Here goes...

After recently receiving a suggestion that I might want to consider a blog for people to keep up to date at home, I have decided to shut down my awful Myspace blog, which consisted mostly of me blathering on about nothing in particular. Friends and family may find this an interesting way to find out all the goings on on this side of the planet. It is my hope that I will be able to keep posting on a regular basis, provided that my life here continues to be a source of new and interesting experiences, which thus far it has proven to be.
Life has been very busy lately. I find myself working very long hours and the future just promises to get busier as the January intensive period is fast approaching. Just when I thought I hardly have a moment to myself, the moments are about to get scarcer. No matter though, thankfully this intensive period is sandwiched in between what are promising to be two very fun-filled vacations...and I am currently t-minus 3 months and 19 days to the end of contract #1. It's hard to believe it will very soon be a full year since I left home. With the hectic schedule at work, the time has literally flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was waving goodbye to Mom as I prepared for my first international flight, passport in hand and tears in my eyes. So far it has been quite the adventure.
So on to the good stuff. For those who have not been kept in the loop, there are 2 vacations approaching. Christmas break will be 3 days followed by 3 days of work and an additional 4 days of play! It has been almost 3 months since the last vacation, in fact the longest stretch of the year without a break to the monotony, so I am really looking forward to some R & R. The weekend of the 21st and 22nd are to be spent with the lovely new man in my life (the subject of the aforementioned gentle prodding that in essence has given life to this new creation I am embarking on today). This followed by a couple of days relaxing in Daejeon with my Korean "family", a bunch of amazing people that I have the privilege of callingthe closest friends that I have met since coming to Korea. Though they are far away, Daejeon and Seoul (2 hours and 3 hours away by train, respectively) we have managed to get in a visit nearly every month since arriving here at the same time. Though I do admit that I am sad to be so far away from my family at this time of the year, I am very happy to have some great people to surround myself with, and I know that having them around for the holidays will help make the season a lot brighter. The New Year vacation is shaping up to be a skiing/snowboarding weekend outside of Seoul followed by....well, not too sure at this point. Plans are still being decided for the big last night of 2007, though I expect decisions will be made in fairly short order.
But it is the second vacation that I am getting really excited about. The lovely aforementioned man has come through in a big way by finding some very-hard-to-come-by tickets to...OKINAWA! It literally took the better part of a week of searching before tickets could be found, being as this break is one of the most popular vacationing seasons of the year for Koreans, and most of the seats to anywhere exotic were sold out two months in advance. For those of you not familiar with Okinawa, it is in the southernmost part of Japan, and is a subtropical destination, boasting white sand beaches and temperatures of around 20 to 25 year round. A welcome change for mid-February. Perfect weather, in fact, for me, since I find temperatures in the 30's to be a little warmer than is comfortable. Here is a little preview of the destination:




Oh yes...be jealous ;)

In other news, the Tae Kwon Do is going well. I have completed by blue belt grading, with my brown belt being next on the itinerary, likely that will be happening sometime in January. Moon Gwan Jang Nim (master) is expecting that I will be doing my black belt grading by the spring...I wish that I had as much confidence in my abilities as he does...but we shall see how I progress over the next few months.

Well, that's just about all the news for now. I will leave you with a few of my favourite images taken from the last few months. Until next time, Annyonghi Kaseyo :)


The sprawling metropolis...just one view...it stretches out in all directions like this..this shot was taken from Busan tower.





My lovely orientation peeps, some of which I will be sharing the holidays with...you know who you are ;)



Orange Class at Halloween...the cutest kindies EVER!



Two adorable Canadians...who might they be?