Monthly Photo Recap: Winter 2013-14

I've definitely been in another blogging slump. Try as I might, I just can't seem to get my shit together and finish the entries queued up on Blogger. November was a busy month, largely because it was the end of the term, and with that, some sad goodbyes to friends who were leaving Korea. December was... I don't remember. It was a thing that happened. Then January was more of the same. February was fine, but largely forgettable. Now it's (somehow) March and the weather, much to my frustration, can't seem to decide if it's going to be springtime or not. We're two weeks into a new term, it snowed last night (flurries, so nothing substantial), and the air has been really hazy and gross.

At this point, I just need the weather to suddenly warm up. I'm hoping it will kickstart my motivation to get out and do things. While it was an unusually warm winter, I was perfectly content to hermit at home as much as possible, therefore seriously lacking in Exciting Things Worth Blogging About.

In an effort to be ready to blog away when Interesting Things happen again, I'm forcing myself to go through the backlog of entries and finally get them published. (Wish me luck...)

To get this new resolution kicked off, here's a "Monthly" Photo Recap of basically my entire winter, broken into months, each featuring my favorite photos...

Nothing like being drawn as a hamburger spaceship to remind you why teaching is a pretty cool job.

Songdo, looking pretty. Really looking forward to everything being green again so I can really explore this area. (Especially because I now work in Songdo -- my school moved!)

Seoul Folk Flea Market = one of the greatest treasures I've found. Though it's definitely for the best that I've just now stumbled across it. I would have spent the past two years buying all the things otherwise... 

Ended the month with a trip to the annual Seoul Lantern Festival, which was one of the first things I saw when I arrived in Korea in 2011. Always nostalgic to visit this festival and remember that very first weekend.

The end of term party in November was one to remember. Saying goodbye to a couple lovely, awesome ladies really, really sucked, but we went out with a bang. 

My (old) walk to work with the trees showing off beautiful fall colors.

    

This was my early Christmas present to myself. >:) 

Aaaaaaand then the snow came. Luckily, this was one of the only major snowfalls of the winter, which I am totally good with. 

My new favorite dessert: mini-pecan pies. I made a ton of these for a big Christmas dinner that Corey and I hosted. We had a huge turnout -- nearly 20 people! And...

...more food than we knew what to do with. This was about a third of all the food people brought over. It was a really great way to spend our last Christmas in Korea and getting a huge group of holiday-homesick expats was exactly how I wanted to spend the holiday.

Then we ended the month with seeing Universal Ballet's production of "The Nutcracker!" It was beautiful and I cried a lot, simply because that's what happens when I watch that ballet...

Behold my future: an OWL MUSEUM. A lady with a love of owls had such a huge collection that she opened up a museum to display them. As an avid owl collector, she's basically my hero.

An area of Seoul I will always enjoy visiting: the Bukchon Hanok Village. I have plans to spend a lot of time there this spring -- so many cultural workshops and activities in these old houses! 

The one class I had last term that really tested my patience, but ended up being one of my favorite groups. This was taken during a Saturday make-up class since we missed a couple days for a national holiday. I'd told them to "look really sad about being at Chungdahm on a Saturday morning," and after a split second of pretending to be bummed, they, naturally, attacked each other and this was the photo I caught instead.

For the national holiday mentioned previously (which was Lunar New Year), a couple friends and I went on a tour of Jeju Island. While it wasn't prime Jeju season (meaning summertime swimming and hiking and sunbathing), we still had a really good time and enjoyed taking in the beautiful scenery.

Another Jeju shot. I'm really looking forward to going back during the summer months! 

Our Jeju trip extended into the first two days of February, so this is a picture from our last day at one of Jeju's many orange orchards. We were given shears and ten minutes to go crazy with all you can pick and eat! 

My Master class, which does both literature and debate, loves doing mock trials. Since the ones in the books aren't always interesting, I started searching for mock trials based on books. That was when I stumbled across a poorly written Harry Potter mock trial. Inspired, and with the enthusiastic support of my class, I wrote an entire mock trial centering around Professor Quirrell's death. Was it murder or self defense?! Instead of swearing in students on a Bible or our book of logical fallacies, one of my students brought in the first Harry Potter book. The whole thing was awesome and we had a really good time. Oh, and the jury ruled that it was self defense, so Harry went free!

I found possibly the greatest Engrish shirt in all of creation. Didn't buy it, but it is a masterpiece and I now regret leaving it on the rack. Maybe someday I'll see it again...

Shameless selfies at a mirror-art installation in a subway station. Also! Guest appearance from my new Canon t3i DSLR, which is going to be put to good use in the coming months. :)

Very, very cool piece in Seoul's Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. That whole thing is made of fabric! Blog entry coming soon! 

Last, here's my latest favorite photo and FB profile picture (obviously). In City Hall station, the benches on the platform of Line 1 have all of these cute little characters. I couldn't resist having this picture taken. It's a pig playing a violin! And he's so cute!