Expat New Year's 2012

Hello and Happy New Year!

Joseph and I had a very quiet and boring New Year's weekend.  It was great.  No fireworks.  No yelling when the clock struck midnight.  We missed it a little bit but it was very nice to have a night of normal.  On the other hand, a New Year without fireworks or hearing them a few houses away just isn't New Year's. 


We bummed around yesterday and cleaned the apartment (shockingly fast, haha) and went between napping and/or watching TV.  Hung out with Amy and ate yummy sandwiches and juice at a great place: Arista Coffee.  Stayed at Amy's watching movies, napping and talking until around 1:30am or so then went home and slept until about 1pm the next day.  Got up had real coffee and puttered around until we went to Amy's again and hung out with Nadia and Lee Ann.  Mr. Pizza was our New Year's lunch and we ate that watching the 2011 Victoria Secret show.  Didn't do much at all this weekend and it was great. 

What about New Year resolutions?  Joseph is a bit jaded with this prospect and the only thing he is working on is learning Korean better.  I am doing the same while continuing to lose weight and save more money.  Not really resolutions, just goals we had when we moved here.

Apparently our hot water isn't working either so our apartment is a bit cold and our shower water is freezing...the great thing about Korea is when we tell our boss tomorrow the problem will be fixed expeditiously.  Not in 2 day or 3 weeks but most likely tomorrow.  YAY warm apartment and shower!

Why is our apartment dependent on the hot water?  Our apartment is heated by the water under our floor.  Called ondol heating.  SO we use it to heat our floor/apartment and to take a shower or clean the dishes.  It is cheaper than the electricity and makes our apartment like a sauna if we left it on too long.  A few hours is enough for the night while we are there.  Thankfully while this is not working we have a space heater and it's cozy in our place.

Hope everyone had a great New Year and has a healthy and happy New Year 2012!

Love, Joseph and Elizabeth