My mom's cooler than your mom!

Okay that title may not totally be true but my mom is so funny.  It began with a simple text chat between mom and I about her up coming trip to ND for Clint's graduation.

Mom: Tomorrow Clint graduates if you would like to send him wishes:) I am looking forward to being with barb and Linda cheering him on his accomplishments.  Should be fun.  Wish you were there also. I should make a dummy of you and could just bring you all over with me :) :)

Me: Yes do that.  Make a doll of me to take there and pretend I flew in

Mom: Ok you might look a bit different due to my art:)

Me: I can't wait to see your rendition

Now at this point I clearly sell my mom short by thinking we are joking.  In this conversation I'M joking...she is not.  I do not hear from mom until she returns from ND and the next part is exactly what I got from her verbatim.

Here you are you made it.  You kind of look like a lolly pop:)

Clint getting ready to give you a flying lesson

Auntie Linda wanted to go with you.

Uncle Rick is giving you his own ride

Some nice North Dakota grass.  You look soo relaxed in it :)

Not sure I think it was engine repair time.  You wandered off

Yup you are in the engine

Up up and away.  You are in the front row seat.  Auntie barb has a full load.

Oh my gosh it was cleaning time!!! You wandered off again.

Jake says hi.  We out him in charge of you. Good luck 

*I think she means left not out

Chip ahoy you were hungry after all the repairs and cleaning

*Not chips ahoy but ruffles...not sure why the cookie reference

You got a Great view of where Clint for the air traffic control lab

*assuming she meant where Clint works??

You made a new friend in Grand Forks North Dakota :):)

You are welcomed by the big tribe

*oh jeez...no words!

They have high respect for this Indian.  You were sooo excited to be near him

*sorry...yes she used "Indian"

And so after a fun weekend it is time to say goodbye and we hope you enjoyed being with us :):) love you mom

Now this is what she wrote me.  Only the * words are mine.  The next text I got from her told me I caused too much trouble in ND and wasn't allowed to go to Chicago with them.  I was told I was left home with the cats.  

Today however while skyping with mom she shares that she took two pictures to ND.  One of me with sunglasses on and one without.  At one point she got back to the house to find she was missing the picture with the sunglasses.  She was worried as I must have been laying somewhere on campus of the ND school.  So she brings me with only to have me fall out of the pocket/purse on to the ground.  

A little while later my cousin Jake walks into the room carrying the picture.  She so excited "How did you find it?"  Jake says "Oh there was something weird in the engine so I went to look and found this....How did it get in the engine?" 

Jee mom I wonder how...

Wedding fun

My two friends Phil and Sue were wed yesterday. The atmosphere was one of joy, family and friends. I never once felt stress. They were so happy and really enjoyed their time with everyone. Phil is from the states and Sue is from Korea so it was a melded Korean/American wedding. 

This is Sue, her mom and dad and her two sisters. 

This is Phil and Sue with their moms. 

The 3 stunning groomsmen. 

Brian and I before the wedding. He was the best man and I was a bridesmaid. 

We were asked by the photographer to cheer ha ha. 

I asked Brian for a nice photo only to get photo bombed when he agreed ha ha. Nice work by Pol though :)

Brian giving his speech to the bride and groom. After the western wedding they change into Hanbok which is a traditional Korean dress for the Korean ceremony. The. They greet guests in the traditional dress. 

When the ceremony finished and we all had ate many changed clothes and went to Seoul Land. The wedding hall was connected to a small amusement park and as a wedding guest you could get into the park for free. However the westerners were not satisfied without a wedding cake and the cutting ceremony. So later at a local bar some of our friends put 3 cakes together to "make" a wedding cake. 

Without little plastic bride and groom people we opted for a bride and groom shot. 

They were touched and surprised to come to the bar to all of us cheering and yelling to all "they just got married!!"  

We did make them take their shots. 

And feed each other cake. 

But there was not cake smashing in the face ha ha. 

So happy to celebrate with these two! What a fun and happy wedding! 💜☺️

Busy busy

This week I had the opportunity to go see these two amazing ladies. The one on the left was a parent of a student 2 years ago and the one on the right was a parent of a student last year. They are both talented dancers studying in a doctoral dance program. The one on the left choreographed the piece that I saw and danced in it. The one on the right was features in it. 

The piece was about the struggle to balance all that life throws at you. The costumes involved straight jackets and big poofy black ballerina-esk skirts. I was so touched that they were both so honored I came. I was blown away by their talent!!

School is back in session

So Monday began day one of year 11 of teaching. Even though I have been in this teaching game for 10 years now I am amazed that this year in particular I finally feel like I know what to do. Like I'm no longer a rookie, which is funny since it has been a long time since I started. 

I am team lead this year meaning I am overseaing all 3 kinder classes and the liaison between my team and my boss. I was so incredibly nervous to fill this spot as my premises or was really good at it. Turns out nothing has blown up yet! Granted it is only week one finished but I was certain the whole school would burn down in that first week. And even better my team is awesome! I'm sure we will have our conflicts throughout the year but we seem able to compromise easily and talk honestly with each other. I feel so blessed to have them. 

At the end of last school I had hand picked an awesome intern that I was really excited to work with this year. Unfortunately Korea decided he couldn't switch from his student visa to a work visa and 2 weeks before I returned I learned I would have to try to replace him.  My boss sent me the resume of a recent UVA grad. A girl name Liz. I called and chatted with her for a bit and got the sense she was easy going and hard working but the true test would be when we began working. She is amazing!  From the first meet and greet with students she has been full on. We have an active class and I'm sure I would not survive the day without her constant help. She stayed with me until almost 7pm all week working in the classroom because we are usually chatting and  I forget to tell her to go home. So instead I take her out to eat and introduce her to new Korean foods (which she also loves!) 

So all in all the start of year 11 has been a good one. I feel so thankful for all the teachers I have learned from especially Marla and Casey as they pasted on so much of who I am as a teacher. I am blessed to have so many wize and varied teachers in my family and friends. Many family members who retired and pass on wisdom and friends like Mandy who are just heading into the field and challenge me to keep getting better at what I love. 

This is some of my awesome team including the 2 other lead teachers Brian and Aniela and my intern Liz with an added bonus of Brian's girlfriend Emily (also a teacher but college level)

Thank you to all the teachers who have touched my life! 💜

Out with the old??

At the end of last year I was left with the sinking feeling that too many important people (to me) at school were leaving. I was worried that I was losing good friends. How do could they ever be replaced. 

Well they can't be replaced but you can make room for new people. For the passed week I have been surrounded by positivity and happiness. Turns out I am really excited for this year even if I do still miss the "old" crew. 

After the storm

A view from my bedroom after a cool thunderstorm rolled through. The middle building is the tallest in Korea that I was able to go up in last night! 

Songdo at night

So the tallest building in Korea finally opened with a hotel at the top. This is from the 36th floor of the building where the lobby and restaurant of the hotel are. It is an awesome view of Central Park that the pictures just don't do justice! But hopefully you get the idea. 

A nice view of Songdo

So this is a top news station in Korea, think like NBC or CNN coming to Chadwick.  KBS was doing a documentary on Global cities and of course Songdo was one.  In this video there are a few Cities visited. Songdo starts about 25:25 into the video

The is the man they interview and yes he speaks fluent korean at the beginning of the video!

The second guy you see is Stan Gale who is the CEO of Gale international.  This man basically founded Songdo.  This is his brain child and he is brilliant but borders a bit on crazy haha

Towards minute 33 you see a shopping area called NC cube.  This was called Canal walk when I arrived and was where I was originally going to live.  However when I arrived it was a ghost town.  There were NO businesses and definitely NO people.  Look at what it is now!

HA, watching this there is a lady who owns a coffee shop with English books, they follower her to her house.  I have totally met her husband in Starbucks before!  

and If you want to skip straight to my school it is about minute 38:

The first 2 teachers you see are Cris who teaches Kindergarten in the CA campus but come to teach summer school in Korea.  She and I went to italy this past year together to study the Reggio Emilia style.  The guy is Brian Wiemann my intern!!

In the pool is Gunther our aquatics director.

Then they show the University Global Campus and our friend Alex is a professor there.  He is the one teaching!

This is a great way to actually see songdo.  Mom and dad you will see how much it has changed since you were here.  These are not digital images but actual footage of driving and walking through Songdo.  Check it out!

And here is the video

Kindergarten play

Our amazing production of "Uno's Garden" last year.  So proud of these kids and my team!

Here is a LINK to the video :)

Hula hooping...

During the basketball half time these little kindergartners came on the court. I was so impressed...but my favorite is the little boy in the last row that, throughout the whole show, never gets up. Way to stick to your guns kid! ;) Maybe I should teach my class to do this...Nah that would mean I would have to learn it first.