Hello! Have you missed me? I miss you guys like crazy! Here's a whole bunch of catching-up:
TaLK Reunion
A few weeks ago, the TaLK program had a reunion with all current scholars (350 of us total). We stayed at the Imperial Palace hotel in Gangnam. Fancy shmancy place. The Christmas decorations in the lobby were the best part.
The TaLK program took us on several cultural outings, including to the DMZ and 3rd infiltration tunnel. *sigh* "You mean I have to go to North Korea again?? Okaaaay..."
The tunnel was kind of cool (I wasn't allowed to take pictures, though). You have to wear hard hats because the ceilings are quite low (most of the time in the tunnel is spent arched over, actually). The tunnel is narrow, too, so I don't recommend this activity for claustrophobic folks. Anyway, you walk a ways and then you get to the North Korean border and there's a little window and you can look through to North Korean's side of the tunnel (ohmygosh). And then you walk back out. Cool, huh?
We went to the Dorasan Observatory and looked out at North Korea:
Just a stone's throw away. For someone with a very good arm.
And then we went to the train station:
Next stop: Pyeongyang
We went to the coolest interactive art performance! Oh my gosh, it was so fun. I don't think I've ever been so thoroughly entertained and mesmerized. These 4 guys called The Painters put on a 2-hour show of comedy acts and dance routines--all set to music and all while they painted and drew awesome pictures on stage.
Those are rubix cubes on the left, by the way. They had a whole routine where they rearranged the rubix cubes (individually, too) to reveal a superman shield on the front and Clark Kent on the back. Pretty cool.
The guy on the right is Muscles (as I like to call him). All the girls screamed and swooned when he came onstage shirtless. Super funny.
For another cultural activity, we went to a palace-y/traditional Korean place where we made tea:
[She was so elegant and graceful in her movements of making and pouring the tea! Which, by the way, is a long and complicated process...so much pouring and re-pouring and swirling in different cups...it was actually super soothing and hypnotizing just to watch her. Is tea-making-watching sleep therapy a thing?]
...and we wore Hanbok:
Oh, that lime green is faaan-tastic. And the running shoes complete the look, I think.
One of the tour guides. She was super cute. But I have no idea what she said (I didn't listen to the translations, either, because I was kind of bored...)
Anyway, that was the reunion! (Other things we did but not pictured were: eat average Korean buffets, watch TaLK presentations/videos/talent show, ride on buses, and meander through Itaewon in our free time--which I spent with my friend Nick touring random art galleries.)
Before going back to Chuncheon, I went with friends Nick and Anisha to Myeongdong for lunch and shopping. I didn't buy anything but I enjoyed the window shopping. And I absolutely loved the store displays:
Okay, America, we gotta catch up to this level of fashion... ^^
School Stuff
Uhh...I maybe had a really bad day where I made my students write lines...and one of the girls left crying after my co-teacher yelled at them. Oops. But this was kind of funny, you have to admit:
Ahahaha...I'm such a mean teacher sometimes.
My 2nd graders made Rudolph headbands:
And of course my co-teacher had to be in the picture. (Er, we get along well enough, but let's just say I'm not his biggest fan...he kind of annoys me to no end.)
Every time I get my camera out, Ju Hoon comes up to me like this, right in the lens of the camera. Most days, he actually kind of reminds me of this: Ju Hoon in Animated Female Form
The 1000 won Daiso Santa beard was a hit...
This same 1st grader was later playing with my white board markers, so I made him write something productive:
Again, I deserve "Best ESL Teacher of the Year" award...
Selfie time! In other words, I'm bored waiting for my classes to arrive and feel like smiling for a few minutes before I have to start yelling at crazy mini humans.
Ohhp, yep, hello again, Ju Hoon. Yes, I have my camera again.
Hehe...I made my 2nd graders put on a little play...that turned into a chaotic presentation of some random lines. I uploaded the whole thing in two parts just so you can get a feel for my frustrating lack-of-control in the classroom:
Aww...some of my 1st graders gave me Christmas presents:
Sweet cheese potato chips for Christmas gifts? Why didn't I think of that!
Christmas
My Chuncheon ward had a little Christmas party the weekend before Christmas:
A devotional, dinner, a visit from Santa, and musical performances...
My bishop and his family (minus the random boy who kept photobombing everyone).
The missionaries performed a funny little Christmas song and dance.
An impromptu traditional Korean number:
This lady isn't a member but miraculously came to the Christmas party with her daughter's family. The senior missionary couple visiting from Seoul were super friendly to her, got her out of her shell a little bit, and this was the result--an Arirang sing-along.
I swear, Korean kids can get away with murder. They can do whatever they want, whenever they want and no one gets mad at them. Like this boy taking pictures of everyone in the middle of this missionary's performance:
But sometimes they behave enough to perform an adorable primary song:
(I think this is our ward's entire primary...)
My bishop and his family:
I love these sister missionaries! The one on the left (I can never remember her last name) is from Sri Lanka. Sister Murdock is from Bountiful, Utah. They're super sweet girls and I'm so glad they stayed in Chuncheon after transfer calls a few weeks ago.
My Christmas gift I dropped off to the sisters a few days later:
I was super excited about it! I hope they liked it. I had a bit of an adventure getting it to their apartment...Note to self: do not hop on random buses and expect them to take you closer to your destination... So, yeah, I walked for a long time. But, on the plus side, I ran into some random strangers who (I think) told me I'm beautiful and wanted to know if I was an English teacher and where I was from. They were very nice, though I thought it was kind of funny how they kept jabbering in Korean like I just maybe might be fluent. Smile and nod.
I spent Christmas Eve at a member's home in Pyeongtaek (near one of the US military bases). The family who lives there was out of town for the holidays, so they invited the YSA group to stay over and use their lovely abode. We played games, ate delicious food, listened to Christmas music, watched White Christmas, and exchanged gifts. It was probably as good a Christmas as I could have had in Korea. It almost felt like being home.
Stockings hung with care...
My lovely ornament I added to the tree...
Christmas sugar cookies. I made a beautiful snowflake cookie. But I ate it before snapping a picture. Oops.
Whaa?? Real kitchens and countertops do exist in Korea! And dishwashers! Ohmygosh.
Oh, yeah, that's right. Because this is a US military home...
Christmas morning breakfast of french toast, eggs, bacon, juice, and clementines!! Awesome!
And then we lounged and played games and watched White Christmas. And I took a little nap. Because my night of sleep on a partially-deflated air mattress in an unheated bedroom was less than perfect. But, hey, I never sleep that great on Christmas Eve anyway, so it just made it feel all the more like home.
I barely caught a bus back to Chuncheon in time. Like, with half a second to spare. Otherwise I would have had twice the travel time by subway or train. So that was lucky. And then I got to Skype my amazing family bright and early on December 26th (for me). And that was super duper great to be a part of that. But...I'm already looking forward to next Christmas. Living in another country sure makes you grateful for what you have at home, especially holiday traditions and strong family relationships. And dishwashers, vacuums, Walmart, and my sewing machine. I miss those things too.
But until I can have those things again, I will rub this in your face: my Dunkin Donuts is better than yours.
K, love you all! Hope you have an awesome New Years!