Final Hollywood Kids Presentation

At the crack of dawn tomorrow morning, I'll be boarding a plane to head to Gwangju on the other side of Korea for my last ever Hollywood Kids presentation. I cannot even tell you how excited I am for that moment that I'm finished and never have to have weeks like this one again. I'm presenting first and last at the seminar, which is about the dumbest thing ever. I have to be completely caffeinated up and ready to go at 10am for the Song and Chant presentation and then sit around until 4:30 in the afternoon to do Hollywood Kids, the last presentation of the day, which means that the audience will inevitably be completely not wanting to be there anymore. Sigh. Oh well. It's my last one! Hallelujah!

Here's one of the videos I'm showing tomorrow. It's called the "Hollywood Warm-Up." Gets the kids moving and practicing the lines in a fun way! This is the warm-up I did for my class that has just started "The Frog Prince." Check out the homemade golden ball!

Alphabet Sounds

This is how Deer Class remembers the sounds of the alphabet:

Ajummas and Ajusshis

Before I leave Korea, I feel the need to give a shout out to the Ajummas and Ajusshis that rule this country. Yes, it's true, most of the time I feel more like I want to shout at them, but nevertheless, Korea would not function without its Ajummas and Ajusshis. Who would push and shove when getting on the train? Who would buy all of the hiking gear at the endless mountaineering shops? Who would shamelessly spit all over the street? Who would stare at foreigners unflinchingly for hour long train rides?

Yes, Ajummas and Ajusshis are definitely...er...characters. (As my dad would say.) But really, who can blame them? If I had been through a treacherous war and seen my little Asian homeland turned into a Western metropolis overnight, I'd feel like I had the right to do anything I wanted, too.

So, what are they?

An Ajumma is an older Korean woman
who scowls a lot, wears visors or some
form of large hat, never lets an inch of
her skin see the sun, has the right to stare
into any person's shopping cart at the
grocery store to see what they're buying,
will yell at foreigners when they j-walk,
and must be the first one on anything,
everywhere. Don't get in their way.













An Ajusshi is an older Korean man who drinks a lot of soju and may consequently be spotted at all hours of the day stumbling around trying to find his way back home. Or they are very likely stumbling around, avoiding going back home so as not to endure the wrath of their very scary wives (Ajummas). An Ajusshi wears hiking gear most of the time, even if they're not hiking, and has no problem hocking up loogies in places and at times in which one should never hock up a loogie. However, manners are not their top priority.

Ajusshis.

Ajummas.

They're tough, they're crude, and they're definitely a little scary sometimes, but despite their bad rep, I totally admire their bad-assness.

Sleeping Beauty

Here it is! The final performance you will ever see of Hollywood Kids. (Grab your tissues!) My 6-7 year old class and 8 year old class both performed Sleeping Beauty a couple of weeks ago. I really wanted to show the 6-7 year old class, but there were so many kids in the audience making noise that it's sort of distracting. So I'll show you the 8 year olds. This class is a little smaller, so we had to do some doubling up of characters, as well as rewriting the character of Queen Isabelle to King Ivan. I wish I could say I'm still sad about this being my last performance, but my last few weeks at my school are proving to be incredibly stressful, so at the moment, I'm just ready to be done. :) Enjoy! (And don't worry, all of those heads that are in the way in the beginning move eventually...)

The List: Progress!

I've been a busy bee, cracking away at that "Must Not Leave Korea Without Doing This" list. I'm impressed with my progress! Here's some of what I've crossed off the list:

Biking through the country roads of Ilsan. Korean farmers
wave to you just like they do in Iowa!

Picnicking in Lake Park.

I climbed to the peak of Bukhansan last Sunday, along with half of Korea. (Busiest national park in the Guiness Book of World Records!) A lot of it at the top was a very narrow, rocky, climb, so I held on tight the whole way up.

I feel the need to explain how I was feeling in this picture. Don't let the smile fool you: I. Was. Terrified. Standing on a tiny stone just a Korean Shove away from death is enough to make me freak out and start screaming that I need to get down. Which I did.

From the peak of Bukhansan! (Taken by Ali. WAY to preoccupied with
potentially falling off the mountain to be taking pictures...)

This was our view at lunch from the balcony at Agio on Saturday -- the temple
in the background is Gyeongbokgeong, where we had visited earlier that day.

Inside Gyeongbukgeong Palace.

Everyone in Korea dresses like this.

Hanging out with friends as much as possible! Like Mary Soo. :)

Walking along the stream through Seoul...lots of festivities
going on with Buddha's Birthday and all this month.

Hanging around Gwanghwamun Square, right in the middle of Seoul.

The Seoul Zoo!

As far as other things I've crossed off the list, not all were captured on camera. Like, for example, the jimjilbang. Hanging out in a hot tub with a bunch of naked Korean women isn't exactly a prime photo op. So you'll just have to trust me.

Kimchi and Things

Among the many things I will miss about Korea, Kimchi is not one of them! I never quite warmed up to this spicy pickled cabbage that Koreans eat with every meal. And I mean every. single. meal. I wish I liked it because it's been labeled one of the top 5 healthiest foods in the world.

I will, however, miss galby -- Korean barbeque. It's sooooo yummy.

But back to foods I won't miss: like bland noodle soup and dokbooki,
which are chewy rice cakes in, what else, spicy sauce!

And here's a food I will miss, but my poor tummy will not: Neck bone soup. It's neck bone meat with strange vegetables in a spicy broth that for some reason tastes delicious, but never fails to make me spend most of the following morning in the loo. What I will DEFINITELY miss is eating all of this with good friends. Here, Will,
Steph, Ali, and I are eating neck bone soup at the famous joint in Haengsin,
right around the corner from where all three of them live.

Children's Day

Something totally amazing about Korea is that every May, they have a national "Children's Day!" Why don't we do that? It's not only amazing because kids should most definitely have a day dedicated to celebarting them, but also because everyone gets the day off on Thursday. :) So to celebrate Children's Day at Feinschule, we invited the parents on a field trip to the top of Jangbalsan, the famous (and only) mountain in Ilsan. (In fact, Ilsan actually means "one mountain" in Korean.) Korens call it a mountain, when in actuality, it is a hill. Not even a very big one. But the kids enjoyed the nature walking, the games, the insect searching, the picnic, etc. And it was prime material for my new camera!

The Feinschule Kindergarten!

So proud of the ant Daniel found!

Roy!David showing off all the leaves he found.

Aiden thinks the leaf feels good.

Roy and family.

Jasmine!

Daniel and mom.

Angela and mom.

These were just some of my favorites, but I just uploaded the whole album to facebook, so check it out if you want to see more! It was my last field trip with my kids. Everything is so emotional lately! I'm gonna miss these little kiddos more than you can imagine.