I am a lucky girl.

I love my work.

I love my students, and the paperwork,

the planning, the games.

Man! I love the work that I do!

Today is my Chuseok. What makes YOU thankful?

I am thankful for my new pants!

Yes that--among the obvious ones--is what I am thankful for today.

yes maam n' sir, it is. I can't buy pants in Korea--I haven't in two years--because I just have a different shape than the women who populate this place. So when my friend in the military and I got together and ordered a bunch of stuff from Victoria secret, I was able to buy THREE new pairs of pants. Lately, I've only been able to wear skirts & dresses--and theres not anything wrong with that--except my legs get cold--but it sure does feel nice to wear a crisp pair of well-made pants!

Tom is tracing his hand. He and Jack chose to do that--the other kids got their hand painted and printed it on a piece of paper.

Tom just won 2nd place in the school English speech contest. His speech was about, "How to become popular." and it was thoughtful & well delivered. His was my favorite.

He's a 3rd grader, so this is a big deal.

The boy who won 1st--Taylor, a 5th grade boy--was so excited that when he finished his speech, he gave a fist-pump, and we got another when he found out he got 1st place. He looked around and pointed like, "Yeah I did!" it was funny.

I asked them to write what they were thankful for. Tom is thankful for his parents; Cedrick is thankful for his cellphone. Jenny likes her friends, and charlotte was thankful for her new pants--because she didn't understand the assignment and she just copied my paper.

These WILL become turkeys, but they were all too anxious to get their pictures taken, so here they are.

the adorable Allie.

KIMCHI!

Dinner with the Coworkers

English and Korean names: 김경희 Kim Kyeonghee, 백합 Susan (Me), 박소현 Park Sohyun

After attending Naeyoung Elementary's open class, we had an early dinner together of 딹갈비Ttak Galbi. ooh, my spelling is getting better. They always try to teach me Korean, but I'm bad at doing my homework.

Lately I've been taking joy in the simple things I come by in life.

Like dinner with friends; a night of pizza and Wii; a good beer; or a decent run. I love when I have a whole day filled with successful class sessions. I'm trying my best to smile and notice things, and not take my life too seriously. When I look at my priorities in the classroom, I realize what I want for my students is that they remember elentary school English as soooo much fun! and have a base knowledge that turns to a desire to know more, to be capable of communication.

Today, I was THRILLED to find out that the security guy in front of my school speaks fluent Spanish, and studied in Spain for a while. Although My Korean stinks, and his English is just okay, we can talk together in Spanish quite well. After lunch, our conversation nearly made me late for 5th period! ooops.

My First ascent, descent, ascent, and descent...etc of Surak Mountain

Theres nothing better in Korea that hiking in the Fall. the air is cool, and the sun is high in the sky. The leaves are all sorts of colors, and with good company or solo, you're bound to have a joyous day on the the peaks.

I joined up with the S.unday H.ikers I.nto Trekking Y.et again group; my Favorite group of snooty hikers. This was my first ascent of Surak Mountain, and wow, we sure took the tumultuous route. Of course, from our hike leader, Mamma Mia, I would expect nothing less.

most people were out hiking Seorak mountain (famous for its jagged peaks) so we got to enjoy the company of a smaller number. here we are at our first peak pic point!

I LOVED this! We got to a cliff face and was a line and two massive heavy ropes. what is that chant?

"Can't go under it..."

"Can't go around it...."

"Gotta go over it!"

And that's just what we did.

In front of me, Lindsay was nervous. Well, we were in any case walking up a cliff.

I looked up when we were halfway, hollered joyously, and Lindsay looked toward the rock, panting. "oh Susan! please don't do that!"

Whew! I made it. now for a sip of water, and waiting for everybody else.

It was a bit tricky in some spots

Lovely Suraksan looking out over the city suburbs

We walked up up over, up, down a set of stairs, up a few massive boulders, around a cliff face, and down a sandy rock path. the weather was perfect. people were smiling and helpful

(too helpful sometimes, I think--I like to climb up rocks on my own!)

our group at the top

HALLOWEEN 2010

Hey kids, heres a few highlights of this year's Seoulful Halloween Festivities. I was sick for the second year in a row, but was determined NOT to let it keep me from the fun.

From W~F School Halloween parties, handing out candy to my students, then weekend adult fun, We kept it real, and had a good time.

I'm hanging out with the Man-woman I call Kimmy. It's really just Matt.

As Kids of the 80's, we were both super-psyched to meet a few Ninja turtles at Roofers.
Schoolday shenanegins. I have great coworkers. no one else in the whole school dressed up, but in the English classroom, we went all-out.

Will MADE that head. yay Jack.

Jack-o-lantern class with 4th grade. EXCELLENT!