the christmas concert was fun! i really didn't have to do all that much as an announcer; i really only had the opening and closing lines. i wasn't nervous which was extremely surprising and also a blessing - i was able to just have fun with it. the students did a GREAT job, especially considering the long day of practice they endured. i was especially proud of Johnny, who has a BEAUTIFUL voice, who sang a solo and Noah who blew me away with her piano solo. the whole night was joyful and a bittersweet end to the semester. it is hard saying goodbye, even for just two months.
"and for our final performance, all teachers and students will join in one voice to praise God. let's give them a big round of applause" - that was my line right before the last two songs. every single student from both KICS campuses and all teachers sang on stage - you can see a few of them in this picture (this is just some of the Bucheon boys!). we sang this song called "i am" which i had only heard twice before (and therefore had to just pretend i was singing parts of it) but it sounded amazing. the elementary students sounded like little angels :) and it was a powerful performance i was glad to be a part of.
we watched a lot of movies during the last few weeks. the students that weren't practicing for the concert had to go to class, so we mostly hung out. the very last day, after the concert, the ninth graders had a bit of a photoshoot (see link above for some posted on facebook). kaka took some great photos! he's a natural.
with some of the ninth grade boys...exploding through the doorway into my homeroom...
tonight, we had a christmas eve party at church! it was a vastly different celebration than what i am accustomed to, but it was full of joy and good friends. bible trivia game, a hymn contest, and a gift exchange. i got a round, yellow pillow. this past week, i also got to attend a christmas party at a co-workers house (catchphrase and american food) and go to a multi-cultural church's christmas performance which was cool.
the foreign teachers singing "the first noel" in the hymn contest. we won socks, just for trying :) we didn't practice at all because we didn't know about until half an hour before. typical.
once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS. christmas is definitely the hardest time to not be around family, but we have our own little dysfunctional family here in bucheon. i miss you all and i pray that this season will be a blessing as you bless those around you.
"...Day and night, without ceasing they sing, 'Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God the Almighty, who was and is and is to come'..." - Revelation 4:8
the title of this blog post was one of the gems written on a final test given in American Government. i take great joy in quoting my students whenever possible. i had my class memorize the preamble to the US constitution a few weeks ago and it appeared again on the final test. i never knew a purpose of the government was to learn the secrets of onion farming...
yes! this week was FINALS week and i can't believe school is officially done for the semester! next week, the students are practicing for and then performing in a Christmas concert, so no teaching for us, just report cards to do.
short update on school #1: yes, it has been busy, but no, i have not been at school until 11 pm everyday! (i decided to take tests home and grade them while watching christmas movies :). between that and grading during "self-study" period (where we are forced to supervise students and make them study for their tests), i finished grading all five tests (three classes of three-page geography tests - they had to memorize all the capitals in europe, write a short essay, and more [and they did really well, although apparently i made some students hate geography with that test :)]- one class of pre-calculus, and one class of american government plus their final essays, by friday! which means no work for this weekend! that's a first...
besides school, i have managed to have a few adventures in the past few weeks:
- christmas shopping in insa-dong (plus seeing christmas lights in seoul and buying an itty bitty tree for my desk at school - see left!)
- korean pop-culture 101: learning pop culture from my students. top of the charts in korea right now, boy band "2 pm" - actually, this name sparked a discussion in one of my classes about silly bands names, so i taught them some obscure american bands and then made it an extra credit question on my final :) - a song called "heartbeat". it's absolutely ridiculous (and in my opinion, absolutely hilarious), but the students LOVE it. here it is: "k-pop" at its finest...
now that my classes know that i know about this, every time some of them see me, they dance the little "heartbeat" move...*thump thump thump*. lolz. did you catch the guy in the video with the ponytail?!? moving on...
- we saw a cat die during lunch break one day. we were outside throwing a disc when this cat apparently got hit by a car. now, those who know me know i don't even like cats, but it was the most bizarre, sad thing, seeing the cat die right there. he tried to stand up and ended up spinning in a circle on the ground, leaving a circle of blood on the pavement. then he stopped moving. then one of the street-cleaner guys came around with a broom and dustpan and swept him up.
-SNOW! last saturday and on tuesday, it snowed for about ten minutes each time. on thursday, it started snowing during fourth period, and since they were only supposed to be studying for my final, i took whoever wanted to go outside and we stood in the snow until it got too cold, which was about the time when one of my students said, "if i stay outside long enough, i will become snowman"
- last friday night: youngsan (basically a huge mall with restaurants, a bookstore, everything) for thai food with kristin. we were waiting in line when we heard "umbrella" (yeah, rihanna) playing. that was a moment. five minutes later, i spotted a sign announcing the "2th anniversary" of a donut shop.
- today, i stumbled into a fantastic foreign foods store where i found spaghetti, whole wheat flour, and microwave popcorn.
- and now, since you've been such a devoted blog reader, an early gift for you: more funny exam answers. i kicked off finals week by perusing the interwebs for hilarious test answers. some of the best were found on this website; i especially love number 21.
classic.
my students are funny without even trying...
American Government: His entire answer to "Describe what happened at the Boston Massacre": "snow ball" (also wrote the "onion" answer). the same student wrote at the end of the test "please give me D - i hate F". i regret to inform you he earned an F.
Geography (9th grade students) - Some excerpts from essays about countries in Europe (any grammar/spelling mistakes are their own):
"I wouldn't like to visit this country. I don' t know about Poland. Then I afraid this country. But I want to live in this country. Because I want be a farmer. Poland have many farmers"
About why he wants to go to France: "Epel tower and snail food. Every body said snail food is good! So I need eat snail food"
"I want live in Ireland, but little bit problem. The problem is bye my parent. So, 1 year of Ireland and 1 year of Korea. Let go Ireland with me ms. Kari <3"
"what is I know about Hungary...I know only one. teacher! your blood is Hungarian...I want see in Budapest, but I don't want live in Hungary because I want live in Luxembourg [because it has the highest GDP in the world]"
"I don't want visit Romania and I don't want live there Because I don't like vampires. I'm very scare about vampires. If I live there vampires will come my home and Bite me so I will never visit to Romania"
"I chose Hungary because of the Great Hungarian Plain. I'm sure the Hungarians are proud of the Great Plain that is in their country...I would like to go to this country to see how Great the 'Great Hungarian Plain' is"
ahh, the joy seeing the fruits of my labor :)
although there have been some rough patches the last few weeks, i continue to be blessed by my students and coworkers. i'm looking forward to christmas, although i have no idea what or if we will be doing something, and also to china! i'm visiting for new years with ANNA!! and we're going to play ultimate in beijing :)
thanks so, so much for your kind words and your prayers. i am one quarter of the way through my contract as of this week! the time is flying by. please pray for spiritual fruit in the students' lives.
