COVID-19

Still here...still alive...in case you were wondering.

Almost 2 months into the COVID-19 epidemic, and now that the WHO has officially declared a pandemic I thought I'd share a little of how it's been here.

Ready for the days and weeks ahead!

New Year's Resolutions (2020)

Hindsight is 20/20, and so is this year.   Not going to lie, 2019 has given me some hard knocks and unexpected setbacks and I am glad to see it go.  It's left some bruises and scars and the damage runs deep.  On a personal level, I've had to come back from a long way and it hasn't been easy....but it wouldn't be my life if it was easy...I've always had to fight.  Some days are better than others and some days are still miserable, but I've always managed to pick myself up and dust myself off.

So, here's to looking forward to 2020!

Ulleungdo and Dokdo Trip

So, I've taken a little break from uploading the information for my Around the World Camp series...and writing in general...because I had a lot to do.  I've made a lot of life decisions and been working hard to direct myself again, but more on that later.  In addition to having the 4th camp in the Around the World series to plan and put together...and teach...I took a mid-semester "educational trip" to Ulleungdo and Dokdo, hosted by the Dokdo Foundation.

Around the World Camp: Sweden

Had to take a break from documenting my "World Tour Camps" to get the semester started, new lessons planned and prepped, but now I'm back in the swing of things.  So, let's journey on!

Welcome to Sweden!

Around the World Camp: Egypt

First camp is starting to wind down.  Just 2 more countries for our first world tour.

Our penultimate country is Egypt.

For Egypt, I recruited a little help from actual Egyptologist, and one of my "bestest" friends, Dr. Jenny.  She had some great suggestions for famous places and things (like Alexandria, the Suez Canal, the temples at Luxor, etc.) so it was just mummies and pyramids. She also helped identifying famous ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses and what they rule in the mythology, which was our cultural deep dive for the day.

Around the World Camp: United Kingdom

Hail Britannia!

Today we headed over to the United Kingdom.  As one of the more famous countries, this was an easier day for students.  The hardest thing we talked about was the difference between England/Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland, Britain, and the United Kingdom.  But identifying the more famous places and people was easy for students.  In fact, the hardest part was for me to narrow it down to 9 famous things.

For our cultural deep dive, we matched American-English and British-English names (like subway/underground, flashlight/torch, etc.) and even matched them to the Korean vocabulary (for my benefit). :)

Around the World Camp: Russia

Next stop, Russia!

Of course we start the day with the basics.  Where is it, what do they speak, etc., etc.?  We spend a little time on some of the more famous landmarks (like the St. Petersburg Palaces, Hermitage Museum, Red Square), people (Joseph Stalin, the missing Princess Anastasia legend), and cultural aspects (like Matryoshka dolls).  For our cultural "deep dive" we talked about Russian foods, which was not ideal given our craft project, but kids always like learning about food so that's what I went with.

For our project, we looked at one of my most favorite aspects of Russian culture, Faberge Eggs!