I read in the news this morning that North Korea has developed a candy to help make it’s kids grow up big and strong. It sounds like a great idea. Then, later on in the article I read “Unlike sugar-packed and chocolate-covered sweets, the North is hoping that children in the reclusive state will enjoy munching on their nutritional candy made of seaweed, beans, carrots and sesame seeds, the newspaper said.” Ummm, maybe it’s just me, but SEAWEED, BEANS, and CARROTS are not candy!!! I’m trying to imagine all the Twix lovin’ kids back home throwing a temper tantrum in the grocery store because they want some of that ‘seaweed and carrot’ candy.

Sometimes, my students worry my with their observations. I’ve never been one to wear a lot of makeup, and my eyeshadow is usually barely noticeable. I tried a new shade the other day, still barely visible. (kind of like my mom paints the house, then tells me “this white wall is green. this white wall is yellow, and this white wall is peach”) Like I said, barely noticable. Anyway, I walked into my Education class yesterday and the first thing they said was “OH! Teacher! Eyeshadow! Colour Change!” Just like that. exclamation marks and all. They can’t remember to use a verb in their sentences, but they notice I’ve changed my eyeshadow. They’re a great class.

It’s Festival time again here on campus, which is always lots of fun outside, but not so fun in class. All my students are either absent because of fatigue, and/or hangovers or else they’re in class suffering from fatigue and/or hangovers. So I’ve dedicated this week to a review games day and a take-home assignment day. So far it seems to be working well.

Tracy and I went for a walk around campus after dinner to say ‘hello’ to our students and take in the festivities. In the process we wound up at the pottery sale table. Now, it’s not enough that tomorrow we’re taking a semesters worth of our own pottery to the kiln, and that in 2 weeks we’ll have a house bursting with new wobbly bits of clay that are supposed to resemble flower pots and soup bowls. No, we had to buy some more wobbly bits of clay that other people made too! I got a little spoon rest for $1 and a piece that’s shaped like a bag that hangs on the wall for $12. I think when I grow up, I’ll probably see if I can make my whole house out of clay.

We had one of our World Famous Birthday Barbeque Bash’s tonight. (3 birthdays were being celebrated together) As usual, we sang ‘Happy Birthday” in as many laguages as we could, which means I think we sang 7 versions tonight. As you can see from the picture, it was a quasi-costume party (meaning costumes were optional). AND I am excited to say that the birthday pinata has been added to the fun. I hope it becomes a regular tradition. It was tremendous fun for us, and provided just as much amusement to the Korean onlookers with whom we shared the BBQ pit. So, after many hours of fun and frolic, I’m going to go to sleep.