December Memories: Day 9

My Christmassy corner in my bedroom.  Worked on
today so I feel in the mood when I get
back from our ski trip. I hope
that it's snowing!

December Memories: Day 8

One of the highlights of last night was watching the relief on Anna's face
when she realised that this guy's hair was a wig. She was worried
that she had been outdone of beautiful ginger locks by a boy.

Our Weekend

With all the build up to Christmas I keep forgetting that December's also going to be a sad month too. Not only will I be far away from my family and all the traditions that I'm used to on Christmas day for the first time ever, but another close friend will be leaving Busan in a few short days. Saying goodbye always acts as a reminder of how quickly time passes here and how it's all very temporary, especially with our first year flying by so quickly.

So to say a good farewell to Caroline we all got together last night in PNU to eat some Thai food and drink mulled wine at the Matahari Cafe and then danced the night away in Crossroads. On top of this we got to see a wedding ceremony between a couple who met in Busan.

Today, to get myself in the spirit I watched Love Actually whilst finishing off my Christmas decorations and packed ready for our ski trip to High One tomorrow. A little worried as I have never skied before apart from a few lessons I had when I was about 10 on Sheffield's dry slope. Eeeek. It also means that I won't be able to get online for a few days. Hopefully I will still be in one piece when we get back on Wednesday night.

Sporting fancy ear muffs

Good old chin wag over some mulled wine.

Having a sneaky soju

Grace, Caroline and I.

December Memories: Day 7

In Matahari Cafe saying goodbye to Caroline after eating Thai food and drinking
mojitos and mulled wine.

December Memories: Day 6

Whenever the subject of snow comes up with native busanites they
always tell us that it never snows in Busan, but it seemed like today was the exception.
You could hear the kids screaming up and down the corridors when the first few flakes
fell.

December Memories: Day 5

Even the toilet paper in Korea is cute...although I'm not
sure how comfortable I am with this Konglish...

Beijing Blues

Embarrassing picture of Clare and I ready for a fancy
dress night when we were about 19.

It looks like our trip to Beijing that we had planned for NYE is going to have to be put on hold. Sadly there was some visa issues that I totally didn't think about until we had booked the flights. We went to the office on Tuesday night, and the lady pointed out the problem, but we were told there was a work around. It was only on Wednesday morning, 5 minutes before I was due to go and speak in front of a whole class that they called to say that it wasn't going to be possible and would have to cancel my application. Cue lots of tears and garbled explanations to a class full of concerned kids about choking and coughing.

I'd just about managed to stop quietly sobbing when I realised there was lots of other things to look forward to in December; the school ski trip next week, our Christmas day and my birthday. That's when I realised I hadn't booked the room for my birthday yet, so I asked my Korean co-teacher to check, who then told me that the party room I had wanted to book was already booked up. By the time I got home it well and truly felt like the Grinch had been and stolen all of my Christmas spirit, despite being in such close vicinity of Natasha's room (I don't think I have mentioned her xmas room decor yet...it deserves an entry all on it's own).

Luckily, I'd received s big parcel from my dad with three new pairs of amazing shoes, and Wispas, so I dunked a Wispa in a cuppa and everything didn't seem so bad. What propelled me back into good spirits was an impromptu visit from Nick bearing chocolate cake and by the time the credits of Elf were rolling I was a bit excited about the new NYE plans that we're going to be able to make, and the fact I hopefully will have the chance to visit Clare in Beijing in the Summer.