so i don't really have any time to write this, but i figured to take some time out of all the things i have to get done in order to do something that is completely unnecessary would be therapeudic. 

this summer was nice.  we did a lot of traveling around visiting family and re-introducing zoe to the american lifestyle.  to prove this to you, here's a picture of zoe less than a week after getting to the US:

yes, that's a burger king hat.  she loved it.

we spent some time in colorado with my parents, sister and her family.  here's couple shots from our time there:

upon our exodus from korea in june our hope was to be moving into a house in mid-july, giving me plenty of time to get settled in and ready for classes.  as of today we are still not homeowners.  we are living in temporary housing (a trailer).  its somewhat reminiscent of teaching in an RP.  the hope is that by the middle of next week we will be moving into a brand new house.  we have been involved in all of the finishing touches like paint, countertops, carpet, plumbing fixtures, the sink, and appliances so that has been nice.  at this point we are just a little anxious to be moving in though.  it's hard to go "home" after work and let loose when you know in the back of your head that you home is only temporary.  maybe i'm just too picky, but this is quickly leading me down the path of little refreshment and lots of hard work.

my course load is pretty heavy.  physics, chemistry, and biology.  and leaving physics out of it since it is an elective and only one course, my class size average is about 24 students.  on top of that i'm the girls volleyball coach which means 3:30 to 6:00 every day unless there's a game and then it's later.  i'm excited about the season though.  the girls are coming back from a great season last year, making it to the state tournament for the first time in a while and this year they look even better.  its a little challenging to figure out how my coaching fits the team, but its slowly coming along.  its also strange to deal with parents that actually care about their kids performance on the team.

we've had a rough end of the summer as probably most of you have heard.  laura jo's brother died in Iraq in a helicopter accident and we just had the funeral this past weekend.  its been a shock to the whole communitry here but there has been a lot of support for the family both locally and from korea.  it makes it just a little difficult to see the importance of my everyday job of teaching high school science in the light of such a tragedy.

its been difficult coming to a new job after 5 years in korea.  it was so comfortable there.  i didn't have to prove myself to anyone and in general the student population new who i was and my reputation.  here it's starting all over again.  though i like the school and the community, its hard work getting yourself stable in a school

its interesting though because we have a korean exchange student at the school here and she completely blows everyone away.  her name is jennie lee and from what i'm hearing its like a jane lee clone.  i still haven't met her, but i find it interesting to see the reputation she had built for koreans in general.  i think most of my students accept that i must be really smart solely based on the presumption that i taught in korea and must have had students that were all as top-notch as jennie.

okay, so i should get going now.  we don't get internet service in the trailer now so my access is limited.  hopefully when we move into the house, we will be able to get more regular with contact.  i also can't access facebook from the school network so i haven't been able to keep that up very well.  i don't know how i can remedy that problem seeing as that even after i move into the house i will still most likely get my internet access through the school's network.  any suggestions?:

adios amigos