Sooo wow

So January turned out to not be such a blah month...in fact, in the lives of my friends from home in SC..it turned out to be quite life changing. And friends I'm sorry I am writing about you, but let me say you have been on my mind lately. I have never been one to always state my opinion because I believe there's a time and a place for things. There have definitely definitely been decisions that those around me have made that I haven't agreed with. Sometimes I feel that I let others peoples lives, mistakes, and happinesses affect me too much. I know that I should simply say "Its not my life..I can't control other people" and let it be....But I find that so hard! In my circle of friends from home, one lost a family member while my other friend got engaged all within a week. It feels really weird to not be there. Had I just been in college in D.C., I could fly home easily for the funeral for one friend and attend the wedding of the other. But I can't do those things. Its so scary to be so far away sometimes. However, I do my best to keep in touch. I wish more people but an effort in to keep in touch so those of you who do, I appreciate it wholeheartedly.

Back in the swing of things...yay?

So January is kind of a blah month..but then again its always like that (plus there's no MLK holiday to look forward to). However, there is a holiday in February for the Lunar New Year which everyone and their mother is traveling in Asia. This makes traveling a wee bit difficult and expensive! Erica and I have decided to travel together (just like we did for Chusok in September) and we were going to go to Japan but that fell through...So I think the solution is to go skiing right here in Korea..My co-worker Carla and some others might come as well! I just want to have a good break because it'll be a long time before we have a number of days off...not until July! (We've gotta start planning that asap as well)

Oh and the Lunar New Year is when the year changes...as in "Year of the Rabbit" or "Year of the Horse." 2007 was the year of pig and 2008 will be the year of the rat!

Christmas and a Happy happy New Year

So since I last wrote, my school had our Christmas concert.....wowza! It was some intense preparation let me tell you. Basically, our kids didn't learn much that month as we were ALWAYS practicing for the concert. But in the end, the kids are 6 (7 in Korea because they had a year on to your life) so the chances of them doing a 20 minute one-act play and 5 songs well was too much to ask. But you know what the performance turned out okay!

It was definitely nice when it was over! Then the next day I left to come home! I was sooooo ready for a break and to come back to SC and see everyone. With all of my traveling it was about 15 hours and when I landed in GSP, there was my family waiting (with Renee holding sweet tea I might add). It felt so normal to be home like nothing had changed which is not what I expected. I tried to get all of the food that I had missed so I definitely ate well while at home!

Whats strange is that its now 2008...crazy! 2007 was a wonderful and crazy year full of big changes. The biggest changes of my life. Thinking about where I was in January of 2007- a senior at CUA, living in Mil. North, doing No One Here Speaks French to now where I am a teacher (which still freaks me out a bit) in Seoul, South Korea. Its pretty unbelievable actually. Coming back to Seoul, I'll be honest here, I didn't feel so good about it (that could also have to do with the fact that I've been pretty ill lately)...So I'm gonna write the things I enjoy about Seoul and 2008!
-My friends here who truly make this experience worth it
-having my first real job
-my students who actually listen and seeing them learn
-Korean food that I actually like (oodang, bibimbap, dukbolgi are my favorites)
-movies are subtitled here, theres no dubbing!
-we found Mexican food....nuff said (GRACIAS DOS TACOS)
-the kindnesses that I have been shown by some Korean people
-Seoul is a safe city


2007: