So. It's been a while. I've just started teaching kinder and so my free time has dwindled from some to almost none. And after the frustration I experienced with the Blogger interface, I've been hesitant to start a new one.
 |
| My class including Faith Teacher showing me how it's done. |
I'd be out throwing darts tonight. But I'm sick.
Jon and I have been hucking quite a bit lately, mostly due to Mitch's obsession. I've been getting better, but Jon still whoops me with regularity. But I have my moments.
 |
| Wilson Tell they call me. |
 |
| This is a legit triple. And it's not the only one I've had. Not trying to brag. Just sayin'. |
 |
| Yet another. |
I've come down with a sore throat. So I'm at home with a bowl of ten cheong chigae. (anchovy tofu stew, it's one of my favorites.) So I'm home blogging late on a Sunday night.
Kinder is fun but taxing, more because of the amount of homework that I have to grade every week, than the actual classroom time.
WHA? Homework for kindy?
Yep, my 6 year olds do book reports. The U.S. is in trouble.
Last week we had a trip to a petting zoo. But in typical LCI fashion it was nothing but a photo-op for parents, both for the existing parents and for the prospective. Here's the itinerary.
9:50- board the bus. Sit through rush hour traffic.....
10:20- Disembark
10:30- Begin the whirlwind tour.
10:33- Rose Garden
10:36- Sheep "NOAH TEACHER, CAN WE FEED THE SHEEP?"
--"Uhhh..... We'll see them on the way back."
10:39- Goats "NOAH TEACHER, CAN WE FEED THE GOATS?"
--"Uhhh....."
"NOAH TEACHER, I DON'T WANT TO HOLD HELEN'S HAND!"
"Just do it."
10:42- Ponies "NOAH TEACHER, WE WANT TO SEE THE HORSE"
--"Yeah, me too."
"Jayden, Andy, Grace, Siena, Charlotte! Hurry!"
10:45- Donkey "NOAH TEACHER, CAN WE SEE THE DONKEY?"
--"Uhhh..... I think we can see him later."
"Jayden, Andy, Grace, Siena, Charlotte! Hurry!"
10:48- Rabbits "NOAH TEACHER, CAN WE PET THE RABBITS?"
--"Maybe later."
"Jayden, Andy, Grace, Siena, Charlotte! Hurry!"
"NOAH TEACHER, BATHROOM."
10:51- Japanese monkeys "NOAH TEACHER, I WANNA SEE THE MONKEYS."
--"Yeah, me too...."
"NOAH TEACHER, BATHROOM."
--"Uh...."
10:54- "NOAH TEACHER I HAVE TO BATHROOM
10:55- "NOAH TEACHER, BATHROOM!"
"ME TOO!"
"ME TOO!"
"ME TOO!"
"Jenny Teacher. Do you know where the bathroom is? I've got a
couple of kids who need it."
"I think it's over here.... no wait..... Maybe over there?"
10:58- Impromptu potty break behind a car in a parking lot.
10:59- "NOAH TEACHER, I BATHROOM BAD"
"Ok Charlotte, we'll go to a real bathroom. Jenny Teacher! Now the
girls have to go."
11:04- Official bathroom break.
11:10- Rose garden photo-op.
"Hey guys stop playing with the rocks."
11:13- "WAAAAAAAAA......"
"What's the matter Amy?"
"SEAN *sob* THROW *sob* ROCK *sob* HIT *sob* ME..."
"Let me see it Amy... SEAN! WHAT DID I JUST SAY ABOUT PICKING
UP ROCKS!? IF ANYONE PICKS UP ANY MORE ROCKS YOU WILL LOSE
ALL OF PLAY-ROOM TOMORROW! Amy, Come up here and walk with
me."
11:15- "OOOWWWWW......"
"Tom. What's the matter?"
"I FALL... ROCK.... KNEE.... OWW"
"I'll take you back to the picnic area. Hey guys. GUYS! Listen up!
Stay with Adam Teacher, and Jenny Teacher while I take Tom to the
Picnic area."
11:16- "Do you want me to carry you Tom?"
"AHH.. NO.. I.. OKAY."
11:20- "Can you take him?"
11:25- More photo-op in the rose garden.
"Hey guys don't blow the dandelions in the roses. We only want roses
to grow here."
"NOAH TEACHER, I'M HUNGRY!"
"Yeah, me too."
"These flowers are marigolds, and these are cosmos."
"What are these flowers called guys?"
"MARIGOLDS!"
"Good job Harry."
"What are these flowers called guys?"
"COSMOS!"
"Good job Harry."
"NOAH TEACHER, GRACE AND SIENA BLOW...."
"Don't worry about it Andy. Grace, Siena let's blow those dandelions
over here...."
11:50- Meet at the picnic area.
12:00- Eat
12:30- Try to organize a game of Red Rover.
12:40- Give up on Red Rover, and take a few more photos in front of a large area of
cosmos and in a wandumak.
12:50- Play Duck, Duck, Goose.
1:00- Head for the buses
"NOAH TEACHER, I WANT TO DO THE SKYCHAIR!"
"Me too."
"NOAH TEACHER, WHERE ARE WE GOING?"
"Um.... over here, stay in a line, stay with your partner"
"I DON'T WANT TO HOLD ANDY'S HAND. WHERE ARE WE GOING? I
WANT TO RIDE THAT. CAN WE SEE THE TIGER?"
"Uh .... Come on guys we're going over here now...
1:10- Wait for the buses
"Ok, line up for one more picture... No you stand here.. No don't
sit.. no you can't be up there, stand on the ground. No, you sit,
you stand here, no over here. No John stand on the ground not on
the wall... Harry! Where are you going?"....
 |
| 10 minutes of organization for this picture. No joke. |
1:20- *snap*
1:30- arrive home.
That about sums it up.
The weather as of just two days ago is feeling autumnish. Chusok (Korean Thanksgiving) has come and gone. As far as I can tell the most popular Chusok gift is the Spam gift set.
With my new stealth camera, I was able to capture a few images in order to prove it to all of you doubters out there.
Luckily for me, the mothers of my kinder kids broke from tradition and chipped in for a $100.00 Starbucks gift card instead of the Spam set.
UPDATE TIME:
The Han River is back down to normal levels. I was off by a few meters in my calculations, the normal water level is down there at about the 4 meter mark on the depth gauge. But here are a few snap shots that will help you put my last post into perspective.
 |
| The river now has beaches in some spots where there weren't any before. There was a lot of sediment in all of that water. |
I took these pictures in the middle of August. Usual biking attire (for me) would be shorts, jersey. But this has baffled me ever since I got here. Many Koreans cover themselves head to toe, even when it's 80deg F with 80% humidity. I really had no idea why, but then my new buddy Michael Kim explained that it's a vanity thing. Tanned skin is seen as a working class characteristic, so pale skin is more desirable. Even if it means potentially dehydrating yourself to a dangerous level.
 |
| Note the full face mask. Remember, 80 deg and humid. |
 |
This guy is fishing in the Han. I hope that he's catching and releasing. Because I wouldn't want to eat anything that touched the Han, much less live in it.
Several times that I've been on the bike trails along the Han between midnight and dawn, I run into people with a tent set up next to, if not directly on, the bike lane. They usually have 6 or 8 lines in the water. When it's hot and miserable here, I can see the attraction.
Not long after the water receded, I headed back to Chuncheon for a 210 km ride to the Peace Dam. The ride was beautiful and relaxed. We stopped atop the Peace Dam for lunch, and rode in and out of some sprinkles all day. It was beautiful. Perfect weather. Unfortunately the rain turned my shorts into sandpaper. Curse you Pactimo.
 |
| Chuncheon is a city with several universities situated in the mountains. Lovely city. |
 |
| Michael Kim's boy. |
 |
| Me, Katie Tibbets, Paul Deveau, Michael Kim and son, Jake Lee, Robb Kerr |
 |
| Rest stop on the top of a mountain. |
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| Rest stop #2, a little less peaceful. |
When you get near the DMZ you start to find these things along the roads at intervals. They are meant to be road blocks if the North invades. They will blow the little support legs (on the road side) with charges, and then the huge concrete cubes will tumble into the road and make it impassible by the invaders. Cheap and clever.
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| The Peace Bell |
 |
| The Peace Dam |
 |
| BeeBimBop and beer on top of the Peace Dam |
One thing that Korea has no shortage of is terrible public art. This should be a blog post on it's own, but for now I'll just wet your whistle with this gem in the entryway of the visitor center at the Peace Dam.
 |
| Add caption |
After a long day in the saddle, we had a big meal of Dakgalbi beer. Dakgalbi is chicken fried in a pan with some vegetables, and logs of rice that have the texture of string cheese.
After getting a little tipsy we walked back to the cars, and I found out that one building down from the restaurant was where the college students on the camping trip had all died in the mudslides a few weeks before. That was the event that was making news in the states. This is what's left of the building, after they cleaned it up. Apparently the whole road (which is behind me in this photo) was completely buried in mud and was blocked for several days.
! WARNING !
I've got a few photos of some.... let's call them "fertility totems" that we encountered on the ride.
For my sensitive readers.
Be warned.
! WARNING !
! WARNING OVER !
Ok, so that's over with.
As many of you know, Jonboy moved here a month or so ago. He and Mitch are back to their old shenanigans. We went out to shoot some pictures one day, so here are some from the "RANDOM" folder, the "DRUNKENED" folder, and the "RIGHT-PLACE-AT-THE-RIGHT-TIME" folder.
Jon invited me to a soccer game at the World Cup Stadium. I've never been to a soccer game before, so this was as good a chance as any. It turned out to be an ex-pat promotion, so for $10 you get a free hot dog and a free beer. Unfortunately the beers were warmer than the hot dogs, which were by all accounts also inedible. I'm glad I only tried the beer. The game was fun, they shoot off fireworks every time the home team scores a goal, and then sometimes when they just shoot for the goal.
Jon and I couldn't figure out what the Anne Frank banner that was being waved behind the hometeam's goal was all about, but it was being waved the whole time. We just filed that one in the "RANDOM" folder.
 |
Next to the "RANDOM" file is the "CURIO IN KOREA" file. And in that file is something that I run into more often than I'd like to. Stuart better hide when I get back.
While I was looking through photos I found these two, from back home. I just thought they were cute.
Well it's getting on Halloween, and I have some prep work to do for art class next week.
