Monday Madness

Wow, what a weekend!

I'll start at Thursday:

My work week ended really well! I got to do lots of teaching, and the students seemed to be really enjoying all the Christmas activities and games. We learned carols, made cards, and started to watch the Christmas TV specials I got for them. Friday was much the same, only all the lessons were pushed forward so school could end early because the students were having  some sort of rummage sale. It was pretty fun :) I got bullied into buying cookies and a plant! They all loved it!

Friday night saw me with the girls from Osan in the Big Chill bar in Suwon again. We went for dinner first at this buffet restaurant, where they had smoked salmon, which I ate a lot of.. If you're going to a buffet, you haven't paid to eat the salad! The night was a lot of fun, but I didn't get to be until 3.30am - and then I had to wake up at 6.30am to skype with mum! So, I did my whole Saturday on three hours of sleep :)

It started out well. Skyping mum is always great. We had a good chat, and then I left to catch the train to Seoul. It was another totally freezing day, but I wrapped up warm and braved it. I went into Hongdae first, for a stroll around and to have lunch at Taco Bell. It was yummy! Then I got a new ice cream flavour at BR. They have some special Christmas ones on, so I had 'Snow White' - vanilla ice cream with candy cane swirl, and mint choc-chips. It was so nice! By this time it was about 2pm, so I hopped back on the train to go check into the hostel I was staying at.

When I got there, it was in such an awesome location! Like 1 min from the subway, right in the middle of town - really good. BUT there was no one there. I figured that maybe they'd just gone for a long lunch, and would be back by 3pm, which is when I told them I'd be there. So, I went for a walk and came back at quarter to three. Still no one there. Just a sign saying to call them. Well, that's pretty dumb, because most travellers in Korea don't have a phone that works here! I figured they'd be along soon, so I'd just wait. Well, one hour in a freezing concrete lobby later, and no sign of anyone.... only a few other guests looking for the attendant too - none of whom had a phone. I was so cold, so I went and had a coffee in Starbucks to warm up, then came back at 4.15 and still nothing. So, I wrote a note to tell them I had been, and how long I'd waited, but that I had to go now.

So, I caught the train to Seoul City Hall to meet up with the ice skating group, only to get totally lost and not be able to find the meeting place. Finally, 15 minutes after the meet up time, I gave in to cold and exhaustion and just stopped looking. So, I had no ice skating, and no hostel! I had planned on getting to the hostel at 2pm, getting a couple of hours sleep and then going out again, but nothing had worked out! So, I gave up, and went somewhere I'd stayed before, had some quick street food for dinner, and went to bed!

Sunday went much better! I went to Gangnam for a look around before meeting Jen to go to Ballet. I went to a big Daiso store there and got a cute plant pot that looks like a teacup and saucer to put my new plant in. While I was waiting for the train to go to where Jen I were meeting, she found me by chance! So, that was cool :) We travelled the couple of stops to the Seoul Arts Centre, picked up our tickets and then found some lunch. We had Vietnamese noodles, and it was pretty nice :) Then we went and had a look around the Art Centre.

It was really big and impressive! Flash elevators and architecture, beautiful water fountains, and a big display of locally made crafts and art. Before the show a small brass band set up in the lobby and played some Christmas carols. It was nice.

Inside the theatre itself was just as nice. Good sized comfy chairs, and they had special big red cushions for the short children, so they could see. There was a live orchestra, and all the costumes, sets, and lighting were just amazing. I especially enjoyed the sets, they really made it magical. I enjoyed the ballet a lot, though I thought that they ended it a bit suddenly. I felt like they had tried to showcase the dancing over telling the story. All in all, though, I was really impressed. Jen and I caught the bus back to Osan, which was SO much faster than the train would have been, I grabbed some dinner and went to bed.

Now, Monday morning, and I feel like I have finally recovered from Friday! I'm wondering if super late nights are worth it when it takes me days to recover. The others are ok, they don't have to wake up to go to work until 1pm of so, but it's a bit different for me :) Anyway, there was some mention of possibly doing Norebang (Karaoke) this Friday, so if that goes ahead, it should be interesting!

And FYI: It was so cold walking to school from the bus this morning that up my nose was freezing when I breathed in. Weird feeling.