Sunday, August 30, 2009

Missing real food

For the last week, I have been having stomach issues. I only seem to be able to digest bland soft foods. The $8 doctor gave me $8 medicine on Friday and laughed as he told me my "unhappy gut" equaled an "easy diet." While I am always happy to shed a few pounds without working out hours a day, I would much prefer to be able to eat across a range of food groups without volatile reactions. I am trying to be patient as I wait for my digestive system to regain its strength. But this is not easy for me! Patience has never been my forte!

Dear Iron Stomach,
Please return to me quickly. I miss you dearly.
Yours truly,
Sarah

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Unexpected

This afternoon my school officially closed (temporarily) as a precautionary measure against the spread of the H1*N1 virus. Korean Health is really trying to isolate the virus and those affected by it!

Pray for those who are sick and for all of us who might have been in contact with the flu.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

First 2 Weeks Down

I have been back in Korea for 2 weeks now, and boy have they been busy! I guess the easiest way to recap is to go more or less day by day.

Sunday Aug. 2- got on a plane in SF, waited on the runway 3 hrs before taking off (thank goodness my friend, Emily, was on the flight), flew for 11ish hours, waited 1 1/2 hours in the Incheon airport for the TCIS crew to come together, took a 3 hr bus ride back to the warmest apartment ever! Arrival time: midnight Mon

Tuesday- 7:30 am back to school- about 7 pm... caffeinated my way through the jetlag; exhausting. but fun day catching up with all my friends! It is so nice to have a community of people around me who I love and who care for me. It really felt like coming home in many ways.

Wednesday-- I had work all day and then went with the gang to a jimjilbang for an awesome scrub down that night.

Thursday-- Day 3 of work. This was the first day of registration for the kids and I spent a lot of the day hearing about former students' summers. After work on Thursday, the chaos of soccer camp began. Somehow I got convinced last spring that it was a great idea for the girls to come back early for camp (even though I had work all day and the dorms were not open yet). The result? Double days after work and 9 girls sleeping in my apartment. Sounds crazy? Well, it was a bit. But it was a lot of fun.

Friday- Sunday-- soccer camp, soccer camp, soccer camp. Here's a pic of the girls finding creative ways to use my space and lack of plates: one mixing bowl + a whole box of cereal + a few spoons, take a bite and pass. I thought it was absolutely adorable.


Every day we played soccer for about 5-8 hours. It was blazing hot and completely exhausting, but a lot of fun. Evenings we ate out together. One night we went downtown and then had a crazy night of norebang (karioke). 6 pm Sunday the girls returned to their dorm worlds and I finally had a chance to get ready for the first day of school. Would I do it again? I don't know. But it was a great adventure with some wonderful girls.

Monday-Friday-- This year I am teaching Writing 2 (grade 10) and English 9. So far, my kids seem great. At this point, I really feel like I know most of the kids in the school (I've taught the vast majority of both the 11th and 12th grade classes and have about 1/2 of the 9th and 10th graders currently). It's nice to feel so comfortable teaching.

Friday night- For her birthday, my good friend, Jen, wanted to have a Star Trek party. Accordingly, about 25 of us did our best to dress in Star Trek fashion and played a variety of nerdy Star Trek games. Good times.


Sat-Sun-- I went up to Seoul and Suwon and met up with Lauren! I am so excited to have her in Korea and can't wait for her to experience the joys of international school!


And that, my friends, is my first 2 weeks in sum. Hope you enjoyed the play by play.