Wipe the Slate Clean

I suppose it's about time I contribute to the unyielding guilt that is a blog. Regret consumes me each time I forgo the opportunity to update all of you, but I've been so busy lately! With the beginning of the new school year - 13 tireless 5 year-olds to watch over - an incessantly dirty apartment, the exploration of an endless city, the gym, and finally...yet seldom happened upon, time to myself in order to ponder the entirety of this great experience. It should get easier after this hellish week of orientation... No time, no time...

I mentioned a gym. South Korea is a country dead-set on the importance of appearance. It's everything (citizens are allowed tax breaks for having had plastic surgery!!). None-the-less, Jasmine, Trena (another teacher at Sullivan) and I have all joined California Fitness, an out-of-this-world workout facility. To give you an idea...five levels - each the size of a normal gym - hundreds of people any time of the day, catalytic club music, escalators, stores and salons, and the most amazing locker room I've ever seen. I'll include a picture that I captured to further your musing...

Aside from narcissist land, I'm becoming more and more comfortable living in such a large metropolis. We've discovered many interesting foods, some that I really really like... Gweggie-galby (spelled phonetically for myself and you) is a traditional Korean dish that is served to your table as fresh as imaginable. A grill is provided you, and you thus cook marinated meat and fresh vegetables over the heat, do-it-yourself style. I can already tell that this approach to dining will be something that I miss when I return to the west. On a related note, if any of you enjoy california-rolls or sushi of all kinds, we've discovered what are referred to as "kim-bpop" (the b and p combined when you say it..."bpop" meaning rice) restaurants, where you can get the equivalent of ten dollars worth of sushi for about two! Anyway, the food is great, great, great...and if ever I'm in the mood for western food, I can find about a million places for that as well. Seoul's got the haps! (Today, one of my 6 year-old after school kids asked me "what be the sitch yo?"...I couldn't help but laugh :)

Today was officially my first day with my kindergartners. We had about an hour with the kids, and then herded them down to a commons area where we sang songs and spoke to parents for a first-day-orientation. Good times...long day. My boss, Marie Chung, has just recently added a new sector of classrooms to her school, and I am the proud recipient of the newly finalized Dolphin room. I teach 6 year-olds (Korean age, so five in the States) who have already been at Sullivan for a year. So, returnees. Also, because of my rooms infancy, I've virtually nothing to work with. At the same time, working with a clean slate is always capital. Those of us with new classrooms can order anything we need (budget doesn't matter, as far as I've been told). I can make that room anything I damn well please...yes, Marie gives us that much freedom. Like I said, I think I'm really very lucky to have found this job.

Well, goodnight for tonight...I've dreams to dream, plans to plan, minds to...min...mold, that's it.