Greetings!

I have allergies and I hate it. It's also the end of cherry blossom season here in Korea. Everything is beautiful and blossoming. Everything also makes me want to tear my nose off.

Baseball season is in full swing and I couldn't be happier about it. 5 games in and the White Sox are in first. 8 games into the KBO season and the Samsung Lions are in first. Yay!

I've stuck with the Korean lessons and I just started a new book. Book 2A. No more beginner 1A or 1B bullshit. I'm onto the 2 series. Yay!

Travel plans? I plan to go to Seoul to visit friends, but a personal issue is forcing me to keep delaying my trip. I want to meet Su-jin's mom. This is important to me. She met my parents and they live 6,000 miles away. I live in the same city as her mom and I haven't met her. We've been dating for almost 500 days. First I was supposed to meet her mom around Christmas, that fell through. Then I went on vacation for two weeks to the states. Apparently her mom has been in and out of hospitals for a variety of reasons. I still don't see why we can't set a date to meet. Su-jin keeps telling me, "everything's fine," and I can meet her, "soon." When exactly is soon? How many years will I have to stay here before I can meet her? Why is this still an issue. I confronted Su-jin about this a few weeks ago. Since that time, NOTHING has changed. If she called me, noticeably upset, I would probably do what she asked. She claimed she would take care of it. I'm about a week away from issuing an ultimatum. This is starting to get ridiculous.

What else? Our school just recieved some money to become an "English Center." I don't know what that means, but the days of my easy schedule might be over. There's been talk of an English room and office.

I had another school party on Wednesday. These parties are a lot of fun. This time we had duck for dinner. Delicious. Then we hung out and talked for a few hours. My coworkers are a lot of fun. I'm lucky to be at the school I'm at. Even if it's not in the best area.

My new coteachers are also getting used to me. One likes to run the show, the other is fairly indifferent, but likes to have fun in class. Things are going well in the classroom. If they are going badly, no ones talking.

We have a girl we're worried about in the 6th grade. She's hanging out with a rough crowd and supposedly smoked a cigarette in 5th grade. It's fairly obvious she doesn't like school very much. If I were in the states, I'd suspect abuse of some sort, but my coteachers claim that's not the case. Either way, the 6th grade English teacher had a talk with her. Nothing's changed. I guess we'll have to try extra hard to get through.