The first Christmas spent away from friends and family has officially passed. Missed all of you over here but it was still a fun time. I have never been away from home for Christmas so this was definitely different. Although it didn't feel like Christmas...well not entirely at least. I did miss some of the traditions from being back home, like the cookies and the baking and the tiramisus and the food and being around the family and seeing friends, but hey, what can you. I made a trip to Boseong to visit a friend Ellen who is from Picton, Ont. Plan was to have a complete Christmas. Suddenly Christmas started to sink in with the smell of cinnamon and baking when I walked into her apartment, ahh it was nice. Within hours of arriving in Boseong we are at a noraebang, which is now coming as absolutely no shock. At first I thought noraebang only happens every once in a while so I was amped to get my fill while in the bigger cities. Nah. Every weekend. I can only think of two weekends so far that I haven't gone. Luckily it's a blast!

Christmas Eve Ellen was planning a party so we prepped for that, then sat down to catch some Frosty the Snowman. It felt like I was back home, such a nice feeling. Then time for the party which was a success. I met one of Ellen's good friend's sister that night. Her and her boyfriend actually lived in Gurye 5 years ago and she actually worked at my school. Good thing is that she said the same things as me about the school and the students. Sometimes I think this is a unique experience to all of us, but really we're all going through the exact same things. It's surprising sometimes. Then on the cusp of Christmas Day it starts snowing. Definitely a great way to bring in Christmas, it wasn't quite white but it was getting there! Once the party dwindled down to a small group of us we naturally went out to noraebang. This time with two Koreans so we got some K-pop in the mix of all our English music. Great way to bring in the holidays. So as much as I missed being around family and friends and easily being able to talk to all of you, the holiday was well spent and I hope it was the same for all of you!

Since my classes have basically given up, this week (well Monday and Tuesday) was filled with Simpsons episodes. Got pretty tired of watching the same two episodes but ah well. Had a bit of a panic attack when they just didn't work in the classroom, but luckily one of the students fixed the problem in no time. Solid Monday with plenty of planning time for the Film Camp. It's definitely shaping up, video camera and supplies in check, should make for a good couple weeks. But now I've found out that I have another 3-week camp to plan for, not sure when that will get made. Probably just fall back on travelling and just show vids and postcards, get them to design a country of their own or something like that. We'll see.

But since Mondays are usually death in a handbag it followed suit this week. Usually they start terribly and end smoothly, this week the opposite. After feeling slightly off for a couple weeks sickness has finally sunk. Then the water in my apartment just decides to stop. So no water and sinuses kicking my ass. Turns out the pipes in my building were frozen. Then I hear about the pipes in schools started freezing. It's only about -5 over here, so it's really not that bad. But honestly the Korean ways of heating buildings is ridiuclous, it's no shock that the pipes freeze so easily. They have a habit of only heating some rooms. In school they only heat classrooms (and only sometimes, I was given only limited access to heat and electricity last week in my classroom) and leave the windows and doors open everywhere else. So even though you're inside you have to wear a coat. My co-teacher asked me to wear my coat while teaching so that my heat could be turned off. And then they complain they're cold all the time...I don't get it. I think that is one thing I will never get. Korea is ace in so many areas, but honestly something like heat...come on. So that is definitely something I miss about being back home. I miss when buildings are fully heated.

Last day of school for the semester. I actually got a slight kick when at the school assembly even the principal had a hard time controlling the grade 2s and had to remove the entire 90+ class from the assembly to go on. At least I'm not alone.

Water is back on in the apartment, came a lot quicker than anybody was expecting. But still sick as a dog. Bed and soup for this guy. Great way to kick off vacation #1. But on the plus, productive day because Cambodia is officially booked. Come on January 2012!