Halloween @ LEI (Seoul, South Korea)

Halloween in South Korea is pretty much non-existent, but this is where the foreigners (Americans, Canadians, etc.) improvise and make the best of it...The teachers at my job dressed up and the kids came to our office to trick or treat in between classes. There was even a monster running through the halls and scaring the kids...which was hilarious. See for yourself!

Happy Halloween!

Bros. Grimm's Fairytale: Hansel & Gretel - The Halloween Day Version I attempt to tell my kids a scary story. I punked out and told them the story of Hansel & Gretel and tried to make it scary since it is Halloween...lol




Monster Mike Scares the Kids @ LEI (part 1) Head Teacher Mike dresses up as something "SCARY" and attempts to scare the kids in various classrooms.




Monster Mike Scares the Kids @ LEI (part 2)
(MORE VIDEO COMING SOON)

Kids trick or treating in our office.


The staff & kids: Happy Halloween!


Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

Schools in Session: Non Fiction C

Once a month around this time we give writing and speaking tests to help advance the children's writing and speaking abilities. Here is a peek into one of my upper level classes as we were doing the speaking tests.





Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

Schools in Session: Non Fiction C

Here is another look into one of my Non Fiction C classes...Today was a real relaxed day because we just finished our speaking tests and we were just catching up on some book work.



Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

Schools in Session: Non Fiction A

I don't blog too much about the students I teach just because I could go on for days about the students I teach, but this class right here...Be taking me through the motions...one day I love there sweet faces and then the next they make me want to scream. This is a love love relationship. The ironic part is I love what I am doing right now despite the ups and downs I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything. This job is so fulfilling and I gain a whole new perspective on the education system because these children go to school all year round', so by time they come to my academy in the evenings they are really not trying to hear what I have to say...lol I feel so bad for them because the literally do not have a life of there own.

Here is a peek at one of my classes...



Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

Give Me Money!

Last night while I was outside on my extended break reading, Think and Grow Rich, one of my students, Jack said to me, "Hi teacher! Give me money" and I said, "How much do you want?" he said, 500 and I said, "ok", he said, "really?", I was like, "yeah, really", so I pretended like I was going to my desk to get the money and came back and gave him a high five and we laughed and played around. He would not leave until I gave him 500. After some more laughing and playing around I finally gave him 500, obec won, .50, 50 cents! You thought I was really gonna give him $500...lol That is what I love about Korea...One of my dreams is to be a millionaire, but in Korea I became a millionaire within my first month here...and every month until December I will be a millionaire...YES! How sweet it is, but all good things must come to an end...When I come back to America I will be a, hundredaire...*sad face* however it won't be long before I become a millionaire in America!

One of my favorite students..Jack...Give me money!

Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

A Day to Remember Pt. 2 My ANGELS...

When I arrived to work I had this package on my desk. Aww...for me you shouldn't have??
My Auntie sent me this package for my Birthday, which included some of my favorite things, like scented candles..Love you Auntie!


Okay, so today was my surprise party in one of the classes I teach, but what I didn't know is to what extent the kids had planned to surprise me. Well, let's just say that I didn't expect what happened. They spoiled me...I love surprises!


This was on the door to my classroom before I entered. When I opened the door it was pitch black and the kids jumped and yelled, SURPRISE! and they all started running up to me hugging me and yelling HAPPY BIRTHDAY and started showering me with gifts and candy and then they pulled out a CAKE and put candles on it and told me to sit down. They turned off the lights, lit the candles on the cake and sang HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! Why these kids about to make me cry...??? That was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me...I love the kids!


They even decorated the class for my surprise party! Those kids...gotta love them!


One of my bday gifts from Joanne. She drew a picture of me, it is too cute! Love it!


A gift from Ye-Ji.


*tears flowing and me blowing my nose* how sweet, Ye-Ji! I love you!


A gift from Jenny.


*still crying* I will always love you, too!


They even got me a cake...ain't that something?? Dang, I love these kids they are too much!


Aww...a chocolate cake with angels on it...little do they know they are my little angels...*tear*


The students turned out the lights and sat me down in a chair, lit the candles on my cake and sang Happy Birthday to me (I even recorded) after I blew out the candles they were okay teacher let's eat! So, I am cutting the cake before they cut me...lol They were anxious to eat that cake...


Dig in!! In Korea every person is for themselves when it comes to cake. They do not use plates, forks, or knives, JUST CHOPSTICKS...


Okay, I had to put down the camera because I had to go get the last piece of that cake...
The cake was so yummy!


Camera shy. Andy, came to me and asked me what I wanted for my birthday, but he said I could not say, I don't care and I don't want anything and he was not leaving until I gave him an answer. I know that's right, Andy! Dang, he is so sweet! By the way he brought me a tea cup...


After some cake Andy took a picture of us. Andy is the only guy in our class. He didn't want to be in the picture. Andy and the ladies are my little angels!


When I came to my desk after my surprise party I saw these flowers on my desk from Brian. I was really surprised because I was not expecting this. No one has ever gotten me flowers before. Who would have thought I had to come all the way to Korea for someone to finally buy me flowers or brought me something and I didn't even have to ask he just did it...That was so sweet!

Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

Pre-Birthday Celebration

Today, my job was gracious enough to get me a cheesecake for my birthday...Yippee! Most of my co-workers even sang Happy Birthday to me. Aww...how sweet! Wow, it just hit me that it really is my birthday tomorrow...

On 4-5 @ 4:50pm my office had a bday cake celebration for me

Aww...is this for me??

Joung-Min lighting the candles to my cake...smooches!

Me and my little ray of sunshine (jazz hands)! lol..enjoying some delicious cheesecake :)

Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

Teacher, I Love You

Today, was the last day that I would be teaching some of my students. We will be starting a new session next week and I will get new classes and keep some old ones. They were so much fun to be around and they kept me laughing and mad all at the same time. Well, today after 2 months of having the same class I told my students that they would be getting a new teacher. They were like, "Why teacher?" I told them that it is the school's policy to rotate classes every few months, so Smith says, "Teacher, I am sad I will miss you, I love you and then he put his head down and pretended like he was crying.." it was so funny (and he did that the whole class) and then while I was grading the final homework assignment from Lee, he wrote at the end of his paper, "Teacher, this is our last class, I'm sad, I love you." I will miss my kids. I feel like they were my babies because they were one of the first classes I started teaching when I arrived in Korea.

Until next time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because, if you don't who will?

~N.

The End of a Busy Season

Well, it is that time of the year where the children are preparing to go back to "regular" school. While on vacation they still have to go to school and that is where the hagwon comes in. We are there to teach the children English and prepare them for there futures in English speaking countries, schools, jobs, etc. Today ends the 11 hour schedules and fast paced courses, now we are working a 4p-11p standard schedule...What a much needed break it will be during the day. Now to show you how I spent my day let's take a look a few pictures I was able to get.


The men of my Panorama 2 class (This is the first class
I taught when I got to Korea)


"Free Time" (This is there favorite part of class)


The ladies of my Panorama 2 class.
(They didn't want to take a pictures with the
boys, so they made me come in the hall to take it)


"Teacher" with the Ladies of Panorama


This is my Panorama 1 class. We had a snack party to
celebrate the end of busy season. Everyone brought in
there favorite snacks and they also got snacks from Teacher,
but as you can see they punished there snacks. By time I got
the camera out they were finished and enjoying there last day
of "free time".


The men of my Panorama 1 Class...just chillin!


Ummm...Ramyun or affectionately known as Oddles of Noodles.
Want some? Well, maybe next time...


Two of my favorite ladies in my Panorama 1 class. This class
gave me a Korean name which is, Naseohye!


They set me up...they was like teacher let me
see your camera and would not give it back
until I took a picture...I got punked!


After the morning classes some of us went to lunch. I would
tell you the name of it, but I don't know how to spell, but let
me tell you it is so goooooddddddd! I am still full. After a few
spoonfuls of this it is then mixed with rice..they sure know how
to stretch a meal.

Well, that ends the most important part of the day...Now as for me
I am about to go get some much needed rest and relaxation.

Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because if you don't who will?

~N.

The Season Ends

I am fastly approaching the end of "busy season"..Yippee!! Well, let me tell you what "busy season" is, so you can feel my anxiousness for it to come to an end. The children here are on vacation, however they still have to go to school? huh? Are you serious? Yes..that was my same reaction. This is still a vacation because they are going to school less. They go to school all year round. During busy season we work 11 hours a day (and a few hours on Saturday) not including the time we take to prepare, grade papers, or go buy goodies for our students (they are rewarded for everything, like if they do there homework, say a word right, or compliment the teacher..well they usually do that to get out of doing no homework or get a little "free-time" in class..lol). I see over 125 students a week, and by time I get home I can not sleep because I am either doing homework for Grad School or on IM or both...(Sidebar: I have figured out the source of my insomnia...lol)

We had this vicious virus going around the office and I was next in line. On Monday I went to school taught a few classes and then bamn! it hit me...My students were asking me if I was alright and you know me I have to be strong for the kids..lol I told them that I alright. I started feeling really cold and then I was in the bathroom every 5 minutes as the day progressed it got worse by 4pm that afternoon I had to go home. I got home and got straight in the bed the symptoms where crucial and my fever was steadily climbing...after that I was out like a light. The next morning I was feeling better. Weird, right? But it is over and I am feeling back to my self again. When I got to my classes the next day I didn't realize how much my students missed me because they were asking if I was alright and why did I get sick? As if to say, "don't let it happen again"...or at least that's what I think.

Once the season ends on Tuesday we go back to working from 4p-11p..Yippee!! So even if I stay up until 6am on IM I still can get some sleep and make it to work on time and do home work and work on my website and do some sight seeing and...well you get the point :) I am going to have all of this free time and I don't know what to do with myself. On Sunday, will make 30 days since I have been here and I have been in a whirl wind ever since, in a few days I will be able to take all of this in, as I am typing, I am starting to realize that I AM ACTUALLY IN KOREA AND I AM A TEACHER WHAT IN THE WORLD???? HOLY COW! (by the way who says holy cow?? excuse me just this one time..lol I didn't know what else to say..lol)

Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life & Love yourself because if you don't who will?

~N.

School is in Session

PICTURE OF THE DAY!

You can run, but you can't hide!

Teacher, what are doing with that camera?? I don't know

what I am going to do with you teacher...(sigh)

My students hard at work on a writing assignment.

Alright, Teacher I will let you take a picture.

Okay, now let me get back to work.

Teacher, leave me alone. Go Away!

I am trying to finish this assignment.

Remember you only gave me 8 minutes to finish it!

"He is the Man"...he is taking a minute to pose for the camera,

while a student in the background and in front of him

are trying to distract him. See how is grabbing the pen

and someone is trying to put up 2 fingers behind his head.

Teacher, we are ready to go why are you still taking pictures.

As you can see one of my students is trying to avoid the camera.

These are the ladies hard at work in my morning class.

These are just a few of my students...Right now I teach 40 classes a week with a combined total of approximate 40-75 students per week.

Until Next Time...

Love God, Love Life, & Love Yourself because if you don't who will?

~N.