07 9월 2007

Gimme a C, Gimme an H, Gimme an A, Gimme an O, Gimme an S...What's that spell? FIELD TRIP!!!! Yesterday we loaded all of our kindergarten classes into the vans and took them to the National Science Museum. Every now and then I'd pass my 7 year old class in one of the rooms and they'd be bursting with excitement. "Jessica Teacher!!! Biiiig shark and fish and snake...you see?!?!" And, "Teeeaaaccchhheeerrr!!! Caveman very funny!!" They were having a blast and I was so jealous of my teaching partner for getting to hang out with them all day. I was assigned to my 4 year old class, so my day went something like this: "Teacher, me no see!" and, "Teacher...teacher...TEACHER!!!! JUSTIN PUSHING!!!" "Teacher! Me hot!" "Teacher! Bathroom!" "Me too!!!" "Me too!!!" "Me too!!" "Teacher hungry!!!" and "Teacher...Tom crying!!!" "Teacher! Me no like!" "Teacher!! My head is ouch!!" I could go on and on, but you get the idea. I was never so happy to return to school in all my life!
There were a few brief moments of non-fussiness, so here's a couple of pics of me, my teaching partner Rachel, and my kids.






04 9월 2007

Haven't updated much lately, mainly cause I haven't been doing anything. Super busy with work stuff, but nothing fun to tell you guys about. Lots of changes at my school, and in my personal life as well...I'm still adjusting to everything and I feel a bit stressed and emotional. That's life, eh? My birthday is coming up, too, and I'm not overly thrilled about that. But enough of me being moody!! Here's some pics from this past Sunday, when I went to several different palaces to do the tourist thing. I had a good day. Watching the changing of the guard was pretty cool, and I liked the traditional dance. It's been a long, long time since I went out on my own and bummed around parts of Seoul. I'm glad I went.

I was part of a small tour that included several Japanese tourists. I wonder how they feel when they come to Korea and take these tours. The whole thing was basically, "This was the greatest palace in Korea...and then the Japanese invaded and destroyed it. Then we restored the palace to it's former grandeur...and the Japanese invaded and burned it down. We rebuilt it again...and the Japanese invaded and TURNED IT INTO A PETTING ZOO!" I don't mean to minimize the huge level of disrespect involved in turning a country's greatest palace into a petting zoo, but I couldn't help but laugh at the thought of some country throwing some goats and chickens and maybe a llama in the middle of the oval office.