Stay Warm and Eat S'mores

Sitting at my desk in the teacher's room Recently, the days have been getting more attention from the sun. Even when it's cold in the morning, my apartment lights up as if the blinds are asking to be opened.   Simultaneously--and unfortunately--the Siberian winds that drift down from Russia are still around. For this reason I still wear my Ushanka (Russian hat). A week ago we had a brief warm spell and I thought Spring was here so I stopped donning the fur hat. Silly me, I called Spring too early.   Thankfully, in recent weeks it hasn't been cold enough to put on my winter boots--(and thank God they were on sale when I bought them because I can count how many times I've put them on).    Soon I'll begin selling some of my winter supplies and clothes (radiator, winter boots, etc.) As I know from others who've left Korea, selling things here takes more than a minute. Better to get it done sooner than later. Back at home in Atlanta, all these clothes and things will be out of place. The snow pants barely fit in my apartment now. They've got to go. Plus, the extra cash will be nice. I'll have to buy my flight ticket home soon, among other things.   But I'm getting ahead of myself.   Spring is almost here (praise, praise, praise the Lord!)   And vacation is over.   The new school year has started. It began last week. I've been teaching introductions and browsing the topics for this semester in class.Tomorrow I'll start a full lesson with my students. I've tried to use some of the methods from my TESOL course in Thailand in my lesson planning. Our first topic is Superheroes. I think my students will like what activities I have planned for them. I got great responses when we went over the topics together.   My Dad's favorite breakfast--a bowl of cereal with soymilk and fruit, topped with Splenda   Between class schedules, teachers' dinners, after school classes and additional SAT test prep classes, there is always a lot of information in these first few weeks to digest. Tonight I had a couple of friends over for wine and s'mores to make everything go down a bit smoother. My Mom sent me a box of soups, nuts, Splenda (for my soymilk, fruit and cereal), banana chips, medicine and among other things marshmallows (of course!) for my birthday. I love sweets and I haven't had s'mores in years. I've been craving the campfire treat.    Keep calm and eat s'mores!!! I'd already had too many and I can't eat them all. So I had to share them. "Marshmallows, where did you find them in Korea?" another expat and newcomer to Yecheon said on a phone call. I could hear the exasperation in his voice. "Well, I didn't find them. They were sent to me."   It's not like Korea doesn't have marsh-mellows. They do have them. But the taste of Korean marsh-mellows differs from the ones back home. I think they've got less sugar in them (that's just a wild guess). And some of us like things sweet.       Eatin' those s'mores....   Marshmallow roasting lessons   Yours truly,             Evan