Day 21: Fan Mail

I woke up this morning and got ready for work while Hye-Young was still asleep. While I was in the shower I was still slightly afraid that she'd walk in to 'visit' me while I was all naked and vulnerable in the shower.... Luckily, she just kept on sleeping... She woke up when I was having breakfast, and the sweet girl was all embarrassed and apologetic about her surprise presence. We sat at the breakfast table and had a pleasant chat. She was curious about what was in my bedroom, so I brought her in and showed her all my photos in frames that I have around the room. She's very curious about personal details about my life, and was very excited when I brought out two photo albums for her to look at. The first one was the album that Barb gave me full of photos of me and my friends at my going-away party in Vancouver, and looking through the album went something like this: "Is she your girlfriend? "No, Hye-Young, she's just a friend." *turn the page* "Is she your girlfriend?" "No, she too is just a friend..." REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT. She went ecstatic when she saw the second photo album, which was the one that my sister made for me about a year ago, and contains photos of her and I, right from young childhood to present. Hye-Young absolutely loved it!! (and kept commenting how beautiful she thought Janelle was - looks like you've got a fan now too in Korea, Janelle!!!) She left shortly after that, and as harmless as I'm sure she is, I was still relieved to see her go.

I GOT SOME MORE MAIL TODAY!!!!!!!! I received a very lovely card and two sexy party photos, courtesy of Chad, John, Alex, Cori, and Diva Deb back in Vancouver. THANKS SO MUCH GUYS - I LOVE 'EM!!!! An extra big thank you to Debs for mailing it off to me - how thoughtful!!! :-) Getting mail is very exciting these days, and so I encourage my friends and family to send me mail! *hint hint* hehe... I've actually always really been impressed each and every time I receive a piece of mail (and I'm not talking bills here!) And this applies also to when I'm living in Canada, and definitely even more so now that I'm overseas. Think about - for the price of a dollar (and honestly, what you can for a dollar these days? Nuthin'!) someone who you don't even know will deliver your little piece of mail, one of millions of little pieces of mail that are going somewhere that day, ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE PLANET! Yes, it takes thousands of people actually to run a postal service, and yes it's their job to make sure that it's delivered safe and sound to you, but I'm still always impressed by it. The fact that more mail doesn't get lost than what actually does, I think, is amazing. Such tiny little snapshots of someone's life - one individual message of love, or hope, or congratulations, or birthday wishes, or heartache, or sympathy - journeying across our chaotic Earth's surface in only a matter of days...delivered directly to you. Bits of all that represent the best of humanity, criss-crossing each other in an infinite pattern of airport hubs, conveyer belts and flight paths, in the staggering quantity of millions and millions every single day. (Well, I think it's cool.)

I also found out some other exciting news today. This Saturday my boss and I are going to an REI Teacher's Conference! AND IT'S IN TAEJON!!! (D)Taejon is another city in the middle of South Korea, about 3 hours from Seoul. A car trip - yah!!!!!!!!!! This will be my first time seeing the Korean countryside, and I'm really excited about it! It's amazing how small South Korea is. In only 3 hours you're already more than half way across the country. To put it into perspective, South Korea is only slightly larger than the state of Indiana! WOW! (And yet 50 million people fit inside...) We're gonna head out pretty early tomorrow morning, as the conference begins at 1pm. Directors and foreign teachers from tons of other REI school will be there (REI is a chain English Language School - I think there are over 30 campuses in Korea!) I'm really excited at the possibility of meeting other foreign teachers and making some new friends (hopefully a few of them will live in Seoul, or out in the burbs like me.) :-) It should be a great day for sure!!!