Intensives.

Long time no blog!! These past two months have been pretty crazy. A lot has happened, and I've been busier than ever. The Christmas season has come and gone. It was fairly uneventful because they do not celebrate Christmas in South Korea. There were decorations here and there, and Christmas music was playing in small cafes. But, besides that, Christmas pretty much passed us by. Christmas weekend felt like just another weekend here.

It was strange, really, because Christmas is such a big deal in my house. It was always something I anticipated and prepared for, months in advance. This year was different. It was a good different though. I was able to Skype home with my family...WAY after Christmas had come and gone, but it was still really good. I didn't get any time off from work for Christmas, so I just had that Saturday and Sunday. I just spent quality time with friends and hung out. It was just what I needed. I worried that I would be lonely on Christmas, but I made sure I surrounded myself with really great people so that wouldn't happen.

This past weekend, I had 5 DAYS OFF because of the New Year. So, last week, I had Friday off, then I had the weekend, and this week, I had Monday and Tuesday off. It was a great five-day weekend!! Today is my first day back at work, but I was ready. While I enjoyed my time off and sleeping in and hanging out with friends, I was ready to see my kids again. I missed them.

For the month of January, we have Intensives. Basically, our students have a month off from their public school, so we change our schedule here at the academy to accommodate to our students' new schedule. Usually, we start at 2:30pm with our babies, and progress through the day with our elementary and middle school students until 10pm. Now, because of the new schedule, we start at 10:30am with our middle school students, and progress through the afternoon into night with our elementary students and then the babies until 7:30pm. It's longer hours at work, but it's a nice change of pace. Waking up this morning was KILLER for me because I don't normally wake up before the sun. It's going to take some getting used to. And just when I do, we'll switch back to the old schedule :)

Other than that, life is the same here in Korea. I've officially passed my six-month mark being here, which is a great feat! I never thought I would love it as much as I do, and I'm still amazed sometimes that I'm here. I've met so many great people, and my students are absolutely wonderful. I have the best job in the world :)