Six months in... so many changes

Well I have made it to my half way point! I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  It has been a great experience thus far and I can't wait for the fun to continue for 6 more months.  To try to catch everyone up on my life since summer vacation (once again sorry for the huge time gap between postings) the past 2 months have added a lot of change in my life and job!  I became an aunt on August 2nd. Emma Chase is the most beautiful baby and I can't believe how in love I am with her without even getting to hold her.  I know I will be FULL of emotion the day I actually get to hold my sweet niece.  It has not been easy being away for this milestone in my life, but I am just so thankful for skype.  On the same day my niece was born I also found out my best friend Lauren is pregnant! I am so excited for her to start her own family and move into the next chapter of her life, but once again very upset that I will be missing another birth.  At work the semester came to an end and I am excited for the new challenges and experiences this change will bring.  I got 2 new preschool classes and 3 new elementary classes.  I was asked to teach a class of below level students and I feel privileged to get to work with this group. I know it will be a challenge at times, but I am excited to get the opportunity to grow personally and professionally.  In the afternoon I have 1 first grade class, 1 2nd grade class and 1 third grade class.  I absolutely love each of my classes but have particularly enjoyed getting to know my 2nd graders.  They are so full of energy and a hilarious bunch.  I have been able to joke with them and they even throw some sarcasm back at me, which most Koreans don't seem to pick up on.  Aside from the children I feel like I am getting much closer with people from my work.  I love the sense of community that we have at our school.  It makes being away from home much easier when you have a great group of friends with you.  Two girls from school created a scavenger hunt around our neighborhood and got a good crowd from school to participate.  It was so much fun and we are planning on making this a bimonthly thing to get all the teachers together on the weekend.  There have been quite a few people leave since I have gotten here considering we all sign 1-year contracts and I have found it getting  increasingly harder to say goodbye to people.  I can't imagine how hard that will be for me one day down the road.  As I mentioned in my last post I started taking taekwondo, which I am in love with.  I recently moved up to my yellow belt.  We showed up on testing night not knowing what to expect and we walked in to a room with a table at the front and a banner hanging.  It made me so nervous that they were putting on this big production for our testing.  We then had to perform in front of our master and all the black belts sitting watching us.  It was a bit nerve racking, but needless to say I passed.  Now we will move up a belt each month.  I am sad that I didn't get started with taekwondo right away because you can earn your black belt in a year at our studio so I will be just shy of a black belt when it is time to leave.  I will definitely be looking into starting back up when I get home.  My parents are coming in 2 weeks and I am beyond ecstatic to see them.  It has been almost 4 months since I have seen them and I am really looking forward to not only seeing them, but also showing them around what I call home.  It is really hard for anyone to grasp how my life is here without experiencing themselves so I am so excited for my parents to have this opportunity.  Well I think this about sums up all the recent changes in my life and I hope you enjoyed reading!  I will definitely be updating after my parents come because I am sure I will have plenty to share! 

Love and peace from the far east!

Lisa