much needed update....

i know that it has been a long time since i have posted anything.......there are a few reasons. first that paul had major server issues and the whole thing crashed. this is the reason why the pictures i posted do not work anymore. the other reason is that i have just not had the discipline to sit down and update which is a really lame excuse but i am trying to be honest about the whole deal. please forgive me. i recently did some thinking and realized that i need to make sure to keep updating and take the time to do it. so here it goes.........

the end of october i was sick....i was out on halloween which was sad for me. i felt completely awful and needed the rest. i had the good ol' sinus crud. i did not even answer the door for trick-or-treaters which stunk. i had prepared and everything with candy, but did not think it was a smart move to share my germs. it was tough sitting here listening and not having fun too. :) later that same week i had parent conferences. i managed my way through those with no hiccups. they actually went really well. i had mentally prepared myself for the worst. on the 4th of november i went with suzy to meet one of my students and her mom to go to insadong. the student's name is sydney and she is a sweetie! we all went to make hanji paper crafts. it was great! i made a dark green tray! fun fun fun.....it is the Korean version of the mad potter. it was good fun! we ate lunch at this great Italian restaurant.....yummy!!! the rest of the day we just walked around insadong. later that day suzy and i made our way to itaewon for some shopping and to meet jeff. that night we celebrated BONFIRE NIGHT. i had mentioned this before. it was awesome! helen and i were hosting this event. we had a great bonfire, the mills' boys made the "Guy" to burn, helen made pumpkin soup, and jeff and i shared the smores! it was a great night. then we shot off fireworks. woo hoo!

i had a ticket to the opera but did not end up going b/c i was exhausted the following week. i am sure my body was still fighting off the sinus yuck!!! i received an invitation from the sultanate ambassdor of oman to celebrate the 36th national day at a reception. i felt very honored to be invited. so saturday suzy, jeff, and i went to dongdaemun market for some fabric. i got lots of fabric for mrs. han to make me clothes. i needed something a bit nicer to wear to the party. good fun there at the market.

sunday i went to church and met jen who is a girl that is teaching english here in korea. we met on skype. yes i know that sounds crazy, but it is not. she is the only person i have actually talked to you on there other than friends and family. she is nice and from maine. she is only here for a year and since we have spent more time together and she is great fun to hang out with!

tuesday jeff took helen and i to the korean senior symphony orchestra. it was nice! jeff treated to pizza hut and then we were off to see the show. they played 3 different composer's work. two of them being mendolsohn and beethoven. it was nice. the 4 star general in charge of all military operations here in korea was there as well as the admiral in charge of the navy here. that was cool to see them. the last piece that the symphony played was the army song---stars and stripes, i think. it was cool! it was nice to get out and do something different.

that next day mrs. han, the seamstress, came over to my house for the day. she measured me up and then made me two skirts, two pants, and a nice shirt. it was wild! she was amazing! i could not believe how much she was able to make in one day. she is coming again on this wednesday.

the end of the month was topped off with a real treat-----katie came to visit me!!! woo hoo........she arrived on friday evening. i rode the airport bus out to inchon airport to meet here and even made a "welcome" sign written in Korean! it was great! it was sooooo awesome to see her and be able to hug her. we made our way back to my house then to leave out again for dinner at dak-galbi and then dessert at the red mango. she is not a fan of Korean food at all. her visit was awesome! we did a lot of hanging out and catching up. it was really nice! saturday we went to dongdaemun, edae, sinchon and ended up at watts on tap for some live music by guys that work at SFS. good times! sunday we went to church and then to insadong with jen. we had fun walking around. we also went to one of the grocery stores i always go to which is grand mart. it is a very lively place and it was an experience for katie! jeff made dinner at my apartment that night. yummy! he made jambalaya which was great! buffie, my neighbor, made an amazing lemon cake that i finished off over the next few days. monday i had taken a personal day off and katie and i took the day off. we were in our PJs until 3pm and were going to go to seoul tower when we got sidetracked by picture taking and ended up at outback steakhouse for dinner instead. tuesday katie came to school with me all day....what a trooper! we had our thanksgiving party in the afternoon where there was no shortage on food. it was all over the place. Korean parents like to make sure there is LOTS of food. it was fun and the kids had a great time! wednesday i had an inservice all day and then katie and i again just hung out and had good conversation.

thursday was thanksgiving and it was nice. a day of relaxing and resting. jeff came over early and ended up napping on my couch. katie napped in bed. i just straightened up my house and piddled while they took rest. then the festivities got underway about 2ish when katie started preparing the sweet potatoes. then suzy made stuffing and jeff helped as needed. we ate at 4:30 and there were about 10 of us total. after dinner we had dessert and then answered silly questions out of a "would you rather....?" book that i had borrowed. then we finished off the night with a few rounds of taboo before calling it a night. it was a nice day!

friday we got out to go to the cable cars at seoul tower. it was an adventure to find them but we did after many, many, many steps UP! whew! crazy amounts of steps. we rode up the cable cars, looked around seoul tower, and then rode the cable cars back down. we then meadered our way to namdaemun market which is THE market in seoul. very traditional open air market. very interesting colors and liveliness in the market. we both took lots of pics and had some good laughs. when it started to get dark we made our way back to sinchon near my house. we made some purchases and katie found some last minute things she wanted to buy. then we made a trip to grand mart again and headed home to have some down time. we made apple pie when we arrived at home. we had fun, laughed, reflected on the visit.

saturday we woke up and got moving. we had to be on the airport bus at 11am to make it in time to get some lunch. buffie took us down the hill and we waited for the bus to arrive. once at the airport katie checked in her bags and we ate lunch----burger king!!! yummyyyy!!!! then we had baskin robbins ice cream. they have a flavor here called shooting star and it has pop rocks in it. weird, but really good. then we watched people while waiting for the time to pass. it was fun to do.......this place is great for people watching. then at 1:30 katie proposed she should make her way to the plane and so the time had come that i had to say good bye............that was hard. yes, i cried. then i walked out to catch the bus.......made the trip home, walked up the hill, and then took a 4 hour nap. it felt really awesome!!! i stayed in that night to feed my new addiction of watching FELICITY on DVDs. good times! i watched the rest of season 1 and i have now started season 2. yeah for DVDs.

yesterday i went to church and then hung out at home the rest of the day. i was being a bit mopey and just wanted to stay in so i did. i watched more felicity which was fun!