Month 5: January 2010

Even after a month it still feels very strange to me to be writing '2010', almost as strange as it was to type - 'Month 5.' How did that happen?

It's funny, before I came I was certain that the time was going to absolutely inch by, that the days would feel like months and the months like years ...but it's funny, time is the same here as it is anywhere else in the world. Who knew. Every week you go through your work week, happy to make it to the weekend. On Sunday night you start to get that sinking feeling about starting your work week the next day ...apparently nothing is different on the other side of the world.

In terms of time anyways ...I can notice a few other small differences:)

Well, this month was an extremely busy one. The kids here have 4-6 weeks for their Winter Vacation, so (typical Asian style) there is no sense allowing them to enjoy it - take the opportunity to throw them into extra classes at Private School! Which means that this month we were teaching 'special classes,' which really just means, classes on top of our normal ones, typically without any books or materials. Which equals = a whole lotta fun. And I am extremely thankful that it's over.

It was fairly busy socially too ...here are some highlights:

There were a lot of birthdays this month ...which means a lot of cake!

The month started with New Years ...and here is the funny story from that night. We walked into a bar around 11:45, and we were met with a HUGE line of Koreans. But for some reason we were let right in, in front of them. When we asked what was going on we found out that they were all 20, turning 21 (the legal drinking age) at midnight (since all Koreans age on the same day ...New Years!) ...and waiting to start drinking! Let's just say that by 12:45, there was a line up in the girls bathroom to puke. I used a different bathroom.

These were special shots ...if I remember correctly there was beer in the glass, coke in a shot glass and soju in a shot glass.

This was a Palace in the middle of Seoul. Cost $1 to get inside and took 10 minutes to walk around the entire thing. But we did see one thing interesting ...we met the man on the $10 bill!

Then we went out for a birthday celebration with some Foreign friends.

Not really sure what night this represents below ...but it`s always a highlight.

And then there was the night where we visited a good friend`s `farm`house. Which was more like a shed on the outskirts of Incheon and 10 minutes from Seoul. It was rustic. I had to pee in the bushes.

But they cooked us dinner (korean style - over a bbq) and it was delicious!

And they uncorked the wine we brought.

Overall it was a great month, with our last weekend spent in Cheongju visiting a family that we met while we were in Seoul. I will post a blog later on, but it was an incredible (authentic) experience.

Oh - and this month, like every other ...there was a whole lotta dancin`...