Finally!

I finally got over that nasty cough!

The first few weeks of our new year have been good. We started a new month at school so we had to adjust to a new schedule and get back into the swing of things. I'm still adjusting to a couple of the new classes I have. They started last month and the students don't speak much English at all. It is a challenge starting from scratch especially since they are young and don't like to sit still. My other classes are going well. It has taken a while to really get the hang of the new style of teaching we have here, but I think we both like it. The laid out schedule can be challenging, but it is nice to have goals.

Last weekend we had a unexpected visit. We got snow!




AND our friend Beth got in touch with us and asked if we were available to hang out over the weekend. We said that would be great! - so she came and stayed the night. It was a great time catching up. The only thing was that my immune system isn't quite back to par. I had a few early mornings and an exhausting weekend. So now I have a sore throat. I'm hoping it's just an allergy and worn out thing. It hasn't gotten worse. The weather has also gotten warmer which is another allergy factor.
We were able to go downtown Sunday and see part of the 63 Building. It is the third tallest building in Korea and I think the tallest building in Seoul. It has 63 stories - 60 above ground and 3 below. It was pretty neat.




It was a good weekend. We have a long weekend coming up for Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) and maybe a another visit from a friend. I think this weekend I will make sure I get tons of sleep before my exhausting days.

Happy New Year a bit belated!

We had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year.
The Tuesday night before Christmas we went out for dinner with all of our co-workers. A gift for the end of the year from our boss. It was fun! We had a lot of awesome food! I even tried the Korean style squid. It was a bit spicy, but it was really good. Cameron loved the pork and the mustard sauce. We really enjoy going out with our co-workers. It's especially fun getting to know more about Korean food and culture.



We were able to go to our new friends for a Christmas Eve get together. That was really fun. We got there late because of work and ended up staying until after midnight. We were able to share in a tradition with them of reading John 1. It was really special. After that we say some Christmas carols and shared some stories. It was like having a Christmas Eve service of our own. We were so thankful they included us in their special night! It was a blast and we hope that we will be able to have a lot more fun with them.

Since we were out so late Christmas Eve we slept in Christmas Day. We got to talk to both of our families before we had our own little celebration together. We were able to get donuts as a special treat. We had donuts and hot chocolate! Yummy! We read the Christmas story in Luke. It was special. Then Cameron and I got to our surprises! We kept it simple this year as we just had our first pay. Both of us found some special things for each other. I was so excited about Cameron's picks for me. He did so well! It was refreshing to be able to surprise each other. I almost forgot about the surprise package we got from Brazil. Here is a pic of the fun stuff we got.



Christmas surprises!





The rest of the day was just a chill day. We did have a bit of drama. I had planned a great Christmas dinner. We were going to have roasted chicken in the slow cooker that a friend had sent us for Christmas. While we were watching a movie we heard a pop sound in the kitchen. We went over and saw the transformer smoking. So we quickly turned off the cooker and unplugged the transformer. We were so thankful that we were home. If we hadn't been here we may not have an apartment left.
We ended up boiling the chicken and making BBQ sandwiches. We still had sweet potato casserole, though. That was yummy!

We worked the Friday after Christmas, although it didn't really feel like work. We had tests most of the day. It really went by quick and we were into our vacation. We didn't plan much for vacation. We were hoping to see a little bit of Seoul. Unfortunately, I got worse again. I ended up really congested. We went to Seoul New Year's Eve during the day. It was the coldest day of the week which made it a little miserable to walk. We went to the War Museum of Korea. We were surprised to see how large it was. It is really nice. They have the whole war history of Korea. We found out quickly that we were going to have to make more than one trip to see it. It was really interesting.



After that we went into Itaewon - the foreign section of Seoul. We had Quizno's for lunch. Right next to Quizno's was a Coldstone Creamery! But we decided to hold off on that until it warmed up and I wasn't coughing so much. We were able to check out an English bookstore and a foreign grocery store. Then we headed back to Yangsan train station to find the electronics market. We didn't find the market, but we did find an electronics store in the iPark mall. We had to pick up a new transformer. We ended up getting Pizza Hut for supper - it's almost like gourmet here.




After all that we felt like we had done so much! It was a lot, but not at the same time. I felt like it was a getting to know the city day. We learned about how to get around. It takes time. By the end of the night we were pooped out! Both of us were about to fall asleep on the metro home. We had a prayer, said happy new year and good night.

We had planned to go to Seoul Thursday and Friday, but decided against it so I could rest and continue to get better. Earlier in the week I went to the doctor and was taking more medicine and waiting patiently for it to work. It was a nice rest. We had an extended Lord of the Rings marathon (in 2 days). It was a fun week together. We finally made it back to church! Our first vacation went so fast!