Beautiful Mind

goodies!

A package was delivered on our doorstep yesterday, and these are what I got....

oh my, books!!!

and her partner came too :)

I'm so thankful for having such a sweet parents-in-law :)

my day at the school......

Today was my first day at the school. No I was not enrolled to attend any classes - I taught at a Hogwon (korean english school). Actually they were L's student. I will be relieving him one day during the week which will be his day off, since he's going to start teaching Saturday classes. Most of their high school students have gone to college and the rest can only attend class on the weekend. When the director requested that he teach on Saturdays he immediately made this arrangment. This way I have something to do and it will be good experience if ever I decide to teach at another hogwon.

My first day went well. Having never taught before, at first I was kinda nervous when ushered into a classroom filled with expectant faces. But I can safely say that I did okay (tooting my own horn, eh!). The kids seemed overwhelmed and the director was pleased. The hard part of teaching here is when you talk to a bunch of kids who hardly speak your language. It's hard to communicate with them and explain things unless I do it in the simpliest way. I tried to translate some english words into the few korean words that I know, but the effort was futile. Korean kids are cute and I can say that some of them are nice and follow orders, and some are hard headed and inherently different.

One thing about korean students, they study hard like pit ponies. They all seem to be dedicated to learning and trying to achieve the best they can. I thought filipino students were the hardest workers of all but koreans beat us. During the school term they go to regular school from morning till night. In between there are extracurricular activities, such as language lessons- english, chinese and french; music lessons- violin, piano, flute; taekwando and others - not to mention homework waiting to be done. These students are all expected to go to a university. They seem to have a great deal of pressure placed on them by their families. Each of them are expected to find a good job once they graduate. That's why some students end up studying in at well know universities or even abroad - that is, if their family can afford it.

Anyway, right now I can't decide if I like teaching or not, but I can say I like those cute korean kids :)

Here in Korea Valentines Day is celebrated in a manner which is different than what we all are used to. Many girls and young women give gifts to their boyfriends, particularly chocolates. They invest in huge baskets of candies to give to their prospective men. Lots of shops display varities of chocolates and in groceries, fancy stores and bakeries, it sure is raining chockies! While this seems rather one sided, there is another occasion when men return the favor. It is called 'White day'. Sometimes men invite women to wine and dine in fancy restaurants. Also there's 'Black day' - a celebration of men and woman who don't have boyfriends or girlfriends which involves eating 'cha jang mien'(black chinese noodles). As I speak to annabanana on the phone, there are all kinds of days celebrated every 14th of the month; that means more gifts to come :)

Downtown is crowded with many young people who enjoy this day. Women gets gaga buying gifts for their love ones, and I for one joined them and got a gift for my hunny!

us on Vday

our valentines treats!

Happy Hearts Day!

Hearts come in all kinds and sizes,
And as Valentines draws near,
We usually see them colored in red.

There are happy hearts and sad hearts,
Some broken and some with joy.
And there are strong hearts and sweethearts.

But the hearts that relates to God,
And makes us love our fellow man
Makes us the very best Valentines.

Let's send our LOVE and not forget to say a little prayer and greet our loved one - family, friends, neighbor, blogmates, boss, pets and everyone on VALENTINES DAY!

Lunar New Year in Korea

Kung hey fat choy! Chinese greetings as they celebrate the Lunar New Year. Here in Korea it's Sae-hae Bok Mani Paduseyo! which means Many New Years Blessings to You!

Seol or Seolnal(New Year's Day) is a very important holiday here in Korea along with Chuseok (Thanksgiving). Seolnal is a three days (paid) holiday, too bad it falls in the middle of the week (Tues - Thu) that people had to go back to work or school on Friday. I was hoping for a colorful, extravagant and traffic-jamming new year celebrations like Chinese does but Korean approach to this holiday is quieter. But then again we are in the boonies, so who knows what's happenings in the city.

Anyway, today we were invited at the school directors house for an all korean lunch and as we ate they tell us how Seolnal is celebrated. Families are gathered at their parents (elders) houses and prepare foods, liquors and tea, for Chesa (the offering to ancestors) and family members make a bow. Traditionally the must-eat food on this day is the Mandu-gook, soup with rice cakes and small dumplings, it's good though! Some people wear hanbok (traditional korean clothing) on this occasion and some don't. For fun, they fly a kite outdoors and play the Yut game indoors. I don't know much about the yut game which they said is very popular, but the kite sure is colorful. The Yut game is composed of four stick and part of playing it is throwing it in the air.

the hanbok that I wish to wear somedaybefore we leave Korea

yut game

a colorful kite

school festival

A school festival (as they call it) was held at L's hogwon last week. It was a production of students ages 4- 13. They performed a variety of skits such as Dinosaur Land, The Three Pigs, The Shepherd Boy and the a Wolf, and some chinese dialogues. The kids were so cute with their colorful custumes.

The students spoke english to the best of their ability in each skit. L told me that students had to learn the entire dialogues as well as each part they were going to play. It was a lot of memorization and rehearsals that went into preparing for the production. The teacher's efforts in putting up with the kid's moods and attitudes during the entire preparations paid off. The production turned out great! Parents were so proud while watching their children speak and perform in English.

The younger kids in custumes presenting the "Dinosaur Land" story

Kids performed "the three little pigs"and "the boy who cried wolf" in animal custumes.

cute chinese custumes

L giving a speech

it wouldn't have been complete without ours :)

more photos here

the cute pamangkins....

Shekinah Abegail, always ready sa camera :)

Shekinah and Elijah, cute little angels :)Kinah was beaten on the nose by Jah2x who was so moody because of his chicken pox

Madness in Music - Tag Along

I've been tagged by Laine.

Random 10 (Note: random songs are from Yahoo Launch cast - Iam tuned in right now)
1.Drift Away - Uncle kraker
2.Heaven Knows - Donna Summer
3.Dancing Queen - Abba
4. Layla - Eric Clapton
5. That's the way it is - Celine Dion
6.Don't know why - Nora Jones
7.Follow you, Follow me - Genesis
8. Your song - Elton John
9. He's so shy - Pointer sisters
10. I'll have to say I love you in a song - Jim Croce

1. What is the total amount of music files on your computer?
lotsa! hubby loves to download music and movies.

2. The last CD you bought is?
hahahaha! I hardly remember, I think it was ABBA collection. That was 2003 when I leave Pinas.

3. What is the last song you listened to before this message?
Iam tuned in to Yahoo Launchcast while blogging - right now, IF by Bread is playing.

4. Write down five songs you listen to or mean a lot to you.
1. Your still the one
2. From this moment on
3. Top of the world
4. All my Life
5. Got to believe in magic

5. Who are you gonna pass this stick to? (3 persons and why)
1. Beth - para makapag relax ka naman :)
2. Annabanana- with a new MP3 you can easily answer this :)
3. Shy - i know you love music too :)