Countdown until departure!

As I write this, I am sitting in my very clean apartment next to my very stuffed hiking backpack ready to go on vacation.  In less than one hour, I will be getting on a city airport shuttle bus for my flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I am so so so so so so excited!  As I was commuting to work in snow this morning, all I kept saying to myself was "beach, beach, beach".  I am ready to trade in the cold weather, stockings, boots, and gloves for a bikini and sunshine.  I am also super excited to feel like a tourist and act like a tourist.  I think this trip will provide an interesting perspective on Korea compared to some other countries in Asia.

My rough itinerary is as follows:

1. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
2. Penang, Malaysia
3. Phuket, Thailand
4. Ko Phi Phi, Thailand
5. Bangkok, Thailand
6. Hanoi, Vietnam
7. Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
8. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
9. Phu Quoc, Vietnam

After reading that, any reasonable person would call me crazy for trying to do all of this in 3 weeks.  But, I am ready to be on the move and check out some new places.

The past two weeks, I have been busy running "Winter English Camp".  I had two separate groups of about 10 girls each for one week for 3-4 hours each day.  I designed the camp by basing each day on a different sense (sight, smell, hear, touch, taste) and by having the girls prepare all week for a puppet show of the "The Three Little Pigs".  Each day there was a basic lesson, an art/science activity, and then puppet show prep.  Camp went better than expected and it seemed like the girls enjoyed it more than regular school.  The best part about camp was that I actually felt like a teacher.  It was the first time that I had complete control of the classroom (no native speaking Korean teacher) and complete control of the material (not a textbook).  I really enjoyed it and wish that my job was more like this usually.

Here are some pics of Winter Camp activities (the girls hate to take pictures):

The puppets!

A different set of puppets.

Recognize the straw, stick, and brick house?  The stick house is made from chopsticks.

Stage Week 1- They are really creative.

Clothing lesson with magazine cut outs.

Traveling lesson- making passports.

They all wanted to go everywhere, just like me!

Learning about the body by making pasta skeletons.

Family tree puzzle.

Stage Week 2- They are really good artists.

Puppet show practice.

Group Week 2

Bon Voyage!!