February Already!

I’m sitting around my pimp pad killing time before I board a 7-hour bus ride to Pyeongchang. I’m about to embark on my first and last ski adventure in Korea. The World Biathlon Championships are on and a old ski buddy (Brendan Green from Hay River) made the Canadian team so I’m heading North to watch some races and get some skiing in. I’m so stoked to see snow finally!

So what have I been up to lately? HMM. My usual weekly schedule consists of teaching, talking to people on Skype, games night, LOST night, and going to hot yoga every night. Not trying to brag or anything, but my yoga skills have improved immensely. On the other hand, my English skills have not…They have been brutalized by Koreans. English = Englishee. Finish = Finishee. NUFF SAID!

Last weekend was my 23rd birthday. Well actually it would be my 24th birthday if I were Korean. They do this odd thing once you pop out of your mommy you are a 1 year old and in addition to this EVERYONE turns a year older on December 31st. So technically if you were born on December 30th you would be 1 then on the 31st you would turn 2. RIDICULOUS! Anyways, it was my birthday and at school I received a ton of chocolate and some gifts from my kidlets. We also had cake and pizza. The next day, Valentines Day, the girls came over to my place and we had brunch! It was once again delish. We hung out having coffee and baileys till around 2pm then headed out to do our own thing. I headed up the mountain for my weekend hike. On my retreat, I was running down and a Korean man stopped me to ask the time then he proceeded to speak to me in Korean (I tend to get this a lot…they think I’m one of them). I think he was trying to brag that he had been hiking for 5 hours and was getting jacked. Also once I hit the road coming down to the main part of Hwamyeong a box of mandarin oranges were rolling down the hill! HILARIOUS. And yes, I did run after some and pocketed them. Don’t judge me! Then I met the girls and Josh for some dinner then we came back to my place and played some drinking games then headed down to Keyoung Sung. It was a pretty good time and I was really surprised that I wasn’t that hung over the following day (my actual birthday, the 15th). We hung out at a coffee shop all afternoon then had some Shabu-Shabu for dinner. I love that food!

At work lately we have been busy getting things ready for the festival and the seven year olds graduation. This graduation is a huge deal for Koreans. It’s when the Kindergartens move up to elementary. So a bunch of dancing, plays, and singing is involved for all kinders. A lot of my classes have been canceled for practice time, which has been awesome! However, I have been suckered into dancing to Big Bang (Korean pop group) with my seven year olds and singing Dancing Queen and Honey, Honey with my co-teachers. Apparently the outfits the kids get to wear are hilarious so stay tuned for those bad boys to be posted! The festival is on February 26th in the evening and once March hits a new school year starts. I leaving Korea to start my Southeast Asia travels on March 10th and will be back to Canada on May 12th! We’ll be starting off in Vietnam, moving down to Cambodia, back up into Laos, and down to Thailand. I’m really looking forward to it!

Well I have to get packing for my 2am bus ride to Pyeongchang! I’ll definitely be updating about the ski trip and my last couple weeks in Korea! Keep it real ☺