Christmas Jello, Pohang, and the New Year~

Hi~

Well, its been quite a while.
First off, happy new year!!! It's 2011!!!

So, for xmas, I made my student's Jello~ Nik and Emily both told me it was a good thing to bring, so I brought a couple boxes from America with me.  The night I was making it, my host mom and sister came out to see what I was up to and they were fascinated.  So, I made them a box of Jello as well ^^

one of my student's grandma made these rice cakes~ the were amazing!

Anyhow, I had one week of vacation from Korean class, but worked everyday except for xmas day and one other day during that week.
On Xmas eve, I went to Namsan Tower with Nathan and his parents, who came to visit from Chicago.  That was fun, as I haven't been there in over two years, but it was mad busy - full of couples, because Christmas in Korea is more of a couple's holiday.

random person looking out the window of Namsan

I had no particular plans for Christmas day. I was literally sitting in my room messing around on my computer, and skyped Emily, who was also not up to much in Pohang. And we had the ingenious idea that I go visit her (she was kind immobile due to her incident in the subway station where her body met an ajuma's elbow... and the rest is history).  So, about 15 min. later, I was packed and out the door, headed to Seoul Station to catch a train to Pohang (actually to a city near by and from there a bus to Pohang).
I got in around 7 pm~ Emily's neighbor, who is an American teaching for EPIK was hosting an xmas party for a bunch of English teachers. So, we hungout there for a while and then went back to her apt. We went to great lengths to find a pizza place near her house, but we had success and ordered our traditional koguma (sweet potato) pizza.  YES! Just like Yonsei days...

I spent three days there and headed back VERY early monday morning so I could get back in time to teach at 1...  It was a great trip and most definitely worth it!  And after teaching that day, I went straight to Sarang's grandpa's house for dinner and of course, got to see Sarang!!

the train station in the morning~

On Tuesday, I went to the art museum with Pil and saw the Chagall exhibit, which was amazing!! Afterwards, we went to an Indian restaurant and had delicious food.
There was also a bunch of really pretty xmas lights up around the city!
I can't imagine how much energy they consumed or how much that cost the city... But they were pretty...
There was also a display about the North Korean bombings in Yeongpeong~

On Thursday, my work place was having a winter camp for the students and decided to cancel my class that day, so instead of teaching, I got to go on a day trip down south with Sarang and her mom and grandma! We rode the train and then took a bus to get to the city of Taebaek, which is an old mining city, and I guess is known for its winter landscape~ We went through the museum, which was very well done and mainly about the town's coal mining history. And then we went SLEDDING!

On new years eve, I went to out with Lea, Rae, Nathan and a few other adoptees in Sinchon.  It was really fun and we ended up at this weird bar full of crazy foreigners.  The bar handed out sparklers to bring in the new year - I LOVE sparklers, so I was completely content. ^__^

I got up really early on Sunday morning to go skiing with a few people from camp.  Pil came and picked me up at my apartment. Neither he nor I realized that there really isn't anywhere to turn around once you past through the gate... So, we spent a good 15 minutes just trying to back his car up the hill out of the road in front of my apartment.  Actually, we were at it so long, the security guard came down and kind of pushed Pil out of his car and did it for him. Victoria, who was also in the car and I just sat there as he skillfully maneuvered the car up the narrow hill. Whew. If not for him, Pil's car would probably still be stuck there...
Anyhow, we made a pit stop in Itaewon for breakfast, aka, KFC... not the greatest... And then drove another 2 hours or so to PyeongCheong, (incidentally, where Emily taught English last year!) to the famous Dragon Valley Ski Resort.  We met up with Eunji unni, who had come down separately with her family and got ready to go skiing!!!!!!!

 this igloo was supposed to be a tribute to the Vancouver Olympics.. They also had teepees...

 Pil, Victoria, and Eunji

 These animal hats are very popular here and people wear them with all seriousness

ramen for dinner!

I was so excited, as I have never had the opportunity to go skiing on an actual mountain!!! Pil had rented a condo room, but unfortunately Eunji unni and I had class the next day, so we couldn't spend the night.
We definitely crammed A LOT into one day~ It was Victoria's first time trying skiing and she was fearless! On her first run, she just went (not a bunny hill either!).  I turned around to give her a few tips and tell her to wait when I saw her glide by... Pil, Eunji and I stood there and watched her go down the hill and then saw her sit down and crash on purpose because she didn't know how to stop... haha!  By the end of the day, she was pretty good!

Anyhow, on Monday, Korean classes started back up and I have midterms next week, so I should go study~

Happy new year!!!