what's up

I got to teach that to my beginner students yesterday. There's not a real translation into Korean, but I tried to show them different situations where they would hear it or use it. They thought it was fun. We're learning about how to decline invitations, and how to give excuses, so I also taught them about how a girl can refuse a date by saying that she has to wash her hair (and that's not a good signal for the boy) and how an excuse for kids who don't do their homework is to say "my dog ate it." They found that one especially funny.

Anyhow. The semester is winding down and I am finding out how much I love my students! I just want to keep teaching the same ones and not lose them next semester. I'll probably get some of the same ones, and I'll learn to love new ones.

Monday was a friend's birthday. A big group of us braved the cold in our multiple layers, scarves over our mouths and noses, caps on, hoods over those. We might as well be wearing burqas with as much skin as we're showing. With all this on, I stay warm when I go out, but my toes and hands feel the cold. I've got good gloves, but my hands only stay warm if they're inside my pockets. I can't walk around with them in my pockets, though, because I'm afraid I might slip and fall on the ice. One person I know slipped and fell flat back on her head yesterday. I've always enjoyed cold weather, though, and this is still a little bit of an adventure for me. This morning, I left my warm room before it was light and walked across campus outside to grab a taxi to a friend's house downtown. I couldn't see where the snow was deep or not, and I found myself walking in a spot off the beaten track where it was a foot or so deep even though it hasn't snowed in a few weeks. The fact that we can still walk on snow, even so long after a snow, is kinda fun. Last week, I made my first snowman in a few years with two of my younger (not yet teenager) friends. It was a cute little guy.

I started making Christmas cookies (thanks to the vanilla and shortening my mom sent me!) last night. I put them in the freezer to keep until next week, and then I'll make little packages to give out to my students and friends. Yay for Christmas!

maybe these are funny only to me

But, I keep posting them anyway. Perhaps so I can remember them later.
These are answers from the beginner fill in the blank section on the last test.

In America, a popular food to eat when you watch movies is _____.
These are the answers I got: chores, laundry (as well as some people who actually got popcorn.)

If you want to be healthy, eat 3 ____ a day.
Some funny answers: chores, letters, laundry, popcorn

I had to ____ bill this weekend. It wasn't fun.
One guy wrote "girlfriend."

Some common ____ are laundry, vacuuming, dusting, and sweeping.
Some funny answers: roommates, meals

Only two more weeks of classes! I give my last final on December 26th, then I'll be heading home on January 1st.

"A Special Memory"

That was the title I gave to my beginner students last week. I translated the word "memory" for them. We've been studying the past tense in the last unit. This is one essay I got. (He's one of my better students, by the way.)

When I was a high school. My high school is far from my home. So I
walked to school forty minutes everyday. Sometimes I read some books and
walked. But very special time is I had lunch and walked. I remember
it's very tired. I know this is not good for my health. But I don't
had a time. Now it's a very special memoris in my head. I want to
eat lunch and walk now.

I mean, doesn't everyone, deep down inside, want to eat lunch and walk at the same time?
Another student begins her essay with the sentence: "Formerly, I was a child." As if I doubted that?

more snow

I thought you guys needed to see some more snow scenes, mostly because I'm so fascinated by snow that I can't stop taking pictures of it when I go out. When we went to the gym again on Thursday, it was snowing again and we slipped and slid down the hill to get a bus. These pics are from that day. The second one is of a bunch of students out on the basketball court outside my dorm scraping ice and snow so it's not so slippery. The third one is a popular picture spot on our campus, and the rest are just random scenes on the way down the hill and downtown on the way to the gym.

It snowed again this morning, and as I was walking through the halls, there was actually snow coming in through the roof in the hallway! I have certainly never seen it snow inside before, but this morning I did. I didn't put on my long johns, because I planned on walking the halls to go to our meeting, but I was wishing I had. Even the room we were meeting in, sitting all close together, and the cafeteria were so cold that with my long coat on, I could still feel a chill. So many people got serious colds this week, but I'm really blessed to be free of sickness.

Yesterday, I had most of my intermediate students over for cake and coffee at my apartment in four shifts. They loved the cake (chocolate, banana, and cranberry pumpkin), having a chance to see my room, and we had a good time talking. It also made me feel warmer with groups of visitors coming into my little room. Yay for snow! Yay for yummy cake and having people over!

a beautiful week

So, it snowed Monday morning and then again Monday evening. We went out for pizza on Monday night, then some of us went to the sauna afterwards. We went to a newly remodeled Korean-owned Western style food restaurant and it was so good. They also recently added frozen yogurt to the menu, so we ordered a big bowl and shared. It was expensive for Yanji (pizza, dessert, and drink turned out to be about 40 yuan each, which isn't expensive by most people's standards, but it is for us.) What a great evening.

Tuesday, I went to the gym that a few teachers found and have been going to. It's so much cleaner and well-equipped than I expected. It felt really good to work out for a while. Since the weather has been cold and the swimming pool closed for the winter, my workouts have been few and far between. After working out, we went to a stationery store where I bought a bunch of envelopes to send Christmas cards in. A friend of mine is visiting the States and offered to mail some for me. (If you don't get one soon and you want an update, shoot me an e-mail...I only had a limited number of stamps.) After buying stationery, four of us ate at a cheap Korean food restaurant. This meal was only 9 yuan each, and healthier than pizza. We got kimbap, cold noodles, fried rice, dduk bokki (one of my favorite Korean dishes- rice cakes cooked in spicy sauce), and fried squid, and ate it "family style" so we could taste everything.

I've been able to get caught up on some things. My desk is clear, homework is graded, socks are mended, dishes are washed, and my room is pretty clean. Plus, I got all those cards written. I have to admit, I did skip Korean class to go to the gym, but it was worth it. I'm so thankful for weeks when I can rest and do things I want to do. Now, it's snowing again and has been all morning. The first snow this week didn't melt because our highs have been at or under freezing, so it looks like we can have some fun in the snow today and tomorrow! Yay!

second snow!

When I woke up this morning, it hadn't started to snow yet, but around 7, huge, fluffy flakes were falling. Yay! Most on the ground had melted by lunch, but then around 1, it started again! I love snow... but my Korean tutor warned me that soon it won't melt, but it'll turn to ice on the ground and stay there. I'm gonna enjoy it while it's not slippery. (The first picture isn't real people...it's a sculpture in front of our building.)

KFC

We got a KFC on October first. It was a monumental event, because although we have a few places where you can get something that is called a hamburger, the hamburgers in those places don't really taste like what you're craving. We also have a few pizza places that serve a pretty good version of pizza, but other than that, no real Western food available easily. So, KFC opened. I finally went last week. It was good. We got french fries and a chicken sandwich, with chocolate dipped ice cream for dessert. It's super expensive compared to other yummy food that is available in Yanji, but it was worth it for a taste of home (even though I never eat KFC at home). For the record, though, it did take me a month and a half to make the first visit. It was really crowded for the first few weeks it opened, but the real reason I didn't visit sooner is because we do have many choices for great tasting Korean and Chinese food in our city.