Disaster on this side of the world...

Well, I'm sure you've all seen the news lately...and heard about the horrible earthquake in the Indian Ocean, and the tsunamis that followed. Chris and I were stunned. Until a few weeks ago, we had planned to spend Christmas in Thailand, and it seems we missed by some divine intervention what is one of the worst disasters in our lifetime. Here's a link to one of the latest articles: Quake, Tsunami Death Toll Over 60,000 .
It's hard to imagine here in Seoul, where its sunny, and quiet, that life only a five-hour plane ride away is in chaos. I am waiting for news of some of my students and friends who planned trips to Thailand over Christmas...I'm hoping they are all safe.

Well, it's Christmas Day-around midnight, and my dear husband is playing Star Wars Battlefront on his new Xbox :). So I thought I'd hop on and add a few thoughts to end this year's blogging. We had a wonderful day today-as good as we could considering we weren't able to go home. Our family made it a lot easier for us, though, by sending lots of great presents and getting on the webcam for the last couple days. It makes me sad to think of all the soldiers here that didn't get to go home for Christmas, and didn't have anyone to spend it with. The good thing is, no matter how bad I miss home, I always have Chris right here...and that makes anything bearable. It was a quiet day-very nice and relaxing. We cooked a turkey and some good stuff to go with it...but ate like birds! Unlike Thanksgiving.... Oh well, there's always tomorrow! At least there's lots leftover. Chris gave me some beautiful presents, pictures of which are on our website-Seoultrain. I also took some pics of us just opening up some presents and some of the tree...so feel free to take a look. We'll probably go down to Yongsan Electronics Market again tomorrow to see if Chris can round up some memory for his Xbox, but we don't have much else planned for this holiday weekend. That's probably a good thing, since it's expected to snow either tomorrow or Monday here. It's been chilly here lately-in the 20's during the day...but it's mostly the wind that's sooo cold. I'm kinda looking forward to seeing a little bit of snow. Especially since I have the next week off and won't have to walk around in it if I don't want to!
Rachel went home for Christmas last Saturday, and is having a great time visiting with everyone. She's been catching up with all of her friends, and making up for lost time wth our nephew David. He's quite a character, from what I hear and see of him-repeating everything, especially the stuff you don't want him to. There's nothing funnier than hearing a little bitty voice say " crap! crap! crap!". Hehehehe. Of course, I've only heard Mommy-approved words over the webcam, like Merry Christmas! and cappuccino. He also says Sarah quite nicely and Unka Chris.

Hello again

Okay, I know its been about a month since my last post. But in my defense, I have been posting new pictures at least on our website...www.seoultrain.net...I just have been too busy to put any real thoughts down here. But with Thanksgiving over, and Christmas approaching, its starting to calm down here. For a quick update: I'm now working on two AVID classes, so will be pretty much full-time at the high school from now on. I'm also going to start Taekwondo classes (and yoga too, hopefully) over the Christmas break, which starts next Saturday. Rachel is now a red belt in Taekwondo, and has joined the demonstration team as a manager, so is practicing regularly with them. She will also be starting Aikido after Christmas break. She made 6 A's and 2 B's on her first report card, and is looking forward to picking a couple new classes for the next semester. Since she's the photographic editor for the school newspaper, she'll probably take a photography class, which will be fun. She leaves to go home to Louisiana next Saturday, and is really looking forward to Christmas with the family. Chris is still enjoying his job-his last TDY took him down south for a couple weeks, but he came home right in time for Thanksgiving and our anniversary. He's starting some college classes, so he should be pretty busy soon! Oh, and we finally got a car-a lovely '92 Hyundai Elantra, a real Korean junker, for the steep price of $400. It's just wonderful-so nice not to have to carry groceries home anymore-and right in time for the cold weather!
On the shopping front-Rachel and I have discovered the fabric market at Dongdaemun! And we are in heaven! I have some pictures posted on the website, under the Seoultrain picture gallery. It's an unbelievable place, and too much to describe here, but if you're a fan of sewing, knitting, jewelry making, or any sort of crafting, you'd love this place. My friend Trisha and I went searching for fabric and made some Christmas stockings (pics of course on the website), and I am making an outfit for my new godson (who will be born soon!).
So that's the update for now-hopefully I'll be better at blogging in the future. We'll see...