Yup ... Update fail.

I gave up Facebook for Lent because I spend WAAAY too much time there updating and hitting the "refresh" button. Sorry. It was a bad idea, but now that I've made it four weeks, I wanna take it the whole way.

Oh, so now I devote more of my time to CyWorld. Go figure.

Anyways, in a few words, recently ...
... Nick and I started going to mass at Sogang University, Eun-Soo (my friend from church) will be enlisting in the military at the end of this month, I'm still teaching HS, I don't sleep a lot, I hang out with Nick, a bunch of people have gotten married (and there's still MORE coming up), Dean went back to America, Matt came back to Korea, I have new musical obsessions, I teach Writing in addition to Conversation, there's new teachers at my school, I attempt to use Korean more ...

That's all.

Here's some pictures. :)

I got a new hair cut/style.

Nick, playing guitar outside of Sogang University while waiting for mass.

How I spend my Sunday mornings PART I - With Isaac and Eun-Soo

How I spend my Sunday mornings PART II - With Chang-Won and Sung-Pil (also Chan-Joo, but she wasn't here yet)

Eileen and Superman Teacher got married!!!

Matt's back!

Hanging out with Eun-Soo (and Nick, but he was TAKING the picture instead of getting in it)

Some of the volunteers for the Sogang English mass - we got together for dinner one night

Nick and I, hanging out in Sinchon on a random Monday

SPRING IS HERE!!!

Lately ...

... I've not been keeping up with blogger. Oh well.

I just finished reading "Get Me Out of Here" by Rachel Reiland - it's about the author overcoming borderline personality disorder. It was sorta intense, but the ending was good. Now I've started on "The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got That Way" by Bill Bryson. It's pretty entertaining.

Last Saturday, two of my friends got married - 곰언니 and 지홍오빠. It was a pretty awesome ceremony. This weekend, two people from church'll be getting married. Then, it's dinner in Pyeongchon. Church on Sunday - both in Suwon and in Seoul ... then on Monday (my freeeeeeeee day) I think I've got plans to catch a movie in Seoul.

Oh, and if all goes well, the biggest and best surprise EVERRRRR should be arriving in Seoul on Monday. PLEASEpleasePLEASE let it all go according to plan! :D But shhhhh ... it's a secret.

Oh, and we've now finished Day 2 of Lent. Less Facebook. More ... other things. :D

Love.

Say HEY to Vacation ...

... again.

Yup, that's right - it's Thursday, February 17th and I don't have to be back at work 'til Wednesday, March 2nd. I might be bragging ... just a little. :)

Don't worry, I'll spend next week doing SOME constructive things. For example, I need to get my grading stuff in order so that I can go over guidelines and stuff with my students when I finally find out who I'm gonna be teaching (yeah, don't know and probably WON'T know until Wednesday ... gee, whatta shocker). Oh, and I should probably sort through my lessons. And, you know, stop ignoring my TEFL course. Again. And submit my application. Yeah, yeah, I'll have stuff to do. :)

Anyways. What else is new? Oooooooh, yeah ...



I saw Taylor Swift perform in Seoul last Friday with Miss Mindy Page. :) :) :) It was pretty freakin' sweet. I mean, aside from the fact that it was the first concert I've been to in Korea where I've actually understood everything the performer said ... :) Don't get me wrong, JYP in 2008 and Rain last year were both AMAZING ... but ... it was cool knowing what was going on. And yes, I screamed like a 12 year old girl ... surrounded by actual 12 year old girls. :)



My favorite song of her's - "Back to December." :D

What else is new? Well ... not much. I just finished a two-week long teaching "stint" ... I'm not sure if they're going to be my students for the semester, or if I'll have different students or whatever ... so I'm calling it a stint. They seemed smart ... if not a bit smart-alecky. If they ARE my students, then we'll have to work on that. :) However, there's a few stand-outs. My new GFLHS best friend is a kid who said his favorite kind of music is country. :)

Speaking of best friends ... mine sent me packets of spiced cider. TAKE THAT, KOREA!!! I swear, if you just tried it, you would LOOOVE it. And you would be all, "Why aren't we marketing this???" It would be a great thing, Korea. Trust me.

She also sent me Glee music AND chocolate. My best friend rocks.

And that's pretty much all. Gonna go read, work on finishing the application, and maybe watch a video. If anyone's hangin' around Seoul during the next week, shoot a text my way. :)

Too Awesome NOT to Share ...

Local Church Thank You (feat. Dusty Quarles) by S.A.U.N.N.A.

Matt (a past coworker of mine) created this track with a bunch of friends on the night I was waiting at Incheon airport for Stuart's little brother to get here from the States. I'm pretty sure my friend from church can be heard rapping the Korean alphabet. :) Dusty is saying "Il-shim-gyo-hei Kam-sa-ham-ni-da" which is the name of a local church (that most people use to get back to the apartments when they get in a taxi) and then "thank you".

"ga na da la ma ba sah ah ja cha ka ta pa ha" is the Korean alphabet (가 나 다 라 마 바 사 아 자 차 카 타 파 하).

"You figured out how to use the English website! Congrats!"

A little tidbit from my day:

After I arrived in Gimpo (first time back since Monday morning), I was talking to my best friend on the phone when I got hungry. Hey, it was like, 5 PM - cut me some slack. Well, the only food I had that I could readily prepare was cereal. No big. I like cereal. So I get out my Oreo-O's and milk ... shoot. No bowls. So, I take stock of what I have, and I come up with a solution (now, don't judge me) and I end up eating my cereal out of a pot. A small pot, but a pot, nonetheless.

Fastfoward to later in the evening when, after studying Korean in preparation for tomorrow (FAIL), I'm feeling a little hungry. Remember when I said earlire that the only food I could readily prepare was cereal? Well, this time, I couldn't decide what kind to eat - so I mixed them together (you know, like you do when you're a kid). So, I'm prepared to eat my Oreo-Os/Cornflakeish hybrid ... shoot. No bowls AND the pot hasn't been cleaned yet. Again, I take stock of my kitchen supplies, and this time ... I end up eating my cereal out of a pie plate.

My name is Marcie, and I have a problem. LAAAAAAAZY.

Another thought? It's mind-numbingly difficult to translate song lyrics from Korean into English when they were ORIGINALY in English (because they get sorta skewed in the first round of translations [from English to Korean] ... and then DOUBLY skewed in the second round [from Korean back into English]). Especially since I know the songs fairly well to begin with ... ugh. Sorry, 창원 ... I fail.

What else ... OH! I'm going to see TAYLOR SWIFT perform in Seoul for the first time on FRIDAY! :) :) :) Thanks to LEIGH (Morgan, you ROCK!), I found out yesterday that Taylor Swift would be coming to Seoul on the 11th (that's just a week away!) ... and I found myself automatically texting my friend the exciting information (the only person I could think of who might be as happy as I was about this news) ... automatically as in I wasn't consciously thinking of what to say, but the words were coming out of my fingers ... no joke. After a few preliminary texts, I was too excited to focus on typing the words, so I just called - our dialogue looked sorta like this:

Me: "OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS, THERE'S STILL TICKETS!!! WOULD YOU GO WITH ME!?!?!?"
friend: "Uhm, yeah, sure, okay ..." (I think my excitement was a little overwhelming ... because I was literally yelling into the phone)
Me: "YESSSS! Okay. I'm going to buy tickets. Wait. I'm on the website. If this doesn't work, I'm going to say bad words."
waiting
pause
friend: "Uh, do you want me to do that? Is it in Korean?"
Me: "No. It's in English. I think I can do it. Wait. Stop laughing at me!"
friend: laughing ... "sorry."
Me: "It's hard to concentrate! I'm too excited! If you make fun of me, I'll kick you."
friend: "How? We're on the phone."
Me: "... smart aleck."
waiting ... small talk
Me: "OH MY GOSH I DID IT! I DID IT! YESSSSSSSS!"
friend: "Great job! You figured out how to use the English website! Congratulations!"
Me: "... I don't like you right now."

That's what it kinda looked like. Anyways. On Friday, we're gonna see TAYLOR SWIFT! I already created my playlist for the week, and my friend and I are memorizing the songs, haha. :) :) :) EXCITING.

In other news ... Eric Clapton is ALSO coming to Seoul! I think this month is going to freakin' rock.

And ... I'm out. I've been ignoring Blogger because I'm now obsessed with CyWorld. Sorry. But I'm trying to keep up my once-weekly posts. Oh, and I'll tell you about Lunar New Year week soon. Loves.

Rice Cooker Fail

Right now, I'm baking bread.

Yes, I realize it's 10:00 PM, and I have other things that are more important to do. But this is pretty dang important. See, today I bought wheat flour and brown rice. I was super excited because that meant I had food (rice) in my room for tomorrow morning ... say ... breakfast. Or lunch. Whatever.

Well, I got back to my room at like, 7 PM and was pretty hungry since I hadn't eaten since noon. So I decided to cook some rice for dinner. I have a rice cooker. This is NOT rocket science. It's measuring rice and water and hitting the switch. When the light turns green, the rice is ready to eat. NOT HARD.

Evidently, it is beyond my abilities to use a RICE COOKER to make rice. I failed. Miserably. So, I am now baking bread out of necessity because if I don't, I will not have food tomorrow (with the exception of whatever they're serving in the cafeteria ... which ... is sometimes hit or miss).

How I failed with a rice cooker, I'll never know.

___

Anyways. I also might have messed up my bread since you're supposed to mix all-purpose flour with wheat flour, and I didn't really have enough all-purpose flour so I tweaked the recipe and improvised a little ... but it's easier to eat messed-up bread than it is to eat messed-up rice. Trust me on that one. This isn't the first time I've failed at making rice (nor will it be the last, probably).

___

And yes, I've been ignoring this blog - although I'm getting pretty good at my once-a-week updates. (but I HAVE been doing that "31 days of pictures" garbage on my *new* CyWorld [which 지선언니 made for me]).

So what did I do last week? Well, as always, there was church on Sunday. I love church. I love that church. Specifically, I love the people at that church. I know I've said it before, and I'll probably say it many, many, MANY more times, but I'm so blessed by the people I've met there. I'm so very, very lucky. And I know sometimes I may be viewed as the odd-ball ... since, you know, I'm Catholic (with a big "C") and some people really don't seem to understand that ... but we have thus far managed to overcome our differences, haha.

Monday was Matt Loutz's last FULL day in Korea ... for this time around ... since I didn't have to work, he and I met up at 서울대 (Seoul National University) and walked around ... a lot ... since the campus is pretty HUGE. We went to the museum there - not the art museum, but the regular one, and practice reading in Korean. We also got to talk a lot, which was nice since it's been FOREVER. PS, I've since decided that I want to go there to study a little ... maybe some graduate school ... maybe just to study something random. I don't know. But I'll keep you posted on that.

At some point in the past week (the days all kind of got jumbled in my head), I went to the National Museum of Korea (국립중앙박물관) to explore. First of all, that museum is HUGE. I'm not joking. I was there for over two hours, and I only made a small dent ... as in I only made it through half of one floor (intensively) while merely glancing at everything else. It's got an AMAZING set of collections. Oh, and it's free. That's right - free. If you want to see the special exhibitions, well, you have to pay ... but if you just want to go peruse the permanent galleries (which is what I did), it's totally free. They even offer free tours in English (and other languages), but I chose to rent a headset for like, a dollar. Less than a dollar. uh-MAY-zing. And I will be returning SOON to finish perusing everything.

Yesterday (Saturday), Chang-gi and Nick and I met up in Seoul, which was cool because it's been a while since the three of us have been TOGETHER. Come to think of it, I guess that was the first time since we were all at the Saint. Wow. That's pretty crazy. Oh, and I just realized that it's been almost three years since I graduated university ... which seems like a long time ago (or NOT). But, that reminiscing is for another day (and another post).

I didn't stay long at church today - I peaced out right after the sermon so I could catch that bus from Suwon Bus Terminal to Gimpo at 5PM. The general gist of the message today was on dating/courtship. It was sorta interesting, and I got a good look into the mindset of ... Korean Christians in regards to dating? Or, at least, into my pastor's thoughts? We'll see. Again, that's for another day and another post.

___

Mainly I just wanted to tell you how much I FAIL with a rice cooker. Oh, and that Winter English camp starts tomorrow and I'm all sorts of not prepared - I haven't taught anything since maybe the first week of December ... that was a long time ago ... I feel WAY off my game. Luckily tomorrow is just introductions (lesson plans be damned).

I'll let you know how it goes ...

___

Oh, and today (and yesterday, for that matter) was WAAAY too cold.

Random Odds and Ends

"You have to at least say goodbye before you leave.  If you don't, I'll hunt you down, kick you in the shins, and run away.  Korea is a small country - it wouldn't be that hard to find you."
"And then you'll write to me?  After you kick me and run away?"
"... yeah."

"Well, there's a KFC to the right and an Italian place to the left.  What do you want?  I wonder what else they have at the KFC ..."
"Chicken."
"... thanks."

~~~

Went to the Marc Chagall exhibition today in Seoul with my friend - I think the best way to sum it up is to say that his art work REALLY evolved throughout his career (which spanned like, 6 decades or something).  My favorite ones were "The Acrobat", "The Prodigal Son", "View from a Window", and one that was of a vase of flowers - it was very bright and cheerful, and I can't remember/find the name of it.  The first one, "The Acrobat", is of a woman who appears to be holding some sort of hoop.  I'm not sure why I like it, but of the pictures in his "Circus" series, it stuck out to me the most.  Now, before you start, let me be the first one to admit I'm anything BUT an art aficionado.  In fact, I'm kind of set in my ways - I know what I like, and what I don't like, and that's that.  But, it was fun to go to the exhibit, and see everything.  And, of course, it was great to hang out with my friend.

After the art exhibit, we grabbed lunch which is where the "KFC vs. Italian restaurant" quote came from (and the decision of where to eat was decided by a simple game of rock-scissors-paper).  Then came coffee, where conversation ranged from university requirements to military to church to religion to architecture (I still believe that that building is best described as "the one with the hole in it") to whatever else in between.  Finally, we went to the Kyobo bookstore at Gwanghwamun Station (it was too cold outside to do anything else).  Then, I fell asleep on the bus on the way back to Gimpo (but luckily woke up before my stop, unlike this morning on my way to Seoul).

So, all in all, it was a really fun day.  (^_^)  Tomorrow, I gotta buckle down and get some work done.  Psssht, right.

~~~

Totally felt like a rock star yesterday - came back to Gimpo for the first time since vacation and decided I wanted to see some of my students.  Walked into their study hall, and was greeted like a celebrity.  No joke!  The way some of my kids reacted, you'd've thought it had been months since I'd seen them (and yes, I know you can't make a contraction out of you+would+have).

Last night, I got to meet Chang-gi for dinner in Gangnam!  We were also supposed to get together with Jae-Jun, but he didn't answer.  *sad face*  Jae-Jun will start his military service soon - which makes me kinda sad.  Hopefully, I'll get to see him before he enlists.  AHHH!  ENLIST!  That's the word we were looking for today to describe it.

I knew that would come to me eventually.  Oh well.  A little late (9 hours later), but ... meh.

~~~

OH!  PS, my phone has made its comeback.  Thanks to Seong-Don oppa ... he helped me take my phone to the service center yesterday AND fielded their phone calls AND took me back there this morning AND taught me the sentence I needed to say AND made me go up on my own to retrieve it.  I still remember it, too - "한드폰 찾지로 왔어요" (or something that sounded like that.  I probably wrote it wrong.  But, I said it correctly!  And the guy kind of started, looked at me, and said, "Ahhhhhhhhh!"  And knew exactly who I was.

So, now I have a phone again.  성돈오빠, 고맙습니다!!!

~~~

Alright.  I feel like I should be off now.  Just wanted to post a short, rambling update.  Oh, and I think you should read what my friend, Jen, posted on her site - http://jkganal.tumblr.com/post/2594905754/late-night-rambling

I especially like the part she quoted from the Catholic catechism.  Think about it.  Discuss.  Let's talk sometime.  :)  Her thoughts kind of go along with some of the things we talked about today.  Sort of.

Anyways.  Food for thought.

(^_^)

Out With the Old ... In With the New

How 2011 began:
♥ Noraebang-ed it up in Anyang ("Noraebang" for those of you NOT in the know is Korean for "Singing Room" = 노래방) with some uh-MAY-zing people ... Matt Loutz (welcome back to Korea!), Yooooooooon, Trevor-and-SeulKi, "Grandpa" (Steve) and Mi-Hee, Dean, Judy. Seong-Don oppa, Danielle, Sung-Min oppa, Jung-Soo oppa, Dan, Rob-n-Hannah, et all. 
♥ Coffee with a long-lost oppa at Starbucks (^_^)
♥ Dinner with Matt Loutz, Yooooooon, Grandpa, Mi-Hee, Dean, Rob, and Hannah
♥ Dropped my cell phone in a bunch of water (and it's not sitting in a bag full of rice - hopefully it'll dry out before tomorrow morning ... or else it may be i-Phone time)
♥ Currently in the process of falling in love with the movie "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang" (and Robert Downey Jr. is now one of my favorite actors)

2011 has, so far, been a great year (minus the dropping the cell phone part).  :)  For lack of a better update, how about a review of 2010?

In 2010, I ...
▫ Rang in the New Year in style at Bar Rouge in Shanghai (www.bar-rouge-shanghai.com) with Mindy, Stephanie, Noel, and our two German hostel-mates Mahur and Christoph.
▪ Taught exceptionally smart children - the Lions Class at Knox School (Harry, Lucy, Hye-Won, Robin, Da-Eun, Nathan, Julie)
▫ Flew back to America for the first time in almost 2 years - less than optimal circumstances, but we do what we can, right?
▪ Started teaching a new class of equally smart (if not smarter) students at Knox - the Tigers class (Ethan, Ryan, Kipper, Dave, Lina, Angela)
▫ Celebrated the marriage of Trevor and Seul-Ki
▪ Made new friends at church and got to know people there better
▫ Spent untold amounts of hours at Central Park in Beomgye (not to mention at Cafe Harrar and Indigo Blue)
▪ Cheered on the South Korean football (soccer, to all of you in America) Team with awesome people in Beomgye
▫ Spent more time studying Korean (language exchange at church, study group, private lessons)
▪ Met up with Jae-Young and Sun-Joong in Seoul while they were in Korea for a vacation
▫ Welcomed Nick to the world of native-speaking English teachers in Korea
▪ Celebrated another birthday in August with some of the most awesome people ever (^_^)
▫ Spent a week as an unemployed person living in a foreign country
▪ Experienced my first typhoon (^_^)
▫ Went on my first ever "REAL" job interview for the experience, got lost, did the interview, and was offered the job
▪ Became a high school teacher
▫ Went on a church retreat
▪ Made new friends outside of work and church
▫ Watched Korea play Japan at the World Cup Stadium in Seoul (three cheers for Makoto Hasebe and Ji-Sung Park being in the SAME place at the SAME time)
▪ Baked my first pie ever (ew, pumpkin)
▫ Reconnected with old friends (^_^)
▪ Was in a Christmas skit at church
▫ Went to a sauna (spa) twice in two days
▪ Rang in the New Year Korean-style (that means NORAEBANG)

All in all, 2010 was a fabulous year.  There were obviously good things and bad things that happened.    Luckily for me, the GOOD outweighed the bad.  Oh, and I know that the bad things were only there to help me grow. 

And that's all.  Here's to 2011 being an EVEN better year than 2010.  (again, minus the phone dropping part) ^^

Hey, guess what!

It's raining. Again. Two days ago, it was snowing. Now, it's raining. We're not talking a slight mist. We're not even talking about a drizzle. We're talking all out POURING. We're talking rain coursing down the rooftop of the building next to mine. We're talking about mud puddles, and rain boots and umbrellas and rain hats and rain jackets.

It's also cold. Not just a little cold. Hot apple cider drinking, fireplace sitting, blankets and books cold. Steaming bowls of hot soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, and marshmallows in hot chocolate cold. Upturned collars, layers of clothes, fluffy scarves, and big mittens cold.

I really don't understand this weather. But that's okay - I can deal with that. Oh, look - it stopped raining.

Tonight, I'm baking peanut butter cookies. Call it a trial run for next week. Next week, I plan on baking for my kids while I show them a movie. I'm thinking "Elf". Christmas movies and cookies - what do you think?

Why is the Decepticon SOOO much bigger than Optimus Prime??? And HOW could Optimus Prime take him down? Oh, yeah, I'm also watching the second Transformers movie. In the opening sequence, that Decepticon is SO much bigger than Optimus ... and yet, the Prime managed to take him down. Hmmm.

Well, that didn't last for long. Optimus Prime is dead. Josh Duhamel is exceptionally attractive. Randy and I grabbed dinner at a pretty freaking good grill restaurant in 마송/통진 (whatever you want to call it) ... but then went on a search for 호떡 which was unsuccessful. Unfortunately. GIVE US 호떡!!! GIVE US 호떡!!! Oh, well. 인사동에 가요! 호떡 주세요!

PS - if you receive emails from my YAHOO account, ignore them. I think my account's been hacked - I can't even get into it (even though I've reset my password) ... laaame.

Anywho. I'm off. Have a good night all. Next post? 31 days of pictures. FUN!

Yeah, right.

"So, how did that turn out?" - "... Not good." - "Oh."

I have an addictive personality. I can admit that. And that is why I should never try drugs of any kind. I'm not saying that I WOULD become addicted. I'm just saying that I would be predisposed to it.

Once again, let me declare my devotion to "Glee". I'm currently catching up on episodes. I'm on Episode 14 - Finn found out that he's not the father. New Directions won sectionals. Will found out about Terri's deception, and now he wants to date Emma. Sue is still out to get Will and Glee Club, and has now enlisted Brittany and Santana to get under Finn's skin. Rachel just met a guy from Vocal Adrenaline in the library (he seems like a prick). Has a nice voice, though. Oh, and Will is singing a Neil Diamond song. God, how I love this show.

Yes, I'm a "Gleek". Oh, and I love that Asian kid (Mike) and his dance moves. The boy's got mad skillz. And yes, I wrote that with a "z".

The weekend has come to an end yet again. After a mini-freakout in the office on Friday, I decided to hop onto a bus to Anyang. Snap decision, actually. Just needed to get away. So, I did. Hung out with the Anyang crew on Friday night, and then met up with Hyun in Seoul on Saturday (after a SUBWAY lunch with Evan) in Apgujeong. We got our hair did ... awesome salon in Apgujeong ... and then headed over to Sinsa and Garosu-gil. Garosu-gil is an amazing place. It's easy to forget how awesome Seoul is. There's so many great little nooks and crannies to discover and explore - Garosu-gil being one of these. Hip little shops, cozy cafes, trendy little restaurants ... Garosu-gil has ALL of these and more. I can't wait to go back. :)

Today at church, the sermon was from Judges Chapter 6, when God tells Gideon that it's his job to drive the Midianites out. The pastor went on to Chapter 7, where Gideon defeats the Midianites with only 300 men. The story in this passage seemed a little familiar, so I turned to Eun-Soo ...
"Did you ever see the movie '300'?"
"Hmmm, no, why?"
"This kinda reminds me of that."
"Oh really? How did it turn out?"
"Not good."
"... oh."

So, I've started utilizing my dictionary more in church. There's always words that I see or hear over and over again. So, sometimes I'll surreptitiously sneak out my cell phone dictionary and type in words I want to know. (Or to use it when Eun-Soo doesn't remember a word ... which happens EXTREMELY rarely. I think it's happened three times since September.)
Examples?
영원 - eternity (ps, I have a student named Young-Won), 땅 - the earth, 마음 - the mind, spirit, 아직도 - still, yet, 현재 - present (time), 영관 - an honor, glory, 평화 - peace, harmony, 세상 - the world, 고정관념 - a fixed idea (a negative thing), 의심 - a doubt
Trust - 신용, Obedient - 순종하는, Future - 미래
선포하다 - to proclaim, 송축하다 - to bless, to praise, 기뻐하다 - to be glad of, to rejoice, 경배하다 - to bow respectfully, 항복하다 - to surrender (oneself), 순종하다 - to follow obediently, 거룩하다 - to be sacred, to be holy, 종귀하다 - to be high, noble

Yay, vocabulary!!!

Okay. That's all I've got. Now, t'is the season for the tests. Gimpo HS students take their finals this coming week. Some of my friends have tests this coming week, too - one of them is related to several business/CPA-esque concepts that I don't quite understand ... and the other is kinda big (even if he doesn't want to tell anyone about it ... punk. I mean "punk" in the nicest possible way). (^_^) So, I wish everyone all the best - good luck and don't stress. Remember, the holidays are just around the corner. :)

And that's it. Love you much.

I'd Like to Talk to the Weather-man ...

It's raining.

Seriously? It's the beginning of December. It FEELS like it's freezing outside. And yet ... it's 9:51 PM and there's a THUNDERSTORM outside. A legit thunderstorm. Like ... I can see the water coursing down the rooftop of the building outside of my window. This weather is getting a little ridiculous.

Okay. Enough with the lame weather reports. It's confession time. I have a new obsession. Okay. I think I mentioned it before. I'm addicted ... to ... Glee.

Yes, I'm late jumping on the bandwagon. Now I'm catching up. Thank you, Randy, for supplying me with all of season 1 and thus enabling my addiction. It's the singing. The singing is amazing. For example, right now, Finn is singing "I'll Stand By You" ... ... ... ... ... amazing.

Okay. Really. I'm done now. Next week is finals - my students are CRAAAZY stressed. Well, some of them appear to be. Others grab me in the hallways just to chat. I've supervised study periods where the entire class diligently studies for an hour (although during the last five minutes I make them close their books and just relax ... it's okay, they already know I'm crazy), and I've also had study halls where I've ended up playing charades with some of the students in the back of the room. Anything to help them relax, haha.

I finished calculating my grades an hour ago - aigooo. Headache = major. I actually had finished doing them six hours ago ... or, at least I that I had. Then, I ran into Young-Joon. Young-Joon who, bless his heart, had sent me an email yesterday WITHOUT HIS ASSIGNMENT ATTACHED. Honest mistake. So ... I waited. And now I'm done. Hey, guess what - I've been working here for three months now. Wow, has it really been that long already? I'm going to miss teaching my second year students. They're great. I don't know what they'll think about me after they see their grades, haha ... hopefully they'll still like me. We shall see ... ... ...

I've decided that I really like working with high school students. It's really a lot of fun. Maybe a little bit rough in the beginning, but ... really? It's been pretty neat. I feel really lucky to have this opportunity. They're so daaang smart, and we're able to talk about pretty complex things. I've learned so much from them, even in just these few months. Yeah ... I'm pretty lucky.

Gonna meet up with Hyun this Saturday in Seoul ... perhaps a hair appointment should be pencilled in?? Well, actually, it already has been. :) We'll see what happens.

And that's my life. It's taken me two hours to write this while in that time I completed my grades and watched three episodes of "Glee". Now ... it's bedtime.

"Wanna be a club advisor?"

"In order to be the advisor for the Spanish Club, do I have to be able to speak Spanish? No? Okay, then ... sign me up."

That's pretty much the conversation I had with one of my students today - Min. Min is super motivated when it comes to learning languages - he speaks English very well, is majoring in Chinese, studies French on his own, knows a little Japanese, and now wants to learn Spanish. If he's able to garner enough interest in his club, maybe I'll (re)learn along with them. Which is why I may or may not be currently listening to Spanish language podcasts on iTunes. I think this one is being taught by a Scottish guy (at least, he doesn't sound Spanish). I can't quite place his accent. And I have absolutely no idea about the woman's accent.

Hola? Que tal? Bien, gracias, y tu? Bien, gracias.
Hola? Que tal? Fetal, y tu? Yo muy bien, gracias.
Hola? Que tal? Es stupendo! Y tu? Phenomenal!!!
(Don't judge my spelling)

In other news - tonight, I went to a motivational speech in the gymnasium given by 김형석 (KIM Hyeong-Suk) who is a famous producer in Korea. He has worked with artists like BOA and 동방신기 (Dong Bang Shin Ki). I didn't understand most of what he was saying, because by the time my mind processed the words that I understood, I had lost track of the speech. But, I think the general gist of it was that he was encouraging them to keep working hard. It was cool.

Buenos dias!
Buenas tardes! (I can't roll my "r's")
Buenas noches!
Excellente!
Adios! Hasta luego!
Hasta pronto! Hasta manana!
Me llamo ______.
Encantada!

Spanish comes so much easier than Korean. Speaking of which ... I should do my homework.

저는 Marcie이에요. 저는 영어선생님이에요. 저는 미국사람이에요.
방에 책상이 있어요. 의자도 있어요. 냉장고하고 옷장도 있어요. 우리 집은 학교 옆에 있어요.
이 사과 얼마예요? 한 개에 1000원이에요. 사과 두 개 주세요. 모두 2000원이에요.
몇 명 이에요? 5명이에요.

Okay. Now I want to start watching "Glee". I love how Finn (or whatever his name is) looks TERRIFIED of that girl. I can't remember her name. Will's wife is insane. This show is incredible. I think I'm in love. Sue is HILARIOUS. Emma's strange.

"You're very talented."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I would know because I'm very talented."

I'm out for now.

---

PS - this is my 100th post on my blog. Monumental? Meh. Have a great day! (^_^)

I'm Thank For ... (in no particular order)

Friends who let me sleep at their places, the girl on the bus who held my purse on her lap while I was standing because the bus was full, Thanksgiving dinners, friends who can cook (and who enjoy doing it), 사명의교회 (my church and all of the people there), letters in the mail, late night or early morning phone calls (depending on which country you're in), chocolate chip cookies, the ajeosshi who let me have the empty seat on the bus, text messages, snow falling in the city, hugs, people who are willing to teach me Korean, everyone who has ever had to or been willing to translate for me, best friends, mentors, my students, God's grace, digital cameras, e-mail, boxed sets of MacGyver DVDs, Indian food restaurants (and people who are ALWAYS willing to go with me to them), the right and the ability to make my own choices (and the lessons I learn from them), my family (the one I was given and the one(s) I have created for myself), kisses on the cheek from my friend's little brother, ondol (floor) heating, people who can always make me laugh, the guy on the bus who smelled nice (since we had to stand side-by-side for over 30 minutes) ... basically, people. And life. In general.

Some people get all the luck ...

In one week, I spend at least 3 hours on a bus of some kind.

See, it takes almost exactly one hour to get from Gimpo Foreign Language High School to Hapjeong subway station on the 3000 bus (which makes limited stops). Since I absolutely hate riding buses, that's the best option for me. Then, I can hop on the subway (Hapjeong Station is where Line 2 [the green line] and Line 6 [the brown line] meet) and be in Beomgye or Suwon within an hour (strange how it takes about the same amount of time to get to both places, huh?)

Why am I telling you this? To complain. What am I complaining about? EVERY TIME I GET ON THAT FREAKING 3000 BUS, I ALWAYS END UP SITTING NEXT TO OLD MEN AND WOMEN. Once ... JUST ONCE ... I want to get to sit next to a cute soldier.

Yes, I know that's petty. But c'mon! On Thursday when I rode the bus, I ended up sitting next to a space-hogging ahjeossi (albeit, he had a kind smile) while Daphne (my coworker) got to sit next to a cute soldier. NOT FAIR! :P

Some people get all the luck.

(^_^)

Oh, and BTW ... if anyone has a recipe for pie crust, please let me know. Any and all advice would be welcome, too, as I attempt to make a pumpkin pie. I don't even like pumpkin pie, haha.

Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!!!

Don't laugh ...

Confession::: I may or may not be watching "Eclipse" (the 3rd Twilight movie) again.

Now, before you start making fun of me ... Well, okay, you can make fun of me. I'm making fun of myself. But, c'mon ... I can overlook the cheese-factor and the ridiculousness of it because ... there's shirtless "werewolves". And that makes it ALL worth it.

It's Saturday night. I just spent three hours killing countless numbers of trees (sorry, Mother Nature) in order to copy materials for my students to plan their arguments for their final test. I have eight different topics ... unfortunately, I can't remember all of them right now. I'm sure you're SUPER interested (psssht, haha) ... but you'll just have to deal with it.

Last week was a short week - all of the third year students in Korea took their college entrance exams on Thursday. It's a crazy, crazy day in Korea - it only happens once a year, though. And now that that's over with, all of the third year students in my school are gone. It's SO quiet in my building ... I can't believe it. On Friday, some of my students came to talk to me and were just in awe - "Teacher, we're almost third year students now."

Yesterday, I went to Seoul with Daphne to Apgujeong. We grabbed lunch at a restaurant called "Everest" in Dongdaemun - and it was pretty stinkin' fantastic. Mmmmm, Indian food. :) Then we went to a cafe (in Apgujeong) to have a short lesson on how to make the perfect cup of hand-drip coffee. That was pretty cool. I learned alot about coffee during that short 30 minute lesson.

After that, I met up with Kyu (my old roommate) at the Kyobo Bookstore in Gwanghwamun - REALLY freakin' awesome! I haven't seen her in FOREVER, so it was a lot of fun! She's so funny. I was also able to get hold of In-Chae, and I met him at his university (Dongguk University) near Namsan Tower. His university was pretty cool! Really pretty, and fun to see. He showed me around the campus (including the little manicured park areas on top of the buildings), and then we had dinner. Yay for yummy Italian food. :) :) :) Oh, and great company, of course. (^_^)

Ended up heading down to Beomgye for even MORE good food. Weekends = fat. Oh, and fun times at Trevor and Seul-ki's. :) Woke up this morning, and met Mindy in Gangnam for ... drum roll please ... BUTTERFINGERS PANCAKES! HECK YESSS ... french toast ... bacon ... eggs ... mmmmmmm.

And that was my weekend. Tomorrow? Church. :) For now? More cheesy movies. :)

Another wonderful Tuesday ...

은솔 (Belle): "I've started using English outside of conversation class."
Me: "Oh, really?"
< Interjection: 은솔 (Belle), lived overseas for a total of 10 years - New Zealand and California - and speaks near fluently. >
은솔 (Belle): "Yeah. It's kind of fun."
Me: "Who with? Mary?" (Mary is her friend who is in her class and lived overseas as well.)
은솔 (Belle): "No, with that boy who sits next to me in my homeroom class. You talked to him this morning."
Me: (thinking) "Oh, you mean 재현 (Jae-Hyun)? That's great! Who started that?"
은솔 (Belle): "He did - earlier this week he asked me if we could speak in English with each other so he could practice."

I love that. That short dialogue pretty much made my day. Belle and Jae-Hyun are two of my favorite students. Jae-Hyun was one of the boys who helped me on the bus in my previous post. Well, in all honesty, 2-4 in general is pretty much composed of most of my favorite students. I love the fact that they're taking it into their own hands, and trying to improve their abilities outside of class.

Continuing that thought ... towards the end of class, another one of my favorite students managed to grab my full and undivided attention when he began talking to me about how he wishes his English ability was as high as other students in the class, but because it is not he is only able to use simple words and string together uncomplicated thoughts. I spent a good five or ten minutes talking with 영원 (Young-Won) about his English ability and how it can be improved. He's a solid kid. He came to the conclusion that in order to improve his ability, he should study in the US or Canada or Austrailia or another country. I told him that if that wasn't possible, he could always just come and find me and we could talk.

After the bell rang and I finished talking with Young-Won, another student came up to me - he wants me to call him Visual. We had basically the same conversation as the one between myself and Young-Won, though Visual used Young-Won as an example of better English while Young-Won used Belle.

They're all solid kids. I'm really lucky to have them. 2-4 and 2-2 make my Tuesdays so ... easy. =)

I'm already halfway done with my week. Teaching, that is. Yesterday, I had my two sections of 2-1, and today I had two sections of 2-4 and 2-2. Tomorrow morning, I will have my two sections of 2-3 and 2-2 again ... and then I'm done with classes for the week. I still have to be at work tomorrow afternoon and Thursday, but because of the university entrance exam on Thursday, we're not holding classes.

Good luck to all of the third year students in Korea (and those who are retaking the exam for other reasons)!!!

Oh, and congratulations Da-Eun on being accepted to Anyang Foreign Language High School - I knew you would do it!

"It's okay, she's with us."

Well, that's what I IMAGINE them saying.

By "them", I'm referring to two of my favorite students, 재현 (Jae-Hyun) and David. It's 9:29 PM on Sunday night, and I just made it back to Gimpo from Suwon in two hours EXACTLY. Wanna know how? I rode the school bus.

That's right. Last month, thanks to 수현 (Soo-Hyun, another favorite), I learned that there is a chartered bus that brings students back from YEONGTONG! Okay, let me explain ... the students are allowed to go home once (or twice ... I can't remember) a month only. Well, our students are from ALL over Gyeonggido (and some even further away ... I have a student or two from DAEGU of all places ... they're on their own on the getting home thing). Their parents are obviously unable or unwilling (haha) to drive ALL the way to Gimpo Foreign Language High School (go to Google Maps and copy-paste "김포외국어고등학교" if you don't believe me when I say that we're HELLA FAR AWAY from most of civilization ... and then copy-paste "범계역 to 김포외국어고등학교" if you want to see how far I am from where I used to live) ... the solution to the problem? Charter a bunch of buses to take the students to some centrally placed drop off points and then of course on Sunday they have to pick the kids up again.

Anyways, back to how I figured this out. Last month, I had dinner with my friends Nick and 은수 (Eun-Soo, he's my translator from church) in Yeongtong. As Nick and I were walking to HomePlus, I heard someone shout, "Marcie!" I was confused, mostly, when a teenage boy (who I recognized as being one of my students) ran up to me. He then explained (later that week) about the buses.

The bus departs from Yeongtong HomePlus at exactly 7:10 PM ... and I was going to be on it. I knew the area it would be in (near HomePlus and Hana Bank) ... and while I was looking I managed to down a grande Chai latte (from the Coffee Bean) and a hot chocolate (from a different cafe). Then I saw a girl wearing the school uniform getting on this bus. So, I ran up and asked her mom, "김포외고 버스???" ("Gimpo Foreign High bus?") Of course she was confused, but she answered in the affirmative. Then I realized that I faced the problem of explaining to the bus driver that I was a teacher at the high school and wanted to catch a ride back. The girl didn't recognize me (unfortunately) ... but LUCKILY FOR ME seated two rows from the front I saw two familiar faces - Jae-Hyun and David. They're both in my 2-4 class, and I pretty much love them. They jumped up when they heard my voice (I think they were HELLA surprised) and I was like, "Okay, can you help me explain to the bus driver and this mom that I'm a teacher at the school and I need a ride back?" (But I was totally running on a sugar high, so I'm pretty sure that that entire sentence made it out of my mouth in like, 3 seconds - lucky for me that they are both insanely smart and understood what I was saying). So David took point and explained to the bus driver (in my head I imagine that he said something to the effect of, "it's okay, she's with us," but based on the Korean that I know, I know that he just translated what I said to the confused bus driver) and I got on.

We had to make three or four stops elsewhere to pick up other students, but the majority got on in Yeongtong (like me). We stopped in Suwon once or twice, and then ... in Bundang. Now, those of you who know me well know that I get disoriented (and lost) easily. So, I have no idea how we got back. I can tell you bits and pieces of the two hour bus ride - like when we were driving along the Han River and I'm pretty sure we were near Banpo Bridge because of the lights and the fountain. I can tell you that we drove past Ilsan (but there was like, a river between us and Ilsan) because I could see a sign that said "KINTEX" shining on the other side of the river. I can even describe to you the barbed wire and the military guard posts that were stationed along the bank of a river that I think must be the same one I saw when I went hiking with the principal (which is where Ganghwa Island is and also is between North and South Korea - hence the barbed wire). But in between Banpo Bridge and Tongjin, I had no idea where we were. And I have no idea how we even ended up near Banpo Bridge - if that was Banpo Bridge. Oh, and I'm still motion sick, and I got back thirty minutes ago. That's probably not a good sign.

Oh well. I got home. :) And it only took TWO hours. AND I didn't have to pay anything. So, WIN!

This weekend was pretty good. Yesterday, I met Hyun in Myeongdong and we ate Indian food and shopped. I got a new jacket, which I'm pretty stoked about. Oh, and new Converse. :) It was great seeing Hyun again - I had a lot of fun hanging out with her! Hopefully we can do it again sometime soon. :) :) :)

Today, I woke up early and made the trek down to Suwon. PS, on a Sunday morning, it takes almost exactly 2.5 hours to get from my school to Yeongtong HomePlus (when you factor in waiting for buses and subways and transfers and all of that). So, I left at 9:30 and I made it to the Coffee Bean at exactly noon, just when Nick and I had made plans to meet for lunch. Lunch was Bo-Young Mandoo (DOUBLE WIN). After church, my small group went to Tous les Jours and Seung-Beom (our leader) bought us all coffee (TRIPLE WIN!) AND after that we went back to church and they fed us dinner (we're up to 4 wins now). I got to talk with Chan-Joo (찬주), Eun-Soo (은수), and Isaac (이삭) a lot, which was fun. Whenever Isaac and I talk, he speaks to me in Korean (and I can understand most of it, if he remembers to speak slowly) and I speak to him in English (and he understands most of it [more than I understand of his Korean] if I speak at a moderate pace). Today's sermon was about Joshua 14:1-15. The pastor started off by talking about how our future is dependent upon the decisions we make, and how we live, in the present. I learned two new words today: 현재 ("hyun-jae" which means "present" - I was REALLY proud of myself for that one because I kept hearing the pastor say it, so when Eun-Soo wasn't looking, I looked it up in my dictionary) and 미래 ("mi-rae" which means "future" - Eun-Soo told me). Well, actually, I learned THREE, but I forgot the third one. Oops.

Anyways. Church was good.

Now it's time for a little more babble and a little less sense. I think now is the time to illustrate my feelings by using some song lyrics. Follow along, if you can. :)

Since you've been away
Things ain't been the same
I miss you most and more each day
{...}
No matter what I do
I can't stop thinking of you
You're always on my mind
- Dream

I miss you so much
Your light, your smile, your way
- Rascal Flatts

Okay, I had more, but it's starting to sound pathetic even to ME ... so I can't imagine (or don't want to imagine) what you guys are all thinking. Long story short ...
1.) I'm irritated with you for just disappearing.
2.) I miss talking to you and hanging out with you.
3.) I'm irritated with myself for letting it effect me so much.

There you have it. Oh, and I know full well that this is passive-aggressive at its finest, since *you* won't read this. However ... I totally had planned to tell you all of this today (well, okay, maybe not numbers 1 and 3 ... but I was definitely going to tell you #2), but then you didn't talk to me. So, I'm venting.

I miss my friend. (BTW, Dean, thanks for listening to me for 45 minutes)

Okay, enough of that garbage. :) Now, it's funny time. My buddy, Nick, posted this link a few days ago on his Tumblr - take a look-sie at it. It might make you laugh (I did). Especially look at it if you're a guy dating a Korean girl - http://www.datingish.com/678604010/ten-tips-on-dating-a-korean-girl/

Oh, and just to even things out - http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2007/09/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know.html (not as funny, though).

Okay. This coming week is the big university entrance exam. You know, the test that only occurs ONCE A YEAR that Korean high school students work their butts off preparing for - the test that causes them to stress out like NO OTHER. Okay, here's my two cents: You don't want students to stress out so much? OFFER THE TEST MORE THAN JUST once A YEAR! =) Stress-be-gone!!! :)

Anyways, that means we don't have classes on Thursday. :) So that means I only have to teach 2-1 ONCE this week (same with 2-3 ... luckily, I get 2-2 and 2-4 TWICE). LOVE it. Oh, on the subject of my students - I have their running totals for the semester so far. Out of a possible 40 points (two tests at 20 points each), my highest student has a total of 38.5 and my lowest has 25.5 (excluding the new students who missed one or both of the tests). We'll see how this works out. :)

(And yes, I realize that I've typed a lot about very little ... but for some reason today, all I've wanted to do is talk the entire day).

Oh, and I just heard a bunch of banging sounds in the hallway, so I stuck my head out to look ... and found a bunch of 3rd year girls riding on a cart up and down the hallway while brushing their teeth. Hey, you gotta blow off steam somehow, right??? :)

Okay. I'm out for the night. Thanks for reading/listening. :) More to come later. Love!

"Twilight" Fear

It's 7:49 PM. Ten minutes ago, I was on a treadmill in the exercise room in the other dormitory. Because I'm feeling a little sick, I decided just to do a brisk walk at an incline ... nothing too big. So, to pass the time, I had my iPod and a book to read. Earlier in the evening, I heard a sound like the door opening and closing, which was strange in and of itself since no one was in the dorms at the time (it's study hall time). So, I was a little on edge. I was reading my adolescent sparkly vampire drivel (a.k.a. "Twilight"), and had gotten to an almost suspenseful part (you know, where the idiot girl realizes he's a vampire) and ... the lights in the room went out. Talk about timing! I almost fell off the damn treadmill!

So, I ventured (carefully) out into the hallway (fine, call me a chicken - whatever. I've always been jumpy ... and being alone [or almost all alone] in a five story dormitory wasn't any picnic) and started walking towards the lobby area where the stairs are ... Got to the stairs, and almost flipped out because THE DOOR TO THE ROOM BEHIND ME SLOWLY OPENED. I'm not joking. Like, slowly ... should-be-creaking-opened. Turns out it was one of the dormitory supervisors or something ... well, I'm not sure, but I know that he's nice, so I managed to explain what happened and by "managed to explain" I mean I uttered a few words in my poor Korean and then I simply led him down the hall to show him. Which he then fixed with a smile. Thank you, nice man who scared the crap out of me. I appreciate that greatly.

Yesterday, 2-1 drove me up the freakin' wall. Frustrated the crap out of me. So, I decided to do something productive about it. I went to Tongjin, picked up eggs and butter, came back to my room, and baked several dozen cookies which I then dispersed amongst the various teacher offices. They turned out alright. Next will be banana bread - I bought a huge bunch of bananas and they're already kinda going gross (I don't like bananas anyways unless they're slightly green, so to me anything other than firm and green is bad). Anyway, I didn't know what to do with the bananas since I have a baby-sized fridge ... so I put them in a plastic bag and hung them in my bathroom. Don't judge. Now my bathroom smells like wet dog (see the previous post) and bananas. Gross.

Now I'm watching MacGyver (surprise surprise - and it's one of my favorite episodes, too) and trying to figure out a way to teach my lesson tomorrow WITHOUT bombing it again. Today was a neat day - aside from the crashing and burning in my lesson (well, my perceived crashing and burning). Normally at lunch time, I would wait until 11:40 or so (lunch starts at 11:20) to go down because there's a lot of people there. But I've started going to that lunch time praise music that I mentioned earlier, and in order to do that, I've been going to lunch right on time. Anyways, today I got in line downstairs, and there was a really nice teacher who was like, "sit with me, let's talk" so I ended up sitting at a table of some other teachers. The one who asked me to sit with them was really nice and tried really hard to engage me in conversation. Anyways, I went down to dinner later tonight, and after he finished he saw me and came up to me and was like, "tomorrow night, come down to dinner earlier and eat with us."

So, I'm working on that whole "opening up" thing. And the teacher leading the praise session surprised me yesterday - he handed me the sheet of music with Korean AND English lyrics!!! Today, too. And tomorrow. I'm really lucky - he's so kind! And another teacher wants me to teach her how to bake cookies. So, yeah. Today was cool. Except for my bombed lessons.

But, maybe I'm allowed a bombed lesson or two. And maybe it wasn't THAT bad. Well, okay. I think it was pretty bad. Tomorrow'll be better.

That's all, though. Mainly I just wanted to share my story about the sophomoric vampire tale and the treadmill. :)

FAIL

It's Sunday night, and I literally just walked in the door. Yesterday, before I left, I bleached my bathroom. I was SOOO proud of myself for doing that - don't judge. I'm hopeless when it comes to cleaning. So, I bleached my bathroom (just like Amanda taught me) and then left. Now, my bathroom smells like wet dog. I'm not sure what happened. I'm pretty sure there's never even been a dog near my bathroom. FAIL.

"Chris Brown!"

So, I've come to the realization that students here like me (well, some of them do, anyways) not because I'm a good teacher (the jury's still deliberating my teaching ability) but because we like the same things.

I realized this after having spent the past two weeks hearing a group of 3-4 boys (who I don't even teach) start singing Chris Brown songs everytime they saw me in the hallways. Finally, one of them explained to me that they heard that I like Chris Brown. How they heard it, I don't know ... but whatever. So, anyways, I saw this group of boys tonight ... I was on my way to exercise, so I had my iPod on and everything, and the "leader" (a.k.a. the tallest and the loudest) asked me what I was listening to. When I responded, he began to enthusiastically ask me about the album and the song and other songs by that artist and so on and so forth ...

Continuing with the music theme - last week, I had my laptop in class so that students could research for their speeches, and a bunch of the boys decided to browse through my iTunes. I think I definitely earned cool points - at least with one of my classes. "Teacher, you like hip-hop? Teacher, you like Ludacris? I like Ludacris! Teacher, you like Twista? I like Twista! Teacher, you have ..." And then there's 2-4 who skipped all the hip-hop and went straight for the rock.

Couple that with the fact that I have a handful of girls who like to run up and hug me in the hallway ... yeap.

I'm doing alright here. :)

Today was Friday, which meant I didn't work. After lunch, I was walking through the hallways, and I heard guitar music and singing coming from an empty classroom. It sounded ... Bucket-esque. The only problem? I was too short to look in the window to see what was really going on, and too scared to open the door. Luckily for me, another teacher was passing by in the hallway at that moment and explained to me that it was a church group. She then proceeded to tell me that I should go in, led me in, and introduced me to the group. It was being led by one of my favorite teachers - I think he's a biology teacher, 유주현. He was playing guitar and singing, and asked me to come again next week. I guess they meet every weekday during lunch time. I'm pretty stoked about that.

I went on an adventure into Tongjin today to go to the post office. Then I bought some AMAZING apples ... AND managed to get a library card at the public library! I gave up before finding English books, but I was told that they DO have a selection. So I will go back at some point to try to find them.

And that's all I've got. Back to watching MacGyver. :) I've recently decided that MacGyver is the perfect man. He's pretty much amazing.