UPDATES

1. Last week I fell and twisted my ankle and could not walk for like day and then thought my foot had gotten better. Well, all throughout the week my foot kind of kept hurting and so finally i decided to set up an appointment at ajou university hospital since they have an international clinic there. But when i called they said they could only get me in at 930am and i have class so they said to call back later. In the meantime, i spoke to Jacky about it and she was just like.... we can just go to the clinic that is right around the corner. So we did, they took an x-ray of my foot, and they they gave me this thing to wear on my foot for the next week or so along with some meds and therapy for the next week or so. And what was nice is that it was all about $40. Not bad at all. I really did not wanna do the whole therapy thing... my thought was "what are they gonna do in therapy? its not THAT bad" But Jacky made me go and the lady was really nervous because she spoke no English and i no Korean... but we ended up getting along just fine. (btw, Jacky had to leave me there because she had to go back to the school) Anyways.... so they first wrapped my foot on this really hot thing for about 20 min. At first it felt good but after a while it started to seriously burn! and I didn't know if it WAS supposed to be that way or if I was just exaggerating... then they put this really cool stuff on my foot that kinda sent electromagnetic waves and mini shocks to it along with massage.... this was for about 15 minutes. Felt super good! So then I left, went back to school and taught my extra class which went really well, as it usually does. We did a unit on friendship and did a song analysis.

2. also this past weekend i ended up going to church for the first time here in Korea. i had mentioned to Jacky that i was considering finding a church and so she contacted a friend of hers and between the two of them... they were like "there's a church in Seoul, international service, you can go to it " so i decided to give it a try and go check it out. I got a little bit lost on the way but then Jacky's friend Michelle met up with me there and showed me the way to the service. The service actually was really nice, the pastor was nice, and the choir was good. And in a weird way ,... it felt good in that it felt like back home, having a church service in English and all.... i really liked it and everyone was really nice. Tomorrow though , i will be going to a church service here in suwon that jennyfer and nick go to. Also an international service. We'll see how it goes.

3. Some of my kids this week were being a pain and I was seriously getting frustrated with them. Anyways... guess sometimes we just have bad weeks.

4. Also after the church service i went to Itaewon in Seoul, which is the foreign district. I was on the search for condensed milk at the foreign market since i wanted to make some flan for Jacky. So i found my condensed milk! and was super happy about it. I was super surprised because of all the foreigners there.... yeah.... i know... duhhhh!!!! but i didn't just hear English, heard some Spanish and some french as well, which was kinda cool.

5. Note: Jacky's dog is crazy. When i went over to her house for our English lesson he would not stop barking and he ate all this toilet paper and kept stealing our pens..... he's crazy. Super sweet and cute, but crazy. And I got to see the little trick he does with giving his paw to you! Got it on video :-)

6. because of the whole flu thing and all, almost all week all teachers were required to wear this mouth mask things (like the ones the dentists and doctors wear) . It is super normal for people here in Korea to just wear masks... even if they are just walking around, going shopping, its normal. Anyways... but the teachers were required to wear them and it was seriously a pain because i could not talk because the mask kept moving , and the students could not hear me well and they, of course, could also not see how my lips were moving, which does not help. Anywho... but got over it.

7. was excited because i got to order some omu today at school. Its kinda like fish sticks but 10000000 times better! super good quality and good price. So now I have a lotta omu and my freezer waiting to be eaten.

8. Today i went to my first Korean class. I had mentioned to Jacky that i wanted to take some Korean and that i had found lessons in Seoul on Saturday and all, but it was a bit expensive.... anywho, so she found out that there were lessons being offered at the suwon YMCA, for a lot cheaper, also on Saturdays. So today i went for the first time... what an adventure!
so first of all, i left Dana's to go to my house in the morning and leave all the stuff we had prepared (food-wise) at home and they headed out the the YMCA. Note: i looked up directions on google map and had a mental image of more or less how to get there, but that's about it. So I headed to the bus station and it took me a bit to figure out which bus to take and in which direction. finally, i got on the bus and got off where i thought i had to. Walked for a while and thought i had gotten lost. but then i saw this 13-looking year old girl and though "she speaks English"-since most middle school students have English class in school at that age. So I asked her if she knew where the YMCA was and she did not know how to give me directions but she did say "me, follow" So i followed her. She was SO nice! She took me all the way to the door and I made it :-) Then I got lucky. i had no idea where i was supposed to go from there and as i was walking up the stairs I ran into a lady that clearly saw i was lost (she was Korean) and asked how she could help me. I said i was looking for the Korean classes. Then she said, they started 30minutes ago, the one you are looking for. So then she said "can you read Korean" i said "yes" she said "come with me". and so I followed. Soon enough, i realized she was leading me to HER classroom. HER class was about to start, which still... its was a beginners class. It was a bit intimidating at first but in the end it went well. 6 people in the class. one from Spain, two from south Africa, an American, a Chinese, me and someone else.... anywho.... and i felt good. The level was not overly difficult and not overly easy. Totally brought me back to the days of learning German! what good memories!!!!! So we finished class. I of course, am coming in at the middle of the term and so have some catching up to do, but that's ok. So next class we have our midterm exam. it is every Saturday for an hour and a half and runs until DEC 12th/ its 60,000 won, which is not bad and i already got the book. always a plus. But now i have lots of homework and work to do!! yeah!!! love being busy :-)

so then i left class and literally ran home cuz Jacky was coming over for lunch at 1pm. (she knows i don't cook)and so i had told her i would try to cook something for her. This is what Dana helped me out with the previous night. So we made stuffed bell peppers, and some apple salad, and some sweet potatoes. I think she liked it all. Oh.... and so i made the flan for dinner, which she also liked. :-) i was happy about that. So we ate and then we had our English lesson and then she headed out. Oh, and she gave me these stick cookie things that people give to each other here in Korea as well as some soap for my face which is super good for the skin. So nice of her!

now the plan is to A. finish a translation for my mother, B. figure out how to get to church tomorrow (double-checking directions and all) C. studying some Korean. Then tomorrow morning, ideally, i would like to go run for a bit since I did not go swimming the last 3 days and feel like a really lazy ass!. So that's the plan. We'll see if i get everything done that i need to do.

till then!