Yikes! Two weeks of teaching left! And I have so much more in me that I want (and need) to teach!  It's so obvious that things are winding down as I am losing focus, students are losing focus . . . and all anybody wants to do is go outside and play!  Thankfully, this weekend I will be able to do that!  Julie and I are going to Pusan and we're going to RELAX!  I am only bringing tests to grade on the train ride . . . other than that I will read the books I WANT to read, lay by the beach (hopefully . . ), and do NOTHING productive! :)  I can't wait.  We really need to just get away for a bit.  We should have probably done this long long ago.

Anyway, there is so much more that I wanted out of this year that I want to make happen next year.  I hate to look back on it with any regrets, because it has been great and I have learned and grown so much.  But next year I hope to do the things that I have been desiring to do.  I feel like I have stifled my first real reason to be here.

Getting on a train and out of the O-Jung Dong! Wahoo!

So I guess I would say I've had a pretty fun-filled last couple of weeks.  It started off that I was sick (still) and took a day off on Tuesday to recuperate a bit.  It's a good thing I did, because when I came to school on Wednesday morning, all of our classrooms in my side of the campus were flooded!  It was really exciting and fun and just different . . .but had I been as stressed out and grumpy as I was on Monday/Tuesday, I'm sure I would have broken down in tears.  Luckily, since I had planned for a sub, that also included cleaning up my desk area, so I had moved all of the papers and projects that would have been promptly washed away and soggified in the flood if my desk had been like it normally is.  So they came with super machines and sucked all the water out . . . and we had classes elsewhere.  A very memorable event though.  Can't wait to see what happens during monsoon season! :)

The rest of the school days have flown by and the weekends have stretched out (long weekends in a row) and I have gotten the time (I think first time since I came here) to NOT do ANY schoolwork on the weekend, and just play.  It is quite rejuvenating.  I should have done it long ago I think.  This working on the weekends is overrated.  I think I just dupe myself into THINKING I'm working, when really I'm just wasting time and feeling busy and not getting to do other fun stuff.

I have been blown away lately by the thought that we have only somewhere around 6 weeks left here for this year.  I hate when time passes me by so quickly, and I don't even take the time to reflect.  As I was hiking on the day before Easter in some hills here around Taejon, I was thinking about my last big hike, up a volcano in Chile.  And it hit me that I did that on Good Friday, exactly a year ago.  It seems like I did that yesterday!  It seems like all of that was just yesterday, walking along the streets of Santiago, hanging out with my crazy friends there, riding a death bike without breaks to school every day.  I am getting older by the week, and more and more removed from my life at home and the things that I have known.  And before I know it, I'll be moving on from here and starting it all over again. 

Butterflies

I love long weekends!  Even if they are peppered with conferences.  I figured I had a couple of evenings with time to spare since I didn´t have classes the next day, so I did some socializing actually.  That was great.  Turns out I figured wrong and didn´t have time to spare . . . but I´m glad I did it anyway. 

So I went norebonging for the first time since I´ve been in Korea.  I can´t believe I haven´t been before.  It was quite educational.  I now know why Koreans can sing so many songs and know all of the lyrics.  I discovered so many things I never knew about all the songs I thought I knew. 

I also spent some time playing putt-putt . .. .I blame it all on the course . . . I had friends over to watch a movie . . . The Count of Monte Cristo which was fabulous!. . . I went to dinner with friends at the meat buffet . . . delish! . . . I did a Costco run, went to an awesome young lady´s 17th birthday party . . . wahoo. . . . went to a baby shower and ate good treats, and went to church which was extremely uplifting and encouraging.  We spent some sweet time in prayer for each other and just really affirmed each other.  I miss that from friends and family at home.  I really felt loved.  And shed quite a number of tears.  Which doesn´t mix very well with a sinus infection and allergies . . . needless to say I filled the entire floor with dirty Kleenex.  I was just a leaky faucet all around. 

Anyway, I am blessed by my friends here and the community that I live in.  Thanks to everyone - students, teachers, RAs, administration - - - I really love you guys!

Batman and Robin

44 . . . read it and weep . . . I KNEW my mom would come through for me! :)

The Philippines was awesome . . . it ended so quickly. 

We really got to know a lot of great Filipinos from a University there that volunteer to do habitat trips on a regular basis . . and they definately added a whole new dimension to the trip.  It was a regular Noree Bong everywhere we went! 

It was truly wonderful to relax the brain and work the physical body a bit.  I realized that my face is a regular faucet . . . dripping incessantly when I get hot.  Magnifies the freckles aparently.  Looks garish. 

There is really no where to begin a description of the trip or how I feel about it.  I´m so bad with words.  I love serving God and others.  I wish that I was better at it and that my faith moved more mountains than it does.  We talked this morning at church about our faith and miracles and the power of God, and it is humbling to know that my faith is so often sitting idle. I want to live in an environment that forces my faith out there to trust and need and depend on God more than my daily life involves write now.  I´ve always asked God for that.  I constantly need to be humbled.  I get so comfortable with life. 

Going back to school is coming up way too quickly.  It´s hard to jump into break and jump out in a matter of hours.  I feel like I´m never caught up or rested.  Well . . . better get back to that lifestyle! :) 

For your viewing pleasure . . . One of my favorite sights I beheld in the Philippines.  Pink male urinales every 40 meters on the sidewalks.  Doorless.

Here´s our team and some of the local workers that worked with us!

Here is the pit of death. . . a pit over 6 feet deep that we chipped away at.  Filled with poo mind you.  I know I said these pictures were for your viewing pleasure, so if you squint, you won´t see Scottie to the left and it will be much more enjoyable for you. 

Our in house live entertainment . . .Jack Johnson flown in fromt he US for personal showtunes.

Cole