Summer is coming to an end, most of my kids start back to public school tomorrow. They have been in lazy summer vacation mode for 8 weeks now so I'm glad they are going to be back in the school routine. The heat is continuing here and apparently continues into September and October. I will say, Korea lacks many things compared to life in Canada, but the seasons and weather are a very nice change. Longer summers, shorter and warmer winters, but still with spring and fall which bring ideal temperatures, new flowers, and changing leaves.

My kids have not been as funny as usual, and since I have lost some kids due to our new teacher and classes being divided I have lost some of my comedians. My only laugh of the week last week was when a kid came back from vacation with a killer tan. I said to him in a slightly jealous/ slightly complimentary way "nice tan" which he took as an insult followed by the defense of saying "Teacher I have no tan, I wore sun cream." I guess this is the culture where white is seen as pure, rich, and royal, which still has my kids puzzled to why I like tans (even if my kids call me dirty skin).

Life in Gumi hasn't been over exciting lately. We have been trying to lay low and save money for September. So far we have booked a DMZ tour for the first weekend in September, and a trip to Thailand/ Cambodia from the 17th-27th. I am extremely excited for the DMZ tour which is on my Korea bucket list. I find the North Korea/ South Korean relationship very interesting, so to visit the DMZ where the two Korea's meet along the most heavily militarized boarder in the world is very exciting to me. The Thailand and Cambodia trip has no concrete plans but the beach, and Angkor Watt are on my to do list so I plan to fit both of those into my travel plans. I have many friends who are leaving between now and December, so I feel the next few months will be full of adventures. I also am on the home stretch and have many more Korean bucket list adventures to check off my own list.

The summer heat continues here in Korea, but the rain season has stopped. A few days ago it was 42 degrees with the humidity. It has been a hot and sticky summer, but it has gone by very quickly. This week brings the end to another series at work, so we will have more new students soon.

I have been doing a lot of traveling in Korea lately. I did a relaxing weekend in Ulsan which is on the south coast. A shopping weekend in Seoul with the girls. This weekend I hit up Gampo for the Moon Kkang summer beach party. It was a beautiful day for the beach and a nice chance to meet other Moon Kkang workers from other parts. Mr. Moon even made an appearance in a speedo. After the beach we headed to Gyeongju (the oldest city in Korea) for a buffet supper and back to Daegu for drinks.

July was a busy month so I think the next few weeks are going to be pretty low key. In September I have planned a trip to Busan for shark diving, and my Chuseok holiday. I am looking forward to a nice break from work, but the travel planning for Chuseok is not going as well as planned. It is a popular time for Koreans to travel so ticket prices are high. Originally I had planned on doing Thailand and Cambodia, but it looks like Japan and Thailand now. The best ticket prices are from Japan so we are looking at taking a ferry to Japan spending a couple days there and then heading to Thailand. Regardless of the travel plans a 9 day break from the kids is going to be very nice.