Ewha Shopping

I tried a new speaking activity with my last class and it went pretty poorly. It took them a long time to settle down and be quiet when I tried to get them back together. I spent the afternoon trying to figure out a way to adjust the lesson for tomorrow.

After school I went back to Ewha to look for a sweatshirt I saw last time. I found the store, but the sweatshirt was gone. Sad. Jacob came and met me for dinner. We went to a Western restaurant; he ordered a steak and I got a pizza lasagna dish. It was really good. After we ate, I got a piece of pie from Peggy Pie (I went there a few times last year) and we booked our hotels for the Malaysia trip. I did a little bit more shopping when we were done with that and found a pair of "winter" boots.

Chili Day

Nothing special happened at school. The screen is still not fixed so I've been going into the students' homerooms. It helps the day go faster moving to their classrooms.

After school I grabbed some groceries and started dinner. Jacob came over and we had chili. It wasn't as good as my Grandpa's chili, but it will do for the time being. I was surprised to find kidney beans at my Emart, but thankful! I made garlic cheese bread too. For dessert made apple crisp.

Chili and garlic bread

Second Day of our MT for Mentoring

We had to get up early to make it to breakfast. It was alright. We checked out and had a short meeting with Eric before going to an activity with our mentees. We took a group picture and then played some games outside with the kids. That was fun. We had lunch, a little farewell speech, and then loaded up the buses. I was concerned about getting motion sick so I sat near the front. I sat with Hollee, the guest speaker for the parents. She and her husband (also adopted) brought their son (biological) along on the trip-he is 5 and so adorable! I still got a little bit nauseated but we arrived before it got too bad. My family actually rode the bus with us and we dropped them off at a subway station near their home.

The rest of us arrived in Sinchon/Ewha area and then we went for dinner together-just the mentors and Eric, the volunteers weren’t able to join. We got “dalk galbi” a spicy chicken stirfry. After dinner, Jacob and I went to church at Sogang.

Our awesome team having our meeting

My mentee and me doing the project

3 legged race--we almost got run over by Todd and his mentee!

InKAS Mentoring Program

I was so nervous I was going to be late or show up to the wrong place. But, I made it on time (early) and in the right place. When everyone arrived, we boarded the bus and took off for our “resort” outside of Seoul. It took a really long time to arrive; the traffic was bad in Seoul. At the “resort” we met our families and then took off to a temple for some hiking. We saw a really old gingko tree-it was around 1,100 years old!

After hiking, we came back and had a little break. Then all of us mentors introduced ourselves to the families through a PowerPoint/show ‘n tell. We had dinner and then watched “Wreck it Ralph”. The translators took the mentees back to their parents and the mentors had a debriefing with Eric (our program coordinator).

My mentee and me

On a cool bridge with my mentee

The really old gingko tree

My mentee's mom, dad, younger brother, my translator and me

Mentoring Get together Night

Nothing too special at school, just the usual. It has been interesting going into all of the 6^th graders homeroom classes. We decided for 5^th grade it wasn’t a problem to do class in the English room and not use the screen at all.

After school I made a reservation for the hotel in Bali for Krystle and me. Then I was off to Hongdae to meet up with some of the other mentors for our mentor program through InKAS and Connect-a-Kid. We went to Gusto Taco for dinner. Only Melissa, Jonathon, Jacob and I were able to meet up for dinner. It was delicious. After dinner, we walked to the place all the rest of the group (staff and volunteers plus other mentors) were meeting for some drinks. We arrived first and got some tables together. I met my volunteer/translator for a few minutes and then she had to go. Turns out she lives outside of Seoul, quite far so it’s difficult for her to meet and spend time in the city. Everyone dispersed early because we had an early start in the morning. Jacob and I did go and get a waffle with ice cream and walked to Sangsu station. When I got home, I packed for the trip.

Art Museum, Min Kyung and Sick

The first thing I noticed when I walked into my classroom was a note on the board: “Amy Teacher—You are cute. From Eric Teacher”. Eric Teacher is the afterschool teacher that uses our English room when we are done for the day. He and I have met a few times (just Tuesdays and Fridays when my schedule goes a little bit longer). Actually he is from Michigan too! Anyway, I laughed when I saw the note because it was obviously written by a student and I could tell that something had been erased after it was written and redone to ‘edit’ it. Anyway, I taught my 5^th graders heads up seven up with an educational spin on it. They enjoyed playing the game.

After school I went to City Hall area; I was meeting Min Kyung for dinner. Before I met her, I went to SeMA (the Seoul Museum of Art) because I saw they were having a photography exhibit—I saw a part in this series last winter when I was here. There is a cool-looking Nordic furniture exhibit also going on, but you have to pay money for that so I skipped it. Then I went to meet MK. I had mentioned I wanted some Korean food—soup and she suggested a place near her work. I waited for her to finish working and we walked to the little restaurant. She said in that area, it is a famous restaurant-it was a little hole in the wall place, but cheap and pretty good. She ordered ramen and I ordered ddeok (rice cake) mandu (dumpling) guk (soup). We split our soups and shared.

Then we went to Dunkin Donuts across the street and had a donut and a drink. We chatted and caught up-which is nice because it’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen her. She suggested I take a bus home and we walked to the bus stop together. Her bus arrived before mine and then I took my bus. After riding for a bit, I started to feel a little sick. It got worse and I was trying to hold on til I came to a stop that was near the subway or even make it to my stop. I was 6 stops away and heard the subway station that is near where I go hiking. I got off and tossed my cookies (er, ramen and soup). I took the subway home and went to bed right away. Unfortunately besides getting bus sick the whole travel time took me over an hour and 15 minutes. The subway would have been faster.

Walking around near the art museum and central downtown area

Loving the colors

One of the photos from the exhibit

From the "Nordic Passion" exhibit--like a giant seesaw with wings; moved as you walked across

Namdaemun Gate completed!

Tickets to Malaysia

I adjusted the lesson from yesterday a bit. Instead of listening to a song and then doing the interview, we started with the interview. My students did an okay job; some were quite creative, but others couldn’t even come up with 4 questions and answers.

In the evening I met Jacob so we could buy our tickets to Malaysia. It was actually cheaper than my flight to Bali and it is with Cathay Pacific, which I’ve heard is a good airline.