MONDAY 12.20.21

Here’s what today was: A Big Nothing. Dumb work stuff. Grocery store. Continued working on 12,978,386 Korean vocab flashcards (there’s an app for that…but I still have to put all the words in there).

The funny of the day was watching the new Korean tutor I want to use (our schedules just don’t align yet…hopefully after the holidays) do TikTok Lives with other tutoring clients and We All Sound Exactly the Same! Like…we’re all at more or less the same level…read things in the same halting, faltering, clumsy way, pronounce the same words wrong, say, “I don’t remember what that means” 27 times in an hour session…it’s just funny to listen to. They’re all ME. I am all THEM.

TUESDAY 12.21.21

Shortest day of the year. Which means they start getting longer again after today. Well, by a minute a day, but still. It’s movement in a DIRECTION.

Another uneventful day. I would have skipped this week’s Week in Review post altogether and just taken off the week but I know that come Friday, there will be fun things to share, pictures, etc.

This week at work is always just sort of finishing up end-of-year things…saying, “we’ll think about that next year,” and exchanging gifts and goodies. I have a tin of home-made cookies, a bunch of mini kit-kats, and a couple Starbucks gift cards 🙂

I had my last tutoring session with Matthew, who I’ve been tooting with for the past couple months. He’s leaving in two weeks for Seoul and will only be teaching a little on the weekends and I’m loathe to obligate myself on the weekends. He’s been a big help to me, helped me get through the class, which just ended for the season…and was VERY patient. So I’m very grateful for my time with him…but now it’s time to move on.

WEDNESDAY 12.22.21

Wednesday. It came roughly between Tuesday and Thursday, but that’s really all I remember about it.

THURSDAY 12.23.21

THIS was a DAY! Ha, which days are NOT “DAYS” these days??

It was the last day of work prior to the holiday break, and the Christmas Car Parade, a Santa visit, gift exchanges, pizza lunch and dj dance party. Phew. I’m tired just thinking about it. It’s just sort of a stressful day getting all that photographed and edited and posted…while other things are still going on that need to be addressed before being out for a week.

BUT. It all got done…and then the evening was all about packing for the trip tomorrow.

FRIDAY 12.24.21 Christmas Eve

Well. THIS was REALLY a day! Ha ha ha ha.

No. REALLY.

First, I went to the WRONG AIRPORT. Don’t ask. It happened. Fortunately, a) I always leave RIDICULOUSLY early for the airport, so I had time to spare, and b) the two major NY airports are within 15 miles of one another. But I had prebooked and paid for parking for Wrong Airport, so hopefully I can get that back.

I GOT to the right airport in time but then had to figure out parking. Went into one incorrect garage, had to pay for the ten minutes it took me to drive up all seven floors before realizing this was NOT the right parking garage for my terminal. Finally got to what was labeled The Right Parking Lot but it was tucked way back in the old depths of the airport, it did not LOOK right…but it was next to the old school DEPOT (I can’t even call it a terminal) that was my airline’s place. It all looked so WRONG, but….I pushed on…and it was right.

THEN I had to take 5 lbs of stuff out of my suitcase and stuff it into my already heavy/full carry-on cuz Spirit has a 10-lb lower checked bag weight limit than most airlines. THEN It took no less than THREE people to get me updated at the kiosk so I could pay for my boarding pass. THEN (sigh) I lost my license somewhere between the guy at TSA (you know the line you stand on for 25 minutes with a carry-on bag heavier than life itself?) and when I got to take my stuff back out of the bins after going through the metal detector thingie. Took ANOTHER three people to help me find it…stuck in one of my bins that had already been moved back to the main bin pile at the front of security…SIGH…

BUT I finally made it through All The Trials and got to my gate with time to spare. But was a sweaty mess. Sat in a bathroom stall for like 30 minutes just so I could take my mask off til my body temp lowered and I stopped sweating.

This was the TIGHTEST plane I’ve ever been on. Not the SMALLEST. But the TIGHTEST. We were REALLY packed in like sardines. Do people still say that?? Anyway. Not the most comfortable flight ever. I remembered my lovely first class to California experience. Sigh.

ANYWAY. I got here. Katie and Skylar (Husky #1) were there to pick me up.

And it was officially Christmas Eve. I had to do some stocking things. Mark (The Boy) made us a lovely surf&turf dinner. And I think I was in bed by 9:30.

The End.

SATURDAY 12.25.21 Christmas Day

Thankfully, we’re all adults, so we did NOT have to jump up at the crackadawn to do presents. We all had a nice lie-in and got up leisurely to have Breakfast #1: fresh cinnamon rolls and bacon then open gifts. Someone got a The Office trivia game, so we played that to determine when we could take an item out of our stockings…which drew that activity out longer than usual and was fun. I said next year we’ll need BTS trivia so I can at least know SOMETHING 🙂

We moved out to the pool for Breakfast #2: Marzipan & Strawberry French Toast a la Mark, which was a delight. Then we relaxed (I think I took a nap in my wonderfully dark and cool room) before heading to a Korean Hot Pot Slash Barbecue restaurant for dinner. And THAT was a lot of fun. You grill your own meat at the table and choose veggies and side dishes from the conveyer belt that continuously carries plates past the tables. There weres some interesting choices. I accidentally took a bite of Pigs Blood Terrine (the Koreans love them some innards)…but my favorite was bulgogi (super thinly sliced beef) that I dipped in my own custom dipping sauce comprised of hot chili oil, sesame oil, garlic, fish sauce, soy sauce and a couple other things I’ve forgotten.  I can’t wait to go again to a hot pot restaurant in NY!

We watched A Christmas Story when we got home…and I was in bed again before 10 and fell asleep almost immediately.

SUNDAY 12.26.21

Will be in next week’s week in review cuz it’s late and there are a bunch more pictures and I’m feeling hypoglycemic and just can’t be expected to do anything else today. So.

Stay tuned. We’ll be right back.