Blog-warming

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted here. The semester is winding down to its final weeks and I'm "desk-warming" again, because my classes got cancelled in favor of school festival preparation. Desk-warming is the time-honored practice beloved/dreaded by ESL teachers in Korea of sitting at your desk all day and staying sane.

It doesn't take much to fall out of the posting habit! A few weeks ago, I had planned my next post to be a tour of my apartment, but it was too messy and bare to capture in photos. I'm ashamed to say that it's still the case...

It's been a busy, interesting month. Holidays have been barreling through like bullet trains in my quiet, countryside existence. The expat crew had a Thanksgiving dinner of fried chicken, beer, and french fries at the local chicken place, which was satisfyingly American. I'm glad to have passed over the horrors of Black Friday this year.

I went with Dani to Cheongju to spend the weekend with her friends Kerrie and Minseop and share in a traditional Christmas dinner. I haven't been here long, but roast chicken, stuffing, and apple pie filled an absence that I didn't even know was growing.

Christmas dinner, thanks to Kerrie and Minseop!

Filling the void of homesickness, or the black hole in my belly.

The honeymoon period has ebbed away, leaving behind a sense of relief and balance. As much I enjoyed existing in a constant state of barely restrained excitement and exuberance, I'm glad to mellow out and start appreciating the routines I am starting to develop. It feels like coming home after a rock concert. It's getting colder and darker and I'm looking forward to quiet nights of knitting, movies, poetry, and copious tea drinking. Winter in Korea means always being a bit too cold. I try to keep the heating bill low in my apartment by trapping all the cold air in my kitchen. investing in fleece pajamas, and sealing the windows. This means my kitchen always smells like fried oil and the Arctic.

I need an adult version of this. Christmas is next week!!

My commute to and from my schools feels mostly automated now. I remember just a month ago keeping my eyes fixed outside the window for the whole 20-40 minute ride, watching indecipherable street signs pass by and waiting for my stop to magically appear.

It's almost the end of the semester and my middle and high school students have all taken their final exams. They still have to come to school for a month and a half before vacation. I have the particular joy of being an anxious new teacher with completely burnt-out kids who beg me for candy and Simpsons episodes. Most of my classes have been cancelled last minute for exam prep or school festival practice. It's a weird time to be a new teacher.

Since my apartment still looks terrible, my next post will be snapshots of life in Hampyeong, from the Chrysanthemum Festival to our first snow. :)