85) Faces at 50: Sepia

84) Faces at 50 II

^ Sylvia, Jessie, and Betty- these girls are a lot of fun.

Today I taught at a public elementary school. It was a surprise to me, as I found out 30 minutes before I was to teach, but it was only one class, and very near my private school. Many of the students from my school attend this public school, and two were in the class I was teaching. The elementary school has never had a foreign teacher before, so they are just trying me out, as far as I understand. It was pretty obvious they had never had a foreign teacher before. I had kids crowding around my room, trying to get a look at me. The class happened to be the last class of the day, so as I was leaving, the entire school saw me, and I had a hard time getting out of the school grounds and even a large crowd following me down the street. It was pretty funny, and slightly embarrassing- some kids took pictures of me, and others shouted things like “hello, waygookin” (waygookin means foreigner in Korean).

^ Ali, she is in a class with just one other student named Justin (pictured below). They are great kids.

^ Justin

83) Faces at 50

I recently bought a 50mm lens. I have been meaning to do so for a while, but just never got around to it. The pics are from the new 50, and were taken in some of my classes today.



I have also been meaning to tell this little story, but never got around to it. The other day while Kevin (one of my friends and co-workers) and I were out for dinner, we saw the cutest little girl. We were at a pretty big sit-on-the-floor restaurant, and shortly after we sat down I noticed the little girl. She kept looking over at us, and sort of crawling towards us. She was two or three years old- and still figuring out how walk. Eventually her parents let her come over by us, and first she just waved, and said “hello” in Korean. Then she ran away, and eventually came back again. This time she came equipped with an adorable little surprise for us- a song. It took her about 15 minutes of starting, then falling over in laughter, and then standing back up, and starting again, only to fall back down after the first two words, to finally finish the song. When she finished she bowed, and then ran back to her parents, falling along the way. It was really funny and so sweet.

82) Japan III

Like the last trip, this one had its own challenges. The biggest problem being how to figure out how to change my return flight to Korea. The secondary problems were being in Japan for three days while only enough money for one day- and not being able to get money out of an ATM.



My flight left at 9:40 am, and I couldn’t pick up my passport until 9:30 am. That was conveniently planned to leave me 10 minutes to make the 45 minute journey to the airport, check-in and go through the whole airport process… not the best planning. So after a nightmare of a time trying to figure out how to change a flight, I figured it all out. Then I had some tight budgeting to figure out. I was only supposed to stay for 1 day and 1 night, leaving early the next morning. So I had about $100 set aside for fees, transportation and accommodations, and 100 for spending. That would have worked almost perfectly, had I not had to take more trips to the airport and spend an extra night and nearly two extra days.



I do not want to sound like I am complaining. I had a good trip, and like I said, I love Japan. I met a guy named Trevis at the Korean embassy, and we hung out the whole trip. He had been to Osaka before, and knew where to stay, and had a bit of a plan of his own. We stayed in a capsule hotel, which was really awesome. The hotel was 5 floors, three of which were dedicated to the capsules. One floor had a fantastic sauna, and the one of the others had a massage area, tv lounge, and restaurant. The bizarre thing was, that there were women workers and cameras though out the place- this is bizarre because it is a men’s only hotel, and naked men everywhere. But no one seemed to care at all, so we tried not too.




We also took a day trip to Kyoto, because Trevis had heard it was extremely beautiful. After wandering around for a while, we came upon some temples in the mountains, and quickly realized it was a huge tourist destination- although mostly Japanese tourists. It was pretty cool, but in the end we think we didn’t really see the real beauty of Kyoto, and didn’t have the time to try, so we headed back to Osaka that afternoon. All and all it was a nice little trip to Japan, and a nice break from school.


Below are pictures from Kyoto-above are pictures from Osaka.

81) Out the Window

We have been having some truly beautiful spring weather in Seoul lately. I always love the feeling of spring- leaves and flowers sprouting up where there was once only brown. The recent warm weather has been reminding me that I am traveling, and actually on a trip. I forget that a lot. It is easy to get tied up in a routine and schedule- so this is a nice and welcome reminder. Knowing I am on a trip seems to make everything go a little smoother.

The pics are just from out my window. It rained and we had some interesting clouds tonight.

80) Children’s Day Pictures

Saturday is children’s day in Korea, which means my Thursday and Friday were filled with the chaos of seemingly non-stop games, screaming, and candy. From what I understand children’s day is just a day for kids to get presents and have fun.


Casey, Justina, and Cindy- ^


Eddie putting the ball in his mouth- certainly not a good idea seeing as how the table was wet from saliva... ^


don't know the first girl, but the second is Angie, and the third is Elly- ^



Dave and Lucy- ^


Alex and Brian. Brian out of control as usual- ^


Amy, Sofie, and Rina- ^