Birthday Girl

Well, I've caught up with my three aunts - 29 years old! One group of students took me to a coffee shop for dessert (anything to get out of class!), my cross-country gave me notes, a piece of cake, a birthday hat, and doused me with water from our water relay (Fun Friday!)! Unbeknownst to me, a colleague snapped this picture while watching our Fun Friday relay day. I was modeling correct form (can't you tell??) for the backwards kick race... however, I seem to resemble a streaker in a cock-eyed hat who forgot the key step to streaking! Other than that, the photo is a fairly good representation of Coach Barrigar at cross-country practices - mouth wide open shouting something, at times comprehensible, at times not!

Friday night my fellow head coach and soon-to-be mommy, Jaci, held a birthday party for me, complete with snacks, cupcakes and ice cream, and good friends. On Saturday and Sunday, Ange, Chantal, Roni, Kirstin, and I made a run for Seoul, where we shopped, ate exotic foods (too exotic for some), and danced la salsa. ¡Increíble!

I'm ready for that next birthday - BRING IT!!! (but not right now... I can wait the required amount of time!)

Enjoy more birthday pix:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=4zp3vcn.2xorn4uf&x=0&y=-gwuxue

Back to the grindstone (and cross-country course)

After a 2-month stint back in the States, Christie is back in Korea, and has been for about a month. Crazy how fast time flies! One moment I'm awaiting my connecting flight to Flint from Detroit, eagerly anticipating my return home to family and friends, then before I know it I'm seated for another 15-hour flight back to Asia. (Of course, 2 1/2 of those hours were spent rather leisurely in first class, as I was bumped up for the first time in my life from Tokyo to Seoul! WOW!)

It feels good to be back, although being back at TCIS equals constantly having something to do. Still, in returning to this warm community and in the faces of my returning students, a sense of belonging struck me.

The rainy season has decided to linger longer than normal, and suddenly last weekend we went from hot and humid rainy days to cool rainy days - the cool that usually occurs in November! On my rainy walks home, I recall with a smile on my face the same sort of walk home last spring, when in the midst of the dreariness and grey, a Korean food delivery man on his motorcycle, raingear head to toe, passed by whistling a cheerful tune that might as well have cleared the skies above his treadmarks! I keep hoping to see the same delivery man again one of these dreary evenings on my way home!

Despite the weather, our grueling practices, and our yelling, Jaci and I, along with our new asst. coaches, Meredith and Emily, still have aroun 60 kids coming back to cross-country practice day after day for the past 4 weeks! It's incredible! Our first meet is Saturday, and I'm very excited... although I must retrieve my voice before then! The ability to pace myself running does not necessarily mean I can pace my vocal strength. Of course, when I go singing the likes of "Flashdance" (with choreography) or "Dream On" at the no-rae-bang (singing room) with friends on Friday nights, that doesn't exactly help my condition! (sheepish grin)

I will try to be more regular with my blog updates... enjoy!