The Boy with the Golden Fingernails

안녕하세요!! (That says hello...an-yang-ha-say-yo)

By now you have seen my amazing video and may be thinking to yourself, "Katie, what the F!?" Let me explain. To be fair this has the potential to be a long and mixed up post. I'm currently dealing with more emotions than I am used to dealing with and it's messing with the reasoning portion of my brain I think.

So as you may recall, Jason, my close friend and co-worker, returned to America for his best friend's wedding and a week with family. He left on Friday afternoon. On Monday night, he called me on Skype and asked me to call his girlfriend, Carly, and have her get on Skype because he missed her. I did and it did not connect. My phone only works about 50% of the time, so I told him he'd after to get someone else to do it. Ten minutes later he called me back yelling "did you know?!" I said "know what?" Turns out Carly had a panic attack about the tensions on the peninsula and made a mid-night run back to Canada on Sunday night. Midnight runs are when the foreign teachers leave the country with no notice, breaking their contracts and essentially black-listing themselves from the country. So Carly is gone. One Thailand-trip partner gone.

During the week Jason started to freak out about returning. The US media and his family's fears were getting to him and he didn't know what to do. Remember, Jason, Carly, and I were going to Thailand together for Christmas and Jason and I were re-signing our contracts for another year. The day before he was supposed to get on the plane to come back to Korea, he flipped out and we talked for a while. I was attempting to be rational and convince him to come back to Korea and at least finish his current contract, which is up in March. He went to bed with the promise to contact me asap with his choice. At this point I was a wreck. This call woke me up on Saturday and my day was shot. So I called Ian and told him he needed to make me laugh all day. Hence the movie.

I went to Ian's and we watched movies and TV and drank vodka and the Legendairy movie was created. First I banged on the guitar, then I banged vodka bottles on the ground, then I whistled, then we did the jokes. He mashed all those recordings together and we put it to the video. There was zero editing, which is why we are laughing and talking at the same time. Sunday morning, I checked my messages and we thought we were in the clear. Ian and I were watching soccer when I got a call from Sophia. Jason stayed in Canada. He made the flight from Texas to Canada and couldn't talk himself back on the plane. She was crying. To be fair, Jason and I decided not to tell her about his debates because she was already dealing with some boyfriend drama, so she was totally sneak attacked.

I came back home and Sophia and I cleaned out Jason's apartment and called our boss. This week at work was terrible. Our friend, Elise, works in Suji (the town I used to live in) and she works at her school from 2-8, so she is able to fill in for the morning classes. This has been a god send. Sophia and I are working a lot more and it has been very hectic.

On top of the work stress, I am very confused about how to feel about one of my best friends bailing on me like this. I'm hurt and mad and sad and frustrated and exhausted.

I canceled the Thailand trip. Ian looked into going with me, but his plane ticket would have been too expensive.

We got a new teacher signed up and he should be here in a month or so. He actually worked in Suji and has been home for a few months looking for a new job.

I have been promoted to head teacher, which essentially means that I am really good at charades. I am the go between for the Korean teachers and foreign teachers. It's really just cool because now I can put something sweet on my resume.

This weekend I met a Chinese-Korean man who went to Purdue. Small world.

Because of the stress and the weather, Sophia and I are both fighting some fairly annoying colds. Lots of snot.

I may be moving into Jason's apartment. It's bigger. But I'm fairly lazy, so I'm not sure.

Rex had his fingernails painted gold all week. That's why that's the title of this post. It's also going to be the title of my life in Korea, Volume II. Volume I being "Knitting with Chopsticks".

Sophia and I found a gym in our apartment complex. It has like 6 treadmills, 3 bikes, and some weight machines. We signed up for 3 months. It was about 60 dollars. I have only been once so far because I was so tired all week. But it felt good to lift and use some muscles. I'm going to try to add it to my daily routine at least 3 days a week. We shall see.

Just to be clear, I do not think a war will happen. I have registered with the embassy and have asked my co-teachers to promise to tell me when it is time to leave. Noone here is worried and Marco, my Wooster track friend who has been here for 3 years and speaks Korean has promised that there is nothing to worry about. He also promised that if something does happen, we will be able to get out and he will get me before he leaves. So, I'm not worried. You shouldn't be worried. Things are fine.

Line 1- KAtie Dale
Line 2- Green Tower Building 495-3
Line 3- Jukjeon - 1 Dong
Line 4- Yongin-Si
Line 5- Gyeonggi-Do
Line 6- South Korea
Line 7/Zip Code line- 448-803

I hope you're all doing well. I love you. I miss you. It doesn't feel like Christmas at all. It's strange being away from family and friends. I love my friends here, but I have known them for 11 months at most. It's all weird. Kisses!