Winter Madness!

**Did you know that you can click on the pictures to make them larger??

Anyong haseyo!!  So it has been WAY too long since my last post!  I apologize, but we have been very busy!!!  Here is what we have been up to lately!

Well, we came back from winter break, well rested, kind of.  It's a good thing because we hit the ground running!!!  Our school year ends in February, so every class is required to participate in annual performance.  When you think of kindergarten graduation, you think of caps and gowns and cute little songs about going to first grade.  Not here!!!!  We have a HUGE Broadway production.  Our kids have to perform two songs (song and dance) and put on a play.  Its not your average kindergarten play.  We really are expected to put on some sort of broadway production.  We didn't know when we accepted the job that we would have to be directors.  Unfortunately, we learned the hard way.  Anyway, we have been preparing nonstop, practicing EVERYDAY, working at night to perfect our songs, dances and scripts.  I literally spent a whole Sunday standing in front of my window, dancing to "I Gotta Feelin," while Jeff played video games and laughed at me.  The good news is that my kids' dance is AWESOME!  I will post a video after the performance.

The kids have felt as much stress as the teachers.  They now hate the performance (my kids still love "I Gotta Feelin" but hate the rest).  I heard one of the Korean teachers tell her students, "You have to be like soldiers!" and she wasn't kidding.

But, after all the hard work, we have managed to have some fun!  The kids need it, and so do the teachers.

We had an ice cream sundae party and watched "How To Train Your Dragon" for a reward.

I caught these bad boys sneaking extra toppings off the table when I wasn't looking!

The first week of February, Korea celebrates Lunar New Year.  The kids came to school wearing the traditional clothing for the holiday, learned to bow to their elders and played traditional Korean games.  They were pretty cute in their "hanboks."

Doing the traditional bow.

Jeff's favorite

Jeff's other favorite

We had a 5 day weekend for Lunar New Year.   We planned to travel during this time, but ALL the flights were already sold out!  We couldn't go anywhere.  We also found out that most everything was closed for the holiday, too.  This was like their Christmas.  So, we relaxed and enjoyed our time away from the madness of school.

Playing screen golf.

Ice skating in Seoul Plaze 

At a hookah bar!

Birthdays here are a BIG DEAL.  Once a month we have a birthday party at school who celebrate their birthday in that month.  The kids don't just bring in a treat for their birthday.  Their parents have a whole meal catered for the class.  A photographer is also hired for the day to take pictures of all the events.  It is complete madness!

David's birthday feast!  This wasn't even all the food.  This was just what they put on the table for the photographers!  I think there were 3 pizzas, lots of fruit, chicken, several cookies and lots of drinks.  All for a class of 10!

Our performance is next week.  My kids graduate on Friday and move on to first grade.  Fortunately (I think) my kids will be coming back to me in the afternoon for English.  They will go to first grade during the day, and then they come to our school for English academy.  I thought I was really going to miss my kids, but I will still get to see them 3 days a week.

Jeff's kids will stay for their second year of kindergarten. (Kindergarten is from 4-6 here).  I will get a new class of 4 year olds starting in March.  Hopefully, we will be less busy and will have time to enjoy the kids!!  

I also hope that as the weather gets nice, we will get to go out and do more exploring around this beautiful country.  Maybe do some sightseeing.  And I hope we can see some more exciting things than the Kimchi Museum (yes, it is as exciting as it sounds!)

Beijing, China Dec 27, 2010-January 1, 2011

Ni hao!  Jeff and I went to Beijing over our winter break.  We were warned it was going to be cold, but I don't think we realized just how cold it was going to be..until we got there.  We were still able to see everything we went to see, and can now check Beijing off our list of "Places We Must See."

FORBIDDEN CITY
On our first day, we went to The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square.  The Forbidden City was really cool.   We saw where the emperors and empresses lived for hundreds of years.  There were lots of temples to see, and after a while, they all just start to look the same.

The main hall of the palace.

The lions protect the city.

Imperial Sundial

Marble Carriageway

Temple ceiling

One of the emperors' many thrones

TIANANMEN SQUARE

After the Forbidden City, we headed across the street to Tiananmen Square.  There really wasn't much to see here.  It was a giant concrete square with a few memorials.  We were surprised to see that there was no sign of the 1989 pro-democracy protest, no signs or anything.  We think that it is something that the Chinese don't really talk about, so they have no reason for putting up a plaque or memorial about it.

Tiananmen Gate

DONGHUAMEN NIGHT MARKET
That night we went to the Donghuamen Night Market, where they had lots of tasty snacks for us to try (snakes, sea urchin, startfish, centipedes, worms, grasshopper, dog meat, sheep penis and many other delicious snacks).  We just scoped it out the first night, so we could decide if we were brave enough to actually try something.

PEKING DUCK
Instead of eating snake for dinner, we decided to go to a recommended restaurant for Beijing's signature dish, Peking Duck.  They bring the cooked duck out, slice it up in front of you and then serve it with lots of fixin's.  

Mmm it was delicious!

THE GREAT WALL

The next day we decided to take a trip out to The Great Wall.  It was a 2.5 hour bus ride each direction.  We chose the hike that was harder to climb, but wasn't so touristy.  Our group was one of the only groups on the wall.  We hiked 6 km and saw 22 watchtowers.  The hike was really tough, up and down many stairs  and inclines.  It was well-worth it to see one of the wonders of the world!  The people who built this thing must have been really fit!

This was one of the shorter stairways

Parts of the wall hadn't been restored

We made it!

The next day we went to The Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven.  It was freezing this day so we saw everything as quickly as we could and took as many pictures as the cold would allow us to take.  I think both of these places would be beautiful in the summertime.  

SUMMER PALACE

The Summer Palace was the emporer's pleasure palace.  I'm sure it was a beautiful getaway in the summer when everything was green.

Marble Boat

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN
The Temple of Heaven was where the Chinese emperors went to pray for divine guidance and good harvest.  The temple was by far the prettiest one we saw on our trip.  The whole thing is held together without nails or cement.

Inside the temple

Those were the main attractions we saw in Beijing.  We have decided that it is definitely a place you should visit in the spring, fall or summer.  Winter is just too cold in Beijing.  We did spend a lot of time exploring the rest of the city.  We found that many people ride bicycles.  They even have their own lane on all the roads and stoplights.

You didn't really see much housing walking around Beijing, but along every sidewalk there were doorways that opened to these alleyways.  This is where most people lived.

Cute little taxi driver.  

The food in China was AMAZING!  We ate this chicken three nights in a row.  We had other things too, but we always made sure to order the chicken.

Ghost Street

We met our match at Donghuamen Night Market...Sea Horse Shish-kabobs

Jeff vs. Sea Horse

Eryn vs. Sea Horse

I think the sea horse won this match.

Our reward for eating the sea horse...candied fruit kabobs.

Staying warm in the hostel.  We spent a lot of time here playing cards and drinking coffee, tea and beer.

Overall, we had a good trip.  We saw everything we wanted to see, experienced some of the Chinese culture and got to enjoy delicious Chinese food (it's like Chinese takeout, but a million times better!)  We really missed the friendliness and familiarity of Seoul and were excited to get back.  We can't wait for our next adventure!