How could I not?

Lucky for you all, I can never sleep the night before I travel. As such, I will bring you a few insomnia induced photos from third and fourth grade Harry Potter English Camp ie: The Best/Cutest Thing Ever.

See what I mean??

A day that I love my job.

Almost done with Summer English Camps and, in honor of a really splendid day, I bring you.... 

What Emily Teacher and her 3rd graders do

when they are not pretending to be wizards:

2 days 'til Cambodia!

Anyeong[hikheseyo].
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Some things have no cultural boundaries...

And, as it turns out, making pirate ships out of cardboard boxes is one of those things...

 

I just finished teaching my first round of English camps, which were just fab. So much work but also so much fun. Lest you be concerned, we also did other things.... like make pizza, and turn ourselves into sea monsters. Remember how this is my job ?? nbd. 

언녕하새요, from Banji English Camp! One week until Cambodia and Vietnam!!

Pretty Pretty Princess

Now I know what you might be thinking...but, as it turns out, this post will NOT focus on my Pretty Pretty Princess Bed. Bummer, right?

But wait! Hang on a second! Before you leave the page in disgust that I am not dedicating a solid hour of my life to writing about my bed, I ask you to read on.

This post will, in fact, focus on the most Korean Pretty Princess I have ever seen and the event necessitating decent/ascent(?) to the roll of PPP.

The princess in question? My wonderful, amazing, and newly married friend and co-teacher Juha!

See what I mean? So pretty, So princess-like.

I've mentioned previously that Juha's surprise in engagement was exactly that, at least to me. I was absolutely floored when she sprung the news on me during passing period, exactly six weeks before the big day. Nonetheless, I was pretty pumped to attend and see what weddings in the ROK are all about.

The big day has come and gone (and gone even further due to my blog neglect) Juha's Bali tan has faded and we are back to our normal class schedule and routine; her manicure, however, has been preserved perfectly since the wedding which is borderline offensive to my own perpetually chipped pointers.

Basically, I'm saying its been four weeks since the wedding. Ready to hear about it?

Getting married in Korea is a really big deal.  A really big deal in that it is what's expected. It is what you do. It is the persistant torn in the side of parents and grandparents across the country. It what "everyone" wants. (note the quotes around everyone... I am sure their are many Korean's who are perfectly happy living the single life, or place greater importance on other aspects of there life; however it seems to be the prevailing attitude of many that it is essential to get married or, at the very least, have a boyfriend. I can't tell you the amount of times I have answered the question, "Do you have a boyfriend?" in the negative only to be presented with the second half of the query, "Why?") OK, back to more important things. Like weddings...



...or rather, Marriage. Because that's the thing. Getting married is of utmost importance. The wedding, not as much. Except that's not entirely true; but, it's sort of hard to describe. The wedding is important as it is represents the essential event of marriage. The ceremony itself, however, seems significantly less serious than those in the states.

From what I can tell, almost all Koreans get married in a Wedding Hall, which is sort of like a wedding factory. The halls are enormous and often contain three or four smaller ceremony halls decorated in various styles. Of the halls I poked my head in, it seems that most were decorated with a variety of floral arraingments and neon. Lots. Of. Neon. (What's a wedding with out a little sass?? Or proper lighting effect?? I say, nothing.)

  


All of the small ceremony halls open up to a larger foyer where the a mixture of party guests mill around chatting before, after, and during the ceremonies, which are most often happening all at once. People come and go as they please and sometimes only sneak in to drop of the standard gift of 30,000W (around 30 dollars) and say hello to the bride or groom). Half the parties are usually eating in the communal banquet hall right on through the ceremony.

Uncertain as to how the day would play out, I showed up a little early and milled around with the guests of the various weddings, trying to spot someone I knew to tell me where I should be and what was going on. Eventually I found a fellow teacher, who ushered me into the Brides Room to greet Juha and take some photos. We were also given cards granting entrance to the banquet hall.

After taking some photos we milled around for a little longer and waited for the wedding to start. Juha opted for a western style wedding, which meant that she and her husband wore a white gown and tux, as opposed to  traditional hanbok, and completed a rendition of the westernized cake cutting, bouquet tossing, etc. Juha told me that after the public wedding there would be a more traditional Korean ceremony at her husbands home.

I was a little startled when part way through the ceremony one of the other teachers asked if I wanted to go eat. I initially declined as I wanted to see the ceremony (weird right?) but, after a few more minutes of incomprehensible Korean and the realization that this is perfectly acceptable, normal and expected, I decided to join the rest of the teachers in the banquette hall. One teacher even asked why I was late! Just goes to show me that, even when I think I have gotten used to Korea, this lovely country is still full of surprises.

It almost goes without saying that the entire experience was strikingly different to my first "friend wedding" this past summer when, due to some vague directions and a less than helpful GPS, I was horrified to almost miss the small ceremony in a lovely church on the Vanderbilt campus. The later was a multiple-ulcer-inducing afternoon, to say the least (Love You, Fatttyyy!!)

Back to Korea. After enjoying a range of Korean and "western" foods from the buffet, I sat chatting with a few fellow teachers until we heard the music signalling the ceremony would be ending. Along with my co-workers, I went back outside to listen to someone with a simply lovely voice singing in Korean and watch Juha and her husband walk down the isle showered with streamers and confetti.

After the ceremony ended I still didn't really know what to do. I had lost my English speaking allies and it seemed like half the party had left, while at least half remained outside the ceremony hall. I noticed that another group of teachers were waiting in one corner of the hall and decided I would do whatever they did.

What commenced was about a half an hour of formal photos of the wedding party and guests. And, it turned out it was a good thing I decided to stick around since, after ten minutes or so, another teacher (who I have recently discovered speaks secret excellent English!) came over to tell me that we would be in the photos. Yeah, I said it. I am in Juha's wedding photos forever and ever for all of time. I will probably stick out like a sore thumb as the only non Korean, but it was really fun and nice to be included it what I assume were photos of friends of the bride and groom. 

Obviously not mine... this is a picture of one of the  official wedding portraits. In NO way is this photo credited to me, however I have no idea who deserves the proper credit. My B :(

After the photo session ended, I deemed it the appropriate time to leave. It was really unclear where I should leave my gift; so, after resigning to bring it to school after the honeymoon, I said goodbye to the other teachers, discarded my heals, and hopped on a bus back to my side of town.

So there you have it my friends. An introduction to a Western Korean Wedding. What did you think? Not sure? I know how you feel. But really, that's not important. What is important is that Juha looked wonderful and both her and her husband seemed even more immensely and incredibly happy (albeit a little nervous). Juha still seems extremely happy  and comfortable with her circumstance and thus I could not be happier or more excited for her. Yayyy Juha! You deserve all the love and joy in the world!

Thus concludes my observations on a Korean wedding. For those who wish to see the full effect of the Princess transformation, here are a few "normal" photos of Juha and I at my first teacher dinner. (note these were taken pre-live nakji and Disco Pappa)

Anyeong[hikheseyo].
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TwinkleTown MusiCAL.

Ok.
Confession Number 1 slash Exhibit A of "Weird things happen when I don't have roommates to talk to"..... I just did this for a good 10 minutes..

Confession number 2....I am psychic.

See, you all thought I was simply filling this here blog with the random goings on and bits of fluff within my brain. What you didn't know is that I am very in tune with all of your dearest hopes, dreams, desires and worries. For example, as you read this I am fairly certain my fam (read: parents) are already loosing sleep over the potential food born ailments I may contract during my next summer adventure in South East Asia. The rest of you, I am sure, are loosing sleep over far more important issues. What exactly am I doing at 2pm every Wednesday, for example.

My parents, most unfortunately, will have to wait some months before their burden of worry is lifted. For the rest of you however, whose deepest desire is to know how I spend my humpday afternoons, I have prepared a little gift.

Wednesdays are rough by all accounts. I teach four (or sometimes all five) of my 5th grade classes, whose behavior generally leaves something to be desired. I spend large portions of my day tapping my marker against to board, waiting for the entire class to respond to "How many fingers am I holding up?" and staring at my classes in annoyed silence while those students who would like to learn some English marshal the rest of the class.  Basically my nightmare fourth graders from last semester have graduated to nightmare fifth graders, some of which have literally NO idea what I am talking about as they haven't paid attention for the last two years of English class. Not Awesome, to say the least.

The silver lining, icing on the pile of poop, BEST THING EVER, about my Wednesday's, however, is a real gem. At approximately 1:50pm each third day of the week, Juha and I lock up our office and head to the yellow room for "English Musical Class."

Yeah. That's right. Me. Musical. Teacher.
Awesome. Horrible. Ridiculous. Wonderful.

I will say it took a while to get over my initial fit of giggles and bout of horror from being told I would be teaching "Musical" class, after which I attempted to explain to Juha that my extensive itunes musical library does not mean that A. I know ANYTHING about musicals or B. I have ANY musical talent. But, initial reactions and self-doubt aside, English Musical is THE BEST CLASS EVERRR.

Basically, I spend an hour with around ten of my favorite 4th-6th grade students, all of whom are super enthusiastic, all of whom WANT to be there, and all of whom speak quasi (elementary) conversational English. We practice scenes and songs from a bizarro Korean elementary adapted version of "The Wizard of Oz" during which the students some how manage to change their roles ever week. It's really just a grand old time.

This week I took advantage of my role as director and decided to film a few of the scenes after one or two rounds of practice. The hope was to have to students take it somewhat seriously, and to use the tapes next week before working out stage directions (or whatever they are called).

So, my friends, with out further adiue, I bring you scenes four and five from Banji English Musical Class presents "The Wizard of OZ."

Anyeong[hikheseyo].
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Preview: Best Day Ever

What did you do at work yesterday?

Anyeong[hikheseyo]. 
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Chopsticks [What happens when I deskwarm.]

Weird things happen when I sit at my desk all day; for example, this morning I spent 15 minutes trying to hold my hair with a chopstick a-la my mother, circa 1980-2005.

Desk warming, as it is affectionately referred to by NETs, refers to the days during which we don't teach any classes, but must come to school and sit in our office all day (as per our contracts.) Thus, keeping our desk and chair nice and toasty.

The amount of time a NET is required to desk warm is determined by the school and, as a result, the native teachers I know have vastly varying experiences with, and opinions towards, the practice. In exhibit 123434534 of "My School is Awesome," I haven't been required to deskwarm for extended periods of [wasted] time. As such, I myself don't have too much experience with desk warming beyong a day or two here and there for exams, and today when we have Sports Day rehersal..another story altogether; so, the few days I do get are often a nice surprise and break from teaching.

Today, thus far, I have planned all my lessons for the next 3 days, roughly planned the first of my summer camps, read about 15 blogs, stared into space for a while, watched The Daily Show and successfully chopstick-ed my hair, as demonstrated above. For the next two hours I will be listening to "This American Life" via podcast, and planning my summer adventures to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Desk-warming, in my experience has been just lovely; but, as I said, I've only had experienced these joys for a day or two at a time.  Some of my fellow NETs, especially those at the high school level, have had to desk warm for weeks, or months, on end without teaching a single class Because attitudes in SK are a bit intense (understatement) when it comes to testing, extra "English Conversation" (read: NET taught) classes during the weeks before exams are used for self-study and review, which is then followed by 2-3 weeks of actually exams and continued prep time, not to mention vacation periods when school is out of session but NETs must come to school unless they are using official paid vacation days. While I like to give my secondary school counterparts a hard time about the fact that, as far as I can tell, they don't actually teach (this isn't true, I promise) I know that after a day or two of desk-warming with no productive goals/requirements in sight, I would likely rip my hair out. This is especially likely when I think about all the other exploring/adventuring/sleeping-in-the-comfort-of-my-home I could be doing with my time.  The latter is why I love Elementary School and am totally o.k. with teaching 2-4 times the amount of English Camp most of my friends have been tasked with. Honestly, no complaints. Camps = awesome. Desk-warming for a month instead = not awesome.

Knowing all this, I maintain that a day or two of keeping my swivel chair nice and toasty is good for the soul, not to mention the organization gods. I do, however,  understand how many of my fellows have reached different conclusions resulting (for example) in the following probably inappropriate, yet very funny video, of Hitler being told he must desk warm during summer vacation. Enjoy.

Anyeong[hikheseyo]. 
에밀리

WorkyWorkyWorkingLady.

It's 7am.

Your cell phone turned alarm clock is blaring a weird multi-tone, diddy entitled "City of Mist." Your bed is unapologetically warm, lulling you back to sleep with all the grace a 5 foot electric heating pad can offer. You open your eyes again; it's 7:30. 7:45. 7:55. 8:00. Ok- it is no longer appropriate to stay in bed, even by your standards. You slip out of the warm, pink ruffle adorned sanctuary that is the princess bed, and into a pair of furry slippers, before spending the next ten minutes or so hastily brushing your teeth, running a flat iron through your hair (as it is transformed overnight into a mess of kinks, knots, and frizz), boiling a quick pot of water, and pulling together something that resembles a school appropriate outfit. As of late, said outfit consists of a dress with 2 pairs of tights, a sweater and a horribly clashing scarf, or the same sweater scarf set with a double layer, jeggings/legging combination. You root around to find a pair of SmartWool hiking socks (school induced frost bite? No thanks), pull them on, and grab your kopi and boiled egg to go, before heading out the door to begin the fifteen minute walk/daydream down the side of the highway.  Despite your Merrel snow boots, you slip, slide, and trek through the back lots of restaurants,  past a small frozen farm, and into the neighboring --dong, before reaching the gate of Banji Elementary. 

You are awakened from your morning daydream by an abrupt, suddenly constant, flow of, "Hello Teacher!" " Hello." "Anyeong." " Hi Teacher!" "Emily Teacher!" and the occasional robotic, rapid Korean sentence that you have been told all students are trained to say when meeting a teacher, and  translates to something along the lines of, "I will be a better student next time."

Assuming today is a normal day, you will take the elevator to the fourth floor, plop down in your office, and attempt to remember what grade you are about to teach and the lesson that you've prepared between one and five days prior. You will flip to the correct page of your government issues English Grade (X) text book and see what your favorite, awkward English speaking, cartoon friends have in store for the day. Likely, you will be reminded that, on Monday, you drew fat X's over two thirds of the government provided material and will set about double checking  all of your replacement materials, before heading out the door to class.

The next 7 hours will generally fall into one of four scenarios:

3rd grade - You will spend passing periods dodging crazy children sprinting through the halls and punching  each other, while screaming "HELLO, TEACHER!" In between you will teach five classes of 40, only slightly more subdued children. Said students will be persuaded, through your overwhelming displays of over excessive energy and theatrics, to speak, sing, and shout quasi-usefull English words and phrases, for which they will earn precious (yet entirely intangible) points on the black board.  

4th Grade- You will spend passing periods dodging crazy children sprinting through the halls and punching each other, while screaming "HELLO, TEACHER!" You will attempt to teach and wildly improvise each of five classes, containing 40 children who sometimes seem to understand what you are saying, after a moderate amount of theatrics. Each class will host a few gems who seem determined to learn English, participate whenever asked, and police the remaining  two thirds of the class who sole goal will seem to be ignoring everything you say, pretending not to have their English book or, my personal favorite, opening and closing their mouth without forming a single word (during listen and repeat exercises) and being generally shocked when you discover their clever ruse. You will spend a large portion of the class tapping a piece of chalk on the board, or teaching in a whisper to those paying attention, before the boys in the back of the class realize they will soon be in deep doodoo.  

5th Grade- You will spend passing periods rejoicing in your ability to sit down,  waiting in your very own English Village classroom, for the 40 crazy children, sprinting through the halls, punching  each other, to plant themselves at the 6 pink tables before you. You will spend then next few hours teaching five, generally enjoyable classes, to students who, at least 50% of the time, understand what you are talking about. You will breeze through the text book materials, skipping the lamest of lame material, before completing a smattering of games and activities that generally engage most of the students. You'll grade a handful of vocabulary quizzes and, at the end of the day, feel content and relaxed.

6th Grade- You will spend passing periods waiting in your  classroom, for the 40 crazy children sprinting through the halls, punching  each other, to plant themselves at the 6 pink tables before you, at which point eighty percent of them will transform into the human equivalents of pet rocks. The other twenty percent will spend the next fifty minutes perfecting either the art of being amazing, wonderful, funny, curious, quasi English speaking students, OR finding out exactly how many pieces of paper they can tear the current chapter into and/or how many times they can hit their friend across the room with their pencil case, before Emily Teacher takes it away (Answer? One. Somehow they are always shocked.) After three out of five classes you will be content. The later two will leave you feeling like you just spent fifty minutes asking students to rebuild the Great Wall of China, translate Charles Dickens, or fight a war, rather than write a sentence or two, before watching a silly video and playing a game. Occasionally, you will leave the classroom generally baffled, after being told, for example,  "Teacher, your legs... like ojingo!" You will spend the next 3 hours (or weeks) trying to figure out what "Your legs, like squid!" could possibly mean.

The last few hours of the school day will pass in a blur of cafeteria madness, after school class madness (both to be addressed at later date), lesson planning, chit chatting with fellow NETS, and some good old, mindless, internet browsing.

Next thing you know, you are daydreaming your way home, thinking about going to the gym and cooking some dinner. In a few hours you will crawl back into the princess bed, turn on your heat pad and get ready for round two in the am.


Well my friend, ignoring the fact that I began this post planning to discuss the difference between normal school hours and winter camp, you just survived your first day as an Elementary English NET in the ROK.

How did it feel?
Anyeong[hikheseyo].
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RR&R: Things (many) Korean's Love

Emily Teacher Chingu!!

I feel, in some ways, like I've been running at full sprint for about two weeks. 
Logan (my college wifey) left 48 hours ago 
[actually about a week ago... this has taken a while to finish] concluding her eight day SOKO Vacay.  

The days leading up to her arrival were spent cleaning my apartment and plowing through the initial stages of my winter camp plans (All NETs are required to teach a few weeks of English immersion camp during school breaks). Once school let out on December 7th (can you believe its almost January!) I promptly boarded a bus and planted myself at the Songtan Intercity Bus Terminal, our designated meeting place, and began my coffee-crack-liquid-fueled vigil. To the confusion/amusement of the ticket teller, there I sat, reading my book and biting my nails, until she arrived a few hours later, having taken a bus from the airport.  

Her arrival lifted a great weight off my shoulders. I had spent the last hour or so thinking of what I could/would do if she didn't show up, as she had no cell phone or form of communication through which to send the all important, "I am lost somewhere in Korea" message. Fortunately my worries were unnecessary. Unfortunately, Logan forgot to inform United that her baggage would NOT, in fact, like to take a solo vacay to Ho Chi Minh City. I guess you can win them all.

We spent the first night hanging out at my apartment and enjoying each others long overdue company.  Logan was exhausted and I was perfectly content basking in the glow of having my friend in Korea, not to mention the bags full of love she brought from home including such all important items as  popcorn, nutmeg, Resce's peanut butter cups, a pie tin, nutmeg, and tide pens. 

We got a wonderful, warm, and very important night sleep, before heading off down the side of the road to Banji the next morning. I had neglected to tell any of my students that Logan would be coming to school with me on Thursday and, needless to say, the looks of surprise/confusion/elation on their faces when they notice another "teacher" in tow were priceless. She spent the day repeatedly answering

"What is your name?"
"Where are you from?"
"Are you married?"
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
"How old are you?"
"Do you like Korea???"
"DO YOU WANT SOME MORE?!?"
"CAN YOU JOIN US?!!"

Confused?
The later two queries were shouted across the classroom by one of my not so well behaved or fluent, yet hysterical, fifth graders. On a regular basis I ask questions, and this student responds by shouting out random things they have been taught over the preceding weeks. While they may be wholly incorrect, he is so funny that I usually can't help but laugh and let it go, as long as he does not continue to be disruptive. Maybe one day we will reach the point where he understands what I am talking about.

In addition to answering a barrage of questions and being fawned over for her "golden locks," Logan also got to witness the general zoo that is my daily life. (Yes, I recognized I have not yet given my school, co-teachers, and students their deserved attention in this blog, I promise I am getting there). She even got to witness the super zoo, that is my 2nd grade after school class, on the extra special last class. Not only did this involve watching me try to corral one student, who regularly decides to log roll across the floor and who Juha likes to refer to as "naughty boy," it also meant that Logan Teacher (or Emily Teacher Chingu/friend) got to help fulfill the grand production that was melting and molding chocolate with twenty-six second graders. Mind you these are students who want nothing more than to leap from desk to desk and/or wrestle with Juha or I, when we turn off Sponge Bob at the start of class. 

Point of interest: after my last class I had two boys come up to me and have the following conversation "Emily Teacher! English. Undu-taika." "What?" "English. Underl-takerl." "Undertaker??" "Yes! Undertaker! Kane! English!" while handing me a marker. 
 The only thing that could top their elation, after I wrote both words on the board, was my question, "Undertaker, like WWE?" Cue 2nd grade shock and awe. Incidentally, I believe I have now found the source of their constant fighting. Thanks World Wrestling Entertainment.

The remainder of the week was spent running between various adventures around Seoul and Gyeonggi-do, including but not limited to:

1. Participating in an informative and enjoyable tour and temple life program at Bongeunsa Buddhist Temple. The afternoon was lead buy an adorable, middle aged Korean volunteer guide and included a walk around the temple grounds and within the prayer room, a green tea ceremony, guidance in Zen meditation, and  chance to make lotus flower lanterns. While a pesky cough got in the way of my most zen like state, and all my lotus petals wanted to do was stick to my gluey fingers, the afternoon was thought provoking, peaceful, and an experience I am very glad I had the chance to participate in, and share with Logan.

 

2. Wandering the winding streets and crowded corridors of Namdaemun Market, and stopping for a delicious feast along the way.

3. Meeting up with Ali, making besties with Moon, the owner of Backpackers Space hostel in Hongdae, and eating some Jimmdak (my favorite Korean dish) whose heat index may have rivaled the surface of the sun, before heading out for a fab night in Seoul. (In case anyone was wondering, I have the photo evidence to prove that the love of the peace sign in Korea is NOT a cultural stereotype. Additionally, it is a gesture I have fully and completely adopted during my time in the morning calm.) *thanks/credit to Logan for the photos

 

4. Getting our feet eaten by fishies.
Yes, you read that correctly. A handful of nail salons, as well as coffee shops, around Seoul proudly advertise their Dr. Fish facilities.  Basically you put your feet into pools of water filled with little Garra Ruffa fish who, in turn, happily and diligently nibble away at the dead skin on your feet and legs. I know that sounds totally gross, but I  thought it was pretty enjoyable. The process stimulates the nerves and blood flow in your feet and ankles, and leaves them feeling tingling and fresh, well after your fishy time is up. As I said, I enjoyed the experience immensely; however, I don't think the same can be said for Ali and Logan, who created quite the scene shrieking with terror, before finally plunging their feet into the water. Said scene continued for about 12 out of the15 minutes we had our feet in the pool. I guess Dr. Fish isn't for everyone, but I will definitely do it again!

 

AND 5. Heading up to Namsan (North Seoul) Tower to take in a fabulous view of the city and photograph the thousands of "love locks" locked on the fence overlooking Seoul. No, we did not add our own lock to the collection. Yes, we know our love is everlasting without a lock. We cemented our friendship long ago by laying on body pillows on the floor of Target and throwing aerobeds down the stairs to camp out in the solarium... what else do you need? Locks of Love have got nothing on this friendship.

One unexpected adventure came Sunday evening, when Logan and I tried to retrieve our overnight bags from the lockers in City Hall station, in which we had deposited them hours earlier. Getting our bags into the lockers was easy enough, with the help of some friendly Koreans. Getting them out... not so much. After glancing over a meaningless page of Korean instructions, I began futzing with the key pad trying every combination of options, figuring eventually one would work. My frustration mounted and unfortunately there where no friendly Korean helpers in sight. I even tried asking the woman selling pants next to the lockers for help. To which she responded "몰라요" or " I don't know" and to which I wish I could have screamed "All you have to do is read the KOREAN instructions!!" I refrained, however, remembering that she probably had no idea what I was blabbing about in my broken Korean in the first place. Basically, we were SOL.

Or so we thought.
Next thing we know, up walks Ajoshi, who has clearly enjoyed one to many of the Hites he is still clutching in one hand. He makes a valiant effort to help these two waygook's out and even attempts to run my debit card through the card slot about 5 times (obviously not working) before I quickly snatch it back from him, call out a "감사합니다" ("thank you") and wander off to find another source of help. Thankfully, the next set of lockers had English instructions that we were able to memorize before sprinting back to our backpack prison and, after 30 min of frustration, Emily and Logan could finally be seen doing a full on happy dance in the empty station, as we pulled out our newly freed bags and headed for the last train to Seojeong-ri station.

Thanks again to Logan for capturing this beautiful moment.

Over the next two days, Logan ventured off on her own to explore the city, as I had to return to Banji to teach my monsters. Ehem, children.  We met up each night/afternoon to continue our adventures and/or relaxation. After 8 days, I was sad to see her go and a bit lonely returning to my apartment to face the mountains of laundry, dishes and work I had ignored during her visit. While it is always sad to say goodbye, especially when you know you shall not see a person for QUITE some time, I am so grateful that I have such a good friend, who would fly halfway across the world to visit me, in a small suburb, in Korea.

On a related and totally unrelated note, I am equally grateful to Logan for coming to Korea as for being my running buddy during the latter part of college. It would be an understatement to say both of us looked at running as more of a chore than an enjoyable pass time at first, and sometimes still find it difficult to remain motivated. But, during senior year in particular, we pushed each other to lace up our shoes each night (somewhere around 10:30 pm) and head off to the gym. With Logan as a running buddy, I pushed myself to run farther than I ever had, without a soccer ball underfoot. While I've had my ups and downs with running recently, Miss Logi Faye has been running her butt off, training for (her first) Disney Marathon. She is running alongside the The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's (LLS) Team In Training and has almost reached her goal of $5000.00,  raised as a donation towards LSS.  I want encourage anyone and everyone who wishes, to join me in both wishing her luck and  supporting her in her race the the finish line next month!