Season's Greetings!

Hi everyone!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to those of you still at work and receiving this email. I am so excited that Christmas is just around the corner and that I have the wonderful opportunity to spend it with close family and friends, even though I am abroad. I have now begun the countdown of my classes left for 2009 :) And I am very happy to say that I only have 2 days of school left and perhaps 3-5 classes for this year. Tomorrow is the High School festival, so there won't be any teaching going on, just loads of entertainment! And Monday is my last day at Middle School, so perhaps only 3 classes :)

I received a wonderful Christmas gift this afternoon. One of my students asked me to please speak faster because their ability to listen and comprehend has now increased. What a fantastic reward. It's moments like these that make teaching a rewarding profession. :)

Anyway, it has become sooooooo cold here! I'm gonna have to start wearing all my clothes simultaneously one of these days. Fortunately for me, the USA also has some bitter winters, so I can do some decent winter clothes shopping there soon. At least, I won't have to worry about hunting for sizes that will fit me :)

Last Saturday, our middle school staff went on a day trip to the East Coast of Korea. Fortunately, the weather played along. We drove from beach to beach, had lunch at one of the numerous seafood restaurants, and strolled through a fish market on the quay. It reminded me so of Kalk Bay harbour, only here they had gigantic crabs galore, squid, all types of fish, mussels, and cockles, and strange-looking marine creatures that I've never ever seen before in my life! (I think one type of sea 'creature' must have been sea-slugs, cos they looked like big fat squirming worms, but not, if you can understand what I mean. Some things you have to just see to believe.) And they sell the fish fresh-fresh, they are still alive and swimming and breathing when you purchase!

Next we visited a wind farm. It was a wonderful thing to behold. Sustainable energy being produced by nature. Those windmills are HUGE! Cape Town could generate sooooooooo much electricity if they just established a few wind farms. We certainly get more than enough wind. No need for power-cuts. I've been seeing a few of these high-tech windmills on my various trips around Korea, but this was the most I've seen in one place thus far.

At the next beach we stopped off at, the PE teacher decided to put us through our paces. He organised us into teams, and next thing you know, we were all running relay races on the beach, while angry waves were crashing on the beach not too far away, and the wind was giving us a beating. I shocked everyone by how fast I ran. Guess they didn't expect a 'fatty' like me to be capable of pumping the muscles when needed! My team won, needless to say :) Next was a form of timid wrestling, pushing one another over in the sand. But very politely performed. Of course, copious amounts of beer and soju had already been consumed by this point. I don't know when last I had so much fun! Let alone when last I ran races on the beach!

Naturally, everyone dozed off after all that exertion and sea air, and for once the karaoke was silenced :) Speaking of karaoke, when my turn to sing came, I sang I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND (Beatles), which had everyone clapping, singing, and dancing in the bus aisle. The nutrition teacher then wouldn't let go of my hand. We arrived at another beach, he held onto my hand for dear life, dragged me down a mountain path and up another steep one to a lighthouse. Meanwhile everyone else was taking photos, I barely got a chance to observe the scenery, cos I was more worried about this sloshed man stumbling and taking me with him down the cliff! He, too, has now adopted me as his little sister :) Too sweet!

Well, I have only 5 more days left before I take to the skies again. I'll return to Korea for the month of January. And will be in Cape Town from Wednesday 3rd till Sunday 28th February 2010! So best get your bookings in :)

Lots of love to everyone. God Bless you and keep you all safe during this festive season. And I'll see you soon :)

HUGZ

Andrea