surfing mishaps

surfing has been great! i had an awesome surfing day yesterday and i got up and rode waves in and had a ball. luke, however got nailed in his bicep from some choadhead who let his surfboard go and it hit him in the arm and cut him and left a big bruise. and then today, luke was going to film me, so he stayed on the beach while i paddled out. i tried for a couple waves, but needed to paddle out a little further, so there i went. well, there i go, i'm heading towards some incoming waves. let me just let you in on some surfing etiquitte.... you ALWAYS hold on to your board, even if waves are coming for you, and you apologize if you did something that causes others pain (that's just life etiquitte though). well, apparently this one guy didn't know this stuff. we were both paddling over an incoming wave, but he let go of his board and it went soaring through the air and the edge of it landed SMACK on my nose. i, who was holding on to my board, fell over and went underwater. i remember having to tell myself to swim back up and not stay under. and when i cam up, i felt my nose, and looked at my hand, and saw it. the blood was GUSHING everywhere. and i was in some serious pain. so, i grab my board, and turn to the guy who's board hit me, and he just grabs his board, looks at me, and paddles away. jerk! and this other guy out there says "hey, he just hit her with his board" and then all kinds of people are looking at me , asking if i'm okay, telling me to go in, etc. so i start in, and of course i'm crying, and i finally get to shore and this guy who runs a surf school sees me and takes immediate care of me. he puts my board in the holding area with his school boards, and he finds me some ice and a bag. and then he watches my stuff while i go find luke.
luke missed the whole fiasco though, he lost me in the crowd of surfers out in the ocean. but i found him on shore and we got my board and the surf school guy told me melekelikimakka and told me i was a tough girl and kissed my arm, he was very nice, and luke took me back to the car.
let me just tell you what a huge freak i looked like. walking down waikiki with an ice bag on my nose, and all kinds of people asking if i was okay and saying "oh, what a christmas". yeah, thanks!!!
so, i finally got to see it back at the car and its a bruise across the bridge of my nose, and big ol gash in the bridge. no stitches needed though, yay! and it hurts like a mother, and it has bruised a little over onto my eye, but i'll survive. i don't think its broken or anything, but i can't feel the end of my nose at all. kinda creepy. i can breathe through both nostrils, can feel the edges of the nose, but the tip feels numb like when you get novacaine from the dentist. its really weird and i hope it goes away. what if i never feel my nose again???? ooh, too creepy! but, the bleeding in the nose stopped, and the bleeding on the top starts and stops on and off. i'm getting some neosporin tomorrow, but for now i have some first aid creme to put on it. i just don't want some nasty scar forever.
but this is a funny first christmas memory of our hawaii vacation. i certainly will never forget it. merry christmas, everyone!!!

leaving on a jet plane

yay! today is the day we leave for hawaii!!!
luke is all packed (he has been for days) and i have my last load of laundry in. i always leave everything to the last minute. :)
the plane ride is pretty cool too... we get back this whole day. we leave korea tonight (saturday) at like 8:00 and arrive in hawaii saturday morning at 8:00. awesome, huh! and we are going to try to find surf right away when we get there. our swim suits are in our carry on bags for easy access. :)
and, i'll have my laptop, so i'll be updating, and i want updates from you all too..... liane and mom, especially. it's been forever. :)
okay, gotta run, a few more things to pack!!!
love you all lots!

snowflakes

so, luke subbed for the art teacher at our school yesterday. how perfect! he had fun, and one of the projects the kids were doing was making ornaments and snowflakes. so, he made us a bunch of snowflakes to decorate with in hawaii! so cute!

last night was the winter concert for school also. it was awesome! all of the kids did such a fantastic job. really, i love middle schoolers. they are at such an age where they actually change things and learn so well. i ask them to try new things musically, and they do it! it has totally helped their sound and they were awesome! i am so pleased with all 3 of my groups. and the place was packed! we performed in the auditorium at the high school, which is quite large, and there weren't enough seats! people were standing in the back!! what a great problem to have!
seriously, the support here between staff, administration, and families is just outstanding. so great.

and our countdown to hawaii is in it's final week now! yay! we are so excited. i still have to do all my laundry, but luke packed his stuff last wednesday. isn't he the cutest. he is so looking forward to this, as am i!
love you all lots! gotta go.... luke made us yummy breakfast!!

silliness

today has been absolutely crazy! the copy machine at school hates me. i was trying to do a simple two sided thing and it kept resetting the margins (which i did not ask it to do) and it took like 20 minutes just to get one sheet made. so frustrating. then, i forgot to sigh our progress report sheets for grade verification after school yesterday and the guy came into my room this morning asking about them and i had a totally blond moment. i'm losing my mind.
on a happier note..... i had a full rehearsal after school today with my entire beginning band which is 66 people and they barely fit in the band room. it was really great though. i think they will do a great job at the concert tomorrow night. i really like middle schoolers now.... as long as i don't have the 6th graders :)
and, ta-da, our blender works again. here's the story..... luke was making a milkshake and tried to start it and the whole thing was leaking all over the place which inevitably got the motor a little wet, which is bad, but i cleaned it up and tried to dry it. so we took it apart and noticed the blade was cracked so i called cuisinart since it's brand new and they sent me a free replacement blade and then the food processor attachment wasn't working for some reason and we thought we fried the motor, but we hooked it up again the other day and it works! yay!! milkshakes all around! both the blender and processor work now. i think they are tempermental. i hope they stay working. :)
and we went to the post office today.......... LONG lines!
and, finally, they lit up the lights all over the base today. they have been working on them for so long and i've seen them up, but never on. but tonight was the tree lighting ceremony. yay! i love christmas lights!
and luke is the bestestest ever! he made us a cardboard cutout christmas tree that we can take to hawaii with us since i won't have a real tree there! he worked hard on it all day and painted it green and painted decorations on it and everything! it is so cute! i love him! so now we'll have a tree over our christmas vacation! :)
okay, gotta go.... love you all lots!

okelydokely

hey all!
so, last night luke and i went to the seoul symphony. i got the tickets from another teacher at school. it was so awesome! the musicians were great, and the featured performer was a flutist from belgium. he was really good.... a little weird, but good. during his concerto he kept turning around and facing the orchestra while he was playing. it was strange. but it was really fun for us. and we got all dressed up and cute too. very fun date night. and free, even better!
saturday it rained a lot here. and it turned pretty cold, so maybe there might be some snow on the mountains soon. we hope so. we are so envious of all the snow in reno/tahoe. i bet the mountains are wonderful! mmmmmmmmmmmm
and....... i went out with some of my school friends on sunday and we found a REAL mall. you may not think that is a big deal at all, but here in the ROK (republic of korea) it is the only one. all the others are just big stores with a bunch of random crap, but not in any particular order, and no separation of brands or anything. but this place had individual stores, food court, movie theatres, an aquarium, the works! it was so normal to what i am used to. so, so , so happy! i guess you have to see the weird "mall" places to appreciate the excitement of the real mall. :)
my school winter concert is this week, so its a busy one for me. i'm excited though. the beginning band is so funny, and they are already getting nervous and asking silly things like "what if i get too nervous and pass out" it is really cute. it should be a good concert though.
and hey, jess... tell rick to blog! or at least comment. his comments are funny and he needs to share his random thoughts in his head with us all. especially me, since i live across the world! :)
oh, and sorry about the jeopardy thing. i really thought you all had seen it already. oops poops. :)
love you, love you too! bye bye