These are the crazy statues in front of the Seoul Animation Museum. We ended up missing not one but two buses because we were having too much fun taking pictures.
At Namsan, they had these fun sculptures suspended from wires around the park. I tried to make it look like Kay is holding it up. She was a little confused by my directions and felt silly standing with her hands in the air, so I only took the one picture. I'm not sure the illusion worked, but it was worth a try.
I said goodbye to Jo and met up with Catherine in the early evening for a trip to my favorite jjimjilbang. She had never been to this particular bathhouse, and she was impressed. It has hot outdoor pools which are just perfect in the cool weather. We stayed for about four hours and then returned to our town.Today was another beautiful day, but I appreciated it from my apartment. I didn't even get dressed today, just did some long overdue housecleaning, took a nap, updated my journal, and studied my Korean vocabulary. Grace is giving me a test tomorrow morning, and I'm supposed to have a Korean lesson with Y-i tomorrow night, but since we ended up canceling all three of our scheduled lessons last week, I'm not so sure it's really going to happen. That's the plan anyway.
My two goals for the new school year are to go back to the gym (been there once so far this month, that's progress) and study Korean more seriously. The other night I wrote down every word in my Korean notebook and gave a copy to Grace. I told her she can give me pop quizzes any time. I need that kind of pressure to study well. As I've demonstrated time and again in the past, independent studying with no one checking up on me just doesn't work.
Partying preschool/kindergarten-style. Bring on the ABC computer games!
My bilingual 3rd/4th grade classes finished a unit on reading and writing instructions, so it was time for a project. I wrote the instructions for rice krispie treats. We brought in a portable gas range and all the ingredients and set them loose. The kids loved it, but it will be a LONG time before I cook with 11 9-year-olds again.
We spent the rest of the class time playing Monopoly and watching a movie. The kids had never played Monopoly before and loved it. I wish I had more board games to play with them because they're a great way for the kids to practice their reading, speaking, and negotiating skills.
I'm sad to say goodbye to some wonderful students, but overall, the day was a lot of work but a lot fun.
Since the ceremony was all in Korean, I didn't pay close attention during the teachers' and director's speeches. At one point, the director was talking and my mind was wandering all over the place. I heard, "Blah blah blah blah EMH blah blah blah blah." The sound of my name startled me back to reality. I looked around in surprise, and one of the moms sitting near me motioned for me to stand up. Then the director motioned for me to come up to the stage and asked me to give a speech. Yikes! I had no idea that was coming.
Puppets are great teaching tools because the kids are drawn to them. They want to communicate, so when they animals speak in English to them, they answer naturally. It's especially fun to have puppets of North American wildlife because the kids (and parents) aren't quite sure what they are. I must have had the following conversation 15 times today.
And the end-of-the-year preschool staff picture
After work this evening, one of the preschool teachers had a housewarming/end-of-the-school-year party at her apartment. Since the preschool teachers have hardly spoken to me all year, I was a little nervous that it was going to be an awkward evening. Even though I couldn't really participate in the conversations, I'm glad I went. I felt like I actually connected to the other teachers. I wish we had done something like this a year ago so I could have gotten to know them a little better. I'm thankful for the teachers who speak some English and could help include me in some of the conversations. 
While I'll see the kids and teachers again at the graduation ceremony next week, I'm really sad to say goodbye. However, I know I've made the right decision and will be glad to have a couple hours of free time each morning. I plan to start going to the gym again and also be more intentional about studying Korean. I had wanted to take a course at a nearby university, but there isn't enough time between the end of the Korean class and my first class at the school. Instead, a couple friends have offered to help me. It's going to require a lot more discipline than I usually have when it comes to studying, but improving my Korean is very important to me these days since the language barrier is bothering me more than it has since I came here. Feel free to pester me about my progress. It'll help keep me on task. 
One of the preschool teachers gave me a plate of hangwa, traditional Korean snacks. They're too pretty to eat!
Today Joy brought a traditional Jungwol Daeboreum lunch to school for us--ogokbap (five grain rice) and namul (cooked vegetables) with kimchi and kim (dried seaweed). Thanks, Joy!
Unfortunately, I worked so late tonight that by the time I went home, I was so tired that I forgot all about looking at the moon, and my apartment window doesn't face the right direction to see it now. I'm sleepy and already in my pajamas, so I'm not going to get dressed and go outside. I guess I'll have to wait for next year.
