It's almost the end of the year, but instead of winding down everything here has picked up considerably.
Because the schools are closed for a month-long winter vacation, the extracurricular schools have started five-week intensive classes. This means two extra classes a day for me (excepting Fridays - at least there's that!). It also means the work day begins at 9:30 in the morning. In terms of 'normal jobs' this doesn't sound so bad, but I have to stay at the school until 9:30 at night as well. So basically - that's a lot of work.
We do get a break between morning and afternoon classes, but if you're lucky and have absolutely nothing to prepare (and you're able to get right out of the door), you can only squeeze two hours out of this.
Adding to the situation has been the drastic drop in temperatures that has happened in just the past few weeks. All of a sudden it's gotten quite chilly, so even when there are break times, going outside isn't the first thing you want to do.
Christmas was very low-key this year. Courtney came from Seoul to visit, and because both of us were under the weather and freezing we only got to walk around a bit in the downtown area and go to the Christmas dinner that a bunch of the people here set up. It was a nice dinner, but I wasn't up for doing much so I was in bed before 11 p.m.
Up next - we leave for Taiwan in two days! We're getting excited, because it's been 60-70 degrees there, and it will be a nice escape from intensives. Mostly we're just hoping our flight isn't delayed, because if it is we might not get back to our city in time for our first classes on Monday.
I hope everyone had a great holiday season, and a Happy New Year to all!
