i must say that i have the greatest students ever!!!  we spend most of class laughing... it's the best!  learning english through laughter...  it works!  i don't know what i do to make class so much fun... perhaps it is my over-acting for everything and the goofy faces i make.  regardless, it is fun and they are learning...

my students never cease to amaze me.  when i think they aren't listening or understanding, they come back a month later quoting what i said.  i don't expect them to remember where i am from (which they remember both the birthplace and hometown), that i don't like pizza, etc... 

another thing that makes my students great is the fact that they bring me food!!!  in my morning classes, my students are all Korean.  i've eaten rice cakes so many times... and i love them.  also different types of rolls (similar to egg rolls).  i've also learned to eat cake with chopsticks!!! that was interesting...

then there are the silly mistakes we all make, or the funny things they say to me.  they are not afraid to state their opinions... "you have a nice nose"  is my favorite of them all.  they've asked me about getting married, the qualities i look for, where i'd go on honeymoon, etc.  there are so many things... oh, and they love to play matchmaker!!!  "so-and-so is single. he's ____ yrs old.  nice man."  ha ha ha... 

there is one thing i have to deal with that i don't enjoy... those students that have crushes on me.  winks during class, slightly inappropriate comments... and recently someone (not my student, but someone from the school i am sure of) has started texting me little messages.  i've only replied asking who it is, but no response.  while it is all flattering, i definitely do not enjoy it.

so... that's how i spend my days, with the greatest students ever!!!  it's the students that make my crazy, hectic schedule tolerable and worthwhile!!!

Greetings Xanga world!  As I look at the dates, I see that I’ve been away for quite some time.  Of course, I could go into a long rant of all that has passed to update this online community of friends as to the occurrences in my little life. 

I’m living in Washington DC (well, in the metro region…), actually about 2-3 miles down the road from where I lived when I last posted.  The jobs have also changed, though one has remained constant: the job teaching ESL at night.  Actually, I’ve been through a tiny handful of changes in the employment department of life.  I’ve just completed week 2 at 2 new jobs.  Yes, two new jobs… bringing the total job count up to three (but I’ve been there, done that).  They are all part-time and in the same field: teaching adult ESL.   But 3 very different schools and communities.  Also located in all three areas that encompass the DC metro region (that being VA, MD, and of course DC itself).  It’s a little crazy… but necessary, as it seems one has to have a masters degree to be employed full time in this profession.  I’m hoping to work my way into a full-time position to avoid all this crazy commuting and scheduling nightmare.

The longer I live in this region, the more rooted I become.  When I initially moved here, I saw it as a temporary place of residence.  Another notch on the post.  However, as I spend more time here, I grow more fascinated with the area.  And despite the high cost of living, I actually think I could stick around.  What a cool place to raise a family!  There is no shortage of things to see and experience.  And there are countless more great historical sites just a day’s trip away (not to mention my favorite part… both mountains and ocean within an hours drive)

Every workday I pass the Capitol building, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Pentagon…  And of course I see them by the beautiful night sky on many of the nights I venture out.  And while I don’t feel quite as giddy as I did the first time I returned home from a night’s outing, passing by these historic relics, I still get this amazing feeling EVERY time I perchance to see them.  I enjoyed an exceptionally great ride into work one morning this week, as there was a beautiful, unexpected rainbow ahead, as I drove past the new Nationals Stadium and it went right over the Washington Monument (I attempted to get pictures of all that stuff together, but being behind the wheel hindered my fotografic capabilities).   It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.   

(as i crossed the bridge, heading towards the capitol... note the washington monument on the left)                                                                 

(by the time I got to this point, it had begun to fade: note, that dome's the jefferson monument)

So I guess that’s where I’m at right now, in a nutshell