We just finished another week at SEV and it was a success. I'm tired of teaching, but pretty good physically. As the week goes by, the kids seem to know what they can get away with or just don't care because their behavior seems to worsen. I was so frustrated in my last class because my kids couldn't get the concept of pictionary. I would show a kid from each team the word and they would go and write it down. So then I told them that they had to draw a picture. They conversed in Korean and agreed on what I was trying to say, so I thought they understood. So when I gave them the next word, they drew a picture and then wrote the word. So finally I reverted to just drawing the picture myself and having the kids stand around and guess what it was. They did understand that, thankfully. And then it was time to go. You wouldn't think our job could be that hard, but man, it was frustrating.

We're working this weekend now too. So we only get Sunday off, and then another day during the week. I guess alot of the money they make is on the weekend, so we have all the way through December booked up for weekends. Rebs and I are both teaching the KB (Kukman Bank) kids. Their education is sponsored all the way through college by the bank, so we run special programs for them every other weekend. It's the more standard style of teaching, out of workbooks and such. If you've ever taken a foreign language class in middle or high school, you can relate to what we're doing. One thing that I've realized is how hard it had to be for my teacher at times when I was in school. I remember when I took German classes and how frustrating it must have been for my teacher when we didn't do our homework, or didn't put any effort into it. Here she was, investing her heart into her work for us, and of course we were the typical teenagers who took much of it for granted. Now I can relate because I'm on the other side of the mirror.

I can't explain how much we are looking forward to getting paid. I can't say that we are in wanting, but it will be very nice to have money again. If you didn't know, we don't get paid until December 7th, which is about a month and a half of being here with only the money we came with and a $400 stipend for the both of us. I don't think it would be a big deal if the apartment had been furnished already when we got here, but other than a hot plate, refrigerator, and a bed, we were without. So imagine when you moved into a new place, especially you first house, and all the extra unexpected expenses you had, like needing a trash can and a cutting knife, or a shoe rack. It's like completely starting over again.
I think the difficult thing for me is that I am somewhat of a frugal spender. It has been engrained in me since birth not to be wastful. Well, everything we buy here, we will most likely not be able to take back with us. It makes me think about what it will be like when I die. Leaving Korea will be much like dying. It's really good for living in the here and now. Whatever we get, we will only enjoy while we're here, and then we will either leave it here or spend just as much sending it home as we would to buy it new whenever we got home. I'm sure if I were by myself, I would be buying alot less stuff. But there is so much more to think about when you're married. If I want to stay up later and read while Rebs goes to bed, then my options are to either leave the light on in bed (which is fairly inconsiderate) or go into the other room and sit in a chair that isn't very comfortable...and my feet get cold. So I am left with the delimma of how comfortable I want to be and how frugal I want to be. If I am frugal, we may pay off a little more money on school loans. If we are more comfortable, it may just take longer to do it.
I think my fear (this is deep within my mind now) is that I develop tendencies over time. So if my tendency is to spend money, then I will do it more freely and think less about it. If I save, then I will always think to save. Here's an example. Rebs always buys my clothes for me because, she thinks, I don't like shopping for myself, that I don't like to spend money on myself. It's actually the other way around. I enjoy buying stuff for myself, but if I start, it's easy for me to get carried away and spend a lot more than I need to. So rather than trying to regulate myself, which I have always had to do, I opt to not shop at all.

One of the great things about Korea that I love is that they put their old stuff out on the curb for anyone to take. Like if you have an old dresser that you just replaced, then you put the old one outside on the weekend and someone will walk by and decide they need it in their house. We got two night tables this way just this last weekend. I went for a run and came back with a night stand. It's pretty antique-looking and very cool. When I saw that Rebs saw it and liked it, I went back to get the other one that matched it. Yah for free stuff! It makes me feel better about not wasting my money when we leave.

I'm such a cheapskate.