march madness ends

(p.s. 12 weeks of teaching left)

and i WIN!!! i won our fulbright eta pool! my bracket won!!! ok, so this is really exciting because most ppl totally scoff at what i perceive to be my "sports skills". meaning, anything related to an athletic activity that i claim knowledge of, or really anything somewhat sports-related that i take on, people kindof expect to fail. i'm one of those people who looks deceivingly athletic. only to leave ppl bewildered and totally disappointed in my complete and utter failure at anything sportsy. so it TOOOOTALLY took me by surprise that i won my ncaa men's bball pool!!! but yayy. ok so enough of that. (haha especially after junior year when i totally organized our girls' pool and then lost most miserably...)

also, my hostfam did a 180 this weekend. and by hostfamily i really mean imo. because let's face it, like any korean family i'm mostly her responsibility. so in the past few weeks, she had stopped making me breakfast AND forgetting to keep a stock of bread for my PB&J sandwiches. she hadn't been talking to me. and just other little things that made me start feeling uncomfortable in the house. so of course this weekend i relay these events/complaints to my fellow ETAs.

and THEN, out of nowhere she calls on saturday to ask me when i'm coming in on sunday so that hostdad can come pick me up at the airport. so i was thrilled and happy. but then wary. so i got suspicious that the sudden interest in my life was so that they could kindof bargain me into tutoring the hostbro in english. (i'd overheard conversations of him wanting to quit his english hakwon and his parents considering other options-and of course suggesting that i could tutor him instead). so i called to say no thanks to the ride, maia and i would find another way in together.

i come home. sick sick sick. and imo ushers me into my room. heats up a heating pad for my bed, has the daughter make me tea, and tells me to nap until dinnertime. she asked if i wanted 죽 and i said, no thanks i'll just eat what they're having. and then she made me another citron tea for after dinner. and got me an appt with her friend (her kids' pediatrician) for today and called ahead to tell her my symptoms in case i was unable to explain sufficiently in korean.

AND tonight she made (well, she told the housekeeper to make) special birthday rice and seaweed soup and my favorite "bulgogi" with no veggies for my early birthday dinner. in all, she's been going out of her way all of a sudden to be supernice. and i would love to give her the benefit of the doubt and just think that she's returning to normal. because to be honest, the last few weeks WERE really stressful for her, too. her daughter went away to boarding school. and then apparently there's this hullabaloo where she works of trying to pressure her into taking on a new responsibility (she already works fulltime PLUS has an extra nighttime lecture). so her and hostdad have been discussing that for a bit. so i thought maybe she was neglecting me because of all that extra stress. if so, then good, i'm glad she's worked through it and now we can resume as normal. because it was getting uncomfortable for a while there. and i don't want that. especially when we've made it this far amiably.

so yea, there was def some march madness going on and it wasn't just sports-related. i'm sick right now, but i'm hoping it's just the tail end/conclusion of the storm that was brewing for all of march. i've been on the brink of this killer cold for about 3 weeks, just barely staving it off, and i guess the travel and excitement of this past weekend just brought it all to a head. well, tomorrow i have a full day (9 to 4 w/lunch break) of classes and then i'll be off to asan for my birthday bash! i hope i feel well enough to really enjoy the company of my girlfriends here in korea. because it's so good to be together and i am so grateful that they all made time in their busy schedules to do this.

i probably won't have time to update tomorrow. but i will do an update later this week (on my bday festivities for sure). also, i'm trying to stop griping on here and go back to my wonderfully witty and intellectual commentary. on life. and stuff in life.