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.