sing a song from Billy Madison...

"OOOOH back to school, back to school..."
And it's lovely to be back....in some ways :) The headaches are not fun though. And the time spent staring at my computer and trying to keep up with our meeting, also not fun. But it was a pretty productive day as the English staff got together to sort out our schedule and class distribution for the coming semester. Of course, things will probably change by tomorrow or even by Monday (when we're supposedly going to start classes), but a huge part of this job is being flexible.
Unfortunately I didn't get to see many of the students today, but the ones I did see had huge smiles on their faces when they saw us. It's encouraging to know that your students actually look forward to seeing you again. Then you see the new students sizing you up as the old students whisper to them who you are :) Koreans are so much fun. New teachers too...introductions slowly happening. It's interesting starting a new year.
And it's wonderful to have Maryann and Kennedy back :) I got a huuuge hug from Maryann, and that just made me smile. I love people who love to hug...as it doesn't happen here very often. But she loves to hug. I also loved hearing their stories about the states, but it really made me homesick. They were even in Indiana for awhile visiting friends who used to live in Nanjing, so to hear their stories about arriving in Indy, going up north to Goshen, visiting Amish country in Shipshewana (and the fact that Tehillah loves to pronounce it :) , going to a county fair in Indiana, and just hearing their reaction to my home state's flat-ness and cornfields...aw. Catie was homesick for a bit.
But anyway. It's good :) Next summer...something to look forward to.
And...speaking of. Wedding plans!!! Too many ideas and lots to plan. Be pr'ying for me and Raul as we try to begin the plans...it just seems like there's so much. Please don't offer suggestions at this point as my head is already overloaded, but please pr.
Be blessed y'all.