Seng-hil chuk-ha hamnida & Happy Chueseok!

Having friends and cousins here have been one of the greatest blessings.
Not to mention nice coworkers as well.
Things were pretty tough in the beginning, but everything's alright now. We just needed time.
Thursday, before we left for vacation my coworkers bought a cake for me. So sweet of them.

Then, my cousins and friends planned a surprise birthday party for me at my own place!

For Chuseok, we just hung out in Seoul mostly.

I spent Friday by myself. I wasn't feeling well so I stayed home and skyped with my family. 

Then on Saturday I met up with the girls at Sheng's place. From there, we went and had "legit" pho and vietnamese sandwiches in Itaewon. 

Afterwards, we grabbed bubble tea from Myeongdong. (yumm the strawberry yogurt was good!)

Went on a Han River cruise at Yeonuinaru.

Hit up Hongdae to visit the Hello Kitty cafe & the Coffee Prince cafe (sadly, Coffee Prince was closed).

My friends spent the whole Sunday lying to me about what they were doing.

I went to the afternoon Church service at Jubilee, then Choua stalled and stalled in order for them to get everything done. I finally came home to a beautiful surprise :) egg rolls, bacon with cabbage, pineapple, Baskin Robbins ice cream cake, and most important of all FRIENDS :) We even went to the Norebang.

Then, Monday we went to Choua's (Sinsa & Apgujeong area), walked to the Han River, ate ramyun, took loads of pictures with Choua's nice camera, played some basketball, and ended the day with some sam-gyup-sal for dinner :P 

We woke up Tuesday, made more food (lol), said bye to Maychee :( and everyone went their own separate ways.

It was sad saying "goodbye" to another friend.  Take care Maychee! You will be missed in Korea, but we'll see you soon in California!

Goodbyes

Looks like the only time I think about updating my blog is when I have no English subbed kdrama or thai lakorn to watch.
That's my life here.
I wake up, watch as many videos as I can while on skype with my baby girl and getting ready for work, get to work, squeeze in a few more videos, get on facebook, teach some classes, make a few lesson plans,  come back home, skype with my sister if she's not asleep already, watch more movies/videos, go to sleep, and wake up the next morning to do the same thing.  Of course, weekends are completely different. I think I've only stayed in town a total of 4 weekends since I've been in Korea :/
I'm not complaining though. I kinda like it.
Even though I've done so much already, I still feel like there's so much more to do..and one year may not be enough.

We just had our Summer break, now starting semester 2 at our school.
After the first semester ended, I seriously considered staying another year..
But now that school has started up again, I'm not so sure about it anymore.
I like the kids, I don't mind the teaching, but I'm not sure I can handle another year here.
We will have to see though.

Anyway, I've been here exactly 5 months today.
Time sure flies. Felt like it was just yesterday that I walked into my apartment with a funky smell (that I've since gotten use to).

I said my first goodbye here today to the other English teacher at my school, who had become a good friend of mine. We got along quite well. I remember telling my sister that we talk like we've known each other for years. Although we didn't get to spend much time together (outside of school), we got to spend most of our work days together. She showed me places that have since become my favorite. The saddest part of it all is that we will probably never see each other again.
I went and said goodbye to her before heading out this morning.
After work, I stopped by her apartment to grab a blanket that she had left for me.
The empty apartment only made it more real. She's really gone.

Here, English teachers come and go.
Soon it'll be my turn.