Pre-Chuseok and September birthday party

I must apologize for the delay in putting this post about Chuseok (which was September 30th) up here because I wanted to have the time to sit down and actually talk a little more in depth about the holiday and the happenings at the school. I also wanted to be able to show you all the neat pictures I was able to take of everyone in their hanboks. 

So basically Chuseok is Korean Thanksgiving. They dress up in their hanboks and visit with family. People are usually off work or out of school to celebrate. We had a 5 day weekend because of the holiday which was very nice. We knew that, but it was a bit of a surprise to suddenly find everyone dressed up in their hanboks on Friday before the Chuseok holiday on Sunday.

We were sitting upstairs until it was time to go down and then we both started hearing little voices yelling "Man Teacher!" and I hear Zach go downstairs and say "oh, you're so cute!" I ran down quick and everyone is dressed in their hanboks. I obviously had to then take my camera with me so I can shower you all with amazing pictures of these little people and their hanboks. 

Friday was also the day to celebrate September birthdays so there was an afternoon party and it was all around a pretty crazy day. The songpyeon was pretty good though. 

Everyone was dressed so nice. This was at breakfast, before classes started. That's James and Julia in the front. Evelyn is watching behind them. 

James seems to think that something is hilarious.

Everyone doing their homework before they eat breakfast.

Sarah and Evelyn sitting in my class in the front (L to R) and then Julia and Stella are in the back.

They're both little hams, aren't they?

Everyone lined up for a class picture. This is one of my favorites. 

I nabbed this picture from the school website, this is me in my natural habitat. Surrounded by tiny people.

Speaking of natural habitats, this is Zach in his. Surrounded by slightly bigger little people.

Luke is being his cute self here, accompanied by Lily's profile. You can also see Carley in the back.

Left to right from front to back you have Chris and Susan and then Aiden and  Kate in the back.

Time to do worksheets!

The boys work on their own worksheets. Also, Daniel has arrived (he's in the front).

My class frequently sees drama, so here you have Julia being motherly and drying Stella's tears. 

I love this picture of John, so cute!

So let me tell you a story. We read a picture book about this little boy who was "turned into" a pizza on a rainy day because he was sad he couldn't go out to play with his friends. Then we talked about pizza toppings and what you put on pizza. Well, the week before we had read Brown Bear, Brown Bear where a macaroni penguin is mentioned. Thus, pepperoni penguin became a thing and this is my stirring rendition of pepperoni penguin art. They all decided suddenly that they were going to erase pepperoni penguin to make me a sad, sad teacher. The end.

In the morning we all helped make songpyeon with chef teacher. 

Hana Teacher wore her hanbok too, it was lovely.

Everyone had a really good time, some of them concentrated very hard while others really didn't.

Songpyeon made by big and small fingers ready to be steamed!

Carley, of course, decided to make snowmen.

After the songpyeon is made it's steamed for a while on a bed of pine needles. They're tasty, but stick to your teeth when they're still warm. They're better when they're cold.

After we had a short class following lunch it was time for the September birthday party. Because some of the kids changed out of their hanboks they all had to get dressed again. Here Julia is helping Evelyn back into hers.

That looks good... oh... wait...

That's better, she forgot a layer!

Everyone waits patiently while things for the birthday party are prepared.

Here everyone is getting ready and lighting the candles on the cakes. This month were birthdays for Christina, Tomas, John, and Jake.

Finally, everyone got to enjoy cake, fruit, juice, snacks, and more. This also meant that we had completed our first month here (give or take a few days)!