Postcards Sent Home

Happy New year.

2009-01-27T22:37:00.004-06:00

Happy New Year!!!

Saehaebok monee bodeesaeoh.

Happy New Year!!!

Karla and I enjoyed some palace sights and festivities.

Then dinner with the Roh family of dokguk? soup, dumpling soup to turn the next age.

These are gift sets that people buy and give. Lots of them everywhere.

i'm leaving on a jet plane.

2009-01-27T22:18:00.005-06:00

Sitting at the Gate in Incheon Airport. awaiting my flight.
these past few days have been fun.
We ended camp on Friday. As the kids left, several of them who I knew from the summer, said to me, "see you in the summer." :) We shall see if I do return. I had a few discussions with Patrick O'Neal the pastor in Seoul about opportunities.
Enjoy these pictures from the last days of school.

Afternoon class graduation party.

Sticker Prize winners. Best students of the class. Min Soo's bow was longer than others.

My class and me singing our songs and chant!

Last day of classes, game time.

Kids playing with Kyeong Bae.

Me and Class 1. My Bible Lesson Class.

Saul's Conversion today.

Girls drawing.

Fire and Games.

2009-01-22T01:15:00.004-06:00

Dr. Roh took us to my favorite restaurant, Kumgangsan, as a thank you and celebration camp is almost over!

This is why we say 'cheese' or 'kimchi' when we take a picture... not "moo."

Ms. Moody's morning class 5th and 6th graders that I teach Speaking and Listening to. Cindy, the girl I am standing by lived in St. Louis for 2 years when she was 8.

Sue, being in charge of the game. Guess the word I am thinking of.

Pentecost was on Wednesday. We all had fire and spoke in different tongues, as the words on the board say "hello" in different languages.

The kids usually give themselves English names. The boy in the blue coat is named MinSoo Lee. The boy in the yellow hoodie, gave himself the new name of MinSu. So Karla started calling them MinSoo 'One' and MinSu 'Two'. So now everytime MinSu 'Two' writes his name, he writes: MinSu2. And thats what other kids call him now too. Its pretty cute and funny.

Ellie, showing her Victory.

My afternoon class of 4-6th graders. Camp is almost over. We are playing a human size game of words. The kids told me I am a fun teacher just because I took the time to turn a small board game into a large board game that is more interactive and fun. I felt proud!

back to the books.

2009-01-20T00:59:00.004-06:00

"Teahcer finish!" we hear it all day long. We taught them "teacher finish" means "teacher hurry up!" And they need to say "teacher I'm finished!"

Artwork wall. Of artwork during Bible times.

Coloring.....

Kids listening and coloring...

The Bible lesson on the screen. Three men in a fiery furnace.

history class. outdoors.

2009-01-19T01:57:00.005-06:00

I had history this weekend.

History of Korea at the Korean Folk Village. A different experience in the winter. Seeing life in the coldness of Korea in ancient times of winter. burrrr. fires around. dances for farmers. acts for children. and food for all.

we ate at the food court, and luckily we were able to find a room inside. warm on the floor.

I skated like old times with a board and picks into the ice. It was pretty with a little snow around too.

Kyoung Bae helping Jane swing.

"Oh dear!" Karla.

Then we learn of the Korean jjimjillbang, aka sauna. its a big social thing here. very nice and warming, except the cold room. But its very much a spend the day at the jjimjillbang.

Then on Sunday Jane and I journied to the DMZ. learning more about Korea. and its history. its a very young country, and as you might know, the only country left in the world with a DMZ and is still divided. On days like the Lunar New Year up and coming everyone spends time with their families, people go to a village near the DMZ to bow to their ancestors of the north. Korea, the Republic of Korea or South Korea, has no natural resources and needs to import 100% of energy, electricity, etc. They have mother of pearl, amatheyst and 2 other things. and Samsung and Kia.

So if the 2 separate countires would join again, South Korea would have cheaper access to fuel, etc. They could also take a train all the way to Germany, and now they can't. We visited the last train station of the south, and hopefully the first one to the north someday. Its all ready and waiting.

around and about and back again.

2009-01-14T04:16:00.003-06:00

yesterday we took the kiddos to the art musuem and the Gyeonggi-do musuem. very interesting to me as an art lover. but I think it was over the kid's heads. all in English with a group of 2o kids ages 7-10 about Paik Nam June a very contemperoary artist... it was hard to understand all about him and be interested in him for the kids. but thats okay. I learn. :)

Nadine... one of the afternoon 8 kids. We made God's Crew bracelets from an old VBS kit.

Karla's class.

talking at the musuem

nieve.

2009-01-14T02:54:00.003-06:00

it snowed today.

but most of it melted by 4pm.

it looked glorious this morning.

almost melting...

teaching.

2009-01-12T01:26:00.003-06:00

Teaching is going well. Tomorrow we will take the kids on a field trip to the art musuem and the Gyeonggi-do Musuem. We are in the 'state' Gyeonggi. -do means state. and we will learn about the history of Gyeonggi.
Everyday we have a bible lesson with the kids, we make a powerpoint with pictures and words to follow or find on online.
Then we teach Reading and Writing and Speaking and Listening.

Then we have a snack, I say to the kids "Enjoy your snack." and they all shout it back.

Games are fun to play with the kids, educational games. And a music chairs on Friday. I play "Go Fish" with my afternoon class because it is small. Karla made game pieces with sentences on them of bears doing things, ie "The bear is putting on his socks." So the kids can practice formal sentences and asking questions. They love it. I call it "Go Bears."

Back to prepping for my afternoon class tomorrow because we have no field trip for them. I think I will make a scavenger hunt around school so they can have some enjoyment.

Its is 12* F today. Its better to say in F than C because C would be below 0. oye.

Its forecasted to snow on sunday. I hope it does.

Happy Korea.

2009-01-12T01:09:00.008-06:00

My apartment on LTU camps. Mine is upper left corner. I have a roommate now, Melinda. She is President Park's daughter's roommate in college. They came back to visit for 1 month and she has been staying there and we are roommates now until Jan 15. We have a little christmas tree provided by the Park family to celebrate the season for longer. Its nice to have lit up in there.

Little kids have the cutest hats to stay warm.

On saturday we went to Seoul Tower. I am with Jane Moody and Karla Konrad in this picture. They are the other teachers along with Robert.

There is a curse on the place because it is high up and a nice tourist spot or a date spot. And when people go there on dates there is a curse that they will break up. So if they go up together, they take locks with them to lock their love. Or you can buy one for 5,000Won.

I looked for english words and found a few. It was pretty and colorful.

After walking down Seoul Tower I bought some cotton candy.... in a cup.... and ate it with a fork. How odd.

Flowers for sale.

We went to Deoksugang Palace in the middle of Seoul. I play tour guide for this one!

I was VERY bundled up.

Prettiness in the palace.

We went to International Lutheran Church in Seoul on Sunday. This is Melinda, Karla and Jane.

After church we went to the National Korean Musuem with John, who we met at church.

Kangnam at night, in Seoul.

pictures.

2009-01-07T17:35:00.004-06:00

Traveling I realized many of my items are green... my coat, my luggage, my Nalgene bottle, my computer case. Good thing I have something blue!

the fabulous camp shirts.

They started construction at LTU this will be the third new building.

Welcome banner to the camp!

Camp theme. they have these great bight banners

They cover the rose bushes with straw to keep them during the winter.

Jane and I went to the grocery store. Jane is the other volunteer teacher for the camp this time.

welcome home.

2009-01-06T01:16:00.002-06:00

I am here in Korea.
After traveling for 25 hours, yes 25, I made it here safely. I don't think I will ever get over motion sickness no matter how many times I travel or how old I get. But I watched a few movies on the plane and slept. It was okay.
In Korea I arrived 9:45pm Monday night after getting myself on a bus to get to Luther University, I was pretty proud of myself but Patrick gave me great instructions. Patrick is the LCMS missionary in Seoul.
Monday night, Karla gave me quick instructions and Dr. Roh gave me a big bottle of water! and I hit the bed. (and I have a roommate for 1.5 weeks, Melinda- she is from MN and went to Concordia St. Paul, her roommate is the president's daughter here and she came to visit.)
So today after waking up at 5am, unpacking, and snoozing again for a bit I started teaching. Not really having planned anything, or rather having planned nothing... I dove right in. And Karla gave me something to do, which I loved doing last time was to make a ppt of the Bible Lesson for the day, Jesus turns water into wine. It was pretty simple to whip up- her having found some pictures already! So I will make some more as I get time the remaining weeks.
Teaching was easy enough to get back into, I am glad this happened to me who has been here before.
When I got here in the morning several people said "hI" to me and "welcome back", and a few said "welcome home" which made me feel good being here again.

It looks very different around without bushy trees and frost. Its chilly like the Lou and was about -1* when I awoke again this morning at about 7am.

I have much planning to get back into and am teaching 5 out of 6 sessions of the day. My morning classes have 16, 17, 18 kids in them and my afternoon has 4 and 4. Its such a big dynamic having different amounts of kids in the classes. about 6 of the kids I taught last time, so it was nice to see familiar faces.

I ate dumplings for lunch and thought of my favorite little restaurant in Dallas.

Pictures are soon to come as I have more time to snap and all.

Please pray for the children that they are able to understand us and learn our teachings, please pray of us teachers as we are able to communicate the lessons and Bible stores. and please pray that the children get some understand of the bible lessons as many of them have never heard of Jesus or do not got to church.

...

2008-12-31T14:59:00.002-06:00

Things are a bit crazy as we canceled my Visa order with a few bumps in the road and trying to get my Passport back so I can leave tomorrow at 6am on a booked flight. But God puts these little road blocks up for reasons. So my mom is being frantic and trying to get my passport as I am okay with the backup plan of changing my flight to leave on Sat. night. Two more days of nothing to do can't kill me too much. And at least I have been to Korea before and kind of know whats going on over there. So at least this didn't happen my first time.
More to post when I receive my passport back.

back.

2008-12-09T21:47:00.000-06:00

I am going back to Korea to teach and I am very excited about it. I booked my plane ticket today and started reading a book LCMS sent me about traveling as a missionary!

art

2008-10-11T16:52:00.001-05:00

this was created using http://wordle.net and the popular words off of this site.

pretty neat!

Paju Enlish Village

2008-08-15T04:30:00.010-05:00

In Korea, August 15 is a National Holiday, for freedom and release from Japanese and any other country rule after the Korean War. There is a government holiday in March I believe, but Aug 15 is to celebrate the people from protesting and the uprising. So we did not have class today but offered a field trip to the students. 39 out or 48 students attended. We traveled to an English Village, 10+ years ago the government set up English Villages to help show the importance of learning English and teach people. It is used for tourism or field trips. You can take classes there and only speak English. The kids had a blast. As I was talking with Ms. Bang, the woman who drove me to the airport directly after the EV, I realized that that is one of the biggest factors in learning a language. Some of the kids really struggle with English, they only speak it in class, not at home, not with friends. Like me learning Spanish- though now I speak it at home or with friends, and I caught my self almost saying phrases to the kids like "ten cuidado" and what not... but at the English Village some of the kids were rather quiet and some really shown with their English. and Ms. Bang has a son in the class and she said she would like him to go to a English country to be fully immersed. Essie and Amanda, two of the assistants, have come to America before and are great at English because they were forced to use it. It makes a huge difference.

watching Ratatouille on the 1.5 hour bus ride there. The kids really got into it and were staring a the screen, I think partially so they could read the Korean subtitles. They all also opened their snacks and several shared with me, even the seaweed bars and fish. .........
first we had to go through Immigration, note- Stonehenge is on the right. This is the British English Village, all the architecture inside too in very European.
At the EV, the girls took a cooking or bear making class and the boys took a robot making class. And then all of them made stress balls... which were used as soccer balls once out of the classroom. Kids don't understand stress I guess. Here are the boys with their robots and the girls with their bears. Karla and I were not allowed in the classrooms, they said no adults allowed for some reason. But we did get to watch a really ridiculous musical about a Pumpkin Hero with them. and then help them in their last class- the stress ball making. A man from Australia and a woman taught that class. It would be fun to work here.

last views of Korea

2008-08-15T04:02:00.008-05:00

Ella drawing a picture of me on the board. The circles on the side of my head are my India earrings, which was the only pair I had, so I wore them just about everyday.
Siblings, Seong Jin and JiEun playing a racing game I made up. I say a time, race to the board and draw it on the clock. They really got into it, thankfully!
Sam and SeongJin drawing the time on the board. I played against them and Sam was the only one that beat me.
class 3 in the afternoon, with Essie as my assitant.Class 1 in the morning, with Tambi and Amanda as my assistants.
Class 2, my morning homeroom, with Suji as my assisant. They called her Suji Teacher. and me Teacher.
class 4 my afternoon homeroom, the oldest group of kids and Bruce my assistant.
I tried, floor circle time for teaching and it worked sometimes because it made a different atmosphere. Some kids who had a hard time focusing in their desks, were the first ones finished on the floor. amazing!

Graduation for the kids! They all did wonderful and passed! It was very exciting to see them progress through out the three weeks. Here are a few shots of that.
Euri, my best Class2 Student, she received the most green stickers and got the 'green sticker prize'

my last dinner in Korea. After graduation for the kids, Dr. Roh wanted to treat us and give us a 'graduation' ceremony or a congratulations we're done ceremony and thanks!

It is great watching the Olympics in another country. I have been cheering for the Koreans. It is exciting to see all the shop tvs and restaurant tvs on the Olympics 24-7.

smile kimchi

2008-08-13T23:09:00.002-05:00

The girls, my classroom assistants took me to the store and dinner last night. Then we went to a sticker photo booth. It was a store full of these things. and it was big enough for 4 of us to stand in and then you write on the photo. fun.

Korean flag: made in 1883, before the 2 countries split, its on a white background to symbolize cleanliness of the people. It has a sideways ying-yang sign in the middle of blue and red, some people think the top half being red symbolizes the DPR (north Korea) becoming the DPR. It means a perfect movement making 2 as one and the origins of all things in the universe. and then there are four black line sequences in the outsides, they mean: force, field, radiance and gorge. I learned this from a 1988 tour book of Korea I found so it should still be accurate today. I didn't even realize that the four lines were different on the outsides until one of my students was drawing the flag and told me about it.

What else... I learned a lot from my tour book I found from 1988 but a lot of it is now history so I read a newer tour book but it didn't have as much information. Its so fascinating learning about a new culture.

Korea's got Seoul

2008-08-11T06:29:00.008-05:00

ps. sorry in advance, I was on a roll.... I acutally had time to write! :) enjoy.chel

Today we went back to International Lutheran Church in Seoul. As I have mentioned before, they do not have a called pastor but are in the process of that. The chaplains on the base come and preach and give communion sometimes but other than that, each week a different person preaches and they all share in the greeting, acolyte-ing, ushering, etc . Making the church function. Each week a clip board is passed around and each week enough people volunteer for the next week to help out. It’s amazing that people are always willing to volunteer and I know sometimes there is a hard time finding people to volunteer, but I think there are few that are there to help always. And it’s weird to think about it in this way, but when I got to LTU, they said I was a big answer to prayers and a miracle. To me I just volunteered my time to come here, I did not know what was happening at the other end. It happened at the perfect time in my life, as I was moving back to STL to find a new job, I was able to give my time, and knowledge and love for Christ to volunteer for this position that had been open for a while and no one else had volunteered for. It has changed my life. Opening my eyes to a new culture, giving me the experience of teaching kids in a classroom setting and learning from the people I have talked to here. This week, Karla and I planned to do miracles for our Bible lessons. (week 1 was Old testament, week 2 was parables) We decided on Walking on Water, Feeding 5000, Lazarus and the Resurrection. The Gospel today was Matt 14:22-33… Walking on Water. Staton was the ‘preacher’ today and gave a great message on that. He started by saying “do we have faith because of our courage” or “do we have courage because of our faith?” Sometimes it is hard to have faith when so little is left. He mentioned being 18 and joining the military and having a hard time passing the physical test. (Which hearing from a friend struggle with it, sounds really hard.) and being frustrated to the point there is nothing else to do than stop and laugh at what has been done. You have lost so much faith in your goal and have so little courage left that there is not much left. Cling onto that little faith and courage and pray to God. Not to pass the test, but to give you more courage and strength and faith. I can relate a little bit. Karla and I talked after the service about our classes. We have been to the point of frustration with some kids in our classes that are having a hard time learning English, not knowing if they just do not want to or what it is. There have been several times when all you can do is stop and laugh at the situation. The kids are too cute to really get frustrated at but sometimes it gets frustrating, when they ‘enjoy’ getting red stickers and keep pushing that point. But at the end of the day I just laugh at what happened that day and thank God for giving me this great experience and pray that I am getting through to the kids somehow. Leah, a friend from church, explained to me today that if the kids are taking their summer vacation to study English, their parents much be pretty wealthy. Now I am not sure if they are or aren’t, none of them have acted in any way to show they are but I do hope they all receive the same things out of the class as any other kid would. I hope that they all get something out of the Bible lessons we are preparing and sharing with them, that even with the language barrier, this will be a first contact for some of them to learn about Jesus and I hope it leads them more to him in the future. I hope that they all have enough courage to speak in English more and practice so they can become great at it. Yesterday I spent some time with the family of the Japanese Language teacher at LTU. Her kids were 8 and 4 ½. Her 8 year old was excited to hang out with me and he kept asking me questions and using English. And trying to get his little sister to ask me in English too. They were cute. We went to Shinsaega, a department store that was super expensive with Louis Vatton and what not. I did not buy anything and they did not expect me to, but they just wanted me to experience it. And then we went to E-Mart. Very much like Wally World in the States. And that was more enjoyable for me. Seeing the things that I probably would be buying if I live here longer. A lot of people are shocked that I tell them I am only here for 3 weeks. Usually when people come to teach English, they stay for 6mo, or a year or more. I tell them I am only here for a camp for 3 weeks and they understand a little better. But then some of them tell me they wish I could stay longer. They want me to see more of their country and learn about their culture. I spent some of last night reading a book about the Korean culture, granted the book was 20 years old. But I learned much still. They are humble always wanting to give. Bowing a big part the culture too. Everything has flowed as I typed it so far, but I forgot something I wanted to type before. About the Walking on Water. When I went to Juarez Mexico several years ago, that was the theme verse for the week. Walking on Water as Jesus did. As Peter did with Jesus’ help. We talked about where are you in your faith. Are you in the boat, afraid to step out? Are you drowning on the water? Are you looking into Jesus’ eyes and walking? Hopefully getting near to walking with Jesus if not already. I think that’s something we can all work on and hold each other accountable for. Recently, well recently in the great scheme of things, 2-3 years ago, one of my best friends came to know Jesus and Jesus is a HUGE part of her life now and she has been a great example for me in my faith life. And hopefully a big example for her family too so they can come to know Christ. In January, inspired by Mac, we decided to read the Bible in a year. When we were roommates, we would read together, or check on each other. As we moved out of that little house, we lived separately and it was harder to keep reading as much as I should every day. When we lived together for 2 weeks (? Lol, a blur) we talked about our reading. She was much further than I was, which has inspired me to stop for a few minutes each day. 24 hours! I can take a few minutes to stop and read the Bible! If I can play spider solitaire until I win, I can read the Bible. It’s great to read. Because it essentially is my history, and I love reading history, it’s fascinating to read and grow closer to God. Another book, I bought randomly in Chicago about a 2 months ago, was Three Cups of Tea. Greg M…. who is the author just so happens to have grown up in Africa because his parents are “Lutheran missionaries” and he went to Concordia MN. He went mt climbing in the Middle East and on his way back down, after getting lost, stumbled upon a little town. There he learns the kids do not have a school building. He vows to return with money to build them a school. And he does. He raises enough and goes back. That is where I am in the book now. He has brave enough to make this statement and come back to build the school. Pretty crazy when the Holy Spirit is in you and just speaks out!! I still remember standing there after Emily told me about this opportunity, I turned to Lori and said, “I think I might go to Korea next week.” And when I walked into the LSC after missing prayer and praise that night, and Donna told me I missed a great night of the Brazil people- David and Janice- talking about their mission trip and she asked me if I was going that summer (knowing that the past 2 summer s I had wanted to) and I said, Yes! Not knowing if I was or not, but I was. And later that night telling Caysea that I was going to find a way to go and showing her my old Brazil map of where I was going and she was on the phone with her dad and said, I am going to go to Brazil with Chelsea this summer. We don’t have the money but we are going to find it. Lol, crazy how God makes things happens in our lives and make us say yes. (Emily….)

Sunday we saw Olympic Park. Something that was on my top list to do because I love the Olympics when the whole world- or just about- participates! Pretty cool! And watching them in Korea it’s a different experience to see what they focus on. (SK won gold in Judo! And swimming 400m) and at the Olympic park which was HUGE we went into the museum- which was free bc Beijing is going on. And we got to read Olympic history, Karla is older than I am and remembers things from past Olympics like ’84 when I wasn’t even born. Lol. But it was neat to see that. These pictures were taken there!

Chels at the Olympic Park in Jamsil. with my rain umbrella, covering from the hot, hot sun! when I first walked into this area, I opened my arms and said, this is HUGE and twrilled. then I read the artist statement and thought I would make a very good Italian artist like this man. we think the same.

the God's must be Crazy, part 4, eh? it was surreal. this thing plopped out of the sky.

they had USSR flag up still. it was that in 1988.

Captain, Kevin and Susan hard at work.
Chelsea and Lia, a friend from Church.
Bae Eun Wook and other kiddos working.
YeLim and YeJe not wanting their picture taken.
EunHee's kids. I spent satruday with them shopping. EunHee teaches Japanese at LTU. Her son was pretty good at English.

more of camp and all

2008-08-08T03:58:00.002-05:00

Camp is going well. The kids are good and most are learning for the most part. Some are learning better from their peers by examples they see them in class. Its very enjoyable. I was teaching about clothing articles and I used the sentence, "I am wearing socks." But I was not wearing socks one of the young boys, YiChan, said "you have no socks."
I said, "Who stole my socks!"
Yi Chan: "I stole them"
Me: "Can I have them back?"
YiChan: No, I took them home.
Me: What did you take them home for? Are you going to wear them?
Yi Chan: ...*thinking*..... Yes. and my mother.
Then I laughed. I was impressed we had that conversation, most of the time if we try to chat with the kids about random things, they get too embarassed or can't think of anything in English and just talk in Korean and laugh. JooHo told me, in English, all about a orange diamond he has from Indonesia that is worth $100. And I think that's what he told me, he had trouble getting to Indonesia, he mentioned International, Indian, In...something I couldn't understand. It was a good conversation.
Other kids saw me draw something the other day and now want me to color them pictures everyday. Its hard to say no, but I know once I draw one, I will have to draw each of them one.
LTU- Luther University, is proud of its name. Named after the Great Martin Luther- for those of you who aren't Lutheran, who grealy influenced the prot. reform. showing that salvation is a free gift from God! But... Luther University here, they are proud of having an English name, all other Universities in Korea are named for Korean names. but Luther is the only 'English' name so they stand out among the rest.
Today we taught the Parable of the Vineyard. The kids had fun acting the story out and realized the true meaning of the story and that everyone is equal in Jesus' book and we all get the same prize of heaven. Some of them thought that was pretty cool.
I am learning some Korean words. Its fun. But when I write them out phonetically for me to remember, I write them in Spanish. ... go figure.
adios,
Chels

more of camp and weekend sights

2008-08-04T03:56:00.005-05:00

Paris Baguette. This is where we get our snacks from everyday for the kids. There was a baptism at church on Sunday and they got cakes from here. There was chocolate, green tea, banana and vanilla. All the cakes were decorated really cool. Dana, we'll have to make green tea cake when I get home.
This is outside Paris Baguette. It is in my neighborhood. Watermelons for sale. They are 16000Wons. That means about $16.00. If the curly stem is broken off then they are like 5000W. So like $5.00. That pretty curly stem means a lot. Appereance is everything.
The street in Singal in my neighborhood.

Roofs of the palace with Seoul modern buildings in the background at Deoksugsung Palace.
Chelsea smashing grains at the Korean Folk Village. I learned a lot of Korean history here on Satuday.
Seoul- city plaza and old court building. I saw many tourists here on Sunday and around the city in general. More tourists visit here, than in Singal where I am.
I also requested to see the World Cup Stadium in my hopes to go to the 2010 WC. Soccer was not popular here until the WC came in 2002. Now it is racing baseball for the most popular.
Karla and I went to Suwon Fortress. This is the East watch tower palace area.

YiChan working on his writing homework.
SeongJun not wanting to get red stickers- which mean you were bad. He hasn't gotten them yet! The students are good for the most part and enjoy getting green stickers.
Th assistants eating lunch. We usually have Korean food but sometimes they don't think I like it and insist we order hamburgers or pizza. We had cheese, sweet potato and beef pizza. yum.
Lois a student in the 1/2nd grade class. She now has the chicken pox. Please pray for her.
Prof. Konrad talking to JiEun and Selly.

Camp Camp!

2008-08-01T03:35:00.003-05:00

At camp we have a song... It goes to "This old Man" or the "barney I love you song." We sing: we are here, in this camp, we have fun and happy friends with the nice teachers and exciting study time we all love ESL camp!" and then at the end you shout Camp camp!

This is MinJi- who just changed her name to Sophia, Melody and Paul working on an activity.
At dinner with Essie and Bruce, two of the classroom assistants and Ms. Kim who works in the office. We had ... I can't spell it, but I can say it. Pork- fried on a grill on our table and Kimchi and sprouts and other yummy things. This is JiEun and SeongEun in the 3/4 grader class.

In the hallway getting ready to leave for the day. 5:25pm seems long off in the morning but comes fast!
and more kidd-os in the 1/2 grade class playing with the chalk board dust. More to come after the weekend.......!

First days in South Korea

2008-07-28T06:19:00.007-05:00

saying goodbye to my springfield friends before I left. When We were stuck in Brazil last summer in the airport, we had a second floor loft... in the airport waiting for the Asiana plane for 3 hours I sat in the 2nd floor lounge!
Luther University... the enterance off the road

the hill up toward the school... SUMMER ESL CAMP!!
rainy season... the way to the grocery store....
my apartment living room.....my apartment bedroom....

view of Singal from Karla's office.... most people in this area live in those- they are apartment buildings.... my apartment building.... hidden in the trees, this picture taken to the right of the one above...

ESL CAMP!!! the university students who are our helpers did a great job decorating!

This one won't let me change the angle of it... but its our camp polo shirt. Winking Luther!