* I'm sure this all over the news over there too, but North Korea's leader Kim Jong Il died this past weekend. It's been all over the news here, with the South Korean government telling it's citizens to remain calm and go about business as usual. South Korea is slightly tense as a whole because no one knows much about his son, Kim Jong Un. So we'll see what happens! The kids were really happy about it on Monday though!
* We're having a Christmas party for the kids all day on Friday! One of the foreign male teachers from our school switch with a teacher from another ECC and dress up as Santa for the kids! Zach and Brandon, two of the teachers at my school, tried to convince me that this year they were going to do a female Santa. They were fairly convincing for awhile (Brandon always cracks and he wasn't this time!) so I was pretty worried for awhile there that I would have a ton of strange kids climbing into my lap on Friday, but luckily that's not true!
* We have a staff Christmas party Friday night and are doing Secret Santa! I have no idea what I'm going to get the person I drew... Also, normally our Christmas party is at a nice restaurant/bar, but this year with the new director she wants to cut back on the budget, so we get PIZZA in the GYM! Haha, ya, we're planning on going right to a bar afterward and celebrating right!
* I teach arts & crafts once a week so last week the activity was making Christmas cards for our families, but one of the little kids, Tommy, made one for me instead! Now I love this but he also gives me hell almost every class, but it was so sweet that he made it for me! He's 6 years old and English is not his first language, but it's pretty good without any help from me! Here it is:
Haha ya the art might not be the best I've ever seen, but it made my day!
* I haven't shown you my christmas tree in my apartment yet! I have a tree and stockings, but didn't feel like splurging on any other decorations, they're expensive here! ANd I got the biggest tree they sell (unless you go to Costco in Seoul, but carrying that back on a subway was not an option!)
My tree now also has presents under it all the way from Texas and I also have another stocking filled with stuff my family sent me! They are the best!
* I also bought an advent calendar in the store, they don't have a lot of christmas stuff here since it's not a big holiday like it is back home, but they did have an advent calendar from Germany, and the chocolate is so good!
* Last Friday night after work all of the foreign teachers went out to this new bar, O'Malleys, that is only a few subway stops away from us (so much closer than Seoul!). It was an Irish bar, as you can tell by the name, and was mostly packed with foreigners! So now we have another option besides the places here in Songdo, where we are mostly the only foreigners. Besides an odd older businessman or two. The bars here also don't have official closing times, so we were there until 4 am, and then they shut off the heat so people would start to leave haha. And it worked, because it's been -1 degrees Fahrenheit here at night, last night I think it was 3 degrees. SO COLD. So needless to say we left pretty quick after that!
* Ok last bit, it snowed here last Saturday! it was so pretty! It only stayed for the day since it wasn't a really heavy snowfall. I have a hill right outside my window, so it was fun watching all the families sled down it. I looked to see if I had anything at all that I could use as a sled, but no luck! If it snows more, I'll have to invest in something large and plastic!
I'll try to post all my Christmas photos next week before I leave for Malaysia for New Years! Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season so far! Merry Christmas from Korea!
