Alas, I fear I will never break this cycle of no posts and then a slew of posts in mass regurgitation, but I think that's just how my brain is wired. My endeavors for this month have been centered around end-of-year evaluations and finals, and so I am just getting back to normal. So allow me to share with you the goings on of the new year so far!
First of all, it has been cold here for the past almost 4 months. I am not used to this as a Coloradoan, and let me tell you, I much more appreciate the schizophrenic nature of Colorado weather, when it is consistently 0C two weeks in a row here. Ugh. Taggart has started an official photo series entitled Danielle's Seasons (so far comprising only the above two pictures) where he says my outfits capture my mood towards the season. So you see before you Autumn Danielle and Winter Danielle. Autumn me is much more relaxed overall. And warmer. I miss her.
We got to see the Nutcracker for Christmas, which I was really happy about because I needed to get my Tchaikovsky Christmas fix. It was a good show - but no CSO!!!! The theatre was cool, though:
There were some awesome lights in the city for Christmas as well, so we took a photo op:
One of the saddest parts about the new year has been that I've lost a bunch of kids. We said goodbye to half of my class as they moved, started learning Chinese in place of English, or just quit. This is Helen, one of my favorite kids, on her last day. It's definitely not as bubbly without her here.
But thankfully, we still have these gems around - Jay and Yeriel are seriously the best. I'm glad that even though they're in Taggart's class, I get to spend time with them. Our classes combine frequently, and the latest favorite reason for this is for us to play games during our extra time. We have created an intricate Laser/Ninja maze game with wrapping paper rolls (Taggart and I are really good lasers by the way, the sound effects are awesome...) and we have epic Limbo tournaments. Taggart's kids even practice limbo at home!!! haha They use coat hangers and have their parents help them so they'll be better at school. We also taught them to play Uno this month. They love games.
Here's just a sampling of the cuteness!
I am frequently used as a jungle gym, and while the Korean teachers think I'm crazy for letting kids hang on me all day, or for me flipping them around or upside down, I totally love it. Before we closed the playroom to renovate the third floor, I was either the evil dinosaur or the mommy dinosaur, and both required kids to be hanging off of me, apparently.
Here's also a cute shot of Alice on the swings at a playground they went to.
My birthday was amazing - I have some awesome friends here who orchestrated a surprise party for me. It all began with a decoy cake, then led to a simple girl's day outing for shopping/lunch- it was supposed to end there. Little did I know that the sneaky-petes planned a party for me. It was so fun!
Gina and Heather took me to Hongdae for manicures and my favorite - Shabu-Shabu!
Then I got an amazing Korean ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. The cakes here are beautiful, remember? I mentioned that I wanted one months ago, and Taggart came through. :):):)
We played games and I got an amazing video message edited by Taggart from a bunch of friends and family. It was the best surprise, and I had absolutely no idea about any of it - which is saying something, because I always find that kind of stuff out! I'm bad with surprises!
We've gotten to take several outings the past two months, some of which I'm saving for separate posts or else this one will be SOOOOooooo long. We met up with our friend Carl for a spontaneous trip to Myeongdong for Indian food and exploring - this is an amazing Catholic cathedral that was built in the 1800s and has become one of the Catholic hubs in Seoul:
When we went to look inside, we realized there was a mass going on - with a wedding! You can see the bride and groom at the front. We, of course, sat there for like 5 minutes and crashed the wedding, and unabashedly took pictures:
I do! <3 p="">
We had after-wedding munchies, so we went for dessert at an adorable second-story cafe, and they had CHEESECAKE! It was a win all around.
By the way, if you forgot, Korea has some weird and crazy things to be found when you shop around.
Be sure to hit up the "gym" after your next doctor's visit! Also, there's a Goodwill here, who knew? It was closed for Lunar New Year, so we couldn't go in, but I bet it has awesome stuff in it.
Taggart and Carl saw this yesterday in Suwon. The sign apparently says something like, "Grandpa Turtle, please don't touch". It's just a dead sea turtle outside of some guy's shop. Huh.
So if it's not for sale, why is it there?
Here's the man himself! Our good friend Carl. He had us over on my birthday for a Mediterranean feast that he made from scratch.
Lamb, eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, and other nummies stewed beautifully in a cumin and coriander sauce over couscous. With fresh bread to sop up the dregs. SO GOOD!
I said goodbye to another of my favorite students last week, named Peter. He lived in Quebec for 2 years, so his English is really good. He left to go to a more advanced school, but I will really miss him. He has such a dry sense of humor, similar to what I imagine Ben Stein was as a child. He is also the creator of the Trash Can series, of which there were over 4 installments. I forced my class to take a group shot, because this class is so much fun, despite the rocky start we had as we tried to find our groove. These are the amazing smartypants kids I always talk about!
Look at that cheesy grin. "woOOOoooow'. (as read by Ben Stein)
My kindy kids are down to three girls, because I've got some kids travelling this month. So we've had a girl party! My class is really starting to get into reading and writing, and they are working so hard! I was lucky to snap this shot on a day when it was just Alice and Jean, and they were both really happy and giggly all day. They love doing their work without my help - they made me "zip" my mouth closed last week, so I had to hum all my words while they worked.
Here's the girl party attendees on Valentine's Day: Alice, Marsha, and Jean. (Jeanie Beanie)
We made flowers with Daisy class. Jay made his an umbrella.
The obligatory school activity photo shoot:
Oh yeah, Jay came to school as a ninja on Valentine's Day, partially because we've been playing ninjas so much that he's obsessed. He wore his mask like this all day, and signed the Valentine he made "From, Ninja". I would love to have seen his mom's reaction to that! She must've died!
Pluto class just wanted to be flowers.
I also took pictures of my J4 class last week with their Chinese Zodiac projects. We've been learning about the Zodiac signs for the last month, and I had them present before the vacation. I am now a pseudo expert on Chinese astrology, so if you want to know your color, element, or love compatibility according to the Chinese calendar, email me! haha
In order: Kate, Alice, Jihyun, Tom, and Lucas.
I'll leave you with this shot of the aftermath of a fabulous dinner we had with our Korean teachers a few months ago. I forgot to post it, but this is what a traditional Korean meal looks like - we had several courses, including 3 types of kimchi, octopus, taro root, jellyfish (that's right, I said JELLYFISH), and many other dishes. The amount of dish-washing that must go on here is insane. No wonder Koreans eat out! I would NEVER want to cook this myself, unless I had a busboy or dish-washing servant. It was delicious though! I'm in love with Korean food.
Happy New Year! More posts to come soon!
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