Travel Companions

It's getting hooooot. That means my school is also converting into its annual oven, slowly cooking us all like rotisserie chickens. The air conditioners still haven't been switched on by the main office, which means there is little relief from the heat in the middle of the day. The temperatures truly aren't bad outside - mid 70s - but it's always about 10 degrees hotter in that school. Knowing that it only gets worse from here isn't a very comforting thought, but I'd still rather take sweating to absolute death in the summer than being in that igloo it becomes in the winter. At least now I can have a pee without having to pull my pants down in a -10 degree tile bathroom.

Beach season is now in full swing and we're all pretty thankful to just be able to get out and sit on the sand all day. It's a little different this year, with faces missing and new faces in place of those, but we've still got a good clan of friends happening. Three very good friends whom I've known for a solid year have recently left, dwindling the "original" crew down to very few. Out of the 15-20 of us who would hang out constantly last summer, less than 10 remain, including myself and Al. We were getting down to the minimum so we all decided that we better start accepting applications for new friends (jk). A few of our friends last summer would flit back and forth between our group and another, and since a lot of the other group's numbers have also left we've sort of combined into one now, along with some newbies just arriving. Our friend Brittany brought her new coworkers Gina and Landon (a couple from Texas) around to meet everyone and told me that Gina and I would get along swimmingly. She was right, and Al and Landon hit it off also. The four of us immediately got on really well and now...we have India companions!

They were looking into places to go for their summer vacation knowing full well they wanted to get out of Korea for a week. It turns out they have the same week off as Al and I so we toyed around with them coming along to India with us. They originally wanted a pristine, palm fringed beach but unfortunately, a lot of SE Asia, along with those awesome beaches, are being drenched by the monsoon this time of year so their selection was limited. After weighing all their options they decided that India, in fact, sounds fabulous, and officially booked their flights yesterday. Al and I haven't travelled with other people since we went to Laos so I'm really excited, especially since this will be their first jaunt into the land of tuk tuks, chicken buses and all around a kind of chaotic beauty you can't find anywhere but in this part of the world. And India is the kind of exotic that I don't think any of us have ever experienced and now we get to see it together.

So far, the general plan is to spend a few nights up in the hills and jungles of Thekkady and hang out with the elephants:

We're totally doing this

We'll spend a night cruising the backwaters of Alleppey in a two bedroom houseboat:

Relaxation at its best

Then we'll spend our last night in Alleppey town where we can hit the beach or visit the markets:

Preeeetty stoked. Kerala (where we're headed) is also renowned for the Ayurveda massage treatments which Gina and I are definitely jumping right into. Although it's monsoon season and the weather might not be the greatest, from what I've read it'll rain a few hours every day then clear off. People also say it's the most beautiful time to visit southern India because the rains make everything so lush and green. Fine with me, I'll just load up on OFF! so I don't get Malaria and pray for a little sunshine. 

47 days and counting!




(all images found online, not mine)

We're Off To India!

Don't ask how (please) but we managed to get Al an entire week off work, the same as my week off in July. We knew his vacation would probably possibly be a Tuesday-Sunday deal like last year, or more than likely, Wednesday-Sunday (last year I had to beg for him that Tuesday off). I always get a week's vacation and last year, if you recall, we headed down to Malaysia for what few days Al had because Malaysia, apart from being pretty cool, is only a 7 hour jaunt south of here. Nice and close.

This year, however, we have nine glorious days to travel. With a travel bug such as mine, nine days doesn't seem like nearly enough time to go everywhere and see everything I want, though it is enough time to do something pretty significant. I told Al we had succeeded in getting those days and as he proclaimed "the sky's the limit!" my mind was already reeling with ideas. These past few weeks I've been going back and forth with hypothetical flight and hotel searches to many different countries for many different possible dates of travel. Once I get on a travel search, there is nothing to stop me. I turn into some kind of maniac searching every corner of the internet for the best deals and devouring Wikitravel like it's my job. The problem with travelling around Southeast Asia in the summer is that there are few places that aren't being affected by the Monsoon this time of year. East coast Malaysia (check), possibly some parts of Thailand (check), Bali and southern Vietnam are some of the few that have little to only moderate rainfall.

First world problems: Waaaaaaahhhhh!!! I don't know where to go on vacation!! Bali, Vietnam, India, China!??! Whereeeee!?! 

After much research, I narrowed it down to the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam (a little south of Ho Chi Minh City) and Kerala, India (on the southern tip along the west coast). The flights to Bali are just ridiculously expensive right now so I ruled that out almost immediately after I saw $1,600 for flights. Um, no.

Both Vietnam and India are both going to be seeing a little rainfall, but that's alright. If I wanted to go to a pristine, clear turquoise water, white sand beach then I'd want major sunshine, but because we've kinda been-there-done-that more than a few times, we opted to do something different. Maybe hang out in the jungles, bicycle around rice paddies with the buffalos...something that doesn't get ruined by cloudy weather.

Let me just say that AirAsia is my best travel friend over here. The deals can be out of this world. The planes are extraordinarily uncomfortable, but I'd rather pay for a dirt cheap flight than comfort. They just started flying out of Busan a few months ago (ahhhhhhh!!!! That saves us $200 so we don't have to go to Seoul and back!) and are constantly running promos on flights from Busan to Kuala Lumpur, their hub. If you catch it at the right time, you can get to KL super cheap and then flights out of KL to basically anywhere you want to go can run as low as just a few dollars. When I was looking for flights from KL to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, they were only $30 something. (The tickets themselves were only $9 without the taxes!) The only problem is, the flights are a bit limiting. There aren't that many and they only sometimes fly on certain days, and usually only one flight to choose from at that, so you can't be picky.

Al and I sat here until midnight weighing the pros and cons of each country.

Vietnam Pros: Flights are cheaper, visas are more easily attainable, it's closer
Vietnam Cons: We've already seen a lot of SE Asia, we would have to spend two nights in Kuala Lumpur because of the way the flights worked out, therefore being more rushed around and not relaxing.

India Pros: A bit more exotic, the scenery seems much more beautiful in the area we would be visiting, opportunities to visit tiger reserves and ride elephants, beaches, the flights are straight forward
India Cons: No time to see the Taj Mahal this trip (Al calls it "India with an asterisk" because it's like "Oh, you've been to India? How was the Taj Mahal?" "Well, we didn't go see it".), only slightly more expensive, I'm not as familiar with the area because I've not done as much research about it, a friend only told me about it last weekend.

In the end, as you could see by my post title, we chose India. We're off July 29th! I happened to check AirAsia at the perfect time to catch one of the promos. We arrive Monday night and fly back Saturday night. I'm very, very excited, but there's so much stuff we need to do first that I'm having a hard time getting as excited as I should be. I have to send my stupid passport away to Seoul twice because 1. it's too full and I have no blank pages left so I have to pay like $85 to get new pages put in and 2. to get our Indian visas put in. The process to get an Indian visa seems pretty straightforward, just a lot of paperwork and the hassle of mailing it because we don't live in Seoul to just drop by the embassy. Such a pain. So because there's still a lot of stressful things to worry about (I hate mailing my passport anywhere) I'm more focused on that rather than the excitement of going to freaking India.

India is one of the places I've always, always wanted to visit. It is a bit disappointing to be going all the way there and not see the Taj Mahal, which, let's face it, IS India, but I'll take what I can get for now and hopefully we'll be going back in the future.

Let the countdown begin! And let my annoying, jealousy inducing facebook posts litter your newsfeed for the months to come!

6,000!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I've reached and now have well surpassed 6,000 views on this blog! It seems like just a few months ago I was thanking all you readers for the 5,000 mark so I believe I've reached another 1,000 pretty quickly. I've had this blog for around three years, so roughly 2,000 views a year ain't too shabby for someone who posts just a few times a month.  I'm feeling pretty successful and yet also "I need more, I need more!" so I'm shamelessly promoting my Instagram as well. Follow me!

I also updated some of the right hand side. Now you can see my most popular posts, pageviews (!) and I added some of my other fellow expats' travel blog links. Paden is a guy I went to high school with who has recently moved to China to teach, Jill is a girl who lived in Korea for quite a few years and has a lot of great travel posts and Vivian is a friend we met in Japan who lives in Tokyo and has some amazing stories to tell. Check them out! I've also added some tabs above. Right now I have one..."About Me"...but hopefully I'll be adding some more soon.

Thank you so much again for coming and reading this blog. Summer vacation is in a few months so hopefully I'll be hopping on a plane and writing about another adventure soon!

Love, love, love

Happy Birthday, Buddha!

Vacation days are few and far between in Korea, so when a long weekend comes round we take full advantage of it, however that may be. This past weekend was Buddha's birthday and we had Friday off work so a group of us decided to head up to Seoul. All the expats in Seoul probably look down on us Busanites and think they are much better than we because they live in big old Seoul. That's fine with me, I would never, ever, ever want to live in Seoul. It's colder in the winter, hotter in the summer, I would spend way too much money because there is too much shopping and thousands more more Koreans all crammed together means that the litter problem is 1000x worse than here in Busan (and it's pretty bad here). Plus, they have no beach. Having access to the ocean anytime I want seals the deal on living here instead of hot, dirty Seoul.

...but a weekend there is needed once in a while. As I've mentioned before, when Al and I head up there we do so to escape "Korea". I go to Forever 21 and we eat eat eat all the western food we can get our hands on. No temples, no sightseeing. Once you've seen one temple, you've seen them all and being in my third year of being over here, the novelty has definitely worn off. If I happen to run across temples or traditional buildings of course I marvel in their beauty and really just let it sink in how old all these places are, but I'm really not going to go out of my way to find them anymore. We are both getting pretty jaded about Asia and are very much ready for next April to get here and get here fast so we can park our butts in Europe for a month and then settle into our long awaited, mundane American lives. 

Our being blasé about being here doesn't mean that I don't have fun or that I don't appreciate what a simple and carefree life I lead. On the contrary, I have a blast every weekend and I'm very aware that I'm extraordinarily lucky in how I live right now. I don't wish we would've moved home after finishing this last contract, either. There's still a bit more travelling I want to get in before moving home and so we will do that over the next year. We have summer vacation that we will get somewhere or other and then after we're finished we're going to head back to America via Europe as I mentioned above. I believe as long as I get one more Asian country in this summer (China, Vietnam...something) and then hit up a few European countries before moving on to Nashville, I won't be regretting moving home. Right now, I don't have enough travel under my belt to justify settling down permanently, so I'll just have to get through the next ten months with a smile on my face. 

That smile starts with long weekends. Happy Birthday, Buddha! You got me Friday off! Thanks dude! Al and I and a few friends plus some new people I hadn't met before wanted a weekend away and that's what we did. The original plan was to head to Tokyo for a few days but it fell through so the next best thing is Seoul. Al, myself and seven other people took the 1:00 bullet train north on Friday to start the weekend off. They all stayed in a hostel in Hongdae but Al and I wanted to stay somewhere on our own so we went to our trusted Vestin Inn in Myeongdong, where we always stay. Myeongdong is central to everything and never seems too many stops or transfers from anything on the subway. First things first, H&M. We have two H&Ms here in Busan but they pale in comparison. (everything we have here is 10x better there) The biggest Forever 21 I've ever stepped into is in Myeongdong but unfortunately it's closed for reno until June so we had to hunt down the other one near Gangnam (heh.). It's much smaller than the other but it served its purpose. 

We went with another couple to have some legit Mexican at On The Border for dinner and then headed out to a district called Hongdae, a place that apparently is unbelievably awesome in which to go out. That's where our other friends were staying so we met them there and once we arrived, my immediate thought was, "This looks like every other street in Korea". After further investigation and walking around I did realize that there were many more bars and clubs and people, but all in all it's just a big KSU (where we usually go out here in Busan). Noooooot really impressed. Al put it in the best way: "There's just more of a variety of the same old thing". 

We found our friends and started bar hopping and I was done about 4:30. Don't get me wrong, it was sooooo much fun, but no different or anything more spectacular than here. Day 1, done. 

Saturday, our full day there, was spent eating broccoli soup and salad for lunch (gasp!) at our favorite terrace restaurant and shopping. Itaewon, the foreigner district, is full of import stores, Taco Bell and Subway it all their glory. I got some super cute earrings from a street vendor (haggled like a boss) and then beelined for the import stores where I stocked up on ranch, mac n cheese, root beer, blueberry muffin mix and even some milk tea imported from Japan (if you've read this blog from the beginning you'll know that's one of my favorite things on earth). It's the little things.

That night we met up with our friends again (our really close friends came up this night instead of with us on Friday) and did it all over again in Hongdae. This time we ended up at the noraebang (karaoke) which is 100% guaranteed to keep us all out until well past sunrise...and no surprise here, we walk outside in the bright daylight and head for Taco Bell. 

After getting back to our miniscule room, we slept for three hours or so and then checked out. We headed back to Itaewon for Subway for lunch (tuuuurrkkkeeeeyyyy sandwich), grabbed four tacos at TB for the train ride home and back to the KTX station we go. We slept most of the 2 1/2 hours home so it was a short ride, then groggily made our way through the 30 minutes of subway stops to ours. We wanted to get back sooner rather than later so we arrived about 5:00, plopped into bed and watched four episodes of Game of Thrones. Now that's a nice evening. 

Was the weekend fun? Amazingly so. Was it worth the near $1,000 we spent? Proooobably not, but that hint of America I get when I'm up there is definitely needed occasionally. 

Cinco de Sunburn

Much to my great elation, the weather is finally starting to heat up a bit. The winters are long and cold here and it seems to take forever to get warm. Once the hot weather does come, it comes on with a vengeance, so I'm sure I'll be complaining about that in the near future. But as for now, it's 65-70 every day and my school is neither too hot nor too cold, making it a nice teaching environment for now. This past weekend was the nicest we've had since probably October, bringing everyone outside in droves to enjoy the warmth. (By everyone I mean the foreigners, the Koreans are still wearing ski jackets and sweaters. No surprise there.)

Saturday, we went to the Lotte Giants baseball game, the professional team of Busan. We can see the stadium from our house, so it's nice to just walk down there when there's a game. Baseball itself as a sport is super boring, but the social aspect of the games keeps me going back when people plan it. I guess they are doing poorly this year, so they lost this one.

Sunday was CINCO DE MAYOOOOOO!!!!! Last year we were equipped with sombreros for the occasion but since no one got them this year, it was more of just an official beach season kick off day, complete with tacos for dinner that evening. It was all of our first day at the beach this year and it was a beautiful 75 degrees. Personally, I like it about 85 but that's just me. 

This above picture was taken to show you my thermos. I brought tea to the beach, Si style.

Because it wasn't super hot and the sun didn't seem that strong on top of me being on a mission to get tan, I didn't bother with the sunscreen when I got to the beach. Oops. I am now writing this with a wicked sunburn. I really and truly didn't think I was going to get as red as I am. At the beginning of the summer I always get a few sunburns, sunscreen or not, and then it turns brown and then I'm good. I knew I was going to get a little red, I just didn't anticipate how red. I've had worse sunburns, honestly, but the first of the year is always a bit uncomfortable. I've slathered myself in aloe and will continue doing so until it's gone so I don't peel.

I posted a picture on facebook of my sunburn last night before I went to sleep and woke up this morning with multiple comments on it, not about my sunburn, but my being too skinny! I reeeeally need to address this. I am by far not too skinny, I promise you. I simply know how to work angles of the camera and use it to my advantage when posting pictures. Yes, I have lost weight recently, but it was weight I definitely needed to lose and I'm now what I feel is a pretty healthy 137 pounds. I'm still very jiggly and according to the trainer at the gym I still need to lose about 5 more and I will still remain perfectly healthy. I assure you I eat whatever I want generally, it's just much easier to eat more healthy here as the access to junk food isn't as readily available. I still have a slight gut and definitely some cellulitey legs, I just don't post pictures like that on facebook. Sure, it might be deceiving, but I'd rather play up my better features for all the world to see and I think that's alright. To prove that I'm not underweight and certainly not "tiny", here are some pictures of my perfectly normal body for your viewing pleasure. 

See. Normal. Nothing to worry about. I loved all the comments on me being too skinny, trust me, I've not heard that in many many years, but because it's simply not the case in any capacity, I thought I needed to say something about it. 

xo

Green Card, Let's Do This.

Al's life is now in the hands of the US Department of Homeland Security.

It turns out (much to our and now probably your surprise) that getting your hands on a United States Green Card is a very simple, inexpensive process. All  it takes for a spousal petition is roughly three forms and a $420 money order. Comparatively, to obtain my Canadian equivalent, it was unending forms, photos of our wedding, interviews, many hours spent in a lawyer's office and about $5,000 total. It could be because we had just gotten married so they need to make sure it's not a sham, but from what I understand about the same situation in the US is that if you've been married for under two years, you're just put on a "probation period" while waiting on the card, whatever that means. Because we've been married for almost five years still made no difference in the forms filling out. Still the same easy forms and the same $420. This makes me wonder why people come in illegally all the time when the process is so simple! Obviously, you have to wait on approval as well, but come one, at least fill out some papers and try. (btw, I'm not one of those right wing nuts who wants to shut down the borders, I just never understood how easy it was to work legally in the US)

It's about a 6-12 month wait, depending on how smoothly your approval goes. Because Al is simply Canadian and we've been married as long as we have, we should have it in a shorter amount of time. Al told me that one guy on some message board applied in late summer and had it in his hands before Christmas. Brilliant!

We've also recently had to apply for one more year on our visas here in Korea. As we're sitting in the immigration office, a place we've come to know well in numerous countries, we start to talk and laugh about the things that we have to deal with in our daily lives that average people would never even have to think about. Forms to stay in the country, forms to leave the country, what size "passport style" photo do we need to attach? When does my Alien Registration Card expire?, What is an I-130 form? Does anyone at all speak English? What's the exchange rate from Yen to Baht? My passport is almost full, I need to get new pages put in pronto, the Won is up!? Send money home NOW!!

It gets pretty exhausting, keeping tabs on all of our immigration issues and currency exchanges and a plethora of other things, but it's definitely worth it to live the lives we do right now. Next up, should we go to Vietnam for summer vacation?

North Shmorth

It's business as usual here in South Korea, despite what the news back home may be telling you right this second. No one is worried, no one is scared, no one wants to install an emergency bunker in their backyard...no one except myself.

I believe I am one of the very few expats who is tense and a bit concerned over what's happening about six hours north of me. While my friends, Korean and foreign alike, go about their daily lives as if there isn't some lunatic threatening their existence, I am frantically checking the news and any emergency updates from the US Embassy on a near daily basis.

I am a natural worrier. Al calls it a "curse of the Belts" because my family is the same way. I like to look at it as that I just value my life and other's lives a bit more than normal people and therefore think about them more often. It's not a debilitating thing, my worrying, nor does it engulf my life in any way. I'm generally pretty laid back and relaxed, but if something arises that I feel is out of the ordinary in a bad way, I probably do take it overboard with my being concerned. With this in mind, a threat on my life by The Supreme Leader does have me a bit on edge.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, I've talked to assures me I have nothing to worry about. The Embassy recently released a statement to the US expats saying that despite what's going on there is no reason they need to put us on alert and that they take our lives seriously and blah blah. Although that did make me feel slightly better, each time the Fattie Up North makes a new statement saying he's going to turn South Korea into some lake of fire, it gets me on pins and needles again. Because what if everything is more serious than we think? What if no one is worrying, but this time he means business? What if it's too late? These are all questions I've asked myself but there is nothing I can do about it. I'm here. Al and all my dude friends are always laughing about how they're staying and fighting if something happens. This does not help.

I have convinced Al that if things do take a turn for the worst, however unlikely, in the event the Embassy does release a message saying that they suggest we get on outta dodge, that we have a gameplan. Going back to the United States immediately would be a silly and expensive move if something were to happen. No matter how nervous I am about something actually happening, I do fully believe that once the US and South Korea (and all the other countries ready to jump into action) intervene, they would have the situation under control in a very short period of time. That means things would probably, hopefully, get back functioning around here quickly, therefore going back to the US would be silly. Our plan is that assuming we could leave the country once any kind of "get out" message is released, we'll head down to SE Asia somewhere, probably Laos, where it's very cheap to live for any extended period of time. Catch a flight there, hang out with the locals and the palm trees and the $2 meals until things settle down here. I believe that's the best option no matter how likely it is the North will strike.

Keep me in your prayers, no matter who you're praying to, but mostly pray for my anxiety levels if you would, because they are skyrocketing.

27 Years Young

My birthday came and went in all it's glory just like every year, but this year was a little better than most. This is the 8th birthday I've spent with Al and this is the first year he's put any effort into making sure I have a great day. Not to knock on him on my blog, but he's never set much store by holidays or special events. Perhaps they're too stressful, too family-oriented, too much pressure put on them...regardless of the excuse, he's not really one to go all out for any holiday, including my birthday. I believe the first few we spent together he watched the Masters (golf) all day ("But it's a TOURNAMENT UNLIKE ANY OTHER!") and probably took me to dinner along with a present I had previously asked for. (this is the first year my birthday and the Masters have not fallen in the same weekend, rejoice!) You know, a run of the mill boyfriend/husband obligation. Don't get me wrong, I've not had bad birthdays because of him, but just nothing memorable or spectacular. This year, though, I think he's finally realized (or I've complained enough) that I'd like my birthday to be something special and so he put a lot of genuine thought into it.

If you know me even a little, you know that Louis Vuitton ranks on my list of "Amazing Things In Life" second only to makeup or tampons. And ranked well above things like bread and vitamins. I am a firm believer that counterfeit Louis Vuitton is some kind of blasphemous abomination. Because of my beliefs coupled with the insane prices of the pieces, I have miraculously worked my way up to only two, one a carry-on sized bag bought secondhand in Japan and the other a small pochette (that was a gift from my mother), large enough for a cell phone, a wallet and a lip gloss if I'm lucky. I had a third in the past that was actually stolen from me, but I don't even like talking about it. It's one of those horrific memories I try to block out.

Al, having known this love of mine since we first met, added another to my collection for my birthday. It's the  Josephine wallet and I adore it.

There is a story behind this present. While out to dinner with a bunch of friends (sadly it was our friends Vinny and Ashley's last night in town) Abhay said something to me about liking my "new purse". What!?! What new purse Abhay!? So then he and Al went quiet, all the while I'm pretty upset that he just ruined my birthday present. Sophie, his girlfriend, who knew about the present, got upset with him and he kept apologizing over and over. Well, I still didn't know what kind of purse or brand or any other details other than the one he just accidentally divulged. Okay. Fine. Well Sophie, who was sitting down beside me, was talking to the person beside her and I heard her quietly say "Louis Vuitton" so I whipped around and said "Sophie! WHAT!?" and she turned her head, her eyes grew to the size of saucers as she realized what she had just done.

Everyone apologized and apologized, I got a little teary because 1. I was getting a new something LV and 2. The greatest present in the world was just ruined. After many promises that they'd make it up to me, we went about our dinner and evening.

Al had dropped the present off at our friend Peter's for safekeeping until my birthday the following Saturday, but since I knew about it, the next day we went to Peter's and Al very unceremoniously gave it to me there in Peter's living room. It's amazing and beautiful and Louis Vuitton takes such care in even the littlest things like wrapping and display before you even get to the good part inside. The craftsmanship is, in my opinion, unparalleled, and it seems perfect down to the tiniest detail. Which is probably why they cost so much. And this wallet, along with my other two pieces, will last me forever because of the quality. So, thank you Alain for the best birthday present ever!

Our friend Brandon's birthday is April 5th so we decided to have a joint party that weekend. It was Friday night and we started out at ME World, a small amusement park next to Gwangalli beach. Since some people couldn't come that early because of work, there were only a handful of us to start. (Al took the day off because Nammun was closed for some kind of ceremony!) I had carefully selected my outfit and worked tirelessly on making sure I had amazing birthday hair. Well, the boys convinced me that if I rode the log ride and got in the back, I wouldn't get wet. Why did I believe them!?!?! Sure enough, going down that flume and splashing water all over the place, my hair got wet. My hair will dry beautifully curly if it's soaked from the shower or swimming, but I had fixed it into perfect waves with product and my straightener and the little bit of water that got on it was only going to completely destroy it, not turn it into the pretty curls in which it usually dries. I definitely did a bit of whiny girly complaining, but realizing that I had no access to a hair straightener, I just sucked it up and went about my birthday party night.

We took taxis down to the other side of the beach for some dinner, Shabu Shabu. There is a boiling pot of broth and vegetables in the middle of the table and they bring you plates of very, very thin, uncooked meat for you to toss into the broth where it cooks in, literally, 5-10 seconds. I believe shabu shabu is native to Japan, though I never had it there, so this was my first time. It was super spicy (like everything Korean) and I don't like spicy, so Al assured me that the Japanese version isn't spicy so we must be at a Korean style joint. Oh well. We next went to a bar on the beach, uncleverly named "Beached" and settled in there for a while. Two of our friends, who are both named Rob, always played live music around Busan, one on a box drum the other a guitar, so they set up out on the sand (it was pretty warm that night!) and played some music...while Brandon and I had a photo shoot.

We finally made it to karaoke where I was sad to learn that they hadn't really updated much since I left last time. No new Taylor, boo. We stayed there until about 5:30am and called it a night. 

The next day, Saturday, was actually my birthday and since the night before was pretty cray, we kinda had a relaxing day. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch (yessss) then went bowling. If you read my blog entry about bowling when I was home, you'll know that I tend to be alright at it. Not today! I was horrible, but I totally blame the bowling balls. The holes were really shallow and I could feel the ends or something, so weird, and definitely all their fault. That evening, I wanted some good dinner so we called up some friends and went to a restaurant called Ashley's, an American style buffet. As far as "American style" in Korea goes, this place is pretty legit. Pizza, ribs, chicken...they also have unlimited free wine, so that's a plus. A few people came over to our place after dinner to just chill and hang out, which was really nice, though they changed the rules to Ring of Fire (4-four 7-heaven 8-mate 10-category and A-ALWAYS waterfall am I right!?!) so with raging PMS I got a bit cranky over the rule changes and ended up ruining the night for myself. Oops. Didn't mean to. So once everyone left I got a good night sleep and still had one more day of the weekend to enjoy. 

All in all, one of my best birthdays thanks to Al, my fabulous friends and that little store called Louis Vuitton.

Favorite Travel Photos

I decided that my blog definitely needed a bit of a revamp so here we are. I didn't change the layout too much, but I wanted something new to look at. I also changed the name of it from "Happy Travels" to "The Happy Traveler". It just fits better I think.

I thought that the way to start off on a good foot would be to showcase my favorite travel photos that I've taken over the years. First things first, I'm NOT a photographer. I have a $150 pocket-sized Nikon. I'm sure that if I had a decent camera I could take some stunning pictures of the places I visit, but I just don't want to schlep a huge paparazzi camera along with me. One of my absolute favorite pictures I've ever taken is the one above. It's from December 2010 in Vang Vieng, Laos. I took it from the window of where some friends were staying and the white and blue building on the left is the room that Al, Christa and I stayed in along the Nam Song river. I decided to put a favorite of my travel words of wisdom on it and I think it turned out pretty good! Pinterest worthy! Here are some more of my favorites:

Turks & Caicos, June 2008

Al carrying a tube to the river through a bamboo path, Vang Vieng, Laos, Christmas Day 2010

Ringing a gong in Kanonji, Japan, 2010

Turks & Caicos, June 2008

Al walking among some coconut palms, Phi Phi Don, Thailand, January 2011

Osaka, Japan, August 2010

Fundy National Park, New Brunswick, Canada, 2009

Storm rolling in, Bamboo Island, Thailand, January 2011

Longtail boats, Phi Phi Ley, Thailand, December 2010

Jinhae, South Korea, April 2012

Turks & Caicos, June 2008

Jungle path, Perhentian Besar, Malaysia, July 2012

Ritsurin Garden,Takamatsu, Japan, November 2010

Longtail boats, Phi Phi Ley, Thailand, January 2011

Rain on a banana leaf, Perhentian Besar, Malaysia, July 2012

On our way snorkeling, Phi Phi Ley, Thailand, December 2010

Rooster in the road, Kuala Besut, Malaysia, July 2012

Perhentian Besar, Malaysia, July 2012

One of the main streets of Vang Vieng, Laos, December 2010

Al clambering into a longtail, Phi Phi Don, Thailand, January 2011

One of my favorite photos, Nam Song River, Vang Vieng, Laos, December 2010

Seomyeon, Busan, South Korea, 2012

Jinhae, South Korea, April 2012

On a ferry to Shodoshima Island, Japan, Spring 2010

Rice paddy, Takamatsu, Japan, 2010

Cherry blossoms, Marugame, Japan, Spring 2011

These were just a handful of the gazillion pictures I love. Enjoy those and I hope you like the new look of the blog!

Back To "Normal"

I started back to work yesterday after six weeks of vacation. Blast.

It was nice going back to a familiar setting, faces and kids, though Al and I both have already started the "52 weeks and counting...". Lucky for me, Nammun Elementary has some kind of ceremony going on Friday so my first week back is a four day-er, a nice transition back. That also means that my birthday weekend (which is Saturday) is a nice three day one. The Heavens rejoice!

Asian kids have no life or fun childhood to speak of. They go to school year-round (and all day every day...). Since they do that, there has to be some random day where they move up a grade and that day is March 1st. Last March 1st was a chaotic nightmare with all the Korean teachers running around screaming like the North just attacked holding signs trying to direct the new kindergarteners to their new after school english classes (you know, instead of going out to play like normal 6 year olds). I dodged a bullet this year by being in the US at the time this was all going down, but because of that I've now come back mid-semester to about 4 classes full of new, blank stares. These lowest level kids are the hardest to deal with, I think. They're cute, yes, but because they can barely remember their own english name that they picked, I never know if they're actually learning anything. "What's this letter?" (I point to W) "M!!!!" :::facepalm:::

It's basic: ABCs, colors, a bit of phonics and maybe some counting if we're lucky. Because they mostly don't want to be there in the first place, they get distracted beyond easily and I'm left with 1. a class of pee pants children not knowing the difference between a small p and small q (I guess that would be a little confusing) and 2. their wandering eyes that keep facing towards the now open windows where they can hear the other screaming kids playing in the courtyard in between their classes. Hopefully here in about 6 months things will have improved a bit because they'll have gotten better and slightly more advanced.

If you know me at all, you'll know that I much prefer other people's children because I don't have to take them home and care for them. But these last few days walking through the halls of school and seeing all my students' faces light up when they see me and run towards me and latch on for dear life all while screaming "SAM TEACHER!!!!" has seriously, seriously made my days better. There are a few of them that I really did miss, but I didn't realize it until I saw them again. It warms the cockles of my heart, it really does.

I've also recently discovered that some of my older boy students have now dubbed me the "food killer". When they first told me that, I thought they were calling me fat and I (mentally) pelted them with the textbooks. But the thing is, I let the kids eat in class. I do not care in the slightest. Why rob them of something that does them nor myself any harm when they are sitting in english class for three hours? My only rule is that if they bring food, they share it with me. Most kids are sweet and give me a share anyway (Korean kids loooooove giving food away) but some of the more stingy boys like to keep those cheese puffs to themselves so I happily take a few. That's where my new nickname came from...apparently because I steal all the students food. Totally not true, but they aren't the only hungry ones come 5:00!

Walking into class to things like this makes this whole thing worthwhile:

I really do love some of those kids and I'm sure I'll miss them when I'm gone.