Christmas is here...we are coming home

After nearly 5 months in Korea, the end of first semester has come and so the Wendling family will get a chance to have some vacation time. (Pictured above is the Wendling and Lee family. The Lee family has two boys, Jim and Peter, who play hockey with Matteya. Recently the two families got together to have brunch together.)

On December 19th the Wendling family will be flying home to Canada where they will be spending time with the Lafontaine and Wendling families - as well as catching up with friends.

It is unsure whether or not there will be any posts while we are in Canada - but check in from time to time and you may see a few pictures of a Winter Wonderland.

On behalf of the whole family we like to wish everyone Merry Christmas and a Happy 2009!!!

(Hopefully we can get our camera fixed as well in Canada.)

Science Knights

On Thursday, December 4th, 2008, GSIS held its 1st ever Science Fair, aka. Science Knights. This event the brainchild of Rosanne, with some help from other members of the Middle School and High School Science Department, had all students from Grade 6 - 8, and a handful of Grade 9 students prepare an scientific experiment or investigation and communicate its significance. (Seen above is Justine preparing her experiment.)

Although this is the first time Rosanne is teaching science full time, she had previously taught science and been involved with Science fairs. However, when you have over 80 students in Grade 6 and 7, many who would be classified as ESL or ELL it makes the job a little more difficult.


For this project students could work alone, in pairs, or in groups of three - as we see above in the case of Justine who worked with Samantha and Monica. The groups would have to research a topic and develop an experiment or demonstration to go with it. They would then put their work on a tri-fold board - each of them hand made.


For example, Justine and her friends are seen above preparing their 'Marshmellow Experiment'. They used iodine, hydrogen peroxide and soap; and together it causes a solid to be formed which looks like a yellow marshmellow. Their demonstrate was done numerous time the night of the science fair and many students, teachers and parents were extremely impressed.


As you can see in the picture above this Science Fair was serious business. Jinni, as pictured here, is all dressed up as she waits for the judges to see her project so she can discuss the effects of Coke on teeth. She wanted to do Diet Coke but since Mrs. Wendling, her Mathematics teacher - Mr. Wendling, the HS Principal and the Headmaster all regularly drink it, she decided better.


Other students like Tim, built something based on scientific principals. In this case he built a motor using electrical and magnetic theories. As you can see behind Tim it wasn't enough just to build something. You needed to have a starting question, hypothesis, research, materials, etc. This wasn't getting your LEGO out and making something cool looking. This was hard core science!!


As you can see from the picture above there were many students, parents and teachers at Science Knights 2008. As was mentioned previously this was the first time the school has done anything like this, and so it took a lot of work to coordinate projects, getting prizes, printing out certificates - and thanks to Rosanne it was done with the kids in mind.


In the end, there had to be a winner. In fact, each Grade has 6 winners. A first, second and third place as well as best display, most difficult project and most knowledgeable student about their topic. The winners each received an MP3/Ipod/visual Ipod type of prize. Pictured above is Justine and her group accepting the second place prize for Grade 6. Great job Justine.


In the end, a great night was had by all. As you can see from Mia, pictured above, the night was almost over when this picture was taken and so is this blog. With just two weeks of school left the Wendlings are not counting the days down - yet - but we do know that we will be crossing the Pacific soon to be with Family and Friends for Christmas. If we are lucky there may be one more blog before the 19th.

End of Quarter - End of Seasons - Time to Reflect

Where have the Wendling's been? Hiding? Running for cover? (Just like Mia is demonstrating above.) It has been a while since they have posted anything on their blog.

To be honest, they have been busy with school and life in Korea. The last days of October marked the end of 1st Quarter and with that came marks, parent-teacher conferences, (not interviews because you are not asking the parents for a job or interviewing them to help in your classroom), and the end of various sports seasons at GSIS.

This past fall Matteya and Kyara have been playing elementary soccer. Justine played Middle School Soccer and was coached by Rosanne. While Kevin, with Rosanne's help, coached Boys' Varsity Volleyball. (Again, Rosanne has not changed...and it is even tougher to find Ritalin in Korea then in Canada - but there is lots of Diet Coke here to keep her going.)



For elementary soccer Matteya and Kyara practiced for 4 - 6 weeks before playing in two tournaments - or Jamborees. Jamborees are about having fun - as you can see in the pictures. Scores are kept and then forgotten and all players get a participation certificate in the end. The girls enjoyed playing soccer with their friends and representing GSIS.


Soccer is Korea's national sport and many students played for GSIS. The girls played either defence or goalie during the jamborees which happened in Taejon at TCIS and here in Suwon at GSIS.


Justine played Middle School soccer. Being in Grade 6, Justine had to play against boys and girls in Grade 7 and 8 as well as other 6th graders. Justine played in 4 different Jamborees which took place in various International schools in Korea. She even scored during her last game - with thanks to James for the beautiful pass - leave it to a fellow Canadian to help her out.


Rosanne was also involved with the Middle School soccer as she coached two teams and traveled to 3 Jamborees. Again, the goal of the Jamborees is not to win, but to play and have fun with your classmates and people from other schools.

To watch the students at these tournaments was to truly see International schools at their best. There were students from all over the world, as seen by the students and heard by the languages they spoke. Yet, kids are kids, and they played and most of all had fun.


Besides being a soccer player this term, Justine, seen above, was involved with the Middle School choir. In October, Justine and many other students at GSIS performed in the Fall Concert. Pictured below is Jason - who is in one of Kevin's Geometry classes - who can play at least three or four musical instruments.


In the picture above, Jason is accompanying Elizabeth who is playing a traditional Korean string instrument. During this evening the String Band, HS Band, MS Band and HS/MS Orchestra all played and represented GSIS well. Neither Rosanne nor Kevin has ever seen a band come close to what this group of students can do - in Korea music is truly a priority for their children.

Justine also sang with the choir and will be singing again at the Christmas concert as she has been asked to sing, 'When Christmas Come to Town'.


Finally, after a number of years Kevin - assisted by Rosanne (this was a first) -decided to return to coaching volleyball. Last year the GSIS volleyball team did not win a game and by their own admission was not very good. The volleyball season for GSIS consists of a regular season and a final tournament. The GSIS team had only Grade 9 and 10 students while the other teams had students from Grade 9 to 12.

After seeing the hand he had been dealt Kevin realized that this team had a lot of potential and set two simple goals for the boys:

1. Play volleyball properly - bump, set and spike
2. Make the Finals of the year end tournament.

The boys went 5 - 6 for the season - not bad.

Then at the year end tournament they caught fire - they won their first game and then lost to the first place team - who to that point was undefeated. Then the boys won three straight games in order to advance to the finals of the tournament.

The they beat Centennial Christian School in 5 games in the finals. However, the tournament was double knock out - so in order to win they needed a second victory - but they couldn't do it. With a short bench due to injury and a death in a team member's family - the boys could not win a 5th game during their 7th hour of playing volleyball.



So in the end the boys got second place - not bad for being last the previous year. In all of his years of coaching, Kevin has never had an experience like this in sports. These boys worked hard - learned how to play volleyball and grew up as athletes in a very short period of time. Both Rosanne and Kevin are very proud of GSIS Varsity Boys' Volleyball Knights.

A Canadian Thanksgiving

When you live overseas at times you try to find things that are familiar -- the same -- or at least resemble what you are use to. It seems that we gain comfort in what we know or what we think we know.

However, when holidays occur one is never able to replicate how it is back home. The traditions, events, presence of family and the things which make these days special are impossible to reproduce which can make holiday a difficult time when you are away from home.


On Sunday, October 12th, the Canadian staff of GSIS, which included the Wendling family, hosted the first ever Canadian 'Potluck' Thanksgiving Dinner at the GSIS cafeteria. In total over 60 people -from all parts of the world - Australia, South Africa, Korea, America and of course Canada - celebrated a holiday that is centered on giving thanks for what we have, while usually being surrounded by family and friends.



The evening began with families arriving and bringing their various dishes which they would share with the community present. Excitement was building in the air as people shared many of their traditions - some familiar, some not - with others. Each person was also asked to write down something they were thankful for and put it on the Thanksgiving tree in the cafeteria.

The dinner began with prayer and then the eating began - oh what a feast!!! There was: turkeys, roasted pork, stuffing , potatoes, many different salads and a dessert table with pumpkin and apple pie. It was truly magnificent sight.



Thank you to all the friends and families who attended...it truly was a special day not only for Canadians at this school in Suwon but for our entire school community at GSIS.

People We Have Come to Know at GSIS

Over the past two months the Wendling's have come to know a number of families who have come from all over the world to work at GSIS. In this blog we hope to take some time to share with you some of the unique and incredibly gifted individuals, and their families, who we have the chance to work with.


One of the first families that we came to know here in Korea are the Schumacher's who hail from Australia. Kylie, pictured above, is the Junior Kindergarten teacher at GSIS while her husband Darren is the fourth grade teacher - Kyara's teacher. The Schumacher's, like the Wendling's are having their first experience at an International School.


Darren and Kylie have two children, Abbey who is in Grade 2 and is pictured above, and Jack, (aka Jacko), who is pictured below. We are very fortunate to have gotten to know this family as Kylie and Rosanne have been known to do a few shopping trips together why Darren and Kevin have gone to the movies, played basketball and even one night were playing PS2 together - but honestly they were just showing the kids how to play.



Pictured below is Mr. Jay Reimer, who is Head of the Science Department at GSIS. Jay and his wife Beth, who is the elementary/MS music teacher and ELC teacher - so she in fact teaches all 5 Wendling children - are beginning their second year at GSIS.


Jay and Beth last lived in Washington State - but Beth is a Canadian citizen and Jay actually lived in Asia growing up as his parents were Missionaries. Jay works a lot with Rosanne as they are in the same department and he and has family, along with others, have been helpful as the Wendling's continue to make their transition in Korea.



Jay and Beth have three children - Kylie who is pictured above, Amy, unfortunately not pictured, and Bentley pictured below. As Mrs. Reimer teaches all 5 Wendling girls - Rosanne teaches Amy science - Kevin teaches Kylie Mathematics and Mia and Bentely go to the ELC together.

The last family that we would like to spotlight is the Petersons. Pictured below is Frank and Sean, (or as Mia would say Baby Sean). Frank, or Mr. Peterson as he is know, is in charge of the technical department. He is in charge of our GOOGLE World at GSIS. Sean's mom - not pictured is Gita Peterson who is the IB Early Years Program Coordinator.



Frank is a pretty 'cool cat' and someone who has a very different perspective on life. Originally from Minnesota, USA - Frank has lived in Egypt, and different parts of Asia. The plan for the Peterson's is to eventually to settle in Australia - Gita's home country. However, the Peterson's could easily be classified as World no-mads. Frank and Kevin have been seen a number of times talking about computers, teaching philosophy and theology. Frank is truly open minded and has seen the world and been shaped by it. Gita, no slouch herself, is an excellent educator and blessing for all at GSIS. However, the Peterson's are at their best with Sean - their first child and the Golden Pig. (That is, he was born in the Korean year of the Golden pig which happens once in a life time.)


Of all the Petersons the Wendling girls like Baby Sean. Baby Sean loves to be dropped from heights and can be seen during the school day in the Early Childhood Centre playing, sleeping or eating - doing the things that babies do.

GSIS is truly blessed with many different families who have decided for this time in their life to give of themselves to a vocation that God has choosen for them - working with children in Korea. Many if not all the staff at GSIS have given up something or given up a comfortable and 'normal' life to live in another place and within another culture. Yet, all of us know that our faith God is truly a tie that binds each of us and that all of us are here because of a Call from God.

What the Wendling's do outside of school...

Prior to leaving for Korea Justine, Kyara, Matteya and Ariel were involved with a number of different activities. These included: dance, hockey, volleyball, basketball, soccer, golf and exposure to other activities from time to time. Most of these activities are done through the elementary or middle school program at GSIS and so the girls are able to continue to do these activities - but hockey and dance are not. A promise that Rosanne and Kevin made to the girls before deciding to go to Korea was that they would try their best to give the girls the same activities that they participated while in Canada.

To help facilitate this a large hockey bag was brought to Suwon with everything from Matteya's hockey equipment to dance shoes and body suits. Bringing the equipment was the easy part - finding the activities in a city of 1 000 000 people would be the hard part.




Luckily, at the end of August, a hockey arena was discovered and with the help of some new found friends Matteya began to play hockey. Now, Matteya plays hockey twice a week - usually on the weekends. With the help of Siyehol - whose sons Jin and Peter are pictures above and below - much of the registration and transportation have been provided for.


What is hockey like in Korea? Hockey does not have a specific season - they play all year long. As well, hockey practices have lots of skating drills - both forward and backward skating - and not as many drills involving team play, passing and shooting. Because of this the average Korean hockey player is a strong skater.

In Korea - skates are grinded not sharpened - there is training not practices - and we are not quite sure what the Korean word for flooding the ice is. However, after one special practice there was pizza and chicken wings for the kids - so some traditions are the same no matter where you live. (However, chicken wings are made one way in Korea - HOT!!!)


After some adjustment - and getting into shape - Matteya is enjoying hockey and in her first game scored a goal and had an assist. Unfortunately they only play one or two games in a month and much of the players time is spent training and practicing.

Matteya' number, 99, 11 was not available and after consulting with mon oncle Paul it was agreed that 99 was acceptable because it was Wayne Gretzky's number and mon oncle Paul wore it one season - (as well 9 is her Maman's number).



The other activity the girls were able to find was dance. With the help from a teacher at GSIS Rosanne found the girls a dance studio which offers ballet and hip hop. So twice a week the girls walk or take a taxi to the dance studio, approximately 15 minutes from the apartment.


What is dance like in Korea? Justine, Kyara, Matteya and Ariel find that the instruction is a little more intense and the dance to be a little more challenging. This is probably due to the demands of the parents - who have high expectations and pay a lot of money to have their children meet these standards. One has to remember that most students in Korea go to school and then go to extra academic classes after school. If a child was to dance or play hockey it is because the parents have made this choice to look at activities that they deem to be important for the future of their children.

In the end, the Wendling girls are enjoying their various activities. It gives them the opportunity to continue to improve their abilities and a chance to see Korean culture in a different way. Spending time at GSIS gives one perspective of Korea and the culture it exists in. However, going to dance and hockey give Justine, Kyara, Matteya and Ariel more information on what life is like in Korea.

As well, a number of other girls have tried taking the ballet or hip hop classes - all of them have enjoyed the experience and many have continued to train in ballet or hip hop.

A New Journey in Hong Kong

From September 12th - 16th the Wendling family left Suwon and GSIS in order to take a well earned vacation in Hong Kong. Well it really wasn't a vacation...Rosanne had to go get some MYP training for Science. So it was decided that we would go as a family because of the fact that it was the holiday of Chusok in Korea so we would have five days and four nights in order to explore this former British Colony.


So what to do first...well of course Hong Kong Disney. Yes, believe it or not the Mouse has a home in Hong Kong and so we - Kevin and the five girls - spent two days at the Magic Kingdom. (Rosanne did spend one day with the family before having to go to training on UbD and Assessment - I think Kevin got the better deal on this one.)


Complete with Mickey Mouse and all his friends, rides like - 'It's a Small World', (our friend Tammy's favorite), and the 'The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh', parades, a western style hotel and food that was almost like back home - almost.



Kevin and the girls then ventured into the city to catch up with Rosanne who was still attending her conference. That night the family went to the Ladies' Market near Admiralty Station. There you could buy anything - even a watch or two or 22 depending on the number of sellers at hand. This was a place to make deals and if you couldn't make the deal - you walked away - sometimes with the vendor following you and trying to grab you in order to bring you back to their stall. Upon looking at all of the humanity who seemed to be pushing against us, one of the girls said, 'Wow there are more people here than in all of Canada'.


The next evening the Wendling family had the opportunity to venture to Victoria park to partake - with our new friend Leah from Thailand as well as our Australian friends Ann - 'there is no way I am going in a circle' - and Kylie from GSIS - in the Hong Kong Fall Festival. This evening was marked by local entertainment and the gathering of lanterns into the park, it was beautiful sight with more people than you could imagine at this celebration.


The next day Kevin and the girls headed to Ocean Park - a Hong Kong version of Sea World. Again, they spent a full day with many rides and a four level aquarium with ocean life that ranged from sharks, to sting rays to something that looked like a cross of both. However, the highlight of the entire park had to be the Pandas - or as Mia calls them - the 'Kung Fu' Pandas. Ocean Park has four Pandas and we were lucky enough to see two of them no more than five feet away from us.


Later that day Rosanne caught up with the crew and they finished the day by going to the Peak - that is the top of Hong Kong - and the taking a ferry around the harbor.


After a quick swim the next morning, the Wendling's packed up and headed back to Suwon to continue their other life as teachers at GSIS. What an opportunity though - Hong Kong will be a memory that we will cherish.