Christmas Eve occured a little earlier in Korea. Seeing as it hit on a Friday, I had to teach, but I loved every minute of it. It was basically a big party with kinder. We decorated cake and sang songs. I gave them little gifts that they marveled over with such appreciative smiles. I love them. They were so happy over something so small. I couldn't stop beaming.

They started to stir a little as the day went on. but thankfully Korean Santa came to visit! Korean Santa happens to be a good friend of mine, Canadian Joshua Rae. I had to contain my fits of laughter as he acted the part so magically for the kinder bunch. Again, did I mention? I love them!

Then, we had to perform our dreadful play and song. I was worried because they honestly act like zoo creatures when we practice. Aidan acts like a weird jumping zombie and Danny does flips, flailing to the floor. They pulled it together so beautifully for Jingle Bell Rock. They really, truly "rocked the night away". They were a big hit!! I couldn't have been prouder. I had the biggest smile on my face all day. I love my little Gemini class! They graduate and leave in February... I can't fathom the idea :(


I got quite a few Christmas cards. Of the bunch, some were too priceless not to mention. One from Emily, " Emily teacher you are a great teacher. at first you were not like a great teacher, but you got better and better. and you are a great teacher right not." WOW! such honesty! thanks Em. Also... from Sharon, " Your not alone. You have a snowman your not alone." Thank god for that snowman. I'm not alone this holiday season!

Again, I couldn't love them more!

Off to Singapore! Merry Christmas!

I'm slacking on the writing because there are a million things to do over Christmas season at SLP. I'm currently preparing another dance for our Christmas play tomorrow. I am in my prime for teaching child dances. We are singing Jingle Bell Rock. The class all insisted we do the "sexy dance" from the movie, Mean Girls, that they'd seen on the internet. Innapropriate to say the least, so I decided to stick to my more childish moves. Besides that, a million crafts and projects are in order. And presents.... I have to buy a little something for them, but it's been taking some time putting each little bag together and writing an individual card for every little one.

Christmas season has been making the kids very giddy. Like Halloween, Christmas is a big ordeal at SLP. Our friend Josh, who does not work at SLP, will come as Santa and deliver presents to the "good" children, while we decorate cupcakes and sing carols. I'm just as excited as they are!

All week long we've been doing Christmas related activities. Suprizingly, I had to teach the story of Jesus. It is a Christian school afterall. At lunch we always pray, "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food plate. Thank is what we say for the food we eat today. Amen." Still, there is not a huge emphasis on Christianity and a lot of students are Buddhist, so I was a bit taken aback by that lesson. A lot of the Christmas activities bring out funny answers from the students. I think some of the bad little boys are getting nervous becuase in letters to Santa, they've been fessing up to being little nightmare babies. Some of the things they ask from Santa are so amusing. One of the worst, but funniest and most creative students, Jeff (in Aries class) has repeatedly told me and Santa that he wants "a baby Jeff". When I asked if he wanted a little brother, he said no, really, a little baby version of himself. My head almost exploded with the thought. Santa better not be real because I could not handle two baby Jeffs!!

Aside from the Christmas hussle, I'm preparing to go to Singapore on Christmas day. Beautiful 85 degree weather compared to Korea's 28 degrees!!

Weeks ago I went on a blind date. It went well and I had a great time. We saw each other once more, but I guess I just wasn't interested. I never called him and rarely sent him messages, but I wasn't so ruthless that I wouldn't answer. I kept a conversation going ( after all, I did inheret the gift of gab from my family, not the mention any specific names... grandma Ellen).

Anyways, two Saturdays ago he invited me to the movies. I wasn't sure how I felt about the invite, but I said yes. Saturday came and went and no date. I honestly didn't even want to get out of bed that morning, so it barely bothered me, just confused me. I got stood up so it seems. Stood up, but I was happy about it... so does that count? I guess it still does.

We haven't spoken in two weeks and what do I do? I accidentally text him to get dinner, all along meaning to text my friend Daria. He responded enthusiastically and agreed to get dinner Wednesday night (this happened on Tuesday). I was at the gym when I was making this grave mistake. I stopped the treadmill mid-run. I freaked a little bit, laughed a lot, hopped back on the treadmill and kept running. I figured I'd have to suck it up and go to an awkward dinner I definitely didn't want to go to at this point. Here's the real kicker... Wednesday night came and went and again, no date. Once again, I was relieved and happy, but once again I got stood up by I guy I didn't mean to message in the first place. Maybe getting stood up is the Korean way... I'm learning Korean dating culture at a very slow pace.

It's snowing in Korea and I'm having trouble figuring out this heated floor system. So I've decided just to sit on the floor instead, crouched in a tiny little warm spot between my chair and refrigerator and hope it figures itself out by morning. I thought I got the hang of the heating system until I turned my heat off the other day... trying to save energy and the earth (plus my floors were scalding my bare feet). Now I'm back to sqaure one...watching the thermostat go from 12 degrees to 14 in the past 4 hours. It's going to be a cold winter...

My hair is finally an inch shorter and my pocket 12$ lighter. I've been saying I'm going to get a Korean haircut and I finally did. I went with Jenny, Krystin and Rose. All the hairstylists were wearing beautiful, tight black clothes and high glam heels. I felt like a total frump. Frumpy or not, they treated us very well. First, they took our drink order (coffee, juice, tea, etc.) while we waited. We hardly even waited 5 minutes before they called our names. I didn't get my hair shampooed because my hair was already wet :( That was my own fault. My hairdresser cut the inch off my hair, but then she dried it and gave it perfect waves and style while another woman gave me a hand massage. All this for a few bucks. Sure beats Great Clips.

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, appearance is everything here. Hair salons and beauty stores are on the block by the dozens, open all hours of the day and usually full of people. I've had many students (the baby 6 year olds) get their hair dyed a lighter color brown or show up with a perm. Actually, many of them are the boys. It's wild. They all notice and critique appearance at a very young age here. I know a few older Koreans, such as gym god, that have gotten botox before age 30! And double-eyelid operations are also very common to create a bigger eye.

I didn't get a pat on the back, but open class went well, with one exception, the new little girl, Gabe. She has only been at the school for month and she is behind. Her mother is just extremely worried about her and a few of the other parents don't appreciate her addition to the class. It's all about success and competition here and she's behind the curve. But it's over, and I haven't been fired. I can't complain.

Last night, I was more than ready to get out. My new friend, Juhee invited me to get dinner before we went to the bar. We got something called jjoda I believe. It was basically just spicy chicken and vegetables. Very mashiso (delicious). Juhee and I get along very well. She's six years older than me, but she's still single and acts very flirty and young. She's very beautiful, but always tells me how Korean men don't find her attractive because she's not stick-thin. She's in no way big. She's about 5'1 and in perfect shape, with a few perfectly proportioned curves (but curves are considered fat). Most American men would find her very desireable. She says men pick thin women over thicker women no matter other factors. Of course, this cant be standard for all Korean men, but for most. She's ready to marry and have children, and her mom sure puts the pressure on her as well. In Korea, your days are numbered. At 30, you're past your prime. Good luck getting a ring on your finger because most everyone is already paired off by 30! Her mom is even wiling to settle with the idea of Juhee marrying an American! (She told me this as if it's such a last resort, but in Korea, I do think there is a strong sense of pride in having a homogenous race). Juhee's always been intrested in American men and thinks she may marry one some day so let the American man-hunt begin :) I'm more than thrilled to be her wingman!

Daria and her friend also met us later. They all work at Samsung together. I'm glad to have Korean friends outside of work that I feel comfortable with.

We all went to Boom bar and my coworkers met up wth us there later. There is a new bartender, Beagle. They all have silly nicknames like that. We also call him nunchucks and rambo because he does this bar show where he takes his shirt off and does weird nunchuck entertainment. Beagle and I are the same age so recently Juhee has been trying to insinuate a little something between us. I'm a huge flirt face as it is, so of course I don't mind. But I'm also a huge babo (Korean for idiot) and get shy sometimes. He makes these balloon figures. He made me a flower last night and not knowing what to do, I shoved an orange into his hand like it was a freaking barter. A balloon for an orange. Done. Shake on it. I guess it's harder to flirt when language barrier comes into play. Ah the woes of an American girl in Korea :)

Tomorrow is that dreadful thing called open class that I've mentioned before. Parents sit in a circle in the classroom and analyze you teaching. Wacky. Anyways my open class is tomorrow (with crazy little kinder) and it could go a number of ways depending on the kinder's behavior infront of their mommys. We'll see. It will either end in no repsonse/feedback from my boss (meaning no worries), a call to the office (if something went wrong) or literally a pat on the back (meaning well done). I want that pat on the back, but I'm not counting on a miracle here. Praise only comes once in a blue moon.

Thanksgiving weekend in Korea was more than I could have asked for.

It started on Friday morning with a hillarious and overwhelming Thankgiving skype call with my whole family... grandma, aunt, uncle, baby cousin and even a few neighbors. It was a knee-slapping good time.. literally. It was so nice to see everyone. Oddly enough it didn't make me homesick or terribly nosalgic...just very happy. It was a perfect start to the day, especially because it was the start of a workday. Meanwhile, my friend Joe, who is stationed in an airforce base in Gunsan just south of Cheonan was chilling in my apartment and exploring/getting lost in my neighborhood. I met Joe once a few years ago through our mutual friends, Grace and Alec, when they visited VT. We tossed around a football for 20 minutes but let's be real, I was just gossiping to Grace the whole time. Despite our very meager aquaintance, we hit it off exceptionally well from the moment I picked him up from the train station. All of my coworkers and a few Korean friends (Daria and Judy) went to Boom Bar that night, and I introduced Joe to everyone. The Koreans especially loved him because he was a "fresh face" in our little SLP school crowd.

Saturday morning, Joe and I went to the gym. It was empty. He met Sonhun, the trainer, who told him he was very handsome. I love the trainer despite all of his impositions on my workout routine. There are gym bros and gods and then there are gym nazis and he is one of them. He is such a sweet friend though. Then, we went with Josh, Jenny and Krystin to Home Plus, a six- story super store. We were in the food court when Jenny and I ran into our students Diana (Jenny's student) and Tom (my student) who are brother and sister. Next thing we know, our two adorible students are dragging us to pick out what we wanted to eat so their mother could buy our meal. It was so sweet. It melted my heart. She wanted to pay for all five of us but we begged her not to. She brought us so much food... more than we could shovel down, but we managed. Her generocity amazed us and put us in such a good mood all day. As soon as we got home, we started cooking for our Thanksgiving potluck... ok Joe started cooking while I made little stars out of paper with Daria. He brought turkey, ham and stuffing from the base. It was amazing! We had a lot of food, even more alcohol and tons of people shoved into a tiny little apartment, but it was so much fun! The lack of space made it cozy and intimate. I met two new Korean friends, Pete and Sunbin, who were both excellent and hillariously witty in English. As corny as this is, I felt really thankful and lucky. It was a perfect Thanksgiving Korean style.

Today (Sunday), Daria invited Joe and I to her apartment for lunch. I think she really liked Joe. We met her cute litte omma (mother). And whatever it was we ate (looked like rice and seaweed rolled in a ball) was amazing. I wish I'd seen her cook the food, but she wanted us to sit and relax. After a nice little lunch, she took us to Independence Hall, which I wasn't expecting. I wanted to take Joe there this weekend. It was like she read my mind. I hadn't been there either. It's mostly a museum about the Japanese invasion of Korea. I had such a nice day. She's so inviting. She and I are becoming good friends. A lot of times we have a language barrier, but we're getting to know each other so well that sometimes we don't even have to communicate. She'll talk in Korean ad I'll answer in English and we understand each other.. of course this rarely happens, but when it does it's pretty amazing. I also pick up on her habbits as well as most Korean habbits. It's happening to all of us foreigners in just the tone we speak in, the Konglish (English/Korean)phrases we use now, and other little quirks Koreans have when they communicate. It's only my 3rd month. I can only imagine at this rate I'll become Korean by the time the year is over.

Not to leave on a sad note, but Korea has a kimchi crisis!!! What is this??? you may ask. Well kimchi, which is spiced cabbage, is a staple in all Korean meals. Everyday kimchi. Everywhere Kimchi. All day kimchi. Kimchi. Last year there was a surplus of cabbage, so farmers planted less. Bad call. The cabbage produce this year suffered a little with weather issues, and now there is not enough. Korea has had to resort to buying cabbage from China, but of course, Korean cabbage is superior, so succumbing to Chinese cabbage is an outlandish idea. Kimchi crisis. When asked which was scarier, the North Korean conflict or the kimchi crisis, a few Koreans answered kimchi. So there you have it. A sad year for Korean cuisine.

It’s occurred to me while I’ve been in Korea that being free of expectations heightens my experiences. When I least expect anything, anything at all, the most amazing things seem to happen.

This weekend holds pretty true to my previous statement. On Friday, my friend, Daria, set me up on a blind date. I didn’t expect much, but to my surprise, I had a lot of fun. She doesn’t speak much English, but we’re becoming good friends. My date on the other hand spoke well, but of course it was awkward at first as most blind dates are. After drinking a few bottles of soju (the Korean version of watered down vodka… at least that’s my take on it), the night went smoothly. Daria stayed with us for dinner, which was nice to ease the tension. We had a Japanese sushi type meal, but there was so much foreign seafood I didn’t even know what to do, so Daria acted like a little mom and showed me how to eat all these different shells and fish foods. She left around ten and blind date and I went to Wa bar near my house and kept the conversation going for another few hours. It was a nice time. He’s not quite my type, but he was genuinely kind and very mature. I’m not sure if anything will come of this and I’m not expecting it to. I’ve learned to expect nothing from most men. I’m a little jaded by them.

Saturday was another amazing day I did not expect. I hadn’t even planned to go to Seoul, but last minute I decided it was a good idea, so I took off with Josh and Jenny. Unfortunately, we are complete idiots and jumped on the train going south rather than north and we had to backtrack and lose half an hour. Luckily, we were able to catch a train north within 2 minutes. It was a miracle. We walked around this market area, Dongdaemun, where we found a bunch of cheap crap we probably didn’t need. After shopping a bit, Josh told me he thought he saw Hannah and Stephen, and to my surprise there they were just a few feet from us. I knew they were in Seoul and we had plans to meet up for dinner, but I never thought I’d bump into them so casually on the street. They informed us of this lantern festival along the Cheonggyecheon stream so we tagged along. It was absolutely amazing and beautiful with the lanterns glowing against the dark night. And the night wasn’t too cold. The G20 Summit is taking place in Seoul currently, so there is a bit of international attention in the big city. This was one of the attractions for the event. After finishing our stroll along the stream, it was exactly the time we planned to meet for dinner anyways, so together we headed to On the Border to meet Reuven and Ben for a real deal Mexican meal. It was the best margarita, chips and salsa and enchiladas I could’ve asked for in Korea. Pure bliss. Every time I’m in Seoul, Mexican is always a special treat. I planned on going back to Cheonan that night, but Jenny and Josh told me to just stay on their motel floor and leave later, so I took them up on their offer. We went to a makali (rice wine) bar and then noribang (karaoke room). I was exhausted and actually passed out in the noribang with everyone belting ridiculous songs. This morning we had a delicious Irish brunch, did a little exploring and headed home. It couldn’t have been a better and easier little weekend escape. Sometimes things just work in mysterious ways, especially when I’m least expecting it.

In one of my elementary classes, calld New Hi Kids, there exists little Alex. He is tiny and cute as a button but the most anoying thing ever. Not only the teacher finds him irritating, it's the whole of us. The class and I have an understanding. He likes to pick on the tallest kid, Kevin. It's exactly like watching a little chihuahua bite and bark at a big black lab. I have never seen anything like him. He definitely has a Napoleon complex for his age, the way he pesters the bigger kids until they eventually use their size to intimidate him. There is just no stopping this baby monster.

To clarify, if my last post seemed like a downer, it wasn't. I don't regret a single moment here. I just find myself in shock sometimes. Believe me, it's honest and pure shock, not horror. Occasionally I just start laughing to myself (even in public!) about what a wild chapter of my life this is.

Speaking of wild, I'm going on a blind date on Thursday that my new Korean friend, Daria, set up for me. She sprung this on me today. We were originally going for dinner just the two of us, but she's a sly one, and threw in a side orde of her single Korean dude friend. Random things like this keep happening to me in this fascinating country.

Sometimes, when I actually have time to breathe, I think, what is it that I'm doing here? In my cozy little Americanized apartment, with all of my physical comforts from home, photos, decor, blankets, clothes, down to something as simple as a pencil from a Richmond restaurant, it escapes me where I am for a few hours time. But being human, and not some animal creature, I don't hole up in my home. Unlike a hermit or hibernating bear, I venture out, in all times and seasons, now being a cold one, verging on winter. And I usually don't see the differences. I just see the people, bars, cars, streets; it's just the world I happen to live in. But there are times I catch my reflection and the world around me is unerving, the face staring back at me looks so foreign, to me, and most noticeably, to everyone else around me.

It snowed today. Maybe it was just thick rain...

This weekend my coworkers and I went to the DMZ, the demilitarized zone seperating North and South Korea.

We started the day at 8am by taking a train into Seoul. Our tour bus left from Itaewon (the foreign section of Seoul) so we explored a little before the tour started. The only Taco Bell in Korea is located in Itaewon, so I insisted on eating there at 10am. No one complained. There's nothing better than Taco Bell, any time of day.

Our tour bus towards North Korea took off at 11. Besides my coworkers, there were 5 old geisers that went with us. They were annoying. This one man was extremely awkward, from Finland, which may explain a thing or two.

The first thing we saw on the tour was a park made to honor the two Koreas. There are ribbons everywhere around the park, symbolizing hope for peace and unity between the two countries someday. It was a beautiful park.

After the park, we were taken to the Dorsan train station. It is not currently functioning. It serves as a peace offering of sorts from S Korea to N Korea, showing open lines of transportation if they ever open their border. South Korea is very adventurous with this train line, hoping that if North Korea ever opens its border, Korea can one day have a transeurasian train line, meaning trains from the south could travel through north, into China, through Russia and esentially into all of Europe, up to as far as Great Britain. Nice projection, but for the time being, it is desolate and eerie, just sitting there completely abandoned.

Last, we finished our tour by climbing through this small and narrow tunnel that North Korea built in an attempt to invade South Korea. This is of course only one of many different tunnels. North Korea coated the tunnel with coal in an attempt to disguise their real intentions and instead claiming to be "mining for coal". It was such a small space, I was surprised that almost 10,000 soldiers were in there at one time. Ever heard of clostrophobia??

The tour ended back in Itaewon, Seoul. We went shopping around the area for a bit and ended with a delicious Mexican meal. When I said there was nothing better than Taco Bell, that was my stomach talking at 10am. I retract my previous statement. There is nothing better than authentic Mexican food. That, I will never retract. I wish Cheonan had Mexican food. I think it's really only America that has a Mexican place on every other street. God bless America.

Here in Cheonan, we just finished celebrating Halloween. Well, for starters, Halloween doesn't exist in Korea, making it even weirder. At our school, the kinder kids went "trick-or-treating" in broad daylight at 10am just around the block of our school. All the mommys passed out candies to their kids and classmates. Then they went through the school haunted house begrudgingly... my boss forced everyone in... even the 3 year olds... no quitters/losers at Cheonan SLP school! God forbid! It was a bit freaky to be honest. I know I was spooked by having my leg grabbed in the pitch black haunted house. I think they could have catered a little better to the teeny tiny ones. Overall, Halloween day with my students was a blast. I even got to lay in the coffin and scare kiddies. It did make me nostalgic for Halloween back home.

After school. I took Julie, Jenny and Josh to the burger place, Soho, that I loved so much for its warm, cozy atmosphere. It was just as "magical" (in Jenny's words) the second time around. Again, it was a quiet and cozy little safe zone after work. The owner is Korean, but speaks English, French and learning Spanish, which explains why his restarant/cafe is so European-inspired. He pulled out his guitar after we finished eating our delicious burgers and serenaded us while we sipped on coffee. He sang beautifully and clearly in English and French. I was impressed.

There was one foreigner party at Kooma bar over the Halloween weekend. It was for foreigners due to the fact that Koreans don't celebrate it. I was Superwoman. I got hit on by Spiderman, asking how business was going, fighting crime. Lame. And a red crayon bought me a tequila shot, but he was a total bro and he was dressed like a red Crayola crayon. Eventually we left and went to Boom Bar because it was also Krystin's birthday and it's our favorite bar.

At Boom bar, Jenny told me I remind her of her 22 year old sister (she's 26). It was the best compliment anyone could've given me (espcially as an older sister myself). It makes me feel a little closer to some kind of idea of family. Even though I'm the older sister and I've never been nor will I ever be a younger sister, I am one here :) It made me think about my sisters and the wonderful relationship we have. I miss them a lot and it's nice to feel like that void can be somewhat filled while we're miles apart.

On Sunday, Rex took me to lunch during his break (freaking 4 hr long break) from work. It was a beautiful day and we ate outside. We had kalbi, which is barbecued pork. Sometimes at school I feel like a freaking vampire because I never see the daylight, so having a Sunday outside, even for a bit, was perfect. Then we got coffee up in the mountain/countryside near the big Buddha statue. Coffee is big here... people are always drinking coffee at all times of the day. Most any public place has a coffee despencer machine or atleast hot water. It was this charming little place (all the coffee shops are) he's been frequenting since he was a child so he knows the owner. It's so nice having a Korean to show me around and take me to new and hidden places that I wouldn't know on my own. I'm really enjoying his company. I'm learning a lot from him.

Another weekend seemed to just dissapear...

On Saturday, the girls and I took a day trip to see the Big Buddha statue in Cheonan. Supposedly, it's the biggest in Asia. It was very massive and impressive. It was a beautiful, sunny day too so we got lucky. We walked around the temples and the town below as well. The temples were very colorful and the designs were so intricate.

It was a pretty early evening after going to see Big Buddha because we got up at 4am today for a deep sea fishing trip our boss took us on. We took a two hour bus ride to the port. It was a bit rainy when we got there so we were extremely skeptical about being on an open boat for six hours. Luckily the rain stopped. We fished for quite a few hours. I was getting lucky during the begginning (caught 3 fish in a row) but then my fishing weight kept getting stuck and lost in the ocean so I gave up after losing my 4th weight. It wasn't fair to everyone else to keep using them. A lot of people caught baby octopus. Our bus driver caught a baby octopus, took it off the hook and shoved it in his mouth, still alive and squirming, like it was a freaking handful of chips. It was the most disgusting thing. I did eat raw fish, chopped up right in front of us, but there was no way an octopus was gonna suck at my cheeks and tounge while I tried to eat it.  After fishing for 6 hours we went to the captain's house and his wife made us lunch. It was so sweet and welcoming. Afterwards, we headed back home, back on the bus and then bam! Sunday night already and work all over again. Luckily we have no big plans next weekend and we can all just sleep and do nothing.

I just got back from having dinner with Jody (whom I met in the DC consulate back in August) and her friends. It was the best place I've been to in Korea so far. It was a burger place run by a Korean husband and wife. Burger joints aren't terribly popular here, but it's such a trendy looking place that I think it'd be a hit no matter what they served. There was a big, warm oven in the middle of the restaurant. It was a very chic place with a rustic flare to it. There were nice, big cozy couches in private corners. The atmosphere was amazing; it was very well lit and peaceful. I found it to be the perfect place for me to wind down on a Friday evening. It was a nice treat after the weeks of hell.

I especially love that I met a few new people in Cheonan. Jody's friends were so sweet and seem like people I would be friends with back in the US. They all live about 15 minutes away from my house by foot. It's refreshing and comforting to feel like I've lived here for awhile and have friends in all different parts of the city like I would back home. And fortunately, it's relatively easy to get around to all the parts of town.

Last night I went to get dinner with Rex. We ate food that I haven't had here before which is nice because the food selection is becoming a little monotonous. Really... there isn't much variety compared to the USA where we have every type of food. So anyways I had what's called jajangmyeon, which is noodles with a Chinese-like soy sauce and lots of onions. I love onions.  He asked the server to bring me a fork, which is pretty funny to me. My friend Sohee did the same thing when I visited her in Seoul. I used chopsticks though. He was surprized. My students are also very impressed when I eat with chopsticks, eventhough they've watched me do it for 2 months now. Their newest kick is hearing me hum Korean songs or say a few Korean sentences or words. We have a strict NO KOREAN policy so I stray away from using Korean, but every now and then during lunchtime (never classtime) I'll throw a little "hanna, tul, set, net, tasot, yasot, ilgop, yador, ahop, yol" their way and they burst into a fit of giggles. It's just numbers one through ten, but if I say it fast, they like that. I'm learning a lot more than just the numbers, but I don't want to rile them up too much.

At school we have this dreadful thing called open class, where the parents literally sit in my class and observe me teaching their kids. It's pretty intimidating and miserable. I thought I did a really great job, but I guess not. One little boy, Eric, isn't much of a participater and his mom flipped on him and left the classroom when he didn't answer my questions. I didn't think much of it. Yeah, it was freaking embarrassing and weird and the other moms were shocked too, but what could I do? Anyways, it turned into a bigger thing I suppose, and now our head Korean teacher is sitting in during my class. It makes me very uncomfortable that she is there. I also think it is unfair and rude that they are stepping in during my class, but the parents are so demanding at our school, that I guess my bosses are taking any and all measures to satisfy the parents. I really hate it. Sometimes the disadvantage of this job for everyone is that we feel like we can never do anything right, no matter how hard we try. We really don't get anything but negative feedback so it's hard to feel optimistic about the hard work we put in.

I'm complaining for just this moment, but really, I'm happy here.

Gym god has a name, well nickname, and it's a bit silly: Rex. Anyways, Rex and I are teaching each other English and Korean now, since we both want to learn and we both speak like babies in eachother's language. I'm actually learning a lot really quickly because I'm forced to with him. It's really a lot of fun. Even though we have such a hard time communicating, we've both learned a lot about each other. It's so interesting to me the way language doesn't have to be a total barrier. On the contrary, it makes everything that much more exciting and new.

He's a pretty interesting character. At the gym, I'm so intimidated by him. He has a very serious look and he's built like a fighter and that's because he is one... kendo for 14 years now. But he is one of the kindest people, after talking to him and getting to know him based off of his personality and not his kung fu panda style. It's still hard to believe we are becoming friends since I had such a different/strong opinion of him a month ago.

Aside from my new friendship, I went to an International Deli festival in Daejon, the town over... very decieving and dissapointing... there were no meat and cheese products to be found. The signs all wrote "Interntional Deli' festival" which leads me to believe they don't even know what Deli means because we sure don't put an apostrophe on it. Still, it was fun. There wasn't much as far as international goes, but Korea tried it's best. There were mostly tons of foreigners drinking beer. The Deli festival turned into a rock show at night, which was incredibly entertaining, watching Korean headbangers! And just across the street was a hot air balloon festival and fireworks. All in all, a good day. Korean festivals are always a surprize, but usually in the best sense as far as surprizes go. I'm not complaining!

Week two of life suck is actually almost over. It feels like Monday. Some of my report cards got deleted this week. I had about 50 to write. Cool. I'm also working on what's called a monthly plan (for 4 classes), which details the coming month's homework and activties. And I'm also planning a lesson for an open class next week, where the parents get to sit in my class and watch the whole dea...intimidating to say the least. It's not just me freaking, it's all of us. If we had much of a break during the 9 to 6 workday I wouldn't be complaining, but a lot of this work has to be done after hours, which cramps my style because I don't like to go to the gym past 7.

On a lighter note, speaking of the gym, the Technogym super bro/gym god spoke to me yesterday... well sort of. He told the trainer he liked my headband and my style and the trainer translated and told me. Then gym bro looked at me and said one word: "beautiful". Charming huh? He came over to me later to correct my bicep machine form... they're always correcting me there. It drives me insane. He asked my name and age and we tried to communicate beyond that, but no such luck. I asked him if he was Korean....real cute.. of course he's Korean, idiot! He's 30, but since all Asians age so gracefully, I assumed he was 24 or 25. He came to say goodbye before he left, which was super friendly. I'm glad to have an in with gym god now. Today we had the same routine. We tried to communicate via my Korean Lonely Planet pocket reference book when I came in. He corrected my form again on the lat pull! Uh. And then he came to say goodbye when he left. We're buds now. Also, new gym update: I have been spotting other foreigners in my territory! Ha... one of them is a guy I already know, Travis. I've been suggesting it to him for weeks now. But this other mystery foreigner.... better watch his step :)

The week was long. I guess it was just busy. It flew by really, but we were crammed with work and the weekend didn't slow us down.

I went to the English exchange after work as usual on Moday. Jenny and I went out afterwads with Joel, Hero and Lawrence to this charming Korean restaurant. I love finding new places outside of my neighborhood. They are really inviting and friendly. It's nice to feel like every Sunday and Monday is a new change of pace from the work place.

Tuesday night was something else. Jenny, Josh (her husband) and I went to see the Korean beauty pageant (miss america basically). Just getting there took some energy. We didn't know exactly where Samgeori park was so we just winged it. We were on that bus for something like an hour, asking everyone where the park was. We had the whole front half of the bus trying to explain it to us. We got there. There were plastic chairs PILED high everywhere, with people standing in them to watch musical performances the pageant had put on. Kids were geeking out over K-Pop artisits such as CnBlue, 2PM, and After School. I know a few of their songs and bragged to my students about the event the next day... major cool points for Emily teacher (well, atleast I think it's fair to assume that makes me cool). Anyways, we followed suit and climbed into these wobbly chair stacks to see the show too. I was in the middle in a shorter stack, with Jenny and Josh on slightly higer piles to my sides. We had so many Koreans come over to us to say hello, tell us we were beautiful and photograph us. We were like royalty in our high stack of chairs, towering over those that came by to....stare at us.

The rest of the week is just a terrible blur. I didn't even exist. I fell into a black hole and had the life sucked out of me.

Then I came back to life Saturday night. But before Saturday night, there was Saturday day. And it was weird. A few of the teachers, myself included, attended what we call "Sports Day" for the kinder kids. Jenny, Reuven and I were exhausted from staying out till 4 the night before at Boom Bar. All of the parents and our students were in this huge gym. First thing first, we had to introduce ourselves. Then we danced a childs dance infront of everyone. Not only was it incredibly intimidating having all of the intense parents watching us do this gross dance, but it was awkward. Then the children and their parents competed in games, while we basically stood around, pointless, occassionally playing with our students. The kids were competitive, but these parents were insane. A lot of children were bawling because they didn't all win prizes. It was insane. I was in a zoo. We finished the sports day with a cool down, which was a massive circle link of everyone massaging each other. Weird. Pull that little stunt in the US and you have a law suit on your hands. Luckily I was inbetween two of my students and not their parents. I don't need so and so's mom rubbing my back, though I believe I deserve it at this point. I like my students a lot. Really. I was happy to be there.

BUT because we were at Sports Day till 6, Jenny, Reuven and I were late to Global Gathering in Seoul, which was just a huge techno festival! It was a beautiful night and the venue was right on the Han River. It was EXACTLY what I needed. I cannot express that more. Unfortunately I missed most of Justice (my favorite) but Fat Boy Slim put on such a crowd-pleasing show! I danced my little heart out. I was so physically drained from the week, Friday night's late hours and Sports Day, but it was the perfect wake-up. It's nice to know I'm still alive. Reuven and I were living it up. I like Seoul a lot. I think I can see myself moving there sometime if I were to teach in Korea again. It was so diverse. The young Koreans  that attended were also more liberal and international. In Cheonan, the younger Korean crowd is still a little traditional, which is great, but it's harder to relate. We got to bed sometime at 5 and woke up and got American style brunch in Itaewon, the foreigner neighborhood in Seoul, which is like a mini America. It's something else.

Now I'm home... just up from a nap. About to start week two of life-suck.

I'm going on my second month and it feels as if I've been here for six. It's already fall and I'm thinking, what did I do this summer in Korea? Well... nothing because I just got here. It seems that long! I wasn't even in Korea during the summer; I was traveling cross country with Rob, working at O'charley's, living the good life in my parent's house. I just got here! I'm glad the days are going by so fast. I feel like I've been here for months but I also feel like I've just arrived. It's a weird feeling... so comfortable at points but also so foreign and new at others.

So, as I was saying, I haven't been here long at all and I've gotten slammed with a few surprises. We had an American teacher leave recently due to some personal issues and therefore, we all have to pick up an extra class, leaving many of us with next to no breaks during the work day, but supposedly an extra bonus. Not only that, but my Korean coteacher is also leaving this Friday. She has been extremely helpful and we work incredibly well together. I am by no means prepared to have her leave and be replaced by some new teacher that doesn't know the students, the rules and the overall chaos of the job! I'm still new myself and struggling to piece together this puzzle of a job. I can't be expected to be the more experienced teacher of the two of us. I'm not really feeling terribly stressed which is surprising, but just a little overwhelmed with the long days. When the work day is over, the work day is over and I put my job to rest. As my coworker Jenny says, I leave the stress at work. That is true, but it's going to start taking a physical toll on all of us the more and more hours we have to put it.

The trainer at the gym will frequently ask me "Did you eat?" or "How was your meal?" when I stroll in around 6 or 7. I thought it was weird Korean gym protocol... making sure we are working out with food in our bellies. Well, while reading up on my Korean studies, I came across this: "At lunchtime, dinnertime or immediately afterward, Koreans often greet someone they know by asking shik.sa ha.shoss.o. yo (Did you have a meal?). So ingrained is this habit that many Koreans will ask non-Koreans the same question in English. A simple ne (yes) is all that's expected - if you go into detail about what you had for your meal, you may be met with bewildered looks." No kidding! I keep answering him with "Oh yeah I ate at 4:30 at school. I had... (whatever it was that day)." I taught him what I assume to be a good English equivalent: good afternoon or good evening. And I explained what I'd learned from my recent discovery and why I've been answering him the way I have. Even though it's hard to communicate with each other, we had a little laugh about it and now both understand the slight misunderstanding.

The students performed their plays today for the other kinder classes and our boss. I'm a little on edge still, many hours and an intense workout later, because our boss was so displeased with everyone's play. I didn't expect my students or anyone elses to be perfect, but I thought they were pretty excellent for ESL 3, 4 and 5 year olds. Let's be serious.. this isn't even their first language and they were memorizing whole plays! I was impressed. I absolutely hated practicing the play because the kids were so hyper, but I thought wow, our hard, annoying work payed off. Me getting irritated with them and probably vise versa (I'm sure they get tired of hearing me repeat myself and yell at them all the time) was worth it. No one really told me what to expect from this play and how important it was so I was incredibly shocked when the other teachers and I received only negative feedback (not directly through our boss of course, but from his middle man) about our plays. I just don't know what he expected... perfection??? They're children... At least someone was proud of them and that would be me.

Though I was tired from a long day at work, extremely frustrated with my students (I have to put on this big play this Thursday), I jumped on bus#12 and went downtown (which is 20mins away) to another English/Korean exchange (they have them every Sunday and Monday). I'm glad that I did because I met a lot more people and got a better understanding of a few tricky symbols. The Korean guy I was working on Korean/English with today works on my side of town (Ssangyongdang) at the Tom N Toms cafe right across from TechnoGym so that's convenient. I stopped by and visited him after the gym, but I was too shy to stay for coffee ( I don't know where this timid behavior came from, but I'm a bit shy in Korea country sometimes). Speaking of the gym, I convinced the trainer to come to the language exchange with me. I think it will be really nice to get to know him in a social environment instead of solely at the gym... me sweating profusely and him running around... well training people.

I've been in Korea for a month and that means it's time to learn some serious Korean. I've been picking up quite a lot of words here and there... in the taxi, at the bar, in school, all over this beautiful country, but I want to really put some effort into it. I went with my coworker, Jenny, to an English/Korean language exchange and had a great time meeting a lot of different people. Afterwards, we went out and bought textbooks so that we could have somewhere to start and show our progress. Right now I'm drilling the alphabet into my head.

Hannah and Stephen visited me from Changwon a few days ago. It was great seeing some familiar faces. I took the bus downtown (which I've never done before so I felt quite accomplished) and picked them up. We ate KFC, then literally bumped into my friend Ben (a teacher at another school that lives nearby) and we all went to the art museum and a few shops, and finished with an exquisite Itallian meal.

The next night we (all my coworkers, Ben, Hannah and Stephen) went and drank all night on my roof. We had soju, which is like watered-down vodka that costs a buck. I love it on the roof! It changed everything for me. I knew I had a roof that I could go and be all chill, reading my book and drinking my coffee, but I hadn't explored it until now. It's nothing glamorous.. a few ugly, weather-worn chairs, a table and a broken couch, but I love it. I spent most of the day Saturday reading and writing up there because it was such a beautiful day and because I'm obviously a hipster.. you know.. reading, writing, drinkin coffee... I just need to start smoking ciggarettes and I'll be totally angsty writer type. This morning I had breakfast with Julie, Tessa and Heather up there too. It's definitely my spot. I cannot wait until fall. It will be perfect... cold enough to wear a sweatshirt, wrapped in a blanket, reading, but with the warm sun beating down, keeping me from getting too cold.

Since I've been away in Seoul for the holiday (Chuseok) I have not been bloggin'. I'm going to seperate the days as to not overwhelm.

Saturday:

I woke up to a beautiful sunny day to start my trip to Seoul. I was proud of myself in that I was able to take the taxi to the KTX (fast train) station, get myself on the train and get to Seoul without a single problem. I sat outside waiting for Sohee since it was also beautiful in Seoul and she came to get me shortly after. As I mentioned she and I had met a little more than a year ago as volunteers in Portugal. She and her friend Henry took me around the city a bit. We went to a shopping mall and made fun of a lot of the styles for men. We had sushi for dinner. Though I love Korean style sushi (kimbop), Japanese sushi is always going to be my one and only. We ended the night at the Han river. It was thriving with people at night because the new president made it into an area for walking, biking, entertainment and nightly water shows. Henry drove us home and I met Sohee's family. They were so very nice. Her mom, sister and brother were still up when I got there. Sohee's mom gave me some grapes, my very favorite fruit here. Her sister is 17 and her brother is 10. They were a little shy about speaking English, but it was cute. Her dad works like a maniac from 9am to 12am so I didn't meet him until I was about to go to bed.

Sunday:

Sohee's grandmother lives in the apartment next to them and she fixes breakfast and lunch for them. She speaks almost no English and I speak very little Korean, but she was so welcoming and friendly that it didn't matter. Breakfast is something I haven't had here yet because I make that for myself every morning (if making breakfast is boiling water and stirring in instant coffee). Korean breakfast is the same as they would eat for lunch or dinner. So, I had kimchi (spicy cabbage), egg soup, and other typical Korean foods I've been eating at school for lunch. It's no IHOP. Sohee calls IHOP food "very heavy" (she lived in San Francisco and knows the fatty fattiness of American foods). Later, her Dad took a break from work to take us to eat duck as a special occassion. It was barbecue style duck that we heat up on a grill at a table ourselves. It was delicious. Sohee called it Korean IHOP. Cute. Afterwards we had delicious citrus tea. It was very sweet orange flavored with bits of soft orange and lemon at the bottom. Sohee and I went shopping and her family went home. Her little 10-year-old brother had a little date to get back to. He and his girl were off to buy "couple rings". Dressing alike is a very big trend amongst boyfriend/girlfriends. I guess an easy first step is buying the couple ring together. We all made a big deal about it because he was just so cute taking calls from her at the restaurant in anticipation for the big moment!!

Monday:

Sohee and I took off on the subway and she showed me some more touristy areas. We walked through a traditonal Korean area of town. Even the Starbucks sign was written out in Korean letters. We also went to the business district which has a stream running through it, a palace looking over it and a big golden statue of King Sejong in the middle. I must say it was quite the scenery for anyone stuck in one of those massively tall office buildings. After a bit of touring she took me to Book Cafe. It is a chain, but every one has a different theme. The one we went to was beautiful! I couldn't stop raving about how cute it was... fairytale, secret garden style. We talked for awhile, reminissing about our camp experience in Portugal, which suprisingly we hadn't done too much of until then. We did a bit of shopping after and bought some shoes. Fake Toms are all the rage in Korea. I'm ashamed to say I bought a pair for 15$. Where are my morals/ethics/all the above??? I know that's going against the message of the original Toms designer. I did have a good laugh at the knock off name of one pair: Tops. Very clever eh? Afer getting a bit lost, we made our way up to the Seoul Tower. It's maybe the highest point... even if it's not, the view of the city lights at night is beautiful. There is a bit of entertainment at the top as well. What really tickled my fancy were all the thousands of love locks locked to the tower gate. Couples buy locks, attach a message of their love to the lock, lock the lock and throw away the key, leaving their love at the top of Seoul forever. That's some serious romance. We took the very long subway ride back to her house, ate some fried chicken (very popular here) with her family and watched a Korean drama (soap opera) that I've been keeping up with at the gym.

Tuesday:

I said goodbye to Sohee and her family, thanked them, and went on my way to meet up with my coworkers for another day of sightseeing or so we thought. We toured one palace/museum and an hour later, monsoon season came back with a vengance and prohibitted us from doing anything outside, so we had no other option but to get an earlier train and come back to Cheonan. I didn't miss much because I'd been in Seoul for quite awhile, but I felt bad for my friends. Soaking wet, we took the train back home and decided since we couldn't celebrate our vacation in Seoul that night, we would treat ourselves to Outback. Yes, we have an Outback here. It is very popular in Korea. There was one on every corner in Seoul. Cheonan has one and it is amazing. I haven't eaten any American food or really cared to, but that was one of the most amazing meals I've ever had.

And today is Wednesday:

It is officially Chuseok day. I've been reading, cleaning and watcing online TV/movies excessively. I haven't had much time to do nothing lately and it feels good. I'm really appreciating my alone time in Korea. I'm noticing that I need my space and time to read/write/think a lot more than I needed it back home. It might have something to do with living alone. Whatever it is, I like it.

Today is the first day of Chuseok break. Chuseok is like a harvest celebration... similar to Thanksgiving. For vacation, I am going to visit my good friend Sohee; she lives in Seoul. We met in Portugal a year ago when we were both there as volunteers. Small world.

Yesterday (Friday), to celebrate Chuseok, SLP had an all-day-long festival. It was such a great time. Before the kids got there, we all dressed in hanboks (traditional Korean dress for big days) and were taught proper etiquete (for example, holding your hanbok to the right means you're a geisha.. so I had to be careful to not give my students the wrong impression). The hanboks are beautiful... very vibrant colors and patterns. They are very intricate and sometimes have accessories. (Pics on facebook). The kids loved that we were wearing hanboks ( I think they found it funny)! I loved seeing them file in with their wildly colorful wardrobe too. I couldn't stop snapping pictures of them.

I prepared a craft for them... they made a fan. Then, we went to the gym and Frank teacher (principal) taught them how to bow. Afterwards, we made songpyeun, which are rice cakes with sesame seeds and other nuts inside. They are very sticky and sweet. To end the day, we played tradtitional games and danced in the gym. The one I fancied the most was the stick game (called yuk) where you throw sticks into a trashcan-like bin.

Seriously the kids were so adorible. They are precious everyday, but little kids fidgitting in their hanboks was even cuter. There isn't enough I can write or photograph to really introduce you to my students. I wish you could just hear Danny (Gemini class) when he says, "Teacher, very not good" when talking about his workbook question he got wrong. Danny is very concerned with his schoolwork, but he's also Aidan's (troublemaker) best friend so it's an interesting combo. Or in Aries class, Jeff talks in third person and likes to call himself Jeffuh ( they add extra emphasis to the words .. usually an extra "uh" sound at the end). Sometimes he calls himself Jeffuh Monster. He likes monsters and killing. If you could just be there when I serve them lunch and they say "Teacher, many" (when they want a lot of something). It still cracks me up. "Not many, you want more". It's these little things that can only be seen from experience, but I so badly want to share.

My first outing with the children (both Gemini and Aries class) was today. We visited Bear Tree park. This place is very true to the name for there are both plenty of trees as well as bears. It was quite an amazing park from what I got to see when I wasn't counting the kids (that statement makes me laugh... I'm officially a teacher.. doing head counts!), giving them water and pushing them back in line. The park had a beautiful botanical garden, a lot of different trees and forested areas, a few different caged animals and a huge cage of bears. The cage of bears was a little sad and inhumane in this heat... tons of bears were basically crammed together in a box with some circus looking equipment to play with. We were all tired, sweat dripping down our faces; I can only imagine the bears suffered the same.

I rode the bus to Bear Tree Park with one of my classes (Aries) but I still got to spend time with Gemini class as well. I had snack with Gemini class. They brought snack from home because it was a special field trip. Man, did they bring a lot. It was so sweet seeing how well they shared snack. They even gave me a little bit of everything ( I ended up with an orange, a few pieces of candy, a chocolate from China, a few little cookies and chips). Each kid passed out one cookie or candy or chip to everyone in the class. It was so nice. The concept of sharing with these students is well understood, appreciated and practiced. Then, I personally lead Aries class through the park, but since I am also coteacher for Gemini, we basically lumped the two classes as one and went around the park. They were all very well behaved. The only issue was at the end they got a little burned out and grumpy because of the heat (towards the end they got so grumpy they would still throw up a peace sign but with such disdain that the peace sign turned out looking like limp little bunny ears instead). I didn't lose any children and no one was hurt so big success. I very much enjoyed being able to be their buddy that took them to the park instead of their teacher that yells at them about doing the Treasures workbook and sitting down and being quiet and ... the endless list. I know they enjoyed that aspect of today. Then we ventured back to SLP by bus. On the bus, a few of the little boys in Aries (Denny (the only boy in Aries that has a little soft spot for me), Jeff and Tom) took my phone and wrote something in Korean (which is a big deal at SLP... NO KOREAN! ) on it and were giggly the rest of the day... I still don't know what those mischevious little dudes wrote.  Speaking of Aries boys, Daniel, the one I think has it out for me, didnt want to wear his hat today and let me wear it all day. That small gesture made me feel like I had a tiny break through with him. I'll hold my tounge... he has plenty of other headbands and accessories of mine he can break.

I'm reading "Life of Pi" at the moment. It's by Yann Martel. The setting is in India for the most part... an Indian family travelling to Canada when their boat sinks and only one 16 year old Indian boy still alive, out on the ocean, fending for himself. It's beautifully written and an easy read. I suggest it to anyone looking for a good book.

The sun has finally come out in Korea. I don't know what took it so long. That being said, it doesn't necesarilly mean it's getting warmer. I think it's getting cooler and less humid. Thank god. The humidity was worse than Virginia! Mysteriously, though it's cooling down, my apartment had been warmer than usual last night and this morning. Turns out, I am forgetful and left my floors on. Yes, I left my floors on (the floors are heated (if I turn them on) and the heat rises to warm the whole apartment). The heating for the water and the floors are on the same control so if I don't want the heat on, I always have to remember to turn it off right after showering. I have only been showering with cold water since I arrived, but yesterday I decided to get a little wild and heat things up and unfortunately heat them up too much.

Turns out for the Snow White poduction in my Gemini class, I get the honor of being their choreographer. I did not realize I had been granted such the privelage until just recently. I think I'm a little late in the game for coming up with sillly Snow White dances for the kids, but I have to do it either way. It's a twist on Snow White to make it a little sillier and less serious. Here is one verse I had to choreograph : "I am Dwarf Two. Dwarf Two is OK. I am the mimicking rapper, repeating what you say. I am Dwarf Two." Basically they bop around a bit, throw up an OK hand sign and then do a bunch of little rapper hand motions, which is incredible. Can you imagine little 5 year old Korean kids throwing around rapper hands?? Well, imagine it, because it's happening.

It's night of the living dead here in my neighborhood sometimes. There is a hospital on the corner by my school and patients will stroll out in town, fully dressed in hospital gowns, dragging their IV drips alongside them to GS, the local convenience store, grab some coffee, take a smoke break, whatever. It's bizzare... especially with the fog of the early morning or the darkness of night.. straight out of a zombie film.

Mountain Dew exists here and it's not terribly hard to find. I'm "DOing THE DEW" at the moment. It is my favorite soda in the world of carbonated beverages, so I am in luck. When I lived in Spain, Carrefur, the local supermarket, sold Mt Dew for seriously 2 weeks and then it just vanished and never made a come back ever again... in the entire country. This is a much better situation for me.

At Technogym, I've taken a keen interest in this one bro dude. He looks like the bad guy that Jackie Chan pulverizes in every asian action movie. His eyes are dark and angry. He hardly ever smiles and if he does it's sly. On his neck are the dumbest looking stars, but still having a tattoo in Korea is rough enough. His tan makes me assume he is from Cambodia, Taiwan, Thailand, anywhere but Korea. I also think he is a drug lord, but that's my immagination getting the best of me. He is probably the most ripped bro in the gym, but he knows it and he knows everyone else knows he knows it. His body is immaculate, just like the asian olympic gymnasts that do the pommel horse insanity. Where is this story going? No where really. But, today, king of the gym ripped his skin tight tank top off (so much for any last attempt at modisty) for the last 5 minutes of his work out, revealing another huge tattoo on his perfectly sculpted... side. I think he could've kept his shirt on for 5 more minutes, but who am I to critique the gym king?

Shopping here is phenomenal. I've never seen so many cute headbands. Good thing too, because Daniel broke mine in class the other day. There was more than just headbands of course, but that's what caught my eye more than anything else because there were so many more than in the US and for a mere 2 or 3 bucks. And I'm not talking little thin plastic headbands, but the real nice ones with beautiful bows and patterns. The jewelry was just the same. There is quite the surplus of glitzy, gaudy accessories! Clothing on the other hand, though I fit into most of it, I still find to be a little on the small and short side. I love the clothing though. I bought a few things. Unfortunately, we live about 20 or 30 minutes from the downtown with all the shopping.

Before shopping, we went to eat at an Indian restaurant, the only Indian place in Cheonan. It's routine to go there about every weekend, but I can only handle the kick of Indian spices but so often. This has been my second Saturday at  the Indian place. It might not necessarily become my routine. It was delicious, though spicy. There is an Outback Steakhouse downtown... that's what I've really been eyeing as a special occasion kind of thing.

Last night, I finally met up with Jody. We met at the Korean consulate in Washington DC a few days before we both moved to Korea. As she was walking out of the consulate, she told me that our interviewer had told her we were both in the same town in Korea, Cheonan. It's quite a small world. Cheonan isn't really a foreigner hub. There are plenty of us roaming the streets, attractring a lot of attention, but meeting someone before even arriving in Cheonan is not typical. After about three weeks of being here, we finally met up, and it turns out we aren't terribly far from each other either. We met at a bar/restuarant, Adonis, that is a nice halfway spot  about 10 minutes between where we both live.

McDonald's delivers here. I don't speak from experience seeing as I don't really care for McDonald's and the only Korean I know is hello, goodbye, thank you and the first eight numbers. That will either get me no order at all or eight big Macs. I'd rather just stay away. I must say, however, that is an ingenius idea. I'm curious as to why the United States hasn't jumped on the McDonald's delivery bandwagon (or in this case, a moped with a box on back). I'm assuming it's because too many fat Americans eat McDonald's more than once a day and it would be near impossible to deliver all those meals to the greedy population.

I've been sick all week with a cold. I'm not complaining, but just clearing the air as to why I haven't kept up the bloggin'. Every teacher has the sickness hit them some point or another, and I up to this point, I was the only one kinder teacher that hadn't been attacked by the bug. I was getting a little overzealous about my immune system when it hit me first thing Monday morning. That humbled me. I lost my voice yelling at all the kids. I tried to make them feel sorry for me (ha) but that didn't work. I really like these kids. I'm growing attached to them. Though I love my job so far, I don't think I want to teach in a public elementary school when I get back. This job is perfect for me, but I can't imagine it would be back home for some reason.

Jihee's husband bought her dream today. That's one of the first things my coteacher told me this morning. She said it's probably a cultural thing. Oh, you don't say, Jihee! If it isn't, why is no one buying my dreams???? Apparantly it's tied to Shamanism. If you have a beautiful, vivid dream and tell it to someone you really love, like family, or a significant other, and they want to pocket that memory for themselves or make it come true, they buy it off you. She made 30 won off her husband this morning. What a sucker! She probably made the whole thing up. Regardless, I'm going to bring this one back home with me and see if I can pawn my dreams off for a little extra spending money. I wonder if you have a terrible dream/nightmare about someone else if you're obligated to pay them to make it go away... I don't think it works that way.

At the gym today I couldn't help but laugh. I'm the only American there (except occasionally this one older dude... he's my nemesis.. the other foreigner) at TechnoGym in Korea, listening to latino raggeaton on my ipod and wearing a purple Obama T-shirt. Granted no one can hear my music, but the mix of cultures all in one was just funny to me. I love the mix; I hope the mix just keeps on....

Last night was one of the first nights in a while that I stayed in and enjoyed time with... me. It was really nice and I've decided I don't want to go out drinking as much as I do, certainly because Sonjoon, the trainer at TECHNO GYM would be very dissapointed in me. He has been teaching me a number a day. I'm at about seven. I'd like to learn more than the numbers...let's be real. But it's all about baby steppin my way to the bigger picture. I have to start somewhere so "hanna, tul, set, net, tasot, yosot, ilgop" it is for now. The annoying thing is that the numbers change when placed infront of an object. Most of what I learn is by listening to the more seasoned American teachers and occassionally the Korean teachers but they talk too fast.

I went out for dinner (to a charming little Italian place we discovered) the other night with an older teacher with whom I work with. She's not old but she's under the impression that her age matters a lot to me. I certainly didn't intend for it to come off in a negative way, but I guess it did. The thing is, I'm just so facinated with all of her life stories, dating experiences and whereabouts that I hope to aspire to be like her over my next 5 or 10 years. She is well-travelled, independent, strong and extremely intelligent. I look up to her but she doesn't quite understand that.

I'm still convinced Daniel in my Aries class has it out for me. I wrote a note home to his mother mentioning that he never stays in his seat and his mother responded that he was probably just really bored in my class. I'm getting zero support from her. He also broke my headband today. I don't even like that stupid headband. I can, however, tell you exactly where I got it: a cheapass street fair in Almunecar, Spain. It cost me one euro. I haven't been keeping up with the European exchange rate these days seeing as I'm more focused on the Korean won, but I can't imagine the net loss is too great... maybe $1.50 max. That's not the point. The point is he was so unapologetic, even if it was an accident, that it makes me think he truly dislikes me.

At the end of September our homeroom kinder classes put on a ridiculous little play in the gym. My Gemini class is performing Snow White. They are coming along, but I'm a little worried about the outcome of this masterpiece. All I know is that the end of this month is going to be chock-full of work! We have a fieldtrip to the botanical gardens soon, Chusok festival (where I get to dress up in traditional costume and make rice cakes...stay tuned for that special day!), market day (where they buy things with stickers they may or may not have deserved for good behavior) and last but not least, the big show, SNOW WHITE!

Techno gym was closed today; I had a feeling it would be because it's Sunday. I know there is a mountain nearby so I tried that instead and went hiking. I found the mountain only about 5 minutes from my apartment! I'm very excited about that! These past two weeks I've been a little busy, considering most of my time is spent working till 6pm everyday. So, trying to find a mountain after a long day of working with children in the evening, as the sun is setting is probably not in my best interest. Today nothing was really standing in my way except maybe the threating storm clouds, but that's nothing new here. Most of the people hiking were older folks and maybe some children. I did stand out a tiny bit. The weirdest thing was that I noticed a lot of people were wearing those face masks that cover your mouth (typically seen where there is a mass outbreak of swine flu, bird flue, you know animal-born illnesses). Maybe there is a plauge no one warned me about. I figured the fresh air up in this Cheonan mountain is harmless. The purpose of the masks is a mystery to me. I saw a beautiful golden Buddha statue on the way down. It appeared out of the blue... I guess out of the green since it was in the mountains. I've been on the hunt for Cheonan's large golden Buddha statue so I may have found it which would be dissapointing because I was expecting much larger.

Went to Boom Bar which is one of the three that we frequent (Boom bar, Kooma and Wa bar). They are a bunch of crazy bartenders there named Pooh, Tigger and Wally. Well I thought Wally wasn't there last night until I found out he was the huge asian bobblehead costume that kept coming over to me and writing messages to me in Spanish. I still don't know why he was wearing that. He is very cute. He speaks a little English and I guess a little Spanish apparently. He has a tattoo in Spanish on his arm "Lo mas acordado, lo mas olvidado" : "The most remembered, the most forgotten". After an hour of guessing games about who this mystery costumed man was, he flashed me the tattoo on his arm and it all became clear. It was entertaining. By the end of the night, one of the boys we work with must have told Pooh that it was my birthday yesterday. All of a sudden I heard him shouting my name over the intercom and starting a fire show. A fire show is basically the bartenders tossing bottles around and lighting them on fire, making fire shots and such for people in the bar to drink. I drank the fire shot. Then suddenly the bartenders were throwing some weird foam on me (like silly string almost) and sparklers were being passed around. To top it off, the cutest bartender girl came over to me, with part of a horse cotume (only the head) and gave me a birthday cake they'd thrown together last minute in the kitchen. It was so sweet. I can't express how much I appreciated it. Koreans are the nicest people.

This afternoon, I went with two girls Tessa and Jenny to what's called a jjimjilbang: a public bathhouse. The men and women split up and go into seperate locker rooms, get butt naked, shower and enjoy the bathhouse. So, I acted accordingly. First, everyone must go through a full cleaning: brushing teeth, washing hair, shaving, you name it.... just the works. When all clean there are maybe 6 different baths to enjoy. There is a hot tub basically, a freezing cool pool, a lukewarm pool with jets and a few more. There is also a sauna. The women ranged from babies to old women. It was quite an experience. Though very refreshing, it's not something I'd get in the habit of doing too often. It is a bit time consuming and I do have my own shower. After a stressful week though, I can see where it would come in handy.

Yesterday was my birthday as well as the going away/welcoming party for the the teachers leaving and the new teachers arriving. A huge group of us went out for kalbi which is basically barbequed pork but you bbq it yourself. We sat on the floor on cushions and ate with chopsticks. the real deal. And we drank bowls of Makgeoli, which is rice wine. That wine was making me feel pretty good by the end of dinner and thank god for that, because the new teachers had to get up front, give a lame speech and sing a song. It was embarrassing. To top it off, everyone decided instead of a bar they wanted to go get drunk in a noribang, which is a karaoke room you rent out with your friends for the night. It was actually really fun. We drank soju which is basically vodka and sang for an hour. And we eventually ended up in WA Bar and met up with some other friends. It was a great birthday but a rough morning that's for sure. Thank god the children were'nt unbearable today. Two of them did cry though because they were being sensitve about feelings. Yeah ok...grow up. The crybabies today were June, who is very feminine to begin with, so the tears came as no surprize. I think he enjoys crying he does it so much. And Aidan cried. He is the worst little kid in school, so when his sensitive side comes out it shocks me. At my school, SLP, we are told to be very affectionate and "touch the kids a lot". sounds awkward but it's kind of a rule or else the parents think "we don't like their children". So usually I have no problem when it comes to the sadness of children. I can just plop them on my lap, tickle them, hug them, rub their backs, the whole deal. They are all touchy feely though especially the little boys. And when I say touchy I don't mean they're playing kissy face on the playground with the girls, but all the little boys run around hugging each other and rubbing and touching and sometimes kissing. It's bizzare but normal behavior for them. And the girls are very touchy and lovey with the little boys too. It's so cute but they make me uncomfortable sometimes.

I just returned from another adventure... to the hospital this time to check sure my health in stable enough for Korean standards. I don't know. I was poked and proded for a bit... eye exam, ear exam, dental check, lung exam, urine test, blood test, the whole package. I think I had a cavity but I couldn't understand so I just smiled and said thank you in Korean, "Kamsahamnida". Koreans take a lot of pride in their teeth. The children and most of the teachers brush their teeth after eating a meal. The other day even, I saw the bartender at WA bar pull out a toothbrush... at the bar! and start going to town on her teeth. It makes a lot of sense. It's a very healthy habit. And a healthy person is a happy person. Atleast that's what my students had to memorize and recite back to me last week. Good habits include exercise and eating right and get this... bad habits are, as you may know.. watching too much tv and of course.... eating while sleeping. Huh??? That's some sneaky shit... eating in bed. I laughed out loud.

The kids had another little laugh today because they saw my "undergarments". Ok, no they did not and I'm pretty positive they lied about seeing my belly button yesterday. I wore a very appropriate outfit. My top was see through so I wore a white tank top underneath. However, white tank tops for females and white undershirts for males are equal to "underwear". Ok. I've seen Korean women dress that way on the streets so I'm sure it's permissable. The young women dress so beautifully here. As I mentioned before, they are always in heels, making most of them look even longer and leaner than usual. They wear a lot of billowy tops with short shorts or skirts. They expose their legs a lot more than their chest and arms, but with beautiful, skinny legs, why not? Some girls push it on the shorts, but for the most part I think the look is very tasteful, nothing too tight and revealing but always very sexy. The look is soft and flowy and reminds me of springtime.

The grapes here are amazing. The skin is a lot thicker so we don't eat that part. The grape inside just plops right out. They seriously taste like a little sip of Welch's grape juice every time I pop one in my mouth. They are the best grapes I've ever eaten in my life. I watch over my kinder classes while they eat snack (with my homeroom Gemini class) and lunch (with my Aries class), and most of the time they want me to try the food with them, which is usually Korean food. It is mostly delicious except for kimchi which is pickled and spiced cabbage. They eat it all the time. It will never grow on me. I have however become a big fan of kimbap, which in my mind is basically sushi. I can get a whole roll for about a buck!!!! And a whole roll here isn't a few pieces like in sushi places back home... this is a whopping 12 pieces :)

In my Aries class ( I spend about 2 hours with 2 different kinder classes which are Aries and Gemini) I reached up to get whatever it was and the kids saw my belly button. They freaked out in a fit of laughter! So, they love belly buttons. It's like they don't have them or something. They do. They showed me. I asked them to write about a person that makes them laugh and why. All the little boys said "Emily teachers makes me laugh becase of belly button beauty" whatever that is. And they said they like me better than Jihee teacher (she's the Korean teacher that takes my classes for the other 2 hours). I hope she doesn't see that. Anyways, the other teachers said the kids are really into belly buttons and it was bound to happen one of these days... better sooner than later I suppose... you know get it all out in the open.. Emily teacher has a belly button... sigh of relief.

I got lost again in that ridiculous under-interstate tunnel on my way to TECHNO GYM. I think I might take a lesson from these two kids I know, Hansel and Gretel, except, instead, I will leave some rice for my path. And I wont be so foolish as to enter a suspicious witch house made out of candy...idiots. When I finally arrived, the trainer who helped me at the gym yesterday (maybe Sonju is his name) greeted me by name as I walked in today. Koreans are so friendly! It's so nice to feel like I belong in a community that is so new and foreign to me.

It was pouring again today. The rain will never cease here! Based on my quick internet research, autumn is supposed to be quite lovely. I suppose I can forgo another month of sunshine before I quite possibly turn into a vampire.

My students probably think I am literally a vampire. They already claim I have Dracula teeth and after today, they must think I'm pure evil. SLP has a point system and if they have 5 points they get all 5 stickers which they can trade at the "market" for prizes at the end of the month. Today, not only did I dock them all 5 points, but I took away points for tomorrow, leaving -3 points. I don't think they see that much. I also had to send Daniel to John teacher. He is a Korean teacher and male, which freaks them out much more than a smiling American female. Daniel looked terrified when he got back. I felt a little bad, but not really because Daniel likes to tell lies about me to his mother and get me in trouble. He told his mother the other day that I let him sleep in class and did not wake him up. What? Really, Pinocchio?? His mom sent a complaint in the "communication log" we have with the parents. Fantastic. The kids, as I mentioned before, have the absolute worst behavior... every last one of them in the school. BUT they do every single homework assignment because their parents make sure of it and they actually enjoy learning for the most part and will even gladly take on more homework. Unfortunately I've taken a liking to the worst kid in the whole school, Aidan. None of the teachers understand me. I also don't understand me.

The fashion here is phenomenal. I love absolutely everything the girls wear. I try to emulate their style but I'm not sure I have the knack for it quite yet. Also, I will not wear high heels every day or ever, which is a key component. The boys are also all stud muffins. Most of them are either in a nice shirt and tie or some sexy plaid (who doesnt love a man in plaid??) with hipster jeans, retro sneakers and glasses. They are really stylin. Unfortunately, as nice as it is that Korean men are not hairy, that means they usually do not have beards!! And tattoos are quite uncommon as they are "bad blood". It is quite ashame seeing as I love bearded men with tattoos. Young Korean couples like to match. I've seen it four times so far. As a matter of fact, the cute couple at the gym today were both wearing the same blue t-shirt with the same design. I wonder at what point it's appropiate to ask one's signifcant other to start matching?? That is some level of committment!

I joined a Korean gym today. I've been eyeing Techno Gym for some time now. It's on the 4th floor as are most gyms, hair places, bars etc. so it took a great effort just to find my way up there considering everything is in Korean minus the huge advertisement TECHNO GYM.It was probably the first thing I've had to do on my own and it was incredibly tricky. Koreans love being healthy as do I. But at the gym... they insist upon it! There are rules. Everyone has to walk for 10 minutes and then stretch for another 10 or so to make sure the limbs are loose and ready for action. Of course I had no clue what the woman was telling me so I thought I could only walk for 10 minutes and then DONE. NO MORE, which is miserable for me considering I love to run. Finally a buff Korean bro(many Korean bros at the gym!) trainer man comes over and explains to me how to use the treadmill and how to stretch. He was very friendly, but I already know how to do this. I just nodded and smiled. I'm assuming there is a huge misconseption that Americans are all lazy and weigh a ton and have never worked out in their lives because they're all in line at McDonald's, but I know how to use the machines. Give me a break. I really did look like a fool though. Walking in, I was very disoriented and exasperated because I had to find my way to the gym through this underpass tunnel system (there is a huge intersection so people walk under the streets in that area instead of using crosswalks). It is my curse. I always come out on the wrong end and have to maze my way back to the other side. On top of it I was drenched (because I can not escape freaking monsoon season), with a little Korean dictionary in hand, thrusting different pages of work-out type words at the woman. Long story short, I got my work out. It should not have been such a challenge. I survived.

Just returned from WA Bar. It's on the corner of our street basically. We all live on different streets but this is a pretty central location, close to the school and close to where we live. Apparently this bar is a chain from what Tessa, Krystin and I found when we went to one while we were in Daegu for the International Body Painting Festival. I've never seen a bar that's a chain before from what I know. The bodypainting was quite the show... for free. It started off slow, just watching the the men and women be painted and then ended with this very flashy high-fashion show type deal. I was very impressed especially because of how modest I thought Korean culture was. We stayed overnight in another "love motel" because that's what there is and they are cheap. Our place was called "Beautiful House" motel and the covers were pale pink with red lighting.

When we got back to Cheonan, we had a going away dinner for Christina, who is leaving in a week. We sat on the floor to eat. It was my first time. My foot kept falling asleep. There is a lot of transitioning in and out of teachers. Another teacher is moving to another apartment for a reason unknown to me, but I got a nice big comfy chair from it. I'm sitting in it now... a little cramped with the extra furniture but when you don't have much to work with in the first place, you say yes to a large free chair.

I think the lack of sleep is finally starting to catch up to me. This past week, I've been taking to the habit of going to bed around 3 and then waking up at 7 or 8. Everyone says it's jetlag but I just like staying up late, which is unfortunate considering my early schedule.

I learned today that an average, descent haircut goes for only 9 bucks here. Big deal right??...Hair Cuttery and Great Clips have discounts on poor service and uneven trims all the time, however, these places throw in a hand massage, a full shampoo and rince, oh and beverages.. I'm probably going to need a few haircuts this year. But! Let this be a warning to all you taken/married men out there... if you're ever in Korea and in desperate need of a haircut, make sure the barber shop you go to only has one barber pole. If you see two barber poles outside the shop, your haircut will come with a happy ending ;) ... don't want to upset your lady friend/wife. To all the men without the old ball and chain, a lot of Korean haircuts might be the way to go.

This may be a little premature seeing as I've only been here for something like...5 days.. but I love it here. I love the kids, the job, the coworkers, the tiny apartment. I had zero expectations coming to Korea and I am more than pleasantly surprised. This has been one of the best decisions I could have made (I say this without even a week in, so I hope my feelings don't change after the honeymoon stage).

The Job:

I teach kinder at my school, SLP, but unlike the United States system, I do not teach the same class for 6 hours all day, every day kind of thing. I rotate 5 or 6 different classes and they all have a different curriculum. And my schedule can change from month to month. It is a little overwhelming, but I like the variety; it will definitely not become monotonous ever. I do not sit in a huge classroom with snotty little children all day. We have a huge teacher's lounge with our own desks where we go for a few 40 minute long breaks/planning periods/lunch etc. It's a nice way to socialize with the other Korean and American/Canadian teachers. It feels like an office job part of the time and a teaching job the other half. And there is a lot of cooperation amongst all of the teachers which I think is amazing. The children stay in the same room for the most part and the teachers circulate in and out, carrying these ridiculous little plastic baskets with stickers and markers etc. Also, dress is casual. It's great. I dress up a lot for work, but jeans are perfectly acceptable and it gives me flexibility to change up my style everyday (how very superficial does that sound...).

The Kids:

I love the kids. They dress very eclecticly (one day in their SLP uniform another day in a little sailor outfit). They have the funniest little Korean accents when spekaing in English. The 'le' sound always sounds like an  'r' (for example: turtle=turtur) and they add extra emphasis to the end of their words (for example: look=lookuh). Also they are extremely curious about our looks. They love my hair, jewelry, clothing. The boys especially love playing with my necklaces and bracelets. Thank god I'm fashinonable in the eyes of my 6 year olds students! However, they are also very critical. One day I didn't shave my legs (big deal) and my student, June, rubbed my leg (they are very touchy here) and said "teacher ACK!" So I shaved today. Also they don't understand why I have moles and freckles. They ask me if I have chicken pox. I also got called Dracula for my two top pointy teeth ( I thought those were normal right??) They are very affectionate and say nice things most of the time so it makes up for their criticism. BUT all of the kids at SLP have terrible behavior, but I feel as if I have my classes under decent control for now. They are allowed to run around like wild monkeys during recess but it's inside in the hallways (Korea schools are indoors usually on one floor of a building and not spread out like US)... so I think that gives them the idea they can be wild the whole time.

The Coworkers:

We are all so different. Half are Korean (all female) and half are foreign. A couple are married, a few are recent grads, others are in their thirties. So far, from what I can see we all get along, but I don't know all the drama yet so maybe that's not the case after all. Everyone has been at the school for different periods of time. Jenny and I just got here. A few others have been here for a year or more. Two girls have only been here two months. That's another exciting part of the job... the coworkers are also constantly changing and adding new dynamics to the group. I haven't found anyone I don't get along with yet, which is also a big perk. And my director, Frank, is very kind and with the best intentions.

The apartment:

My apartment is what we would call a studio style apartment. I have a normal size bathroom (right at the entrance) except normal in terms of a "no bath" bathroom. The bath part of the bathroom is just a showerhead chilling in the corner. I will have to provide pictures to give you the real deal. There is a very interesting mirror as you walk in the living space. In the living room, there is a small loveseat, a decent size kitchen (no oven though), a desk/table thing, normal size fridge, big wardrobe. I have a blacony off of the living room with a washer and not much of a view, but very large beautiful windows! My bed is on the "second floor" which is a loft. I walk up a teeny, (frightening when drunk) ladder to my suprizingly large bed. It is such a small space up there that I cannot stand up straight and must bend down when climbing to bed. The space on the "second floor" is spacious enough in width but not in height. So to put it in perspective, if I wake up upright from an oh-so-terrible nightmare, I wont crash my skull into the ceiling, and if I roll off the bed, I wont fall off the side of the loft. I just have to prevent falling off that ladder and all is well. My only complaint about the apartment is that my bedding is pink... not hot pink, or fushia but freaking pale pink. My least favorite color in the whole spectrum of color. My good friend Ashley knows this better than anyone...my issue with pink. I love it though. It is ther perfect size for a single female. It's so much cozier than a big apartment.

I'm still overwhelmed with all the things I'm learning and seeing, so I can barely get everything out in just one blog posting. There will be much more to come!

It's 3:30 am (Korea time). My sleep pattern a little off... not even from jet lag but from keeping strange hours (a habbit I have no matter what part of the world I'm in). I was sleeping, but then I just sort of was wide awake.

I'm set up in a motel right now. It's called Good Morning Motel. Isn't that sweet? Truth be told, it's not so sweet. In Korea, young adults live with their families for a while longer than say... young adults in the USA. So, from what I've gathered (it may not be a 100% acurate account) these motels are used as sex rooms for the young folk. It comes equipped with a box of condoms and a vibrating bed mode as well as green tea and powerade if you get thirsty and dehydrated from... sleeping. My favorite part is the refrigerated face mask-very rejuvinating, refreshing. However, they aren't dingy little sex motels you might find in the US. Mine is very modern and clean, spotless. This is great, but I'm ready to get settled into my little apartment.

Koreans are very friendly. I can't always understand everything they say and vise versa but you know what they say....a smile is worth a thousand words right? so I just smile a lot like I usually do.I met a guy on the bus to my city, Cheonan. He was very nice and gave me his contact information and invited me to meet his wife and have dinner with them sometime. That was my first conversation with a Korean... very hospitable and warm to say the least.

Everything is very bright and colorful here at night. Every city is like a mini times square. But for the people who live here, it's really no big deal. I'm pretty amazed though. During the day it's a bit colorless right now.The weather blows. It's either cloudy or thunderstorming every day. I'm ready for the sun to come out already and I've only been dealing with this dismal weather for 2 days. It's monsoon season or something they say... I don't know I just want a sunny day. I hope it's not like this much longer.

I start teaching August 30th Korea time but I've been in the classrooms training. Very cute kids with crazy behavior. I'm going to have to refrain from smiling and laughing as much so they don't think I'm a pushover. I don't want 7 and 8 year olds controlling me. They are really only 6 and 7. Korean age starts at age 1 at birth. So I'm actually 23 turning 24 (which actually makes me 2 years older than my american age because my birthday falls at the end of the year). It's tricky, but age is everything here.

So far, I'm extremely happy with my choice. Except there is no access to AOL radio OR pandora here. AOL radio... cmon! I thrive off of that. I've now moved onto Grooveshark and I'm pretty sure this is going to be a nice replacement. Just a minor setback.