From Erection Day to Christmas.... whew!

Jongwon and I - because he is so cute!

Alrighty - Why haven't I updated in a while? Because I've been waaaay too busy! Let's do this day by day:

Wednesday was "Erection Day" (hardeeharhar - remember that Koreans don't differentiate "l" and "r"....), and we had the day off school. I cajoled Alex and Monique (and Garrett helped too) into wrapping over 130 Christmas presents (one for each of my students).

Before the wrapping...

My Christmas elves - Alex and Monique

The wrapping went along very smoothly, especially once the wine (and beer, and soju) started flowing....

On Thursday night, Ty and I dragged ourselves out to meet up with my head teacher, Mr Shin, for supper. It was one of those "Oh, I really don't feel like this" moments. We resigned ourselves to an awkward evening of broken English conversation, but were pleasantly surprised when Mr Shin's son, Kay, greeted us on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant instead of Mr Shin.... what was especially surprising was that Kay walked up to Ty, shook his hand and said "Remember me?"

Just before Ty left for South Africa, he met a group of young Korean guys on the Seoul subway. They had justs completed their military training, and one of the guys gave Ty his graduation pin. One of those guys was Kay. Imagine, for a moment, that in a country whose population exceeds that of Canada, Ty randomly bumped into my supervisor's son.

Needless to say, the evening was a rather fun one. Kay is a typical young Korean dude (and his companion, Lena, was too cute for words)... and we already have plans to meet up with them again.

Friday was an English competition put on by the city of Mokpo. I had happily volunteered to correct the High school essay part. Actually, there was something so familiar and pleasant about sitting there, correcting essays - I suddenly realized that, although I love teaching my young kids, there is something that I miss about working with teens... their thoughts? Their angst? Hmmm, not sure.

Garrett rocks his new HRG-style glasses

That evening, a bunch of us got together to say goodbye to Garrett, who will be leaving Korea for a few months, before (hopefully) returning. It was also a final farewell to Michelle, who I really wish I'd gone out with more, since she is so much fun.

Alex, Ty and Camille spread the love at the Drunk Chicken

It's impossible to have too many pictures of the Magic Sparkle drinks

Me, Garrett and Rachel - waiting for our Magic Sparkles

The evening, which began at the "Drunk Chicken" hof continued on to Magic Sparkle before degenerating to a Norae bang and a 24-hour McDonald's.

Saturday morning came a bit too soon, with me literally dragging Ty to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Suncheon. We met up with Nina, then headed out ice skating (Suncheon has THREE ice rinks - not fair!) with Chris and Melissa and another girl whose name I can't remember.

Chris, Ty and Melissa

Ty visits Canada - a pile of snow and a Zamboni...

...and a bottle of wine

Ty and I took Nina to Outback for her birthday, then we went to Lesley and Tim's who were hosting a sort of Christmas get-together.

We came back to Mokpo on Sunday by way of a shopping stop in Gwangju (Katrina: I was able to walk into the new GAP with a Starbuck's Peppermint Mocha in my hand - I almost felt like I was back in Montreal.... oh, except that, in Korea, the largest size is a SIX, whereas I start at EIGHT. Can you imagine.... a rack of Long and Lean jeans, and just one size too small!!!!!), then back hom in the evening (we were too tired to go to the Open Mic Night as planned) where Ty was surprised by an early visit from Santa Hello Kitty, who brought him his Christmas stocking a few days early. Since the next few days are going to be a bit busy, we also opened our gifts from his family (they sent me a lot of things - calendar, day timer, and photography book - showing me how beautiful South Africa is...). Now, we're sitting back with some lovely imported beer (Newcastle, Guiness and Kingfisher) and enjoying the calm before the storm: Tomorrow is the Christmas party at my school (with Zepher playing the part of Santa), followed by a few random Christmas parties here and there in Mokpo - we only get the 25th off, so things tend to get a bit hectic.