Where do the days go?!

So we're coming up on the end of yet another month, it has almost been three months since we left! What?? Where has the time gone? It almost feels like yesterday, sometimes I wake up thinking for a second that I'm in my bed at home. That may just be wishful thinking though, Koreans are used to sleeping on the floor so my bed here pretty much feels like that. I just invested in a nice pad thing and now it's even harder to get out of bed in the mornings!

Speaking of, I am thanful to be getting used to a normal work schedule. Before I left, I was working at a golf course and the hours were not very regular and unless I opened for breakfast on the weekends, the earliest I had to be there was 10am. These days I am waking up at 7am and starting my day at 8:15am. And even though every morning when I wake up I wonder if there's any way I can get out of work that day (haha), I appreciate a normal schedule and have gotten used to waking up so early. Granted, that morning (and mid-morning, afternoon, sometimes evening :) coffee really helps!!

We have a very full weekend coming up, it is Katie's 23rd birthday on Sunday so we will be hitting the town Saturday night to celebrate her! We are also waking up VERY early (for a weekend) on Saturday morning to heard to Seoul for a hike. Our friend Katelan has done this hike before and apparently it takes about five and a half hours because theres so much to see along the way. She says there's a lot of lookouts, small temples, and other sites along the way to check out. I'm really excited! I like to hike and I think it will be a great chance to see some parts of Seoul we may not otherwise. So after that we are going to stay in Seoul and get a hostel to shower and change in, then head out in the area for Katie's birthday. Sunday will be devoted to the long subway ride home from Seoul, relaxing, and pulling together a birthday gift for Katie!

Last weekend was also busy! The Cherry Blossom Festival in Yeouido, an area of Seoul, started at the beginning of the month and goes for a little over two weeks. We went last weekend and it was so beautiful! There a 3 km walk that's lined with the trees on both sides and they are all in full bloom. I guess if you can catch it on the right weekend, the petals are falling everywhere and it's really nice. But it was just as beautiful when we went and it was a nice sunny day as well. There's all sort of vendors and other things set up along the way. A lot of artists come out and set up shop, drawing people as they sit and wait. There were also a ton of photographers wanting to take your picture with the trees! We did pretty well on our own though. Our group was a little lost at first trying to find the actual "festival" part of the area. We came across this huge open field with a bunch of people in it, a basketball court with some people playing, and a couple stages. Turns out though that was some demonstration, there were a bunch of people with huge flags gathered there. Also, I noticed it was only men. I am still so curious to know what they were protesting! I asked around but they either completely didn't understand what I was asking or just said "hello" to everything I asked. Quite the language barrier!

Well it's the end of the school day for me, so time to go! Sorry such a short note this time, I will have much more to write about after this weekend... that is if I don't pass out on this hike tomorrow.

Love from Korea!!