Mesmerized!

During my 5th grade class today, the students, in unison, begin yelling, "Teacher look!" and pointing to the window.

I walked to the classroom window to get a closer look... and low and behold I could not believe what I saw! There were literally THOUSANDS of dragonflies!! I was absolutely shocked and mesmorized. Stella walked over to me and put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Sit here and enjoy... I'll teach for a little while." It was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen to date.

Why would you drink that?!

One of the moms from my "English for Parents" class brought lots of these "juice packs" for each of the parents to drink during class.  I was so excited, thinking it was apple juice, which I hadn't had in a long time, but as we all began to pour our juice packs into small paper cups, the entire room began to fill with the stench of onions... It was at that point that I took a closer look at the package and noticed it was actually onion juice!  Turns out, it's red onion juice!! ... and I always thought tomato juice was gross.  I had no idea about onion juice!

Wait, how much is that?!

Before I came to Korea, I was under the impression that EVERYTHING in Asia is cheap!   Quite the contrary actually... Take this add, for instance.  I received this in my mailbox today, and couldn't believe the prices!  Holy shamolies!  

These cotton shirts are $262.00 and $124.00, and they're ON SALE!!  

These cotton dresses, while they are BCBG, are still outrageously expensive; even on SALE!  

Red plaid dress: $191.00

Black and white dress: $148.00

Now you have to be a serious coffee or rice lover to spend this type of cash on these two items! 

Coffee maker: $2,449

Rice maker: $265

I never thought, in a million years, that I would be shopping on e-bay all the way over here in Korea, but it's true.  I just received my first purchase in the mail yesterday!  Can you blame me?  This place is a money pit!  

Like the 1st day of school all over again!

I had no idea my new hair cut and color would be such the talk of the school today... I'm used to changing my color and cut often, so it really didn't phase me, but almost all of the kids at my school were going crazy! They would knock on my office door to see it, and most of them did double takes when I walked by. It was as if they thought I was a stranger that looked awfully familiar. When they would finally realized it was me, and that I wasn't wearing a wig, they would run after me and stop me so they could just stand and stare. It was the funniest experience! It was a little bit like the 1st day of school all over again, when they were intrigued by everything about me, but this time we all knew each other. Since my hair is darker, I said "I'm Korean now" and some of the kids are now calling me by my Korean name, which is Song Ee. I kind of feel like a brand new person... Funny how a new hair style and color can do that!

Can I please go?

So, in August, I'm going to Thailand for summer vacation. Apparently, in Korea, all goverenment employees, including me, have to ask the government for permission to leave the country. So, today, Stella helped me fill out a page of detailed questions about when I would be leaving the country, where exactly I would be traveling to, and how many days I would be at each location. On top of that, I had to write what my expectations are for the trip and what I think I will learn while I'm there. Can you imagine the uproar it would cause if this was the rule in America!?