SNOW! is the theme of the day

Snow #1: for my birthday I went with Sarah Yu, Kirsten, Emily, Meredith, Don, Phil, and Elizabeth on a sled trip. We took a bus to a ski resort expecting to find big hills. Instead we found two fairly small slopes in kidsland. We made the most of the situation, though. We tried to race and take each other out. Phil even tried to take out the man who sat with a whistle at the bottom of the hill. The little whistle guy wore an animal hat and sprinted at you as you approached the bottom. Aparently this was supposed to make me want so slow down... instead all I wanted to do was laugh.

Looking like a true sledder... all bundled up!


Check out the monster hills we had. We were REALLY tough.


A few shots with friends:





SNOW #2- It doesn't snow much in Daejeon, but we woke up this morning to several inches of snow on the ground. SO an impromptu lesson based of playing in the snow quickly formulated. I took my first block writing class outside to enjoy the fresh snow. My students threw snowballs, built snowmen, ran around, and laughed harder than I've seen them laugh in a long time... then they came back inside and wrote poems capturing their expereinces. We shared our poems gathered around a heater and managed to turn class into a great writing workshop time :) The snow lasted all day long-- today we got to have soccer practice in the snow too! Trying to get those high school girls to toughen up... I guess with weather like this we won't have to work as hard! I know I'm a special Californian who clearly does not get enough snow in her life, but snow is so much fun! Eeeeeeeeeek!

TCIS in the snow


F block


My kids in action





Snow is so great when you only get it a few times a year :)

Pics from Mom's visit

Some random moments from Mom's trip. It was a great time and I SO appreciated getting to see her. I think she enjoyed her time here too :)

We went to the top of Seoul Tower


We ate breakfast with the Yu family on Lunar New Years morning-- it was a traditional breakfast of duk gook (a soup). I LOVE the Yu fam :)


On Lunar New Years we went to a palace to see the kids dressed up. A few palace pics:



And the kids we were obsessed with there:




We walked around downtown Seoul and stopped at the iceskating rink


Here we are playing at a simulation in the war museum... taking an unexpected break from the seriousness of the museum.


Sarah played with Mom and I too


Some very un-california-like weather for my mom in Daejeon

Taiwan in Photo Form

It has been far too long since I have updated my blog. Since I last posted I have been to Taiwan, my mom has visited Korea, and I have started coaching the girls high school soccer team. Life has been a bit crazy the last week and a half and I'm still trying to get caught up from my adventures. Anyhow, I do not have time right now to post on all at once, but I figure my Taiwan pics are the most overdue. Alas, a few pics from my 4 day trip to Taiwan.

My travel buddy, Christine, and I


Dumplings were my favorite thing in Taiwan... (well, I also really loved their pearl tea...)


Street markets


Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the world at the moment)


By a famous temple in Taipei


I ate snake


At the Shila Residence... gorgeous gardens


If you want to see a full album of Taiwan, check out my facebook album: (link below)
http://vanderbilt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2093731&l=7569d&id=4702163

Snake and Shake

I'm in Taiwan and I ate snake for dinner tonight. Yep, you heard me right-- snake. Voluntarily. I sort of freaked out as I stepped over a six footer in the entry way but stayed strong while we waited for our snake to be prepared. And you know what? Snake was pretty good! Christine and I both agreed that it was tasty indeed. Pictures to come. For now, back to exploring Taiwan...