A little piece of home...

Somehow I just continue to get behind on this thing! Life is just getting in the way! And believe it or not, we have now officially been in Korea for 6 months!

We received our very first U.S visitor one month ago! Kelsey, my younger sister came to stay with us for 2.5 weeks. I didn't know time could go so fast. We had such a good time traveling around Seoul, seeing Juno, and showing her our little town.

Showing Kelsey Songdo.

She arrived late on a Tuesday night. Wednesday morning she (surprisingly) woke up bright and early to work out and go to work with us! All the kids at the school LOVED her! No surprise there, I suppose. Many of the kids were already hugging her and were so sad when we told her she had to go back home.

I took Friday off so Kelsey and I could spend some sister time in Seoul! We spent Friday at Holt Ilsan to see Juno (who was sick), and play with the kids at the Holt Reception center where we stayed for the weekend. Both of us passed out at 4pm that day and basically slept until 10am the following morning. Jet lag finally hit her!

Visiting Juno

Saturday we woke up, met Jacob at the subway station, and went on to meet our Holt friend Mr. Hwang and his family to eat lunch. Afterward, we spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening doing what girls do best, shopping! We finished the day by eating at Kelsey's favorite lunch spot in Seoul Station. We indulged in some bulgogi in a hot pot! It was the most delicious meal I've had in a long while!

Meeting Jacob at the subway

Lunch with Mr. Hwang

SHOPPING!

Bulgogi in a hot pot

Just what we needed

Sunday we spent the day in Song-do, showed her the city and tried to get back early before the new work week. However, Jacob left his bag on the subway on our way to Songdo so our plans were pushed back an hour or two so we could retrieve his bag! Grr. First time I left my credit card at a coffee shop, this time he left his bag on the train, maybe we weren't meant to go to Songdo.

The following work week, Kelsey watched our classes and I managed to take a half-day off to do some more shopping and walking around with her. During the weekend, we took her to Oak Valley resort with our coordinator and her daughter (same age as Kelsey). We ate a delicious Korean BBQ meal, again! We spent the rest of the evening walking around the resort grounds and exploring the statue park. On Sunday, we went hiking! We went up to Chiaksan mountain and did a 6-mile roundtrip walk into Korea's forests! It was beautiful with not one drop of rain and luckily all the trees, streams, and waterfalls kept us cool all day. We had a nice shabu shabu dinner and Kelsey passed out when we finally arrived back home!

The rice fields by work

Oak Valley Resort

On a hike!

Her last few days with us were spent at work with us and saying goodbye to the students. On Thursday, her departure day, I took another half day off so we could go grab coffee before I dropped her at the bus station. When the time came to say our farewells, we both broke down in tears. Just thinking about it is making me teary! It was so wonderful to have a little piece of home with us, even if just for a few weeks. It spoke volumes to me and showed me how homesick I really am. Thanks for coming Kelsey!

Watching Tomorrowland and arcade games

Packing, packing, packing

Returning to life after Kelsey left was so weird! We didn't have anyone to "entertain" and the apartment was so quiet. After work on the day she left, we arrived home and just sat on the couch looking at each other, "what do we do now?"

I suppose it didn't take long for things to return to normal, I cleaned up her room and re-arranged apartment back to pre-Kelsey. Now we are on to our next thing! Planning our school's summer camp and preparing for Jacob to leave me for five whole days! In preparation, we bought sleeping pills and went through ALL of our stuff that we brought with us so we can send some stuff back home. His huge suitcase was over halfway filled by the time we both finished.

I said goodbye to him this past Thursday and I have been so lonely ever since! Luckily, I finished my lesson planning and now I'm all caught up on my blogging adventures. Next items on our agenda are finishing our first semester of teaching (July 24th), starting our summer camp (July 27th-Aug 7th), my trip to the U.S! (July 30th-Aug 3rd), and our two week vacation hopefully being spent in Tokyo and perhaps, Bali.

My only hope is that the next two months fly by and it will be fall before we know it! Summer here is so HOT and HUMID!