Partying in Daejeon is so hardcore that it breaks heels.

This week was a long one. I slugged through it with a lot of grumpiness. It wasn't a particularly bad week, and in fact my new classes look as though they are going to be much better than my old ones. Lots of sweet little girls, adorable little boys, and not too many trouble makers.

On Monday I had a class of kids who were BRAND NEW to the hagwon. Never studied English before. Absolutely silent. I gave them names and everything. It felt so good. They are adorable. Excited.  Very ready to study. They're for sure going to brighten up my day tomorrow. I think this week was tough because I was grumpy and everything was new, but as soon as I get used to this new schedule, I think I am going to like it a lot. I almost never have classes in the rooms across the hall, which means I don't have to be on my toes, running from class to class quite so much. And I'm in the same room three periods in a row on TR. That's really nice.

Anyway, we're back into the week-to-week routine. Now that I've been here for a good four months, things are pretty settled. I'm starting to make a lot of interesting friends, older people who aren't really leaving. That feels good because I feel some sort of stability, and we have some great conversations. Last night, I went to a party that a couple friends were hosting to celebrate the opening of their recruiting company. They let me use their SCANNER, which means that I have more drawings to share soon. I'll save it for later, because the topic of this post is partying it up in Daejeon.

So there is the foreigner bar in Dunsan-dong, which is the "New Downtown". Daejeon has two downtowns, Eunheng-dong, the old downtown on the far East of the city, and Dunsan-dong, where the shiney new shopping and government districts are, which is in the middle of the city. Thus, people on the west side of the city stick mostly to Dunsan-dong--or start in Dunsan and then move over to Eunheng. The meeting spot is "Sponge Bar" (I don't know why it's called Sponge, but it's just a fact of life so you don't really even think it's funny after a week or so.) Sponge is where everybody goes on Fridays and Saturdays, and it's got a couple dart boards and a pool table. It's a great place to chill, and occasionally it turns into a dance party. But, really, if you want to dance you should go to old downtown, or to the nightclubs next door to Sponge, which my friends and I rarely go to because they charge cover. (Lame.)

Last night, anyhow, after the party we went to Sponge. And while I was making a fool out of myself playing darts (after one and a half long islands, darts are a bad idea), I leaned back on the bar and on my heel and.... snap. It had broken OFF. And this isn't a stiletto, mind you, this is a big, chunky heel--with four nails in it! Apparently I am just too cool for the shoes. Or I danced in them too much. And rode my bike in them too much. Or because they were 20 bucks.

Anyway, my friend Jim went and bought super glue at the convenience store under the bar, glued it back together, which was sort of successful, and then I stood on one foot for most of the night. But for a while I just took them off and was running around the bar in my stocking feet. And Becca says to me "You realize that you're barefoot in a bar, don't you?" and I wanted to say "Ah... you guys just don't know me, do you?!"

As soon as it's warm enough I'm totally taking off my shoes for good, haha. Anyway... now I'm off to E-Mart in Wolpyeong (because it's snowy so I can't ride my bike to Homeplus), so that I can do my grocery shopping and other various necessities. Woot.