free hugs!

I have always secretly wanted to receive a full on embrace from a total stranger holding a sign reading "FREE HUGS." (*Except in Union Square in NYC. That's a city where I'd always shove my hands deeper into my pockets, avoid eye contact, turn up Taylor Swift just a little louder and walk the opposite direction if necessary).

But in Daegu, my dream came true. After a few hours of wandering around downtown in and out of shops that I can't yet afford, Kathryn and I came across this assortment of eager teenagers. I walked right up to them, and all they said practically in unison was, "Oooohhhhh soo preeeetty!" What can I say? They love a freckled American over here. (A further note on freckles to come later...) So I managed to wrap my arms around each and every one of them. The 15 year old boys, not pictured, were more confused than eager but they didn't disappoint.

In 2 weekends (a triple celebration- my 27th birthday, Valentine's Day- though I'm a billion miles away from Greg, and 3 day weekend!) I am going to Seoul. I've only ever been there twice, making it no further than the airport both times, so naturally I am really excited to see what this giant Asian city is all about! I'll be taking the KTX train, which would take over 4 hours from Daegu to Seoul by bus, but the KTX train will take less than 2 hours! Take that, Long Island Railroad!

Ok, so back to the other note on freckles. No one at school has seen them yet because it's always negative 3 degrees in there, and I'm constantly buried under 6 layers of grandpa sweater and/or a scarf large enough to swaddle 4 newborns. Today, however, it was warm enough in classroom #3 for me to shed my layers and teach in only a single long sleeved shirt. I even pushed the sleeves up a little. One little boy queried, "Teacher, teacher!!! What is this? What's wrong with your skin?!"

Then I went into a rather proud explanation of what freckles are, and he didn't believe me when I told him they're all over my legs, too. And no! I didn't show him.