Archive for the 'Fun things' Category

Nov

Pepero Day 2009

Peperos Happy Pepero Day to all!

Pepero Day is celebrated here in South Korea by giving people “Peperos” (빼빼로). They are long skinny cookies sticks dipped in chocolate. Very yummy! If you’re a teacher, you usually end up with tons of them. Personally, I only eat Peperos on Pepero Day. By the time the tenth student offers them to you, you get pretty sick of them. Today, I actually got a hand dipped one. Not the bulk things that Lotte makes. It was dipped in chocolate with chocolate sprinkles. Boy was it good. So much better than the bulk ones. The best bulk ones are the ones that come in the green box. They have almonds in the chocolate.

I have a pile of these things sitting on my desk. I’ll probably throw some in the box I send home with Christmas gifts. The rest I’ll give out as treats to the kids, in moderation of course. The vast majority of my kids today were way high on sugar.

The legend is that Pepero Day started in Busan. A bunch of girls started exchanging the snack and wishing each other that they would become as tall and thin as a Pepero. Nice legend. But more likely it was started by the folks at Lotte who make Peperos. It’s a true Korean “Hallmark” holiday.

Pepero Day is always celebrated on November 11th. Why that day? When you write the date at 11/11, it looks like four Peperos standing side by side.

See Wikipedia (who else?) for more information and links.

posted by Kathryn in Celebrations,Food and Drink,Fun things and have No Comments

Aug

The Gingerbread Man

I just finished reading “The Gingerbread Man” with a group of my 1st graders. It’s one of my mini-traditions to have someone ship me gingerbread cookies/gingersnaps so my kids can taste them. I took some my Dad brought with him last Thursday. They were a big hit with the class. I passed out the left over cookies to the other teachers and random students who popped into our office.

It’s the little things like this that bring the stories alive. Plus it was a good way to make the kids behave all week because they were working toward a reward.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Food and Drink,Fun things,Language,Little Campus,Reading,Students,Teaching and have Comments (2)

Jul

Kitties!!!!!!!!!

It’s been a while since I updated y’all about Ivory. Well, she has a little sister now. Gidgette is your standard domestic shorthair with tabby markings. She weighed 380 grams (.84 pounds) when I first got her, and she’s up to 755 grams (1.7 pounds) three weeks later.

Ivory is a very good Mamma cat. She makes sure to give Gidgette a bath. Not that Gidgettte really appreciates it.

From the way Gidgette eats, you’d think I never feed her. And boy does that girl poop….

: Sleeping Together

: A Hug?

: Bath Time

: Playing

: Go Away!

: What’s This?

posted by Kathryn in Fun things,Gidgette,Home Life,Ivory,Pictures and have No Comments

Jul

A Sense of Humor

So I was in my Sha Sha class a couple weeks ago. I was passing out the books, and as usual, I was butchering the names of the kids. The kids who aren’t in the bilingual or the English imersion program don’t get English names, hence the butchering of their Korean names.

One of the kids had a family name of Won. As I slowly stumbled over it, one of the other kids standing there waiting went “Won, two, three!”. Yikes! A 5 year old with a wicked sense of humor.

posted by Kathryn in Fun things,Language,Little Campus,Speaking,Students and have No Comments

Jun

Busan Aquarium

I spent the day yesterday in Busan. We had a staff lunch, then we went to the (apparently Guiness World Record Holding) largest mall in the world. Meh. Whatever. Afterward I went to Busan Aquarium, which is right on Haeundae Beach. It was a beautiful day in Busan and I had a great time. Enjoy the pictures. They’re not the best in the world because the flash kept reflecting off the tanks.

I really enjoyed seeing the fish and other aquatic life. The sharks were amazing. The coolest thing was probably the giant octopus. The pictures don’t do it justice. It was huge. I mean really huge. And I think the people who get in and go scuba diving with the sharks are nuts. Two of my coworkers are planning on doing that. Hopefully they won’t get eaten.

posted by Kathryn in Busan,Fun things,Korea,Off time,Pictures and have Comments (2)

Jun

Spring Open House 2009

It’s over. Oh thank goodness it’s over. It’s definitely been a stressful few weeks for all involved. Open houses here are always interesting. I kind of prefer the way we did it at my last school. They were just open classes where the parents dropped in. We knew when they were coming and planned an extra special lesson. It’s nothing like the scripted, focuses, presentation type stuff we do at Little Campus. Don’t get me wrong. In the end, it’s worth it. The kids have a good time and the parents are generally pleased.

This year had a science based theme. There were two separate “classes”. One was about butterflies and one was about food and nutrition. The kids learned about the body parts and the life cycle of butterflies for the first class. They learned about the food pyramid for the second.

I only have pictures for the one food classes. The other times I was busy teaching. These are pictures of Edison Class. They are a group of seven year olds. They’re not the best speakers in the world, but their English is better than my Korean.

posted by Kathryn in Activites,Fun things,Language,Little Campus,Pictures,Science,Teaching and have No Comments

Jun

Dalk-yachae-bokum-bap

Better known as cheesy rice. I get mine in a dalk-galbi restaurant in Shinae. It’s cheesy and meaty and spicy and just plain yummy. This time, I got beef instead of chicken. I’ve had similar dishes with seafood as well. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant off the top of my head, but it’s right above Loteria. It’s on the same road in Shinae as New Core Outlet is on. The Megabox movie theater is on that road as well.

You start off with some kimchi and the usual cabbage salad. The put the burner on under the big pan in the middle of the table. Once you order they bring out the food, which is cooked at your table. They start with some basic veggies. Once those are moving along well, they add the meat, spices and rice. That gets all nice and mixed together. To finish it up, they add the cheese, mozzarella in the case of this restaurant. Pair with a bottle of Coke, and you have a meal fit for a queen (or king as the case may be).