Cute moments

If I earned a penny for every time my students said/did something hysterical, I would be pretty rich. I should have had a notebook titled "Kid Quotes" at the beginning of the year to just record them all. I was able to document a few of the moments that were in writing...everything else depends on my memory (which usually fails me an hour after the moment). Before our science unit on Materials & Objects, I had the students work together in groups to make a KWL chart (What they Know, what they Want to know, and the what they Learned would be later). According to one of my students, his knowledge of materials and objects was that squirrels were made of meat. He even drew a picture with a label! At least that wasn't his question, because I am definitely not talking about the properties and materials of animals...

For our writer's suitcase that has been going home each weekend, one precious girl decided to paste some of the wallpaper from her new house into our writer's notebook. The students take the whole week to fill our comment jar, and I decided to read a few of them. Here's one (from the same student as above)..."I like the way you put the wallpaper in the journal (It feels good!)". I love how kids talk to each other....especially these two. They are both American in a sea of Korean students so they have a natural draw and bond to each other. I find it hard not to laugh at their interactions at times. One time when he was telling her some fascinating information about dolphins, he proceeded to act out how they can stick their noses 1 inch from your face. Boy was she startled! I just walked away laughing to myself I almost cried.

A six hour adventure to the border...

Friday Morning:

Dave: "Hey hon...do you want to go somewhere for spring break?"

Lauren: "Are you sure? It starts tomorrow! Do you think we'll have time?"

Dave: "Oh sure, I'll just run and get tickets today....let's go see the border of China and North Korea!"

Lauren: "OOOOokkkk (brief hesitation)...sounds like fun!"

And we were off to Dandong....marveling at the spontaneity of it, and looking forward to the adventure of our riverfront hotel, two days of exploring and seeing what we could of North Korea (museums, mountains, boat rides, etc).

Here we are on the train super excited for our adventure together!

And then we got off the train:

Dave: "OOhhhh....no..."

Lauren: "What? Did you forget something on the train"

Dave: "The passports are at home......"

Lauren: "Ohhh.....that means..."

Dave: "no hotel...."

Luckily, we were able to keep good spirits about it and quickly searched for a ride back that evening. Since the next train was leaving at 12:00 and it was already 11:00, we decided to take a bus back at 6:30 that evening. We left our luggage with the bus station and were off to cram it all in one day! Good thing Dandong is a small city...a verymanageable trip for just one day...just not ideal. We had to cut our sight-seeing in half, yet were able to see the main attractions....the border itself and a boat ride in Korean waters. We were thrilled!

Since we didn't have a hotel room to crash in when our feet were throbbing, this SPR shop was our resting place. Good food, good coffee and great atmosphere!

Here is a shot of North Korea. Interesting to see a ferris wheel in the background. Wonder if anyone rides that thing?

We had our own personal speedboat for a good 20 minutes! Let's just say, we got up close and personal with the "other side".

Note to self: Don't look through binoculars when your on rocky waters going a very fast speed. I think I bruised my cheekbone!

China behind us An old steam shovel that hasn't been used in the states for decades....wonder if the Koreans use it....

The entrance to the bridge that was bombed by Americans during the Korean war.

It was so interesting to see the contrast of countries. Looking over to one side, it is dark and dismal with not much going on. And over here in Dandong, they had bands playing, kites flying, and people laughing. I wonder if they are envious of the joy.

It was so neat to watch this guy paint characters on the ground. If you didn't look long enough, what he wrote evaporated in a matter of minutes!

And to end the day, we treated our twisted back and shin splints with a 20 kuai massage (that's like $3.00)...it was fabulous.

And then filled our tummies before hopping on the train! What a day!

Hopefully we can make it back to Dandong again to see the museum and hike a well known mountain. But through it all, He provided! We felt so blessed by how everything worked out...and we sure did save a lot of money :)