New Semester

December is here and with it brings the new semester at our school. This semester will have the lightest workload of the four while I'm here. This is because we lose our sixth grade students to the middle school, but we don't get new third graders until March. So instead of having five or six classes every day I now have three or four. I'm pretty excited about this. I will still be busy making new classroom materials, writing stories, and other various things but the next three months should be pretty fun.

It seems like winter is trying really hard to start out here. The temperatures keep flirting between twenty five and fifty degrees. There was a little bit of snow one night but nothing substantial. To be honest I hope we get a significant amount soon because it's been such a long time since I've lived somewhere with a lot of snow. Either way it's nice to experience the changing seasons again.

I have definitely eaten some interesting foods this week. On Tuesday we had a party for a few of the teachers who are leaving the school and I got to try sannakji. These are squid tentacles fresh from the squid. So fresh in fact that they are still moving and wriggling on the plate when it's brought out to you. Strange, strange thing to eat. You are supposed to chew them up really good before you swallow or else the suckers, which are still active, could stick to your throat and make you choke. They tasted ok, not my favorite but most Koreans I talk to love them. I guess they are supposed to make you strong.

The other interesting food I tried was chicken feet. This is a food that supposedly is really good for your skin. I liked this one a lot better than the sannakji. They were served in a really spicy sauce and came with plastic gloves so you could just dive in and pick them up with your hands., crunch the whole thing in your mouth and spit out the bones.

Coming up in a couple weeks is the semiannual ENM school party. This is the second of four Saturdays I have to work during the year. We give stickers to kids who do their homework and for some class activities and this is the time they get to redeem their stickers. They can buy food and prizes with them. I think I have been pegged to play Santa Claus at the party. Not too sure how I feel about that but we'll see how it works out.

That's all for now, keep fighting the good fight everyone!!
Much love!