Raiding the archives..

Hi. Time for some more photos of course, but this time I thought I'd do a tad more writing. First off, hope everyone's well back at home. I'm doin' well here, just to let you know.

What have I been up to you might ask? And that, truthfully, is a good question. The answer: sometimes a lot, and sometimes not much. It's the balance between those two that makes my life so worthwhile, right! All right then, I'll try and assemble my thoughts..

Over these past two weeks, I've been to Itaewon twice! Which is strange, considering I had only been there maybe twice in all the months before. Itaewon is a strange place, being described as "foreigner village." For the most part, this is true as you will surely see more foreigners than any other place in Seoul combined.. However, the vast majority of these foreigners are American soldiers, so it creates an interesting atmosphere for sure..

Regardless, shopping is good there. Accordingly, HJ and I bought each other some new Nike kicks for Valentine's Day. How romantic! Our love runs deep...deeply superficial. Then, the following week, I took another native teacher, Marc, out there and managed to find him some shoes too! But, no, we did not buy each other shoes. We're close, but not that close.

Later that night, we partied down at a Mexican restaurant. This was stellar folks, nothing can beat a good burrito. The fact there was a latino guy shakin' it like Shakira didn't hurt either! Anyway, a lot of fun...good to hear English being spoken everywhere..strange I know.

Two weekends ago, I met up with Bart Park! I knew this guy from Canada, when he went to my church. Awesome guy, full of life, full of craziness.. So, I finally met the incredible trek into Mokdong, which is about an hour and a half from my appartment to partake in a game of soccer with his church! Actually, I met his entire family! It was great, Bart, the chef, cooked me up some barbeque at his house..

Soccer was intense. I have so much respect for Korean soccer culture. Or maybe I realize how pampered we are in North America. First off, it's probably minus 2 or 3 degrees Celsius. Second, it's dark - thankfully they had some lights.. Third, it's an extremely tough gravel soccer pitch. And last - we played for 2 and a half hours!! To say I was tired afterwards is a gross understatement...and the sad thing is...these guys could probably play for another 2 and a half hours! Now, this is not just a Mokdong thing, although I'm sure these "blokes are well 'ard", I have experienced similar craziness with my regular soccer team! Much respect.

Okay, on to the relevant issue at hand: my birthday. You know what? My birthday was awhile ago, and in "Paul-like" fashion, it's taken me an entire month to post the photos. Just in case you were wondering, the most special day of the entire year happens to be January 22nd. Only if you were wondering..

HJ surprised me by arranging a birthday dinner at Ho Lee Chow!

This lovely couple is Kyung-june and Joyce, HJ's friends (mine also).

Sandwiched between Ahyoung and HJ!

Aaahh.. posing with birthday cake at Paris Croissant

Pre-cutting positioning..

Chillin' with the ladies.

Fantastic cake.

Opening Ahyoung's gift!

Wearing Ahyoung's gift!

Later on..HJ's gift to me! A Levi's hoodie..

Dangerous, yes?

And the most spectacular gift of them all..HJ bought me a new watch!

Well then, good bye for now! Again, hope all are sleeping well. Keep it real out there, will you?

Peace.

-Paul