Back in Korea Update

I've been ordered to blog.  Apparently, I've been slacking.  My apologies.

In chronological order....

1.  I had the most amazing trip home.  Words cannot even begin to describe it.  I've never been so at peace in St Louis in my 30 years of life.  It was simply perfect. I had two weeks with family there and of course, that still didn't seem like enough.  I could have happily stayed a month.  Other than celebrating Christmas a few weeks early and meeting my nephew for the first time, nothing really of merit happened.  I was just able to enjoy the relaxed company of family, slept, and ate (a lot).  It was bliss.  I love my family.

The Wiener Dog Essay

It's been a year but Charles finally made his way into our weekly essays.  A few weeks ago when I met the quirky Korean man outside the Family Mart, Charlie and I also ran into a few of my students while conversing with our new friend. Mostly, Charles behaved very well around all these new faces. But, if you know my dog, you know he just can't control himself all the time.  He loves to bark and terrify people and there was one boy that got all of Charlie's ummm, "attention".  It's a little game he likes to play. I think it's probably 20% wanting to protect me and 80% (or more) a hysterical game for him.  It also doesn't help that he doesn't have the usual wiener dog "yippy" bark.  He sounds like a Rottweiler and he's awfully proud of it.  Needless to say, this does not make him super popular in a country where dogs are not the most welcome members of society.  Well, I take that back.  He's plenty popular, but not always in a good way.

Bronchitis & the Pharmacy

I am not ok.  I see stars everytime I cough. And I cough like an 80 year smoker, though I've never been a smoker.

I've diagnosed myself with bronchitis. (Thank you WebMD) I've never had it before but several people who have had it, agree with me.  I think I've actually coughed so hard that I've fractured a couple of ribs.  It hurts.

I went to get meds today.  At home, I would just run into Target and grab something over-the-counter.  While Korea has OTC drugs, you can't just go buy Tylenol or Benadryl at the local Home Plus.  Or at least I've never been able to find it. For any and all medicine related things, you need to go to a pharmacy. 

10 Things I Most Look Forward At Home

Being sick is making me melodramatic.  I love Korea but with all good things sometimes you need a little space.  And while Korea is hugely accommodating to the foreigner population (Americans could learn a lot from them), we're due for a little time apart right now. 

Here is what I look forward to most about going home.  Family, boyfriend and friends are intentionally left off the list though they are obviously what I miss the most. Of course meeting my new nephew trumps everything.  And spending time with my beautiful niece, Lily.  And my sisters. I'm in desperate need of some sister time. And my parents.  My God, I miss my parents.  In the words of Madea, "I'm ret-ta-go now."

Sick In Korea

Me: Guys, I'm really sick today.  Can you please be nice today?

Student: You look sick.  Your eyes are purple.

I have no idea what that means, but I've been bad sick since Sunday evening.  Monday was the worst day, but today is pulling in a close second. What I should have done last night was go home and take a benadryl and go straight to bed. That was the plan. What I really did was stay up wasting time online until 4 am making today a really hard day.  Really, really hard.

Fun Kid Conversations

Me:  Why is your name Pringles?
Student:  Because Teacher Andrea brought me these snacks called Pringles one day.  I liked them very much so I changed my name to Pringles.
Me:  What was your name before Pringles?
Students:  Nazi. 
Me:  Because you like nazis?
Student:  No, because I like Hitler.  He was handsome and powerful and not violent. 
Me:  Hitler was not violent? 
Student:  No.  You are violent, Teacher.  Hitler was not.  Hitler was handsome and powerful.  I like Hitler.
Me:  I might not tell a lot of people that.

*******************************************************************

This Pretty Much Sums It Up…

You can go here to see a larger version of this, including country wide statistics on student achievement, class size, blah blah blah.