The Been Briefing

dear friends and family, i hope you enjoy this as much as i do and come back throughout the year to see what i'm up to!

right now mom is asking luke to bring in chairs from the back yard, daniel is on counter strike, and the girls are upstairs getting ready for bed. i think dad is in the den watching the news... and i'm sitting here getting some sort of a journal/blog in order for the trip.
but first, a little background. i have been in a holding tank for the past eight months since i graduated from the college of william & mary (williamsburg, va) in december 2004. my major at wm was in linguistics, and my focus and passion has been esl - english as a second language. while i had planned on returning to slovakia to teach esl, i decided that God was leading me back home. i applied to several county school systems, but nothing seemed to materialize. and when i thought i couldn't handle anything more, the Lord opened a door. i began to look into teaching esl internationally, and although my heart is in europe, i knew i wouldn't make enough money to pay off my loans; rather it would be more for the experience. however, in asia esl teachers can actually gain experience and make a profit so they do not arrive back in the states culturally enriched but financially broke. so i began doing research online, and i dropped a dear college friend lauren wenger (who is already over in suwon, teaching english with the english reading club- erc) with a little blurb: "what would you say if i were to teach english in south korea?!?"
what i could not have anticipated is that lauren recommended me immediately at erc and they responded with a "how soon can she be here?" :) while i was at starbucks the next morning, my mom called and asked when i was coming home. by the time i had gotten back to the house, both my parents were fully convinced and 100% supportive. mom had already gotten out the world atlas and was locating the city of suwon (which is about 25 miles south of the capital city seoul) and researching the geography of south korea. may i just say how absolutely ridiculous the parentals are? and full support from my dad who was never going to let me go overseas unmarried. ah yes. i love how God works!
the next weekend lauren returned to the states for our friends' wedding. i was able to bombard her with questions, and she left with confirmation that i wanted to come. within a week i had signed a contract with the English Reading Club to teach conversational english for a year.

i finish starbucks on friday, and i am flying out on 30.august. oh did i mention that i have been working at starbucks since february? yes, i have been perfecting the art of making triple grande two pump sugar-free vanilla non-fat extra hot no foam three splenda lattes. so now when i am just getting good at making coffee, i have to say goodbye! :(

whoah nelly. it's late and i've got to be up for the early shift. :p better get to bed.