End of the Winter Semester

Another semester down and two to go. Yes, that's right, two more semesters left in Korea then who knows what's going to happen next. That is of course, if my FBI Background Check arrives in time. I sent it a month ago so I shouldn't have any problems. Then again, you just never know. It was a good semester, a little quiet, which is good and bad, but overall, things went well. Here are a few photos of the students and of our end of semester staff dinner, this time at Outback.

(Smarty pants - Heidi and Eunsuh - highest level in Elementary School)

(Eunsuh lived in Canada for over a year so her English is pretty solid - and she's smart!)

(GA kids - second highest level. We have Shawn, Nick, myself, Christina, Ann, Alice, and Rina)

(Nick during debate)

(Alice preparing to speak about the cons of nuclear weapons.)

(JI - Big Boy, Marky Mark, Tony Moly, Lisa, Alexander, Kel, Jennifer, Jason, Liz, Jammy, LG, Eileen, Alice, and Lisa2)

(Eileen hard at work)

(Big Boy blocking the shot by holding up his newspaper)

(Busy with their workbooks)

(Tuesday and Thursday JI - Ferris, Loy, Tommy2, Tommy1, Daisy, Julie, Tina, Nick, Hanny, Sally, Alice, Sally2, Izabel, and Adella)

(One of my all time favorite students - smart, loved to participate, and put a lot of effort into her homework.)

(Tina was another favorite student, mainly because she was just so darn cute)

(Tina trying to stick her tongue out at me)

(Hanny and Sally)

(Tommy1 has a question)

(Last class Tuesday and Thursday with LG, Jinie, James, Richard, John, Jake, Mario, David, and Clarence)

(LG and Jinie not wanting their pictures taken)

(Clarence doing some Writing Book work, working on his essay)

(We finished the semester at Outback to celebrate the long and grinding winter semester. I did enjoy my steak. Here we have Spenser and across the table, Chelice, Drew, and Katrina.)

(Group shot)

(From the other end of the table)

(Lindsay, Justin, and Harry. Sadly, this was Justin's last semester at Avalon.)

A Double Dose of Staff Dinners

Going out to eat with the boss is quite common in Korea and it's not unheard of to drink shots of Soju until the boss says stop. Luckily, that's not the case at Avalon. We do occasionally have a staff dinner at the end of every semester to say goodbye to outgoing teachers and hello to new teachers. And, every once and while, as was the case a few weeks ago, we get one in the middle of the semester for a special occasion. This special occasion - one of our students got into Cheongshim Middle School.

For those of you who have yet to hear, Cheongshim Middle School is the Harvard of Middle Schools in Korea. Without going into too many details, he will live in a dormitory and his parents will pay roughly $20,000 - yes, that's not a mistake, twenty thousand dollars - starting in middle school. So, you are looking at close to $150,000 to graduate high school, not to mention the costs of extra academies his parents have already paid. However, he will have his choice of universities which ensures him a great job and a great life style. In Korea, nothing could be more important. Here are a few pics from two staff dinners:

(Kelly and Ashley - Kelly went to pursue a career in economics)


(Harry Harry Long ya'll. Harry is the newest teacher, coming in from England - which is easy to tell from his accent.)


(Myself and Katrina. I was sporting a little facial hair at the time. I tell Katrina all the time but I think it has gotten much thicker in Korea - woot woot! It's still not great though...)


(Justin and Calvin - Calvin will be leaving in two weeks time)


(Ellen and Katrina - Ellen is a super kind woman and fun to work with)


(Spenser, and to the left, Young and JK - chowing down on some Korean style galbi)


(Myself and Ellen - we were discussing John Adams)


(Kate and Chelice - my bosses. Kate is the elementary school secretary but secretary is not the right word to use and Chelice is the office manager for elementary school, perhaps all of Avalon. I get along with both of them just great which is why I've been here a year and a half. Chelice and I each spend extra time working with the Cheongshim students - Chelice two hours a week and myself one - after regular classes are finished. So, I know for her it was especially gratifying to have at least one student pass. I am and was super excited as well.)


(Katrina, Ashley, Lucy, and Justin)


(Katrina thrilled to death to be at a meat restaurant)


(Calvin - 'if you smell what the Rock is cookin' impersonation)


(Table shot - you can see the grill, or 3 of them if you look closely, where you actually cook your own meat)


(Rachel, Grace, and Clara. Rachel and Clara are two of the newer teachers. Grace, I believe, has been here just about as long as me.)


(Anna checking out the menu and another shot of the grill)


(A big smile on my face, celebrating Sebastian's success and enjoying my meaty goodness)


(Pap. I think my grandmother is better on a computer than this guy. He's 32 and just missed out on the technological revolutions of my time. He uses the hunt and peck method to type, same as my dad, and doesn't know how to copy and paste without using the mouse. Pap will also be leaving in about 2 weeks.)