Three months!

Well, today is the one quarter mark of my stay in Korea, and I thought it would be appropriate to make a post. Hard to believe it's been three months already, the time has flown by. I've made some great friends from all over the world. It always amuses me that when I go out with friends we are a regular united nations delegation. Usually there are three or four different continents represented. I've made friends with people from the States, Canada, England, Scotland, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, China, Taiwan, Japan, and of course, Korea. Super awesome.

I'm starting to understand Seoul a lot better. I am still utterly lost most of the time, but I can usually get from one part of the city to another pretty well. As long as I stay on the main roads and in the subways I am fine. I'm starting to explore off the main roads in Hanam now which is really fun too. I live in the new part of the city with high rise apartments and various American type shops, but old Hanam is much more interesting. There are parts of the city the west has barely grazed and I feel more foreign there than anywhere else I've been.

The fall has been gorgeous out here, it's so nice to live in a place where the leaves change color again. The sea of red, yellow, and brown is almost all on the ground now, and I think winter is coming soon. The past few weeks have been really pleasant, staying in the fifties during the day, but a cold snap is coming through and I sure am glad that I brought my winter coat.

I discover new foods almost every day and love all of it. I know the names of a lot, but there is a lot more that I have no idea. Generally I just let whoever I am with order because I like everything I've tried. Kimchi especially I can't get enough of, pickled and spicy...mmm mmm mmm.

Here a few pictures from around Hanam. The first is the view out my front door. The second is my school. The third is just a picture I took while walking to work.







Well that's about all from this side of the world for now. I'll try to do something really exciting in the next couple weeks for you all to read about and enjoy:)

Pepero Day!

Hello and good tidings to all!!!
My internet was down in the apartment for a few days and now it's back so I've decided to celebrate with a new blog post. I suppose the most interesting thing that has happened in the past couple weeks was yesterday. We had a 'holiday' in the way Valentine's Day is a holiday, simply a way to boost the economy it seems. The day was Pepero Day and it was awesomely silly. I've included a picture of some pepero sticks below.


The whole day is about buying these and giving them to your friends. I bought a few to give to the other teachers at school and some for the best students in class that day. I received them from the other teachers and from one or two students each class, the result being a big pile of peperos that I'll be munching on for the next couple weeks.

Fall has been gorgeous so far here in Korea. There are so many trees everywhere turning yellow and red making the whole city extremely beautiful. The weather is really pleasant too, keeping between thirty five and fifty degrees usually. It is really refreshing to be living in a place with seasons again. I've sure missed it.

Sarah is back from England and life is back to normal after a very crazy two weeks. Classes are going really well and I'm getting on great with my students. The one student that did not like me at all actually quit the school at the beginning of the month so things are going better than I hoped.

About three or four weeks ago I started looking into taking a trip in the last week of December, but I think I'll be pushing it back now. From all the plane tickets I looked at traveling during that time will be a lot more expensive than two or three months later. So I think I'll wait it out, and save about $250 on a plane ticket. I'll probably be going out of the country in the beginning of February for the Lunar New Year. This will be my first trip out of the country, and I'm thinking either Cambodia or Indonesia for this one. Still a long ways away but it gives me something to look forward to.

Not too much else going on here. Just rolling along. I'm coming up on the three month mark in less than two weeks. Foreign teachers I've talked to told me that this is usually the point most foreigners become a little disenchanted and homesick. But then they said that after this passes it's smooth sailing for the rest of the trip. I've not had any of those feelings yet and hopefully I won't but if my next post is seeped in the blues you'll know why.

As always I hope everyone is doing great, I love you lots!!!