Arm Fur

Dear sleep,
I'm sorry we couldn't catch up this weekend.

This past week was EXHAUSTING! We even had a "sort of" holiday on Monday. It was Teacher's Day. However, this was the first day I was to start my new company class. So, I did have to go to this one class right in the middle of the day. However, after this class, I decided I wanted to do something to treat myself. I called up Mr. Oh, the old man who used to drive me to church, and we went and saw "Thor" in 3D. It was sweet, and Mr. Oh was pretty floored to see his first 3D movie.

And so, my schedule has changed. I've tried to see the positive in this new schedule, but the biggest negative of all is really getting the best of me. Because of this new class, I am unable to have lunches or other random adventures with my morning class. I'm really going to miss that.

Now I work in the morning/afternoon until later at night. It's a split shift and I pretty much spend my whole entire day at work with a little break to go to the gym. Like I said, it's exhausting. BUT these students are very nice. I am now spending everyday from 11:40 to 12:30 at a company called Tata Daewoo. I teach 2 groups, a beginner class and an intermediate class. They are all very great people and very eager to learn English. Getting their names has been a little difficult, but I always have those students who try to make it easier when they tell me their English name such as "Spring" or "Rain." They probably didn't know what to choose so they just looked out the window for ideas.

The week was busy busy busy. I leave the apt at 9 a.m. and don't get home until about 9:30 p.m. Lily must really miss me. Classes were the same ole same ole. One funny moment was in my 4 oclock class. We were talking about things that are soft and the word, "fur" came up. They apparently never heard it and so I was explaining it to them and they say, "oh, I understand. Fur is on teacher's arm!" then they all start touching my arm hair and saying, "oooooo." Koreans don't really have hair on their arms, AND they only need to shave their legs like once a month. Why, God, why?

The weekend came and it was probably more exhausting than the week. It was my wonderful and beautiful friend, Elizabeth's birthday! I wanted to make it special because it's really hard to be away from home on special days like these. So, I was planning a surprise birthday party, and as you probably know from stories I've told, I am an awful liar. So, it's a good thing, Elizabeth and I mainly contact each other through the internet. Friday night I spent the whole night making this little scrap book thing of all of our adventures thus far in Korea. It was really great going back and remembering everything we've done here, I'm excited to someday look back on this blog, and be like, "What the? Why did I eat that moving octupus tentacle?" Although it was fun reminiscing, I stayed up way too late and then spent all of Saturday running errands, finishing the scrapbook, making those who shall not be named feel guilty about eating dog, and crossing other various things off my to do list.

Well, she loved the scrapbook, and she really was surprised when she walked into the party. About 14 people showed. We ate chili cheese dogs with baked beans, potato salad, veggies, and cherry tomatoes, just like good Americans we ate until we felt like we were going to explode. We also had this awesome ice cream birthday cake from Baskin Robbins, yeah, we actually have 2 BR's in Gunsan! Here's the pic of the birthday girl, and her cake.



So, Saturday was a really late night as well. On Sunday afternoon, I went to help one of the guys from the airbase clean out his room since he's leaving this Thursday. I'm really sad he's leaving, but very happy that he's going to be able to be reunited with his family AND also, he gave me his bike, bike pump, a pan, and ALL these amazing groceries! Hello, Hamburger Helper! And after Thursday, I'll be cruisin round Gunsan on a ten speed, oh yeah.

Sunday evening, we had a little going away thing for the Airman and another teacher who is also leaving on the same day. Goodbyes are pretty hard here, because it's almost like we are living in a whole separate world from what our lives used to be and saying goodbye feels like your saying goodbye forever. BUT I must think about how fun it will be to reconnect with these people in different parts of the world or randomly run into them at Disneyworld or something :) This also made me realize how truly difficult it's going to be to say goodbye to my students and people that have become such a huge part of my life. *sigh* I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Well, that wraps it up. I'm worried my blogs might start getting dull since my life is pretty consumed with work these days; I'll probably be writing more about the funny things my students say. The things that come out of those kids mouths are just so....for example 2 hours ago, I said, "Sky, are you finished?" and he says, "Yes, teacher, I'm dung." (on purpose) And then the whole class erupts in laughter. They love the word, "dung." It's a little gross, but it could be worse right?

O.k. hope you are all well and that you didn't fret over the ending of the world this past week :)

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." -Mark 13: 32-33