Winding down...

I now, officially, have less than two months left in Korea. It seems crazy to think that I've been here for almost a year already. It definitely doesn't feel like it most of the time. I'm starting to make plans for all the things I need to do for when I go back home: pack up all my stuff and find somewhere to put it all, find someone to take over my salsa class.... that kind of stuff. I think most of my stuff will end up at Nick's place. And I've met this really cool Ecuadorian/Canadian girl named Melinda that seems interested in teaching my class while I'm gone. And I'm also trying to plan for all the things I want to do/have to do in Korea before I leave. I don't want to end up like most people who are at their last week teaching and all of a sudden they realize they have two days left and a ton of stuff to get done. I want to go on a temple stay, get my Hapkido blue belt, buy souveniers for everyone at home... and more. Oh, and my kindergarten students have already started to give me guilt trips about me leaving. Monica even went as far as to write "I rell miss Susy T" on my hand. Awww.


Additonaly, I'm also having to start thinking about all the things I want to do in my limited time in the states. Realistically, two months is not a long time. Especially when I'll be in Cuba for like 3 weeks of that time. And at this point I don't even know exactly when I'll be coming back to Korea since I haven't set up a job yet (but I'm working on it). My "To Do" list - or lists, I should say - are getting pretty long. Any suggestions?

But in other news: The last month has been pretty great. Nick came back <3. My birthday was awesome. Salsa is going well. I've gone to some pretty ridiculous parties. Pictures of the cape party to celebrate Nick's and Francis's birthdays below... So yea it's been pretty good.
--- The whole "Capes" gang at Billibowl.--- Nick and I managing to be all cutesy even though we're dressed as villains.--- Francis and I getting into character.--- This is our official villain picture - although Dave's sarong cape doesn't fit super well with the theme. (Nick, me, Andy and Dave)

For Nick's actual birthday, which coincided with Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving, we went to Busan. We got to hang out at the beach and eat yummy food. Oh and we saw some Koreans almost drown. That wasn't one of the fun parts. It was pretty ridiculous because, being the crazy weigooks we had no idea what was happening, but yea, apparently they were drowning... What can I say? It's Korea. Then to celebrate the following weekend, Francis decided that he wanted to have a "cape party" for his (Sept 17th) and Nick's (Sept 14th) birthdays and we all jumped on then bandwagon. The premise is that everyone wears capes... that's it. But inevitably craziness ensued. Luckily we missed the drunken, naked, swimming in a fountain part of the evening... These pictures are too funny.

And then last weekend was Babalu's 3rd big Salsa party. It was awesome! After my class there was a movement workshop. At first I wasn't to impressed but afterwards the guy teaching it actually danced with me and he is probably one of the best leads I've ever danced with. I would go as far as to say he's like the Korean Danny G... lol. But there were some really amazing dancers there and it was great. Plus the free beer didn't hurt. I got quite tipsy. By the time I arrived at Old Skool, Nick was three sheets to the wind himself, so we ended up having to go home. I ended up with a wicked hangover the next day. :-(

This weekend I am SUPER EXCITED about attending the Korea Salsa Congress. It's one of the biggest salsa events in all of Asia. I hope it goes well. I'll be there to help translate for the Colombian and Venezuelan salsa teams that they're flying in. Wish me luck!

Susy's Chongalicious Birthday!!

I know this is coming a little after-the-fact but my birthday was pretty awesome so I felt that it deserved a blog nevertheless.

For my birthday this year I decided that in honor of my Miami roots I would have a "Chonga Party" (and also cuz I remembered how funny it was whenever Karim threw one in Gainesville). For anyone who may not know a "chonga" is the Miami version of a gansta girl, similar to the Mexican "chola." Urbandictionary.com defines a chonga as:

...a woman of hispanic origin, generally Cuban, characterized by the utilization of excessive hair gel, usually leaving two strands of hair hanging while the rest is pulled back, especially seen accesorized with giant hoop earrings and necklaces with their names written on them. Chongas can be seen wearing tight short shorts and anything that will provide the excessive exposure of cleavage, especially, but not limited to, tank-tops. Chongas generally have names of hispanic origin such as Marisleysis and Yamile. One is bound to see chongas in Hialeah, Florida, however, chongas are known to migrate. Chongas have a distinctive dialect involving both the Spanish and English languages, merging to create what we now know as "Spanglish."

Try explaining this concept to someone from Ireland or Australia... it was pretty funny! But people got pretty into it. We started out the night at salsa class, then we changed into out "chonga" attire, and went to go eat some delicious galbi. The kind of looks that we got as we walked through downtown were hilarious. People must have been thinking "what the hell are these people doing??" Then we ended up at Old Skool. DJ Jeff, who is awesome and who adores me, played tons of reggaeton and some really good hip hop music. Plus people kept buying me drinks...so I was feeling pretty happy (aka: buzzed). The one thing is that I ended up having to go around to all the people of African-American at the bar (most of which are in the military) and explain that it was a joke because they kept giving us looks. Lol! Oh well.

--- Nick and I at Old Skool!--- With Freddy (from Ireland) and Christine ( the only other Floridian in Daegu)!--- My raptor (Murphy) with the girls, Joonjung, Chris and me.
--- Burning up the floor at Old Skool!