merry christmas

Merry Christmas from South Korea!

Yesterday we spread some Christmas cheer around our school by wearing silly little elf headbands in our classes. I think it was one of the best days at work, doing Christmas themed English activities and playing Christmas music for the kiddos.

I wrote Merry Christmas on all of my white boards and some of the kids asked me how to do cursive handwriting. They were mesmerized. It was great to see their faces light up trying something new and challenging.

Yuri and I spent the rest of our Christmas eve together by singing/rapping our hearts out to some Christmas Carols at a noraebang (karaoke room) and today I was able to Skype with my family opening up the sweet gifts that they sent along in the mail. It's been a relaxing day.

I couldn't help but open a couple of my gifts the night before. I had been looking at some of these packages for nearly a month!

One of the sweetest gifts was from one of my adult students, Hye Young. She neatly hand stitched the little slippers for me in the picture. It's something I will treasure for a long time, for sure.

You don't really consider how much you love your home province until you are unable to go there. It was such a nice surprise to receive so many Newfie-themed/home comforts gifts. Seriously, perfect. I decided they deserved a photo all on their own with my teeny tree.

I especially love the Newfoundland flag hat from Elizabeth and the Jellybean Row ornament from Robyn. I can try to make my own version of the Festive Special with the Chalet Sauce!! The Newfoundland Chocolate Company stash is almost too beautiful to eat.

Again, packages and cards from home made me feel a lot closer to it. Thank you for your thoughtfulness on a potentially lonely special day!

Well, as they say here in Korea,

메리 크리스마스! 

(may-ri ke-ri-se-ma-se)

christmas 2014

I always look forward to our annual Christmas gathering with my mom's side of the family.
At some point in the evening we usually take a few pictures by the tree. Here are a few of 'em!

christmas cabin tour

Where I lived for four months. I hope I get a room this size when I go back, it was surprisingly one of the bigger ones! I know I'm lame-o but it was good memories. And I love seeing my English friend Mel. She was absolutely lovely.

a glance out the window

christmas morning

yer grandmother's tv

Tonight a bunch of us went over to my cousin Jocelyn's house to hang out and play some games. Catch Phrase, Things in a Box and a short game of Pictionary ruled the evening. It was a good laugh. She had a large selection of treats to munch on and it wasn't the cookies or chocolates (as yummy as they were!) 

but the tray of fresh veggies that held my attention. Oh how I've missed such simple luxuries.

I probably ate half the tray myself. Her punch was amazing as well.

//Above picture was taken in my backyard; Title: Things parents shouldn't pass down//

imma be under tha mistletoe

Robyn tweeted that Christmas isn't Christmas until there is a family argument. By the responses she received from it, that's an absolute Truth for just about every family out there! I have to say, we went through our day without too much fuss. I was probably at my Grinchiest when Mom called up the steps at nine thirty this morning to wake Catherine and I up. It's tradition that I'm the last one out of bed and this year was no exception. After some warm cinnamon buns and bacon I sweetened right on up.

Elizabeth's hubby-to-be joined us this year as we opened up our stockings and gifts and it was a nice addition to our little gathering. It was nice that pretty much everything in my stocking was a surprise this year haha and Santa and his elves did a good job. Honestly, just being home was already the best Christmas gift, anything else was just extra.

I brought my family back a bunch of things that I'd gathered along my trip, but my favourite gift was to my Dad. Since he wears hats all the time, I gave him his very own Goofy hat! He had a good laugh, and so did we when he put it on. Loved it!

Turkey dinner was amazing, although I couldn't eat very much since my stomach is still not adjusted back to having quality food in its presence. Mom's Seven Cup Pudding was divine. Shortly afterwards Catherine and I retreated to the livingroom where passed out in a food coma for the next few hours.

The church carol singalong then a brief drive around the harbour was a nice finish to the evening. Catherine and I are currently back in comfy clothes and I've managed to devour an entire bag of popcorn while watching Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

Yay Christmas.

home sweet home

Best things about coming home:

Mom kindly making me an especially delicious supper to welcome me home.

Seeing progress made on the back room Dad has been working on bit by bit over the past year.
 
Having Catherine's sense of humour back in my life.

Seeing Elizabeth's engagement ring in person.

SNOW! I was ready for some winter in my life.

Chilling in my room, catching up on my blog browsing and eating half a dozen clementines in one sitting.

There are many, many good things about being home, especially at Christmas time. 

Christmas Eve was a great day in particular. We had lunch at my Aunt & Uncle's house and cousin Beth and her hubby Louis were here for the week visiting from Montreal. Elizabeth got Shane to come along for the festivities as well. Dinner observed one of the most entertaining conversations I've heard in a while. It revolved around "late" thank you cards and the appreciation of facial qualites in a wedding photo. Translations of the word 'pancake' came up as well: 'crepe' or 'pancake-uh'.

 We took photos by the Christmas tree. It's become an annual thing.

Catherine and I decided to stay in town for the Christmas Eve event at Elim church. To pass the time, we went to the mall, wandered around downtown, then went to the park.

We came home and finished wrapping presents. Catherine was especially helpful, the good little elf she is.

xo

warm and bright

merry christmas eve to all of you.

heading home

I'm currently sitting in the Toronto airport waiting for my *new* flight to leave. Half way there! First flight was delayed which threw it all off. Ah well. It's funny how tired I look, hence the picture that describes how I feel. Don't. Look. At. Me. Haha.

The last 24 hours have been incredibly hectic and I am so ready to sleep in my own bed at home. I went to bed around 2am on my last night. I had so much fun at crew goodbyes, the energy and the hugs and kisses I got made me feel so loved. I didn't want to leave. For the last week (and even now) it would not sink in that I was heading home. I have such mixed feelings about it still. I was happy to finally see the end of my contract, to get to be home with family and friends but knowing that when I go, there would be so many people I've come to love and connect with that will not be there when I come back. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them as possible. My packing was about 90% left to the last minute, as per usual. Spent my last evening stressing out over lack of space issues, but taking plenty of breaks in-between to visit Emma on her work break, then to go with Melanie (Bradley & Ashley showed up too) to watch Ema and Dan, aka The Dreamer's last show on the ship, and again later sneak some pizza at Pinocchio's. As cool as it's been to be a sort of trail blazer when it comes to doing this job, coming home and not having a friend that shared the experience along with me is the tough part. All of my new friends are too far away. It's bittersweet.

Got up 6:30 to finish packing and then from 7-9am I was back and forth non-stop between costuming and crew office and throwing away a massive amount of trash, breakfast and then finally back to the office again to get my last check. Lines were long. Diversions (a lounge) was our meeting point to get our last bit of info before we left. Emma and Mel and a few others came to wish me, Carl, Anne, Mark, Kevin, Ema and Dan a farewell.  Only Kevin and I are coming back to the Wonder. The rest are either done, or heading on to the Fantasy. Le sigh. Good news that I learned this morning, however is that the band, Speakerbox will be back again in April. I'm glad I'll have at least one musical pleasure to look forward to. Not sure if I love the name, but I definitely like their sound, those cuties from England. Side note, I'm pretty sure there's a job for absolutely everyone I know on a cruise ship. It's such a unique environment to have so many different minded people come together to make it all work. You rub shoulders with performers/entertainers, musicians, electricians, carpenters, engineers, waiters/waitresses, chefs, photographers, massage therapists, hair stylists, teachers, CHARACTERS like Mickey and Minnie all day long. It's pretty amazing. I mean, my job entails more than just being a youth counselor. I'm part receptionist/info guide, Character body guard, and cafeteria lady as well.

So, as you've probably guessed I have signed my returning contract. I'll head back in February! I'll get a pretty cool itinerary again, getting to sail to a few different places. It'll be back to Mexico a little bit, go on their first cruise to Hawaii, up the Pacific coast to San Fran, and then back to Alaska! I'm excited that I'm not stuck in Mexico the whole time. 'Cause as beautiful as it is, the inconvenience of the itinerary and schedule clashes start to get to ya.

The rest of my day yesterday was spent at the airport was spent eating a good burger, reading magazines, hating my computer for dying on me with no available power source, journal writing and trying not to fall asleep. I was there for about ten hours waiting. Brutal. Luckily I had Mark and Anne for the last hour or so to pass the time before our flight to T-dot together. Now I'm half way through waiting another four hours since I missed my connecting flight. Ahh. And I already feel my body adjusting to non-ship food and air. My entire body is stiff and achey. Unless it's simply early onset of old age.

This is probably long enough. Thanks for reading if you did! My thoughts are pretty reflective at this point since I'm still in limbo towards home. It's strange to suddenly have a whole day to yourself. You realize just how much you need time to process everything. You forget that you actually like having time to yourself. Did those four months really happen? It's gone like a dream already. Working four months straight with just one day off the entire time is insane. 

I'm ready for vacation!!!

home in...

ONE MORE WEEK!

unexpected update

Wow, what a surprise! The ship internet is actually allowing me to access blogger! My time here on the Wonder is coming to a close. I have just a week and a half left to this contract. They are training me to be a group anchor right now, aka a floor supervisor. It's something everyone eventually has to do, but usually they wait until a couple of weeks into your second contract. I should feel honoured, not stressed, right?

I am so excited to be going home in time for Christmas. The holiday spirit is definitely in the air but it's hard to believe its December and Christmastime with all the heat and sun around me. I'm actually excited for a reason to wear layers and boots. But I know that feeling will only continue for about three and a half minutes once I get home! Ha. For now I'm ready to hear carols and get excited to be home with my sisters doing fun stuff. I need coffee chats and somebody has to make a gingerbread house with me. No buts.


Like I said before, not sure if I'll be able to update this again before I get home but I really believe that overall this has been one of the most enjoyable work experiences I've ever had. Maybe my mindset's been different and I've been lucky to have met a ton of really great people. North America, Europe, Africa and Australia. No matter how bad a day might be, and there have definitely been bad days, I remind myself I've done this for me and no one else and it's been incredibly freeing.

All the things I've crossed off my bucket list in these last four months have made the rough days so worth it. I've had the time of my life! Love you all and see many of you very soon.

cute kids

Hey everybody. I'm still here. Haven't been able to access my blog while on the ship (frustrating to say the least) and I haven't brought my laptop ashore in a while. For some reason I can now so here I am. Anyhoo, just wanted to say a quick hello and inform you that Christmas has arrived on the ship. The tree is up in the big atrium and our kids spaces are decked out too. I don't really mind since I kinda started listening to some Christmas music this week. I have about 6 weeks left on the ship and I'm very much looking forward to spending it with my fam at home.

I had a funny conversation when I was walking with one of the little girls in our spaces, bringing her from the Lab over to the Club and we saw her parents along the way. The mother looks at her and says "Mommy's just gotta put some makeup on and we'll be right back to get you!" The girl is delighted and we continue on our way. Little K says, "Mommy puts lipstick on everyday." I say, "Maybe she thinks it makes her look pretty." She hesitates for a moment and declares, "No, only sometimes!" (If only you could see how sweet and cute this little girl is, and how chatty she can be it when she's out of her shell, twas quite unexpected) then she continues to say, "she doesn't always look good with it. My grandma, she wears lipstick every day too." I figured it would be best not to tell her mommy that story when she later came to pick her up but I chuckled inside.

Til next time.