SNOWBOARDING IN KOREA

Four of us went snowboarding for Christmas; two teachers from my work, Karol, my visiting friend and myself. We went to a resort called Hyundai Sangwoo (or something like that) for two days. It was really great. Despite the early start to catch the bus two hours out of Seoul we had a lot of fun. One of our students has membership there and hooked us up with a free condo for the night (thanks Sarah) plus tons of discounts on lifts passes, the spa and the restaurants.
Although the resort wasn't very big and not a lot of fresh powder, it was great craic. The weather was perfect, it wasn't too crowded and no one got injured, despite it being Karols first time ever and my first time in two years. All in all it was a wonderful way to spend the Christmas break.

Sunny days.

Fun for the whole family.
Karol, Tyler and Mike.
Sunburnt.
The mandatory poser shot.

GUN LAWS AND SCHOOL SHOOTINGS

Today in my Current Issues Discussion class we were talking about gun laws, school shootings and violent video games. One of my young students spent most of her teenage years at school in teh U.S. She told me about shooting drills. As well as fire and earthquake drills the school regularly had them practice what to do if and when there was a shooting. Stackign desks against the door, zigzag running, etc, etc. It was scary to listen to.

CULTURE DAY

My best mate from home, Karol, is now here in Korea visiting me for a couple of weeks. Last week a couple of Korean friends took us to a traditional village where we saw a lot of cultural stuff and partook in making traditional foods and drinking nasty traditional alcohol.

Karol impressing locals by cooking up Korean sugar candy like a pro.Hyang Mi and I being cheeky Emperor and Empress.Karol and I about to get very serious on a very dangerous see-saw game.Hyang Mi; one very lucky girl!Traditional Korean rucksacks.

ONE MAN'S TRASH IS ANOTHER'S TREASURE

Koreans, like the Japanese, have a wonderful habit of throwing out perfectly good items as they replace them with newer, better, shinier stuff. So quite often furniture and household items are left out in the street overnight for collection. Why they don't pass the things on to a second-hand shop for others to use I'll never know. But it's to my advantage as this week, walking home from work, I found a nice and well-needed lamp for my apartment. Although certainly not everyone's taste, I like my new lamp and feel it has a lot of character. It works perfectly and even came with a bulb!

FUNNY HEADLINES

Maybe it's just my humour today, but when looking at CNN News a few of the headlines struck me as bizarre and funny. And there are just from the homepage. (Click on title to read article or watch clip)

Jumping viruses threaten man and beast

Woman 'pregnant' with monkey is convicted

Deer crashes into classroom, kicks boy

Army dad shocks girl on Santa's lap

Santa freaks out screaming toddlers

GOODBYE KAREN!

Today my only friend in Korea leaves. Before coming to this big scarey country, Karen, an American I met half way between Japan and China last year, was the only person I knew. She was super helpful with my stupid pre-departure questions and introduded me to lots of peope when I arrived here.
Thanks Karen. I'll miss ya.