I'll be just fine.. pretending i'm not
Mood:  blue
first I should write about how my birthday went.

it was a lot more fun than i expected! at school after lunch one of the girls brough me and ji-na, (my awesome host sister) out to baskin robbins. then we had a party for me, wth traditional rice cake and candles. (( I even got a birthday hat, so pimped i know)) it was...interesting. we had snacks and watched the "note book" which was really good, but sad...and I didn't get to finish it so i'll have to rent it with ji-na sometime. I got a 2 big poster board pieces of paper that everyone in my class, and then some, had signed with happy birthday wishes, and my home room teacher gave me a rose. it's in my room drying, and i'll be extremely protective of the roses I get in nonsan, even though theres not much of a chance they will get mutilated here. ((my host family is much more understanding about my request for privacy, and are very careful not to touch any of my things when they go in my room.))

then later my older sister ji-yoon took me to the bakery to pick out a cake. i got a mocha one, instead of chocolate, cuz my fam isnt as devoted to chocolate as i am, sadly, and i wanted everyone to enjoy it! we had a birthday party when ji-na got home from shcool and drank coffee took pictures and ate cake. ji-na gave me a present with a little letter, written in englsh (( veeery impressive! the grammer is not perfect, but its too cute!)) and also gave me soem nail polish and makeup! :-)
shes really so sweet! i wanna take them all home with me! ((which reminds me, still working on dany's visa, but dad never got back to me on that. i'll write him an email, so he doesnt put it off and then not have time before going back to work.))

also got a call from rose, singing me happy birthday. then at 8 my mom called and talked for a few minutes. it was good to talk to her. right
after I hung up the phone with her, dany and emilio called to wish me a happy birthday. yay! they sang me happy birthday in korean english and spanish and we got to chat for a lil bit. I havent heard form them since school started, and I guess its' worse than i thought. I definitely have a much better deal, and it looks like a really good thing that rose chose to go home instead of face the dorms and school in gunsan. Dany and Emilio can't even leave the school grounds. they have to study all day, don't have t.v.'s or computers, and can't call out. they had to borrow a teachers phone to call me for my birthday. they are bored to death, and I wouldnt be surprised if one of them was inspired by rose's idea, and leaves early.

-----so that was my birthday-----

on the 10th, i didn't go to school because my host family thougth I had to catch an earlier bus, and didn't wake me up for school. when i did wake up, I wasn't about to fuss about missing a day of school, (horray) so I computered before going to catch an earlier bus to seocheon. Rose met me there and we went to cna and bought some earrings and visited the people who work at cna. we use to see them a lot, and they are sooo soo nice! rose's host mom told her to buy pens for gifts when she comes home, but instead we just bought earrings instead, because they are better and we didn't have any like that. **thank you rose's mom** haha. she doesnt know yet. "30$ worth of pens?!?!?!" then we took a bus to Biin. we werent there long before the camera people showed up. they had heard about rose leaving and wanted to interview her and her host mom before then. the first thing they say when they see us -to me: "woah, you got pretty." -to rose: "you dyed your hair!" rose: oh...thanks! she gets a compliment, i get an observation. They didn't go with us to the airport today though. we just talked to them for a while, then they walked to the beach with us. its like a 30 minute walk one way, and it was dark when we got there. the tide was out so we walked on the beach and got our shoes all muddy and dirty *my fault* yah always blame the redhead. suuuuuure. the camera people took us to eat in seocheon after our walk to the beach, because after all that strenuous exercise we were starving. :P rose's last supper in korea.....:( we had dokk-bokki, and kimpap. my favorite korean foods :) I can even eat the semi spicy foods now, must be losing tastebuds like mad cuz i couldnt even eat the ramon when i first arrived.

Roses host mom had got to dae-jeon so she wasnt home when we got back. the camera people taped some of rose packing then interviewed us. they asked us questioons like, 'did you ever regret your decision to come here?' 'now that you've been here and seen what korea is like, would you have chosen a different country?' how do you answer that? the camera crew are doing a documentary on the rotary exchange with korea, and how new and shakey the program still is. maybe it will help them see what they need to change, but it certainly isnt about how fun and excitng the exchagne students lives are....which is what they first wanted to portray. then realized, we never do anything fun and exciting...so it wasnt going to work. :( hope rotary doesnt hold it against us when they see the document! :) rose's mom didn't get home until 10, and the camera people stayed until she got home so they could interview her too. roses host mom is the awesomest host mom ever! i'm soo jealous of them! not that im unhappy at all with my host family now, but they are just soo close! like friends, and rose understands her korean, its just really really homey and sweet. i got some cute pictures of them. Now that rose is gone, and bong is in the dorms and Ri is in the usa, her mom doesn't have anyone to stay with her. I would love love love to go live with her, but I know i cant leave this school and this host family who have done some much for me already. but still, i wish i could.

bong called and said he couldnt come that night, so he would meet us at her house before we left. Rose's mom couldnt go with us to the airport, she had some business in dae-jeon again. so it was me rose bong and rose's grandfather who took us to the airport in Incheon, which is about 3 hours away. This morning before we left Ri called! she is in the usa now, going to a school in north dakota. she likes it there, and is starting track!! thats my girl!!! woohoo!!!! it was good to hear from her. bong came in right when i was on the phone with her--- "bong ri's on the phone want to talk to her???" bong-"what? my sister?? why is she calling??? no i dont want to talk to her" woah ri, feel the love? "its ok ri, bong says he loves and misses you!" haha sibling rivalry, so cute.

We left at 9. It was hard for rose to say bye to her mom, and i totally understand that. at the airport we had an hour or so after she got her luggage checked and money exchanged. wow american money looks so strange!!! it's all the same color and size, i'll get so confused! haha. korean money is only 3 colors because they only have 3 types of bills. 1,000 won, 5,000 won, and 10,000 won. which is equal to 1,5,and 10 dollars. they donthave any bills that go past 10, but you can get checks for the 100,000 bills. something in a news paper when i first got here said they were thinking about getting larger bills, like 20,000 and 50,000, which seems reasonable to me. anyways- we went to a restaurant in the airport with incredibly over priced food. we got some more pictures of roses last hours in korea. bong got some pics of me and rose too. i was looking at them later, and wow i look just like my mom. maybe he can email them to me, i'd like her to see them. its really kind of cool. at 1 she had to go, and we left her at the security check. it was sad...... but i didn't want bong and the grandfather to see me crying. so that will come later. :) im strong. im really glad bong went though, it would have been a really lonely ride back if he hadn't. then I waited for 40 minutes with him in nonsan for his bus to come. he wasnt suppose to leave school today, but he's such a rebel and all **haha**. he still had to go back and finish the school day. (till 11) sometimes he gets this look, and it just like steve soo much! ((which reminds me, i didnt even get a happy birthday from steve this year.... damn. now he's on my poop list.)) then other times he's soo politically correct it irks me. like, "hey they are highschool students *points out some students waiting for buses* they should be in school. getting good grades is so important for getting a good job and making money " and stuff like that.... and the 'ladies dont cuss' thing. thats over now but jsut for an example. but its understandable, korean culture and all.

hey hey we got a new couch! yah! its exciting! its dark brown and the mathcing new chair is against the opposite wall it was on, so evertime i walk to my room through the living room with the lights off i run right into it. all that squirrel like grace. i'll get use to it eventually, give me a week.

so now im letting the fact that rose is actually gone really sink it. this is going to be hard, but im not upset with her at all and i cant hold it against her. i totally understand why and will love her to death anyways.

:) :( :/


2 and 1/2 months until i come home. hopefully katie can come with my mom when seh picks me up. she said se might be able to but now she is reconsidering because she has marching practice. how hard is it to learn how to march? come on! but... its ok if she can't i'll understand.

all for now. no school tomorrow, so it was sort of like a 4 day weekend, which never hurt anyone :D. but i think there is some sort of school program and play i mght attend.