Theeese are a feeew of myyy faaaavorite kids...(sound of music reference, in case you didn't get it)

Attack!

ㅋㅋㅋ

Chicken monster thing impersonation, I guess..???

Some cool kids. I'm also teaching 형민 to be a photographer; he took the picture. He needs to build up some arm strength to prevent that little blur caused by camera shake. Gotta start 'em young.

I asked 종은 how she had gotten hurt. She promptly performed a bicycle accident reenactment with appropriate sound effects. She's one tough girl. (Of course, I had to show her my latest wound, which I got while jumping over a fence. Sometimes, I think there is a very thin line between me and the kids. Maybe I'll never grow up; what a shame.)

Students and Stars

Some observations and experiences from the weekend...

[1]I smiled at a smiling grandfather. He was watching his grandson chase pidgeons.

[2]A boy and father were jumping rope together. The father would swing the rope and say "jump" and they would both try and leap the rope. The boy ran to his mother shouting in Korean, "mom, we got two!"

[3]I went to the Han river to play some basketball. It really is a universal language. I boldly approached a group of guys and motioned I wanted to play. In no time, we had a four on four game going. Every couple games they would stop for a smoke break, which cracked me up. Basketball and smoking... so opposite. One of the guys brought out some cherry tomatoes and some carefully cut watermelon slices. We feasted and then played some more. I learned some "Korean rules". I also discovered that Koreans aren't as aggressive when they play bball as the guys in the states. Had a great time. One guy could speak very good English, he informed me that they meet every saturday and sunday and he invited me to join them again. There was never any need for words during the two hours I played.

[4]Spotted another couple wearing matching clothes. Same shirts. Same pants. Same shoes. So awesome. I've got to start photo documenting these things.

[5]I found a secret entrance to the park on the river.

[6]There are so many children here. They are everywhere. It's great. They are full of life.

[7]Once again, I found an outdoor concert. It appeared to be some kind of amateur show. Each group performed one song and that was it. Fun stuff.

Juggling

I performed my first juggling show.

The korean part of the church I go to had a choir retreat. My friend James is in the choir. He invited me to come and juggle for the retreat and sing a song in English with him.

First, I joined the choir in singing some fun praise songs. I can read and sing the Korean if the song is slow enough... I just don't understand all the words I am singing. These songs had a lot of fun motions, which I could do if I carefully followed the movements of the two girls up front.

At one point, I was encricled by all these older woman with their arms in heart shapes, they were smiling and singing "Saranghaeyo", which means "I love you".

Then it was my turn. (I was nervous, there were fifty plus people). I gave a short little testimony(James translated into Korean for me). I also told everyone that I have only juggled for children, so today they had to pretend to be children. I told them that children don't notice when I make mistakes, so they must also pretend not to notice.

It was great. Then I sang "You are my all in all" with James and two other Korean girls that I did not know. Oh yeah, and Lynus played the guitar for us. And another man played the piano.

I couldn't understand anything that was being said, but there was a great feeling of family. God's church is an amazing thing.

James is on the left

A Birthday for Pastor Mike

First, Ice-skating for two hours. We played tag. It was fun. I fell a lot. But it was still fun. I think I love skating.

Second, PC Bang. We went and played Starcraft against each other at a PC Bang. It cost a dollar an hour to play. Jin and I could not be defeated. I still have those old Starcraft gaming skills.

Third, dinner. So good. Ummm... can't remember the name of the dish.

Fourth, dessert. We went to "Loveice". And we got "The Love Waffle", which consists of fruit and icecream on waffles. We sang Happy Birthday.

A great all day party.

Cool Guy

Random Assortment

The ABCs of Shaving

I bought a magnetic alphabet puzzle for my kindergarten class(all two of them). It magically attaches to the blackboard... 태영 discovered that little fact. I took all the pieces out and had the students put them back in as quickly as possible. First, I put the pieces on a desk far away from the blackboard. Then I instructed them that they could only use one hand to move the pieces.

The kids were smart... they picked up as many pieces as possible with one hand and carried them over to the board (I thought they would run back and forth putting in one piece at a time). They did it three times and got faster every time.

My mom also reminded me of the "shaving cream" idea. I remember it being so fun when I was little (you know, like 18)... I had to try it with my kids as soon as possible. So today we drew letters in shaving cream. They loved it. 형민 kept saying "ohmygot" (Oh, my God). I was so excited with them, I forgot to take pictures except at the end when 태영 reminded me... she wrote her english name "Alice".

Extras...
My student Kate showed me a necklace she always wears. It's made of metal and has her name and parents phone number stamped on it. I wonder if this active little girl gets lost often?

Did I mention that every sandwich from Isaac's has an egg square and corn in it?

When it rains here, I never bring an umbrella. I'm from Oregon, and in Oregon, umbrellas are for wimps. But the people here tell me I'll go bald because of the acid rain. Hmmm... maybe I should start using an umbrella.

I have included a student essay. It is one of my favorite. They had to create an advertisement... can you decode it? (click the photo to enlarge it)

Can I Have...

Is it okay to ask God for creativity?

Anyway, I think my church small group must have been praying today. I tried some more new classroom ideas. And they seemed to work.

Idea #1:
To help them learn their ABCs, I had the three students in one of my kindergarten classes shape the letters using their bodies... Some letters look backwards, but you must remember that according to their point of view, they are correct. Also, when they were forming the "A", 다혜 kept poking 형민 in the stomach and making him laugh. It took them a couple minutes to get "A" because of that.

A

B

C

D

E

Idea #2:
I decided to learn how to make an origami frog... just for fun. Then I put it in my front pocket. When the kids asked what it was, I told them it was George, my pet frog. Then I proceeded to talk with George... of course, he always whispered his answers into my ear, so the kids couldn't hear him. At one point, George jumped out of my pocket. And even though he is my friend, I couldn't cut him any slack. He was misbehaving in class, so he had to stand at the front with his arms out as a consequence. I was officially called crazy today. Some of the older kids teased that they thought I might be "sick".

Idea #3:
I recycled an old game I found while doing some research online. I had two students come to the front of the class. Then I taped names of famous people on their backs. They could then ask the class questions to try and discover whose name they had. Sometimes I used names like "Superman" or "Mickey Mouse".

I also received some flowers today from students because it's Teacher's Day tomorrow. Made me feel special.

Presenting... The cheesey model shot.

I am also losing my voice. I think I've been talking too much.