My birthday was last week, and it turned out to be a really good week. On my birthday, Rebs and I went out to eat at a cool little place in Itaewon, called Sid & Mel's. That's Austrailan short for Sydney and Melbourne. Rebs got the fish and chips and I got a tasty burger. Then, after eating half our meals, I remembered that I had seen a Cold Stone across the street when we came out of the subway. So we bagged the rest of our dinner and enjoyed some nice dessert. It was a simple birthday for simply turning 26.
Then on Friday, we had sent out an email earlier that week to meet up with people that night. So around 8pm, we went to a cool little Italian place called Di Matteo's. The prices were fair, but when we got our food, wow! There was so much cheese! I ordered lasagna and had trouble finding where the noodles were because there had to have been a pound of cheese melted on top of it.
It's hard to write about the experience in a way that can accentuate the goodness of it. It wasn't the food, or necessarily just the atmosphere, but just a really dynamic group of people. We ended up staying until the waitress came over and told us that they were closing. Our conversations were just fun and funny and interesting. It was a Brit, a few Americans, and a few Kiwi's (New Zealanders).
On our way out, we were talking about where to go next because we wanted to find a good jazz bar to hang out at, and one person suggested Jazz Story, which happened to be a place that our friend Luke had been looking for online for some time. So the rest of us gladly obliged. Jazz story turned out to be this awesome atmosphere, though there was a cover charge and slightly pricey drinks. The owner had renovated the building to look sort of rustic/woodsy. The windows were made with rebarb and glass in the shape of an eye. Our table was a 4 inch solid wood lathe table with the lathe still attached at the end. But again, our company couldn't have been better. We stayed until close to 2 in the morning, talking, hanging out, and one of our friends who is a musician went to talk with the owner about playing sometime and the owner suggested that he play then. So he jammed for about 20 minutes before we left. It was just a really good night.
Next time, I'll have to bring the camera and get pictures.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
A bidet, compliments, and indecent exposure
Musings about some of my experiences in Korea:
- A few months ago I had my first encounter with a bidet. You know, the toilet thing that squirts water to clean your bootie. Well, Dusty and I were at this restaurant enjoying drinks on a date. I had to use the bathroom. Ahem, I had to go number two. I put on the special bathroom slippers (weird) and went ahead and did my thing. Then I went to flush. Hmmm! There were several buttons with pictures (no words) and no obvious flusher. So I took a guess. As I pressed the button, I leaned over the toilet to make sure it was would flush. But instead, I heard a bell-like noise and water started to squirt up at me. It hit me right in the face. "OH, NO!" I thought to myself. Frantically, I started pushing buttons until the water stopped. Then, I tried another button thinking maybe it would be the magic flusher button. Just in case, I leaned up against the side wall of the stall so any water would miss me. Wrong again. This time, the water squirted out in all directions drenching me even more. Aah! Why would it ever be necessary to have water douse your entire bootie after using the toilet? Finally I managed to hit the stop button again. I looked in the mirror (that was in the stall) and realized that I was pretty drenched (in toilet water). Gross! I took one more look at those buttons. "CRAP!" No pun intended. I couldn't bring myself to push another button so with wet floors and walls, I quickly left the bathroom, found Dusty, discretely told him what happened, and we left that place. Now whenever I see another one of those toilets, I always think twice before going. I still don't know which button to push to flush but so far, I've been able to avoid another shower.
- Earlier this week I wore a long peasant skirt, a short sleeved shirt, and chacos to work. It's the first day I've worn sandals since we've been here and my feet were so excited to finally get to breathe again. When I walked in to teach my English Land 5 class, one of my students exclaimed with great excitement, "Teacher, your outfit is fantastic! You look beautiful." Well, it's not often you get a compliment like that let alone from a 10 year-old.
- Then I went to my English Land 2 class. When I walked in the room two or three of the kids squealed and laughed. They said, "Teacher, your arm muscles are very big." Now, I'm not sure if this was a compliment or not but they made the motion with their hands like I had two big humps on each arm. I took it as a compliment since they just as easily could've told me I was fat. Then I tried to explain that I rock climb but I'm not sure they got it. Side note: People here have no problem telling you you're fat. Luckily, nobody has said such a thing to me since we've been here.
- I went for a walk a few days ago down by the river near my work. It wasn't as nice as I had hoped. The water was nasty and smelly and... I saw two men pee in public in broad daylight. Yes, that's right. TWO! Can't you get arrested for that in America? I almost couldn't believe it when I saw the first guy. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed. Everyone seemed oblivious. Then, on my way back I saw another guy peeing in the exact same place. What the heck?
- A few months ago I had my first encounter with a bidet. You know, the toilet thing that squirts water to clean your bootie. Well, Dusty and I were at this restaurant enjoying drinks on a date. I had to use the bathroom. Ahem, I had to go number two. I put on the special bathroom slippers (weird) and went ahead and did my thing. Then I went to flush. Hmmm! There were several buttons with pictures (no words) and no obvious flusher. So I took a guess. As I pressed the button, I leaned over the toilet to make sure it was would flush. But instead, I heard a bell-like noise and water started to squirt up at me. It hit me right in the face. "OH, NO!" I thought to myself. Frantically, I started pushing buttons until the water stopped. Then, I tried another button thinking maybe it would be the magic flusher button. Just in case, I leaned up against the side wall of the stall so any water would miss me. Wrong again. This time, the water squirted out in all directions drenching me even more. Aah! Why would it ever be necessary to have water douse your entire bootie after using the toilet? Finally I managed to hit the stop button again. I looked in the mirror (that was in the stall) and realized that I was pretty drenched (in toilet water). Gross! I took one more look at those buttons. "CRAP!" No pun intended. I couldn't bring myself to push another button so with wet floors and walls, I quickly left the bathroom, found Dusty, discretely told him what happened, and we left that place. Now whenever I see another one of those toilets, I always think twice before going. I still don't know which button to push to flush but so far, I've been able to avoid another shower.
- Earlier this week I wore a long peasant skirt, a short sleeved shirt, and chacos to work. It's the first day I've worn sandals since we've been here and my feet were so excited to finally get to breathe again. When I walked in to teach my English Land 5 class, one of my students exclaimed with great excitement, "Teacher, your outfit is fantastic! You look beautiful." Well, it's not often you get a compliment like that let alone from a 10 year-old.
- Then I went to my English Land 2 class. When I walked in the room two or three of the kids squealed and laughed. They said, "Teacher, your arm muscles are very big." Now, I'm not sure if this was a compliment or not but they made the motion with their hands like I had two big humps on each arm. I took it as a compliment since they just as easily could've told me I was fat. Then I tried to explain that I rock climb but I'm not sure they got it. Side note: People here have no problem telling you you're fat. Luckily, nobody has said such a thing to me since we've been here.
- I went for a walk a few days ago down by the river near my work. It wasn't as nice as I had hoped. The water was nasty and smelly and... I saw two men pee in public in broad daylight. Yes, that's right. TWO! Can't you get arrested for that in America? I almost couldn't believe it when I saw the first guy. I looked around to see if anyone else noticed. Everyone seemed oblivious. Then, on my way back I saw another guy peeing in the exact same place. What the heck?
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Long overdue update
Hello. Well, life has been really enjoyable for us lately. I started a new job a few weeks ago. I now work at Nowon English Village which is approximately 5 miles away from Suyu English Village where I live and Dusty still works. It's been such a great change for me. This job suits my strengths and personality much better plus, I've got tons more free time. Yay! Nowon is a much smaller school and is run more like a hagwon than a camp. A hagwon is just a term used for a specialty school. I generally have three, forty minute classes a day. Though I have to go in to work around 2pm, I typically teach from 4:30 or 5:00 to 7:25pm everyday. I'm back home by 8pm every night. Some days I have to go in earlier and teach situational classes but even then I'm only teaching another one or two, thirty minute classes which is a sinch. So, I've got a lot of time now to do other things. I've started studying Korean and I can already read and write. It's the speaking and understanding that's going to really be a challenge. Also, I'm FINALLY starting to study for my National Counselor's Exam that I'm going to have to take when I get home in order to get a job as a counselor. There are lots of other great things about my job that I love. I have the same classes every week with the same kids. This means I get to develop relationships with them even if they are 'little turds' sometimes. I know how to lay the smack down by now. I also work with far fewer people. There are four of us foreign teachers and four Korean teachers here. That's it. So I get to know the people I work with much better. And, having my work be away from my home is much better for me psychologically. I can come home and relax and know that I'm away from work. I also love having more freedom, independence, and time away. I get home and realize how much I've missed my husband and friends. I appreciate them all so much more and actually want to spend time with them versus always wanting to get away like before.
Also, the weather is warming up. I can't express how much better I feel in every way. I feel mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally healthy. FINALLY! The winter was rough on me. It was so dark and cold everyday and I was sick the majority of the time. Plus, being away from family and friends over the holidays and working my bootie off was no fun. I'm so glad that time is over. The longer I stay, the more I feel adjusted to life here... not home, but at peace and relaxed. I know how to get around, I'm used to the food, I'm learning the language, I'm educated about the culture (though I still don't always understand it or think it makes sense), and I get to spend time with my husband and good friends everyday.
With the weather warming up, I get outside to play and exercise as much as possible. We went climbing outside last Saturday which was my first time to touch the rock here. I had such a great time. We took a train down south to a place called Ganhyeon. We met our climbing friends from Arkansas who live about 20 minutes away from there. We all climbed together and had a blast. It was warm and sunny and the air was so fresh and clean compared to that of Seoul. It was the first train ride I've ever been on and my first time seeing Korea's rurual country which actually reminds me a lot of Northwest Arkansas. I feel like myself again. I'm realizing that I really struggle with mild depression in the winters. Looking back, I can see a similar pattern that keeps repeating itself each year. As Dr. Lampton (my psychopathology professor) would say, "It's kind of a low-level yuck". So yeah, I experienced that from about November to February this year. Four months of yuck and now I'm ready for some yipee-eye-aye. My energy level and mood seems to go up with each passing day.
So... Dusty and I have talked a lot lately about future plans. We've been bouncing around ideas for awhile but the latest one has me the most excited. Keep in mind this is only an idea, not a definite by any means. We've been thinking of spending the winter this next year at home in the states. Our contracts finish out at the end of October. Perhaps we'll stop in Greece for a couple weeks on our way home and visit our friend Erin Rowe. Then spend the holidays at home with all our friends and family. Then come January, we would probably take off traveling for a month or so to somewhere cheap and warm. Then return to Korea in the spring for another year of work. Our financial goals keep us comitted to working here two full years. The money is just so easy. I mean seriously, I work like 2-3 hours a day and get paid pretty dang good. And then we have next to no expenses. I'm often astonished that this is legal. There's no way we could achieve the same thing in the same amount of time anywhere else.
Anyhoo, the possiblity of coming home for awhile gets me really excited. I'd love to be able to skip the winter here. It's so cold every day. For someone who loves the outdoors, it can feel like a prison sometimes. The weather in Arkansas is much more mild plus, even if it gets cold, we'll be spending time with those we love most. And, perhaps I can bypass getting sick so much. I've learned not to cling to things too tightly so we'll just have to see what God has in store for us.
Also, the weather is warming up. I can't express how much better I feel in every way. I feel mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally healthy. FINALLY! The winter was rough on me. It was so dark and cold everyday and I was sick the majority of the time. Plus, being away from family and friends over the holidays and working my bootie off was no fun. I'm so glad that time is over. The longer I stay, the more I feel adjusted to life here... not home, but at peace and relaxed. I know how to get around, I'm used to the food, I'm learning the language, I'm educated about the culture (though I still don't always understand it or think it makes sense), and I get to spend time with my husband and good friends everyday.
With the weather warming up, I get outside to play and exercise as much as possible. We went climbing outside last Saturday which was my first time to touch the rock here. I had such a great time. We took a train down south to a place called Ganhyeon. We met our climbing friends from Arkansas who live about 20 minutes away from there. We all climbed together and had a blast. It was warm and sunny and the air was so fresh and clean compared to that of Seoul. It was the first train ride I've ever been on and my first time seeing Korea's rurual country which actually reminds me a lot of Northwest Arkansas. I feel like myself again. I'm realizing that I really struggle with mild depression in the winters. Looking back, I can see a similar pattern that keeps repeating itself each year. As Dr. Lampton (my psychopathology professor) would say, "It's kind of a low-level yuck". So yeah, I experienced that from about November to February this year. Four months of yuck and now I'm ready for some yipee-eye-aye. My energy level and mood seems to go up with each passing day.
So... Dusty and I have talked a lot lately about future plans. We've been bouncing around ideas for awhile but the latest one has me the most excited. Keep in mind this is only an idea, not a definite by any means. We've been thinking of spending the winter this next year at home in the states. Our contracts finish out at the end of October. Perhaps we'll stop in Greece for a couple weeks on our way home and visit our friend Erin Rowe. Then spend the holidays at home with all our friends and family. Then come January, we would probably take off traveling for a month or so to somewhere cheap and warm. Then return to Korea in the spring for another year of work. Our financial goals keep us comitted to working here two full years. The money is just so easy. I mean seriously, I work like 2-3 hours a day and get paid pretty dang good. And then we have next to no expenses. I'm often astonished that this is legal. There's no way we could achieve the same thing in the same amount of time anywhere else.
Anyhoo, the possiblity of coming home for awhile gets me really excited. I'd love to be able to skip the winter here. It's so cold every day. For someone who loves the outdoors, it can feel like a prison sometimes. The weather in Arkansas is much more mild plus, even if it gets cold, we'll be spending time with those we love most. And, perhaps I can bypass getting sick so much. I've learned not to cling to things too tightly so we'll just have to see what God has in store for us.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Hello Again
It's been a few weeks since we've written and I'm wondering if people are starting to lose interest. I hope not. When you go on vacation, you remember how to relax, but you also forget your normal routine of life you were living before you went on vacation. That's where I'm at right now. I'm back from vacation (have been for a week and a half), but it's taking me some time to remember how I got everything done in the time I am given. So it's been pretty hard to do it all and the blogging ball got dropped. Sorry about that, my faithful ones who check this regularly.
Right now I'm at Nowon English Village, a different branch from the Suyu one that we normally work and live at. Rebs is in class, "training". The teacher she's with said she was tired and was just going to have the kids play games. She's tired because she's filling in for someone. But this is just an example of how laid back Nowon is compared to Suyu. For those of you who don't know, Rebs is going to be transferring to Nowon starting next week. The job came open a couple months ago and she wasn't doing so well with the type of environment that Suyu is--spontaneous and chaotic mostly. I've been managing okay. I think I just learned when to check out and mind my own business. But it's hard sometimes because you have to not care too much about anything you're doing. That type of environment encourages complacency. So I walk the fine line of non-caring complacency and intentional laid back teaching.
How did I start talking about Rebs and end up on myself? Anyway, Rebs is transferring. She's looking forward to it, where you sometimes work full days, and sometimes you don't come in until 2pm. You have a break in the middle of the day from noon until 4pm always. The classes are smaller and the administration is supposed to be reasonable. It's a small enough environment that it's easy to build relationships and when something's wrong, it can actually be fixed. There is a very small chain of command so things are less likely to get lost in translation.
Why am I here, you ask? Well, all this week, Rebs and I are working at a restaurant. Yes, I know we came to Korea to be English teachers, but leave it to Korea to decide we're going to be restaurant employees for a week and it to make total sense in their heads. We did it last night, but had no idea what was expected of us until the moment we started. We had been told to wear a white shirt and black pants because it was a nice restaurant, and that we would be working from 6-9pm. Other than that we knew nothing but to come to Nowon. So we showed up here and looked around a bit. Rebs observed a class while I read a book. Then at 5:15 a girl rushed in who we'd been told would take us there. She acted in a hurry and said, "okay, I'm ready to go." She said it as if we should have been expecting her at any moment. So, being the smart people we are, we followed her. When we got to the restaurant, they had us change clothes and sit down. We met the owner who spoke broken English and then ate dinner. Then the people from Gangbuk district office, the people who had arranged the event, showed up. All the people acted scared because these people were of much importance. I think if you don't stand up and give certain people the most respect, you can get in alot of trouble and lose your job. So we met them and shook hands. They decided to sit down and practice on us, even though we didn't know what was going on still. They practically picked Rebs up out of her chair and handed her a menu. I guess it was time to start. She took their order and talked with them. They had her sit down. She talked with them for several minutes. Then some other customers showed up and it was my turn. This ended up being what we did all night. Take orders and sit and talk with people. I guess you can consider that work.
Anyway, I have to go now and do it all again.
Right now I'm at Nowon English Village, a different branch from the Suyu one that we normally work and live at. Rebs is in class, "training". The teacher she's with said she was tired and was just going to have the kids play games. She's tired because she's filling in for someone. But this is just an example of how laid back Nowon is compared to Suyu. For those of you who don't know, Rebs is going to be transferring to Nowon starting next week. The job came open a couple months ago and she wasn't doing so well with the type of environment that Suyu is--spontaneous and chaotic mostly. I've been managing okay. I think I just learned when to check out and mind my own business. But it's hard sometimes because you have to not care too much about anything you're doing. That type of environment encourages complacency. So I walk the fine line of non-caring complacency and intentional laid back teaching.
How did I start talking about Rebs and end up on myself? Anyway, Rebs is transferring. She's looking forward to it, where you sometimes work full days, and sometimes you don't come in until 2pm. You have a break in the middle of the day from noon until 4pm always. The classes are smaller and the administration is supposed to be reasonable. It's a small enough environment that it's easy to build relationships and when something's wrong, it can actually be fixed. There is a very small chain of command so things are less likely to get lost in translation.
Why am I here, you ask? Well, all this week, Rebs and I are working at a restaurant. Yes, I know we came to Korea to be English teachers, but leave it to Korea to decide we're going to be restaurant employees for a week and it to make total sense in their heads. We did it last night, but had no idea what was expected of us until the moment we started. We had been told to wear a white shirt and black pants because it was a nice restaurant, and that we would be working from 6-9pm. Other than that we knew nothing but to come to Nowon. So we showed up here and looked around a bit. Rebs observed a class while I read a book. Then at 5:15 a girl rushed in who we'd been told would take us there. She acted in a hurry and said, "okay, I'm ready to go." She said it as if we should have been expecting her at any moment. So, being the smart people we are, we followed her. When we got to the restaurant, they had us change clothes and sit down. We met the owner who spoke broken English and then ate dinner. Then the people from Gangbuk district office, the people who had arranged the event, showed up. All the people acted scared because these people were of much importance. I think if you don't stand up and give certain people the most respect, you can get in alot of trouble and lose your job. So we met them and shook hands. They decided to sit down and practice on us, even though we didn't know what was going on still. They practically picked Rebs up out of her chair and handed her a menu. I guess it was time to start. She took their order and talked with them. They had her sit down. She talked with them for several minutes. Then some other customers showed up and it was my turn. This ended up being what we did all night. Take orders and sit and talk with people. I guess you can consider that work.
Anyway, I have to go now and do it all again.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Pohm/Dee-chan by bing khao (Thai for we're going climbing)
Sawadee kop,
Dusty and I will be in the glorious kingdom of Thailand Feb 4th - Feb 16th and are not planning to see or touch a computer until we return to Korea. Therefore, you probably won't be hearing from us unless something crazy happens such as we contact a serious infectious disease; get bit by a poisonous snake, scorpion, or centipede; taken away in a tsunami; or robbed by a crab-eating macaque (monkey). Leave it to me to be dramatic and cause everyone to worry. Just so you all know, the likelihood of any of these things happening is very slim but we did purchase travelers insurance so we've taken necessary precautions.
We got our vacation extended four more days by taking a few days of unpaid vacation. We are both extremely excited! As of now, all we have is our plane tickets and the name of the place we're planning to stay the first night (we arrive at 1:00am in Phuket). So, the rest of our vacation is totally unplanned. We've packed a climbing/travel guidebook, gear, and a few clothes and who knows where the wind will take us. This is the most alive, free, and unburdened I've ever felt in my adult life.
As you can see, I've added a slideshow to our blog and many of you have asked if we can upload more pics. I'll try to do that soon after we get back. I just added several albums to my facebook so if you are my friend you can just check them out there. If you're not my friend, well then you're just going to have to wait. We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures while we're in Thailand and will be sure to post a blog when we return so you all know we made it back safe. We love you all.
Sawedee kaa,
Rebs
Dusty and I will be in the glorious kingdom of Thailand Feb 4th - Feb 16th and are not planning to see or touch a computer until we return to Korea. Therefore, you probably won't be hearing from us unless something crazy happens such as we contact a serious infectious disease; get bit by a poisonous snake, scorpion, or centipede; taken away in a tsunami; or robbed by a crab-eating macaque (monkey). Leave it to me to be dramatic and cause everyone to worry. Just so you all know, the likelihood of any of these things happening is very slim but we did purchase travelers insurance so we've taken necessary precautions.
We got our vacation extended four more days by taking a few days of unpaid vacation. We are both extremely excited! As of now, all we have is our plane tickets and the name of the place we're planning to stay the first night (we arrive at 1:00am in Phuket). So, the rest of our vacation is totally unplanned. We've packed a climbing/travel guidebook, gear, and a few clothes and who knows where the wind will take us. This is the most alive, free, and unburdened I've ever felt in my adult life.
As you can see, I've added a slideshow to our blog and many of you have asked if we can upload more pics. I'll try to do that soon after we get back. I just added several albums to my facebook so if you are my friend you can just check them out there. If you're not my friend, well then you're just going to have to wait. We'll be sure to take plenty of pictures while we're in Thailand and will be sure to post a blog when we return so you all know we made it back safe. We love you all.
Sawedee kaa,
Rebs
Friday, February 1, 2008
Preparing for the New World
If you didn't know already, Rebs and I are going to Thailand. In fact, we're leaving this coming Monday night. Work has become quite slow recently because of the Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year to non-Koreans). So our administration put the offer out to anyone who wanted to take an extended vacation. We could take unpaid days to continue our vacation. So as of yesterday, we are no longer going to Thailand for 7 days, but 12. Yes, 12 days of sunshine, beaches, huge multi-pitch limestone cliffs, and lots of fruity drinks and Thai food.
This vacation has been long awaited by us because we had about a month and a half of non-stop Korean kids, 10 days at a time. If you emailed or skyped us, you know how exhausted we were sometimes. We are soo looking forward to actually getting tans and wearing t-shirts and shorts in the middle of winter. I think the weather in Korea has been pretty much the same as it is in America right now--cold, cold, and more cold.
This vacation hasn't come without a few setbacks though. Two weeks ago, we ordered a new climbing rope and quickdraws, both essential to sport climbing, which we will be doing alot of in Thailand. We ordered it just in time to get it here before we left. But yesterday, we got a letter, instead of a package in the mail, saying (after having a Korean co-worker translate for us) that our package was stopped and waiting in customs. We had to call and fill out an online form, all of course in Korean. The line was busy, but today we had our coworker call again and this time we got through, only to find out that we are going to have to pay an 18% customs tax. So our gear is now costing us roughly $200 just to get it here. On top of it all, we get to go to customs to pick it up on Monday before we go to the airport so that we can take the gear with us to Thailand. Ahh, the life of Korea. I guess I don't really care that much because in 3 days we'll be in Thailand.
One interesting thing for you and a very different thing for us is that this is our first vacation that we are taking having not planned at all. Granted, we have many ideas of what we would like to do. But many of the people we've talked to here suggested we just show up without plans. Most of the Thai people speak English and usually it is less expensive to do it this way. Be proud of us; it's a big step for us. We've always booked at least where we're staying before we show up. But the thing with Thailand is that there are so many different places to go around the area of Phuket that you never know what you're going to find. We know we want to go to Railey and climb. We want to go to Koh Phi Phi (where they filmed "The Beach") which also happens to have rock climbing. Rebs wants to ride an elephant. I think that will be funny to watch and take pictures. We're going to take both the digital and film cameras, and will hopefully get some great pictures for memories and some cool abstracts as well. Rebs wants me to re-teach her how to use the film camera. We'll see what I actually remember first. But it should be fun either way.
So anyway, if you write us email or facebook messages or whatever and we don't answer, you'll know why. We're not taking our laptop with us because it's kind of a liability in a 3rd world country. I don't want to have to carry it on my wherever we go. and parents, don't worry, we got traveler's insurance for while we're there. we're being responsible. :) hopefully we'll have some awesome pictures to share with you when we come back.
This vacation has been long awaited by us because we had about a month and a half of non-stop Korean kids, 10 days at a time. If you emailed or skyped us, you know how exhausted we were sometimes. We are soo looking forward to actually getting tans and wearing t-shirts and shorts in the middle of winter. I think the weather in Korea has been pretty much the same as it is in America right now--cold, cold, and more cold.
This vacation hasn't come without a few setbacks though. Two weeks ago, we ordered a new climbing rope and quickdraws, both essential to sport climbing, which we will be doing alot of in Thailand. We ordered it just in time to get it here before we left. But yesterday, we got a letter, instead of a package in the mail, saying (after having a Korean co-worker translate for us) that our package was stopped and waiting in customs. We had to call and fill out an online form, all of course in Korean. The line was busy, but today we had our coworker call again and this time we got through, only to find out that we are going to have to pay an 18% customs tax. So our gear is now costing us roughly $200 just to get it here. On top of it all, we get to go to customs to pick it up on Monday before we go to the airport so that we can take the gear with us to Thailand. Ahh, the life of Korea. I guess I don't really care that much because in 3 days we'll be in Thailand.
One interesting thing for you and a very different thing for us is that this is our first vacation that we are taking having not planned at all. Granted, we have many ideas of what we would like to do. But many of the people we've talked to here suggested we just show up without plans. Most of the Thai people speak English and usually it is less expensive to do it this way. Be proud of us; it's a big step for us. We've always booked at least where we're staying before we show up. But the thing with Thailand is that there are so many different places to go around the area of Phuket that you never know what you're going to find. We know we want to go to Railey and climb. We want to go to Koh Phi Phi (where they filmed "The Beach") which also happens to have rock climbing. Rebs wants to ride an elephant. I think that will be funny to watch and take pictures. We're going to take both the digital and film cameras, and will hopefully get some great pictures for memories and some cool abstracts as well. Rebs wants me to re-teach her how to use the film camera. We'll see what I actually remember first. But it should be fun either way.
So anyway, if you write us email or facebook messages or whatever and we don't answer, you'll know why. We're not taking our laptop with us because it's kind of a liability in a 3rd world country. I don't want to have to carry it on my wherever we go. and parents, don't worry, we got traveler's insurance for while we're there. we're being responsible. :) hopefully we'll have some awesome pictures to share with you when we come back.
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