I realize it's been two weeks and I apologize. I'm sure I have a huge following out there that is just going nuts after not hearing about my crazy life here in Inje. Well, I first want to tell you my exciting news of the day. I actually have two exciting things! First, my lovely friends Rebbecca and Jenna just informed me about 2 hours again that I can text people in the states for a pretty decent rate. I'm sure you can imagine the texting spree that I then went on. How exciting! I can text my best buds now! My second good news has to to do with my winter vacation. I was a bit unsure of what I wanted to do. I was thinking Boracay island in the Philippines (look it up, it's gorgeous!) but then I got a message from a friend back home and she offered for me to stay with her in her parents house in Thailand. Whoa! What?! A friend from Minnesota will be on my side of the world! How exciting!?!?! So, I think the plan is to stay with her for a week and then meet up with my two favorite people here in Korea in Cambodia and Laos. So, how cool that for my winter vacation, I get to visit 3 countries in 3 weeks and two of which I have wanted to go to for years. SO EXCITED!!! So when are you guys going to catch and some join me?! :)

So unfortunately, because I was a slacker for two weeks, I can't remember everything that has happened so I will just tell you the big stuff. So last last Thursday, my school and another school had to meet and play volleyball and eat dinner...for good relationship building I assume. Now I am not a good volleyball player but it is the one and only sports that I actually like to play. So I was pumped! I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that Korean women are not very active in general. I've tried to get them to go to the gym with me and that hasn't worked. The only women in my gym are doing Tai-bo or doing a dance class. So, we get to the school where we're going to play volleyball and the women immediately go over to the snack/tea table and then men are practicing their serves. The women offer me snacks and I'm think #1 "we just ate 2 hours ago, chill on the eating! Good God, these people eat alot!" and #2 "Why are we eating when in 5 minutes I have to go run around and play volleyball? Playing volleyball with food jiggling around sounds like a bad plan." Well, as it turns out, I'm the only women willing and ready to run around and play. Only 3 other girls came on the court and that's because we ran out of men and needed some people. So, here I am, super excited and...the guys keep jumping in front of me and stealing my hit. So I'm getting a bit frustrated, *remember, I actually like playing volleyball*, so finally I start calling the ball "GOT IT GOT IT!!!" and jumping in front of them. This sounds rude, but remember that we can't really communicate with each other and I thought we were all playing volleyball, not standing around watching all the dudes play. Finally, they get it. They get that when I call then ball, get out of my way because I can actually hit a ball. So then the next game, not only did they not jump in front of me but they put me in the center! It was a good time! They also said I play like an athlete...which I kinda laughed at because there is no way I'm an athlete by American standards. I actually have no idea were thy got this idea, because at this very moment I'm watching a Korea Women's Volleyball game on TV and I do not play even close to as as they do. But here I'm a super star! Just kidding, but it was funny and super fun. I was able to bond with my co-workers for once without having to actually talk. That may have been the best part about it. And as usually, dinner afterwards means me pretending to take alot of shots and the men getting completly and entirely tanked. To be honest, it was ok the first time because I was just in shock. Now it feels very frat house to me and the women are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G for putting up with it. The one shot I did actually take was from my Vice Principal. He's so nice and I see him probably more than anyone else at school and it was scotch and he was very proud of it. I hate scotch.

On the note of Korean being...slightly inactive: they can't swim! It was like, one day Korea said "Oh Crap, we don't know how to swim! Everyone, go to the gym and learn that, stat! This is very bad, we forgot to learn this and we are 80% surrounded by ocean!" At my gym, there are swimming classes, it's mainly adults and they put these strappy styrofoam pads on their back to keep them afloat and then they have the paddle pad that we use in the states in front of them. Some even wear those flipper things on their feet. And they just kinda do this follow the leader thing and they go around the pool and sometimes bob into the water so that occasionally their heads are underwater. I mean, it's cool if you can't swim...but a whole country!? But I have to say, A++ for finally get on that!

So, this week school, for some strange reason, went really well! It was great! My devil class listened , although on Monday I did have to give them worksheets the whole time and made them 10 minutes late for lunch. But Tuesday I walked in with loads more worksheets and I gave them the option: Game or worksheets? Of course they chose the game and they were great! I like I was in total shock for the next 2 hours after that class ended. I finally did something right in the classroom! Tomorrow is a new day though, so we'll see how the decide to act. Only 10 more classes with them...I can do this! On Friday, I have a 5th grade class and I did Jeopardy and one category was just random "fun" questions. One of the questions was describe what your teacher is wearing and I meant the regular teacher, not me. Well, one the kids who is defiantly the most outspoken and has very good English skills, shouts "Sexy!" And I look at the teacher and I was like "Oh! You look sexy today!" Well, turns out they thought they were supposed to describe me...how cute! I'm not sure that anything I wear to school can be categorized at sexy, but it was still kind of funny. And if anyone were going to say something like that, it'd for sure be him.

I don't think I was able to talk about Halloween weekend. There's not a whole lot to say there but it was alot of fun! I was a Miller Girl of course! Now, unfortunately the pic I have was taking by someone who I guess sucks at taking super cool action photos...but atleast you kinda get the point. The rest of the pictures from Halloween night were just as blurry really, to be fair. I thought more people would get it, but it turns out there's not as many Americans here as I originally thought. I had painted MN on my face too and that was a mystery to many people. But I still looked good and I had a proper Halloween atleast! Then last weekend, I went to a Prom themed party with my friend Rebbecca and that was a blast as well. It was so fun to get all dressed up and go out. I had brought a dress along that I was saving for New Years and it just so happened to work just fine for Prom party too! Then the next day, I made my way to Sokcho were we ate dinner so fresh that the food was literally still moving when we got it! What you do is walk down this fish market, where it's just crowed with people and fish and you find a place that has the best selection...or more importantly, the best price. They have these baskets sitting in the tanks that have a variety of fish in them (usually like 5 different kinds) and that's what you get. So we found a place for 50,000Won, which is really good! That's about $9-$10 a person to eat fresh fresh fresh fish. So then you say "ok, yeah that sounds good" and you walk through to where that particular fisherman's sitting station is and they chop the heads off of the exact fish that you just saw swimming around! Then 5 minutes later, it's in front of you, sometimes still wiggling a bit, and ready to eat! Soooo good, as long as you like raw fish. Many people say they don't, but most likely you either haven't tried it and are just scared to or you haven't had it done like that. It's just too cool and authentic to pass up.