Holiday Season

I guess a really good New Year's resolution for me would to be more consistent with these blog posts... but I feel like that'd just be too hard for me!!!

Tree in Seoul

Since Christmas Eve, I've been enjoying a nice little vacation away from school. I started my break with a trip to Seoul. I went to a Christmas Service/Concert at church with Yuri. At first, I wasn't very excited for this event. Mostly because I was supposed to be on a bus to Iksan (about 3 hrs south of Incheon) to be at a Xmas gathering with some fellow English teachers, but also because the trip to Seoul that usually took 40 minutes, took over an hour and a half due to holiday traffic.  We even had to get off the bus early to jump on the subway in order to escape the snail-paced traffic, as well as the wails of a sick baby two rows behind me.  But eventually we got to the church and the service was more than worth the wait.  I really wish I had been smart enough to remember my camera that night. Seeing little 4 and 5 year old Korean children sing and dance to Christmas music was one of the most adorable things I've ever seen in my life. There was even an 8 year old girl who did a short magic show that would rival many adult-performed shows I've seen.

Korean Snow

The next day, I jumped on a bus to Iksan to meet up with my friends. I woke up at 6:00 AM to pack and catch the 8:30 bus in downtown Incheon. I got there a bit early, so I tried to sit down and rest a little, but I kept getting harassed by a pair of older men who turned out to be Jehovah Witnesses.  Finally my departure time rolled around, but something didn't seem right... After waiting until 8:40, an announcement was made (in Korean, of course) and I caught the word "Iksan" a couple of times.  Turns out, they decided to cancel the bus... and I had no clue why.  So I exchanged my ticket for the next available bus, which was cheaper than the first because the bus quality was lower.  Unfortunately, the next bus wasn't until 9:50.  Tired and cranky, I decided to walk up to the second floor to get breakfast at a Lotteria (similar to a McDonalds).  My mood didn't improve when I ordered in English and the lady behind the counter decided to serve 8 other people before me, even though I was second in line.

My awesome gift!

Eventually I made it on the bus and enjoyed a nice 3 hr nap.  I met up with my friends Grace, Mel, Toby, Carvelle, and Derek at a coffee shop. The details of the trip could get kind of boring, so here's a quick summary of what we did: We had a gift exchange (see picture for my awesome gift), went to a couple of bars, met up with another group of westerners, laughed at Grace and Toby (both from California) when it started to snow, played some games at Grace's house, and tried to sleep on Grace's hard, uncomfortable, freezing floor while the two girls slept soundly on the bed (and they woke up complaining that the bed was 'too soft').

At Clara's house

I traveled back to Incheon with Derek on Sunday morning. Since we were getting back kind of early, I decided to take Clara up on an offer to join her family for a Christmas dinner. I brought Derek with and we had an awesome time! Clara and her daughters cooked up a feast for us, with things like Korean steak, fried shrimp, fresh dinner rolls, dumplings, and salad. For dessert, we had a nice little blueberry cake to celebrate Jesus' birthday (something I know Dad would really appreciate).  After dinner, Derek and I went to a bar with Clara's daughters and taught them the wonderful game of Waterfall (better known in Houghton as Gogebic).

Birthday Boy

New Years wasn't anything special. Koreans get more excited over the Lunar New Year (sometime in February) so the celebrations last night weren't very extravagant. I'm sure things were different in Seoul, but after my Xmas Eve bus experience I really didn't want to endure another long bus ride. Last night was also Derek's birthday, so we got him a cake and sang happy birthday at one of the bars. Other than hitting up a few different places, nothing special really happened. I ended up crashing at Derek's place and playing some Black Ops. Not the most exciting night, but fun nonetheless.


I return to work on Wednesday to start prepping for my school's Winter English Camp. Believe it or not, I'm pretty excited to start working again. My co-teacher Mrs. Lee also promised to start giving me Korean lessons so I can pass off as a legitimate Korean!!!