New Year, New Semester, New Start

First written February 2013:

Ok, so it's been....well........, 3 months since I have written a new post. Can that really be right? Zack and I have been in Korea for 7 months! The times just seems to fly by. In these past 3 months we have done a lot but also a lot of nothing too. :)

We have been REALLY cold. 

We celebrated Christmas. 

This was a Christmas tree I made in my classroom using a green hand from every one of my students.

This is the Christmas ornament I made for 2012.

I went to see the Nutcracker with my girlfriends.

I won a Christmas cookie exchange contest for best cookie. These were Andes mint chocolate cookies. And my prize was the awesome Santa socks pictured above.

We also went to a Korean wedding. My head teacher Young Hwa got married in December and we were invited. We were the only foreign people at there wedding or the other two that were going on a basically the same time. (I need an entire new post to explain this wedding). :)

I had the kids make "Troll Snot" using corn starch and water. If you have never made and played with this substance you have to try it. Regardless of how old you are. :)

In January, both Zack and I taught English camps at our schools while the kids were on "Winter Break". The theme we chose for camp was Harry Potter. It was fun to just teach some random Harry Potter related English. 

Zack and I finally moved into our new apartment. (522 is the old apartment on KNU campus. 1121 is our apartment in the downtown area of Cheonan City).

This is the view from our apartment window.

Also, my beautiful sister in law, Hannah, came to visit us in January. We ate a lot of Korean food, made our first visit to a Jimjilbang together, and had a great time wandering around Seoul in the freezing cold.

We, of course, had a go to a Cat Cafe!

We went to Seoul Tower.

Hannah met one of our good Korean friends DongHyuk. They got along great and he was able to tell her things about Korea and Korean culture that we might not have been able to share.

We also took Hannah to Gyeongbokgung Palace. 

So we had to take this picture again. I think we will take this picture for every season. :)

And last but not least. I went to Hong Kong with 5 of my girlfriends for Chinese New Year. It was a very fast trip but it was a blast to get away with friends. Even if I did get super sick when I got back. :( 

It was also nice to know how comfortable I have gotten in Korea. After spending 3 days with people that mainly spoke Chinese it was awesome to come back to Korea and hear Korean spoken. Even though I still don't know most of what it going on around me I do recognize the language that I am hearing is Korean.

The skyline is absolutely gorgeous!

Had to get Starbs before starting our day.

The year of the snake.

Hong Kong reminded me of San Francisco. There were lots of steep hills/mountains. And since the UK occupied it for so long and it has only been 15 years since the switch the city is very western. 

We finally start the new school year on Monday. We have all new students (a few old ones), new teachers, new native teachers have come in (we are not the newbies anymore). 

I am still teaching 5th and 6th grade. However, I am now teaching 5th grade 3 times a week and 6th grade twice a week. Which is a lot of planning but I think I will be able to do some fun things with them this year. Since I see my students 2 or 3 times a week I will get to know them much better and faster. A lot of teachers only see their students once a week and see many classes each week. I have a few classes and see them many times a week. There are good and bad to both things. 

I have updated my classroom. I have taken down all of my winter decor and put up spring decor. My classroom has changed dramatically since starting in September. In September in was dirty and really just a room with desks. Now it is colorful and I think a much more learning conducive environment. I am proud of all of the effort I have put into my classroom (and it was fun too). I will post pictures of my classroom soon hopefully.

Zack still doesn't know exactly what he is teaching yet. He knows he got a new head teacher (so did I). But he will find out soon. 

Tomorrow is another Korean independence day (they have 3 I think) so we have a 3 day weekend before starting the new school year. 

With the weather starting to warm up (hopefully soon) we will be getting out and doing more in Korea. I will try my hardest to write more about the things we are doing here.

Lastly, I know that some of you know this but Zack and I have been given the opportunity to extend our contracts for another year and we have accepted. We will be staying in Korea and teaching until July 2014. We are excited about this opportunity to further our teaching and learning abilities and grow as a couple. Although we will miss you, our family and friends, the time will go by quickly and before you know it we will be back in the states.

We will use our vacation time in the summer to visit our family and friends in the states. When we know more about when exactly we will be there, we will let you know.

Thanks for reading!

With Love,

Tiffany (and Zack).

11-11 Pepero Day!

First written November 2012:

Something that happens in the month of November in Korea is a fun little fabricated holiday called Pepero Day. Every year on 11-11 is Pepero Day. It is sort of similar to Valentine's Day because you give Pepero to people you love. You give it to your wife, your children, you teachers, etc. Pepero is shaped like a stick (or a 1) so Koreans celebrate 11-11 by giving each other  the "1" shaped treat pepero.

Pepero is a delicious little treat and there are a few different kinds of pepero.

 Original pepero is a biscuit stick (similar to shortbread flavor) dipped in dark chocolate. 

 There is almond and chocolate covered pepero.

Then "nude" pepero. Which is basically inside out pepero. It's a hollow biscuit stick with chocolate on the inside. I like all pepero but this is my current favorite.

And not sold any other time of year but around the pepero holiday is the strawberry dipped pepero. 

If you have every tried the Japanese version of this treat called "pocky" (which you can find at basically any grocery store in the states) it is very similar to that.

Unfortunately Pepero Day was on Saturday this year so I didn't get very much pepero from my students but that doesn't mean I didn't eat my fair share of pepero.

Us "waygooks" (foreigner in Korean) had a little pepero party of our own. 

And at about 60 cents a box, why would you not buy a box or 10 every time you go to the grocery store? :)

And of course I got a "LOVE" pepero from my love. :)

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving

First written November 2012:

Hello All!

It's been so long since my last post that I don't even know where to begin. Fall is in full swing here in Cheonan City, South Korea. The leaves are changing colors and everything is beautiful. 

These are just a preview of pictures that will come later.

We have been very busy this month. I can't even believe that tomorrow starts November. At the end of September we had a 5 day weekend due to a Korean holiday called Chuseok. Chuseok is a harvest holiday similar to Thanksgiving (but nothing like Thanksgiving too). It is a family holiday and most Koreans go to "grandma's house" for the holiday. EVERYONE travels. So Zack and I decided to use our time to stay in Seoul for a few days and explore the city. The city was very deserted due to the holiday so it was easy to get around the city without as many people there. 

This is part of a HUGE palace we visited in Seoul during our Chuseok vacation. 

We have been to a "Walnut Cookie Festival" and the "World Dance Festival". Both of which were in Cheonan City. 

Zack and I have been to both a cat cafe and a dog cafe to get our animal "fix". Which is exactly how it sounds. It is a business that has cats or dogs that you can play with when you order coffee. 

Cat Cafe

Dog Cafe

I have been working or several projects for my classroom to make it more fun and inviting. And who am I kidding, it's also my crafting outlet while in Korea.

Also, KNU (Korea Nazarene University) has about 60 native teachers in the program for Cheonan City Public Schools. Once a semester they take us on a "Cultural Excursion". It was last weekend. They took us to a city near Seoul on buses. We went to an art museum with a gorgeous outdoor garden. And then we went to a theme park called Everland. It's the closest thing to Disney in Korea. In actuality it is an oversized fair. But we still had fun. (However, there are Disney parks in Tokyo, Japan and in Hong Kong. Zack and I are determined to hit one of them while we are here). They gave all of us zip up sweatshirt jackets with Korea Nazarene University printed on them and a lunch ticket for the park. 

I had a pretty bad cold last week and lost my voice but am much better now. My co-teachers are so sweet.

And last but not least, I had 'stag beetles' brought to my classroom..... (yes, I said beetles. Plural.)

Well, I hope that this post will curb you're hunger for Korea blogposts for a little while. I will work on individual posts along with more pictures.

Love you all!