Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Christmas is past, and we're already forging ahead into the new year. A belated happy holidays to all those reading my blog! I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the season together. It was great to receive so many cards, emails, and gifts from family and friends: thankyou Mom, Dad, Carla, Oma, Grandma, Heather, Marcia, Bonita, Lisa-- and anyone else I forgot to mention! It was a blast to finaly see and talk with the family on Skype, on Christmas eve. Don't be strangers, you guys. I'll try to write back or call you, individually, when I have a chance.

The good news is that, over here, in Seoul, though we all miss our families something fierce, no one is spending the holidays alone: we made sure to celebrate in style, with our coteachers, girlfriends, and honored guests. Not to mention plenty of good food. Though turkey is scarce in these parts, the duck at Mr. Kim's place was melt-in-your mouth delicious. The bad news is that new foreign English teachers working for private hagwons usually don't stand to get much in the way of time off. The term ended at Kwangwoon the day after Christmas, and Sean and I were sent to teach winter camp classes at a new school, starting the following Monday. It did turn out to be a relatively rewarding job however, as we got to work with the same group of students day in and day out, with the help of a Korean coteacher, getting to know them and observing their progress in a way we couldn't always manage at Kwangwoon.

Me and my girl at Christmas dinner
One month and going strong

Cholong, Jared, Jihyun, Me, Ty, Baskin Robins Icecream cake

Sia, Sean, Ty: Christmas dinner at Mr. Kim's restauraunt

The sunday night between Christmas and New Years was Julie's last night in Seoul before heading back to teach kids in Honduras. It turns out we share at least one idiosyncrasy: we both enjoy reading to people, and having other people read to us.

It was also Amanda's first night of her brief visit to Seoul. She's a friend of Sean's, currently teaching English in Busan, and pictured below abusing my new scarf with Ty's help. Furthermore, Sean and I were to start teaching at a winter camp the next day, at Dokam elementary school: our new morning job for the next two weeks. We said our hellos and farewells at a local bar.
Jihyun and I on our way back from celebrating New Years with Jared and Cholong, at Ashley's, an American buffet. I gorged myself silly, but try as I might, I couldn't keep up with the human vaccum cleaner that was Jared. The final tally: 6 1/2 plates of food consumed to a meager 4 1/2 plates on my part. Instead of splitting a cab ride home, we decided to walk off our dinner in the bitter cold for a good half hour. My new scarf, Jihyun's Christmas gift to me, was more than long enough to warm two necks at once.

I conquered Buramsan (Buram Mountain), for a second time with Jared, on January 3rd. My "New Years resolution hike". The trail up the mountain is only a 10 minute walk away from my apartment. The mountain itself is a pretty humble height, compared to Seoul's other peaks, although the steep climb still gets the heart pumping. More views of the mountain ridge below.

My 5-1 C (blue) class, wishing you all happy holidays!