August

August is over and the Koreans have made it very clear that Autumn has arrived. The beaches are closed, by that I mean there is actually space to move again and you don't trip over a buried Korean or an inflatable tube every few steps. What's even better is that the humidity has magically disappeared.

I tried not to moan too much about the humidity to people from home, as I noticed that the UK's Summer has been the wettest in a century, so I'm sure it's not what you wanted to hear, but it's been unbearably hot and damp for the past two months. It makes your clothes stick to you and kinda sucks all the energy out of you so you just want to stay indoors under the air con. Not the most pleasant, maybe that's why I started to feel so homesick last month, probably feeling nostalgic for the Summer days that you get in England that are incredibly rare, but you're always incredibly grateful for. The kind that makes you wake up and want to go for a picnic, or spend the day in a beer garden surrounded by friends, or the one that sends you to the supermarket for a disposable BBQ...

This month did get off to an incredible start though, with the pirate ship escapade around the coast of Busan to celebrate Katie and Alex's birthday. Eye patches and rum filled water pistols were a plenty. The celebrations continued with food and Makgeolli for Katie's birthday in the week, and banana boating and dirty scrabble at the weekend for Alex's birthday. Fun times.

I got a care package from my sweet friend Hannah who sent me some lovely undies and chocolate, exactly what I wanted!! I loved that the M&Ms were Special Edition Olympic coloured ones, I was so very proud of the UK this time around and can't wait to go home and see the gold post box painted in Sheffield in honor of Jessica Ennis! I also treated myself to a new Hello Kitty purse, which you can admire here.

Summer camp finally finished and I realised I had come to grow pretty fond of some of the monkeys that I had been teaching. I like that now when I see them in the hallway they always make an effort to come and say hello. Although, I did ask one boy if he missed me today and he answered with a 'no', barely audible over the laugh.

The weather took a strange turn last week, which drove me into being a hermit. I got to finish the book I'd been reading The Confession by John Grisham, rewatch My Neighbour Totoro which is perfect viewing for rainy days and I finished the first season of Mad Men. We had a bonus day off due to the Typhoon that was supposed to hit Busan last Tuesday, but skipped us. I was slightly looking forward to the excitement, but also quite smug that I got a day off for no reason at all.

I got to watch my first Korean 'soccer' match, and watched the guys who had made it to the olympic squad get a standing ovation, which was really nice. My kids love to remind me that South Korea beat the UK in the soccer. They also seem to have lost interest in Man United now that Park Ji Sung is no longer playing for them.

Tasha and I decided to be a little cultural this month and took a visit to the water temple, which we had been meaning to do for some time, and also went on the free boat tour of the port, which was so riveting that Tash fell asleep.

I shared some skating inspiration that I watched, which perfectly coincides with the new derby season that started this weekend. I can't wait to put my skates back on, this has been the longest I've been off skates for since I can remember.

Last but not least, I shared the things that I don't think I'll get used to in Korea, although since I've done that post I've thought of a hundred others, so maybe there'll be a part two at some point...