10:45 AM
Happy first of December! It's snowing somewhere nearby, but in my little town we just just tiny plop-sprinkles of the coldest possible pre-snow rain. But now I'm in a toasty office, sipping coffee and nibbling on ddeok, and life is good!
On Friday night, the native teachers all had Thanksgiving dinner and it was good. Last year I did not go to Thanksgiving because it was doomed (in my head) to remind me of home and to make me miserable with its inadequacy.
Actually, this Friday when I got off work I was struggling with the idea of just NOT going to the dinner. It was cold and gloomy and raining and I was in full Charlie-Brown mode. Straight-up Grump. But just as I was leaving school, my little 1st-grade Sunwoo trotted up to me. I held my umbrella over both of us.
Sunwoo told me his parents were out of town because his grandma died and they were attending her funeral. This worried him because he's just 13 and he's been left in charge of his 10-year-old brother and 6-year-old sister, and when he got home he'd still have to buy groceries for all of them. I walked with him and kept him out of the rain, and I bought him a Dominoes pizza for him and his siblings. I walked him all the way to his apartment building, then said goodbye after making him promise to call me if there were any problems, especially with his little sister.
It was a blessing from God at that moment. I needed to help someone else, to quit my pity party and be loving to a child who was going through a very stressful day, one which was much gloomier than mine.
And Thanksgiving was fine! I spent most of my time entertaining my table with word games. B-Teacher invited our office leader to the dinner, along with Office Leader's wife and young son. It was nice to see them, and this morning Office Leader was bragging to JY-Teacher that I was easily the prettiest girl at the party. For some reason, hearing this really made me happy, like it was some big badge of honor, or a pageant win: Miss Thanksgiving.
Helped out with the preschoolers at my church yesterday morning. They were a delight as always, just indescribably sweet. There's always a spill to clean or a nose to wipe or a book to read to them or a hug to be given. It's like God's own little place, the preschool room. It's so packed with good things.
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1:30 PM: IT'S SNOWING. SNOWINNNNNGGG, FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER AND THE FLAKES ARE FALLING LIKE A STORM OF MAGIC, SO MUCH SNOW WOW YES WOW
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