Be careful what you wish for...

...because it just might come true. 

Summer is behind us now, and the weather has suddenly gotten really cold!  Not fleece and parka cold, but cold enough that I feel totally unprepared for the winter months looming near.  Lord help us all if it is anywhere as near as extreme as this past summer was.

In other news, today my Co-T approached me about contract renewal for next year.  This is a question I knew was coming, but now that my official answer has been given, I have mixed feelings. My co-teachers have been really fantastic, wonderful friends and colleagues to me.  We might not have always agreed on things in the classroom, but as people they have only been helpful and caring. I know that as a foreign teacher I am totally replaceable, and this job, to be honest, is not really a good fit for me, but nevertheless the thought of leaving still makes me sad.

On the other hand, I'm relieved that I only have a few more months here.  Come March 1,  2013,  I'll be ready to get on the plane and head back to the US and begin anew, hopefully this time, staying put for a little while longer.

In the mean time, there's still Autumn to enjoy and the 'famous' fall foliage, part II of DH's green card/visa process, Christmas on Jeju Island and much more to come.  Korea's not over yet, so trying to enjoy what each day brings.

Signs of autumn at our photo shoot along the Cheonggyecheon Stream in Seoul.

Zzzz

Day two of desk warming*.

It's hard being back but even harder being back to do nothing.  I've tried the best I can to come up with ideas and things for upcoming classes, but there is only so much you can prepare for.  (I had two days of deskwarming on Monday and Tuesday as well, before the semester even started).  I've studied Korean, tried reading, writing a bit, but there's a limit to that too.

*sigh*

Tomorrow will likely be the last day of this until the end of this semester, so I guess enjoy it while it lasts.

* * *

*Desk warming is the term coined by foreign teachers in Korean public schools who sit at their desks for hours upon hours (sometimes entire work days) without classes to teach or prepare for. Their only function is  keeping their desk warm.

"So long, farewell, aufwiedersehen, good-bye!"

So, this will be my last post from Germany for quite a while. Heading to Seoul tomorrow morning, arriving Thursday afternoon.  Flying with Emirates via Duesseldorf and Dubai.  I'm allowed 30 kg and a 7 kg carry-on.  That's it.  Most of my belongings at this point have been given away, thrown away or brought back to the US.  I have one suitcase und das ist alles.

I'll be attending EPIK Orientation for the first ten days, so until March 3rd and then I begin work on the 5th. Other than that--everything is still kind of blank in my mind in terms of what to expect.  I know I'm working in Seoul, but as for apartment, age group, school location--we find out all of it after we arrive.  EPIK likes to keep us on our toes it seems.

It's been a freaking long process--starting back in June & July of 2011.   Stressful beyond belief.  But now it's over.  Or the application process is anyway, and now it's time to start the real thing.  So, before heading off, Ein großes Dankeschön an alle, die meine Zeit hier so besonders und schön gemacht haben.

...And to all the new people I'm about to meet in South Korea...

My introduction in Hangul.  "Hello. My name is Diana. I come from America.  Nice to meet you!"

What? Your brain has never freezed?

So brain-freeze appears to be an American-only phenomenon.  Who knew?

I was trying to explain to David not too long ago about brain freeze (you know, the pain you get from eating or drinking something much too cold and your head start to hurt for a few seconds?) and he said he had no idea what I was talking about.

I tried explaining it further... perhaps the name was a little misleading, but no, he said there was no such translation of experience in German.

Okay, so believe it or not I even doubted my own sanity on this.  Was this something that I made up? But later that weekend, I saw something on Yahoo! about brain freeze--it clearly was not all in my head.  Maybe it was only David.

A couple weeks later, by total coincidence, I'm preparing an English lesson that springs off an article in TIME on the topic of 7-11 Slurpees (there really was something worth talking about involving Slurpees, I swear) and the title was "Why Free Things Can Cost A Lot (And Make Your Brain Freeze).  So in class I ask my student if he knows what brain freeze is.  He says he does.  I'm relieved, until he starts describing it as something that happens when you forget what you want to say.  While he was correct, I described to him the other scenario that we like to call by that same name, and he too was at a total loss for what I could possibly mean.  His reaction,  "What's wrong with Americans' brains?"

Put on a Happy Face

The last two weeks were quite relaxed as most of my students were away on vacation. Germany just celebrated Pfingstin and Frohleichnem, and so schools had two weeks off and parents took two weeks off to be with their kids.

So by default, I also had almost two weeks off .  Normally I have something planned, either going away myself or working with the holiday language camps for kids--but this time I decided to spend the time running lots and reading and studying lots of German. My thinking was by the time the last week of June rolled around, I would be fit and ready to work until August (when most of my students will once again plan another vacation).

New week starts, I'm feeling pumped up and energized, and Monday in class, I take a sip of water and hmmm... that's funny, my throat starts hurting.  At the time, I figured it would be a one day thing and didn't think much more of it, although thinking back now, I should have attacked that sucker with hard core doses of Vitamin C and the likes.  Fast forward one week, I have absolutely zero voice, my body aches and my tooth (the same darn tooth thats been giving me trouble for months) is acting up again (although I think this is unrelated).  As a result I've had to cancel some classes, hence losing more income (freelancers don't get sick days mind you). 

Normally I would be quite aggravated by the perfectly bad timing of the situation (why couldn't I have gotten sick during the two weeks I had no work!?), but as of right now, I just can't bother using up my energy on such thoughts.  Best case scenario, I wake up tomorrow morning and its vanished ;)--worst case, is it lasts another week and I end up needing a root canal to boot. ;( 

Here's hoping. Wishing you all a healthy new week,
-diana