Anyone Wanna Buy a Rooster?

Yesterday, Leslie and I stumbled across blocks of pet stores. Koreans are a little unorthodox in their pet choices. Small dogs that fit in purses are popular, but children seem to like their pets to be a little more exotic... or rural, I suppose. The stores did have some standard pets (I only saw one cat between about 10 shops), but here's a sample of some of the stranger ones. One fish store even had sharks! Keep in mind that about 95% of Koreans live in apartments without even a balcony.
Tadpoles, anyone?

Naked Little Frogs


You can get a whole family of chickens...I'm not sure where you'd keep them in an apartment though. And do you really want a rooster crowing every morning. Your neighbors would hate you! I've had students bring these little chicks to school in paper bags, I'm guessing they don't live long.


I saved the best for last. I'd really like to know who has a chipmunk in their house, and how do you play with it?

Won't My Mommy Be So Proud Of Me

Here's a video of my kids singing the classic "Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee" Its a performance you won't soon forget!

Spring Picnic

Today we loaded up in the buses and drove to Achason Mountain. We've been studying spring in Kindergarten so the trip was an excuse to look at all the cherry blossoms and magnolias blooming right now but, as usual, the trip was basically a photo op for GKI to show the parents where their $650 a month goes. The school actually hires photographers and videographers to accompany us on field trips and for other events and then sells the photos back to the parents.

The scenery was really beautiful, but the kids just wanted to run around. Some of the trees were so covered in blossoms it looked liked snow. I wish Canada had a real spring. All they get is melting dog poo and dirty, slushy roads.

We had a picnic lunch of kimbap, ketchup sandwiches, grapes, tomatoes and various snack foods. I really don't like Kimbap but the kids think they're being so thoughful sharing their lunch, so I generally spend lunch sneaking it back into their lunchboxes or pawning it off on the other teachers. On the bus on the way back the kids were being silly making funny faces. Here's Paris, he's usually pretty cute :)

Cirque Du Soleil

Last night I went to Cirque du Soleil and it was amazing! (even though there were no monkeys) My friend, Leslie, and I bought tickets in February, so the anticipation had been building up for quite some time. The advantage to buying tickets early though is getting really good seats. We were only 6 rows back from the stage and just off to the side a little. It was fantastic!

The big top was set up outside the Olympic Stadium, it wasn't as big as I expected inside, but still cool. The show was called Quidam and the program says its about a nameless passerby, a solitary figure lingering on a street corner, a person rushing past, a person who lives lost amidst the crowd in an all-too-anonymous society. The plot is supposed to be abstract, so really it was more about the performances. There were young Chinese girls who did amazing tricks with wooden spools and rope. There was an acrobat who did all her tricks hanging from the ceiling, holding on to only a long silk cloth. There was a guy in a metal wheel who did really cool tricks. Then everyone came on and jumped rope, extreme jump rope. At one point there was a guy skipping with one rope, inside 3 other ropes turning at different times. There were even human statues. They moved really slow but did things that should have been impossible. The costumes, the make-up, everything, was surreal.

Outside the Big Top

Inside the Big Top