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...