Adventures of ShadKat!

Sorry, I’m listening to Journey and couldn’t think of a title to this post. So I figured I could just make it the song I am currently listening to. So now that the nightmare of last week is finally over, I’m in a blogging mood.

I’ve been really bad about exercising last week. I did a lot of walking, but I didn’t do my normal workout and I feel unmotivated to get back into it this week. I’ve been trying to walk, but the weather has been horribly hot and humid. It wouldn’t be so bad if I came home and the apartment was nice and cool, but alas, it’s hot as well. I need to get going on exercising because we’re going on vacation in a few short weeks. We have about 20 days left of the school semester, and I so can’t wait for the summer.

This semester has been really hard on me. Last year my problem was with the third grade, which was easily fixed by having the students who didn’t want to come to class stay in their classroom. I’d love to have my third graders from last year back if I thought they were terrible students. My first graders this year are horrible. There are about 5 or so students in each class who really want to be there, but are annoyed and bored because I spend the majority of my class telling students to stop talking, taking notes that are being passed around, and taking food away. It’s annoying and overwhelming. There is a Korean teacher in the room, but he’s the Chinese letters teacher and he sits in the back of the room with his back to the students, reading a book. What is the point of being in my classroom? Then when I’m to the point of kicking a student out and sending them to the principal, he gets involved. I think it wouldn’t be to bad if I didn’t have 3 of my 4 first grade classes on Monday…back to back to back. I just feel really bad for the students who really want to learn and be in my classroom. Oh, I forgot to mention two of my students (in different classes and on different days) have shouted, “F-ck you!” I just lost it. Needless to say, those students are now attentive in my classroom.

It’s just so frustrating. All of my other classes are good. Of course they get loud and talkative, but it’s because we’re all talking together and I can always calm them quickly so it’s not a problem. I just don’t understand what is wrong with the first grade. Is it me? It can’t be since my 2nd and third graders are fine…and we don’t even have a Korean teacher in the classroom. I think it’s just those students.

Yesterday my co-teacher told me he got my new contract for next year. I’m sorry to say this, but I’m really happy that this is our last year. I really like Korea. Koreans are warm and friendly people, the food is good and it’s easy to save money and travel, but I don’t want to teach. Actually, I should say that I don’t want to teach anyone under the age of 18. Even when I worked for the preschool and did substitute teaching, I never thought of myself as a teacher, or felt like it was something I could do. I’m sure if I took some ESL classes or classroom management classes things would be better, but for me, teaching just doesn’t feel right. I’m so thankful for the opportunities Korea has brought us (paying off my student loans in 2 years, saving money, and traveling around the world) and I don’t regret our decision to come here, I just feel it’s finally time to go. I miss my family. I miss holidays together. I miss being able to go to the movies anytime we feel like it. I miss being able to find food and being able to cook it.

On the flip side, I am really happy with the changes we’ve made in our lives. We’re exercising more, and making promises to do the same when we go home and when we have children. We’ve taken beef out of our diet almost entirely. We’re using almost all natural products, and being more conscience of our spending and wasting. Overall, Korea has been good for us. I just know it’s time and feel ready to go back.

So last week Shadi took the Foreign Service Officer exam in Seoul. We wont have the results until around his birthday, and I’m sure the wait is going to kill me. I know Shadi just feels glad it’s over and it’s done with. He now has some time to just relax and do whatever he wants to do, which is pretty much veg. So since we were in Seoul, we decided to spend the time with Erin and Renai. Renai was kind enough to let us stay in her apartment while she stayed with Erin in his apartment. It was nice to have our own space and not have to pay for a motel.

Friday night we went to our new favorite place to eat Mexican food. I had the taco’s again and those are the best freaking taco’s I’ve ever had. Saturday morning was early for me because I got up to call my family on Skpe. I got to see my grandmother and other family members and it was really nice to see everyone. After showering and packing, we called Erin and Renai and we left shortly after that to get some breakfast. After the long subway ride to the center of Seoul, we did some shopping. It was quite a miserable experience because it was pouring rain the entire day. We had expected a little bit of rain, but nothing like what we got. I was wearing a skirt, and some leather shoes. They are kinda nice shoes with a strap going around my foot…so lots of water got into my shoe and all over my bare feet. I’m a little sick this week because of it I think.

So Shadi has been looking for some barefoot shoes for running/walking/hiking. He wants these really ugly toe shoes (like the toe socks) but since they don’t have them in Korea and you need to try them on for the perfect size, he settled for Nike Free shoes. They are pretty much the same, but Nike and without the ugly toes. I wanted to buy the same shoes, but they were sold out. After shoe shopping, we went to get some food. Shortly after that, Renai and I went to the H&M and did some shopping before our knitting meeting. Erin and Shadi went off on their own for some sightseeing.

Saturday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day. I’m apart of a large knitting community online and I frequently talk to many expats living in Korea through that community. We had originally planned on knitting outside, but since it was pouring buckets, we went to a nearby coffee shop. It was a lot of fun! We met a lot of people and I also got some free yarn. One person was giving it away, so of course I had to have it!

After knitting for a few hours, we made our way back to the boys who were waiting at the bus station. We quickly ate dinner and Shadi and I left on the 8PM bus to Yecheon. We had a super great time!

This weekend, it looks like both Shadi and I have English camp on Saturday. Sunday morning we’re going on a tour of the DMZ with a bunch of people. It’s going to be a busy weekend, but I expect lots of fun.

Hopefully next week’s blog will be full of pictures. Bye for now.

Kathleen

I’m not having a very good week, so this blog might be pretty short. It’s nothing I really want to get into, especially since it seems like a lot of stuff has happened this week, and I just feel dejected. I’m also tired because I’ve been waking up really early for some strange reason and I can’t get back to sleep. Woe is me!

Anyway, last Tuesday, our friends from Seoul came to visit. We had such a blast! After they arrived, we went back to our place to drop their stuff off. We spent a little bit of time there for them to relax because the drive from Seoul can be pretty tiring. In the late afternoon we went for a short hike up one of the small mountains around town. It was a reminder to me that I need to get back into shape! *more on this later*

So after we did that, we walked around a bit more and went to a bibimbap restaurant that is pretty famous in our town. We even took a video:

What is bibimbap? Well bap in Korean in rice. I’m not sure what bi bim means, but altogether, it’s rice and vegetables mixed together with red pepper sauce. That place is really delicious and is super cheap for how much food we get. It’s under $5 a person.

After that, we went to a coffee shop. We had some coffee and were surprised to see two foreigners there. We haven’t seen any of the foreign teachers in town in a long while, so it was nice to see them.

After we had some coffee, we got some ice cream and then headed home. Once we got home, we decided to watch a documentary on the porn industry. I’m not sure if we liked it or not…I don’t think it was edited very well and it was hard to follow at some points. We had some good laughs though.

Wednesday morning was super lazy. Erin and Shadi went to hike a mountain in Yecheon while Renai and I stayed back and started planning our Southeast Asia trip. It was so nice having someone else there actually helping me. It looks like we are going to have a super great time too! I’m so excited I can’t wait!

We got a super late start on Wednesday and stayed in for lunch and watched a movie. Renai had never seen Orgasmo, so of course we had to watch it! It’s one of the funniest movies ever. After the movie, we walked downtown to get some cash for Erin and Renai, we put them in a taxi, and off they went. It was a great two days and I’m glad they were able to come down and visit us.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. Saturday we went for a hike up to the mountain top where Erin and Shadi went a few days before. We made sure to bring out video camera, but it was so windy:

It was such a beautiful day. We’re going to try to climb the mountain every weekend. That was the just the first peak, so we’re going to try to climb the whole thing at least once a week. I’m sure we can do it, we just need to motivate ourselves to get up early and do it each day. It’s hard on the weekends because those two days are our sleep in and relax days.We’ve been trying to talk every night and it’s been working out nicely, especially since the weather is so great. It’s important to get back into shape so we are ready for our vacation.

This weekend is teacher’s day. All of the teachers in Yecheon county have to go to Shadi’s school Saturday for a volleyball tournament. It should be fun, but last year it lasted the entire day because my school won.

Next Friday is Buddha’s birthday so there is no school. That should be a lot of fun and the students are really excited about the 3 day weekend.

The weekend after that we are going to Daegu to meet up with the girl I shared a room with at our orientation when we first came to Korea. We’ll be seeing a movie, eating some food, and catching up.

So Shadi has officially signed up for the foreign service officer exam. He is taking it Friday, June 11 in Seoul. That weekend since Shadi will be in Seoul all day on Friday, we have decided to spend the weekend in Seoul with Renai and Erin. We’ll be doing some shopping and final planning for our vacation. At the end of this month I’ll be buying the plane tickets for everyone, so it will be nice to get last minute needed items (like shoes) and iron out all the details. I’m so excited!

Well, it’s Wednesday afternoon. Lunch was great and I ate too much, but that’s okay. I hope everyone is well, and enjoying the blogs on a regular basis. I’ll try to get Shadi posting a bit too. Don’t forget to check out his haiku website!

Kathleen

Time sure flies when you’re doing nothing. Today is Thursday, and I usually go to my second school. Today and tomorrow are mid-term exams. On exam days, the students are finished after lunch. So, since I wouldn’t be teaching today and would be stuck at school all day, my co-teacher said I could stay home! Shadi has tomorrow off because his second school has exams. Too bad we didn’t have the same days off together! I like having random days off…except I don’t seem to get a lot done and time flies like no other!

Next week the majority of schools in Korea have exams. My schools starts on Saturday and ends on Tuesday. Wednesday is a national holiday: Children’s Day! That means no school! Woohoo! Two of our Arizona friends might be coming down from Seoul next Tuesday and spend some time out of the country. They haven’t been outside of Seoul yet. One of them describes Seoul as “Northern Virginia”. It’s really funny because…it’s sort of true. Those who live in Seoul don’t see how the rest of Koreans live. I sure hope they are able to come down and spend some time with us. I’ll just have to figure out what to do with them!

Last weekend we went to Seoul to spend some time with them. We had a fantastic time! I’ve known Erin for 7 or 8 years, and I actually hadn’t seen him in a number of years. It was my first time meeting his fiance Renai. We had been talking on facebook for a number of months and on instant messenger, so it was nice to spend some time together! They are the ones that are going to be traveling with us this summer. Everything is up in the air right now because of what is happening in Thailand, but hopefully we’ll have solid plans by the end of May, when we need to buy plane tickets.

So Saturday morning, Shadi and I got up at 5. We quickly showered and headed to the bus station. We got on the first bus to Seoul at 6:20. It’s a 2 1/2 hour bus ride, so by the time we got to Seoul it was around 9. It took us nearly an hour on the subway to get to Itaewon, a popular foreign area. After getting some Starbucks coffee, Erin and Renai arrived. We sat for a bit drinking coffee, and then we set out to look for What the book. What the book is a bookstore that sells English books. They also import books from America if you can’t find the book you need. Shadi and I have been volunteering this school year at in2books and we needed to get our final book for the school year.

After the bookstore, we went to the Middle Eastern area of Itaewon. We found the making for hummus!! I’m so happy. We didn’t find any bread though. After doing a little bit of shopping, we headed over to the mosque. It was really beautiful. It was prayer time, so we weren’t allowed to go inside, but it was really nice to visit it.

After the mosque, we headed back to the subway to head out and get some food. Oh, I forgot to mention that there were so many foreigners walking their dogs in Itaewon and I was so nice that everyone let us pet their dogs. Koreans don’t really understand dogs and most of them are just accessories and the dogs aren’t friendly at all. It was so nice being able to pet all the dogs. It makes me miss Bailey even more!

So after that we headed over to Tomatillo’s. Tomatillo is pretty much the Korean rip off of Chipotle. It was so freaking delicious! It was expensive, but delicious and so worth going.

Everyone was really happy with this place, and I’m sure we’ll go back when we go to Seoul again. After lunch, we walked over to the American Embassy which was just around the corner. We also got to see some statues of a famous kind and general. After that, we went to a famous shopping area of Seoul. Coming out of the subway stop we got to see Dondaemun. Dondaemun is the East Gate. The gates around the city are part of the old city. They are all that remain. One of the oldest gates was destroyed in a fire a few years ago.

We went into a building that was only textiles, fabrics, ribbons, and buttons. It was amazing. Renai is an artist and also a knitter like me, so we were in heaven. It took forever to find the yarn section (the building is like 9 floors and goes on forever), and it took us even longer trying to find good yarn. We finally found some and Renai got a ton of yarn at a great price. We then walked a bit further and went to a huge shopping center. Shadi got a new pair of shoes and I got some new flip flops. I didn’t find any shoes, but thats okay.

After that we rushed back to make the 6:40 bus to Yecheon. We missed it and decided to have some dinner before we left on the 8PM bus back to Yecheon. After dinner, we headed back to the bus terminal and headed home. We got back to Yecheon at 10:30PM. It was such an exhausting day, but we had so much fun. I think the next time we go to Seoul we’ll end up staying the night. It’s just a long day and Sunday we were just so exhausted we didn’t feel like doing anything (of course I did laundry and cleaned the house, but I didn’t want to).

So our weekend was great, and I really hope Erin and Renai are able to come down next week. Maybe I’ll take them to a temple. Apparently it’s supposed to rain next Wednesday, so it depends on how the weather is. Either way, we can figure out what we will do this summer, eat some local food here, and maybe play some games.

That’s all for now.

Kathleen

I know this is late…It’s already April, but I had the idea to blog about it today while sitting at work. Wednesdays are very boring for me. I have three classes in the morning, and nothing after lunch. So since I have a lot of free time, I figured I’d let you know what I did, and didn’t like from 2009.

Vacation:

We took a lot of trips in 2008. We went to Taiwan, China, various places around Korea, and of course our trip to America. The winner is: China!

Almost a year ago, Shadi and I had a short break from school. We decided to take 3 days and go to Beijing. It was so worth it! I have to say my favorite part of the trip was of course, The Great Wall. Trying to describe it is nearly impossible. You really can’t grasp the ingenuity and just how impressive it is until you are there. Driving up to it, it was just amazing to see how huge the mountains are. We went at the perfect time. The weather was perfect, and we went right when it opened, and there were hardly any people there when we were first starting out. All in all, we had a fantastic time in China. However, we wouldn’t go back to Beijing. I think if we ever go back to China, it’ll be to a more rural area and see the landscape. I’m tired of visiting cities. The worst part of our city was how tired we were. We walked so much in those 3 days that we needed a vacation for our vacation!

The worst vacation we went on was to Taiwan. It was so boring and all the books we had for the country was terrible. People weren’t friendly at all, everything was dirty, and we just didn’t have a good time. The best part of the vacation was the zoo. Taipei has an amazing zoo. Also, the Taipei 101 was really cool too, and we got to ride our first bullet train, which was fantastic.

Best Album

Easily for me, the best album of 2009 is Dream Theater’s Black Clouds and Silver Linings. I’m a huge Dream Theater fan, and of course, I was so excited for the new album to come out last June. The album mainly deals with fear and loss. Usually of the band members contribute lyrics and music. This album however, all but one song are about personal experiences by the drummer, Mike Portnoy, and the guitarist, James Petrucci.

Four songs are written by Petrucci, three about personal experiences. A Nightmare to Remember is about a horrible car accident he was in as a child. Wither is about his song writing and his fears of writers block. The Count of Tuscany is about an experience he had in Tuscany, where he thought he was going to die. Finally, he wrote A Rite of Passage about the Freemasons.

Here is the music video for A Right of Passage. It’s not the full song because they had to cut it for the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZNZAgbgMeY

Wither was also made into a music video. It’s a slower song, and most of you might like this one better: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpMDEQSwXjw&feature=related

And one of my personal favorites, The Count of Tuscany. The song is 19 minutes long, but it’s amazing, and the story is very amusing if you listen to the lyrics. This is part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbuCNSm3Tb0

Portnoy wrote two songs (and when I say songs, I mean lyrics. All of the band members write the music for all the songs together). A little back story: Portnoy is a recovering alcoholic. He wrote 5 songs spanning several album about the twelve steps of alcoholism. The first song was released on their album that came out in 2002, and is finally finished with The Shattered Fortress on Black Clouds and Silver Linings. I have to say, this is another personal favorite of mine on the album. Especially the final line, “I am responsible, when anyone, anywhere reaches out for help, I want my hand to be there.” It gives me chills every time I hear it.

The last song Portnoy wrote for the album is The Best of Times. He wrote the song for his father, who was diagnosed with cancer before the album was written. Luckily, Dream Theater was able to record the album, and Portnoy was able to play the song for his father before he died. I love this song. It brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. It’s so sweet. “…a young boy and his father, idol and best friend. I’ll always remember, those were the best of times!”

You can listen to A Shattered Fortress part 1 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4oA3nuxs7E&feature=related

And The Best of Times part 1 here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKGsLTSsQk4&feature=related

I don’t have a worst album of 2009…mostly because I’ve been obsessed with Dream Theater. Another album I like from 2009 is the Glee soundtrack. I love that show…which brings us to….

Best New TV Show

I have to say, the best new TV show of 2009 was Glee. I love that show! It’s about a high school glee club, and all the drama from high school. It’s a great show, but it’s not for everyone. I’m not much of a fan of musicals, but they have some real talent on the show, and I laugh at least 3 times during each episode…which is hard for a show to do. Glee airs Tuesdays on Fox.

Another great show from 2009 is Flashforward. Flashforward is about what happens after the entire planet blacks out and sees the future for 2 minutes. It’s a pretty fun show. You can see Flashforward on ABC on Thursdays.

The worst new TV show of 2009 is Stargate Universe. I tried to like SGU…I really did. I love love love SG-1 and Atlantis, which Universe is based on, but I just hate it! It’s just like Battlestar Galactica. It’s not even a Stargate show! It has none of the charm of the other two series, and I’m giving it one more episode before I give up on it altogether. I hate the shaky cam from BSG, I hate all the stupid “drama” and horrible characters that no one cares about. I also hate all the stupid camera angles. It just doesn’t have any charm, and really forced plots.

Best Movie

I don’t have just one favorite movie from 2009. I saw a lot of movies, and some I really liked, and some I hated.

I think my favorite movie was Up! I love Pixar, and I couldn’t get enough of Up! The movie was so fantastic. It touched a lot of sensitive subjects (i.e. death and absent parents), and the story was just amazing. I cried 3 times during it. Don’t let the idea of a “child’s” movie make you think twice about this movie. It’s amazing and reaches people at any age in life.

Other movies I recommend you see:

Gran Torino: Yes, technically it is a 2008 movie, but it had a wide release in 2009

Martyrs: It’s a 2008 French horror film, but I saw it last year, and was released in Korea in 2009. It’s really depressing and apart of the French “torture” movement. It’s brutal.

Precious: this movie is really depressing, but really well acted and the story is good.

Zombieland: really really fun horror flick.

District 9: a great flick from South Africa. I was totally blown away.

Food, Inc: a scary look into the food industry in America. Buy local!

The Blind Side: It’s good, but I don’t think Sandra Bullock should have won best actress.

Paranormal Activity: I was very surprised by this movie. It scared the crap out of Shadi and I. Watch it with the lights out!

Julie and Julia : Only for Meryl Streep. She’s amazing.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil : It’s a documentary about the band Anvil! Never heard of them? Not surprising. Just watch it to see how pathetic these guys are.

I also want to mention a 2008 Australian film called Lake Mungo. This movie only recently got released in 2010 in America, but I want more people to see it. It’s totally unpredictable. I had no idea where the movie was going, but it was terrifying (in a spooky way. There is no gore in the movie).

The worst movies of 2009 are: Knowing,  Friday the 13th, Last House on the Left, Drag Me to Hell, The Unborn, Angels and Demons, The Broken, The Proposal, The Reade‘, Revolutionary Road, The Invention of Lying, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sherlock Holmes, I Love You, Man, The Princess and the Frog, The Hangover, Star Trek, An Education, and The Hurt Locker.

That is it from 2009. I hope you enjoyed my list. Again, sorry it’s so late!

Kathleen

I swear, I’m the worst blogger in the world. I’m sure most of my friends and family have finally given up on this blog, but I hope someone is still reading this!

Some good things and some bad things have been happening since school started back up. First though, I should talk about February.

In February, we came to school for one week for graduation week. During this time, the students clean the classrooms and the school really well. The third graders go to their high schools and take entrance exams to see where they will be placed for the new school year. At the same time, the elementary 6th graders come to our school to take the entrance exams for the new school year (remember, the school system is different. Elementary 1-6, Middle 1-3 and High school 1-3). So, graduation was good. I almost cried when I had to say goodbye to my best student. For the past year, she came to talk to me every day after lunch to practice her English. Well, the effort paid off! She got into the best high school in our province, and questionably, one of the best high schools in Korea. She is going to a foreign language high school, and is going on the track of going to an American university (Three languages: English, Chinese, and Japanese. Each language has two tracks: one for Korean universities, one for foreign universities). I’m so proud of her, and I know she will do well.

Right after the last day of the work week (Friday, February 12th) we raced home after lunch and finished packing our bags. We flew to Arizona for Randy and Sarah’s wedding. We were only there for about 11 days. It was a very quick trip, but it was so much fun. The wedding was great, and it was awesome spending time with good friends and getting to see our family. I also got to get lots of snuggles in with Bailey. I miss that dog every day.

So, after we got home, we had just a few days to relax before the new school year started. First, I have to say that the school year is going by very quickly. It’s much faster than last year. The first semester is the longest because we have very little days off compared to the second semester. However, it seems to be flying by now.

I’m not too happy with my first grade students this year. My schedule is very different than last year. Monday’s I have 4 classes back to back to back to back. My first class of the week is the worst class I have: 1-2 (First grade, class 2). They are my worst students. I never smile, I am always yelling, and I’m always in a really foul mood going into the class, and when I leave. I’m again without a Korean English teacher because we only have two of them. It’s hard on them because they have extra classes but it’s just as hard on me because even though I have a “teacher” in the classroom with me, they either ignore what is going on and read, or they are actively learning during the class and not disciplining the students if they get too rowdy. It’s frustrating.

Well, every week I feel like they get worse and worse. Today? I thought things were going really really well, until the last 5 minutes of class. I was just finishing something, and going to look at my paper, when I heard a student shout, “F-ck you!” I have no idea if it was to me, or someone else, but I kicked her out of my class and told her to go see the vice-principal. Of course she didn’t, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

So, after my first class (1-2) I am always irate. My second class of the day is my 3-3 (3rd grade, class 3) class. They are so funny. I always ask my students how they are, and they ask how I am. Always, I’m angry, and they yell about how bad my first graders are. Then, today, one of the students told me I should hit the students that are bad. In Korea, you aren’t supposed to hit students anymore, but it still happens. I personally don’t mind it. I’ve seen a few get hit hard, but the students really respect their teachers and think twice about doing something because they are worried about getting hit. Lets be honest; detention in America doesn’t work. Especially when parents can overrule a teachers punishment.

So after lunch, I was walking around the field back to the school with my teacher (for health), and one of the third graders told my co-teacher what the first graders did. He asked me if it was true, and I told him yes. He found the student, and punished her. He didn’t hit her, but boy she looked so pissed standing in the teachers office. Vengeance was mine! haha I just don’t know what to do with that one class. For the most part, the other first graders are really good. One of the classes tries to get me off topic by asking random questions throughout my lesson, but it’s okay because they are speaking English, but that 1-2 class…I’m just fed up.

So, other than that one class, everything is good at work. I like having freedom to teach what I want. The book is horrible, so I just try to take the themes from the chapters and make my own lesson to build on what they are learning with their Korean English teachers.

Last week was a very weird week. The second graders left early Wednesday morning to go on a three day school trip to Seoul. On Friday, the first and third graders when to Daegu. Since Shadi had the day off from school (his goes to his second school on Fridays and they were having a “home experience day”), he came with us! First we went to a war memorial just outside of Daegu. The memorial is the place where the North got before foreign troops came to Korea to help push them back. I was really surprised to see how far they got before we got involved. At the site, there were a lot of tanks, missiles, guns, and airplanes. The students thought it was boring, but Shadi and I really enjoyed it.

After the war memorial, we went to Woobong Land. It’s like the Korean Disneyland. I don’t really care for amusement parks (I don’t like roller coasters), but we had a great time. After arriving, there were cherry blossoms EVERYWHERE! It was so beautiful! Once we got into the park, it was covered in tulips and other types of flowers. I’ve never seen so many tulips in my life. They are super pretty too. We first had lunch with the teachers. It’s so interesting to me how in Korea, it’s totally acceptable for teachers to drink on the “job”. The teachers and students separated before we even got into the park. The students went first, then the teachers. It’s totally acceptable. In America, we couldn’t go anywhere on a field trip without the teacher. So at lunch, of course the teachers were drinking beer and traditional rice wine. It’s so funny. Teachers even drink it at school. Teachers also smoke on campus. So strange!

So there were so many people that wanted to talk to us. We got to meet a lot of students from the Daegu area. Their English is a lot better, but mostly because every since school has a foreign teacher. English is always better in the bigger cities; it’s sad but true.

So, onto the important stuff! Shadi has decided he is going to take the Foreign Service Officer exam. He is applying for the Department of State. He’s been preparing for some time now by reading the newspaper everyday, and reading lots of magazines. He also got some books to help prepare for the exam. We found out that he can take the exam in Seoul, and the date is set for sometime in June. This is a very important decision for our family. We both love America, but don’t feel like we want to live there. We like living abroad. I also think for our family, it would be a great opportunity.

This past year, Shadi and I have been volunteering our time with In2books. This program has “pen-pals” read a book and write to their student who is reading the same book. Shadi and I have been appalled at the books that our students are reading. The level of books are so low, and our pen-pals are 3-5th graders. Education is so important to both of us, and we feel like if we live in America, we are running the chance of our children going to a school which wouldn’t challenge our children. We’ve talked about private schools and what not, but what if we don’t make enough money to send our children to a good school? It’s something we take very, very seriously.

Well, when (if) Shadi is accepted into the department of state, not only would we have a wonderful opportunity to travel the world and learn different cultures (not only for ourselves, but for our children’s benefit) we’d get money to send our children to schools…and apparently they are excellent schools. We also get housing provided. I just think it’s a great way to give back to our country, and do one of the things we love: traveling.

When (if) Shadi is accepted, I would have the opportunity to work at a military base or in an embassy doing whatever needed done. I could also tutor someone in English, or do something like what I’m doing now. Teaching isn’t something I thought I’d do for a career, but I’d do anything for my family. The best part of it though? I wouldn’t have to work while our kids are young. We’d make enough money and have everything we needed to live on if only Shadi worked. It’s important to me for one of us to be home with our children when they are young. The first few years of life are so important, and I want to take full advantage of it. Once the kids are in school, then I could get a job. The only negative thing about this job would be being away from our family and friends. But, it’s an excellent excuse for them to come and visit us wherever we are living! All they (you!) would have to pay for is getting over to us. Hey, if you’re interesting, you can do that now (while we’re in Korea! Korea rocks!).

We’ve been planning on going to Southeast Asia this summer. However, with everything going on in Thailand, I’m worried about flying in and out of Bangkok, and with traveling around the country. I know they’ve been having a lot of problems in the past, but I just hope things can shape up before we go. Otherwise, we might have to go somewhere else. I don’t want it to be like last summer when the airport was closed and people couldn’t leave for weeks.

So, that’s all I have for now. I hope everyone is well!

Kathleen

Edit: Enjoy some pictures!!