Fasten your belts and keep all hands inside the car.

Well for the first time in a while I have quite a bit to say.
This past week was one of the best weeks I've had since being in Korea, both in the classroom and in my spare time. To start the weather this past week was pretty good, staying in the low teens for most of the week and only raining a couple times in short bursts, and according to the long term forecast will be in the high teens to low twenties for the coming week.
At school this week the kids were pretty restless because they have been preparing for midterms and the weather is changing and they would rather be anywhere else than Avalon. Luckily in my upper level classes, which I teach a few times each week, we had some interesting topics about boys and girls; should they go to separate schools; how do their attitudes differ. These are much easier for the kids to talk about compared to the usual over their head topics like pseudoscience, politics, or how should a given person deal with an adult problem. We were able to have some good laughs as they described to me what they thought about the opposite sex and i did my best to decipher it and write it on the board in a sex neutral way. Also, I may have done a little acting out of certain situations they were talking about, which lead them all to screaming hysterics. Still, come Friday we were all ready to get away from the school.
Friday night we went to Gangnam to meet up with a bunch of the teachers from the elementary school but stopped first for some fried chicken. It was delicious at the time but within a few hours it was not agreeing with me and I had to go home early (130) Friday night, which was just fine because I needed the rest anyways.
Before I finish up with the weekend let me say a little something about my roommate, and newly spayed cat, Go-Ah. She is the first female animal I have ever owned that I have needed to get fixed, and was a little unsure of how that was all going o go down. So on Thursday I took her to the vets around the corner from me to get spayed. It took less than an hour do do the surgery but I was unaware that they had to cut her belly open. So, when I showed up to take her home I was shocked to see the stitching on her belly. There was no time for questions though because I had to get to work. I brought her home in the new carrying case I bought still under the anesthetic and with one of those funny "don't lick your wounds" cones on her head, but by the time I got home from work she had forced it off and tore off her bandages too. She was sore, groggy and very standoffish. This lasted for a few days and I felt quite bad about it but did my best to take care of her, by taking the legs off my bed so she could get into it, and making my blankets available for her tenting/hiding needs. It took a few days but by Sunday afternoon she was up and moving around and eating again, so all should be fine in a few more days.
Enough of the gloom, back to the weekend. Saturday I got up at a decent hour and cleaned up my apartment, dishes, vacuumed etc. After that I met up with Brian to go buy tickets to a University basketball game. Unfortunately the game was cancelled. We weren't clear on whether one team forfeited or if one of the teams had just won the series before we could get to the weekend game. So instead we called our friend Margaret and went to see the Baekje Tombs (Ancient Stone Tombs) at Seokchon, which is only a few subway stops from my area. We did the touristy thing for a bit, got some photos and then went to Gangnam, again, for dinner. After dinner Margaret, Brian, and Jameson went to meet some friends in Kondae while I came home for a bit to check on Go-Ah and give her her medicine. Eventually I went to Kondae too and had a few drinks before coming home early because I had a big Sunday planned.
Now the climax of my week! A friend of Blake's had 50% off tickets for an amusement park, or should I say The Amusement Park", of inner Seoul called Lotte World. It is only a few blocks from my house and is be all means a super small version of Canada's Wonderland. There are only a handful of rides, all of which aren't that big anyways. Nonetheless, Blake, and I went with his friend Yu Jin and her friend Young Hwan on Sunday to have some fun. Blake and I are not ride fanatics but found ourselves riding all the coasters, loops and all. It was the first time I have ever manned up and gone on a looping coaster and loved every bit of it. There were many "best parts" of the day but some of the ones that stand out are Blake and I telling them that we were not ride fans and them taking us on the biggest coaster there to start, the fabulously tacky decor of the place, and the best of all height measuring stick. Now we all know that you have to be over a certain height to ride most things, but here in Korea apparently you also have to be under a certain height. So when we got in line fora ride called Atlantis Adventure a worker came up and put a stick with a 6'2" marker on it behind me, we all had a good laugh before realizing that I may find myself without a head after I get on the ride. HAHAHA we all laughed awkwardly. But since I am writing this it is obvious that I made it out well and good but not without having an awesome time.
After we were done at Lotte World we stopped for a coffee across the street and then went our separate ways.The girls had places to be and Blake and I wanted to get some dinner. Since we were in my area we went and found a barbecue restaurant, which turned out to be pretty good. After that we met up at a pub with Jameson for a couple beers before calling it a night and going home to start the week again.
Well that is more than enough for now. Talk to you again next week.