My Korean New Year

Well I made a post a little while ago talking about how I had these big plans for the Korean/Chinese New Year. My friend from Pyoungteak was supposed to come visit me for the long weekend. Then I get an e-mail a week before she is to come and she says that she doesn't want to travel on the weekend because she's nervous, this being her first big travel since arriving and because of the large amount of traffic. So she ended up not coming.
This left me with nothing to do for the weekend. So what did I do?
Well on Saturday I did my shopping, as the stores would be closed on Sunday and I didn't have much food in the house. Then I went to see the movie 'Chicken Little' with my Korean friends, Attack and another friend (who's name I can't remember right now). It was a good movie, pretty funny. Then I ate dinner with Attack at KFC.
Sunday I went to church early, as I was supposed to have a meeting with Johnny, the leader of the English service to go over the songs for this up coming week. He ended up not being able to print the songs, so we just went out to lunch with his wife and their baby. We had McDonald's. Then it was time for service. The church wasn't so full because of it being a big holiday, but the service was good.
Monday I did absolutely nothing.
I was hoping to have a really fun weekend, and it turned out to be pretty boring.
A little end note: Amanda, my friend from Pyoungteak, is coming this weekend. Hopefully we will have the time to do everything we want to.

January Activity Day: Yut-Nori

So for this month's activity day I suggested that we do something that has to do with the Korean/Chinese New Year because it would be that weekend. One of the teachers said that we could play yut-nori. So we made a big board and pieces for the students to play with. Then we mixed the classes to get 2-3 teams for each time slot.
The game is very simple. Each person/team as 2 markers to get around the board. It's almost like the game Sorry or Frustration. Instead of dice you have 4 sticks. The sticks have 2 sides to them, a rounded side and a flat side. You throw them and they land inside a square (if they are outside, you lose your turn). The moves are as follows: 1 flat side, 3 rounded sides = 1 move, 2 flat, 2 rounded = 2 moves, 3 flat, 1 rounded = 3 moves, 4 flat = 4 moves + 1 extra turn, 4 rounded = 5 moves + 1 turn. Each move represents how fast an animal moves: 1 = pig, 2 = dog, 3 = sheep, 4 = cow, 5 = horse.
This is Jin teacher and the yut-nori board.
The board is set up that you go around a square or through it. So you start in the bottom right hand corner. You go up and then to the left or through the center, only you have to land on the corner spot to go through the center by getting the exact number to land there. If you miss it you go to the next corner and if you miss that corner you have to go all the way around. You can also bring your second marker into the game at any time. Also the other player/team can land on you and send you back to start. In this case the other person gets a second turn. Also you can land on your own marker, but then they are stuck together for the rest of the game, unless the other person/team lands on you.
You win when both your markers have successfully landed on start.
The students had a good time playing the game.
This is Angel, in the green coat, from the lowest level class and she just got to move 5 for the second time in a row. She was very surprised, as were everyone else on her team.
So the prize for the winning team was a tray full of snack foods. The students who won thought this was great.
Here is one of the teams enjoying their tray of great snack foods. Starting on the left is Zach, behind him Ben, then Matthew, in front of him Frank, and then Louise on the right.
Unfortunately, for the losing team they got a tray of snack foods with a twist. On the snack foods were ketchup, cream cheese, or hot pepper sauce. Some of the students didn't care about the extra toppings, but others thought it was really gross.
This is one of the losing teams eating their snack foods with a twist. On the left in the red coat is Holly, behind her Jessica, next Ron, in front of him in the brown jacket Tom, and in the middle front Joseph.

Winter Vacation Schedule

When you think of winter vacation, usually you think of time off of work. Well that's not the case for academies in Korea, it's just the opposit. In Korea winter vacation means it's time to crack down on the teaching because the students don't need to focus on school and can focus on their academy work. So the schedule this month has changed so that we finish much earlier than usual, but we also start much earlier too. So each day I have to get up earlier so I can be at the school for 10 AM. Then I prepare for my classes and start at 11. I have 3 classes and then a 30 minute break for lunch at 1:45-2:20. Then there are 2 or 3 more classes.
I used to have one more class to make 3 each day, but it was cancelled. The lady, an older lady who wanted to learn survival English for traveling, had to stop to take care of her son, who broke his leg in a skiing accident. It works good for me, because it was very difficult to teach her because she is much older and she has a very hard time listening for detail. So, I'm a little glad that I don't have to teach her any more. I'm told though that she will be returning when the schedule changes back and will start to take classes again. I hope I can teach her better than I had before. I also enjoy not having that class any more because it gives me time to chat with one of my co-workers, Jin. She's really nice and this last little while we have had some good chats. She has a dog also, so we get into talking about silly things that they do and such. We also talk about t.v. programs that we watch. It's a good time. I'm going to miss our chats when the schedule changes again.
All in all, it's pretty good. I finish at 5 and then can eat dinner at a normal time. It's nice to have the evening free because I can do things, like go to the movies or do some shopping or just relax. The only thing is that I have to go to bed early so that I will have enough energy to make it through the day. With the new schedule and eating at better times, I have been able to lose a good 4 lbs. It's nice to take off the weight.

My New Years

Well New Years this year was very uneventful. I was supposed to go to Daegu to see Nadine, go to an English service, and go shopping. However, she called saying she wasn't feeling well and that we better meet another weekend. So I planned to go to the New Years church service that would happen at 11:30 pm. However, I ended up getting sick myself starting Friday and I was feeling horrible by Saturday. So I ended up staying home and doing nothing, but resting. I actually was feeling so sick that I was asleep before 12:00 am.
So my New Year wasn't so great this year, but the good news is that for the Korean New Year I will have something much more fun to do. Amanda, a fellow graduate from Briercrest, is coming to visit me from up near Seoul. It will be nice to see someone from Canada that I know and I can show her all around this area. I think it will be fun. I'm not sure of any big events happening in the area, but maybe as time gets closer I will find out about some. So even though my New Year sucked, I can at least get a second chance and have a good Korean New Year.