Miles and Smiles

Anca - she gets me. We laugh A LOT! Like the other day we were on the subway (totally oblivious to the lady sleeping next to us, giving us the stink eye) and we were laughing over this book called S**t My Dad Says.

If you haven't read it, you should. It's a quick enjoyable book, guaranteed to make you laugh out loud.

Anyways, the lady got mad at us for keeping her awake and went to find a new seat. Koreans like their quiet - especially on the subway.

One of our sloth days filled with blogging, Zelda (yes, even in Korea I have managed to get my Zelda fix), and coloring. Not our best picture, but you get it, right? 

Anca also has a blog. She's a much better writer than me. Check it out if you have time!

Click me:  Miles and Smiles 

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Thanks for all the views you guys! It's always great knowing the support I have, even through something as simple as a page view.

As promised here are some pictures of the cherry blossoms! These pictures were taken on my walk to and from work, so I'm pretty lucky to see this everyday. The cherry blossoms are gone now. They only lasted for about a week. They sure were beautiful!

Magnificent Mac&Cheese Merlin Mondays!

Merlin Monday's is a new installment in my life. It's a wonderful addition and makes my homesickness much more bearable. Now, I'm pretty nerdy as I'm sure most of you know. I enjoy knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, reading, writing, Zelda, and (of course) sci-fi. There's a BBC series called Merlin, which I've been a faithful fan of for about the past three years now. The show's plot is based on the budding relationship between Merlin and Arthur. The majority of the episodes involve Merlin saving Arthur, then receiving no credit, the graphics are pretty cheesy, and yet you can't help but love the banter between the two young heroes.

Anyways....to get to my point.....

A few months ago, two new teacher's joined our group Rachel and Steven. They enjoy all the same silly nerdy things I do, which was when the brilliant plan for Magnificent Mac&Cheese Merlin Monday's was hatched. Our shared love of alliteration is what brought Mac&cheese into the picture. It's been a weekly thing now for the past three weeks and it makes me feel like I'm not so far away from home.

Now, if you excuse me, it is Monday. I'm off for some Mac&cheese :)

Clay to the Extremeeee

Every month we take our kids on field trips. Last month, it was a pajama party. Annnd yes, even though we were supposed to change, I pretty much wore my pajamas all day. Annnnd yes, it WAS magical!

This month we went to a clay place. I have no idea what it was called, but it was literally FILLED with clay. You'll see what I mean with the pictures.

It was pretty fun, until I fell down and hit my knee and chin on the pavement. I asked my kids if they could hug me to make me feel better, but my devil spawn students responded by laughing at me and poking where I hit my chin.

I love them and I hate them all at the same time.....Is that what it's like having children? I'm sure I made my parents feel that once or twice with my craziness. Anyways, here are some pictures (I actually bought a camera, so I have normal pictures to show you all)!

Jack and Helena

Jack is a devil baby

Helena is a brown nosier

Yes, I love them both :)

Alex, my favorite. I want to steal him! 

Unfortunately, he has a repulsion of English, so Friday was his last day. :(

Rachel B and Rain

Cute and lovable - enough said! 

Alexander and Daniel 

This was their first day in my class! 

They held hands the entire day. 

Rachel A. 

Sippin' on orange juice

I have no idea why he did this.

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

She refused to show her face. 

This was literally the biggest smile I could get out of this child. 

They attacked my Korean partner teacher, Lynn. 

They all wanted to sit in my lap, so they did. 

The first clay room, writing with clay. 

The second clay room, making clay things. 

One student made a clay toilet with poop in it. 

I'm sad I don't have a picture of that....

Teacher, no more pictures, please!

The third clay room:

A floor covered in clay

and

A dried clay ball pit. 

All the teachers kept pushing each other into the pit. The tiny clay balls really hurt! 

Fourth (and best) clay room! 

1. Clay floors

2. Clay slide

3. Clay throwing wall thing

4. Drawing with clay and lights

You throw clay balls at the lights. 

There was a point system, but that flew out the window. 

Jack Jack Attack

Baby Bromance! 

You put clay on the light and make designs. 

It got ALL over their hands....and then ALL over me.........

Overall, it was a SUPER exhausting day, but I love my students and we had fun. You can look forward to hearing about the cherry blossoms in my next entry! 

Laundry Translation

So, those of you who know me know I absolutely hate doing laundry. I always wait until the very last minute to do it. This is the first time doing laundry in my new apartment, which I am settling nicely into. The machine in my last apartment was in all Korean, but at least it had pictures, so I could guess pretty well what was what. In the new place there are no pictures, so I just spend the last hour or so, trying to figure out the buttons on my machine. I tried to find English manuals, but it ended up that google translate was the best help I could find. These are the words that I was able to translate from my machine - I hope you find them as helpful as I did:

And

Insect

That

Cattle

Sunshine

Water

Hot

Cold

Thankfully, I found hot and cold, and that is what I'm going on. At least I know I can wash my clothes without the worry of my colors bleeding. Still trying to figure out the rest of the buttons, but I hope you are as amused as I was about the words I did find.

Here are some pictures from a photo booth/candy store I took with my friends in Seoul - enjoy!