Well I'm sorry it's been so long since I posted something. December has been a very hectic month, especially with Christmas time. A lot has happened since you last heard from me! I finally got those custom made boots I was telling you about, and I like them a lot. They are pretty comfortable, I could use a pair of Dr. Scholls though. And they are dark blue so they go with most of what I wear. Unfortunately they are just leather, so they aren't very warm, but there's enough room to double up on the socks. The temperature as consistently been below zero, so basically my entire collection of shoes that I brought from The States are no longer usable in any situation where I need to go outside.

Let's see... I got my hair cut, thank god. I needed it bad too. I went to Itaewon to get it done, since a lot of places there speak some English. They guy did I really good job too. They didn't wash my hair though, which sucked because I hadn't showered that day so I was hoping I wouldn't have to wash my hair before going out again, but I guess not. But no matter, my hair still looked good.

I started dating someone :) his name is Daniel and we met in Itaewon at one of the bars there. Actually it was the same night that I got my hair cut, so it must have been my lucky day. He is extremely nice, and very very very good looking. He is 26 and he's from South Africa, he's been in Korea for 3 years, so he still has a bit of the cute accent. The day after we met we went to the Korean War Memorial Museum together, and that was fun. And I've been down to visit him twice this month (He lives in Daegu, which is about 150 miles south) and I took the KTX train down there so it only took about an hour and 40 minutes to get there. We spent Christmas together with his friends that were down there, we went to Outback for dinner and clubbing afterward. Must say, not the typical holiday with the family. So we stayed in Daegu for the weekend, and drove up to Seoul yesterday. He's got business to take care of up here, and he's going to stay for New Years Eve. We still haven't figured out what we want to do, but I'm sure it will involve Itaewon.

I got to have my first experience with the Korean health care system. I got an infection in my toe (I guess it would be called the ring-finger of toes). I tried to deal with it myself with bandaids and Neosporin, but my supervisor saw it one day and said I had to go to the doctor. Luckily she was able to go with me. We simply walked right in, saw the doctor, had him assess my wound, dress it, and give me a antibiotic perscription, all in the span of 15 minutes. And the best part was that it was only ₩27,000. They did have to give me a shot in the ass though, which HURT. Not the exact shot, but the area around it hurt all night. I had to go back to the doctors a few more times for him to look at my toe and redress the wound and give me more medicine. Eventually though I stopped going. Megan told me that they keep you going and going and going, and I was sick of spending the money. Although it was really cheap after the first time (₩10,000) it started to add up. Plus my toe looks a lot better. And if it gets worse, I can always go back.

Dexter is doing well, he has actually started to calm down a bit. I can pet him now and he wont try to attack my hand. He still tries to tear my laundry down from the drying rack, and he kicks his litter every where RIGHT AFTER I sweep it up. And unfortuantely he learned how to jump behind the washing machine (and into the washing machine for that matter). He has a new fondness for running water, and he likes to jump in the sink when I'm washing my hands, or put his head under my just in time for me to spit my toothpaste all over him. Daniel has never been around cats, so he doesn't like Dexter too much, which is unfortunate because Dexter likes being where ever I am and I like being where Daniel is. Hopefully Daniel gets used to him though. It's almost time to get him neutered, yay!

Did you know that they have Todai here in Korea? Well they do! Tim and Nathan and I went the other weekend, it was great. There was sooo much food. Nathan and I could only polish off about three of four plates, but Tim got up to round nine I think. They had great sushi, and crab legs, and Chinese food. I even has a piece of sushi with green caviar on it. For the most part I had no idea what I was eating, but it was still delicious. And then after we were completely bloated, we went out drinking! We went to The Hill again, trying to stay up for the drag show which was at 2:30am. I met the most flamboyant gay Korean that there ever was in existence. For the most part, Koreans don't really flaunt their homosexuality because it is highly looked down upon here, but this man, whoa, he was basically breathing fire. But he was super nice, and he gave us all free shots of tequila. The drinks at his bar were expensive, but he made the SUPER strong. We went to the dance club that the drag show was at, but I couldn't make it. I got to like, 2:30am but they were starting late, and I was literally falling asleep on the dance floor, so I had to peace out and go home.

Christmas came in full swing at school. In general, Christmas isn't celebrated too much by families; they usually just go out to dinner on Christmas night, but aside from that it's more like a typical Sunday for them. They are big fans of Christmas decorations though lol. But at school, we basically went balls out for Christmas. I had my kids trae their hands on green paper and we made a Christmas tree, and we decorated the room with snow flakes, and we made Christmas ornaments for them to take home. Oh, and did I tell you? I got three more students, which makes my current count 11. It is getting EXTREMELY difficult to get eleven 5-year-old kids to all pay attention and do their work. I refuse to let the boys sit by each other, so every morning I have to tell them when they get their books "remember! Boy, girl and each table!" But they had an absolute blast with Christmas. Ha whenever they were being bad, I threatened to call Santa and tell him they weren't being good.

We had a huge Christmas party for them on Christmas eve. First we had a monthly performance (to which my kids did surprisingly well!) then after that they got to have lunch and sing Christmas songs. Then we took the classes down two at a time and the kids got to see Santa (two of the teachers dressed up) and they got a present. Joe walked up to Santa, really apprehensive, and when Santa went to hand him his present, he grabbed it and tried to run away hahah. Earlier in the week their moms had come in with presents, so that's what Santa gave them. Most of the kids got presents that were almost as big as them! And the hard part was making sure they didn't open their presents before they went home. So that afternoon was rough, making sure they didn't touch their presents, and then I had to make sure they had all their Christmas decorations in the right backpacks, then get them ready to go, then give them their presents again. It was hectic to say the least.



Becky and Joe

John and Sally


Alyssa and Alice


Elliot and Julie


Thomas and Lily


Daniel