DSLR!

It's happened. My dreams have come true! I bought a DSLR! Well, Ali and I bought a DSLR together, so I guess I bought half of one. I've wanted one of these for so, so long. When I was in college I bought an SLR (film, not digital) before I moved to Alaska for the summer, and unfortunately, just after I bought it, film went "out of style" so to speak, making my poor camera "so last year." We had some good times, it took some amazing pictures, but who uses film anymore? What fun is taking a picture when you can't get immediate gratification? (BTW, if anyone does want a film SLR, it's on the market! It's a Nikon, and it's still very nice if you're into the whole film thing.)

Anyway, I've wanted a nice DSLR ever since my Nikon went out of style, and I've finally taken the plunge and purchased...half of one. It's beautiful and I love it already. It's a Canon 550D -- which in America is called a Canon Rebel T2i. And to confuse matters even more, we bought the Japanese model because it was cheaper, which is called Kiss X4. But they're all the same.

I felt like a different person yesterday as I walked around Seoul with this beautiful camera hanging from my neck. I suddenly felt as though people were looking at me like..."Wow, that girl is serious about pictures." It's the best feeling! I've realized that taking pictures and making photo books is a hobby. When I was little I used to spend hours pouring over my creative memories books, cutting, gluing, sticking, designing. I've recently read a book called The Happiness Project that said the things you enjoyed doing when you're ten are most likely things you would enjoy doing now. I'm pretty sure that's not true for everything (i.e. Making rollerblading routines to Whitney Houston songs), but as for photo-related activities, I'm still a fan. Last fall Sarah Jane told me about a website called www.blurb.com where you can download a program and make your own photo books. It's amazing. I made a book of our Bali Trip for Ali's birthday last December, the book cover is the picture on the left (you can preview the book here) and am currently making our Tokyo book. It's so much fun! And now that I have the goods to back up my hobby, there is no stopping me!

Be prepared for way too many postings of photos in the next while...

Where the Magic Happens

I thought it was high time I show you where I spend 8 1/2 hours of my life each day. This is my desk, where I work diligently at my computer to write the Hollywood Kids Books.

I work hard. (Yes, that is facebook on my computer.
But don't be fooled, I still work hard.)

This is Yeon-Ju from the design team, who takes everything I write for
Hollywood Kids and turns it into something magical!

Together, we make these!!! This is co-worker Brian!

This is co-worker Jenny!

This is co-worker Mark!

This is the room I sit in -- That's the design team busy...designing things.

It's a place of beauty really. And by beauty I mostly mean stress. :)
But I'll miss it anyway.

Radioactive What?

It all started with radioactive rain. That just never makes a good start to a day. Then my water bottle spilled all over my bag on my bike ride to work, then I banged my knee twice in a row on the same stupid shelf by my desk, then I had an incredibly long and stressful day of observed and video taped classes. My music class went okay, but by the time Hollywood Kids rolled around, I had lost my gusto and my kids had lost their "musto listen" mind-set. After the evil Fairy Beatrix burst into tears because she’s scared of her own character, I had really reached my final straw. In my second Hollywood Kids class (not observed, thank goodness), I pleaded with my 4 years olds…”Carolyn Teacher is very tired today” to which 13 voices shouted out in response “I’m sad! I’m angry! I’m bathroom!” and so on. I don’t know why I thought I could get sympathy from 4 years olds.

But alas, the day is done. My feet have never been so happy to step into my radioactive-proof rain boots (Target makes them that way, of course) and take me home.

Despite the observations, though, I hardly feel like a teacher anymore! I spend most of my days writing books, writing songs, editing, making power points for upcoming presentations... With only 2 months left here, I have a nice long "Hollywood Kids Stuff To Finish" list hanging over me. I can't wait for that moment when I'm laying on a Malaysian island this June, where the only thing on my To-Do List will be "Drink Another Pina Colada."

Along with radioactive rain (I feel as though I may be freaking some of you out at home with the continued use of that phrase -- fear not, it's highly overrated), it's also that time of year when I spend every moment outdoors scrutinizing every tree, bush, and inch of ground for signs of Spring. I perfectly timed a new resolution to “stop spending money on my lunch break!” with the changing of the seasons. Regarding the resolution: I was finding myself wandering into Starbucks nearly every lunch break recently and walking out with a $5 something-that-I-didn’t-even-want. I had to quit “lunch time money spending” cold turkey. So I stopped taking my wallet out with me all together, and I’ve instead taken to walking around the big square park thing right next to my school, eyeing excitedly the new growth of the day. Today’s recent development: cherry blossom buds on 4 trees, bright green tiny little leaves on 2 bushes, and patches of green starting to pop up through the dead grass. Progress!

2 Hours!

Tomorrow, I have to give a 2 hour presentation on "teaching English through the arts." It's not the usual presentations I do for Feinschule teachers across Korea. This time, I'm presenting to adult students studying English Education at a University in Suwon, about an 1 1/2 away from where I live. I'll be presenting the Hollywood Kids program, with the emphasis being on how to teach children English through drama and music. I'm excited! This is a topic I really care about! Good thing I have a whoppin' 2 HOURS to talk about it! Seriously, how does one present for 2 hours straight? As Ali said today in disbelief..."2 HOURS!?!? Not even the president talks for 2 hours straight! Do they get a bathroom break?" (Which led me to immediately grab my presentation notes and insert "bathroom break" in the middle.) Let's be honest, I'm not even sure how much they're going to understand me. Apparently, I'm the first foreigner to present to these students. (Immediate bonus points for being blonde! Whoop whoop!) So how does one go about filling 2 hours on one topic? Videos! When in doubt, show a bunch of cute kids doing something...cute! So along with videos of the entire teaching process of Hollywood kids (ya know -- flashcard games, working on their lines, practicing on stage, etc.), I will also end my presentation with the full performances of The Jungle Book and Three Little Pigs that we did in February. Booyah! Immediate time-filler!

Which reminds me, I never showed you Three Little Pigs. So here it is! The first minute and half, nothing happens except trying to get the kids to line up on the stage properly. (Keep in mind, this is Level 1! Some of these kids are only 3 years old!) So feel free to jump ahead. It was pretty chaotic -- this was the first time they had ever worn their costumes...so, ya. There were some interesting moments.

Tokyo: Mt. Awesome, I mean Fuji

I'll wrap up the Tokyo posts with, what else, Mt. Fuji! We jutted across the city at 6am on our second morning there to catch a bus to a little town called Kawaguchiko, which is famous for having one of the best views of Mt. Fuji. Since Mr. Fuji is renowned for being quite shy, we were worried that we wouldn't get a good view of it...but we SO did, as you can tell by the pictures. :) We strolled along the lake in the morning and spent the early afternoon at an onsen (Japanese spa.) Other than that, there was literally nothing to do in this town, since it was the tourism "off season" so to speak. By early afternoon, the view of Fuji had pretty much disappeared, so it's a good thing we got there so early!

Other than that, there's really not much to say about Mt. Fuji other than...WOWZA!!!

Mid morning snack -- locally grown blueberries were the specialty.

Tokyo: After Dark

Before it's long gone and out of memory, I wanted to finish up my Tokyo posts! (Perhaps for my keepsake more than anything else...) You can't post Tokyo photos without talking about the nightlife! Tokyo at night is like no city I've ever seen before. Everything lights up, everyone wears even more eccentric clothing than usual, and the city comes alive with energy. The nightlife alone made the trip unforgettable.This was taken from the top of the Tokyo Government building. (Ali did some HDR thing to it, which is why it looks so...POW!)

The busiest intersection in the world doesn't get any less busy at night!

The taxis are SUPER retro-ified in Tokyo. Totally 1970s-esque.

The coolest staircase in the world!

In short, Tokyo at night = awesome.

Rabbit Class: "Doh, A Deer!"

In case you haven't had your weekly dose of "cute" yet, you will get your fill with Rabbit Class' (remember them?) contribution to the graduation festival. Julie Andrews would be proud.