New ACE sign

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and you've been able to digest all that turkey! HAHA!

My school (well, mine and Dana's) has been in business just over two years now (since August 2009)...I feel pretty proud that we've at least made it this far. Some days I wonder how I was blessed to have an opportunity like this to live abroad, own my own business, and make decent money doing it. We've faced some challenges along the way of course but also seen lots of triumphs. I feel lucky that almost all of our kids are super cool and pretty enthusiastic about learning English. Some are able to learn quicker than others, but like everything in life, some things you have the knack for and some things you don't. Some of my kids I feel could honestly almost go to the States and function in an American school, they really are that good. Some are struggling and try their best, but it just takes longer for some kids. Anyway, when we first started we had three kids, and of course had no idea what might lie ahead. We didn't have much money, and so our first school sign was pretty cheap and we had no idea what kind of design to make. As I said, with the sign being cheap, it wasn't even a lit sign, just visible during the day. Well, we've had a few new schools move into the area (the school below us teaches Chinese mainly, but also focuses on English and Japanese) and one of them (as much as I hate to say it) has a very nice, LCD sign. So, Dana and I decided it was time to get a new sign and make ourselves (once again! HAHA) the best school in the area. We are lucky in the fact that we have the only school with a foreign teacher for everyday lessons. We felt like our previous sign didn't really do that justice, so we decided to go a little overboard on the American theme, letting people know exactly what they're getting if their kids study with us.
We started with some ideas, but Dana's friend is a designer and so we put some ideas together and then sent them off to her. She sent back a wonderful design (I think) and we decided to roll with it. We both really like having the Statue of Liberty as our logo, and we're hoping when people see that they automatically think of Ace! So, we'll see how it goes. Also, this sign will be much nicer and also with lights, so visible at night. A little more than this miser would like to spend, but I think it's time for a new sign, and very necessary.
So...anyway, this is just the photoshopped version, we have a few minor changes, but this is about 95% what it will look like.
So, what do you think...be honest and let me know any feedback any of you might have before we make this final!
Thanks!

Making kimchi

This is the time of year when most people make kimchi. The harvest is all finished from the fall and of course (and unfortunately) winter is on its way. A few weeks ago, Dana and I met her mom near her garden and helped her bring all the vegetables she had grown back to her house. I had mentioned that I wanted to help make kimchi again this year (I did two years ago) and so her Mom said she'd let me help out. We met at her mom's house Monday morning and got the party started! Kimchi is made from all kinds of vegetables, but in this case we made it from radishes and cabbages. As I mentioned, her mom grew all of her own, but at the markets there are piles and piles or radish and cabbage. The steps are to make a pepper paste (which will be used to rub onto the radish and cabbage) first. It's made from all kinds of vegetables, I think some onions, parsley, etc. That added together with some pepper paste, sugar and water. The radish and cabbages had all been washed and cut up and prepared for their long kimchi journey. When we got to her mom's house, her mom and her aunts already had the pepper paste mix finished and spread out onto a big plastic sheet in the middle of the floor. I helped carry all the radish and cabbage out into the living room from the kitchen. The process is basically to rub the pepper paste onto each leaf of cabbage and then of course over time the flavor soaks all in. People usually put them into plastic containers and then put them into a kimchi refrigerator and eat it with pretty much every meal. It was lots of fun to help do this...of course not something every American living here gets to do. I love doing stuff like this that feels very authentic Korean. The closest thing I think from the States is like when Mom would can and pressure cook vegetables, or when Mom and Dad made their awesome apple juice.
With the 5 of us working together, it went quickly and we had a good time and ate kimchi as we made it. The picture of me is NOT STAGED and I really was actually working, not just posing for photo ops! :) HA! We made a combo of about 70 radishes and cabbages. After we finished Dana's mom cooked us a nice lunch and also gave me some kimchi to bring back home. It was lots of fun and everything was cool minus the pink rubber gloves. I hate pink and I hate the smell of rubber, but the smell washed off and there wasn't much I could do about the color! HA!

Anyway, here are some pictures and I hope everyone is having a great week.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American family and friends...I hope everyone has a wonderful time with their loved ones. As much as I love Christmas, for some reason I always feel more homesick during Thanksgiving...maybe because I know we don't have that here, so it's almost like it's not happening here, even though I know everyone is together this week back home. I always loved Thanksgiving when I was a kid, usually going to Aunt Sharon's house and enjoying the wonderful turkey, biscuits, stuffing, potatoes, pies and even kool-aid, which was a special treat for us back then! HA! I remember sometimes I was so stuffed I almost couldn't even walk myself to the car. I love Thanksgiving and hope everyone has a great week!