highlights....

so this past week was an up and down. for the most part things were good. i was really tired most of the week which made everything else a little more sensitive. we did not do much during the week. we had pizza this week which is my favorite.....YUM! thursday evening joann and i played a mean game of scrabble. it was a lot of fun and i royally kicked her bum. my highest score ever--303! it was so fun! my great play got me 51 points....thank goodness for being able to add an "s" to the end and play off that word too. woo hoo! paul went out to dinner with the guys on thursday night and tried a mandu place in yonhi-dong. he loved it and had fun. friday night paul and i went on a date to itaewon for italian. that was nice. we felt like all our time lately had been busy and no QT with each other. we had fun even though the restaurant was just ok.

on saturday, leslie, jen, paul, and i went on the USO tour of the DMZ. this was really interesting. we had to wake up REALLY early since we had to be at the USO for 7am. ugh! we left our apartment at 6am. it was crazy early. it took about an hour to get to the area near the DMZ and then we went to the joint security area where the UN security command is. this is where the north and south meet face to face and share a space. we went to the "freedom house" and then into the MAC building which is where the "talks" are held. the building is half on the south side and half on the north side. the MDL (military demarcation line) runs through the middle of the building. the MDL is the actual line divinding the north and south. the DMZ is the area on both sides. it is wild. we only saw one north korean soldier who was standing outside their building on the other side. the tour here at the JSA was led by a US Army Sargeant. i will share more details in a blog just for the trip. i took loads of pics so i will upload those soon too.

in the afternoon paul and i rested after the long day of touring and history. today we slept late and went to lunch with friends for indian and then the boys went for coffee and the girls went to the store and home. when i got home i made a dessert---chocolate pecan pie bars---to take to buffie's for dinner. she was making a turkey dinner with all the fixings. it was sooo good. i brought the bars to make up for the pecan pie factor. :) i also made my first loaf of whoel wheat bread in the breadmaker. it smells really good, but i have yet to cut into it. i am waiting until tomorrow.

i have been watching grey's anatomy and private practice! it is such a great highlight of my week. paul and i are also watching episodes of west wing. west wing has joined my list of favorite TV shows. we are almost finished with season one. such great TV!

school is going well. the 4th grade is waiting to move into the newest part of the elemntary building. it is moving right along, but we are not sure of the final moving date. the last date we were told was oct. 20th, but i am not sure if that is still the case. last week was korea week so the week was pretty hectic and from the teacher's point of view not very productive. we did get things done just had many interruptions throughout due to activities planned. the kids saw traditional korean dance, made korean pottery, saw a tae kwon do demonstration, listened to story telling, dressed up in their hanboks, and enjoyed korean games and snacks. it was fun.

i think the highlight of the week was on tuesday when we had a visit from a blackhawk helicopter pilot, captain mcray. his wife is interning with the counselor in the ES and he had come up to school to visit with their daughter. i had mentioned before how cool it would be for him to come talk to the class. i mean how often do you get to meet a helicopter pilot? so tuesday he dropped by and he even brought a video from their mission to pakistan to help with the earthquake in 2005. it was incredible. after the video, he spent at least thirty minutes talking to my kids and answering their questions. it was awesome! he also signed autographs too. the kids were thrilled. i am not sure who was more excited the kids or me.