These pics were taken during Open House back in Sept - You can see Ail and Anja with their classroom teachers. We just went to conferences for the 3 oldest today - We can safely say they are all progressing and doing great~!

One of Andrew's classes - out in the portable....

Looking down from Mr. Gilbert's classroom

Anja and her new friends!

Hello Everyone. First, we want to apologize that we haven't blogged in awhile. We have been busy with daily life - posting grades, conferences, PD and our first visitors from the states!

Two weeks ago, Andrew went to Kobe Japan for professional development on the Middle Years Programme in IB. He had a great time and tasted Kobe beef (my family will be drooling!)...He attended the conference during the day and explored by night. He wasn't feeling very good (coughing/conjestion) prior to going and his condition only got worse when he was there as he pushed himself to explore. Today he actually went to the "Happy Clinic" (no lie - although Andrew said they weren't very happy there....hmmm...) He got some antibiotics and is on the mend - FINALLY>

While he was off in Japan for 5 days, Mary Kleis and her friend Jennifer came for the weekend on their way to China. It was wonderful to spend some time with Mayr (college roommate and very good friend) and it was an opportunity for her to see our life here in Korea. I hope she and Jennifer had a great time. We even experienced our first Jin Ju Ban (sp???) Korean bathhouse together - this was an extreme cultural experience - complete with multiple soaking baths at different temperatures, various saunas and ice houses as well as a Dr. Fish pool. Yes, we soaked our feet in a pool with tons of little fish who swam up and ate the dead skin off our feet - it was a hair-raising experience and I screamed most of the time - Mayr and Jennifer were much braver than I - A 'must do' if you come to Korea!

Last weekend, I went to Seoul for the weekend for a KOTESOL conference (Korean TESOL). This was exciting. It was much better attended than in MinneTESOL - I haven't been to the National Conference, but I imagine it was something like that. This was for the PanAsian countries - very cool! We went to lots of sessions, learned about some Korean traditional games- which my co-worker and friend Michelle and I played and won! - And also did some shopping. Seoul has some really GREAT SHOPPING - VERY CUTE clothes - it was fun!

While I was at KOTESOL, Andrew went with the kids to a soccer Jamboree in Suwon. This is a city about 1.5 hours away from Daejeon. They had a great day - They played teams from all over Korea -as far as the results for their team: TCIS UNITED - Well...they weren't as good as they hoped (they won one)- let's just say the Koreans are GOOD little players! Ail played goalie and of course Lukas blamed her for the loss - this wasn't the real truth - Andrew said she has talent in this area -but it didn't help when the other team had over 20 shots on goal per game - Can we say Defense!

This week Andrew and I prepared for conferences. These took place yesterday starting at 12 - 8:30 (we taught for first 1/2 the day) and then again today from 11 - 3. We both felt they went well. At the high school level, they set up the tables in the gym as private/individual teacher stations with linons (white and black) with glass bulbs on each table - name plate in plastic - etc.... It was very professional and well attended. I think I have 30 total students (my classes are quite small)...and I had 20 parents attend - this was a good turn out! All my students are in 10th grade - usually the numbers dwindle as the kids get older. Andrew had an even better turn out - but middle school didn't have quite the presentation as the high school. Most of the TCIS students come to this school for their high school years (due to the tuition costs). The parents were very professional - extremely respectful - greatful...They want their kids to get an A - and want to see how they can help make that happen. It was a great cultural experience.

We now have a long weekend. We are really happy about this little break. We have PD on Monday and Tuesday again focusing on the Middle Years Programme -This time, our focus is on assessment. It is a good overview for all us newbees to the IB system or framework.

Anyway - the weather here has been gorgious! Sunny almost every day and in the 60's. We all are very greatful for this warm weather coming off of the monsoon season. We can't believe it is almost Halloween time - one of our favorite. We will miss hosting our annual Chili feed and constume party. We will be thinking of all you! We haven't decided what we will do here - I think it is much mellower here - we may go to Seoul as there are quite a few festivities there - we will keep you all posted. I hope all is well - missing you! LALAL A

Chusok - Buson Sept 2010

Blog from Buson.

Hello - Finally, we are on vacation after teaching 6 of the 7 weeks we have been in Korea. OH DOES IT FEEL GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is Chusok break. This is the harvest holiday or the Korean Thanksgiving holiday (and other countries following the lunar calendar). It is one of the biggest holidays in Korea - The country basically shuts down and the celebration occurs on Tuesday - Thursday. Today is Sunday,
I am sitting in a hotel room trying to connect to the internet - to no avail while the rest of my family sleeps. We are staying in the Haeundae Grand Hotel in Buson. It is beautiful- a bit pricey - but beautiful. The hotel faces the ocean (Sea of Japan - leading into the Pacific) WE are on the 18th floor - yikes!
We arrived on Friday night - after teaching, trying to leave school straight away - getting home with about 50 minutes to spare to try to pack up - getting a taxi to the train station and then off to Buson. We left Daejeon at 5:30 - arrived at Buson 7:30 pm. And then the adventure of trying to get to our hotel. I think we finally arrived at 9:30 - 10pm. The kids were exhausted! We decided to take the subway out to our hotel which was like 30-40 minutes from the train station. Buson is the 2nd largest city in Korea - so things take a lot more time than actual miles might suggest (as does traveling with a family of 6 - not quite the relaxing vacation time of Jamaica!!!). Anyway - after lugging our luggage (which was way to much by Korean standards) one bag per person….after toilet breaks - after dinner break by a fountain w/VERY whiny tired kids….we made it.
The story of our hotel room…..When we reserved the room we were shocked by the hotel costs. We therefore, elected to get a ‘Korean style’ hotel room where we would sleep on the floor on mats. I didn’t know what we had in store for us. Upon arrival - we were shocked - Our hotel was beautiful - Lukas announced, “This is what I‘m talk’en about, maybe this wasn‘t such a bad idea after all!” Our room was big, with vaulted ceiling, etc….but with one big floor. No chairs - etc. after looking through all the cabinets we finally found mats - there were only 4. After much discussion of which way the mats should go down - they were like pretty fancy comforters with a bit more body…with a white sheet over one side. The girls thought the sheet part should go face down so the pretty pink of the comforter was what we laid on - we went with that for part of the night - when things were sooooooooo uncomfortable - we switched to the other side (at least I did). When we finally woke - after really not sleeping I felt more tired than before we arrived. I told Andrew that something had to change - either more mats or a new room. We elected to ask at the front desk. They have since moved our rooms to one with beds. They said there wasn’t an up-charge. This was different from the information we received when we booked the hotel (thus the choice to sleep Korean styly initially). The cost on the door is about 100 dollars more than the other room. We are both holding our breath until check-out time - OH well, I just can’t do the “Korean style”…..Anyway - our room faces the ocean. It is beautiful. It is in a protected cove by an outcropping of rocks - the waves aren’t bad.

Yesterday, was the kids’ first experience swimming in an ocean. After screaming at the jelly fish on the beach and making all heads turn our way - we settled down. The weather is beautiful!!!!! Sunny - about 80-85 degrees. We played on the beach all day - the kids collected shells - swam - got very sandy (you all know how my kids are one with the sand - I’m not sure what that is about…..) Anyway - they had fun and were happy. We only ate a donut for breakfast - couldn’t find a reasonable western syle breakfast. We were very hungry around dinner time. We ate at Outback Steakhouse - It was GREAT! Anyway - after filling our bellies, we came back and the kids watched movies on the computer - Andrew went to the grocery store for supplies for today’s breakfast and I got really tired and eventually dozed off to sleep on a bed!
Today, I am watching early a.m. swimmers swim in the ocean - there are tons of Korean swimming and it is 7a.m. This is odd as Koreans usually sleep until 11 - as they are up so late at night. Lonne is by me asking if he can eat a piece of candy he received yesterday from a gentleman in the streets. It is really pretty. Sunny again today. Lonne and I are going to step out for some coffee before he wakes everybody up. I will write more soon! Liisa.

Hello - Today is Sunday - Sept. 26th. We arrived home from our vacation on Wednesday - it was awesome - we actually got tan! We then had PD days on Fri and Sat - not so much fun, but interesting - we are learning all about IB and the Middle Years Programme (educator lingo) - it was a good overview. We are tired and going to bed - not as prepared for the week as we may have hoped - but rested and full of beautiful Korean sites! This week is an easy week for me with SES (Spiritual Emphasis Week) we meet in ‘house’ groups for 3 days…no school - this will be my saving grace J Andrew is preparing for his travels to Japan for training and also a visit to the World Cup Soccer Stadium in Daejeon this coming SAt - Should be fun! Anyway - We miss you all and hope you enjoy the pics!

1st visit to SEOUL Sept 2010

Here are some pictures from our very first visit to Seoul. We went for the day - shopped - ate - walked - visited a tower - etc. Too Cool!

Here are some pics from about 3 weeks ago from our trip to Hanoe Village. We saw a very old town and a traditional Korean mask dance - Enjoy!

I just wanted to mention a BIG birthday wish to my friend Sharla.....I'm thinking of you and hope your Trip to Montana and lake plunge was invigorating. I thought it was such a big birthday it deserved its own blog page :) Enjoy - have fun during the first week of school!

weekly updates

Hello Everyone.

Sorry, it has been awhile. We are sitting here on Friday night 8/3...Happy BD this week to Sandy/Grandma/Mom - we hope it was great and also to Mary Kleis - I hope it was wonderful - and upcoming wishes to Kelly Smith - Have a wonderful day - OK - it is your a.m....we are now watching some crazy American TV show about an alien invasion - there are 4 channels in English at night (the only time we have tested it...) Anyway - We are doing well. We have been busy this week. It has been a tiring/borderline exhausting week. I will start off with last weekend when we went to Hanoe Village a 500 year old village. We watched a traditional mask dance (it was a little different - adult humor!) and visited the premises. We went to an old school area. We also went out for dinner - it was fantastic. We had barbeque - beef Borgogi - traditional dish - like a beef plate/soup that you eat with rice and wrap in lettuce. It was made with natural beef from the area - this was special - it was really good. I will add pictures. We came home around 8 pm after leaving at 8a.m. It was a long day, but a great cultural experiece. On Sunday, we went to church and then out for lunch - came home around 2 then studied and got ready for the week on Monday. The week was busy. We had Open House on Thursday - last night. I will re-cap last night - We started with running home after school to get all dolled up! We were to get dressed up and ready to present to parents. During the week we worked on creating powerpoints, folders of assessements, putting thins on edline, etc. Anyway - We walked back to high schools - high heels on, sort of crazy on my part....ate dinner on campus, then raced around to all of our kids' events. It was a bit nuts. They each needed 7 stamps in their passports - 7 classes x3. We got to them all (in high heels for me mind you...). At least, they had a couple of the classes in common - namely Korean and also Art. They like school and are doing well. Ail is part of the newsapaper crew now. She is a colomnist, cartoonist and also a survey taker.- hmmm hopefully it won't turn into Mom and Dad's job! She is also having soccer on Fridays. and Tae Kwon Do - We signed up all 3 for that event. It is free and a senior is teaching it. Nice! Anyway, back to my story. After making it to all their classes....had to go to the PTA meeting - then headed to our own Open House. We had 10 minutes per class. I have very small classes - the largest being 9... I had 2-4 parents in each session. It was good. The parents are very nice, very professional - dress up - etc. Andrew had more of a subject area meeting where they co-presented to a grade - he had more parents due to having more students - he too felt it went well. We got home at 9:30. We invited a high school student to watch the kids on campus. The kids were tired. We got home and went to bed - had to come to school today. After school, it was Lukas' touch rugby tourni... another quite interesting sport - We have so many Aussies and New Zealanders...The day was long, but we are home now. We had pizza tonight - it was good. We found pizza for about 6,000Wan - about $5. It is a good deal. we are taking it easy this weekend. Tomorrow we need to buy groceries downtown. That involves a bus trip with the 6 of us. We all can't fit in one taxi - so it is less expensive for us to take the bus. We then shop and may either take the bus back with all our groceries - this is an interesting adventure in its own right...or take a taxi - another adventure...OH BOY - The CHOICES. Anyway, I thought I would write as I'm not quite tired yet. Andrew is conked out on the couch and the kids are finally asleep. Take care and I will add pics from last weekend as soon as I am able. We are having a couple over for dinner tomorrow so trying to cook is part of tomorrow's agenda - wish me luck!.