Weekend with Jess and Carlos!

Aaron and I met up with our dear friends Jess and Carlos this past weekend, up at Elf Pension in JangPyeong! It had been a while since we'd all been together, so it was a great reunion weekend!  (They live up in Seoul)

Elf Pension is definitely a gem as far as I'm concerned!  The staff is fabulous (Mr.Chang especially), the accommodations are big and comfy, the scenery is gorgeous...

 and the little details like having your name written on the chalkboard on your front door just make it that much more charming!

Jess and Carlos just got back from 1 month in Sri Lanka and 1 month in India and are completely hooked on yoga!  Jess is a master and was teaching us all kinds of crazy moves!!!

She taught Aaron a move where you sit indian style, pick up your legs and swing them through your arms into a push up position... follow?  Regardless, it was hysterical, and he actually did it!

Yes, this is the face of a man who's persistent, determined, and a little bit dramatic! haha

I put my gymnastic limbs to work and did the yoga headstand!

We stayed up late playing around and talking till about 2am, then woke up to this delicious room service breakfast!

We talked about getting out and taking a walk in the snow, but then the guys found a soccer game on TV and Jess and I played on pinterest!  We didn't feel all that bad though about staying in!  If you're paying $200 a night for a cabin, why not take advantage of it, right?! 

We did decide to get out and have a proper lunch though!  We headed to the front office to find out what was around the pension.  Carlos found this interesting bathroom sign!

 Mr. Chang told us about a great Korean beef restaurant! (very rare and expensive) PERFECT!  I'd actually never even eaten it before!  Mr. Chang called the restaurant and the owner came in a van and picked us up at the Pension and drove us there!  Love the service around these parts of Korea!

The beef was top-notch-delicious!!  Not to mention, the owner's daughter acted as our own personal cook and cooked it to perfection at our table!

Jess put it perfectly when she said that being with us is like being with family!

These boys are like brothers from another mother!  

...And Jess is one of my sweetest and closest friends... and the one I've known the longest in Korea!!

It's a shame we live so far from each other!

Speaking of family... in almost 5 months, I'm going to become part of the Osteen family!

Can't wait to officially start my life with this guy!

We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging in the cabin!

At 5:30pm we made the treck down our 65 stairs (Yes, there were 65 to climb up to our cabin in the clouds!) to the main office where we caught a van to the ski resort!  

Since Carlos recently had knee surgery, he and Jess played screen golf while Aaron and I braved the slopes at Phoenix Ski Park!  I was much better this time, but accidentally ran into 2 people... one of which was a young guy who I tumbled down the hill with and landed right on top of!  Oops!  Luckily he was able to laugh with me and told me it was okay and to have fun!  The other girl wasn't quite as gracious! LOL.  Aaron was a great coach and was so encouraging, which kept me going! :)    

We had a great/ late night again and woke up just in time for lunch!  hahaha.  Jess, being the amazing healthy cook that she is, made tofu spring rolls and the 4 of us took in our last couple hours together before we headed back home.

At 2:00pm, we bid farewell to Elf and Polly, the resident husky's and loaded Mr. Chang's van to the bus station.  The time passed way too quickly this weekend and it seemed like we were saying goodbye right after we had first said hello!  Luckily, we have some plans to get up to Seoul soon for Aaron to take some photographs of Jess's yoga friends, so we'll see them again soon!

Tomorrow is my first day of teaching, and I'm super excited to get to teach with my new co-teacher, Loola!  She's a little bit younger than me and such a sweetheart!  She smiles a lot and is really positive.  I know the kids are going to fall in love with her, which will make this year nice and enjoyable! :)