November 19, 2007

• It's SNOWING!!!! like, really, truly, full-on snowing here. i like it now, since i'm inside, warm, and reading good books, and preparing for classes this week. but tomorrow i'll be out all day, and traversing to the other side of the city. booo!!!

  last week in one of my classes we learned about giving advice. so i handed out a scenario to each student, and they had to share with their partners and then give each other advice. one of my students took on the character of a step-mother whose step son was horrible. so my other student advised the "mother" to "set a trap for your stepson and call the police so that he will be taken away to jail and locked up!" when other students expressed concern for the morality of the advice, he replied, "oh don't worry, i already told her 'you are a very bad mother!'"

  i had dinner with some students last week, and they are so great! i'm really enjoying teaching here, and i seriously love all my students! an old ahjusshi banker is taking one of my classes, and every class time he brings the entire class refreshments. he's super sweet!

  i'm so sad that i'm missing thanksgiving this year : (
  this will be only the second time that i've spent thanksgiving away from family and home. one year i stayed in connecticut, but i spent the day eating a traditional thanksgiving meal with awesome friends who definitely understood the spirit of thanksgiving.

  so this past week i was talking to my brother and my roommate, when i realized why when i'm less than a month from going home do i feel more homesick than before. there are all these christmas decorations going up around seoul... christmas lights, sale signs and department stores, etc. christmas isn't really a big deal here. most people i talk to say that christmas day is just a day where they don't have to go to work or school. or at the place i work out, the girls without boyfriends are always saying how lucky the other girls who have boyfriends are since christmas is right around the corner. my roommate was telling me that in korea, most people prefer to hang out with their significant others on christmas rather than hang out with family.

  it seems so empty and meaningless, so it made me feel empty and meaningless too. thanksgiving is about giving thanks to God for all God's blessings, and it always has been (even though the earliest "blessings" came at the cost of native american lives and dignity). christmas is about the coming of Christ and this amazing gift that God gave to us. AND, it's about family. i'm realizing those things more and more... a meaningless life apart from God, and just how important family and good friends are.

  i think i will feel much better when my church starts advent services in december. i lOVE advent!!! it helps remind me why christmas is such a special time. AND it'll soon be time for "It's a Charlie Brown Christmas." ive already downloaded it onto my computer and i'm waiting to watch it the night before i leave for home : )

  
  the BEST christmas tree EVER!

  
  i tried looking for the one where all their mouths are perfect "o"s

  
  If i could dance like any one of them, i wouldn't walk anywhere... i'd dance my way through life!

  I hope everyone has second and third helpings of turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, candied yams, and pumpkin pie!!!!!!! my roommate and i discussed ordering a whole friend chicken for our thanksgiving meal.

  • 8:28 am
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