Dear Friends and Family,

Breaking from my usual chronological travel tales, please fast forward your imaginations through the DMZ, Seoul, Lunar New Years, Bangkok, etc. and return with the exhausted me to Daegu on March 2, 2007, the first day of our new school year.

Coffee in hand, I crossed the amazingly bustling faculty room, calling out greetings to everyone who noted my entrance and arrived at my desk, which had been taken over by a new teacher. Momentarily confused, I soon discovered that my desk location had moved and so I dropped my coffee to my new desk and scrambled to move my stuff. While shuttling between old and new, I learned also that my British counterpart and my favorite giggling companion had moved to offices on 4^th floor. Before discombobulated, I was becoming downright displeased… although I had gained congenial company around my new desk. Sighing, I set about organizing my new drawers when my guiding teacher walked over to say hi, inquire into Bangkok adventures, and ask if I had heard from the city. The wrinkle in my brow, already present from the desk chaos, deepened.

“Uh, no. Should I have?” I responded.

“I am sorry but you are going to be very busy this year. The city is going to have you teach teachers too.” I closed my eyes, summoned the scant pleasantness in my system and responded, “Oh. Good!” I didn’t precisely know what this meant – beyond a lot more work – but instead of pursuing this subject, (I think that) I thanked him all the while vividly picturing my warm, soft bed with its dark covers and fervently imaging myself buried to the scalp in them. I returned to this vision a lot on my first day back.

By afternoon, I had counted my work schedule for this semester.

• Conversation classes: 12 hours per week (Different classes for 1^st and 2^nd graders).
• Co-teaching Common English: 6 hours per week (Happily, with congenial, highly competent co-teacher).
• Teaching Teachers: 4 hours per week (Don’t get me started on the joys of this).
• Teaching city gifted students in the evening: 3 hours per week (Wonderful, hard work).

I couldn’t help but wonder how I was going to balance working and quality of life and writing. And how I was going to maintain the creativity and energy that I believe make my teaching worthwhile? By that afternoon, I had a horrid headache and by 4:35, I had shed only my shoes before submerging myself to the scalp.

Happily, I keep reminding myself that I could’ve never handled this when I first started (no way, no how) – but I can now. And I’ve been easing into my new schedule. Classes are going ok while my concepts of preparation and time management are undergoing extensive alteration. Lemons into lemonade: I can do it!

But what has vanished amongst my struggles to keep my head above water is writing. [funny voice] “Bye, bye!” But the delay has been driving me batty because I have so much living to write to you all about! I suppose that I must resign myself, as you all probably did a long time ago, to the fact that my blog will perpetually be on what was once known as “Laura Time.” Please accept my last apology for this; I hope that you will continue to read this as I plan to continue writing it. I’m certain that I’ll figure out how to manage the work and happily, in Korea, even ordering ice cream can result in a good story.

And now on to my most remarkable story since my arrival in Korea: our visit to the Demilitarized Zone.

Begging your pardon and your patience,

Laura

PS: Today’s picture: patient Buddha, behind glass, at the Jogyesa Temple in Seoul. hh