Jenni's Visit

So finally a friend came to visit! :D It was so nice to be able to share my life here and my experience here with a friend from home.

The adventure started off not so good (only for me). I had some money stolen from me on the bus to the airport... but it's my own fault. I left my bag "unattended" with an envelope of cash. ㅠ.ㅠ I would like to think I'm not usually that stupid...

The next step in our adventure was Kyung-ju! We went to the old capital to see all the historical sites and do a temple stay. (A "temple stay" is where you stay overnight at a Buddhist temple and experience the life of the monk there to help you understand their religion.) We saw the tombs that look like mountains, beautiful architecture, and then I introduced Jenni to the strangeness of Korean food! ㅋㅋ (hehe)

We did a temple stay together in Kyung-ju at Golgulsa. However, it was a little strange. Even though they had monks who could speak fluent English... nothing was really explained to us! We were told WHAT to do, but not WHY. I really thought the point of the "temple stay" was to help us understand Buddhism better...

There was one point during the temple stay that we thought we might be in hell because we were walking VEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYY SLOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWLYYYYYYY down a hill (that would only take us about 7 min normally) at 5 am when it was freakin freezing out. It took us at least 30 minutes. Painful. (And remember, we had no idea WHY we were doing it.)

It was until MUCH later (actually, one of the last things we did during the temple stay) at the Tea Ceremony that we could ask questions and were explained why they do certain things. I think that's a little backwards... but that happens often enough in Korea.

Well, we got back to Daegu safely enough. And partied. ^^ Dinner, board game room, karaoke room, a Korean bar and a Korean club!

I don't know which Jenni loved more... the karaoke room or the board game room. haha

The next day, our last day in Daegu, we did some local sites. The market, shopping and Dr. Fish! The fish eat your feet. It takes a little getting used to at first.

Sunday we headed up to Seoul! You could stay in Seoul for a week and still not see everything. So we tried to hit up the big ones. But first! Relaxing.

Masks are a great way to relax. Our hostel was also tops, so it was easy to feel comfortable there.

After we were all rested up, we headed out to the palaces! Gyungbokgung was our first stop. The weather was sooooo cold (and I, honestly, was soooooo sick) but we managed to have a great time!

The palace guard was there!

Don't we make a great couple? :D

Next stop was the Korean culture museum! It sounds boring, but it's actually very interesting because of all the folk statues they have, and unique pieces.

A must-do in Korea is getting your nails done. They have the best kind of "nail art" here. It's a little expensive, but worth it if you want to feel like a Korean. ^.* We got "couple nails." The same style, but different colors.

It was also really fun showing Jenni the food in Korea. It really is so different! So taking her to the restaurants and the grocery stores was a great experience. Needless to say, she LOVED the dried squid! haha. Can't you tell?

We were also able to make it to Seoul's art museum. Chagall was there, which was a wonderful surprise! However, we both thought it was kinda strange that there was no "Asian art" in the Seoul art museum!

After a long day of shopping, we treated ourselves to a nice show. The "Nanta" performance is really famous in Korea. It's kinda like the "Blue Man Group" with it's rhythm and storyline. ^^

On our last day before heading to the airport, we finally went to a Korean jjimjilbang! (Or, bathhouse.) We went to the best one in Seoul, called "Dragon Hill." It took Jenni a little getting used to, what with the being naked in public and all... hehe. But it really is a nice experience! I also had Jenni do the "body scrub." Basically, an old Korean woman in her underwear scrubs you down with the most abrasive cloth she can find until your skin is clean, new and bright red. haha.

So we definitely felt fresh after that. Jenni told me that her favorite parts of Korea were: the board game room, the karaoke room, the jjimjilbang, and the heated (ondol) floors. ^^ Those are my favorites too!

So after a too-quick week, we said good-bye. But not for long! I'm following soon... (too soon.)

Kyung-ju visit

Kyung-ju: Old Korean capital city back when there was a King. Obviously one of the oldest cities in Korea, and also one of the most rural. It has famous temples, farms, and old tombs. A very interesting place to visit. ^^

Hong Sung's family lives in Kyung-ju and he grew up there, so he invited me out to tour the sites. When we got to Kyung-ju one of the first things we did was eat! :D We had ssam-bap: meat wrapped in lettuce with a ton of side dishes... as you can see. haha

In the restaurant there were all these cute miniatures of traditional Korean "village life." A lot of the scenes had cows in them, since they were considered part of the family way back when you depended on them for your life. Since Kyung-ju is still very rural, we saw a whole bunch of cows. ^^ There were also fun game scenes depicted as well.

All these old people are playing yut-nol-i, a traditional Korean game. I'll teach you how to play when I'm back. ^^

After eating, we visited a park. Or what I thought was a park. It's actually a huge cemetery where all the old royalty is buried. See those mounds? Those are tombs.

The tombs were all different sizes. It all depended on how important you were. They're like the pyramids, except more natural. And I don't think it took thousands of slaves to make them.

Across from the graveyard was another graveyard, except bigger and more spread out. This one was definitely like a park. People were playing and eating and flying kites! An old man was selling kites he had made, and it was the perfect weather for it. Since I am the year of the tiger and this year is also the year of the tiger, I thought it was pretty cool that I could have my own "special" kite.

The tombs are about 2 inches high. And that man is just veeeeeeeeeeeery small. hehe

After the tombs, we stopped by one of the most famous temples in Korea: Bulguksa. At the entrance gate they have these huge statues on either side. They're the guarding gods, making sure the temple remains safe from evil spirits. They are definitely formidable-looking!

Temples in Korea usually have the same architecture, like churches in America. But every once in a while you come across one that has a unique quality; just like our famous churches in the world. They're special for some reason. Bulgulsa is special because it houses some of Korea's "national treasures," and is a World Heritage site.

I do like the architecture. It's unique and something I wont get to see back in the States.

After our adventures, we headed back to Hong Sung's home to eat with his family. His mom had made a special bulgogi just for my visit! One of my favorite Korean foods is bulgogi. ^^

Kyung-ju is completely different from Daegu. I was going to compare it to going from the city of Chicago out to the suburbs where my relatives live... but that's not even close enough. Kyung-ju is very refreshing; everything is natural and clean. A huge difference from the city smells of Daegu!

Our haunted hotel in China

Late flight into Beijing. Angry taxi driver kicked us out because he didn't know where the hotel was... and then we were forced back into the taxi by the airport taxi guy who insisted the driver could find it.

Anyway, we finally get there and find that the hotel is empty, creepy, and haunted.

This is our story:

Beijing, China

The best thing about Beijing was sleeping on the Great Wall. With a bunch of foreign English teachers (like us), from Korea (like us), mostly from Daegu (like us).

What're the chances, right??? haha

The second best thing was the Summer Palace. It is HUGE. We didn't know how huge it was until we got there and realized that we weren't even going to cover half in the few hours we had. We hardly covered a quarter! And they have a map... but they don't have any signs, so you just kinda hafta guess where you are all the time. haha. I thought the most amazing thing was that it was all built for one woman. She had it practically all to herself. THAT was an amazing thought. If I had a "garden palace" that size... wow. Jeeeeeeeeaaaaalous!

The third great thing was the shopping. Beijing's markets are fantastic! You really can find "name brand" stuff there for less than $10. Bargaining was an absolute must, and usually it

worked out pretty well.

The best thing I got was a warm Abercrombie jacket for $15!

The Forbidden City was also pretty amazing. It had a lot of things to see on the side, so it was possible to get lost in it! A lot of areas looked the same too, with maybe one or two defining features. I think I was expecting it to be a little more "forbidding," but I'll take what I can get from one of the most historical sites in the East.

Beijing was not my favorite, but it was definitely different enough to warrant going.

Hong Kong: The Low-down

Traveling with people is always tricky. Traveling with people you don't know is even more so. Traveling with people you know can also be surprising.

As for the places, Hong Kong was really nice. Such a difference from Korea! The culture was mixed... and I saw so many interracial couples I almost didn't know what to do with myself! People actually spoke English and were so helpful! The public transportation system was so easy that by our second day there we felt comfortable with it. And their system is really extensive! There's no place you can't go, by bus, subway or ferry! Truly incredible. ^^

The sites in Hong Kong were really cool. Tall mountains with equally tall buildings on top of them. (yeah, that's right Korea... they BUILT on their mountains!) The view of Hong Kong harbor was really amazing, as was the architecture there. My favorite place to see it that way was from Victoria Peak. It's one of the "hot spots" in Hong Kong and I could see why, with its view and nature all wrapped into one. It was a really modern city with a lot of natural charm.

Thanks to my dad I was also able to go to Hong Kong Disneyland! :D It was fun and short; we finished it in about 5 hours. It's just the basic "Magic Kingdom," but they added their own "Hong Kong" twist. For example, some of the Lion King show was in Cantonese, and they had a "Tarzan" tree house instead of Robinson Crusoe. I'm really glad I got to go; I think Disney is truly magical. ^^

A kind of seedy underside of Hong Kong was the immigrants. They were mostly Indians and Nigerians. I don't know much about the politics of it all or the reasons why so many immigrants were there, but the area they lived in was stereotypically low-income with a lot loitering about and trying to scam any tourist that walked by. It was a little frustrating at times because the hostel we stayed at was in the middle of that area, so it felt a little skeazy and dangerous.

Hong Kong is also famous for its shopping. Although I'm not exactly sure why because it's all freakin expensive stuff. I have to say though, that the markets are definitely worth going to! They were fun, cheap and had lots of knock-offs. haha

Anyway, all in all I really enjoyed Hong Kong. I would even consider living there for awhile!

Next topic: Beijing

What a trip...

So much to say. SO much happened.

Pictures soon with details. ^^

One thought, though: I'm VERY homesick after that.

Next up: Andong (안동) for the mask festival, and then Kyung-ju (경주) for the historical sites!

Going to China!

So for Chuseok (추석 - Korean Thanksgiving) we have a few days off. My old roomie, Tharine, and I are going to China together!

First stop: Hong Kong, then on to Beijing!

I'm very excited. ^^

However... went to get my visa processed today and they said it would be returned to me the 17th. I leave for Seoul that very night and for Hong Kong the next day! Yikes!

I'm praying it gets here in time...

Thailand Highlights

To see more:

Thailand and Thailand Cont.

Off to Thailand!

Yay summer adventures!

Eli and I are off to Thailand and I couldn't be more excited! From what I've heard from so many other friends that have made it there... it's very adventurous. hehe. All their pictures boast of riding elephants, petting tigers, eating delicious food, and really having an amazing time!

So tomorrow we head to Seoul for the day and then early Sunday is our flight. We're flying into Chiang Mai first (to see Eli's fam) and then down to Phuket for the second half of our vacation and some relaxing.

Not sure if I'll be able to update while I'm there, so I guess I'll save most of it for when I come back and sort through my pictures. (I already know that's going to take me forever!)

We're avoiding Bangkok altogether because of the drama that was happening there recently... so pray for safe travels!

MudFest / Birthday

MudFest and my birthday were incredibly fun with my roomies and Suzanne. They made it so much better than I could've expected or hoped for!

I was even sung happy brithday in Afrikaans! How awesome is that???

Funny, ridiculous, frustrating thing was the "mud rides" there. They shut them down early after we stood in line for over 2 hours! So we didn't really get to ride anything! The only thing we rode was something we begged to go on / snuck on to. haha. Fun... but not fun. More like unbelievable!

My birthday dinner was delicious! Like with Jin last year, we had the grilled fresh seafood. (It really make a difference having seafood buy the ocean you know they caught it in!) So delicious! Then afterwards we got a cake, and celebrated my birthday with drinks and card games on the beach.

Absolutely PERFECT.

We also did have a few surprise visitors while we were playing... random drunk foreigners and Koreans. haha. We did have a few guys that stopped by though, and were "normal" in general respects. They taught us a Korean "Kings" game, and definitely made the night more interesting! We played pretty much the rest of the night. hehe

Yay birthdays!

The only thing I didn't really enjoy (again) was the bus ride. Drunk foreigners are drunk foreigners no matter where you go. Yuck.

Last Korean World Cup game

Eli and I went to the Daegu World Cup Stadium for the World Cup game vs. Uruguay. It was way better than we expected! The stadium was huge and the people were so excited and friendly! The guys we sat next to gave us blow-up clappers to cheer with!

...and the guy in front of us was really enjoying his Soju. haha.

Drinking straight out of the bottle man! geeeeeez...

However, it was pretty incredible to once again see how strong Korean spirit is when they're together. It's infectious!

At the beginning of the game they also played the Korean National Anthem, and it was really beautiful and amazing to see the Koreans singing it at the top of their lungs.

I've never seen so many people so gathered for and excited about a game they're not even at!!! Koreans are amazing!

1 Year!

Today is my one year anniversary in Korea!

This time one year ago, I was working my first overwhelming day in Korea. I slept in a moldy, cold apartment empty of food or belongings. In the morning I went to my run-down academy, met my interesting co-workers, and realized my job was just as unorganized as I was.

One year later, I find that I am staying ANOTHER year. I'm living in a much nicer place with much dearer friends that I met at church.

Thank you, Lord, for protecting me and getting me through this year!

Snowboarding!

It's something I never thought I'd do. That's for sure. It looks too hard and too dangerous. Anyone that knows me knows I'm not really a risk-taker... I don't mind thrills but I don't like getting hurt.

Well, this opportunity was too good to pass up! Apparently everyone goes snowboarding and skiing in the winter since there are so many mountains and ski resorts. And it's so cheap! Less than $100 for the bus ride, clothes and equipment rental! So I decided to go snowboarding because only the old people were skiing... and I had already gone skiing. I did want to try something new.

Let's see... it was REALLY hard. I got frustrated. I had to kinda teach myself. A few friends showed me how to start... but from there I was on my own. And there's A LOT to learn from there. I was really sore too! My legs were shaking. haha. But it was also pretty cool. I could see why you would enjoy it after getting used to it.

I looked at getting a lesson, but since they would have to speak English... it would have to be a 1-1 private lesson. That's a lot more expensive... about $200. Yikes! So, I decided to save my money and learn the hard way.

I was able to go twice this winter and I really enjoyed it! I only hope that I don't forget it all by next winter. ^^

Dr. Fish

My first time experiencing this famous Korean foot soak. It's called "Dr. Fish." Apparently the fish eat the impurities off your feet! Although, it's not exactly proven since many people think they just nibble at the salt on top of your skin. It's definitely an interesting experience though! And tickles like hell! ^^

You go into this "cafe" and buy some coffee or tea along with your "foot soak." Then whenever you're ready you go over to the other side of the cafe where they have these pools of water. You wash your feet, sit on your pillow and then stick your feet into the water! At first, it's unbearably ticklish!!! Then... you get used to it. And it starts to feel kinda good. ㅋㅋ