The big news

Well I'm moving to South Korea. It's funny, now it seems like such a set thing to me (because it is) and I forget that there are people who know nothing about it. Here's the situation:



- I realized that my contempt and animosity for this country and culture continued to grow. It has everything to do with my heart, my attitude, and my personal issues and sin, I know. That's not to say Israel isn't an agressive and not always entirely pleasant place to live - it's just to say that I'm not so delusional as to think I can blame my unhappiness on an entire culture.



- The school in Jaffa might not ever get a schedule worked out for the interns there. This wasn't a major frustration, but it was one of the last straws.



- Finances. Enough said.



I started looking at other Master's programs in TESOL, and I noticed that there were a TON of them in South Korea. My dear friend Mary (in the program with me) was born in Korea and adopted to a family in Iowa. Anyway, she visited Korea, and we've discussed it somewhat. I mentioned to her how there were so many programs there, and she told me that there was a high demand for English teachers there as well. I looked around on the internet some, posted my availability on one (count 'em...one) website, and had eight or ten job offers within three or four days.



The school I'm going to...it's actually an English school - it's extra help in addition to school. Anyway, it's in Seoul. The phone interview I had with a really kind lady from the school went well, and she told me that they were excited when they saw that I was a Christian. She said that she prays before she hires anyone, and she always tries to hire Christians. So the up side of it is that they pay for the airfare over there, put me up in an apartment (the rent, that is...I'll still be responsible for utilities), and the pay is really quite decent.



So...with that said, I leave for Korea in slightly more than twenty-four hours. In fact, at this exact time tomorrow, I'll be doing all the last minute things I should've done before then (things I should probably be doing now). I have to be at the airport at either 2:30 or 3:30 AM. Too early!!!



It's actually officially Christmas here right now - Merry Christmas everyone! Mary and I had a Christmas party at her apartment tonight. Mostly other interns from the program came, only one of which kinda celebrates Christmas at all. Nonetheless, we had a thoroughly enjoyable time. Mary's apartment is all decorated for Christmas...it's quite cheery really. And I have an accomplishment to share - I made eggnog (yes, the alcoholic kind) from scratch! All of you that know me know that my cooking skills are....for the most part, non-existant. And even though I put sugar in the egg whites when I was supposed to put it in the cream, it turned out quite nicely. However, my tolerance for alcohol is very nearly zero, and I don't like how it tastes at all, so the only cup of eggnog I had was half whipped cream (also made from scratch) and half eggnog.



So I'm spending the night at Mary's tonight, and we're going to have Christmas together in the morning. I'm excited about it. Then later on, Tiffany is going to come over and help me pack up all my stuff. A group of us (current and former) interns are supposed to go out for dinner tomorrow night also. Tonight was supposed to be when I said good-bye to everyone, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.



So...Merry Christmas!