Another "I Love Korea" Day

Hi Folks,

First, the weather has gotten hotter. I want to stop complaining about it, but it's just so hot, and with the power shortages we're only allowed to turn on the A/C at school after school...

Some quick updates:

- Today was the resumption day of teaching with my Korean university co-teacher, Chong Hyeon. He recently completed a one-month internship at a middle school. He's a great teacher. Today though, my students were extra naughty, to make up for all the niceness they had during the previous 4 weeks (go figure). He told me some very sad news. The school (read: principal or vice) has not agreed to renew his contract for another 6 months. They said because he was only able to teach once a week (He was taking university courses that conflicted with the after school class schedule) instead of the regular 3, they wouldn't take him on again. That's merciless in my opinion. I will miss him, I sure hope he is able to help me during summer camp!!

- Please pray for the following: Ask God to soften the hearts of my principal and vice so that they will let me leave on the 18th (Thursday) instead of the 20th (Saturday). It's a matter of airline ticket price as well as logistics because I would meet up with my family on route to our annual holiday in Oregon. I've recently come across some new information which bolsters my claim to move my hours around, so I will bring it up again next week.

- I'm preaching again on Sunday. Yikes. Pray that God is able to speak through me...

- Today after school, we had the Damyang county teacher's workshop (read: conversation club). Afterwards, Hyeong Ah invited me to go with her and two other "seonsengnim"s (teachers) for Guksu!!! It's one of my top 5 meals in Korea because you can eat outside under the shade of giant Elm trees and watch the river go by. During the meal they asked me my blood type (It seems an East Asian thing to know one's blood type), but I didn't know, so they concluded I was a vampire. Afterwards we went for coffee and a walk along a dike overlooking the river, in the shade of even more grand old Elm trees. In a twisted tree trunk, I found some torn up money, so they concluded I had X-Ray vision as well as vampiric qualities. What a wonderful time :)

- Today is the day I find out if my contract is renewed for another 6 months or not. I haven't checked the TaLK webpage yet, but I'll do it after I wrap-up this post.

See you, have a nice weekend!

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Drum roll.

I received word today that I successfully extended my contract for another 6 months. See you again in January!