A Weekend Away

with the 10th Graders If the Talent Show was my favorite night of the year, this might have been my favorite weekend. I worked a lot with the 10th graders this past year. As their class sponsor they found a special place in my heart. So when a couple of students came to me and asked if we could do a class trip I succumb to their request, even in the midst of end-of-the-year busyness. We headed to the beach on our last long weekend, just a couple of weeks before the end of the semester. Here is the weekend in review:

There were 23 of us, 18 students and 5 adults. We loaded into 5 cars- here's the craziness inside one of them along the way.

One the road... little did we know that ahead of us lay LOTS of traffic.

I love this view of rice fields that have been flooded in order to get them ready for planting.

Eventually all that water will allow them to grow up vibrant green- which is what we saw out the window on much of our drive.

MinYoung is SO glad that we finally made it after a long 7 hour car ride. The house we stayed at was HUGE. I was afraid that all 23 of us were not going to fit, but we did with plenty of space. It was a beautiful place and was perfect for our weekend away.

We arrived to a special treat! Coconuts for everyone!

Jemma and Caris enjoying some yummy coconuts.

And of course we enjoyed lots of beach time. Here Bora and I sit on the sand chatting.

While some of the boys dig themselves into holes.

And then they decide to bury Terry. Yes, completely bury him.

He comes out fully covered in sand.

So it is time to wash off.

Bora and I just sit back and watch. Silly boys. :)

Some fun beach jumping shots.

I love the international make-up of my school. Throughout the trip we had three languages going constantly- English, Indonesian, and Korean. The students have to speak only English at school, but this trip of course was different. The parents of one of the Korean students came with us as chaperons. The mom and I kind of avoided each other the first half of the trip because of the akwardness of language differences. Then finally we broke through that and ended up having a pretty serious conversation on the beach- mostly in Indonesian, with the little English she knew and some Korean thrown in as well.

An afternoon snack of local Indonesian ice cream. I joined with a small group of students and decided to give it a try. They filled a little cup with ice cream, cake pieces, red beans, black fermented rice, jellies, and some sort of sauce. It was... interesting. But Alvin looks pretty excited about it. :)

Dinner was some local fish. We got a great deal thanks to the Korean dad that was with us.

Barbecue time.

Some of the boys decided to go hunting for crabs while we waited for dinner to cook. They came back with a bucketful and then insisted on cooking them and eating them.

Here is the table that we gathered around for meals. The house was great and had a huge kitchen and eating area. In this picture I think Joel, one of our high school teachers who came as a chaperon, is overseeing the crab eating.

Dan, our high school principle, also came along as a chaperon. Here he is telling the kids a story about his foot. Next to him is Yoon Seong who joined a bunch of the guys in getting a henna tattoo, which are easy to get at the beach and very inexpensive.

The nights consisted of staying up very late, playing games, talking, laughing, and some people could not stay awake for it all.

Here is a cool view from the second floor of the house looking out toward the beach. The night sky was being lit up by lightening.

Sunday morning we gathered for some singing and a devotional before we left- only to face more traffic and a long ride home again. Despite the traffic from the holiday weekend we still had a blast. I really enjoyed hanging out with these students and taking them away from school to have new experiences. One of my students had never been swimming in the ocean before. (He had been but never gotten in.) It was so fun to watch him wade around for hours, even after everyone else had gotten out. And some of the girls had never ridden a becek before (a local form of transportation). I laughed as they got in and sqealed with delight at the new experience.

BAIS Talent Show

This might be my favorite night of the year.

All year I have been working with Student Council as their staff advisor. To be honest it was a new role for me that I found quite challenging. Questions like "how do you challenge students to step up as leaders?" and "how do you develop student leaders with vision and character?" plagued me all year. The group learned a lot, but I think I learned more from working with them.

All year we worked on various projects and put on different events. Our last big project for the year was putting on a talent show to help raise money to put air conditioning in our Multi-Purpose room. As the event drew near I was nervous to see if we were going to be able to pull it off. There were lots of details to sort through and a lack of communication amongst the students at times. However, on the night of it all came together and was fabulous. I loved watching my StuCo kids unite together and work as a team. Each person had a different role in making it all happen- someone ran the lights, another the sound board, another was our emcee; a couple people were in charge of the curtain, a couple people sold tickets, others were stage hands, and someone had the special job of making sure each act was lined up and on stage when they were supposed to be. It took everyone coming together to make it happen and they did a great job!

Here are a few pictures to show some highlights, although it cannot nearly compare to being there in person, hearing the music, and appreciating the various talents at our school.

Bora, one of the 10th grade class reps, helps emcee along with Laura who works in the office.
They were hillarious and made frequent references to how hot it was so people would be
inclined to give money to the AC.

This precious Preschooler opened the show doing hoola-hoop.
We had a wide variety of acts as this picture displays.

We also had staff participate. Here Laura, Molly, and Adam sing "Man of Constant Sorrows,"
with costumes and dance moves to go along.

We were surprised by performances from students who displayed hidden talents.

The Spanish 2 class presented a skit in Spanish.

The Mandarin 2 class followed suit and performed a song in Mandarin.

We had some solo performances from high school students.

As well as group performances from different high school bands.

Our High School principle even joined in and performed a song.

To close the show a group of high schoolers and a couple staff members danced to "Thriller."

They had secretly been practicing and wowed the crowd with their performance.

Here they are again, still in character.

A group of high school girls danced to a famous Korean song.
While they danced a large part of the audience sang along.
Here's the group after the show.

Lastly, this is a shot of me with the group that made the whole event happen-
student council. They rock!

High School Banquet 2010

The next big event was the high school banquet. This year's theme was "Purple Like Jazz." The night included pictures, dinner, a special power point with pictures of the seniors over the years, speeches to honor the seniors, dessert, and time for more pictures. The Junior class is in charge of this special night to honor the senior class. They spent much of the year planning and getting things ready and did a great job pulling it off. It is always a fun night, where everyone gets dressed up and celebrates the ending of another year.

The Junior class wanted to make it a special night and did a great job serving in various roles.
Some people were in charge of making special welcome drinks, others served them to you as you walked in, while others showed you to your table. The boys all wore bow ties and the girls wore purple flowers in their hair.

This is Chan Yang, one of my favorite students.

I know they tell you you are not supposed to have favorites, but I cannot help it.
He cracks me up.
I believe in this pictures he is supposed to be helping but really looks lost.

This group of girls gathered on Tuesday nights for high school girls' bible study.
We bonded over the semester and will miss those graduating and leaving us.

Me with Joy, one of the 11th grade students.

A view of the beautifully decorated room.

The seniors up on stage to present their "Senior Wills"- a time to give away special things
to students younger then them to continue their legacy as they leave.

This year they decided they wanted to have a "best dressed" contest.
Doowon won for the best dressed male. They gave him a sash and everything.

Class photos:

Senior class

Junior class
(the group that planned and hosted the banquet for the seniors)

Sophomore class

Freshman class

Eighth Grade Banquet

First event in our end of the year celebrations was the Grade 8 Banquet- a chance to celebrate the end of middle school before the students transition to high school next year. The banquet was held at a nice restaurant and was followed the next day by a class trip for a couple nights to a beach about 6 hours away. First the banquet:

Me with one of the few girls in the eighth grade class.

Here is me with all of the girls in the eighth grade. Yes, out of 22 students only 4 of them are girls.

Me with Paivi, our music teacher. Her and her family are from Finland and are leaving us this year to move to New York. She was a good friend and I will miss her.

Class photo.

A goofy one.

Throughout the night each set of parents got a chance to get up and share something for their student. I love this picture because it so embodies middle school. Here Aaron's parents give him a giant huge while he resists it with everything in him. I love middle schoolers!

At the end of the night the whole class got up and performed a few songs for us. Some students played instruments while others sang. They did a great job and are a very talented group.

Then the next day we set off for the beach. After a long bus ride, through mountainous, curvy roads we arrive. (I would love to say without incident but one of our students got sick along the way and threw up all over himself, his seat, and the floor.)

The kids jumped in the water and played and played all day long.

Here me and Karen, two of the five chaperones for the weekend, watch the students play in the water.

The waves were huge. I do believe some of the students in this picture are running away from the water because of it. They were some of the biggest, roughest waves I have ever been in.

The kids went back and forth from the pool to the ocean all day long. I loved watching them enjoy themselves and play together.

I love this picture. It fully represents eighth grade boys and reminds me why I love middle school.

Emma was the only eighth grade girl who chose to come on the trip. So her and I roomed together and spent a lot of time together. It was fun. I am glad we at least had each other. :)

And we all returned home exhausted from the fun.

On the way back our bus broke down three times and I was worried we might not make it. But we did- all accounted for and all in one piece.

End of the Year Madness

So the school year has come to a close, in typical fashion- absolute madness. The last month or so was so crazy, overwhelming, stressful, fun, and memorable. I am back stateside now and hanging out with family. I am loving being home and the chance to just relax.

Over the next several days I want to take some time to go back and fill you in on the last few weeks of the year. I am just now getting a chance to sort through the pictures and sit down and write about it all. Thanks for your patience. More to come. Stay tuned.