Well, I'm at the half-way point of my busy month of January - this is another one of the months where I work an extra two classes in the morning - this time around, my regular class break occurred in my favour, where instead of working my usual seven o'clock class, instead I'm finished at 6:50, which is a nice bonus. Sure, it will cut into my overall overtime bonus at the end of the month, however, I'll take the earlier finishing time, because overtime for me is 1.2 times my regular pay; not exactly motivation to bust your butt, but its more money than I'd make doing nothing. For those of you who know math, most of you who know my contract situation probably know that sometime soon, I should be finishing. However, as crazy as those who've worked with me at my school might think, I decided to stay at my school for another nine months after my first contract ends. The most major reason being that I'll only be in Korea for another nine months, and not a year; I missed one Huizinga family Christmas party, and I'd rather not miss another if possible. That, and I don't see myself sticking around here forever. I'll go home sometime around the first week of December, make the rounds and visit friends, and then start looking for a job starting after Christmas school vacation. If all else fails, I'll go on a one-month trek through the Mediterranean countries, mostly just Greece, Italy, and possibly Spain. I know, it sounds rough, but sometimes you just need a vacation. And after that vacation, I still can't find a job, if worse comes to worst, there's one of the best international school's here in Korea, and the majority of the teachers go to my present Church....And who knows, if God wants me there, then I'll be there. (and as you read this, my parents are probably praying that there will be a job opening)
Now, I'd been intending on doing this earlier, sometime around the new year, however, if you know me best, then most of my ideas just stick to being ideas, and leave the actual grunt work to somebody else....So, now that "somebody else" has stepped up to the plate, here are the most things that I can think that I'm thankful for. (In no particular order)
1) I'm thankful for Brooke and Kavan pushes my sarcasm to an all-time high, all the while keeping it closely confined to only them.
2) I'm thankful to have hockey back, and for the invention of the internet, so I can listen to live feeds of audio broadcasts.
3) I'm thankful for a job, where I can work and have friends who appreciate me, for all the times that I've let them down.
4) I'm grateful for parents who love me for who I am, even though I'm going to be sticking around her for another nine months.
5) I'm especially grateful that they have already bought plane tickets to come up and visit me coming up in April...I'm sure my mom's already circled the date on all the calendar's at home.
6) I'm thankful for Korean friends who've shown me a whole new world, and that while friends might be a universal word, it does mean things in different countries (both good and bad)
7) I'm grateful that my friends Jenni and Kim could be both experiencing something that, while I may be incredibly jealous of them, they're nice enough to let me live vicariously through them and experience grad-school life with them.
8) I'm thankful for friends who pray for me, even when I may get far behind them in my consistency of praying for them.
9) I'm thankful for some videos of my nephew that I got to watch when I opened my Christmas package from my family - it might have been the cheapest gift in literal value, but it's the one I appreciated the most.

As of right now, that's all I can think of - if you feel angry that you were left out, feel free to post a reply and complain about it - and I'll be sure to lodge it with the proper authorities. Other than that, not much is new with me. I'm currently almost finished reading all of the Chronicle's of Narnia, in their original form, in one massive volume. I must say that I appreciate C.S Lewis's humour much more now than when I was a mere kid reading them, and trying to figure out what "jawing" and other classic Lewis vocabulary expressions. Well, I need to get going - I hope and pray that this finds you all doing well, and I'll write some other time.
me