This is what I do instead of packing...

We had "Santa Day" at school today, which I recieved the schedule for AFTER the fact. Um... I'm not even gonna comment on it because I can't deal with work anymore. I need a break like WOAH! ANYway, Rodney, Adam, and Nate dressed up as Santa and gave the kids presents that the parents sent earlier in the week. I also gave my kids the presents I got them (books) and presents Lucy's mom made. Grace kept tallying up the score, "Teacher, I have four presents!" "Teacher, I have five presents!" She is so cute sometimes.

Elly, my old supervisor, even came for a little while and it was super nice. She gave the kids a gift and we hung out for a bit. It was nice to remember the days when I liked my job and the people I worked with, instead of thinking they're incompetant idiots with IQs lower than cheese.

Mooooving on, here are a couple pics. This is my class in front of our tree, the only real tree I've had in two years. It even had presents under it.

I love Eric smilling like a doof, and Caroline looking PISSED. Pitt looks pretty cute, too. Oh man, I'm gonna miss these guys.

And this one is me messing around with Jinni's headband. The kids kept telling me I looked like an adjuma, which is the term for a married (middle-aged) woman in Korea. Niiiice.

Willy's SUCH an attention hog...

Okay. I should get back to (kind of) packing and getting ready for my epic journey home.

Day after tomorrow!!

Much love.

For a laid back weekend, I sure did a lot of stuff...

Oh man. I really just wanted to chill all weekend but, alas, such was not the case. See, on Friday night we did our Secret Santa dinner/debauchery with the foreign staff. I kind of organized it, so of course it was a fabulous time. First we went to dinner at VIPS, which is like a steak/salad bar buffet place. It was decent food, and it turns out my Secret Santa was Seeta (which I kinda figured out) so I got an awesome gift. I got earrings and a necklace that are gorgeous. However, I wore them to church on Sunday and as I was taking my iPod headphones out, my earring flipped onto the floor and... broke. Um... balls. I superglued it back together, though, so I'm hoping they're still wearable. I suck at life sometimes.

Anyway, after dinner we went and had some beers and then headed to nori bong (Korean kareoke) and sang our little hearts out. Of course, there are pics. This one is me and Phil. Clearly we are rockstars. Not sure what we're singing.

Ste-buh and I dancing. Gotta love my face.

Finally, the finale pic. This is Seeta and I singing "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (and Phil's random leg with no body...) which was the finale of the night. It. RULED.

Saturday I managed to make it to the dentist AND I communicated what was wrong AND that I was going to the states the next week so I wasn't making another appointment. I RULE at Korean! Seriously, I was really proud of myself. It was awesome.

Then I came home only to head back out to an outlet store pretty close to where I live. I wasn't planning on buying anything, BUT Seeta is an evil person and makes me try on cute hats and then I see cute coats that GO with the cute hats and... yeah. I came to Korea with 2 coats and I now have 10. I. Have. A problem.

Finally Saturday night I went out to Adam's last Sun Radio shows (okay, I didn't stay for the LAST last one, but I saw the first last one so it's fine) and get a CD (score!) and go to, what Lindsay called, a "Russian bar." Turns out "a Russian bar" is actually a bar made of ice. Everything is made of ice. The walls. The chairs. Even the art and the cups. It was pretty cool. Observe the wall.

Now, let's get the full picture here. It started snowing on Saturday night so as we were going from show to SubZero we paused for a snowball fight and tons of fun in the snow. BUT, I wore my bar shoes and NOT my snow shoes so my feet got SOAKED. And then we went to a bar where it's -5 Celcius and the boots they provide don't fit me? Yeah, I was a little miserable after a bit. But it was still a super good time because the five of us were the only people in there, plus our new friend the bartender. Here are a couple more pictures, of course. This is me and Linds in the hot parkas they give you. Coleman called us "snow angels." Clearly.

This is me and my parka and my drink. Notice the "glass" is actually a block of ice.

Now, this last one is a treasure. We decided that since we were the only people in the bar, we'd play with the bartender. We wanted to see if we could get him to take his shirt off. And he did... but not alone...

Yeah... shirtless boys at a bar made of ice. Life here truly is an adventure and a surprise every day.

Can't believe doggie and I will be home in less than a week. Seriously. I can't belive it.

Much love.

The last birthdays of the year

Yesterday we had the last couple birthdays in Sponge Bob class. Eric and Jenny celebrated their second birthday at C.I.S. with me. I have a couple pictures, of course. The obligatory class pic. I still sometimes don't recognize myself with the short hair...

And here's another of Christina and Caroline. Pretty cute. I feel guilty that I don't have a lot of pictures of Christina, since I've only taught her a couple of months, so I try to take pictures with her on birthday days. Whatever.

Stuff at school is like it always is. A complete and total farse of a school run by complete idiots who couldn't educate their way out of...something you need to educate your way out of. Basically, I'm counting the days until I'm done and I can black-list the school. Yay!

I did pay a deposit on my Australia/New Zealand trips today, so those are confirmed. I just have to pay my final balance by January 15th, which is gonna be a stretch but will be possible. There is so much to look forward to but still so much crap to deal with until then...

Balls.

T-minus 10 days til I come home!!

Much love.

Low key weekend

I barely remember my weekend, let alone what happened during the week. All I remember is Friday was a bad day with some bad news from home on top of it being Karen's last day. My kids were all hanging on her, begging her not to go. It was heartbreaking. Plus, my heart was already broken so yeah... Friday sucked. Friday night I went out with some work people and drank a couple of beers. Didn't stay out too late, but it was nice to get my mind off things.

Saturday morning I got a hair cut. My salon boyfriend cut my hair and he said, "Your hair is really silky, I'm jealous." Clearly, he's in love with me. It's fine. And Lancelot got a hair cut too. We both had to get pretty to come home! ;) After that I bummed around Itaewon for a bit, shopping and trying to get stuff done at the travel agency. I've decided I'm going to China first and then Australia/New Zealand. That way I can see The J, AND celebrate Chinese New Year in China. That's. Awesome.

Saturday night I went to a dinner party at Phil's house, three floors up. It was SUPER fun and I met another guy that reminded me of Jody Gore. And the best part? His name is Lancelot. That is AWESOME! He is my new best friend and I'm sad that I didn't meet him a year ago. Also, we played Cranium which is a great game that I've been hankerin' to play for a while. And the party had brie and pineapple. Pretty much, it was the best thing ever. Plus, I came home and talked to my mommy. :)

Sunday I slept in (finally!!) and then met my friend Kelly for mani/pedis and lunch. I haven't seen Kelly since before I cut my hair for the first time. Plus, I never do nice things for myself, so now I have grey nails and green toe nails. Fun. And lunch was KEY because we went to the Smokey Saloon and I ate the best hamburger I've had in a looooong time. I've been wanting a good burger for a while now, and that one hit the spot. It was called "Kiss Me Later" because it had both onion rings and carmelized garlic on it. Um... yum.

After that, Mark and Melody came over and we watched The Squid and the Whale. It has Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney in it, plus Anna Pacquin so it is good by definition. It was kind of... rough to watch at times, but a good movie. I really liked it.

One final item to recount before I head off. Yesterday in my B.C. class, one of my kids decided it would be a sweet idea to kick the glass panel in my door. Um... long story short, his foot went through it and cut the crap out of his leg. He needed, I found out today, 100 stiches and he's still in the hospital. I was on break at the time, so I am in NO WAY responsible for his stupidity. The best part? Right before he kicked the door he said, "I am genius!"

Clearly not.

Much love.

Another week closer to the end... :)

Not much of note happened this week other than school aggrivation. My new supervisor showed up to learn her job and I made her cry on her first day. And I wasn't even mean. Plus, she's an idiot. AND a baby. Here's an example: Her mom's a teacher and gets up early and her dad overslept one morning so SHE DIDN'T EAT BREAKFAST because no one was there to make it for her. Clearly, a genius. I can tell it's gonna work out well. OR NOT.

I did manage a cute pic and a video, though. First, the pic. This is what my children do at ANY random thirty free seconds in the day. Taken by my little Eric, who's gonna grow up and be a photographer.

Don'tcha love how Willy snuck his way in?

And SPEAKING of Willy click on this, you won't be dissapointed. I promise. I especially love the part when Caroline grabs my arm and the camera shakes.

This, ladies and gentleman, is how I spend my days. Clearly, I am changing lives.

And as for my weekend, I finished Christmas shopping and did a little bit for myself. Like ya do. Nothing really to report. I went shopping in Itaewon and Meyongdong where I managed to find some treasures. Yay for finishing my shopping. :) Also, I booked a plane ticket to Australia (!!!!!) which is about the best thing ever. Saturday night a friend came over and we watched Elf and it was awesome. I haven't watched it since LAST Christmas, so it was hilarious all over again. I <3> Will Ferrell.

Also on Saturday I managed to find a little treasure that helped put ME in the Christmas spirit, but made a little doggie I know pretty pissed.

Um, I may be a bad person.

Today I went to church and then came home and chilled out, then went out for Thai food. Which was yummy. Eating rice out of a pineapple is awesome.

Wish I had more to say but it was too cold to be outside too much this weekend. 'Course, inside my apartment it's just as cold. AWEsome.

Much love.