Here's to a New Year

So far we're off to a great start to a brand new year (and I think everyone was ready for 2008 to be over). The new year celebration was a mild one, but rest is what we needed. Shannon's getting settled into her apartment and new life after coming down with a nasty virus that took a week to get rid of and I'm back to the grind here at Maple Bear with my kids. It was great to see the kids again after the vacation but I think most of us could've used a 'teachers vacation', more than just a week off.



Me trying to rest and the kids trying to rest on top of me.


It was a nice week between Christmas and New Years for me. I didn't do too much. After Shannon became sick with something as she called the 'Korean Crud' (after she found an article on the internet about foreigners getting sick in Korea) the week was most focused around rest. Unfortunately, they didn't have any vacation at her school. She wasn't complaining since she just started, but it would've been nice to have some time off with her.


Shannon resting with London



Poor London caught the 'Crud'.

My big news for this new beginning in 2009 is that I decided to shed a few pounds....of hair and to go back to the my old look. The hair is gone and it feels great, I dont miss it at all. My kids were shocked for days at school and would laugh whenever they could, it was pretty cute really. My first purchase was a new toque since my head's getting very cold very easily.


Good bye curls!

We're getting settled into a lifestyle now here in Ilsan. Shan's getting more and more comfortable with her new life here and laughs more and more about her school and the weirdness that goes on there. You should hear some of her stories. We tried to get a night to go to an orchestra and dinner, turns out our schedule was a litttttle tight, but we had some great international food from all over and then enjoyed some great music from a new orchestra here in Korea.



Fancy Shcmancy!

Our lives are abit of a blur and we all look forward to each weekend we have were we can just slow down and relax. Something I'm getting used to again. Our weekends consist of movies and cafes, it's a great life so far.

Oh, I do have a funny cafe story to talk about though. After buying a $5 waffle (yeah, waffle) Shannon brought over the waffles and the little cups for the syrup. She lays it all on the table, our two waffles and two 'containers' for syrup and I looked in to see how much syrup I was given from the staff....syrup is essential for me and to my surprise I see not even 1/16 of an ounce of syrup in the cup. I couldn't help but laugh. After I got my laughing out I went up and asked for more, so they doubled it for me to 1/8 of an ounce. So then I had to point to the top of the container to get enough syrup to eat the waffle with. I know this doesn't seem like a big deal, but if you saw the amount of syrup they gave, you would've laughed pretty hard yourself :).






Us playing on the big traditional swings here in Korea.



Shannon Cactus hair.

Things here are on the up and up. School's fine, the kids are learning about the world and about world music. Shannon's feeling much better now and I'm getting more and more comfortable with this lifestyle everyday. Now to think about what's next...I'm thinking New Zealand!