Thoughts of the day

This week my students have their finals. This means my office is extremely quiet because all teachers are monitoring in the classrooms for the tests. It also means I have no classes to teach and tons of office time!

This is perfect for me since this Saturday we have having our pre-wedding party with our friends on the island, as well as our co-teachers. Although at first it was going to be a pretty casual and smaller get-together, the list of guests has suddenly turned into about 115 people! We have about 25 English co-workers and other close staff from each of our schools, which makes 50, then we have about 50 foreign friends (other English teachers on the island), and then about 10 or so other Korean friends we've met and become close with (Keith's kickboxing instructor, my gym trainer, the guy at our bank and his fiance who we go out with, etc).

Surprisingly, we were able to get a very great deal on a banquet hall at this really huge and beautiful, castle-looking resort, Daemyoung Resort, near Hamdeok beach. We originally just wanted to have the party on Hamdeok beach (a beautiful and clean beach about 30 mins away from our apt), but with the rainy season, hot and humid weather, and so many people, we went ahead and did our research at this resort. We were lucky with the deal we were able to get ...it is nothing like the banquet halls at home...this is extremely reasonable!!...(with the kind help of my Korean co-teacher), and we are having everyone pay for their own buffet ticket ($30 or 30,000 won).


The buffet has soup, salad, Korean food, western food (salmon, duck, hamburgers, spaghetti, mussels, etc), Japanese food, dessert, drinks, etc....such a great variety. We have the banquet hall for 4 hours, have a complimentary norebong (singing or karaoke system included in the room) and were able to get an amazing deal on a seaside room for Keith and I to stay in that night.

The event will consist of dinner, a short and sweet announcement, a slide-show display that I have been working on like crazy this week to finish. It's a movie made from windows movie maker and has pictures/a story from our past and when and how Keith and I met, leading to now living in Jeju. It's pretty much a special thanks to our friends and co-workers/staff to have this amazing year with them and reminding them of all the many memories we've made together. It also thanks them for being part of our special celebration before we go get married. After the slide-show, there will be music (our friend is going to dj), dancing and singing, drinking, etc.

The resort also has a sauna/ jijibong (you can shower, workout and go into different temperature steam rooms or sauna rooms), and it has a game/billiards room, other restaurants, and small singing rooms, which are popular here. So much to do there! But most importantly, it has the nice big banquet hall and the resort is right off of our favorite beach.

After the 6pm-10pm banquet hall event, everyone (most likely just our foreigner friends) will head outside to Hamdeok beach, have a bonfire, drink and camp out all night! The celebration will last all weekend, with a full day at the beach the next day.

I'll show you pictures and update you on how the event went after this weekend! I hope it turns out great...there will be a lot of people there!



Besides this event, we are getting everything squared away with last minute wedding things, making sure we get re-signed and can visit the immigration office before heading home, and thinking of all the important things we'll have to do when we get back to Chicago. The packing, I think, will be the most difficult for me when preparing for our vacations this summer! We will be going straight from Hawaii, to Samoa (wedding), then straight back to Hawaii to get home...so it will be a whole month of traveling! We can't wait!

Exciting things....

-I just picked out wedding shoes (which actually fit!! my feet are too big for this culture!) and they look really pretty with the wedding dress
-I just got earrings so am good to go for my entire wedding attire
-Keith just ordered from online a nice looking wedding attire...perfect for the beach!
-we are getting all of the RSVPs for our party and hearing little details on the work in progress that our parents are doing to prepare for the big event on august 21st!
-we only have 2 more weeks until we leave for Hawaii (July 22nd to be exact)!
-we only have 4 weeks until Keith and I will be husband and wife! (August 7th to be exact)!

As you can see, my mind is spinning with excitement as we are preparing to leave and finishing our first year of teaching...our minds are on SUMMER VACATIONS, MARRIAGE, SEEING OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS AT HOME!!!! ...of course my mind is racing!

Well, I'll update a little more right before leaving because we'll have a few more important events. Until then, hope your summer is going great and enjoy the sunny weather! Miss you all!