I have the best family and friends in the world!

I've been pretty up today. Mondays are my day off of training, the kids were great, and David will be with me in 8 days.....actually now its closer to 7 days. To top it all off, I got a package today from Krissy and my second mommy.

This is the fourth package that I have gotten in the past two weeks and the director at my school asked me today if I was very popular back home. Nope. Just extremely lucky to have such a supportive set of family and friends. As soon as I get the package I have to open it right away...I can't wait. Which means that my students start crowding around saying "teacher, teacher! this is what? this is what?" They try to get in to the box first to open it, and I practically slap their hands away..."This is Anne Teacher's Box!" Whatever is inside, they are dying to touch...they also know that if there is candy or gum inside, I will probably share a little with them so their eyes start twinkling and they start opening and closing their mouthes like baby birds. Its pretty freaking adorable. We tore through the peppermint moose munch today while we listened to Christmas carols on the internet...Krissy also put a stuffed panda bear in the box and I couldn't keep the kid's hands off it. I have plenty of pictures to prove it.

So, I'm learning Korean. Its true. I doubt that I am going to be conversational or even close to adept, but I have decided to make a committed effort towards learning. The best place to start is the alphabet, and within an hour I had most of the characters down. The next day on the bus ride to work, Sarah teacher was impressed with the way I was sounding out the signs. Honestly, I sounded like a 4 year old. "Suuu....no, wait....saaaahhh Sahhhhhh maaaaaan."

At school there is a No Korean rule, but sometimes we give the kids vocabulary lists with the definitions written in Korean. I looked at the list and for the first time I was able to make some sense of the words... 달 'Daaaahl'....I looked at the kids for approval..."Month is 'Daahl?'" They about wet themselves. No Joke. We give out stickers for achievements at the school, and Candy said "Teacher! You get THREE stickers!" Now I know why we give out stickers. Those stupid things made me feel so good.

Marathon training is going well. This week marks week four for me, so I am still fresh, yet deep enough in that there is very little chance of me backing out. I have been fortunate in that there have been no hints of any injuries thus far. Knock. On. Wood. Yesterday I had the best run. Sundays are long run days and this weekend I had a 12 mile run planned. I was a little discouraged due to the fact that my Nike+ sensor had died the day before and I have some sick need to see my runs on the website, but I set out anyways. First few miles my right shin was tight and I wanted to turn back, but at mile 5 everything was really smooth. At mile six it started snowing and I turned onto a different route. I was deep in the countryside and I ran up a ridge to find a trail running along a branch of the Pyeongtaek channel. Old men were fishing through the ice, snow was falling all around me and these really amazing tiny birds were darting in and out of the brush all around me. (one of the birds had a little yellow mohawk, no joke.) On my way back in, the snow got really rediculous and started to build up all over my clothes, my hair, and even my eyelashes. So freaking hardcore. The old men on the trail were actually clapping and cheering me on.

In one hour it will be 7 days until David is with me.

Seriously.

I love you all, i miss you all.