So it has been a while...

Life is starting to settle into 'real life' here. Every day is still and adventure but it is my life and I am busy working, and doing 'real life' things. I thought I would do a quick update about all the 'little things' I've been up to. I hope you enjoy the little blurbs and some pictures!!

Secondary School Retreat-


We ride in style!

Pause life...pick up the secondary school students and staff...drop them at summer camp...press play! We spent 3 days at an outdoor camp (like summer camp style) with the faculty and students grade 6-12. It was awesome! Not only were we outside a bunch, but it was great to get to know my students and faculty a bit better outside of the school walls. There is something about the kids being out of uniform, playing games, having a dance, zip lining, ropes courses, and free time that mixes the pot in a new way. It was great to build some relationships with my kiddos but also to see them interact with each other. They are awesome!


These guys were awesome! Senior boys
with some DJ skills!



And it was BEAUTIFUL!

My room! The bed mats are in the closet...
welcome to Korea :)

Color Run-
Pause life...pick up a handful of APIS teachers in their best running outfits...drop them 1.5 hours away (if only teleporting was real..)...press play! Color Me Rad came to Korea...what an awesomely fun day :) Becky and I splurged on some wild boxer style shorts in 80's patterns and had craft time to make running shirts. Thanks to Janice and Tyler for the 80's style workout headbands (from Tyler's cut up sweat pants). We were decked out and ready to run/play/color fight! We ran, we color bombed each other, we inhaled a huge amount of chalk dust, we had chalk fights, and then we ate Mexican food while still covered in chalk...we rocked it!

I can't make blogger do regular spacing or captions anymore...sorry - it will be loads of scrolling to get through this one now! If anyone knows how to control the layout better, I'd love the help!

These are obviously the before pictures...

  

 These are the after!!

Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!!  Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!!
 Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!!

I got a bit excited!! And it was good- it wasn't Colorado good - but it was good :) Yay Korea!












Coolest subway car EVER!
These are the things that dreams are made of!! Pause life...get on car 5 line 1...walk into the magical dream forest and land of awesome...press play! Becky and I accidentally got on the most amazing subway car - it is decorated like you are outdoors, it has a library, a water station, a charging station for phone batteries, plugs to run/charge computers, a nurse, a deli, a room for nursing mothers, and tables to sit and read/eat. It was AWESOME!!

Nurse and deli

Water station! Library just past the tables :)

 TV about wildlife and notice the "grassy" floor :)

 

 Out and about- Life in Seoul!

Jazz story - Hyehwa - So cute and so fun!!

Coolest house with a view!

Old city/palace/castle walls-yay for urban hike!

Same hike - breakfast at the market

This is how we dry umbrellas during class

APIS men's volleyball - go Green Hawks!

mmm...Korean BBQ!

Fall is coming...slowly...very, very slowly but it's coming!

 As always, thanks for reading! :)

Coming soon: JAPAN TRIP!!!

Open windows...

So, I forgot to post this last week!...oops!

My life has recently been a whole new series of open doors and windows...

I just forget what an amazing world there is beyond my little life. While waiting for my friends this evening, I opened the windows in my apartment...all the way...wide open. Light poured in and so did the sounds of the world. I'm sitting by the windows now, loving every moment of it! It has been so stinkin hot and humid until now that there has been no chance that i would have left them open for more than a few minutes for a picture. It is still summer so it will be too warm after about fifteen minutes, but for now, I'll take it! 

After finishing my first full week of school, I can say I'm exhausted physically, but my heart is soaring! I love this life. It's hard work, and exhausting, and stressful, and hard at times when I miss friends and family. I have also reverted into first year teacher mode again since I am teaching three new classes and switching to a block schedule. It is long days and work on the weekends, but I feel like I'm Doing what I was made for. Not that I wasn't ok before, but there was something...my heart needed something. 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life Prov 13:12

How true.

So I keep enjoying the little things and the small victories. 

Here was my first day of school picture...thanks to my friend Becky!

Now for a few weird and/or entertaining things for you.

1) I have discovered how odd it is to overhear a conversation that I understand! We went to itewan the other day which is the foreign area of town so there are a ton of people speaking English. I hadn't realized that I had so quickly adjusted to never hearing it outside of school and our group of expats. We also enjoyed a bit of Taco Bell...that's right...food I would never eat at home, but is was deliciously familiar! Nice treat :)

2) personal space...it's a funny thing here. It really doesn't exist, unless you are white. More so for the guys than for us. Matt was riding the bus to school the other day and it was jam packed, almost no standing room, and yet there was an empty seat next to him...weird. We do get a lot of funny looks, and people generally give us plenty of space. Although I am sad at why it happens, I'm not sad that I have my own space! Don't get me wrong. People are really nice! They just seem to give us lots of space.

3) Things are already normal. Riding the bus to school, asking a taxi driver to take us to school or home in korean, eating shabu-shabu or sundabu for dinner, my surroundings, and the idea of living and working in Korea. Every once in a while it strikes me as funny, but really it's just normal now. 

I'm sure I'll keep having these little things, but that covers it for now.