Beach Side (May 5)

• We got to go to the BEACH today! Although the water was cold, it was so beautiful out and I can’t imagine any other way to have spent today :) 
• After the beach, we went in search of food. We ended up at a sketchy little seafood restaurant with a zippered window (like in a camper). There wasn’t much that looked good on the menu so we decided to make our order an “appetizer” and get more food elsewhere. The shellfish soup that we had was pretty good but the chicken we found later was even better. And we got a fruit/French fries plate :) Oh, and I found out that Liz thinks the Muffin Joke is positively hilarious, which is great. 
• After deciding to head home instead of going out, Jordan, Rachel and I headed home for Sleepover #2. I made brownies and we just talked for a while, before falling asleep. It was perfect. 
• Also, it’s both ridiculous and fantastic how much alike Rachel and I are. It makes us both feel a lot better about our experiences and basically everything here. Yay for kindred souls :)

What a Phone Call Should Be (May 4)

• My other appointments at the doctor’s office this week have been close to closing time, so it wasn’t too busy. Today, I had a morning appointment and I got to see a Korean doctor’s office in full swing. Basically, all of the appointments are intertwined. In America, you have a specific time and get everything done at once, while the nurse/doctor is focused on you. In Korea (or, at least, at this office), you move from exam room to exam room, area to area, based on what you need and what is available. I’m not really sure if this slows things down or speeds them up. It did succeed in making me feel like a burden to the office though, which I didn’t like :/ 
• After the appointment, Winter and I decided coffee was a good idea (of course) and we went to a new coffee shop that she’s been wanting to try. It was adorable (and served good coffee too) and we will definitely be going back :)

Why does her phone take such good pictures???

• Today was my Skype Project at school. Pretty much everything worked out, with a few minor challenges, and it was so fun. I really loved connecting my students with my friends and it was cool for them to realize things, like what time it was in the US, and to hear them “OOOOH!” at a simple thing like a marching band jacket (that I don’t even think they understand the concept of). And the conversations Su Hyeon and Dae Han (6th graders) had with Julia, PP, my Dad and Uncle David were fantastic. They introduced Julia and Uncle David to KPop (by playing them “Fantastic Baby”), Dae Han tried to convince them all that he was 99 years old, they told Uncle David that he was David Beckham (because everyone named David must be David Beckham) and that he looks like Tony Stark, Su Hyeon was his normal crazy self and Dae HAn said that one of his favorite things to do after school was punch his brother. Overall, it also made me feel like a good English teacher, because I know how to talk to my students, what (and how many) words to use, how slow to speak, etc. It’s not that my friends and family did it wrong, they just spoke like a little fast and with too many words sometimes - things I've only learned by teaching ESL students firsthand. I realized how much my teaching style has changed based on the needs of my students – maybe I’m a little more adaptable than I give myself credit for. Yay! Once again, I want to say thank you to everyone who helped me: Winter (always), Crystal, Allie, Amanda, Alyssa, Henry, Julia, PP, Uncle David and Dad (and Annie, Erin and Marina, even though they didn’t actually get to talk to the kids). I love you all! 
• After school, I headed to Gyeongju for dinner and a sleepover at Jeanette’s, which was complete with ice cream, lamenting about boys, and watching Sense and Sensibility...pretty much perfect.

Zen Approach

• I think yesterday purged me somehow. Today I felt relatively zen about everything, even though there is still plenty to be frustrated about. But I did lots of good things today.
• I have made and am adding to a Korea To-Do list. It's posted near my door and will help me accomplish some things that I want to do here before I leave. It's actually a pretty lame list, but they are things I want/need to do and if I can cross them off, that would be cool.
• Dad and Barbara's package came in the mail today! Wasn't planning on seeing that thing for at least 3 weeks. They sent it on FRIDAY. Which means, considering the time difference, it arrived in 5 days, including the weekend. Wow.
• I baked Lemon Cake, Part 2. It still didn't turn out right :( I commented on the blog post that I got the recipe from, so hopefully the blogger will get back to me about ways to make it better. Or I might start playing with the recipe myself.
• I decorated my living room/bedroom with the cards I have received:

Encouragement and adorability :)

• I learned that you need a hammer, not a mallet, to hammer nails.

Chocolate Caramel Angel (May 2)

• Today has been the 2nd of 2 very difficult, emotional, overwhelming, frustrating days. I haven't decided whether to write about my feelings in full yet, just because most of them have to do with my current employers and I can't make these posts private.
• However, I will talk about the cooking/baking I did today. I think baking is my new outlet. I mean, I did it at home, but I'm doing it way more here. I've kind of unofficially decided to bake something each night that I stay home, to give my evening some purpose. Tonight, I bought a pre-mixed stirfry thing at HomePlus. It's basically meat (I chose pork), in a sauce with yummy seasoning and a (very) few vegetables. I cut up (I really like cutting vegetable) and added cucumber, pepper, green onion and carrot. I warmed up some leftover rice and in like 10 minutes I had a super yummy meal. And I didn't have to share so I could eat all I wanted. Oh and I had one of my many bananas that is lying around. After cleaning up all that stuff, I decided to finally try caramel. Last week, I bought the cream to prepare for it but never got around to it. Tonight, I found a lonely apple on the discount produce shelf at HP and he was my inspiration. It turned out so yummy! And it was really easy. I've been advised to try mixing in flavors, like cinnamon, coffee, and citrus. I think I will try lots of different ones because I don't really know what else to use the heavy cream for and it's going to go bad soon. After making the caramel, I ate about half the apple and then decided to drizzle brownie with caramel and warm it up. SOOOOO GOOD. It literally made me feel better. I don't know how.
• I also received a lot of support from other TaLK scholars today. I posted on our FB page that I've gotten very homesick recently, and asked for some tips. Lots of people replied with really good ideas and it made me cry (guess who's PMS-ing...). I also got very sweet messages from Rachel and Alison, assuring me that they were also going through the same thing. I'm starting to feel a little better and made a plan to do more things outside of my apartment.

Soul Kitchen

• Happy May!
• I’m trying this new technique to help me wake up: as soon as my alarm goes off (or after several snooze-hits), reach over, turn on my computer, open iTunes, play Princess Diaries soundtrack (starting with Wake Up” by Hanson). It’s actually helping! And the PD soundtrack is so peppy, it automatically makes me happy :) Thanks for that one, Ashley! 
• Also, today Carlee called me right away and we “hung out” – chatting, I edited her paper, she packed. It was great. And I helped her find mistakes like “One description describes...” hehe :) 
• Adventures in the kitchen continued tonight – this time experiments, trying to make a suitable veggie dip. Didn’t find the right one but was introduced to some great websites: http://www.supercook.com/ (thanks Ellyn!) and http://myfridgefood.com/ (thanks Jenny!). Very excited for future kitchen endeavors J (If I’m not careful, this might become a cooking/baking blog...) 
• There are bananas all over my kitchen right now. I’m trying out the theory that storing bananas not near other bananas will make them last longer...so far it’s not really working and I look like a crazy person...
• A few people posted Avery's Bucket List on Facebook today, a blog written by the parents of a baby diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy at the beginning of April.  The blog is really cool and is as much about SMA awareness and advocacy as it is of her adventures over the last month, and I definitely recommend reading it. However, I was really sad to learn that, only a few hours after I'd read through the blog entries, Avery died suddenly. Prayers of comfort for her family and lots of hope that diseases like hers will be more preventable and/or cured some day.

Doctor's Orders

• Happy Birthday Bestests, Carlee and Krystle! 
• Had my first experience at a Korean doctor today. He was very helpful/nice and spoke some English, which was great. But I also was overwhelmed for many reasons. He talked quickly in both Korean and English (thankfully Winter was with me), describing my symptoms as a disease called Otitis Media. That’s fancy speak for an ear infection. But the word “disease,” coupled with Latin and the phrase “much worse than you thought” (I originally thought I just got water stuck in my ear from a shower), made me pretty freaked out. And then was coming towards me with a pointy metal thing! (Because, in Korea, the doctor’s offices are filled with metal instruments, not plastic stuff – reminiscent of old-time dentist offices...) I finally had to say “Wait wait wait, what’s he doing?” I had a 6:00 pm apt, so I think the doctor might have just been ready to go home. And he did re-explain things when I asked him to. The nasal treatment he gave me was very interesting and I have to get it every 2 days for the next 2-3 weeks. I’ll also continue to have my echo-y ear and dizziness for at least 10 more days. Joy. Hopefully it will go away after all the treatments and meds are done. They don’t mess around here! 
• Kitchen disasters abounded tonight – an unexpectedly broken plate (and cut finger), too much rice, spoiled food (meat, pineapple, anchovies, lemon, pears – oy), and rice cooker brownies, but those turned out pretty good, despite the batter looking like poop as I poured it into the rice cooker.

New Girl Now (Apr 28)

• Since I felt terrible today, I spent the whole day watching New Girl episodes (and also some Big Bang Theory). They were fantastic! I love that show and the more recent episodes are fantastic. I particularly loved #15 ("Injured") and #17/18 ("Fancyman" Parts 1 and 2). I can't wait to rewatch them with my friends at home this summer :)
• 300th post!

History Chimes (Apr 27)

• Seeing historical sites with 18 6/7-year-olds is totally different that seeing them with your peers. This is what I learned today on our school trip to Gyeongju. Winter and I accompanied all 5 grades on the trip, but we rode the bus with the first and second graders and were in charge of helping corral the first graders. It was fun because most of the students in our English class are first and second graders. However, that class is CRAZY and so was being with them ALL day. They were definitely cute: wanting to hold my hand and carrying their little backpacks. The first place we went to was a Buddhist temple. Seems like all of the schools around us had a field trip today and they all went to this temple! TONS of kids around. I got several (older students) coming up to me and asking to have their picture with me (I love that I’m “famous” here) and a few were doing an “English Mission” so they needed to ask me questions too. It was fun :) The temple was really beautiful and I was amazed at the people who were actually worshiping, despite the noise of hundreds and hundreds of students milling around. I’m sure normal visitors are much quieter and more respectful.

After wandering for a while, we sat down to eat lunch. I think the first grade teacher was desperate to find a place - the kids were whining - because we ended up plunking down in the middle of a wide walkway, instead of the really nice park just another few minutes’ walk away. Oh well. I found out, though, that when Korean children pack a picnic lunch, they all eat kimbap and fruit and chips and sit on these little mats! 

This is a Korean sack lunch :) And this little boy
shared some of the stuff on the left with me.

It was so adorable. And also really yummy – our mentor teacher had bought us kimbap, but the first grade teacher urged us to share hers with her first, as it was homemade by one of the students’ moms. It was so good! And there was lots of fresh fruit packed with it, and I tried a kumquat!

You have to eat the peel too!

Even after lunch, we were all pretty tired…but there were 3 more places on the itinerary to visit. The next one was a commemorative temple that had an outdoor museum, with paintings illustrating several important events in Korean history. We spent only about 20 minutes there – about enough time for the students to run up the stairs, around the museum, down the stairs and then go to the bathroom.

Then we went to a site that is famous because it is where the last king of the Silla empire was before it fell. There wasn’t much to see here so the kids basically ran around some more. I wandered off to see what else was there. Not much – it would probably be a nice picnic or reflective spot if there weren’t 75 students wandering and yelling.

Finally, we went to a site where 5 important people are buried.

There was a guide who was trying to explain things to the kids…but they were tired and not into listening. And then a “parade” of 3-year-olds walked by in a line, singing and they were totally distracted. So we walked around a little bit and then got on the bus home. You’d think that with all the walking, the kids would be really tired – but no, my little heathens yelled and hit each other with their wooden swords the whole way home. Oh so tired after getting off that bus. Props to their homeroom teachers who teach them for 6 hours a day.

• Tonight friends met up in Gumi to see The Avengers. Yes, it was out in Korea before it was out in the US! Woo! And it was AMAZING. Robert Downey Jr. made the movie fantastic (yes, I love him and how he delivers his lines but he really did a great job) and it was so well-done. I would post more details but I know I have lots of friends who want to see it XD I’m very excited for the next one!

Jeanette, Deanna and Abby pointing to their fave boys ;)

• After the movie, we went drinking. It was fun but I found my soju limit...the rest of the weekend was spent recovering :(

The Visit (She Was Here)

• Dr. Koh Day!!! I got to school and was wondering how I would know when she arrives – and when I went to say hello to the vice principal and the head teacher, her and her husband (Dr. Shin) were sitting with the head teacher! I ran over and hugged her. It was really comforting to have someone from home there in my school, who had worked to take care of me and make sure I was in a good situation, and knows the culture and language of the crazy foreign place I live in – it was practically like seeing my own parents. After listening to Dr. Koh, Dr. Shin, my head teacher and, eventually, Winter talk in Korean for a while (it’s so pretty to hear native Koreans speak, especially when I don’t need to be understanding what they are saying), we went to lunch. I told Dr. Koh that my school’s lunch was really good, so she made sure to make time I her schedule to eat with me. And she liked it! She even said that she used to eat one of the dishes all the time as a child, and hadn’t since then. Cute! We (they) talked with some other teachers/staff and then just between us for a while – until we were the last ones in the cafeteria. Oops. After lunch, we had tea/coffee with the principal, met with my mentor teacher (Dr. Koh even thought she was talkative and little strange...ah well), and then went up to class. My grade 1/2 students were surprisingly good today! (When I told Dr. Koh that they were good today, she was like, “Really? Oh...”) Granted, I only had them for 20 minutes because of an earthquake drill, but still. The principal and head teacher came in to watch, along with Dr. Koh and Dr. Shin, and no one threw anything at me (students) or told me to stop teaching and leave (adults) so it must have gone okay :) Dr. Koh and Dr. Shin had to leave quickly after class, to make it to Ashley’s school, but I didn’t have to say goodbye, thankfully. After hanging out at school for a while (no 6th graders means sitting and doing nothing for an hour before I can go home) and several changed plans, I ended up at an Angel-In-Us coffee shop in Idong, to wait for Dr. Koh, Dr. Shin, Ashley and Abby (I had to ride the bus there, Ash and Abby got to ride with the doctors...jelly). I got a lemon tea (DELISH) and sat down to wait for them...and then they showed up haha. We walked around the building, looking for the entrance to Partys Seafood Buffet, and then found it and entered HEAVEN. It was a beautiful restaurant with TONS of dishes that all looked fantastic. Dr. Koh noted that they had a lot of carb and fruit options, along with free beer, to fill you up before you could eat too much actual [expensive] seafood – how tricky – and checked our plates whenever we brought one back to the table. But everything was fantastic. And Abby, Ashley and I ended up impressing her, with both the number of plates we returned with and the types of things we tried. I had pizza (with CHEESE) and a variation of tomato and mozzarella salad (CHEESE), but also SUSHI! Never had it before but I popped my sushi cherry with whelk, squid, eel, crab and scallop (or some kind of shellfish) sushi. They were yummy. Ash, Abby and I have already made plans to go back at least once before leaving Pohang. During dinner, we were able to talk to Dr. Koh and Dr. Shin about lots of things – TaLK, our schools, plans for after July, etc. – and I even talked with them about dating (Korean boys and otherwise) and how they met (used to study at his university’s library, because hers was too far away, and one day he came up to her and talked to her...”I’m so lucky” he told me...SO CUTE!). We stayed at the restaurant for almost 3 hours. After that though, we had to say goodbye :( She has 3 meetings, all over southern Korea tomorrow, starting at 8:30 am! She’s so Korean (works 8 days a week). I gave her a hug and made Ashley promise to give her another one before they parted. I can’t wait to see her when we get back. 
• I wish all of Dr. Koh’s students had the opportunity to understand her in a Korean context. I have known a lot of people who’ve taken her for an intro special ed class at Eastern and have really disliked her. If they knew how hard she works, how much she cares, how professional, protective, forceful, no-nonsense but also flexible she is – and how all of those qualities are related to her life events (she mentioned tonight that she remembered eating those silkworm bugs as a child, because they had no other way to get protein) – they would not dislike her ever. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to dissolve my first impression of her and replace it with actually knowing/understanding her.

"A" You're Adorable (Apr 25)

• Today was a rough day with the children. Complete lack of listening - and caring, really - on their part, so I was frustrated by that. But then overwhelming frustration washed over me; the kind that makes me question my effectiveness as a teacher, both here and in general, what to do about teaching my current students and my decision to be a teacher. It was not good and tears definitely happened.
• I did have a cute conversation with Do Hyeon about the rain on my way home. The after school care class lets out at 5 pm, which is usually when I'm headed home. Today, I "taught" him the words "rainy" and "wet", as it was drizzling and there were puddles everywhere. Also, I told him to watch out as a car was coming behind us and he said "Thank you!". That was kind of cute.
• Nonetheless, after school, I hopped on the bus to Gyeongju. This may sound a little extreme but, being the next town over, it's only about 30 minutes from the Intercity Bus Terminal (the same amount of time it takes me to visit Abby/Joe in Heunghae - and less time than to visit Ashley in Wolpo - and they are technically in the same city as I am!). I ended up meeting Nia, Nate and Jeanette at THE most adorable cupcake shop in the world. I guarantee that it is. Of course, I didn't bring my camera with me. So we'll go back. Nia and Nate left to go to dinner and Jeannie and I just relaxed in the adorbz atmosphere. I ate a tiramisu cupcake and drank a caramel macchiato, and then we shared a cookies n' cream cupcake. (My stomach was whining a little bit throughout the evening, from all that sugar.) It was fabulous. We also discussed our devil children, the pointlessness of the letters C, X and Q, and the idea of having our own cupcake shop (called "Adorbz Cupcakes", of course). When the shop closed, we went looked through the boutiques in the area...and made purchases. It IS payday, after all :)

New shirt :)

Then, we met up with Sai at HomePlus. I purchased some fun prizes for my kids, Sai bought groceries, Jeannie bought a shelf thing, and we saw adorable bunnies and a LIVE GIGANTIC BEETLE. EWWWW. We ran away. It was my favorite kind of grocery shopping, roaming almost all of the aisles. I like my HP (it's bigger and makes more sense to me) but the trip succeeded in making me feel loads better. After a short trip to Jeannie's apt (in which we managed to squeeze a few minutes of She's The Man), I made my way to the bus station and successfully (with the help of a driver) boarded the last bus home to Pohang. I appreciate my friends :)

Punch You In The Jeans

• My students like to punch each other. For fun, if the they're bored, if they're angry, if they're annoyed - mostly if they're angry. It's so frustrating! Especially because I can't tell if they understand me when I tell them that that is not an okay response, even if someone punches you first. Ugh. #englishteacherproblems
• Had really yummy pizza with Winter, Liz and Sai tonight and then went shopping with Abby. It was really fun (I love Pohang's downtown) and I decided that I might buy myself a new dress every payday...
• Sai, Winter and Liz went to Mundeok after dinner, so I had people to ride home with, which was a nice change :) I've had way too much time to think/stew over the last week - nasty side effect of living alone - so it was really nice to have facetime with friends tonight.

Recipe (Stir It Up)

• Spent most of yesterday sleeping. It was good (and needed, to kick this cold) but also made me very tired today.
• In order to fight the tiredness/try to achieve a decent bedtime, I tackled some recipes. Winter and I went to HomePlus to find heavy cream, so I can try my hand at caramel. Then I decided to make a juice cocktail because I have a bunch of different juices in my fridge: equal parts strawberry, plum and apple juice, plus juice squeezed out of 1/2 a lemon. Mmmm :) After that, pear problem-solving time. I cut up a Korean pear to eat the other day only to discover it was way too bland for me to enjoy plain (tastes much more like an apple than a pear). I bought the cream to make a caramel dip, but I've been itching to make another cake. Shinshine.com provides a great recipe for pear upside-down cake (which Abby verified this weekend) but ginger powder at HomePlus is 9000+ Won! That's too much, Bob - I'll wait to buy it at the market. So I found a pear bread recipe instead (included at the end of the post). I was worried that it might not turn out - it's for a regular oven, and I only have my rice cooker - but it's fantastic! Smells so good and yum yum yum. And since it has pears AND raisins in it, that means it's healthy, which means I can eat it for breakfast every day until it's gone without feeling guilty :D

Pear-Raisin Bread Recipe for Rice Cooker

Ingredients

(I made 2/3 of the recipe so I wouldn't have to waste batter.)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup butter, softened (may substitute 3/4 cup vegetable oil)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups peeled and finely grated ripe, firm pears
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup raisins, other dried fruit, pecans, walnuts, etc. if desired

Directions

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder,
salt, and cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, combine butter, eggs,
sugar, pears, and vanilla.

Add the pear mixture to the flour mixture,
stirring just until flour disappears and
batter is evenly moistened.
Stir in raisins, nuts or other add-ins.

Grease rice cooker pot. Pour the
batter into the rice cooker pot. Cook 
in rice cooker for 2-4 cooking
cycles. Check after each cooking
cycle to avoid overcooking.

Once cooked, let it cool, and remove the
cake by turning the pot upside-down onto a plate.

Enjoy!

Watching You Watching Me

• Jeanette and I opted to stick closer to home tonight (rather than go to the meet-up in Daegu), because I am sick and she didn't feel like going that far. So we met up for a "date" in Pohang instead :) We had planned to see Titanic - but it wasn't showing at the first theater we went to (like we thought) and we didn't make it in time to see it at the other theater, even though we tried REALLY hard to get there quickly. So we went to the buffet named Ashley's across the hall from the theater instead. 

(Note: Since Korea builds up, instead of out, there are often lots of businesses in the same building...one complex near my apartment is laid out like this: 1F - a bookstore, Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, KFC, Baskin Robbins, phone store, another coffee shop, a bunch of independent vendors; 2F/3F - HomePlus; 4F/5F - independent, kind of expensive, vendors; 6F - food court, independent vendors; 7F/8F - movie theater. This one was similar: 1F - Starbucks, a fast food place, an arcade; 2F - Mr. Pizza, nail salon, other places we didn't see; 3F - movie theater, Ashley's...and I'm not sure if there were more floors in this one...)

It was a fantastic way to spend the $14 we would have spent on Titanic tickets. The buffet advertised that it served American food - but it was Korean-ized American food. I mean, yes, there were mini corndogs (which Korea must think Americans eat all the time - they are everywhere here!) and cheesecake and soup...but there was also ddeokbokki (short, thick rice noodles) in alfredo sauce, seaweed-wrapped rice in chili sauce, nachos with cheese-colored-but-not-cheese-flavored cheese, and a meat whose sign literally read "Real" meat, with the Real in quotes. And the drink we had was called non-alcoholic fruit wine black tea - is it wine? Is it tea?? Is it juice??? There was a really good salad and fruit bar though, plus ice cream and coffee. And all the people-watching we could want! The waiter happened to seat us near the beverage station, which meant we were able to gaze at the lovely backsides of all of the young, attractive Korean men who dined there this evening, even if they came there with their girlfriends. There was also an adorable little girl at the table next to us; I tried lots of times to wave at her and she just stared at me, until we got up to leave and then she waved back! So cute. And, of course, we had to stare down anyone who left in order to figure out how/where we should pay. Ohhh the life of people who don't know the mother tongue of the country they live in :D After dinner (we did figure out how to pay), we went downstairs for Starbucks and seated ourselves neatly next to the giant window, to facilitate more people-watching. It was so fun and we were able to stave off getting soaked for another hour or so (so much rain in Pohang today). After that, we almost went home...and then I remembered there is an ArtBox downtown. And we had to go. We just had to. And then we bought things. But that's okay because they are adorbz :D :D Anyways, it was a great way to spend a Saturday night and I'm so glad Jeannie lives close and we've gotten to be such good friends :)

Sickness Within

• Happy Baby Day to John and Katie! (Not actually though, because Baby Bateman is stubborn. How rude.)
• Took my first sick day at work. Sick days aren’t really something that people in Korea do, but my body has not been groomed for that kind of rigor. I might have still been able to be there, but seeing as my plan would have been to show a movie because my head is so stuffed I can’t handle teaching, no one would be learning any English today anyways. And it’s Friday. Winter is so awesome for helping me call in and for taking care of me, even though I know she needs this rest day as much as I do. 
• Walked down my street in search of a health store (where you buy over-the-counter drugs here) and found that, among all of the closed storefronts and creepy areas, there is just about everything you need. Phone store, clock store, health store, grocery stores, a few restaurants, a few clothing stores (not just ajumma clothes either), a bakery, a stationary store. Cool!
• I made cookie in the microwave tonight, thanks to a recipe in my care package from Carlee :) It was pretty yummy too! Not as good as Betty Crocker mixes, but that lady’s a genius...and doesn’t sell her mixes in Korea. 
• I felt like an old lady tonight – I licked my thumb to pry apart some stubborn plastic bags.

Another Day In The Office

• In surprising contrast from when I last tried to show a movie to my students, today they were quiet and couldn't take their eyes off the screen. Woohoo! I could actually work on things and know that they weren't going to kill each other.
• Also, I managed to keep my older students busy, engaged and interested for 75 minutes! We learned a little about Chinese culture by playing games and doing some activities. They were good (energetic, but good) and tried to speak English when I asked them to. I gave them Rice Krispie Treats that I made and, though being skeptical at first, they loved them (and loved learning how to say "Rice Krispie Treat"). They were also really amused with teaching me Korean words for things in the classroom - they tried to teach me about 20 different terms. I don't remember any of them.