Five for Friday – The Bachelor and a bowl of fat

It’s Friday, so you know what that means! Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs!

Let’s get it started in here! I apologize for not having many pictures for this week’s linky party. Not much has gone this week at school since I was desk warming every single day.

 The winter weather in Daejeon is finally starting to go away! Yesterday, it was 46 degrees, which I like much better than 21 degrees. I didn’t have to wear a scarf or gloves for the past couple of days. That makes me super happy! Being from Texas, I’m used to weather that goes from 32 degrees to 74 degrees in the span of 2 days…not weather that stays around 32 degrees.

 I have a confession. I watch The Bachelor. I know it’s bad. I know the girls are often crazy. But I still watch it. I am all caught up on this season now, and I gotta say…I am just not a Juan Pablo fan. He’s nice to look at, but I wonder if that’s all there is. Am I the only one who thinks this?

And now for the question of the day….would you ever go on the The Bachelor or the The Bachelorette? Inquiring minds wanna know!

 Since I have been desk warming ALL week long, I have had plenty of time to work on my TPT stuff. Plenty of time. Like 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. I liked it. I really liked it. It was quiet. I could watch my Netflix in the background. I was pretty content. My only wish is that I wish I knew what I will be teaching next year, so I could get a jumpstart on it. Oh well.

Here is one of the ones I was working on…

We had a teachers dinner Thursday night to say goodbye to the teachers that are leaving our school. In Korea, you must change schools every 5 years. We had pork BBQ, basically large, thick slabs of bacon with 60% chewy fat. And Koreans eat it all, including the fat. I was the only weirdo at the table who was separating the meat from the fat with my chopsticks and spoon. I then put all the fat into a bowl and took a picture of my bowl of fat.

Did I make you hungry?

Yesterday was a rough day for me. Living in a foreign country can be hard sometimes. You are away from everything you know. Your friends, your family, your home, your pets, your comfort zone.

I cried twice. The first time was over something small. I must be emotional or something. The second time was because I needed to transfer some money from my Korean bank account to my American bank account. In Korea, you have to go to a big branch of your bank (mine is 45 minutes away) to set it up, and then (supposedly) you can go to your neighborhood branch every time after that. At least that’s what I was told.

WRONG!

I got permission to leave school early (it’s a big deal to leave school early…even during desk warming hours) to go to the bank. I walked to my neighborhood bank and took a number. I sat down and waited for them to call me. I had all the necessary paperwork and everything. The guy there asked why I was there, and I showed him my paperwork. He said, “No. We can’t do that here.” I couldn’t explain myself very well because he didn’t speak much English. Then he sent me away.

I was flabbergasted. Everyone told me that this would work. I walked outside, stood on the street corner, and started crying. I called my friend, Julie, who lives here, and she made me feel better. It’s hard living in another country…a country where most people do not speak English…a country where things sometimes do NOT make any sense. It can be frustrating. And often times, it’s not the BIG things that you get frustrated with…it’s the little things.

This is all one big learning experience I know. I know that I will look back on these days and see how God used this to strengthen me and grow me. But growing pains hurt sometimes.

I know that once I move back to the states, I will appreciate more of the “little” things and be more grateful. I will definitely be grateful for the food. Did you see the fat? Oh, and on that night, I also ate something from the sea that tasted just like nail polish. Seriously.

Until we meet again….cheers!