tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79321532457555185762024-02-20T02:23:47.078-08:00One's Destination: Not a Place, But a New Way to See ThingsMelissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.comBlogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-37686697757960981152013-10-24T04:19:00.000-07:002013-10-24T04:19:07.256-07:00Cambodia!When we first landed in Siem Reap, I fell in love. I thought the place was beautiful, a nice man picked us up in a Tuk Tuk and everything seemed lovely and friendly (I still feel that way, just for the record, but I'll get into the details of that later).<br />
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We arrived at our hostel and I loved it there as well, although the top bunk of the bunk bed was VERY high off the ground. That was a little annoying but other than that it had a pool and fantastic happy hour. We arrived at about 1pm and at 2pm our Tuk Tuk driver was going to come get us from the hostel to take us on the big loop tour of the temples. He did just that and we saw quite a few temples before it started to DOWNPOUR. Our goal was to see 5 temples and then one more would be at sunset. Unfortunately, it started raining before we got to the 5th temple area so we had to call it quits. It had been raining before, but not down pouring. Then it started down pouring and we went home.<br />
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The first two temples we saw that day were pretty much the same. Ruins of temples remaining. The third one was the coolest for that day because it had been pretty overgrown by trees. The trees and the temple ruins were intertwined and it looked awesome. The last temple we saw that day was a quick visit and it was raining a lot. That was one that was surrounded by water, also pretty cool. We did quite enjoy our Tuk Tuk driver as well. Nice guy.<br />
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That night we made our way to Pub Street which is, as you could probably guess, a street lined with pubs and restaurants. It was fun to just walk around there. We had a drink and just relaxed a bit. We had to go to bed early though because we had to get to Angkor Wat for the sunrise which meant waking up at 4:45.<br />
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The next morning we did just that. On the way to the temple, our Tuk Tuk tire popped as we were rounding the corner to get to the temple. Fortunately, our drivers friend saw us and took us the last bit so we could make it for sunrise. Although it was a bit cloudy, it was gorgeous. What a sight to see. We spent some time wandering around the inside and enjoying the magnficantness that is Angkor Wat. After we finished there we went to a temple that had faces all over it. That was Brigitte's favorite temple (and it was quite cool looking). This was Angkor Thom, which was the thriving metropolis of it's time. Side note, let it be noted that you can ride elephants through Angkor Thom and it stops at many of the destinations for you. Also let it be noted that there are monkeys everywhere up in there. Anyways, we went to two other places, one was another temple with some pagoda of elephants or something and the other was a temple that they are currently working to rebuild. They've done a lot of reconstruction on it because the trees have torn it apart a bit (which we thought made it look cool) but they are working to rebuild the walls. I didn't really realize that meant they were going to do this by kind of tying rope around the structures. <br />
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By this time it was like 11am and we had been up for too long so we went home and took a nap. When that was finished, we went to the National Museum which told us a lot about the things we had just seen. Mostly it told us about the Hindu religion and Buddhism and how they are connected and not or how some formed off of others. We also learned about the rulers of Cambodia (kings) and what they accomplished for their people.<br />
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That night we went to Pub Street again for some traditional food and drinks. The traditional food of Cambodia seems to be almost exactly the same as Thailand, but less spicey and less spices (I hope no one takes offence to that as that was just my observation of the food). One really bizzare moment of that night was watching some local kids get caught for shop lifting. They were quite young, maybe 8 years old and they were sitting with wigs on by a band playing music. The guards walked by and then realized it was the kids and chased after them. Really a shocking moment as we watched the kids hand over what they had taken (not even really sure what it was) and the guards walked them away. Even more frightening was not knowing what happened to the kids for their crime.<br />
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We walked around the market a lot and quickly realized there were an INSANE amount of markets. I'm not sure how all those stalls stay in business as most of them sell the same things. But there were at least 5 different night markets filled with stalls selling things to people but there weren't nearly as many people at these markets as there were at the markets in Bangkok. At one point we also found an exceptionally cheap massage and pedicure place which I had been waiting for. We paid 3 dollars for a half hour foot massage and then I paid 3 more dollars for my pedicure. Along with that, got a free beer. That was quite awesome. When we got back to the hostel, we met a group of 3 travelers who were off to Phenom Phen that night and they happened to be staying in the same hostel as us we learned when we got there the next day.<br />
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Now Phenom Phen was where I started to fall out of love with Cambodia a little bit. NO offence to anyone, but it has been my least favorite city so far. It smelled like trash and felt very dangerous, moreso than I feel now in Ho Chi Mihn.<br />
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Riding in the van from Siem Reap to Phenom Phen was great because we got to see a lot of the country side. Cambodia is very flooded right now because of the rain and we saw that to be true. Also, they have a lot of dirt roads still which makes it a bit difficult to drive sometimes. The funny thing about the country side that has dirt roads and no running water is the fact that every little restaurant or gathering place has a sign that says "free wifi." Someone explain to me how all these little places in the middle of no where surrounded by water fields has the capability to have free wifi.<br />
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When we got to Phenom Phen, I was a little frightened. I literally thought I had stepped into a different country. It smelled like poop and garbage rotting in the sun everywhere and I was constantly afraid my stuff was going to get stolen. In fact, one night we were driving from one place to another in a Tuk Tuk and a girl we were with who lives there almost had her purse snatched right out of the Tuk Tuk. The motor bike came up right next to us and tried to grab her bag. Fortunately she had it tightly around her wrist and he couldn't get away with it. We had been warned of this and were therefore carrying no bags, but that was shocking and surprising to see.<br />
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Our first day in Phenom Phen, we arrived in the afternoon. We decided to wander around a bit and try and see some of the sights. However everything closes at 5 pm there from the monuments and museums to the street markets. After exploring the city a bit, we decided to go back to the hostel where we found our friends we had met in Siem Reap. We decided to kick it by the pool and drink at the hostel bar and just relax for the night.<br />
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The second day we knew was going to be a slightly depressing one as we had plan to go to S21 and the Killing Fields. We split a Tuk Tuk with our new English friends (I now often decide to say words in a British accent because of them) and headed to S21.<br />
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For those of you who don't know (I had no idea this even happened) this was the place that the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed people to find out information. Essentially it was like a concentration camp for people and once they got the information they wanted (even though there was often no information to be given), they would kill the person. Walking through this place which was originally a High School turned imprisonment camp turned museum, I was learning a lot about Cambodian people and the suppression they felt and received from their own people. There were prison cells the size just big enough for a person to lay in. The strangest part was that this wasn't happening too long ago and the trial is still going on to this day to deal with the people who were running the Khmer Rouge.<br />
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After wandering around these buildings for a few hours, we headed out the dusty dirty Tuk Tuk ride to the killing fields. This was a more informative experience even still because we had an audio track to help us along the way. As we walked from stop to stop, we learned and saw the places where people had been killed by whatever form the killers found most convenient. Often time it was just gardening tools because those were the cheapest option. They killed the people and just put them in a ditch. Sometimes the people weren't dead so they put some chemicals over the top of them to finish the job and keep the stench from being too bad. We also saw things like the tree where the would beat the babies against until they were dead. We even saw bones, clothes and teeth that are still surfacing to this day from the people buried under there. This surprised me a bit because these things are literally on the path. The groundskeepers come through every couple of months and collect whatever the rain water has uncovered. The last thing you see as we leave is a monument built in remembrance of the people who were killed there.<br />
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It was a pretty solemn day but fortunately, we were in good company. I have learned a lot about other countries on this trip and what they have been through. This was just one of them.<br />
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That evening we went for a swim, cleaned ourselves up and went out in the area with a girl who lives there and works in a bar. That was a fun night, saw some cool bars and some not so cool bars, almost had a purse snatched and experienced a very interesting club. I'm still quite confused about the people who were there, young and old, international students, travelers, expats, Cambodians, all there dancing away to some house music. Strangest mix I've ever seen.<br />
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The next day we relaxed a bit more, eating a nice breakfast and then packing up to head to Vietnam. Our trip to Cambodia felt very short, as will our entire trip! I'm not ready to say goodbye to Ho Chi Mihn yet but it's about to happen tomorrow :(<br />
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A few fun side notes about cambodia:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Cambodian kids are absolutely adorable. I want to take them all! (Korean kids still win, but Cambodian kids are in second place now)</li>
<li>They use American money in Cambodia. It's confusing because the bigger bills are American money but then the smaller "change" is given to you in Cambodian bills. I found this a bit hard to manage, but I got it eventually. </li>
<li>We learned that if you rub dry soap on your mosquito bites, they stop itching. </li>
<li>Cambodians as well as Vietnamese drive a bit crazier than I'm used to. They kinda just keep going. Don't really stop.</li>
<li>Everything costs money. We prayed with a monk in a temple with some incense and then he was like ok now donate money for good luck. </li>
</ul>
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That was our Cambodian experience. Good times were had. I feel like someday I want to go back there and work with the kids. Brigitte didn't want to go volunteer at any point so that was kinda sad for me, but I will make it a goal to go back and do that some day. </div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-55489739175861641912013-10-24T03:29:00.000-07:002013-10-24T03:29:23.052-07:00Thai Cooking ClassFirst I must fill you in on our cooking class. We found the place a bit early so did some wandering around. Once we had wandered for a while, we waited for the lady to come and meet us for the class. First we took our baskets, umbrellas and water to the market. Our instructor told us about some of the different vegetables they use in Thailand. Some of the exciting ones I remember were different kinds of ginger roots, different smaller garlic, many different kinds of basil. That was the gist of our time in the market. She filled up our baskets with the things we needed for the class and we headed back to the school.<br />
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The way it was set up was very well organized. First we would sit in a group in one room and put all the ingredients together. She would tell us information about the food we were making and how to make it, let us participate and then we would bring it out to the wok and fry it up. Once we completed making our meal, we were off to the air conditioned room to enjoy it. As we were eating, our instructor and her partner were setting up for us to come in to the next one. Like I said, very well organized.<br />
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We made a total of 5 meals. I was stuffed to the brim, like I literally thought I was going to explode. No joke. First we made a hot and sour soup. We were allowed to choose chicken or prawns to put in, I chose chicken (surprise surprise) but I did try Brigittes with prawn and it was very good. This soup was delicious. Let me just say that EVERYTHING we ate was beyond delicious. There are no words. The second thing we ate was phad thai. Going into the cooking class, we didn't think we were going to get to make phad thai. But we made it and it was the best phad thai I've ever eaten in my life. Not because I cooked it, but because it was made...just....so well. I can't explain. Our next meal was what Brigitte and I refer to as a chicken salad. It was served in a soup spoon and you were supposed to eat it with your fingers with some sticky rice. Also very very good. Our next meal was a green chicken curry. At this point, I was getting to be quite stuffed. But I forced myself to eat it and, you guessed it, SO YUMMY! The other nice thing about cooking the food yourself is you can decide how spicy you want things to be. Being in Korea has made my affinity for spicy food rise so I can now handle much more than I could before I went to Korea. Anyways, it was DELICIOUS. The last meal, which unfortunately I literally felt if I ate anymore food I would be sick, but it was a coconut milk banana dessert. I thought I didn't like coconut, but it literally tasted like banana pudding. It saddened my heart that I couldn't finish it in order to keep myself from vomiting but it was SO GOOD as well.<br />
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Our instructor was very nice, quite funny. Our class was composed of 10 women (the other two classes going on at the same time had men and such in them but ours was coincidence) and most of them were from Michigan doing a nursing clinical somewhere in Thailand. Lucky them.<br />
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Anyways, if you ask me to choose a favorite dish, there's no way I could, it would be a tie between phad thai, green curry, and the coconut banana dessert. I'll post pictures of all of these adventures very soon, but I needed to catch up on the blog part first :)Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-9671305739832359402013-10-17T08:30:00.003-07:002013-10-17T08:30:41.400-07:00Adventures of PattayaSo I know you were all wondering about how our trip to Pattaya went. Let me say that we got there fairly seamlessly. We purchased panchos from the front desk at our hostel, put them on over our packs and trekked it to the subway station. People starred since we were wearing them on the subway because they were too hard to take off, but we made it just fine and dandy. The only downside to our trip there was that the 2 hour bus ride turned into a 4 hour bus ride because all the roads were flooded due to the insane amount of rain. I'll post pictures on FB of that later cuz that was just cray. I was really worried for the cars and everything that were driving down rivers where there used to be streets. Apparently no one else was too worried though because as I've learned, this happens all the time. Who knew.<br />
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We made it to our hotel in Pattaya riding the Songtaews (which were quite fun) and then decided to go and try some food. Pretty typical along the beach (although no one was on it cuz of the rain) there were lots of shops and bars and restaurants. Everything was kinda covered with tarps because of all the rain.<br />
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Quickly did we learn the makeup of this city. Let me break it down for you:<br />
1. White old men. Seriously, I've never seen a greater population of white old men in one place. I can't even describe.<br />
2. Thai women to hit on said old men and keep them company, mostly only flirting.<br />
3. Thai transgenders. They are women, but they have a penis. Don't judge, people, it happens. Some of them were very pretty. Some of them you could easily tell they were men. Some of them were about half way through their process change.<br />
4. Gay men. There was an area called "boyz town" in which this was a place for many gay men to go.<br />
5. Straight guys who wanted to watch go go dancers. There's an area called "walking street" (because no cars are allowed there) and it's just filled with clubs with go go dancers.<br />
6. Couples...not sure why. But this happened as well.<br />
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That being said, you can see how Brigitte and I were a bit out of place in Pattaya.<br />
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Our personal escapade consisted of going to our hotel, getting dinner, going to a bar where there were old men with trannys hitting on them (unbeknownst to them) and enjoying ourselves watching the situation, going back to the hotel, trying a different road in the area, finding pretty much the same kind of bar but it had a live band and soccer, going to get food, then going home and going to bed.<br />
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The forecast said it was supposed to stop raining for a few hours in the morning so at 8 am when we saw the sun, we booked it to the beach. We sat in a nice lounging chair for a solid 2 hours then the rain rolled in. That's when we decided to check out and catch the bus home. Unfortunately, the next bus wasn't available for 2 hours so we waited at the bus station playing hangman for 2 hours (hangman really does make the time fly!) This time our bus ride home was only 2 hours, as it was supposed to be, and we arrived at our new hostel in time for dinner.<br />
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We walked along one side of the street which was very crowded with food vendors and shopping. Then we thought we'd cross to the other side and all those vendors were just setting up. We came back to the hostel because we weren't hungry, then we tried again and found that the side that was super busy before was now taking down all their stuff and the side that wasn't busy before was now super busy. We found some food, walked through another outdoor shopping area (we're trying REALLY hard not to buy stuff......until we get to Cambodia where I've heard it's cheaper...) and had a drink watching essentially the same exact thing that was occurring in Pattaya happen in Bangkok. The only difference this time was that all the shows these men were trying to get you to come see were "____ ping pong." Don't let your virgin eyes figure out what that is. I was just told and I don't ever wanna know.<br />
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Aaaaaanyways, we enjoyed that adventure and we're now sitting in our new hostel, meeting people, figuring things out and relaxing. It's a crazy world out there!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-75525156880335726332013-10-15T20:40:00.003-07:002013-10-15T20:40:40.796-07:00Bangkok Part 2Yesterday was Tuesday. The night before, people had told us about some places to go shopping so we decided to journey into shopping land. First we found the expensive shopping which wasn't what we were looking for. Then we found this magical place called MBK. I think the best way to describe MBK is that it's the biggest indoor, outdoor market you can imagine. It's kind of like a mall. 5 stories, and huge down and back. But it's like street vendors trying to sell you things. The best part about it is that it's air conditioned. That means we could pretty much do all the street shopping we wanted, but in an giant, air con facility.<br />
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The other really cool thing about MBK was the food. They had a huge variety of food (a little pricier than you might find on the street) but the food covered a huge span of countries. you could pretty much pick any "fancy food stall" (that's what I'm calling it) and get that countries food made for your right then and there. So we ate some delicious Indonesian food, and topped it off with Dairy Queen! That's right. I had a blizzard, which I haven't had since December. However this country still doesn't believe in cookie dough. That will be the greatest joy of going home still.<br />
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Once we were finished shopping at MBK (Brigitte and I made a few wonderful purchases) we headed back to the hostel to figure out our next step for the day and our next step for the next two days because we had nothing planned except that we maybe wanted to get out of town and go to a beach. But I'll come back to that.<br />
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We then went to Chinatown for dinner and more shopping. However when we got there, it was not at all what I had expected. I expected something similar to the Chinatown Ellen and I experienced in Malaysia. This was not the case. There were probably 2 dozen shark fin street stalls. At this point, Brigitte and I were starving and we thought we'd be able to eat when we got there. However the ONLY thing to eat apparently in Chinatown is shark fin or some other version of seafood. We did finally find a tiny restaurant on a side street that had other food, and it was quite good. However this is also where we saw our first rat and I'm still a little freaked out by that. But I'm trying to look past that and let it go because people eat around rats all the time, right? It's not like it was in our food or in the kitchen. And it's outdoors. There's bound to be some kind of wildlife.<br />
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Anyways, yesterday we booked our hotel for Pattaya, which is a beach town about 2 hours from Bangkok. We were all stoked to get to the beach instead of just hanging out around here. Then in the middle of the night, it started thundering like no one's business. Literally shook my bed. And it hasn't stopped pouring since. So we've decided to still go, hoping and praying that it lets up tomorrow a bit. Or today a bit would be even better but I'm not holding my breath. So our current journey to this place, in a monsoon includes the following:<br />
Walk to subway station (5 minutes outside)<br />
Ride subway to skytrain station.<br />
Walk to transfer from subway to skytrain (it's quite annoying that the forms of transportation are in very different ground levels)<br />
Ride the skytrain to the bus terminal.<br />
Walk to bus terminal (don't know how long and if it will be covered or not, I'm guessing not)<br />
Ride 2 hour bus to Pattaya<br />
Hop on a songtaew which is the back of a truck used to transport you around the area (may or may not be covered, we're thinking yes because it rains so much here, we're learning)<br />
Have it drop us of (no idea how) at our hotel or close to it (no idea where that is either)<br />
Walk to hotel (dunno how long that'll be outside)<br />
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So that's what our adventure is today, I'll let ya know how it goes! Hope for the rain to stop, because I know I am!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-26035114713724207702013-10-14T18:33:00.002-07:002013-10-14T18:33:34.362-07:00Bangkok So FarFirst we need to take a moment to talk about our taxi driver our first night from the airport to the hostel. Many was bat shit cray. Not sure what he was high on, but boy did he put on a show for us. He really wanted us to listen and dance with him to American music as he was driving us here. He put on his Harley Davidson hat and bumped the jams. Oh, and he was like 60 something. Also, he asked us our names and where we were from multiple times but by the time we left him, he was convinced that I was Mona Lisa and Brigitte was Whitney which then transferred to Whitney Houston.<br />
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Our hostel is pretty decent, not too much foreigner interaction, which is a bit sad for me. However last night we met some fascinating foreigners and I think I got my fill for a little while. Man some people are crazy.<br />
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Yesterday we visited the Grand Palace and another temple...Wat Pom maybe? Thailand likes really shiny things. That's the coolest part about the temples and palaces. They're sooooo shiny and interestingly put together. You can check out pictures on Facebook.<br />
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We learn something new every time we go somewhere. We're trying reaaaaaally hard not to get ripped off. We kinda did once, we paid 40 bhat for a boat ride to the palace instead of 15. But once we figured out which boat we were <i>supposed</i> to be on we were pretty solid from there on out. Except for the one time when we got off a boat at the wrong time. Good thing we're never really in a hurry for the next 6 weeks. Also figured out the subway so that's good too. Like I said, each time we figure out more and more about where we're going and how to get there. Which exits and stuff like that.<br />
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Yesterday was a very touristy day. Literally tourists everywhere (which is fine and what we completely expected). Today we want to go SHOPPING! So that's totally happening! <br />
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One last cultural note. If you are an older white male and you want a hot young wife, come to Thailand. I can't tell you how many adorable young Thai women I've seen with white older men. It's really blowing my mind a little and kinda grosses me out.<br />
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That's all. No pictures. Takes tooooo long on these slow computers. LOVE YOU ALL bye!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-12172144012493804942013-10-11T11:54:00.003-07:002013-10-11T11:54:43.271-07:00One Year KoreaversaryThe past week or so has been quite the emotional roller coaster of my love/hate relationship with Korea. Even just today, one second I was hating the 3 women in the line in front of me in the grocery store because they were still shopping and checking out and trying to find their point card while a huge line formed behind them but they didn't care at all, and the next second the lady behind me tapped me on the shoulder to inform me that the other cash register was now open (when usually a Korean would probably just snag the spot in line for themselves).<br />
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I'm even conflicted if I think I'd call myself a sentimental person or not. Part of me says no because I don't usually cry or get too upset about leaving things/people, but at the same time, those of you that know me really well know that I can't throw ANYTHING away...I often keep things "just in case" or because it has some sort of "sentimental value."<br />
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Regardless of this, I've been feeling quite nostalgic lately. I've been constantly thinking of all my "lasts"<br />
The last time I'll be in Seohyeon<br />
The last time I'll ride the school bus<br />
The last time I'll eat (fill in the blank)<br />
The list goes on...<br />
And then there are the more important nostalgic/sentimental moments like the last time I'll see people such as my students or friends.<br />
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I had to say goodbye to my students on Tuesday and it, surprising, wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Maybe I'm used to it as a teacher, or maybe I'm just not a dweller on things I can't control. Now don't get me wrong, there are a few students I can't BELIEVE I'm never going to see again and they may very well forget about me, but they won my heart in this country and it makes me very sad to know that I won't see their adorable little faces every single day, even if they are being a pain in my rear half the time. I'm also going to miss my third graders. They had a hard time understanding why I would leave them and I didn't really know what to say. Now THAT'S a hand-full of 5 students, good Lord, but I'll still miss the joy and humor they brought to me on their good days.<br />
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My one dearest and truest love, Ian. </div>
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Iguanas (3rd Graders) not in their normal habitat. </div>
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This is how they usually behave and you can see my reaction quite clearly. </div>
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My baby 5's. Click on their picture to see them sing all adorable like. </div>
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrafbUOQXiZgm-z3yzQQ8HaV9prNHyQIBifo5uXvyydYCdIx4mM788K2fzsijVmhTSn8xY8i2UDFaKvxuN1uVl_8Q9GAQMVTqYLfu_Fe5BjUEx-fDw62LtPckjunXDe_ZF_fpR387UoLQ/s1600/20131008_130227.jpg" height="240" width="320" /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdCTSt8Ew4&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdCTSt8Ew4&feature=youtu.be</a></div>
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Saying goodbye to one of my 7's class. They thought it was hilarious to sing me happy birthday in the way we usually sing to them so that's whats happening. Click on the picture to see them attack me as I'm trying to leave the classroom. Also, here is the link to this group of kids singing and dancing their rendition of a youtube song:</div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHAkJodeAeE&feature=youtu.be">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHAkJodeAeE&feature=youtu.be</a></div>
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One of the darling girls I've had for the entire year, even when she was a 6 year old. </div>
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My other 7's class of goofballs. </div>
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My immersion class that I will miss EVER so much!</div>
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All of theses students in all of these classes and working at this school is a huge accomplishment, I think, to have in my belt as a teacher. I've learned a lot about teaching, I've learned a lot about students, and I've learned the most about patience. Hopefully never again will I have to be that random English Teacher who comes into a classroom for 30 minutes to sing songs, teach some words, do an activity and leave, with the most little respect possible. But did I learn from this experience? Yes I did. I learned that I REALLY want to be in my <i>own</i> classroom with my <i>own </i>students for the <i>whole</i> day. I learned that teaching is my passion and for all the reasons that teaching in America has to offer. I want to get to know a group of students, call them my own, help them learn things, and form bonds with them. Shoot I'll even take a class of 30+ kids on my own because there's no way they can be as challenging as what I've come across in this country.<br />
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On the other hand, I'm also feeling very nostalgic about being back in the good ole PNW. The other day I was sitting in Starbucks and I was like "man, this is some Seattle type music, drinking my warm coffee on this fall day" and I realized how badly I can't wait to be back in America. I'll be able to see my friends and family, eat many kinds of delicious food (I've had at least 5 food dreams that I can remember), and do cool typical "American" things like eat thanksgiving dinner, watch sports, and have people understand what I'm saying and what I want.<br />
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That being said, I'm also scared out of my MIND to go back to America. A year isn't that long, but a lot can, and has changed in the past year. Almost every single one of my friends (if not all) have some pretty intense professional jobs. And every single one of them is spread either across the state or across the country. When I left, we were all in the same little town hanging out at each others houses 5 minutes apart. That's not the life anymore and it's scary. I also will be living at home (love my mom and dad but that doesn't mean it'll be easy after living on my own for the last 6 years). I also will be living in Spokane (not my number one place of choice to reside). And the real kicker is I'll have to find a job! YAY! One of the huge perks of going to Korea was that a job was just handed to me...now I'll have to seek one out in a really intense manner.<br />
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I guess overall what I'm trying to say is I'm very grateful for my experience in Korea. I've learned a lot, I've seen a lot, I've done a lot. I now appreciate other cultures but I also appreciate my culture a lot more as well. I've experienced love, heartbreak, and the ever revolving "wheel" that is Korean expat life (one of the biggest downsides of this country, if you ask me). I've tried so many new things, from food to activities, and I've grown a lot as a person (I hope). I also now have a strange accent according to my sister although I strongly disagree. Number one phrase I use in this country..."Oh Korea...."<br />
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Anyways, those are my current thoughts. I have a lot running through my mind about what will happen when I get home, but in the meantime I'm about to go on a 6 week long adventure to Southeast Asia! That itinerary includes the following:<br />
Bangkok, Cambodia (Siem Reap and Phenom Phen), Vietnam (Ho Chi Mihn, Hanoi, Halong Bay), Laos (Luang Prabang), back to Thailand (Chaing Mai, Ko Tao, Krabi, Ko Phi Phi, Phuket) and finally down to Bali.<br />
Pretty FREAKING excited for that, so I'm going to go ahead and let my thoughts be consumed by that instead of the stress/joy that awaits for me at home.<br />
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P.S. I WILL BE HOME IN 45 DAYSSSSSSS!<br />
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-85903446268764986972013-09-23T05:51:00.001-07:002013-09-23T05:51:47.286-07:00The Reed Family Comes to Korea!My darling family arrived to Korea on Wednesday! Late at night. Much past my bedtime. But I waited and waited for them outside with my little sign welcoming them to Korea!<br />
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On Thursday, I forced them to come see all my kiddos at school. If you don't already know, or maybe you forgot, I teach a half an hour class of 30 5 year olds (American age, 3 or 4), then two half hour classes of 30 7 year olds (American 5 or 6). Then I have a short 20 minute break and then go teach an hour and a half of 20 of those 7 year olds. After that, I teach 2 hours of 3rd graders. I think my mom had a good time. I think my sister also had a good time (I forced her to sing some songs she knew with us) and my 3rd graders fell in LOVE with her...not just one of the boys, but one of the girls. The next day they were bragging about how they "snuck" pictures of "Jessica Teacher" when she was on the elevator. She totally knew. You're not that sneaky, guys. Anyways, we did some fun songs, made some pirate hats and eye patches (totally related to the theme) and hand some nice question and answer sessions from my 3rd graders. For dinner I took my family to Korean BBQ. They greatly enjoyed it and the drinks were on the house because I frequent that place waaaay too much. Yikes. Exposed my parents to soju. Quite a joy as well.<br />
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Friday-Sunday you can read about in the previous blog.<br />
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Monday night I went and met up with my family with Brigitte. I believe Brigitte took them to see the fish market and a temple during the day. When I got off work I met up with them and we went to dinner then ventured to Namsan Tower which is a mini Space Needle. We took the gondola to the top and when we got there the actual tower was closed :( But the view of the city was absolutely gorgeous! And there's this thing where couples come up there and place a lock on the fence somewhere. You're supposed to come back years later and find it and see if your wishes and hopes and dreams have come true or something like that. Thousands of locks. So crazy! We ventured back down and back home for the night.<br />
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Tuesday my family did the city bus tour. They got to see more things in Korea than I have probably seen. They went to the war memorial and saw the palace and such. Not really sure. When I got off work, I went and met up with them for dinner. Then we just relaxed in the hotel room and watched a movie. Nice family bonding time.<br />
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Wednesday we got up and I wanted to do some cafes like a cat cafe, dog cafe, sheep cafe, and a cafe where the fish eat your feet. So we ventured to Myeongdong and found that the cat cafe was closed so we went to the fish eat your feet cafe. We did that and that was the most bizarre thing I have ever done. The whole thing was only 20 minutes but I couldn't keep my feet in for more than 5 seconds for the first 10 minutes. The feeling was so weird. It tickled SO bad. I was literally screaming. Someone probably thought I was dying. Once I kind of got used to the feeling, it just felt like my feet had fallen asleep and they just nom nom away on your dead skin. After that, we went back to Insadong, which my family had briefly seen the day before and wanted to see again. We did a little souvenir shopping there and then tried the cat cafe again. Still closed. So we went back to Gangnam and found one a block from their hotel. We only had a short time because we had to go catch a baseball game, but we got to see the little kitties in the cafe. For my sister, probably not that big a deal since she saw hers like a week ago, but for me and especially Brig, we were like, whoa KITTIES!<br />
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Then we went to a Korean baseball game. Maybe you've read my other blog about Korean baseball, but going to a game is NOTHING like what you experience in America. Cheerleaders, loud crowds....it's like what you'd expect at a college football game. But what was cute was that the cheerleaders were wearing mini Hanbok (traditional Korean clothes) for the first few innings. I thought it was adorable, but then naturally as the innings went on, they had many a wardrobe change.<br />
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To end the night, Brigitte and I took my sister to one of my favorite bars, Bunker. There were very few people there because of Chuseok, but we still had a good time! We played some Jenga and this one game where you stick some sticks in the side of this barrel and when the head pops out you lose. Fun times indeed!<br />
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Thursday was actual Chuseok and for this day, we headed to the Han River. We wandered for a while trying to find the bike rental place. We finally found it but then decided to go on a boat tour. Found out when we got on the boat that it was more a fun tour type thing for kids, not so much a river tour. But we got to see the city from the river and some adorable kids and some creepy mascot things. When we got off the boat, we found the bike rental place and rode down the river the other direction. Jess and I tried out a tandem...not that easy, not that easy. REALLY hard actually, until you get the hang of it. We probably almost crashed like 5 times.<br />
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Friday was Everland day! Everland is a theme park in Korea. We heard that during Chuseok, there would be significantly less people there so we thought we'd try it out. There was also a foreigner discount so instead of paying 45 bucks, we only paid 25. We rode a GIANT viking ship. Biggest one I've ever seen, and highest I've ever seen one go. That was fun. Then we did a upside downy roller coaster, that was fun, waited for probably half an hour for that one (not bad). Then we thought we'd go to Safari Land which is what all my kids RAVE about. It's like THE reason to go to Everland, apparently. However the line for that was like 2 hours long, so we passed on that one. We waited like half an hour for a water rafty type ride. Typical Korea, they have tarps to cover you and they squeegee off the seats. Pretty fun. My mom got drenched (only one). Then we hit the animal section. Saw some animals in very confined spaces when they should have much more room than they had. A little depressing and made me glad we didn't go on the safari because that may have been even more depressing. Last was the T Express. Hugest and most bestest roller coaster of my life. Although we waited in line for an hour and a half, it was worth the wait because it was epicly awesome. We decided to call it a day after that because we're getting too old for all this waiting around.<br />
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Saturday we had a laid back day. My daddy made eggs and bacon for breakfast! SO YUMMY. Then we went to the Suwon Fortress. Our original plan was to ride the train up to the top, but that was sold out until 4 and it was noon so we voted against that and just wandered around until 130 when we got to do some arrow shooting. This was my second time doing and I actually hit the board for half of them, as opposed to last time when I hit the board zero times. When we got home, we walked around cafe street a bit, then headed to Brigittes home area called Suji. We had some dinner and soju there, played a little darts, and then my family experienced Koreas Norebang. This is karaoke, but in a small room with just the people you're with. Pretty awesome because you can choose any songs you want and you're usually quite comfortable with said people since they're generally your friends.<br />
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Sunday morning dark and early, I walked my parents to the bus stop, said byebye, and sent them on their long journey home.<br />
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Overall, I had a great time with them and saw a lot of touristy things I probably wouldn't have done if they hadn't visited and I do believe they had a splendid time as well.<br />
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They made it. </div>
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First Korean BBQ</div>
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I tried Kimchi...it was ok. </div>
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Photo Bomb</div>
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Subway</div>
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Namsan Tower</div>
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Locks for days</div>
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fish eating my dead skin. So tickly. </div>
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Cat Cafe</div>
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My new kitten friend. </div>
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Korean Baseball</div>
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Balloon headband. All day son, all day. Ticket to the tour boat. No joke. </div>
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Giant viking ship</div>
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Mom and dad shoot some arrows. </div>
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So does Jess</div>
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Norebang, Korean Karaoke. </div>
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-57603882874025478062013-09-23T05:31:00.003-07:002013-09-23T05:31:31.217-07:00Jeju-do VacayOur Jeju Journey began on Friday. Our flight was leaving from Gimpo at 12:20. So we thought we'd catch the shuttle around 9. We figured an hour on the shuttle, and we would then be approximately 2 hours early to this airport. So we get to the shuttle stop, and the bus doesn't come for like 45 minutes. Then we get stuck in LOTS of traffic. Who knew there would be so much traffic on a random Friday mid-morning. But there was. Brigitte and I start figuring out what we're going to do if we miss our flight because it's now about 11:30 and we're still sitting in traffic (quite a stressful time for my poor mother). Fortunately, we arrive at the airport, run to check in, and the guy says to be to the terminal before 11:50. I look at my watch only to see that it's 11:45 and we haven't gone through security yet. The good news about Gimpo airport is that it's tiny. We get through security in about 5 minutes and run to the terminal. TIME TO SPARE. My family had time to pee. We filled up our water bottles. Psh, what were we even worried about. Brigitte and I maintain that that's what we intended to happen the whole time!<br />
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We get to Jeju after a short 1 hour flight and find our hotel. Unload, take a breather, and then decide to walk towards the water. We could see it, but it was probably a kilometer away. We got to the bottom of the hill and saw a nice little place that said "coffee and beer" and decided it's in our best interest to stop on in there. The guy there was REALLY nice and spoke wonderful English. He recommended us some places to eat and we made our way to the beach. After a quick dip for my parents and sister, and some feet dipping for me and Brig, we decided to make a journey to find some kind of food. The struggle here was that my mom is vegetarian (although she still eats fish) and I prefer not to eat fish. Fortunately we struck gold and found a place that served both fish and pork. Come to find out half way through our meal that the pork is the black haired pork, famous on Jeju, and to prove that you're eating the pork, they leave the hairs in the meat that is cooking on the grill in front of you. Brigitte's mental breakdown about the hair alerted the cooking attendant to ever so gracefully cut the hairy part off. The meat itself was quite good. Glad I tried a Jeju delicacy. We then stalked up on groceries from the local 7-11 and headed back to the hotel for some rest. </div>
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This might be a good place to add that we stayed in a typical pension, where we sleep on the floor. No beds. This was quite surprising and alarming to my parents. </div>
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The next day (Saturday) we arranged to pay a flat fee for a taxi to take us around the island all day to all the places we wanted to see. </div>
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Our first stop was the "popular" beach, whose name I forget. It was pouring all morning but stopped just in time for us to get to the beach! YAY! We didn't swim, but we walked around a bit and enjoyed the sights. </div>
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Our next couple of stops were two of the waterfalls on Jeju. both were very pretty. The second one is the only waterfall that flows fresh water into salt water. Pretty cool I guess. Very pretty to see a waterfall on the edge of the ocean. </div>
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Then we headed to a couple of craters. The first was a huge "hike" where we climbed up a TON of stairs (I think my sister counted 707 or something like that). The view from the top was gorgeous. Out one side, you could see the ocean, out the other side was the city and the tallest mountain in Korea, Hallasan. The second crater was significantly less cool. It was really just a big hole in the ground. </div>
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Our last stop was to the famous (or if you're my mother, infamous) Jeju Love Land (don't worry mom, I won't post the pictures). But to paint a picture of what this place includes, imagine a park, filled with phallic things. This park originally started as university art project. Then it gradually got added to and became a nice place for couples to visit to (according to the guidebook) "get inspiration" or to "become educated." Side note: Jeju is a pretty big honeymoon destination for Koreans because it's called the "Hawaii of Korea" as it has nice beaches and nice weather. Anyways, my parents opted out of this visit but Brigitte and Jessica and I had a grand old time walking around the park. I'm pretty sure Korea is the only place in the world to make a park of such things. </div>
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The last day we had in Jeju we decided to go to Hallim Park which is a park with a little bit of everything Jeju has to offer. Our first stop was the lava tubes, which is pretty much what it sounds like, a tube made from lava. There were 3 tunnels so that was pretty neato. Then we walked through the botanical garden and the bird sanctuary. Last we stopped by the mini folk village, got some lunch, and then headed to the beach. We ended the day just hanging out on the beach and swimming. We had to head up to the hotel around 3 to begin the process of catching our flight home, which was flawless (totally on time!). </div>
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That was our greater Jeju experience. Quite fun. I'm glad I was able to go in my time here!<br />
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First Beach</div>
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First waterfall</div>
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Second waterfall that flows into salt water. </div>
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First crater. So green!</div>
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The inside/view beyond the crater</div>
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View from the other side...Hallasan in the background</div>
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Crater number 2. That light green stuff down there is the bottom. Significantly less cool. </div>
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Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-75439023399450440112013-09-03T03:27:00.001-07:002013-09-03T03:27:14.507-07:00A Pirate's LifeThis weekend, Sara and I embarked on a pirate journey. We left Seoul on Friday night at about 11 pm and arrived at port at 5 am. This meant sleeping on the bus. Not easy. AND it meant we were forced to stay on the bus and sleep, or sleep outside when we arrived at port at 5 am until we could get on the boat at 9 am. Rough night, all in all about 3 hours of sleep. Then we got on the boat and took off on our pirating adventure. I'll give you some highlights from the trip, but not all the details because some things, well, ya just don't need to know about.<br />
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1. We had a makgeolli boat come and meet us and deliver us like 60 something bottles of makgeolli for the boat. That was pretty fantastic.<br />
2. We went to an island that had dinosaurs on it at one point and you could see the dino tracks in the rocks.<br />
3. We sailed around and jumped in the water.<br />
4. We docked for the night on a different island than normal because of the typhoon headed towards Japan. It was making the waters a bit rougher than expected.<br />
5. We went to try and explore and find another beach, failed. Whatever, still an adventure.<br />
6. We bbqed delicious meat for dinner with our new friends.<br />
7. There were games played that were quite enjoyable and help you get to know new people really quickly.<br />
8. There were a couple rap battles.....although it was a bit of a fail on a couple of the battlers parts. But still humorous and entertaining none the less.<br />
9. The next day we set sail again.<br />
10. Swam some more<br />
11. I got a LOT of sun this weekend.<br />
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I think this weekend was potentially the most fun I've had on a weekend in Korea. It's hard to say, because I've had many fantastic weekends. But this was definitely a cherry topper to the summer and to my trip in Korea. I met many new people, bonded with some old friends, and just had an overall grand ole time!<br />
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This is my darling friend, Sara, and her cat pillow. </div>
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We had the option of sleeping in a tent on the cement, or on the boat, we went for boat. </div>
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New friendsies. </div>
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Yummy bbq dinner and soju. </div>
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The Koreana</div>
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Dino print!</div>
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-66089526075483431322013-08-25T01:46:00.000-07:002013-08-25T01:46:08.811-07:00I Believe I Can FlyHello All<br />
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This weekend I convinced Sara that she was going to go paragliding with me. We signed up for our trip, woke up SUPER early (as we do for all trips....which you probably have realized by now this is my least favorite part) and drove 4 hours to somewhere (mother I'll look it up cuz I know you're always curious)... <span style="background-color: #f9f9f9; color: #666666; font-family: tahoma, verdana, arial, 굴림, 한강체, Seoul; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">Anmyeondo(안면도) island in Chungcheongnam-do</span>. It was hot but fortunately it's cooling down a little. It was 88 yesterday, which with the humidity the "feels like" thing on the weather channel says 100 ish (this is much lower than the recent "feels like" 120). Anyways, it was a sunny day, there was a good breeze later on, and we got to fly in the sky! First they taught us what to do, which was really REALLY confusing when it was being translated. We were told something about running forward, the parachute coming over your head, letting go of some but not all of the chords you're holding on to, and then the different arm positions they would shout at you as you're flying. We all got really nervous because that was about the extent of our training. We practiced the motions of "arms up" "right arm should" (not shoulder, should) "right arm chess" (not chest) "hap dow" (which means half down) and "pull dow" (which means full down). That's the easy part. The hard part was when you were strapped in and everyone is shouting different directions at you. You have the two dudes who are helping you with your chute, the 3 people who are holding it up behind you helping it get in the air, and the dude on the walkie talkie who is directing you. It goes a little something like this:<br />
Two dudes standing next to me: Ready?<br />
Me: Yes?<br />
Two dudes: One Two Three!<br />people behind me drop the parachute as a start moving forward (let it be noted that there's also another dude who lectures us after EVERY person saying "don't hop, don't walk, RUN when they count...so we all have it in our head to run downhill like awkward skwaking birds with our arms out and heads down but bent over and eyes up...you picture that)<br />
Me: running... cuz that one angry guy told us to<br />
Two dudes: Don't Run<br />
Me: Stop running<br />
Angry dude: RUN<br />
Me: AHHH idk what to do<br />
Two dudes: Let go of the cables let go of the cables let go of the cables run run run run run<br />
Dude on walkie talkie: Hand up hands up!<br />
mind you, all of this is within like 10 seconds, so pretty much imagine a bunch of people shouting different things at you and you just do all of them at the same time until your feet aren't touching the ground anymore<br />
Once you're in the air, it's a breeze (pun intended). You are just floating there like a bird. SO awesome! And so pretty, and you're like whoa I'm gunna blow away and then the dude on the walkie talk is like "leptuh hand chess" and you're like oh whoa I'm not gunna blow away. It was really cool!<br />
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So that was the experience. I got to go twice. The second time was even better because you're not as stressed about all the commands, you pretty much understand the general idea and you just go with it. Also the second time the wind was stronger so I flew way higher and for way longer. Although the flight time was still only about...5ish minutes? I don't know, you lose track of time quite easily. I do wish it was longer that I was flying there but it was cool to be flying there at all!<br />
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Oh then there's the landing...That part wasn't too bad and I did a really good job the second time. You're coming closer to the ground and the walkie talkie dude is like "hapuh downuh" and so you put your hands about where your belly button is...but then he often gets angry so he's like "HAPUH DOWNUH HAPUH DOWNUHHHHHHH!" and you're like I AM! Then he's like "pull downuh pull downuh!" and then you are supposed to start like running until your parachute kinda falls...well there's two problems with that. One, there are really tall bushes you're landing in pretty much...not the easiest to run in and two, I kinda just forgot the running part last time. So what happened was I did the full down, and then I just landed face first in a cottony type bush and my chute kept flying kinda so it dragged me through the bush a bit. Oh well, I came out just fine. The second time, I was the first to go on this new location so the take off point had not been patted down by other people and parachutes yet, I said to the guy "running, hard, tall grass" he was like "haha its ok" uhhh. ok? And then the guy at the bottom in his SUV was trappling down all the weeds so I had somewhere to kind land. When I landed that time, I was able to kinda run and be successful as opposed to the first time. <br />
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Anyways, fun times were had by all. I got SUPER sun burned. I've been loading up with aloe all day. It seems to be helping. Here are some pictures of the crazy events.<br />
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This is the second time. They were getting me ready. </div>
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This is when the angry guy would be like RUN RUN and the two dues in front of me are like don't run, let go of these ones. </div>
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This is me being a parachute holder upper. </div>
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Getting out of the van that takes you back up to the top...they fit four people, and their bags and parachutes in that car. Not easy. </div>
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This is our instructor telling us what to do, kinda. </div>
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This is the part when he's like ok RUN</div>
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More pulling and running. </div>
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Ready!</div>
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Getting strapped in</div>
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I believe I can fly! I believe I can touch the sky! I think about it every night and day spread my wings and fly away!</div>
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-88417078357106448302013-08-02T23:20:00.004-07:002013-08-02T23:20:58.170-07:00Don't Feed The MonkeysI just returned from a fantastic trip to Malaysia. Before I begin telling you of the joyous things we saw and did, let me start by saying that when arrived in Malaysia, we realized we knew NOTHING about the culture. Not one thing. So overall, we learned a lot on this trip and that was awesome.<br />
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<b>Saturday: Travel Day</b><br />
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On Saturday we started our journey at 5am (per usual) and arrived in Malaysia at about 4 or 5. 6 hour flight. Not too shabby. We found the bus, found our hostel, found our beds. Then we went to meet up with Ellen's college friends who happen to be living in Malaysia (they JUST moved there from the Philippines) and saw the Petronas Towers. That was pretty cool. They are gorgeous at night. In front of the towers are some colored fountains. That was also pretty cool. We found out very quickly that the weather in Malaysia is in fact HOTTER than Korea but less humid. For some reason, it seems I can handle that much better. We were exhausted from our travel so we went to bed pretty early and we had a big day with the elephants planned for Sunday. YAY!<br />
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<b>Sunday: Elephant Day</b><br />
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It has been Ellens dream to go to an elephant sanctuary. She's very big on making sure to support humane treatment of elephants, and I support that as well. So no, we did not ride them, no they didn't really perform for us...these elephants live a half wild life. Anyways. First we went to an animal farm where we saw and fed deer and an ostrich. Ok lemme just say it's weird to feed a deer when I see them around my home all the time. It's even weirder to feed a freaking ostrich. I didn't even wanna stand by it, let alone feed it. But I did, and it was awesome and frightening all at the same time. It really just felt like a strong piece of rubber hitting your hand. But you had to make sure and hold your hand really flat so you it wouldn't pinch your skin when it pecked you. We also held some snakes and saw a hedgehog and a ferret and a mouse deer. That mouse deer was weird...it was like a mini deer on chopstick legs. I'm not sure if I've ever held a snake before. If I have, I don't remember it. But when I was holding that yellow python, and I could feel it moving around my neck...what a strange strange sensation to feel all of those muscles just moving around me. Crazy.<br />
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This picture is worth a thousand words. </div>
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After the animal farm, we went to the elephant sanctuary. We ate some food, then we watched the video showing how and why they have to move elephants. It looked like a dangerous, sad, and painful process and I don't wanna rehash the details. Moral of the story, they were/are moving elephants to the last natural rainforest in Malaysia because all their land is being taken over by the palm oil plantations.<br />
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Then we went and fed the elephants. We brought peanuts for them to eat, but they also like to eat sugar cane and bananas. Then they brought out the big elephants for their river bath. Pretty funny stuff. They just roll around in the river like a dog in grass or a pig in mud. And they stick their little trunk up so they can breathe. So cute. They brought the elephants out and introduced us to them, then we fed them Papaya. After that, we got to go back to the river and wash the baby elephants. It was a curious process where the dude put sand on them, and we scrubbed them down with the sand (I'm sure they liked the scratchy feeling) and then we just splashed the elephant off. Man were they adorable. Then our time in the river was over.<br />
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After a quick nap, we went and hung out in china town, bought some shirts that say "same same" on the front and then on the back "but different." It's a very Korea thing since as a teacher, I'm always explaining things as "same same." Too perfect for words. We sat and ate some delicious Chinese food (all the food in Malaysia was SO GOOD) and had some beer (all the alcohol in Malaysia is SO EXPENSIVE...I bought a big meal for 6MYR and then payed around 15 MYR for my beer). We walked through the vendors some more with our new German friend, Luis who was also staying in our hostel. He bought some cool headphones, we bought some pants. It was a good time. THEN we met even more people who were staying in our hostel (honestly, probably had more fun meeting people from around the world than sight seeing) as well as some Belgians with whom we drank more expensive beer. I also found a guy who was working one of the stalls tell me he was in love with me, so I now have a lovely, hardworking, Malaysian boyfriend (not really for those of you who don't know my sarcasm).<br />
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Overall, Sunday was by far the best day. We did SO many new things, and met people from Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, and the the Philippines. Almost all of which were staying at our hostel.<br />
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<b>Monday: The Day of Wandering</b><br />
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Monday we decided to go and do a little sight seeing. It was quite difficult to get to the Mosque, which is where we wanted to start our day. Lemme start by saying Malaysia doesn't really believe in crosswalks. I can't tell you how many times I Froggered across the bustling roads hoping not to get hit by cars.<br />
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We found the Mosque finally (with the help of some friendly policemen) and then had to wait around until 3 for the visiting hours. We decided to do this loop where we could see the bird sanctuary and the hibiscus and orchid gardens. Turns out we just really did a lot of walking for no reason because we didn't wanna pay to go in the bird sanctuary and I'm deathly afraid of butterflies so were weren't gunna go in that sanctuary either. Then when we thought we were at the gardens, we had passed them and we didn't want to go back up that hill so we just kept going. This is, however, where we found the frightening monkey signs and Ellen kept calling for them. I'm like dude, don't call them.<br />
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Take note, there is a monkey banging some guys head in, and a monkey chasing a child...That's scary. </div>
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Me in my Berka in the Mosque</div>
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Inside the Mosque</div>
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This picture doesn't do the tealness of the roof justice. Very sad, it was pretty! Oh I also learned that the shape of the building is supposed to represent an opening umbrella...can't remember why. </div>
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We finally got into the Mosque and we put on the purple Berka and walked around taking pictures of the Mosque. We also picked up some informative pamphlets about the Muslim religion. I suppose I can take a moment here to tell you a little bit about the make up of Malaysian people:<br />
30% Chinese<br />
30% Indian (like Hindu Indian)<br />
30% Malay (native to Malaysia)<br />
10% Expats and Refugees<br />
Of these populations, everyone speaks at least 3 languages. English and Malay are the official languages of Malaysia, and then everyone speaks their own language (Mandarin, Cantonese, etc)<br />
The religions here are Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic. And I'm sure others but the first 3 are the main ones.<br />
I had no idea that this country was such a cultural mix, hence the reason you didn't really hear people say "Let's go grab some Malaysian food!" For the most part, you eat Indian or Chinese food or something like that. Ha.<br />
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Ok anyways, after the Mosque we wandered around some more and found a mini Buddhist temple (nothing like the ones we see in Korea, props to Korea) and an Hindu temple. That was AWESOME I think partially because we never see that around.<br />
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After that, we had another chill night where we took our other new German friend to see the Petronas Towers and then saw the water show...this time it was synced to Titanic music. Pretty cool. Then we hung around a bar for a little while and met some Nigerians. Again, meeting people is the coolest part of travelling.<br />
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<b>Tuesday and Wednesday: Port Dickson</b><br />
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We did some research about this place, found the most "hoppin" beach, and booked a resort nearby. Got there and it was EMPTY...lol no one in sight. So Ellen and I had a nice romantic beach all to ourselves for 2 days. Woot. We'd go get a little sun, eat some food, take a nap, get some more sun, get some more food, go to bed. It was by far the most relaxing part of the trip. And beautiful.<br />
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Woulda picked it up...wasn't sure if it would be a genie in a bottle or a Jumangi...I decided to pick it up in order to avoid the chance of it being Jumangi. </div>
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We did three other cool things at our resort besides the laying around and sleeping a lot:<br />
1. It is Ramadan right now so when the sun goes down, our hotel hosts a HUGE feast! We payed a large sum of money to join, and it was totally worth it! We ate food from many different countries. Each dish had a flag by it so you knew where it was from. There was chicken, fish, lamb ("you don't eat meat?? What do you mean you don't eat meat?? It's ok...I make lamb"....high five for whoever knows that movie) and many other traditional foods. We were stuffed and went to bed.<br />
2. Our resort also had a planetarium...What resort has a planetarium? I don't know but I'm ok with it because I saw Saturn. That was pretty cool.<br />
3. Jungle hike...we got bored of just sitting around the beach so we wanted to go see this light house. You can get to it 2 ways, one is the paved road, the other is through the jungle. We opted for jungle but were wearing flip flops...didn't think that one through all the way. It was very pretty. We made it to the light house. And then we saw THE MONKEY. I was quite freaked out. Ellen was quite excited. Then when we got home, I had a dream that the monkey got in our house (my family's house, but in Malaysia) and we didn't know how to get it out of the house. Then that night, dreamed a similar dream about the monkey getting in the house. What the heck! Apparently I'm more afraid of monkeys than I thought. Or just don't like the idea of them being in my house.<br />
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I saw this in the giant telescope! It's SATURN!</div>
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Jungle!</div>
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The monkey that freaked me out!</div>
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More jungle...</div>
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<b>Thursday: Melaka</b><br />
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Everyone told us we needed to see Melaka. Everyone said "You need to spend multiple days there, it's a great place." All we could fit in our schedule was 1 day, and one day was plenty. We got to Melaka at about 930, stored our bags in the baggage place, and then bought our return ticket home for 7pm (last bus) giving ourselves as much time as possible. We went into town, did some walking around, and wanted to take a boat tour so we did that. Saw many of the places of Melaka, and still had lots of time to go. Again we picked up the wandering habit where we tried to find some more temples and such. We finally got ourselves on track, saw more temples and explored some shops in chinatown (we spent a lot of time in chinatowns in this country). Then we realized we had more time to kill so we hired a pedicab. He took us around to many of the places we had already seen, but it was still fun and he had a lot of information for us, such as the prime minister (I think that's what he meant but he kept saying prime master) can only be Native Malay. And that the Chinese and Indian have been in Malaysia since the 14th century. Then we still had time to kill so we sat ourselves down at a few different happy hours and enjoyed some less expensive drinks and food. Then we made our way to the bus terminal and back to Kuala Lampur we went.<br />
We got in pretty late but HAD to have some more Kebabs because that was SO yummy. Then we went and finally had a drink on the rooftop bar. The people who work at this hostel are quite cool. There's the dude at the front desk, which seems to be grumpy sometimes but for some reason, he liked me and Ellen. Then there's the woman who makes breakfast upstairs on the roof in the morning. She's amazing because her food is delicious AND she's a fun kinda gal. Then there's the dude who runs the bar. He's super cool too! He's from...Belgium? And speaks French, English, and German? Anyways. He has a kickass job because he literally drinks with new people everyday, hears all kinds of worldly stories, and has many of his own to tell! So awesome.<br />
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Notice the 3 languages at the bottom.</div>
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These 3 places were literally all neighbors to each other. That's love people!<br />
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Chinatwon number 2</div>
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<b>Friday: Travel day</b><br />
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We left at 5 am. Got to the airport. All was well. Then we sat on the tarmac for an HOUR because flight traffic was very busy over China. Bummer. Anywho...made it home safe and sound! I have at LEAST 20 bug bites that are driving me crazy! Korea is really HOT...more sticky than hot. I got back here and realized how much better I can handle hotter temp with less humidity (although KL was still quite humid) as opposed to lower temp with higher humidity.<br />
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I loved KL, loved the structures there, and the cultural mix was fascinating beyond reason. I met some VERY cool people and I couldn't be more pleased. Yay!<br />
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Oh side note....the "Don't feed the monkeys" thing was very relevant to every aspect of our life whereas if you feed one, or talk to one, or find one, many will follow. I was often telling Ellen not to feed the monkeys in a variety of situations, like when she gave a stray cat some of her chicken, and then 3 more came over and wouldn't stop meowing for the rest of our meal...I was like I told you "Don't feed the monkeys".Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-11858970866657607632013-07-26T07:42:00.002-07:002013-07-26T07:42:49.046-07:00Birthday and MudfestI had the joy and pleasure of celebrating my birthday in Korea...and 3 times no less. First was the weekend before mudfest because I wanted to have a lovely night out in Hongdae. So we went out on a Saturday with approximately everyone I know in Korea. It was a lot of people. But it was a pretty good time.<br />
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The following weekend was my actual birthday. On Friday I celebrated with my kiddos at school. My lovely co-teacher took some pictures with my kids and I love you signs. It was pretty good fun. The kids are adorable, of course.<br />
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Then we also went out that night for Ellen's last night out at her all time favorite place in the world, Bunker. The bonus of going to Bunker was that at midnight, when it was my official birthday, I got a free bottle of champagne! Woot!<br />
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Then Saturday rolled around and it was time for Mudfest! Basically what Mudfest is, is a bunch of people playing in the mud. There are some giant tubs of mud you can use to paint it on one another, however when we tried those, they were empty. Then we had wrist bands to go inside. Imagine really big blow up toys (like bounce house style) but huge slides and obstacle courses and such...just COVERED in mud. The lines for all of those things were really long though, and my only desire was to get muddy so I could take a picture and then jump in the ocean. So Brigitte and I decide to go in the prison. Then they tell you to cover your eyes ears and mouth and they count down and then the dudes on the outside just splash mud allllll over you. Its a little frightening. We left the prison and thought that was sufficient. Come to find out the people on the other side didn't think so because I got tackled to the ground and everyone kicked mud on me as I assumed the fetal position. Finally it stopped. Someone pulled me up. And I was officially sufficiently muddy. After that scarring experience, I left the mud area, took a picture on the beach, and proceeded directly to the ocean. I think I had more fun in the ocean overall than in the mud. Oh it's also important to note that everyone walking around looked like aliens. It was really weird because you couldn't tell who was Asian, or white, or black, or any other anything...everyone was mud. And everyone had no hair and no eyebrows and just muddy gross everything. So strange. Also everyone wanted you to be muddy if you were not. I had many strangers hug me simply because I was clean. How kind. Oh and you could paint your body with colored mud so as to look like a warrior or something. I had trouble finding this mud, therefore never got around to doing that :( But it's ok because I got as much mud as I needed/wanted and I'm comfortable with that.<br />
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They also had a really cool air show! It lasted like an hour. But they had all these colored smokes and stuff. Did all these cool things. At night they had a firework show.<br />
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Throughout my college career, I never experienced the "spring break" that you see on MTV...but I can now officially say that I saw everything that one would expect to see at a college spring break (as opposed to my fantastic culturally enhancing and/or active spring breaks) in one day.<br />
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Overall mudfest was pretty fun. I'm glad to say I did it (it's a pretty big thing in Korea).<br />
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Sorry if this blog was a little scatter brained. I'm getting ready to go to Malaysia in 6 hours but I needed to write this blog so I have a fresh palate when I come home from my week long of adventuring in another country! Hooray!<br />
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Muddy aliens!</div>
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Giant mud slides.</div>
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The awesome beach</div>
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The scary prison. </div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-57026023065546477322013-06-24T03:52:00.000-07:002013-06-24T03:52:10.156-07:00Quick Synopsis of the 10kWe got there and EVERYONE was wearing blue. Took us a while to figure out that that was the shirt we got for running the race.<br />
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There were men everywhere. Granted, this was a race in honor of veterans. But when we all got piled together by the start line, it was slightly overwhelming.<br />
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We got our picture taken by some Korean military guys because, we're, well, white.<br />
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Some famous girls (don't know who) led everyone in a giant group stretch...that was cool.<br />
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It was realllllly hot out! And only 9 am. I think I sweat through my entire shirt (TMI?)<br />
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I got sprayed with Ginseng to help my circulation. That was surprising as he came up from behind and got me! Turns out he was super adorable though.<br />
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I got a medal, banana, shirt, hat, towel thingy, 2 muffin things, and an energy drink for finishing.<br />
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I ran the whole thing (which I wasn't expecting to be able to do since the most I had run before the day was 5k) aaaaand I ran it in (officially) 1:04:31. CONGRATS TO ME. I'm so proud. Honestly didn't think I was capable of that.<br />
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We ran along the Han river. That was cool.<br />
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Overall it was a good time. I'm proud of my time. And I'm glad I ran a 10k in Korea. Next run will be a 5k color run in September! Hooray!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-28395339887851438192013-06-20T06:48:00.001-07:002013-06-20T06:48:45.036-07:00Korean Baseball. Oi.Ok....I feel that I need to preface this particular post with a little background of my baseball game experiences. I have never been to a MLB game before. Before you get too shocked, I grew up in Cali (SLO) which has no major league team. I saw their "little guys" play...AAA I believe. Maybe double. If that's a thing. Then I moved to Washington. Spokane, Washington. So never was like Oh em ge Mariners. Saw the Spokane Indians play a few times though. Other than that, I've seen more of my sister's softball games than one person should ever have to watch in a lifetime (don't worry Jess, I loved going and sitting in the sun and eating delicious food...and watching you play lol) and have caught many a Mariners game on the tele.<br />
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That being said, Korean baseball is a hoot and a half. I attended a game about a month ago, but just sat in the outfield in the sun with some friends and drank some beer and enjoyed the game from afar. It was a good time. THIS time was a much different experience.<br />
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Our doctor at the clinic (Dr. Hamm...or is it Haam...Idk the Korean way) bought tickets for 5 of us coworkers to go to the game and sit in the cheering section. Not only did he buy our ticket, but he arranged for us to get picked up after school by 2 of his friends, and then bought us cool baseball toys like blow up fingers, and loud stick clappers. In return, we bought the beer and chips. Oh they also bought us sandwiches. What the heck, can you say hospitality?<br />
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Now I'm not gunna lie, I don't even really know what happened in the game. When you sit in the 100's sections, you are cheering the whole entire time. When your team is up at bat, you do not sit down. And you do not stop yelling. You're dancing, you're waving your sticks around, you're mumbling words that sound like what it is everyone else is saying (unless someone translates for you...which I got a few times so sometimes I knew what I was saying). It was also helpful that many of their cheers go to songs I already know, like an ABBA song, and some hip hop, and other good things. So if all else fails, I can just mumble the tune and it sounds the same as what everyone else is saying. All this being said, it was a super good time.<br />
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In Korea, they have cheerleaders at baseball. They dance sometimes (one time to Gentlemen...and if you don't know, GOOGLE IT.....Gangnam Style is so last season, <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO_zypdnsQ" target="_blank">Gentleman</a> is where it's at now) and they even had a wardrobe change. They got more scandalous as the night went on, which is saying a lot for Korea, the country that has a ban on how short your shorts and skirts can be in public (don't know if that's in effect yet or if it will ever be). There is also a fantastic man who wears gogo boots and has a loud whistle that keeps the fans cheering the ENTIRE TIME. He was a hoot and a half to watch him shake his booty in front of hundreds of people. No shame.<br />
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Also, at one point, we put plastic bags on our heads. Orange ones. They passed out enough for the entire crowd. so you put some air in it,and tie it on your head via your ears. Or the girls can make an adorable bow. I didn't want a bow. I wanted an awesome puff ball.<br />
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The most exciting part of the night was when some old Korean guy let me wave the flag around. First he had Mandy and Ellen do it, but they were not the best flag wavers in the world. They weren't enthused enough. I was more than enthused so I was wavin that flag like there was no tomorrow. Hittin the people in front of me. Hittin the people next to me. Wackin people in their arms and faces. I didn't care. It was awesome. Then the man took my picture and took his flag. Sad.<br />
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Overall, we won the game by like 8...had a good time, and experienced a new part of Korean culture that I would love to experience again, because honestly, how much more exciting can a baseball game get????<br />
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Cheerleaders in outfit one. </div>
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The crew who brought us. </div>
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Giant hand clappers and a bag on my head. That's my coworker Sara. </div>
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Man rockin the gogos and shakin it for probably lots of dollas. </div>
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Sea of orange bag heads. </div>
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My awesome flagness. </div>
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Finally, here is the video of the cheerleaders doing it...now you know why the game is not nearly as exciting as the cheering that is going on. Before you click this, please go back up and watch PSY do it first so you get a full understanding of it's importance. </div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d11x7TNEbEs&feature=youtu.be">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d11x7TNEbEs&feature=youtu.be</a></div>
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-54963641173166976092013-06-20T04:09:00.005-07:002013-06-20T04:09:53.972-07:00Adventure Weekend!Last weekend I went on an epic adventure. Here is what I did!<br />
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First we went bungee jumping!!!!!! 63 meters. Supposedly the tallest in Korea. It was scarrrrrry. I was expecting a bridge but that's not what happened. There were these crane like things and they carried us to the top. As I rode to the top with the instructor guy, in his actually impressive amount of English, he told me what to expect. He said, "We get to the top. I open the door. You step outside to end of platform. I will say look up. You look up. I will say arms out. You put your arms out. I will say 1, 2, 3 then you jump. You do like dive. Ok?" Me..."oooook....." Him "It's very fun" Me "I'm scared." Him "It's very fun." haha we didn't get very far there. Then we had some casual conversation...he lives in the town over there, and pointed. He has jumped hundreds of times. He tells me when I am waiting to get lowered I should bend in half and hug my legs. (Side note, you should know I was sitting down on a stool so I couldn't really see the height as we went up).<br />
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We got to the top. He said, "are you ready?" I said "uhhhh I guess." He opens the door. I can now see how far up we are and I whimper. He says step out. I take baby step. He says, "You need to step out further. One more step to be on edge." I say ok and timidly step out. I can't look down cuz if I do, there's no way this is happening. Although even looking out around me is super scary because I can still see how high up I am! Then he says "Look up!" (these people who worked here were very demanding..."STAND HERE" "WAIT THERE" we were like ok ok...but they were fun guys so it wasn't in a mean way) So I looked up. THen he said "Arms out" So I put my arms out. Then he said "1, 2, 3 jump" So I dive offffff the platform into the nothingness. I had the slightest moment of hesitation then instantly decided if I hesitated, I would never be able to do it, so off I went. The jump itself was fantastic. The build up was horrifying. But by far the worst part was after the bounce. It jostles you around and you body is all twisty and bendy it ways it shouldn't be. Not to mention you start spinning on that bungee AND you're hanging upside down. So no part of that is pleasing in the slightest. Everyone cheers like yay you did it! Then they lower you down. What a rush! Would I do it again? Honestly probably not by the ankle again just because it made me extremely nauseous and gave me an instant head ache. Would I do it by the waist? Absolutely because then you just kinda fly there afterwards, no pain to be had. Course no pain, no gain.<br />
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Next was off to the zip line. Originally I had paid to do it. Then when I saw that the course was like..20 feet off the ground and over a parking lot, I decided to sit this one out and get my money back (I've done zip lining before in a more awesome (in my opinion) location and setting). Watched as people zipped around.<br />
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Everyone got back and it was time for water rafting. I haven't been water rafting since like, loooong ago in my Cali days, almost too young to remember besides the fact that we almost died because we missed the "house the size of a rock" the guide told us we'd see and instead almost went over a huge waterfall. Not the case this time, we had a guide in our boat. Good thing because we got stuck at least 5 times and he had to pull us out. It was a fun experience. One part, we got to get out and swim. Sara and I pulled our instructor in the water because he kept trying to dunk us under from the safety of his boat. I decided no way jose and he was a victim of our wrath. Another point in the river, we stopped, turned a raft upside down on some boulders in them middle of the river, and used it as our personal spring board. That was cool. Last, we did some good old fashioned water boarding. Yes that's the torture method. We got off where there was some freezing cold spring water running down a little water fall. He grabbed our head and dunked us under. Don't worry...it was quite refreshing and enjoyable, and no, I didn't feel like I was going to die.<br />
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It was a day full of fun and adventure!<br />
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Day 2 was river trekking day! First we hiked up a steep steep hill for half an hour and sweated our booties off. Then we hiked down into the valley on the other side. Once we got there, we found the river! From that point on, we hiked along the river! Sometimes in the river, sometimes crossing the river, sometimes along the river. It was an overall fantastic day because every second of it reminded me of the good ole PNW and summers there. The hiking, the river, the cliff jumping, and the natural water slides. Not to mention the nature itself was very similar to PNW. But yes, we found a few boulders to jump off. Unfortunately I kicked a giant one when I was coming back up from my jump and I now have a huge bruise on my leg. It's ok though, bruises are fun! This trek took about 5 hours. 5 hours of outdoor awesomeness. We also found a couple natural water slides (although these ones have nothing on the ones up by priest lake in Idaho).<br />
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Good good times, new friends, and a weekend of greatly needed outdoor adventure in the sun.<br />
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Oh I forgot to tell you about my sunburns. Day one, I decided I didn't need sunscreen (also come to find out my sunscreen wasn't even water proof). So my arms, hands, and feet were burnt to a crisp. Thanks to my 2 lovely new roommates and their aloe, next day I was fine. Next day I decided to sunscreen it up. However I forgot about my upper back. I think I thought my backpack was covering it. Found out that night, that was not the case. Had a super stinger sunburn. Whoops. Its ok...so far no peeling and a super nice tan. At least 3 Koreans on Monday commented on my skin (remember they don't like tanness).<br />
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Here are some pictures:<br />
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This is how the weekend always starts...curled up on a bus. </div>
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The rafting team. </div>
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Us and our rafting leader. </div>
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The boat turned diving board. </div>
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Jumping boulder. </div>
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Taking a swimming break. </div>
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The bungeeeeeee. </div>
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Gorgeous river to trek on!</div>
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-35193936350053670082013-06-06T04:57:00.001-07:002013-06-06T04:59:35.931-07:00Koreans In SummertimeLet me start off by saying, that last September October, I found that Koreans hated the sun. At the beach, they were wearing long sleeves and hats and carry umbrellas everywhere like it's raining.<br />
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Today was a different story, although also a different kind of Korean person.<br />
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We heard about the Hamilton Hotel pool that's on the roof and decided it was on our bucket list to go. We also heard the pool opens at 10 and closes at 8 on weekends and holidays. Then we heard what the weather was going to be like today. We decided to go.<br />
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Before going, on Wednesday Sara and I did a little research to see what we might want to expect. All the internet blogs and articles talked about males asserting their social dominance, how to talk to Korean girls, and other activities that happen at the pool.<br />
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Let it be known that all those things were true.<br />
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First we got there at 1020, and the line to get in was around the corner to the elevator. We waited a good 40 minutes just to get into the pool, and when we did, there was no where to sit really, except on the edge of the pool, which was fine. That's where we sat all day. We people watched the crap out of this situation. There is drinking, and bbqing (American style) and the craziest shenanigans you can possibly imagine.<br />
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As I'm thinking about how to explain this to you all, I'm finding it very difficult to put into words the things I saw today, so here are my attempts at the important things:<br />
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1. House music from noon on.<br />
2. Men in speedos EVERYWHERE whether they should be wearing them or not.<br />
3. Korean girls in high heals<br />
4. People mingling.<br />
5. Drunk (or not) Koreans dancing like they're in a club of house music, just wearing significantly less clothes (now before you get a raunchy picture in your head, just imagine someone standing there, bobbing their head and waving their hands in the air sometimes).<br />
6. People packed from wall to wall.<br />
7. The "social dominance via floaty toy" thing was real. The pool has one trampoline floaty toy that many people were often sitting in. Till other people came and dumped you out. Then it was a battle for which male (white or korean) could stay on or in the floaty toy. Eventually they let other people back on, but it was a constant game and that toy was more often than not, FULL of men, in very close proximity to one another, in speedos.<br />
8. On that same note, I met a nice girl who borrowed my sunscreen in exchange for some wine that experienced the floaty toy thing. A kind old man in a speedo (Korean) decided to join the fun. She told me of the sights and feels of that experience and that she never wanted to experience it again. I stayed away from that bad boy (the toy, not the old man).<br />
9. There was literally oil floating on top the pool because of the amount of lubrication these people were using to become tan. Men were literally oiling each other up non stop the whole time.<br />
10. Being pale in Korea is cool. Today I learned that that really only applies to your face. Therefore, you look at these bodies of both males and females, skin dark as dark can be, face, whiter than a freaking ghost (granted this is a bit of an exaggeration, but I kid you not, their faces were white with make up...men and women...and their bodies super duper dark). That was almost the most shocking thing I saw all day.<br />
11. The burger we ate for lunch was delicious!<br />
12. Korean girls reapply their make up as soon as they get out of the water (if they ever even really get in).<br />
13. I karate chopped a guys hand for trying to pull Sara into the pool. I hit him much harder than I thought and it still hurts right now, 5 hours later...but it worked!<br />
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Some things I learned for next time (and there will be a next time because now we KNOW what we need and what to expect and it'll make it all the better):<br />
1. We will pay the extra money for a lounge chair, to have our own space.<br />
2. We will bring our own alcohol (not allowed, but everyone did it).<br />
3. We will bring more friends. We had quite a lot of fun with only 3 of us, but if we had more people to talk to, it would have been pretty cool.<br />
4. We will get to the pool (to stand in line) at 930 so that we can get a chair, but a chair in an area we want.<br />
5. We will bring some sort of pool toy, be it a beach ball (there were 3, they all went over the edge into the bustling streets of Itaewon, never to be seen again) or a frizbee, or a kickboard or SOMETHING.<br />
6. We will go on a Saturday when it's perfectly okey dokey to be hung over the next morning (sorry mom, the truth hurts).<br />
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Here's the pictures that can hopefully provide you with a little insight as to what I witnessed today.<br />
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Oh Korean grammar. Hehe. </div>
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The lounge chairs were all full, and people were sitting like us around the entire pool. </div>
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The social dominance floaty toy. </div>
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This guy was wasted, and was trying to dance on this thing...till he fell off with no one's help but his own. </div>
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The first male to dominate the floaty toy. Also, take note of the Korean men wearing speedos lathering themselves up and just standing there. And they weren't even the worst. I wish I took a picture of these other two men...one wearing a pink, <i>truly </i>banana. hammok. I kid you not the things I saw...and his pal, wearing powder blue tiny shorts. Powder blue...when wet...with a light material. I'll leave the rest to your imagination but I don't even think your imagination can do it justice. </div>
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These guys stood around for a looooong time before lying down for a loooooong time then leaving. Don't worry, their space was quickly taken over. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On another more awesome note, my family booked their flight to Korea today!!!! They'll be here in September </span>(my mother still hasn't given me the specific dates and times yet) <span style="font-size: large;">and we're gunna do so many awesome things! YAY YAY YAY!</span><br />
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Oh and I have to work tomorrow, Friday. We had a random Thursday off. Hence the reason for this adventure in the first place.<br />
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Over and out!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-71787596545323452912013-06-03T06:39:00.003-07:002013-06-03T06:39:54.230-07:00The Day I Went to the DMZMy darling friend, Brigitte, and I decided to go on a day trip to two of the DMZ areas. We went with WinK (a travel group for people in Korea, mostly foreigners..which I have been on 2 previous trips with). I have heard from many people that the USO trip is the way to go because you see more or do more or something. No one ever actually gives a reason, they just say "Oh I heard you should go through USO." That combined with the average feedback of people who have been to the DMZ being "It was pretty cool I guess" made my expectations not that high. Really, I thought I should just go because I'm here and that's something foreigners could do. Therefore, I signed up, made Brig go with me, and began yet another weekend morning at 5 something in the morning to go on an adventure.<br />
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We rode the subway, rode the bus (only about 40 minutes) and arrived at the first destination. We saw an old bullet shot train from the war. We saw the peace bridge. And some colorful hope ribbons.<br />
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Train with bullet holes all up in it.</div>
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Peace Bridge</div>
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Peace ribbons...surrounded by barbed wire. </div>
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Same area, different place, we went to the tunnel after first watching an informative video about North Korea. Which reminds me! Our WinK leader filled the first 40 minute bus ride with a ton of interesting information about the history of North and South Korea and their interactions. I learned quite a lot. And it was interesting to hear a Koreans opinion about what was recently "going on" with North Korea. His thoughts on the matter were that in Korean news, they get updates on the happenings of North Korea every day. Whereas the US hears nothing and then CNN blows stuff out of the war. Good ole whats-his-face always using the words "imminent war" whenever he can to freak the living daylights out of Americans. I also learned how strong of a hold Japan had on Korea and I learned about the Chinese involvement. It was pretty cool. I feel like I got Korean history 101 in a short 40 minute bus ride.<br />
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Anyways. Then we went into the tunnel. We had to wear helmets. First we walked down a fairly steep incline for about 10 minutes. Then we got to the real tunnel that the N. Koreans had built to try and attack Seoul. 4 have been found, we explored 2 of them. We walked down it a ways. At the end, there was a big metal door. Then we turned around and walked back. The incline back up was a bit steep and my calves are sore today to say the least. The cool thing about these tunnels that I learned is that their built from low to high, lowest in the North and highest in the South so that the flow of the water would be in the opposite direction. Fascinating right? They definitely thought ahead on that so they wouldn't end up with a huge puddle when the got to Seoul. The interesting thing that I kept imagining was how they would get so many soldiers through that tunnel. If you want to have an attack on someone, another country, for example, you're gunna need a lot of soldiers. However we were walking in a single file line, all hunched over so as not to hit our heads (even though we still did, good thing for those helmets!) and when people passed us going the other direction, we had to slow down and slide by one another. Imagine hundreds of soldiers trying to get through these tunnels...quite curious if you ask me.<br />
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Then we went to an observation tower. That was cool. We got to take pictures with the soldiers (South Korean, that is) and look through the telescopes. This is the part I totally nerded out on. I was like SO stoked to see North Korea. I actually saw a village with people walking through it (like 2 people) and 1 person on a bike. Saw some North Korean towers. I was soooo stoked. And saw the area where South Koreans go to work. I forget what that place is called. But I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. They had a yellow line painted on the floor and you couldn't take pictures beyond it for the private-ness of the military things or whatever. So this is the best picture I got of N. Korea:<br />
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This is from the first observation deck. Those mountains are in North Korea. </div>
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This is from the second observation deck, and those mountains are also in North Korea. </div>
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Our new bestie!</div>
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Then we were off for some lunch. Turns out the place we were having lunch is the same place I'll be going rafting and bungee jumping next weekend. Cool!<br />
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After lunch we headed to the second area. It was another tunnel. This time with stairs and this time we could take pictures of the helmets! We still weren't supposed to take pictures inside, however I know a few people got some pics so maybe you'll get to see that on FB or something later.<br />
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After that we went to this other observation deck and then ended the day with some White Horse Hill Battle monuments. White Horse Hill was when a lot (can't remember how many) bombs were dropped on a mountain and it took the top layer of the earth off (about a meter deep) leaving white sand in the shape of a horse. Hence it's name. The significance of this hill is that to the south of it is really rich soil for growing rice. We all know how the people in N. Korea are kinda starving so this was a very important piece of land for them, and before all the wars started and such, it used to be theirs. S. Korea won it, however, by 3 men running into N. Korean barracks with hand granades, thus ending the sitch. They did this because both N. Korean and S. Korean troops ran out of amo and were now using hand to hand combat. Those 3 men are the heros of this battle and there is a sculpture made of them with the left over bullet shells from the battle. COOL!<br />
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After this we were all exhausted and ready to go home, so home we did go.<br />
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Two things I forgot. We also visited the last train station before the train goes to N. Korea:<br />
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AND every video we watched (there were 3 I think) was all about how they want North Korea and South Korea to be one nation. Their goal is to tie things together again. How presh. Oh, and they're like all about the wildlife. Which I think is kinda funny. AND something that Brigitte pointed out is that it's very strange that some of the active military people act as tour guides. Imagine getting your assignment and it says "You're going to the DMZ...to pass out helmets to visitors." Bummer. Or awesome. I also learned that the Korean military make 120,000 won a month for being in the military. People, that's like 120 bucks. Crazy. To the right is the military guy who was our tour guide and told us how much he makes.<br />
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Anyways I think that's about all the information I have for you on the DMZ. Met a couple new people. This lady carried her dog in a child satchel for much of the trip because it had life threatening surgery (she talked about it with EVERYONE). And I learned a lot and was super pumped about the things I did and got to see. YAY adventure weekends! Stay tuned for 2 weeks from now for my post bungee/river rafting/river trekking/zip lining adventure!<br />
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This tank was cool. </div>
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Look I'm at the DMZ!</div>
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-42730537995073638402013-05-08T05:56:00.002-07:002013-05-08T05:56:43.006-07:0024 hours in Osaka (Japan)!Wake up: 5:00am<br />
Leave apartment: 5:15am<br />
Run to Jukjeon to catch bus. Bus comes: 5:30am<br />
Exchange money: 7:30am This was very strange because we came in with 150,000won and got like 4 bills. We had no idea how far that money would get us, but that's all we could afford anyways so we had to make it work.<br />
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Flight leaves: 8:45am When we got to the airport, there was literally zero people waiting. We were like "Hello? Are we in the right place? What is going on?" Then a bunch of flight attendants started showing up and no passengers. Then when we got on the plane, all the seats were full. We were like "Where were all you people before???" The plane had children from all countries on the walls. Someone decided to peel down the fingers of one child and make an inappropriate gesture:<br />
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Arrive in Osaka:10:45</div>
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Explain to 4 different sets of people that we have no where to stay for the night: 11:00am</div>
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First we told the man checking that our forms were filled out all the way. Then we told the man who actually checks the form. Then we told our flight people. Then we each told the separate person who checks the form again. Lesson to take from this? If you have no where to stay, MAKE IT UP!</div>
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Communicate in broken English that we want to go see the temple in Teonngi: 11:30</div>
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Get off the train and eat McDonalds: 12:30...DON'T JUDGE we were starrrrrrrving and wanted to see if Japan McDonalds were any different than Korea or America. It wasn't. It's actually more similar to American than Korea. OH, but it shall be noted, I ate my FIRST Big Mac <i>ever</i>. I've never ever had one before, and I had my first one in Japan. That's pretty cool, right?</div>
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Walk to temple and explore it: 1:00</div>
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This temple was awesome. There was a cool tower thing you could go up that was lined with little gold things you could buy. But it was like 4 stories of spiral stairs. Pretty awesome. Otherwise, the temple was pretty similar to other temples in Korea. Although much much less busy. </div>
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This is the building with 4 flights of spiral stairs to walk up. Pretty cool! Oh and all around the bottom is a zen garden type thing. A bunch of rocks that the monks come and rake. </div>
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Next we walked through the garden area where the zoo was. We got yelled at by an old man because we were going somewhere we weren't supposed to. Although we didn't even know what he was saying. We then came across an A Capella group...some high schoolers. They sucked. I've honestly never heard more pitchy and off key singers ever in real life. And they were singing for a huge crowd! We were like what is going onnnnnnn people! Why are you still listening??<br />
Then we made our way to the "castle." I say "castle" because it looked more like a palace. OH but first, when we got of the subway, there were a bunch of girls standing around with signs. We had no idea what they said, but our first instinct was, like, prostitutes. However there were girls of all ages, young old, some who cared, some who didn't, some dressed nice, some not. Then as we got closer to this arena, we realized there was a boy band concert and all those girls were trying to buy tickets. What a relief.<br />
THEN we went to the castle. We made a new friend. We called him Freedom. He was from Austria. He told us his real name but we couldn't remember it and he also told us his name means freedom in English so we just decided to call him Freedom. He stuck around with us a while as we got some soft serve and rested a bit.<br />
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Austrian friend, Freedom</div>
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I forgot to mention this before but we stumbled upon a really awesome cemetery. I've never seen anything quite like it. <br />
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Next we made our way to the hipster, shopping, neon lights part of town. It was really cool. We ate some dinner. Ellen had a traditional octopus ball thing. I had some meat in a bowl with some rice and it was delish!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtHXixeQjnR-CiXIC30YdLkqEqpUzWfbFcafODlaW6cUROIarxOO_9hH-SYxQfoaW_38fht0KDxINLcf3NkgDm6alrROrPXH_LAhytgA6FpuDv-gwSut5RfJ_y8jfaaafEhc0WcE6jiSs/s1600/20130504_182728.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtHXixeQjnR-CiXIC30YdLkqEqpUzWfbFcafODlaW6cUROIarxOO_9hH-SYxQfoaW_38fht0KDxINLcf3NkgDm6alrROrPXH_LAhytgA6FpuDv-gwSut5RfJ_y8jfaaafEhc0WcE6jiSs/s1600/20130504_182728.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCuTPUZSaYsgjcndvtolnY4ZcmU6vhXe4O4PdwLsayHRz3376W0IEvUtqbb7UJWjyGoACj8bjpYb7Rjp8FG5O7-kKBDUEMh3i1mndGrwH6qCjs-dwI_XCedJMvnKTBWXcXSfRW4Pvy3eE/s1600/20130504_182951.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCuTPUZSaYsgjcndvtolnY4ZcmU6vhXe4O4PdwLsayHRz3376W0IEvUtqbb7UJWjyGoACj8bjpYb7Rjp8FG5O7-kKBDUEMh3i1mndGrwH6qCjs-dwI_XCedJMvnKTBWXcXSfRW4Pvy3eE/s1600/20130504_182951.jpg" height="200" width="150" /></a></div>
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Head to bar to change into night time clothes: 7:30 pm</div>
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Meet up with couch surfers: 8pm</div>
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We happened to meet one Japanese person, 2 Polish people, a French dude, and his Scotish friend. </div>
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Have fun until: 2:00pm</div>
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Our original plan was to stay out all night since we had no place to sleep. Our backup plan was to go to a PC bang an sleep there for a few hours. What actually happened? Couch surfers shared their floor with us at their hostel! How kind. We got a solid 5 hours of sleep. Good thing too, cuz we were exhausted on Sunday as it was, imagine ZERO hours of sleep. Not our best plan.</div>
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Eat breakfast: 8:00am</div>
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Go to Aquarium: 9:00am</div>
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We saw some awesome fish. This aquarium is known for having the biggest tank in the world. And it happened to be holding a whale shark! COOOOOL! Also, there were a few other animals that freaked me out. Crabs that held on to the wall. Otters the size of humans. Yes, I think I literally screamed when I saw how big it was. A giant fish the size of my torso. A weird, hairy, half pig, half beaver type thing. And singrays with stingers 6 feet long (I kid you not). </div>
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Crabs that climb walls. </div>
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Otters the size of people. </div>
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Fish fatter than my torso. And probably as long as I am. </div>
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Weird mix of a creature. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT0t2zBZEHCjTy7jP84Q9l9rkjjoW-gmeNm5uOlt8kccZ8cSZJ98weIehAdNei2z1CjcoIkn1KvStZuu8fDtW5uG8m-7nh5JYAxxoNYPrHQsMWrZLKOPDzuRIvoaJ6gGXsRzS8GMHae0E/s1600/20130505_104825.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT0t2zBZEHCjTy7jP84Q9l9rkjjoW-gmeNm5uOlt8kccZ8cSZJ98weIehAdNei2z1CjcoIkn1KvStZuu8fDtW5uG8m-7nh5JYAxxoNYPrHQsMWrZLKOPDzuRIvoaJ6gGXsRzS8GMHae0E/s1600/20130505_104825.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The whale shark!!!! In the biggest tank ever made. It's like 4 stories. It was pretty big and pretty cool! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0B-piw7Sr_nmuozAg9vudD6r1f-JqTCG6Vrb7xDqX3hQvydWtqGu1CsGGJSaAjsaEYZUHJzPWhyphenhyphendxM4Xgv16llxB49AtCFHPhjqYWms2nkTUo_hpRtwdfO9PcpmVvHChNZVpMGFhe5I/s1600/20130505_105952.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV0B-piw7Sr_nmuozAg9vudD6r1f-JqTCG6Vrb7xDqX3hQvydWtqGu1CsGGJSaAjsaEYZUHJzPWhyphenhyphendxM4Xgv16llxB49AtCFHPhjqYWms2nkTUo_hpRtwdfO9PcpmVvHChNZVpMGFhe5I/s1600/20130505_105952.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I kinda got the stingray's tail in this picture. But still, it was really really REALLY long. </div>
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Stop for some traditional Japanese food: 12:30</div>
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Get to the airport: 2:30</div>
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Flight attendant tells me I missed my flight: 2:40</div>
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That's right. Somehow, when I booked the flights (not sure how cuz I literally booked MY flight AND Ellen's flight, at the same time...) I booked mine for 11:00am. And Ellens for the intended 4:00pm. I really really have no idea how this happened. The whole entire time I had in my head that our flights left at 4. Cuz that's when I booked them. But the nice lady informed me otherwise. And my immediate response was to say "WHAT" a bit louder than I expected. Fortunately, this airline has the craziest refund policy ever. Something about still getting a refund up to 30 days after you flight has passed and stuff. So she refunded me the 93,000 for the flight I missed, and charged me 130,000 for the new one. Not a shabby deal and BOY am I lucky there was room on that flight!</div>
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Buy awesome flavored KitKat (cheesecake): 3:30</div>
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Board the plane: 4:15</div>
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Get into Seoul: 6:30</div>
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Bus home: 7:05</div>
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Arrive home: 8:30</div>
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SLEEP! </div>
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What an awesome whirlwind of a trip. I feel like I saw what I needed to see. Japan is REALLY expensive, so spending any longer there would have made me more broke than I wanted to be. And I have now been to Japan. Missions accomplished!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-35437905519598018212013-05-08T05:10:00.000-07:002013-05-08T05:10:11.173-07:00My Move and Unfortunate IllnessI have been sick for the last 4 weeks. I know what you're thinking...you probably weren't THAT sick...but here's the thing: my illness kept me out of the gym for FOUR WEEKS. First, I had an illness and finally went to the doctor on Thursday and he was like "It's a viral infection, no antibiotics, but I want to check you swollen thyroid for bad things. I give you free ultra sound." Well free ultra sound, that's cool. Potential issues with my thyroid? Not so cool. So yes, I had my first ultra sound ever, all to find out that the skin that surrounds my thyroid is just thicker than most peoples, nothing to worry about. He prescribes me some meds for 3 days. Well those are gone on like, Sunday. Wednesday my illness starts to change. Thursday, around 2pm I feel myself getting a fever. I take some Ibuprofen and carry on with teaching. I keep taking it the rest of the evening because I keep feeling the chills come back. Then around 3 am I wake up with an insane fever...you know the kind where you're freezing cold but your skin could melt off? Yeah. I had already taken Nyquil and Ibuprofen so I didn't know what to do. Thankfully, Doctor Dad helped his poor ill daughter out from across the globe and an hour later my fever broke and I went back to sleep. Naturally, Friday morning I went into the clinic again and this time he gave me 5 days of antibiotics. I had a fever the next 4 days. :( Not fun, especially when you have to move to a new apartment during that time period. I went back the following Thursday (again!) because he originally told me if I wasn't feeling better half way through the pack, to come back for more (clearly I wasn't since I had a fever 4 of those 5 days). He gave me 5 more days of pills and tonight at dinner time, I shall be finished! WOOOO. Healthy once more. Enough so to try out the new crossfit gym tonight. They offer 2 classes. One is a beach body class and the other is crossfit. Tonight I did beach body because I was quite intimidated by the pictures I saw of the crossfit and the people who were doing it the day before who were randomly running up and down the busy Jukjeon road as I was walking to work on report cards at 900 last night. Anyways, regardless of how sore beach body makes me, I think I'm going to try crossfit tomorrow because the classes are free this week and then I can decide which one I want to be in.<br />
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As for the move. Even though I was sick, I had 4 of my coworkers helping me move and a car and we got it all moved from one place to the other in less than 50 minutes. I was very impressed. After that, my feverish self rested a bit before going to get a couch I had found on craigslist with my friend, Jason. We drove to the girls house (who happened to be a friend of Tiffany's who I'd met once before in Mammoth...random tidbit that shows how small this world is) and got the couch, hoping it would fit in the car and not be too difficult to get into my apartment. Fortunately, both worked out perfectly! The only casualty from the move was poor Jose Cuervo. He took a crash on the ground and broke, spilling tequila all over the cement :( This Jose had a special place in my heart because I bought him in Korea, took him to the Philippines, brought him back to Korea, and then had him ever since. And he just died. So suddenly. With so much life left to live. We will forever mourn your death, Jose.<br />
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Here are a few pictures of my apartment, before I moved in, once everything was moved but I was too sick to unpack, and after most of the unpacking was done.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Before:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfIAlg_sGF6Fy-sE_zzPkSxrT8LGSXxjXgq7skByNyi3gHEF0dBLulJAGSZMBQQabY8JfNFStAoQSoa2oUilOmd1qokn6NXhx_MwcaEyQvTBY93j-C6FcaNASyws9mZaFuAidbkdXG5w/s1600/20130421_130748.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilfIAlg_sGF6Fy-sE_zzPkSxrT8LGSXxjXgq7skByNyi3gHEF0dBLulJAGSZMBQQabY8JfNFStAoQSoa2oUilOmd1qokn6NXhx_MwcaEyQvTBY93j-C6FcaNASyws9mZaFuAidbkdXG5w/s1600/20130421_130748.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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An unfortunate change from my awesome shower to this little guy that doesn't stay warm for more than 30 seconds :(</div>
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But a normal toilet seat!!</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">During:</span></div>
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R.I.P Jose</div>
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The couch BARELY fit in Jason's car. Although it makes a perfect bed! Camping trip? </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE_44Dks9EuqK3Xf8aGwywcxQJkn5JaMBK7Ujsn45qmh4uT7qX-O8FOBUdifB8ayBDEkbW8z7Z1fLMtEJGe7sxac7XEWcBFlE4xrJZL0t0SbkaL0M035q44KxyHW1PgS6Wf17A0rEQ_60/s1600/20130427_132959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgE_44Dks9EuqK3Xf8aGwywcxQJkn5JaMBK7Ujsn45qmh4uT7qX-O8FOBUdifB8ayBDEkbW8z7Z1fLMtEJGe7sxac7XEWcBFlE4xrJZL0t0SbkaL0M035q44KxyHW1PgS6Wf17A0rEQ_60/s1600/20130427_132959.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">After(ish)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzyyixLiS4Lsw3ezvZ3ln9zq07tSZ0Q6MxG-m-3urIJ__6uow6mWxepi5qulzA5fNRjqEwMnamD0K3gmokEgAjrXatirZ1yhkeu8D6E7pLfgptqTYZiX_2jvibPeP83m3_-NiigDqgjk/s1600/20130508_203111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkzyyixLiS4Lsw3ezvZ3ln9zq07tSZ0Q6MxG-m-3urIJ__6uow6mWxepi5qulzA5fNRjqEwMnamD0K3gmokEgAjrXatirZ1yhkeu8D6E7pLfgptqTYZiX_2jvibPeP83m3_-NiigDqgjk/s1600/20130508_203111.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZu1omEC4dlU_k-CPnnDkRlmGexx5Wz14iuD9BpKAxwtFlECv5GmsInL4Q9y7v3TyJHsiFki3JKmQJvGAqaJE6pqcpREUT1EmFYfMxtpnVzie3BqB9wH1W93UOIGTABpKSU7q6DeYZ4g/s1600/20130508_203124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZu1omEC4dlU_k-CPnnDkRlmGexx5Wz14iuD9BpKAxwtFlECv5GmsInL4Q9y7v3TyJHsiFki3JKmQJvGAqaJE6pqcpREUT1EmFYfMxtpnVzie3BqB9wH1W93UOIGTABpKSU7q6DeYZ4g/s1600/20130508_203124.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have a couch!!!</div>
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-16838123867813871712013-04-17T06:32:00.002-07:002013-04-17T06:32:39.440-07:00The Magic NumberAt 6 months they say your time in Korea starts to fly. I can certainly imagine that being so, as I'm coming in to warm seasons. If spring is anything like the end of September and October weather wise, spring and fall will go really fast, as well as summer. It will be my time left in Korea dwindling away, as well as awesome things such as my birthday, mudfest, my summer break (of either Bali or Malaysia), and my fam coming to visit me. The weather has already started to change, and all of a sudden the cherry blossoms are popping up all over the place (how pretty).<br />
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I'm mostly here to tell you SIX things I've learned in the past SIX months:<br />
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<ol>
<li>I have become reacquainted with my love of small children (I mean very very young ones...as my 5's class (3 or 4 in America) are my faves for their sheer adorableness). </li>
<li>I have become aware of my strong desire to have my own classroom again. Although last year I was sharing a classroom with the best teacher mentor ever ;) I felt as though those kids were my own. I saw them everyday, all day, for a whole year. Not so much the case here and I have very little connections with some of them. Needless to say, I want my own classroom.</li>
<li>They always say "you'll find out who your true friends are when you're gone for so long" and I always said "I know who my true friends are." Well <i>they</i> were right, but so was I for the most part :) cheers to good friends!</li>
<li>I've learned how to live on my own. As far as literally living by myself is concerned. Many of you know of my fear of mold. And a few of you have had to deal with my leftovers in the refrigerator before. I now take care of that all by myself. Go me. However I haven't had lights in my bathroom for approximately 6 weeks because I cannot physically remove the light fixture (yes, I've tried 3 times and had a very strong male friend give it a go as well...I think my landlord might come try tomorrow?)</li>
<li>I've truly realized my strong work ethic and would like to give a shout out to my parents for raising me that way. Way to go guys!</li>
<li>Lastly, being abroad is probably going to be the most life changing experience I'll ever have. Who knows where being married or having a small life form of my own to look after someday will rank on this scale, but living in Korea for a year is pretty high up there and I am so thankful for that. </li>
</ol>
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I love you all. I miss you all (unless of course you're reading this from Korea, then I'll see you soon, like tomorrow or the next day). </div>
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Oh, one last thing, a list of things that I really miss in Korea that I didn't think I would miss quite so much:</div>
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<ol>
<li>I'm dying for Ben and Jerry's (the oatmeal cookie one or the cookie dough brownie one...it's been so long I don't even remember their names).</li>
<li>French bread for like 2 bucks from Freddys. (side note, I had a dream about both of those things...)</li>
<li>Reese's are real hard to come by.</li>
<li>So is Mac and Cheese although I'm stalked pretty well right now thanks to my fairly recently departed (from Korea) friend Steve.</li>
<li>Butterfinger (which I didn't realize I missed so much until my mom just sent me some today). </li>
<li>Cheap fruits and veggies. I've been splurging more lately because I just want some broccoli sometimes, ya know? </li>
<li>Ramen and Rice....JUST KIDDING those are the two most ample food groups in Korea. </li>
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LOVES!!!!</div>
</div>
Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-66760338333260347502013-04-10T05:57:00.000-07:002013-04-10T05:57:13.717-07:00A Weekend Among the Cherry Blossoms (and rain)A few weeks back, Ellen and I decided to sign up for a cherry blossom bike ride. We thought "How cool! A bike ride around a lake through lots of cherry blossoms! What a great idea!" So we paid our deposit, made our coworker, Sara, and our other friend Melissa come with us, and waited the few weeks till the trees were in bloom. As time grew closer to the ride, we started to get worried. The weather hasn't been warm much yet this spring (maybe like 2 days) and we were hoping that this hadn't stopped the trees from blooming. On top of that, we chose the weekend it was supposed to rain. Originally we were supposed to ride bikes on Saturday and then do cool touristy things on Sunday. However because of the forecast, our schedule got switched. Bright and early Saturday morning, we wandered in the rain to the subway station, took a 40 minute subway to where we'd catch the bus, and then took what was supposed to be a 3 and a half hour bus ride 5 hours until we arrived in Gyeongju. The fortunate thing was that I actually was able to sleep on the bus since I had my own row to myself and this helped the time fly by. Saturday we actually spent a lot of time on the bus because it was so rainy. We did, however, make it to a temple with a really cool stone buddah that you're not supposed to take pictures of, a beach with a island tomb, another temple, some other tombs, our hotel, dinner, and a really cool night time rain walk.<br />
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The stone temple buddha thing was actually quite amazing and, so they say, an astonishing feat that happened waaaaay back when, and apparently even doing so today would have been astonishing. They apparently didn't have the math for it back then or something (not quite sure, sorry, but it was REALLY cool looking). The walk to the buddha itself was cool in all the misty fog with colorful lamps.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7P4wYaEBAbHoq5QXnABmdIMUJzsB-MF_OMcAZd-iUkO8G7d6I0L4VlHSZVQisraiEb13JMGe_pmi_ssB6OiME70-oNqlD04pbFooevPjZSh4QN-TEnTWE0P9k_rXIbwOdXIYinwNI4Q/s1600/20130406_162251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT7P4wYaEBAbHoq5QXnABmdIMUJzsB-MF_OMcAZd-iUkO8G7d6I0L4VlHSZVQisraiEb13JMGe_pmi_ssB6OiME70-oNqlD04pbFooevPjZSh4QN-TEnTWE0P9k_rXIbwOdXIYinwNI4Q/s1600/20130406_162251.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Those stones you see in the top right corner are what has preserved this cool stone buddha for many many years. He lives under it underground!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_chkahaMDnCgUUb1fpGf2jKVGOlxICq2rac31C5jKpkOy-2bST88ZFLKhc5-zXpZZnu7bhTiUAZkA_JSwi0MZiwadsTyU5sAdOKePanqAegG_SsVnQPtR1-b0Zqon3rxpkc8VXRILmk/s1600/20130406_160044.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw_chkahaMDnCgUUb1fpGf2jKVGOlxICq2rac31C5jKpkOy-2bST88ZFLKhc5-zXpZZnu7bhTiUAZkA_JSwi0MZiwadsTyU5sAdOKePanqAegG_SsVnQPtR1-b0Zqon3rxpkc8VXRILmk/s1600/20130406_160044.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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The beach would have been REALLY nice to hang out at if it was a sunny day. However since it was raining, we weren't there for very long; we ran out, went to the bathroom, bought some snacks, took a picture, and were on our merry way.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsY_ONp_WFbZINyAHwHGBpS001CgMrMC0xdHDA6rj5aBZ-Dhf6s2migBjh8asJ1p9Ni3mxvx1aV40_SUeEneXavlkiguLu2PTan5gSEFLYwE2rw2IKfyPEDFXa7J3fiOHConI4TEcNig/s1600/20130406_150016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqsY_ONp_WFbZINyAHwHGBpS001CgMrMC0xdHDA6rj5aBZ-Dhf6s2migBjh8asJ1p9Ni3mxvx1aV40_SUeEneXavlkiguLu2PTan5gSEFLYwE2rw2IKfyPEDFXa7J3fiOHConI4TEcNig/s1600/20130406_150016.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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That's the island with some tomb on it...and Koreans running away from the ocean water. </div>
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We went to another temple, which was really cool and had some special monk crystal or something (again, sorry, I wasn't paying too much attention) The temple itself was pretty with many cherry blossoms, a creek, and a little pond or two. My second favorite temple I've been to while in Korea.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2WcIj2C9xtwjFI9W8_cYMMz7OtUUVBRmq96DMLh8uuAFqY8Oi0nOWzoGoCKfsfenYPBkmqeNkohgZmO4Gb-KmXMESv2-4s7Z0iyCymvzKvW090yyNusPYDTxvkrs6TaEZ1G5Hy3d4H4/s1600/20130406_173626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu2WcIj2C9xtwjFI9W8_cYMMz7OtUUVBRmq96DMLh8uuAFqY8Oi0nOWzoGoCKfsfenYPBkmqeNkohgZmO4Gb-KmXMESv2-4s7Z0iyCymvzKvW090yyNusPYDTxvkrs6TaEZ1G5Hy3d4H4/s1600/20130406_173626.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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Our first trip was some tombs (which I've learned at this point just means mounds of dirt...). Again, these looked really cool with the fog pouring all around them.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiATrmy24jKqLM8W6YiKIHAmPWqgueeA9hKe4RntsjncUQ-eUuil3Gzeszv19NH9oP0_Kc5ov56JKlzaq3NafJxj4pilUVBcGZQHCnDsAYKOI8lQgtR3xkBjxNyYIb0CzbI04HWgz1Mz4A/s1600/20130406_122807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiATrmy24jKqLM8W6YiKIHAmPWqgueeA9hKe4RntsjncUQ-eUuil3Gzeszv19NH9oP0_Kc5ov56JKlzaq3NafJxj4pilUVBcGZQHCnDsAYKOI8lQgtR3xkBjxNyYIb0CzbI04HWgz1Mz4A/s1600/20130406_122807.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Dinner was less than satisfying but the soju helped the rest of the night move riiiiiiight along. We ended up splitting from the group to walk along the cherry blossoms that were lit up, in search of this pond with a giant Pocahontas type willow. The lit cherry blossoms were quite cool! Although the path was very very VERY wet and I'm pretty sure my shoes (fuggs) are now ruined. It's ok, one less thing to take home in October. We finally got to the pond...paid our dollar to get in, and found the GRAAAAAAND willow. As I said to a friend later that night in my response to the grand willow....What's better than seeing the grand willow, you might ask? The grand willow at night. What's better than seeing the grand willow at night, you might ask? The grand willow at night in the rain. What's better than seeing the grand will at night in the rain, you might ask? The grand willow at night in the rain after having some soju (yes soju makes many things much more entertaining...like the ladies walking around in high heels and short skirts and the insane amount of couples). Just to give you a quick comparison, here is a picture of the willow from Pocahontas:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJOSQctM6OFHhnu4jbFmcRdLnrIiU7mWJs-hENEsC3X0rNft4lZzkeg_usUCBHmvVbCPmd-fM1zbzDKmqva9NXbs2iRbUPO8nLZhBFLwn60ULh8XuHAN0BpDlc-DczZEvHtfeScmKDlc/s1600/willow+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLJOSQctM6OFHhnu4jbFmcRdLnrIiU7mWJs-hENEsC3X0rNft4lZzkeg_usUCBHmvVbCPmd-fM1zbzDKmqva9NXbs2iRbUPO8nLZhBFLwn60ULh8XuHAN0BpDlc-DczZEvHtfeScmKDlc/s1600/willow+1.jpg" /></a></div>
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She's HUGE </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7ccFbSaxX7STvUeLM-9VNwuahyphenhyphen8eXqq7TnG0IvG_VvzhrSCtUf28eIs6CgSK8bPcrRBBjIK3IgMwtXitZwCAtZlcOT2n1MRJGdfN0-bs7_kelaELEiMNADrISKrUQwIHn0JGVDdKxw4/s1600/willow+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif7ccFbSaxX7STvUeLM-9VNwuahyphenhyphen8eXqq7TnG0IvG_VvzhrSCtUf28eIs6CgSK8bPcrRBBjIK3IgMwtXitZwCAtZlcOT2n1MRJGdfN0-bs7_kelaELEiMNADrISKrUQwIHn0JGVDdKxw4/s1600/willow+2.jpg" /></a></div>
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She's MAGICAL </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsI-1LsNQekGZs5rjd0JLioOaj1thdjeJXUCLyOwsBeZvdvCL3uWtEAWRQVZiAOoKvYk_jMVhaUuY1DBmzwyVBokKGMxpO2aHXivY1e1MMEtXAlFofGoiyQN1owBCAa1QXXNjjqZrMcwY/s1600/willow+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsI-1LsNQekGZs5rjd0JLioOaj1thdjeJXUCLyOwsBeZvdvCL3uWtEAWRQVZiAOoKvYk_jMVhaUuY1DBmzwyVBokKGMxpO2aHXivY1e1MMEtXAlFofGoiyQN1owBCAa1QXXNjjqZrMcwY/s1600/willow+3.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div>
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And she has FACE and CAN TALK!</div>
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So naturally my hopes were really high. However, we finally found the GRAAAAND willow and this is what it looked like:</div>
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IT BARELY LOOKS LIKE WILLOW!!!! ha.</div>
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Don't get me wrong. I sound very cynical right now. However we did enjoy every bit of this rainy journey on Friday. It's all about these experiences we have, and who we have them with. Saturday was nothing but a good time (although much of it felt very sleepy) and it was followed by an even better time on Sunday.</div>
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Sunday we wake up, eat a muffin, have some coffee, look at the <i>snow</i> that fell overnight. And prepare to freeze our asses off on our bikes. We get to the bike shop, buy some cotton gardening gloves, and load up on our adorable cruiser bikes (I've always wanted to ride one!) Let me just inform you of how many layers I was wearing; a tank top, a long sleeve shirt, my fleece, my snow coat, and my rain jacket on top. All of this kept me very warm though,and I thoroughly enjoyed the bike ride. The clouds would come and go, it wasn't too cold (with those layers) and we saw some beautiful sites, and most of all, got to get out of Seoul, into the fresh air, a little sun, nature, and be HAPPY! Again we decided to split from the group. We ended up riding around the whole lake (which we were the only 4 to do so) and then stopped for some lunch and rode back to the bike shop. We strolled around the market a bit and then sat and enjoyed the sun until it was time for the bus ride back. </div>
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All in all it was a fantastic weekend away, a great bike ride, and beautiful sights! Here are some for the road...enjoy :) </div>
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Cherry blossoms lit up at night. </div>
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Cool tower thing with rainy puddle reflection!</div>
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Me among many cherry blossoms (our first mass cherry blossom experience) on day one, very RAINY day. </div>
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Bike ride day....cherry blossom in the back, snow on the car...</div>
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My bike! Cuuuute.</div>
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Selife...and I got Sara in the background (totally not safe)</div>
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Some coliseum back there. </div>
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Right outside of where we had lunch. </div>
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<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-81919078488859891882013-03-31T06:13:00.000-07:002013-03-31T06:17:32.212-07:00Camping with KoreansA couple of weeks ago, Ellen and I signed up to go on a camping trip with our cross-fit gym. We thought it would be cool to make some Korean friends in our area that we see on a day to day basis. So we paid our 25 dollars to go on a camping trip. We kept trying to find out where we were going or what we needed to bring, but no one had an answer for us. They said "just bring yourself"...we were like, "what about food, or sleeping bag, we have no tent, is that ok? Should we bring soju?" The reply "bring what you want, we bring everything."<br />
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Unknowing of what is going on, we show up Saturday morning with our stuff at 10 am feeling slightly "under the weather." Everyone laughs at how much stuff we have (which for me was just a sleeping bag, pad, some warm clothes and marshmallows). Then we head on our way. Our new friend, Jason, drives us and even he has no idea where we're going. Eventually we turn onto this road, that isn't a road at all, but a paved...mound of dirt? with fields on each side? I don't even know how to describe it...here is a picture (sketchy is what it was).<br />
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We drive past this lake, full of garbage, where people are fishing. Some people fish from boats. Other people fish from little houses. They have small floating houses (REALLY small) that fit probably one bed, and then they set their fishing stuff out side and use the house part to avoid the sun (I pretty much made all of that up, but that's my best guess).<br />
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Then we turn into the "campsite" which looks like a mound of dirt. Layers of mounds of dirt. When I think of camping, I think of beautiful places, or hiking, or....something to do. This place, not so beautiful, and NOTHING to do.<br />
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We get there and everyone starts setting stuff up. But not speaking the language, we have no idea what to do or how to ask how to help or anything, so we stand around and watch. After everything is set up, they build a fire and feed us some hotdogs (yum!). Then when everyone is bored, we decide to go rent some boats and go rowing. We row around for about an hour. Oh...each boat must have one man (because they're stronger, naturally). Turns out our one man, not so strong. Doesn't quite get the concept of paddles IN the water to make the boat go. He starts to row us back, and gets us stuck next to shore in the garbage water. Ellen and I try and direct him in very broken English. Then I finally stand up and say "changeee" and he moves, and I haul ass out of there. Everyone is very shocked (especially my trainer because she seems to think I've never worked out before in my life (FALSE) and yet I can row better than the next guy (literally)). At that point, we were cold, it was windy, and we wanted to just go back. Not to mention we were extremely exhausted from the night before.<br />
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Life Jacket, no big deal. </div>
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When we get back to the campsite, they start cooking again. Meat. Lots and lots of meat. BEST meat I've ever tasted though, seriously. SO SO good. We eat, we drink, it starts raining. I decided to sit inside the tent with the heater (yes, we had a heater) and make best friends with the littler girl. That's right, did I mention that one of the first things we found out when we got to the campsite was that one of our Aran students was there (his parents recognized us right away). Fortunately he wasn't OUR kid and his sister was adorable AND they didn't stay the night, so it was fine. So anyways, I start making friends with the girl, passes the rainy time, good times had by all. Also ate some DELICIOUS hamburger meat of some kind. WOW the food was soooo good all weekend long.<br />
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My new little friend. She went and got her sun glasses because I was wearing mine! OMG so adorable!</div>
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This meat was sooooo good. Seriously. I can't even explain. </div>
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Camping Korean style...with a heater, and electrical outlet.</div>
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Gym owners gettin jiggy Gangnam Style. </div>
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All in all, made some awesome new friends, experienced camping Korean style, and had a fun time!<br />
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Some cultural things that I thought were hilarious:<br />
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<ul>
<li>They were absolutely fine with burning plastic. These people, who if they have tiny bit of black on their meat think they'll get cancer...BURN PLASTIC!</li>
<li>Obviously alcohol opens everyone up a little, but Koreans are particularly shy around us..until alcohol is involved. Then they are QUITE open.</li>
<li>The heater thing.</li>
<li>Also, Koreans are quite the sharers...and it's still a little hard to get used to. Very kind, but also, being a Westerner, I like MY things for ME....</li>
<li>Koreans LOVE marshmallows. They ate them all day, all night and all morning. Thank you Costco and you're welcome Fitness Camp people!</li>
<li>We got stared at a lot. Ellen made a nice analogy this morning about how we're like zoo animals...you wanna watch them from afar, but you don't necessarily want to get in the cage. (I think some of them were legitimately afraid of us)</li>
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In other news. Today was Easter. So we decided to dye some Easter eggs thanks to my lovely mother who sent me egg dye. However we only had apple vinegar...didn't work quite so well...but got the job done. Oh and BROWN eggs (some colors don't work so well, like yellow). And the kit itself was a tye dye kit, not a normal dye kit. So we probably did the whole thing wrong. Oh and then found out that our flat of like 30 eggs weren't boiled all the way, so we can't give them away or eat them, most of them we'll have to throw out :( Oh well...it's about the process NOT the product (story of our teaching lives and otherwise...reggio emilia style up in Korea)<br />
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Have a great Easter everyone! People here are still pretty un-phased about North Korea. Not sure how to feel at this point. I guess not much I can do but have a plan, some cash, and my passport ready to go? I love you all! Miss the great Miguk (Korean for America). I hit my 6 months of being IN Korea on the 25th ish, but won't hit my 6 month teaching mark till the 15th. It's hard right now. I miss home. I hope with the weather change, time will start to FLY...if only the weather would change. LOVE!!!</div>
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-30725547643421819282013-03-25T04:11:00.002-07:002013-03-25T04:11:21.292-07:00Saint Patty's Day and My Kiddos!This year I celebrated Saint Patrick's Day for the first time in the history of my life. Which is ironic, because I'm in Korea. However Seoul has a "huge" Saint Patty's party every year so me and my coworkers decided to trek that way. I've never been a huge Saint Patty's goer, but I think the love that my co-worker Ellen has for the holiday moved me in that direction. We started our festivities at 11am which included (but was not limited to) as many temporary tattoos as I could find room for on my body (they quickly became an obsession of where I could put them...I haven't done them since I was like, 10) decorating our selves in everything green, and taking pictures. Then around 12:30 we headed to the festival.<br />
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Here I am all tatted up!</div>
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We got there and it was actually a fairly small area. However it was PACKED with foreigners and green. There were pretty much zero Koreans. The coolest part about being there, in my opinion, was it helped me see the community and friends I've made during my time here in Korea. It was amazing to see so many people I knew that I had been on trips with, or met out, or who were friends of friends. This reminded me of being out in Bellingham when you walk into a bar and everyone is a familiar face. It was quite nice to see so many familiar faces in such a foreign country and in such a HUGE city.<br />
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This is the festival. There was some Irish dancing in the middle and everyone was watching and drinking and talking. </div>
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Green beer!</div>
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After that, we moseyed on over to the other main foreigner part of town (Itaewon) where there are a couple Irish pubs, but also mostly just a good time. I experienced my first ever green beer, and did more socializing with friends and coworkers. It was overall a really fun time and I'd like to thank Ellen for loving Saint Patrick's Day so much that I got to fully experience it : )<br />
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In other news, the new school year is still extremely difficult and taxing. However we have the CUTEST 5 year olds (although in American age they're 3 and 4 year olds) I have ever seen in my life! They literally make my day every day. EVERY DAY. They are the joys of my teaching. Them and this one kid, Ryan. The other day I was walking with him to his class and I said "Ryan, you are the diamond in the rough." (because our classes really are very rough right now) and he just looked up at me and was like "Teacher, what?" and then Mandy Teacher (that's my co teacher) was like "Ryan, you're like Aladdin." And he was like "oh." and that was it. I have a passion for these students, even if they often refuse to be taught. Sigh. We'll get there soon kids, we will.<br />
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My fives playing freeze dance.</div>
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Playing a name game with our kids in a "circle"</div>
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More freeze dance (me and little Andy)</div>
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And you guessed it...more freeze dance. (We play a lot of freeze dance because they speak next to no English). </div>
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And these are a couple of my 7's. However the purpose of this picture is to show you my little diamond in the rough, Ryan, in the front wearing blue. Oh how endless their adorableness is. And yet they are so challenging. </div>
<br />Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-22775459046754653362013-03-12T05:45:00.001-07:002013-03-12T05:45:48.529-07:00New FacesIn the past few weeks, many changes have happened here in good ole Korea. The biggest downfall to being an expat is constantly having to say goodbye to people. And unfortunately this ranges from children to coworkers to loved ones to friends.<br />
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With the start of the new school year, I lost nearly all of my 7's I was teaching. They graduated Kindergarten and moved to first grade. The good news is, I still see about 5 of my kids I had last year at our elementary in the evenings. The bad news is, the rest of them are gone. It's quite sad. The other good news, however, is that I have a whole lot of new 7 year olds, and boy are they cute (some of the time).<br />
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Another change that occurred at our school is the classes in which we teach. Originally I was teaching 4 35 minute classes with 30 kids, a 60 minute class with 7 kids, and then my elementary second graders with 5 kids. NOW I'm teaching 2 7's classes of 30 kids for 30 minutes, a class of 30 5 year olds (which in korea are actually 3 years old) for 30 minutes (that starts on Monday, I'll let ya know how that goes), a class of 21 kids for 80 minutes and then 3rd grade with my same kids (YAY!) plus 2 more, one of which was my old student back in october and november. So to say the least, our style in which we are teaching, as well as curriculum and time periods, have changed very dramatically. Today is only day 4 of teaching this way, so it's still taking a lot of getting used to and we STILL don't even have all of our classes yet.<br />
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All that aside, we got 2 new coworkers, who are simply fantastic...one from good ole "Seattle" (actually Lynnwood for those who are counting...but I tell people I'm from Seattle as well because that gets me closer to home than even saying Washington because people assume D.C), the other is from Cali. Both speak Korean so that's kind of nice to have around in our lives :)<br />
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However I also lost Anushca and Steve...people who were in my life for such a brief amount of time (although they'll prooooobably still be around even though they're not in Korea, and in fact ARE in communication with me even though they aren't in Korea)..but they had such a huge impact on me because they're super awesome people, and I'm sad they're gone :(<br />
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Let's see...other changes, I just joined a gym this week. Workout day 3 completed today. Personal trainer surprised an extra thing in my set and then an extra set overall. But I'm excited about it and its going well. Although on a side note, Ellen and I were watching soccer while doing our cardio, and Korean soccer drives me crazy. They're all really big babies and get ouchies too easily. Jeez laweez. So not necessary.<br />
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Ah and if you're in the states and reading this, I'm sure you're quite concerned for my safety with North Korea and a ripped up armistice and nuclear bombs and whatnot. The funny thing about Koreans is they are completely unphased. Not to mention, they don't like to talk about it. Essentially, North Korea give this threat like every year and nothing ever happens. Sure, sure there is a new ruler now, but they are still not worried. My take on the matter...if they're gunna nuke this country, there's not a whole lot I can do about it as a civilian. Reminds me of World War whatever when people were practicing hiding under their desks if we got nuked.<br />
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If you get nuked, your desk isn't gunna save ya. In my opinion, it's kind of in the hands of the governments and militaries of all countries, and since I'm involved with neither, I take what's coming my way. Living life to the fullest, having no regrets, and telling my loved ones I love them as often as I can (hey loved ones, I love you!) So take a deep breath. I'm doing fine and dandy over here, and really, whatshisface in North Korea probably hates America more than South Korea so maybe you have more to worried about than I do? I'm worried about YOU in the states, so don't you worry about ME in South Korea :)<br />
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Love to all!Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7932153245755518576.post-5141802719842511522013-02-17T18:56:00.000-08:002013-02-17T18:56:28.109-08:00Same Place, New AdventuresLast weekend I went to Busan. Now as you may know, my very first weekend in Korea was spent in Busan learning to surf for Chuseok. This time, it was Lunar New Year and MaLeah and I wanted to bust out of town for our 3 day weekend that are few and far between, especially for her. We found a trip last minute to Busan so we wired our money and were on our way at 11pm on Friday night.<br />
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MaLeah spent her 5 hours on the bus making new friends, while I spent mine sleeping. We rolled into Busan around 5 am and then slept until 12. At that time, we got up and went to brunch at a bar on the beach. The food was AMAZING and we hung out there all day playing shuffle board and such. Then we moved to the beach and hung out some more. After that, it was nap time until about 630 when we had to be on the bus to go to dinner with our crew. Dinner was a traditional Southern meal of pulled pork and baked beans (so delicious and nearly impossible to come by in Korea). We spent the night out, having a blast and making far too many memories (or lack thereof) as well as making new friends.<br />
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The following day we were supposed to go on a hike, but instead paid 1.50 for a train ride up to the top (well worth it after the night we had). There was a beautiful view of the ocean and a lighthouse along the way.<br />
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After our trip up the hill, we headed towards the famous fish market. It was fascinating and disgusting to see all of those fish. The main attraction of the fish market was closed. Supposedly there is a 3 story building where you can go in, choose your fish, they'll chop it up and serve it to you right there. That building was closed, however that's pretty much how the entire fish market worked anyways. As we walked along the outdoor part, we saw many fish, eel, and even a turtle here and there. We stopped to watch this man make something that seemed like it would turn out to be a fish soup. It was quite interesting to watch. A man told him which fish he wanted (this included a HUGE 4 foot fish that was like, a foot wide, and eel, 2 turtles, and a few other fish) and then the man threw it into a steamer. Then he mixed up some spices, mushrooms, and seasonings and added them to the pot. At that point, we got bored and continued along our merry way to find some skinless, headless, mini eel type things still squirming. We decided at that point, we were over the fish market.<br />
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As we were walking back towards the bus, I heard a small little voice say "Melissa Teachaaa!" One of my students, 6 hours from home, randomly in the streets of Busan, all dressed in her Hanbok for Lunar New Year. Adorable.<br />
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The evening progressed with another nap, more delicious "Western" style food and drinks for dinner and then a really cool bar that's 14 floors up in a building on the beach. Talk about gorgeous views!<br />
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On the last day, we went back to breakfast at the place we were at the first day in Busan, then we went to the temple by the sea. Sorry I was not too on top of pictures this time because I had already been to this temple previously. However we were there during the day this time, and it's still absolutely gorgeous.<br />
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The trip ended with another 5 hour bus ride back to Seoul with my new roomies and new homies and it was an entirely memorable weekend that I'll probably never forget.<br />
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(Pictures to come...)Melissahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13497485067134380055noreply@blogger.com0