Kimchi, not for me

Okay...I should already be asleep, so this will be fast. Here's an update:

- Open day on Saturday for my K-7 class. This means the parents will come and watch me teach their kids on Saturday. Add to this it'll be on a Saturday, in a different room of the school, trying to show off what we've been practicing straight and solid for two weeks...this means there's no way the kids will behave and there's little chances of it going well. I'm trying to be optimistic, but at this point I feel more like a drill sergeant and/or that I'm brainwashing the kids. The storybook for this month is too hard, so we've been working primarily on that and it's embedded in my brain, let me tell you that much. I catch myself singing or humming the chant or the story in my mind or under my breath throughout the day.

- You know the deodorant that says "Strong enough for a man, but pH balanced for a woman?" (Or something like that anyway.) The deodorant in Korea should say, "Made for Asians...white people, and any other people that actually might even consider sweating or smelling bad without deodorant need not even bother." Korean deodorant is more crappy than I could express. I'm counting down the days till I send my sister money so she can send me something that works better. (FYI, I don't stink. But I worry about stinking because it's a possibility...and that's just no fun.)

- I talked to my nephew and my niece this week for the first time since I left last August. This, aggravated by the growing discontent with my job, is bringing about the intense desire to go home. I don't want to go home to stay, but I do want to visit. Sadly, it's not even a possibility until Christmas time, and that's not even for sure. But it's hard. I've been in a bit of a funk - combining all of the above - work is crazy, then there's still too much paperwork, not enough time, etc. etc. I miss my friends and family. La la la...whatever. It'll all work out, I know. But right now I'm counting down the days until December.

AND.... (drumroll please) I somehow managed to find my friend Megan's blog - though she hasn't blogged in awhile, it's still there and it has a picture of her, and seeing her makes me happy (and homesick...but I'm trying to be optimistic here). She is linked on your right.

And one last note, check out the China Aid website on the right as well. A guy I go to church with just came back from a month trip in China and Mongolia, working with/for one of Brother Yun's (The Heavenly Man) co-workers mentioned in the book (I'm thinking it's Brother Xu or Xui, but I can't recall off the top of my head). In any case, the website is much more up-to-date about what kind of religious persecution is actually going on in China. It's horrible stuff to read, but it's good to know what's actually going on. And for verification purposes (though this won't mean much, probably) he knew a handful of the 27 people that were arrested a few weeks ago. There is every reason to believe those that have yet to be released are still being tortured. God help them. And on that chipper note (not being irreverent, it's just how I deal with things) I'm off to bed. How blessed I am. Night all.

Edit: I published this, put the cat up for the night, then laid down. In bed, I remembered that I hadn't done spell check and I knew I had spelled embedded wrong (I spelled it with an "i") so I got up to do this. Compulsive, much?