Santa keeps coming...

Well, I took another picture to chronicle the progress of "Santa's" blessings. But I can't load it to blogger--maybe later. I have now gotten a huge package from Mom and Dad, one from Grandma Sue and Grandpa Gary, and one from Mandy and Scott. It's funny, as much as I wish I could see everyone and as much as I don't feel too materialistic these days, I feel the love.
I've been thinking about this a bit lately. Mom has sent a surprising amount of cards. Also, Meg, Grandma Weezie, and Aunt Barb have sent cards, too. The teachers here seem to have certain things in common: while they love their families and miss their families, they do not seem as close to their families as I am. Perhaps this makes it easier to leave for a year, go to another country, and not see them. Perhaps this is why they leave in the first place.
Anyway, as much as my apartment seems like some strange college dorm or a third-world episode of Melrose Place minus the swimming pool, work sometimes seems like camp with the mail deliveries and the crazy kids. And too, as much as I love getting mail--it is always the highlight of my day to seem familiar handwriting expressing love--I do feel some sort of strange feeling when another teacher brings me mail or a package. Everyone knew the day when I got four letters in one day. It was a joke--everyone thought it was so crazy that I must be sending letters to myself even if they were postmarked in different places in the US--because everyone was jealous. They want a family that cares about them as much as mine cares about me. In a strange and awful sort of way, this makes me feel so special and loved.
So people ask me if I will take a university job at Kyeungsung University next year. I say no. I will go back to America because I miss my family. Not many people understand that.