Weapons Grade Cute

Today was an important day. I finally went to Daejeon and applied for my Alien Registration Card(ARC), once I get this I will be able to get internet and tv in my home and leave the country. Not that I'm in any particular hurry to leave Korea, quite the contrary. I'm loving every moment in Okcheon, my adopted hometown of 55,000 souls. I love the look on little kids faces when they see me. It's either sheer joy or sheer terror. Then I say "Hi" and they either run away or respond in kind. Also since I went into town today I got off of work early. I was walking down the street with groceries and some high school kids actually said "Hi" as opposed to just staring or avoiding eye contact. In this town of 55,000 there are about 8 government contracted teachers here, who knows how many privates and who cares really. Anyway there are 8 of us who stick out like thumbs, 3 of us stick out like sore thumbs thanks to being black. I wouldn't want to be anyplace else on the face of the earth right now, I'm learning something about myself and everything around me everyday. The kids are tough but the job is rewarding.

I'm planning on going to Seoul for the first time with some people I met at orientation. Right now we have the 26th set as the date but it's still tentative to me cause we are supposed to get out first paycheck on the 25th. Normal Korean teachers here get paid the 17th so hopefully the worse case scenario for me is they accidentally pay me a week in advance then just say sit on it cause it too much work to take it back and then give it back one week later. So I may meet some people
on the train or in Seoul either way it'll be fun

I cannot stress this enough, most of the children here have been uncontrollably cute. Everyone of my 6th & 5th graders are are older then my oldest niece and she has nothing on them in cuteness right now(sorry Maddie). They are secret walking cute factories, producing weapons grade cute and then testing it on the undesirables in the northern provinces of Iraq while the United States silently nods because this is a fight against extremist. They are that cute.