week in review

The last seven days or so have been pretty entertaining, so I thought I'd blog.

First, SANTACON was better than I had expected, with seemingly thousands of people dressed in santa gear.  I didn't take any photos to show the red mob, but I'm sure you can picture a thousand santas at a bar/park.  It was amazing to see, and clearly the korean people who live in Seoul agreed.  I think it must be odd for them to go about their daily lives with the expat community celebrating our many holidays (halloween, christmas, can't wait for St. Patty's day).  I can't help but think they're concerned for their children's education when they only see us together when we're dressed up and drinking.  Oh Well.

SANTA!?!?  I KNOW HIM!

On Wednesday the entire country had a war drill at 2 PM.  I didn't realize the magnitude of the drill until we tried to leave a bit early to see the doctor... all cars pulled off the road and had to find a fallout shelter, & fake North Korean jets flew over the major cities.  A bit intense, but I didn't get too into it since we had someone from our school taking pictures of everything.  Instead, I continued my unfinished games of rock-paper-scissors with some students, and played a game of 'who could knock over who' while squatting with some other teachers (I lost, fancy that).

Wednesday was also a sad day in korea due to the departure of a good friend, Alex Kimball.  Kimball and I lived a few blocks apart and got dinner together regularly.  It was a privilege to meet and hangout with him on a regular basis, and he will most certainly be missed.

 Here is Kimball and me on the metro

yeah, we're cool

This week also concludes my after-school duties.  Both my advanced class, and my phonics class have been some of my fondest memories from teaching so far.  Some of the students in my phonics class made phenomenal progress, and it shows in their participation in regular class activities.  Both classes were a refreshing change of pace from the regular classes due to their desire to improve, and the respect they showed me.  

Only one more week of classes before my trip home!  I'm really excited to see everyone and indulge in the few things I miss.  Also, I found out I will have my cell phone reactivated while I'm back, so feel free to call/text while I'm home.