28 months

It's snowing!!!! It's so pretty but only when I'm inside. I really dislike walking in snow or afterwards when it's slick ice or slushy. 

It's Christmas next week but it definitely doesn't feel like it. My entire family is gathering at my grandparents house this year, even an uncle who has been away for twenty years will be there. The fact that I will be missing such an important family reunion has me feeling sad and homesick. I have to keep reminding myself that next year, hopefully next year I can spend the holidays with my family again. 

In school I'm currently preparing for winter camp. It's not easy, mostly because I have few ideas, and second because I can't focus at work. After teaching there is no heater and it's much too cold in my office. 

This is my last post of 2014.. I'm amazed at how quickly this year went by. I can remember last new Christmas and New Years very well so it seems like it was recent. I'm scared of time. 

27 months

This past month my good friend from childhood came to visit me from the USA on a last minute trip. She didn't book her flight until the week before she left so we didn't have much time to plan, or for me to take off work but we managed to do quite a bit of touristy things together on the weekend and evenings after work. We celebrated halloween together, and it was by far one of my favorite halloweens. I dressed up as a minion and got quite a bit of compliments.

School is going well. I'm obsessed with my students, and i'm dreading graduation because I'll really miss the sixth graders. This last Saturday I went to my first B1A4 concert and it was pretty cool, although it did make me question how come I have the same taste as ten year old girls?

26 months

I went to a Taeyang concert last weekend. The weather is cooling down, I'm a hundred percent I won't renew my contract, mostly because of budget cuts partly because three years will be enough. I'm writing this in a hurry, but I didn't want to skip.

25 months

I'm back from vacation in Malaysia & Indonesia. I definitely enjoyed my time in Malaysia a lot more this second time around. I think I was more open minded about the food, which is what I struggled with on my first trip. Bali, Indonesia was a place I thought I would love, but something about how commercialized it was, and people following me around asking if I wanted a massage or t-shirt sort of out a dark cloud over that experience for me. If I were to go back I think I would choose different places besides Ubud & Kuta to stay at. 

The new school semester has brought me a brand new co teacher, and two new classes. Three of my third grade classes from last term have been taken away, and two new classes added. I miss my kids from last term a lot, they were a lot of fun. These new kids are cute, but maybe I still need more time to adjust to their personalities. 

I celebrated my 26th birthday a couple of weeks ago, and it was pretty nice. On the day of, I had cake with some of my co workers then that night I had dinner and bingsu with friends in my area. Then on Friday a friend came up from her town and we had dinner and cake and wine, then later that night I met up with some other friends for drinks and a night of dancing. Nothing too crazy, since you know.. I'm an adult ;P 

24- two years!!

Two years ago I left the USA and got on a plane to the unknown. It has proven to be the best decision I've made so far, I think. I'm currently in Ubud, Bali Indonesia. Arrived earlier this morning after spending some time in Yogyokarta and prior to that Malaysia. I have one week of vacation left, and when I go back to Korea the majority of my EPIK class will have left Seoul. The idea of a third year, and a third winter in Seoul is a little scary at the moment but time seems to go by too fast and I haven't accomplished half of what I set out to do when I came here, so here's to having a better, and more productive third (and final) year in Korea!!! 

23 months

I think it's clear now that I'm keeping this up due to a sense of responsibility towards future me, present me is lazy and things writing this is silly. but alas, here is my 23 month update: I'm in the process of looking for a new apartment, I'm staying at my current school an I would like to stay in the general area of where I live now, I just cannot stand to live in my room anymore. It's quite worn out, many things are breaking and the landlord takes his sweet time fixing things, or says he will pay me back for repairs that I pay for but never actually pays me back. I hope I can find a new place soon and move during summer camp. Summer camp is the second thing I have going on now, it will start in about a week and a half and I'm nowhere near ready. I have a lot more to prepare and plan. This year I've been told I will only have about 15 third grade students, so hopefully it goes over well. Third graders are cute and for the most part are eager to please, so they'll work hard. After camp I'll be headed out of Korea for a two week vacation. I'll be revisiting Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur & Penang) for my friend's wedding, and afterwards hoping over to Indonesia (Yogyokarta & Bali) for some sightseeing and beach time. Bali was never a place I thought I would go to, and initially this summer I was planning on going to the Philippines, a place I had listed on the SEA travel wishlist I made prior to moving abroad. But with my friends wedding, and price of flights it just worked out this way, and it's not like Bali is a bad place to vacation in. Hopefully I will still get a chance to visit the Philippines later on, that and Halong Bay are the two remaining things I have yet to see on my list.
While I'm away on vacation most of the people who came in my EPIK intake will be leaving as they're not renewing for a third year. I haven't made much of an effort to keep in touch with most of them as of late, the large group branched off into smaller ones, so it won't really affect me much that they're leaving. It's mostly just a sense of knowing that people are moving on and I'm still here. Not that I resent them for not staying, just you know?? haha actually I don't even know.
Oh, also I'm still studying Korean twice a week at like an institute kind of place. I can't say that I'm benefiting much from it so I'm not sure if I'll sign up again for the fall term.

22 months

It happened. Not much to say. Attended my first dream concert, went crazy over B1A4. Started Korean classes, don't feel like I'm learbjngb much I can apply in everyday life but I'll stick with it for now. I want to travel around Korea more, but also currently planning summer vacation abroad. Maybe the Philippines and Singapore