Cultural Dance

Bus Ride

This is a short clip from the bus ride back to Daejeon from Gyeongju.

Korean Culture Show

I have some colorful photos of the Cultural Show.

Historical Museum

Here are some photos from the Historical Museum.

Burial Mounds

Culture Tour

Here are photos from the Buddist temple and Korean historical museum.

Hotel and Culture Show

We stayed at a great hotel and some of the kids got carried away with the ice sculpture. They started licking it!

Mountain Video

Here's a short video and pictures from the peak! Our hotel is in the middle of the tall photo.

Hike up the Mountain

Here are some photos of the hike up the mountain. I think it was 745 m high?

Gyeongju

I just got back today from our all staff retreat at Gyeongju. We took many buses on Friday after school and just got back this Sunday evening. It was a beautiful ride through the country, we saw lots of green forests covering the mountains. The city of Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom a long time ago. From the mountain we hiked you can see the coast and the East Sea. The hike was pretty tough, but my ankle has been feeling a lot better, so I just felt out of shape. It took us 3 hours to hike to the top and go back down. The view was stunning from the top. To one side is the city, and the other the mountains and sea in the distance. It was totally worth the hard work. It's amazing all the little old Korean men and women who were walking up the mountain. I should have taken some pictures of that. Saturday afternoon I went on a cultural tour and saw a Buddist temple, the historical museum, and the huge burial mounds that they buried the kings in. They are pretty strange and huge-these kings were quite important. I guess one of the teachers thought a mound was just a hill and rolled down it. Let's just say you don't do that or Koreans will be very upset. This happened a few years ago, so I was warned and didn't have a strong enough urge to try it myself. Saturday night we had a cultural show in the hotel and I have some video from that. It was an awesome weekend and great time to spend with our staff and the sister school, GSIS in Suwon, South Korea. Tonight we planned our trip to Busan over the Chusok holiday. We get some days off for a Korean holiday in September. We booked a hotel over the phone and it was so funny because you can never really tell if the people understand exactly what you want. There's a lot of back and forth, okay, okay, okay, yes, what did you say again? It's always an adventure living here in Korea! Paul-that last photo was people from our school practicing rugby for the touch rugby tournament in Seoul.

School

It's been a while since I've written anything, so I decided to take some time and write. Things are going good. It's nice to have a routine again. I am enjoying my schedule and the prep time. I teach elementary art classes every other day and then a middle school technology class on the other day. Volleyball has been lots of fun, sometimes it's hard to remember all the little things that we learned in high school--it's been almost 7 years since then! The girls are lots of fun and work hard. Last Friday night we were going to go bowling, but after we walked there in the rain, we found out that they wouldn't have open lanes till late, so we ended up watching Sandlot at another coaches apartment. Almost all of the girls had never seen the movie, so they had some great laughs and surprises. It's been a really long time since I've seen the movie, so I would recommend you watch it if you haven't seen it in a while for a good laugh. This weekend we have an all staff retreat at another town. There are some historical and cultural things to see and do in the city. I can't remember the name, but I'll write about it later. The school is so amazing and is paying for us all to stay in a really nice hotel there. I want to wish Paul and Karl a Happy Birthday!!!!!! If I was smart, I would have sent something a few weeks ago, but I'll try to get something sent in the mail, once I figure out how and where to mail something. I saw a post office place the other day when I was walking, but now I just have to remember where that was ....... Last week it was really rainy everyday, so this week has been wonderful and sunny, with no rain yet! I better go back to work, I'm trying plaster casting with sand tonight to make a 3D landform sculpture with 4th graders next week.

Pottery Village Photos

Pottery Village

Yesterday we went to a pottery village outside of Daejeon. It was so beautiful there in the mountains, with green everywhere. Such a nice change from the city- with all the signs and stores everywhere. I went with some art teachers and other teachers, which was quite funny while we were making pots. The man and woman that run the studio will fire our pots and bring them back to our school. He demonstrated some pottery techniques to start off then let us make what we wanted. It was different, because we coiled our pots, then he took them to the wheel to make them into the shape we wanted. A little different than my art philosophy of doing it all on your own and making it uniquely yours. I just coiled my whole pot so it would really be what I made. I guess he has more of the philosophy of master/apprentice and wants your piece to turn out perfect. They had a really nice place and beautiful view from the studio. The pictures don't quite do it justice, I wish you all could see how amazing it looked. I'll be taking my elementary art kids out there different times this year because we don't have a kiln at the school. Today I'm walking without my splint or crutches, so we'll see how it goes. I feel a little better about my foot today, so thanks for praying.

1st Week of Classes

The first week has gone so well. It is hard keeping up with the kids though, especially with my ankle. I have about 115 kids, so lots of new names and faces to learn. I did a great project with the 5th graders using wire hangers, staple guns, and panty hose. They were pretty funny when I mentioned panty hose. Some didn't know what it was and I'm almost sure that the boys had never touched it before. I didn't really tell my family, so I'll tell you now, I took most of the panty hose we had- sorry Kristina if you needed it for anything. I think there are a few pairs left at home. I was shocked to see how much we had accumulated over the years, but I don't think any of us really wear them anymore- at least I don't. And I used it for a good cause! There are a few students in most classes that don't speak any English or just a little, so that will be a challenge this year. There is one boy in 5th grade who knows no English, but it was really fun to teach him how to use the staple gun. I've been using a lot of gestures with some kids....Sometimes I think I confuse them more. Today we had no school and were in meetings all morning. I would much rather be teaching. I'm going to help coach JV volleyball and we had tryouts this week. I've never been part of tryouts, so this was a new experience. I didn't like it and wish all the girls could learn the sport and play. I'm thankful that we went to such a small school and let everyone have a chance. This is still a small school, but because we travel so much, there is only a certain number of girls we can take and manage. There's a tournament in China and in other cities around Korea. We travel pretty far. Tomorrow I am going with some other teachers to a Pottery Village by the mountains. We don't have a kiln or clay at the school, so we take kids on fieldtrips to this village. I'm really excited to see it and make some pots! I'll try to take lots of pictures. I hope that all of you are doing well and miss the wide open space in Iowa. I'm definitely in the middle of the city here. Oh, and Karl, they have guys volleyball at the school- so I wish you could be here. You would really enjoy it! Back to work......

My ankle

Here is my ankle. I guess it doesn't hurt as bad as it looks, but at least I have something to show for all the trouble it's causing me.

The Week Before School!

It's been pretty busy this week, with all the returning staff here and everyone getting prepared for classes starting on Monday. I have been busy everyday working to get lessons ready and the room all set. I played volleyball on Wednesday and sprained my ankle really bad, so I'm on crutches, which makes everything very difficult. The nurse is amazing and took me to the doctor today to make sure nothing was broken. The doctor was surprised that it was so swollen, but nothing was broken. He put a partial splint on it and told me to be on crutches for two weeks. It's such bad timing, but now I can't do anything about it....It will be a long trek to my apartment tonight and I'm not looking forward to that. I hope it gets better fast! I might have some pictures later...

My room!

Here is my classroom. It is really long. I'm sharing it with MS art, but we should have all different times. It's time to start setting it up and getting things ready. This is going to be a crazy busy week. The windows along the wall are awesome- I haven't seen an artroom like it. We even have a projector, which I would have really enjoyed having for student teaching in Germany. Mark and Shelley should remember the space or lack of space for some things there. I wish you both could see this and miss talking and doing art with you.

Enjoying the City

We were able to eat at a few great restaurants around Daejeon. One is called Manna house and you sit on the floor with your legs beneath the table. We cooked our food in a boiling pot of water. It was sooooooo hot sitting in front of it, but we survived. I tried seaweed, kimchi, some other spicy soup, and other different food. The food here is agreeing with me so far. I hope to have no problems, but I'm ready to try some more strange and unusual food. Most of the time you don't really know what it is, but it's worth the try...As long as it isn't dog or squid that is moving as you eat it. I don't know if I want to try that food.....?!

Apartment

Here is my wonderful apartment! I have a whole bathroom shower and heated floors. I just need to remember to turn the heat on for the shower water. I'm mostly unpacked and am just trying to make the place homey. I don't know how much of that I'll be doing though, it seems like I'll be spending a lot of time in my classroom and around the area. I just need to figure out where I need to take the garbage.......