so it's 12 degrees...

...And it's really cold. Painfully, desperately cold. This kind of cold completely stamps out a fun Friday night. Where do you even go when any exposed facial skin burns from the cold?

It isn't even as cold as it's supposed to get in Korea. Will I die this winter? Or will I simply never learn anything about this new country all winter, because I chose life and to stay indoors? I believe I understand the phrase "abominable snowman" now...

I'm trying to break in a pair of dangerously high boot heels, too sexy and expensive not to be given a prime place in my wardrobe, too tight and tall not to practice first. I think at this rate they may be ready by early spring. I am not joking. Maybe somewhere in this Land of Small will be a cobbler who stretches shoes for giants.

Tonight directly after work I went to two outside vendors for dinner. The first place sold kimbap, steamed things in sticky white rice wrapped with seaweed and rolled and sliced. The second sells magical mystery pancake-donut patties filled with sugary divinity and sunflower seeds. Between both, I spent 3,000 won, less than $3 US, and ended up with a kimbap roll and four magic pancakes. I ate every bite and am still stuffed hours later.

Yay Korea! But they love their carbs!

It's amazing how fast an entire week goes by when you work your tail off. We have to plan our classes out at the beginning of each month, and that's rather tough when you have 19 separate classes and they're all doing different units of different English-learning books. And if they're doing the same book, it's a different unit. And I have to devote all of next week to a Spelling Bee, plus begin new units, and be conscious of the fact that four classes will be a week behind because there's no school on Christmas, and then there's a week-long break the next week! I was feeling so serene until today...comparatively. At least about work. The fact that we work very hard just means work goes by quickly. But being a real teacher (not just a sub like I'm used to) means course outlines and progress reports and test generating and scores and troublemakers and bloody noses and isolation in the bathroom stall between classes.

It's a great job, so I'm really not complaining at all. But this is one of those times (which I imagine happens monthly) where everything comes in a WHOOSH! and all the teachers tremble in its wake.

All of our planning periods lately are even eaten up by practicing for this Christmas program we're all supposed to participate in, dance three complicated choreographed dances to Christmas songs (and sing!), and brainstorm activities for a hundred kinder-aged children that combine English comprehension and Christmas that are both safe and significant enough to eat up 10 minutes! I also have to decorate my room with Christmas stuff, my assigned theme is Red, and I still have no idea how to hang things from the stucco-covered walls. Tape, Velcro, nails, hooks, putty; these things are all out of the question! Next Monday, when I really need my planning time, I have to have a meeting with the other foreign teachers and the head teacher and the program coordinator to discuss (and possibly defend) the importance of homework in this English program we're using to teach our students conversational English. My students, in particular, clearly suffer when they do not do their homework that I assign. They have extreme difficulty comprehending grammar questions on the test when they haven't written it down ever (because they also refuse to participate in class unless I lord over them). And now there's a possibility homework will be considered a superfluity!

It's cold, and I'm a little stressed out. I cannot, in fact, believe that it is Friday night. My fourth one here, in fact. That seems wrong. This hasn't been over three weeks, certainly...but it has. Oh, the pressure to catch up to the pace is remarkable.

Still I sleep so badly. I sit here, wearing gorgeous, painful heels, refusing sleep when I have nothing keeping me awake but stubbornness. I would practice walking around in these shoes, but it's both impolite to stamp all over your neighbors' heads in clunky-heeled boots, and to wear shoes in your house at all in Korea. I'm technically supposed to practice outside....

...Where the temperature has dropped now to 11 degrees.