"Once you hit 25, it's all downhill."--Rodney

Yep. So I'm 25 now. It really doesn't feel like it; I can hardly believe it myself. I don't FEEL 25... my adventures are just beginning... But, yeah. I'm a quarter of a century old. Balls. More on that later.

Let's go back to Tuesday. On Tuesday, I lost one of my kidergardeners. Joon, "the smart one," left CIS. He left because his mother felt he was too far above the other kids (true) and he really wasn't learning that much (questionable). I understand why she did it, and I'm glad it wasn't really anything to do with me, but I still miss the little guy. It happened so suddenly I barely even got a chance to say goodbye to him. He really is a sweet little boy, and I'm not sure he'll do well at another school (he's emotionally still a little baby), but what can I do? I was glad to teach him for a year, and he'll certainly be a success. And then there were 11.

Thursday was my birthday. It was really nice, actually. Paul got me a towel (SO KEY) and Nate brought me a piece of carrot cake and a pack of real hot dogs. Kinda awesome. Karen and Sophie teamed up (my supervisor and another Korean teacher at school) and bought me a cake (it was actually decent too!). Everyone sang and blah, blah, blah. Also, Miriam and Jade got me a book, Blue Like Jazz, which is a Christian book everyone at school is reading (read: all the supervisors read it while they are working... neat.) It might be next o my list after I finish In Cold Blood which is SO FRIGGIN' GOOD I can't stand it. And SeetaandJamie got me Pride and Prejudice (at least people know me enough to get me books!!) and a dance movie Step Up, which I watched and loved. It was cheesy and magical in a way only dance movies can be. SO great.

After school, Christa, Rodney, Miriam and I went to Sizzler for dinner, and Mark, Rachel, and Inseok met us there. It was a nice dinner and it was really nice to just spend time with them away from school. As I said in my other blog, thank you to EVERYONE who made me feel special on my birthday. You only turn 25 once, and although it wasn't the prom I'd planned, it was still great. So, again, thank you.

On Friday my B.C. class decorated my board and made me cards for my birthday. Even though I usually hate them, I kind of loved them for 10 minutes. It was super sweet of them, and I appreciated it.

Also on Friday we learned that we're getting a new principal. According to Eunice, she's coming on Tuesday and Eunice still has a job. According to Miriam, who spilled the beans Thursday night, Eunice got fired, Satan sold 30% of the school, AND we're getting a new principal. Rodney worked with her before and says she's a b!^@#. So that's... awesome. Big B. or not, she's the fourth principal I've seen in my time at C.I.S. Um... yeah. It's a GREAT place to work.

Hopefully I can just keep my head down and do my work until January 31st. That's ALL I'm asking for. *sigh*

Saturday I was supposed to go out for my birthday, but I kinda felt like poo. So I went to class, then bopped around Meyongdong for a bit and came home. Watched movies and chilled out. I feel better today, though, so I'm glad I didn't go out. I'll be out next weekend, though. ;)

I DID go out to dinner with Karen, which was nice. She got me caught up on all the school gossip (not really what I wanted to talk about but whatever) and we enjoyed a meal. They didn't have French onion soup, which broke my heart, but it was still good. What can ya do?

Today I got up early and went to church early. I got to see my friend Elysia, who just moved a lot closer to me, so that's awesome. Then after church, I came home and walked my dog. Then James convinced me to go out to dinner with him and Seeta, so I did. We went to Marikesh Nights, a Moroccan/Arabic restaurant. It is SO GOOD. We had baba ganush and then I had something that I can't remember the name of, but it was a big hunk of lamb and some sauce and rasisins and onions in it. And yellow rice. And it was magical. Let me just say, I love a demon hunk of lamb. Mmmm. I kinda wanna go to Morocco now. Whatever. And the funny thing is, when we walked in Miriam was there (with a cute boy, I DON'T wanna talk about it) and then as we were finishing up AdamandChrista came in. Clearly, C.I.S. LOVES them some Marikesh.

I hope that meal qualifies as eating "something weird" as per the reqest of The B.F. Ha ha ha. I did my best.

Overall, I feel like I had a good week. Maybe Rodney was wrong. Maybe 25 won't be so bad...

XOXO