July

Chris Octopus- song contest attire

Vicky Octopus- song contest attire

Jamie Octopus

Enjoying the fruits of their labor- Britney Teacher brought them ice cream for all their hard work on the song contest!

Jessica's show-and-tell: "Britney Teacher and baby, same eyes!!"

WOW- sweet Power Rangers belt and sword, Jamie!! Hardly a show-and-tell day goes by without some kind of Power Rangers robot/sticker book/sword/car/transformer...

Don't even need to explain why Vicky is one of my favorites...can't you tell from the picture??!

Happy Birthday, John!!

Just about into their sixth month of English with me...I can't believe it!

Naturally the weather turned cloudy and cool as soon as we arrived at the beach, post-hike...but no complaints, the hiking weather was perfect!

After the hike, we encountered an interesting group gathered at the Buddhist temple at the base of the mountains. Turned out to be a "Miss Korea" pageant...quite an interesting place to hold a beauty pageant, yes?

The contestants...and the appropriate setting of an ancient Buddhist temple in the background?

View of the beach from our hotel across the street

The coast reminded me of Lake Superior...except, it's an ocean

Another weekend hiking trip, out on the east coast. For the first time ever in Korea, the weather cooperated during the hike- a miracle! We began with a bit of fog (around 4 am), but the sky quickly cleared up as the sun rose...and we were given the greatest gift of all while hiking, a clear view of the mountains and valleys around and below. Makes the effort of the hike feel much more worthwhile, if you can actually view something incredible from the peak. Korean hiking tends to provide views of fog, hazy pollution clouds, and gray rain clouds...so it was pretty exciting to have a blue sky this time!

The hike itself was one of the most difficult I've ever done- fairly vertical and requiring a fair amount of concentration, muscle, and dexterity. At many points on the climb, there were thick ropes with which to haul yourself up the rocky slope- not for the faint of heart!

After the hike: indulging in the typical post-hike bowls of makeoli rice wine and huge platters of green onion pancakes to share (sidenote- one thing I will definitely miss about Korea- meals being so communal. Food in the middle of the table, everyone poised and ready with chopsticks around the table. Such an engaging experience for a meal).

Aside from hiking...spent most of July in a state of disbelief that I have almost (on August 12th) been here for one year! And of course, also spent July teaching...among the notable events, a kindergarten song contest and yet another birthday party. I taught my students "Octopus's Garden"...and yes, Britney Teacher designed and made the super-cool octopus props that you see :)