currently obsessed

i can't get this effing song out of my head.
i love it though.
contrary to what you might think walking around here, there is actually lots of good korean music that is not kpop.

little helpers

today i had my first jeju persimmon. jeju is known for their persimmons and their tangerines...
both are just delightful.
except i didn't know how to eat it, so when they gave it to me at lunch i just smiled and nodded and hoped when the time came i would be able to observe and follow (which i do a LOT of).
i didn't need to worry about that though...
so i asked my co-teacher how i was supposed to eat it. "do i just eat it like an apple?" she nodded then said something to the teacher next to her and they both laughed. (that happens a lot... somehow i always feel like i'm the subject of jokes between teachers. it doesn't really bother me.)
anyway... i'm going to bite into this thing when i hear a loud "NO!" coming from my other side. i look over and one of my students is staring at me and holding his persimmon. he points at the little stem thing on the top and motions for me to pull it off. so i do. then i ask (with gestures) if i am then supposed to bite into it. he shakes his head violently and gestures that i am supposed to break it in half. at this point every student at the table is staring at me (picture looking down a long lunch table and seeing about 20 korean 5th graders all leaning in and looking at you...). it's actually pretty hilarious. so i laughed. then i pulled it apart and looked to him to tell me what to do next. he motioned for me to suck the fruit out of the peel... so i did.
and it was delicious.
and all the children watched me while i ate the whole thing.
thank you child. you helped me immensely.
**i would just like to add that my co-teacher (jenny) is my favorite and would never try to trick me. i think she just didn't understand when i asked her how to eat it...*

praise the Lord for persimmons and helpful students!

He is so good.

seriously... God is so good.

this week has been a rough one. i don't really feel like writing it all on here right now (mostly because it's a LOT and i need to go to bed). but every single day this week God reminded me of His goodness. it was in the smallest ways, but it was awesome. He is always doing that!

i love Him. and He loves me.

just being honest.

a conversation i had today with one of my middle schoolers (chang un he, who was the first to tell me her name and make sure i remembered it):

me: how are you?

her: not bad. how about you?

me: ok. i've been sick.

her: yea. you look sick.

thanks un he.

wait.

Wait for the LORD. Be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14

suck on that, koreans.

today i ran the 5k.

i did not want to do it.

i have been failing miserably in my training for the half, and i was just not mentally prepared at all.

but turns out it was wonderful, and it made me way more excited for the half!

and guess what... i was not last. i was not even close to last. in fact, i was in probably the first 30. and i was like the 4th or 5th girl. my time was about 27 minutes (they didn't actually time the 5k, so i'm basing that off of what the 10k timer was at). i realize that time is not awesome. so it's weird that i was so far up there.

here's why: the 5k was pretty much the family run/walk. so half the people i was running against were middle school students. and 90% of the 5k people were walking.

the first 6 people to finish were all foreigners... haha!

it was really fun though. koreans know how to put on a marathon (except it was weird because no one stood at the end and cheered people on really... sad right?)

but we got some free mandarin ice cream sandwiches and ramen and songpyan (delicious). and i got 2 shirts. and a calendar.

the last 3 days have been completely randomly awesome.

praise the LORD!

little hellions

so... i've worked with a lot of kids in my life. and i understand that kids are kids and sometimes they are crazy. that's perfectly normal and acceptable.
i knew coming here that i would have my share of discipline issues and trouble children. that's just how it goes when you work with 500+ kids a week. but it hasn't really been too much of an issue. usually a stern look or the silent treatment will get them to be quiet and listen, at least for a little bit.
but i have this one class. oh. my. gosh. this is one of my smallest classes. and also the youngest (firsts grade.) now, i realize younger doesn't mean better. but, in general, the younger they are, the easier they are to distract and entertain. and the more they listen to you because you're so much bigger than them. my other first grade class is precious. they like the songs and the games and anything i do or say is fun for them. but this class....
oh man. i can honestly say this is the worst group of children i have ever encountered in my entire life. there are maybe 6 in the whole class that will stay quiet for more than 15 seconds or sit in their seats for more than a minute at a time. the rest will literally just jump up, scream, and run out of the room for no reason at all. they are always jumping on their chairs and desks, beating each other up (sometimes trying to stab each other with various objects), and demanding "GAME!!!" i wish that i could describe the way a class period looks with these kids... it's honestly so outrageous. words could never do it justice.
little hellions really is the most appropriate title i can give them. it's sad, but true.
BUT i can't help but feel blessed, because out of 22 classes i only have the 1 that is like that. i have some friends who seem to have lots more. that sucks.
AND they're so stinkin cute when they finally close their mouths :)
all i can say is...
praise the Lord for 40 minute classes and online games!

on the bus...

so... this morning on the way to school the kid (probably like 12 or 13) next to me fell asleep. then he slowly started sliding until he was leaning on me just a little bit. then the bus bumped and he woke up. he looked over at me with a terrified look, but also sort of accusing, like he was blaming me for letting him fall asleep and lean on me.
i chuckled.

precious nugget... and some randoms

so... on saturday i was hanging out in my apartment at like 4 in the afternoon when i heard some unusually loud noises coming from outside. now... it's always pretty loud because i'm on a busy street, but this time it was outrageous. so i went to the window to see what was up, and there was definitely a parade going on. but the weird thing was that it was only on the side of the road... traffic was just going on as usual right next to it. and NO ONE was watching. seriously... look at the picture. it was so weird. apparently the horse festival was starting... thus all the horses. **note: horses on jeju are really small. you can kinda tell... just look how big the people sitting on them look compared to the horses. it's something about them not being thoroughbred or something...**

this is my kitty. well... the back of her head. this might be my favorite thing about her. she seriously likes watching shows. and i'm not just saying that. if i put a show on my computer, 90% of the time she will come sit in my lap and watch it. it's hilarious. here she is watching glee... at this part she was trying to get closer to kurt.

here's another view after she relaxed a little bit... still totally into it though.

eventually she dozed off...

and then she switched to a more comfortable position.

she's definitely a cuddler, this one. oh and she has a name now. madeline. madeline nymphadora actually. and if we're getting really technical, like when she's in trouble, it's madeline nymphadora tonks otten. (think like david richard finney otten...)

but most of the time i just call her dody. some of my middle schoolers said to name her dod (pronounced like somewhere between "ah" and "oh"). they told me what it means, but i couldn't really understand what they meant. something to do with diamonds, maybe? either way, i didn't have the heart to tell them i already gave her a name. and i realized that i like calling her dody, and it totally fits. so there you have it... the no-longer nameless, but still probably confused, kitten.

anyway... i like her. she's definitely still a baby and has some things to learn, but i think she'll figure it out. and the fact that she loves just laying on me makes me forgive any mistakes.

so there you have it... some randoms. i have lots of other stories, but i just don't feel like writing them right now. sorry.

praise the Lord for this bundle of precious!

it's probably not good...

that i think it's hilarious when i catch my middle schoolers flipping each other off.
or that i would rather let them watch their friends play a soccer game than teach them a lesson (because i want to watch it too.)
or that when i get to school and waygook (a website for foreign teachers in korea... aka: the best thing ever) is having connection problems, i have no idea what to do.
or that on the weekends i would rather lay around and be lazy with my cat than enjoy all the outdoorsy things this island has to offer before it gets too cold.

all of these are probably bad things... but i'm okay with them.

also it's probably not good that i never ever write on here. sorry about that.

YAAAYYY!!!

i got a kitten!

she doesn't have a name yet... i have no idea what to call her. but i love her. she's 8 weeks old, and she's a tiny little peanut! right now her favorite place is her covered litter box (she's pretty scared, but i can already tell that she's gonna have a personality). i'm not complaining... if she's gonna hang out somewhere i guess it's good that it's there... hopefully that means she won't have any accidents!

anyway... she likes to move around, so it was hard to get a picture of her. but she's beautiful! here she is...

this one shows the sweet markings on her back... and the "m" on her forehead. fred (the guy that gave her to me... he's awesome.) said that usually means it's a girl. so i'm not 100% positive, but i'm pretty sure.

this isn't the best picture, but it kinda shows how small she is. that bar is like 4 inches off the ground. also she likes to hide.

and here's her precious little face! i'll let you know when i have a name... any ideas??

praise God for this baby!

**update: already peed on my bed. i caught it right away though... so that's good. good thing i'm patient with baby animals.
also, she still doesn't have a name.