Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

T'was the night before christmas when all through the house. Not a creature was stiring not even a mouse.
The stockings were placed on the bedhead with care in the hope that St Nicholas soon would be there.....
I Can't remember all the rest but surfice it to say St Nic's anual job is not an easy one and i'm sure he's quietly thankful that many older children think he's a fairy tale.

At Kids Club santa visited early and as the token male on staff I was summoned to perform the ritual gift giving/pose for the camera ceremony at school. Unfortunately for Santa my Korean co-teachers have long stopped believing in santa and didn't ask to pose for a photo. T'was great fun however and I made sure a few idlers sqirmed when I asked them if they'ed been good? I gave a present to all the kids and here are a few of my favourite kids.

Of course I was away "shopping" during santas short but exhausting stay and thankfully these shots were taken of the big guy in action!

Firstly this is santa with Cupid! Kind of appropriate really; being named after a raindeer and all!

Amy
Angela
Jasmine
Albert
Pelle
Julia
Thomas (pronounced: Tomasah!!!-usually at high volume by Korean teachers.)
Cindy, Is Jasmine's sister and Sukyong's daughter. I teach Sukyong of a night at Kids Club. Sukyong's an absolute stunner who works waaay tooo hard! (I hope you read this :)) I actually gave Cindy her english name with the help of Caroline which was quite an honour. When we discussed names, Caroline and I tried to find something befitting this pint sized princess. Something girly and not too hard for the natives to understand and say. Interestingly that night Sukyong ernestly asked me: "What does the name Cindy mean?" Of course in Korea all names have meanings such as: Shining and beautiful, morning sunrise, all sweet and sugary.

Without battering an eyelid I replied: "You know the fairytale "Cinderella" shes named after her", I said.
This is Anthony, Lun Teacher's (Chinese Teacher) son.

Vicky is hiding somewhere between Santa's beard and a big gift.
Red Class
Blue Class
Pink Class ( Merry Christmas Caroline - they really, really miss you, at this stage you're still coming back... Rest assured they are doing fine and aparently another SAfa is enroute to KC to replace you. A girl this time. Hopefully she's got a soft spot for a slightly balding, over the hill Aussie bloke!!)
Purple Class ( Same goes with these)
Yellow Class
Ok... Now for the exiting news. On Sunday the 24th, Jenna, Cat, Emily and I rose bright and early and made our way to Sinchon to catch a shuttle bus to Bears Town Ski Resort.
Sadly after these picks were taken I got the red light of death on the camera and thats all she wrote....





More pictures of our boarding can be found on Jenna's Blog:www.etribes.com/thejourney , click on photo's and check out the snowboarding link.
Anyway, twas probably a blessing to be without my camera as i'm sure it would be equally battered and bruised as my body was after relentlessly getting up and falling down. I can say it was a day of "what if's"
The girls were politely impressed with my first dig or so they said. However getting up and off no problems only to find turning and stopping intime to dodge the thousands, nay, millions of people trying in vain to do similar feats down the hill was a bit frustrating and beyond me early on. It was really, really packed on the lesser slopes and thats no error.
Next time... and there will be a next time i'll make sure its not on a weekend and hopefully I'll be able to learn how to turn both ways rather than switching from natural to goofy to natural as I criss cross down the slope. I can honestly say about 75% of my tumbles were graceful and generally a bailout so I didnt crash through a native who were all smaller than me and in my way! On the upside, there was no call for embarrassment at any time due to the fact I had many friends around me suffering the same fall from grace.

The next day was Christmas day and I had a great time. Firstly I went to Rob and Wendy's in Wondung near my school for some early revelry complete with egg nog. Was very nice, and we sat around having lots of laughs especially when all nationalities racked their brains for the rudest and funniest christmas carols they could remember. Then, courtesy of http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kevin+bloody+wilson we sang our hearts out to the tunes of "Frosty the Yobbo", "Ho Ho Fucking Ho" and that all time classic "Santa Clause you C#*t wheres my fu#*ing bike?" There wasnt a dry eye in the house.
After Rob and Wendy's I left for the girls house for a fine slap up Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings.

Egg nogg's workin a treat!

I arrive at "The Hacienda 'O' English Roses" to find the girls hard at it in the kitchen. Unfortunately they were suffering no ill effects from the previous days exertions on the slopes and my complaints yielded little sympathy.
The festive mood was continued however by the consumption of copious ammounts of "Mulled Wine" A hot tea-like red wine brew simmilar to Sangria (Look it up Dad, tis good stuff) and a traditional winter Christmas drink in Pommyland.

So, I can honestly say Christmas in Korea was very memorable and lots of fun thanks to the girls and the crew at Rob and Wendy's. I


At the moment i'm on a 5 day break from school and am not sure how to spend NYEve. Many of the locals have taken off for longer holidays to different countries and i'm saving my pennies for the trip down under in a few weeks for Jake and Naomi's wedding. I think I'll just put the feelers out and see if I can find a crowd somewhere. Maybe I'll go back to Bears Creek I definately know there is a big fu#*ing crowd there, unfortunately they are usually in my way.