four months~

Today marks the fourth complete month of being in South Korea, which means I'm now 1/3 of the way done with my first teaching contract! I'm not keeping track because I'm unhappy and counting down the days until it's over, I keep track more so because time here flies by, it's been four months, but to me it feels like I only just got here.

Today I taught my last class until January when winter camp classes start, and I spent the morning making Christmas decorations and watching the Polar Express with my grade 6 students. They were by far the most challenging group I had, but I have grown to love them, and I'll miss them when they graduate and move on to middle school.

The last three weeks in general have been really busy but non eventful. I have been focusing on my winter camp lessons, making the book and trying to come up with activities (winter camp is three weeks during winter vacation where a few students come in for extra English lessons). The Korean presidential elections were this Wednesday and we got the day off from school. Tuesday night some friends and I attended a nonverbal acrobatic performance of a show called "Flying". I wasn't really sure what to expected, but was really glad to have attended as the show ended up being really great. After the performance we took advantage of having the next day off, so we headed off to some bars and stayed there pretty much the entire night.

This Saturday one of my friends is leaving to go back home as the teaching experience wasn't everything she imagined, and tonight we are having a going away dinner for her. Tomorrow I am off to Malaysia for two weeks, where I'll be staying with an old friend from university and her family. I'm really excited to be traveling to a new place, and thankful for the fact that I'll be surrounded by a loving family during the holidays, even if it won't be my own.

welcome december

The first week of December brought on the first big snowfall of the season. All of the kids at my school went nuts having snowball fights and making snow angels. I really enjoyed watching the snow fall from the comforts of my office but became a little homesick for two reasons: it reminded me that Christmas is just around the corner, and although I will be spending it with familiar people, I will not be with my family. Second, the amount of snow we got in Seoul wasn't a whole lot, however, back home it would have been enough to get the school shut down for at least two days :P

I have two weeks of school before I head off to Malaysia for vacation, but luckily only one of those weeks consists of teaching. I'm not entirely sure what I will be doing the last week, maybe speaking tests? I'm never told anything until the day of. Winter camp, for example, I've been asking since October if I needed to prepare anything for the three week long camp we will be having in January, but nobody would give me an answer. It wasn't until a couple of days ago that I was told "by the way, you should prepare at least 40 pages worth of material, games, and power points for winter camp and submit by Monday". So, this is how I came to be at my current location, Capi Capi Loom Lom, a cute & cozy Rilakkuma themed coffee shop a few subway stops from my apartment. I really enjoy sitting here and people watching, maybe I will turn this into a weekly thing and find a new cafe to visit each time. 

weekend

I was too cold/sick/lazy to leave my apartment for the majority of the weekend. It was a nice break, since I'm usually running around Hongdae or Itaewon and staying out way later than any person should. I have been sick lately so I think it was definitely the right choice, since now my throat feels a lot better and I haven't been coughing as much.
On Friday I went to the grocery store and stoked up my pantry for the first time since arriving here, now that Winter is approaching the days are getting colder and shorter so I definitely foresee myself staying in a lot more.
On an exciting note, I booked my Christmas vacation to Malaysia! I will be staying with and old friend from university and her family.
Time tends to go by really quickly here. The workweek doesn't seem to be as long, and specially weekends just fly by. I can't decide if that's a good or bad thing.