Sara's Top Moments in Korea

Thought I would get a little bit nostalgic and rehash some of my best Korea memories:)
Note: Some photos were stolen from Lindsay's blog..... With love!!!

A Final Look at Suji

It just started to feel like it was time to leave. Not ever being one to overstay my welcome or put up with being unhappy, I spent my last days in Korea making peace with the streets. When you know you are going to go away and not look back, you start to become nostalgic about every little thing and want to frame it in your mind forever.

I know I will not be missing 8 lane traffic, dirty air, spit and piss covered streets, and high rise buildings as far as the eye can see. In retrospect, I am trying to look past all of the flaws of the place and the lonely times in my one-room-dungeon and remember those beautiful late summer days sailing on a bike trail with Lindsay or the peace of hiking in rain soaked mountains in fall. Those are the memories I will keep, I think.

Groovin' on Sunny After Noon

I am loving the nice days lately. Still cold but at least it is sunny most days now. In honor of spring, I threw on some flip-flops and bought a bright new t-shirt. I love is retro feel and bad grammar!

Korean Hello Kitty

I finally got my Korean Hello Kitties I have been wanting for a while! They are wearing colorful Hanbok and ready to get married. Soo cute!

Street Food

Lately, I have been really enjoying the food from street vendors. It is so dirt cheap and delicious! When I started thinking of street vendors, it really made me miss George's Gyros in the Ped Mall in Iowa City. And it really, really made me miss Pop's Italian Beef!!!! I have such amazing memories of getting those with Will in the summertime and just savoring its meaty, juicy goodness.... Mmmm!

My favorite food here from the sidewalk vendors is the hoddeok, a thick fried pancake with warm, gooey brown sugar inside. And this treat is only 500 Won!

The Worthless Won

I am soo very scared because the value of the South Korean Won has dropped about 10 cents (per US dollar) in the last week or so. Although this is not the first time for this to happen, I feel very worried about being here in this country for the first time. Basically, with the current exchange rate, I am making less dollars here than at my former factory job in Iowa City. Considering that I still have bills to pay back home, this totally sucks!

The other worrisome thing that has been on my mind recently is the developing tensions between North and South Korea. North Korea is putting together an army as we speak. North Korea has torn up all peaceful agreements with South Korea, siting hostile intent. Government officials have stated that the two Koreas are "on the brink of war."

This leaves many questions on my mind concerning the safety and well-being of a person currently living in Korea. At what point should the country be considered unsafe and should we foreigners bail out on the country? Is the pitiful amount of money I am making enough to keep me here?

Yikes!

Preschool Valentine's Cuties

Call me maternal or whatever but I think my little preschoolers are so very cute! While they tend to be monsters most of the time, when they are busy with scissors, glue, and crayons, they can be pretty darn adorable and non-obnoxious.

Sarah Y. showing off her Valentine's Day heart guy.

Mingi being innocent for a moment before doing something bad.

Jiho- a total sweetheart and overachiever at the tender age of 6.

Jenny actually finished something! Her little heart guy looks great.

Jay being his usual precocious self.

Eddie doesn't care to learn English but that doesn't stop him from being kinda sweet.

Christina D. is a rare child from another planet.

Hena learning the ways of women by being sweet to Matthew only to get what she wants.

Erica, my new little class spazz.

Christina J. and Tina being besties.

Brianna is always rocking the princess dress get-ups and pink glasses.

Its hard to believe someday Albert and June will run Samseong and get drunk off of Soju together every night, singing at Norebang with high dollar call girls. Or maybe not. But still!


In March, these preschoolers get to move on to Kindergarden and I get a new batch of naughty little bundles of energy to tear my hair out about. Fun, fun!

Snapshots with First Graders

We had some extra time to kill in class today so I let every one of my kids take a photo with my camera. (Hey, I figure my Canon digital cam is pretty indestructible, right?) I ended up with some really great photos and the kids seemed to have a great time goofing around for a little while. Korean kids work sooo hard all the time so it is nice to see them happy and having fun!

My extra special student, Edward just being his usual weird-o self.

The class suck-ups Catherine and Suyeon. Very nice girls but such teacher's pets!

Chung-ah and Ariel, two goofy friends who like to draw boobs. Naughty, naughty!

The often studious and over-achieving Annie. She reads more than any other kid in first grade and often times says she is afflicted with the "Giggle virus" when she can't quit laughing!

My kids giving teacher some love:)

Being crazy with teacher. I love it!

I love glasses on kids. Pretty cute.

Trying not to smile?

Seriously, this is the sad, serious face Annie makes 90% of the time. That girl was born to study.

See, they are totally having fun in my class.... And learning too, right? Ha ha!

Harry- what a ham. That kid will NEVER sit still.

Catherine, my bright little scholar.

These girls loooooove pink, right?