Update from the ground

Yeah, I guess the title would suggest I'm out campaigning for Tom Allen... but actually, I'm just working and hanging out here in Seoul and figured it would be about time for a little update as to my comings and goings.

Things have been picking up a bit as Jon and I have been going out and meeting some interesting people and (finally!) making some new friends. While we have some great co-workers we have been hanging out with, it's been awesome to meet some new, interesting people. Several weeks ago we met a nice guy and his friends at the local 'mixed' bar (mixed meaning straight, gay, men, women, Korean, American military, and random expats of dubious employment status). Don is Korean but grew up in Singapore and has since moved back to Seoul to work for a credit card company. We now have plans to go skiing with him in a week... it will be interesting to hit the slopes for the first time in 4 years and also to see if they carry size 13 ski boots at the resort outside of Seoul. I'm really excited to leave the city for a weekend regardless of how much I end up skiing. Jon is excited to to tear up the bunny slope, so he tells me.

Also, last Saturday we attended a potluck at the apartment of the owner of this cute wine bar we've been going to. We brought a store-bought cake and our hangovers. Ted's apartment was amazing- a cozy 4th floor apartment with a gorgeous view of the city from his terrace (picture below). Lots of plants and art and good people and good food (cheese! olives!). We met a great couple there- two women who have been living in Seoul about as long as we have (6 months), from Australia and Britain. So we have plans with them this weekend to go to a CD release party of a jazz vocalist who is friends with one of them and hopefully enjoy some great music and good company.

Work is pretty easy though sometimes slow. All of the younger kids I teach are simultaneously adorable and hellish. They know that the foreign teachers are lax and test us to our limit. Jon reports that he has had a box-cutter knife pulled on him and the 3rd graders enjoy showing him their skills with a lighter. But mostly they are (rowdy) angels.

Aside from that, we mainly relax at home on weeknights like the old domestic couple we fear we have become. Jon is anxiously awaiting responses from ridiculously competitive grad schools. The outcome should give us an idea of where we may end up next year (in locations ranging from New York City to Missoula, Montana). We are quietly celebrating the end of the writer's strike by watching "Lost" and "Brothers and Sisters". Also, we are planning a trip to Japan in April to visit our (engaged!) former roommates Kat and Shawn. All in all, things are going quite well. I am missing all of my friends and family back home and would love to hear from you. I now have Skype forwarding calls to my cell phone when I am away from my computer, so call any time for free if you have Skype. Otherwise, email me (and drop me a comment on the blog, if you're so inclined). I'd love to hear what everyone is up to.

xo


Picture above is from the great apartment that, unlike ours, actually had a couch! Ah, the things you get excited about in Korea...