It's been a busy month here in Seoul! It's hard to believe how much time has passed since our last update, and how much has happened since then. The month of October was packed to the brim. We celebrated our birthdays, celebrated Korean culture, raised money at our school's annual "Walk-a-Sock-a-Thon," took a 4th grade field trip, finished the first quarter, held parent-teacher conferences, started meeting with our GWAM missions team (and started leading an Elementary after-school program with that team), played some ultimate frisbee, had Elementary Spiritual Emphasis Week, and saw our first 4-D movie together! Fall is in full swing, and the weather is getting CHILLY! Joy is loving the fall colors but is wishing for Florida temperatures...Today the temperature in Seoul is 41 degrees - the temperature in South Florida is 80. Bennett is making fun of Joy for being a Floridian, but is secretly bundled up under a blanket right now.
The following pictures capture just a glimpse of the fun we've been having here:
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| Mrs. Parkhurst's 4th graders brought in pictures of themselves around the world to illustrate the 5 themes of geography. Our students have been from Jordan to California and just about everywhere in between! |
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| For Celebrate Korea Week, our 4th grade parents planned a special day of learning about hanji, a traditional Korean handmade paper. Learn about it here. |
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| The room parents also brought in traditional Korean shoes... |
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| ...and we made our own rice snacks. |
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| These little dried fish are mixed into the rice snacks. Joy was a little skeptical when she saw the eyes, but after sampling them agrees that they are pretty tasty. |
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| Taekwondo is a Korean martial art. A team of high school students came to demonstrate their abilities for our Elementary students. Can you do a back flip while breaking 3 boards along the way? Pow! Pow! Pow! They can! |
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| Our annual Walk-a-Sock-a-Thon allowed our students to learn about child labor around the world while raising money to support the International Justice Mission's efforts to end child slavery. Students collected 100KRW coins (the equivalent of dimes) in socks. The challenge? To have the HEAVIEST sock! The heaviest sock this year was 11 kilograms! To kick off the walk-a-thon, students aimed emptied socks at their team's bucket to see who could catch the most. |
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| Parkhurst, Jr. is our class pet. He sits at students' desks with them on their birthdays to celebrate the special occasion. Want to learn how to sing happy birthday in Korean? Click here! |
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| We were excited to receive some birthday mail! |
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| Our birthdays are on October 1st and 4th, and we had a day off of school on October 3rd. It was fun to get to celebrate together. For Joy's birthday, we went out to dinner at Wang Thai and then explored a few bookstores... |
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| This little bookstore is packed with stacks of used books. What a treasure! |
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| For Bennett's birthday, we watched a volleyball game at school and came home for brinner...pancakes and...uh...bacon... Oops. |
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| Mrs. Parkhurst's class made her a GIANT birthday card! |
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| So you want to see the world on a dime? Come to Ainns World in Seoul! |
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| 4th Grade enjoyed exploring famous world landmarks in miniature at this unique amusement park. |
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| Ok, so this isn't actually us. But, we did really go to see a 4D movie! Last night, we watched Thor on the big screen. Our seats vibrated and moved side to side as Thor fought off the bad guys, we felt air zip by our ears as a spear narrowly missed us, and we occasionally got a sharp kick in the back when someone went down hard. Oomph. It was a fun experience. |
We hope you enjoyed this brief taste of our life in Seoul this month.
We are excited that Christmas is on its way and that we will get to see some of you then!
With Love,
Bennett and Joy
I run in the path of your commandments, for you have set my heart free.
Psalm 119:32
