Happy Birthday (again) Buddha!

Clearly its been too long since I last updated my blog when I forget its url . . . oops. Well, here am I! Remember me? :P

The only excuses I could think to offer are that 1) I've been busy (lame) and 2) I was seeing someone (probably even more lame). And yes, that was the past tense of the verb "to be." I am an English teacher and a wholly independent spirit and such is life.

A quick run-down of what has happened since my last update in January (!!!) . . . not necessarily in chronological order . . .
-Renewed my contract. School has been very flexible and met pretty much all of my requests. Therefore, I will be in Suwon, SK until April 2010. After that, who knows? Actually, I have a good idea of where I might be headed, but my lips are sealed for the moment.
-Got accepted to the CELTA course in Krakow, Poland. Here are the specs- I am going to Krakow for four weeks this summer to do a teacher training course. The course will allow me access to more jobs, higher pay, etc. After the course, I'll be on vacay for a week and hope to do a loop of Prague, Vienna, and Budapest. The best news? My school is paying for the flight and its already booked. I fly out on July 25th :D
-One of my closest friends from home, Dave, just came out to Korea to teach in a city up by the DMZ.
-Just had my open class on Wednesday. Principal, Vice Principal, and foreign teachers from six other schools came. Apparently I was smashing :P And the rest of the semester is more or less smooth sailing.

The usual weekend shenanigans are as lively as ever now that the weather has warmed up. Dave and I are off the Jeonju, a city about 3 hours south of here, this weekend for the Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF). I'm stoked. It will hopefully be the first of many summer road trips . . . and yes, officially or not, I do believe it is summer now. 75 degrees, watermelons on sale, cinema in the park . . .

Amen to that.

I'm a little bit unreliable, but . . .

I have pictures from Vietnam! Only a month late. Don't judge.

Go here! http://www.flickr.com/photos/83719566@N00/collections/72157612889978205/

Since my return to Korea I've been busying myself with winter camp, talks of renewal, and trying not to die in the winter weather.
1. If you'd like to see pictures of me teaching winter camp, my lovely co-teacher Chan Mi has developed a habit of posting a handful everyday. Go to www.suwon-chilbo.es.kr and click on "News" . . . its all about English camp.
2. Yes, I am renewing for a second year. Talks are in progress. I'm trying to negotiate with the principal to get four consecutive weeks of vacation in the summer to do a teacher training course (likely in Bangkok or Eastern Europe). School would pay for the flight, I would pay for the course. I'll keep ya posted!
3. You know how some people aren't "morning people?" I'm not a winter person. Seriously. Wherever I end up after Korea is going to have to be warmer . . .

12:15 a.m on a Saturday night/Sunday morning is not really a typical blogging time for me, but! I'm currently an overly-caffeinated mess packing and planning for Tokyo. Yep, I'm heading to Tokyo on Monday for 7 days. It was a bit of a last minute idea .. . but, I relish in the thought of a little free time and getting lost in the sea of humanity that is Tokyo . . .

Next time- live from Japan . . .