Have I been in Korea for too long?

I was talking with one of my Stateside friends tonight, and I asked her opinion on a shirt I was contemplating buying. At first, she couldn't believe that I was considering buying the top for myself. She thought that it had a strange cut and the graphic on it didn't make any sense. I thought it was really cute, I just wasn't sure if it was work appropriate...

It's a little cat chasing butterflies across some cute flowers! Naturally, I would wear pants under it. Who knows... Maybe my fashion sense (which, let's face it, was never really trendy to start with) is turning Korean. 

What do you all think? Should I order this top? This is a serious question! The fate of my fashion integration may hinge on the answer. 

Packing and Assorted Pictures

When I went back to America, I didn't have too much time to pack stuff here in Korea. I pretty much threw in a few outfits, and went. I did have enough mental energy to think through the fact that I'd probably be doing some shopping while I was Stateside, so I brought two empty suitcases with me. When I came back to Korea, they were most certainly NOT empty.

What kinds of things might a Midwestern expat in Korea want to stock up on, you might ask? Well, here in full color is the answer. Yes, I did actually manage to fit all of that into suitcases. It was something of an ordeal. If you don't believe me, just ask my dad. He hates my packing adventures ;)

This is the grand overview is all of the non-clothes items I bought to take back with me. 

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Believe it or not, I haven't been able to find any gummy snacks or body spritz in Korea. So, I made sure I had plenty of both!

Yes, that is a red waffle iron. Yes, it does make heart shaped waffles. Yes, it was in the valentine's day clearance. Yes, I will have to transform the electricity before I can use it in Korea. Yes, it is TOTALLY worth it ;)

Thankfully, all of the boxes of mix fit into one of my carryons, and I didn't have to factor them into the weight restrictions at all. It would have been unfortunate if I did have to weigh all of them. 

That plastic thing with a handle is for transporting various baked goods around on the subway. I'm hoping that it will make it significantly easier.

Here is one reason why America is a great country. Do you see those Dr. Seuss books? Dr. Seuss is a WONDERFUL tool for teaching English. Each one of those books was only $5 each! It was pretty exciting!

Possibly the most ridiculous purchases I made, a pillow and a memory foam mattress pad. Bedding in Korea is quite different from Western bedding, and it has proven to be quite uncomfortable. It was a major major pain to get this stuff back to Seoul with me, but it has been totally worth it!

In other news, I got to spend a lovely valentine's day with my friends Sarah, Sarah and Wei Wei. It was quite interesting having three Sarahs in one house, but at least it was easy for Wei Wei to get our attention! Whenever she called for any of us, we were all paying attention to her!

Note the two lovely vases of roses. One of them came from Sarah K's parents in Indy, and one of them came from Wei Wei's boyfriend in Morocco. We were a very international household. 

Dinner is served!

Hello Wei Wei!

A little of this and that

After six weeks of radio silence, I'm back. It's been quite a full six weeks, complete with a whirlwind trip back to the States and the death of my grandmother. School started up last week, but we had level testing and sorting people into classes the first week, then a three day break this week, so tomorrow will be the first real day of classes. I'm excited to get to know a new set of students this semester. Our enrollment has grown by leaps and bounds since last semester, so I'll have nearly 50 students this semester. It's going to be pretty busy.

I spent the last day of my mini-vacation teaching one of my American guy friends how to make lasagna. This is something of a feat in Korea. We had to make our own ricotta cheese, pasta sauce and even noodles. It took almost 10 hours, all said and done. We also did some shopping in there (for things such as stock pots and LCD TVs for Foster's new apartment) and quite a bit of dish washing. It was a nice way to spend the day, complete with lots of laughter and good Italian food. The lasagna is safely tucked away in Foster's freezer for an important dinner party in two weekends.

I finished writing the syllabi for all of my classes tonight. It looks like it is going to be a busy semester, especially with 50 students. I changed the assignments around from the way I did it last semester, so hopefully that will help a little bit with the backlog of grading. It should be an adventure!

I have to teach a class in seven hours, and get to school early to get my syllabus printed for the first class. Hopefully I'll be able to connect well with my students, and tomorrow will go smoothly. I have pictures from the lasagna adventure today and some stuff from America that I'll hopefully get put up in the next day or so.

One other important announcement: Because of the recent time change in America, things have changed with the time zones. Here's the new key.

Eastern time: There is a 13 hour difference. Add 1 and swap the AM/PM.
Central time: There is a 14 hour difference. Add 2 and swap the AM/PM.
Mountain time: There is a 15 hour difference. Add 3 and swap the AM/PM.
Pacific time: There is a 16 hour difference. Add 4 and swap the AM/PM.