Merry Christmas!

A year later and it's still adorable...

Merry Christmas everyone!

Home Sweet Home

After being gone for a little over a year, I'm back at home just in time for Thanksgiving. I'm still sorting out my feelings about being in America again and definitely feel the beginnings of reverse culture shock. Seeing my family again has been amazing and it's easy to identify what I'm thankful for this holiday season.

Now that I'm back with unlimited time and free internet access, I'll be updating the blog on a regular basis with all the pictures and videos I accumulated over the last two months.

Stay tuned...

Konnichiwa!

Just got back from a mind-boggling trip to Japan. Check back later this week for pictures and stories from 6 days in Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Tokyo.

Happy Birthday America!

Celebrating the 4th of July in Korea felt slightly strange and incomplete as we set up our picnic and prepared to BBQ. As the only foreigners in the park, we received many strange looks from curious Koreans as they passed by without red, white, or blue stamped across their outfits. Our attempts at remaining inconspicuous were thwarted after finally lighting the grill, which spewed pillars of smoke high into the atmosphere. Luckily, the food was delicious and surprisingly reminiscent of home.

Hamburgers

Hot Dogs (once we figured out we had to remove the plastic casing, these weren't too bad)

Potato Salad

BBQ Baked Beans

Chips

Watermelon

American Flag Cake (with strawberries and blueberries)

Sweet Tea

Wine

After dinner we shot off the traditional fireworks with only one small accident; and twirled sparkler after sparkler. Fireworks are extremely easy to purchase in Korea at any neighborhood stationary store. On any given night, teenagers will entertain themselves with the crackling and popping of small rockets. I've decided there must not be any laws against it.

Lee, the "Grill Master"

Dennis and Melody

Andrea and Nicki

Happy Birthday, Joey!

Watch this video for a few mishaps from the day...

Jeju Island

Taking advantage of our 3 day weekend, Andrea and I visited Korea's own Hawaii—Jeju Island. Situated at the Southern tip of South Korea, Jeju is a volcanic island which boasts Korea's highest mountain and most popular volcano, Hallasan. Despite its tropical climate, the temperature was still a bit cool during our visit allowing us to miss the peak tourist season, which occurs in July and August. 

Our hotel, KAL, was located on the southern edge of the island in Seogwipo. Its private location meant we were a distance from the touristy area, but the sprawling and well-manicured grounds (which reminded us of a mental institute... but in a good way) that overlooked the ocean made up for any hindrances. 

Opting for a relaxing weekend, our schedules were relatively wide open making us available for trips to the waterfalls, volcanos, and beaches. In an effort to save money on the expensive island, we perused the grocery store and stocked up on fresh fruit and bread for lunchtime picnics. Nothing is better than a beach picnic with fresh tangerines, a Jeju staple; bananas; pineapple; and apple jam. 

Day 1

The hotel grounds...

On our way to the airport via bus. Within a 4 day period, we spent:

8.5 hours on a bus

1.75 hours in taxis

2 hours on airplanes

A view from behind our hotel. Notice the gigantic lawn reminiscent of an "institute."

From our hotel balcony. Unfortunately, the pool was only 10% full due to the off-season (yes, June is still the off-season for swimming!).

Beautiful hotel landscaping

I love palm trees

Day 2

In search of a waterfall...

A deserted hotel that I found to be completely eerie yet incredibly attractive.

Things didn't seem quite right after we passed the above hotel and found the waterfall sign in some very "mature" bushes.

Unique and cost-effective signage

The waterfall seemed much smaller than we imagined. We later found out we had discovered the wrong one. Not too far away was the actual waterfall listed on our map, Jeongbang.

Ahh, the right one! Much more impressive!

According to the Jeju tourism board, Jeongbang is the only waterfall in Asia that empties directly into the ocean.

At the base of the falls on the rocky shoreline is a made-to-order "restaurant." The food is caught fresh from the ocean only 20 feet away!

I could've climbed up had it not been for my skirt.

After a 1.5 hour bus ride, we arrived at Seongsan Ilchubong (Sunrise Peak). The volcanic crater sits at the easternmost point of Jeju Island and is, therefore, the first place to see the sun, hence its nickname.

The hike up is surprisingly steep, but affords many impressive views. You can barely make out Mt. Hallasan in the background.

A tree-trimmer on the side of the volcano without any ropes!

The view of the crater from the top is a let-down unless you're flying in a helicopter overhead like in the picture below. Unfortunately, I wasn't given the opportunity so I copy and pasted the next picture from the Internet.

image courtesy of www.triptokorea.com

An attempt at capturing the complete "panoramic."

4 of our co-workers also made the trip down to Jeju, though all separately; and we met up with Lee & Nicki for the day.

The Haenyo Divers' port of departure. For generations, women in their forties and fifties have provided supplemental income for their families by diving for shellfish, abalone, seaweed, and other marine life off the coast of Jeju Island. As if that's not impressive enough (Korea was, and still sometimes is, a Confucion culture where women were typically ranked lower than men and did not bring in substantial income for the family), the skilled divers do not bother themselves with things like oxygen tanks. All year round, the women dive to depths of nearly 65 feet while holding their breath up to 3, or even 4 minutes! The past success of divers has allowed them to send their children to University, however, the tradition is slowly dying out and may one day become only a memory in Korea's history.

A beachfront house (not the luxurious type) housed a field of grazing horses. Unfortunately, the skeletal horses need more than good scenery to maintain their health. I choose to naively believe they are being rehabilitated by their current owner and will live a long and healthy life. Either way, I love them.

Day 3

Nothing but the beach... perfect

Biggest Church in the WORLD

Name:  Yoido Full Gospel Church

Location:  Seoul, South Korea

Denomination:  Assemblies of God (Pentecostal) 

Members:  over 830,000

# of seats in building:  26,000

On Sunday, I took a trip to Yoido Full Gospel Church; which houses the largest congregation in the entire world. The experience was, as expected, overwhelming. The massive building somehow seems even grander on the inside and resembles a concert hall with multiple balconies and levels. Once inside, I was seated in the foreigner's box on the upper balcony. Headphones were provided to foreigners with 7 language choices to select from: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian-Malay, and Russian. 

The full choir and complete orchestra overflowed with somewhere around 100 people, and gave an impressive performance that was border-line "over the top." Surprisingly many of the hymns were familiar standard songs from home including, Amazing Grace, and English lyrics were posted on the two jumbotron screens behind the altar. 

Throughout the service, conspicuous video cameras panned in and out of the crowd. Seated right alongside one of the cameramen, I found myself on screen multiple times, an occurrence that seems less exciting in church than at a ball game. 

Overall the experience was overwhelming, and was probably made more "interesting" given the liturgical holiday we chose to attend a Pentecostal church—the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). Speaking in tongues was the topic of Sunday's sermon and the pastor definitely led the colossal congregation in "practicing what he preached." 

The massive choir and orchestra on the left

People beginning to file in and grab a seat

The many balconies and rows upon rows of seating. 

(Notice the flags from around the world)

The start of the service- just like you see on TV. Every seat was filled at this point, but I couldn't snap anymore pictures because a man came by the foreigner's box holding a sign up that read, "No Cameras Please." I felt it was a bit unfair that we couldn't take pictures, but they could videotape us throughout the service and run it on the jumbotrons...

Teacher's Day

After the flurry of "greeting card" holidays earlier this year (Valentine's Day, White Day, Black Day) I wasn't surprised when the next series rolled around in May. Within a three week time-span the country celebrated Children's Day, Parent's Day, and Teacher's Day. Unfortunately, Teacher's Day doesn't constitute a day off school, but the kids made up for it by bringing in gifts for all of the teachers. Throughout the day we received numerous pies and desserts from parents, as well as, individual gifts from some of the students—lotions, soaps, flowers, candies, accessories, and sweets. One of my favorite presents was a box full of Dunkin' Donuts!  

Upcoming Trips

Lately, most of my free time has been spent researching plane tickets, hostels, and travel information for a handful of destinations. I've booked 2 trips so far with the biggest "Not-Quite All Over Asia" trip waiting on deck. During our 3 day weekend in early June (6-8), Andrea and I are heading down south to the "Hawaii/Disney World" of Korea, Jeju Island. I'm not sure how similar to either American destination it will be; but either way it's an island, which means I'll definitely see the ocean. 

In July, we're heading to Japan! We'll only have 5 nights/6 days, but we're packing it all in so we won't leave disappointed. The plan is to fly into Tokyo and then immediately hop on a bullet train to Hiroshima. After a night in Hiroshima and a visit to the A-bomb dome we'll make our way back toward Kyoto where I'll hopefully see a geisha. Two nights in Kyoto and then it's back to Tokyo for two more nights before we return to Korea. I wish we had more time to spend in Japan as I'm sure we're going to miss a lot, but I'm excited to make the most of the few days we do have.

Top things I want to see:

1.  a geisha

2. Mt. Fuji

That's it. If I see those two things, I'll be a very happy girl. However, if I am able to see a sumo wrestler and a samurai warrior fighting to earn the love of a geisha then I'd be REALLY happy. But, I'll leave that to chance.

Standing Room Only

What seemed like a good idea at the time proved to be a popular notion among everyone in Seoul—"let's go to a baseball game on Children's Day." A no-school holiday in honor of all the lovely children, May 5 offered my co-workers and I a day without paperwork, classrooms, and most importantly... students. With a warm, sunny day in the forecast we decided to buy tickets for a much anticipated baseball game. Like America, Korea has a summer baseball season and a fleet of teams to choose from:  Wyverns, Lions, Giants, Bears—oh my. 

As we stepped off the subway it was evident that our "great idea" was maybe the worst one we'd ever had. Of course, with no school or work families were seeking the perfect afternoon activity to keep their kids occupied; and the stadium offered free tickets for each precious angel. Flooded with bodies, the walkways leading to the stadium were difficult to navigate as children wove through the crowds like pesky flies. 

When we finally reached the entrance we were instructed to locate our standing-room only section along the top perimeter of the stadium. Standing room only! The tickets had oversold (perhaps they didn't keep track of all the free children) and there were no available seats left. The tickets we had purchased were for unassigned seats in the nose-bleed section, but our late arrival left us out of luck. In denial, we entered the stadium determined to find 9 seats together, however, it became quite clear that we would not even locate one single empty chair. We had no choice but to traverse the dangerous stairs and head toward the standing section along the top. The climb was made more treacherous by the amount of people who thought sitting on stairs was a safe and intelligent idea. 

Along the top perimeter of the stadium, hundreds of people huddled up for a peek at the field. Some chose to opt out of the visual excitement and instead made impromptu picnics on the ground using sheets of cardboard they had brought with them. After losing half of our group and our patience, we decided to take a break and shop for souvenirs. We had already made our minds up earlier to cheer for the Doosan Bears so it was only a matter of selecting the best merchandise. 

Over half-way through the game while standing behind the "expensive" seats, luck cut us some slack. A group of school children vacated their seats taking with them all of their belongings and chaperones so we seized the opportunity and sat up close and personal with first base. Unfortunately, the Bears were unable to gain any runs and we watched our new team get embarrassingly smashed into the ground by the LG Twins. 

Next time we'll splurge and spend the $30 for front row tickets. Yes, it's only $30 for the premium seats! Until then... good game, good game.

The standing section for hundreds of bummed people without seats just like us.

During our shopping time-out we even spotted a Build-A-Bear stand!

Finally sitting! And in good seats, too—10th row from the field.