It's officially vacation! Jon and I have a whole week off school because it is the Korean Thanksgiving, called Chusok. It's so nice because we have been here one month tomorrow and we had a few weeks to get adjusted to the time difference and start getting our teaching jobs figured out and then we get a breather before we start in for the long haul.

At school on Friday we had a Chusok party with our kindergarteners. They wore their traditional Korean dress which is called the hanbok. The outfits were beautiful. Below are some pictures of the days events:

This is my class - they are all about 3 years old.

These are Jon's two kinder classes - they are about 5 and 6 years old.

Wendy- She just turned 3 a couple weeks ago, but she has been in English school for 7 months already. She is my youngest.

Ann - I don't think they get much cuter. You should see her smile.

This is ryan in his apron and cooking hat. After taking class pictures all the kids got their aprons out to make a traditional dish of rice cakes with peanuts inside.

Then came games. These two are in Jon's class and yes they are "wrestling" or trying to throw each other to the ground.

The smallest ones even arm wrestled.

And they got into it!

Jon being a goober with his classes.

And all of it followed by a giant tug of war.

These are some of the gifts parents gave us for Chusok! We weren't expecting gifts after two week of teaching.

This last weekend we went to one of the big beaches here - Gwangalli. It is beautiful.

We played some sand volleyball and apparently it was pretty entertaining because Korean men with huge cameras kept sitting down and taking our pictures.

So finally I decided to get my camera and take a picture of them taking a picture of us.

We've been having a lot of fun exploring so far, but we haven't even made a dent in all the things there are to do here. Yesterday we went to the movies and we had a hard time telling them which movie we wanted to see. I had to stand out by the big sign and point for the lady. And then we got assigned seats for the theater :) Then we rode an elevator up to the fourth floor where there was a waiting area and snack bar. When it was time for our movie they called all of us through a little door where they took your ticket and we rode the escalator up another 2 floors. :) It was interesting, but the movie was cute, and in English.

We also have gone to a church twice since we have been here and they have been so helpful and kind to us in the short time since we met them. We are going on a retreat with them on Tuesday for a day and a half during the Chusok vacation. It will be nice to make more new friends who speak English.

One sad thing we have learned about Korea is the pressure on kids to be smart. They are in school some nights until 11pm. They go from public school to private schools (which our school is) to more private schools to private lessons to music lessons to dance lessons - all kinds of things. And then they get home, have so much homework and start it over again. The suicide rate is the highest killer in South Korea for younger men- it is the honorable way to go if you aren't successful at something. Sadly we heard from a friend who teaches jr. high that one of his 7th grade boys jumped off of or out of a building a couple weeks ago and killed himself. And the school didn't say a thing the next day, they just ignore it. I can not believe what these kids are undertaking and the amount of pressure on them to do well and succeed. Our goal is to teach yes, but to have fun with them, to love on them, so speak life to them, to tell them they are good at things and to make learning as fun as we can for the hour they are in our classes.

During the chusok games Jon let one of the little boys beat him in arm wrestling and his Korean teachers were in shock, like oh my goodness you lost??? They just didn't get that Jon would let this kid win who usually gets picked on and made fun of. When he told them he let the boy win to make him feel good they were surprised, like they had never thought of that before. Then one of them started arm wrestling kids and letting the kids win. :)

Well - it's Monday and we are on vacation, so I think we're going to a new beach today and then exploring some mountains. There is LOTS of hiking in this country.