Still Pretty Much Great...Well, most of the time ;]

So, for the last while I've been trying to decide what to write--especially because I haven't written for so long!  So, let me catch you up.

August, 2011:  I moved to Tallahassee, Florida and started a Social Work PhD program at FSU.  The drive across country with my sister and new sister-in-law was fun!  I even got to stop by and visit Val and Dax in Texas.


September-November, 2011:  The best way I can describe these three months are with four cards from the game Star Munchkins:

          Stressed with school.  Frustrated with school.  Overwhelmed...and ready to kill technology.

          I also moved into a tiny on-campus family-housing apartment.  My first apartment alone.  The kitchen is tiny, the tub is a shower and not a real tub at all, and there aren't any attachments for a washer and dryer.  I love it anyways =]  It's kind of a two bedroom apartment; there's just no hallway between the bedrooms.  I use the middle one as a library.  I love buying picture frames, making curtains and tablecloths, and trying to decorate my little apartment.  I also love that for the first time in seven years, I don't have to keep a good chunk of my belongings in a storage unit!

          Lastly, I got a new calling in my ward: Family History Consultant.  It was great, because I've been meaning for forever to learn more about doing my family history.  It also provided a much-needed break a couple of times a week to not do things related to school!  So, now that I've been doing it for 10 months or so, I'm getting much better at it.  If you have any questions about family history, family search, or new family search, it's possible I can help =]

December:  I visit my family for Christmas.  Yea!  I visit my sister and her little family in Utah first, making a green knit cap for my nephew (he chose the fluorescent green--his favorite color).  There was a shocking lack of snow while I was there.  Then I go home to San Diego for the rest of vacation.  

January-March, 2012: I go back to school.  Luckily, that semester, I'm taking less credits.  I go see Wicked in Jacksonville with some friends.  It was still awesome.

March, 2012:  Sadly, I get into a car accident and my car is totaled.  Yeah, I got it last August.  I hate cars.  

          When the car flipped, but head got all cut up, so I had to get a bunch of stitches.  And no, they didn't have to shave my head.  The hair that I lost kind of...got ripped out.  In case you're wondering, it's a little traumatizing to lose a bunch of hair that way.    It's starting to grow back now; kind of funny, I have these little tufts that are about 1 1/2-2 inches long that stand up sometimes.  The picture I uploaded is the least graphic one I could find.  It think it was taken a little less than a week after the accident.  My eye swelling up was actually kind of scary.  It didn't start to swell until two days after the accident.  Then it started to turn purple, and was almost swollen shut.  I had to go back to the doctor to ask them about it, but they said that if my CT scan was clear (which it was), then it was probably just fluid going to fix something wrong with my eye. 

          The awesome thing about the accident (if there is such a thing):  After I got to the hospital, the nurses asked me if there was anyone I wanted to call.  I kind of hesitated and told them I'd have to think about it.  My home teacher was out of town.  I didn't really know who I should call.  I was trying to figure that out when my visiting teachers, who had just been assigned to me the month before, were standing in the doorway.  Here's the amazing part:  no one had called them.  They had left their apartment because the people outside their apartment were having a loud pool party (it was on a Sunday afternoon), so they had decided to drive to a lake and have a picnic.  They had literally driven by the tiny on-way intersection where my car was sitting upside down, saw my car and wondered if it was mine, then pulled over when they saw my friend Melissa (who I'd been driving home from church) sitting on the grass nearby.  Melissa told them the ambulance had just barely left to take me to the hospital, so they jumped in their car and met me there.  It's still hard for me to process how lucky I was that they came.  They arranged for me to have a blessing, and even called my family to tell them what happened because I didn't feel like I could talk on the phone at the time.  Tender mercies, as Elder Bednar would say.  They, and one of the guys who came to give me a blessing, stayed with me for six hours while I got stitched up and waited for the doctors to clear my x-rays and let me go home.

April, 2012:  I buy a new car.  It's bright red.  I wouldn't ever have thought of buying a red car, but I really was thinking that maybe people would see me instead of running into me.  So far, it's worked.  And I don't really speed anyway, so I'm not afraid of being pulled over more frequently.

May, 2012: I turn 31.  Kind of hard, not because I was afraid of turning 31, but because I've been going to the YSA ward for the last year, and moving to the family ward made me feel cut off from friends.  Luckily, my schedule has lightened up enough (or maybe I've just adjusted to it) so that I can go to more activities and institute classes.  I decided that, even though I'm "old" I'll still do weekday activities at the institute.  

          I take myself to Jacksonville for my birthday to see Les Miserables.  I've only ever seen the clips of the songs on youtube, so it was pretty amazing to see the whole performance for the first time.

          I also purchase my first major piece of furniture.  The apartment I live in is furnished, but the "couch" they have is a disgrace.  It's actually painful to sit on.  So, I purchased the following (I like the color)...

...and the pillows came with it!  

Please feel free to compare the striped monstrosity on the left 

with the turquoise couch I purchased on the right. 

June, 2012: I find out that a journal article I wrote last semester is going to be published!  Excited, but I do feel some pressure because of it.  My topic may have been the thing that made my article attractive.  Still, I'm optimistic that other projects I have might also be successful.

          I also start hiking around the trails in Tallahassee!  I love exploring some of the trails that are close by.  I even got a group together to go exploring.  It's a little awkward, because when I go hiking on my own I can do whatever I want; pause and take in the scenery whenever I want.  With a group, there's more pressure to keep going and you miss things.  On the plus side, I didn't have to leave a note on my table saying where I went hiking in case I went missing =]

July, 2012:  I went kayaking for the first time!  It was just on a little "lake" nearby.  FSU has a small lake that they call "The Rez."  Everyone made it sound like it was really far, so I've never gone out there.  Then, I went with a few friends.  Yeah, it's a five minute drive from where I live.  And it's free for students to get in and check out canoes and kayaks.  Welcome to my new hobby.

So, there's your update for what I've been up to the past year!  I've kind of felt like there hasn't been anything terribly exciting to report, except maybe the accident (and I didn't really want to go into that).  Here's hoping I'll find something to say between now and next year!

Love your guts, 

Bekahjo

How Does Your Garden Grow...

Britte and I worked hard on our family garden this year. We're excited, because everything is getting so big! We planted...

Cantaloupe in the corner, and Pumpkin (the massive plant in the foreground)

WATERMELON!!! We have 5 of these adorable little babies growing!

We transplanted this plumeria tree from my grandpa's house. We thought it might be dying, but now it's flowering a lot, and it smells so delicious!

Sunflowers and African Daisies

Crazy amounts of zucchini (Dad always plants too many hills!) and a random assortment of Tomato plants

Chili Peppers, Green Bell Peppers, and (my new favorite) spinach =]

We also have a bunch of carrots in another planter box, with a couple of strawberry plants that don't seem to want to grow for some reason...Oh, and some lettuce plants in the window, Chinese lantern flowers in a pot, and a small palm tree in another pot.

I'm a little more excited now about going to Florida, because my Dad says you can have a garden there all year round.

Oh, Ridiculousness, How Should I Describe Thee?

Once upon a time there was a Bekah--an inconspicuous young lady, who moved back to the town of her raising (no, not her birth--that's on the other side of the country) to take care of a little problem. The little problem concerned two properties that her grandfather owned. After he passed away, the family decided to sell the properties. Unfortunately, no one in her family had time to take care of the problem. So Bekah, who was planning on leaving and embarking on a 3+ year adventure to the boondocks of Tallahassee, decided said problem should be taken care of before she immersed herself in a whole other problem that would suck up her time.

Sadly, the more she cared for this problem of properties, the larger and more complicated it became. The whole situation reminded her of the Hydra from Hercules. The more she tried to cut off the head of the problem, the more heads grew out of his monstrous body. And the heads nibbled on Bekah. A little too much.

I've been a little broken for the past few months. I'm knocking on wood and trying not to tempt the Wrath-of-the-Whatever-From-High-Atop-the-Thing, but I think what broke me is almost over. We'll have to see. Maybe one more fast Sunday will do the trick. I'm even starting to let myself believe, again, that I might be able to actually afford to move to Florida, let alone possibly not be completely broken when I start my doctorate. That would be difficult, trying to get a doctorate in social work while being all emotionally/mentally/spiritually mangled.

I'm just glad I'm learning how to put myself back together again. =] I don't mean for this to be a sad entry. It's not. I'm on my way. So CELEBRATE my friends!

You Can't Quit, Because You're Fired!!!

Okay, so I didn't really get fired. I really did quit. I gave my notice just over two weeks ago, and in the email I sent to my boss (who is always out of the country. I think he was in Jakarta at the time), I told him I could either stay until around the 20th of February or the 5th of March, if he needed me here longer. He emailed me back and asked if I could stay until the end of March, because some of the teachers weren't going to be here in time for the new semester. I emailed him back and said I could stay longer, but only until the 20th or so because my brother is getting married on the 25th of March. Then, just yesterday I get an email from the International Office (not even from HIM) saying they'd like me to leave either the end of February or stay until April. Why would I stay until April? My brother is getting married!! Did he just forget my logical reasoning? GAH! Sometimes these people drive me crazy!!!!!!

Sorry I got on here just to rant. Really, I've been having a great time. When I feel a little less cloudy in the brain area I'll post actual, useful things for you guys to read. The past month and a half back have been rather crazy. I've been wrangling kids for the winter English program they host here at the school when the university isn't in session. I was basically working 12 hour days for a month. Now I'm recuperating, organizing the office, and adding "figure out how to move back to the US in the next two weeks or so" to my list.

Someday I'll be sane again. I had to leave the office today because I was getting so overwhelmed with stuff to figure out. Good thing I found this little notebook while I was wandering somewhat aimlessly around Janghowan. It said on the front "Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy." Great quote. And it's one of the few in Korea that doesn't have obvious English mistakes in it. So I bought it.

Souvenirs anyone. before I leave South Korea for (possibly) good?

I don't care what people say...

I don't care what people say...

~The new Narnia movie is great

~I have yet to draw up the energy to see the new Harry Potter

~Frozen peas are good. Eating them frozen is like having a treat

~No pain, no gain might be true. But yes pain, yes gain is definitely true

~Weird looking ornaments you made with macaroni noodles when you were little will always look better than the fancy store-bought ones

~You're not crazy if you talk to yourself, and then answer yourself back. Yet.

~Any references to Serenity/Firefly in Castle are hilarious

~The Sorcerer's Apprentice is also awesome

~It's not Christmas until Neil Diamond sings it, even if he is Jewish

~That other version of "Life is a highway" NOT sung by Rascal Flatts is terrible. PERIOD

~If any more books about vampires, wizards, or dragons come out, I'm going to have to sue the literary community for lack of imagination. Today I was thinking I should write a book and mention dragons in it all over the place ("Hey, remember when that dragon attacked our village and burned all our crops?"), but never actually HAVE the dragon appear. Just to tick people off and keep them confused.

That's all for now. I'll think of more later.

Until then, enjoy the show.

Cheese!

Rice collected into white bags. But don't they look like marshmallows?

You don't realize how much you like cheese until it costs 8,000 won.

I'm back in the US, but just for a month. Supposedly I'm going back to Korea. I say "supposedly" because I'm waiting on my work visa. And yes, I really do want to go back. Mostly because I really want to go see the Great Wall of China and the terracotta warriors, hopefully this February.

Anyhow, I've been having fun with my family. My little brother, Dave, got back from his mission last Thursday. He's been trying to register for classes, find a job, and plan his whole future in the last three days, and watching him get frustrated over his inability to complete these tasks immediately reminds me of when I was fresh off my mission. Stir crazy after just five days of being home. I think I'll make him paint the hallway. That'll give him something to focus on while he's waiting for life to happen.

I've been spending my time avoiding grading my students' finals and instead working on the backyard. We had a ginormous (not a word) tree removed a little while ago, and just a few months ago the fence was finally completed. Now things have overgrown and gotten a little scary looking, so for some reason I've decided to dedicate my time to finding the backyard. That is, when I'm not watching The Sorcerer's Apprentice over and over. Great movie, great music...but where's the baseball-exploding scene from the trailer? I keep watching the movie hoping it will appear. And no, it's not in the deleted scenes either. =[ Sad day. Still, I love the main song. Other than all that, just decorating for the holidays and trying to decide what to do with my life. You know, the usual.

Museums and Halloween

We had a Halloween Party for our students on Monday. Yes, it was November 1st. But technically in the US it was actually Halloween when we had the party, so it works. The guy with gray hair is Dr. Kim, who is over the international department. I still can't believe we got him to play!

Sony and I at Karaoke with all the International students:

We made masks as part of the Halloween Party. They don't really do Halloween here at all, so we had to come up with some kind of easy constuming for about 50 people. They really seemed to like decorating them.

I-am-a-robot.

Wait a second! The PARTY room they've been trying to get us to use is actually a huge DRESS UP CLOSET!!!! So glad they finally unlocked the door and let us in!

Aw, my students. Betty, the one on the right, is intent on teaching me Korean.

Becky is so creative! She apparently whipped up this costume in a matter of minutes. Just before the party, we suggested to Jon-David, her husband and my co-worker, that he put on the huge headphones from the office to walk around and listen to his "Ipod" for his costume. I think she even had a little ipod with speakers that she carried around with her so when people pressed the play button she could start up the music!

We always laugh when we go to church in Chungju, because they tend to add amazing adjectives to the beginning of the name of a city. For example, Busan (which used to be spelled "Pusan" but is now spelled "Busan"...I was confused over that when I got here) is known as "Dynamic Busan." We're still trying to hunt down nicknames for all the rest of the towns, but Chungju is also known as "Good Chungju." We laugh about it all the time, but as I find places like this--Hoamji Reservoir, which is just a few blocks from the church--I can't help but think "Ah! Good Chungju!" =]

So, I've been tutoring this girl in Seoul in order to help her get ready to possibly go live in the US and attend a private school there. The first day we met, they had arranged for me to stay the weekend at a hotel nearby. Guess what the name of the hotel was?

Oh Dear! What have I gotten myself into? =] Aside from the name, everything about the hotel seemed just fine. Except for someone smoking in the hall late at night. But I plugged the bottom of the door with towels.

I won't bore you with too much of my museum fanatacism, but check out this statue outside the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul:

Isn't it cute?! And HUGE! I want one for my front yard, when I have a front yard some day. It looks like what I would picture Hugo from Fablehaven looking like...except maybe not such a pointy head. And don't miss those flower bushes in the right hand corner! Who knows why they're bent over like that, but it's clever and entertaining looking.

What the...How did I become an ENGLISH teacher?

So, once upon a time while I was at BYU I had a decision to make. I had to decide between majoring in English or Social Work. Here's the breakdown of how the two competed with each other for my affection:

Year One: My first semester of school was spent taking classes I thought would be fun, like astronomy and archaeology. They were fun--but they were also harder than I thought they'd be. Science fascinates me! I'm just not good at it. When it came time to register for classes for Winter semester, I spent a bunch of time flipping through the undergraduate catalog, trying to figure out what I might want to major in. English had always been an option, and was probably the most obvious since it had always been my favorite subject. Still, I thought, why not throw caution to the wind and try something new? I literally flipped to the social work page and was a little entranced. I vaguely remembered "social worker" being on the list of suggested professions on one of those personality tests they made me take in high school. That, and florist. So, I decided to take the intro to social work class. I was a little captivated--it was all about helping people. Like getting paid to be a service missionary, or something similar. Yep, that's me. Throwing caution to the wind--with social work.

Year Two: I started taking some of the prerequisites for getting into the social work major. It was in this second year that I met my Arch Nemesis (no, not you Dax), i.e. Physiology. It wasn't even the class with the cadavers. It was just the plain old Human Biology class, where you go in and talk about the human body. You had to get a B to get into the social work major. Even with all my stinking studying, I still got a C+. Really? =[ English wasn't looking so bad, especially if it meant I didn't have to retake physiology. I spent winter semester taking creative writing and social problems.

Year Three: I decided to focus on English. I had decided to at least get a minor in English, so I figured spending my time taking English classes wouldn't be a total waste, even if I decided to brave Physiology again.

After Year Three, I went on a mission. Yea for missions! And Chileans! Especially ones that no longer live in mines! I decided while I was on my mission that I should take another stab at Social Work, even if it meant retaking Physiology. I mean, we're supposed to aim high, right? And I really felt like Social Work was the way I was supposed to go.

Year Four: I went back to school in the Spring of '04. When I was registering for classes, I realized there was another social work class that I could take without having to be in the major: Family Interaction. I took it. Since it was Spring, there were only about eight of us in the class, if I recall correctly. I was the only non-major student in there. And I loved it. I was sad that I might have to retake Physiology again....BUT WAIT!!!!! When I looked at the requirements for entering the program, they had changed the one referring to Human Biology. You no longer had to get a B!!!! You just had to pass the class!!!! And I HAD passed that class! Muahaha. It's sad that I had to wait for them to lower their standards in order for me to get in. And that's all I'll say about that. When I asked my Family Interaction teacher for a recommendation into the program, he put me through a pretty dang rigorous questioning period to find out why I wanted to be a social worker. Then, at the end of the conversation he said something like, "Well, I am the Dean of the School of Social Work, so if I recommend you, you're pretty much in." And he did. And I was.

Year Five: I spent the rest of Year Four and all of Year Five blissfully taking social work classes. I'd already taken all of the classes I needed in order to get my minor in English. Two goals down.

However...I had started writing. Sort of. I snuck off to writing conferences. I kept a notebook in my bag, a habit my creative writing teacher had taught me, and wrote down interesting snippets. And more. It was my outlet.

When I went back to San Diego and lived at home, I found myself mysteriously assigned to grade papers by my High-School-English-Teacher-Mother. I guess I shouldn't say "assigned" because she paid me for it. I gave in and became a de facto teacher's assistant. And trust me, I decided then and there that grading papers--especially if you're looking for grammatical errors--is not fun.

Year Six and Seven (of school. There was a two year interlude where no school was attended. Unless you count social work/writing conferences.): I went back to school and studied social work. At secret, dark hours of the night I would hide in my room and write things, just to loosen the tension of all the other social-workey things I need to study or write or do or counsel about. Hey! They finally learned how to work together! I would also try desperately to read non-social work related books. But let's be honest, sometimes my brain was just tired. I got through half of a bunch of books, because I didn't have time to finish them. I did finish a lot of young-adult fiction, because that's what my brain could handle.

And now, here I am in South Korea. I was told I would mainly be teaching social welfare classes, but find myself tied to the English department because of a lack of teachers. I teach eight English classes a week, and one Social Problems class--and I'll be honest, I miss counseling a lot. I've even volunteered to help out the English Branch with one of the church's counseling groups, if I can. =[ My two loves are fighting again. I really wish they would stop butting heads against each other.

Anyhow, I think it's ironic how I try and push English out of the way of Social Work and make it stay in the hidden corners of my world, and it just keeps popping it's head out in unexpected places, like my current job.

And they lived Happily Ever After.

I felt like they were both appropriate =]

Dinner for Two

Okay, here's the deal with pictures. It takes a lot longer to upload pics here than it does on Facebook. That's just the plain truth. And I have a LOT of pics so far. So I'm going to choose a few favorites to post here, and then if you want to see all of them, you can follow the link to the album on Facebook right here. Hopefully it works. I changed the album privacy setting to "everyone," so I think you should be able to see it, even if you don't have a Facebook account.

Here's the school I work at. Yea! It's real! The town in the distance is Janghowan. It's about a mile and a half away. There's another town, Gamgok, that is a little closer, but it's behind those trees.

The Philippino exchange students introduced us to an all-you-can-eat restaurant where you cook the food in a burner set in the middle of your table. From left to right, it's me, Jared, Michael, Becky and Jon-David.

Me, in front of the Jogyesu Temple, the main Buddhist Temple in Korea.

I hiked a trail by a nearby Catholic Church, and part of the trail was lined with about 15-20 of these reliefs of the life of Christ. This one is the Garden of Gethsemane...

...and this is the Resurrection.

My Temple =]

So, the funniest thing happened to me last night. I had gone to Seoul with Becky and Jon-David, two of the other English teachers. They showed me where the Temple was, and then I stayed to do a session. I was making my way back to Gamgok from there by myself--a 45-minute subway ride and another hour and a half+ bus ride. Anyhow, I stopped outside the bus station to get something to eat at a little burger shop (first burger I've had since I got here. And I ended up getting a chicken burger sandwich).

I was sitting there eating at a little table. In front of me was a couple facing me, and a woman with her little boy with their backs to me. The little boy, who was about 3 years old or so, got up to play. When he saw me his eyes got REALLY big. He pointed at me and then said something to his mom. When she didn't respond he began tugging on her sleeve. She turned to look at him, and he pointed at me again. I was laughing pretty hard by this point, and she looked at me a little embarrassed. She said "sorry" and I just waved and said "It's okay." The little boy said something again to his mom, and she told him to say "Hello!" He didn't really get it at first, and then all of a sudden he got shy and hid behind his chair. After a little bit he started looking at me from between the slats in his chair, and I bent over a bit so I could see him. We played a little international game of peek-a-boo for a bit. Then, with his mom engrossed in her conversation, he came over and climbed up onto the chair across from me. =] He had a little happy-meal-type toy car he was playing with, so I said "car" and he repeated it a couple of times. I told him my name (one of the few phrases I've learned is "Na-nun Rebekah imnida"--my name is Rebekah). Then I asked him what his name is (something like "irum-i mwo shimnikka?"). He told me--and I couldn't really understand him. It started with a "d" sound, but I couldn't make out the rest. But I asked him twice, and he said the same thing both times, so I'm pretty sure he understood me, even if I couldn't understand him. He just sat there playing with his car, driving it on the table and the wall next to us while I finished eating. His mom and her friend and I all finished at about the same time, and when she realized her little boy was just sitting there across from me she kind of laughed and said sorry again at the same time. I laughed, and said "bye-bye!" to her little boy. He said "bye-bye" a couple of times back to me as we both left.

So, even if my English students don't learn English, at least I taught a few words to a little three year old boy.

Sometimes "Bekahs" go to South Korea...

...though it doesn't happen often. But it did this time.

Let's start from the beginning. Around mid-July I (on a whim) applied for a job to teach Social Welfare and English at a small university outside of Seoul, South Korea. The job ad came through my Social Work program at USU, from a professor who had worked in the sociology department there for 30+ years, and was now working at the university in South Korea (called "Far East University"). Applying for the job was kind of one of those "Wow, wouldn't that be cool?!" kind of things. I didn't know if I was really serious about it, because to be frankly honest I've never really been interested in going to South Korea. Literally, on all my lists of places to travel to, South Korea was never on it. Not that I thought it was a bad place--I'm just more of a Visit-Europe type of girl, always dreaming I could go to England and all of the UK, France, Denmark, Italy, down to Egypt and maybe some other countries in between. I would stop off in Spain too for good measure, because it's there in the middle of everything, the culture seems beautiful , and then I wouldn't be wasting my Spanish. (I'd go to South Africa, too, but it's not in Europe. And, now that David has lived in South Africa, I figure he can escort me around when I can finally pay for it). But this South Korea job was a chance for me to travel and get paid (a decent amount, actually, for a social worker who has just finished her masters degree) for it.

Anyhow, about 3 weeks ago (literally, THREE weeks ago) I heard back from the program. I had gotten the job, and they would like me to come by September 1st. What the...? That was two weeks away!!! When I got my mission call, I had two MONTHS to prepare, and they had given me a detailed list of things to bring and do beforehand. The lists I got from the university were sparse at best, most of them pertaining to things I would need in order to get a working visa 90 days after I got to South Korea. There were some other problems as well with the school's organization of getting me down here, so I won't lie--I was REALLY hesitant. I emailed a couple of friends that had served missions in South Korea and got information from them. I worked out making sure the school was real (having heard that some people get offers to "teach English" in other countries and then arrive to find the offer no longer exists, and they are therefore forced to figure out how to get themselves back home), and I emailed my professors from USU to see what they thought about the idea. A few of them knew Dr. Kim personally, so that helped calm my nerves a bit.

Up to the time my mom was flying me to the airport, I was seriously considering not coming because I was so nervous. There were, of course, many prayers thrown out there to figure out if this was a good idea. There was really no concrete answer, except for the emphasis on pursuing a goal that I've felt prompted several times in the past year to work towards--getting my PhD. I talked to a friend who is in his PhD program right now for Social Work, and he said that teaching social work in South Korea at a university (even if it is small) would set me apart from other applicants, so this could potentially be a chance to travel and improve my resume a bit.

I think the hardest part was getting on that plane from San Diego to San Francisco. By the time I got to San Francisco, though, I was feeling a lot more confident. I did, however, have to move some of my things from one suitcase to another, because I hadn't had time to weigh each of my bags to see if they were the correct weight. That experience was oddly, overly stressful. It all worked out though. Since then, I feel like everything has been kind of surreal. I got here South Korea's Thursday night. A man from Far East came and picked me and another teacher (and his wife) up from the airport, and drove us to our housing. We're living in an international house on campus, and the room I'm staying in is really nice. It's kind of like a nice hotel room. It was oddly comforting to have such a nice room. I guess they do that on purpose, so we feel better about the whole experience.

Anyhow, Friday morning we met with some of the students, introduced ourselves, had a little "American Culture" day, and then planned out the teaching schedule. We're supposed to have 2-3 more teachers coming next week as well (I was a little frustrated when I found that out, knowing I could have had a little more time to prepare to come!!). We walked into town, a little over a mile away, and our supervisor showed us where the grocery stores and a few little places to eat were. The town we're in is small, but it seems like we have almost everything we would need there. I haven't taken a walk on my own around the whole school yet, but I'll try to this evening so I can post some pictures. We went into Seoul for a little while yesterday, but we didn't stay long (we were all so tired!) so we just went to a few shops, learned how to ride the buses and subway, and did a very little sightseeing. I figure I'll go back to Seoul, and hopefully do some more sightseeing around the country, once I get a little more settled here in Gamgok.

Craziness, I know. But here I am. My contract is for a year, so it'll be over next August. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll stay the whole year (the penalty for breaking the contract is minimal--I just have to pay back the amount they paid for me to fly here), but it's been a great experience so far.

I'll post pictures soon!
Love,
Bekah

Summer Remodeling

So, here are a few of the things I've been working on while I've been in San Diego:

I completely redid the laundry room. I didn't take a before picture, but the walls were a lime green with a 70's style wallpaper on the wall behind the washer and dryer. I removed the wallpaper and the old shelf that was up above the washer/dryer, painted the room, took out the old laminate tile and installed the new tile. New shelving and a new doorknob later and we were done. =] I like it.

I helped Britte make these Bridal Shower cakes for our friend, Emilyssa. Mostly I helped make the little flowers on the cakes and the bodies (which I sculpted out of fondant). It was fun for my first cake decorating experience, but I realized I'm probably way too perfectionistic while I was making the flowers!

Britte and I took down the old tile from our parents' bathroom. The pipe broke quite a while ago, and we finally decided we were smart enough to fix it. Eventually we decided we should just completely redo the whole shower area. Taking out the ugly old tile was actually pretty fun, but big trash bags were necessary.

Britte sanded down the glue on the old greenboard that was still good, so we didn't have to replace that section. In case you were wondering, you don't use "greenboard" any more, you use a mold resistant cement board. Fortunately, they still paint one side of the cement board green, probably because they know people like us (who work on their own home repairs) will freak out if we don't use the right supplies.

Sweeping the old greenboard pieces out of the tub in preparation for putting up the new ones.

Setting the tiles. It's a good thing there were two of us because it made it easier. For the most part I spread the grout and Britte pushed the tiles into place.

Cutting tiles. It was actually kind of fun, I felt like I was back in ceramics class...

...except I didn't get this wet in ceramics class, even on the wheel!

Britte takes a break in the newly tiled tub.

Here's the end product! (The curtain looks way brighter than it actually is. In reality it's more of a calm teal color. I'm assuming it's the flash causing the difference).

And on to the next project!!! The most frustrating part of this bathroom was the plumbing. The old plumbing was so messed up that removing the old pipes was incredibly hard. I actually had to heat the old pipe and twist the pieces out with a plumbers wrench. Ridiculous. Then attaching the new system took forever because the pipes we were trying to attach the new system to were a little bent, and to top it off we couldn't get the pipes to drain completely. Anyhow, we finally fixed the water problem by draining all the pipes in the house (you have to turn the water to the house off and then turn all the faucets, including the hoses outside, on) and then with a little more solder and a few "love-taps" with a hammer we got our new pipes to fit into the old ones.

Here's the finished product. Looks the same as the other one, but we decided to put the decorative line on top. Yea for like-new bathrooms!

And to top it off, here's my adorable nephew! =] He directed me in remodeling the play-doh into a bunch of animals. This was my favorite remodeling project so far, even if I didn't get to use the propane torch.

I keep wishing I had something amazing to write...

The best I can do right now is, I'm still alive. I made it through graduation. No tripping, thank goodness. I don't know why that's my biggest fear. Maybe because I fell off the back of the risers once at a choral concert... I'll include some graduation pics for your (and my) amusement.

Outside, walking to the Spectrum. It's tradition that the master's students walk from one side of campus to the other. Thank goodness it wasn't snowing!



Where's Waldo (Or, in this case, Bekah)?



Getting my hood. The instructions for the hood literally tell you to put it on in a certain direction and then have someone help you fix the back. Luckily the school provides people who are obviously (based on the number of layers they were wearing) qualified to help fix your hood for you.



Walking across the stage. And Mike's finger. Someday I'll edit that out. But not today. Today you get all the gory details.



Graduated =]

So, "now what" you ask? Now I'm studying for a licensure exam I'm taking soon. I'll go down to San Diego for July, to help get some of my grandpa's things taken care of. Then looking for a job, hopefully working by August. Probably in Utah, preferably in the Salt Lakish area, but I may not be too picky, considering the job market and economy. And such.

I have only two problems that I need to fix in order to be a normal person again. 1: Graduate school, and the attending projects, papers and other such fun things that I toiled over into the wee hours of the morning in order to complete graduate school, has left me with the terrible habit of staying up late. My brain can't shut down early enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour. I'm hoping that my time in Cali will rearrange this problem, since my family tend to be early-going-to-bedders. 2: I now have the tendency to "need" to be busy. Because my brain tells me that if I'm not doing something important, it's because I've forgotten the important things that need to be done. Then I sit and wrack my brain for the things I should be doing. This also causes a problem in the social arena. I've been generally "too busy" to do many fun things for the past two years. So, when someone mentions something it takes me forever to decide if I have time to do it. I'll have to retrain my brain to stop being so stingy with my time, I suppose.

Nothing else too exciting, friends. I finished a crafty project I've been working on. I moved, but only temporarily, until I leave for Cali in a couple of weeks. I have some time to do things like take a look at some painfully neglected genealogy, books, and projects I want to complete someday. Hopefully someday is coming soon. He seems to keep running further away from me, despite my efforts to cage him in. I finished graduate school with the relief of finding my turtle still alive. He has neither died from neglect nor committed suicide out of the sheer rage of living in a much colder climate than he would prefer. And that alone is a huge accomplishment.

By the way, thanks for everything you guys. I couldn't have gotten through the past two years without you =]

~Bekahjo