Homesick for the Holidays

 Yep, another year, another Thanksgiving feast missed out on.  I generally fast all day on Thursdays anyway, so THERE!  I didn't want the turkey, stuffing, and all the fixin's anyway.  On a related note, we can do a Thanksgiving-type meal in April, right?!  I mean, that's the month I should be HOME home... I have a few stops to make before I get up to the Land of the Frozen Tundra.  (Mom, what do you say?  I'll take care of dessert.)  I maaaaay have looked at plane tickets... only Korea Air and Delta are offering non-stop flights right now.  I also might be making a list of all the foods I want when I come home... starting in TX... Anamia's, dumplings, BJ's Brewhouse, bfast tacos, Papa Murphy's, wingstop... I can cook for AL when I see her... roast with veggies and biscuits... bfast for dinner with D&C, as well as whatever Dad wants to GRILL!!!  Taking over Mom's kitchen to make cookies, ribs, roast, stew, soups... paired with crusty bread... and of course we HAVE to go to the Depot.  Yeah, I'm not homesick at all (she says while listening to a 90's country playlist on youtube).

In other Korea-related news, I'm planning on a trip to Nami Island in Seoul for the lighting festival at the Garden of Morning Calm.  It might help to get me in a Christmas-y mood.  That'll be the first weekend in Dec.  Hopefully it doesn't get cancelled, as I've heard that we may be going to more strict social distancing levels if they can't get a handle on the most recent uptick in cases.  Right now we are at social distancing 2, and my job went online as of Thursday.  So there's that.  This has taught me to be EXTREMELY flexible when it comes to taking things a day at a time.  Sigh... craziness.  

At least my coffee shop is trying to get into the Christmas spirit.

I don't think they know me very well.  However, I have SNOW BOOTS, so BRING IT!

I was happy on Friday because the scale showed me my lowest # in my (adult) life, and I was really feeling this outfit.  Of course, it was cold so I threw a flannel on over it, but I thought this was quite a flattering look.  Just about 7lbs to go until I hit my goal!  Woot woot!

So they put these scarves around some of the trees in Dongtan.  They looked super cute until J and I noticed that they have hands... so these scarves literally hug the trees.  So unnecessarily cute... so I had to show you all.

Tree huggers!

A whole line of them... then as we continued our walk to work we found...

This - I have no clue what it's all about, but it's so cute.

I guess if you need a hug, you can hug one of these guys.

So my Friday night was LIT!  I had tuna salad with crackers, cheese, and celery.  And of course, my wine.  I was slightly disappointed in OK Mart for 2 reasons - no tomato paste and the meat counter was closed so I couldn't get meat, either.  I was faced with a choice - go shopping at Home Plus on Saturday if I wanted to make my chili, or make mac and cheese with just chicken cuz they didn't have broccoli either.  I opted to go shopping on Saturday and I found all the last things I needed.  I chose to go with chunks of beef over ground beef cuz the ground beef had too much in it and I'm officially too lazy to bag and freeze what I don't need.  Yep, I'm officially THAT person.  

I had a bag of Anasazi beans from S, so I put those in water to soak all of Friday.  Saturday I drained em, boiled and simmer'd em, then drained em again.  

Then I had to gather all the ingredients.  Hehehe... I like this pic... and yes, that's Aussie beef.  This may be the most exotic chili I've ever made - beans, green chilis, and cumin from NM, beef from Australia, onion and tomato from Korea, spices from God only knows where.  

Put it all together and... well... I might need a bigger pot.  I'm so happy this skillet is big on the sides and I have a lid for it (the lid is too big, but frankly things need to boil down a bit anyway).

So now I get to smell it while occasionally stirring (extremely carefully) for about 3-4 hours to let all the yumminess come together.  I have cheese and bread to go with it and so I figure it will be quite a yummy dinner for Saturday.  Sunday J and I are going to Mass, then to lunch, and then we may do some shopping.  I'm finding myself wanting more sweaters.  I look good in sweaters.

I hope this post finds you all safe, warm, and for those in the US, still eating leftover Thanksgiving food.  Mom said she'll freeze some of the cranberry relish for me (YUM), so woot!  We start B track books at work on Monday which means there are officially 3 books of teaching left for me!!  In the meantime, at least I can make some food to remind me of home... even if I'm afraid of making a huge mess with it.  The good news is that leftover chili is always better the 2nd time around, and I'm pretty sure I can talk S into taking some of it off my hands.  My co-worker L mentioned wanting some too, so I may bring her a container of it.  Much love all, MUAH!  :*

All is well

 Well, in a manner of speaking.  I gotta say, I'm ready to go home.  It's been a good experience but it's the holidays, so I'm officially bummed.  No Thanksgiving with Gma and Gpa, no Christmas at the Buczacki's or the Sauceda's, no ringing in the New Year to shout 'Jumanji' to see if that works... sigh.  The good news is I think I'll be at the Buczacki's for St. Paddy's Day, so that's a bonus, at least.  I went shopping with J on Monday and we got me some snow boots, so I'm gonna have toasty footsies for the winter, so that's at least good.  I also am planning on hitting up the Garden of Morning Calm at Nami Island for the lighting festival.  They cover the place in lights, so that should be nice.  J(S) is going with me, so yay for intelligent conversations with someone who isn't a co-worker.  

As for the fasting, I (unofficially) weighed myself this AM and got my lowest # so far, so YAY!  It's supposed to be super cold on Saturday so I'm thinking chili, studying, and Netflix at home.  I also have a couple of books by friends to read (hehe).  So yeah, still just enjoying what time I have left in Korea before I head HOME and have MARGARITAS and DRIVE and SEE PEOPLE.  

It's cold... this was at a super cute coffee shop... I kinda want one.

They also had these, which I love.  I think I'll have to hang out at that place more often.  Perhaps it's a good study place for me... I need to brush up on American international treaties.

When I went to Mass on Sunday I got this pic.  A true flag of a Catholic Church.

Then J and I went to brunch at our bougie place - The Apothecary.  The coffee is a vanilla latte.  So good.

Then we went to another cafe for dessert... my mocha loves me.  Hehe.

So yeah, other than the fact that I have either 'shortimer's syndrome' or 'senioritis' life is good.  I can make it another 3 months... I keep on reminding myself if I could survive 5 years in a call center, I can survive another 3 months of teaching kids.  Even with 2 kinder classes... sigh.  At least I have my sassy pants students who are so much fun.

I did get a chance to talk with one of the new girls yesterday, she seems fun and nerdy.  She's pretty big into Korea stuffs, but she also like Japanese rock, so she's determined to introduce me to more than just Baby Metal.  S and I got thru Tremors 4 and 5 and we can officially say that so far only 3 has been really BAD - the rest are just fun.  Starting with 4 there's more actual character development, and in 5 they go to South Africa to deal with a different kind of graboid.  They are fun.  After we watch 6 and 7 I'm gonna make him watch Grabbers.  I'm contemplating going shopping this weekend to try to find more sweater dresses... those things are so friggin' COMFY!  

Much love, MUAH! :*

Naejangsan National Park 2020

It was another early morning for me.  At 6:15 my alarm went off and I got ready to go.  I had 2 bottles of cold brew coffee that I intended for my bfast and I had both of them!  I didn't join the rest for bfast, and I don't feel that I missed much since it was muffins and fried eggs.  We took the bus to the park and there were a lot less people this time around.  They said this was the last weekend for the leaves to really look pretty, so we saw a lot of bare branches, but it was still a good time.

It was more than a little chilly that morning.

I made a fluffy friend!!!!  So cute, so friendly!!

Walking to the cable car... that's right, Mandi was LAZY this time around.  I ended up hanging out with one of the ladies who teaches at Peyongtaek and the other who works for the DOD.

The pavillion that is so darn picturesque.

Pretty leaves.

View from the cable car going up!

View from the top.

Me at the top!

Ceiling of the pavillion

Going back down

Fun with light and litter

More fun with light

I liked being artsy... here's the back of my companion's heads.  LOL

Probably the mascots of the park

We left the park and went for food.  I had a Korean pancake which is SOO GOOD!  They are fried in oil and have this cinnamon/seed mix inside.  

Wandered and took more pix.

That one needed to be a landscape as opposed to a portrait.

Random pretty flowers outside of a stall.

My coffee loves me.

Lunch - they had bulgoggi and I had bibibap.  We also had either a Korean onion pancake with seafood or a Korean pizza with seafood - however you see that one.  It was good.

A close-up of the pancake, the bibibap and the massive amounts of side dishes that we all shared.  I gotta say, the 'clean your plate' part of me from childhood always feels bad at the amount of food left over.

So after lunch we got back on the bus and headed for home.

Here's a weird piece of art outside one of the stops.

Bamboo leaf wine... I don't know what to tell you about the taste.  It's kinda weird, but good, but not something you want to drink a whole bottle of in one sitting.  I had some on Friday night with my sammich and cheese and crackers, then switched to red wine with dark chocolate for dessert.

I was home by about 7, which is kinda early for these trips, though we did run into traffic.  I will say that the trip with Goh Travel Korea was standard, I was just surprised at the full bus and the lack of a party vibe.  However, it was a nice, chill, introvert-y weekend, so I was happy.  

And now it's been back to the grind.  The week was ok, I do love the kids.  I'm starting to realize that J is really going to be leaving me at the start of the new year... and I'm super bummed.  She's been with me this WHOLE TIME, she's helped get me thru the dark and has being a light in my world.  I am so happy to have met her, and I will cherish our friendship long after we have both moved on from here.  Tomorrow we are planning on going in to Mass again at the English service, so that will be nice.  

Dating update: another one bites the dust.  I still talk to my Scottish guy (J(S)) and the Korean guy (M(K)), but my Army guy (E) has 'met someone.'  I saw it coming, but it still stung.  Ah well, such is life.

Today being Saturday I've decided to make it a 'me' day.  I've already done a load of laundry and my dishes.  Now I'm contemplating making one last run to Costco to stock up on what I'll need for my last 3 months.  (Once that membership lapses, I'll be able to save even MORE before I go home.)  I also am planning a trip to the laundromat to wash my bedding (probably also the last time before I leave, don't judge), and I'm starting to go thru my stuff and throw, give, or otherwise make go away the things that I know I won't need, don't want, no longer fit, etc.  I came here with 2 checked bags, a rolly carry on and a backpack and I will leave with the same amount.  Tho I may send Soju and Ford home in a box... I don't want to lose my kitty cats!  It's funny how many hair products I was going to 'try out'... people at work are about to get a TON of crap from me.  I'm also working thru all the bath stuff I've been given since I got here... for real, I haven't bought body wash since last year.  LOL.

Anyway, stay healthy my friends, my loves, the lights of my life.  Counting down until I get to see you all again :)  MUAH!