just a little update!

My week:

Work: A little rough, not due to the children, all is well now!

Life (outside of work): Lovely! I received two very wonderful care packages in the mail!  One was from my mom and had some of her wonderful homemade salsa, some Frank's hot sauce (my favorite! but I can't get it here), honey, and some other wonderful things from home that I miss.  The other package that I got was from Dani, she also sent me some wonderful love! Not only did I get mac n' cheese (also not available in Korea), but she made me some really wonderful things as well!  She made me a pillow that says HUGZ on it, she sent it because when I was talking to her one day I told her I really just wanted a hug from home, so she sent me one the best way she knew how.

That is Lola and me with my HUGZ pillow...Lola wasn't too excited about the picture...the box also contained another pillow case that says Thugs n' Kittens...that is an inside joke of sorts because we like to sign our emails Thugs n' Kittens instead of hugs and kisses...hmmm...perhaps that should have been kept inside, oh well!  There were also some lovely headbands and a really really really good cd that she made for me.  Both packages certainly made me feel very, very loved and made for a lovely surprise!

The not so lovely part of my week was this morning when I had to send off another friend.  Man, this is tough, and certainly my least favorite part of living here.  I said this before, you get so close with people here, and I have found such an awesome group of people that anyone's absence is certainly felt, but I welcome the new people and look forward to seeing those who left in the future!

Well that sums up my week. Now I am going to try and be productive with my time and get some lesson plans done, go grocery shopping, and hopefully clean up my apartment a bit. 

dang, rereading the last part it does not sound like I am just a kid on some traveling adventure, but like I am an adult who actually moved across the world and has become quite settled.

crazy.

Happy Chuseok!

Ok, so this post really has nothing to do with Chuseok at all, but I don't work today or tomorrow because of Chuseok so I am quite happy about that!

Everything is still going well but I was getting a little homesick a few days ago and as I was skyping Dani my friend Sabrina knocked on my door and invited me to her place for dinner, she said it was going to be a Chinese meal with three other people who could not speak English, but I gladly accepted the invite.  It was kind of funny, as I was sitting there listening in on a conversation I could not understand, eating delicious food that was completely foreign to me my homesickness went away.  Even though I miss my friends and family from home so much, I have such a great little family over here that homesickness doesn't last too long because we all look out for one another, and it is pretty great.

Not too much has happened since my last post, this weekend was a fun one though, filled with noraebang and the usual Seosan shenanigans.  I have spent a good portion of today looking into the GRE and getting the itch to go back to school, I am also trying to figure out how get my camera fixed because some pretty cool adventures are being planned right now.

Also, I was finally able to upload pictures of the view from hostel in Busan from about a month ago.  These were all taken right across the street from my hostel.

The building on the left is where my hostel was.

Holy wow, I almost forgot how awesome that place was...I'll probably have to go back soon!

That's all for now.

Keep it real.

i am berry berry berry berry berry i love you Amy Teacher and love you Lola.

Everyday I begin class with my youngest students by asking them how they are doing.  At first their responses were a quick happy or angry, etc., then they began to say berry (very) about a million times, so I had to limit them to only 5 berries, which I used to count but they now do that themselves.  After a little while they began to get more creative with their responses, Griffen would say he was, "berry berry berry berry berry popcorn," so I wrote his name on the board as Popcorn, then students would say they are very hot summer, a berry berry berry berry berry terrible and catchy k-pop song.

When I first got Lola I brought in a picture of her for my student's to see and now, and for about the past two weeks, almost if not all of my students will say, "I am berry berry berry berry berry berry I love you Amy Teacher and I love you Lola," ugh.  I melt every morning.  Now I can't walk by their classroom or go through a portion of class without a student raising their hand to tell me that they love either myself, Lola, or both of us. It is wonderful.

I was also anxiously awaiting the day when my students would draw me and, that day has come!  Here is the first picture that was drawn of me by a student:

This was done by Sky, he is not in the class that I mentioned previously, though he is the student who told me I was his little kimchi...so I am pretty sure he does like me.

The next two were done by girls in the class that I was just talking about...they have a very interesting depiction of my insulin pump...

And, last but not least...SUPER LOLA! 

That is almost an exact replica of the picture I draw on the board every day...probably because I am just that bad at drawing.

School is going very well!  I also started another teaching job last night, my boss is putting me on loan to another hagwon to teach an adult class.  At first I was very nervous, not only am I teaching adults but his wife is also in the class; however, after last night I am pretty confident that the class is going to go very well.  I was nervous about how to go about teaching adults since I am used to instructing 5-12 year olds, but I was quite comfortable in front of the class and their level of English is much beyond what I expected so I think it is going to be a fun few months with them!

Other than that I did go to a baseball game a few weeks ago and it was a lot of fun! No pictures though, I still haven't gotten my camera fixed.  I also went on a wine train this past weekend and that was just as much fun as it sounds!  I sat on a train with my good friends and drank wine, it was lovely!  

This weekend brings another break, yay for Korean Thanksgiving!  I don't have plans to go anywhere though, I think hanging out in Seosan will be nice and relaxing and give me an opportunity to put a dent in the book I have started, address the post cards I wrote out about three weeks ago, and do a little yoga, plus I think Lola will enjoy actually having me in the apartment for more than sleeping.

Life is good, really really good.

: )