This too shall pass

(December 18, 2010)

You can sure get a lot of thinking done when you can't sleep from 3:30am until 8:00am because first someone calls you from home in the U.S. and because they do not understand the time difference they wake you up. Secondly, Anthony  stumbles into your room at 4am and falls asleep sitting up....finally you get him to wake up and send him stumbling off to his own room. Thirdly, your dear friend David  is snoring so loudly on your bedroom floor that you could have built a log cabin by now with all of the logs he has sawed. Lastly, there is so much on your mind that even if all of these things had not happened you probably couldn't sleep anyway.

Last day of school

Today was my last day at Bokju, it was sad and bittersweet. I will miss it there. It is also Friday night....not quite sure what the plans are, but tomorrow night we are having an ugly sweater party!

Insomnia

It's 2:45 am, I have to be at work in 6 hours....I can't sleep! Tomorrow is my 2nd to last day of 3rd grade and I am really hoping I will have the energy to make it through the day. I am sure I will  because the kids are always so happy to see me that even if I was in a bad mood they would cheer me right up. The good thing is I am leaving at 12:30 after my classes so I guess I can sleep after that.

I miss Talia, my down pillowtop mattress pad, Gooie's oatmeal and oven hotcakes. Man do I miss those things. Ahhh, the comforts of home....

I did have some really good baked spaghetti at dinner tonight after the English camp final awards ceremony. Thank you to the Gyeongbuk Office of Education for picking up the tab! I think I am tired now, so I am going to sleep :) Oh I posted a picture of Jin Suk and I, she is my co-teacher from English Camp! I love her she is so helpful and a great friend!

My last week at Bokju :(

Hello everyone, it has been awhile since I have posted....sorry for that. I have been side tracked and actually didn't feel I had much to write about. I am now beginning a transition from my current job to a new job.  I love the elementary school I work at, I am only a  10 minute walk away...the kids are great...and I have met some great people here. I am sad to leave, my final day here is on Friday. I start my new job at Gyeongbuk Educational Research Center on Monday the 20th. My hours there will be very different (1pm-9pm) than from my elementary school where I currently work 8:30-4:30. I actually don't mind too much about working the later hours because thats what I worked back home, but it will be an adjustment. Today was the final class for my 4th grade students and I have received a couple hundred letters and cards from them today. Some of the cards are written in Hangeul (Korean), but I told them it was okay because it will give me that much more incentive to study the language so that I can read them. Yesterday and today for our final class I took pictures of the students and put them into an Elfyourself video that I found online. They didn't know that I was doing it so you can imagine their surprise. I have never heard kids laugh so hard in my life. It was amazing, and I am happy that they had such a good time in class. Tomorrow I have my last day of English camp as well. We are doing individual presentations as well as having the students sing a song. It should be a lot of fun. After that the leader of Gyeongbuk Center for Education is taking me, Ellen, and our co-teachers from camp out to dinner. Thursday and Friday will be my last 2 days at Bokju where I will be teaching my 3rd graders. They are so cute!!! It will be hard to say goodbye, but I am hoping to come back and visit since I do not live too far.

Onto the next thing, this last Sunday I was invited by my landlords daughter and one of my students to go to the church next door to my house and have lunch. I had lunch and talked with the pastor who speaks pretty good English. I then read the kids a book and played dodgeball with them. I had the best time ever!! Plus there were cute little babies in the nursery. I am hoping that I will be able to help out there every once in awhile. I am planning on going there again this Sunday, I know that the sermon will not be in English but it will be nice to be surrounded by good people who were nice enough to invite me over for lunch. I am truly thankful for that.

It is really cold, and I am finished with school for the day so I am going to head out. Hope to talk to you all soon!

Wants nothing more than to be lying on a beach sunbathing...for just a few hours thats all I ask. November 29th 2010

Winter is here, and it has been here for awhile. All the colorful fall leaves have fallen and all that is left are baren stick like trees, nothing like the vast pine trees of Washington. I am craving sunshine like the worst alcoholic craves alcohol. Vitamin D deficiency has to be high in this country, especially when I don’t think they believe in tanning beds or vitamin supplements. I would give my left leg for some hot weather right now, but only my left leg because it doesn’t work so well anyway. In order to escape the bone chilling cold I will be visiting my family in Hawaii hopefully this March. I have come to the conclusion that I was not made to live in cold weather, so it will be nice to get some sun especially when it includes traveling to Hawaii (one of my favorite places). For now I will have to settle with cranking up my heat in my room and dealing with a $50 gas bill. I guess that it’s not too high of a price to pay for a little comfort when you are a billion miles away from home and warm weather.
On to a happier note, I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I gathered together with about 30 other teachers in Andong and celebrated. We each brought a dish (mine:garlic mashed potatoes). I have had my share of pumpkin pie for the year thanks to the people who went all the way to Costco!

Life is a journey, not a destination. November 20, 2010

2 months down, 10 to go. I can’t believe how fast the time is  flying by. Life in Korea is starting to wind down, it’s a Saturday night and I am taking it easy at home. This is a big deal for me, I often find myself going non-stop, especially since coming to Korea. My slight addiction to the nightlife, and hanging out with the fun people I have met have helped fill the gap that comes from missing family and friends back home.  It’s not until I slow down and take the time to think, do I realize how much I do miss home especially all the great relationships I have there. I wouldn’t really call it homesicknesses so much as a bittersweet feeling of knowing how great I actually had it.  My time in Korea has helped me to realize how much I appreciate my life, don’t get me wrong it is great here also, but I think Washington is where my heart is. For now, home is where I make it and I am enjoying the independence that I have here. I want to use this time for self-reflection and growth as well as strengthening my relationship with God. Since being here I feel like I have grown so much already. When I am having a hard day, I often only have myself to count on, it’s not always possible to get ahold of the people you need to talk to the most back home. I am thankful for this because it has strengthened my character. This opportunity may never come around again so I want to take full advantage of it.  There is so much I want to accomplish while I am here: volunteer at an orphanage, study Hangul (Korean language), travel to Thailand, do a temple stay, read all of the books I brought, travel around Korea, go on some epic hikes, make lasting friendships….the list goes on and on. This is going to be a life changing experience and I am open to whatever God puts in front of me. I am soooo excited for this journey. I miss you all, you light up my life!

Let's leave the windows wide open at school when it's freezing...that makes perfect sense..NOT! November 17th 2010

So just about every EPIK teacher I talk to deals with this same problem. The schools leave their windows wide open when it is freezing out, so every kid has to walk around with a blanket because they are  freezing to death. No wonder they are always sick. It is so frustrating to have to wear my snowboarding coat, gloves, hat, and scarf all day long at school. I think it may be the most annoying thing I have encountered while living here. There is also the issue with wearing shoes inside. When going to a Korean household you take off your shoes (completely understandable). But when you go to school they want you to take off your shoes as well and put on inside slippers. Then I see people walking around outside with their inside slippers on it makes no sense at all. What is the point of inside shoes if you are going to wear them outside!?!?!?!?!??! So I buy these indoor slippers and I put them in the same closet everyday when I leave, mind you it is a closet no one else uses. So I go to school the other day and guess what??? Someone stole my F#@*%! slippers. So I wore my outside shoes inside all day, even though it really doesn’t seem to matter….so there school! Besides those two issues I really do love my school and my kids. Life is going well, starting to slow down a bit and the newness is wearing off. I am enjoying it here, and I have met so many great people which makes everything worth it.