Another Christmas in 대한민국

So, it's gonna be 2007 soon. Another Christmas has past. To be honest, it didn't feel much like Christmas this year. Even though it snowed a couple of weeks ago, it has all melted and it was quite warm yesterday as well. It was nice to spend Christmas though with some old friends from Ulsan, Gareth, Dan and a few other guys that came up to Seoul. When we met and I saw a few people wearing their red hats it felt more like Christmas. I thought I would add some pictures that maybe some of you haven't seen yet. They aren't for the whole year, just for the past couple of months.

This is in Taipei. This is in a 7 eleven there and these 2 girls started talking to me and practicing their English. I can't speak any Chinese so it was a challenge to communicate with them. It reminded me of when I first arrived in Korea. Now when I talk to the kids here I can use a Korean word here or there which makes it easier.

This is also in Taipei. There's a market called snake alley. Paul and I came across these two women from Seoul. We heard them speaking Korean and just started talking with them. At that point, we had no idea of what food to try and hadn't had any luck with any of it so we were asking them if they had any idea of what food to try. I guess after living here for so long, you can kinda take those kinds of things for granted. Little things like knowing the name of a few foods and a few others just to help you get around. After getting used to living in Dae Han Min Gook for so long, I think it would be difficult to start fresh in another country in Asia again. It's just to convenient now!

This is a dish that is great to have in the winter. It's called Odeng (fishcakes) and you can get it almost anywhere on the streets. I've raved about this stuff before. Some places even have a spicy sauce. It's really something you have to try yourself as well as Ddokpokki which is ricecakes in a spicy sauce.

This is Jesse. She used to be quite a t**t but now she's a really great student. She used to always make his face. Growing pains probably but out of any student in the school she has turned around to be a great kid. The class as a whole has improved so much as well and I'm learning a lot about what these girls are going through now. It's their last year of elementary school and they have to choose their middle school to go to next year. They might not be able to see each other again for a long time, maybe never so when they are in my class, they really enjoy talking about anything else but school.


This is one pic that I'm sure will get me in trouble! This is Kyle and Billy introduced me to him a while back. He looks like a rough neck in this picture but he is not like this at all. In fact he is the total opposite. Sorry Kyle...I guess I won't be hanging out with you anytime soon..