Tiny Shoebox Apartment

I know I haven't blogged in aaaages, but ohmahgoodness it's been busy since I moved to Seoul! I'm going to try to get back into blogging now that life has settled down a little. It was moving at a break-neck pace for a while but I kinda like it that way. Let's see... I moved into a tiny little shoebox apartment in January, went to Nepal a few days later, then started my new job as soon as we got back. As usual, I hit the ground running and have hardly had time to process. It's how I do. *brushes shoulders off*

I do want to keep up my blog a little more than I have been, because someday I'll be old and grey and I won't remember exactly what made this life what it is... you know, the day-to-day little things that comprise a whole grand adventure. Someday I'll print off this blog and all its pictures and have a nice little scrapbook to show my grandkids without ever having to actually scrapbook. Ain't nobody got time for that.

So, speaking of my tiny shoebox apartment! Want to see? I don't know if I ever showed you pics of my Jeonju apartment, but it was pretty wonderful and big! The one I'm in now is about the same size as my very first tiny studio apartment in Gwangju in 2012. After living in a 3 room flat for two years, buying all my own furniture, hosting international guests and really setting up house, it is an adjustment to say the least! It feels like I live in a dorm again. I can open my refrigerator while sitting on my bed. My washing machine is under my stove, next to my front door, and if you turn around you're suddenly in the bathroom. There isn't really room to move around when I have my clothes rack out to dry laundry. It is a tight squeeze... but it is mine, and it is in Seoul, and it comes with the best job I've ever had, so I'll take it and be grateful! ...but I also don't want to stay in it forever. (Please God let me move somewhere with a bigger kitchen and perhaps a dryer soon please and thank you.)

Without jabbering on too much more, here is the grand tour!

The view from the doorway. Welcome home! 

Turn around, here's the entryway/kitchen/laundry room/bathroom door

My living room/study with a pinterest-inspired wall

Another view back towards the door, the closet and drying rack on the right

My kitchen! 

Bedroom 

The bathroom is about 5'x5'

As you can see, it ain't much but it's home! Thanks for visiting :)

A Quick Life Update

For those of y'all keeping score at home, I've posted a lot of miscellaneous random things over the past few weeks (trash cans, crazy students) with very little about the major changes actually going on in my life.  I should probably fix that, eh?

Really quickly, I'll update y'all on my life.

This is my last full week at Brighton Kindergarten.  It's very bittersweet.  I am going to miss my students so much!  I'm excited about my new job and the transition, but some days are wonderful with my little kinders.  I'm sure I'll write more posts later about how much I've changed with my students this year, about how I have grown to love teaching these little people, about how my paradigm shifted, about how much I struggled with it at first but now feel quite comfortable in the classroom with little squirts... all that jazz.  It really helps that as I am leaving my school, so are they.  I teach *almost* all 7-year olds, with the exception of three six-year-old boys in one MWF afternoon class, so almost all of my students are moving up to Elementary school next year anyway.  Even if I were staying at Brighton, my kiddos that I love so dearly won't be there.  That makes the end-of-an-era transition a little easier.  If you've ever heard me talk about my job, though, you know how much I love my kiddos, especially the twins!!  I'm going to bawl on graduation day (probably in the sanctuary of my own apartment, where no one can see me) about parting ways with some of my students.  And let's be real.  I'll be celebrating the parting with others.  Some days they can be real farts.  The highs and lows of a teacher's life!  The last day of classes is Monday.  Kindergarten graduation (and talent show!!) is Tuesday.  One week.  One more week.  WHOA! HOWDOESTIMEDOTHISSPURTSANDJUMPSANDLAGSTHING?!

Next order of business (or should I say busyness?), I'm moving to Jeonju on Friday!  I'll move almost all of my things to my new apartment this weekend, then officially move OUT of my current apartment next Wednesday.

OH DID I MENTION I FOUND AN APARTMENT??  It's perfect!  3 rooms, good price, amaaazing kitchen space, nice view with the SKY and NATURE and everything!  I got a really good deal on my key deposit (which is typically very steep in Korea) because my department at the university has a good working relationship with the real estate agent.  It helped that I could sign a 2-year lease.  I signed all the papers a couple weeks ago and I have my first grown-up apartment now!  I feel like I really have ownership over this place.  It's the first apartment that I've chosen as an adult, rather than depending on roommates or provided housing.  After years of dorms, rented rooms in shared houses, and moving back in with my parents, I can't wait to make this new space feel like mine.  It's gonna be great.  AND I have a guest room, so all you fools back in the States can COME VISIT!!!

In other news, I'M GOING TO GUAM NEXT WEEK!!!  I went from thinking I wouldn't have any vacation between contracts (moving from Gwangju to Jeonju, kindergarten to university, less than a week between job-end and job-begin, etc.), to being told I needed to leave the country anyway to update my visa status (E2 to E1), so I booked a flight to Guam!  And then I found out that I can get all my visa stuff taken care of in Jeonju next week afterall, but by now I've got a non-refundable ticket to Guam and they can't change my return flight to anything sooner than next Tuesday anyway, so I'll be there for about 6 days!  HOLLA!!!!  6 days of me sitting on a beach, getting my freckles back on the beach, touring Pacific War Museums, sitting on a beach, going shopping in American stores (did you know Guam has a K-Mart???) cause it's an American territory, sitting on a beach, drinking delicious-fruity-alcoholic things on the beach, getting sunburned on the beach, you know, stuff like that.

May I add that it's really weird to pack for Guam when it's still freezing outside?  I'm packing for my vacation while I pack my apartment to move, so that I don't have to search through tons of boxes to find my swimsuits and sunscreen next week.  It's very strange to get out all my summer clothes while I'm wearing long johns.

(Side note:  HOW CRAZY IS IT THAT I CAN SAY THINGS LIKE, OH, YEAH, I'M LEAVING FOR GUAM NEXT WEDNESDAY??  Oh this life!  If you're contemplating moving overseas, JUST DO IT!  Throw the worries under the bus and get your butt overseas!  It is worth it; OH it is worth all the its!)

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Ahhh there are just so many things going on this week!  Saying goodbye to really incredible people, writing my last report cards, running a hundred errands and getting things tied up on this end, opening new accounts for my new job (my new bank is 80,000 times better than my old bank!), getting a new phone (GUESS WHO'S GOT AN iPHONE 5 NOW, BABY??) and new number, finishing books with my students and taking time to spend quality moments with each student, frantically practicing for talent show every single day, and on and on and on!  The next few weeks are gonna be insane as I finish this job, go to Guam, and then begin my new job!  I'm not exactly sure yet which classes I'm officially teaching (nor when), so I don't have books to prepare for yet, so I can't write syllibi yet, sooo.... I'll worry about that all later!  Maybe while I sit on the beach ;)

I might be quieter than usual on the blog-o-sphere for a few weeks, while everything in life goes crazy and then settles down again, but now at least you'll all know why!

Recap:
Wednesday - Today
Thursday - Last company dinner
Friday - Move all my stuff to Jeonju
Saturday - Going away party for Becky!
Sunday - Church stuffs and Jennifer's return to Gwangju!
Monday - Last day of Brighton
Tuesday - Visa stuff in Jeonju and Kindergarten Graduation in Gwangju
Wednesday - Move out of apartment in Gwangju and FLY TO GUAM
Thursday - Monday - Sit my little pale self on a beach and work to be less pale
Tuesday - Fly back to Korea
Wednesday - Start teaching at Jeonju University (classes TBA??)

YAY FOR CRAZY BUSY THINGS!!!

Until next time, folks!

Typhoon Khanun

Last week, we supposedly had a typhoon come through.  It hit Wednesday and was supposed to rain for three full days.  Thursday was one of the most beautiful days we've had in July.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were equally beautiful.  If this is what typhoons do, I'll take them any day over hurricanes!  Whoop for the Pacific! 

Here is what the view from my window looked like as the clouds rolled in...

Impending storm...

It begins!!!

Typhoon Khanun has arrived! (or so I thought)

And this was my view the very next day.  What the heck?  Three days of rain, my foot.

Bring on the typhoons, I'll take more of this weather! 

Drumroll please... The Apartment Grand Tour

I cleaned my A/C this week.  That's a big accomplishment. :)

I'd heard horror stories from other expats about cleaning the A/C, cause they grow mold in them from disuse during the fall/winter/spring, apparently, and get nasty gross, meaning that you could get sick from turning it on before you clean it.  My A/C is positioned right above my bed, so I wasn't in a hurry to clean it.  It wasn't that hot out yet (and really it still isn't), and cleaning the A/C with bleach and stuff would mean moving my bed (so no bleach and/or grime drips on it), and there isn't any place to easily move my bed, so I just didn't do it for a long time.  I settled for an oscillating fan and a top sheet, rather than a comforter.  Summer weather, you say?  Bring it, July, this ain't nothin.  Back home they started having over-100-degree days back in June.  This Texan is happy as a clam with the humid 85-degree weather outside!  I wonder if I could have made it the whole summer without turning it on?  Oh well, now that it's clean it's not bad to have it on once in a while! 

I finally got around to cleaning the durn thing cause I invited people over for Small Group on Thursday night, and I figured that even though I'm fine with the glorious warm humidity, other people may not be, and I'd like to be a good hostess.  So, Wednesday night I buckled down, moved furniture around and out of the way, got my bleach and rubber gloves and sponges and paper towels and everything ready, and got to work.  What a let down!  There was hardly any dust on the filter!  I expected filth, the way other people talked about cleaning theirs.  Even still, I bleached it all down and rinsed the filter, then let it all dry out.  That first blast of cold air felt like such an accomplishment!  All my furniture's back in place and looking lovely again :) 

This is just another moment in a string of things that have made this little space feel cozy and, well, mine!  I started my personalization of the place when I bought two little clocks to keep track of both the time here and the time at home.  So simple; they look nice up on my wall.  I felt some ownership in this place once I finished tackling the dirty grime in the bathroom and kitchen back when I first moved in.  That's right, filthydirtynastyness, it is I who come at you with swiffer and sponge!  Take THAT!  Later, once all the floors and walls were clean, I replaced the nasty/old/broken toilet seat cover with a clean/new/cute one (zebra print!!) all by myself!  I guess I never changed a toilet seat cover at home, but it seemed like it screwed on a little differently.  It was such a simple fix, but one that *I* did, all by myself, to make my home have some personality.

The felt some more ownership when I bought my piano keyboard.  Before that, everything I had, furniture-wise, came with the place.  The keyboard made my little place more exciting to return to in the evenings!  I quickly also bought some kitchen-ey stuff, which added to the homey feel.  I also found a full-length mirror in an alley, waiting for trash pickup (along with a little framed print), cleaned it up and taped up the cracks to make it a good addition!  Five-finger discount, don't mind if I do!  I bought a cute set of drawers to get some more clothes storage and inherited some plastic drawers to give myself some extra pantry-type storage instead of the cardboard box I'd been using.  Just last week, I bought a few simple mats to place around my faux-wood floors.  They add a little somethin-somethin to the aesthetics of the space, and I really think it's a sign of maturity that I bought neutral colors!  "Beige?  Ivory?  They're classics!"  Just my thought process while shopping made me feel like I was channeling my mother! 

Each little task accomplished, each simple purchase makes me like this tiny space more and more.  I've made it quite a nice little home for myself!  I cherish these months that I get to live here, even as I look forward to late August, when I *hopefully* will get to upgrade to a larger apartment.  I'm enjoying this little space and all the cutesy adorable pinkness that it holds.  The ridiculous pink bedding and pink flowery wallpaper finally grew on me.  When else in my life is my bedroom going to be so... pink??  It's obnoxious.  And I love it.

The other night, before my friends came over, I couldn't resist snapping some pictures to share with yall.  I hope yall can see why I like it so much :)


 THE GRAND TOUR:

Entryway - you don't wear shoes in Korean homes, so the shoe pile is right there at the door

Turn right when you enter the apartment and you're immediately in the bathroom.  Notice the shower head, attached to the sink.  You have to turn the knob at the base of the faucet to switch the water back and forth.  The whole room is my shower.

You can see how cozy it gets :)

Over-the-door shoe holder converted to a catch-all for the bathroom, due to the limited storage options!  Very glad I brought this from home. 

Bed area of the main room!  This picture is from a few weeks ago, before I bought my rugs, but I like this pic cause my lamp is on, so it looks cozier than the next pic.

See the addition of the rugs?  Don't they look nice?

"Living Room" - sectioned couch and piano, with luggage hiding there in the corner

Living room, kitchen, closet, dining room, and desk, all together.  That blank space in the middle is completely taken over when I set up my drying rack when I do laundry.  Goodbye living room, hello wet clothes. 

Dining room/Desk - snacks ready for small group

Dining room/Desk, TV that I never turn on (cause I watch everything on my laptop)(you see I was watching So You Think You Can Dance!), and view of the entryway

Kitchen!  Here's my little drawers which double as counter space, and the trash bag (hanging, cause I don't have room for a trash can)

The fridge and washing machine (grey, to the right of the fridge) are BFF's

Sink and stove!  Isn't the stove interesting?  Just sits on its own, not built in or anything. 

And that's the grand tour!  It's really small, but I like it, and it's temporary.  Hopefully more temporary than the full one-year, but we'll see if I'm allowed to move in a couple of months.  There's usually a shuffle when the other foreign teachers leave, based on seniority, but they are always talking about changing the rules and not letting us move... Ideally I'd like more space to spread out my living areas, especially to dry my laundry, so I'd like to spend the next few months making another apartment feel this cute!

What do yall think of my diggs?

Life without a microwave

It's interesting, that's for sure, cause for my entire life, I've had one.  Living in the dorm in college, I became a queen of micro-cooking.  I've never had to learn how to do basic re-heating without a microwave.

That is, until moving to South Korea.  Microwaves exist, of course, but I don't feel like buying one since I have a perfectly good stove and I recently bought a perfectly good toaster oven (which does a great job on toast and ok job on brownies, and that's all that counts, right?).  I'll save the money and learn a few new tricks along the way!

Tonight, I learned how to pop popcorn on the stove!!!

I love popcorn but I haven't had any here since I (as stated) don't have a microwave.  I haven't even noticed microwave popcorn at the store, but that may be cause (duh) I don't have a microwave, so why bother looking?  I've seen it at the tiny westerner grocery store downtown, but didn't buy any, cause (duh) ... no, nevermind, I'm not even gonna say it again. 

Anyway, when I was living at home, popcorn was our Sunday night supper pretty much every week.  The family'll go out for a big dinner (lunch) after church, then we munch on popcorn at night.  It was a Brock tradition at my grandparent's house, and my mom, dad and I keep it alive by popping bag after bag of delicious snacky-dinner while catching up on the DVR.  It's the perfect supper when you're hungry, but not really hungry. 

Now, I know it's Tuesday night, not Sunday, but I am catching up on my tv shows online and all of a sudden I really wanted popcorn!  I bought a bag of kernels a while back, but hadn't looked up what to do with them until tonight.

Boy howdy, I'm so glad I did!

First, I looked it up on Pinterest, the holy grail of cooking and crafting (and wasting time), found this pin that leads to this post, which linked to this post, and away I went!

The basic instructions I followed from Simply Recipes:

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Perfect Popcorn Recipe

• Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp canola, peanut or grapeseed oil (high smoke point oil)
• 1/3 cup of high quality popcorn kernels
• 1 3-quart covered saucepan
• 2 Tbsp or more (to taste) of butter
• Salt to taste

Method

1 Heat the oil in a 3-quart saucepan on medium high heat.
2 Put 3 or 4 popcorn kernels into the oil and cover the pan.
3 When the kernels pop, add the rest of the 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels in an even layer. Cover, remove from heat and count 30 seconds. (Count out loud; it's fun to do with kids.) This method first heats the oil to the right temperature, then waiting 30 seconds brings all of the other kernels to a near-popping temperature so that when they are put back on the heat, they all pop at about the same time.
4 Return the pan to the heat. The popcorn should begin popping soon, and all at once. Once the popping starts in earnest, gently shake the pan by moving it back and forth over the burner. Try to keep the lid slightly ajar to let the steam from the popcorn release (the popcorn will be drier and crisper). Once the popping slows to several seconds between pops, remove the pan from the heat, remove the lid, and dump the popcorn immediately into a wide bowl.
With this technique, nearly all of the kernels pop (I counted 4 unpopped kernels in my last batch), and nothing burns.
5 If you are adding butter, you can easily melt it by placing the butter in the now empty, but hot pan.
6 Salt to taste.

Additional tips: From the comments section
a If you add salt to the oil in the pan before popping, when the popcorn pops, the salt will be well distributed throughout the popcorn.
b Fun toppings for the popcorn - Spanish smoked paprika, nutritional yeast, cayenne powder, chili pepper, curry powder, cumin, grated Parmesan cheese.

Yield: Makes 2 quarts, a nice amount for two people, or for one hungry one.

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I added some garlic powder, some Jalapeno Ranch seasoning, and maybe too much salt, cause I added it to the oil, then couldn't taste it, and added more, then WHAM, oh boy, I could taste it. But it's good.  And I'm sippin water while I munch, so my blood vessels (or whatever freaks out from salt) will be fine. 

I burned a few kernels, but practice makes perfect, and I kinda like the burnt taste.  The combo of seasonings that I added were rockin!!! I'm so excited!  My mama'll be proud :) 

And I never would've learned if I'd had a microwave.  Win!

POPCORN!!!

See ya!  My popcorn and I are off to catch up on Castle!

One Month Milestone!

Can you believe it?  I've officially been in South Korea for one month.  Whoop whoop!  One down, eleven to go!  If they all go this fast, I'll be home by what will feel like May.  It does not feel like I've been here 30 whole days, at all.  To celebrate, I made my first dinner in my kitchen!  I made steamed dumplings (from frozen, I didn't make them, just steamed them), cut up a cucumber, and made tea.  Oooo, lala, I know.  I need to go shopping; that's all I had in my fridge!  Once I stock a pantry, wait, once I have a pantry to stock, I'll get more enthusiastic in the kitchen.  My tea was awesome though!  I got my first care package from home today and my mom sent a bunch of my favorite teas along with important stuff like medicine and other things I should have remembered to pack. 

I'm doing pretty good on culture shock so far, but I am prepared for when I'm not doing so good, which will probably hit next month.

I really like the food, as I've mentioned, and that helps when you're adjusting to any culture!  I certainly like Korean food a LOT more than I liked British food on study abroad!  That's a plus, cause I'm here for a full year and not just six weeks like my study abroad term.  Another plus: Korean food is a heckofalot healthier than British food!  Gimbap is my favorite breakfast or snack, especially tuna or spicy tuna, and especially the triangle-shaped kind (vs. the rolled kind).  It's pretty much replaced Jack in the Box tacos, if you know what I mean.  Breakfast, snack, lunch or dinner.  Mmmmmm. 

Big news!  This week, I learned to sound out Hangul!  <<Cheers!!!  Applause!!!>>  Hangul is the Korean writing system.  I've been working on the alphabet here and there, but it hadn't clicked yet.  I haven't spent much time intentionally studying, but every few days I'll work on another letter, really try to focus on seeing it in the middle of words on signage or product labels.  To use gimbap as an example, 김밥, the word has 2 syllables, and you might be able to see that each syllable has 3 letters.  In the first syllable, "gim," the ㄱ letter is the "g" or "k" sound, theㅣis the "i" sound, the ㅂ is the "m" sound.  All together, 김, or "gim."  You read each syllable kind of clockwise.  Got it?  ;)  I was also told about an amazing website that has a Hangul wiki, and that's helped as I have been learning the alphabet sounds, http://www.koreanwikiproject.com/wiki/index.php?title=Learn_hangeul.  If you're interested in learning Korean, I'd start there! It's really easy to pick up in a few days, or even a few hours, so I've been told, but I didn't ever sit down and focus for any real amount of time, so it took me a few weeks. 

Anyway, like I said, I've been working on a letter here, a letter there, but this week it all sorta clicked!  I can look at a sign and pretty much sound it out now!  The consonants have really been clicking.  I get confused on many of the vowels, still, but I'm so proud of myself.  I keep remembering about when I was very little, first learning to read in English, how all the signs just came alive!  My mom tells me that I would read them all out loud as we drove by in the car.  I'm quite a bit older now, but I still feel like doing that as I ride around on the bus or walk around in the store :)  I keep it restrained, though.  I mean, I already stand out in a crowd as a foreigner, without being the foreigner who talks to herself in Korean! 

I've learned many phrases that help when navigating around, like how to ask a taxi driver to go downtown or take me back to my apartment. I've started to learn to hear a difference in the way I mispronounce words and the way they're supposed to be pronounced.  Next, I need to actually pronounce them right.  Baby steps. 

I've learned to navigate the bus system and I am gonna get a bus pas soon to make all that easier and cheaper.

This month, I've cleaned the heck out of my apartment!  I've moved almost every piece of big furniture to clean under/behind/around it, and I feel so good about how well it's all starting to look.  Moving the fridge and washing machine took the most effort, but when I scooted them each over a little, I doubled the working space in my kitchen.  I have a total of 6 square feet now!  Once I get a real paycheck, I'll start outfitting my apartment with pieces that make feel it a little more mine, like a floor lamp and more kitchen storage and horizontal-surface space.  When I get it allll clean (to my near-obsessive compulsive standards) and furnished, I'll post pictures!

My students and I are learning, little by little, from each other.  We're getting the routine down, they're picking up on my teaching style, and I'm picking up on their individual learning styles.  I'm also learning a lot from my Korean co-teachers and the other foreign teachers.  We're getting closer to that groove that we'll hopefully hit in April! 

More good news, I joined a church in the area that has worship and small groups in English!  It's the church that I first visited with my friend Marisa.  Their new visitor gift is a towel.  I think that's what sealed the deal.  I mean, how could I resist after that?  But seriously, the people there are incredible.  I'm so glad that God brought us all together to that place.  It's not so much the music or the preaching or the space (though all are good), but the magnetic pull of the Holy Spirit working through the congregation is so... exciting.  I have already built some solid friendships with people there and I have so many more months ahead to build on! 

I could go on, but it's getting late and I ought to go get ready for bed.  Tomorrow's Friday and I have kids who are going to need an alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic teacher!  If I don't get 8 hours, I'm only one of those.  I'll let you pick which one.

Happy 'One Month In Korea' Milestone to meee!!!!

Cleaning house

I moved into my apartment yesterday!  It is small, like I expected, but I love it.  It's got mainly neutral wall paper and a pop of bright pink flowers on one wall, by the bed.  The school provides bedding and the director took me yesterday to get it... it's got lots of color blocks in bright pink, light pink, normal pink, and magenta.  I like pink, don't get me wrong, but I would never have expected to have SUCH pink bedding.  It works though, and it was free, so I choose to be happy with it :)

I've been cleaning a TON last night and today.  The person who lived in this one before me is a guy, and though he says he cleaned it and it looks 'so much better' than it did when he moved in, it grosses me out.  Mayyybe I'm a little OCD but you all know who my mother is, and she taught me to have a clean house and especially, *especially* a clean kitchen, so, there.  I spent a few hours cleaning the bathroom yesterday and a few hours cleaning the kitchenette this morning and I'm not even close to done.  I'm going to re-bleach the bathroom later and finish cleaning the kitchen.  The stove has a greasy layer on it that I haven't even begun to tackle.  Challenge accepted, grime! 

I just took my second trip to the store to buy more cleaning supplies.  To get to the store from my place, I go down the hill, across the street, through an apartment complex, down some stairs, across another street, and one block to the right (to grandmother's house we go?).  Then when I'm done shopping, I carry everything I buy back with me the whole up, up the stairs, through the complex, across the street, up the hill, and then up 2 flights of stairs.  I can handle about 3 bags at a time by myself :)  I think that's quite an accomplishment!  I looked ridiculous today carrying a swiffer with its long handle and big containers of bottled water up that hike! 

Today while I was at the store, a store clerk seemed to want to help me with my list, so I showed her that I was just looking at the detergent.  She was very interested in my English scribble (since it was just a shopping list and I have terrible handwriting, it's not the greatest sample of English writing for her to read), and she wouldn't give me my list back til she had read everything on it!  It was strange.  I like to browse a lot when I'm in a new area, get the feel for the store, figure out what exactly I want to buy, change my mind several times and backtrack to put stuff back or pick up stuff I initially passed on.  She didn't seem to understand why I didn't have some things on my list in my basket.  I couldn't quite explain that I wouldn't have room in my bags for everything on my list, so I was prioritizing, and that I was looking at the laundry detergent to see if I recognized brands, so that when I come back another time, I will have more of an idea of what I want to buy, since I can't carry it with me today.  She finally gave me my shopping list back and I quickly scadoodled over to the toilet brushes and then checked out and made my way home. 

Oh, Korea.  I don't know if they always watch people while they walk around the grocery store of if it's just cause I'm a foreigner and they aren't used to the way I look.  I feel eyes on me everywhere!  I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it's strange.  I really feel like I'm here now, though, instead of just feeling like I'm visiting.  So that's good. 

If you're praying for me, could you continue prayers that I adjust well?  I'm starting to feel pretty lonely without my support system that I have at home.  I have been so blessed with such a close family, emotionally and geographically, and it's so strange to be so far away.  I know that the solid groups of people that I had in College Station and Cy-Fair took years to build; they didn't form overnight.  I remember feeling lonely when I was a freshman at A&M, too, away from home for the first time, before I formed those bonds with girls in the dorm and before I joined my church.  It's a similar feeling to what I'm experiencing now.  My faith is a lot stronger now than it was 7 years ago, but I'm also a lot farther away from home than I was then.  I like the other foreign teachers but I've only known them for, like, 5 days, so it doesn't compare to the incredible friends I've known so long at home.  Pray that I continue to depend on the Lord when I get frustrated or lonely.  Pray that I find restaurants that I grow to love, nearby, that understand my pathetic attempts to order in Korean.  Pray that I clean that kitchen and can start making my own food in it!  Pray that I learn the hangul alphabet so that I can read signs in Korean.  That's my prayer list right now :) 

I'm going to go to Seoul on Saturday to do a little sight-seeing!  I promise to take lots of pictures.  Bye for now!