1. I had an extremely productive morning for planning. This was a change from the past 3 days of the week in which I had writer's or planner's block from too much deskwarming. My winter camp plan is still more vague than I'd like, but I'm finally starting to get eager about teaching it.
2. I watched the Christian Bale movie Equilibrium at work. This was part of the camp planning, but I also enjoyed it immensely. During my time watching this, I also go to ponder themes, key images, areas of society it covered, and other notes. Hooray for an impromptu film class I got to "attend" at my desk. My students should find this movie very interesting, even if they don't understand it entirely.
3. My mother was able to scan and email some of my family's favorite Christmas cookie recipes from home. While I might not have the ingredients to make all the varieties, I'm looking forward to trying out a few of the recipes soon. Maybe they won't be exactly the same, but I'm still eager to make Christmas cookies to share and enjoy.
4. Around noon, the teachers started putting their coats on and putting their computers away. They normally put their coats on for lunch since the cafeteria isn't heated, but they always leave their computers sitting out, so this was something out of the ordinary. I finally caught the eye of one and gave her an inquisitive look. "We go home," she explained. Um.... (apparently my supervisor had left without remembering to tell me this). The teacher looked at his empty chair in frustration and shook her finger at it, "Bad, bad!" But she repeated to me again, "Go to home now." So I went! Hooray for getting to leave early unexpectedly.
5. Walking home along a sunny sidewalk in sub-freezing temperatures, I encountered some pine tree clippings that had been abandoned on the sidewalk. Looking around to see if there was someone collecting them for garbage, I quickly seized the opportunity and gathered up an armload of prickly pine branches with good shape and bumbled my way home. The elevator was a little difficult to negotiate with that burden. As a result, I now have a tiny, live, tabletop Christmas tree! It's delightfully Charlie Brown-esque, and my apartment now smells a little like Christmas pine from all the branches I have sitting in water so they last longer. What a pleasant surprise and loving gift that seemed Heaven-sent!
6. After I cleaned up the pine branches' fallen needles, I thought I'd go shopping in town, and I went digging through some paper piles for a gift certificate I had stashed away for Lotte Mart. In the same envelope I discovered a free movie ticket voucher and a free concession snack combo voucher that expired after that day, so I changed plans. I went to the movies mid-day and had 2 drinks and popcorn for free! The movie I saw was Tintin, and I really enjoyed it! The only downside was not getting to share the free experience with someone else, since others were still in school at the time.
7. Following the movie experience, I returned home briefly, then hopped on the bus to get to my weekly Bible study in Seoul. The transportation part is never a highlight of my day, but it wasn't anything to complain about at least. At small group, we had extremely high-quality pizza, good time of singing and fellowship, interesting and challenging discussion about sabbath rest--what a meaningful way to spend the evening!
Every now and again, it's wonderful to be blessed by a day in which everything seems to go right. ^_^ Gives a person strength to face the days that are more challenge-filled.
Amen! Glad I got to share in your good day!
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