Merry Christmas!

So! What a week it's been here. We finally finished up at Maple Bear and we are now on our winter vacation for the next week...thank god. I know most of us needed it desperately. But the big news for me here is that Shannon arrived last Monday morning :). After a 7 week long struggle to get here including lost passports and visas (thanks to Canada Post) and couriers not delivering the new ones she finally got here. She had to battle her way through customs and then make her way through JFK (days before Christmas) just so she could sit on a 15 hour flight to Korea. She was supposed to arrive at 5:15 am and I really wanted to be at the airport when she arrived but I wasn't sure if I could or not, due to timing. But I was able to get there with the help of Sarah arranging a cab to pick me up at 430 Monday to take me to wait for her. The cab was the fastest drive I've ever been on! He was driving 180kms an hour! Casually at that! I thought I was going to die while he blast 'It's raining men' by Gloria Gaynor. But I made it there safely..and swiftly! So her flight was a little delayed but she made it to Korea. Our 'limo' driver to us to her new apartment (2 blocks away from mine) and we arrived to a completely empty place! Shan was not impressed and we were both confused since they had soo much time to prepare her place. Her apartment is about two times the size of mine (that's not saying much though).

So later that night we were out with a man from her school picking up stuff for her apartment and they spoiled her! So much! I was pretty jealous haha. After a few days at my little apartment we got her finally settled into her place, a full fridge, a queen size bed and a tv...it's a pretty nice apartment. I'm pretty jealous of all the space, to say the least.

It's been a crazy week for both us, mostly for her though. We had a small, quaint Christmas eve. It was great though, we decorated my little tree, had hot chocolate with bailey's and watched a Muppets Christmas Carol until she fell asleep. Then I woke her up at 5:30 the next morning, that's typical of me on Christmas morning and we had a great little Christmas morning with our gifts and tea. Even though it was my first Christmas away from all of my family it was a great one.



Me and London (named after the Littlest Hobo)



Me and the other littlest hobo ;)



Christmas mornin



Awwww isn't it pretty...and 'quaint'

So, it's been 'go go go' all week here and it's taken its toll on Shan. She needs this weekend to rest and I'm still trying to make plans around it all. I'm still in the 'excited to have her here' phase and I need to relax and remember that we have all year long to do these activities. So she's resting and I'm going to go watch a movie in a bit.



Shan's apartment, they just brought her a big tv too..lucky little...and she has a dryer...and a table...i'm most jealous about the table...her fridge is kick ass too







Life has certainly changed. For the better.

One last week

Well, it's been almost another month here and I wish I had extraordinary times to write about, but not so much. The best day was when Asim and I were out in the mountains just as the colours were peaking. We both got some stunning photos of the day.

As for school, same ol same ol. My afternoon classes seem to be in a constant state of flux. One class gets smaller, then larger, my other class loses students to the higher grade and fills up with other students. It's really hard to get used to new dynamics with all these new personalities. I much rather my morning kindergardners.

The kindergardners, Sarah and I took off to an aquarium this month for our field trip, thanks to Sarah. We did a lesson on Oceans for all of October and the kids were very excited to go to the aquarium, and so was I to be honest. Unfortunately, it was sooo small. We completed it in like a half hour. So we had to go back and do it again. The penguins were the best part but their 'sharks' are smaller than a Louisianna catfish, not impressive! But the kids had a good time, so cheers to that.

But, I have a guitar here now and I'm happy for it. I go to the gym 6 or 7 times a week, not the best idea but it kills time, so cheers to that. I tried to throw out this scrap guitar I found here and used for parts and our security guard (who's a pretty cool guy..I think?) was trying to tell me where to throw it out. We usually have a corner for big junk, so I thought I'd throw it there. Nope! I had to take it outside and smash it up to put in a different dumpster..then I thought I was done. After we both finish smashing it up, I try to place it in the dumpster so I can head back to the gym then he starts ranting about something in Korean, knowing full well I dont understand him, but it doesn't stop him. So, I had to go back up to my place to get a bag to put all the scraps that he and I made then I had to put it in another dumpster from another building, like we were being sneaky or something? It was rather random and took waaaay too long.

But some good news, I found Jim Beam Black here.. for $20! Ha! I have to go pick up more today. Okay, for the real good news... Shannon should be here in about 10 days :) Life will change in 10 days.