My Babies' Non-Halloween

So today was supposed to be our kindergarten Halloween party at school. Originally they were going to go around to their apartment buildings and trick-or-treat for their mothers. Then plans changed and they decided to keep them all in the building and just have a party here. So this morning I was supposed to pass out the candy the mothers sent in and keep the kids entertained for 40 minutes before the party was supposed to start. At the hour of the party, however, we found out that one of my kids from my class who was absent today had swine flu, so they didn't want the kids to all be together so they cancelled the party. I was told to keep them busy just doing work and stuff, then about 10 minutes later they brought me a mask and told me to put it on...not sure why I needed one, seeing as how I was the only person in the room capable of covering my coughs and sneezes ;) Anyways, another 5 minutes pass and my coteacher comes and tells the kids to pack up, my students parents are coming to get them and they have to go home now. All this is going on and my kids are just looking at me going, "Adrienne teacher, why no Halloween?" I was sad for them, because we hyped up this party so much and then they got nothing really. So they're not coming back to school until Tuesday, and I had to go to the hospital with my coteacher to get tested, and then sent home for the day too. I actually do have a fever today (I thought so) but it's apparently not swine flu. So it's 3:30 and I'm home until this time Monday. I'm really sad that I'm missing today actually because I had all sorts of fun Halloween stuff ready for all my afternoon classes, and now I'm not going to be the one who does it with them.

Anyways, I'm glad I took my camera out first thing this morning and started taking pictures, so I actually have pictures of my kids in their costumes to show:

This is Tom (somebody from the movie Cars) and Ryn (Minnie Mouse)

Tom again, Joey (Spiderman) and John (a Power Ranger)

My only girls. Ryn again and Christina (a ladybug).

I took some pictures randomly as we were waiting for parents to come pick them up. I love this one because you can see the utter chaos I deal with nonstop with these kids- all the blurry arms and hands, everyone doing different things, no one sitting. Obviously this was a bit different because it really was kind of a free-for-all at this point, I was just the referee. I swear some days they get like this during class though too.
Here's my class: two Spidermans(men?), two Power Rangers, a Batman with a broken arm, a vampire, someone from Cars, and two girls hiding from the camera, plus one more boy home with swine flu.

A Halloween Story

This is a story that one of my students wrote for me yesterday:

Once upon a time there was who named Adrienne witch and Ester princess. Adrienne want to be a princess so, she make Ester to a Easter. But, Ryan prince went to fight with Adrienne. Adrienne said, Change to a frog but, Ryan prince use a mirror but, Adrienne became a Tiger. In real Adrinne was Jeniifer. Jenifer was the first princess with Ryan.

A-freaking-mazing. Peter, the author, is now the only student in my advanced afternoon class, after the other 3 left because of petty mothers. Now since it's just him, we finish lessons pretty early and I try to let him do some fun stuff to keep him happy. Yesterday we had about 5 minutes so I asked him to write me a story about Halloween- this is what I got. All the names are teachers at our school. Peter is a third-year kindergartener, so that would make him a first grader at home.

I just wanted to share this bit of Halloween awesomeness with you.

Fall!

The days are cool, the wind is downright cold, and I've had to break out the jackets- fall has arrived! This is my favorite time of year, and it's especially beautiful here. The trees are all brightly colored and striking against the perfectly clear sky. I noticed yesterday evening that the park was looking quite nice, so I decided to go back this morning and take pictures. Here ya go:

I like how this lady's red jacket matches the trees :)

China!

Sorry it's taken me so long to write this, but I've just been super lazy since returning to Korea ;) I spent 4 days in China visiting Charlie at his home in Hangzhou. Hangzhou has historically been known as the prettiest city in China, and while that might not be apparent out where Charlie lives, the city center was quite nice. Not that where Charlie lives is a dump, it just looks like the outskirts of any city- lots of concrete, not a lot of excitement. Downtown there is a beautiful lake where we spent a good bit of time- we kept returning hoping to find it not so crowded, but that never worked. It was a week of national holiday in China since they were celebrating both the fall harvest festival and the 60th anniversary of the Communist party's takeover. This meant that downtown was chock full of people, many of them Chinese tourists with their faces buried in maps. It was a nice relaxing trip; we just spent a lot of time wandering around different parts of the city and seeing the sites. Hangzhou is definitely a nice city, and somewhere I want to go again for sure.

Here's the sunrise, and the view from Charlie's window.

Charlie, looking extremely tall. Notice the people turned around staring.

Me, in front of the West Lake.

And a pretty view of the sunset over the lake.