Teachers' Day!

This month has been full of new holidays, Parents' Day, Children's Day and Teachers' Day. Today is Teachers' Day. I have no idea what the history of the holiday is but it appears that small gifts, such as flowers or food are customary. In the States, my Mom usually made a homemade cake or something to give to our teachers during the holiday season. If I had one of my Mom's cakes right now, I'd probably explode from happiness. Miss I Used To Bake the Fancy Deserts for a Fancy Restaurant chef of my LIFE.

I think I might have mentioned the fact that I miss my Mother's cooking...once, twice, a hundred times on this blog. Just maybe.

In any case I got a pretty nice selection of gifts from my students. The haul:
-2 movie tickets/gift certificate thingies to Lotte Cinemas (I'll have to ask someone if the 6 bullet points on the back are how to use them...oh Korean, why am I so bad at you?).
-a traditional tea set pot thingy
-flowers
-1 flowering plant of some variety (which will be kept in my classroom to cheer up the place).
-A tin of candy vitamin C (this is a smart parent, does she know how often I get sneezed on??)
-an Italian silk scarf (zebra print, which isn't exactly me but it'll look funky as a headband or somethign)
-a wallet
-a coffee cup (THIS IS AWESOME! It is large and yellow and has cute animals on it. I'm not sure if my student's Mom figured all teachers could use a coffee cup or if her daughter mentioned that I always have a mug of tea or coffee with me in class. In either case, her Mom is obviously fabulous).
-Nail stickers....this was from a student who brought in a package for everyone in class, including me. Right now I have bright yellow leafy things on all of my nails. My little girls think it's the cutest thing ever I--well I do teach 8 little girls.
-So much food was given to the teachers as a whole at the school, rice cakes, donuts, cakes...it's a little ridiculous.

I have to say, my favorite gift is definitely the cards and pictures that my students made for me. There is one of me, all in pink, labeled "Princess Alex." Another one is of me and a rocket ship with 5 crossouts of my name before they got it right. I got a very nice butterfly and also some unidentified scribblings with my name written out industriously from the less artistic boys. I shall call them modern art and value them with my revered Jasper Johns and Jackson Pollock. Who is to tell me that I'm wrong, eh?

In an hour, my boss is taking everyone who works in our school out to a nice dinner in Beomgye. I'm excited, she always chooses good restaurants. In the mean time, I have an hour to kill before we go while the last teachers finish up their classes. I have already vacuumed, dusted, and sterilized my classroom for the weekend and have zero desire to immerse myself in my super depressing book before I have to go be social. Note to self: stop choosing such depressing books!