Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Korea everyone! Katie and I celebrated by eating at the most western place we could find here in little ole Tongyeong. Katie got the chicken and ribs and I got the special: steak, shrimp and lobster. It definitely wasn't a perfect substitute for the amazing Thanksgiving meals that our mothers make every year, but it was the best we could do :P

We had something to be very thankful for that might be of interest to you. Our boss called both of us into her office at the same time, which is unusual so we knew that it had to do with our contracts. Now before I tell you what she had to say, I must first go back a bit and explain the context of this meeting. A couple of weeks ago, our boss and a couple of the Korean teachers kept dropping hints that they wanted us to stay for another year. We never told them that we definitely would not be staying in Korea after our contracts were up, but we thought they knew that we had no interest in extending. Then the issue of extending our visas came up because they run out in mid-February. Katie and I started our contracts a month apart so they asked Katie to decide if she wanted to work an extra month or just hang out until I was finished. That way, they would know what to do with her visa extension. Katie was procrastinating on making her decision because she didn't really want to work another month, but she thought she might get really bored sitting around the apartment (she had already asked for part-time work, but they said no).

So now we're back to the meeting and given what we knew, we thought that it was for one of two reasons: for Katie to finally give them her answer, or for a formal offering of contract extensions. What our boss proposed to us made so much sense in hindsight, but we never even considered it as a possibility. She told us that they had been looking for replacements for us and that they wanted another couple. They had already found a couple that was tentatively considering teaching at our school and they wanted to start working at the same time. They also wanted to start sooner rather than later. This prompted our boss to call this meeting and to ask us how we would feel about me working one less month than my contract stated instead of Katie working one more! We would both get our bonuses and our plane ride home, so nothing changes except now my contract ends on February 28th, just like Katie's. Obviously we were really excited and accepted the offer.

(Katie is making fun of my detailed account of this meeting and says that I should begin my true calling when we get back to the states as a courtroom stenographer...)

Other than that, there's nothing much else to report on. The Division I-AA football playoffs started yesterday and the CAA went 4-0. I'm pretty sure all eight games were won by the home team, so no upsets in the first round. Although, the Montana game was pretty crazy. They won 61-48 over South Dakota State (who is terrible, by the way) in a game with eight turnovers. At one point, Montana was losing 41-14 and then 48-21 before they scored forty unanswered points, 34 of them coming in the 4th quarter... crazy. Also, Katie had a great time at Alex and Mitchell's wedding.

Take a look at our pictures on Picasa. We've added some more pictures from Japan recently. The link is on the right side of your screen. Enjoy!