Back in Korea Update

I've been ordered to blog.  Apparently, I've been slacking.  My apologies.

In chronological order....

1.  I had the most amazing trip home.  Words cannot even begin to describe it.  I've never been so at peace in St Louis in my 30 years of life.  It was simply perfect. I had two weeks with family there and of course, that still didn't seem like enough.  I could have happily stayed a month.  Other than celebrating Christmas a few weeks early and meeting my nephew for the first time, nothing really of merit happened.  I was just able to enjoy the relaxed company of family, slept, and ate (a lot).  It was bliss.  I love my family.

I Can Breathe Again! And Other Revelations

I know longer feel like death.  That's a bonus.  The last two weeks were pretty rough.  I'm not a sick person but the last two weeks were probably about the worst sick that I've ever been. Minus that whole ruptured appendicitis thing a few years back.

Things here are getting much nicer though the weather is getting much colder.  I had a revelation last week.  A pretty major one actually.  So, homesickness (and boredom) has hit pretty intensely the last few months.  I figured out why. We used to do really cool stuff all.the.time.  Shark diving. Eric Clapton. Run around town begging random Koreans to say "Merry Christmas" for a camera.  Hiking. and Festivals.  Then I quit doing stuff.  The last major thing I did was ziplining on my birthday-which goes down as my favorite experience in Korea, by the way.  I very clearly remember after that weekend expressing how completely exhausted I was from being so busy every weekend of the last 8 months and I was calling it quits.  4 months later, I still haven't done anything exciting.  And I haven't left Daejeon since my birthday.

The Wiener Dog Essay

It's been a year but Charles finally made his way into our weekly essays.  A few weeks ago when I met the quirky Korean man outside the Family Mart, Charlie and I also ran into a few of my students while conversing with our new friend. Mostly, Charles behaved very well around all these new faces. But, if you know my dog, you know he just can't control himself all the time.  He loves to bark and terrify people and there was one boy that got all of Charlie's ummm, "attention".  It's a little game he likes to play. I think it's probably 20% wanting to protect me and 80% (or more) a hysterical game for him.  It also doesn't help that he doesn't have the usual wiener dog "yippy" bark.  He sounds like a Rottweiler and he's awfully proud of it.  Needless to say, this does not make him super popular in a country where dogs are not the most welcome members of society.  Well, I take that back.  He's plenty popular, but not always in a good way.

This Pretty Much Sums It Up…

You can go here to see a larger version of this, including country wide statistics on student achievement, class size, blah blah blah.

One Year In Korea

I have no idea where the last 52 weeks of my life have gone.  It honestly feels like last week that I left the Aflac office with cupcakes in hand, picked up Charlie from his final vet travel exam, and we road tripped our way up to Missouri for a quick visit before hopping on a plane.

5am on October 14th we boarded a plane. 11:30 pm on October 15 we walked through the front door of our new home.

Dear National Healthcare

Dear National Healthcare,

I think you are absolutely awesome.  Let me tell you why.  In my past 11 months in Korea, I have visited the doctor more times than I probably have in my 30 years in America combined.  Why?  Because I seldom have had to wait more than 5 minutes to see a doctor.  Because no appointment necessary for most things. Because I can actually afford to take care of myself here.  Am I going for silly cold and flu type of things?  Goodness no.  I’m going for things that need(ed) to be done.  Primarily dermatology and dental concerns that would have cost me nearly ten thousand dollars at home, even with insurance.

Herb Hillz–The Obstacle Course

Part Two. 

Madelein, Lee Ann, and I did the King Kong course at Herb Hillz in Daegu.  This course ranked 3 out of 4 stars in difficulty.  Those stars were well deserved.

In reviewing my pictures, the crazy high rope ladder was not the first obstacle.  It was the entrance to the obstacle course.  (can you sense the sarcasm?)

Herb Hillz - Daegu, South Korea

Part One.

Rockin’ awesome.  I love it.  I had heard about this place not long after I arrived in Korea and have been wanting to do it ever since. I was told they had amazing zip line obstacle courses and that sounded fantastically fun. Like a Nickelodeon show for adults. Lee Ann and I thought for our joint 30th celebration that this was the perfect thing to do!

(I was frustrated about the lack of information available in English online when I was searching for information to plan this. Because of that, this blog is going to be fun and educational. Sorry to those that it may bore.)

Top Ten Favorite Things About Korea

In no particular order…

#1.  Dr Fish – The fish pedicure. It’s unexpectedly relaxing to have little bitty fish nibble all over your feet removing the dead skin.  The first time it was a little gross but it immediately crossed over to becoming really, really cool.  Also, it costs only $3-4 for an unlimited amount of time so it’s a fun inexpensive afternoon.  It’s nice to just grab a book, a cushion for the floor and sit back and relax. 

Everything I Want To Do In Korea–Updated

Even though I have all but abandoned my blog this month I have been keeping very busy otherwise.  In effort to regroup and reprioritize my remaining 4-5 months (though I will be signing another year contract this Fall) I am posting an updated version of my “Everything I Want To Do In Korea” that was originally posted December 2, 2011.

I’ve definitely kept busy…but there’s a lot more that I want to do still.

1. Learn the language. -I have a private tutor that I meet with twice a week so I think I’m doing fairly well on this one. 
2. Yoga. -I liked it!  And then I fell out of the habit of doing it when I got sick.
3. Dr Fish.  -Love it!  Top 10 favorite things about Korea
4. Mountain climbing – h.a.r.d.
5. Cherry Blossom Festivals in the Spring – Beautiful!

My Lovely City

Most importantly, I did not own any of these pictures. I got the link through my friend Trisha’s facebook and these pics are amazing.  I just picked my favorites, you can follow this link for more.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=328745 This is a forum on large city skyscrapers.

http://blog.paran.com/imck  This is the actual photographers website.  The previous link is far easier to navigate but I thought I should include this so he gets his credit.

Eight Month Anniversary

That happened really fast. I’ve inadvertently skipped over all the previous anniversaries (and I’ve been really bad about blogging lately) so I thought I needed to write something to commemorate this one. 

First off, Korea rocks.  It’s just a really pleasant place to live, at least from a foreigner perspective.  It’s probably a lot like the experience of those that travel to America for education/internships/etc.  We get to enjoy all the wonderful things that the country has to offer without getting bogged down by all the drama and politics of daily life at home.  Korea is a Happy Bubble. And I really like my Happy Bubble.

Being in Korea has given me the opportunity to just step outside of the box for a little bit.  I’ve been able to get (kimchi scented) fresh air and just break away from the drama.  I’ve made some amazing friends in the last few months.  People that I truly feel were all brought into my life, and me into theirs, for very specific reasons at this incredibly unique period of our lives.  We all came here searching for something and I think we’ve found little pieces of it in each other.

But most importantly, Korea has given me the ability to spend the last eight months with myself.  That’s an amazing gift all on it’s own. 

My Temporary Home

Here’s a video that my blog-friend, Renee, posted. It’s by a gentleman named David Dutton and is amazingly well choreographed.  It shows so many different sides of the Korean culture and what the country has to offer. I would say probably the first two minutes of this video are taken in Daejeon as well as possibly some images towards the end.  I love my little city.  The red and blue bridge is the Expo Park bridge semi-near my apartment and has been seen previously in the blog for Trisha’s birthday.

I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do.  Korea has been a wonderful home to me the last seven months.  The country, the people, and even the food have earned a very special place in my heart. 

Korean BBQ

The following is written by Allison.  Be nice, it’s my first blog ever.  Amy is sleeping, so I’m taking over.

Saturday night we had dinner at a new Korean BBQ place across the street from Amy’s apartment.  It’s the traditional take your shoes off and sit on the floor kind of place.  And it was delicious!  (Are you noticing a recurring theme here??  Korean food is fantastic!  Well, most of it.)  (Amy wrote this paragraph before passing the torch to me!)

The DMZ Part Dos

Sorry for the delay, (and lack of posting in general) I’ve been grumpy and homesick.

Anyway, on to Part Dos.  We had two stops left on our tour.

Tongilchon - Otherwise known as “Unification Village” is one of only two villages within the DMZ.  It has a population of only 200, and is known for rice, soybeans and ginseng.  All Korean men are expected to serve two years in the military, however the men within this village are exempt.  For obvious reason, I believe.  This is where we stopped to have lunch (as mentioned in the the first blog) and I was able to get a few good pictures of the town from the bus so you could see what it was like.

Why You Should Come Teach In Korea

Or at least someone you know should.

I know everyone has their own thoughts or concerns about the stability of Korea and our lovely neighbor to the North, and while I will completely respect that…  it’s just plain silly. This is a wonderful country that is incredibly safe and filled with kind and sincere people.  You will often see small children walking alone and bicycles resting unlocked on the side of the street. Mail is delivered in unlocked boxes and store owners will often leave their store unattended. And nothing bad ever happens.  Why?  Because here people have respect for themselves and respect for everyone else.  The crime rate is unbelievably low here. It’s a wonderful breath of fresh air from America where you always have to ensure that your doors are locked, credit card bills are shredded and make sure children know to never talk to strangers.

The Easy Life

Hi. I’m back. I know you missed me, it’s been a whopping 48 hours since my last post.  I’m trying to keep up with this as a diary to myself, but I hope that you are enjoying the story along the way.

This weekend was quiet, I didn’t do much at all.  I found a new park for Charlie so that was good. The one they originally showed me to take him to was all pavement and bricks, with a few park benches.  That is not a park.  While Charles has no problem, ummm, taking care of business on the pavement, I just don’t think it gives a good impression of us to the locals.  I did a little more exploring and found a very nice little park just a few more blocks away.  It’s still not by any means what you or I would consider a “park”, but I am living in the downtown district so it’s really the best I can expect. 

Korea is like College

The part of college I never really experienced.

We all went out for Korean BBQ after work last night, all 35 of us.  It was pretty fantastic. As with most other places, you kick your shoes off at the door then go find a seat on the floor.  Here are some pictures…  Everybody likes pictures.