J is for Jello!

So I know you have been anxiously awaiting my list of pros and cons about living in Korea, but I have some really cute videos and pictures of my kids that I just can't resist, so here they are:

In this video it's mostly just my kids speaking in Korean at the end, but their little voices are so cute, I couldn't resist filming it. Oh goodness. Enjoy. And don't be alarmed. There is a white kid in my class. I promise I'm in Korea!
This is Joo Ha and Joon Ha. I always get their names mixed up.

This is Jean with her K worksheet. She has the cutest little voice ever.

This is Rae Won. She's so cute.

This is Yoo Nah, Rae Won, and Yoo Min. They're great.

This is Joo Won, Jae Joon, and LIon. Yes, his English name is Lion. He's awesome.

This is girl who's name I can never remember, and Yeh Lyn. They're sweet.

This is Sea Hyun. He thinks he's pretty cool in this picture I think.

So the videos took reallly really really long to load, so that's why there's only one. I have more though, and I will put them up next time.

2 more weeks til spring break!!! woohoo!

So I just realized I didn't post pictures of my $50 hair clip I got for my birthday from the teachers. I wore it yesterday!

It's designer. Be jealous.

So I've had some requests to post more regularly... So I'll try to do my best. I guess I just figured it's not very fun to read my blog unless there's pictures.

This week is going by really quickly, so that's nice. Tomorrow (Wed.) is my last day of teaching for the week and then field trips on Thursday and Friday! Woohoo! Then, two more weeks of class, and SPRING BREAK!!!! Oh my goodness I can't wait! No exciting plans yet, but anything is better than school!

Basically, I've just decided that I'm not very good at being a grown up. Having a job and responsibilities is not my favorite thing. Especially when you're single. Then you have to endure the boringness of being adult by yourself. So lame.

Tonight, Amy, Caroline, Krista and I went and had Indian food. There's a lot of people from India in Suwon because we have a huge Samsung building here. So, it was my first experience with Indian food, and I really liked it. I was pleasantly surprised. People have always told me it has such a unique, strong taste, but it was good to me. Maybe it's because most things are better than kimchi and Korean cafeteria food :) My hands still smell like it though... I'm hoping it comes out! haha.

In other big news, I got another great package from home... thank you Kathy and Annie (friends from DBU)!!! It was such a lovely surprise. Basically, I really need to get baking because now I have so many mixes!!! I can't wait! They also sent a really cute purse/teaching bag and a necklace. I love everything!!!

My next post I'm going to make a list of the things I love and don't love about Korea... should be a real treat... please plan accordingly.

Happy Birthday To Me!

So these were the beautiful flowers I found on my desk on my birthday from Anthony and Cameron :) Such a wonderful surprise!

At the American breakfast food place called "Butterfingers".... please read the green text. It makes no sense.

My yummy breakfast! It was so wonderful to eat bacon!

This is John (Amy's husband) and Darrick (Krista's fiance)

All the girls... from the left it's Sarah, Krista, Me, baby Eden, and Amy

Me and Eden :) Love her!

At the park we went to go see the cherry blossoms in.... the park was nice and huge, but the flowers were really disappointing. Apparently since it's been so cold the flowers haven't bloomed much :(

Some of the cherry blossoms

The park

Sarah, Me and Amy in front of Confucius maybe?

Some really pretty flowers!

At my birthday celebration with the boys :) we went to Kraze burger, the waffle place, and Karaoke (of course) It was a wonderful night. I can't thank them enough for making my birthday so special! They are such a blessing to me here!!!

AND best of all!!! They got me a COACH wristlet!!!! I haven't been so excited about a present in a long time.... This was a complete shock!!!

Ummm the cutest teacup set ever!

Sorry this is random.... but some of my kids making crowns today! The left is Ha Eun and the right is Juwon. So cute!

This is the wristlet they gave me!!! Sorry, when it's Coach my materialistic side comes out :)

Ummm I'm sure most of you will not get this, but these are the characters from my favorite Korean TV show, and April got me socks with all of them for my Bday! This was a really fun gift. If anyone is interested in wasting hours of your life, please go to www.mysoju.com and watch the Korean drama, Boys Over Flowers. Be careful though, you will get addicted. It's fantastic. Don't worry, there's English subtitles.

So, today I got this AMAZING package in the mail!!! The box was soooo heavy though, so it was not a fun walk home from school. BUT it was worth it!!! I am soooo excited about everything! Thanks Mom, Dad, Amy, Brandon, and the Reynolds' family!!! So amazing!

The entire spread! In case you can't tell, it's Rosetta Stone (Korean obviously), a really cute polka dot nighty, TONS of baking mixes, seasonings, candy, EmergenC packets, Twighlight, Kelly Clarkson CD, and pasta mixes (which I partook of tonight! So yummy!) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

And this is me with my kids today!!! They're so cute! This is my afternoon class, but I really love them. The kid I'm holding in my left arm is Seok Hun. He's a handful, but I really love him!!! I'm finally starting to really love being with my kids! And how could you resist these cute little faces??


Some important news: I think I'm going to be able to make it home for Tara's wedding this summer!!! Amy Turner is going to fill in for me, so if all goes as planned, I should be able to come home around July 23/24th ish.... I can't wait!!!! So, not only does that mean I'll be home an extra week, I'll get to be home for the wedding! Yay! Please pray that it all works out for me to make it home :)

Also, something else exciting: Peter Lee (the boss at DBU Asia) is really taking care of me, and is trying to work with CCA so that Anthony, Cameron, and I can all go to Japan together to get our Visas. He's so considerate to think of me... he told me he didn't want me going by myself. He's such a nice man. He really takes care of us :)

Anthony and Cameron are doing well, but are busier than ever! Sometimes I can't wrap my head around the amount of work they have... but I do my best to encourage them in any way! Keep praying for them as their workload continues to be stressful and time consuming! They really are so encouraging to me though because they really have such good attitudes about everything! They remind me to stay focused and do all that the Lord asks of me without complaining or arguing!

Well, I hope everyone has a great week as you remember the resurrection of our beloved Savior. Enjoy and cherish the time you have with your families.

Is it summer yet???

Hello everyone! This is my new wall decor... I kinda like it. It makes my room a little more exciting.

Making biscuits in my little oven! This was while they were baking... obviously. Thanks for the biscuit mixes mom!!! They're definitley my favorite thing so far!

The finished product!!! Yummy!

This is some of the kids art work! They're so talented. Please remember they are five. I'm pretty impressed. They basically did this in two parts. Day one they just spilled paint on their white paper. The next day they had to decide what the paint looked like and finish the drawing around the paint. Pretty creative thinking I would say. The alligator is my fav I think.

Some really pretty trees by my house! The trees are starting to blossom... it's getting so pretty here. I can't imagine how beautiful it will be during rainy season this summer. We're going to see the cherry blossoms in Seoul on our day off next week! I can't wait!

This is John and Amy's baby, Eden. Isn't she sooooo cute??? I've been frequenting their apt more often. I really enjoy talking with Amy! She's been so great, it's nice to have some girlfriends now. I also don't mind taking this little cutie off her hands while we hang out either :)

Umm we just thought this bilboard was pretty noteworthy. Please enjoy.

Anthony enjoying some tasty quesadillas at TGIFridays. Yummy!

I had some really great ribs!! It kind of made me feel like I was back in Texas again! I miss me some good BBQ!

Cameron and I at Friday's.

Anthony had a little nosebleed at Friday's. So, instead of helping, I took pictures. I know, I'm a great friend.

At Karaoke on Friday night. We had some good times. Highlight of the night: Anthony singing the Beattles' "Penny Lane". Well done sir.

The three of us on our way out. What a good night.

Random native american statue outside the boys apt. We deemed it quite necessary to take pictures with him. It was awesome because everyone was staring.

Yummy!!!! Cooking our Kalbi! (Beef). Apparently Suwon is famous for its Kalbi. I'll definitely believe it. This place is my favorite! If you're wondering what everything is, it's mushrooms, onions, and the three colored things on the stick are rice cake things. They don't really taste like anything.

Cameron and I at the Kalbi place. It's nice and conveniently located right across the street from their apt.

This is some kind of Seaweed soup. It's pretty, but not tasty. Do not be decieved. Haha.

Me and Anthony at the waffle place. So good!

Anthony and Cameron got shakes and we shared this amazing waffle.

And since we were right by a Karaoke place, what better to do than that! Haha. There was even a stage and everything in our little room. So fun.

Please enjoy this video of the boys singing, "Big Girl, You Are Beautiful"... I hope they don't mind me putting this up :)

So those are the highlights of this week. School is pretty much the same. Next week should be pretty fun. It's our Easter unit, so lots of fun crafts. Also, we don't have chapel Monday morning like usual, so I don't have to get up at 5:45! I can sleep a whole extra hour! Yay! Also, we don't have school on Wed. I'm not really sure why, but I'm not going to complain!!! haha. Like I said, Wed I'm going to Seoul with Amy and John and another couple (yay! fifth wheel!) to go to this American food breakfast place and then to see the flowers! Yay!

Ok I think that's all for now :)

Least exciting post yet...

Ummm so this was the highlight of my week. It's very sad. This was the only thing noteworthy enough to take a picture of this week. You might be thinking to yourself, "but Ashley, this is just a picture of bowls of water..." However, these bowls were my only means of having a "hot" shower for about 3 days this week :) Apparently in Korea if you don't pay your gas bills they shut off your gas... hahaha. Who knew?? Basically, my roommate thought the bills were coming automatically out of her pay check, but surprise! They weren't... thus we were without a stove, heat, or hot water for a couple of days. Then.... on Friday, our internet got cut off! hahaha. We also weren't aware we hadn't been paying this bill! We kept getting letters with April's old roommate's name on them, so we assumed they were her cell phone bills... but no, no, no... those were our internet bills. I feel like a true poor person this week... our gas and internet got cut off because we weren't paying the bills. Ooops. Who knew? BUT we got it all paid for and taken care of, so everything should be fine now. We still don't have internet, but luckily someone else in our building does, without a password, so I'm just mooching off of them. Haha.

It was a short week at school this week due to home visits on Thursday and Friday. I didn't go on Thursday, and stayed in the office with the other English teachers. It was a much needed day to get caught up. I am proud to say I am 2 weeks ahead in my lesson plans! Thank goodness. Hopefully this week will be much better planning wise since I got ahead.

Home visits on Friday were a wonderful experience. We left about 8:30am and returned at about 6pm. Me, a pre-k teacher, and a pastor visited 11 students homes on Friday. Basically, we went in, there was a lot of Korean spoken (obviously), a lot of fruit was eaten, tea or coffee was served, the pastor would pray for their family and children, and then we would move on to the next student's house. We spent about 30 minutes in each place. It was really neat to see how the kids live, and to see the insides of many Korean families homes. I found it really interesting... somehow I didn't see it being appropriate to take pictures though! haha... so sorry there's no photos to share!

Friday night I went to dinner with Cameron at a really yummy spicy chicken food place. It's so good! We tried to go see a movie after that, but we missed it and the next one started too late, so we just went to the grocery store to get some things and called it a night.

Sat I cleaned my apt hard core. It was pretty disgusting, especially the bathroom. After the fun filled day of cleaning, I went to the boys apt and made them dinner. I made biscuits, chili, and brownies. Unfortunately I failed miserably at the brownies and basically wasted one of my precious boxed mixes, but every thing else was really yummy. After dinner, Cameron and I went to see Slumdog Millionare. It was fantastic, and I would recommend it to everyone!

The boys are still as busy as ever, but I got to see them more this week, so I was grateful for that. Anthony is still sick, so please pray for him.

I miss you all very much. Please eat some Chili's chips and queso for me... and get a Sonic Diet Coke for me... haha.

Sorry this was a pretty lame post. I'll try to have a more exciting life this week :)