January is now over, which means we have been in Dongtan for over 3 months. It's amazing how comfortable we are here, and how much it already feels like home.

January was a less eventful month, but still had some pretty solid highlights, including a Warhol exhibit, a pretty rad shisha bar, the discovery of Costco, a school field trip, and a sick snowboarding extravaganza.

First up was our school's field trip, which sounds lame, but was actually a ridiculous amount of fun. We took the whole school to a massive indoor playground, and for once, got to go crazy with the kids. Ahh, the perks of being an elementary school teacher.







Next up is our friend Chelsea's b-day. About 15 of us headed into Gangnam for some Mexican food, a shisha bar, and an American classic rock bar. The shisha bar was what I imagine being in Thailand on acid would be like, in a positive way of course. Solid times were had indeed.

We also discovered Costco, which was an event in itself. We ended up leaving with an unmentionable amount of cheese and ground beef, which are rarities in this neck of the Asian woods. Koreans love Costco too, so you gotta be fierce in order to survive it. Bryan's mild temperament landed him in the situation below. Ah, he has so much still to learn.

We booked in January with a snowboarding extravaganza, Korean style. Bryan, our co-teacher Brent, and our 2 desk guys (Ruy-Oh and Frank) took off Friday night after work. It was definitely Korean style, which included night snowboarding from midnight til 4:30am. Afterwards, we went home, pounding some beers and crashed by 6:30. The next morning we woke up, had some Ramyen for breakfast and headed to a jimjilbong, which is a Korean bathhouse. The hot springs and jets were incredible after a whole night of snowboarding. Bathhouses are negatory on the clothes-atory, but I'm oddly comfortable being naked around others. When in Rome, baby.

That's it for now. Still loving it, still happy, still game to see what's coming next.

LotsofLove from SK,

-Selina

A Korean Koristmas

This Christmas proved to be a merry one indeed. We celebrated in our apartment, along with my brother, 3 boxes of fried chicken, endless amounts of beer, wine, egg nog, and khalua. We drank and ate all night long, watching old Christmas movies around the Christmas tree. Come midnight, we started opening all of our gifts. It really felt like Christmas with the surprisingly huge loot under the tree. Cheryl Parnell came through with a box full of wrapped presents for us, and our kids at school gave us some pretty amazing goodies as well. All of that, accompanied with Bryan, Khalil and I doing our own exchange, turned our floor into the warm-hearted Christmas wrapping paper mess that I have come to love.



Another gift Bryan and I gave ourselves was a trip to Japan. We had been thinking about it a couple weeks prior, but clicked confirm at 3am Christmas Eve. The morning of the 26th we flew off to Osaka for 5 days of sushi, sashimi, and Satomi, Bryan's brother's fiancee.


Selina and I in front of a beautiful waterfall in Monkey Park. Located in the midst of a mountain range just outside of Osaka, there are hiking trails seethed in packs of monkeys ready to surround and attack unsuspecting Osakians for their snacks. In Nara, Selina fed wild deer cookies. The deer are trained to approach tourists and politely bow for their food.



Thanks to Satomi, we truly had an amazing trip. She took us everywhere: temples, deer parks, Buddhist shrines, 20 story high ferris wheels, and amazing mountain top views of Osaka. We stayed right downtown Namba, shopped in some of the coolest neighborhoods, and indulged in some of the most delicious food I've ever consumed. It was Bryan's second time in Japan, but my first, and it feels good to have another country to add to the archive.





Us in front of the Golden Palace, made from real gold.




















We made it back to the 'dong the morning of New Year's Eve, and geared up our engines for what turned out to be the best New Years Eve celebration of our lives. DJ Steve Aoki blew the roof of the party, while pouring champagne and vodka into the crowd for an added treat. At one point during the night, we found ourselves operating a heavy lift machine that took us to the sound booth at the back of the party, with the best view in the house. Then I look over, and Bryan and Ian are triple fisting inside the BMW that was on display. Needless to say, 2009 was rung in in style. 2010, if you can beat this year, as well as that blowout of a party, I will be both pleased and ridiculously impressed.



That's all for now, let's see what 2010 brings.



Lots of love from South Korea. ♥

World Cup Weekend

You can imagine I was easily convinced when Selina suggested we spend our one year anniversary at the 2009 Snowboard Big Air World Cup finals. We spent Saturday night in a hotel downtown taking advantage of the spa and club lounge facilities, then headed across town to the comp the next afternoon. Upon arrival it seemed all of Korea came out to watch the finals live as the closest we could get was near a huge TV screen. Something I didn't expect was the demographic of the crowd being between 50 and 80 years of age. Determined to get closer Selina and I battled our way through the congested and aggressive crowd of senior snowboard fans. Eventually we did make it the very front for the end of the semis. Highlights included the one Korean competitor preparing himself at the launch pad atop a sea of people shouting "KOREA! KOREA!" only to drop into a full double back-flip. Another unbelievable weekend in the Republic.

"Excuse me, which way to the VIP Lounge?"

This weekend started off as, what I had anticipated to be, a laid back celebration of mine and Bryan's one year anniversary (yes, I know, but please hold the applause until the end). Mr. Parnell, however, had other plans in mind. Impressively, my incredible boyfriend had secretly planned a weekend fit for cash money millionaires. He whisked me off to the Seoul Renaissance Hotel, where our VIP member status proved to be deliciously indulgent. VIP lounges, saunas, spas, pools, free booze, snacks, dinner, and countless extra luxuries is exactly the way an anniversary should be spent. I left the hotel with mini shampoos in my purse, but one large appreciation for this boyfriend I managed to snag.

The next morning we headed to Gwanghwamun Square, where Seoul was hosting the FIS Snowboard World Cup Big Air Competition. The once in a lifetime opportunity combined with a gorgeous December day was a perfect way for 2 snowboard enthusiasts to book in the anniversary. Bry will post the deets on the event, I just thought it fitting to send a shout-out to the man with all the tricks up his sleeve. The first year proved to be nothing less than eventful, let's see where this second year takes us.

Stay tuned, folks.

Turkey Bowl

Selina's Turn - Let's hear it for Turkey Day!

To celebrate Thanksgiving, our school went on a field trip to an Education Playground - and icy wonderland of styrofoam igloos, tie-die t-shirts and a snow room. The 'snow', however, was a room full of flour for the kids to play in. Genius. With no type of heads-up to this detail, we were left teaching our afternoon kids covered head to toe in flour - also genius. However, the young ones had a ball, and it's great to see children running around at their happiest. Everyday I love my kids more and more, and find myself demanding hugs and squishes more and more often. I've learned that nothing beats an 'I love you, Selina Teacher' first thing on a Monday morning.

Our Thanksgiving continued with a dinner at school - turkey, spaghetti, and chicken balls - all of my traditional favourites. Thanksgiving ended with a deep appreciation for all that I'm thankful for: A glass shower, my family, the opportunity to explore the world, and you.

Central Park Y'All

Central Park runs right through the center of Dongtan and is one block from our house. It has a facility for every sport imaginable including turf soccer fields, multiple full size basketball courts, tennis, hiking trails, a skatepark and a rock climbing wall.




The closest thing I've seen to a skateboard before this would be the infamous ESS-Boards, which are two foot pads connected by a swivel body and ride on two wheels. But, besides the hoards of kids on rollerblades I have actually seen one other guy on a skateboard who was actually alright.






The park is really good considering. It has two fun minis connected with a spine, speed rollers, quarters and a 6 foot half pipe. Also, everything is set up so you can push around the whole park in one line (complete with guiding arrows). I really hope a facility like this will spark interest in skateboarding here. I have seen a bit in Seoul but not much beyond the city limits.



Right behind the skatepark is a really fun rock wall that is suited for all levels. One side is fairy simple but the other is around 3-4 stories and is all overhang. The holds are all pretty easy, and there are harness hooks all the ways along. Last weekend Selina and I did a full walk-about of the park and it took us about 3 hours. This should give you an idea of it's size in its state of near completion. Also, my students were shocked to hear about how New York City stole the name to use for their park.

Saturday Morning

Anyone who has spent any time in Korea can attest that there is no luxury greater than a western style breakfast. Fermented spicy cabbage and rice can only cut it for so long until the western breakfast becomes a necessity. Therefore, our Saturday routine is to wake up late, brew an instant coffee, and start cooking the hash browns. This Saturday morning lasted until 4:30pm, exactly what we both needed after teaching Kindergarden all week. Since we were taking it easy we also decided to let the fish, Angel & James-Kim stretch their fins in the tub.