Farewell Lizer

Dear Elizabeth,

I can't really put into words how much I have been blessed by you this past year. I know this year would have been drastically different without you. Thank you for the laughs, the witty comments, the late night "workouts," Cheeseball Saturday, listening to and understanding the frustrations with the different culture and everything that comes along with teaching ESL, being my travel partner to all those various places..especially Genie's apartment.., and so much more..basically thank you for taking this journey with me these past 11 months...you were a true answer to many prayers! I love you and will miss you, but I know this experience in Korea will forever keep us connected :)

After one year and a few days, my costar in "A Year of Firsts," will be heading out of Korea and making her way back to the mother ship! Although she leaves tomorrow, last week and weekend we did most of our "goodbye" events. I'll get to that in a second.

As for the week at school, my favorite day was Monday when none other than the infamous Mrs. Nam poked her little head in the door and said, "hello!" in her precious Mrs. Nam accent! It had been almost a month since I'd seen her last, so it was so wonderful to see her again. She spent a week in China and then spent several weeks taking a break from studying English. Since then, she's provided some laughs, kept us updated on the weather, and always manages to ask the best questions to the other classmates.

The weather has cooled down just a bit, but the humidity is still raging. Last week, I had a little spat that is turning into unwanted drama with the gym owner. I was running on the treadmill last week, and at about 35 minutes, the man comes right up next to me and starts giving me a hard time (all in Korean) about my sweat. So, I responded in English. "It's hot. There's no air conditioning. You shut off the circuit for the fans to save energy. I'm running. I can't help it." He didn't understand, but I think he was slightly offended that I talked back to him...Korea doesn't understand the "you should earn respect" mentality, nor do they have any concept of "customer service." Anyways, that's currently turning into a big deal in which I'm pretty sure I'll be asking for my money back for this next month and be taking my business elsewhere...like it's not hard enough staying motivated to exercise everyday.

So, after a week of ups and mostly downs, Elizabeth's last weekend had arrived. Friday night after a "roller coaster" of classes...(side story) My 7 oclock middle school class was off the walls on Friday. This class has been getting progressively worse. It's supposed to be a conversation class but I'm finally coming to the realization that because of their different English levels and their extremely low level of maturity, they are nowhere near ready for a conversation class. Friday they were out of control, so towards the end of the class, I had to sternly put my foot down. I tried explaining to them that they have been acting very badly and that my elementary students are not only better in English but they are also better in behavior. After I said that, one of my favorite middle school girls types a Korean word into her electronic dictionary and then shows me the English word. It said, "puberty." Hehe..this lightened my mood a bit, but still they are going to be my final project of the year.

Anyways, after class on Friday I ran over to the Korean restaurant across from my work, picked up some cheese donkas (cutlets) and a roll of chum chee kim bop (tuna rolls) and came back to the apt to meet up with Elizabeth. We ate, looked at pictures from the past year, and just chatted like we've done so many times before.

Saturday, I named "Elizabeth Saturday!" For lunch, all the ladies went to a nice Italian restaurant in town for an farewell lunch for Elizabeth. Good food and good company. After lunch, Lizer (what Mr. Oh calls Elizabeth) and I rode bikes around Gunsan. We had intended to go to various places and take lizer's pictures with those places, but we only made it to one before we decided to go back to the apt to chill before dinner. Dinner was also a "farewell dinner" thrown by Elizabeth's coworkers. We ate at "Han's Deli," which not surprisingly does not have any sort of sandwich on their menu. It seemed kinda like a fusion between Western and Korean, with the Korean side being more dominant. It was decent.

Sunday morning was church and then Sunday evening was yet ANOTHER "farewell" dinner for good ole Lizer. We ate pizza, played this awesome Korean game that I will be bringing home, ate dessert and then parted ways. I actually forgot to include that last week, on Sunday, Elizabeth hung her hat at the Haven church. It's a Haven tradition, which I, too, will be participating in next month! Hope you are all doing well and you school goers are pumped and ready for another year of filling that nogan of yours!

Farewell, Lizer!