7 Weeks

Our January has been rather low key so far, though the reality that we will actually be leaving Korea so soon is starting to really sink in: 7 weeks.  We decided the two things we really need to do during the next two months are eating our favorite Korean foods and taking one last trip to some of our favorite places around Seoul.  Last weekend we went to one of our favorite parks and walked along the river and yesterday, after eating at one of our favorite restaurants, we went walking along the river near our first apartment.  We spent a whole lot of time walking along that path during the seven months we lived there but haven't really been back since we moved.

Eric went back to work the day after New Year's and I have finished two weeks of English camp during the winter vacation at my school.  The first week I taught 1st and 2nd grade and last week I taught 3rd grade.  I will say that I felt probably the most encouraged I have the whole time I've been working at the public school this last week.  After spending a week with 1st/2nd graders who couldn't understand a single thing I said all week, teaching 3rd graders, who I've been teaching all year, seemed to be a breeze!  They were able to understand SO much more than the younger kids and I realized that maybe they had actually learned something from me this year after all (even if most of it was just the listening and comprehension piece!)!  I'm enjoying the break from the regular schedule and especially my afternoons off.  I've been filling my time with some errands and organizing around the house, as well as some actual meal planning and cooking for our dinners!  It took me nearly two years to figure this out by I realized last week that going to the grocery store in the middle of the day is so nice!! Normally I try to avoid needing a cart and try to run in and out as fast I can in order to try and avoid getting run over and bumped into by as few people as possible.  Going shopping on a weekday afternoon is more like going shopping the day before Thanksgiving back home, which I will gladly take any day now!

Last week I dropped off our passports and tourist visa applications at the Vietnam embassy so that we will have those in hand when we travel there in March.  We have all but one of our hotels for our vacation booked now and just need to reserve our bus tickets from Cambodia to Vietnam and apply for our Cambodia tourist visas before it looks like we will be all set for that adventure!  We were able to get a couple small things sold on Craigslist this weekend and are hopeful that the bigger items we have to sell will be sold just as easily.  Tomorrow I will be going to the post office to pick up some boxes and the packing will officially begin in the next week or so...

We are still having a rather mild winter compared to last year.  It got pretty cold the last couple days, especially with the bitter wind chill, but after what most of the U.S. went through last week I guess we can't complain too much.  In 7 weeks we will be in the tropics.