Back in Action

Well, I've been quite the lazy blogger, but I'm starting to get back into the old routine of life now that our winter break is over, so hopefully this will follow suit!

There hasn't been a ton of activity in our neck of the woods due to the frigid weather, and my camera has been in and out of commission lately, but I've accumulated a few tidbits that I can throw together for a little 'winter montage' of sorts!

After Thanksgiving, the teachers with year-long contracts all converged in Seoul for another orientation, or 'Mid-Training'. They put us up in a nice hotel and took us to see some more Korean-y stuff, including but not limited to...

Seoul Tower:






It was obviously too misty to see much from the top, but there were a few breaks in the clouds. I really just enjoyed the hanging sculptures. There were a handful scattered around the area and it added a eerie ethereal feel to the place along with the mist. I love how the third picture came out- I didn't even realize I caught the flag in it until later.

They also took us back to the cooking school- this time to learn how to make kimchi stew and seafood pancakes. I'll be honest and say I wasn't too thrilled about the menu, but they both came out delicious. I have to say I am quickly becoming a fan of, and even addicted to, some of this Korean cuisine. It's so simple and organic, and it's pretty much all made of the same types of ingredients (rice, cabbage/kimchi, seaweed, soybeans, etc.), but you would be amazed how many things can be done to just those four things alone! You can tell there are a few centuries of trial and error under their belts, err... plastic aprons.




Later into one of the evenings, I apparently agreed to the plan of going bungee jumping the next day, and couldn't find my way out of it...





The first one is me trying to hide the panic and fear, and the third having accepted my fate and allowing the adrenaline to, apparently, suck all of the color out of my face...

It was an adventure in itself trying to get to the 'resort', aka side of the road hotel with a jumping tower next to it... After finally meeting up with everybody at the subway station, we realized we had two hours before they closed at sunset... and were about 2 hours away. The subway came just in time, as did the bus, and the van that took us to the resort was waiting for us at the bus station, just as the sun was setting. It was a jump or get out of the way situation at the top, which was good so no one could think about it (although there were some seriously concerned faces up there, including mine). I was the second to last person to go, and at that point it was about 5 minutes from being completely dark out. It was a blast, though, and I would definitely do it again... probably..

Christmas was lovely. Dunny made a delicious feta and bacon stuffed chicken dish, and I made a no-bake apple pie. Our tree was a creation of D's little ones:






As you can tell, he was very proud of his tree. Those classy paper stockings are my handy work. Our town put up a light-tree in the park just like Zilker! It was slightly smaller than the original, but definitely still exciting! I made hot cocoa and we brought it to the park on Christmas Eve. About as close as we could get to a real Christmas, and I think we did alright!

I just bought a great new camera, as well as a Diana Mini for those fun artsy shots, so I will definitely (ok, hopefully) be posting more often now. I have to show off somewhere!