This blog was intended to document Korea happenings, but I thought I'd update it for my 3 or 4 avid readers.

After the last post, one of my former sophomores sent me a message saying he was surprised how busy teachers were in the summer. If there are people out there who think we sit around and stare at the walls all summer, I'm glad I can help dispel that myth. My schedule is not out of the ordinary for a teacher. I went to a barbeque with a bunch of teachers a few weeks ago, and none of them are sitting around bored. Most have housing projects, some are road-tripping, others are nannying or working other part time jobs, going to grad school, watching their kids, etc. Also, at summer school I've run into teachers who are organizing their classroom, prepping for next year, or working sports camps. But even if we did sit around and stare at the walls, we certainly deserve it. May (and the first week of June) was an incredibly chaotic month for me; I collected 3 sets of essays from my 130 sophomores, organized a field trip where we brought 160 students to the Guthrie, and helped organize the Mock Crash during Prom Week. When my non-teacher friends get jealous of my summers off, I ask them if they would trade places with me for the other 9 months of the year, and most say "no thanks."

Okay, I didn't mean for this post to be a teaching rant, but again, I make a point in life to dispel the myth that teaching is an easy job with cush hours and lots of vacation. I'm done now. On to Seattle...

Seattle was really fun, but for some reason I thought it was going to be warm and sunny and I packed as such. (It is June after all) I stepped off the plane to freezing cold, damp weather and grey skies. I guess I should have anticpated this, but I figured it would be at least as warm as Minneosta. My cousin, who has lived there for 8 years now, said it's been unusually cold for June, but otherwise the weather was pretty typical of Seattle. Everyone knows it's rainy in Seattle, but I guess I had to see it to believe it. I was contemplating moving there for awhile after returning from Korea, and while it's a cool city with lots of art, music, & outdoor sports appeal, I wasn't a fan of the weather. Maybe I'll stick to the So Cal plan. A friend of mine also told me that Denver has 300 days of sunshine a year. I think I'll look into that as well. Although I've lived in Minneosta since I was 13, (and from age 0-4) I despise cold and vow every January to move somewhere warm.

In other news, my younger sister got engaged last Saturday. She and her fiance are planning to wed in October or November of 2009. I've known it was coming for a while, and her fiance is practically a member of the family already, (he actually gets an Easter basket) but it's still a little weird. Like one of my mom's daycare kids pointed out yesterday, "she's getting married BEFORE you!" Gotta love kids and their frankness. I just told her that I wanted to travel the world first.

The pictures above are from Seattle and the Jack Johnson concert my other sister and I went to on Sunday. We are huge fans and were not disappointed. I also really dug Mason Jennings, who opened for him. I play two of his songs ("Fighter Girl" and "I love you and Buddha too") repeatedly on iTunes. I have a tendency to fixate on one or two songs and listen to them relentlessly. (My roommates in college just loved that) Anyway if you're into mellow alternative music, you should check him out. He's probably more appropriately categorized as a folk artist, (his voice is a little Bob Dylan-esque) but iTunes says Alternative, and iTunes knows all.

P.S. The last day and a half I was in Seattle it was clear and sunny, and that's when I took most of my pictures. I might have been exaggerating a little about it being "freezing." I just wasn't dressed appropriately...and I hate cold.