it's december!

another year almost over! crazy!

thanksgiving went pretty well! it took FOREVER to cook that turkey though! i didn't factor in the fact that i was brining the turkey and that makes it have to cook longer and i also didn't factor in how long it would take to prepare the turkey before putting it in the oven and then all the time basting would take up. it took 7 hours all in all! people were starving by the time we ate lol good thing we had appetizers though. we had hummus and crackers, homemade wheat bread, fruit and drinks.

the turkey turned out WONDERFULLY though! i was so happy :o) it was beautiful and i of course took pictures which i hope to put on facebook soon :o) with the turkey we had stuffing, sweet potato casserole, broccoli cheese casserole, green bean casserole, copper penny carrots and we were going to have this cranberry jello stuff jens's nana always makes but i forgot it in the fridge lol with the excitement of the food finally being done i totally forgot about it lol

everyone loved the food though so that was good :o)

a few days later we decorated for xmas :o) the tree was up a good two weeks before i knocked it over and broke an ornament lol it's in a new location now. the problem is the stand broke our first year so we have to put it in this ceramic vase meant for a plant and it's not very stable. it's our last year using it though so that's good lol next year we'll probably use the 3 foot tree i've used since high school. i don't think we'll have room in the bungalow for a big one. we'll have to wait til we have a house for that. but that's ok.

the first weekend in december i was supposed to go out to the island where the heaslips live with some girlfriends for amanda's baby shower/girls night but there were high winds and all the ferries were canceled :o/ so that sucked. don't know if we're going to be able to reschedule.

dec. 8th was anneke's 100 day dinner! abby and jason took us and some other friends out for beef galbi at bear garden and it was awesome! really good food :o) anneke looked adorable in her little yellow princess dress :o) so cute!

the past two weeks at school have been self-study week and finals week so that was easy. no real classes. i had to supervise 3 final exams each day for 4 days last week and that was pretty nerve-wracking (because it's so boring) but i got through it fairly unscathed lol went to lunch with the 2nd grade teachers the first day of exams- octopus soup! :oP the second day the teacher's english class students took my co-t and i out to dinner at this nice beef galbi place way out in muan (about an hour away) but it was really, really good! the 3rd day i ate the nurse's leftover lunch with her and my co-t...it was ok...lol old rice with black beans in it, dried seaweed, kimchi, mystery vegetables...oh and my co-t order laboki which is a mix of ramen and ddeokpoki; noodles, rice cakes, cabbage, onions, carrots in a really spicy red sauce. i could barely eat it it was so spicy lol by friday i welcomed the school's lunch lol it was just noodle soup with rice balls that had corn and seaweed in them, other veggies...and strawberry milk.

so those were my lunches for the week lol

today is the day of our christmas party! starts 5pm. i'm bringing wassail, cream cheese roll-ups and salsa. jens and i are gonna play two songs on guitar and flute and i brought the lyrics to some xmas songs all the guests can sing together. hopefully it'll be a good night :o)

next week at school i'm starting the 2.5 weeks of watching movies and making xmas ornaments out of paper. should be fun. hope it flies by :o) i'm ready for xmas and vacation!

the a.s. concert is still on for fri. the 18th, then moe's xmas party and a.s. acoustic show on the 19th.

we'll be spending christmas eve and day with the sauchuks and a few other friends which will be nice :o)

we're getting closer and closer to the end! arguments about vacation will be coming soon lol just part of working in korea. every dec. we have to spend days arguing about the vacation time we want. it's not pleasant. i'm hoping it's easier this year than in past years. not sure though because the seoul national education dept. (or whatever it's called) has decided that they want to do the same thing with all the native english teachers in all of korea and they think all of us should literally "desk-warm" this winter when we're not on our alloted 26 days of vacation that are in our contract. in the past only a few teachers have had to do this because their schools were huge douche-bags. now they want to do it to everyone. i have no idea why they think this is a good idea. having a bunch of people sit at desks all winter doing nothing seems pretty pointless to me. granted we could be making lessons but most of us don't need a month to make some lessons lol plus most korean teachers have the option of working from home. this option will not be afforded to us...don't know why. it's all very weird and last minute- just like everything else in korea. but jens and i are going to fight for our vacation and if it really comes down to it we'll just quit. losing my vacation to sit at a desk doing nothing for a month is not worth it to me. especially when they tell us about this last minute and we've already gotten everything booked for this winter.

i don't think it'll come down to us quitting though. we know our schools and we think they'll let us do what we want. it's our last year too so we'll be out of their hair soon and they can tell the new teachers the new policy in advance so they can plan for it (let's hope!) i will certainly be warning the new people about it.

uuumm in other news it hasn't been that cold in korea this winter! it was fairly warm for a while there and only just got cold day before yesterday or so and it's still not as cold as it's been in past years. global warming i guess. either that or i've REALLY gotten used to the cold lol i know the first time i go through a texan summer agian i'll be dying lol i miss it though :o) blacktops liquifying and not being able to touch your seatbelt in the car without getting 3rd degree burns lol good ol' texas! :o)

ok i'm gonna go. MERRY CHRISTMAS!