New Semester

We are one week into the second semester now which means at the end of this week we will have been at our current jobs for 6 months.  That means only six more months until our contracts are complete!  It's crazy to think how fast it's gone.  It feels like we it was still winter not that long ago but actually summer is coming to an end (hopefully) and it will be winter again soon!  The weather has not been cooling down during the day but it has started to cool off at night which is a good sign.  In addition to going back to work last week I also started an online class since I needed some graduate level credits in order to renew one of my teaching licenses when we get home in the spring.  This last week anyway it's been kind of nice to have something purposeful to do with my desk warming time at work! 

Our weekend was fairly quiet again last weekend.  Eric meets with one of his co-teachers on Sundays to practice English with her and this last Sunday I went along with him.  We had lunch (at our favorite buffet restaurant) and talked with her for a while.  But other than that it was a quiet weekend and not much new going on besides a lot of working!  After five full days of work and not seeing much of each other, it's often nice to be able to relax together at home for a while on the weekends. 

Three weeks from today we will be headed to Beijing!!

Seoul National Cemetery

I decided to start my vacation week off with a sightseeing trip to Seoul National Cemetery on Monday.  This is where many of the Korean soldiers have been buried, as well as the ashes of thousands of unknown soldiers from the Korean war and three past presidents.  It's quite a beautiful place, kind of tucked away from the city noise with a lot of greenery.  Unfortunately, my trip on Monday was very poorly planned.  When I arrived in the morning my phone already said that it felt like 108 degrees outside and there was 80% humidity.  The cemetery is on a hill so to see it you must hike up and down the hill all the way through.  There are very few shade-producing trees.  Let's just say it was hot.  Really, really hot.  I walked around for almost two hours and was completely drenched in sweat by then.  I was really interested in seeing the tomb of former president Park Chung Hee but it was a little hard to find and after a while I couldn't walk up and down anymore steep hills so I left.  I would like to go back again but I will definitely be waiting until late fall or winter.  So needless to say any other day trips I had planned to take this week are off and I have been sitting at home for the most part with the fan or a/c or both- reading, crocheting, watching TV and being a housewife!  We are very ready for our last summer in Korea to be over- even if that means winter is just around the corner. 

 

 

 This memorial altar is dedicated to all of the foreign countries who helped liberate Korea from Japanese rule.

 The tomb of South Korea's first president Yi Seung Man (1948-1960) and his wife, first lady Francesca Donner.  (I was quite surprised to find a president from that long ago had a foreign wife when even today it seems Koreans have a hard time accepting inter-racial marriages but that's another story.)

Summer Vacation

As Eric started back to work this week after his week of summer vacation, I finished teaching my last week of summer camp for fourth grade and now have a ten day vacation time.  I already used one of my vacation weeks from work to go back home in April so during this week off I don't have much of anything planned other than turning my alarm clock off for the next ten days!  There are a couple places I would like to go and sight see at this week and I also need to finish the process of getting our tourist visas for China since that trip is less than six weeks away now.  The weather has been quite horrendous in our opinions with the heat, humidity, thunderstorms and rain so I'm not sure how much time I will really want to spend outside next week.  I see a lot of sleeping in, reading and crocheting with the air conditioner on in my future for the next ten days!  Last night at 9:30pm my phone said it felt like 100 degrees and the humidity was at 70%.  You can imagine what it's like during the day!

Eric started another new job for a few hours a week this past week.  The hagwon he was working at Monday through Thursday was not doing so great as a business so his boss needed to cut his hours a bit.  To make up for this, she got him another job a few hours on Mondays on Thursdays teaching a couple private after school classes at an elementary school near the hagwon.  He literally has 5 or 6 (maybe even more) different jobs between all his tutoring and now being at three different schools.  I can't keep track of his schedule anymore so I'm glad he can!

We also celebrated our second wedding anniversary on Wednesday this week.  We were both busy with work and such during the day but we were able to try out a new and delicious Korean BBQ restaurant for dinner and have some real American homemade brownies for dessert :)

Welcome August

Another month of summer gone, and hopefully the last one is here.  Just like July started off with a ton of rain, August has began with some heat.  It's definitely getting warmer and some days a bit drier.  And of course still humid.  I'm teaching my last week of summer camp and then have a little more than a week off before going back to work for the second semester.  I'm enjoying the short working days during the summer camp time but I think I'll be ready to back into the regular schedule in a couple weeks.  I was kind of dreading being home alone while Eric was gone for nine days last week, but the week went by so fast (as they all seem to these days).  Eric got home Sunday morning from Thailand and he was so glad to be home.  He had a nice time in Pattya and Bangkok but said it's not something he ever plans to do again.  The mainland of Thailand is not a very nice place and a bit different than he expected, especially the very dirty beach.  He and his friend were able to see a zoo with some animal shows in Pattaya, eat crocodile, ride an elephant in Bangkok and see the King's palace and a few other various sights though.  But I'm glad he's back and he is definitely glad too :)  You can check out his pictures on our Shutterfly site.

 At the zoo the tiger helps raise the baby piglets

 Crocodile lunch

The palace