me of those old school movies when teachers would hit your desk with a ruler to make you behave. I’m glad she did it; I mean I definitely feel like that sometimes, the kids here can be so wild! It reminds me of when I was young and my mom being like, “I hope you have a girl just like you to see how tough it is!” LET ME TELL YOU, I don’t know how John and Kate + 8 does it because as much as I love my classes they drivveee meee crazzzzyyy sometimes! But my special classes are the ones I named after people from home and every day I laugh because each one I’ve named has certain similar characteristics with the person I named them after. EXAMPLE: Ruthie is so sweet and kind of shy when she doesn’t know you but is beautiful and really smart, she tends to get along with all the boys. Steph is the sweetest little thing that I have ever seen, she runs up and hugs me every time I see her and tries so hard in class! Krissy is very smart and doesn’t like to be the center of attention; she’s so adorable and all the boys LOVE her haha. Logan is the class clown and a total flirt, Evan is crazy…;)


<3kt

Me with my morning class: Children's Day!




All the kids wrote down wishes and we tied them to balloons and let them go. My favorite wishes were, "I wish to be peter pan and be on a ship"-Faith and, "I wish to be a princess at Everland"-Peach, and "I want to be mommy mommy mommy mommy, I love mommy"-Alice.




Mickael, "Katie Teacher, lliiioonnn grrrrrr" haha





Mickael! The first month I was unsure about him because he seemed really unfocused and much younger than the other students and I had trouble keeping him on task. But he has learned SO much in 3 months and has instantly become one of my favorites! He loves to dance and hold my hand, he just got purple highlights in the front of his hair (not in these pics) he is my little rockstar!!!!!





A sea of children warming up for our field trip..dancing to to Korean Pop!





Childrens Day: This is Logan, he's my favorite boy in my 'special classes'. He see's be and yells, "KAH KAH KAHHHHH Katiiiee Teacher!" and I go, "SMILE Logan"..and this is what I got...haha





Me with Peachy Pie and Mickael-Oh-Lial, I lovvvve them and will be trying to fit them in my suitcases on my was back to the US haha ;) <3





Me leading my class to the field for Childrens Day, Mickael was trying to have a convo with me, he's my little rockstar!



NANTA! It started in 1997 and is so popular that it has drawn the largest number of audiences to a performance in Korean 'stage' history. Nanta has even performed in Broadway in NY!! It performs in 231 cities and 37 countries!



The ending performane of NANTA. This performance is high energy using kitchen utensils as musical instruments.



Tyler got pulled up on stage during NANTA to 'marry' a Korean! Toooo funny!






Travel and change of place imparts new energy to the mind.



May 5th is considered ‘Children’s Day’ here in Korea, (I remember asking my mom why is there a ‘mothers and fathers day’ and no ‘children’s day’ when I was little, and my mom said, ‘everyday is children’s day’ haha...HOWEVER, here they actually have a day!) May 5 is officially recognized as Children's Day. Parents often give presents to their children, as well as take them on excursions, such as ‘Everland’ Korean’s version of a theme park. At our school we had an outdoor field trip day. We played outside with our kids, had ice cream and made crafts. The kids loved being outside and I loved the break from teaching inside the classroom! I felt like a camp consouler! I’m getting so close to my morning students. They look up to me and always want to have my full attention. They are by far my favorite part of the day. I made up nick names for them and now they call eachother by those names, SO CUTE! I have, Jinny-bo-binny, Faithy-bo-bathy, Jennifer-bo-bennifer, Alice-bo-balice, Vicky-bo-bicky, Mickael-oh-lial and Peachy Pie!! All the teachers and students call Peach, ‘Peachy Pie’ now haha, she even refers to herself as that. I guess Faith went home and told his mom all their names, they love it! They call me either, “Katie Baby Teacher”, “Katie Pie Teacher” oorrr (this one never gets old ha ha): “Katie Princess Teacher”…always such a confidence boost with my little 6 year olds! <3

A few weeks ago I decided to have a calm weekend in Dongtan by myself. Bri went to World DJ Fest which sounded like a blast and Tia ran errands. I decided to check out some shops in Dongtan and I noticed a new shop while riding my bike (YES we finally got bikes!!!!) The owner was so excited when I stopped in. Everything was incredibly cheap, like 2,000 won ( less than $2) for a tank top! After paying for my items she gave me a free knock off Von Dutch hat (which I’ll never wear haha) but it was a kind gesture! I find that some places like when foreigners come into their gym, restaurant, shop, kind of as a status symbol…


Last week Tyler came to Korea, Tia was so excited to see him and I was too…A little taste of home! We went to Shabu Shabu for some Korean food one of his first nights. It was interesting listening to him talk about how different everything is here. Which it is, but sometimes I think we forget how cool it is that we’re actually here!! We showed him the soju-cap drinking game, which all the Koreans play. You basically just twist the rim of the cap into a twirl and everyone flicks it until it comes off and the person next to the person who flicked the twist off has to take a shot of soju (a watered down verson of vodka; Korean’s love their soju!)


NANTA!: We we went to a performance called ‘Nanta’. The show is a slapstick comedy! It has very little verbal lines, and uses a bit of acrobatics and magic tricks, but was mostly an artistic druming session using kitchen utensils! The whole show is very energetic and the performers are in amazing shape! You can tell that their practice is intense. The show is about an hour, and is entertaining from start to finish! Tyler got pulled on stage to ‘marry’ a Korean. It was hilarious! We got the feeling that when they were pulling up volunteers that one of us foriegners would get chosen, we were right! He went on stage and had to put on a silly Korean wedding costume and go along with skit, we were dying of laughter. Nanta’s final piece in the show was the actors banging on huge water container drums as flashs of techno lights surrounded us. It was a thundering, energetic, up beat performance. They were dripping in sweat from the intensity! It was awesome!!!!

I can't believe I've been here for 3 months! Thank you to everyone who has sent me cards/gifts, I really appreciate the thoughts from home! <3 always, Katie Teacher ;)

take the road less traveled, and find the courage to grow!

Looks like a scene from Disney's Mulan right?? haha, Cherry Blossom Festival!!






The gang at the Cherry Blossom Festival!

Bri and I during the Cherry Blossom Festival, they were so beautiful!




mmm..Just a typical 'bug' snack served here in Korea!..I haven't tried one yet I'm waiting to be betted some won first ha ha ;)




Portrait of our president..Caught our eyes!





Waiiitin for the Boys 2 Men concert to start!!




Boys II Men!..Brought me back to 8th grade dances :) ha ha





Boys II Men, Given out some roses!



Tia, Amy and I overlooking Dobongsan mountain..yes that was the mountain we were about to hike in the background..at first we thought Katelan was joking..




Two Korean ladies stopped us on our way up the mountain and gave us bananas and asked if we could take a picture with them! They were so curious as to where we were from and I find that a lot of Koreans like to stop and practice their English with us.




I loved this bridge. It was on a path leading to our hike. Such pretty scenery, it makes me realize how this is such a once and a lifetime opportunity to be here in Korea :)



Temple at the foot of Dobongsan mountain.





Temple on our way up Dobongsan mountain, we made it to the peak in the background!




At the entrance of the Temple


BEAUTIFUL VIEW OF SEOUL!



We made it to the top!!



Our view! Seoul!




Girls out for my 23rd Birthday in Hongdae!






May 1, 2010


Open your eyes… look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living?


How is it MAY already? The weeks go by faster and faster…so fast in fact that I feel like I might miss something if I blink! April has been eventful and I’m really hoping that the saying ‘April showers bring May flowers’ because we had a lot of rain this past month.

A few weekends ago we went to a Cherry Blossom festival in Seoul. It goes on for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the month and I’m so glad we caught it! There was a long path with Cherry Blossom trees on either side of us. The petals drooped down swooping us by; it was so beautiful! The pictures I took reminded me of a scene in the Disney movie ‘Mulan’ haha. It was interesting being surrounded by so many Koreans all at once. They were taking just as much photos as us so I didn’t feel so touristy. There were a lot of street venders. On one corner there were artists sketching people, one asked me to sit down…I didn’t because of time but it was really neat to see. The sketches were unbelievably good! There was even a portrait of Obama, which caught all of our eyes! On another corner there was a bunch of paper mache art sculptures that I really enjoyed looking at. A lot of the pieces were of Korean families at home or out in the fields. After the festival we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the Boys II Men concert!

The Boys II Men concert was held at the Seoul Olympic Stadium. We walked around the stadium before the concert started and there was a lot of really neat sculptures. There was an ice skating event happening with Yuna Kim that night too, the Koreans seemed really excited to watch her.

The concert was a blast! It was funny to see Koreans (in every age group) sing the songs so passionately..(I’ll admit we got pretty into the songs as well).

‘4 Men’ was the name of the group that opened for Boys II Men… however I only saw 3 of them during their whole performance. Tia claims she saw the 4th one when I was in the bathroom, but I’m not so sure haha. They sound like a Korean version of Boys II Men!

The weekend after Boys II Men was my 23rd birthday weekend! How am I already 23?! I thought it was jussttt my 22nd not too long ago!

My birthday was a blast we went on a 5 ½ hour hike up Dobongsan mountain! When we first got off the subway and saw the mountain in the distance I literally thought Katelan was joking..I remember her saying that it was a tough hike (in my mind I pictured Tiger Mt. and was very confident! I mean I did run cross country like 6 yrs ago hahaha, I’d be fine right!?)

The hike was tough, long and well worth the huffing and puffing! The view was spectacular; it overlooked all of Seoul. Finally when we reached the top all of us just wanted to take it all in for minutes…

“I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

WE MADE IT!

The feeling was so inspiring. The view was amazing and it definitely reassured me of why I chose to come and experience this journey in the first place.

On the way back down we had to go backwards down the steep rocks holding onto a rope and I almost cried; it was terrifying! Tia was behind me saying, ‘Harp you got this’ and a Korean man helped guide me but it was really scary…going up was hard but I was going forward…going down backwards isn’t as fun!

After the hike we wanted to get a hotel in Hongdae or Itaewan for the night but every place was booked...(or maybe it was b/c we were dressed in hiking gear and they didn’t want to deal with us foreigners…ugh..) So we went to a ‘Jinjibong’ where you can shower and get ready…we went in and there was a men and women section…Bri, Tia, Amy, Kate and I went in and they gave us changing clothes so we put them on. I felt like a prisoner, they were orange and so unflattering! We started to go into the shower and a Korean woman told us we couldn’t bring any clothes in…we all looked at each other like ‘uhh okay..sooo…’ It was quite an experience!

This past week we got a new teacher named, Josh. He made invitations for a potluck that we had on Friday. I made kebobs, which looked delish at first, but because we only have a stove it didn’t work out so well in the ending presention! On Saturday Bri, Tia and I just kept it low key…did dishes, fb’d..painted nails…it was nice! On Sunday we went to EVERLAND which is Korean Disneyland!!! It was an absolute blast! It was Amy’s first time at a theme park, which boggled my mind. She loved it and took the rides like a champ! I loved how bright everything was.

It’s about that time where we’ve been getting ‘homesick’ in waves. It’s crazy that its MAY but I still have 10 months to go…I feel like so much happens in year but its flying by at the same time… I hope all is well at home; I miss some faces that’s for sure! But this adventure is exactly what I needed…


-But I hope you take the road less traveled
And I hope you find the courage to grow-

<3 Katie Rose