Happy 4th of July!!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! (And happy birthday to my sister!)
Since my teaching contract is over exactly 3 weeks from today, I thought maybe I should update my blog again. I can't believe I'm in my last month here! This year has gone by so fast. Being near the end has really made me think of all the things I'll miss here, so i thought I would name a few on here (most of them have to do with my 3-4 year old homeroom kids!).

Things I'll Miss:
- being given tons of hugs by my munchkins when I arrive to work every morning and them saying "I love you Whit-ti-ney Teacher"!
- one of the little 4 year old boys grabbed my hand yesterday when I walked in the classroom and said "You are beautiful today!" (basically they are self confidence boosters, saying things like that. Also lots of my students pet my hair if I bend down and say "ohhh, golden hair, preeeetty" which is weird but they mean it as a compliment!)
- My students get excited about EVERYTHING, if I draw an angry face on a weather cloud or do an alligator clap they are rolling around on the ground laughing and saying "do it again!" So most of my day is spent smiling, laughing, and entertaining, which is a pretty good way to spend a day at work!
- Public Transportation is insanely cheap here and at the same time it's nice, clean, and safe! I will definitely miss that while I'm putting gas in my truck in a few weeks! Taxis are also really inexpensive, a trip across town will only cost you about $3.50, and taxis are everywhere!
- being able to walk anywhere I need to! I love being within walking distance of everything I would ever need, from the grocery store to my bank, my work and a doctor's office, it's all within a reasonable walking distance from my apartment.
- Korean Barbecue! There's one restaurant in my neighborhood that I frequent a lot because I love it sooo much! I plan on looking for one back in Texas but I'm sure it won't quite be the same
- Being able to bring coolers and any food I want into Major League Baseball games here! I love that I don't have to go through metal detectors (no hassle!) and I can bring in a cooler full of beer! Makes for a cheap and fun weekend outing!
- All the friends I have made here! It's hard to say goodbye when you're not sure you'll ever see them again in this lifetime since people here are from all over the world! At least I have plans this Fall to meet up with a few friends I made here at Oktoberfest in Germany! Looking forward to that reunion already!

Alright there are many more things I'll miss but I'll go to things I WON'T miss now:
- The first thing has a story attached. Today I took my 3-4 year olds to the computer lab so they could play and practice computer skills on their own. Towards the end of the period, one of the little girls shouts out "Whit-ti-ney Teacher, pee-pee!" I look over and tell her "Say, may I go to the bathroom please?" (trying to get her to use the correct english of course) She shouts "pee-pee!" again, I give up, stand up, and open the door for her. But before she even gets out of her chair, she yells "pee-pee now!" and stands up and lets the flood gates open all over herself and the floor (nothing I can do to stop it now so I just have to let it happen from the other side of the room until it's over). All I can think is "I hope there's no electrical plugs over there" because she obviously held that in for a very long time! They never want to go to the bathroom during the fun classes like computer, so this is what happens. I then took her upstairs so she could change, and then I got to clean up after her in the computer lab! Ah man. Basically, I WILL NOT MISS KIDS PEEING THEMSELVES and me having to clean it up! And boogers.
- I will not miss everyone saying my name wrong! No matter how many times I tell them the correct pronunciation, I have been "Whit-ti-ney Teacher" to everyone for the past year! Reminds me of my sister Chelsea calling me "Winny" when we were growing up because she couldn't quite say my name either
- I will not miss being stared at wherever I go. Koreans are pretty subtle at it most of the time, but some of them just blatantly stare at you. I'm used to it by now, but it will be so nice to just blend in again! And not have everyone look in my shopping basket at the grocery store. Some Koreans will stretch their necks out just to check out what the foreigner is buying at the grocery store, strange but now seemingly normal to me.

Ok that's all I've got for now, reading over this has made me realize a good number of things have changed in a year. For one thing I liked kids well enough when I came here, as long as they kept their distance. But now I love their little hugs everyday and how excited they are about everything, from the color of their shoes to the bug they saw in their window last night. Who am I?

One more thing, Monsoon Season in Korea has begun!!! July and August are the rainy months here, so starting last Friday it has been raining or dark and overcast since. And I mean torrential rain with really strong wind! Looking at the forecast right now it reads like this: Rain, Thunderstorms, Mostly Cloudy, Showers, Partly Cloudy, Rain, Cloudy. And I feel like I can move around the air with my hands it's so humid! The good thing about this weather is it has cooled down a bit and without the Sun my apartment feels a lot better. I don't need the air con on, which is a very good thing because it is insanely expensive to run it! Last summer I turned it on at night for a few hours and the bill was a little over $300 for one month. For a small apartment too! Anyways, I have a picture one of my friends took last Friday when we went out to dinner (Korean Barbecue!) of the monsoon arriving:

You can't see how hard the rain was falling, but needless to say an umbrella did no good whatsoever!
That's all I have time for tonight, I will try to update again before I leave, but I have a feeling the next few weeks will be crazy! I will do my best though!

Heat Wave!

So not only was this the coldest winter in 50 years in Korea, but now it's the worst drought in a century with the highest temperatures in 12 years! Why is it whenever I live in a foreign country they have really weird weather patterns that year (Austria!)
Actually for us Texans it's really not that hot, but it is humid like the Houston area. And since they still haven't switched all the air cons over from the heater (my apartment building!) it gets really warm inside too!
Here's a little article for more information:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/06/117_113350.html

Not much else to report right now, we had birthday parties today for the kids, and instead of going to Mr. Pizza like we normally do we had it in the gym instead.

The three girls in the middle belong to my homeroom: so cute!

Eating back in the classrooms:

All the May/June birthdays:

I also had to have a root canal done this past weekend here- not fun! But luckily I found a dentist in Seoul who speaks perfect English and who actually went to school in the US for dentistry and who worked there for years before moving back to Korea. The dentist is less expensive here too- even without dental insurance! I have to go back for part 2 this weekend though. It is a 2-ride on the subway though with lots of transfers, and then 2-hours again back, boo. My whole right side of my face was numb after going to the dentist, and I made the mistake of trying to drink some water on the subway on my way back and ended up dribbling it all over myself and two other people next to me- whoops! Gotta love public transportation!

Seoul Land and a Double Birthday

Last week we took our students on a field trip to Seoul Land! It's basically like a Korean Disney World. I was a little nervous taking 17 4-5 year olds to a place like that, but it ended up being a lot of fun and nothing went terribly wrong! I didn't lose anyone's kid and no one lost any arms, legs, or fingers so I'd call it a success! There was a lot of walking there though so I felt sorry for the kiddos, on their short legs they were tired after walking from the bus to the front gates! But they had a lot of fun, so it was a good trip. Here's the website for Seoul Land: http://eng.seoulland.co.kr/
Now I have been to 2 Korean amusement parks! Ok here are some pictures I took, and a few the school took:

Right outside the park, I tried to get them to smile but they don't really do that in pictures here:

One of my favorites, he's so compact! He's like a cross between a line backer and a bowling ball. He gets up in the middle of class and will do karate chops and cartwheels. I know I should discipline him for it but it's hard when I'm laughing at him!

Jin on the merry-go-round!

Eating a picnic lunch:

Ann, the other homeroom teacher for the little guys, and I with different group shots of the kiddos:

And then 2 weeks ago was mine and Cassy's birthdays, and also her going away dinner. Here's the package I got from my family- thank you again so much! And thanks to my Grandma who sent me a surprise one, I forgot to take pictures of that one because I broke it open too quickly! Thanks again!

 Birthday cake and dinner at Boringa, a Korean BBQ restaurant here that I'm obsessed with:

Ok I know I haven't done Jeju yet, actually come to think about it a never posted about my trip to Malaysia or Japan either. It all needs to happen! My boss emailed me my confirmed airline ticket home today, I can't believe my year here is almost over! It's gone by really fast, but at the same time it seems like I haven't been home in years. Can't wait to eat sandwiches again... and of course to see my family! :)
Well I will do my best to update when I can these next 6 weeks but I have a feeling they are going to fly by and be crazy busy but I will do my best!

A Traditional Korean Wedding

Definitely time to update again!

A few weekends ago in May I went to a traditional Korean wedding, which was much different from the Korean wedding I went to back in September. It was for one of my co-workers, Zach, who is from North Carolina but married a Korean girl. The wedding was held outside at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul. It was a really interesting place and the wedding was definitely completely different from any I've been to! Here are some pictures to help explain:

Zach, the groom, is the one sitting in the chair holding the red banner. His friend Tyler is standing in front of him holding a painted wooden duck, which he gave to Zach later in the ceremony. It symbolizes something, not sure what, maybe prosperity? So the couple will never be hungry? Don't know!

And then here is Hyunju, the bride, inside her wooden chair. What are these things called anyway? I'm sure theres a special name for them, but I cannot for the life of me think what it is right now. Zach and Hyyunju actually met when she was studying abroad for college in North Carolina. They've been living in Korea for 1 1/2 years, but will be moving back to the states at the end of July.

Bowing and doing other symbolic things during the ceremony.

Hyunju! They're all wearing Hanboks, but hers was really beautiful.

 The bride and groom with their parents. Zach's father wore a tuxedo but his mom wore a Hanbok.

Some video of the beginning of the ceremony.

After the wedding and reception we wandered around the war memorial, it was such a big place! They had tons of planes, helicopters, tanks, boats, and guns from different countries who had fought during the Korean War. I would have never gone there if it hadn't been for the wedding, but I would have really been missing out!

Creepy fake soldiers they had put inside the plane:

Steering the ship

Cassy trying to figure out how to drive the thing

Cassy and I on the top of the ship

 Only just one part of the place- times this picture by 4 and that's how many machines they had!

Mosaic depicting the Korean War. It was really beautiful but this picture doesn't do it justice.

This monument was also really moving but once again, hard to capture it on camera!

Some close ups of the monument:

Went to the Hongdae area in Seoul again (I love it so much!):

They make stores out of tiny closet sized spaces like this:

Street Craft Market that was going on there, I found some really unique jewelry there and a few souvenirs for the family:

There are also some pretty interesting fashion choices happening in this area:

Really random street performance going on:

Cassy at a really cute chocolate shop we stumbled upon:

And of course we had to hit up the Hello Kitty Cafe again:

They have these Big Toast Dessert things at most coffee shops in Korea. It is literally a giant thick toast with sweet toppings like Caramel, Chocolate, Honey, Ice Cream, Mocha, etc. We split a Big Toast with chocolate, raspberries, and strawberry ice cream on top! It was AMAZING.

 Demolished!

Cassy was really excited about it, she's a sugar-a-holic.

Ok this post is getting long so I'm going to make a new one for the other stuff!