The end of the year.

Last month we celebrated our one year of being in Korea! I honestly cannot believe how fast this year has gone. We had such an amazing experience that we decided to let the good times roll and resign for another year. We just started at our new schools and moved to a new area on the other side of Busan. We are so excited for the change of scenery and so far we feel great about our new staff and students. I am staying at the elementary level but Adam has moved on to a middle school.

So let's catch everyone up :).



In November Adam and I purchased a juicer. We had watched a few food documentaries and one in particular sparked our interest in the juicing frenzy. The documentary was called "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" and we went out and bought a juicer almost immediately after watching it.  The movie is about a man's journey on a 60 day juice diet and all the benefits that come along with juicing. We ended up doing a 2 week juice diet and although it was difficult we made it through and felt great! We finished the juice diet just in time for our 1st annual SK Thanksgiving Potluck Extravaganza.

Our friend Megan, also known as Chicago Meagan, has a friends Thanksgiving every year and she made sure to bring the traidition to Busan. Everyone had to bring a dish and those who cooked a dish were entered in a contest. The 1st and 2nd place winners were awarded with a gift and even a certificate! Adam and I signed up to bring mashed potatoes, gravy, glazed carrots and cinnamon sugar almonds. We were nervous about there being enough food so we mashed over 50 potatoes, glazed 12 big carrots and made one pitcher of mushroom gravy. Let's just say we had a lot left over. It was an amazing night filled with a lot of love and fabulous friends.

In December we babysat our friend Mallory's cat, Franz Boas, Franz for short :). It was so nice to have a cat to come home to and play with. I think that is something Adam and I both miss. Christmas time in Korea is not as festive as back home but there was a lot more decorations hung up than I was expecting. There is even a street full of shops that had fake snow falling from the rooftops at night.

On Christmas we met with a group of our friends for lunch at a buffet and then just relaxed at home. We were lucky enough to have our families send packages so we had gifts to open and a lot of treats! It was hard being away from everyone we love back home but skype makes everything a lot easier. The day after Christmas we started winter camp which meant half days... more time to spend with Franz. Over summer break our half days were always filled with activities. We went to the beach, went out for lunch, went on long walks... anything. We wanted to make the most of those days. This was not the case for winter. Winter is actually winter in Korea. A total shock to the system of two Calfornians who normally dress almost the same for winter as they do summer... it was cold. We went into hybernation. We woke up for work and food and that's about it! Thank goodness we were able to travel during this vacation too or we might have froze to death ;).

When winter camp ended, Adam and I were off to Singapore and Malaysia! We took the overnight train into Seoul and had a 6 hour flight Saturday morning to Singapore with one layover in Malaysia. Many familar faces were on the flight with us heading to warmer weather and clearer skies, I think everyone was excited to get a break from big coats, beanies and gloves. Singapore was a beautiful city. Everyone talks about how clean it is and how the food is delicious and we definitely agree. It felt as though we were going, going, going in Singapore. We were able to fit in everything we wanted to do while visiting. We went to China town, the botanical gardens, the bird park, Sentosa island, a few more hot spots and of course we did some shopping. It seemed like everywhere we went there was a new mall and by the end we just couldn't resist! Some of our favorite foods were the chili crab, the fried rice and pratas from the Indian/muslim restaurants!!

After Singapore we were ready for some beaches! Our next stop was Penang, Malaysia and we decided it would be nice to take a train. For some reason we didn't look at how long the train would take until after we had already bought the tickets and to our surprise the trip was going to take 14 hours!!! So we spent the whole day in a old train with only noodles and some cookies for lunch and dinner. By the time we arrived in Penang we were ready to just get to the hotel and eat! Penang is a small island connected to the mainland by the longest bridge in all of Asia! We were able to rent a scooter and go exploring on our own. We still think this is the best way to see a new area! We were able to go all around the island and stop wherever we felt we should. Penang had a lot of little shops at night on the main road but we found that the souviniers are similar to the ones we saw in Thailand and Bali. I think that once you've seen one souvenir stand, you've seen them all! It took us some shopping around but we did find a few unique things to bring home. Our favorite part of Penang was Monkey Beach. We went to the National Park and went on an hour hike before finding this beach. It was the best beach in Penang and there were even wild monkeys just hanging out. We stayed for a few hours and took a boat back with a few other foreigners. We made another trip to Monkey Beach later in the week but skipped the hike and just took a boat! After Penang we headed for Langkawi. Langkawi was more of an isolated island then Penang and had more of the island feel to it as well. We stayed at a hotel called The Box Chalet. There were only six rooms and it was ran by a family who lived right next door. The husband was a cook at a restaurant down the street and he would cook breakfast every morning and his wife was very nice and even drove us down to the beach to find a good place to rent a scooter. We layed on the beach every day and found the most amazing mexican food we've tasted in the past year! The week was very relaxing and exactly what we wanted. We did not want to leave, we loved it there! Our final desitination was Kulala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. By this time in our trip we were not in the mood for the hustle and bustle of a city and a little too exhausted to try and explore the city. We did manage to make it to the Batu Caves and take a tour of the bat cave. In the cave are many Hindu Shrines and temples. We were visiting only a week before a big festival they celebrate at the cave, the festival of Thaipusam. This is an eight hour pilgrimage where men pierce their skin with large metal hooks to which they attach ropes and pull heavy decorated carts on wheels. Too bad we weren't there to see this but we did see a lot of devotees at the temples with shaved heads and beautiful gowns. At the batu caves we also took a Dark Cave tour. In the cave were many animals and insects such as bats and centipedes, that you can't find anywhere else. The cave was about 400 million years old and for the most part, untouched. It was a really intersting tour and we were both very happy we did it. After the caves we headed to the Petronas twin towers, the tallest buildings in the world from 1998-2004. There was a mall connected to the towers so we looked around and got dinner. After dinner we headed over to the towers to go up to the skybridge and see the view but, unfortunately, they closed five minutes before we got there and were closed the next day as well. This was our final night in Malaysia and instead of going out with a bang we went out with a massage.


Since we've been back we finished up the last school year and now are in our third week at our new schools. Korea's school year is from March-February. Although classes pretty much end in December before winter break. February was full of random lessons and cancelled classes and quite honestly wasted time. Talking to Korean teachers they also feel like February is a waste but it doesn't look like the schedule will be changing any time soon. At the end of the month we had to say goodbye to half the people in our group of friends. We tried to make sure to get dinner at least once during the week and go out on the weekends which made for a busy month. It was a sad night when we had to say goodbyes but I know we will stay in touch! We are so excited for this next year in Korea and all the other places we decide to travel.