Rice Krispy Treats

Last Friday we made rice krispy treats for the kids. It was "cookie day", and they were in love with the activity! We made several large pizza pans of rice krispies and had the kids cut out shapes with cookie cutters. 

I thought the kids were so adorable in their cooking attire :)

My 5 year olds.

Sally, June, and Jenny. My 6 year olds.

Chris.

My bosses son, Thomas

You, Me and Our Matching Shirts

I'm not sure how it is in other countries, but here in Korea couples enjoy dressing alike. I'm not just talking maybe by chance they wear the same shade of blue jeans. No. They go all out in the same clothing. You see it all the time here. Yesterday, I FINALLY got proof of this while I was window shopping in the department store.

And this is pretty mild compared to other couples I've seen:

Also, man bags are all the rage here.

Religion

Religion is always an interesting topic of conversation, no matter what country you're in. From what I've discussed and witnessed, South Koreans practice a dominating Buddhist faith incorporated with a strong Christian influence.

Many of my friends celebrate both the Christian view of Christmas and recognize Buddhist holidays- Buddha's birthday is a national holiday.
Throughout the hills and along foot trails you will come across many Buddhist temples. The symbol for a temple is the swastika.

I was utterly confused when I first saw this; it's a taboo in Western society based on its use during the Nazi Germany era. But I found out that the swastika means "luck object" and is a mark to denote good luck. It is a symbol commonly used in Buddhism and Hinduism religions. You will often see it stamped on the chest of Buddha statues.

I've also witnessed a secular influence in South Korea. Many of my coworkers have no religious preference. I find the older generation is more religious than the younger population.

There are a few Catholic churches in Jinju. I've been to the only one that offers an English mass. It is lead by a Filipino priest and most of the congregation is Filipino. It is in the basement of the church and somewhat dull. The main church is beautiful with stained glass windows, so a friend and I decided to attend the Korean mass instead of the English one Sunday. But as we sat down a Korean woman ushered us to the basement for the English mass. I'm sure the woman wanted us to be able to experience the mass in our language, but it was frustrating to feel that I couldn't just attend the Korean mass.
There are other English speaking churches in Jinju, but being raised Catholic I get more out of attending the mass. So I continue to attend the English Catholic church. But I sure miss DePaul's church.

Life as a hogwan (private school) teacher is not necessarily the hardest job one could have; but like any job it has its ups and downs. I try not to talk about the negatives of this job, because when I look back at this blog, I want to remember only the good.
And really the downs aren't that bad... less vacation days, over concerned parents, poor managers, a language barrier...
But the kids make up for all those downs. Some can be just horrible- but the ones who give you candy, peek their head into your office to say hi, those who embrace you with hugs, and the kindergartner who likes to plant a kiss on your hand makes the job you have worth it.

My favorite question from a student was, "Teacher, why do you have yellow hair? Is it because you're from America?" -Apparently, every one in the States has "yellow" hair.

A perk at work is receiving gifts from parents. This past week I was given Channel lipstick from one of my kindergartner's mom.

She came to pick up her child a few days later and introduced herself. She said, "Oh you're the Grace that I hear so much about. My son just loves you". I'm thinking... wow, I can't believe your child likes me, since he's one of the terrors in my class....

On Friday my director came in and told me that I should never stop working for him. "The parents love you, the student love you, your co-teachers love you. You should just stay forever." Well... triple my pay and give me a month vacation each year and we might have a deal.

I'm not trying to sound conceited, it's just nice to hear praise for the hard work I've put in :)