La Fin de Janvier

Hey all,

Back with another new post. This past week was the last week of winter camp. I can't believe how quickly it went by. It was a nice break from full days of teaching, but at the same time, I'm ready to be busy again. Regular school is back on this week, but only for 8 days, then it's back to desk warming.

Friday night I finally went skiing for the first time in Korea! It was a lot of fun and Korean ski resorts are great because they stay open quite late. I went with a friend from orientation, Derek, whose parents' best friend works at Land O'Lakes with Dad. Derek lives 5 minutes from the resort, Yangji Pine, and one of his students' parents work at a ski shop so I was able to rent skis, poles and boots for 10,000 won ($10), which was an unbelievable deal! Definitely not possible at home. Finding boots in my size was quite a challenge; they had to dig all the way in the back of the shelves for my size, 300. I got an excellent pair of rear-entry boots, which I haven't worn since I was 5 or 6 years old. At first the boots were a tight squeeze but once we got going my feet got as comfortable as they could. The skis I got weren't the best either, could've used a nice tuneup and waxing, but they were a cheap rental so I can't complain too much. For a Friday night, the resort wasn't very crowded at all, which was nice. It meant Derek and I could get in a ton of runs in the time we were there. I was definitely a little envious of Dad, who was out West in Montana with friends skiing, but I'm glad I got to go this past weekend as well. Compared to ski places in Minnesota, Yangji Pine was a little nicer. Higher elevation, same amount of runs, comparable ice to snow ratio. We got a little lucky with the weather. Earlier in the week, it warmed up a bit and rained, which = icy conditions. But, it snowed a little Friday during the day and the resort made snow overnight, which helped and it was a good time. The only problem for me is now that I've gone once I want to go again, hopefully soon. Not too much excitement on Saturday and now I'm back home, getting ready to watch the Federer-Murray Australian Open final. That's the one nice thing about the time difference here, the match is live at 5:30 pm instead of 2:30/3:30 am at home. That's all from here, hope everyone is well!

iPod A-Z song update: "Solo (So Low)" by "Shoeless" Joe Jackson