Happy Seolnal!

January was a very uneventful month in the land of kimchi and kimbap-- the snow and bitter cold kept many people indoors and away from adventure, and a brimming Winter Camp schedule kept me very busy!



However, February has begun with a bang! Korea celebrates a huge feast holiday for the Korean New Year called 설날 or "Seolnal" (Hyperlinked for those curious!) Korean people travel home to their families for a large dinner and festivities, and they eat 떡국 "dduk guk", a simple rice cake soup which is one of my favorite Korean foods! Three days-- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday-- are national holidays for the Lunar New Year, which is wonderful for Koreans and their families. For us expatriates, it means everything is closed and despite having vacation, there is very little to do! Many people also leave the country during this season!

However, we found things to do! Wednesday night was spent in Seoul with my amazing friends Stephanie and Emily. After wandering and subsequently discovering that Gr8 Hookah was closed (T_T) we visited the wonderful Club FF in Hongdae, which offers a cool atmosphere and indie music! But even better was what we did the next day!


Thank you, Corrie for that picture! ^_^

Everland; Korea's largest theme park! Love, love, love! The theme park admission was 50% off for foreigners during the New Year and is sooo much better than Lotteworld I cannot express. Each season has a theme, currently it was (of course) Snow Festival! There were decent roller coasters and scary rides, along with some adorable theme rides, and it was kept impeccably clean. But best of all; there were no lines because of Lunar New Year. Heck. Yes!

To say I was pooped by the end of that day would be an understatement. So the rest of my week was spent low-key. Making pancakes. Watching episodes of Community online. Playing Zelda. Reading the Hobbit. And I went to see Shanghai in theaters (John Cusack starring generally = a pretty ho-hum movie nowadays). I'm happy with this week; but I'm not-so-secretly looking forward to going back to work! I love seeing my students! ^_^

I am planning a trip to Thailand and Cambodia at the end of the month, the 18th~28th, as well as readying myself for Andrew's visit in March! Let the good times roll!