Updates

1. Last night I was watching a sermon and I found this blog. Pretty perfect for my to-stay-or-not-to-stay dilemma.

2. September 12 and 13 are Korean Thanksgiving, so I have vacation! My school is also giving me September 14 off. Sooo, I'm going to Jeju Island with Katie and Alexis. We're going to lay on the beach, visit a volcano, see some waterfalls, maybe take a submarine tour, do some hiking...it's going to be very fun and very relaxing. Unfortunately, there are no more plane tickets, so we're taking an overnight ferry. We leave Saturday night and don't have assigned seats, so that will be really interesting. Hopefully not too uncomfortable. Originally we were supposed to come back Tuesday night, but Alexis got a phone call today saying that the ferry burned down. Umm...what?! I'm not really sure how/why this is all working out, but we're leaving Wednesday night instead. Bright side, we get to spend another day in Jeju. Down side, I have to work Thursday after spending the night on a ferry.

3. I have a language partner. His name is Ken, he's 28, and he's studying English at Ulsan University. He also speaks Japanese and Chinese. I'm intimidated by his language skills. He's going to teach me Korean and I'm going to teach him English. Except he just spent a year studying English in Canada, so we're mostly going to be working on Korean. We're supposed to meet every Tuesday night and Saturday afternoon, but I have a feeling we'll be skipping a lot of Saturdays.

4. Today I got my hair cut. I go to the salon that has an English-speaking stylist. Her name is Ban Seok and she is fantastic. Background information: the first time I went there I brought Katie with me because I was nervous. She had her kindle and was reading. Tonight one of the stylists came over and said "I remember your friend! She had the e-reader. She was reading the Bible." And then Ban Seok said "She is Christian?" and I said "Yes." and she said "You are Christian too?" and I said "Yes." Then she pointed to the other stylist and said "Me and him too!" So now we're best friends. She told me all about a missions trip she took to Israel, and she asked me about church in Korea. She told me to pray for the 2 Koreas because a lot of people hate each other and they're supposed to be family. Then when she was done she made me some coffee (they have equipment in the salon) and we chatted some more. Best haircut experience ever.

5. Today was Wednesday. Every Wednesday I leave Sun-am at 12:30 to go to Jang Saeng Po. At 12:20 Jenny called and said I didn't have to come to JSP because the school was taking a special field trip. I think she called at the last minute because she forgot about me. Anyways, I stayed at Sun-am. Every Wednesday the teachers play volleyball. This is a nation-wide thing...its kind of crazy. I'm always teaching so I never get to play. Until today :) Today they put the net at tennis height, and the men used their heads and feet, and the women used their hands. It's so much easier than real volleyball! I got the ball over the net a few times so they think I'm a star. Then we went to the teacher's office and had a Chinese buffet. I'm so sad I miss out on this every week. It was a ton of fun! It was really great to just hang out with the teachers and not worry about lesson plans or kids or anything. I hope my classes get canceled more often.