Well this is it...tomorrow will be my last day in Korea. I can't believe I'm going home!

My last weekend in Korea was pretty fun and eventful. On Friday, Cinderella took my co-workers, 2 of my students, and me out for my farewell dinner. We, of course, followed dinner with noraebang. My favorite part was when my students sang "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake...I was so proud! Then Chinchu got into Seoul, so Anna and I went with her for some more noraebang! I'm really going to miss our fun noraebang nights!






Saturday night we went out to celebrate Chinchu and Jen's birthdays. It was a pretty fun and crazy night. I spent all day today packing and getting ready to go. I have a few more things to do tomorrow...like closing my bank account, eating at my favorite restaurant, going to the coffee shop one more time, walking through Boramae Park, etc. And tomorrow will be my last day teaching! I'm pretty much ready to go though. Now I just have to hope and pray that my bags aren't over the weight limit....

The cherry blossoms are blooming all over Korea and it is absolutely beautiful! It has been so warm and nice this past week. One day we went for a picnic in the park. It's great to finally not be cold!

On Saturday, we went down to Yeouido to go to the 63 building and the cherry blossom festival. It was such a fun day! I finally got to hang out on the Han River. We even took a nice boat ride out on the river. We stuck our feet in, but the water was still pretty cold. And probably really dirty too. We went to the Sea World Aquarium and to an art museum at the top of the 63 building.

I have just a little over a week left in Korea now. It still hasn't fully hit me that I'm leaving and going home soon. It probably won't hit me until I'm in a taxi on the way to the airport. I am excited about all the plans that have been made after I get home though. I can't wait to see everyone! And I especially can't wait to meet my nephew!

Spring is here!

It is FINALLY warming up here! Maybe one day it will even make it past the 50's...

So on Saturday we went to the first baseball game of the season. It was so much fun! It was the Doosan Bears vs. Kia Tigers. And our team (Doosan) won! There ended up being 12 of us that went together. The place was packed so at first we couldn't even get seats, so we all sat on the stairs. But that didn't stop us from having fun. Some of us even scored some free flags! (I'm going to have a lot of fun trying to fit that in my suitcase...)





Today we went to Insadong so I could do a little souvenir shopping. I had fully expected to have 6 more months to buy gifts for everyone and now suddenly I don't have much time. I definitely didn't get everything I needed to today, so hopefully I'll have another chance.

Only 15 more days in Korea...

It's official. I now have a one way ticket back to Atlanta. I will leave Korea on April 21st at 11:20am and arrive in Atlanta at 2:55pm. I'm sad about leaving Korea, but also excited about seeing everyone at home. It's a weird feeling for sure. I still don't know exactly what will happen as far as my replacement, but it's looking promising. Our friend Brad is really interested in coming, but he still has to get a passport. Hopefully they can find a sub until he can get here or something like that. I feel terrible for leaving them, but it's just what has to be done. So now I just have to figure out how to fit all the stuff I really want to do in the next 24 days...

Some news...

Well, a lot of stuff has been going on back home and in Korea lately. With everything going on, I feel like I need to be with my family right now. So...I will be leaving early to go back to the States. I still don't know exactly when because the school wants me to try and find a replacement or wait until a new teacher can start. I know how this will go though. They will keep asking me to stay a week longer and then just one more week and one more, etc... So I'm going to see if I can find anyone interested, if not, I'll let Cinderella know on Monday so that she can go through a recruiter to find my replacement. It looks like I'll be coming home towards the end of April. I'm not going to go into detail about why and everything on here, but if you want to know, you can email me and I'd be glad to explain everything to you. I'll let you guys know when I get a definite date. I am definitely looking forward to seeing everyone again though! Love you guys!

To update...

It turned out that Anna didn't have diverticulitis, but instead had salpingitis. On Tuesday, she had to have surgery. The surgery was successful and she is doing better, but will still be in the hospital until Monday. (We're really hoping Monday will be the latest).

Things are still crazy here and at home. I feel like I'm going to have a nervous breakdown or something any minute now. School is tough for me to get through. Some of the kids are absolutely wonderful, but some make the work day almost unbearable. It's at least the weekend, so I don't have to worry about school for a couple of days. But unfortunately, I don't see things being magically better on Monday. I did get to talk to Maura for a little bit today, which made me feel so much better. Sorry to keep this short, but I need to get back to the hospital shortly. Hope you're doing well.

Things are really kind of crazy right now...Anna is in the hospital with diverticulitis. She should be ok, but will be in the hospital for a few days. This is definitely tough for her, considering she is in another country so far away from her family. I stayed with her for a while tonight and it was definitely a challenge trying to get things for her. Cinderella is staying with her now and I will head back in the morning before work. There are also some things going on with my family back home. When I was in Peru, my granny went to the hospital and they thought she was having a heart attack. It was so hard for me to be away at that time. But now, it happened again. It wasn't a heart attack, but they are still running tests to figure everything out. Her memory is not so good anymore and seems to be getting worse. So, my family is dealing with that and trying to figure out the best things to do. This, of course, is making me want to go home to be with my family and help out with everything. I just don't know what to do right now. Please pray for me about all of this and for Anna too!

So things have been much better the past couple of weeks. Scarlet stopped coming right after Ocean graduation and I'm wondering if that is part of why I've enjoyed work more. She's supposed to be coming back tomorrow...but we'll see.

My kindergarten class graduated on the 21st. I'm so sad to not be teaching them everyday! They put on a performance and were all dressed in hanbok (the traditional Korean dress). Cinderella even dressed Anna and I in a hanbok!




One of my favorite parts of the Ocean performance was when they sang one of my favorite childhood songs...Skidamarink!


The week after Ocean graduation was crazy. Since my class had already graduated, they just had a fun week with lots of field trips. On Monday, we went to the movies. The driver drove us and dropped me and six kids off to see a movie. It ended up being dubbed in Korean, so I was incredibly bored. The next field trip was so stressful! I was supposed to go to this palace with seven kids and the driver. Well, right before we were supposed to leave, the driver wasn't answering his phone. So what did they decide to do? They sent me and seven kids on the subway by ourselves! Ever babysat seven kids before? It's tough. Now add a field trip way across the city on public transportation in a country where you don't speak the language. It was one of the most stressful days ever. We had to ride the subway for about an hour and a half just to get there and we had to transfer once. I was so afraid I would lose a kid or something. When we transfered I had all the kids hold hands and we walked in a big line all the way across the station. I was definitely getting some weird looks. We made it there finally but because it took so long, we only had about thirty minutes at the palace before we had to go back.



After my kindergarten class started elementary school, our schedule changed and is pretty amazing right now. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and every other Friday I don't have to be at work until 1:25. And Anna has the morning off Tuesdays, Thursdays, and every other Friday. I'm not sure how long this will last, but it's pretty awesome for right now!

I guess that's about everything that has happened recently. Everything else has just been your normal stuff...going to the movies, eating out, and always followed by karaoke.

I miss you guys a lot and would love to hear from you! Sometimes I feel like only a few people are actually reading this. So send me an email please (hnperrin@yahoo.com) and let me know what is going on in your life!

It's been a while since my last update, but it doesn't seem like there is much to update about. Work has been busy and stressful. I feel like I'm leaving work angry most days and I'm really trying to work on it. All of the stress and anger isn't usually caused by the kids, but my co-workers. The lack of communication is really difficult to deal with some days. We also had to work two Saturdays this month and we don't get paid extra for doing so. Hopefully things will calm down soon. We just had final exams again so I'm guessing we're going to write evaluations again. Although, no one has mentioned this yet. We also had a graduation for my kindergarten class yesterday. I'm really going to miss them. This week will be their last week here before they leave to go to elementary school. I have no idea what will happen after that. I'm sure they'll tell me the day of...because that is what normally happens. I don't understand why it is so difficult to tell us what is going on. The lack of communication really gets to me sometimes. For example, we have been planning and rehearsing for graduation for a long time now. It was to be held on Saturday at 2pm. So on Friday, I asked Scarlet what time I needed to be there. She said 9:30am. Naturally, I freaked out. Why do I need to be at the school almost 5 hours early?? Oh no, wait... I don't. Graduation was changed to 11am- but no one told us that. What would have happened if Anna and I had shown up right before 2?? These kinds of things happen constantly and are driving me crazy!

Hopefully something more exciting will happen soon so I'll have something happier to write about. I do have some new pictures, so I'll try and post some soon.

Japan

I got back yesterday from my 4 day vacation in Japan. It was a lot of fun! We went to visit Elijah in a town south of Osaka. He lives in the country. It was strange to not be in a huge city for the first time in four months! He also lives really close to the beach. Too bad it was cold...definitely not as cold as Korea though. We were afraid we weren't going to make it because there was snowing so much in Seoul the morning we left...

Luckily we made it to Japan without any problems (just an hour long delay due to the de-icing of the plane).

Unfortunately, it was a very short trip. So we tried to squeeze in as much as we could in four days. We spent some time in Wakayama with Elijah and some of his friends. We also spent a day in Kyoto. I loved Kyoto! Jen grew up there, so she was able to take us around and show us lots of stuff.

However, Japan is definitely the most expensive place I've ever been. I knew it was expensive, but I had absolutely no idea just how bad it was! I don't want to think about how much money I spent there in such a short amount of time. Next vacation I take will surely be to somewhere tropical and cheap!

I think it was a good trip for me because it made me realize how much I actually like Korea. I was ready to come back home by the end of the trip. It still isn't near what I feel for Peru, but Seoul has definitely become my temporary home.

Well, I'm still pretty exhausted from the trip so I'll just share some pictures with you before I go to bed....

Today I had a nice moment in the restaurant where we eat lunch all the time... I was sitting there eating when I overheard a Korean man asking the waitress about what I was eating. First, I was excited because he thought what I was eating looked good. I am a very visual person and I feel like I do this kind of thing a lot. I rarely ask about it, but I am constantly checking out other people's food. Then, I realized that I was able to understand what they were saying enough to figure out that they were talking about my dish! That part made me really happy. Although my speaking skills are almost nonexistent, it was nice to realize I can now understand what people are talking about to a certain extent.

I just talked to my mom a little bit ago and it turns out my dad is not doing well at all. Please pray for him and the rest of my family. They're getting a lot of other family members involved to try and help him. I don't know what will happen with this, but I am really hoping and praying that he will listen and do something. It's so hard for me to be so far away and not be able to help him or anyone else in any way. I know that all I can do is pray, even if I was at home, this is pretty much all I could do. But there's still that part of me that wants to hop on a plane and try and do something. Thanks for your prayers. I love you guys.

When does Spring come to Korea?

It is currently 9 degrees (fahrenheit) with winds around 10-15 mph. So basically, it is VERY cold outside. One thing I am very grateful for, however, is the heating system. The heat in our apartment comes from the floors. There are pipes running all throughout the apartment that warm it with hot water. So when you walk around, your feet are nice and toasty. I have found that being messy can help. One night I threw my hoodie on the floor. The next morning I put it on to find it very warm. Now I have decided to be a little messy and have started keeping some of my clothes on the floor.

It is still VERY cold at the school. There is nothing I can do about that. I'm just waiting for spring time and some warmer weather....

Vacation has ended and life has gone back to normal. This past week was a long week definitely. Our schedules changed and seem more full than before. Evidently our school isn't doing well. Even though we are constantly getting new students, old ones are leaving. Why? I've been trying to figure that out exactly. One of the reasons I've heard is that the kids haven't improved over a certain amount of time. I am not completely surprised by this in some cases because I often feel that the school cares more about appearances and making money than about the actual education. I was riding in a cab with Scarlet yesterday and she asked me if I was scared about it. "What if the school loses too many students and we get laid off??" That scared me a little bit. I don't know if it is actually a possibility or not.

This new schedule has definitely left me frustrated. Some of the classes have been rearranged. One of my classes (a pretty low level) now has so many students that there aren't enough seats. One of them has to sit at the teacher's desk and we're still short one seat after that. I hate it. Mostly because I can't help the students at all. I spend most of the time trying to get everyone to quit talking and pay attention. Then when they do their workbooks, I hardly have time to even check them all. I feel like I'm just correcting it and handing it back to them, with no chance to explain their mistakes and help them understand better.

So I don't know what will happen in the future. I hope things will get better. I'm not too worried about it all though. I guess if things do go wrong, we'll most likely get placed at another school. The salary is about the same all over Korea, so it wouldn't change most of that. It would just mean a new apartment and new location most likely. But I won't think about that too much right now.

On a better note...the Korean Lunar New Year is coming up at the end of this month. So we'll have 2 days off work, leaving us with a 4 day weekend. SO we are going to go to Japan to visit Elijah!!! I'm pretty excited about that! We leave Saturday the 24th and will return on the 27th. We're flying into Osaka and taking a train to Elijah's town. We're also going to get to spend a day in Kyoto! Jen is also going to visit her family so we should be able to hang out with her! I'm excited about going to a new place! I've been in the airport in Japan several times, but never really been there. Only two more weeks to go!

I must say, Christmas in Korea was pretty good. We didn't do anything Korean really, but tried to make it feel a little bit like home. It took a while, but Jen, Chinchu, and Katie all finally made it over Christmas Eve. We woke up Christmas morning and opened our presents from each other. Anna and I also had some pretty huge packages from home to open, which was amazing! Thanks Mom! We finished opening gifts just in time for the "McDelivery" or our McDonalds breakfast to arrive. It was absolutely nothing compared to breakfast my mom makes on Christmas morning, but it was nice to not have oatmeal or cereal for once.

We went out later in the day. Christmas is celebrated in Korea, but it definitely isn't as big as back home. Everything was open and there were a lot of people out. Chinchu really wanted to go ice skating. We figured we'd give that a try but quickly changed our minds when we saw how long the lines were. We got our picture taken with some guys dressed up like Santa. They were selling polaroids as a part time job. Santa on the right had a black eye!


On our way home we decided to have some american food, so we went to Friday's. Traditional Christmas dinner, I know! It was delicious! After dinner we went to the Krispy Kreme under Friday's and had some HOT doughnuts and coffee. (Although I think I was more excited about some good coffee!) So all in all, I really enjoyed my Christmas. It was sad to not be at home with my family, but it was nice to have friends here to spend it with. I will definitely never forget my Christmas in Korea!