The Tropical Storm (Formally Know as Typhoon) Tuesday Report

Yesterday, the unthinkable happened.  With a typhoon warning in effect and reports of serious damage when the typhoon made landfall in Okinawa, school was canceled for today.  For the first time in two years.  I was sent home with an armful of newspapers, told to wet them and tape them to all of my windows to protect from broken glass, and to fill my bathtub with water in case something happened with our water supply.  Before all of this, I hadn't thought a bit about the coming typhoon - just brushed it off as an over-reaction.  All of this hoopla freaked me out a little.

It felt a little strange to sleep in today.  And, it felt extra strange not to be at school today, especially after the typhoon was downgraded to a tropical storm late in the morning, which basically meant that there would still be heavy rain and wind but there was less expectation for serious damage.  It's now 7:00 PM and I've spent the day sleeping, making lunch for Desiree and myself, watching some Laguna Beach (lately, we can't get enough of that show, though we spend the whole episode complaining to each other about how dumb the cast members are acting), purging my closet of the clothes I haven't worn in awhile (inspired by this blog - she also converted me to hand washing the clothes I really care about - what a woman!) and doing laundry.  I've heard wind now and then and as far as I know, it has yet to rain.  Some typhoon, indeed.

The pictures are from a few weeks ago on a rainy evening - they show the view from my bedroom window.  I'm a little obsessed with the mist that rises from the mountains when it's really humid.

Coming Home, Again.

Last year I spent almost a month at home.  It was so great to be home, go at a relaxed pace, see people and bathe myself in all the Ameri-centric things I had been craving.  This year was different.  Two weeks.  Schedule, schedule, schedule.  Less cravings to satisfy. Since this trip was very different from last year, it was incredibly satisfying in a completely different way.  Last year, I was worried about how the distance had change me, changed the relationships I so cherished and changed the way I remembered things.  They hadn't changed that much (I talk to almost everyone on a regular basis, after all and how much can things in Clarence change in 11 months anyway?).  This year, armed with the knowledge that things would be comfortable, unchanged for the most part, and revitalizing for my mildly jaded spirit (I'm always sooo ready to go home but so energized to get to Korea when the time comes too), I came home knowing what to expect, knowing what I wanted for the most part and knowing that my mom had put together a well planned, thoughtful schedule (a feat that makes total sense, yet something I can never bring myself to do - it's a good thing she does it naturally!) for my time at home, allowing me to see everyone I wanted and needed to see as much as time and schedules would allow.

There was plenty of family time (both weekends, we got to spend time with Nick, Jess and Drew - perfect!  And, lots of Grandma and Grandpa, aunts and uncle time.  Oh, how I miss those holiday and random family gatherings!), friend and neighbor time, serious conversation time, and of course, homegirl-eats-her-weight-in-Iowa-centric-food time.  I even spent a couple of hours in the emergency room as the result of a minor cooking (chopping, more accurately) snafu involving some green onions, a hella sharp Korean knife and the finger nail on my right pointer finger, which made for a shocking bandage for a pretty minor injury and a (funny?) story.

I was constantly reminded of how many special people are in my life there and how lucky I am that they would take time out of their busy summer schedules to spend a little time with me.  Honestly, this sounds kind of silly, but it meant the world me.  People here excitedly asked me what I did while I was in America (WOW. Teacher, you go America? Wow.) and I think they expected tales of grandeur and excitement, so when I simply said I spent a lot of time with family and friends, they were a little confused.  That is, until they studied the huge grin on my face and the slight twinkle in my eye.  Then, then they understood, I think.

All in all, the two weeks passed by oh so quickly, as I knew they would.  But, it was the perfect Iowa getaway, filled with most of my favorite people, most of my favorite food, plenty of wine and spirits, laughs, smiles, photos and revitalizing relaxation in the busiest possible way.  While I sometimes call Korea home (since I do, in fact, live here and all and have for the longest period of time that I've lived anywhere but Fourth Avenue, Clarence), Iowa and Clarence will always possess everything that home embodies.  Pulling up to our red house, having Miss Snickers wag her tail uncontrollably and jump all over me upon recognizing who I am again, and having my dad hand me a perfectly mixed Whiskey and 7Up, as my mom sets the table with guacamole and hint of lime tortilla chips, gosh, simply conjuring those familiar images in my mind just now brought a chill to my spine and a strange tear to my eye.

I am one lucky lady, indeed.

Breaking Blog Silence

Good glory, it's been awhile.  Somewhere along the line, I fell off the blogging wagon (again).  Maybe it was the fact that Blogger is now blocked at my school (where I guess I did the majority of my blogging?), maybe it was the fact that I don't seem to do as many new and exciting things as I once did, maybe it's because I didn't have much to say in the way of blog worthy/appropriate content (would you believe that?) but let's just cut to the chase and say I got lazy.  So there you go.

Here's a short breakdown of what has gone down since the 4th of July, some of which will warrant their very own posts.  Cool.
> I signed up for a third round in Korea.  More on that later.
> I went home to visit for two weeks.  Definitely more on that later.
> (I wasn't going to blog about this, but it's become a fairly sizable chunk of my life here, so it's whatever) I dated a Korean dude, stopped dating him, started dating and stopped dating again (second round - different guy) and started talking to and seeing again the first guy.  Nothing too crazy or serious - trying to keep it light and fun, but if you know me very well, you'll understand that that's a bit of an oxymoron and much easier said than done...  Less on this later, but let me just tell you - dating in ESL is definitely interesting, at times frustrating, and most definitely complex, but in the end, at this point, delightfully challenging and pretty fantastic.
> school trip - imagine if you will: all of the EB teachers on a bus.  A raucous bus.  This most definitely warrants its own post as well.
> my first legitimate haircut (legitimate meaning not done by me in my bathroom) in over three years.  It felt so good to be in a salon again, and even better to be in one in which I couldn't speak enough of the same language as my hair dresser (I detest salon small talk - I'm so awkward about it, if you can imagine.).  Extra cool points: one of my students works at the salon to which I went and she helped do a lot of my hair (my hair needed a little extra love after three years...) - pretty sweet bonding experience with one of my pals.  The tresses are getting pretty long (by my humble pixie cut standards), folks.  Pony tails are my style of choice lately (it is SO FREAKING humid here) and I'm down to between two and four bobby pins to keep the stragglers in place.  Progress.
> plenty of Seoul gallivanting, including but not limited to fish pedicures, river cruises, Batman movie viewings (much better than I was ready to give it credit for...), bowling and probably much more than seems to be escaping me at the moment...
> Gwangju, Gwangju, Gwangju.  This city, my friends, is so good to me.
> once a month eye check-ups after my surgery - it's been almost four months since my LASEK surgery and whoa, what a game-changer!  The doctors (and me!) are continually impressed with the improvement in my vision given the sorry state of affairs in which my previous vision cast me.  Literally every appointment, my doctor says, "As you know, before, you had a very high level of nearsightedness (here comes my favorite part) and a PROFOOOOOOOUND amount of astigmatism.  And now, perfect vision.  Wow."  It sounds like he's really patting himself on the back, but I'm so over the moon with my change in vision that I'd gladly reach around and vigorously pat him on the back too.  Since my vision was so terrible and they need to continue the healing process, I'll have to continue these monthly checkups for at least a year.  No big deal.
> School, school, school.  Still love my school, still love my students.  Still feel unbelievably, inexpressibly lucky to have fallen into this situation, in case you were wondering.
> Joined the three fifths of the Korean population that has a smart phone (I'm serious!).  It is soooo cool to be able to talk to (most of) my pals at home in real time.  Like, whoa.
> Summer camp.  Nothing too crazy to report - pretty easy, pretty chill, pretty cool girls.  Hopefully the extra cool ones will come to our school next year!

Aaaaaand, that's all I can think of right now.  Here's hoping I come visit your computer more often :)