Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas weekend!

We entertained a few guests at our place on Christmas Eve which was really nice, and yesterday we spent the day relaxing. Another perfect weekend here in Korea!

Our Christmas corner

Our stockings!

One a Week Wednesdays: Country # 3

View Lithuania in a larger map

So this post is almost a week late, but here it is! Lithuania

After exploring Riga and Daugavpils in Latvia, Matt and I will take a night train to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Lithuania, along with the other two Baltic states (Latvia and Estonia), is not well known, but that's the beauty of it. We won't be spending a lot of time here either, but are excited to explore Vilnius for a few days in transit to Western Europe.

As I might have mentioned before, we are taking this route through Latvia and Lithuania to avoid the visa process of going through Belarus. We couldn't be happier about the situation. Andy, a guy we met while exploring the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, actually gave us some inspiration to visit the Baltic States. Here is a guy who is around 40 years old and has been to more than 100 countries. Of course when you aren't married and don't have any children this wild dream is possible! We were so intrigued and inspired by Andy, and while he has explored so many off the beaten path locals, he mentioned his next trip would be to the Baltic States. At home on his coffee table he had the Lonely Planet book waiting to be explored. That is how he travels: goes to the local bookstore, buys one or two Lonely Planet books on whatever location looks interesting, and places them on the coffee table to remind him of his next adventure. Hasn't failed him yet!

While we haven't researched Lithuania a lot, here are some pictures:

hopefully we can check out a castle!

Day Maker

It's Monday. I have 3 weeks left of school, one week of summer camp and then I am essentially done for 2 months. Yeah, I shouldn't be allowed to complain, ever.

But last night Matt and I ventured to Costco to pick up some pictures, which was a very bad idea for a Sunday night. Let's just say that for 2 straight hours I was essentially pissed off at EVERY SINGLE person I came in contact with. Whether it was the children running around and running into ME and my CART because their parents weren't watching them, or the teenage boy who dove in at the last minute and took the table in the food court I was going to take after the couple got up, or the motorcycle that almost mowed me over on the sidewalk. UGH. I assign some of the frustration on just living in a city and dealing with masses of people, and some of the blame on Koreans themselves. While 99% of the time we love it here, love the culture and adore the people, occasionally we get fed up with their lack of respect for strangers, their disregard for parenting in public and their downright rudeness.

ANYWAYS, to make it better today, I was handed a note in class by two of the lowest level girls I have. Here is what it says (word for word):

Dear Dani  Danny Dani Teacher !!!

We are your students our name is Lee seo yong / o so hee and your very fashiony star. Your is very kinds and your class is very fun. You hear color is beautiful. Danny teacher is my favorite teacher!!!!! I like you Danny Teacher.

From your students

AWWWWW. Way to make me smile, girls!

Under the Weather

Seriously, the horrible sinus infection/ cold I have caught is colder than the temperature outside. It's been a balmy 50-60 degrees outside all week and I have been stuck inside, sicker than I've been in a while.

Despite spending lots of time at home resting and recuperating, I have neglected the blog. Staring at a computer screen for long periods of time doesn't help the sinus headaches one bit. Sorry!

So I will get back into blogging this weekend. I missed the one a week Wednesday post, as well as some other entries I wanted to share this week as well. Hopefully I can find the motivation to get things done.

I'm back at school today, and all I can say is thank GOD it's Friday. The first and second graders have finals next week and they are already acting like a bunch of wild animals. The third graders have been "done" with school for almost a month now and we still have 3.5 weeks left. UGH UGH UGH. I was handling my classes fine, but being sick makes me irritable. I am used to yelling (in a nice way) to get attention, but I just don't have the energy today. Oh well, two more classes to go and it's the weekend.

I plan on starting back up the Turbo Fire on Monday once I am 100%, as well as a diet plan. I have less than 6 weeks to go before I head off to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia. Craziness!

Happy December everyone. 'Tis the season! I'll post pictures of our tree tonight when I get home :)