Aimee’s World Tour

Three. 

The number of french hens in the Twelve Days of Christmas.

The number of months and weeks that I’ve been in Korea.

The number of times one of my kids blows snot out his nose in 35 minutes.

The number of times I get to wipe up his/her snot.

The number of teaching days left before Christmas!!! DING DING DING!!!

Oh how I can’t wait.  I LOVE Christmas.  My apt. is Christmas messy right now with last minute cards and presents about the room but soon it will all be cleaned up and my little Korean Christmas tree will shine upon a tidy floor.

Natasha might sleep over on Christmas Eve (I’ll sacrifice my bed) so we can wake up and open stockings together on Christmas.  THen it’s off to her apt. to celebrate the glorious holiday with her Granny whom I just met tonight.  She’s such a classy woman with her South African accent and her stories of world travel.  She had visited the Great Wall on her way to Korea.  Now that’s something I’d LOVE to do!!  Apparently the steps are all different heights; one giant step and then a couple really small ones.  Should be an interesting climb.  (Bc I AM gonna make it there… one day.)

Natasha wants to hit up a (sound it out) Noo-ree-bong which is a private kareoke room where we can sing our hearts out.  Justine kind of well… detests kareoke so unfortunately I don’t think she’ll be joining us.  Instead she is opting to go skiing which I would love to do as well.  But I personally can’t wait for the noo-ree-bong.  I guess we’re doing that later on Christmas day.  I’m not sure.  I of course will have to allot for personal crying time and calling the family.  Go go gadget international phone card/skype/ineedapccamera.com  I’m sure they’ll be some Christmas movie watching and good eating as well.  Then it’ll be time to pack.  Thailand on the 26th!

It really hasn’t sunk in that I’ll be lying on the beach later this week. I want to pack really light for once in my life.  Just throw some flip flops, my swimsuit, a couple hoodies, a pair of jeans, shorts/capris and a few t-shirts into a bag and we’re good to go.  Oh and some soju for Melissa. 

It’s Sunday night and I feel very efficient.  Did my student evals this week as well as my weekly comments and next month’s lesson plan.  And here I am well into another blog.  Whoo hoo. 

It’s time for a… FLASHBACK! 

So Friday after school we all went to the owner’s favorite restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  I’m not quite sure if I was bored or wanted to  have something to blog about… but I actually ate a bit of the food.   Well I put food in my mouth and washed it down with whatever I could.  Even the Korean teachers weren’t too big on this place.

Food was constantly being brought to the table and each time I was thinking – ok THIS is going to be something I can eat.  Because it IS dinner time and I AM hungry. 

As the dishes came out they only got worse and worse.  I tried a cold  muscle.  Yeck.  And then an oyster.  Bleck.  And then an octopus tentacle.  I was really missing those little smiley goldfish crackers when a whole fish with eye, scales and teeth landed in front of us.  I cannot pin-point what possessed me but I had a teeny tiny piece.  The kimchi smelled worse than ever… like GARBAGE.  You can’t go out and eat here without a load of that stuff.  Luckily there was this noodle thing that I kept eating.  My saving grace. 

Later that night Natasha and I went out to a bar.  I ended up making new friends since she had to go home early.  Met a Canadian girl and later quite a nice English chap who has traveled all over the world and hasn’t been back to England for over seven years!  Craziness. 

But let’s focus.  Christmas is almost here… and I wish a Merry one to you all.  I’m constantly listening to the Christmas Mix I compiled back in 2005 when I lived in PA with Jen and Lauren: “A Belmondo Christmas”. I’m actually thinking of burning a CD for each of my kids to take home to their families. 

To all my Jewish friends, Have a Happy Hanukkah and, as Mr. Sandler so eloquently puts it, drink you gin and tonikah. 

I know some of you are wondering what the religion is like out here.  I think (and I could be pulling this out my arse) something like 30% of Koreans are Christian.  I know I see a lot of churches around the area.  Ellie, our vice director, is Buddist and I’m not sure what other religions are popular out here.  I’ll get on that.

Come to think of it I really haven’t painted a very good picture of everyday life in Korea and so I shall attempt to remedy that in future blogs. 

You’ll be hearing from me before the New Year but I wish you all a happy and healthy one – for 2009 and always. 

Cheers,

Aimee

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