A virtual tour of my digs.

Hello everyone - I sincerely hope you are all well and focused on a simple stress free holiday season.

Thought you might like to see where I live.
Oh, and my apologies, but I did not give you the zip code to either my apartment address or the school address when I sent them in an earlier e-mail. The apartment zip is 456040. The school zip is 456861.

BIG LOVE.
pamella

Size matters

Ok, so I want to talk about size, because as we all know, size DOES matter! Check out this photo - which is a lousy photo because you have nothing to compare it to and it's a silly perspective ...... but here's the point.

This is a brand new roll of paper towels, and trust me, this roll is at least 3 inches shorter, has 1/3rd the amount of paper ON the roll and the sheets are perhaps 2/3rds the size of ours. So what's this about? Is it because Korea is a small country and they are small people and so they have small messes? Is it like the fish in a fish bowl; their products reflect the size of their environment? Or is it because they are really smart, and are psychologically discouraging people from overuse of paper products? Actually, it's a bit of each, but primarily, it's because there are very few trees in this country and a lot of paper stuff has to be IMPORTED, from China mostly. So, they downsize the size of the product, thus instilling in the consumer a natural reverence for said product and it's usage. Smart. When we downsize in America it is for different reasons...... namely, the bottom line of the buckeroo. I mean, do we really need paper towels as big as the ones we have? Just because we are a big country, does that mean we need to oversize everything?

OK, that's my rant for the day. Otherwise, I am happy to report that all is well. School is good; the planning part is coming a bit easier, but still eats up a lot of time because every class has to be put onto a form with specifics of your plan for the principal and vice-principal to sign off on Friday for the following week. It's time I would rather spend being more CREATIVE with my classes. But the days do fly by, and sometimes I even feel like a GOOD teacher! I have begun my first puppet project with the 5th and 6th grade class I have. They are writing simple xmas stories and making puppets to tell them. We will perform for the 1st graders. My student 'Little Einstein' (some of them have chosen English names to go by in class) is doing a shadow puppet show and the others are doing hand puppets. I'll make sure to get pictures to share.

Winter is beginning to settle in, but, like Asheville, there are always a few warm days in the month. One day this week it got up to 59 degrees farenheit. Awesome.

My energy is getting better and better. No more meltdowns over soup to report. I've talked to some other teachers here and it seems that the adjustment period is somewhat the same for many. Most folks, like me, go through a period where you feel like you are in a bubble and there is a din all around you and of course, it's in KOREAN!!! And you feel isolated and alone. But it passes. I'm doing way more walking than I did at home and that's a good thing - a very good thing. My endurance has improved substantially. My co-worker Carol is a much happier lady then when I first arrived (looks like her boyfriend is coming to visit) and we are getting along better. I've made a couple of friends - not the good ole hang out kind of friends, but 'dinner now and then' kind of friends. So, except for the damn dollar sliding so bad, I can honestly say I'm happy to be having this experience.

Wish I was there for some Christmas cheer though!!

Love to all. p.

Last weekend I shot a video tour of my apartment, but when I went to upload it here it was a few bytes too long. So I have to re-shoot. I'll be sending that out next.

Much love to all. p.