Overwhelmed!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit overwhelmed this year with my teaching schedule!! I'm teaching 24 (40 minute) classes a week, and when you're teaching ESL, that means you're basically performing all 40 minutes of every class!  There isn't ANY downtime, and I never sit down during my classes here!  In fact, sitting down is a big no-no in the Korean teaching culture!  

Whenever I feel overwhelmed about something, I make a list... It's the OCD in me!  This time my overwhelmed-ness transformed itself into a lesson plan chart!  If any of you are teachers in Korea, I highly recommend making yourself one of these!  I have a print out for each week, with my class schedule, the grade and class I teach, and who I teach it with.  After it's printed, I write notes in each class box so I know what to do, and can look back to see what I taught the last week or the week before that!
It's the only way I feel like I can stay on top of it!!

You can easily make the template in Microsoft Excel, and if you're like me, it'll give you a piece of your sanity back!  Here's hoping I have at least 1 class cancelled this week!

Happy Monday everyone!

Hello Kitty!

I don't know if it was going to the cat cafe that reminded Aaron and I of how much we love animals, but when our friends Violet and Anthony wrote on facebook that they needed a new home for their beloved cat (since they're moving back to the US and can't take him) Aaron immediately messaged me and asked if I was interested in having a cat?!   I was a bit shocked, to be honest, since Aaron is much more of a dog person, but I went with it!  Next day, we were at Violet and Anthony's apartment and they were handing "Ninja" over to us.  You could tell they really loved him and that it was hard for them to say goodbye.  They have raised him since he was a kitten.  He's now 2 1/2!

Aaron took "Ninja" back to my apartment while I met up with Ashley and Meagan in Centum City for some laser hair removal (OUCH!!!!) and Mexican food!

I excitedly returned home around 10:30pm to find Ninja hiding under the bed.  He came out a couple times to give himself a tour of my apartment and to check out all of the nooks and crannies that he could hide in when he got scared!

When I picked him up and set him on the windowsill to see how he liked it, he went and hid behind the curtain!  He was obviously terrified and very confused! Poor lil guy!

He spent most of Saturday and Sunday afternoon hiding under my bed!  It was almost as if I didn't even have a cat!  I went along with my business, and attempted to design our wedding invites!  I thought about hand writing each one, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of endeavor!!

It was about noon on Sunday and I had only seen "Ninja" who I now just call "Kitty", a few times in the last 48 hours!  He had found his new little comfort spot under my bed!  So, with Aaron's help, we took apart my bed and threw the frame out on the street, leaving my mattress on the floor of my apartment!  Poor Kitty didn't know where to hide anymore!  It was kinda sad for the first 5 minutes or so, when he tried to nuzzle his head under the mattress!  But, then... after an hour or so, he calmed down and found his new favorite place on my windowsill. 

Look at that face!!!

It was about this time on Sunday night when I knew Kitty was getting more used to me, and was starting to feel more relaxed and at home in his new abode! 

I fell asleep at about 11:00pm last night and woke up about 30 times to Kitty playing with his toy, jumping all over me in bed, scratching at the carpet, meowing, batting at my feet which were peaking out from under the cover, and just being a little terror!  Loola told me this morning that Kitty is good practice for when I have a baby!  LOL!  I'm hoping I can get him on my sleeping schedule somehow so I can get a good nights rest soon!  Cheers to being the mommy of a cat!