Chuseok holiday

Students and teachers alike are rejoicing that we have made it to Chuseok holiday and have all of this week off school! On Friday, the middle school went on a field trip to Olympic Park. Abby had to keep track of nine sixth graders with three subway transfers to make on the way there. The day began beautifully but took a turn for the worse when one of the kids asked to buy a gatorade. Soon, the whole group was in line, disregarding Abby's instructions to put their items away and hurry. They got left and had no idea where they were going. Luckily one of the kids had a cell phone, so they were able to communicate with the other group and find their way. Abby's group bragged all day to the other groups that "we got lost! it was really fun!"

A lot of our students will probably have to go to hogwan all week during the break. Hogwan is an after school academic supplement which most of the Korean kids attend. A lot of the students in my Spanish class are also taking Chinese at hogwan and they are already fluent in English and Korean. There is tremendous pressure on these kids to succeed academically.

Ryan got sick this week so we had our first experience with the Korean pharmacy. There is one right near our house. I went in and acted out the cough that he had and the pharmacist came back with this green box of pills and said; " 3 x a day. no smoking!" Also in the picture is a bottle of vitamin C tonic, an orange popcicle and some o.j.

Ryan has begun to develop good relationships with his students. It is already evident that it would be really hard to have to leave the school to teach somewhere else. On Saturdays, he practices with the varsity soccer team. It's really interesting to see kids from Mexico, Spain, Nigeria, Korea, and Japan, all of them with their own styles of playing, learn to work together as a team. Many of the sudents have asked how long we plan on staying in Seoul. It really seems to mean a lot to many of them to hear that we don't plan to just put in our time and leave. There is a strong sense of community here that benefits from commited teachers who have invested in the students over many years.

Seoul is emptying out as families leave to return to the place their ancestors are from for Chuseok. Those are Asian pears in the first box.

These pictures are from last weekend. This area is called Myeongdong; it is a yet another fashion district.

Our camera has since broken. Hopefully we will get a new one soon. Tomorrow, we plan to go to a nearby island for a night with some friends for Chuseok. Maybe we will cook some rice cakes over pine needles and eat them under the moon.