Well to be honest, this was quite possibly the most lackluster of New Year's to date.... We had Glorious plans to travel to Deagu and see my college friend Whitney (yes hollie she does exist!) and spend our new year with friends ( well mostly whitney's friends)... but around tuesday things just totally fell apart and the rest of the week followed as badly as expected.
The Kids have a special day called Market day, in which we turn the school into a market ( they get stars for doing homework and answering questions and good behavior) so using some kooky formular the number of stars translates into won or money for the kids to spend on market day... they can buy all kinds of school supplies or food... This day was originally planned for the 30th... and thus we had the 31st off... which was fantastic, and gave us four days of holiday which we felt were much needed and well deserved, well on tuesday we found out that a few days prior notice had been sent home to the kids about a change in plans and that market day would be on the 31st.... and somehow nobody remembered to tell the foreigner teachers.... who looked at the board that said 12/30 Market day....and then a bunch of korean.... apparently that was just information to help the Korean teachers prepare for market day which would be the next day... Which nobody bothered to tell us was the real day.
So we had to work on new years eve.... which was not looking so bad... because we normally get off at 8:30 - 8:45 pm, but on market day the later classes come early and we get off at 5:30... so we are thinking... ok we can still catch a bus, but then our boss informs us that we will have to stay past 5:30 to clean up and then move all the desk so the construction crew who started renovations before christmas could finish the renovations over this holiday....
So basically we were going to work our regular hours, ok fine....
So they tell us to come early new years eve at 12 for lunch stuff, so we were thinking ok cool they keep up longer but at least they feed us.... well again we were wrong, they meant we had to prepare food for market day, which was for the kids.... so joseph adn I stupidly went to work without eating, and were STARVING all day long.
Even worse was they seperated us for Market day so we could not even talk to each other all day. Poor Joseph had to sell food to the kids and Sen and I sold stationary stuff, and we didn't get a change to leave our stations the entire day.
And on top of it, due to renovations there was a heavy paint smell so they had to keep the windows open so you could breathe, which meant it was freezing inside... and I am still getting over this darn cold, so that didn't help me much...
And then the never enging cleaning session, we moved desks and chairs, and swept and mopped and had about 15 bags of trash when all was said and done... it was insane.
When they finally let us go for the night it was about 8:45.... and we were exhausted. Dani and Malcolm told us about a cool get together at the Jazz bar in Gohyeon, but I was so sick and cold and tired, I was not up for the walk, and even worse was our friend Willow had invited us on a cool New years cruise with a buffett dinner, but we didn't get off work in time to even attempt to buy tickets ( which I am sure were sold out anyway).....
so yeah... at the point we missed the bus to Deagu, we missed the bar and we missed the boat... things could not possibly get worse..... wait... is that a sparkle of light at the end of the tunnel.... Wait... I see something familiar sitting on my desk as I get ready to leave work for my break.... Ohh a box.... thinking it was the new box of News papers, I almost ignored it, but I happen to catch the "akley" at the end of the return address, which was not in Korean....
and this was what made this totally crappy horrid day some much better....
AMANDA HOLLWAY AND LINDSEY WAKELY ARE FABULOUS!!!
They sent us Love from the US!
The first thing we did was open the box... we were in serious need of mood brightening and spirit lifting.
everything stayed perfectly in place though this package's journey to Korea, we were astounded...
After reading the card I like how the exact words were "I might have gone a little overboard on the foodstuffs...." No, no you didn't! This was the best new years treat of all time.
GUSHERS... omg my 5th grade self just did a backflip!
And on top of it, they sweetly added three presents for me
and three for the boy.
We each took turns opening our gifts! Yeah Gloves for me!!!!
And the coolest see through cards I have ever seen through in my life for Joseph.
New earrings, which rocks since I lost a back to my hoops here! Fantastic!
A multi-tool for joseph, which we could have used a week ago when we wanted to tweak our showerhead... Joseph's exact words "it's like they knew we were having a crappy day, and they knew how to fix it!"
A new hat to replace the one I lost!!!!!!
Joseph said I should wear it like this....
Yeah Lipton ( this must be picked out by Lindsey!!!!)
Joseph also got a pair of gloves but in my rush to open and eat a package of gushers I forgot to get a picture....they actually fit though! Ahh the aftermath of our enjoyment of the package!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU AMANDA AND LINDSEY!!!! this was the one bright spot on the last day of the year... What a way to help us start the year off better! Miss you guys tons...
and btw it took me a long time to get Joseph to pay attention to the countdown and not his new multi-tool so you guys scored big points with that gift!
Ali's New Years Resolutions!
1.) Try to be more understanding of Korea and it's customs, and not hate my boss.
2.) Keep the apartment cleaner
3) Send out more boxes home, they bring me joy when they send them to me, so I want to spead the joy to the people I love at home!
4) Stop biting my darn nails!
Joseph's New Years Resolutions
He says he is already attained the level of perfection to which he desires
ok....
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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