Highlights of my Day... Monday, June 16

1. Day 1 of exams started off with a bang, literally. No sooner had I set up my interview desks and whatnot, but then the cleaning ajjuma (older woman) walked past my class and slat she went... on the floor with her heels kicking up in the air, sending her cleaning supplies scrambling across the floor. She had slipped on the freshly washed floor.

2. Some of my sports students stood there, looking at her like deer stuck in the headlights of a car and so I gave them a shot to the shoulder and told them to help pick up her stuff. Thankfully she wasn't hurt badly.

3. Did SEVEN hours of interviewing today... not exactly fun.

4. Seven hours down, SIXTEEN more to go!!! That's how many more hours of scheduled interviews I still have to conduct. And then, once it's all over, I then have to add up their marks, write in their grades, calculate their final marks, email them their grades, have two days of student meetings regarding marks, and then punch them into the university's website.

5. Forgetting to schedule in quick pee breaks during the interviews almost killed me in that I was sure my bladder was going to rebel against me. Holding "it" in for hours can't be a good thing!!!

6. With absolutely no energy left after a FULL day of student interviews, I came home and instantly turned into a vegetable on the floor.

7. Mi Nam has started this strange habit of licking my eyes... WHILE they're open!!! He use to always try to lick my lips or chin but now he goes straight for the eyes. It's the weirdest thing too cause after he licks his lips, as if he enjoyed it.... strange boy!!!

8. Some people show "I love you" with flowers, others with love notes and romantic dinners... but me, I went with a toothbrush taped to my front door... hehehe. Q came by after work tonight and arrived to find a toothbrush taped with a note on my door.

9. And how did Q show he loved me?!... with melons... Mokcheon's famous yellow melons, two of them.

10. Totally forgot that yesterday was Father's Day in Canada and so late in the evening I called my dad. See, I come to Korea and loss all memory of western holidays! I tell ya... I gotta write these kind of things down. Happy Father's Day Papa Bere!!! You're CLEARLY the best father... and no, that's not me being bias... hehehe. You want proof?!! Ok, let me tell you a quick story about my father and why I think he's awesome....

My First Date

It was my 13th birthday and I had just arrived home from horse-riding camp. No sooner had I started to unpack but then my mother told me to shower up. Naturally, I asked, "Why?"

"Because you're going on a date!!!" my mother responded.

A date?! According to my parents' "not till your 16" rule, I was clearly too young to be going on a date but there I was, being told I was going on one... but with whom?! Had my mom picked the boy who once stole flowers for me and then embarrassed the heck out of me by showing up on my front door with them?! Or had she picked one of the boys from church? Hmm...

Some time later, the front door bell rang. My mom answered it and I listened to the responding voice, but oddly enough, it was my father's voice.

"Hi Mrs. B, I am here for Amy" he said.

I came down the stairs, wearing one of my new dresses and my hair neatly done. I was confused. Why was my father standing there with flowers? Where was this mysterious boy I was to go on a date with?

Turns out that boy was my father. I was going on a date with my father! Later we'd joke about how my first official date was with an older married man, but at the time, it was kind of confusing at first but none the less, very sweet. He had showed up in a crisp ironed shirt and had even washed the car.

He took me to Cullen Gardens, a notoriously known restaurant that is quite famous for it's luxurious dining area and is used for many weddings. It was no real place for a 13 year old but there I was, dressed to impress and sitting beside my equally handsome father.

During dinner, my father knocked my napkin off the table. I leaned over to pick it up and when I sat back up, there on my plate was a small silver box. I eagerly opened it up. Inside the pretty box was a gold opal ring. I had always loved opals but never expected to have my own opal ring. I was just a child and a pretty ring like that was too pretty and too expensive for me but there I was with my own new opal ring.

After dinner, my father drove me back home and then he left. He drove around the block before he came back to the house and that's how I spent my 13th birthday, on a date with my father. Later did I fully comprehend what that date meant. It was my first date and in a way my father was setting the standard for me with regards to how a guy should treat me. I still have my opal ring but throughout the years, looking at that ring made me sad. It was a physical reminder of the lesson my father had tried to teach me and the fact that most of the guys I dated evidently didn't even come close to being the gentleman my father had hoped I would find. I have dated the good, the bad, and the ugly, but my date with my father will always be the most special date I have ever been on. And on that note, it is with great pride that I write that I have finally found that gentleman my father had hoped for me to find, Q.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What has your father taught you?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person. He believed in me.
— Jim Valvano