I hate that its starting to get cooler again:( It's always sad to say goodbye to summer. Not too much longer before I finish my contract and I have to say goodbye to all my kids. As excited as I am about coming home, that makes me really sad. Katie just recently went back to the US. It was sad to have to say goodbye to her. This morning I just found out that a friend from church who had gone back home a while ago, just died in a car accident. He had a wife and children too. Just makes for a really depressing way to start the day...
Anyway, Kristina just moved into a new apt, so last weekend we kinda helped her some with unpacking, then had a girls night at abby's with a few girls from church. First time I'd played truth or dare in a while. hahaha:)
This weekend, not too eventful. Friday night I met Abby and her new coworker for Korean bbq then rnb. Saturday we went to myeong dong for quiznos and forever 21. Sunday I went with Abby to Bupyeong.
Japan is coming up this weekend! I'm really excited. We leave Friday morning and get back sunday. Then I have monday off, so i'll be able to have a day to recover before work.
Well, its about time to get back to work. I'll be sure to post a Japan blog soon after we get back.

how come nobody told me they changed the penny??? and does anybody else feel like they shouldn't be allowed to do that??

10 Things I miss from home:
1. Having an oven (baking cookies!)
2. Having a dryer
3. Real napkins (opposed to the small square napkins or toilet paper)
4. Soap in bathrooms
5. Not having to worry about whether or not the bathroom has toilet paper
6. Double stuffed oreos
7. Cookout milkshakes
8. Going places without climbing mountains of stairs
9. Thunderstorms
10. A/C

10 Things I will miss about Korea:
1. The transportation system
2. Having a button on the table at restaurants to call the people over
3. Having random Koreans come up to me to say, "Hello! Nice to meet you." or to take a picture with me.
4. Being able to talk about people without them knowing what you're saying
5. Hello Kitty EVERYTHING
6. Kimchi! haha i'll miss Korean food
7. noraebang
8. heated floors in the winter
9. Being able to walk around by myself at night and feel safe
10. The endless opportunities for new adventures

So my flight date has moved from Oct. 3rd, to the 5th, to after the 16th. I can choose a day after that. So just thought I would update you guys on that. AND now I get to go to Japan for Chuseok! Yay:)

I know I just posted, but I have more to say. haha:) Since my post earlier today, I have lost my voice yet again. This is like the 3rd or 4th time this year! I hate it! I think most of the kids feel sorry for me though so they're a little better behaved. I was asked several times if I had swine flu though.
Then in my last class today, we were talking about our favorite foods. I got a lot of the usual answers like pizza, spaghetti, and hamburgers. One girl said rice. Really, whose favorite food is rice? It has almost no taste. Another girl thought for a second and tried to ask her friend what the english word for kimchi was. They were shocked that I knew what kimchi was. I named a few other korean foods that I liked and that really impressed them. I've been here almost a year. How could I not know about kimchi? Its like they think I come to school to teach them every day and then at night I fly back home to America. I've had kids show me Korean money before like they thought I'd never seen it. haha, fun times:)
So I just asked again about my flight date, and I was told maybe Oct. 5th, so we'll see! Ok, thats all I had to say. Pray my voice comes back quickly!

So I'm down to less than a month before I leave Korea (I think). I was supposed to leave by oct. 3rd, but that's right at Chuseok, a big Korean holiday, so my school wants to extend my visa a little later. Who knows when I'll actually leave. I'm still not really sure how long I'll stay home either. I would like to be home for Christmas, but that's kind of a long time, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do for 3 months, so maybe I'll come back after Thanksgiving. Still have to find a school though. I have to figure out something to do for Chuseok too. We get a few days off for that. Abby and Kristina are going to Japan, but they told me that if they extend my visa, I wouldn't be able to leave the country and come back:( Any ideas?
It's been a while since I've updated this. Lets see if I can remember what's happened. The weekend after my birthday, we went to Hongdae to celebrate. We went to Korean class that morning, then ended up spending all day in Seoul shopping. We went to to Insadong, Namdaemun, and Myeongdong. We had planned on coming home to get ready and then going back out again, but it was so late when we finished shopping, we changed plans a little. We got dresses at Forever 21, changed on the 4th floor of Dunkin Donuts, and did makeup in Etude House. Joe, Abby and her friend Krash met us later in Hongdae. We ended up finally staying out until the subway opened at 5:30 the next morning. We were all pretty dead. When we finally got back, Joe and I stopped by McDonalds for breakfast and then I headed home for lots of sleep. That was pretty much it for that weekend.
As far as I can remember, the next week at school was fairly uneventful. The schedule changed some at school. Mondays are horrible. I have like no breaks at all. I didnt really lose any classes, but I got some new ones and a few new kids in the old ones. I teach a kid named Dragon. I was pretty excited about that.
This past weekend, I went to Korean class and then we all met up for lunch. I got my birthday present:) It was a bunch of Hello Kitty stuff and a really cool scrapbook that they put together for me. I loved it! After lunch we headed to Seoul to ride the swan paddleboats. That was a lot of fun. Then Kristina led us to a really big bookstore with a good English section. I bought a couple of books. Probably a bad time to start buying books, but I'm an English teacher. I should probably be reading. After the bookstore, we got dinner and then we went to Seoul Tower, which was the 4th time for me. We didn't quite make the subway all the way home before it closed, so we got a cab. We got an interesting driver. He didnt seem to really know where anything was. It probably didn't help that he was trying to learn English with my Korean flashcards. Somehow he found my apt though.
When I woke up sunday, I wasn't feeling great, so I just stayed home all day. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I dont think its pig flu. They're getting really scared of pig flu here. Schools are closing over it. Kids and teachers have to use hand sanitizer as soon as they get to school, they checked my temperature last week, but they stopped doing that, and they like to go around spraying doorknobs and handles with disinfectant every few hours. Its exciting. Well, time to get back to work!