!!!

Thailand, Cambodia, Phillipines.

VACATION.

It's the holiday season...

I feel like I could make the subject of every post something like “How is it [month] already?".

December came and went quickly. Thanks to online streaming from STAR 102, I was still able to listen to Christmas music (and of course Jon Tesh) for the entire month of December. I did a lesson on making snowflakes with my kids at school, so I was able to somewhat decorate my apartment for Christmas, even though I was tree-less. We also watched Elf in my classes at school which was great at first, but by the end of the two weeks I had seen the movie 22 times. That was a little too much.

It was strange being away from home on Christmas, but it wasn’t too bad. For the first time ever, I woke up at noon Christmas morning to no tree, lights or presents from Santa. We had a very white Christmas, and I have yet to not see snow on a daily basis since then, which is obviously great. I was able to skype with my family in Olathe on Christmas Eve and watch them open all of their presents, and then with the big family in St. Louis on Christmas to say hello to them. It was a little sad not to be there in person.

And then my family flew 14 hours to see me in Korea for New Years!

I had english camp every morning, but I was able to spend the afternoons and evenings showing them around where I live and making them eat a lot of great Korean food! I think overall they liked it and of course it was sooo good to see them after 5 months. Derek was pretty successful at saying "Thank you" in Korean (out loud) by the end of the week. It was hard to say goodbye knowing I won’t see them again until the summer.

Here are some pictures:

Dad and Derek's first meal in Korea at the Home Plus Cafeteria :: Dongas (pork cutlet) and Omirice (Rice wrapped in egg), soup (of course), radish kimchi and pickled radish. Mmmmm good.

New Year's Eve tradition. The night would not have been complete without a game of Monopoly.

Making our Shabbu Shabbu. It is boiling water with spices that you add vegetables, meat and noodles to. This was actually what I had for my Christmas dinner this year.

Visiting the Giant Buddha.

Dad clearly loved the Kimchi!

Sledding with the kids from church. Apparently in Korea, sledding is done on bags stuffed with straw. Surprisingly, they worked really well.

I had to get them hodduks from my favorite street vendor.

Mmmmmmmm.

Visiting a big palace in Seoul.

They look so good as Koreans.

Beef Galbi. This was my mom's favorite. It's always more fun to make your own food right at the table.

Also, I have decided to stay in Korea for at least six more months than I had originally signed on for. So around December of 2011 I may come home. This means that all of you now have an extra 6 months to make plans to come visit me! I mean really, look at all the exciting things my parents got to do ^^...