Wednesday 27 November 2013

Nini’s birthday



So this week was full of festivities. This week is the lovely Ninis birthday. Nini is the mother to our small group of misfits, well I say mum but she dances up a storm that no mother could attempt! She is our South African edition to the group and definitely leaving in Feb. (sad face) so we wanted to throw her a bit of a shin-dig.
Her birthday was actually on a Wednesday so her co teacher (our very close friend and favourite Atlantan) Rob invited us around to have a mini celebration with some pizza and wine. We had a good laugh and some very good cheesecake before deciding to ditch the dance class we had planned in place of far more stupid dancing in the house!
The rest of the night was a blur of laughing, sticky tape and just general shenanigans. It shouldnt be this much fun with only 3 people. The worrying thing about this evening when you look at the photos is that we were too busy laughing to actually drink much winethats right, this was not alcohol induced!












Friday was reserved for what might become a Vincent tradition in my house. Woody Allen night! We had Annie Hall downloaded, red wine, south African savory pancakes  and sugary lovely pancakes for dessert. (I will miss Nini when she leaves but my stomachand Leewill miss her more). Nini cooks for us a little too much and we really should protest but thats like someone giving you gold and you spitting on it before throwing it in the gutter. Why the hell would we ever say no to these delights! Considering it was her celebration, Nini cooking was very nice of her (and incredibly tasty). The Kale and mushroom savory pancake was my favourite but the bolognaise chicken was of equal greatness.
Woody Allen did unfortunately take a little bit of a back seat as we were all a little too invented in our friends Laurens art project.
Lauren is one of those beautiful people that seems as though she has just stepped out of a Woody Allen film. She's gorgeous, witty with the perfect amount of silliness mixed in. Go and have a read of her blog here it will entertain you for hours.
Now I feel after that description of Lauren you may hear the words art project and expect a art nouveau esq piece of brilliance but.well, I think only pictures will do.(yes that is Simon Cowell made out of rice and seaweed)
In the midst of all this poor Rob had to give a very sophisticated and informative interview about being a grown up to some students in Boston. The poor man made his way through it even with the giggly school girls (us) shouting abuse and finding EVERYTHING funny (Unlike Wednesday this may have been alcohol based shenanigans)
Nether the less the Simbap Cowell (my loving name for this master piece) went down a storm with the skyping students; they even guessed who it was!
After a good few hours we headed home, alarms already set for a big day ahead of us on Saturday.








Donating our hair



Simon getting a world premiere

Hazels gift and the best things ever!

Birthday lapdance


Saturday was the big day of celebrations so we all got up much earlier than should be necessary after a night of Woody and red wine and headed to Herb Hillz. Herb Hillz is a local nature park that has a zip lining assault course you can try. Im writing an article about this in more detail for a local magazine but its fair to say there was a lot of climbing, a lot and laughing and harnesses in places harnesses shouldnt be!





Just when our bodies were bruised and weary (mine was literally bruised after zip lining my way into a wallnot something Id recommend) we had the pleasure of visiting Mando Street. mando is a delicious food served here in Korea. Daegu has its own variations but we went for the traditional pork filled mando. The streets surrounding Herb Hillz are filled with these delicious steamed parcels so we treated ourselves to some dumplings and beer before getting ourselves dolled up for a night on the town. (I will be writing a proper article on this mando area soon, mainly for the excuse to go back).



The rest of the night went as expected, Shabbu Shabbu was eaten, soju, beer and every other alcohol you can name was drunk and a merry times were had by all. This photo of the birthday girl hopefully is proof!
Sorry Nini! It had to be done.
This was a joint event since a fantastic Irish couple we know were also sharing their birthday at the same time. Its safe to say that teachers here in Daegu dont need an excuse to go out and have a good time so give us three and pain will follow.


The night was a blast. The hangover not so much! Nini can attest to this, well Im sure she will when she remembers what happened! She woke up on our floor which is always a great place to wake up after drinking. A random place youve never been :D
There is still one event left which is a bit of a surprise for the birthday girl. We have managed to convince her that she hasnt had any pressies off people which is impressive but it will all be made up for when we hand her the bundle of gifts we have waiting.
Its been a fantastic week, one of my favorites here in Korea. I realize there probably isn't many of you interested in the random outings of teachers but I wanted to jot it all down almost as a personal diary entry to myself. I know these people are leaving soon and I dont want to forget a second of their time here.
Lets hope that this birthday girl thinks that our little group done good.

And that is that, all the birthdays in our group are finished for a while. Just in time for the official start of Christmas (and pay day) today! WOOHOO!  Let the festivities begin.
R.I.P my liver.

Sunday 24 November 2013

School Festival

Today is the school festival.



My school has had its festival very late this year. All the other English teachers I know in Daegu have been showing me pictures and telling me about their students so I was excited to see what my school would get up to today.
The day started off with the orchestra. The orchestra practice right next to my English room so I have heard their progression from not knowing how to hold instruments to the fantastic renditions they shared with everyone today (believe me it’s been a loooot of practice, I’ve been humming their songs in my sleep) This was followed by the cutest elementary school orchestra from a school close by. It was a bizarre experience to see how my little first graders were actually giants compared to these small innocent creatures from elementary school. I saw a few of the elementary students look terrified at my 6 foot 3rd graders and to be honest I was right there with them. Those students could scare the pants off a nun.
Today marks the 9 month mark in my Korean stay so today was a fitting day for reflection. I love days were the school comes together. I can never quite get over the crowd of familiar faces. I know their personalities, preferences and weaknesses (but unfortunately not enough names) I really do love my kids. Being in a poorer area means I have kids that challenge me on a daily basis but I love them unconditionally. Changing schools next year was a serious option as they are very hard work and I’ve ended more than a few days near to tears but to be honest I just love them and their ways. I do sometimes wish for easier days and a job where I’m dancing and singing with cute little kindergarteners but then I laugh at a stupid joke my 3rd graders have made or see my 1st graders sprout 1 foot in a month and I am overjoyed. Being a teenager is a nightmare of a time in your life but its nice to be part of it. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera to capture the day so I only have some poor phone camera pictures to share. Watching my troublesome 2nd grade boys play up a storm on the Korean Traditional drums, watching the other teachers dance on stage and just giggling with coworkers has already made this a fantastic day. It’s also nice to not be the shouty English teacher for a few hours.

It’s only lunch time now and I’m looking forward to the second half of the day. Coming up is two dance groups who’ve been practicing in my room for a few weeks and two girls I have a real soft spot for who are going to sing. We have been practicing and singing 3 times a week for about 2 months now in anticipation of this day so I’m really hoping they pull it off. Just remembering back to any comprehensive school memory that involves performing in public makes me instantly feel the excitement and fear I felt all those years ago. It’s nice to watch my students making memories and really putting themselves out there. I couldn’t be prouder!
 I’ve signed myself up for next year so I best get practicing now :S


*edit* The rest of the day was just as good if not better! The kids were allowed to sing and dance. There are some amazing dancers in this school (the dancing was slightly too sexy for under 16 year olds but none the less!) I also had the honor of winning a prize, the kids had coupons to give to teachers that they liked and the coupons could by food that parents had made. It was a silly gesture but it made my day. I was over the moon. What a great day!

Thursday 21 November 2013

Fabulous Places

I found this song the other day and it's no wonder my head has always been full of travel. As a kid I'd watch and re-watch the old Doctor Doolittle movie and sing this all around my house .
Fabulous Places

Truth

Thursday 14 November 2013

Christmas in Korea

As Christmas is fast approaching its starting to dawn on everyone here in Korea that, for a lot of us, this will be our first Christmas away from home. I have lived away from home for many years but Ive never missed a Christmas so I will be doing as much as possible to distract myself this month.
So I have decided to make the most of this time and make a list of things to do for our first Korean Christmas:

. Have hot coco with friends
. Watch a movie in a big group.
. See down-town decorated
. Cook a stew
. Make eggnog
. Make fudge
. Sing carols somewhere
. Watch a movie in a DVD bang
. Show Carly (my lovely misguided friend) The Muppets Christmas Carol
. Make decorations with my class
. Show my class lots of Christmas films
. Watch as many Christmas films as possible
. Have an Its a Wonderful Life night
. Make some form of Christmas tree
. Do Secret Santa
. Ski for the first time
. Have a proper Christmas dinner
. Make Christmas cards
. Buy fairy lights
. Skype my family in school and on Christmas day
. Skype my family while they decorate the tree
. Finish Korean Christmas shopping
. Make an advent calendar for school and home
. Drink Baileys
. Make crackers
. Pack for home
. Buy Christmas PJs
. Leave cookies and milk for Santa
carrot for the reindeer & chery for Santa

. Buy one bottle of Asti
. Make a mini chocolate table (family tradition)

. DRINK A RED CUPPED EGGNOG LATTE (this one is very important to me as I didnt know they had the red cups or eggnog lattes in Korea and its become a tradition that makes me feel its really Christmas)
*EDIT : I was lied to!!! They have red cups and they have all the other variations apart from eggnog...I am very sad :( the second I get off the plane...I'm getting like 3 *

. Most importantly have fun and on the 28th of Decemberrun to that airport and get home 
EDIT * Unfortunatly my school changed the last day of term so I'm not allowed to go home for New Year but on the 1st I can fly home*

 
The films we will be watching will be as follows:
Muppets Christmas Carol
Its a Wonderful Life
The Santa Claus Movie
Miracle on 34th street (old & new)
The Santa Clause
The Christmas Toy
Scrooged
Love actually
Jingle all the way
National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
Gremlins
Trains, Planes and Automobiles
The Grinch
The Family Man
Home Alone
Home Alone 2
ELF
The Nightmare before Christmas
Rise of the Guardians
Christmas Story (Ive never seen this but hear its good)
It's A Wonderful Life, 1946 - Kobal Collection Prints - Easyart.com
I will also be listening to an excessive amount of Nat King Cole (aka the voice of Christmas)
One of my favorite recent Christmas memories was driving home for Christmas. We listened to Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald (as well as some Wham and Mariah) for a solid 4 hours. We stopped in the cold icy fog to get red cupped starbucks and Krispy Kremes and at the end of the trip we ended up at home where the decorations were hung and my family were waiting. I love Christmas, not for the presents, I think I grew out of the gifts for myself when I was about 14 but I love spoiling other people. I love giving them something that makes them smile. I do go a little over board sometimes but its worth it! Oh in fact as Ive wrote that sentence Ive just thought of the perfect gift for people at home!
I love the food, the lights and most of all the atmosphere. It really is magical. People smile more and hug more. Its probably the only time of year youre allowed to be romantic at every moment of the day.
I have been told Im not allowed to go into full Christmas mode until the 25th of Nov since then it will be a month till Christmas which is fair enough. This Christmas will be very different from what Im use to but I am actually a little excited for it. I am excited to spend time with my little Korean family especially since sadly so many of them will be leaving in February.
Bring on November 25th!!!!