Halloween Parties, a Musical, a Temple, a Tower

Did you miss meeee???!! I've been busy, so prepare yourself for the photo vomit that is about to happen...

Articles make awesome text for graphic t-shirts, don't you think? [This photo comes to you at great personal cost to me: as I was laughing with mom and snapping the photo, the store-owner came over with an extremely sour face, ripped the shirt out of my hand and put it back in its place on the rack. I can no longer take photos of funny clothing at this store...*tear*]

Fall colors in Chuncheon :) 

Mom's first patbingsu: 

Num num num.

My first graders are angels when I play new videos/songs:

...too bad I can't just play YouTube the entire 40 minutes every day...

My favorite class (3rd grade) making their Halloween masks:

Daegu 

This was an awesome traditional market we went to in Daegu. The place is huge, and there were tons of people. Pretty much everything you can think of is sold in this market.

People eating at restaurants and food stands in the middle of the shopping...

Seriously, you've never seen so much merchandise.

And beautiful sea creatures: 

Umm...this lady was just smashing an octopus with a shovel. No biggie.

Mom and I got these yummy yogurt ice cream things in fish-shaped waffles.

The subway stairs of doom: 

We. Walk. Up. And. Down. So. Many. Stairs.

Cable car ride up to the top of...somewhere. I forgot the name. It was a foggy day, unfortunately, but we still got a cool view of Daegu: 

Just a statue. Aww...I was going to tell Josh I wanted him to dress up as this random man for Halloween...but I'm posting way too late for that... But, Josh, feel free to trim your beard and mustache in this awesome, trendy style for No-shave November...

Les Misérables

This was our whole reason for going down to Daegu. It was AMAZING, even in Korean. They had incredible voices. Mom said it was probably even better than when we saw it in New York on Broadway, because there wasn't a single weak voice in the bunch here. (I just wish the Korean performers did an English production, and then it would have been that much better...)

Church on Sunday:

We missed the English branch, so we went to the Korean sacrament meeting instead. We met some super nice missionaries and one Korean who did musical chairs throughout the meeting to translate for me, haha.

Back to Chuncheon and 5 Halloween parties: 

Can you guess which door leads to my classroom?

I am the nicest ESL teacher in the history of the universe. 

I made so many cookies for all the parties! Plus extra for the staff. Never, ever again will I make sugar cookies for an entire elementary school... (I think it came out to about 150 cookies)

But, hey, it kept my students' mouths occupied... That made it all worth it.

Some artwork provided by one of my 6th graders who came in during her break. (I had random students running in and out of my room all week. I think they were all super excited that I had dressed up and was having Halloween parties.)

2nd Grade: 

They were entranced by the movie (Hotel Transylvania). It was amazing.

4th Grade: 

Well, at least some of them watched the movie... One girl brought her knitting. I was a bad teacher and didn't object. Oops.

1st Grade: 

"Let's take a class picture of 18 1st-graders," I said. "It'll be fun," I said...

After a very long time, we managed this halfway decent shot. Haha. Oh, they kill me.

And then I reward them with cookies, spider rings, and a movie: 

(But we all know I enjoyed this way more than them...)

On Friday, I finally put on my whole makeup: 

The school loved it. The staff thought it was extra funny.

1st Grade, round 2: 

Little terrors. I can say that because they're wearing Halloween masks.

And then they transition to these angels:

Oh, I love movies. So very much.

My little 1st grade perfectionist. He often stays after class to finish a project (not that I even grade coloring pages or anything). The funny thing, though, is he never wants to take home the finished product. Haha. I don't get it.

3rd Grade: 

Love this class!

Giant leaves! My grocery store is down the street behind me:

Normal food!

Seafood Pad Thai. Spicy, and so delicious. Aw, why didn't I teach in Thailand or Japan??

Mom and I found this restaurant (Noodle Tree) in Chuncheon. It's maybe a 5 minute walk from my apartment. And they have normal, yummy food. I shall be going there often. :)

But, oh my gosh, don't ever order this dish at a Korean restaurant; 

This was in Seoul near our last hotel of Mom's trip. Looks like a yummy noodle dish, right? Nope, not even close. It was a cold, sour soup of, yes, noodles, but also kimchi and radishes. So disgusting. (My stomach is churning just looking at it...) This picture is exactly how we left the bowl when we left the restaurant... 

Just my mommy and me waiting for a subway in Seoul, South Korea...

To the temple! To the temple!

We passed some awesome graffiti!

You turn at this corner:

Go down this street: 

Follow the little old lady up the hill: 

*gasp* I spy an Angel Moroni: 

So beautiful! I will be coming back. :)

After the temple and a sandwich at a cafe, mom and I headed to Seoul Tower:

Check out the Halloween lanterns!

We rode a cable car to the base of the tower. Thank goodness for cable cars.  

Check out that traffic! Glad we weren't in that.

Love locks!! Everywhere. I love it.

Lots of couples come to Seoul Tower. It's romantic or something. I came with my mommy.

Beautiful sunset.

Some of these locks must be so old, they are so rusty.

Goodbye Seoul Tower. 

Aww, goodbye Mom. I took her to Incheon the next morning :( That trip went way too fast. It was so awesome having my mom with me. She's awesome for traveling all that way and for putting up with me and a small apartment and a bed on the floor...not to mention helping me with all those cookies and Halloween parties. Thank you! Love you tons, Mom!