GOOD afternoon

I had a good afternoon.
Lunch was great. Every once in a while, they serve up this delicious pork, carrot and potato stew/stirfry. Today was that day. And it was good.
The conversation, once again, was horrible though. Mr Hyun is not what most would imagine when they think of a member of "Toastmasters". Once again conversation consisted of "Why you don't eat Korean kimch'i?", followed a few minutes later by "You very good use Korean chopsticks."
Well, thanks. You're a teacher! Learn some friggin' English!
After lunch, I met up with the new special education teacher. She's one of the staff who wants to learn english (ie, a reason I must stay after my classes are over). I'm not bitter about it. If every day staying late is as fun as today was, I'll do it. I just hate having to stay and do nothing, which is what normally happens.
SO anyways, we were chatting, and she's pretty funny. It was nice, I haven't had much chance to meet Koreans who are my age, and she seems really cool. But then she popped the big question that seems to loom in a lot of conversations here...
"Do you believe in Jesus?"
Oh, Jesus.
So, that was a big conversation. It actually went well, and was fun. I told her about being Catholic, but that I didn't feel like I could believe it right now. She said she felt sad and would pray for me, I told her I was cool with that.
Then she said "Are you ready for my story? It is about before I believed. Maybe, I will tell, and you will drop a tear?"
I said "Maybe we should wait until after class then."
She laughed and continued.
I'll try to do this in her words as closely as I can remember, but keep in mind it will be a lot clearer in my memories.
"When I was younger ten years, I was 16 [she's24]. No, I was eight years ago, I was in two grade middle school."
"Second grade?"
"Yes, second grade. No, I was in first grade. I cried always. I looked at a mountain in window, I dropped a tear. I saw my friend, I cried. I looked at book, I cry."
"Because they were beautiful?" I was trying to help her along, and I thought this was a story about finding God, so, you know, beauty...
"No, I cried always. I was sad always. I had one friend only. All people liked her. All people were her friends."
"Oh, she was very popular!" I added. You know, because these conversations are to help her improve her English, technically.
"Okay, she was popular. But then one summer, she died."
"Oh. "
"I was sad. It was 7 23."
"July 23rd?"
"Yes. Now every July twenty-three, I cry."
"Oh, so you were sad?"
"Yes."
"And, you found comfort in God and Jesus?"
"No."

And that was the end of that. There was nothing further. I thought it was a story about finding Jesus, but it was just a sad story about her dead friend. I almost cried, she was right about that, but holy crap, I didn't expect that.
SO we chatted a little more, and it was fun. And then it was time for class.

Class was great. My last class can get pretty rowdy, but they are really fun because they are pretty advanced. Also, it's the class where the girl loves me, so you know that is fun.
So, it started with the "WHat did you do this weekend?" ice-breaker. They were good. Most people just said they studied, but this class said they studied FOR EXAMS! They are good! The last one was best. This girl put up her hand and said "I met a handsome boy!"
The class erupted. I erupted. I laughed a lot. They laughed at me.
Then it was the recurring joke throughout the class, which was fun. It's a fun class, because there is enough rapport that they are comfortable joking with me. SO about the fourth time that she gave me a frustrated look when I rejected her short level sound and I responded with "You met a handsome boy!" she stood up and said:
"YOU LOVE JESSICA!!!"
I said "Yeah!" and went back to teaching, and the girls oohed and then said "YOU MET A HANDSOME BOY!" to the girl again. It was really funny.
Then they made fun of the girl who loves me when she stood up for me by saying "You are one-way lover!" and pointing at her. Hilarious! (but hurtful!)

After class, I returned to the broadcast room. In came Minahn, with a Monopoly Board under his arm. He asked me to teach him how to play so he could play with his special class.
I tried to tell him that it was a really long game, but he had to see.
We played for about an hour and a half, and she was kicking my ass! It was brutal! I kept winning the lottery, but when I had about 3 or 4 properties, he owned about half the board. But we were nowhere close to finished when we had to stop. It was fun, but I'm not sure it will work for his class.

Alright, that's all I have for now. Jessica is waiting for the internet....