Hello November.

Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  I really have no excuse other than I've been keeping busy with life in general.  I can't believe it's already November.  I feel like October just blew by without even realizing it.  


We've had a few cold spells here in Seoul already, and I'm afraid winter is impending.  My school is FREEZING all the time now because they open the windows and there is no heat in the hallways.  I am going to have to get a blanket to sit at my desk with.  The Korean school year is coming to an end next month.  I have just 7 weeks left to finish up the lessons for the year.  


This also means I really need to get on the ball planning my winter vacation.  I have to work 2 weeks of winter camp the first 2 weeks of January, then I can choose when to take my vacation time.  Since the school year runs March-December, this is like the summer holiday in the states so it will be my longest one.  Where should I go??


So even before Halloween last week, Seoul was prepping for the Christmas season.  Since there is no Thanksgiving here, Christmas is the next holiday.  I'm actually excited to see all the lights and decorations around the city.  I can't wait to go see Santa at the stage in Myeongdong.

I snapped this at Doota while shopping for my Halloween costume in Dongdaemun last week

For Halloween, I went with Melissa and Tony to a huge Korean party here.  The photos suggested that people would dress up, but we noticed when we arrived that that was not the case.  There were also TONS of girls, literally more than we have ever seen out before at any clubs anywhere.  Most girls that were dressed up were only wearing very Korean style bunny/leopard/bow ears/headbands.  The best part about this party was seeing Supreme Team perform "Dang Dang Dang" because I love this song.  The Koreans went absolutely crazy when these guys were on stage especially for "Supermagic".  Unfortunately after their performance, a very long techno set began so Melissa headed to Gangnam for the rest of the night (where literally nobody  was dressed up for Halloween).


a cupcake and 2 Korean popstars

A couple weeks ago, I went on a hike up Dobong Mountain with Jessie and Brad.  We anticipated an hour or two hike up and down.  What we got was a 2.5 hour hike up, 1.5 hour hike down.  It started out okay until we started seriously climbing uphill.  It was fairly strenuous and there were rocks everywhere.  Surprisingly, there were a lot of old people with hiking sticks and gear climbing up this mountain with seemingly no problem at all.  Meanwhile, I'm sweating profusely and my legs are dying.  There were signs that kept saying 0.5km to the top, but then we would go another km, and there would be another sign with the same thing.  So it was all a big trick so you actually had no idea how much longer it would take to get to the top or what was even at the top. 

Dobongsan

Dobongsan

Well, my only classes on Fridays are grade 6, and all of grade 6 is on a field trip...assah!  TGIF!:)