Winter Continues. Yes, still.

January was such a blur.

I threw myself into work. Lots of running around and keeping busy. One of my tried & true defense mechanisms: Exhaust myself to the point that there's no time to analyze.

That being said, I ended up with a pretty nice schedule at Pagoda, teaching 8-10 hours a day, with decent students. It was a bit tiring and still a split, but manageable.

Then I was offered an opportunity to do something that could further a potential career path after I'm finished with ESL teaching. I was brought in to meet with the Academic Director of Pagoda and a few others to discuss an editing opportunity. A fantastic chance to do both content editing and proofreading for an academic textbook. After everything was said and done, this meant that I was going to be working an additional 30 hours in just 10 days (including a weekend). Yikes. But still. Whoa. And, obviously, I accepted. 

Ten days later, with lots of red ink, mini arguments with the boyfriend and a severe lack of sleep attached, my project was finished. And, as those of you who know my editing style, there were lots of commas. I am crazy addicted to commas. Love them. Maybe it's how I talk, but I love knowing when to pause during sentences and just letting information or feelings or just plain attitude sink in.

And there you go. My January can be summed up in a few words:

No sleep. Editing. Boyfriend.

Oh. And I'm an expert banana bread maker.

Until next time x

Holidays: Home for Christmas and NYE in Korea

A week at home is not enough.

With exactly seven days to enjoy California, I made it my mission to do anything and everything. Except sleep #overrated. This included lots of sunshine, family time and food babies, and I couldn't have been happier about it.

I got back to Korea late Monday night, met the boyfriend at the subway station and would not let go of him. Lots of hugs and kisses and him carrying my luggage. Yessss. With everything going on, I'm really thankful that he's able to take in my mood swings and bouts of crying/laughter/emotions. I don't know how he does it. Cue lots of Christmas presents for him, partly to make up for my lack of physical presence on Christmas and partly because I am a fantastic girlfriend. And super modest.

It's been a quiet couple of days for us and I'm not complaining. We've only left the apartment a couple of times, instead wanting to be together and couple-y. AWWW. As much as I would have liked to celebrate NYE in a more rambunctious atmosphere, it was nice being with him and *finally* getting a proper kiss at midnight! It's quite a change from last NYE, which we spent in a recently befriended Filipino man's house, singing and drinking and dancing, but enjoyable all the same.

2013's Resolutions:

Visit five new countries; live in one.

—Hmmm. Thailand. Malaysia. Indonesia. But it's not really my fault that our trip got cut short. Shout out to stalker Kuta taxi drivers. On the other hand, I stayed in England for three months, so that's semi like living in another country. *Damn Korea and its good pay!

Read another Steinbeck novel.

—Oops.

Be more open—say yes!

—Yes. Definitely. YES.

2014's Resolutions:

Appreciate relationships—Family. Friends. Boyfriend. I'm beyond grateful that I still have the relationships that I do and it's about time that I amp up my efforts.

Erase debt—Simple enough. 

Laugh things off—Don't sweat the small stuff. Don't mind the bullshit. Pagoda and Korea will test me on this one, but I'm not about to surrender so easily.