My friend Melanie has a tradition on her blog where she posts a single photo every Friday with no words which illustrates a moment from the previous week. Her blog, Just Call Me Momma shares her own experiences of being a mother of two adorable and active little boys. I felt inspired by the concept and decided to adopt it for my own blog. Each week I will post a single photo with no words from a moment in my life, a simple yet memorable image to share with everyone.

I decided to use my free afternoon, due to an unexpected half-day at school, to good use and make some much need updates to my blog. I finished the USA page under the 'Globe Trekker' tab and uploaded  a variety of pictures from my travels around the United States. I also posted a couple of new blog posts under 'Veggie Tales'.  And of course there are new pictures of Flat Stanley's adventures here in Korea, this time the photos are of a visiting Flat Stanley from South Carolina. Click below on the photos to visit some of the updated pages.

Christmas in Korea barely felt like Christmas at all ~ missing were the over decorated Christmas trees, piles of elaborately wrapped presents, houses decorated with twinkling lights, the cheerful calls of Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and the warmth and laughter of family and friends. Korea boasts a population that is 50% Christian and therefore the twenty-fifth is a public holiday, however the Christmas celebration for Christians is centered almost entirely around the church. For those who do not wish to celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday it serves as a pale version of Valentine's day where couples spend the day together.

A few members of the  foreign community gathered together at a local bar to celebrate Christmas with a potluck dinner and white elephant gift exchange. Below are pictures from the event.

I awoke on Christmas eve to discover that Jeomchon had received a slight dusting of snow over the night. Determined to enjoy the brisk sunny day I ventured out for a walk around Jeomchon and eventually made my way to a temple for Guan-eum, the Bodhisattva of compassion and mercy. The pavilion in front of the statue of Guan-eum provides a panoramic view of Jeomchon which sits below the mountain.
The temple grounds were incredible peaceful with the silence only occasionally broken by the sound of fish wind chimes hanging from the eaves of the temple and the singing of Christmas carols from within the church below.

I posted a few pictures of the temple below.

Situated on the edge of town, Mungyeong Technical High School is a large high school by local standards. The school boasts nearly 400 students, 99% of whom are male. Along with studying Korean, math, history and Japanese students pursue studies in one of the six technical programs provided at the school such as welding, mechanics and electrical engineering. Since most of the students will not continue onto college students only study English in the 2nd semester of their 1st year and throughout their 2nd year.

I teach six classes spread over Wednesday and Thursday at MTHS along with an extracurricular class on Monday. My students display a wide range of English abilities from being able to carry on a basic conversation to not even being able to read or write the English alphabet. A few students have an interest in English because they hope to attend college in the future and therefore they need to pass the English portion of the entrance exams, however, most students have non-academic future goals and therefore English is simply a class they have to get through to continue on to the next year and graduate. Although English is not extremely important in regards to the students' education there is a separate English classroom which was only completed a couple of months ago. The classroom has books, magazines, computers and a very expensive touch screen TV in it.

Teaching at MTHS has been both enjoyable and extremely unpleasant. The school is somewhat notorious for students who misbehave and the prior EPIK teacher left partially because of this school. On my first day I was warned that she had a difficult time at the high school and I should be prepared for the students' very low English levels. This EPIK teacher jokingly referred to mutual friends that MTHS is a "prison factory" and in regards to some students my guess she isn't  too far off.

Click below on the link 'Read More' to see the rest of this post.

If you have opened a newspaper, turned on a TV or stepped outside your house at sometime since Monday you most likely have heard that Kim Jong Il, North Korea's 'Dear Leader' died. It would be remiss of me to have a blog and currently live in South Korea/the Republic of Korea without mentioning this newsworthy event. Kim has ruled North Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) for the past 17 years. If you are not familiar with the history of the country here is my limited understanding of it - the Korean peninsula, at one time an united country, was annexed by Japan in 1905 and divided into Soviet and American zones in 1945 following WWII.  The Korean War in 1950 was fought by both sides trying to reclaim the other and has never officially ended. Kim Il-Sung lead the country from 1948 until his death in 1994 when his son, Kim Jong-Il took control of the communist country. Throughout the years he became well-known for his hardline communist policies, secrecy and support for North Korea's nuclear program which earned him a place on President Bush's infamous 'axis of evil' list.

I heard of Kim's passing through  the internet and expected some type of reaction from my co-workers but instead it barely caused a murmur. The young female teacher who sits next to me leaned over to tell me of his passing  and when I asked her how she felt she told me that she was anxious about his death. Kim's death creates a lot of uncertainty in a nation that is still technically at war with its neighbor and his heir to power, his youngest son Kim Jong-Un (pictured above with his father) is young, inexperienced and relatively unknown. Upon notification of his death South Korea's military went on high alert however, the United States' army has maintained the same level of alertness for it's military bases here in South Korea.

And for the moment that's where things stand. I will continue to follow the news about North Korea because I hope to visit it next year if things are stable. And to answer the questions you are now asking yourself - yes, American citizens can visit North Korea and yes, it is safe - you are accompanied at all times by not one but two guides during the entire trip. Though there are strong reasons against visiting the country including "supporting" a country that is renown for it's human rights abuses the argument can be made that this means the citizens are exposed to different people, thoughts and philosophies and one can hope that this could lead to a shift in perspective on outsiders and open up the country to more humanitarian aid which it desperately needs. My own reasons for visiting North Korea are less altruistic and more directed towards a personal interest in the ancestor veneration of former leaders, something I observed in Vietnam in regards to Ho Chi Minh and something I would like to see in North Korea in regards to Kim Il-Sung and now the recently departed Kim Jong-Il.

Awhile back I received an e-mail from the JET Alumni Association which shared the request of a retired professor who was collecting Christmas cards for the children of Tohoku. Though the name might not seem familiar I am sure everyone remembers the tragic earthquake which struck Japan in the spring of 2011 resulting in the deaths of over 15,000 people, the loss of homes and the subsequent nuclear melt down at Fukushima. Tohoku was the region which was hit the hardest.  The professor hoped that by collecting Christmas cards from around the world it might bring some hope and cheer to the children adversely affected by the tragedy.

Since I had already planned on teaching a class on Christmas I decided to have the students make cards for the project. After a brief lesson on Christmas and traditional Christmas greetings I provided each student with a blank white card, paper, stickers, scissors and glue and allowed them to make a card of their own design. Inside each card they wrote a holiday message in English. The day's results were nearly 30 brightly colored and imaginative cards from my elementary school students. I mailed them to Japan yesterday and hope that the children will enjoy them.

If you're interested in sending a Christmas card to Japan please send them to -
985-0802
NOYAMA 5-9, YOSHIDAHAMA
SHICHIGAHAMA-CHO
MIYAGI-PREF. JAPAN
SHICHIGAHAMA-CHO Saigai-Volunteer Center
Mrs. MAYUMI HOSHI
(To Boys & Girls)

The e-mail did not provide a deadline for the project and I imagine they will happily accept cards after Christmas since it is a relatively minor holiday in Japan which leads up to New Years day which is celebrated much like Christmas in America with family gatherings, large meals and typically a trip to the local shrine to pray for good luck for the following year.

My last few posts have been extremely verbose so I wanted to offer up a photo montage of my recent trip to Seoul with limited captions to allow the pictures to speak for themselves. Click here to see more photos of the food at So Sim Vegetarian Restaurant.

The small town of Gaeun, tucked in a valley amidst the mountains, is a quiet 40 minute bus ride from Jeomchon. I make this journey once a week to teach at Gaeun High School, a tiny academic high school that sits atop a hill overlooking rice paddies. The school has an enrollment of less than 80 students, the majority of which are college bound.

Each Friday I make my way to Gaeun High School where I teach three classes consisting of 1st, 2nd and 3rd year students. High school in Korea is made up of three years and Gaeun is so small it only has one class per year with each class averaging approximately 24 students. Due to its small size the school shares many things with the middle school that sits below it on the hill including a principal and vice principal as well as a cafeteria, sports field and music teacher.

I teach the same lessons at this school as I do at my base school however due to the students' higher English capabilities we are able to have a more interactive and in-depth class. Though I technically have a co-teacher at the school he is a quiet man who stands silently in the back while I run the class. I am unsure if he is shy speaking English around a native speaker (something I encountered while teaching in Japan) or if he believes that total immersion will challenge the students and help them improve their English. The class atmosphere is remarkably different from my base school because the students are more serious about their school work and have aspirations to go to college and therefore many of them are involved in class or at the very least awake. Each class typically begins and ends with the head student calling for attention and the students bowing though at times we are all distracted as I set up for class and this formality is forgotten.

This post was initially going to be a retelling of the saga getting my phone in Korea. However, after I wrote it out I realized it was, well, boring. So, the shortened version is - it took 4 1/2 weeks for me to get a phone. Most of it was due to bad timing - I tried to buy an iphone one week before the iphone 4s was released. The lowest point of the tale was when, a representative of KT announced my phone had arrived (4 weeks in) but contrary to our previous discussions I couldn't pay for the phone on an installment plan which is the norm here in Korea because I was a wayook (foreigner), instead I had to pay for it up front - a whopping 970,000 won (nearly $900). It was a very frustrating Friday night at the KT office which concluded with my co-teacher apologizing for the way I was being treated. It wouldn't have been nearly so aggravating if I had been told up front I would have to pay for the phone out of pocket which would have been understandable since I lack credit in this country (to give perspective many foreign residents in the United States have to pay a substantial deposit when they get a phone if they have not yet established credit in the country). Well, it turns out those reps at KT were wrong and a foreigner  can get an iphone on an installment plan - so now I have a brand new shiny phone.

Initially I wanted an iphone because friends assured me that once unlocked it would work back in the United States. I didn't necessarily want a smart phone because people become so engrossed in them - to the detriment of the living and breathing people around them. So it came as a surprise when I realized I love the phone and all that it offers. I can text friends with iphones anywhere in the world for free, chat on skype, check mye-mail and even listen to music. It has a decent camera so I don't have to bring a separate camera everywhere I go. And with the internet access I can download maps of Seoul's subway or look up stores and restaurants while I'm out and about.  However the best part of the phone - the note application lets me organize my somewhat disorganized life on my phone so I can do away with the bits and pieces of paper which have my shopping lists, reminders and tidbits which invariably always get lost. So, I guess my phone is saving a few trees! Now let's just hope I don't become the type of person who lives her life through her phone while the world passes her by and keeps things in perspective - it's just phone, an awesome phone but a phone none the less.

**EDIT** After receiving a somewhat incredulous e-mail from my father expressing a bit of sticker shock at my "NINE HUNDRED DOLLAR" phone I realized I didn't make it clear that after the initial issue with my foreignness I was able to get a two year contract and pay approximately $300 for the phone - still pricey but reasonable considering I use the phone in nearly the same manner as my laptop. In fact the only thing I can't do on my phone is make power point presentations for class and write my thesis (though on second thought I probably could do that but since I chicken peck type on the phone it would take a really long time).  There are many other things on which I would prefer to spend $900 - a phone has never been near the top of that list.

Below are some photos I took with my phone - I love how easy it is to take photos (and a lot less conspicuous than a hot pink camera!)