Friday, December 10, 2010

Sweet Video



My kinders have grade 7 buddies we see once a week. I told the grade 7's we were going to make cards for them. This is what one grade 7 "Daniel" came up with as a present for his kinder buddy (also "Daniel")
I was really impress and touched by this!
Enjoy

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Our first snow together!


Gigi (art teacher) Mark, Me, Ayu (our aide)
Our kids...most of them anyway :)

Our first snow together. Mother nature smiled on us. My class spent the morning with fingers crossed chanting "come on..Snow, come on....snow!" over and over. We are sitting at lunch and one student says "LOOK!" and I turned off all the lights (it was really dark outside) and we watched the snow fall. The kids all shouted "We did it" thinking they had made it snow (I'm convinced they did!) We finished lunch, went out to play and had a wonderful time. The snow stopped just as we finished recess and it warmed up. The snow is now gone and it rained a bit after that. It hailed on my way home but I have not seen any more snow. It was amazing timing :) Looking forward to more snows together :)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Hey everyone,

I know you have heard some crazy news from Korea. Please know it is not as bad as you will hear. I have talked to many of my Korean friends and have been reassured not to freak out. The locals are not freaking out so we are all following suit.

I am just writing to let everyone know I am safe and happy! Please think of me but don't worry about me!

Love you all!!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Birthday fun

Celebrating with my Korean friends from the left:
Jang (dont know the next two people) Taehyun, me, JB, Hanmie, Kevin, and Sung-o

I not only turned 30 this year I got to do it in Korea! How many people can say that! Pretty cool already :)

Birthday day 1:
I showed up to school (with my tiara that came in the care package...hand made of course) and Mark had all the kids bring me cards and some of them had little "presents" they made. It was so sweet. They all said one nice thing about me (which because of the crown most said Miss Pupper is a queen) Then we celebrated Sung Min's birthday because I share my birthday with my student. His mom had brought lots of treats, enough for both mine and Marks class. It was fun. About mid day security comes to my room to deliver a HUGE bouquet of flowers...From my mom and dad!!!! So unexpected and wonderful. Then a few minutes later the office staff Jenny, Unna, Hyeji, and JB comes in singing with a cake for me. The staff is so wonderful!
At the end of the day a few of the staff took me out to eat. Mama and papa bear, Gigi, Joy and Chris, Vanessa and Rob, Mark, Karen, Sunghwa, Brie and Jordan made it out. It was really nice. From there some of us walked to Cafe de Moim for a party. Simo, the music teacher for my kids, shares the 15th of october as well. We had a joint party at the cafe with dancing and live music. Almost all of the Chadwick staff showed up and many played instruments and sang at the open Mic. It was so much fun. (I don't have the pictures from this event yet...but I will get them when I can)

Day 2: Saturday (still my birthday because it was the 15th in the US ha ha) Brie took me out to lunch for my favorite Kimchi jigae. Then Joy and I met Hanmie, one of the security staff, for a night out. We ate dinner with Hanmie and Jung, then played pool. Hanmie kept disappearing from the pool place and we couldn't figure out why. They took me next door to the nooribong room and it was all decorated with balloons, candles and a cake....that is where Hanmie had been :) My Korean friends (and joy) celebrated there. It was SO fun, we laughed, danced and sang.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

My First CARE PACKAGE!!!

I love you all! This is the best! I'm so excited to look through all the books and the notebooks my mom sent. I got skin stuff and peanut butter haha :) I got Peets Coffee (decaf? Whatever it's Peets!!) There are an array of teaching books! I have a LOT of reading to do. I'm so happy to have them! I got Coffee Creamer!! I Can't wait to have Peets Coffee with Creamer tomorrow! No more of this skim milk thing ha ha.

Best of all I got star shaped glasses and a wonderful card signed by caring people! You are all amazing and you made my week to have this all put together!

(By the way this is titled "First Care Package" in hopes there will be more...because this is fun! :) ha ha)

Saturday, October 2, 2010

안녕하세요

For those of you who don't speak Korean that says "annyeonghaseyo" and means hello! I am officially enrolled in Korean language classes. I have had 3 classes so far. it is a college course at the university of Incheon in Songdo. I love it so far. Korean is not an easy language but learning the characters and sounds has already helped me with my teaching.
I can now relate the sounds they use to the sounds we use so they can learn English better. My students are excited to help me learn Korean and think it is funny that I am studying letters and sounds just like them :)

I will keep you posted on how it works out ha ha :)

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Back to the real world

So photos of Jeju have been posted on flickr. I had an amazing time. We finished our trip with a couple museums, visit to Jeju City and a day at the beach. We did so much in a week. I'm glad we came back Saturday so we have one day to recover and one to make sure we are ready for work on Monday haha!

In other news the weather has changed. Today was the first day I could put away the A.C. remote and open all my windows. It is so nice to have fresh air running through the apartment!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Jeju day 4

So day 4 we woke to a much more relaxed scene. Brie and I were so sore from the hike we took it easy in the morning. Wednesday was the Korean holiday of Chuseok. Koreans travel to where their ancestors are from to pay their respects. Everything is of course closed down so we had to limit our travel. We got a bus near this beach and hiked (again) all around this volcanic beach. Jo attempted to float away on a piece of fence she found on the beach. She was only mildly successful. We went up this one hill to a smoke fort where the Koreans used to send up smoke signals when they were being attacked. It was a great view (although my legs thought otherwise!)

We then walked to a temple across the street with a huge gold Buddha in it. There were beautiful buildings there and we went inside one of the temples. It was a bit of a flashback to India. We walked up (far to many) stairs to this cave at the top where there was another alter.

We tried catching the bus back or a cab but on Chuseok it was difficult. We called our hostel host and she tried getting us a cab but no luck. Eventually she called us back to say she found a neighbor who would pick us up in his truck. She came with Tamna her dog and we hopped in the back of the truck with them and had a very chilly ride home.

When we were back we had planned to cook a Chuseok feast. So we got going and we actually made a great team and prepped and cooked in no time. We had marinated beef, marinated chicken, salad, sweet potatoes, zucchini and tofu, and kimchi. We had so much food we invited everyone from the hostel to eat with us. It was awesome we got everyone out of their rooms sitting on the floor eating and drinking together. Our host Ilene ate with us too. It was a very fun night!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Jeju Days 2 and 3

So Day 2 was full of amazing adventures just like day one. We had our full group of 8 today so we headed to a spot called sunrise peak. This is a big crater (volcanic island and all) overlooking the ocean. We headed for the entrance and just as we did Rhoda realized she was missing a sock in her bag and ran to buy some. We waited then started off again. This time I noticed my hiking boot felt funny. I looked down only to see that the rubber on it was completely deteriorating. My shoe was literally falling apart as I walked! I dragged my feet in my what were now shells of shoes to the store Rhoda had gone to and bought sneakers there for $15. Then we were on our way for real. We hiked to the top, up what felt like a million stairs, to see the crater. It was so beautiful. We had beautiful sunny weather until we hiked back down to the water where we found a cool restaurant overlooking a little lagoon type thing. It began to rain so we snuck inside the restaurant where there are what is called "diving grannies" These older women have a tough job of diving for abolone and it is a dying job but very cool to see these women in there 70-80's in full diving suits take off into the water. We (yes me too) ate abalone and sea cucumber. It was good!

We took a bus to the volcano tubes. These amazing 5 mile long tunnels formed underground when the volcano erupted. We walked through one section and took some cool photos inside. From there we stopped in Seogwipo for dinner. I ate fish again...I know :) It was delicious!

This morning 4 of us got up at 5:30 to start our trip to Mount Hallasan. This is the heighest mountain in Korea. We began about 9 and finished about 4pm. It was a long and tough hike but so great. There is a crater at the top...because it is a volcano...duh! haha. The trip down was harder than up, uneven rocks and bad shoes make for a bad combination. But for $15 I didn't expect top quality haha. Anyway we made it up and down safely. We decided the best option once we got down was to go to a spa. It was amazing! Much needed help for our muscles and minds. We left so relaxed, got some dinner and shopped for our dinner tomorrow night. Tomorrow is Chuseok so we are making our host at the hostel a chuseok feast. I will let you know how it goes :)

Things in Jeju are going really well!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Jeju-do day 1

I'm in Jeju island for a week. We get a week off for the Korean Thanksgiving holiday "Chuseok." Good thing about this is we all really needed a break but the bad part is we don't get even one day off from next week until December 22. That is a long time!

I am here with fellow teachers, Brie, Jo, Elizabeth, Rhoda, and Jeffery. We are staying in a hostel in the south western part of the island. The hostel has a very "home-y" feel and we really like it. The woman who runs it is named Isabelle and is extremely helpful. We all tell her where we want to go the next day and she figures out everything to get us there. She talks to the cab drivers to get us home too.

Jeffery, Brie and I flew in yesterday and spent today exploring. We took the bus one town over with 3 other people (from Canada) that we met in the hostel. We walked from the bus to this amazing waterfall and walked right into the water. We hiked back up and decided to wander down the street to see what we find. We went down one road to these lava rock tide pools. We climbed all over them. It was so cool to see the patterns the lava made flowing into the ocean.

From there we walked towards the other falls but got lost and stopped for lunch. After bimbibop we walked to the other falls. These falls were a walk through a beautiful park that look like a jungle. The second falls were smaller but beautiful just the same.

Next we walked up this looooooooong staircase and hiked up to a place called "lonely rock" We walked along this big cliff and saw a beautiful view of the ocean. Jeffery and I noticed a staircase so we made our way down and discovered a very cool pool of water hidden behind these big volcanic rocks. People were swimming so we joined them. We sat on the side of the pool and let the waves of the ocean wash over us until one giant wave came, washed us off the seat and across the pool. It was fun and scary all at once :) We, again, climbed all over the lava rocks and then headed up to the cliff to see the "lonely rock." Walking along the cliff was a gorgeous view and the waves were amazing. It was much like PV only volcanic haha.

Korea has this thing where in parks all over the country there are work out machines. They are mostly for balance and agility not like weight training but they are in almost all the parks. Surprisingly (but also not) they were at the top of the cliff in this park. We decided to try them out. It was a lot of fun :)

We walked back to the bus and headed back to the hostel to meet the rest of our crew that had just flown in. We walked to a restaurant from the hostel and had kimchi jigae for dinner. We are now showered and definitely ready for bed! Tomorrow we are aiming to see the volcano tubes on the northern part of the island!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Space closing in...

One of my fellow teachers sent this email a minute ago:

"Did you feel that gush of air that ruffled your hair yesterday. Not to worry. It was just a
30x65 ft diameter asteroid that passed within 49,000 miles of the earth yesterday. That's
5 times closer to the earth than the moon."

Cool :)

I've been through a typhoon, tropical depression and now space is hurtling asteroids at me. What is going on Mother Nature?? Seriously!

Missing person's report

Hello to my few but faithful followers :) I'm sorry it has been what seems like a year since I last posted. It has been a crazy "year" since the last post. I'm not even sure what has happened in that time!

I wanted to share that I posted a video (well 3) tour of my classroom. It is a start. We still do not have any supplies but we did go shopping the weekend before school and set it up on Sunday so Mark and I should be good until Friday (tomorrow)

I survived my first day and a half and even (apparently) made the paper. One of the fifth grade girls yesterday morning said "teacher teacher, you in paper!" Thanks :) I don't even know where to buy a paper...funny thing is, no one else knew either ha ha!

If I find it I promise it will get posted someplace for people to see!

My class is...active, as I'm sure the PV kinder can attest to having almost twice as many boys as girls changes a dynamic of a class quite a lot. I have 9 boys and 5 girls. My girls sit on the rug while the boys roll around them. The girls raise their hands while the boys shout over them. It is stereotypical I know but it is true! It is funny...sometimes. We are beginning to build routines but it is hard without supplies. We are happy that it has at least been sunny so we did not have to keep the kids inside as well. I'm not sure we have enough things to occupy both classes for indoor recess! haha.

I will try to catch you all up via pictures and words soon!

Missing home and all of you!

Monday, August 23, 2010

NY Times Article

This is an article about the expansion of western English speaking schools moving into South Korea. Chadwick is mentioned briefly but it is an interesting article. Thanks Tim :)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Korean BBQ



I finally got to have real Korean BBQ! It was delicious! So we sat down to a table full of "side dishes" (at least that is what I call them) There was an egg dish cooking around the grill. On the table was seaweed salad, a number of different kimchi things and sweet onions and scallions in a vinegar sauce which was delicious. Oh and there was a macaroni salad haha. V did most of the cooking for us. Put the meat on, cook it and then he cut it with scissors. There were rice sticks that we grilled as well (You can see them on the grill, the white stick things) We had beef, pork, and pig skin. Yes, my friends, I ate pig skin. It was interesting...strange texture but Dave and Jeff thought it was great and were saying things like "Oh that is some good skin" and "Oh you grilled that skin real good" which was at least entertaining :) We ate so much at dinner because as you ate it tasted so good you couldn't stop. I will definitely be heading back for this! My two new favorite dishes, Korean BBQ and Kimchi Jigae!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

I ate octopus!

Those of you who know me well know I am not the most adventurous eater. Well I went to dinner with some fellow teachers at a noodle restaurant a block from our home. When we looked at the menu we realize it is all in Korean. We look at the table and there is a gas burner in it. We look at the waitress and point to the burner...She points to 2 choices on the menu. We chose to split the more expensive one expecting that it should feed all 5 of us.
She brings a pan with lots of greens (cabbage, bok choy, shallots, etc) a layer of octopus then another layer of bean sprouts and greens. She turns on the burner and walks away.
We use our tongs and scissors to cut up the kimchi. In a few minutes she comes back to mix up our meal....so to my relief, yes the octopus got cooked. Although, when it is getting cooked the legs curl up and make it look like it is still alive. Not so reassuring to someone who is a little skeptical to try it anyway. Staring at the tentacles made me a little uneasy!
Anyway, once she finished cooking it she motioned to us that it was okay to serve ourselves. I started with just some greens and buried an octopus somewhere in it so when I ate it, I ate it. (Jedi mind trick) It was spicy as been the norm here, but delicious. The octopus was a new texture, I had to adjust to that. The taste was great...just the texture. Chewier than I'm used to haha. All in all a good experience.
Our table went through 4 bottles of water and had to request rice while everyone else in the restaurant just enjoyed their meal. :) Go us!

Monday, August 9, 2010

Starting to feel "at home" here

I have officially cooked twice in my kitchen. I feel like cooking, christening the kitchen, is the official sign that you are moved in. To help things, 2 of my boxes that have been missing since I got here, showed up today. They contained all my summer clothes (I was going to have to teach in wool pants come September!!) I was so excited when they told me they had arrived. The boxes were destroyed but I didn't care!
I have invested in plants...warms the place up a bit to help it feel "homey". I have not however put anything on the walls. In the office I have 3 family photos and 1 photo of the kinder teachers from PV. I like sitting in there :)
If anyone is traveling by Korea I would love some balsamic vinegar and some seasonings! (Maybe some twizzlers haha)
My cooking will have to be creative! I finally figured out which things in the grocery store where salt and pepper! In a month I will have it all figured out...hopefully!
So the man seen in the background rolls his bag into the middle of our car on the train and starts giving his shpeel. It was a very intense sell...whatever it was that he was saying. After about 10 minutes making up what we thought he was saying we decided we had to have whatever it was he was selling. His speech made it sound like this bracelet cured cancer! So we chose our colors, and for $1 we each had one. Cailin rips into hers and proceeds to aim for her head (wanting to wear it like a headband) only to realize it smells. I yell out "They are Citronelle bracelets!!" And sure enough, if you turn over the package there is a happy boy and dog and a mosquito flying away. We are amazing tourist and had the best laugh over this one. Needless to say, no one is wearing theirs yet :)

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Those of you who visit Pinkberry or Yogurtland are probably familiar with Mochi. I loved having it on my yogurt but I foudn it here in a package. I bought it and was just eating it out of the package when I realized there are preparation instructions on it. So I look at them and from what I can interpret:

1. Get a bowl of water
2. Pour green liquid from a milk carton into water
3. Make green mixture bubble then pour in mystery green packet to enhance green color
4. Put in a thermometer to make sure it is bubbling at the right temperature

I'm not sure what any of the directions have to do with mochi or eating but I don't read Korean so there might be a loss in the translation. :) I think I will continue to just eat it out of the package!

New Lessons

I am slowly learning new lessons as I go day to day here so I thought I would share some...

1. Hulu does not work here (I do not have a TV)
2. Most US tv networks that play full episodes online do not work here
3. Costco is much more populated here than in US
4. The hotdogs at Costco are actually pretty good (don't judge me I was REALLY hungry!)
5. Skype is great...but only if you can work around the time zone thing!
6. When you haven't been around subways for a while, they are confusing!
7. I don't miss driving a car
8. I love being able to walk around a city again
9. I've never been on a trip where I have had to communicate without words most of the time
10. Avacados are REALLY expensive
11. I value being able to read labels, cooking instructions and instructions for use in English now
12. I miss everyone more than I thought I would
13. Not having a cell phone is awful! especially when you want to check if the bus for school has already left
14. Giving tours of the apt on skype is not the same as in person.
15. American babies laugh at me, babies here run for their moms when they see me

I'm sure there will be more but that is a short list to get you started :)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

"Working"

So today we started more like what I call "work" but not really. We went into meetings this morning again at 9am (after another delish breakfast) and met with Ted (Headmaster from Chadwick Cali) He asked everyone to share why they wanted to come work at CI Songdo. It was hard not to nod along with every answer. It seems to so easily say everyone seems on the same page in terms of why we are all here...so that is a cool feeling!

We listened to Ted tell everyone about what Chadwick PV is about and about Margaret Chadwick and it was cool to hear his passion for his school. It really made me miss it more! He referenced special and wonderful awards and all I could think of was Oliver's (Marla you know what I mean!) and how amazing our kids were!

We did lunch and got a chance to get into our classrooms. The 3 kinder classrooms are all alike although nothing is in them yet. So Karen and Mark and I just met as a team for a couple hours just talking about teaching kinder, what we want from it, expectations, fears, excitement, it was very cool and I like them already (although they are no Marla, Lauren and Katy but they will have to do for now)

This afternoon I got my internet to work again so skyped with my brother and Mandy. We did dinner tonight at a cool hotel and I had Sushi and Mongolian BBQ (Yes, I'm aware it is not Korea haha) Dinner was delicious and the view was amazing...silly me forgot my camera though...guess I will have to go back at some point ;)

Excited to see what Day 3 will bring!




So the tiny Coke Lite can was my first sign I was leaving the US ha ha.









My second sight was lunch on the plane. I not only got to try Korean food on the plane I got instructions on how to put it together. We had Bibimbap, which was delicious (Yes, I know it was plane food)









So my food had to be put together...I followed the instructions carefully so I did it correctly. The lady in the seat next to me laughed at me having to read directions to put my together. When the flight attendant offered her instructions she said, "Ha, no I've done this before." Well if no one knew I was a tourist they knew now haha!














This is a picture of the screen in my seat. Proves I made it :) See the little plane crashing into Korea? That's me!

My First Day

So Monday morning we jumped right in. The bus picked us up at the apt. at 7 AM and we wondered the school a bit. Breakfast was served at 8...and it was good! All new faculty had arrived the day before so there were many introductions. The returning faculty were so pleased to see so many extra faces in the school. They were all smiles :)

We met in the black box theater and had a brief talk from Andy (Elementary principal) and Jorge (Head of school) and then did some cool "get to know you" activities. One was, each person had to say their full name and tell the story behind it. It was funny to learn that EVERYONES names had a story whether long, short, or funny! Helped a bit with identifying people but, No, I do not know everyones names. I still refer to a lot of people as "the greek kid" or "the one who wore the purple dress the first day" I'm getting there!

I finally met the other Ginger P. Yes, there is not only another Ginger here...there is another Ginger P. She is shorter than I am and has dark brown hair but the confusion is still there for many haha. I am currently going by Puff haha :)

I saw Karen again (she is Kinder teacher and visited Chadwick PV earlier in the year) and I met Mark the other kinder teacher. Karen is from Guam and has been with CI Songdo for a year now and Mark is from London but was most recently teaching in Lithuania (I think!).

We went on a tour of the school, the elementary was the morning tour, then lunch, then the middle and upper in the afternoon. Very Very cool facility. We got to play with the telepresence, see the amazing theatre, the pool, the 2 gyms, the fun library (I wanted to stay in this room all day!), the TV studio, the 2-D, 3-D, and 4-D art studios, and of course the classrooms. It was exciting to everyone.

That was enough for all of us tired people so they sent us back to our apt. and we organized a shopping trip. We took the train in to a store called e-mart (yes an equivalent to walmart) to purchase common household stuff we needed. Of course in the necessisties was a coffee maker :). Not to much in the way of decorations. I will get some pictures up of some of the more amusing things we found in e-mart. This was a 4 story mall type building and very overwhelming so we purchased our goods and cabbed it home.

We set up our new items (even though most of us are not even unpacked yet) and went to dinner. A long and tiring but fun first day!

Made it safely!

So a 14 hour flight from JFK sitting in the middle of a 3 children family (with one special needs kid) I made it to Incheon, South Korea. My flight was not that bad. I watched lots of movies:

How to Train Your Dragon (cute)
Valentines Day (typical cute romantic comedy)
Shutter Island (not what I expected it to be about...good!)
Date Night (cute...not as funny as I thought)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid (eh it was okay)

While waiting for my bags I was greeted by a girl my age asking if I was going to Chadwick (I was impressed she could tell until she referenced my Chadwick sweatshirt...right...I'm a walking billboard! haha) Cailin is from Long Island and also on her first international teaching experience. We walked out with our luggage (all of it..yay!) and were greeted with a hug from Jorge (my new head master) It was great to be greeted so warmly and he recognized us and knew exactly who we were. We then were grouped together with other people who had arrived the same time.

Our bus was sent around the block so we stood outside and got to know one an other a bit. Everyone is so friendly and fun. We chatted the entire way to the apartments. There were 3 girls put on the first chadwick bus and sent off to meet Alice. She greeted us off the bus and we (attempted) to carry all of our luggage to the apartments. We squished into the elevator and were introduced (quickly) to our new accommodations. We were taught to use the key pad on our door and set our fingerprint (in case we do not want to put in the code) I was taught how to use the home system (this touch screen that runs my lights, check my appliances, and runs the heat) and how to use the phone (still haven't got that one...not sure it is working properly)

My boxes were already in the apartment and I began to unpack...a little. I put sheets on the bed and crashed! I went to bed about 11 pm Korean time and work up about 5:30 (alarm was set for 6) so that worked out well! Felt good too...not jetlagged yet! haha

Friday, July 23, 2010

As my departure date gets closer and closer things are starting to fall into place. Today I got my apartment assignment. Granted I still don't know my actual address, I do have a chart showing me where (inside the building) my apartment is. Mine is 5F :)

I found out I will have a washer and dryer! I could not be more excited....I know that sounds silly but 11 years of washing with quarters will make someone crazy over a washer and dryer of their very own!

I will also have food in the fridge when I get there, can you believe it! I get 1 carton of milk, 2 bottles of water, 1 box of cereal, 2 apples, 2 oranges, 2 tomatoes and a loaf of bread. Pretty cool! :)

I'm nervous but getting more excited as pieces of my new adventure trickle in. As it becomes more real I begin to miss my friends more and hope that in the chaos of getting settled I get to talk to everyone.

8 Days until take-off!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I was out of school for a week to attend the graduation and wedding of my oldest friend. Lisa and I used to live a few houses down from each other and met when we were about 5. Many years and memories have past and she is now a doctor in Connecticut. I could not be more proud or happy for all that Lisa has accomplished and was SO happy to get to know her (now) husband and celebrate their wedding. Here are the photos from the photographers website of that wonderful day! :)

Trying to get used to life back in Western, MA :) This is a photo my mom took upon my arrival to show that my silver bullet and I made it safely! The silver bullet is still riding a little low because she is completely stuffed with my stuff (packing compliments of my awesome brother!) But she is now unpacked and dad even cleared a space in the garage for her. She is liking MA so far although has not seen the snow so who knows :)
My next adventure is not so far away!!

Friday, July 16, 2010

Home Sweet Home

I made it! I drove over 3000 miles but made it to the east coast without a scratch (unless you count the multitude of bugs on my front bumper..may they rest in peace)
My last few days were long without a buddy but good.
I drove from MN to Chicago to see my aunt and uncle. Some highlights:
Going out to a delicious meal and eating Walleye!
Going to a cute fondue place and dipping marshmallows in chocolate!
Hanging out with my aunt Kathy and my uncle John.
Seeing the end of the all-star game
Being in the car when my uncle realized he had gotten promoted :)

Next day I drove (what felt like) a million miles from Chicago to Buffalo, NY. Some highlights:
Finding out most of the middle of the country is covered in corn fields
learning I can drive 12 hours with out going completely crazy (not saying I didn't go a little nuts at the end)
Covering 5 states in one day
Successfully making it to NY!
being really glad my Dad, and brother and Mandy and Kim all answered the phone when I really needed them too!

The LAST day of driving!!!!!! I can't belive my last day came....I thought I would drive forever!
Some highlights:
Stopping at Niagara Falls. I had never been before and it was amazing. I'm SO glad I stopped.
Riding the Maid of the Mist
Walking up right next to the falls
making friends with an older couple who were RVing their way across the US and getting my picture taken by them.
Looking at useless souvenirs and realizing I don't want to buy anything! (not usual for me haha)
Not having to exit the highway to stop and get gas or use the restroom.
Getting Starbucks :)
Seeing my exit on the highway!
Making it home :) :) :)

I am surprisingly sore from driving. I didn't know my muscles would be so sore. When you sore from running you run more to get in shape...does this mean I need to drive more to get in shape? Guess I couldn't be one of the many truck drivers I followed across the country.

Well another item checked of the list of "Things I have always wanted to do"
3600 Miles later I'm safe and happily at my parents house :)

(pictures soon...when I can get them loaded!)

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Monday, July 12, 2010

ABC news

This was posted on Facebook by another teacher at Chadwick. It is a news piece from ABC News on Songdo....pretty cool:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/city-future-11132168

Cross Country


I am on part II of my adventure. I am now driving across the country. My big brother (being the saint that he is) flew to California to drive the first part with me. We drove from LA to Grand Junction, CO the first day...that was a long one! I started to go a little batty about 11PM.
Some highlights:
Lunch in Vegas: we ate at the Paris Hotel's restaurant (Fred's recommendation) and watched the water show in front of the Bellagio Hotel.
A traffic jam in Death Valley that put us at a complete stop in the middle of the desert (thank goodness my air conditioning worked!)
Multiple traffic jams from partial road closings in the desert.
Driving up the rocky mountains entering Colorado (pictures on Flickr to follow!

From there we had a short trip to Castle Rock, CO to stay with my cousin Lara and her two little girls.
Some highlights:
They took us to a Rockies game! And, lucky for us, the Rockies won with a grand slam in the 8th inning.
My brother being overwhelmed by little girls in pink and purple dancing all around him to Miley Cyrus playing over and over.
Lexi (5 years old) dropping ice cream on Victoria (7 years old). Victoria looked at Brendon and says "And that is why you don't need little sisters."
Lexi scooping ice cream at the game then trying to dance with it in her hand...Brendon lost track of where the ice cream landed!
Lexi being very over tired and claiming "no one likes me" to which we all broke out in song "Nobody likes me everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms" (we laughed..she did not)

The next day we drove all day to arrive at our cousins (from the other side of the family) in Brandon, SD.
Some highlights:
Following a storm just to the left of the car for most of the day and then having it hit us after we got to our cousins house.
Remembering I did not get my suitcase out of the car after it started to thunder and lightning
Blair and Valerie have a 5-month-old little boy named Landry. I got him laughing so hard he sounded like a little squeak toy. It was awesome!
We had time to catch up with them and meeting the newest addition to the family!
Blair made us breakfast the next morning...Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage as well as coffee and juice. It was delicious!
We got some much needed exercise in hot muggy weather.

From there we took the short drive to MN to my grandma's house.
Highlights so far:
There was a great rainstorm just as we entered the twin cities and we almost couldn't see the car in front of us.
My Aunt and uncle and my two cousins came over for dinner.
Caleb saying a prayer in my honor to send me safely to Korea.
My grandma making a delicious meal (As always)
Running along the lake this morning
Meeting with Jill (a friend met on my trip to Tanzania) where I went to one Caribou Coffee and she the other...only to end up at the one we always go to.
Laughing and telling stories with my auntie Barb
Sharing the book Marla made me from all the kids at Chadwick with all my family.

Unfortunately today I had to take my brother to the airport (some people work over the summer) and will have to continue tomorrow on my own (oh dear!)

From here I head to just outside Chicago to visit my uncle John and Aunt Kathy. The next morning I drive 10 hours to Buffalo, NY. I will get up early the next morning to visit Niagara Falls for the first time, then drive home.

Hopeful highlights:
Seeing my aunt and uncle
Seeing parts of the country I have never seen
Driving through 5 states in one day (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York)
Seeing Niagara Falls
Getting home and not having to drive anymore!!! (until I go to Boston for a Sox game woo hoo!)
Having Mandy visit for the weekend!

Adventure 1: BVI


To start my adventures I moved out (yes I no longer live in California...sad I know!) and went on the most amazing trip through the British Virgin Islands with 5 wonderful people. The trip was incredible and I'm so glad that I started this crazy (and stressful) adventure with such a fun and relaxing trip. We did everything! I swam, jumped off the boat (many times), kayaked, snorkeled, and even learned to sail!
We were on a 40ft catamaran for about 9 days. We would wake up, eat breakfast together (as seen here) sail to an island, play all day (swim, kayak, snorkel...whatever) have snacks and drinks, shower, eat dinner, and then wind down by chatting or reading. It was the best non-scheduled, schedule ever! I would go back to BVI (or on another trip) with these guys in a heart beat. I miss them all so much!

Monday, June 21, 2010


This is my life in boxes...well sort of. Although I have made huge contributions to recycling, trash and salvation army I feel as if I have done nothing. And by the looks of it...it looks like I have done nothing. I have 2 pieces of furniture already sold on craigslist and 3 more being picked up later this week. I hope it all gets packed. My mom is the organized one not me. Trying to remember to pack by room mom, I promise :) Send me good packing vibes ha ha!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

License

The school got its license! All systems are a go!!! I'm moving so soon! I have started packing and it is a much bigger undertaking than I thought. I have a very large pile for the salvation army and then a large pile of boxes to go home...books mostly haha. I hope I can get this all done in time. I might be donating more than I had intended!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

New website in Korea

So I was sent the official website for the new school! I am in it for about 1 second (I guess I still have 14 minutes and 59 seconds left of fame haha) Enjoy learning about both schools and taking a mini tour of the new school!

http://chadwickinternational.org/

An Ending for a Beginning

Well today was my last teaching day at Chadwick in CA. It was bittersweet to say the least. This years class was so amazingly kind! I will miss them dearly. I have learned so much from them. I hope to keep in touch with all of them to know how they are doing next year. I hope this is not one of those situations where we keep in touch for a month or so and then fade away.

As I look back on my six years at Chadwick I have so many wonderful memories. I have learned SO much from all of my colleagues, especially my wonderful teaching partners Marla, Lauren, Katy, and Patsy. These ladies have helped me to grow as a teacher. I have gained confidence with the kids but more importantly with the parents. They have taught me to be stern but silly. To enjoy my job and have fun (but with teaching kindergarten how can you not have fun!) I have learned to try new things...even if it is only once. They have taught me to appreciate the small things. I learned to be more organized, and time manage. I have learned to persevere though adversity and not sweat the small stuff. Most importantly I have learned that I have wonderful people who love me and believe in me.

I am so excited for my new adventure but there is so much unknown that it is scary. I look forward to my new chapter in my life and will never forget the previous chapter.

Thank you to everyone who made my six years at Chadwick so heartwarming. Thank you to the many amazing people who took me in when I needed a family. Thanks to making me feel so loved and appreciated!

I love you all and will miss you dearly!!

Friday, May 14, 2010

Leaving...

So it was officially announced to parents that I am departing for Korea next year. I had no idea how much I was loved until I got the outcry of sadness from parents whose kids aren't even kindergartners anymore! I have also found amazing support in the parents who are trying to find me anyone they know over there to make sure I know at least one person and am safe! I love this community and will miss it dearly. Today I received this email from one supporter:

Read about your new adventure today in the WWW and I think it's great (albeit a bit of a loss for the incoming k's), but what an experience. I think it's great that you will take advantage of this opportunity, which I am sure will change your whole perspective for the better and enhance your "world view". It will surely make you a more well-rounded teacher with so many unique experiences to differentiate you from the crowd and will contribute to making you a better citizen of the world. What I am really trying to say, that I have already said on numerous occassion is that Ms. Puffer - you are the COOLEST!

If there is anything that we can do for you, either to prepare or while you are at your new post (care packages from home - in case you get homesick) or a list of contacts in Asia that would be willing to put you up for a night here and there in case you get an opportunity to travel around on school vacations, let me know and I will figure out a way to put it together. In the meantime, just as I from time to time send you updates on the boys, we would love an occasional, if only similar to a holiday time email to let us know how things are going with you, we would love it! You have my email address. Please feel free to use it, if only to BCC on something cool now and again. Don't be a stranger. The whole family is really, really proud of you and excited for your future endeavors!

Warm Regards Always,
J

My new school has some pretty big shoes to fill!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Friends Abroad

The greatest news I could have gotten...beside all of my friends and family moving to Korea...is that I have one friend from college living in Korea right now. She and I played basketball together and she was somewhat of a mentor to me. I was so glad to learn I will not be completely alone there, and that the one person I will know is someone I look up to and trust. What great news! Who would of thought that I would have a neighbor in Korea that I new from Vermont :)

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

My latest realization...I am 6ft tall and will have to buy all the pants and skirts I will need before I leave. My guess is that my tall needs will not be met in Korea! I guess this gives me a reason to shop...GAP and Macy's here I come!

Monday, April 19, 2010

My first welcome to Korea is an email I received today:

Dear Mr. Ginger,

I guess in Korea Ginger is not a distinctly female name :)

Friday, April 16, 2010

Stuff for sale!

So I am moving to a fully furnished apartment in Korea. I have to figure out how to sell/give away all my stuff. Now I'm not a pack rat by any means but I have a LOT of stuff. As a teacher I get a lot of homemade gifts and so they begin to collect. I am overwhelmed at just the possibility of going through it all. I can't imagine how long this will take me but I will guess about 2 months since that is all the time I have!

Sooooo...Everything Must Go ha ha :)

Thursday, April 15, 2010

New Adventures

So here goes nothing...I am embarking on an incredible adventure. I will be teaching kindergarten in an international school in Korea called Chadwick International Songdo. I was offered this opportunity about 2 weeks ago. I am excited, nervous, and overwhelmed! I am excited at the opportunity before me to start up a new school and teach in an IB program. I am nervous at the prospect of moving to a foreign country that I have never been too and where I don't speak the language. I am overwhelmed at how little time I have to pack up/sell my things an be ready to start a new year in a brand new/unopened school.

Wish me luck! (I have a feeling I will need it!)