I've got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight. It's hard to believe summer is already winding down. University classes start a week from Monday. We've taken a little blogging hiatus over the summer so I'll do my best to briefly update you.
With the exception of the last week in July and first week in August, we've spent this summer teaching the children's program which means we've gotten to love on and have our patience tested by little cutie-patootie Korean kids M-TH from 4-6pm for the past 8 weeks. We've both mostly enjoyed them. The last week in July we were assigned to teach a week of summer camp for elementary students. It meant 12+ hours a day of non-stop, high energy teaching and playing with kids. It was a blast but super exhausting. However, this camp paid us quite a bit extra on top of our salary so we were happy to do it. I had the best group of kids I could've asked for. Besides those minimal work responsibilities, we've had the rest of the summer off. The week following summer camp my mom came to visit. We had a great time with her as well and did our best to make her feel comfortable and show her as much as possible. Seeing her experience everything here for the first time really made me realize how far we've come in adjusting to the culture and learning the language.
It's been a fairly quiet summer for us which I've been very thankful for. After a super busy spring semester of moving back to Korea, starting a new job as a first-time professor, being assigned to a heavy load of teaching hours, and enduring another nasty flu/cold that seemed to linger for a good 6 weeks, I was ready for a breather. Since it rains here oh, 78 days out of 90 in the summer (slight exaggeration), Dusty and I have mostly taken a break from rock climbing and have focused our time on other interests. We've caught up on any sleep deficits and are now in sleep surplus. We're recharged and ready for another full semester of teaching.
We've both done lots of reading this summer. We do lots of exchanging and borrowing with friends here. I've recently read The Good Earth and The Shack. They are both great reads (thanks Jenna and Natalie). Dusty is currently into about 5 books and magazines. He's also notorious for stealing whatever I happen to be reading. We've watched lots of movies and TV shows. So far we've covered 3 seasons of the Cosby Show and are now starting the Wonder Years. Good shows. We've gotten really creative in the kitchen. Tonight I made some tikka masala for the first time (an indian dish). Thanks mom for the spices and recipe. Dusty's learned to make some killer banana bread and blueberry muffins and he downed my peach crisp like there was no tomorrow. Dusty has started running in preparation for a marathon in October. He still hasn't registered and is waiting to get a few more weeks of training under his belt to see how his legs are holding up. We are both starting to run a lot more. We've also been riding our bikes a lot this summer. It's a great way to get around town. The beach is always a popular destination for us when the sun is shining. However, I'm not super fond of tourist season here. The beaches are crowded and the lifeguards won't let you swim out very far. I got spoiled this spring and early summer and have become a little possessive of 'my' beaches. Other than that we've really enjoyed the time we've spent together just talking, planning, dreaming, and being goofy.
In store for us fall semester:
- Hopefully a little bit lighter class load
- Hopefully we'll be auditing a Korean class
- Hopefully I'll be volunteering some time at an orphanage
It's all in still in the works.
In store for us this winter:
- we plan to spend about 2 months of our winter vacation traveling through Southeast Asia.
- first stop: volunteering at the Bamboo School; a refugee camp, orphanage, and school for Burmese refugees of the Karen tribe. Located in Thailand just east of the border with Burma (Myanmar). We'll be there for Christmas.
- second stop: a 2 week cruise. starts in Singapore and will make stops at various locations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
- third stop: Railay and Tonsai for some climbing and beach time.
- fourth stop: Chiang Mai for some climbing and sight seeing.
