Musings, Observations and Rants

There's too much to catch up for me to go about in my typical long-winded ways on this blog so I thought I'd try something new: KISS. Keep it short and simple. So, without further ado:

Goodbyes are never easy. But, they are an inevitable part of the life I've chosen to live and I accept them for what they are. That doesn't make them any easier when they come...

Two nights ago I said the most difficult goodbye I've had to say yet during my year in Korea. Megan was my very first friend in Korea (well, along with our friend Chris, who himself will be leaving in a month). She lived closer to me than any other friend, a quick 10 minute walk away. We caught buses and taxis together, usually meeting on our designated corner to do so ("Meet me on the corner in 20?"). She was like my sister here, my partner in crime. We would see each other on our walk to school in the morning, heading in opposite directions and throwing up a wave of the hand from the other side of the street. Now, she's off gallivanting around Vietnam for a few weeks before heading home just in time for Christmas. Lucky girl. She will definitely be missed here.

Last week was Thanksgiving, and do not for a moment think that living in Korea and this lovely holiday of eating are mutually exclusive. Several friends and myself gathered together the Sunday after Thanksgiving for a potluck dinner at Megan's house (she's got the biggest place out of anybody here). We cooked together, played games together and ate together. We had a nice spread of foods, though few of them resembled anything one would find on your average Thanksgiving day table; we indulged in pizza, fried rice, tacos, chicken stew and chocolate cake. We DID, however, enjoy brownies made by the only person we know with on oven (she lives on the military base). AND, wait for it... the grand finale... By the end of the night, several slices of pumpkin pie had magically appeared (sans whipped cream, but beggars can't be choosers!). A local church held a Thanksgiving dinner and had about 150 guests, including many of my foreign friends here in Jinju. The lovely people who attended the church dinner brought the pie back for those of us who had opted out of the dinner. It wasn't homemade, but it was still quite tasty. We ended the night with homemade mulled wine--cinnamon sticks and all!

Walking to school last week, I realized something. There are no bumper stickers in Korea. Back home, I'm used to seeing them all over cars, especially the older ones. Here, they seem to just not exist at all.

Speaking of cars, Korea has to have some of THE worst drivers in the world. It's really quite possible. And, it's really quite frustrating. But more than the way it makes me angry when I'm trying to cross the street and a car will turn in front of me ,or plow through he intersection without warning, or the way cars run red lights constantly from every which direction... More than THAT, the thing that angers and simultaneously frightens me the most is watching child after child nearly get smacked down by a car in the middle of the road. And unfortunately, it's not just the car's fault. The children here don't know the first thing about looking around before crossing the streets. I've seen numerous children running along a sidewalk and directly out into the street without even so much as a glance. So far they've all been lucky; I am sorry to say that I don't have the highest of hopes to never witness such a tragedy while living here.

It's truly amazing how fast time flies here. I suppose anyone could say that about life anywhere at any point in time, depending on a number of factors. But really, life in Korea flies by without so much as the blink of an eye. Two weeks from today marks my one-year in Korea. I'm getting anxious for a break, and so are my students.

Lucky for me I GET a break soon, and will likely be heading to Thailand for two weeks in mid-January. Then, after another week and a half in freezing cold Korea, I'll head home in mid-February for a brief two-week family-, friend- and cat-loving, eating bonanza! I won't be teaching any classes again until the first week of March.

I really do love my students; as I've said before, they make me laugh and smile on a daily basis. I literally walk through the halls smiling to myself because of them. HOWEVER, the past few weeks, they've gotten a little on the crazy side (hard to believe it's even possible for them to get even crazier). My worst classes have gotten ten times worse than my average class. It's like for every increment that my average class gets worse, the two awful classes get ten times worse. It's terrible.

Yet somehow, I STILL adore them.

I am expecting to move into a new apartment soon. And by soon, I mean VERY soon. TWO WEEKS soon. The not-so-surprising thing is that my school has absolutely NO idea where this new apartment will be. I'm pretty much expecting to get dragged to some apartment building on the second to last day, told that would be my new place, and then have to move the following day. It's the Korean way... I'll keep you updated.

I suppose that's all for now; though, there's so much more to say about my life here...