Waygooks Wandering

Ever since the grade 2's finished their exams, they've been kind of bad. I, honestly, did not think the grade 3's were that bad, and they've been done with their exams for much longer. Gianni and I have both been doing our best at our respective schools to do fun things with the kids despite the lack of enthusiasm. It's basically just been weeks of games and videos. We are in the home stretch though because the week of Christmas is our last school week of the term! After that, we both have English camp where we have maybe 20 students for a few hours per day, and we can do whatever we want. Niall and I are teaching a cooking class and a scavenger hunt class together. We're making pancakes! On my own, I'm doing a 2-day Harry Potter camp and a Sherlock/Murder Mystery camp. I'm really excited for both of them, and I have them mostly planned out. Aside from camp, we are going to do what's called "desk warming," where we do just what the name implies--sit at our desks ALL DAY. We are required to be at work even though we aren't teaching. It's different at every school though, so sometimes they might let us go early or whatever. So we'll see how that goes.

As far as what we've been up to, I've actually had some bad luck and been sick for the last week or so. Last weekend, I felt really nauseous and achy, and it carried over into the next week. I started to feel better for a few days and was eating normally, and then I got a cold this last weekend! So it's been a little bit unlucky but I've been making due.

We finished our Korean classes on Friday. I'm going to miss our teacher. She was really funny and a good teacher. We might take more Korean classes in the future, but that class gave us a nice base and taught us a few more useful phrases. Now, we just need to practice. I really appreciate that the Daegu Office of Education offered us the opportunity to take the classes because I really think I learned a lot, and we didn't have to pay a cent for them.

We've also been preparing for Christmas. Last night, I realized the advent calendar Mom sent me with Lindt chocolate inside had a mistake! Gianni was looking for the 16, but instead of the 16 we found another 10! Oh well! We also have a 4 ft tall, fake tree. It's pretty cute. It came with some ornaments, and I bought some more colored ones. One of the ornaments is a lotus flower, which is a Buddhist symbol (I actually bought it at a temple), so our tree is part Buddhist :) I also have a "Merry Christmas" sign tacked on the wall, and we bought little stockings that are hanging on the wall as well. The apartment has a bit of Christmas flare. Downtown there are also a lot of Christmas lights. It's really funny actually. They set up these light displays for you to take your picture with.

On Saturday, we went to see The Hobbit with Maria and Matthew and the old English teacher from Matthew's school. It was fun, but I had gotten up early to skype with Mom and Dad, so I was a bit tired and fell asleep at the end. It was an ok movie, but I'm not a huge Lord of the Rings fan anyway. Maria and Matthew are though. The movie was a little unsatisfying because it ended kind of abruptly and didn't seem to go anywhere, but it looked nice, as those movies usually do. When I spoke to Mom, she opened the box I sent with presents for everyone from Korea. She wanted to wait for me so that I could tell her what everything was and who it was for. I sent home presents for tons of people, and Mom wrapped them all up with me watching. I had Dad take her presents away though. She's playing Santa this year and will be delivering them to the respective people soon. Saturday night, we went over to Serena and Max's for their potluck dinner. There was delicious pulled pork and mac n' cheese! All the food was wonderful. They and their friends really know how to cook. Gianni and I just bought a cake and brought that. At their house, we also did a yankee swap. We played with different rules we used to play with when we did it in Canada with our cousins and family up there. You could either choose to steal a present from someone or choose one from the middle. If you stole from someone, then that person gets the same choice. One present can only be stolen 2 different times, and the person who went first gets to go again at the end. It was kind of a cool way to play, actually. I liked it. Gianni ended up winning 2 reese's peanut butter cups that were a half pound of chocolate each! It's insane. We're going to cut them up and use them in baking. I stole a box from someone that contained 2 large scented candles and 3 big packs of sour gummy worms! The two of us ended up with more candy than we can handle. Serena and Max are leaving to go home for a month, so it was kind of a going away party for them as well. I'll miss them. It's always fun to hang out with them and see them at taekwondo. Since they are leaving, they bought ziploc containers for us all to take food home at the end. They were like "please, just take it all!" So Gianni and I both went home with a nice haul. Thanks Serena and Max!

Sunday was more of a relaxing day. We went down to an English used book store and restaurant called Buy the Book that I've been hearing a lot about because they were having a flea market. It ended up being kind of small and just a few people were selling their art of jewelry. It was good to check it out and know where it is though. I got a chocolate cupcake and a molasses cookie from the KAPS booth. They are the animal shelter here in Daegu, and they do a lot of bake sales for fundraising. The cookie was amazing! I needed some molasses, and the person who made them told me where to get some molasses, which I have now ordered so that I can do some of my own baking! I'm really excited. After stopping by there, Gianni and I decided that we would go to the underground mall and each get $100 to spend on Christmas presents for each other. We split up and did some flash shopping so that the other person wouldn't see their presents. It was actually kind of fun! Might do it again next year. All his presents are now wrapped up and under the tree, so starting to look like Christmas for real.

One of the groups of "cool guys" playing and singing together. Adorable.

One of the girls doing a traditional Korean dance.

Thursday was the last day of exams for the first and second graders at school, meaning that all the students have now finished their exams yet they still have about a month left of school. I don't understand the Korean education system, but whatever. I'm hoping it goes okay until then. I've been a little stressed this week trying to plan out lesson for the upcoming weeks for the kids. I can do whatever I want, which is both nice and a little daunting. I also have been planning my camps for the winter, and I think I have it mostly planned out. Niall and I are doing a scavenger hunt with the kids together as well as a cooking class together where we are making pancakes. The other three days, I'm doing a two day harry potter camp and then a Sherlock/murder mystery camp the last day. I think I've got some good ideas, and the Harry Potte r camp is almost set. I've been doing blogging classes with some of my higher level students, and I'm almost ready to get some of the answers to your questions posted. I'll post the kids' answers and then maybe you can comment back. On Thursday, some of my students I guess wanted to practice their English by doing presentations for

cool magic trick from one of my kids

me. I didn't know they were planning something, but one of my co-teachers told me at lunch. I got a lecture about street food from a group of boys and one about Dokdo island from a group of girls. Dokdo island is an island on the southern coast of Korea. Japan and Korea both claim it as their own, and the Koreans are really adamant about it, even teenagers like my students. It was nice to see that my kids wanted to practice their English. I need to figure out ways to do things like this to get the kids talking more. That's one of my goals for the new semester.

the guy in the middle is Psy :)

On Friday, I think as a treat after exams, the school rented out the auditorium at the culture center, and the kids did a talent show! It was awesome! Not only did we get a half day because we left after it, but I also got to see some of the cool things my kids can do. Although all the kids were great, some of the girls were doing dances that I consider to be pretty inappropriate for school. I shouldn't know that some of my middle schoolers can move like that. Pretty ironic considering the teachers had done a sexual harassment training lecture earlier in the week. Anyway, there were some really cool acts. Most involved some sort of music--singing, dancing, playing an instrument--but one group of kids did MAGIC! It was really impressive! I'm editing a video, which I'll post soon of as many act as I could tape, but the quality of the video is bad at times. My good camera died half way through, and I had to switch to my phone. Woops! Even some of the teachers sang a song and the principal played his saxophone! He's apparently really good sax
player, and the teachers are always talking about it. My favorite performance was a PSY compilation featuring one of the larger middle school students as Psy! It was hilarious, and the kids did a
really good job of it. If they choreographed their own dances, I'm
really impressed. Anyway, it was a fantastic talent show, and I'm really proud of my students for performing! Also, I feel I need to say something about Korean audiences. We've observed people at parade and various performances inside and outside as of now, and all of them I've noticed similar things. Korean audience members are the best anyone could ask for! If you're a musician, come here to perform! They love it all. They dance, they clap, they scream! It's amazing. At the parade people were waving and clapping at all the people going by, and at the talent show, all the kids in the audience were cheering on ALL the acts (especially the sexy dancing girls and the cool singing and guitar playing dudes sitting down). I was seriously astounded by the way they seemed to support each other.

This week was the first week in probably over a month that we went to taekwondo training three times! It was nice to get back in the swing of things. The holidays kind of took priority for a bit, but hopefully, we're back in it. I definitely need to be training because of all the snacks I keep eating, and we both need to do it if we're going to make black belt by the end of the year.

Our Korean class Friday night was good, as usual. Next week is our last class, believe it or not! Where has time gone!?

It was a good week, and now we're having a relaxing weekend at home. Today, we watched movies all day. Tomorrow we might go out to Duryu Park with Maria and Matthew, but we aren't sure yet. We are watching our friend's dog this weekend also. She's a little dog named Maia, and she's really adorable and low maintenance. Her mom, Simone, is taking a weekend jaunt to Seoul, and I've been missing my furry companion, Trixie, back home, so it's nice to have a dog around again, even if it's just for a weekend.

I celebrated Thanksgiving with my students by doing a lesson about Thanksgiving and then showing the Thanksgiving episode of The Simpsons. It was a pretty fun lesson, and I think most of the kids like the episode. I played it with Korean subtitles, so I at least know they understood it! I taught them all about Thanksgiving traditions, like the Thanksgiving Parade, football, and giving food to the homeless. When I taught them about the food that we usually eat, they kept thinking that the turkey was chicken...they really haven't ever seen a wild turkey here, which is weird to think about considering in Newton they flock in people's driveways! I also told them the story of Thanksgiving--I should say both stories because I told them the traditional story and then what really happened to the Native Americans. I got really creative with pictures and gestures in my attempts at conveying small pox, murder, and religious intolerance (of the King, forcing the pilgrims to leave). One of my students asked why I didn't go home for the holiday. My response was writing how much money it would cost (in won) to fly home. He went, "ohhhhhh."

We weren't able to celebrate Thanksgiving on actual Thanksgiving Day because we had school. We did go to taekwondo and watched Serena and Max pass their belt tests. Serena passed 2 belts! She's brown now, and Max is blue. Master Hwang heard us talking about Thanksgiving and basically invited himself over to Serena and Max's on the weekend for some turkey! He's hilarious sometimes. After taekwondo, we went out for MacDonalds. Hardly a Thanksgiving feast, but at least it was a little piece of home on Thanksgiving with some of our lovely friends. As I was rushing off to school the next morning, I called the house briefly and interrupted Thanksgiving dinner to talk to Mom, Dad, Ben, Catherine, and Uncle Richie. It was nice to get to talk to everyone and wish them a Happy Thanksgiving even if we only talked for a second.

On Friday, I had a lovely surprise at lunch. The package from my mom came!!! I was so excited, but I didn't open it until I got actual clearance that I could open it before Christmas. She sent a beautiful advent calendar for me to hang up, and the best part is that it was stuffed with lindt chocolate balls! She also sent me some hot chocolate and chocolate spoons to go with it. I got some beautiful earrings and a Canada charm for my charm bracelet. I also got a pair of Canada mittens, Canada booty socks, and a Canada magnet. There will be no mistaking that half of me is Canadian! The presents were really amazing, and it was great to get something from home. It's really terrible being away for the holidays. At least the last time I was away for Thanksgiving I was in Arizona with my lovely cousin. I spent all night on Friday baking for our Thanksgiving weekend! It's really hard having only a very small toaster oven to cook with, but at least I have that. I think everything came out really well. Corn bread, apple crisp, and banana bread! 
The real Thanksgiving celebrations were this weekend. We got 2 Thanksgivings! It was awesome! The first was on Saturday at Serena and Max's house. We got there a little early to help out, but Serena had everything under control in the kitchen. She made both a turkey and a ham! There was a huge amount of food and all of it was delicious! I brought some banana breads made with Mom's recipe, and I think they came out perfectly. They tasted just like hers! I also brought an apple crisp, which isn't exactly up to her standards yet but was a million times better than the first one I made. Serena and Max had delicious chips and dip and American candies around the house too! We got peanut butter cups, 

Watching Koreans try turkey for the first time!

which we haven't had in a long time, and mint chocolate kisses! A bunch Serena and Max's friends came as did Master Hwang and Dae Eun from taekwondo. Gianni and I spent a good deal of the time talking to the two of them. We taught them about the food we were eating. Master Hwang didn't like that most of the food was sweet because he likes spicy food, but I think he enjoyed the ham, turkey, and banana bread. He even brought Serena and Max some toilet paper, which is a traditional gift you give someone when you go to their home for the first time. It's to wish them good luck and happiness as far as I understand. We had a great time chatting and eat until really late at night. Master Hwang was kind enough to drive us home. He wanted to see our sock collection. Ever since he saw me buying tons of socks in Seoul, he thinks I'm a "socks maniac," in his words. I've tried explaining that they were for family to no avail. We showed him the socks, and I also got him to take a look at the TV. He tried to get the cable working, but it turns out I only have one line to use for bot the cable and the internet, so I have to get the landlord to come fix it. Ugh! I feel terrible for all the problems we've been having with the place, but it's almost all set now!



The next day was more of a potluck Thanksgiving that Matthew and Maria hosted at their place. They are our married friends, and we always play quiz with them. They have an apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, and small living room downstairs, and their huge bedroom is upstairs. They had heard that you could order a turkey through the Daegu Compass, the foreigner magazine. The Compass brought turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce I believe. It's really nice that they have a service like this because you really can't buy whole turkeys here. Our friend, Marie, brought them a toaster oven and was in the middle of heating things when we arrived (late! because we got lost) with plates and cups for everyone to eat with. First, we went around the room and everyone said what they were thankful for. I said, "employment!" Everyone brought a dish, and boy are there some good cooks in the room. We had creamed corn, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. Gianni and I brought corn bread muffins, which Serena had to buy us the mix for because they don't have corn meal here. We also brought sweet potatoes. While we were making them, we realized that Korean sweet potatoes are not orange like at home. They taste basically the same, but they were this ugly, green-brown color by the end. We also had to eat them cold because the toaster oven was too small to heat up the big bowl we had. Still, several people said they were good, so that's okay! It was lovely sharing food with everyone and talking. We watched a little football and some Ohio State marching band shows. Maria and Matthew went there, and their marching band is incredible. After dinner, we had pumpkin pie, our extra banana bread, and Sian's milk tart for dessert. Sian is from South Africa, so she brought a South African dessert. It's like a custard pie, and it was really good! After dessert, we got into playing some card and board games. I learned to play some new card games and bananagrams! It was a really excellent time. Everyone left at around the same time in order to catch buses and trains home.

Despite the fact that we only met our friends here 4 months ago, it's been incredible getting to know them all. Having great friends who are in the same situation as you makes it so much easier to be away from family and friends back home. Thank you to Serena and Max and Matthew and Maria for hosting Thanksgivings this weekend, and thank you everyone for being such amazing friends to us!