so...I've not posted in a while...

First off, sorry that it has been too long between posts. Life has been a bit crazy. But we will get to that in a bit.

Last update, I had gone on a hiking trip with a group of teachers at the end of October. The next couple of weeks mostly involved teaching. Two weeks ago, I played the piano and flute for one of my fellow teacher's weddings (fortunately not at the same time). This was my second Korean wedding to observe. The ceremony was beautiful, but the audience talked a ton during the wedding. After the wedding, I went with my host father, Jisu and HoJin to a garden in the area. It is a large garden for a quadriplegic who paints with his mouth. His paintings were beautiful. After the garden, we went to a place where they sell these tiny salted shrimp. The owner took us in the tunnels where the shrimp are "pickled". It was really cool to see and learn about the process.

The following weekend (one week ago) I went to the ambassador's residence in Seoul for a Thanksgiving dinner. While the food was great, it still wasn't mom's cooking :). I had an awesome time visiting with other Fulbrighters and then went shopping afterward. Then, on Sunday, I LEFT FOR TOKYO, JAPAN!!! In order to complete grad school applications, I need to send my GRE scores. I thought it would be easy to take the GRE in Seoul, but the dates did not fit my time schedule and I think I would have had to take the test in two parts. But I found out that it is relatively easy to register for the test in Japan. My school went on a multi-day field trip to Jeju (an island off the south coast of Korea), so I was able to get the time off for this test and a little touring in Tokyo. This meant that the three weeks preceding the test involved excessive studying and stress.

A brief run-down of my trip: I left for Japan on Sunday, stayed in a hostel in Tokyo, and took the GRE on Monday. After that, although I was a free woman, I mostly wanted to sleep. So I ate Japanese noodles, wandered around a little, and chilled at a coffee shop. On Tuesday I visited a zoo that was supposed to have pandas from China (the exhibition was being renovated). The vivarium was incredible, though. That evening, I went on the Sunset Cruise of Tokyo Bay. I got to see Tokyo Tower from the water (it looks like the Eiffel tower complete with gold lighting) and enjoy a little seafood. The next morning (Wednesday) I got up at 3.45am to go to the wholesale fish market auction (ranked by lonely planet as the number one attraction to see in Japan). The subways did not open until five, though, so I went back to bed and skipped the auction, just visiting the market mid-morning, buying some green tea and eating excellent sushi. That afternoon I wandered around downtown Tokyo, did a little shopping and then headed off on my long trek back to Hongseong. I had to take a train to the airport, fly to Seoul, take a bus to a hostel, stay for the night, and then take a train back to my apartment. Amazingly enough, in all this travel, I did not get lost once!! (Those who know me should be astonished). It was a great trip and I discovered how much I use the Korean that I know because I did not know any Japanese. (Pictures will come eventually...)

I taught school on Friday and then have had a lazy weekend to rest and recuperate and work on a few grad application essays. The highlight was probably watching Gladiator Saturday evening!

November has been one of the most difficult months that I can recall. It is not that I don't like life in Korea. The people are wonderful, I am still enjoying the food, and I love teaching. Life is just different that I was expecting and I miss home in a way that I haven't before. I miss being able to effectively communicate on a regular basis. I miss hanging out with my friends and telling jokes and being able to randomly drive to Denny's at three in the morning for a cup of hot chocolate and a great conversation. I miss feeling like I understand what is going on. By the end of college, I had the system pretty well figured out and enjoyed that sense of control. I suppose that has been one of the reasons it has been difficult to blog. When I stop to write, I have to process all the emotions I am going through and I guess I have been avoiding that.

I think I am on the other side of the hurdle now, hopefully. I got through the Thanksgiving holidays and Christmas is coming soon (and I am going home for Christmas!!). School is on the last stretch of the semester and I am already looking forward to what I will do differently next year. I have plenty of exciting plans for winter break, including coming home, taking a language course during February, possibly visiting Jeju for a few days, and potentially a little more international travel.

Well, that is a little glimpse into my life right now...and I will work to keep the world a little more up-to-date :) .