Highlights of my Day... Wednesday, April 21

1. Morning meeting number 2 of 4 for this week and waking up super duper early isn’t getting any easier.

2. Quit the language exchange group because now I can run my own group on my own terms and instead of it costing me $5 a coffee per meeting, they’re willing to pay me a dollar a minute, literally, and I get unlimited free coffee… sweet!!!

3. What was supposed to be a drive out to my sister-in-law’s daycare ended up being a drive to the local Cheonan jail – which in my eyes is pretty much the same thing… hahaha.

4. Strange things always spark my curiosity, so when Snickers’ pointed out that we had just driven past the Cheonan jail, I told him I wanted to check it out. And check it out was definitely what we did. The entrance was a long winding road, and, oddly enough, in many ways it reminded me of going off to summer camp. There was a big yellow sign that we drove under and rows of beautiful trees lining the road. We parked the car near a security guarded gate and then walked right in. It was one of the strange feelings. I’ve never been to a jail before but this was nothing like I had imagined. There were numerous buildings with different signs, unlocked doors, and people walking freely in-and-out of them. “Are they jail people [inmates]?” I was quick to ask Snickers. “No” he laughed. From what I understand of what Snickers told me, the main part of the jail where are the inmates are located is basically a building within a building, so all these other buildings that spotted the jail grounds were basically only for visitors and staff. I did, however, get to go into the building that surrounds the real-deal building.

5. The only area that was open for me to venture into consisted of visitor rooms where visitors could arrange to visit inmates via a room that was divided in two but a plain of glass and bars. I couldn’t bring myself to sit on the actual visitors chair but I couldn’t resist secretly snapping some shots with my camera phone. Snickers told me how each month each inmate is only allowed four visits, each lasting of ten minutes. I had mixed reactions about that fact, knowing that it must have killed Snickers to not only be physically not to touch and hug his mom but to only be allowed to see her a total of 40 minutes a month, that is if she didn’t have to give up her visitors’ time so that one of his friends or other family members could visit him. “I waited all month for those forty minutes” he told me.

6. I’ve always told Snickers to be proud of himself, regardless of what others may think or say about him. I’m not saying I am proud that he did hard time but I will never ever say I am ashamed or embarrassed of it. He is who he is because of everything he did from yesterday back, there’s no changing the past, only learning what you can from it growing. If you’re a better person today than you were yesterday and are happy, well, that’s all that matters. And yes, I am well aware that his bad history may very well stop us at the border this summer and send us back to Korea without me being able to see family and friends, but I swore on the day we married that I would support him no matter what – till death do us part. I told him that if Canada lets me in but says no to him than I’ll go home with him. It’s both of us or no one.

7. Was considering going back to working in the Korean public school system because that was the place I felt the most successful, most happy, and most connected with not only my students but with my coworkers and with what went on at the school, however, I’m second guessing this thought now.

8. I started second guessing it today when I was approached, yet again, to take on some tutoring gigs once my F2 gets processed. The person that approached me presented me with quite an attractive offer – list of agreed upon students, readily available curriculum and resources, a location for me to tutor, and an hourly rate that is very respectable. Basically when it comes down to it, if I chose the public school system I’d be forced to work a 9-5, but if I chose this other route I could continue my language group and do the tutoring for more money than the public school board would pay me – or Dankook for that matter – with half the hours required. The public school job is a more safe and secure steady income, but this second option is attractive in that it’s got a lot of potential for me to earn more money and have more time to persue other things like my boxing, substitute teaching positions, and media extra work.

9. Today= day 63, week 9 of waiting for my F2 to be processed.

10. Oh, and as for that massive box of bulgogi burgers, we were a big hit tonight at boxing when we decided to hand out about 20 of them to the students… hahaha. Good times! The students were loving the burgers though we didn’t dare to tell them how we got them but instead made up a story, telling them that one of my former students gave them to me. Even I didn’t believe that story and though I think most of those at boxing didn’t either, they bought the tale and gobbled down those nasty smelling burgers… hahaha.

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What are you hiding?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.
-- Dave Barry