Topik and Back to School

I just found this video and absolutely had to post it here because it combines my favorite things. My favorite ballad singer in Korea and my favorite musical. His pronunciation is so good and he sings the song so beautifully~ Park Hyo Shin, please be in Phantom of the Opera someday...

The girl doesn't seem to know the song that well, but let's be real. I'm not paying attention to her (even though it was her concert). 

Ok, back to the real blog post.

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Ooops, I was super lazy last week and just didn't post a blog. There wasn't really much happening and, since Ces and I both had a vacation, we spent a lot of time together marathoning some tv and avoiding the freeeeeezing cold. So here's a two week update about my not exciting but relaxing vacation.

Cesca and I don't consult each other about
our wardrobes, so sometimes we we end up
wearing the same clothes.

Ga Hyeon has limited vacation time, so when he got some time off that coincided with Lauren's, they decided to go on vacation to Japan. But she had one problem: her cat! Luckily, I would be around and would only be studying for the Test of Korean Proficiency (TOPIK), so she enlisted my help for cat sitting. I was happy to oblige. 

Therefore, I spent all of last week at Lauren's studying and playing with her cat. Believe me, I mostly hung out with him. I needed some quality kitty time. Hence I have dozens of pics of him. HE'S SO CUTE AND HE GOT SO BIG.

he helped me study from the box

he also likef to snuggle under the blankets with me
because it was cooold

he didn't like my hair that day

"dis is boring. y u keep studying??"

he's less than a year old, so he has
lots of energy to play and pose

I met up with Cesca on Saturday after leaving
Lauren's, since I was mostly isolated
and missing her, and we saw this
awesome cake. Doesn't it look killer?

Sunday was D-Day, so I traveled out to the University of Foreign Studies for my test. There were a lot more people there for the TOPIK II than the I I took last year. This test consists of levels 3-6, 6 being the highest. So, since I was shooting for a 3, maybe 4, that meant I went into the test knowing about half was going to be too difficult for me.

Since I just wanted to see how hard the test was and see what I could do with my current ability, I wasn't too nervous, and actually feel ok about the test. I thought I would be content with a 3, but after taking it, I think if I study hard, I could pull a 4 before I leave Korea. We will see when the results come out next month!

The test had 3 sections this time, so it took longer, and the hardest part was trying to pay attention through the whole thing, especially the last 20 or so questions that were clearly advanced level. The timing worked well though, so I got to meet up with my friends in hongdae for BBQ and dessert, to celebrate a fun dance class for them and finishing the test for me.

Bingsu is perfect any time, even winter

Grace went to Japan and sent us awesome
snapchats of her trip, the highlight being
the owl cafe, which she learned about through us~

The next week was hella cold in Korea, so nobody wanted to really leave the house. Cesca and I spent it marathoning the show The 100, which was really good but intense. We caught up at the end of the week, just in time for season 3!

Aside from tv and my regular Korean classes, I met up with Young Ah for dinner. She wanted me to try eel because it's "good for new year luck," so to the eel place we went. It's a little greasy but not horrible haha. Now I have energy for 2016~

yum?

thankfully Young Ah persuades me to try
new food adventures, because I'd never eat
eel myself

not wanting to go home, we also went to
a cafe and chatted about everything for a few
hours. I got a massive Nutella hot chocolate and
it was DELICIOUS

I had to go back to school on Friday because we had previously cancelled some school days for MERS and had to make one up. Lame. Even though I had to wake up early and the office was cold most of the day, I didn't have to teach and it was really nice to see the teachers again and catch up on vacation. My Korean over break is a little underused, so it was nice to be able to practice some again. Everyone wished me good luck for the results and just being back was comfortable and easy. Not the painful first day I was worried about!

Seon Kyeong brought me a snack back from Japan!

Cesca didn't have work this week at all, lucky her. I headed over to her place Friday night because her place is warmer than mine.

She saved me a Magnolia cupcake!!

On Satuday, we stupidly ventured out into the cold to try this mexican Cantina Lauren had wanted to try. We were all freezing but it was super delicious and not super expensive, the best combo. It's always nice to hang with Lauren, so I'm glad she wanted to meet up.

Happily I could return to dance class Sunday. It's become such a part of my routine that when I have to skip a week, it feels strange. We learned another girl dance, and even though I wasn't expecting much, it turned out to be really fun and we all rocked some red!

We went out for some delicious BBQ after class, completing a lovely(yet frigid) Sunday.

yuuuuuummy galbi~~~

Off to school tomorrow~ We have 2 weeks, Lunar New Year, and then graduation, so I'm looking forward to some low key weeks at work. Stay warm everyone! It's freeeezing out there. Can't wait for the warm up so I can thaw out!

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This is Hyuna's Red. I've also been listening to a lot of musicals lately, but what else is new?