About THREE weeks left!

I can't believe it! we actually only have 3 weeks left (starting tomorrow)!

the past couple of weeks have flown by and been pretty fun. the last week of april i just showed a movie in every class (cuz i told them at the beginning of the year they would get two movies days with me before i left.) so that week was SUPER easy! not so fun was when i went to the dentist about mid-week to get my teeth cleaned and checked up. it went pretty well but i hate scaling! they use this supersonic vibrating scraper to clean your teeth! :o( it wasn't bad the first time i had it done last year but for some reason it was worse this time. it kind of hurt and the woman was doing it by herself so she just had to rest the "vacuum" hose in my mouth that is supposed to suck up extra water. well that didn't work so well and i kept choking lol sigh...i made it through though.

friday night was girls night and we watched antm which was fun :o) that show's crazy but it's a guilty pleasure. sat. our replacements came to visit. they're an english couple who have lived in a small town near suncheon for the past year and they have friends in mokpo. they came into town to see friends, their future apt. and the area they'd be living in come april 24th. they were nice and friendly and it was fun showing them around. we had gamchatang for dinner which is probably the last time we'll go out for it (due to time). it was yummy :o) that night we went out and met them and some other friends at moe's to have a drink. sunday we just relaxed and it was a good weekend!

this past week i called in sick monday cuz i had a bad cold and couldn't breath well or sleep much all night. it was a short cold though. i felt better later in the day and i've only had mild symptoms since then. i'm wondering if when i go back home i'm gonna catch all the bad colds there since i won't be used to them lol :oP

wednesday i got two things done i've been wanting to do for a long time! i went to the eye doctor and ordered contacts and i'll be picking those up friday as well as picking out new glasses. my prescription hasn't changed but my glasses have pretty much had it. the color is coming off the frames and the lenses are scratched up. so i'll be happy to get new ones. i also went to the dentist and got two teeth restored. one of them had been chipped and restored a long time ago but the old restoration was discolored and coming off. so the dentist fixed that and then there was some major confusion. i had planned on getting a second tooth restored that had had a bad cavity in it a long time ago and about 1/4 or 1/3 of the tooth had to be replaced. well that restoration was separating and discolored so i wanted to get it fixed but the dentist seemed to think i would need a shot of anesthesia for it.

well if you know me you know i have a huge phobia of needles and i would totally freak out if she had to give me a shot. the confusion came in when she thought i wanted her to only do one tooth today and the other one next week. on top of that i was crying just from the thought of having to get a shot and trying to figure out what i should do- should i risk starting the restoration with no anesthesia and then possibly HAVING to get a shot in order to finish it? should i just go ahead and get the shot and get it done? or should i just not get it done at all and leave? lol she said there might be a cavity under the restoration so i was worried about just not doing anything.

it took me so long to decide and explain that she had to leave and go to another appt. i explained with the help of jens to another lady that worked there that i really just wanted to get everything done today and not wait til next week. i was thinking that if i left that dentist's office i'd probably never come back because of the anxiety i'd have over the possible shot i would need to get the work done. so the dentist came back in and i said ok let's just try it without anesthesia and see how it goes. if i need it i'll get it. so she started and it just felt REALLY cold! freezing cold water sprays out of this drill thing while she scraps off the old restoration and that's what really hurts sometimes. it was fine for the most part but at one point it really hurt for a second and she stopped. when she continued it was better and i got through the whole thing with no anesthesia! and i'm glad i did it because there was, in fact, a small cavity underneath! so she fixed my tooth and i'm done! whew!

when i get home i'm gonna buy an electric toothbrush because who knows when i'll get to the dentist next lol last time i waited 3 years to go and i had two small cavities. so here's hoping good dental care will do the trick.

this weekend we have a birthday party friday night and then sat. we're going out to an island where some of our friends live for an easter meal and to hang out with all of them. we haven't seen them in a while and it might actually be the last time we see them before we leave.

then i'll just have 3 weeks of school left! crazy! we're going to the pension office next week to do the paperwork to have my korean pension money sent to my u.s. account. and we've GOT to start packing boxes. we have tons of stuff i don't think will fit in our suitcases: books, shoes, purses, clothes, instruments, artwork, etc. we really settled in here! it'll be so nice that when we get back home we won't have to think - should we buy this since we're not living in this country forever? we will most likely be living in the u.s. forever or at least in north america lol so we can buy things that we'll use for years and years.

the second weekend in april we'll be making our last trip to seoul! we're hoping to see the dmz but we stupidly did not book a tour yet and the u.s.o. is full. we're gonna look into other tours and hopefully we'll get in one. it's our last chance to go and we've never been! the dmz isn't THAT amazing but since i've lived in korea for 3 years i really wanna go see it. here's hoping we can!

our last weekend in korea we're going to have a small pic-nic on yudal mountain with a few friends :o) the weather has been getting warmer and the cherry blossoms look like they're about to burst open!!! :o) i can't wait- they're so pretty! it'll be a nice time to leave korea- it'll give me some positive feelings about the place :o)

well it's lunchtime so i'd better go! cheers to 3 weeks! :oD

5 weeks left!

so we've only got 5 weeks left. i'm surprised at how the time is flying. it felt slow at first but now i'm almost down to one month left in korea! that's such a short time!

this past week started out kinda crappily but ended somewhat happily :o) i'm starting to get into the groove of teaching. i started to have a little more energy about mid-week and the classes went pretty well. yes i still have the odd "omg shut up please" moments and the "co-teacher: what the heck are you doing?" moments but overall i'm dealing. friday was good. 3 classes in a row- my worst co-t actually showed up and stayed for the entire two classes he was supposed to be there for so that was good.

friday night i went out with friends to a noraebang and it was fun as always! :o) i'm gonna miss noraebangs (karaoke rooms). supposedly they have some in dallas???

today jens and i just chilled. did laundry, etc. actually i've been trying to do the same load of laundry since about 1pm (and it's now 7pm) because our korean washer is a piece of crap lol i'm going to LOVE having a regular washer and dryer in the states.

i had dinner with my old insane co-t last wed. i was dreading it but it wasn't too bad. i just have to resign myself to the fact that as long as i live in korea she's not going to leave me alone lol i'll probably see her one or two more times at least. she wants to have dinner, have me over to her apt., maybe go to a temple or something. sounds nice but hanging out with her is actually quite difficult. but i get through it. this past time she told me some shocking information that she never mentioned before- she has a husband and 6 year old daughter that live in gwangju. her mother-in-law takes care of the daughter and that's all she would say! i couldn't get anything else out of her! i was so surprised! i wanted to know more but she deflected my questions and changed the subject. it was really weird. but that's kim sook hee! weird! i have a feeling she and her husband are separated or divorced. that's really scandalous in korea so i'm sure that's why she's never mentioned it before. i don't think anyone at my school knows but me!

anyway, so our plans for the rest of our time in korea are as follows:
our replacements will visit next weekend to see the apt. and pay us for some furniture they want to buy.
first weekend of april we will go to anhwa island and visit the heaslips and the stainbrooks with shanna and joe.
2nd weekend we'll go to seoul and finally see the dmz.
3rd weekend (and last weekend) we'll start packing and if the weather is nice hike up yudal or something. hopefully the cherry blossoms are blooming by then :o)

and that's it! we'll have a week left at work, go out with friends our last night (friday, april 23rd) and then at 2am on the 24th we'll take a bus up to the airport with our dogs and all our crap! our plane leaves around 10am on the 24th and we'll actually travel TO THE FUTURE! lol we arrive in texas at 8am on the 24th! isn't that funny how the time change works?

we'll be in texas before we know it! i daydream about it all the time! the weather, the food, our little bungalow, the dogs playing in the yard, etc. :o)

i wish it would hurry up and get a little warmer here- that always puts me in a better mood!

anyway that's all for now! bye!

What I'll Miss About Korea

i'm trying to have a more positive attitude about korea even though i don't like it that much because i have to live here 6 more weeks! lol

so here's what i'll miss:

ondol heating
cheap public transportation (taxis, buses, trains)
restaurants where you cook your own food with friends at a table (like galbi)
the lax laws on alcohol consumption
i can walk to all the necessities (grocery store, pharmacy, doctor, restaurants, the vet, etc.)
cherry blossoms in spring
colorful leaves in fall
rice cakes (not those dry quaker oats things we have in the states.)
ho ddeok stands
people get out and about more- go for walks, exercise, have picnics in the park, etc.
being able to zone out strangers' conversations because i can't understand them lol
lots of different coffee shops everywhere
cheap doctor's bills and prescriptions
very high speed internet
having a mountain in the town where i live for hiking, etc.
cheap sweet milk coffee "shot" machines
funny konglish
cute, funny stationary and notebooks
being only a 3 hour high speed train ride from a major world city (seoul)
being a bus and ferry ride away from japan
in general being close to many asian countries to visit

specific things about my job:
(i don't know what my future job will be like but i can compare this job to old jobs)
not having to get here til 9am
only having 3-4 classes a day
taking my time planning lessons
lots of free time
being able to use internet (for email, facebook or anything i want) all day everyday at work
no one wants to check my lessons before i teach
no one gives me criticism of my lessons
i can have a movie day whenever i want
i can teach however i want
i have my own classroom and office only shared with one other person
i have my own computer
i have a printer, heater, fan, microwave, hot water pitcher, mugs, etc. shared with only one other person.
i can sit and have fun conversation with some teachers or students whenever i want without anyone saying- get back to work!
it's pretty quiet in my office/classroom when no students are here.
i can go out to the post office, etc. during free time without it being a big deal.
a fairly healthy lunch is provided for me everyday (i pay for it but i don't have to prepare it or think about it at all which is nice).
full-coverage health insurance at this job costs me less than $80 a month.
i don't have to worry about anyone bringing a gun to school because guns are illegal in korea!
approx. 3 months vacation

that's all i can think of for now but that's quite a bit of stuff! i'll try to focus on those things and enjoy my last month and a half in this country :o)

Korea Korea

ok i need to do some theraputic writing!

so the day we arrived back in korea i wasn't sure how i would feel. i knew i didn't feel like coming back. i knew it'd be cold. but i didn't forsee how much it would get on my nerves!

we were in the airport and jens was cut in front of in two different lines by two different old ladies! welcome back to korea! lol

we took a bus to the train station and had to wait there for a couple hours.

first we got breakfast at dunkin donuts. as we were sitting there eating sub-par bagels and donuts and were bombarded with overly loud, sappy korean pop ballads that's when i knew: i don't like korea anymore lol

we sat on a bench but we were surrounded by sleeping bums that stank so we decided to move. of course everyone and their dogs were staring at us with every move we made lol

everyone was watching kim yoo na's figure skating performance on tv. it was nice that for once they were showing something i could understand but it only served to remind me that korea is obssessed with itself and thinks it's the best in the world because of things and people like kim yoo na lol

{i'm wondering if when i get back i'll notice any americans being overly patriotic (or nationalistic) about dumb things....lol probably.}

i was surprised to find that everywhere we went there was this underlying stench of musty ginseng. i couldn't get away from it. even when we got on the train! i guess that's just the general scent of korea that i had gotten used to. but leaving for 2 months and coming back enabled me to smell it again lol

we survived the journey back to our apt. in mokpo but i stayed inside for 3 full days lol i didn't want to face the reality of living in korea for the next two months. if just a few hours of being in the country put me in such a bad mood i was afraid how i'd react to going out and about.

finally the evening before we had to go back to work i decided that school was not the first thing i wanted to deal with in korea. so we took the dogs for a walk. it was nice. it was dreary and wet outside but it was still nice to get out and take the pups for a walk. it was also good for me to get out and about in mokpo a little before going back to work. i was eased back in with people spitting, old people staring and cars honking lol

then it was back to work! at first i was ecstatic that my incredibly insane co-t had in fact moved to another school and it HAS been much more peaceful without her. but i'm still totally fed up with teaching. it's just not for me. i dunno how people do it and enjoy it lol unless they have perfect students which i don't think anyone does. i just get too annoyed at my students. i'm like why in the world would you think it's a good idea to do ______________? fill in any number of ridiculous things lol they won't shut up most of the time and many of them flat out refuse to do ANY work. even if it's just copying words down from the board or their friend's paper.

it's really hard for me to hold back my emotions. in one class today i got fed up trying to PUUULLL the answers out of them like pulling teeth and i said "oh my god, come on, please just give me one answer, just read it from your paper, pleeeease, you're killing me!" lol later i wanted the students to write down answers i had written on the board. i had to stand next to one table and supervise each and every word they wrote down. if i left at all they would stop writing. i felt like i may as well have held their hands while they wrote! lol

not every class is like that. i feel like two of the classes i had today were the worst but it's probably because the co-teacher is the oldest one i have and i had him last year and he sucks. he won't explain anything unless i specifically ask him to. with other co-ts they automatically know when something needs to be explained and they do it. also this old guy left halfway through one class and didn't even show up to the other. so of course that made the classes much more difficult. i have to be a crazy english drill sergeant if i don't have a co-t in there.

anyway all these things just make me like korea less and less. the students are in school so long that they're not expected to do that much work in one class. english education doesn't seem to be much of a priority at my school so the students feel it's totally ok to just say "englishee no". as if i'm going to say- ooooh i see, sorry to bother you! lol some co-teachers don't show up at all, some don't explain things to the students, they just sit there like bumps on a log (not so much this year but last year).

when i go out i'm stared at, yelled at, people spit on the ground whether they're indoors or outdoors, i'm constantly shoved this way and that, no one says excuse me (in korean or otherwise), i'm bombarded with horrible k-pop everywhere i go, etc.

i'm just done with this country!!!

i'm glad i came, 3 years was enough, i had some great times, it's over. time to go home!

the problem is i can't yet! lol i've still got 6 weeks. now that may not seem like much but it's at least 126 more classes! over a HUNDRED classes! aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh! nooooooooooo!

a lot of people say you should just be positive. but how do you be positive about something you don't like? only in a negative way- oh well in 6 weeks i won't have to deal with this country anymore - but that's still 6 weeks that i DO have to deal with it lol

i know that once it's over, once i've sold off my stuff, packed up and shipped things, taken the bus up to the airport with our suitcases and dogs and fly away, it'll feel like it wasn't that long. i'm mean, once i'm gone, i'm gone. but my point is i've got to deal with living in korea NOW! and i don't want to. but i have to! it sucks lol

i think i'll actually feel much better about this country once spring comes and the cherry blossoms bloom. korea is so much better in the spring than in the winter lol that should lift my spirits a bit but i don't think the blooms will come out for 3 weeks or something. i'm definitely affected by the weather.

anyway, i don't want to sound like a bitter old crone lol the fact of the matter is i did not want to stay a 3rd year but i knew it would be GOOD FOR ME to so we could save more money and i knew it'd be much easier for us to see more of asia from korea rather than from the u.s. so we stayed a 3rd year and i'm glad we did because i made some really good friends (korean and otherwise) and ben and vivienne were able to visit us here and we went to japan, singapore, malaysia, thailand, laos and cambodia! i certainly wouldn't change those things for the world.

i'm just trying to figure out a way to get through the next 6 weeks without being in a depressed funk the whole time. the main thing that makes me depressed is the job, but i have to teach. no way around it. i think part of the problem with my job is the classes are way too big. i noticed that last year when i had my english club class and it was only 10 students it was MUCH BETTER! i could relate to them better. i had a much more open and friendly demeanor with them, etc. but with the 30-37 students i have in the regular classes i feel like i automatically have to put up this tough front because they have to be extra quiet in order for anything to get done because there are do many of them. know what i mean? i can't be all fun-loving and lacsidasical with HUGE classes. as soon as i let my guard down they all start talking so loud they can't hear a word i say. it sucks. plain and simple. nothing i can do about it i guess. just keep on truckin'.

ok well that's how i've been feeling. i'm glad it's friday and i've got two days to do whatever i want and not deal with work. then i've just got one more week of lessons before movie week! i'm giving them two movie weeks- 4th week of march and my last week at the school. i figured i could get away with at least two ;o) and that'll make things much easier for them AND me!

Day 51-54 end of s.e. asia trip and back in korea!

Day 51

breakfast at blue pumpkin.

driver took us on the grand circuit tour and we saw many temples. it's hard to remember the differences between each one. they're hard to describe. you just have to go there and see for yourself or look at pictures online :o) our cambodia pictures should be up within in a few months lol

lunch was chicken noodle soup cambodian style.

it was extremely hot and humid as usual so we were spent by 3pm again, went back to the hotel, interneted, showered, and went to dinner.

we got a bbq burger at the irish pub and it was yummy! we played a little pool and hung out upstairs and it was nice :o)

Day 52

breakfast as joe to go.

driver took us to see the official angkor wat and angkor tham. they are the two main temples people come to see because they're really huge. angkor tham is actually a temple city. there are many different temples enclosed within a wall.

seeing angkor wat felt like coming full circle. the first time i ever heard of angkor wat was when jens and i first started dating and we went to an archaeological lecture at the dma so i could get extra credit for my anthropology class. it was really interesting and it felt great to actually get to see angkor wat in person!

we looked at all of the amazing bas reliefs around the outer wall first and were able to read descriptions of all of them since we bought a book about angkor wat from a land-mine victim that morning.

we eventually made it to the center where the three giant towers are and we were about to go up when the workers told me i couldn't BECAUSE MY KNEES WERE SHOWING! i was livid! i had never ever heard or read that you needed to cover your knees to go to the top of angkor wat. they didn't even provide anything for me to wear nor were they even selling anything to wear which i would think cambodians of all people would see the opportunity there! if i wanted to go to the top i'd have to walk about 1km out of the temple and hope that someone out there was selling a skirt! i was hot and tired and too upset to even argue or walk all the way out and back so i just said fine and went and cried in a corner while jens went up and got pictures. i know that probably sounds really lame but i just couldn't believe we had come all that way and spent all that money and i still couldn't go up in the main site i came to see because my stupid knees were showing! it was ridiculous! it's not as if this old stone building would have exploded at the presence of my exposed knees! i had already walked dang-near all over the thing anyway! lol

even if i concede to their insane notions they should have at least TOLD me ahead of time or AT LEAST provided something for me to buy to wear up in the thing! there was nothing i could do!

you're probably wondering- why didn't you just go back and buy a skirt if you wanted to go up in it that badly? well truth be told i knew going to the top wouldn't actually be that spectacular. it most likely would have been exactly the same as going up in any of the other temples we visited in ayuthaya and angkor. jens went up and took pics and said as much and that it wreaked of pigeon poo lol so it wasn't so much that i couldn't go up to the top of angkor. it was just the fact that they all of the sudden said no you can't cuz your knees are showing- with no warning whatsoever! i was just annoyed and pissed off because it was such a stupid thing.

they think the gods live in angkor and the other temples. my question is- why would the gods be offended by my knees? the cambodians think the gods are the ones that gave me knees in the first place! so what's so horrible about them that they can't be exposed in the house of the gods? lol also- how come i can expose my knees all i want in every other part of angkor? does a specific god live up in the towers of angkor wat that has a personal disgust of knees???? it's just so arbitrary! i would think it was just a ploy to get people to buy long skirts or pants but they weren't even selling any! it doesn't make any sense!

on our way out i saw two women wearing sleeveless shirts (another no-no) and shorts above the knee so i let them know they would not be able to go to the top of angkor without covering up. they were shocked! one woman said that she had specifically asked a worker at her hotel what she should wear and they said- just bring a scarf to wrap around your shoulders when you go up. wearing shorts is fine!!!!

when we got back to our driver i told our driver what happened and he said- oh i'm so sorry. i didn't know that.

also- a girl was trying very hard to sell us water and i told her she should sell skirts. she asked why and i told her and she was surprised too!

so apparently cambodians don't even know about this. i have no idea why they're doing it.

moving on....

lunch- fried rice with chicken and ginger

ankor tham - it was huge! our favorite part was bayon because it has huge faces carved into the stone towers. i liked it even more than angkor wat so that made up for not being able to go in the angkor wat towers. we also saw the leper king terrace and the elephant terrace. they were basically tall, long walls with elephants, people, etc. carved into them. you could go up stairs to the top of the wall and walk along it. it was cool!

we bought a temple "rubbing" from someone at some point. he supposedly took rice paper to angkor wat and rubbed an image of a woman carving into the paper and then painted it. i've seen them all over. i dunno if they actually do it at the temple or it they do it on a pre-made mold. either way it was cool and only $5. more art for our house!

we stayed at the park til 5pm when it closes and then went back to the hotel for showers, packing and dinner. we ate at a bbq place and got skewers of chicken, squid and veggies. it was good!

that was our last night! last night in cambodia, last night in s.e. asia, and last night of vacation as a whole!

Day 53
flew to kuala lumpur, malaysia and spent the whole day in the airport.

"brunch" was indian roti, masala thosai, curry and teh tarik and it was soooooo good! i was happy we got to eat that kinda food one more time before leaving. you won't believe how cheap it was- all of that for less than ONE DOLLAR! amazing!

we found a coffee shop to read in and we were surrounded by several couples consisting of a man wearing regular, casual clothes and a woman wearing full-body black burkahs! you could only see their eyes! that's when i remembered we were in a muslim country! lol it's so weird to see that and i think it's so misogynistic! the men are just saying- "she's mine", no one else gets to see her body but me. what they don't get is that just makes us stare at their women even more! lol meanwhile i'm sitting there in sleeveless dress and skin-tight leggings lol- WITH MY HAIR EXPOSED! i hope my hair didn't send out too many sex rays to those muslim men!

(many muslims actually believe women's hair emits "sex rays". here's a quote from here: http://www.michaeltotten.com/2010/01/quote-of-the-day-8.php "In 1981, Abol-Hassan Banisadr, the first president of the Islamic Republic, announced that scientific research had shown that women's hair emits rays that drive men insane with lust. To protect the public, the new regime passed legislation in 1982 making the new form of hijab mandatory for all females above six years of age, regardless of religious faith.") insaaaane!

anyway, i read a magazine there called expatriate malaysia and it was really interesting to see malaysia from the expatriate's point of view. there was an article a woman has written about an insulting commercial that shows in malaysia. this guy is talking about a new kind of printer and he explains everything about it and then he says- "it's so easy, even my wife uses it!" as if she's some kind of moron lol can you believe commercials like that still exist? there were also "love letters to malaysia" that people wrote in about how much they love malaysia and why. they made malaysia sound great and i thought...i wonder what expats would write about korea.... :o/

lunch- sandwiches

hung out more, roamed around, they have a freaking enclosed rainforest in the middle of the terminal. it's pretty awesome! lol we looked around a bookstore and jens got a book he'd been wanting (ever the book lover!) i got a magazine and we hung out more until it was finally time to go to our gate (around 10pm).

on the way we thought hey! we need to spend the rest of our malaysian money! (it wasn't that much). so we bought some cigars and some port! woohoo!

then it was on to the plane. lifted off late because some korean people checked their baggage but never got on the plane for some reason...so they had to go through all the bags and take theirs out before we could leave.

the flight was extremely uncomfortable since we were flying overnight and planes are impossible to sleep comfortably on.

Day 54
we arrived at 7am -ish. then it was a race to the bus, the bus to the train station and then up to the ticket counter. we arrived 5 mins. too late to get the train we wanted :o( so we had to hang out in the cold, uncomfortable train station for two hours until we could leave. ice skating was on and i realized that everyone's routines look exactly the same! there's only so much you can do on skates.

we finally got on the train, tried to sleep a little and arrived in mokpo around 2pm. we got a taxi to our apt. and were happily reunited with our puppiiiies! they were so excited! as were we :o)

we had to spend about 3 hours getting our house clean and back in order. we had a few different people stay at our house while we were gone and let's just say they did not leave it the way they found it!

jens made homemade wheat bread and we ate that and black eyed peas we had frozen after new year's day!

aaaaahhhh it was good to be home!

and it wasn't actually as cold as we thought it would be. predictably it had warmed up a bit in the two months we were gone :o) still too cold for my tastes though! it's been overcast and drizzly :oP
--------------------------------

since getting back we've started work and we just finished our first week! jens has a new vice principal and co-teacher. he says they're ok. his co-t is older and expects more out of him than the last one and her two young kids hang out in their classroom after school and annoy him while he's trying to write his 3rd novel.

i on the otherhand am ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY UNBELIEVEABLY THRIIIIIILLLLLEEEDDD! that i have a new co-teacher and my bat-crap insane one from last year has moved on to another school :oD oh happy day! my new co-t is the man who has shared an office with me for several months and he barely talks to me. i love it! :o)

i have 4 other co-ts that will also be helping me in my classes. two men i already knew, only one of which i've worked with before, and two new women. i was very pleased when one of the women offered to go to lunch with me and then have coffee with me after lunch and we talked for about 3 hours. she's really nice and i'm really happy i have her as a co-t because 3 of my co-t friends from last year have moved to other schools and the only other one i am friends with is a 3rd grade homeroom teacher now so i don't see her much. so i'm glad i like this new lady. i'll probably like the other new lady too but haven't talked to her yet. i already know i don't like one of the men much but i do like the other one. he's nice and helpful.

i've just had a few classes so far. all the 1st graders (10th graders) are new and therefore do not speak at all. it makes for extremely awkward and uncomfortable classes and i'd almost rather them talk over me lol 2nd graders are the 1st graders from last year and i'm sure will be just as annoying as they were before lol

i got my permanent schedule today and it looks pretty good! i only have 3 classes a day, all before lunch except one day when i have a class during last period. that sucks because it means i'll miss my bus that day but the rest of the schedule is great so oh well.

i've got all my lesson ideas decided for the rest of my stay here but i don't have all the lessons planned out :oP ...because i hate planning lessons lol so hopefully i can get around to that soon...lol

this weekend there's a back to school party at moe's bar and that's pretty much our plans so far.

ok i need to go! goodnight!

long time no write!

you may be wondering when i'm going to finish updating about our trip lol once we got back to korea i just totally relaxed and didn't feel like doing anything. now i'm at work and i could update but i don't have my notes. i wrote a paper journal throughout too so that i wouldn't forget if i didn't write it on here. so i'll have to sit down at home and look at that while i write. hopefully i'll get around to it soon!