And the world spins madly on...: Turkey and Silver Bells.

The U.S. Ambassador's residence in Seoul

This past weekend all the Fulbright ETA's made a mass exodus to Seoul to celebrate Thanksgiving at the U.S. Ambassador's residence. (See pics below). It was nice to get off the island and fly to Seoul.. last time I was there was during the "last" day of orientation at Yonsei University where we all were whisked away...

I had probably one of the best weekends yet... good friends (old and new) and delicious food. Turkey, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie, RED WINE, ham, cranberry sauce.. yummy. Even though I won't be able to spend turkey day with my family, (and feverishly shop for deals and discounts on black friday) I was thankful to have dinner with my "extended family"(as Lauryn would say).. my best pals in Korea. So this year I'm thankful for friends who are my family. For the first time I will not pack my bags to go home to the smell fo my mom's home cooking and the constant noise (and mess) of my brothers (and sometimes dad) running around the house like maniacs.

Gang of 6!! My family in Korea. We will be sending these our as our holiday card. :)

As the holiday season approaches, I am feeling a slight twinge of homesickness... particularly because tomorrow (November 22) my parents will celebrate their 25th SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!! (followed by Thanksgiving of course.)

Happy 25th Anniversay MOM and DAD. I know you guys read this all the time- but I want you to know how much I miss you and love you. You have no idea how hard it is to be so far away on your 25th anniversary.. and being away from home during Thanksgiving for the first time. Just know I'm celebrating here with you!!!
Dad- I hope you remembered (just kidding)!!! Edwin and Lenny- can't wait to see you both in Hawaii. Better behave and don't give mom or dad grief, or else no presents...

Back to venting about school... Today during one of my boys' classes, I had to leave the classroom for about 5 minutes because I couldn't control my own temper. I am an extremely patient person and it's been hard trying to put on a happy "teacher face" 24-7 even when I'm not feeling so chipper. Today I almost lost it. As I started teaching my new lesson on Thanksgiving and being thankful, etc etc, the students were on their worst behavior. I sometimes like to crack jokes to get them to pay attention, but today I had enough with one particular class that, since day one, have never settled down or paid attention. I walked out of the room almost in tears because 1) I was feeling awful, and 2) these students were just being complete brats. Up until this point, it has been a smooth ride... I really regretted letting them see me so upset, but hey, I'm not a robot and I have feelings and emotions too, and sometimes it's OK to let your students know that I really care about teaching them and they may not even realize how difficult it can be to even get them to repeat a simple sentece or repeat a phrase.

Maybe I have extremely high expectations of my students, even the lowest (and most annoyingly loud and obnoxious students) I want to see them improve, but I also know that I may never see them progress as I had hoped. Anyways, I've realized that I only have one more month until I go to the U.S. for Christmas... so until then, I just have to keep going on cruise control. There's really no point for one out of 24 classes to negatively affect my attitude.. so from now on I have to focus on all positives.. the glass has always been half full for me.

On an even better note, my friend Rohit and I decided pretty last minute that we're going to SHANGHAI early next month. Just purchased my plane ticket, sent my passport to get my visa, and got the OK from my co-teacher and Fulbright office to go! Phew.. I can't wait!

Alright, enough for now. A picture update!

Inside the Ambassador's house
Presenting the Ambassador and his wife Jeju Tangerines!!