a tiny glimpse...

so... obviously last week was the week before Christmas. sadly, as i've said before, korea does not know how to do Christmas, which meant that i worked all the way up through Christmas Eve. luckily it was an easy day at the middle school, and i just showed movies to the few classes i had. it was also my last day with my third graders (sad), and i got to hang out with them while they learned how to make different kinds of food. *the third graders finished their finals the week before, so i'm pretty sure they didn't have any real class for the last week and a half of the year.* anyway... i happened to have my camera that day, so i got to take pictures!

this was my favorite group to watch, because they made the most difficult food. also the kid on the left is my favorite middle school boy. i'm sad he's leaving... also that i don't know his name (i'm a terrible teacher!)

ignore the fact that i look like a sick bum in this picture... but this is so i (so ee), the most precious 3rd grade girl. she's the one who would hang out with me during every break and gave me a huge list of music to download. i'll miss her...

i took a lot more pictures, which i'll put on facebook because it takes a long time to upload them on here... but these are my 2 favorite 3rd grade students, so i figured they should get a place on the blog :)

so on Christmas Eve i called home and got to talk to my mom while i opened my presents. it was wonderful! this is an attempt to get a picture of us together haha. notice the presents under the tree...

madeline was fascinated by the candle

on Christmas morning i woke up to snow for a white Christmas! that hasn't happened on jeju in over 30 years!

madeline loved the snow.

so... i accidentally invited one of my students to come over on Christmas morning. she tapped me on the shoulder on the bus monday afternoon and talked to me, which shocked me because she never talks in class. here's how part of the conversation went:

so yeon: what will you do for Christmas?

me: i'm just having some friends over at my apartment.

so yeon: oh! i wish i could go!

me: haha oh ok...

so yeon: really??

me: what?

so yeon: oh thank you!

me: um...

then the next day she gave me a card that said how excited she was, so i really couldn't say no. she ended up bringing a friend, un he, who i already loved.

so yeon (right) and un he at their first "real" Christmas morning celebration

they randomly left in the middle of the morning saying they wanted to get a cake... this was the cake they brought back. all the cakes here are stinkin adorable... and it was funny because they gave candles with it. it was also a delicious cheesecake.

me with the girls...

all day people were coming in and out and it was really chill... then the puzzle came out and it was amazing. we got a good chunk of it done... now it's just sitting on my floor waiting to be finished!

i kinda failed at taking a lot of pictures on Christmas, but it was a really good day. i missed being home and with family, but i felt blessed beyond words with how Christmas (and the days surrounding it) ended up.

praise God for friends and family, new and old :)

peace

yesterday was a white Christmas. today is snowy and cold again. it's the perfect day to cozy up and be with people... which is exactly what i'm going to do.

even though i still have to plan for my winter camps (because i didn't take advantage of all my free time at work these last couple of weeks), i just have a sense of peace right now.

i still miss home. i still question everything. i'm still not sure how i'll feel tomorrow or in the next hour. but i'm okay. i know that God's in control, and He loves me, and He's here with me and home with the people i love.

and that brings me peace and joy beyond anything i can understand.

it is good :)

i failed at taking pictures yesterday, but i have a few plus lots from the last week or so... those will come soon.

i hope that you feel blessed and joyful today and in this season... i love you and i praise God for you every day!

spirit

first: open this in a new tab (or window).

done? good. now while that plays, continue.

so this last weekend was the jeju lantern festival. it was the first time that it has felt like Christmas season here, even though it's not a Christmas event.

but it was cold, and there were lights, and i was with friends. and it was beautiful.

the festival is held right on the river, down by a place called dongmun rotary. it's where the market that has the best 호떡 in jeju is (don't worry... i had some while i looked at the lights.). it's a wonderful area...

all of the lanterns are made with some sort of waxy paper and cut up water bottles, and they all have pieces of paper with stuff written. they were wonderful, and the colors were amazing.

and then there were random things like this on the water. it's really impressive, but what the earth are these kids doing??

gorgeous.

it was seriously magical. i was so happy.

there were random little lantern sculptures along the banks... these are some birds.

again... impressive, but what is that rabbit doing to the turtle? and why is it giving the finger?

this one was definitely the weirdest. it only had one thing that qualified as a lantern (the giant green ball of course), and then it had these naked statues, with the random little black one... again, what is it doing? i wish that i could talk to the artists to figure out what they were thinking. i'm sure all of these are perfectly innocent, but really? and this one was extra weird because it was all the way at the end by itself.

there was an owl! so cool.

before i went to the festival i put up my tree. it was bittersweet, because i was finally getting a tree up, but i was alone doing it. it really made me miss decorating at home :(

but sari and taylor came by halfway through and we drank wine and talked, which was really good. the tree is really pretty, if i do say so myself!

of course madeline was curious and in the way. this is the face i get constantly... she's right in the middle of a giant MEOW. i promise i have never met a louder cat... i'm glad i caught it in a picture.

and it wasn't 1 minute before this started. actually, she has been surprisingly good about not messing with the tree. i'm shocked!

*notice that she's sitting on my package from home... it's under the tree, even though it's still all just in the big box :) i put the one from the rozums under there too, but madeline tried to open it early, so i had to put it away until christmas eve.*

even though it's weird and sad not being home for Christmas this year, God has been blessing me with so many things to be joyful for right here. He is so good to me.

now listen to this

countdown...

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then oh my potatoes monday is done!

(yes... i typed all of those individually.)

awe

so... today i went to the 5 day market. it's always insane there... in the best possible way. i was making my way through one of the crowded aisles when i felt a tug on my hair. i looked back to see a young korean girl (probably like 5th grade) just holding my hair and staring at it with the most amazed expression on her face. she was saying something, but obviously i couldn't understand her. it wasn't to me anyway... i'm pretty sure she was just talking to herself. her voice definitely had an interrogative intonation. i just stood there and let her marvel at my hair for a while, but then i had to go. she stayed standing there and watched me walk away. it was one of the funniest things that has happened to me here.

God bless koreans and their funny ways.

(ps: taylor and i decided today that, while some things are just cultural differences, a lot of things that koreans do/like are really just weird. that's all.)

hmm...

so the korean elementary school english curriculum is absolutely terrible. there's no other way to say it. (remember... i already talked about it here) but as bad as it is, it definitely provides me endless entertainment. a lot of the other english teachers try to avoid the videos as much as possible, even cutting them out all together. but i think they're hilarious, so i make my kids watch them and laugh.

one of my favorite examples of the weirdness is a 6th grade lesson titled "would you like to come to my house?" the chapter is based around thanksgiving, and it's set up to be taught right around american thanksgiving time. i won't even get into the fact that the key phrases are weird and unrelated to each other, or that they totally failed at actually teaching about thanksgiving. both of those facts are because this is what they were fixated on:

gosh this job is funny...

christmas trees and cigarettes...

this post will get added onto this weekend (with pictures!) but i just need to say this real quick.

today i had my first disciplinary dilemma that made me sad at the middle school. but somehow the whole thing was also entertaining.... ? some of my 3rd grade middle schoolers dropped their cigarettes in class today, but i found them before they could. i had to decide what to do. it sucks not being able to reason with kids because you don't speak the same language...

the full story will come later...

working for the weekend

*this is long. read if you want.*

so... i've never looked forward to weekends so much in my entire life. yes, weekends have always been wonderful, but i have never appreciated them the way i do here. there are a few reasons for this, and they all hold equal weight.

first of all, teaching is exhausting! i have so much more appreciation for my teachers and my friends who are teachers and all the work that they do. to put it how my best friend kellie (who is in her first year of teaching english) put it, you are basically putting on a show the whole day. as a teacher, you are expected to show up to school and be on your game, able to hold the students' attention while teaching them as much as you can in the most effective way. i could write a LOT about this, but it basically comes down to this: teaching is hard in general. teaching when the students can't understand 99% of what you say is even harder. and for that reason i so look forward to those glorious 2 days when i just get to relax.

but that is not the only reason i look forward to weekends. one of the main things i look forward to is church. i honestly get really sad when something happens that keeps me from church. it's a time where i just get to worship and be surrounded by people who love the Lord. i wish that i could describe to you the feeling i had the first time i walked into the english service at the church i've been going to... again, i could write a lot. but i'll just say this: God put me there at the perfect time, and He is so good.

and the other reason i love weekends is the fact that i never really know what is going to happen. sometimes i end up just having long days of relaxation and doing nothing (which i cherish!). but most of the time i end up doing something completely random and awesome. i guess none of it is that random... usually it's actually planned. but the thing about korea (and doing stuff with koreans) is this: you can never really plan it. it will almost always end up being way more than you signed up for, and it's great! this weekend involved one of those experiences and also lots of other fun stuff. it was a good one. (i guess i should also tell you a little about thanksgiving...)

so thursday i stayed home from school (as i said in my last post). but about a month ago, i was invited to thanksgiving dinner with fred, the man who gave me madeline. so i went to dinner, not really knowing what to expect. it ended up being a beautiful dinner with about 10 or 12 of the most random people that made me feel like a complete underachiever... it was wonderful though. everyone was really nice, the food was delicious (not thanksgiving food, but good still), and the night was just good overall. i will probably have to write a full post about fred, but for now i will just tell you that i am honored to know him. he's korea's longest living expat (he's been in korea for about 50 years and on jeju for close to 40), and he's basically a local celebrity among jeju natives and the foreigners living here. why he likes me, i don't know, but i'm glad :)

anyway... so friday nights i usually watch the office with caleb. i like it because it's when we catch up (we usually don't really see each other during the week...). this week there wasn't a new one, but we didn't realize that so we still hung out for little while. then i went and had pizza with a few friends from my orientation group, then i had dessert and good conversation with sari (my friend who lives in my building and who i do yoga/pilates with). that conversation made me a lot more excited about life. she cracks me up and makes me happy. it was good.

saturday morning i had my class that i have every other week. there are usually between 4 and 6 kids in there (this week there were 6). they are all low level middle schoolers who "volunteered" to be there (i'm pretty sure most of them are only there because they're parents made them). we ended up doing a really short lesson on summarizing then played scrabble the rest of the time... it's hard for me to force the kids to do stuff because i feel bad that they have to be in school on a saturday morning. after the class i had lunch with mrs. oh, my self-appointed korean mom. she's precious and i love her.

after lunch i had a few hours to relax before i had to meet up with nikky, caleb, and a couple other korean girls from church (caleb's church, the one i was going to before i started going to the foreigner service. i actually love the church and the people there... it's a tough decision choosing which one to go to, and it makes me sad that i can't go to both!). they were going to take us to a 사믈노리 concert, but first we stopped by the coolest hair dresser ever to pick up one of the girls who was in the middle of getting a perm (i'm telling you... random. it's fun when you have no idea what anyone is saying and then you just end up at these places... it's like a game to guess where you'll go next!). anyway, after that we went to the concert, which was awesome. it was a lot of traditional korean stuff, and it was really fun. after the concert the performers made caleb and i dance with them. (everyone else joined in if they wanted to, but we were forced because we were foreigners.) after the concert we went to get some chai at bagdad, an indian restaurant really close to my apartment. caleb left early, and it was just me and the 3 koreans (nikky was the only one who speaks english). but even with the language barrier, it was still really fun being out with the girls and talking about boys and life. i taught them MASH (so funny... they're all 28-30 and they loved it), and we just talked and laughed at how we couldn't understand each other. then afterwards they wanted to give me a ride back ("dangerous because you are beautiful!" haha... it's really not dangerous at all!), so i was following them to what i thought would be the car. instead we ended up at a stand getting fried octopus balls. yep... this is korea, and that is what they eat. then we went to the car and they drove me the 2 minutes to my apartment, where we sat in the car and ate leftover kimbap from dinner. it was so fun being with a group of girls just hanging out and laughing and eating midnight snacks... it was just what i needed. they blessed me more than they will probably ever know.

so after a really fun, late night i went to church this morning, where the message was so simple yet so profound and great (it was about loving and following Jesus, out of John 21:15-22).

after church i had to rush out to catch a ride with alpha down to seogwipo to go to the jeju united finals match! it was cold, but it was so fun, and they won! it was definitely very exciting. after the game a group of us got some food then caught the bus back home, where i came in, put on sweats, and collapsed with my computer on my lap.

and that brings me here... writing this long post while i put off planning my winter camp lessons. dang.

that was really long... sorry. but that's what i've been up to.

i promise i go back and forth in my head every couple minutes (not exaggerating!) between happiness about being here and sadness about missing home. it is weekends like this and the moments i've had that really add to the happiness... and i thank God for that!

He is good to me.

thankful

*warning: this is a long and rambly thought-dump. if you want to skip to the end, go for it.*

today i stayed home from school with a migraine. honestly, i probably could have gone and been just fine. yesterday it came in the afternoon, and i laid in my office with my head on my desk feeling sorry for myself. then this morning when i woke up i had a little headache, so i called in because i didn't want to be at school feeling miserable again. i can fight through not being able to breathe, stomachaches, body pain, and most other things. but when it comes to headaches, i'm a giant baby. pair that with a little bit of nausea, and it's just not worth it to me. so i've had a long day of lying in bed, watching movies and cuddling with madeline. it's been a much needed rest.

today is also thanksgiving. at the middle school i've been teaching about thanksgiving this week, and i've ended the lesson with the most important part: it means it's now christmas season! my ct said she can tell i love christmas season just because of how happy i looked when i was talking about it. i've been going back and forth about christmas season this year. i'm definitely forcing it on my middle schoolers... we're decorating the room and spending all of december on christmas stuff. i'm pretty excited. i have a christmas tree and decorations for my apartment... so that should be good. but it's just not the same. i would never expect it to be... they just don't do christmas here like we do at home. it just puts a lot more pressure on me to make it exciting.

i'm not sure if it's because the holidays are coming up, or because i'm just exhausted, or just because i have a lot of thinking time... but i've been really second guessing everything in my life. i do this a lot... i've changed my mind so many times. and every time i always think that God is laying something on my heart. but i'm starting to realize that i really think i'm just acting on my feelings most of the time. and i know that God gives us desires, but what if i don't even know what my desires are? before i came to korea, i was planning on staying 2 years (at least). financially, it makes the most sense to pay off most of my loans and have a lot more freedom to do what i really want (live other places). as of right now, that's still the plan. but in all my thinking lately, i've been second guessing that plan. because now i don't know what my desires are. i miss everyone at home more than i ever thought possible. i knew that i would miss people... because i love you all so much. of course i knew that i would miss you and it would be hard at times. but it's more than just missing people and things. it's this desperate desire to be surrounded by the people i love, to be in the presence of those people who mean more to me than anyone, and who i know love me so deeply. i'm wondering why i ever wanted to leave... why i was so desperate to get out... why i thought i was missing something, when everything i needed was right there.

and then i remember the restlessness i felt right before i left. i remember the last year and a half, wanting just to get out, wondering why anyone would want to stay when they could leave and experience a whole different world. i remember why i came, and how it felt. and i'm glad i'm here. i really am. i know that i will not regret this. i don't regret it.

i'm just not so sure if this is what i want the rest of my life to be like. i'm wondering... what is so wrong with just visiting places? is it really impossible to make a difference in the world while living close to the people i love? is getting my loans paid off quickly really worth being away from everyone? i don't know... i don't even know how i'll feel in a couple hours, let alone the 8 months i have left before i have to decide whether i will sign on for a second year! and so, in the midst of all this wondering and feeling sorry for myself... i will go out, have my first thanksgiving dinner away from home, and carry on with life. because that is what i do.

so if you've read all this... sorry. sorry for the rambling and the whining and the dumping. just know that i really am ok.

and i am thankful. i am thankful for the opportunity i have to be here, to be experiencing something new, to be challenged, to meet new people, to grow closer to God in a completely different way. i am thankful for my amazing family and friends, who i miss so much but who i know will be there when i get back.

i am thankful for my life. i truly am blessed, no matter how much i tend to forget it.

praise God for that.

fighting!!

so... today was the 10k! i was originally registered for the half marathon but when i looked at my training schedule a couple weeks ago and saw that i had not run AT ALL, i decided to change. and i'm glad i did... there is no way i would have survived the half! i was pretty stoked on finishing the 10k! i have been sick for the last week, and i've barely been able to breathe sitting still because my nose is so stuffed up. so i was pretty worried about running. even this morning i really didn't feel like going, but i sucked it up and went and it was totally worth it! i didn't really do very well... i walked some (on hills... the whole second half was uphill! but i only walked part of it). my final time was 1:04:26. i'm okay with that... it's definitely not the best, but i wasn't last either, so it's good. it was so awesome... every time i would start to slow down an old korean man would come up beside me and say "keep running!" this happened like 4 different times with 4 different guys... everyone is always encouraging each other and pushing each other. it's so cool to see! one man ran beside me for a while to make me keep running, and eventually he turned to me and said (in very broken english) "when i run with you, i am not tired!" haha... i was slowing him down a lot. anyway... i finished and it was good. i definitely could have used some running leading up to it, but now i've learned my lesson.

and it was really fun! marathons in korea are so awesome. everyone is really energetic and they have concerts and all the old korean men make speeches in their funny way of talking... it's just amazing. plus, since i was a foreigner i got a box of oranges and a sweet book about jeju! here are some pictures... there weren't as many foreigners as last time but it was still fun. and i put the rest on facebook so they're not on here...

kelly and me... she came to jeju at the same time i did and lives in my building. i originally convinced her to do the half with me, then i stopped training. she still did it though!

had to get the crotchpunch picture. also i wore my same outfit from the half... :) (the sun was behind me... thus the glary spot on this one and the next one...)

box of oranges and a book... awesome! they love foreigners here.

and there it is... the 10k. wonderful :)

praise the Lord for healthy legs and a beautiful day!

a story...

so today was a come home from school and get cozy day. it's cold, i'm sick, and middle schoolers are exhausting. so i came home, put in a load of laundry, cleaned out madeline's litter box, and curled up on the couch to catch up on some shows. both the washing machine and the litter box are in the bathroom (this is important). so about 10 minutes after i sat down i looked over to see madeline with wet paws. "that's weird," i thought to myself. but she's always knocking her water bowl around or climbing behind the washing machine (sometimes water gets back there... it's annoying that she goes back there but there's not much i can do about it), so i didn't think much of it. then a few minutes later i noticed her go into the bathroom and come out wet again. hmmm... so i got out of my cozy little ball and walked to the bathroom to see that the whole floor was soaking wet. now... i had been in there about 20 minutes before and everything was perfectly dry. i was so confused. so i looked behind the toilet and noticed that there was a little drip coming from the tank. the weird part was that it was really not dripping a lot... but the whole floor was wet. it made no sense. **sidenote: they have been doing some work in my building, and one of the things my housing coordinator informed us of was that some people would be checking on pipes in the bathroom. i'm not sure if they came to my room yet, but the toilet has never leaked before. but it was perfectly fine when i first got home, unless i really just missed it. it's so weird.** moving on... so i emailed coordinator han and asked him if people had been in my room, and could someone please come fix the leak (keep in mind that it's night time, so it won't be fixed until tomorrow at the earliest...). so after i sent the email, my washing machine started beeping for me to put in the fabric softener (normal.). so i went in there to see that now the whole bathroom was covered in like 2 inches of water! the washing machine drains into the drain on the floor, and for some reason the water was not draining. i have no idea why... it has never done that before. so i rushed to get the litter box out so that madeline wouldn't be running in and out, and when i went back in, the water had drained! it was the weirdest thing ever... and really annoying. so now my bathroom has a leaky toilet and a questionable drain, and i have to take a shower.

fin.

today...

i learned:

-it doesn't matter how much you can prove that it's not... koreans will still say that fan death is a real, legitimate danger

-if you have a slightly reflective surface (in this case, the tv screen with a black background), your students will use it as a mirror and (unbeknownst to them) provide lots of entertainment for you

-students are like bees when you smoke the hive. turn on the heater and they basically fall asleep. turn it off, and within 3 minutes they're back to being loud and crazy. it's the funniest thing ever to watch from the front of a classroom

-be careful when you wear a hat to cover up the fact that you didn't shower... one of your co-teachers will probably make you let her try it on, and your nappy bedhead will be out there for all to see

-watching kids' reactions to a funny video is usually funnier than the video itself

-"superstition" in korean is 미신

praise the Lord for entertainment in my day!

wednesdays are the best days.

wednesdays are my favorite weekdays. it's the day that i only have 2 classes (with my favorite co-teacher jenny), then for the rest of the day i just get to relax (or get stuff done, of course). every wednesday i wish i had my camera, and i finally remembered it this week. so here is my wednesday...

every week jenny and i go for a walk. my school is about a block away from the ocean, so we usually walk down there.

this is a little boat... it is neat. it was a really nice day (after a string of COLD ones!).

this is a view looking inland from on top of a bridge... my school is in there somewhere. the square area with the little covered part is a pool that women will go to in the summer to bathe and wash clothes and talk to other women... it's really cold! jenny told me that her mom used to take her there all the time when she was younger, and she (her mom) still goes all the time when it's hot.

squid boats. when i first got here the ocean would be completely full of these at night, and the view from my window of the lights on the water was completely surreal.

my favorite co-teacher jenny! seriously... i can't tell you how much she has blessed me. she has no idea either. but she has helped me more than any of my other co-teachers, and she's only at the school once a week! i love our weekly walks... i look forward to them every week. she always gives me advice, and helped me when i was sick, and she always makes sure i remember my milk :) (i actually just learned that her husband runs a milk delivery company! that explains why she is so adamant about it haha) i would also like to point out her fuzzy vest. she was very proud of it... she bought it for herself as an anniversary gift from her husband.

so we were walking one day and came across this random little field. then jenny read the sign that was there and we found out that it belongs to our school! all the classes have their own little crop... this picture makes me laugh because it's the kindergarteners' crop... notice that it's just a bunch of dirt and weeds haha!

this is a little area with some wood paths over a pond. it's one of the stops on our walk :)

and jenny asked me to take another picture of her. i wish that i could express to you how precious she is. (she's the one who gave me the oven, by the way. i gave her some persimmon bread as a thank you.)

now back to school...

can you spot the waygook? there are actually 2 of us, but one is a lot more obvious.

as soon as the kids see the camera they want a picture. this one is funny because he's doing "kimchi!" everyone gives the peace sign in pictures here. it's seriously like an automatic reaction to a camera.

this is mi ri, my head co-teacher at sinchon. she's wonderful and works really hard.

here's what my desk in my office looks like! don't worry... i didn't bother to straighten it up. i like to keep things real on this bloggy blog.

here's from the other side. right behind where i stood to take this is a corner filled with books and a little table. and through the door and windows is my classroom! i didn't take a picture of it because alpha had a class in there... also i promise that i didn't realize it was pink until i took this picture. the only wall i ever noticed was the sweet wood one (on the left, behind the desk).

and this is alpha omega (talk teacher) and mj (talk co-teacher). they are fun to have around :)

and of course this would not be complete without the baby... here she is looking at me while we played with the laser pointer. if i turn it off, she comes and makes this face because she knows exactly where the light comes from. little does she know in this one that it is, in fact, right by her.

once she sees the light, it's on. notice it on her ear... she has no idea that she caught it!

and that is all.

praise the Lord for wednesdays!

a running tally...

so... God is good.
here's just a little list of some of the things i'm thanking Him for today:

-persimmon bread for breakfast (seriously... yum!)-
-only 2 classes today-
-finding a topic for my middle schoolers on friday-
-my favorite co-teacher Jenny-
-delicious lunch-
-friends and family who love the Lord and recognize that blessings are from HIM-
and finally (and the biggest thing)...
-MY DAD BEING HEALED!-
here is a little snippet of the email i got from him first thing this morning:

"I returned to the nephrologist today for the oft postponed six month checkup for the status of my chronic kidney disease. His words: 'You are healed'. Confirming what I knew to be true, God has healed me! We then got to talk about some other things God has been doing; our recent trips, our families, etc. He told me there is no need and he has no intention of seeing me as a patient again. God is good!"

(in case you didn't read it or forgot, this talks about my dad's kidney issues...)

seriously... there's no other way to say it. God is so good!

i'm praying for you all today... that God will bless you immensely and He will show Himself to you in all the little (and big!) things!


here are some more that have happened since i wrote that a couple hours ago:

-getting my bank account and phone bill figured out (specifically jenny's willingness to help with this)-
-my weekly walk and good conversation-
-mi ri (my head co-teacher at sinchon) telling me the persimmon bread i gave her was delicious and then telling me how lucky she feels to have good english teachers at this school-
-being able to talk to friends from home while i'm at work-

really. i know there will be more.

all right... before i go to bed:

-an insanely pleasant bus ride home-

-yoga/pilates class with extra stretching-

-time with friends watching toy story 3 and eating snacks-

-talking to david, who i haven't talked to in a long time!-

praise God for the little things that are HUGE blessings.

currently obsessed

i just rediscovered this little gem.

do it.

http://thewildernessdowntown.com/

the last month or so...

so... here are some things i have done (in backwards order):

today i went to the jeju united soccer game in seogwipo (where i want to live.) apparently they are 2nd in the league right now, so they should have fans. but i guess the league sucks in general, so it's really not that big of a deal. BUT they play at the world cup stadium, so it's all fancy and cool looking.

it was a good time. we got some orange gear. this is sari. she lives in my building. she is neat.

i just wanted a shirt with the logo on it, because it cracks me up. it's definitely a volcano with horns.

this kid was the best part of the game. he loved us and kept leading us in cheers. he would run down like 2 steps, then turn around and do this, then run down a couple more, then do the same thing. it was awesome. that's his mom in the hat smiling. he was probably the cutest child ever.

so even though jeju is 2nd in the league, there are still not a lot of fans. tickets to games are outrageously cheap... this is the loud jeju cheering section at the end of the field in 3000 won (about $2.90) seats. we were sitting in the better seats because we just went where people told us to go and ended up with more expensive tickets. they were still only 9000 won.

and that was the incheon (the other team) cheering section. they were all the way down at the other end and significantly smaller, but still surprisingly loud! sorry the picture is blurry... the cardboard cut out threw off the focus.

so a little while after he led us in the cheers, this kid started coming up and giving us things (it's actually common for kids to give you stuff randomly. my students are always giving me gifts. usually it's food like oranges or little candies or something...). it was hilarious. you could tell that he was just digging in his mom's bag. i'm not sure if she knew or not, but he took a lot. eventually he just started giving me stuff because i was his favorite. he gave me coffee and crackers and a chip. it was stinking precious. i wanted to steal him.

and this was his little brother. he was maybe like 2. he was running around with his little dinosaur like crazy.

and this little thug was sitting right in front of us. he wasn't as precious, but he looked like a balla.

and that was the soccer game... we also saw the tallest waterfall in asia that goes directly into the ocean, but i didn't get any good pictures. i fail with the camera here... it's a goal of mine to be better.

moving on... little backstory: i've been looking at getting an oven since i got here. at first i was just going to get a cheap little toaster oven, but then i remembered that i really like baking, especially in the winter, so i wanted to get a little bigger and better one. so i was looking online a lot trying to figure out which one for a few weeks. my favorite co-teacher jenny knew that i had been looking, and, when i still hadn't bought one after a few weeks, she told me that she had one i could have. she said: "i have an old oven that i don't use. you can have it. it's round." i wasn't really sure what that meant, but i was so grateful that she would want to give it to me that i just said ok! so the next week she brought it... and i was really confused. i asked her if she had ever baked in it (she told me it was good for chicken and fish). she said, "no, but you should try." so i said okay and took it.

then it sat on my table for about a week... i had never seen anything like this oven. well the other night i finally tried it out. and here you go:

the oven. seriously... it's really an oven. it reminds me more of a crockpot... but the heat comes from the top (obviously). there's a fan in there that blows it around.

and it totally works! i got this tiny little heart shaped baking pan for really cheap (it's hard to find baking pans here that aren't really expensive, but i found a good alternative in aluminum lunchboxes...) this is persimmon bread (seriously... delicious.) i was eating a persimmon once and thought it would make delicious bread. turns out other people thought the same thing, and it's really easy to find recipes online. try it! it tastes very holiday-y. and it smells like heaven.

anyway... i can only make mini things but that doesn't matter... the important thing is that i can bake. and it feels like i'm in a spaceship when i do it.

next... last weekend was the foreign language festival. all the foreign teachers who went got 2 extra vacation days. and if you performed, you got another 1.

the picture is bad, but that's me in the middle playing the bongos. caleb is the one sitting next to me playing the synthesizer. he was the only person in our "band" that i knew. those were some of the funniest, weirdest 6 minutes of my life. totally worth the extra vacation day.

and then...

a few weeks ago was my middle school's field trip day. we went to an eco forest, then to the jeju rock park, which was actually really cool. (this is the field trip where i learned about the 3 things jeju has and doesn't have). these are a few pictures from that.

so this girl is stinkin precious. she's really soft-spoken and sweet. in the morning i saw her sweatshirt and got really excited. there was actually another girl with a denver sweatshirt too! anyway... all these koreans wear these shirts with english on them, but they really have no idea what they mean. so when i get excited and tell them, they get confused.

when i got a closer look at this sweatshirt, though, i wasn't so excited. i was more just amused. because, no, that is not a "denver" shirt. it's "denved." and that is how you know that it's just words to them... (there are lots of gems with funny stuff written on them. it's awesome)

so normally the kids wear uniforms. but field trip day is when they get to show off their cool clothes. and these 3rd grade (equivalent of 9th grade) boys just needed to show off their insanely tight pants.

these are some of my 2nd grade girls (and a random teacher). they are great. the one right next to me giving the peace sign is jiney. she really wants to be good at english, and she followed me around all day. she also declared us to be "be (bay) pu" which means best friends. and she got my number and texted me from the other bus on the ride home. hahaha she cracks me up.

this is ms. oh! she's my korean mother. i love her.

these people are (from left to right): the vice principal (who i found out during the field trip is in remission from some type of cancer), a guy i don't know, the principal (who thinks i'm awesome because i can count to 3 for a picture in korean), and mrs. kim (my co-teacher who intimidates me and is also awesome at the same time). it's funny because i was wearing toms and jeans and a t-shirt, but all the teachers were completely decked out in hiking gear with packs and hats and hiking boots. no... we were not hiking.

it was a fun day...

and finally, i will leave you with a picture of the baby.

this was the day she discovered the sink. she couldn't quite figure out what to do with the water (she has now... don't worry). this was right before she toppled right off the edge haha! you can see that there's not really much for her to stand on, so she was just laying there straddling it.

and there it is... some stuff in my life. i've done a lot more, but this is what i have pictures of. life is good... God is blessing me all the time :)

praise the Lord for that.