Vacation Over

Well, I haven't written or posted any news in awhile, but I have a good excuse. I was fortunate enough to have Wednesday through Sunday of last week off for a little vacation.

We got Wednesday off for Children's Day, Thursday because it was our school's anniversary and Friday as a bonus day. Of course, being Korea, it didn't work exactly like that. We were supposed to simply have Friday off. The vice principal filled us in on Thursday that we weren't going to have to work, but we would have to use a vacation day. So there's that. I certainly don't mind though.

Because I'm flying home for my sister's wedding in August, I'm being a bit stingy about travel this year. That would have been a fine time to hit a new country, as my co-workers did by traveling to China, but I decided to just get some rest.

I needed it, too, considering the amount I've been putting in at salsa while preparing for the June 5 competition in Seoul.

On Wednesday, we practiced for 5 hours. My legs were already tired from playing basketball the night before. Of, if you're curious, I kept my undefeated streak against Koreans alive. It was close though, with a 20-18 victory.

On Thursday, I did almost nothing and it was awesome. I did go to Shinsegae to say hello to Jeong Mi, but that was only about an hour out of my day.

On Friday, I had dance class in the evening, then Jeong Mi came over to hang out. Unfortunately, we couldn't go out because she had to get up early due to a schedule change at her job. She was originally supposed to go in late Saturday. Once again -- that's just Korea.

On Saturday, I practiced dance for 2 hours, then met Jeong Mi in Guworldong. We went out and got beef galbi, which makes me never want to eat pork galbi again. When you eat the beef galbi, it's just such a wonderful taste. You realize then that while comforting, fast food can never really substitute what we eat so commonly back in the US. Of course, it comes at a price. The beef galbi is easily 3,000 to 4,000 won more expensive than a portion of pork galbi.

Jeong Mi treated for dinner, and we followed it up with me treating at a noraebang. Now, it's no secret that I love the singing rooms. It's fun to go in a big group, but it's also a great time to just go as a couple. We even got to sing some Korean duets when she picked the Korean "oldies" she knows I like.

On Sunday, it was back to the dancing grind. We went to the studio in Bucheon to practice. I didn't mind practicing Sunday, but I hated going to Bucheon for it. It's just a little too far away. Getting to the Ganseokogeori studio is a hassle in itself which takes about 45 minutes total, including walking to the subway.

It's only about 5 minutes walking to the bus stop for the Bucheon bus, but you can wait up to 20 minutes, and then have possibly an hour of driving, depending on how bad traffic (always) is in Korea. I got there Sunday in 1 hour 15 minutes, and that was making good time.

We only practiced for 3 hours, so that was a relief. Also, Fafa bought pizza for us on both Wednesday and Sunday, so that was very generous.

I'll definitely take a little break from dance after the competition. It sucks having almost no free time right now, but this is just a build-up to the show. I'm committed to the cause and I'm the one who so blatantly said I'm doing this to win.

So until June 6, I'm focused on salsa and salsa only.

Maybe starting tomorrow, I'll post some news stories that I've found interesting over the past few days. Nothing monumental has happened, so it's not a big deal.

But I'm back at work and back on the old schedule. Boy, that break was nice.