12.27.2008

Free Christmas Hugs

There is nothing like getting a Christmas hug from Korean men dressed like women. I'm not really sure Ben was up for it, but they were so excited...as you can see!


Rachael and I saved our hugs for the cute Korean lady.

Christmas Letters

Letter #1 (written by a student who didn't finish her homework):
I didn't finish my M-learning (oral summary and speaking topic) because I forget to do does. And when the Sunday comes. Afternoon was busy, because that day, at the Church, the Birth of Jesus (Christmas) is coming, so, we start the worship at 9:00AM to 12:00PM And I was practice the dance for the worship. And we ate lunch, And 4:00 to 8:00, three years old to twenty three years old of people sing and dance. At my house I was very tired, so I slept. Sorry.

Letter #2 (written by a student I had last term):
To:
My favorite teacher Dalene
Hi teacher~My name is Lynn~
First.. Thank U for teach me for 3 months!
I can't forget you. you was very good teacher~
because. You are so beautiful and kind
Now my teacher is Tina. Tina is good teacher too!
Umm..... Tomorrow is Christmas!!!
Very happy Christmas! but you must come here (CDI)
But I think you want to meet your student.
I love you teacher and happy New Year
P.S. I'm sorry to can't give you present.
Because I don't know what's your perfect~
One more time~ I love you
MERRY CHRISTMAS
From your student
LYNN

12.24.2008

Happy Christmas Eve!!!


Who decided Christmas should be the season when we dip everything in baker's chocolate and drizzle almond bark on the top or vice versa? Seriously, think of how many things we drown in chocolate--Ritz crackers, Oreos, homemade cookies, pretzels. I've even seen healthy fruit fully coated. I hope that you and your coated-food of choice are very happy together this Christmas Eve.

12.19.2008

Are you a snowman?

Who knew that painting a carrot nose was so difficult?

I wanted to give a small Christmas gift to the other CDI teachers. There are quite a few though, and I didn't want to spend a lot of money. Jamie gave me inspiration with a snowman centerpiece she bought for Bible Study. (Thanks Jamie!) I tried to find small candle holders, but the best thing I could find was small soy sauce bowls. It was a cheap gift...only problem is I'm not sure the snowman is identifiable. What do you think???

12.18.2008

When a Stranger Calls...

With Skype I have a local Bartlesville phone number. It's nice because everyone in the States can call me for free. I have it set up to roll to my cell phone if I am not at my computer. The unfortunate part is I get lots of telemarketer calls on my cell phone at 2 am. I also get a lot of calls for "Tracy" and it's the same man! How many times do I have to tell a person this isn't Tracy's phone number???

Whenever a number from Skype calls my cell phone it shows up as 0900-XXXX. I got a call at 7 am the other day from this number. I ignored it. They called back, so I thought it might be an emergency. I answered to a man's voice I've never heard saying, "Oh, hello I want to talk to you." I said, "I don't want to talk to you. I'm hanging up now." He called back again. I silenced it and was starting to think the "roll to my cell phone" feature wasn't the best.

When I woke up around 10 (Give me a break--I don't work until 4 pm), I turned on my Skype and saw a voicemail from my caller. It really brightened my day. I hope it does yours as well.

***Sorry for the video format, blogger doesn't allow MP3 uploads.

Let It Snow!

A couple weeks ago, I woke up to snow outside. There were very big flakes falling and there was a layer covering everything. It made me very excited. It reminded me of school snow days--those are the best days. It never snows that much in Daegu, but a girl can hope, right? But I was very tired, so I went back to sleep. When I woke up, it was all gone. A few teachers slept through the whole thing, so I guess I can be glad I even saw it.

Then a few days later I went to Seoul for Christmas shopping. It snowed off and on all day. It made me really excited. It has been awhile since I have seen snow! I am still not adjusted to the cold, but I think snow makes winter worth it.


I am really hoping for a white Christmas. I don't think there is much possibility of it. I have to work, so I guess if it did snow it might make me more sad. I'm thinking of y'all and wishing I could celebrate the holidays with you in the States!

12.06.2008

The Last One...I Promise

I'm sorry to post all at once. I got a little behind. This is the last one for the evening (or day for you). I just had to show you my festive little tree.


Isn't it cute? I paid 10,000 won for the tree, ornaments, fence and all! That usually is equivalent to $10 USD, but the dollar is doing really well right now, so it's about $6.78 USD. It's a great time for Americans to come visit Korea, but a very poor time to be sending money home!

Korean Kids

Some days I love my students and other days I want to strangle them.
This was a good day.


This was a bad day. No one did their homework so everyone had to stand for an hour (and take their test).


I love it when they say funny things. It makes the bad days worth it. The other day I asked a class to tell me who they would save with their lifeboat--a man, a woman or a child.
A boy told me, "the man because he is strong and could help me on the island."
The next girl said, "the woman because the man may be strong, but he is lazy and the woman would actually help."
My favorite was a little girl who said, "the child because then we can grow up and marry each other." She is a thinker! :)

I took this video of classroom skits. They have to memorize a comic strip and then act it out. The best part about this video is no one in the room noticed I was filming. The kids are funny, but it's also a great example of how I am not a very strict teacher! Oops!


Holiday Bingo


I went to the Daegu women's group monthly event. Because my student's mother is the president, she made Rachael and I sit at the head table. We sat with other DIWA officers, the original DIWA president and the commander's wife. It was the Thursday before Thanksgiving, so we had a turkey dinner prepared by the base restaurant, and then we played bingo. Apparently, this was a new game to most of the Korean ladies. It was HILARIOUS to see how excited they were...enjoy the video!

12.05.2008

I did it again.

The Warmerdam genes in me just won't let me ignore these good dumpster finds. This one is a great one though!


(the coat rack)