Not one to miss an opportunity to cook large amounts of starchy and satisfying foods, we had two Thanksgivings this year. As you can imagine, it was NOT a holiday here and was work as usual. We were planning to have Thanksgiving with all the English speakers on Saturday when we had more time, but I couldn't let the actual day pass by without some kind of celebratory meal. It was just the two of us, since we and everyone else didn't have time for the hoopla of last year (see my post from last year). We managed to put together quite the spread between the two of us though, and in quite a short period of time. In just about an hour, we made broccoli stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried tofu (weird), and warmed up corn, rolls, and carrot/ginger soup, and had pumpkin caramels for dessert. Not bad.
Thanksgiving #2 was also quite tasty, and for that I made the famous sweet potato dish to top of the rest of the amazing food that was brought by others. Unfortunately, we had to scurry away rather quickly from that meal, as we had training in Seoul the next day for a new junior curriculum they are developing. So we got the 5:00 bus to Seoul and got to the main institute and our old guestroom by 10:00. The bus was actually quite nice, with big comfy chairs only 3 across, each with their own recliners and foot rests, and the overheads closed like airlines. Luckily we managed to get some religion lesson plans done on the way to and from Seoul, so the trip wasn't completely wasted. This made me feel a little bit better about the fact that we traveled about 9 hours roundtrip for a 2 hour training. Oh well, it was good to go and see people, talk to other teachers, and find out about these new classes we'll soon be teaching...Just when we were getting used to these books!
Actually, turns out a lot we'll be different in the new year next term. Our current fellow teachers Beyanca and Novia will be ending their contracts and leaving, which means two new teachers working for two also fairly new teachers. :) The academic office did say they would at least try to send us one returning/experienced teacher, so that will help. Jon will be coordinator starting next term, which means mostly planning all the schedules and making sure everything runs smoothly (and more money!), and we'll both probably be teaching one, maybe two, more hours each. The director of our school also wants to try something new and have an intensive four hour Level 1 class, which has never been done before and means we will be planning the new curriculum for that with a Korean teacher. We're thinking the first hour will be with the Korean teacher doing speaking, then I'll do the next hour with reading/listening, then an hour of religion, and Jon will finish with an hour of writing/debating. It could be fun and different, just requires a bit more developing of those underdeveloped creativity muscles of ours :) Here's to growth!
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| Thanksgiving #1. Yes, this is just for 2 people :) |
Not one to miss an opportunity to cook large amounts of starchy and satisfying foods, we had two Thanksgivings this year. As you can imagine, it was NOT a holiday here and was work as usual. We were planning to have Thanksgiving with all the English speakers on Saturday when we had more time, but I couldn't let the actual day pass by without some kind of celebratory meal. It was just the two of us, since we and everyone else didn't have time for the hoopla of last year (see my post from last year). We managed to put together quite the spread between the two of us though, and in quite a short period of time. In just about an hour, we made broccoli stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried tofu (weird), and warmed up corn, rolls, and carrot/ginger soup, and had pumpkin caramels for dessert. Not bad.
Thanksgiving #2 was also quite tasty, and for that I made the famous sweet potato dish to top of the rest of the amazing food that was brought by others. Unfortunately, we had to scurry away rather quickly from that meal, as we had training in Seoul the next day for a new junior curriculum they are developing. So we got the 5:00 bus to Seoul and got to the main institute and our old guestroom by 10:00. The bus was actually quite nice, with big comfy chairs only 3 across, each with their own recliners and foot rests, and the overheads closed like airlines. Luckily we managed to get some religion lesson plans done on the way to and from Seoul, so the trip wasn't completely wasted. This made me feel a little bit better about the fact that we traveled about 9 hours roundtrip for a 2 hour training. Oh well, it was good to go and see people, talk to other teachers, and find out about these new classes we'll soon be teaching...Just when we were getting used to these books!
 |
| Thanksgiving #2 for 8 people :) |
Actually, turns out a lot we'll be different in the new year next term. Our current fellow teachers Beyanca and Novia will be ending their contracts and leaving, which means two new teachers working for two also fairly new teachers. :) The academic office did say they would at least try to send us one returning/experienced teacher, so that will help. Jon will be coordinator starting next term, which means mostly planning all the schedules and making sure everything runs smoothly (and more money!), and we'll both probably be teaching one, maybe two, more hours each. The director of our school also wants to try something new and have an intensive four hour Level 1 class, which has never been done before and means we will be planning the new curriculum for that with a Korean teacher. We're thinking the first hour will be with the Korean teacher doing speaking, then I'll do the next hour with reading/listening, then an hour of religion, and Jon will finish with an hour of writing/debating. It could be fun and different, just requires a bit more developing of those underdeveloped creativity muscles of ours :) Here's to growth!
 |
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