South Coast Trip

I had two trips this winter to Korea's south coast, both to the same general area. One was an EPIK cultural trip, the other was a Yeongcheon Girls' teachers' trip. I was skeptical of visiting the area in the winter, but although people told me it was much more beautiful in the spring/summer, it was still actually quite nice. Even though the EPIK trip was called a "cultural" trip, it was pretty much just scenery with little to no explanation. Oh well.

The weather was also a lot warmer in the south, so it was a bit of a relief to get to hang out there for a bit. As usual, the teachers' trip consisted of most of the teachers getting drunk on the bus and singing karaoke (also on the bus, as well as in a Norebang). For the occasion I had prepared a Korean song to sing (너를위해 by 임재범). It went over very well, and the teachers who heard it were impressed with my dedication to Korean culture. Sadly, there was no encore. I'm not much for singing in public.

For more scenery and some descriptions of what we did, follow the link.

I'll start my diet next week!

Actually, I didn't really start a diet as a New Year's resolution, although I have started exercising again. But it's a good thing I didn't, because my friend Sun-Ran took me out to a really cute restaurant for a delicious meal. It was a restaurant aimed at couples, and instead of a menu, it featured a six course meal with several shared dishes. The atmosphere would be very romantic for a date, but the food was worth coming there just with friends.

It's Sun-Ran, waiting to start on the appetizer. Let's go! More photos after the cut.

Christmas Snowboarding

Christmas, as I've said, isn't really a holiday here, but it did fall on the weekend, so we awesomely had it off! This winter has been much milder than last winter with almost no snow. Mostly that's a good thing, but it does detract from the Christmas spirit. Luckily, I got my white Christmas anyway, because I joined a snowboarding trip last minute to help out my friends, who had lost a member of their group to sickness. Even though I don't like skiing, I'm really glad I went because snowboarding turned out to be more fun, less scary, and only slightly more painful. I actually really enjoyed it. If I go to a ski resort again, I'd like to give snowboarding another go!

Here I am with my rented snowboard. Click on the jump to see pictures of me actually snowboarding, all of which I lifted from my friend's facebook, since she took them all. I was too scared to bring my camera along, since I knew I'd be falling a lot.