Happy New Year!

It's lunar new year's on Sunday which is a huge deal in Korea. Everyone goes to the graves of their ancestors and all the kids beg and bow to the older people for money. They've been begging me for money too but a co-teacher told me not to give it to them. 'They will use you,' she said. One of the students yesterday pleaded with me 'Teacher small homework please? It's New Year's!'

So I'm excited for a 3-day weekend, but also a little bummed because I looked ahead on the calender and I don't think I have another holiday till like May.

I went to Costco this morning. I've been putting it off all week but today I finally did it. It was foolish - it was packed. The Koreans don't have a sense of personal space like we do. It's a mad scrum trying to get on any elevator or across the street. Compound that with those massive shopping carts at Costco and it's nearly impossible to move around that place. I prevailed, though, and now I have lightly salted chips, sharp cheddar cheese, garganzola, Tabasco and olive oil.

Here are a couple pics from a Korean War monument I found when I was biking around. It commemorates the Korean and American Marines crossing the Han River on their way to assault Seoul to retake it from the commies: