Nolan, my little bro, came out here to visit for a week during his Thanksgiving vacation! It amazes me every time that I see him how much of a little brother he isn't. He's HUGE. And I think at this point I could easily convince people that Kyle, Molly, and maybe even Nolan and Claire are all older than me. Kyle's a given since he looks like he's thirty lately. And Molly definitely looks older than me. But my 16 year old brother and sister are growing up so fast it's crazy. The other thing that is just so stinking awesome besides the fact that he gave up a week of his high school life to come see me is that he paid his own way out here! I don't know any 16 year olds that would do that which proves that both he and Claire are such solid and amazing kids. He was also here for my birthday which was so great. It was kind of a bummer that I had to work the whole week but it worked out well because he stayed with my boyfriend Timmy who is an R.A. in the dorms so he works from 3-11pm which made it so that Nolan was able to hang out with him and my friend Will most days instead of having to come to work and be bored to tears! He of course came to school with me for two days (I lucked out and didn't have to go to my boy's school on that friday-PHEW) and gave the girls a coronary. It was so funny to see them go absolutely nuts over him and constantly scream "Handsome!" down the halls. We stayed in Daejeon for most of the week and headed to Suwon on Friday to meet Timmy, Kir, Will and some other people who were at a conference up there so that we could go hang out in Seoul the next day. It was just so much fun to be able to experience things over here with Nol especially since he is such a goof and was so comfortable with my friends. I definitely envy him for his ability to adapt and be comfortable in a new environment...and even more, that he's himself regardless of whether he just met a person or has known them for 10 years. I was so sad to see him go and I loved being able to crack up at just about everything he did for an entire week:) Here's some pics that he took during his visit:
So, its almost Christmas which means my contract here is up in about 2 months! Crazy to think of how fast much of this year has gone. And I know the next 2 months will go by even faster which is exciting but also kind of scary. (Sidenote: Since I'm a public school teacher here, we basically don't get any time off for Christmas since they don't celebrate it here. All of my friends from TCIS get 3 weeks of for vacation so they'll all be leaving....so if you would like my address to send me anti-depressants then let me know. And I'm only kind of kidding...) I am so excited to come home and see my FAMILY! and amazing friends...as well as Red Robin, Sonic, Panera, El Toro, Olive Garden...and the list goes on. But it also makes me so sad to think of having to leave people here so it's a weird, weird feeling and I have an inclination that I might go a little nuts at some point after I get back. Luckily my friend Heather's husband is a nurse and knows how to restrain crazy people. My contract finishes on February 25th but on the 23rd my friend Anella is coming to Korea! Sheesh. It's amazing that I will have had 5 visitors during my year here. Amazing. But she will be here for about a week and then we are going to Thailand for 3 weeks! Wooooo! So a lot to look forward to but also just a lot to take in period. Then when I get back, who knows what. There's definitely some anxiety about that but I'm just relying on the Lord's direction for that as well as what I'll be doing next year! So if you all could keep that in your prayers that would be so osom.
