Pay Day!

I was pleased to be handed an envelope with cash inside :-D Since my ARC hasn't arrived yet, I have no bank account, which means the money goes straight to my hot little hand. Aaaaaw yeaaahhhh.

I was pleased with myself for creatively maneuvering the "drama" period for my kinder kids this afternoon. I had no lesson plan, but I was able to incorporate some theatre "warm-up" techniques, some games, and even a little skit based on a picture book "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus." = Success.

I found out that the package my mom sent out a couple of weeks ago has been waiting for me at the other LCI location. I was going to retrieve it from Manilla's (my boss' wife's) car after work, but she had left already. Bummer. I'll just have to sleep without sheets for another night, until I can gather it tomorrow. I was given another piece of mail, and one that I wasn't expecting:

Mail is pretty much the best thing ever.

See that return address?? La-Joanie!!! Love this woman. Thank you, Joan, for sending me love! I was thrilled to open it and almost cried when I saw the pictures. They will be on my wall as soon as this post is finished. I've been longing for the mountains in a way that I never expected - - and now I get to look at them everyday in my room! You're a lovely, lovely person to think of me and wish me well over here. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Back to Manilla - she's a sweetie. Very fun to talk to. She's Thai and now lives here in Korea with her husband (who is Korean) and her little family. English is her third language, so she has this wonderful blend of foreign accents that make her sound like she's from the Caribbean. I love it. So I'm in her office today, asking her husband a question and she suddenly asks "Why you haab no boyfrenn?" I was taken by surprise and wasn't sure how to answer. With the language barrier, I felt like telling her exactly why I'm not dating right now would not have been the easiest to explain. My excuse was that I haven't met anyone - which is true. I haven't, met anyone that I would consider spending the rest of my life with, so I'd rather not waste my time. She said, "Buuh you, uh, puhfect! Eberyting! All is puhfect, you should haab boyfrenn!!" She was insinuating that I have everything going for me, so why am I not in a relationship. I forget sometimes that the world expects you to desire another person to feel valuable. This is normal - it's human nature. We're designed to be intimate, to have relationships. However, I don't appreciate that in order to be somebody, anybody, the common trend is to cling to someone that makes you feel that way. I have a God that affirms me, in a way that no human can. To look for that in a guy would be in vain.

Don't get me wrong! I get lonely. I feel just as much, if not more than, other people. Those that have been in a relationship with me, or if you're a close friend of mine, you can attest to how emotional and emotionally connected I can get. But God has blessed me with singleness for a time. Maybe for a long time, I don't know, because I don't know my future. He has me here, in this country, concentrating on work, on erasing my debt, on connecting with new people and making new friends. I feel like a relationship is not the most convenient thing right now. I'm just happy to be by myself. I'm sorry that I couldn't relate that to Manilla. It's a difficult concept to understand, I guess.

On a lighter note, I was able to sneak some pictures of my afternoon class. These are my rambunctious hams, haha. We have fun.

Jessica and Sonny. Sonny is smart but probably has ADD. He never focuses. Definitely keeps things lively. Jessica is mostly quiet and does her work promptly. Good handwriting, if I remember correctly.

John and Judy. These two always sit next to each other. One day, in their grammar book, the line read, "John is fatter than Michael." I heard some snickering and then there were angry words. John had crossed out the name "John" in his book and replaced it with "Judy." When I asked him why he did this, he whined that Judy had said he was the fat John in the book. Oy.

Oh, Alex. Here's my bright one. He's one of the better speakers, and catches on very quickly. I have his younger brother, Max, in my kinder class in the mornings. Max is pretty much to that class what Alex is for this one. Precocious, spunky, smart, and overly confident. I love them both, because they're basically a mini, Korean version of me :-D

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Brian-with-an-i, Emily, and Bryan-with-a-y. I did my best to convince one of the Bry/ian's to change their name to something else so I wouldn't have two Bry/ians, but they would have none of it. Bry/ian is a well-liked named in this class and nothing could make them relent. Brian is a droner, talking incessantly about anything he can. I appreciate that he's trying to use his English but sometimes I have to talk over his stories to move on with the lesson. Emily wouldn't take a good picture. She's cute behind that pencil case. Bryan is quiet and extremely smart. He gets 100's on pretty much every word test and is always the first to finish. He's good at being patient, too. A lot of the time, if a student is smart, he'll move on to the next problem, doodle, or just be a nuisance. Not Bryan. He's a good kid.

I think this is a long enough post for today. So glad that tomorrow is FRIDAY!! This week has really flown.