Update

Ever since the grade 2's finished their exams, they've been kind of bad. I, honestly, did not think the grade 3's were that bad, and they've been done with their exams for much longer. Gianni and I have both been doing our best at our respective schools to do fun things with the kids despite the lack of enthusiasm. It's basically just been weeks of games and videos. We are in the home stretch though because the week of Christmas is our last school week of the term! After that, we both have English camp where we have maybe 20 students for a few hours per day, and we can do whatever we want. Niall and I are teaching a cooking class and a scavenger hunt class together. We're making pancakes! On my own, I'm doing a 2-day Harry Potter camp and a Sherlock/Murder Mystery camp. I'm really excited for both of them, and I have them mostly planned out. Aside from camp, we are going to do what's called "desk warming," where we do just what the name implies--sit at our desks ALL DAY. We are required to be at work even though we aren't teaching. It's different at every school though, so sometimes they might let us go early or whatever. So we'll see how that goes.

As far as what we've been up to, I've actually had some bad luck and been sick for the last week or so. Last weekend, I felt really nauseous and achy, and it carried over into the next week. I started to feel better for a few days and was eating normally, and then I got a cold this last weekend! So it's been a little bit unlucky but I've been making due.

We finished our Korean classes on Friday. I'm going to miss our teacher. She was really funny and a good teacher. We might take more Korean classes in the future, but that class gave us a nice base and taught us a few more useful phrases. Now, we just need to practice. I really appreciate that the Daegu Office of Education offered us the opportunity to take the classes because I really think I learned a lot, and we didn't have to pay a cent for them.

We've also been preparing for Christmas. Last night, I realized the advent calendar Mom sent me with Lindt chocolate inside had a mistake! Gianni was looking for the 16, but instead of the 16 we found another 10! Oh well! We also have a 4 ft tall, fake tree. It's pretty cute. It came with some ornaments, and I bought some more colored ones. One of the ornaments is a lotus flower, which is a Buddhist symbol (I actually bought it at a temple), so our tree is part Buddhist :) I also have a "Merry Christmas" sign tacked on the wall, and we bought little stockings that are hanging on the wall as well. The apartment has a bit of Christmas flare. Downtown there are also a lot of Christmas lights. It's really funny actually. They set up these light displays for you to take your picture with.

On Saturday, we went to see The Hobbit with Maria and Matthew and the old English teacher from Matthew's school. It was fun, but I had gotten up early to skype with Mom and Dad, so I was a bit tired and fell asleep at the end. It was an ok movie, but I'm not a huge Lord of the Rings fan anyway. Maria and Matthew are though. The movie was a little unsatisfying because it ended kind of abruptly and didn't seem to go anywhere, but it looked nice, as those movies usually do. When I spoke to Mom, she opened the box I sent with presents for everyone from Korea. She wanted to wait for me so that I could tell her what everything was and who it was for. I sent home presents for tons of people, and Mom wrapped them all up with me watching. I had Dad take her presents away though. She's playing Santa this year and will be delivering them to the respective people soon. Saturday night, we went over to Serena and Max's for their potluck dinner. There was delicious pulled pork and mac n' cheese! All the food was wonderful. They and their friends really know how to cook. Gianni and I just bought a cake and brought that. At their house, we also did a yankee swap. We played with different rules we used to play with when we did it in Canada with our cousins and family up there. You could either choose to steal a present from someone or choose one from the middle. If you stole from someone, then that person gets the same choice. One present can only be stolen 2 different times, and the person who went first gets to go again at the end. It was kind of a cool way to play, actually. I liked it. Gianni ended up winning 2 reese's peanut butter cups that were a half pound of chocolate each! It's insane. We're going to cut them up and use them in baking. I stole a box from someone that contained 2 large scented candles and 3 big packs of sour gummy worms! The two of us ended up with more candy than we can handle. Serena and Max are leaving to go home for a month, so it was kind of a going away party for them as well. I'll miss them. It's always fun to hang out with them and see them at taekwondo. Since they are leaving, they bought ziploc containers for us all to take food home at the end. They were like "please, just take it all!" So Gianni and I both went home with a nice haul. Thanks Serena and Max!

Sunday was more of a relaxing day. We went down to an English used book store and restaurant called Buy the Book that I've been hearing a lot about because they were having a flea market. It ended up being kind of small and just a few people were selling their art of jewelry. It was good to check it out and know where it is though. I got a chocolate cupcake and a molasses cookie from the KAPS booth. They are the animal shelter here in Daegu, and they do a lot of bake sales for fundraising. The cookie was amazing! I needed some molasses, and the person who made them told me where to get some molasses, which I have now ordered so that I can do some of my own baking! I'm really excited. After stopping by there, Gianni and I decided that we would go to the underground mall and each get $100 to spend on Christmas presents for each other. We split up and did some flash shopping so that the other person wouldn't see their presents. It was actually kind of fun! Might do it again next year. All his presents are now wrapped up and under the tree, so starting to look like Christmas for real.