It's the little things

The most experience I had working with little kids before moving to Korea was babysitting my niece and nephews. Knowing how to balance strict teacher/nice teacher has been something I have had to learn. You can't give them too much because they will walk all over you, but if you don't bend a little, don't have a little fun with them, they don't get to act like kids. I have found it is a hard hard task to learn how to find that balance. And I won't lie, it has taken me a long time to learn how to find that balance. Now, with less than 2 months to go in the school year, I feel like I finally have that balance. It seems as though the kids are feeling that way too, and here are a few times those kids steal my heart :)

Like so many have said, it's the small things in life that count. The other week, school was about to end and it was Friday. I heard two of my students talking and heard my name a few times in their conversation and James says how much he will miss me, then the other student asks, "Katie teacher is this your last Friday? Will you be back next week?" I say, "What? Of course I'll be back next week. I'm here until you graduate!" Then James says, "No, I meant I'll miss Katie teacher this weekend. I won't see her for 2 days!" I was taken aback!! James is not one to show his emotions often and especially to me! It made my day.

As Christmas approaches, we are doing a lot of Christmas crafts and fun things in class. One of those things is writing letters to Santa. I had the kids write a practice letter, then they have a final draft that we will send to Santa. I was proof reading the letter so the kids can fix their mistakes and send a perfect letter to Santa. As I was reading, most the kids are asking for Nintendo D.S. or Nintendo Wii, cell phones, touch phones, puppies, kitties and everything else under the sun. Then I get to Rain. Rain did ask for some kind of toy, but it wasn't that part that got me. He wrote to Santa, "Katie teacher is kind. I want 10,000,000,000 Katie teachers." It was so adorable! I never thought one of my students would ask for 10 trillion of mes!!

If you have been following my blog you know I teach two different classes, Bristol and Leeds. I usually start the day with Leeds and the second lesson I move into Bristol. Usually when I go into Bristol Ian is on the floor or running around, Danny and Minjae are wrestling on the floor, and some of the girls are fighting over God knows what. But lately, it has been a bit different. When I come into the room, I set my things down and get ready to start the class. Before I can even walk 4 steps into the room, Terry is around my waist giving me a hug. She doesn't say anything, just runs up to me and puts her arms around me! Now, I miss my nieces and nephews more than words can describe but when that girl comes up to me and just hugs me, my heart melts a little. She doesn't do it every day and sometimes it comes out of nowhere. Today for example, I was sitting on a chair in the room close to Terry, and we were listening to Ian give his Picture Diary presentation. Out of nowhere, she just gets up and gives me a hug. She doesn't say anything and quietly sits back down!

Lucille is another on who loves to hug. But Lucille is a bit different. Lucille doesn't always give hugs but when she does, she always says these four words, "I like Katie Teacher." That's it. Those four words. It's so simple and so sweet but it always makes me smile.

These kids can drive me nuts. They can make me want to bang my head against a wall, but they have their way of making my day! They are the reason I'm staying another year and the reason I want to teach when I come home!

Some school updates

I realize I have been writing a lot about what I have been doing OUTSIDE of school and I thought I would give you an update on what has been going on at school.

Things have been pretty good at school. I can't believe how fast the year is going by. It feels like I just started teaching these kids and now I will have to say good-bye in less than 3 months. With the end of the school year, also comes the end of my contract. My other foreign co-workers decided a while back to leave after their one year contract and travel. They had voiced their decisions by talking openly about where they will be going and the things they plan on seeing. By doing so, my boss knew they were all planning on leaving and it would be hard to talk them into staying for another year. Since I had come to Korea with the idea of possibly staying two years, I didn't make plans for traveling after my contract was up. And because I had no plans, I never talked about what I might want to do once my contract was done.

A few weeks back, my boss approached me and asked me what my plans were. I told her I wasn't sure but I was maybe leaning on staying for another 6 months, maybe a full year. To make a long story short, I had wanted to go home after 6 months so I could do apply to Teach for America and be home in time for my in person interview. I had wanted to stay a full year but it wouldn't' be possible since I HAD to be home for the interview. My parents had a better idea. They thought that instead of me coming home after 6 months, I could just fly home for the interview and still be able to stay in Korea for a full year. I like this option the best.

I went back to my boss and told her I could stay a year and they came back to me with some numbers. Without getting into too many specifics, lets just say I am very happy with not only the raise I will be getting but the signing bounce I will get on top of that. Not to mention the more opportunities I will have to travel. Although staying another year means one more year away from my family, more missed holidays, birthdays, marathons, and not seeing my nieces and nephews growing up, this experience is like nothing I have ever experienced and its something I'm not ready to give up yet.

And even though there have been many times I have been unhappy with my school, overall it has been pretty good. I am always paid on time, I work decent hours, and I live in a great apartment and a great area. There is little for me to complain about.

So there it is, I will be here until March '12, and after that I hope to travel around Southeast Asia for a few months. I'm really excited to be staying and very happy with my decision. Plus, this just gives those of you out there reading this an excuse to visit Asia!

Gyeongju

The weekend after the bike trip, Jared and I decided to head out of town again, this time without the bikes. We headed south to Gyeongju, which was the old capital city of Korea. It has a lot of history and many many cool things to see.

We took off on Friday after work and a bike ride, God knows I need my workout. It was about a 3 1/2 hour car ride, thankfully Jared was driving because I passed out about 2 1/2 hours in. We got to the city around 1 o'clock or so, and like the other trips we had been on, just pulled up to a random hotel and got a room. We were both so tired that we just passed out as soon as we got to our room.

Saturday morning we go right to it. Our first stop was Cheonmachong Tomb, these are large ancient tombs of kings and noblemen of the Silla Dynasty. These aren't just normal tombs, they look like huge hills but they are actually tombs (almost like a mini grassy version of the pyramids). They are all over Gyeongju but the Cheonmachong Tomb you can go inside and see some of the remains. We walked around the tombs for a while before heading to the Cheomseongdae Observatory. This is the oldest existing observatory in all of Asia. It was constructed during the reign of Queen Seon-deok (632-647), it was used for observing the stars in order to forecast the weather. It was pretty cool to see something that had been standing for so long and to think of how advanced it was for its time.

After the observatory we decided to get some lunch. Now, at this point I had been in Korea for just over 8 months but I know nothing when it comes to finding new food to eat, much less how to order it. This is just one area that Jared does wonderfully at. He has taken a few Korean lessons and he know how to read it and how to order good food. He knows I love the side dishes in this country so he looked into a meal that is mainly side dishes (if you have never seen Korean side dishes, google it! They are amazing)! I'm not even sure what the name of the meal was that we ate, but it was just a bunch of side dishes, lettuce leafs, and sauces. It was delicious!!

After lunch, we headed to Anapji pond. As said in the historical book of Samguk-sagi, during the 14th year of King Munmu’s reign (AD 661~681) in the Silla period (57 BC ~ AD 935), a large pond was dug and small mountains were built all within the palace walls. Additionally, beautiful flowers were planted and rare animals were brought in to create an exquisite garden environment. It is at Wolseung (fortress erected in AD 101 during the Silla period) that we can find Anapji Pond. In 1974, an excavation revealed large spherical shapes (measuring 200 meters in diameter and 180 meters in height) indicating that 3 islands were located in the pond. Anapji Pond can presently be viewed in its near original splendor, thanks to restoration efforts. It was absolutely beautiful! I felt like I was walking around in a dream. (Side note, these experts are from a Korea Sparkling web site, which is a Korean travel web site. I can’t write that well).

After Anapji pond, we walked back to the car to head up to the mountains to Bulguksa Temple. This temple has many different aspects of it but before we could even get into the temple, we were blown away by the amazing fall colors it had to offer. The tress surrounding and inside the temple were magnificent!! I had never seeing anything so beautiful in my life. I literally felt like I was on the set of a movie. We spent a good 20 mins just taking pictures of the trees on the outside of the temple. Then, once we were inside, we were even more blown away. After looking like the ultimate tourists and taking a gazillion photos, we made our way to the historic sites of the temple. Among them were the famous pagodas, Dabotap (Many Treasure Pagoda) and Seokgatap (Sakyamuni Pagoda) are major pagodas of Korea. They were both gorgeous and made me want a pagoda in my house, when I eventually have a house. Jared of course thought I was crazy along with my new obsession with pagodas.

After taking another couple hundred pictures of the pagodas, we made our way around the rest of the temple. We saw various Buddhas and although we weren't allowed to take pictures, I snuck a few. Once we had our fill of trees, Buddha, and pagoda pics we headed even further up the mountain to see Seokguram, or the representative stone temple of Korea. The mountain we were on was called Mt. Tohamsan, and the stone temple was simple amazing. It is an artificial stone temple make of granite. The construction started with Kim Dae-Seong (700~774) in 751 during the reign of King Gyeong-Deok (742~765) of the Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.~A.D. 935) and it was finished twenty-four years later in 774, during the reign of King Hye-Gong (765~780). Seokguram is known to have been built with Bulguksa Temple. According to the history book Samgukyusa of the Goryeo Dynasty (the country that unified the Korean peninsula at the end of the Silla Dynasty, 918~1392), Kim Dae-Seong had built Bulguksa for the parents who were alive, and Seokguram for the parents of his former life.

This temple was built into the side of the mountain. It was so cool to go inside and see this amazing granite statue that was so concealed by the mountain, a person would have no idea something so majestic was inside. Once again, you weren't supposed to take pictures but I managed to snap a few with a little help from Jared.

After the statue we were about burnt out on tourist sites, and not to mention quite hungry. We headed back down the mountain and back to the hotel. Now, if you have been following me on my journey through Korea, you may have noticed a trend whenever I go out of town. I tend to find somewhere to eat Duk Dori Tong. This meal has easily become my favorite Korean dish and it is even better with good company and a few bottles of soju! After wandering around for about 15 mins, we found a Duk Dori Tong restaurant and enjoyed our meal, with a few bottles of soju!

After dinner we decided to head back to some of the places we had seen during the day, and am I glad we did. Anapji pond was spectacular at night! There was Asian music playing and the way they lite the buildings was incredible!! After wandering around for a bit, we caught a cab and headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

On Sunday, we decided we had pretty much seen all there was to see in Gyeongju and thought we should get a move on as to beat the Sunday traffic. It was a spectacular trip and some place I will be heading back to next year. Next year?!?! Next year, you may ask, yep I will be staying for year number two!!! More on that to come...