The adventures of Jesse

Winding down.

2009-10-13T00:04:00.002-05:00

8 more days to teach my students left, then 3 days in Japan............and I'll be back home in the states! My departure date was bumped up due to my boss bringing in my replacement about 3 weeks early. Odd Harry is at it again! >.< I've come to be at peace with it, though I'm not sure if my students have yet!

Thailand was amazing, I loved it and had some unique, beautiful, and exciting experiences. 6 days was not long enough but I am exhausted after it, I was on the go nearly the entire time! I filled my memory card with pictures but I haven't edited any of them yet. I'll get to work on that when I have the time, albeit I'm busy right now, seeing as I am leaving in 10 days. Hard to believe this whirlwind of a year is winding down to a close. When I settle back into living in America again the Korea 2K9 chapter will close and a new chapter will open. I'm warm and accepting of the highly valued time I will have with my family and the friends that have stuck by me throughout my crazy adventure here.

So much to do on my laundry list of what needs to be done before I leave Korea...including laundry. ^___^ Sorry, just had to throw that in there!

Palace today, who knows what else tomorrow!

2009-09-20T12:45:00.005-05:00

Enjoying myself.
Happy!
At times it has felt like this year has been multiple, that days dragged on and weeks were painstakingly slow to pass. I was lonely and emotionally starved at times...but I'm doing great so no worries. :)

The paranoia of swine flu in Korea has changed the people as a whole in the past several months. Koreans have an obnoxious fear of all foreigners now...because we all have it apparently. Strangers freak out more when I'm near, won't get into elevators with me, are a lot less helpful, etc. The world turns colder as irrational fears spread. They've been canceling festivals left and right which is a little depressing but I'm not letting it get me down! That just means I get to explore little nooks and crannies of neat places around Seoul and surrounding areas.

Right now I'm laughing and doing silly things, loving my students, watching the trees tease about turning colors, spending time with friends, enjoying myself and taking it all in.

All of a sudden I have under 6 weeks left til I come home, a week of that spent in another country, a million things to do and...I'm just happy these days. Headaches and insomnia or no, this last month and a half here is going to be great. :D

Then after that are the holidays and I'm nearly bursting with excitement to do holiday-ish things with family and friends. You'd never guess how much you would miss the holidays until you go a year without -properly- celebrating any!

Things are good. :D

Nicole and I were called onstage to hang out with the DJ for a little while!!

Such cool light effects at the club!

Elation :D

Andrew, one of my hilarious and crazy students that always keeps me on my toes!

2-S1N, one of my 4th grade classes, they're a little crazy

2-S2, my other 4th grade class who is obsessed with loving me (win!)

Dorky me at my desk >.<

Walking home from work

At the market...eww

Walking through the park!

Thinking of you momma!

The first leaves I saw change :)

Oh so pretty in the park :)

Discombobulation

2009-08-28T12:44:00.005-05:00

I am thinking way too much for my own good lately.

I'm feeling oh so random, disoriented and disconnected.

Due to my mood, somewhat disjointed pictures ensue.

10 more weeks.

Our Hostel in Shanghai

White Jade

Shanghai History Museum

People's Park

Shanghai History Museum

Shanghai Strip

Funny faces with Christine

Best Mexican food in Seoul

Ridiculous Footwear

Walking to Work

Dr. Fish Going to Town

Prickly Street Vendor Wares

At Miki's Birthday with LeAnn

Out my Window

Goodbye intensives!

2009-08-19T07:53:00.004-05:00

I am so very happy to be done with intensives as of today! Assssaaa! I even had a "coffee drink" today in celebration. LeAnn said I shouldn't drink coffee anymore because it makes me "jittery" -- of course it did! I don't mind a little caffeine every now and then, though. Happy dances for sections of intensives being over throughout the day ensued. :)

Now my schedule is going back to normal, not 9 classes a day or being at the school for 12 hours, and especially not waking up at the crack of dawn! I can enjoy the rest of the summer sun before work now instead of being trapped inside, smushing my nose up against dirty windows to catch glimpses of the hot, muggy, glorious sunshine.

Hmm, went to Shanghai, China with LeAnn and Alex for the long weekend which was interesting and fun. Pictures still to come, intensives consumes me soul to sole for a month straight!

I am now faced with about 10 weeks left before I depart and head back to the homeland. How did that happen? I need to plan plan plan my weeks and weekends, as well as begin to figure out home-oriented story titles, such as "Where will Jesse Work in January?" and "Who Should Jesse go Visit in Which States?".

Friends are leaving, birthdays are occurring, so I've been attending gatherings with what thinly-stretched energy and pieced-together time I have had. Austin is off to Thailand for a month then headed home, Neal is gone and back in Canada. LeAnn extended her stay 1 month and Alex extended hers past mine, and Karen will still be local so I'll still have some smiles left to enjoy. I've been missing all sorts of weddings back in the states so it makes me feel a bit wonky. Miss you all.

I miss home. I don't believe I've ever felt homesickness until I came here. It really does ring true for "home is where the heart is" because my heart has already been given over to my family and friends that I love so very dearly. It will be good to be back home where I won't feel so emotionally starved. It's rough being alone in a foreign country, so I advise all those that are able and willing to give it a try...just don't expect it to be all daisies and sunshine. SK2K9 has really shown me that though I am an ambitious, assertive, stubborn, creative, and experience-hungry person, I really do have my limitations when it comes to fam and friends. I love them so very much! So, when my contract is up here I will be ready to head back home and pick up life back home by the reins. It will certainly be rough with the economy, job search, and trying to rekindle some friendships that may have dwindled a bit since I've been gone and out of touch for so long, but I'm up for the challenge!

I have not finished editing my China pictures due to the all-encompassing intensives but will leave some Shanghai-teasers on here for you! :)

Big Buddha At A Temple

Outside The Dali Exhibit

Rainy Afternoon In People's Park

Fruit-seller On The Main Strip

2 Wheels Are Better Than 4

Malaysia Pictures!

2009-08-07T22:03:00.011-05:00

At the airport getting ready to fly to Malaysia! Soooo ready to go!

Goofy me!

My handsome Squish!

Musicians with some really interesting instruments

Modeling the "traditional Malay foot wash" :D

Riding the train together into Kuala Lumpur!

Eating some yummy dinner together
One of the twin towers! Soooo tall!

Our first night in Kuala Lumpur!

A pretty fountain I really liked...then found out it lit up and changed colors at night! Win!

Squish and I

The beach at our resort. Love!

Peacock friend! They wandered all over the resort and were so pretty, babies and all!

One of my favorite flowers there

Serenity

I found a pretty flower up at the lighthouse and was then intent on making it stick in my hair!

Sweaty, lovely love. :)

The view at the lighthouse--phew, what a view after the hike! I was not prepared to hike through the jungle that day but I'm so glad we did!

Having fun in the pretty pool!

In the gardens :)

Handsome Squish in the gardens!

Crabby friend on the beach!

Pretty

Peacock friend! Imagine my surprise the first time this happened!Our chalet over the water, soooo cool!

A little peak at our resort, sooo beautiful!

Right before we headed out to the airport...oops, the tide was down...still pretty view though, ha!

Humid July in SK and Malay!

2009-07-26T01:22:00.004-05:00

June was....odd.

The hard drive on my computer died so...had to go through a whole lot of hoopla trying to secure another one from home, getting the computer open, reformatting everything...and a vacation by my parents was stuck in between. So all in all, I was Jesse - computer = month of fastidious novel reading.

It was fixed but the irony of the situation is that I had learned to live without my computer by default, so I continued the fast for the most part, aside from talking to my parents and Patrick on it.

July came and it was time for the long awaited vacation with Patrick! Long story short, Bali had to be replaced about a week before departure, so we settled on a little town called Port Dickson in Malaysia. It was about an hour outside of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia and I enjoyed it. Bali had gotten to be too much of a hassle anyway and then the terrorist attacks against Americans in Jakarta made me quite happy to have visited Malaysia instead!

It was a wonderful vacation, so very relaxing, beautiful, and full of unique experiences, large and small.

I will edit this post and add in some pictures once I get them all edited. :)

The 4th of July was the least-celebrated 4th I've ever had. Next year I'm celebrating double. Actually, I'll be celebrating all holidays super-strength-style next year, you better believe it!

2 girlfriends and I are going to Shanghai, China this upcoming weekend. Surprise! It was a bit impromptu since we have a 5 day weekend and this will be the only time we can travel together. Alex and LeAnn found some tickets pretty cheap over the weekend while I was gone, and I bought my ticket on Thursday evening. We just booked a hostel this afternoon in a central location so I'm getting really excited! It is called Mingtown People's Square Youth Hostel, great location but not so great aircon, so it should be an adventure. :) We leave on Friday the 31st, so this definitely is my month of traveling, eh? That's part of the reason why I came to SK in the first place though, so I'm doing it!

I'll update more when I get some time...it's already intensives again, auughh. Tired Jesse. >.< BUT I'm doing it, I'm making it through and I have less than 3.5 months until I head back home and start the job search cycle, learning curve, and reestablish friendships and social circles yet again!

Updating on Jesselife

2009-05-27T08:09:00.009-05:00

So I'll update you on the past month, sound good? A lot is going on, oy!

Week 1

Happy birthday Buddha! I missed the lantern parade in Seoul (dangit!) but here's a lantern....

The wisteria was blooming sooo pretty and smelled so nice! It was nice for shade but the bees loved it too...

Temple Stay: BUST. Well, not a complete bust but there were a few misconceptions about my trip... For instance, it was not a 4 hour trip there, it turned into an 8 hour ordeal. It took a subway, 3 buses, and a taxi to get me there. Oof! If I had been able to stay another day or two it would have been fine but I had to turn around in under 24 hours and make the looong journey back. It was very big and beautiful but they didn't know I was coming, didn't speak any English, and I didn't really learn anything (the communication barrier was the culprit but why did the website say English speakers were welcome...?). All in all it was relaxing for the short time I was there but if I go to another Temple Stay I will make sure it is nearby and with a big group!

Comfy but less than attractive garb for my temple stay!

Bathing Buddha

PIGGYFLU!: Okay, so when I brought up swineflu to my boyfriend he thought I was making a joke at first but yes, Swine flu has officially reached and is spreading around South Korea. An academy (hagwon) in my area has had some teachers who tested positive for the H1N1 virus. At least one school in my area (area being Bundang which has a million people) is closed for the week. Around 50 teachers are currently under quarrentine in my area and there is a rumor that new teachers to Korea may have to be in quarentine for their first 7 days in the country. It seems a little extreme but we shall see if it is true or not soon. My school has a new teacher that is arriving this Friday so we're not sure if he is really going to be able to teach next week or not yet!

There is a blog about the people in quarentine RIGHT NOW in my area started by this guy...he updates a whooole lot more than I do (of course he's sitting in quarentine :( so has more time to burn) so if you want to check into it, it is interesting to read!

http://underquarantine.tumblr.com/

Speaking of piggies, this is a picture of a cell phone store--do you see the real pig's head in the store--it's sitting next to a tray of ground pork....so strange! People were just chilling out and eating pork and watermelon inside the store at like 9pm at night.

I drank a concoction made out of this kind of snapping turtle...the man offered it to us and I couldn't say no to a gift. I took a little sip and felt like I had turtle in my mouth for the next half hour...it was made from turtle, eel, ginsing, tree bark, and who knows what else. Wow, that was....interesting...... >.<

Week 2

...life as normal.

I took pretty pictures of flowers!

I still think weeds are pretty :)

Patrick had his hand surgery and is doing okay. I'm dating my personal Terminator now. ^.^

Yeah, not too much happened that week and the weekend was rainy/gloooomy.

Week 3

The roses are blooming!

Garlic is in season, too

Korean Wedding: One of my old coworkers, Crystallina, was married this past weekend and several of us from work went to her wedding. I was especially curious since I've seen snips and heard stories about Korean weddings and this would be my first one! Crystallina is not in fact Korean but the man she married is so it was a mixture of Western and Eastern styles. My jaw dropped when I walked into the room she was in before she walked down the aisle; she looked like a radiant, sparkly doll! And when I say sparkly, the pictures really cannot do her decadent gown and accessories justice. I will post pictures anyway but wow, she was sparkling head to toe! Even her nails (fingers and toes!) were "bedazzled" with little colored gems. The dress and veil were incredibly detailed and custom made...and they suited Crystallina's style perfectly! Mom, I will never wear a dress like this, so don't start planning in this direction! :)

The beautiful bride looking just like a perfect doll!

Getting ready to walk down the aisle!

Standing at the altar with her STB hubby :)

My coworker Christine was the solo bridesmaid. Her not standing up next to the bride threw me for a loop!

Smoke special effects!

Crystallina and her family

And of course you know me, I stuck out from everyone else and wore tie dye! Look, I match with the bouquet!

There were some similarities and differences of the wedding--the singular bridesmaid was more for pictures than for honor, the weddings are held on the hour inside this 2 story part of a building called the Teddybear Castle, we ate buffet style and had little tickets to enter, people were chatting during the wedding ceremony which I found odd (we were sitting around circular tables) and the best part were the special effects--the light/chandeliers on the ceiling lit up like a spectacle event when important people were going to walk down the aisle and smoke even came out of the stairs to pool around the bride and groom from time to time! A plastic cake display and fake standard flowers made it seem a little like a LasVegas wedding in Korea but it makes sense to not have to plan so much for a wedding down to the very last detail. All in all, I'm not having a wedding like that but hey, I'm an odd bird as it is. I think this finally prompted me to designate my future wedding as a destination wedding.

They turned the fountains on! Pretty!

Korean nuclear testing: yep, NKorea tested another nuclear missile yesterday morning underground...life goes as normal here, no one really talks about it other than the weigukin (foreigners). Foreigners really are getting worried though....apparently more than testing is going on? I should go do more research.

I'm almost at 7 months--I will be on Saturday! It's hard to belive....yet feels like it's been a long journey so far. Things are changing and I'm doing alright though! Bali in 6 weeks and then Intensives will start the day I get back, yuck! He's starting it really early this year to screw us out of money. It's more than a bit disheartening but I can't do much about it. I'm just going to keep smiling and think about beautiful, exciting, relaxing Bali!

It is finally lushious spring!

2009-05-01T23:29:00.006-05:00

In exciting news I am doing a temple stay during this long weekend on Monday night! It is about a 4 hour bus ride there so this technically can be called an adventure, right? The place is called Jirisan Hwaeomsa (sa means temple). One of my Korean friends helped me figure out the website (the English website wasn't working) and signed me up! I also am doing this all by myself so I think I can officially call it an adventure in anticipation. ^________^

This is a quick picture of the temple when I googled it. I don't want to look at too many photos of it because I think I want it to be a surprise! :)

It's a gloomy day outside, so how about I post some pretty pictures of spring! Like my mom, I looooove flowers. So...that's what you're going to get! Most of the pictures are from my walk to work. I'm very lucky to have such a beautiful 25 minute walk every afternoon!

Update. Stat. :)

2009-04-02T11:53:00.013-05:00

Wow!

It turns out I am moving Saturday evening! The new guy at work (Ben) is moving into my apartment that night....they can't get John gone and me into the apartment fast enough, it seems like! It will give me a day to settle in on Sunday though so that will be nice. Tomorrow and Saturday morning will be jam packed with packing and organizing! The new guy seems nice, he was a little jet lagged when he came to the office this evening--and you know me, super perky and smiley. :D I hope I didn't scare him too badly! :)

I also decided to post some pictures since I've sadly neglected doing so for....almost my entirety of my stay here. I've been trying to center myself this week, changing my diet a little bit, reading some spirituality texts, and trying to release some guilt I've been harboring (thanks for helping me out Momma!). So, I will hopefully be on the fast track to getting organized, healthy, and happy around the time of this move. :) I know there will always be stress in life but instead of letting the "woe is me" attitude take over, I'm going to stay my cheerful-Jesse-self. :)

How about some random pictures from Jan-Feb-Mar! I'll add pictures from Patrick's visit in the next post. :)

Students from my 2-S2 class. :) This was in February right before about 5 of them leveled up (doesn't it sound like I'm in a video game?!) My class is still huge, I have more kids now (must remember to take more pictures of my newer classes).

These are students from my 2-P1 class. :) Don't they seem...err....sweet?!

Korean blizzard at the end of January...harrrr...!

This picture is from Alex's (pictured here) birthday celebration. To make a long story short, the BBQ chicken from the street vendor should not have spicy sauce added. My laughter at my friend's pain and torment ensued for the next 10 minutes. Also, I was able to capture this amazing photograph!

I took a trip to Myeongdong (a shopping district in Seoul) with LeAnn! It was really cool and had all kinds of shopping, tiny street vendors and random racks of belts, shoes, shirts, scarves, sunglasses, and sparkly bangles squashed between loads of people haggling and sifting through the mounds of items to find a hidden jewel. It was so fun to look and watch people as well as look all the different stores from around the world. (I picked up a couple of presumptuous sundresses at a Western store--my first time in a normal fitting room in nearly 5 months!)

We got hungry and stumbled into a side street with a cute restaurant wedged between a greasy spoon kinda place and dull eyed cigar smokers. They had different kinds of kimbop, sushi, and soup....decorated very uniquely! >.< What a find! My yummy "salad" kimbop. Mmmm, I'mma eachoo!

Work birthday cake, mmm! The nifty "happy birthday" candles were arranged by the lovely Heather and Monica (some of my Korean teacherbuddies!). Hehe, I swear they love me!

Birthday cake #2! This was given to me by my friend Karen for my birthday party...it's an ice cream(strawberry and chocolate) cake, my first one ever! I seriously want ice cream birthday cakes from here on out. From Korea. Stat. ;)

March is over, hello April!

2009-04-02T01:02:00.005-05:00

It turns out I'm unable to get out of the country for my 4 day weekend, quite unhappy about it but I'll just do something in the country. We didn't know about our extra day off until all the airline tickets had already been eaten up by other Koreans. Apparently this 4 day weekend is super huge for them to travel. Sad panda.

Maybe I'll go down to Busan to the beach or do a 2 night stay at a temple somewhere...or the combination of the two?! That would be exciting. :)

Found some mold in my apartment. Okay, a lot of mold. My apt is practically infested in it and my boss doesn't understand that this is why I've had so many health problems during my stay here. Moving on Monday but I don't know if I'll get to stay in the apt for more than a month. Men trump women, even if they aren't Korean here (which I knew coming in but it seems moronic to make me move twice just because someone else wants the apt because of the "view").

I'm just happy I'm going to be healthy.

Started another health kick with my diet as of....yesterday, so I can't tell you how it's going so far yet. Ask me as of May 1st. :)

I'm going to be busy this weekend getting all my ducks in a row with getting packed and such this upcoming weekend! Work is a blur when I'm there, sooo busy all the time. That's a good thing in itself though in a way.

The weather goes back and forth between springy and below freezing, I just want to get outside one morning and not be chattering!

Things are beginning to bloom now though! I'll take more pictures this weekend of the pretty buds and tiny flowers starting to come out. :)

Off to work!

March 09

2009-03-24T14:29:00.004-05:00

Believe it or not, the best way to sum up my past 2 months (other than the 2 week hiatus while I had a great visit with Patrick) that I've been ridiculously busy with nothing in particular.

Work has been all consuming at times. First it was intensives in January and the beginning of February, then we were catching up, then preparing for the Korean school year to begin in March…now it is nearing the end of March! Whoa! Things have been changing a lot! As I said, the Korean school year begins in March instead of Sept like the states so we started several new classes at my hagwon and had about 50 new students enrolled. O.o There are so many students in my classes now! I’m enjoying them now but it has taken about 3 weeks to adjust and get everything in order. I don’t like having my life revolve around being sick and my job but I guess that’s life!

I’ve been here almost 5 months and don’t imagine things are going to change too much more now though. Well, except for staff perhaps? We had 3 men leave, received 2 guys (friends from Orange County, Cali) to replace them and had an old teacher come back, then another teacher resigned at the end of February so he’s leaving at the end of next week. The replacement is a guy from Boise, Idaho and that's all we know!

In recent developments I may be taking over his apartment here very soon. I looked at it this morning before work and it’s much nicer than my apartment but I’m still trying to figure out whether I want to move or not.

Pros: fantastic location between Sunae and Sohyeon overlooking the park, walking path right out my doorstep, farther from work (so I don’t feel so sectioned off), right in town, close to my friends, more updated, more spacious, and more storage, building security, doorbell and camera for my front door (right now I have no way to know who is at my door or to look out of it), increased social life, close to transportation for the busses and subway, the doctor, etc.

Cons: I would have to pay 200,000won/month extra for rent, around 50,000won for extra utilities (building security, etc) adding up to around 2.1mil extra ($1.6G) over the next 7 months out of my paycheck. It seems pretty steep but it is much nicer and great location. Farther from work (I would get my exercise…yet monsoon season is coming up), and I’d have to figure out how to move (though I figure I can do it for around 30 bucks using a cab twice since I don’t have to move any furniture), closer to shopping boutiques = more temptation of extra shopping ventures, possibly nixing China (??)

That 2.1mil could be used to pay for my China/Japan trip. I feel a bit frivolous even considering taking the apartment (see economic crisis) but I really am tired of my tiny, old, odd-layout of an apartment stuck on a remote hill that no one ever visits me on. So far my friends and boyfriend think it would be a good idea for me to take it, for comfort and mental health sustenance. We shall see, I have to make a decision THIS WEEK. >.<

I have a 4-day weekend coming up at the beginning of May that I’m quite determined to get out of the country to do some exploring for! It will be 6 months at that point and starting the downward slope of my contract! That will kick off my traveling! I have been good about saving so far and want to either go to Japan or the Philippines for the long weekend. I don’t know if I’d go to the Philippines at a different time if I don’t go now but I remember stories of mom telling me it wasn’t so nice when she was there 7 or so years ago.

I’m going to Bali, Indonesia (I’m pretty sure) in July for one week of my vacation with Patrick when he flies out here again, then will take my second week of vacation to go to Cambodia or a joint Cambodia/Thailand trip in the fall after their monsoon season ends. After I get done with my contract is my possible China/Japan adventure I want to take a week or so to do. That will put me back in the states in early to mid November! The national holidays in Korea aren’t working in my favor this year, it just so happens most are falling on the weekends and you don’t get a Monday thrown in for the sake of a holiday here. So my only 4-day weekend I’m getting is the one in May so I really want to use it! Don’t worry; I’ll still have money saved Momma!

In other news, I’m almost 23! Whoa! I’ve been saying I’m Korean age 24 since January so I think I’ll transition well enough. I have had fun teasing Squish about being so much older than I am for a month and a half though (an archaic 26 compared to my current 22)! ;)

I will upload some pictures of what's been going on in my next post!

In conclusion, I think I've hit the homesick-ish stage but have decided that no matter whether I move or not, I'm going to make at least SOME changes in my life, the weather is supposidly warming up (though the clouds spat some snow at me while I was walking to work today), and it's almost time for spring and summer and beautiful weather!

Hello February!

2009-02-01T00:52:00.003-06:00

Intensives are almost over, only 2 more days of my extraordinarily long work days left! Phew! As is the Korean way, I still am not sure what my schedule is going to be on Wednesday...which will make preparations even more hectic on Tuesday evening. :) Hopefully the new schedule will be out on Monday but I can only cross my fingers right now.

Intensives are rough but doable. I did have a few cups of coffee now and then but they were more for comfort and a thrill than for necessity of the caffeine. I won't have to do intensives again until August which makes me smile. I'll be able to have a week of vacation before that time which is exciting, too!

I went to a casino last night for my first time ever and gambled! It actually is pretty close to where I live, only about 40 minutes on the subway inside the big hotel in COEX. It was quite pretty with lots of neon rainbow lights on the ceiling and walls but was not what I was expecting. No loud sounds or lots of people screaming and laughing, much more hushed and none of the slot machines made any noise. I grew comfortable with this atmosphere after a little bit and felt a little overdressed at first but hey, it was my first time! We played roulette which I find maddening but fun. I decided I would only bet 20,000won that night (around $18 with the exchange rate right now but still $20 worth in Korea) since it was my first time and didn't really know what I was doing. I'd be up and down but proceeded to lose more (as is the game). There was free food and drinks but our food didn't get ordered the first time. I crashed into a bloodsugar headache that didn't feel too well and wasn't cured by my little kiwi fruit drink. I started feeling better after my food finally came (3 hours after we arrived) but my betting had suffered (haha, at least that's what I'll blame it on, yeah?).

5 of my friends and I went so we had a whole sitting side of the table to ourselves. I felt very important having a sitting position and it made me feel more comfortable without some hardcore gamblers surrounding me or having to stand and not really have a good view or be able to relax. Yes I had a petty amount of chips but I had a good experience which meant the world to me! It was fun watching and talking with people around the casino. There were blackjack tables where people were betting thousands of dollars worth (millions of won ooh, ahhh), foreigners from China and Thailand, India, Japan, the states, all over.

We sat at the 1,000won minimum bet roulette table even though there were some people playing with chips that equalled up to about a grand each at the surrounding tables. WOW! There was a guy at the table next to us who literally had my entire college tuition sitting in front of him...an proceeded to lose most of it as the night wore on.

I lost 14,000won overall but I had a really good time! That is my exciting story from the weekend! Now I'm just doing laundry and cleaning up my apartment to get ready for the work week ahead of me!

I love you momma, miss you and hope you're feeling okay!

O-bam-a!

2009-01-23T12:19:00.005-06:00

I stayed up to watch the inauguration on a school night! Oooh, I'm such a rebel (It came on at 2am for me).

It was good to see Obama become my new president (yes, he is personally mine) even though he did have to redo the process due to a glitch.

My students asked me if I hated "Bush-ee" and I told them no, I don't hate anyone, but I really really really like and support Obama!

They think it the name "Barbara Bush" is a complete crackup; "barbara" in Korean means "to stomp" so they love to say "Barbara Bush-ee" and stomp on the floor, laughing all the while. Silly Konglish humor!

So cheers to my country's new president: Barack Obama 01/20/09! It's going to be a long road for the USA to get back on track but it will happen! We'll working on living within our means.

Obama and I last October!

New Year Round 2

2009-01-23T11:35:00.006-06:00

Happy New Year x2!

Lunar New Year is this weekend so I have a lovely 4 day weekend; my last public holiday until April or May. My weiguk friends are headed to China tomorrow (Saturday) morning but I didn't figure I could swing it with intensives, finances, etc. Instead I'm going to relax, catch up on some hobbies, organization, and spending time with my Korean girlfriends from work (I am soooo lucky to have them at my school--I love my Korean coworkers! They are the sweetest women and I have created very good and unique friendships with several of them. We are expecting 2 new teachers at school at the end of February. Harry (my boss) said today that they would be "perfect" for me since they are men around my age--I'm already taken though Harry!

Work has been a bit crazy this month, as expected. 9 hour days stretching up to 13 hour days...yucky. This was the last full week! Intensives won't really be over until the end of the first week of February. I found out I had a tiny bump in pay so that's nice; I've been working really hard for it! I'm still saving and budgeting well, to those of you that may be worried (Mom, Paul, Granddaddy).

I have started buying little things to make my apartment more homey...I figure if I'm going to be here for the next 10 months why live bare-bones when I can spend 50 or 100 bucks little by little and get some things that will make me happy...So far I have bought 2 pretty dishes, a dish drying rack, new soap container, a kettle, nice little hooks to put up around my apartment, a yoga mat, hat/scarf bin etc. They are silly but make me feel better and more organized. My next trip out I will be getting the laundry bin I've had my eye on. I found a store that's along the lines of a Korean Dollar General which has helped get more bang for my...won!

The weather was nice yesterday, around 42 degrees but dropped back down bitterly today again. It is currently 5 degrees outside and I have no idea what the wind chill is. I want the weather to get warmer again so I can go exploring!

I'm FINALLY getting a Korean cell phone in 5 days! I have been looking for a used one because I want to pay as I go so I don't have to sign a contract and pay $500 for a new phone plus deposit of $100. The area I live in is smaller so they have either been too expensive even used or in bad condition. Christine from work has a friend who is getting a new phone and I'm buying his old one. I'm glad, it's not mine until next Wednesday but I won't have to go hunting in Seoul to find a good deal on one. :)

I am having my first visitor soon; Patrick bought his plane ticket! I woke up to the message "I have a surprise for you in your email" the other morning. He will officially be here on February 20th at 9:10pm!

OH! My hair has been lopped off. Significantly. Right now I have a love-hate relationship with it and 3 weeks later am still trying to figure out exactly how to style it. It's much higher maintenance than what I'm used to. The combination of intensives and my new haircut have spurred a dropoff in pictures I have taken so I only have photos of when I first had it cut and styled. The experience of getting my hair cut was really funny, I just am not used to having hair this short--not since middle school! There are layers up to the tops of my ears and about 6-8 inches was taken off the bottom....it's more like a shag cut than layers in my mind, though. Here's of it cute and curled....something that won't ever happen to this level of professionalism again!

New hairs!

The back

Good morning 2009!

2009-01-04T06:41:00.011-06:00

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Wow, it's really 2009, my little brother just turned 16 today, and I start intensives tomorrow!

I'm going to try and not stress over intensives too much. Things became a little hectic at work right before my 2 long holiday weekends. Intensives schedule changed about 2 dozen times (which makes it hard to prepare for your classes and make syllabi if you don't know which classes you will be teaching!) and we had a runner at my school.

I feel bad for her in some ways since it was Christmas time but then when it came down to the job she was here for, she didn't do anything! I am currently trying to "fix" one of the 12 classes she royally messed up and she had NO grades and NO attendance for an entire month! The folder was blank and journals, workbooks, and speeches were only half graded with no scores! Kids were complaining and my boss (and other teachers) had to talk to her multiple times. At the end of the month after we realized she hadn't done anything, my boss decided it would be best to find her a job at another hagwon in the area. He was helping her find a new job....but she called into work sick on NYE (which meant we had to cover her classes). By pure chance I ran into her the following Sunday (as my arms were loaded with groceries). She had her biiiiiig suitcase and was walking over to the taxis. I was shocked! We told my boss the next day but it was far too late to do anything about it then. We're all pretty sure she's back in the states...Eep! It is kind've sad it all happened around Christmas time but it really couldn't be helped. She was hired 7 days after I was....wow.

The moral of this story? If you decide to come and work in Korea, you really are going to WORK!

So that's the drama with work. Other than that, my life is pretty basic (except for the part about being in Korea!). I have settled in, have been hanging out with friends over the past two 4-day weekends, preparing for intensives, keeping in good communication with Patrick, and TRYING to do better about my communication with my friends back in the states. Paul sent me some pictures from back home including cornbread! It made me smile...and miss it!

Granddaddy and BeccaJane sent me a care package that arrived on Christmas Eve so that made me feel special. Thank you so much! Hot chocolate is hard to come by so it's a fun treat during these cold months.

Patrick and I mailed our packages after Christmas so it should be at work for me tomorrow! Belated Christmas, woohoo! My Korean coworkers say that I receive the most care packages out of anyone and it made me smile. I have a very loving group of people at home! Oh, and I found the post office--a less than mind-boggling experience which made me feel a little better. I also learned how to pay my electricity bill. Cable tv for only 2,500won a month, wow! (Around $2.30) My gas bill was a little high and I'm not sure whether all the heating is done by gas or not. That's okay, I'm proud that I'm learning how to figure things out on my own! My "mailbox" is really an open box for my entire floor at the front of my building. Asking for help is always a choice but it makes me feel good about myself when I force myself to read out and rationalize things for myself, even if it takes a couple of extra minutes here and there. I also have figured out the local bus service which makes transportation down to the subway/Sunae easier, too. It stops just a house or 2 down from my front door and runs every 15-20 minutes.

Mom, Paul, and Grandparents: the CD I put in your "Season's Greetings" letters is the Christmas CD they made for all the kids at HR (my school). I haven't had time to watch the entire thing yet but of what I saw it was cute! Some of the classes are mine and others aren't, but I think you'll get the gist of what the kids at my school look like! It will all change for this next month--many more kids. Phew it's going to be interesting to say the least!

So how was Christmas this year?

Christmas 2008

Christmas Eve: I worked on Christmas Eve til around 8pm and afterwards we had a Christmas Party at my work!

I was really tired on Christmas Eve but still had a lot of fun and got to know my coworkers even better!

Silly Jesse humor: doesn't it look like the shrimp took a bite out of the strawberry?! (hardyharhar!)

After the party we went to a Norebang! There were 2 Westerners and 6 Koreans--which you KNOW means it's going to be a hot time. :)

This looks silly because it looks as if we're the only ones in the norebang--but we weren't! We sang Christmas carols so that made me feel a little better. I kept around friends all the time though and that kept me from getting blue.

Christmas Day: I had spent the night over at LeAnn's so I wouldn't wake up on Christmas by myself. We opened her stocking and she had given me some post-its and I gave her some socks. :) We hung out with some other weiguks over at Austins and were just all kinds of lazy, watched The Royal Tennenbaums, etc. It turns out I DIDN'T have an actual Christmas dinner because what I ordered from the Chinese restaurant and brought into the fried chicken place (because that's traditional Christmas here in Korea apparently) had shrimp in it...a big nono for Jesse. :(

So for both Thanksgiving and Christmas I am 0-2 for having a big festive dinner.

Oh well, I just know that next year I'm going to be going waaaay out and overly excited to decorate and make food for Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family. :)

Here are some pictures from December!

A pretty building off the Dongdaemun Stadium exit of the Subway! You can see in the right corner where it says "Good morning 2009!" So funny!

We took pictures in front of the lights because they were so pretty! Here's one of me!

One day the girls and I headed into Insadong before Christmas--it was cold and a little crowded as you can see. Insadong is a traditional area of Seoul where you can get some neat gifts. We had a good time!

My favorite meal! Dolcet bibimbop. :) I eat this all the time and some foreigners ask me "Is that the only thing you can eat? Do you get tired of it?" The answer is NO, it's just my favorite dish! How could I get tired of spicy veggies, egg, and rice? It's basic and tasty! :)

Ooh, a really recent photo: 2 nights ago! (I know, I need a haircut--working on it!)

Some of my wieguk buddies! We don't have family here so we were each others' family for the holiday season. :) In the far left corner drinking a beer is Neal, in the far background is Mark, then up front from left to right is Brian, me, Alex and the 2 heads up on top are LeAnn and Vikki.

My first taste of breakfast food in 2 months at a brunch restaurant called "Butterfinger". It was so tasty!

Part of my New Year's Resolution for 2009 is to keep in better communication with friends and family back home as well as to update this blog more often so I don't forget anything and to keep ya'll in the know!

Intensives start tomorrow so I'm going to go get some sleep, though!

I love you all!

Hagwon 411

2008-12-02T08:46:00.010-06:00

So what am I doing here in Korea? I'm working at an independent hagwon (private school) in Bundang we lovingly call HR. Is it the best school? No. Is it a good school? I think so! The kids are really awesome and most of them are really smart. I'm teaching elementary and middle school age children which I am SO happy about. I wouldn't do well with preschoolers, no matter how cute they can look in pictures...or from afar. I can handle them in small doses, not year-long-sentences.

I have 12 classes during the week: 6 on MWF, 5 on TR. I have a LOT of prep work and a LOT of marking but I really do enjoy it. Sure in 6 months I won't think grading journals will be the greatest thing ever but it makes me laugh and gives me something to do in the evenings.

I have settled into school and am no longer the newest teacher! Another teacher was hired 2 weeks after I was and I am feeling pretty solid. The Korean teachers like me, my boss likes me (so they say), and the ESL teachers I work with are awesome. I'm the youngest ESL teacher not only at my school, but of anyone I have met here and have affectionately been nicknamed Aegi (Egi, Eggy, is how it is said), which is "baby" in Korean. The Korean teachers named me and many more have adopted it. I really, really lucked out with such a good staff.

I'm a little spoiled right now because my middle school classes are canceled for this and next week due to finals (I only have 4 classes +subbing 1= 5 MWF, 3 TR). It's really intense for them! I also have two long weekends coming up because of Christmas and New Years at the end of the month! January is when intensives start---a wholeeeee lot of work and not much extra pay to say for it. I'll stay happy and positive like always, though!

I'll explain the Intensives season to those of you that don't quite understand my meaning. Students have 2 full months off from school during the year--one in summer and one in winter; appropriately labeled their summer and winter vacations. Now, in America when kids are out of school they go on vacation with parents, lounge around watching way too much TV/ playing video games, or my personal favorite, head out to summer camp! In Korea that's not the case. Parents view this vacation from school as a prime time to milk their children of every ounce of strength, sending them to all sorts of hagwons (private schools like the one I work at, subjects vary) from morning 'til night. They work until their fingers fall off or their brains explode: whichever comes first.

This in turn is when ESL teachers (like me) at English hagwons (like my school) have their schedules changed drastically, working morning until night as well. Seeing as my school is considered a very hard school we will *hopefully* get slammed with a ton of students. On an average day I have quite a bit of prep work and marking to do for my classes. During intensives it quadruples in size which seems quite overwhelming. It is easy to get burnt out during this process, the weather is cold and gross, you work 10+ hours a day AND have several hours of marking to do each night after you're done teaching....and it goes on for a month.

In a training session I had about winter intensives, I was told to "make their papers bleed red" meaning mark them up--cover them in red ink! It's what the parents want so it's what we will provide! Veteran teachers have told me the winter intensives are worse than the ones in August. I hope to be a positive, smiley force to be reckoned with!

I will take pictures of some of the kids in my classes soon--I keep forgetting to bring my camera with me. I have one class with only 4 boys (only 2 showed up today...wow!) and other classes that range to up to 15 students (which can be a bit of a handful)! I am lucky to have had prior experience working with kids. It has come into play and I feel confident doing my job which is important.

I teach a variety of subjects, too! This is exciting for me because it changes things up, I'm not doing the same lesson over and over. I'm teaching science in one class, world history in another, have 3 novel studies classes, a few iBT classes (middle schoolers preparing for the iBT test), speaking, and reading classes. To my (and my mom's) excitement I started teaching Mr. Popper's Penguins to one of my favorite classes this week. It was one of my favorite books when I was young. This should be a fun month. :)

And now for some fun photo ops I had while grading!

An answer on a test. I shouldn't laugh but it was before I knew the students. The students have improved (I think so, at least) since I took over the class.

A drawing a student did of me in her workbook! LOVE!

I wish my best friend looked like a "cutey rabbit"! :)

Randoms galore

2008-12-02T08:08:00.007-06:00

Hello world!

I will try to start theme-entry writing so that organization (and for your viewing pleasure) will be a bit better.

BUT for now, I have a conglomeration of pictures without much theme so I'm going to just give you a mixture of the past few weeks in Korea...some random shots I've taken.

A few silly flowers forgot it was fall...now all the flowers are gone but that's okay, it's winter time!

I wanted to get a picture of the little dog in his clothes and booties--he had been wandering around in circles bored. I whistled at him and he perked up, saw I was a waiguk (foreigner) and trotted right over to me. Such personality! He had no interest in my Korean friend I was with, too funny.

I had duk buki (duck-buck-ee) for the first time this past weekend! Yum. It's a rice patty boiled in this sweet and spicy red sauce. Monica my Korean coworker and I shared a dish. I found a star! There was a heart later on that she ate, too. :)

My "Miguk Chusok" (American Thanksgiving) as I described to the Hof owner, held with fellow ESL teachers. LeAnn and I made hand-turkey cutouts and colored them as namecards for the event. It was fun to celebrate...but I ended up not eating anything there through a miscommunication...and ended up going home and making a grilled soycheese sammich. It was really fun though and the hand-turkeys were a hit!

Patrick says my door looks like something out of a 1980's Bond flick. I agree. ^.^

First snow in Korea (taken safely from inside my apartment)!

The comforter suits my personality SO WELL, don't you think? Haha. The other side is worse--it's covered in huge pink 8-year-old-ballerina-stage flowers.

Look Mom, good eats! I'm staying healthy! I still need to buy sesame seeds, though.

Mmm, tasty.

The thermostat I luckily don't have to use much! I only turn it on to heat up my bathroom/water for a shower. My apartment is always warm because it's an old building and when other people turn on their heat, it heats my apartment, too! The heating is done by flowing hot water through pipes under the floor.

In a little yellow villa

2008-11-24T22:50:00.005-06:00

Ahoy!

Yes, I am officially alive and well in Korea. (!)

It took me awhile to get settled in--truth be told I'm still working on it. However, I did have internet installed in my apartment yesterday (finally!) so I can communicate with the outside world on a regular basis now.

I live in a more remote location than I had previously thought I would. I'm okay with it right now but may look into trying to move. LeAnn moved really close to the subway but has to pay an extra $200 a month for her apartment and I'm....not going to do something that expensive. I'll have a talk with my boss Harry here pretty soon to find out my options. So where do I live? Bundang yes, but I'm in a villa instead of an officitel (like I was told I would be in).

My little yellow villa on a mountain

My little garden...it's gone now though. Snow tends to do that

Out my window!

My mountain across the street

HR where I work! (Honors Review English School)

Work at HR is good--more work than the average bear but the kids are awesome and I like the staff. I have grown quite close with some staff members, closest probably to Miki and Monica, two Korean teachers at the school. Several of us went hiking my first weekend (after my recovery stage) and bonded.

Aww, aren't we so cute!
Left to right: Miki, ME!, Heather, Vikki, Monica, LeAnn
(I work with everyone in the picture aside from Vikki)

I have to go get ready for school but will update more later...it's hard to believe I've been here for almost a month but am doing well so don't worry!

Bundang

2008-10-18T21:40:00.007-05:00

Oh noes!

Delays and more delays but it really is just life telling me I need to settle down, get well again (yep, still sick with tonsillitis a month later), and make sure I have everything ready before I move to Bundang. Everything happens for a reason, right?! I will be leaving at the very end of October but seeing as I just heard a horror story from a fellow ESL teacher in SK who rushed into a contract with a not-so-great school...I'm just fine knowing my school is a good one, even if I was still here for an extra 2 months!

I googled Bundang and pulled up a few photos to put on here for your viewing pleasure (and so you won't freak out about where I'll be residing):

Bundang: ooh, ahh!

Bundang was designed to be a residential city so there are a lot of parks for me to explore! XD

I will be living in one of these big honkin' buildings

Bundang at night

Bundang during the day

See, nothing to worry about!
1.5-2 weeks in counting--excitedness ensues!

Affliction and thought.

2008-09-28T02:02:00.006-05:00

I have an affliction; some sort of tonsillitis/earbodyneckache. I've been bed/couch-ridden for the past 5 days, aside from two heavily medicated stints at work Thursday and Friday and have had to be content with sucking down freeze pops and noodles (while watching far to many romantic comedies from the 90's). It has given me far too much time to think and a zap on energy so that I can get just about...yeah, nothing done in preparation for Korea or even the upcoming week. I'm sure I will find this all quite humorous at some point once I am able to be off ibuprofen and swallow properly. :)

Moving out of the country is both an exciting and expensive (ad)venture. I mailed a $65 letter yesterday to Korea, what the..?! Thanks FedEx!

Other than that, it's much like last time I prepared for Korea; I had no real set emotional path or feelings, rather I just lived my life daily and kept an open mind. I'm much the same, open and not entirely sure if I understand that I'm really leaving the country for a year+ in 2.5 weeks.

So after I am better I will go on my last shopping safari for shoes, boots, sheets, the "perfect jean" (that I so abhor shopping for), a year's supply of cold meds and ibuprofen, misc spices, a large piece of luggage, and anything else I'm going to need for...well, the next year.

I love this part, the part where life just seems so basic and normal and boring...so boring that you seemingly don't know what to do with yourself.

"What foods will I miss? I should eat them before I go" you say...but you're not entirely sure what you'll miss because you don't miss it yet.

I just need to remember to pack some things that will remind me of home (thanks mom!). Those are quite important.

Girl that has an icyhot patch on her back and if this body ache is what you get when you're old, definitely has decided not to get to that stage. Period.

Crossing t's and Dotting i's

2008-09-24T15:42:00.001-05:00

Obviously it can be seen that I had to push back my deadline a bit, but I just was not feeling comfortable with the schools that were set forth before me. The GnB school wouldn't give me direct answers, gave me email addresses of Korean teachers but not English teachers, wouldn't change things in the contract AT ALL (warning flags!), and finally that recruiter stopped contacting me. I found and lost a seemingly amazing school with TOPIA not once, but twice...was jerked around by not one, not two, but three recruiters (that have since all fallen off the map), and had grown increasingly frustrated with the entire job search. Mom had even started talking about the option of starting my masters work in the spring...

Then I was contacted by a different recruiter out of the blue. I didn't put much stock in it, but figured I would at least stay optimistic and look at what they had to offer. To make a long story short, patience is a virtue that definitely tested me this summer but in the end, it turns out they found the best school for me.

So!

I signed a contract yesterday!

I will be in Bundang, South Korea. Bundang is a satellite city of Seoul and apparently a nice, clean, residential city. I'm going to be at HR English school teaching writing, reading, and conversational English. :)

I will be flying over on October 16th so that gives me roughly 3 weeks to get everything done! I'm excited that things are finally getting started for my big move.

Girl who is happy she finally has a school!

Ready to pack my bags...

2008-08-20T18:38:00.000-05:00

...but I'm not sure where I'm headed yet!

To catch this blog up to speed, I have been talking with 3 different recruiters, as well as searching on my own since April, for a school in South Korea that I feel comfortable with. 2 of the 3 recruiters just weren't following through for a while, so around 2.5 weeks ago I started talking with Don from Best Teachers International and he has been really speedy and helpful, seeing as I want to be over there this time next month. He has found a school that I have practically fallen in love with in Ansan, South Korea. However, the contract is a bit open ended and I don't want to be taken advantage of while over there, especially seeing as I have slightly naive tendencies.

I just have to remember to stay calm and centered, wait for the email addresses of current teachers at the school (DnB chain school) so that I can find out the actual conditions of the school, what the work day is like, being paid on time, etc. If I get back positive information from them I probably will go ahead with this school because it seems like a great deal, if everything they've said (though not all of it is in the contract...hmm...) is true.

No journey abroad is going to be "perfect"...just "perfect for me!" :)

Girl getting tired of waiting...but won't just settle...

The mumbo jumbo of getting my ducks in a row.

2008-07-31T20:57:00.000-05:00

After blundering my way through the originally-meticulous plans for my move to SK, I find myself around 6 weeks away from the plunge and...still don't have a job. I am talking with both recruiters currently; however, due to a blooming social life (and a few dead-end dates with a few not-so-tasteful-males *cough*), the phone/email tag I play with my recruiters, not to mention the semi-full time job I already am employed with...I haven't been entirely on the ball about doing much job searching on my own. Leaving my life in the hands of recruiters that flat out aren't measuring up to the performance level I was expecting just makes me cringe a little in displeasure at my own overly-trusting persona.

I'm trying to get back into job hunting again though (see, I'm even staying home tonight instead of getting rowdy with friends out on the town!) and will hopefully make some headway here pretty soon.

Essentially RtoT has been shoving me in the direction of EPIK (which I'm sure is a good program, but that's exactly what has me hesitant--it's another program I would be applying for--not an actual school), and my guy Brandon from IPR...told me a few weeks ago I would be hearing from him in a week (and I did not hear so much as an exhale in my direction since). I shot him an email a few days ago and missed a call the next evening, so will have to call him back hmm...maybe tonight.

I'm just tired of getting jerked around and re-explaining myself a dozen times about where I want to be and my expectations of the school. All in all, I know this is going to be a great experience for me (but my heartstrings are getting little tugs). Now that it's really coming down to the time where I set out on my journey and everyone here...forgets about me. Ha! I really hope not, but to a certain extent this is sadly (and assuredly) true.

Eternally the optimist though, right? Now that I do look at the clock, I COULD call Brandon back right now, exciting! Okay, off to try and make some progress. :)

Girl who just wants to hop across the water (and to stop attracting/falling for assholes).

The beginning

2008-05-05T22:36:00.000-05:00

After a year and change back on the mainland, I'm finally finishing up my undergrad and looking back across the water at South Korea.

I studied abroad there in the Fall of 2006 and fell in love with the country. That 4 month stint essentially 180'd my ideas on what I wanted to do post-college. I said I would head back to SK to teach English when I had the chance. Many people thought it was just a passing "Jesse phase" and that I would snap back into the flow of American life and forget about it.

That was just simply not so!

After teetering back and forth between the prospects of teaching English in South Korea versus Japan, I have truly settled my mind about 95% that yes, I want to teach in South Korea. Some people are asking me why I am heading back to a country I've already lived in (especially when I haven't visited any others) but I have a gut feeling about Korea, and usually go with my instincts on major life decisions. It seems I can make them quite quickly with ease.

So now I've talked with a couple of recruiters and interviewed with (and been accepted by) one I really enjoy: Reach To Teach. After I graduate and receive my degree, I will provide them with a copy and start looking at contracts! ^.^ As of now, I'm looking to leave in September so that I can save up a bit this summer for startup costs in SK, see my family, and essentially get all my ducks in a row before I ship out 7,000 miles away. It's a bit nerve wracking knowing I'll be leaving everything I know and love behind for a full year, especially when I'm used to such a fast-paced, ever-changing life over here...but at this point I have no real strings holding me down in the states: no mortgage, no relationship, etc. Just a chunk of bills that I will be able to take care of throughout my adventure. This really is the best time for me to take a year and really explore whether I want to continue on this trend of my Asian affinity.

This will be my biggest adventure yet: a full year on my own, with my own apartment, living in a different country that's main language ISN'T English, working at a real job, and a clean slate for the friends + family department. I've been looking forward to this for a long time and things are finally starting to shape up. There is still the 4-month stint of time before I head over the water which may not be too exciting. When somewhat interesting news arises concerning my SK2K8 adventure, I'll make it a point to post it.