email

Subject: spkez, kclass
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:29:55 +0000
dear mom and dad,

it's raining on and off here, i hate it. we get like one day of bright sunshine, then 3 days of clouds and rain. spring is teasing me.

omg i LOVE this tea you sent me, i drink it everyday and it makes me so happy. Ed says thanks very much for the oreos, my coworkers want to know if there'll be more chips ahoy. the delicious peanut butter is gone (dont send more, i can get it here, i was just being greedy asking you to send it to me).

im doing well of course. my friends hosted another speakeasy a couple weeks ago, i ve included a couple of photos. i love these events, i completely forget that im in korea and instead can get lost in the family vibe these things create. One of the friends in my circle had a friend coming to visit her here, and when we found out this friend is a dj, an event was put together tan rapido. it was sooo wonderful to hear music from back home! well, you hear american music in all the clubs here, but it's that crappy mainstream rap music, and it sucks. anyway, the event and the music was wonderful.

left: everyone in my korean class. right: me.
i HATE korean class so much. no, thats not exactly true, i like my teacher, i like the class and getting the time to speak and practice in an atmosphere where i can be guided, but lawd help me, my progress is little to none. its really frustrating, an hour after class, i forget everything we learned. i still read slow, like a toddler. its really humbling... even just nouns and verbs i cant retain yet. i walk around, and i can name everything i see in spanish, but i couldnt do 1% of that in korean. last night i was watching some movie on tv and it had a scene in spanish, i understood every word, didnt even need the subtitles! (well, good thing i guess since the subtitles are in korean anyway), i want so badly to be able to do that with korean. *sigh* more time, i know. but it's making me nuts in the interim.

i finished knitting a scarf! it's the first thing ive ever finished, im very excited! one of the women int he knitting circle is going to help me on my next project. im thinking socks, i dont know yet. i want to make a sweater, but it may be too ambitious just yet.

~daughter

email

Subject: send more A shirts. and a pair of shoes.
Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 02:15:21 +0000

dear mom and dad,

thank you again sooooo much for that last box with the pudding, the pb, the tea, everything, i loved. i devoured about 10 of the chips ahoy cookies in one sitting and then brought the rest to work before i made myself sick. You've made me incredibly popular amongst my new coworkers, thankyou:) I havent seen Ed yet, but i'll for sure pass those oreo cookies to him (no danger of me eating all of them, b/c i like regular, not double stuff). I absolutely love the tea you sent, im not sharing those with anybody.

im glad teddy came by. did he bring the baby with him? i think he still get nervous everyttime he goes to the house. blogworld, i think this is b/c my husband, tho incredibly handsome, stands only about 5'2". My brother and father however are 6ft tall and BIG sized men. I told him he could just mail that check, that he didnt have to go by in person, but he's got old school manners and insisted he should go in person. Please dont use the money for sallie mae, b/c my next payment isnt due until october, so please dotn pay anything. I actually didnt work at all for a couple of weeks b/c of the visa issues, so i put a hold on the loans for a little while. Additionally, we've got canceled classes for the next week and a half (as we do every term, b/c the kids take leave to study for their midterm exams in public school) so that's been a lot of me not working, so no pay coming. I had enough money put aside to sustain myself just fine, but i want to replenish that savings before i resume student loan payments. B/c the loans are consolidated, the interest rate is fixed at 3% or so, so i think they can afford to wait.

im not sure where me and teddy are with the divorce. he emailed me the divorce papers and i printed, signed and mailed them to him. teddy was a good husband overall, tho i never got my wifely conjugal rights nor a diamond ring, and wont even be getting alimony! But he gave away my cats, therefore this divorce is necessary. i loved those cats!

im so sorry, but can i ask you for bug spray? many mosquitos in the summer here. and send me a pair of shoes? i dotn care what they look like, i just want anything with a heel like the others you sent. i walk a lot more here, the subway stop is a mile away and i havent figured out which bus to take to get there. not like my comfy lazy spot in pyeongchon. a new pair of shoes would really do me right. anything you get is fine, really truly.

loveyoumissyou.
~daughter

email

Subject: weather, visa, knitting, kclass
Date: Sun, 12 Apr 2009 02:19:22 +0000

dear mom and dad,

oh my gosh, the weather has been absolutely beautiful lately. no need for hats, scarves, gloves, long johns, ear muffs, it's gorgeous. it's already cherry blossom time, the trees are blooming and im on the lookout for a festival that's around the corner.

work is good of course. with so many students, its hard to remember their names after they're not in my class anymore. kids in the hallway wave, "hello sister sha!" and most of the time, i respond with, "hello sweetheart, how are you?" and of course i use "sweetheart" b/c i cant think of their names. one girl, i was SURE her name was sally, so i said, "hi sally!" and her face got sad, and she said, "oh.... teacher..." b/c i got her name wrong. i made some guesses and finally had her just tell me (Jenny) and she said, "im so sad!" ah well, im only human. i remembered her face at least.

im still awaiting a new visa. i found out that i only need to do the criminal background check one time, so i wont have to go through all this again next year, thank goodness.

korean class is kicking my butt, but im much more comfortable doing little things like ordering food at a restaurant, asking for help at the post office or grocery store or whatever.

i went to two knitting meetings last week. just being int he room, i knit better and faster! majority are americans/canadians. one place we meet is a knitting shop, i took jinny with me, she became absolutely engulfed. when i was ready to leave, she kept saying, "just one more row." and, "it's like i cant stop!" good fun:)

loveyoumissyou.
~daugher.

email

Subject: RE: Sheets and Projectors
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009
dear mom and dad,

thanks again for the student loan payments. i sent another batch of postcards per your advice, i'll start doing them monthly again. i thanked grandma for the b-day gift.

I got the box w/the goodies: the grits (oh my gosh i devoured them) the pb crunch slimfast bars (which are my FAVORITE!!!) the combs (i gave some to the sistas, they say thank you), the flashlight (i'm sure it'll come in handy since i didnt have one), the plastic bags (no more bags for a while, i have plenty) and the shout (thank you! my clothes really needed it! tho i DID find something here, but i love what you sent more b/c it's familiar, and it's free). i shared the cookies and oatmeal w/my new coworkers, along with the sanitizer (which they LOVED, since kids = germs = sickness). One friend asked if my parents though i had bad breath b/c you'd sent the listerine strips unsolicited.

so i finally got my cbc (criminal background check) from the state of cali, i'll use it to apply for a new visa. {there were two ways to get it, dad, i did one way and i was having you do the other way, with the goal to use which ever came first}. dad, sorry you went to the sherrif's station for nothing. i anticipated some sort of issue, but i didnt think they'd tell you to have me re-apply all over again, i thought the application i'd emailed to you WAS the form i needed. i used the email you sentme and asked for a new form, but it's a near a week later and i still havent received it. AND i got the form and all the info from a fellow san diegan here in south korea! i did everything HE did, relatively at the same time, and he got his cbc a week later. i wonder why the sherriff's dpt didnt come through for me and you??? ah well, no matter now, good thing the other cbc came through.

im back in korean class, it's a little easier this time around, but only a little. everyone reads faster than me, but my pronunciation is better so im ok with it. im much more motivated this time, too, b/c now i live 15 min from the class, as opposed to 40 min when i lived in pyeongchon.

i met up with some other expats last week, a knitting group called stitchnbitch, it was uber cool, we just sat and talked and knitted. im a novice for sure, these women make socks, vests, gloves, anything, and their knitting is perfect. im working on a what looks like a tarded scarf in comparison. but the knitters motivate me to get better^^

loveyoumissyou
~daughter