The Fall Picnic.

Another Korean (and Japanese) tradition is the class picnic. Kids usually pack lunches, and go off on an all-day picnic with their homeroom classes. It's a lot of fun! The fall foliage is absolutely gorgeous in the countryside of Korea, making for lots of photo opportunities. I went with class 2-1, the same class I cheered for during the sports festival! We played basketball in the park, and then walked to a nearby creek to have a barbecue!

This is Yulgok. The school is named after him, which is why they have this statue.
He's a very famous Korean scholar - legendary, actually.


Pretty fall flowers.


Piggy-back rides.
Oh, and it's totally normal for boys to act like this. It's merely a sign of friendship.


Perched on the roof of the pavilion.


Egg-smashing game.
Slightly dangerous, but absolutely hysterical when played with teenage boys.


These two are the school's "cool kids".
And they're best friends, naturally! They're also my fan club. :)


Napping in the slide...?


The kids used the money they won from the sports festival to buy sliced pork -
a must-try if you're ever in Korea! It's absolutely delicious!
Expression on the boy-in-green's face = priceless.


More beautiful flowers!


Class photo.

That's all for now! The kids want to do another "picnic" in the winter, with snow fights and baked sweet potatoes and sledding and all those fun winter activities. I'm excited.

october's favorite things.

1. 미남이시네요.
A completely silly, light-hearted K-drama featuring some of Korea's top "pretty boys".
Note: the character in the last picture (on the right) is actually a girl!



2. G-DRAGON.
He (yes, he) turns me into an absolutely crazy, screechy fangirl.
I also want to bleach my hair platinum blond.



3. Planning my trip to Osaka/Sapporo.
I'm wildly excited about the upcoming winter vacation.
Not only do I have a revolving door of guests, but I'm also going to Japan! :)



4. This dress.
Or actually, the fact that I have a similar one in my closet!



5. A short clip from the class picnic on Thursday.
We played a game involving hard-boiled/raw eggs. I think you get the gist of it.
Oh yeah, that's me laughing like a hyena at the end of the clip.

I know that October's almost over... I've been busy. And sick. Again. I don't know what is wrong with me. Just tutoring and resting this weekend! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

fall colors.

I love fall!

I also love this shot of some of the soccer kids. All of my 9th grade soccer boys have been scouted by different high schools. The kids leave middle school even before graduating to start training with and playing for their respective high schools. Soccer is taken a little bit too seriously here, as you can probably tell. Anyway, the 9th graders will be back in February for graduation, so I'll have one last chance to see them!

Had a situation with the posting yesterday - will fix that by Saturday!

knitted thing.

I met up with my college roommate in the Hongdae area* this past Saturday. We had fun: Indian food for dinner, shopping in the little booths and alleyways, random Tarot card reading (rather entertaining, though bogus), more shopping, drinks at a hole-in-the-wall place (the best kind!).

I bought this scarf/neckwarmer thing from one of the little shops. It's so cozy and warm! I haven't taken it off since I bought it. Seriously. I taught class while I had it wrapped around my neck!

Tee, Danny Roberts. Black shirt, AA. Jeans, J Brand.

I've had a lot of people at school tell me I look sick lately (dark circles around the eyes, tired expression, etc.). I'm under a lot of family-related stress at the moment, and it's been a bit difficult to cope.

Siiiiigh... one of my favorite soccer kids decided to quit soccer (he's not really built for the strict training program), and so he transferred to a school back in his hometown today. I was really down all day after finding out this morning. I ended up giving him two sheets of my stickers (he loves stickers) as a going-away present. I am getting too attached to these kids, I know. A few pictures of the cutie:

Excuse me while I go punch (and then sob into) my pillow.
명신아! 공부 잘 하고... 건강하개 잘 크기 바래!

*I've probably mentioned this before, but Hongdae is "the scene" for the 20-somethings in Seoul. It's got all the punk, artsy students from Hongik University (Hongdae for short), so there are plenty of interesting shops, galleries, clubs, bars and restaurants.

not-an-outfit outfit post.

I went to the Korean Folk Village over the summer with a friend. It's an interesting place, with old houses and buildings from way back when (1400s? 1600s...? Sorry, I'm a little shaky on my Korean history) that have been preserved by the government and is currently a major tourist attraction. Seriously. They also film a lot of the historical dramas and movies there.

The best part was dressing up in these duds, which is a representation of what the provincial governor would wear for official duty. Not bad, eh? Of course, there would never have been a female governor (duh), but they let anyone try on the costumes. Haha. The hat is really awesome with the huge red tassel and the beads, but it was heavy. I've also got a sword in my hand, but you can't really see it... too bad.

I'm just lazing around my apartment tonight to recharge and recuperate for the busy weekend ahead. I've been in an odd mood lately. Don't know exactly how to explain it, but I've been thinking about future plans a lot. We'll see what happens, eh?

cute fuzzy things.

I love all sorts of cutesy things (stuffed animals, baby shoes, miniatures, random fuzzies and the like...) as you may know. So this might be a bit of an extreme cute overload for some of you. I warned you!

Korea has probably the best sticker selection available to mankind. You can go into any of the small "school supply" stores and they have a range of fuzzy, puffy, holographic, whichever-way-you-want-'em stickers. I've always loved shopping for new school supplies (the smell of fresh paper and ink gives me a high), and so I frequent the little store near my apartment about once a week.

My mini sticker collection:

Little dancing cows!

I use my wonderful, precious stickers to bribe my students. Unlike normal teenage boys, my students are surprisingly fond of collecting stickers on their notebooks. They're awarded stickers based on behavior and participation, and trust me... it works.

I bought this hat on Etsy from Armada Anime. Um, yeah, it's got effin' cute teddy bear ears! I can't wait to wear it this winter! This picture also oddly makes me want to dye my hair platinum blonde/white.

And then there's these fuzzy things from the Mint Conspiracy Etsy store. I love them! They're Christmas-themed and so adorable! I bought a few to decorate the desk in my apartment. Eventually they'll make it back to Boston and garnish my workspace!

I just sent in my official pre-order for the Francis Spring '10 collection, and I'm all jumpy and jittery! After working like crazy for the past few months (and with the plan to keep working like crazy for the next eight months), I decided to treat myself to quite a few things. Yippee! I can't wait until all of my beautiful new Francis clothing arrives in March!

Art Wall.

Last week, I noticed the art teacher going outside wearing a big red smock and wielding a heavy-duty glue gun in one hand and a tape measure in the other. He went outside geared up the same way again on Monday, so I followed him out of curiosity. I mean, how often do I see people strolling around in smocks and glue guns? (Answer: not that often). This is what I found:

All of the students recently painted these wooden blocks in art class, and the art teacher arranged them on this low wall behind the school. Quite pretty, don't you think? There are about 250 of these blocks arranged in this (x+x+x+x) pattern.

Here are some individual blocks. I like the red one with the black and yellow pattern the most!

It's surprising to see that some of the students have a knack for art, seeing as they just act like wild animals in my class. Wild pigs, really. I kid, I kid. I secretly love all of my students, even though they get on my every last nerve and send my blood pressure sky-rocketing. Seriously.

the floral dress.

I had a small-ish brain malfunction and forgot to do several major things on Sunday... including sending WendyB an email about her sample sale this week. Definitely peeved that I'm going to be missing out on some sweet WB for Francis swear rings, among other equally amazing pieces. Sigh.

It's decidedly chilly here now, and I'm scrambling to cobble together a semi-decent winter wardrobe. I didn't bring enough clothing with me for ANY season, but winter clothing definitely got the short end of the stick because of bulk and weight.

So today I layered this summer dress (which I didn't wear during the summer...) over a long-sleeved tee and thick tights. It was sufficiently warm for a cool fall day with another light sweater (stolen from my husband) on top, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do in the dead of winter. I suppose I'll have to wear all of my clothes at once. I didn't have much time before my students showed up (yeah, I teach a class in that room), so that's what you're getting. Mwahaha.

I'm wearing school slippers in the top photo... and I'm barefoot in the bottom photo, but I actually went to school in black ankle boots. The teachers have to change from their "street shoes" into the school slippers, too.

Tee, American Apparel. Dress, MinkPink. Tights, Tabio.

PS - Apparently the Jil Sander for Uniqlo collection is available in Korea. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a peek this weekend, hm? 'Specially considering my lack of winter-appropriate gear.

flat foot.

Ladies (and possibly the stray gentleman or two),

I've decided that I can't do high heels anymore. Well, okay, maybe only 10% of the time. Girl can't always resist the lure of a 5" heel, y'know. But I'm tall enough as it is without 'em (or maybe even too tall). I've been wearing flats and sneakers non-stop the past few months, and my life is decidedly better. No more sore feet! No more blisters! No more bizarre muscle aches! No more pedicures!

So with that in mind, anything beyond FLAT is out. Sneakers and flats just fit my lifestyle a lot better, it seems.

I've got some Adidas Samba Classics (also double as indoor soccer shoes, should I ever get the chance to play on an indoor field) and New Balance Classics (mine are a dark gray/orange colorway, and are actually in my closet somewhere) coming to me soon via my husband, aka the international postman, aka my favoritest person in the world.

I also picked up these Minnetonka ankle booties from Urban Outfitters. UO sent me one of those sale code things for 15% off, and I'd been ogling these for about two years, so I went for them. Again, waiting for hubby to bring them to me in December! I also really like these beaded moccasins from Minnetonka. The pink is cute, no? I can't justify buying such a summer-like shoe at the end of October, though.

Probably the best thing about all four of these shoes is that they fall within the 45-50 dollar range, which is MUCH more affordable than your usual Louboutin or Prada. And better for your feet, too.

I can't wait to wear my Sambas with some of my Francis dresses come spring! :) But I'll have to make it through the winter here first before I get my spring Francis order. SO EXCITED!

weekend!

I nixed most of my plans for today so I could take some time to be absolutely, completely lazy. I've been continuously exhausted since my illness a few weeks ago. In light of that, I'm going to make this a short cross-posted-picture post.

Here I am with my class at the sports festival, wearing our bright orange t-shirts I featured in my last post! Looks pretty good with the fall leaves behind us! Can you find me? Ten points if you do! Hahahahaha. See more pictures from the sports festival here!

ALSO - you should check out the Francis Spring 2010 lookbook! More amazing pieces coming this spring... I'm trying to narrow down my picks. I've got my eyes on the "cityscape" dress and the black/blue/purple/yellow color-blocked dress for sure. Also the "shredded" pink dress... and one of the other dresses, too... sigh. So many wonderful pieces, so little money!

The Sports Festival.

Ahhhhh, what an exciting day! I spent 6 hours shouting and jumping around for "my" class, and we got first place in both categories (best team spirit and best overall score). Woot woot! Go 2-1! My throat hurts so much from cheering... whew. They won all the events except for tug-of-war! ^_^. So proud of them.

Here's another deluge of pictures. Can you spot my kids? Hint: We were the only class that got team t-shirts. In bright orange. I think it would have been nice if all the classes had gotten shirts, too.

Random cultural note: sports festivals are quite common for schools in Korea and Japan - they hold one at least once a year. All grades participate using a point system for different events, so the 7th graders don't have to go up directly against the 9th graders. Teachers get very competitive about their classes, and parents come by with snacks and drinks for the kids. It was really fun! I'm glad I got to be a part of it.

PS - The color in the photos might be a bit varied. I was messing around with the settings on iPhoto (boost color) and went a little click-happy.