Well the first semester is over and winter camps are coming to a close!
Sara's last day is today and as over 5pm she is officially on vacation for 25 days. We are heading to Malaysia on the 12th (which happens to be Taylor's birthday) so we decided to celebrate her birthday by going on vacation.
We will be spending very little time in the capital Kuala Lumpur and spending most of our time on an island called Langkawi. Hopefully then hoping on ferries and hitting up some islands that we have heard are some of most naturally beautiful islands in the world. The islands are part of Malaysia and Thailand so knocking out two countries in one relatively cheap vacation. We are planning on laying on the beach and doing some hiking through the rain forests and hopefully getting up to Thailand to ride elephants.
We get back into Seoul on the 23rd and then a few days later we are scheduled to do a small camp with Sara's school which we will make back what we spent on vacation which will give us a chance to then hopefully go to Japan in the spring or Australia in the summer before we take our long journey back to the States.
Talking about our long journey back to the States (which we can not be more excited for a nice cheeseburger and fries) we are planning on a 2 week backpacking trip through Europe. Our tentative plan right now is to spend a few days in Poland, Germany and France but we are still looking at adding Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, and/or London.We are hoping to either do this trip through Northern Europe or do the Southern part of Europe but either way we will do both of them in our lifetime.
Christmas was great. Christmas season as a whole feels a whole bunch different here in Korea. Its just not a big deal when i talked about it with students they just didn't care as much as people back home do. It has a feeling like every other day. But Sara and I had a nice Christmas dinner with two of our closest friends Anna and Tim and then Christmas morning got up and open presents from our parents and each other.
New Years on the other hand had the feeling of way more excitement every person i talked to kept telling me Happy New Years. We had plans of going to Seoul to join the huge crowds up there. I went to bed thinking that and I even woke up planning on that. But at the last minute we decided to go hang out with our friends in Suncheon which ended up being awesome.
I remember last New Years spending it with Sara in Honolulu watching the fireworks go off and thinking how crazy life really is. I had no idea that is where i was going to be last year and i remember thinking i wonder where i will be for 2012. I some how ended up in South Korea with an amazing girlfriend, amazing friends and a pretty great job that i have been extremely blessed with especially when you hear about the horror stories over here i have it pretty easy.
I sit back and think ahead to the next year wondering where I will go, what i will see, and most of all who i will meet. Few things i know but that is probably the best part the excitement that comes with every New Year. Hope is restored and a brand new outlook. I for one am very excited about the possibilities of this year.
Hopefully we will get better at this posting thing but Sara and I love you all very much and can't wait to see you in 8 months!
