Another roommate, another week, another day

This past weekend was quite relaxed. Saturday we lazed around most of the day waiting until evening for our trip to the airport. We met Mrs. Baek and Mr. Kim at 5 to leave. Unfortunately, we ran into a lot of rain and traffic on our way, so we were almost late. However, we made it just in time. After a looooooong day of travel, Susie arrived here safe and sound from North Carolina. One of the first things that struck us was her cute southern accent. Tracy said it would make hers come out, too :). I remain the only "northerner" here to convince people that Minnesota winters really aren't 6 months long ;). So we've gone right into "Korea 101" classes- introducing Susie to everything and everyone here in Dangjin. I've become so accustomed to life here, that it's interesting to see how new it all is to Susie and try to remember what it was like.... everything tastes funny, looks different, and often doesn't line up to the way you imagined it. We took Sunday pretty relaxed and went up to Namsan park and ate bibimbop for dinner with our friend, Sam. I'm really happy to be able to introduce Susie to the people I've gotten to know at church, etc who I know she can count on for help. It's always good to have Korean friends to learn from and to get help from. This week is a lovely week for me- only 2 days of teaching! And I've finished the books in all my classes, so we'll be playing a lot of games and having parties and stuff. Wednesday we're talking about going to the sea (if the weather's nice) since we have the day off. Then on Thursday Tracy and I head off bright and early for Japan! Yikes! I don't feel fully prepared, but we have our plane tickets and our accommodation lined up, so we should be ok. Since we don't have a very rigid schedule, we'll make a lot of decisions of what to do once we get there. I had a funny dream about Japan about a month ago when we were nailing down details and reading a lot from Lonely Planet. I dreamed that we were eating at a ramen shop, with tall chairs and counters, and a black interior. The woman at the shop was really friendly and excited to have foreigners in her shop, so she was giving us free food and stuff. Anyway, I decided that I needed to take a picture of this very Japanese experience. So I stood up and pulled out my camera, but my batteries were dead! Then I realized that I didn't have any more batteries and hadn't brought my charger! It was very sad ;). A nightmare that only I would have. hee hee Well, I don't expect to be posting before we go, so I'll post again when we get back! (with plenty of pictures, of course ;) )