Enough with the cold weather already. It's already mid March, and it is still in the 20s and 30s. I'm not completely sold on the global warming theory, but something is definitely messing up our environment and screwing up the weather as a result. 3 major earthquakes this year, cyclones, hurricanes and tornados ripping people's worlds apart. I think something is definitely not right with this picture.

In other news. My teaching business has taken off, and I've now acquired a total of 7 students ranging from 4 years in age, to 32. I work about 4 hours a day, and that's all I intend to do. I can't stand how bratty some Korean children can be, and as much as I love kids I can't help but daydream about hitting them in the head or flushing their face in a toilet. Ok, I kid. But somedays I feel like I'm in over my head.

Maybe it's due to the fact that I'm now a ripe 7 months pregnant. Some days I'm fine, but others I have contemplated locking myself in the bedroom and not coming out for a whole 24 hours. I am so tired, and the little one is poking and prodding in all directions. It's the most fun when she's pushing against my back & or having a boxing match with my rib cage. Squirt 7, ribcage 0. I don't know how my body is going to hold up for another 2 months. None of my clothes fit anymore, and now that we have our curtains and blinds up in our house, Brad allows me to walk around without restrictions. You don't know how liberating it is to not have a waistband digging into your gut. Excuse me for having no shame in talking about this.

Now that I'm in my last trimester, my dreams have become extremely vivid and bizarre. It starts out like a normal dream, and then out of nowhere I'm seeing whales & things that are flying that shouldn't be. Brad has been reading a book called "What to Expect When your Wife is Expanding" and someone (I'm wondering if it's Brad) wrote to the editor "Lately my wife's dreams have become especially vivid. But when she tells them to me, I am still incredibly bored. Is there something wrong with me?"

The response: "Not at all! Natural anxieties, hormonal changes and sleep deprivation account for this, but there is nothing more tedious than hearing about a dream... 'Say that reminds me of a story that has no particular beginning or end, and doesn't make any sense. Care to hear about it?' 'Oh sure honey, just let me know when a character is no longer who they started out as, or when you completely change where you are okay?'"

Needless to say, I try to keep my dreams to myself so that I can appear somewhat sane to my husband who already thinks I'm half crazy, but between me and you, I think that's why he loves me. haha

Since we got here, Brad and I have been contemplating extending our contract for 3 or maybe even 4 years. Korea has exceeded my expectations, and I think it would be nice if our little one(s) picked up a little Korean before heading home. But once again, being in the military, nothing is ever certain, and we actually don't know where we'll be even this time next year. Rumor has it, Brad's unit will be moving to El Paso, TX. Hopefully we'll be able to stay put. Oh the joys have having a governmental leash around our neck! I guess we should be thankful for job security, but gosh what a price we're paying.

A few things I miss back in the states, apart from friends and family, is a nice big bowl of Pho Tai, some good ol' TX bbq, cajun crawfish with extra potatoes and corn, in and out, and five guys. And Central Market! Gosh I miss the grocery stores. It's kind of hard trying to cook when you're limited to 4 aisle at the commissary, with no organic anything, and frozen meats that have been there for God knows how long. I miss having rows and rows of herbs and peppers to choose from with a nice big selection of seafood, steaks, and fresh produce. And I miss my Eggo Waffles! The Korea grocery stores are great, don't get me wrong-- but I miss the bargain prices at Costco, and the herbs here are all different from the ones I'm used to seeing.

Next week, my mother in law will be arriving in Korea. It'll be nice having another familiar face around. The house has been rather quiet since we sold our puppy. Yes, we finally had to get rid of her, after months of battling it out with her. Overall it was just too much to handle with Brad and I working, with a baby on the way & a house to clean. I was pretty sad though! I had such a love/ hate relationship with Lexi, but it feels like something's really missing now that she's gone. I don't however, miss the stench from her potty room. Bleh!

Well the next couple weeks should be rather busy with my mother-in-law in town, and then Brad will be out in the field for training for a couple weeks, and by the time he's done with that it should almost be time for me to pop out the baby. Hopefully I'll find some time to keep you updated =) In the meantime, take care and be safe! Don't forget to thank God for all the things he's blessed you with!

안녕!!

Feb 28th 2010, we celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary. Since the 28th happened to land on a Sunday, we figured we'd begin our festivities on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, nothing went according to plan, and what started out a very frustrating journey, became rather comical.

Initially we had planned to watch a show called Nanta which has been a huge success in Korea. The best way to describe it would be to say that it's a Blue Man Group meets Stomp kind of show. Unfortunately, it took us 3 hours to get to Seoul (once again) and we were well over an hour late. Cutting our losses, we decided to have an early dinner @ the Hilton's Season's French Cuisine. Dinner was nothing short of amazing, and I'd have to say their service was spectacular. After dinner, we decided to check out the casino, and find out how much a night at the Hilton would cost us. Keep in mind, that any sort of romance goes out the window when you're into your 3rd trimester--so our room would only serve the purpose of sleeping. So when they told us the room would cost well over 300 dollars, we decided to head to our usual hotel. On our way to the Dragon Hill Hotel we decide to take a detour and check out the Seoul Tower. We input it in our navigation & arrive at the supposed destination. Unfortunately, from where we were it would have been quite a hike, which was no bueno in heels. So we turn around and once again head for our hotel. By this time, we had been driving for quite a while, making detours left and right. When we finally arrive at our hotel, it's about 10:30. The usual front desk manager greets us, and asks for our reservation number. The one time we do not make reservations, the hotel happens to be completely sold out. The last room had gone to the person right before us. HAHA!

We looked at a list of nearby hotels, which were all priced around 2-300 dollars. So we decided to go back to the Hilton, and check out the Seven Luck casino and crash in one of their rooms. Upon our arrival at the Hilton, we complete our check in procedure and head to the room. I change out of the heels and dress I wore to dinner, into something a bit more comfortable, then head to the casino. We get stopped at the door, and they ask us for our passports. Who carries around their passports anyways? We try to see if they'll let us in with drivers licenses or military IDs... nothing works. So, out of options, we head back to our highly overpriced room, and doze off while watching TV.

It was pretty funny towards the end of the night. February 28th seems to dislike Brad and me. Our wedding day was also quite disastrous. haha! I guess next year, we'll just go with the flow.

By the way. Driving in Korea has been a bit easier than I thought it would be. However, the night we were driving around, we decided to stop by the Nanta theater in Myong Dong so we would know exactly where it was on Sunday. We were following some cars, which disappeared into a crowd of people. What we didn't know is that most of the cars going in the direction we were headed had veered off and taken another road. Before we knew it, we were smack dab in the middle of the busiest street in Myong Dong. It's hard to walk through this street without getting pushed and shoved, but we ended up having no choice but to drive through it. We had to maneuver so that we wouldn't hit the carts of street food, and people were bumping into our car left and right. I almost peed my pants knowing that if there was a dead end, we would have to park our car here until the end of the night (which would probably have been around 5 am). People were staring at us, and giving us the dirtiest looks. If I was the one driving, I probably would have sat in my car and cried. Luckily, about 15-20 minutes later, Brad got us out of there. I think I may have nightmares about the mobs of people surrounding our car as we tried to drive through myong dong.

So to change topics. I began tutoring about a week ago. My first two students' names are Sunny and Danny. I'm not sure how they come up with these names, but all the parents introduce me to their kids by their English names. The classes are going well, however, the mother's are complete hagglers, and I totally got hustled by them! My asking price was 30,000 won per hour (thinking the children would come about 2 times a week). However, these moms talked me into doing 8 hours a week and only charging 10,000 won per kid. I am such a sucker. And on top of that, I am having to pick up one of the boys from school!!! I can't help that I am such a pushover, but I am! Well, since the children started, I've had other mom's approach me asking me to give lessons at the price I gave Danny and Sunny. I swear, they came over every day for a week, sometimes for 2 hours at a time, and they kept trying to drag down my prices. I reasoned with them, and told them I'd do it for 15,000 / hour / kid but not even that seemed to satisfy them. Finally my bitchy pregnant side came out and told them all I don't want their business. I thought it was taken care of, but today, I ended up teaching lessons to 3 children, the third mom paying the same price as the other two moms, when I thought I had clearly stated I would not lower the price. *blink blink* I have no idea what happened, but I think I just got gypt again!

I wonder how I'll be when I move back to the states. I think for sure I'll become a professional haggler out here, and I also think that I will be running a lot of red lights (since no one here has any regard for traffic lights or signs). haha

Anyways, if you're reading this... I need to take a poll on whether to name our daughter Addison or Evelyn Son. I'm having 2nd thoughts about Addison Son, after 3 pottery barn reps laughed at the name. I can only imagine how much she'll be teased in elementary school.

Toodles for now! =) hope everyone is doing well.