Season's Greetings

It's been nice lately. Very nice.

The weather's cold, so I'm wearing 4 layers (bayou wuss). There have been a few occasions of flurries, which are little reminders that snow is on its way someday. There are Christmas trees and Christmas music sprinkled around town, especially in and around the coffee shops.(The coffee shops here are something to behold: I have a superb business plan for my own lil' shop back in the states now... and it does include tree-house-like rooms.)

Work has been particularly awesome. My later/older classes have been temporarily suspended for an intense study session, so for about three weeks I've only had to be at work from 2-7. The bosslady assigned some extra work in their absence, but it's really fun, creative work, like reading books and making questions to go with them for the advanced classes. I reread Animal Farm and am now on The View From Saturday and I'm loving it. Reading has always been a passion of mine, but since school's been over for me I don't often allow myself the quiet alone time to get many books in.
So, point is, this job rocks.
And, it goes without saying, the kids I teach continue to be funny and adorable and surprising every day.

Our good friends, Heather and Ian, are about to head out on a new adventure and leave Korea for a while. We are sad that they are going, but plan to spend quality time together until they leave, and will have some new things to cozy-up the apartment from their plush palace ; )... a bookshelf, a toaster oven, lamps, etc. It'll make the winter seem miles away once we get the cave all set up and the floor heaters cranked up high. We plan to just chill here at home with our friends for Christmas, and Kevin's making stuffed cabbage!

We made a funny new friend at Song's the other day- named Sang-Jae. He's 54, speaks decent English, and is an excellent story-teller. He had us in stitches, talking about the girlfriend he just broke up with and life in general. He is a big fan of music, and gave me lots of encouragement and requested some songs I was able to figure out on the spot cause they were old favorites of my mother's, and that felt pretty super. He says he'd like to take us somewhere sometime; show us some real Korean treasures. We shook hands on it- I hope to see him again, and Kevin says he'll have his camera next time.

There are about 3 months left on this contract, and I have one foot on a decision, but the other is hung up on the fence. As things are looking, I won't be re-signing but Kevin will. That's not definite: not anymore than anything in the world is. But that's the way it's looking.
I would love to stay, I like it here. And I'm not exactly running home in fear. I believe that if there is a war, it'll likely be a fizzle of a war, and then reunification will happen, and it'll all be grand, grand. But there is that chance... and that chance has pushed me into thinking a lot about what ELSE I might want to do, and as a result the old brain is truly gearing up for some cool stuff. As always, when put in a corner, this kid can come up with brilliant ways to slip out.

Currently, I'm thinking of returning home to concentrate on finishing a book or two and trying to get published. I will also drive across the country to visit with friends who've moved around... Reconnect and take a minute to experience a wide variety of lifestyles, from New York to Cali, maybe even Hawaii (wink!)

Leaving Kevin here will be a little heartbreaking, because I love his company so much, but we both agree it'd be a positive experience for us both, and we both want to concentrate on creating our thangs.... See, we're both pouring over with creative ideas for art, stories, and projects of all sorts; but then we're both easily distracted by having general fun together, so it's hard to focus on being productive. Spending serious time apart is hopefully going to allow us to focus on our own goals.

My boss wants me to stay. She took me out to dinner last week as planned to calm my fears regarding war... and brought a date. We had a terrific time: Ate at an American style buffet and met with Kevin at the German Bar. We played music (the date was a great musician, and funny, too).... ended up at Michelle's making requests but only hearing hair-bands. However, no one really discussed the 'situation'. (And by that, I don't mean the bad music.)

Granted, the lack of further provocation has done its own job of calming my concerns, but here's the thing: Just as I was settling back in to the lovely life here, in the news today it says another live-fire drill is scheduled on Yeonpyeong Island. This is South Korea holding it's bruised chin high and daring North Korea to hit it again.
They will be shooting into the water, not toward NK-- just like last time.
They are holding a routine drill; NK has seen this before and should not be upset-- just like last time.
Kim Jong-Il visited the artillery base that attacked the island a few days before the firing last time, and the news says he visited an "unspecified" artillery base today...
The drill will happen sometime between Saturday and Tuesday.

So, there's that.

But overall, it's a gorgeous winter day in Gwangju. It's Friday! I'll finish work early, do some reading, have a delicious dinner with my favorite person and maybe some others I like, and who knows what fun the weekend will hold.
Then, in a week....Crimbus!!!!

Here's a quote for the day:

“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met.”

- William Butler Yeats