Big Things Happening

Wow! Reading a little bit of my last post made me realize I should probably update more often. So many things have happened since I last posted, its crazy!!! So the guy I talked about, Glen, and I dated for a few weeks before we decided it wouldn't work. We still hang out a bit, but our schedules are so different it's difficult to figure something out.

I did end up quitting the gym near Hannam. It wasn't solely because of the stripe testing. I quit before the test. It was a big combination of things. It was too far from home, it was stressful and people were being rude. I found a gym closer to my house that I started in April. Its in Dunsan Dong. Jiu Jitsu starts later, and its so close to my house that I go home before going to the gym everyday. It's nice being able to unwind a little before working out so I am able to enjoy my workout a little more. I am not quite as stressed or burned out from the gym anymore. Plus, the environment at this gym seems to be a little more relaxed. So its nice.

Now on to current events...hahaha. My schedule at school lately has been pretty nice. One of my afternoon classes got canceled so now I only have two afternoon classes, and the vice principal arranged my schedule so that I can go home early everyday. On the other hand, I do have to sub for the other teachers quite a bit. Every teacher we have found to replace the Korean teachers that quit have decided that they cannot work with children and quit too. I really hate it for the students because they keep seeing new teachers and new teachers. Its not that big of a deal for me to cover the classes, but the students are the ones that are hurt by this. They often ask me why there are so many new teachers, and I don't think I can explain or should explain whats happening. On top of that one of the private schools nearby shut down unexpectedly (I'll explain more later) and so we have a ton of new students. We have a lot of students that want to enroll in our kindergarten classes, but none that want to enroll in our afternoon classes. Director Kim said that if we had to open new classes in the afternoon as well as in the morning he would have hired another foreign teacher, but that is not the case. We have to open two new classes only in the morning. So now we need another Korean teacher. I do not have any breaks in the morning so I do not have to take on the class, but two of the other foreign teachers do. Now all of the foreign teachers have a full schedule with no breaks except me. At the beginning, I had one of the worst if not the worst schedules, but I got used to it and everything was fine. Then, one of my afternoon classes got canceled and now I have the best schedule. Plus, in the very beginning none of my students spoke any English, and we weren't using books. So it took a lot of energy to teach every single one of my classes. Now, the students know more, and we can start using books which makes teaching quite a bit easier. I really enjoy my job now, and I love my students. Sunday is Teacher Appreciation so we got lots of presents from the students. A lot of students gave us lotions and flowers. One of my classes gave me a pot of flowers and 100,000 won bank gift card to use anywhere. That's always a nice gift.

Now about the private school that closed. As an English Teacher in Korea, you have to be very careful about the places that you work. English is very important in Korea so private schools can make a lot of money if they are good. However, not a lot of private schools make it big. They often run out of money and have to shut down. In most of these cases, none of the teachers receive their last paychecks, and the foreign teachers are left in Korea with no plane ticket home. However, sometimes there are rare cases where the school is successful, and they still shut down unexpectedly. That is what happened this week. One of the largest private schools in Daejeon shut down unexpectedly. I am not fully aware of all the details, even though one of my friends told me most of it. The school had a lot of teachers and a lot of students. Especially for a private school. I cannot be one hundred percent sure if the school had money problems or if the owner just wanted to keep the money for himself. Here is what I have heard. The foreign teachers there often complained that they didn't get their paychecks on time. I heard it from several of the teachers as early as last summer. When the school shut down on Wednesday, the teachers were told that they would not receive their last paycheck, their severance pay, or their plane ticket home. The landlords, however, would be sympathetic to their cases and allow them to live in their apartments for six months even though the bills for the apartments had not been paid either. The Korean teachers did not receive their paychecks either and are out thousands of dollars in wages and bonuses. The teachers at the school said that the director took the tuition money from the students and moved to New Zealand without giving any of the teachers their final pay. The teachers have worked for a month without pay. As I stated before, private schools shut down all of the time so it is no surprise that one shut down now. What is surprising is that such a large, reputable school closed down. To kind of give you some idea how big this school is (I can't be positive how many students there were) my school has 4 foreign teachers and maybe 200 students. At one point, this school had 20 foreign teachers. If the school has a similar student-teacher ratio that would mean there would be about 1000 students. Many of the parents immediately called other schools to enroll their students. Even though they paid one month's tuition already, they are willing to pay that tuition again to enroll their student in another school immediately. They don't want their child to miss one day of learning English, and these kids are between the ages of 5-15! Now back to the teachers as I said before I'm not sure how many foreign teachers there were when it closed but at one point there was 20. If that's still the case, 20 foreigners are stuck in Korea with no job, no money, and no way home. When a small school closes, its sad, but its not quite as devastating because it doesn't effect as many people. There are maybe one or two foreigners that work there, and maybe 100 students attend the school. This school's closing has effected most of the private schools in this area of Daejeon. I apologize if my details are not accurate; I have written what I have heard. If you know more information and can clarify things a bit more, please feel free to comment and correct things. I only wanted to share this event so that other foreigners that are interested in teaching in Korea are aware of things that happen here and can take caution. I didn't mention any names because even the news kept the identity of the school a secret.

If something like this happens at Wonderland, I do not want anyone to worry about me. I will be fine. Even though it would suck that I didn't get paid. It wouldn't be horrible for me. I would probably find another job here in Daejeon. Even if I wanted to go home, I do have some emergency money saved up. Also, my boss called an emergency meeting on Friday to assure all of the foreign teachers that nothing like that would ever happen at Wonderland, and that he will do everything he can to protect us as foreigners in Korea.

I guess that's all I have for now. I will try to do better about updating more often.

Wow back to back weekend posts!!!

Hey! I might actually be able to get back into this...just kidding. Don't get too excited this probably won't happen very often. I would be shocked if it does. So much happened this week I just have to share!

So Monday was horrifyingly busy!!!! All of the foreign teachers left school, so Max and I had to cover all of the foreign classes. That means, no breaks. Thankfully, Tuesday was Independence Movement Day or something which means NO SCHOOL! I needed that break after Monday.

So Tuesday night, I go to the gym. At the gym, I'm told that one of the girls that has been coming to the gym for one month is going to test for two stripes on the next test. You are supposed to wait about three months for the second stripe. Kwanjangnim said that since I'm her senior classmate he wanted my opinion. I told him that it didn't matter what my opinion was because he was the boss, and my opinion would not be fair or unbiased. Because truthfully, I've worked my butt off more than anyone else. I've trained harder than anyone else, and I've tried harder because I had to. For ten months, I've been going to this gym and never once have I gotten a break like that. I even had to wait even longer for my third stripe test. I am still really angry about this. If she receives two stripes as I'm receiving my third stripe, I will most likely quit the gym. The gym has been so good to me this year, and Kwanjangnim has been great. So I hate that something like this would make me want to quit. But the truth is, lately I've been feeling really left out at the gym. For several months, I was pretty much the only foreigner and the only girl at the gym, but it didn't seem to matter I felt like I belonged. Lately, there have been a lot of new people at the gym, and they have formed a sort of clique or something. I'm not the only girl any more and there are some more foreigners, but I get left out of good spars. I have to spar with the new people and the girls. For several months, I sparred with only the guys, and now, I have to spar with people that cannot challenge me. On top of that, Kwanjangnim wants to give the new girl two stripes???? That's not cool, and it really hurts that he didn't think it would hurt me. It was nice that he asked me for my opinion, but why would he not think it would hurt me?

Anyways, so after that, I really needed to go out! So Jeffrey and Mr. Park met me at the gym to go hang out for a bit. While I was waiting for them, these two guys walked by and wanted to talk for a minute. One of the guys, Glen, and I exchanged numbers and then I left with Jeffrey and Mr. Park. And like most good Korean boys, Glen texted me ten minutes later. Hahaha. While I'm hanging with Jeffrey and Mr. Park, Alex decides to come and join us. We had so much fun we stayed out till 5am. Which sucks for me because I had another busy day at work on Wednesday starting at 9am. Hahaha. Oh well, I survived.

Nothing really big or special happened on Wednesday, but I did receive about 15 text messages from Glen! I was kind of happy about that. He seems like a really nice guy!

On Thursday, Glen called me and asked if I would meet him later that night. Of course, I said yes! His friend, Jun Pyo, came along too which was perfect it made it quite a bit more comfortable. Those guys are amazing! Jun Pyo has a diplomatic girlfriend literally, that's her job. It was interesting learning more about them. Both guys are Korean, but they speak English amazingly well. They both are from Seoul but have jobs and live in Daejeon. They promised me next weekend they would show me around Seoul. I'm kind of excited about that because people always offer to show me places, but they never make plans to. At 2am, Jun Pyo decided to head home because we all had to work early, but Glen asked me to stay out a bit longer. So I did, we stayed out till 4am just talking. It was crazy! He's a super nice guy, and I really like hanging out with him. He's so much fun.

Which brings me to Friday, Friday sucked! It might have been because I was super tired, but most likely it was because I got all of the new, non-English speaking students. That's right, all of my lovely English speaking students that I trained to behave well went to all of the boy teachers. Who gets stuck with the untrained ones? Me. Ok, two of the classes aren't bad. The baby class killed me!!!! Seriously, one kid was grabbing my butt with both hands while another kid was pulling down my skirt yet another kid was stepping on my feet and still another kid somehow managed to reach up and pull my hair all at the same time. I wanted to scream, and I spoke Korean. I'm not supposed to, but it was necessary. Apparently, that's the standard baby class here in Korea. I'm told that sort of thing happens often. The only thing that brightened my day was text messages from friends and Glen's phone call. The end of school could not come soon enough!!!

Now party people, its the weekend!!! Friday night was Lindsey's birthday so I went to Yellow Taxi for a minute to tell her Happy Birthday. Seriously, it was probably a minute. The place was crowded, I was feeling sick, and I was tired. So I went home and slept!

Saturday, I met up with Alex and Ji Hyun for lunch at an Italian restaurant. Yummy! Then, we went for some coffee. Later Saturday night, we met up again this time with Douchi. We went to Musa's in Hannam. Musa is one of our favorite bars. They serve both American dishes and Korean dishes. Our favorite order is a combination of Korean and American dishes. It comes with gimchijan which is a sort of pancake thing but not really...its so yummy!!! It also comes with sausage, cheese sticks, french fries and tater tots. Yay! When we got there, we noticed that the whole staff was new. As usual, our waiter brought us some free soda as a "service". Normally,they do it when the owner is there because he's friends with us. However, we didn't see him. So we asked about it, and they said that the owners had changed. I'm not exactly sure why they gave us free soda then. Hahaha. It was really funny because all of the servers kept looking at us. One of them stared at me for the longest time. It was really kind of funny because he wanted me to look at him, but I wouldn't. So then, he took out his phone and started fixing his hair using the camera. It was hilarious. I mean he's not a bad looking kid, but seriously he's probably 19 in Korea which is 17 internationally. I would go to jail. When we left, he raced to the check out counter, so he could be the one to take our money. To my surprise, he spoke in English of course he had an accent that showed English was not his favorite subject in school, but at least he tried. I'm not so harsh that I'm not going to give the kid credit for trying, but still he's probably at least 5 years younger than me (I can almost guarantee he's 9 years younger). Anyways, it was a good time. I love my friends!

So I guess all that is left is today. Today, I went to Costco. I found New England clam chowder and chips and salsa. That's the jackpot in Korea. Then, I came home and did some housework. Later, I decided to go to Time World and spend my gift certificates from my students. I had received 300,000 won gift certificate to the Galleria which is all of Time World this year. I spent 100,000 on a backpack. So I had about 200,000 more to spend. Thankfully, they gave me mostly cash back when I didn't spend the whole thing this time. I bought some pearl earrings because I left mine in the States, and I bought a Swatch. I still have 20,000 left in gift certificates, but like I said they did give me a lot of cash back. It was definitely a good day for shopping! I am proud of all my purchases!

My wish for next week, please let the baby class be better.

One year Complete

So this week was my one year anniversary of arriving in Korea. I still love everything about Korea. I do get frustrated every now and then because it seems like people don't fully understand everything I say, but its a part of being in a foreign country. I am almost always confused about something, but for me, I think that is a good thing. I lived most of my childhood not challenging myself to do anything. If you knew me in school, you probably know I didn't study and I did my homework during my classes. I didn't study because I didn't really have to as long as I did the work, not too mention I didn't know how to study, and I hated the task of doing it. I never really had a challenge. Now, I live everyday in a challenge. Its a challenge to understand things. Its a challenge to understand people's feelings because they don't express them here. Its a challenge to learn the language and the culture more. Its a serious challenge to learn the manners and the social rules to go out with people. But I have never met a person, that never wanted to see me again because I forgot to give them water first at the table. It can be a bit embarrassing at times because they correct you in front of everyone, and of course, they all laugh. Its fun for me because its new, and its fun for them because I act like a Korean child even though I am an adult. Most people love teaching me about their culture and traditions. Most of the Koreans I have met have adopted me as part of their family, and they treat me as such. It is an honor for me to have met such wonderful people in such a short period of time. The hardest part of living in Korea is that everyone leaves. The past three weeks have been the hardest for me yet because I absolutely hate saying goodbye. Many of my younger brothers at the gym were called to serve in the army this past month. I knew Tae Su, Song Sok, and Simpson would leave this month, and I knew it would be hard for me, but I didn't know that Du Song, Jin Taek, and Seung Gil would go too. Tae Su and Song Sok were my best friends. It was really, really hard for me to see them go. They were really the only ones to take their time to show me things, and we would hang out after. I really miss them already. I don't think they will come back to Daejeon and that's what makes it so hard for me. This past week the foreigners that I worked with this past year left. No one decided to stay except for Max and me. So I had to say goodbye to them too. Also, this week many of the other foreigners I have become friends with this past year have left to go back home or to other places. I also have many Korean friends that graduated from college and are trying to find jobs overseas or have already found jobs overseas. This past weekend alone I had four goodbye parties that I attended. It was very hard for me emotionally. It has been hard for me at work lately too because Max and I have had to cover the classes the other foreign teachers used to teach. It has been stressful because we are supposed to make lesson plans for our new classes, talk to our Korean partner teachers about our new classes, train the new teachers, prepare them to take over our classes, prepare ourselves to take over the new classes, and at the same time finishing the curriculum for our current classes. On Monday, I only had one twenty minute break between afternoon and morning classes, and that was used to get the books I required for the afternoon classes I was substituting for. One time during the day, the Vice Principal came to find me while I was teaching one of my regular classes; apparently, they scheduled me to substitute in a class during the time I was teaching my regular class. She told me that I was supposed to be in the other class, and I told her that I have taught this class all year and asked her which class she wanted me in. Seriously, I cannot teach in two different classrooms at once; don't get angry with me when I didn't set up the schedule. This month has definitely been stressful and overwhelming, but I think it will be worth it. The rest of the year should be amazing. I have the same age group for morning classes that I had this past year, and I have the baby class. The baby class is so cute! I'm excited! I think I have good afternoon classes as well. Now, if only I can get through the rest of this week. Thank goodness we had Independence Day today and got the day off. I don't think I could have done this everyday this week!

Christmas in Daejeon

Its funny being in a country that has couple's holidays so frequently. Korea has a couple's holiday almost every month! Its odd that Christmas is even considered a couple's holiday instead of a family holiday. Its definitely interesting being single in a country such as this. I love that the singles go out and hang out together, and we all have a lot of fun. Unfortunately, some people had too much fun on Christmas Eve and so Christmas Day was quite boring for me. I just laid around doing nothing. It was a bit difficult especially since it was my first Christmas being without my family. I was kind of hopeful because I had made so many plans with people, but they were all too sick. I really wished that I had just gone home for Christmas even though $2,000 is a lot of money to spend for such a short time. Couple's holidays suck especially when you have to spend them alone! Right, right, I mentioned in my last blog that I had met a guy that I really enjoy being with, and the truth is he's still that guy that I really enjoy being with. But just like any other relationship I've ever been in, I have no idea what is going on. I am totally confused. Is it so hard to put your heart out on the line? Is it too much to ask to take a chance on me? Am I ever going to be that person that someone is willing to take the risk of being hurt? If my mom were here, she would hug me and assure me there was such a guy and I should be patient. She would say that if a guy can't see that I'm worth so much more than that; then he doesn't deserve me anyway. The truth is she's not here. The truth is there may never be that person for me. The reality is I may only have friends the rest of my life, and somehow I'm kind of okay with that. The friends that I have now are amazing! They are family. It doesn't matter to them that I am a foreigner. It doesn't matter to them that I can't speak Korean. It doesn't matter to them that my values, my views and my goals in life are a little bit different. It doesn't matter to them; they still love me, they still trust me, and they still would do anything for me. To know that there are people like that, it gives me hope that I will be happy the rest of my life no matter what the outcome is. For people like that, I am thankful. I am truly happy to have friends like that in my life. Because of people like that, I want to stay in Korea for a very long time.

Slacker

Yeah, I know. I haven't posted in forever! I'm such a slacker. Since it has turned really cold in Korea, I have become extremely lazy!!!! Seriously, I've even been slacking a bit in the gym department. I only went twice this week! I hate the cold weather!!!! But in my defense, I caught a cold from having to stand outside waiting for the bus. So you can't really expect me to want to go to the gym. However, it hasn't stopped me from hanging out with people!!! Hahaha. I always have energy for that! Have I mentioned lately how much I love Korea? So, here is whats new:

A few weeks ago, I met a really nice guy. We have so much in common its ridiculous! I didn't think I would find some one that shares so many of my likes and dislikes here in Korea, especially a Korean guy. We've gone out a few times, and I really had a great time each time. I am really looking forward to spending more time with him!

This past week was final exam week. When finals finished on Thursday, I went out with Alex and some of his students. I really enjoy hanging out with them! They are hilarious! We had so much fun! Alex always makes things fun! He has quickly become one of my favorite people to hang out with on the weekends!!!! Next to Douchi of course! But Douchi has been kind of boring lately since she's always studying! :.(
Although, last weekend she took a break from studying to go eat lunch with me and Ohma. I love Ohma! She owns a coffee shop in Hannam Dae called Nulbo's. They have the most amazing waffles, and of course delicious coffee. Douchi introduced me to her. She's such a lovely woman. She's the same height as my mom so when I stoop to hug her it reminds me of my mom. She's funny because she says I'm the exact opposite of her son so somehow that reminds her of him. Hahaha. I don't know! But back to Alex, hahaha, he called me on one of my breaks this week while Tommy, one of my students (he says he's my boyfriend ;D), was sitting in my lap. Of course, Tommy got jealous I was talking to someone else, and he started copying everything I said loudly! Finally, I asked Alex if he would talk to him, and of course, he said yes! It was too cute! Tommy said, "Hello, my name is Tommy". It was adorable. Then, he became shy! But Alex was a trooper! And it really made Tommy's day that he talked to Melanie Teacher's friend!

Of course there's Sun, my Korean sister. She's such a wonderful person for sharing her family with me! I really enjoy her nieces; especially, since my nieces and nephew are so far away! This past weekend, one of her nieces celebrated her first birthday. She was so adorable! Her cheeks were soooo chubby! It was ridiculously cute! Apparently, first birthdays here in Korea are a very big thing. It was a lot like Nicole Teacher's wedding reception. There was a buffet table with a lot of nice food. They played a slide show of professional pictures. They had a photographer taking pictures. They played a game where the baby picked up various toys that represented her career choice. She picked up a gavel which represented that she would become a Judge. She also picked up a 50,000 won representing prosperity. It was such a wonderful experience. I am so thankful to Sun for inviting me to such events!

I have met a lot of amazing people here in Korea, and I am truly blown away by their thoughtfulness. I am always meeting new people here, and I am always falling in love with them! I love everything about them and of course Korea! It has been quite a year, and I hope to spend many more here in Daejeon!

Thanksgiving in Korea

Ever since I can remember, I have spent Thanksgiving day just relaxing, watching television, and eating a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Last year was a little different, I was taking care of my grandmother; so I had to cook Thanksgiving dinner for her and my aunt and uncle. This year, Thanksgiving Day didn't feel like Thanksgiving at all. I had to wake up early and work on Thanksgiving. Hahaha. I don't even remember what I had for lunch. I didn't eat dinner; although Douchi and I went out for some pastries from Paris Baguette.

Although Thanksgiving Day was uneventful, we had Thanksgiving dinner at school on Friday. It was Activity Day, and this month's activity was Thanksgiving. We had a huge feast of gimchi, doekpoki, kimbop, pizza, chicken, fruit, cake, pie, and many other dishes. Nothing was traditional about it, but it was fun and delicious. The kids loved it, and they went back for seconds, thirds, fourths, and even fifths! Hahaha. They were walking around asking people to feel their bellies because they were so full. It was too cute! So I told them to do some stretches that would help them feel better! They loved it! They kept begging to do it again!

On Saturday, Douchi and I went to Michi's house in Daegu for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was absolutely amazing!!!! There was a turkey with actual stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, pumpkin pie and cake! Everything was so good!!!! We ate and ate because most of this stuff you cannot find in Korea. Its only once a year. After we ate, we decided to work it off by going dancing. It was so much fun! In Daejeon, there's only a couple of dance clubs, and the music isn't very good for dancing so we don't like to go to them. So we were excited that we were able to hit up some of the clubs in Daegu. I love dancing, and even though there was no one really there, it was fun just being with friends, listening to good music, and dancing!

This Thanksgiving, I did miss my family and my friends back home. I missed sitting at home in my pajamas watching the parade and football. However, I am very thankful for a wonderful life here in Daejeon. I have been blessed with amazing students that are so cute, joyful and full of life. I live in a beautiful and exciting city. I have a nice apartment. Best of all, I have many friends that I consider family. This year, I am thankful for destiny. I am thankful for courage. I am thankful that I had the courage to leave my entire life in America behind to have this amazing adventure in Korea. I have experienced so many new things. I have tasted so many new foods. No matter where life takes me, I know I will always remember Korea. There are things that I have learned in Korea that I will take with me the rest of my life. Like chopsticks, they are so useful!!! It makes it so much easier to eat noodles! Or using toilet paper to clean up everything instead of paper towels or napkins. Hahaha. I am pretty sure I could not live without Cham chi kim bop, and I will probably eat soup with every meal now. I am very thankful for the experiences I have had this year. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving!

Winding Down!

So at work this week, I had two open classes, and one additional meeting with parents. The past few weeks preparing for these open classes have been seriously stressful, but the hard work paid off. I think the classes went well. I believe my bosses are pleased...at least, I hope they are pleased. Anyways, so after all of that stress, I needed to wind down and have a little bit of fun with friends. This definitely was the weekend for that!

On Friday night, I met with Alex and Douchi and some of Alex's friends. It was a lot of fun! Of course, we went out to eat. Alex's friends are Korean, but they speak English very well. It was amazing. Two of the guys are the same age as me which is a good thing in Korea! Hahaha. I think we all hit it off pretty well so I definitely want to hang out with these guys again. After eating, we went noreabonging. Is that a shocker? Hahahaha. Most nights end at the noreabong. One of the guys and I had to go to a wedding on Saturday so we cut the night kind of short. Hopefully, we will be able to hang out again soon.

On Saturday, I went to one of the Korean teachers' wedding. The wedding was beautiful and she was such a gorgeous bride! The wedding was held at a wedding hall. When we arrived, Nicole was sitting in a room having her picture taken. We all walked in and took pictures with her. Apparently, all of the guests take pictures with the bride. It was interesting because the groom kept walking in and out. Koreans apparently don't have any superstitions about seeing the bride in her wedding dress. After Nicole had finished with the pictures, we moved into the ceremony hall. The wedding was amazing. They had a slide show of professional pictures of the bride and groom. They were really good pictures too! I couldn't believe how gorgeous these pictures were! The aisle the bride and groom walked down was more like a catwalk. It almost felt like we were at a fashion show and not at a wedding, but I kind of liked it! They had a fog machine so when the groom walked down the aisle, he walked through fog. When Nicole's Dad walked her down the aisle, they walked through fog. It was really interesting. After the wedding, we met in a reception hall with a buffet. The food was delicious. They had just about anything you could possibly want to eat! It was pretty sweet!

After the wedding, I relaxed a bit. I really had stayed out too long on Friday night, and so I was pretty exhausted. But, Sun invited me to hang out with some of her friends so I couldn't refuse. It was a lot of fun even though her friends were kind of shy. They spoke a lot of Korean so it was kind of hard to keep up. I can understand a bit if they speak slowly and enunciate, but it was a group of guys. I think in Korea, guys speak quicker than girls. I did understand a little so it was ok. Its really funny because apparently being single in Korea is an invitation for your friends to set you up. Hahaha, so every time I go out with Sun or even one of my other Korean friends its always all guys at the table...hahaha. Sometimes I feel like I'm on one of those dating game shows. I've met a lot of nice people though, but I really think they are too shy to act on anything. But I do enjoy meeting new people so its ok!

Today, Sunday, I've just relaxed a bit and ran a few errands. I realized yesterday at the wedding that my memory card for my camera was messed up. So I decided to go pick one up. Also, my bike tire went flat again sometime last week. I was debating whether I should just get a new tire or just get a new bike. I've been thinking about getting a new bike for awhile because my other bike only has 6 gears. So, it can be kind of slow when I'm riding to the gym. Plus, my back tire has gone flat at least 10 times now. It's never the front tire; it's always the back tire. So it can't be something I'm doing wrong, but I have to pay to get it fixed every time so it sucks. I asked for a new tire, but the guy insists he can fix it. But every time, it goes flat again. So I decided to just go for it and get a new bike. I figured with the distance that I ride everyday and with the length of time I plan to stay in Korea; I needed to get a better bike. It's nice. I spent a good deal of time today just riding around. I wanted to purchase it from a shop either close to home or work, and I lucked out because I found a place kind of in between. This bike doesn't have a basket like my other one; so I might still get the tire fixed on my old one and keep it for riding around town. Plus, the bar between the seat and the handle bars is kind of high so it would be difficult to wear a skirt and ride it. My other bike folded up which made it easier to carry up the stairs, but this one doesn't fold so I hope I am able to carry it up the stairs at the gym. Maybe I will get a better work out right? Hahaha. Here it is Sunday night, and I'm not ready for the weekend to end. I love the weekends! I love my students too; so it's not too painful waiting for the weekend to come.