Musicals and Meat Buffets

Hi everyone!

Well, it's now November and we've been in Korea 8 months! Time is really flying now and it feels like we'll be home before we know it.

Happy Halloween to everyone! They don't do Halloween in Korea, really, but my school had a Halloween party because of all the foreign teachers. It was really hard to find a costume here because not many people buy them so I ended up making a very unattractive giraffe costume. My kids had fun in costumes and making 'trick or treat' bags, witches brew, and doing face-painting.

This weekend wasn't too exciting. I had to work on Saturday because my kids had their huge play for their parents and families that they've been practicing for for months. My school got a huge auditorium at a nearby university and it was decorated to the nines with giant balloon sculptures and inflatable rainbows and all kinds of stuff. Each kindergarden class put on a performance. The 7-year olds (6 years old in Canada) all did musicals and the 5 and 6 year olds did ballet performances, songs, and speeches. It was really high stress for the teachers because parents approval is insanely important at hagwons (private schools). All the Korean teachers were super stressed out and were freaking out on the kids if they were doing anything wrong.

My Einstein class was doing a Snow White musical, complete with really fantastic costumes and soundtrack and my Edison class did a Pinocchio musical. My Newton class is only 6 so they did a ballet and sang 'Raindrops are Falling on my Head' and did speeches about their dreams, interests, and people they admire.


My scene in Einstein's play. Pretty sweet.

I was really proud of all my students and they did great. I think the parents were happy - at least none of them complained. And the principal, Mrs. Lyu, seemed satisfied as well. Jesse came and watched the performances and helped clean up afterwards. Then my principal paid for all the teachers do go out for dinner together.

We went to a 'meat buffet' where you could choose from lots of different kinds of meats and grill them at your table. I got rice and kimchi jigae - a spicy soup - but everyone else had a meat feast. After dinner my boss took all the teachers to a noraebong (kareoke place) and we sang songs late into the night.

Sunday we just lazed around and watched Halloween specials and went over to our friend's place in the afternoon to visit with our friends, Katelyn and Mallory, who finished here a few months ago and have been traveling South East Asia since then. They're only back for a few days before they head home so we just hung out with them and heard about their trip.

On Monday, I had the morning off, because I worked on Saturday, and Jesse had the whole day off because his school chose to celebrate the anniversary of their opening by closing. We just relaxed in the morning and didn't do much of anything.

This blog has mostly been about my stuff - not much is new with Jesse. He says his work is the same and so is everything else.

In November, Jesse and I and some friends have signed up for private Korean lessons. It's a bit late in the game but we would like to leave knowing at least a basic understanding of the language. Jesse has been studying a lot on his own so he's, by far, the most advanced out of all of us but we've all agreed to start at the beginning.

Anyway, sorry for another unexciting blog. We don't have much planned for next weekend, either, so I'm sure you're on the edge of your seat for that one.

Hope all is well! Miss you all.

Ali and Jesse