Words,Marshmallow Hot Chocolate and Stationary

This morning I had to drag myself out of bed at 5:45...ok well the alarm went off at 5:45 and I had to be in the lobby by 6:20 to get the bus. it was tight! Me and Jane were do excited by the Special K with Strawberries (simple things make us happy) the guys were not so excited by that. We were disappointed byt the tea and couldn't understand why it wasnt turning brown ..it was some sort of yellowish colour, until we relaised we had put the chinese tea in!

The conference was inspirong. The firs tkey note speaker was talking about the media and the influence for good and bad that it has on out children. I went to workshops on teaching ESL kids one on learning the other on writing, digital portfolios (@ Fiona if you are reading this you have done a great job with the wiki ..you ticked lots of boxes so thumbs up!!) and Motivating Teachers. The most inspirational of all was a lady called Dr. Josephine Kim who talked about being culturally sensitive but it was really her testimony of how she switched between Korean and American culture and eventually went to an international school. She shared how one teacher in America turned her life around and made her feel worth something,. I had tears in my eyes. Also how the hard times in her life when she was confused as to where she belonged helped to shape her into the person who she is now,a lecturer in Harvard University.

We met with some other teachers from Cambodia and prayed as this is a  national day of morning for the 339 people who died on Sunday and over 1,000 injured.

We went to find somewhere to eat at teh shopping centre and ended up at Burger King (we ate all Korean yesterday!) Then a coffee and cream puff in Dunkin Donuts. They have these cool gadgets. When you by a drink you get a balck disc like a spaceship.When your drink is ready it lights up!!
After this I went shopping....got some little goodies for my lovely family!!!

Suwon

I left Phnom Penh last night, and it was warm almsot hot to go to Korea for an education conference with three other teachers from HOPE. The plane was delayed so we didnt leave until 12:30 midnight. Fortunately I was able to catch a little bit of sleep only to be woken up at about 4am for breakfast. (it was very nice) We arrived at about 7:30 am and got out of the plane and could see my breath...so lovely and cold.

                               

We then had a but journey of about 1 1/2 hours to Suwon the town we are staying in. The youth hostel we were satying in was not on the bus route so we had to get a taxi but before we got the taxi we spotted a Dunkin Dounut and we had to stop for breakfast! There were so many yummy dounuts and as we are so starved of anything like this in Cambodia it took a little while for us to decide. It is funny how when you go to a new country you unconsciously look fo the familiar and when you find it, everything starts to slide into place.

When we took the taxi we found that the youth hostel in in the old walled city of Suwon overlooked by a hill covered in maple tree in a wonderful range of yellow, orange and red leaves. There are even leaves on the ground to swish through! (Jane one of the other teachers got very excited about this. The youth hostel is very nice and in such a great location. The rest of the city reminds me of a tired town in England...lots of tall grey buildings, but the part we are in has all the history.

All we wanted to do was check in and put our heads down but the rooms were not ready. Fortunately one teacher came a day early so we went and put all the luggage in that room and sat down for a bit (sorry Brent!)

After we had rested we went for a wander through the city centre to find out bearings (and suitable coffee shops or places to eat) There seems to be so few people about until we discovered a side street. I love the way you just see a street and have to walk down it and then discover a whole area with lots happening. By this time our stomachs were reminding us we needed feeding. So we set abotut trying to find a place to eat. There were plenty of clothes shops, household shops, the odd pizza place (which face it we could go to in Phnom Penh) and street food. Most of this seemed to be dried octopus or fried bugs which at this point of sleep depravation none of us felt up to trying. We then saw some steam and there was a display outside a shop of different steamed cakes and patties of meat. The lady at the stall was gesturing to us and we noticed inside some low tables and other people eating so we went in.

Everything was in Korean except some prices but there were pictures, so we pointed to two soups. One was a pork and vegetable dumpling soup with the most delicious dumplings. The other one was a beef soup which was also lovley. It was served with rice, and pickled vegetables..eaten with chopsticks and us seated on the floor. At $4 each it was also a good price we think!

After a wander back we found a waffle shop...waffles with syrup and chocolate sauce...mmmmmm!

And after all that I get back to find that my room is still not ready.....so have to wait ..not good until I spot a free computer and free wi-fi! So now I will see if I can have that needed head down time!

(Photos all taken from google ..my photos will come later)