Me encanta Espana! :)

Hmmm. Well it’s fair to say that I’ve been quite the slacker when it comes to keeping this blog updated. Korea just didn’t really excite me in that… ‘eww fascinating, let’s write about it’ kinda way.

Since my last update, the last few months of my contract seemed to really fly by. I had an absolute blast the last 6 weeks or so just partying and spending time with good friends! Leaving my job at Hanvit was amazing however, leaving my good friends behind was definitely more heartbreaking, when you meet people all over the world, you cross paths for a while and I find that you form stronger relationships with people given the circumstances but when you part ways you never really know if you will see any of these people again. It sucks. However, I have a feeling that I will see some of the amazing people that I made friends with over the past year again, someday, somewhere.

The day finally came for me to leave…. and it just so happened to be my birthday AGAIN this year! haha… I had a midnight flight from Seoul to Valencia via Istanbul. I seem to be making a habit out of flying on my birthday!

Valencia – Arriving back into western civilization and being surrounded by people that actually look like me was quite a shock for the first day or two. It was odd not being stared at everywhere I went but also kind of a relief. I spent 4 weeks in Valencia doing the CELTA course, which is an English teaching certification that will enable me to teach almost anywhere in the world, or as far as my American passport will get me! Which is not everywhere, as shocking as it may seem! The course itself was extremely intense, I would go to the school from 9-5:30 everyday and then have to do at least 2-3 hours of homework every night – like lesson plans, prepping materials, etc. It was really hard work but I learned a massive amount about teaching and some interesting things in my language analysis class about the, oh so prevalent, English language. This type of stuff really interests me so I enjoyed that part. I was sooo happy when the course was over though! It literally consumed every minute of my life while I was in Valencia. On the weekends I did have time to do some things like shop, go to the beach, and I also went to the City of Arts and Sciences – Valencia’s big attraction. It was a huge modern facility that had an IMAX theatre, an aquarium (largest in Europe), a science center, and a concert hall. I had 2 roommates when I was in Valencia, I lived with a Spanish girl named Begona and an Italian guy named Francesco, both were excellent and nothing but nice to me! We had a great time together! I also became friends with the 5 other participants on the course, as we spent every waking moment together for 4 weeks! Overall I had a great time in Valencia and I enjoyed this city much more than Barcelona mainly because people were more friendly and welcoming. At this point, I’ve been to most of the major cities or points of interest in Spain and if I was going to live here, I’d prefer to live in Valencia.

After the course ended vacation officially began! First stop was --- party central, birthplace of the rave --- IBIZA!

Ibiza – I’ve always wanted to go to Ibiza to witness the parties known around the world. The majority of my 4 nights spent there were X rated and included some really awesome clubs and parties. My days however, were spent on the most beautiful white sand beaches, even more amazing than the Philippines. One day, I sat down on this beach about 30 minutes outside of this town that I was staying in and about 10 minutes later this girl, that was by herself also, sat down close to me. We were both there for about 2 or 3 hours before she asked me to take her picture and when I realized she had a British accent I asked her where she was from…the conversation started from there and before you knew it we had talked for almost an hour. She then turned to me and asked me my name… I said ‘Annie,’ and then she said… ‘no way! That’s my name too.’ It was one of the strangest things that has happened to me in a while and also turns out that she was staying in a hotel about a block from mine! What a coincidence!

Overall Ibiza was amazing and I wish I had more time to see more of the beautiful beaches. It would really make a great honeymoon spot!

From Ibiza I flew to Seville – the capital city of Andalusia and one Spanish city that I’ve always been interested in traveling too. The main goal of this trip in general was to travel and see more of southern Spain. Granada captured me last time and I wanted to see more of the southern coast.

Seville was interesting, I stayed in an okay hostel, it wasn’t the best and just so happened to be full of French people, needless to say, none of them really spoke to me. This was the first time that I’ve stayed in a hostel and not really made any friends. The first day I was there I saw almost all the main sites in one afternoon, haha. I tend to do things quicker than the average traveler I think! One day I rented a bike and biked all over the city, that was fun! Overall Seville was a nice city although it lacks a beach, which I didn’t like. Good food though!

After Seville I headed to the southern coast of Portugal called the Algarve for the weekend to see some amazing beaches, and amazing they were! I went to a small town right over the Spanish border called Vila Real de Santo Antonio. It was an amazing weekend full of relaxation and excellent food! The only downside is that I accidentally shut my thumb in a car door. So, currently, my entire thumbnail is black and will probably fall off soon. It has been pretty painful and has made it harder to do things. Hopefully it will get better soon!

Sunday evening I headed back on the bus to Seville, stayed one more night there, and then headed to Cadiz on a bus the next day. Cadiz is a smaller city on the southern coast of Spain. After being in the Algarve, the beaches in Cadiz couldn’t compare, they were nice however, just smaller and the waves were a bit rough. I stayed at a good hostel though and the cathedral and the old city were nice for an evening stroll.

I only stayed 2 nights in Cadiz and headed to Malaga on a 4-hour bus ride one afternoon. I stayed in Malaga for 2 nights also.

Malaga was busy and it was nice to be back in a bigger city after being in smaller towns for the past week. I stayed at a great hostel here and the staff was really nice. My first evening there I strolled around the old town and had some excellent, authentic, Italian pizza. The next day I signed up to go on this wild beaches tour with the hostel but, unfortunately, not enough people signed up so the tour was canceled. Instead, I went to the Picasso museum and then I rented a bike from the hostel for 5 Euros and proceeded to bike around the whole city and out to some nice beaches. The sand in Malaga was not white or yellow; it was a strange grey color. It was really smooth sand but the beaches were full of smooth rocks instead of seashells so I was a little disappointed. By the end of the day I was a mess from biking and being at the beach. Therefore, a shower was in order. I got a good nights rest except for this crowd of 5 British girls staying in my room pouring in at 7 a.m.! 

I’ve just finished a 10-hour bus trip from Malaga to Valencia. I’ve headed back here just for the night to get my things that I’ve stored at Begona’s house. Tomorrow afternoon I will head to Barcelona to stay with my Spanish friend Montse for a few days before heading to Finland to stay with my family again and then to Amsterdam for 3 days before returning to the USA on June 29^th.

I’ve recently had a lot of free time on buses to think about anything and everything. One thing I have discovered recently is that I think I’m starting to get tired of traveling alone this time around! Last time I was in Europe, I traveled on the weekends and it was a fun escape from my 3 roommates at the time and I had a blast in every city I went to! This time is different though, I can’t quite pinpoint why. I think, as is only natural as a human, that I’m starting to miss the companionship of a good friend after being alone for so long. I’m not just talking about the past 2 weeks either; I’m talking about the whole past year and half! Korea was more than a bit lonely at times. I enjoy my alone time better than anyone I know but I beginning to think that I’d like someone fun to travel with sometimes too. I’ve enjoyed traveling this time of course, don’t get me wrong, but I’m starting to see in myself and through others that it’s going to be hard to find someone who shares the same sense of adventure for life and travel as I do. I’ve chosen such a different path in life, one that is in no way typical. I’m not interested in traveling for a year and then coming back to the US to ‘start my real life’ kind of thing and I’m beginning to hate the types of people that make that suggestion like that’s what I’m doing….

I’ve also had a lot of time recently to think about what is next. I’m going to need to find a job sooner rather than later. I have a pretty awesome job offer back in Korea where I’d be working for a great company and making even more money than I made last year with 2 weeks of vacation whenever I choose to take them. It’s a sweet deal and hard to turn down but I find myself thinking really hard about how happy I could really be there for another year. At this point in my life, I’d like to venture out and try something new before all my ‘need and will’ for adventure runs out. I wish money didn’t dictate so much where I could and could not go. Student loans are ruining my life and at this point, if I’m not planning on permanently living in the USA in the future, therefore I see no valid reason to actually pay them. I know that may sound horrible but it’s the absolute truth. My theory is this ----à If the world ends tomorrow, next week, 2 months from now, am I going to say… ‘Boy oh boy, I sure am glad that I paid my student loans last month.’ FUCK NO! I’d probably be saying something along the lines of ‘wow, wish I would have used all that money to do something cool, like travel to a new place/’

Oh society of this world today….I hate how corrupt our minds are and how greedy our hands are because of you… Therefore, I refuse to conform to you….  I feel like I might end up a hippy before long or something.. lol

From Espana xxxx 

Annie & Heather do Hong Kong!

Alright, I've been working diligently on this blog post at work for the past week! haha

Finally..here it is...

It’s been some time since I’ve last written. Christmas came and went, as did New Years, Presidents’ Day, and Asia’s most important holiday, Lunar New Year. Last time I wrote I was at the 7 month mark. Today, I’m almost at the 10 month mark! I only have 67 full days left here in Korea and I’ve started to reflect on my time here, plan my next steps, and finish up any unfinished business.

December flew by! I celebrated Christmas with my close-knit group of friends. We all spent the night together on Christmas Eve so that it would feel more like being near family when we woke up the next morning! We made a lovely Christmas breakfast then showers were in order as well as Christmas tunes and movies! Our turkey dinner that we ordered from the same place as Thanksgiving arrived and we began the snaking and making of the eggnog! We had a beautiful dinner complete with plenty of red wine. After dinner, we were lazy and watched Home Alone.

I opened my gifts from home on Christmas Eve and I loved all of them! A huge thanks to anyone who sent me a Christmas gift! J

 Jeremy’s replacement, Leslie, arrived on the 27^th and stayed with me for two weeks. Getting a new co-worker is always exciting but having one leave sucks.

My Crazy Korean family! 

January – One week later, we all celebrated the New Year! We had to work on New Year’s Eve until 10:00 o’clock so after we got off, we headed straight downtown, popped champagne, and began the partying! Joel and I had decided to go on a ski trip with a large group of people that weekend so we left early around 1:00 am to catch a bus. It was a 4-5 hour trip up to the ski resort outside of Seoul and all 4-5 hours were spent, by most, drinking heavily. It was a party bus!

Once we arrived, we slept, then got up around 11 the next day and hit the slopes! It snowed all day and I must say that I was pretty impressed by the skiing in Korea. Their slopes are comparable to what we have in West Virginia; however, ours might be a little better. After skiing all day, we got back to our hotel room and hit up the hot tub! After the hot tub, a couple of the guys were dicking off in our hotel suite and ended up shattering the glass shower door. Needless to say, there was a huge mess of glass and some blood to clean up. Wild times! Later we had a big pizza party and I eventually passed out around 4 am. The next day I opted out of skiing and instead hit up the hot tub until the bus was to leave around 6. I was exhausted by the time we got back to Daegu, but overall it was a good weekend.

High-One Ski Resort outside of Seoul.

February – Lunar New Year was on the 2^nd, 3^rd, & 5^th of February this year, or also sometimes called the Chinese New Year. On the 2^nd, Heather, Karissa, and I headed to Hong Kong! Heather and I planned to go to Hong Kong together back in December when I found out she would be visiting and I had the next week off from work. Karissa finished her contract at the same time our vacation was starting and Hong Kong just so happened to be her first stop on her 5 week journey through SouthEast Asia! Therefore, we all partied together! I got a great deal on a flight from Busan roundtrip for less than 200 USD! Heather and I arrived earlier than Karissa and we were also staying in a different hostel than her. So, when we arrived, we made our way to our hostel at ChungKing mansions, which was pretty nice after we got up to the 12^th floor away from all the sketchy Middle Eastern men! We then headed out to get some food. Many places were closing early because of the upcoming holiday so we settled for some Sushi at this cool Japanese place.

Thursday the 3^rd – The next day we decided to check out Macau since we had gotten some rest the night before. It was a lovely day trip. Macau is a former Portuguese colony in Asia and people there today still speaking Portuguese AND they speak Chinese. Seeing a blend of these two very different and distinct cultures was quite unusual. It brought back some great memories from my trip to Portugal! We arrived by the ferry, which took about an hour, got through immigration (yes I got another cool stamp!) and then proceeded to the ‘older’ more historic part of town. We did a walking tour and it was practically identical to Portugal! The buildings, the architecture, even the sidewalks were the same! We also ate my favorite, Portuguese egg tarts! Soooo gooood! We had lunch at a Portuguese restaurant checked out the casino and fancy hotel area on the bus and then headed back to Hong Kong for the parade! We lined up for the parade nearly 2 hours before it started with some drinks. It was so crowded, comparable to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in New York. It sucked. People were pushing and shoving constantly, I had to pee really badly, and the parade took almost another hour of waiting to finally reach us! The parade itself also sucked. It was very disappointing. It was more like a local parade or something; we didn’t get to see any of the cool Chinese dragons that we thought we would be able to see. We decided about half way through that we should have just watched it on the TV from our room. After the parade fiasco, we got something to eat at this Chinese diner type place. The food was pretty good but it was extremely busy so the service sucked. Oh well….we walked Karissa back to her hostel and then went to bed.

View from the peak. 

Friday the 4^th – This day we decided to go over to Hong Kong Island because Hong Kong itself is divided into 3 or 4 different main islands that are very close to each other. Hong Kong Island is where the people with money live and where the downtown area is located. We first grabbed an actual American breakfast at this one café and then I got to ride on a double decker bus for the first time in my life! It was pretty awesome. We went to Victoria Peak, which is the highest point, and took in the wonderful views of the city. We took the double decker back down and this time I sat in the very front which made for an awesome view. We explored a bit by foot when we got back to the Center city and then went to the Botanical & Zoological Park where we saw all different types of monkeys and such. We had lunch at this great Kebab place and then we took the ferry back across the harbor to our side of town. Next, we went to this awesome market close to where we were staying and I ended up getting some cheap crap. We were probably there for a solid 2 hours. After that, we headed back to the hostel and met up with our ‘neighbors’ or the guys who were staying next door to us in the hostel, whom we had also met earlier that morning. They were all from Brazil and were traveling around Asia. We decided to all go to the fireworks together and as we were leaving we ran into this Brit named Andy that was also staying at our hostel and he tagged along with us. Before going back to the hostel, Heather and I had hit up the bubble tea stand, which we frequented 2 times a day, at least, every day we were there. Therefore, by the time we had picked out a spot to watch the fireworks, I had to piss like a racehorse. However, everything was barricaded off and I ended up begging and pleading with a police officer to let me use the bathroom at the Sheraton, he agreed and I ended up having to run UP an escalator that was going DOWN! I nearly face planted but I made it. After my return, we watched the rest of the fireworks and then afterwards we got something to eat with our newfound guy friends at some restaurant nearby.

Victoria Peak - We love Hong Kong!

Hong Kong from the ferry!

Two of our new Brazilian friends. 

Annie in Asia!! 

Next is where things start to get a bit hazy. We returned to the hostel, got ready to go out, and then headed to meet a friend of Heather’s at some nearby bar. By this point our party size had grown to 10 and we ended up ordering a bottle of Vodka. I remember playing the bartender role and making drinks for everyone. Only problem with this picture is the fact that I was throwing back my vodka like I was drinking soju in Korea (which is half the proof of vodka). After we finished the bottle we all headed over to Hong Kong Island in cabs. There, we ended up at some club and danced the night away until I noticed Heather was nowhere to be found!! Needless to say, I panicked, ended up getting a cab home around 4 and Heather was in the bed next to me the next morning, safe and sound, when I woke up hung over, drooling on my pillow around noon. How she got home cannot be discussed, as well as some other details of that night!  It was definitely one of the wildest nights I’ve ever had. I made some great memories and now have some great stories. ;)

Special Mickey Fountain! 

Special Disney Train

Saturday the 5th was a rough morning to say the least, I made Heather go out and get me some McDonald's, which in my opinion, is a great hangover cure. I withered in bed for about an hour before getting up, showering, and preparing myself for our magical day to come! Before we had left the hostel, our British friend Andy came over and hung out while I pulled myself together. He also decided to tag along with Heather and I to Disneyland! Karissa didn't go and instead did something else in the city. Heather and I decided, it was about high time that we make our way over to Hong Kong Disneyland! The theme of the day was, "Fuck Buddha, we're here to see Mickey!"And a grand adventure it was!  The convenient Hong Kong subway shuttled us over to Disneyland, you have to change trains at one stop and the train that took us into Disneyland was a special Disney train with everything Disney! It was pretty cool. As we were coming through the entrance area we noticed this really cool fountain before the gate area. It was a whale that was blowing water out of it's blowhole and mickey mouse was surfing on the water. The coolest thing about this fountain was the fact that it actually moved up and down and looked like mickey was surfing! Next, we collected our tickets and when we entered the park, we each got a chocolate golden mickey coin! Nice touch! Disneyland HK is not as big as the other Disney's. It only has adventureland, fantasyland, tomorrowland, and main street. We first started in adventureland. It was crowded so instead we went to fantasyland and the first ride we went on was the carousel. It was fun, as usual, and then we took the train from fantasyland around to main street where we did some shopping. It was getting a bit chilly so Heather and I bought matching hoodies! :) We had fun exploring the shops and I also bought some pins and pencils for my collections! We then debated on whether or not Andy and I should stage a proposal in front of the castle to see if we could get VIP treatment for the rest of the day. Earlier Andy and I had agreed to marry for visa purposes and just switch places however, Andy is already a dually! Brat. haha

Here we go! :D

Our special golden coins!

Mickey Ice Cream Bars!

Main Street Station.

After roaming around main street, we were headed to tomorrowland when we got distracted by the lighting of the castle. It wasn't nearly as spectacular as the lighting of the castle at home but was still magical nonetheless. At that point in time, I can remember thinking, 'wow I'm lucky to be here with my best friend and our newly found Brit!' :) Happy times! Next we rode space mountain. This was Heather's first experience so she was scared. However, it turned out to be kinda crappy. It didn't really go that fast, didn't have any sudden drops or sudden death turns, and the music was kind of lame. Some weird sci-fi music. Andy said the best one is the one in Disneyland Paris. I told him I'll have to check it out and let him know.... Afterwards we decided on a mickey mouse ice cream bar to make up for our disappointment of space mountain. Then, we noticed that all the lines were practically gone so that's when we went to town...we headed back into fantasy land where we did 'it's a small world.' I actually liked it better than the one at home. Every room is separated into different continents so there is some sort of organization to it. It also featured characters from Disney movies as well, which I thought was cool. After that we rode the tea cups! The tea cups in Asia are much smaller btw. We had a hard time fitting the 3 of us in 1! After that we walked back through adventureland, making our 2nd trip around this park, and jumped onto the Jungle Cruise. It also just so happened that the boat we got on was named AMAZON ANNIE! Hah! It's like it was meant to be or something! Very exciting. The jungle cruise was very similar, it did have some differences though and our tour guide did a good job of making us jump out of our seats at some points. There were however no dole whips in this adventureland. :( The food of the day consisted of us craving some western food and so we took a detour in tomorrowland and ate pretty cheap at what would easily be compared to Starlight Ray's Cosmic Cafe! We took pictures in front of the castle and the entrance. Anytime we asked an Asian family to take our picture, they all got out their camera's as well and took our picture. They tend to do this often, always wanting pictures with or of Western people, but, this was Heather's first experience with it, so her reaction took me for a good laugh!

We love Asia, and matching hoodies!

The day was slowly winding down and on our way out we wanted to do some more shopping and browsing however, as we were coming down main street at the park closing hour, everything was practically shut down!! I couldn't believe it! Usually they keep all that open because people usually shop then. I still don't quite understand this...I guess maybe Hong Kong Disneyland isn't interested in making money??? The way this park is advertised throughout Hong Kong and on their tourism website tells me that maybe they need more business....hmmm....here's a thought...keep your shops open when everyone is on their way out!?! Common sense is lacking in Asia...this just happens to be a prime example.
Leaving was sad, we didn't get to ride every single ride, but it was a different experience and fun nonetheless. The fountain was performing some type of water show to music when we were walking out so we sat by that for a while before catching the train back to the city. Overall, taking the whole experience into account, I wouldn't say that it was better than the Disney at home, just different. I'm glad I got to see another Disney. My dream is to make it to all of them. Tokyo will not happen this time around while I'm in Asia though, it's far too expensive, maybe next year or on my next trip to Asia. :)

The types of characters that you can have your picture with in Asia!

Once we got back to the hostel, Karissa was there waiting for us so we all hung out for a while and then headed out to find dinner. We ate at this awesome place called Mr. Kebab and the owner himself was actually from Turkey! He made us the world's best hummus and kebabs. Him and his son were also trying out a new pizza recipe with this special sausage from Turkey and he was kind enough to share his pizza with us! Such a nice guy! After that we headed back to the hostel, Karissa went back to hers, and Andy, Heather, and I hung out for a while before he went home and we crashed.

Sunday the 6th we slept in a bit, woke up, and had to check out, we left our bags, met up with Karissa and then went back over to Hong Kong island to do some shopping. Heather had 2 more days in HK and Karissa also had an extra day but, since it was my last day, we did what I wanted to do and that was of course...SHOP! Living in Korea I'm very deprived of any good shopping or any successful shopping at that so, it was a real treat to be able to hit up H&M and a few markets and other fun stores before leaving HK. I was actually able to purchase a pair of jeans that I can fit over my thighs and ass. Therefore, the entire trip to HK was a success! :) Once we got back to our island we met up with Andy and went to have one last bubble tea. It was so delicious and I truly miss it! We checked out Andy's new hostel and heather decided that she would stay there instead of Karissa's hostel for a night. Shortly after that it was time for me to catch the bus back to the airport! It was sad saying goodbye to Heather. It had been such an awesome 2 weeks with her! It was strange saying goodbye to Karissa because usually when we travel somewhere together, she's right there on the plane next to me! I've spoken with her recently and she seems to be having a pretty sick trip around SouthEast Asia and I will see her again on March 10th when she returns to Daegu for one night before heading back stateside. :) Saying goodbye to  my new british friend/hubby Andy was also kind of a downer. He was a really cool guy and should be in the states in July by the time I return so maybe I'll see him again sooner rather than later! Overall, Hong Kong has been one of my favorite trips while in Asia. Hong Kong is like Asia's New York City. The majority of the time I felt like I was home in New York City or something. It's very multicultural and has just about everything you'd expect from a big city. Definitely a must see in my opinion. A genuinely fun time! ;)

I had an overnight layover in Beijing and then an early flight to Busan the next morning. Sleeping in the airport wasn't much fun but it was definitely worth saving 400 dollars on airfare! I got back with no problems and no delays. I even made it to work on time! :) I remember starting to feel bad around 4 pm at work that day and then next thing I know..I'm in bed with a fever for almost 3 days! I had to take my last 2 sick days from work, so let's pray I don't get ill before I'm finished here! I went to the doctor and who knows what I really had, frequenting a medical facility in Korea is always risky in my opinion, you just never know if you are really going to get the medicine you need.  I probably had SARS or the Asian Bird Flu..whatever it was...it was awful and I haven't been that sick in a long time.

Since then, I've been busy the last couple weeks of february in planning what's next and such. Emily, Leslie, and I went to Busan for her birthday last weekend, it's weird being the informative now. I much preferred being informed about Korea, now it's the other way around, I'm informing others! As for what's next, back in January I started looking into doing a CELTA certification, basically a teaching certification, so that I can teach ESL anywhere in the world. I do enjoy this job and it helps me to travel the world, which is what I'm interested in doing at this time in my life. I found out right before I left for Hong Kong that I had been accepted to take the course in Valencia, Spain. Heather helped me weigh out the pros and cons and whatnot and I decided to accept the offer. Soooo after I finish my contract here on May 4th, I will leave Korea and head to my favorite place in the world, Spain. I will be there May 6th-June 3rd taking the course and then I plan to travel for about a month before returning to the states on the 29th! :)

My time here in Korea is winding down and I still feel like I have so much to see and do! Ah!

I promise at least one more blog post before I leave this otherworldly planet to head back to western civilization! ;) Thanks for reading thus far, should be quite the interesting summer so stay tuned! 

7 Month Mark - Seoul, Korean Opera, & Andong.

It's official. Today Korea & I are celebrating 7 months together!. Exactly 5 months from today I should be on a plane headed back to the states! I figured what better way to reflect on my time here than a blog update! As usual, lots has happened in the past few months, there never seems to be a dull moment here in Korea, or maybe that's just my life!

Korea and I have a special bond together, I allow it a certain cultural limit everyday and sometimes it cheats and my cultural limit for the day gets maxed out. I've had a few days like this here, full of cultural frustration, mostly things that I find annoying or needing proper help but not being able to get it because of language barriers and such. Here are some noteworthy things that I've observed or embraced recently..

• Jimjilbangs - Korean bath houses..I've learned that I really enjoy this aspect of Korean culture. Going to a bath house and soaking in all the different tubs with a gazillion naked Korean ladies with huge bushes never gets old. They take great pride in their furry muffs too, I've even seen some women blow dry them and fluff them out with combs in the locker room. 
• I learned how to read and write Korean sometime back in October, finally! 
• They live on war food. Plain and simple. Their diet consists of rice, soups, and pickled food like kimchi and radishes galore. It's time to step into the 21st century Korea and quit living like we are in the middle of WWII. The war ended 60 years ago. Let's eat some real food please.
• Korean work culture is very different from Western work culture. The employees are extremely devoted to the company even if they don't want to be, it's like they have to be. I've been told by my boss that they'd glady give up their only day off to attend a work function if it was for the good of the company. The workplace is to be treated like your family from what I can conclude. I don't view this as healthy, a bit to personal, but that's just my opinion!
• Brendan called in sick to work 1 day and he also took the next day off as well. The boss told us he was going to pay a house visit to Brendan's to make sure he was ok since he had to take 2 days off from work. What a psycho. I don't think your boss should ever drop by your house for any reason, another prime example of Korean's not understanding physical or emotional space among westerners. I think he just wanted to make sure he was actually at his house in Daegu, what a spy. I've begun to call him Russia at work bc he's a spy! All I could think was poor Brendan, then I immediately turned to Karissa and told her that if he ever gets another idea like this when I call in sick to send me a text so that I can make sure i'm home in bed looking like death.
• South Koreans are not violent people and live in fear of war with North Korea.
• I also think that they are brainwashed big time when it comes to the importance of education. I find myself taking pity on these poor, overworked, and young Korean students everyday. I'm not a huge fan of how serious they take EVERYTHING, not just education. Although, I find education to be the most serious of all things. Korean's need to lighten up and have some fun..no wonder the suicide rate here is so damn high, it's a miserable life.

Now, for an update of what I've been oh so busy with... :) 

October - The highlight of October was my first trip to Seoul for Global Gathering, another trip for shopping, and Korean Opera! 

Armin Van Buuren! <3

• Global Gathering was a blast, it's a huge dance music festival that travels around to different cities all over the world. When I found out that it was coming to Seoul and Armin Van Buuren was going to be there I immediately signed up! I love Armin Van Buuren and he has been voted the world's best DJ for 4 years in a row. It was blast, I took a bus up with some people from Daegu, first thing we did when we got there after getting our tickets was head to Itaewon (the little American area in seoul) for some taco bell! It was seriously heaven in my mouth, well worth the hassle on the subway with my foot still in a splint at the time! We spent the rest of the evening/night at the festival. There were 3 stages and a lot of Korean DJ's before the main acts came on. Justice & Fat Boy Slim were also there. The whole thing was awesome, dancing in a splint was hard but the alcohol that I consumed in large amounts helped with that for sure! Partied till about 4am and then headed back to Daegu around 5am. Great weekend! Great trip!
• After making it to Seoul once, I decided to brave the huge city by myself 2 weekends later, mostly because I was in desperate need of some clothes that fit. I made a trip on the KTX, korea's high speed train, and literally shopped till I dropped and then shopped some more! I enjoyed taco bell, subway, H&M, Forever 21, Mango, & Zara all to the fullest. It was an extremely successful weekend! Seoul has many different neighborhoods and I managed to see at least 5 while only shopping! Seoul is a huge city and is worthy of another trip for site seeing in the near future. 
• Karissa & I attended an opera here in Daegu as part of the "Daegu Opera festival." Honestly, it was disappointing. We thought, "oh it's opera, and if it's in German than we'll all be on the same page." WRONG! The Koreans, of course, cheated. They did all the singing in German but had subtitles in Korean! SUBTITLES!! I couldn't believe it, what kind of opera has subtitles? Korea always screws up cultural things like this...I don't understand it. Then, on top of that, any of the speaking parts were in Korean. Needless to say, it was not worth 20,000 won in my opinion.

Merry Wives of Windsor Opera

November - Work has been busy in November, lots of schedule changes and such right in the middle of the month. 

Turkey! 



Our Little Christmas Tree!

• Brendan left and has been replaced with a new girl named Emily from Denver, CO! She's great and I think she fits in perfectly here. Getting a new co-worker is always exciting!
• Jeremy & Karissa already have countdowns going for their departure dates and it's started to hit me recently that they'll be leaving soon! It's very sad because the group of people that I hang out with will all be gone around the first of february! :( Korea is very transient, I hate it and love it all at the same time, always new people coming but always good friends leaving too, or people I don't like! Making friends here is a full time job and requires a lot of work! We had a work party to celebrate her coming and four Korean teachers' leaving. Our staff room has definitely shrunk in size recently. 
• I went to Seoul in the middle of November again on a friday night after work. A trip made purely for the pleasure of clubbing! I went with 3 of my friends and we hit up a couple of clubs in seoul and then spent the night in a lovely jimjilbang and then headed back the next morning on the train! Good times with great tunes and great friends! Seoul is where the party's at! 
• Kim Jong Ill in North Korea decided to go crazy and attack a South Korean island..the media has got everyone in a panic about it but until the embassy tells me to evacuate or that there could be danger...I'll be here in Daegu. South Korean's aren't really violent people, so I'm not expecting much retaliation on their part as usual...
• Our little family, Jeremy, Karissa, Palmer, Joel, Emily, & I all celebrated thanksgiving together, we ordered a turkey dinner from this English magazine here and it turned out really nice, we each made something in addition to the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and pumpkin pie and drank wine all evening! We also decorated a little christmas tree together and drew names for secret santa! We have designated Jeremy's house the Christmas house and are all planning on sleeping over Christmas eve, making a big breakfast together the next day, ordering another turkey dinner, and hanging out all day together. I'm really grateful that I have my little Korean family here! :)

December - It's hard to believe that it's already december! Christmas is less than 20 days away! 

• The excitement this month began with bugs...yes that's right...bugs...I had rice in my cupboard that I hadn't used for months, took it out to make some the other night, poured the rice in the pan, added some water and noticed hundreds of bugs floating around! AH! Needless to say, I freaked out, it was very dramatic. I've never experienced anything like this and after calling up about 6 people, my nan was finally able to tell me what they were! Hah! I guess they were rice weevils and are actually pretty common in asia. I don't eat much rice but I've decided that when I do, from now on, I'm buying the pre made kind in the microwavable containers! No matter where I go, I don't seem to be able to escape bugs...Roaches in Barcelona and now Rice Weevils in Korea! Ah!
• For work we will be traveling to Gyeongju this friday. It's supposed to be this workshop for work or something but really they keep saying we are going to 'take a rest.' It's an overnight thing and would take up half my day on Saturday. I straight up told the boss, along with the other foreigners, that we are not staying the night, I said I had made other plans for my weekend, I'm not giving up half my weekend to spend the night sleeping on the floor in a room with 20 of my  Korean coworkers. That's just freaking weird. I could rant about this for hours but I'm just going to leave it at that...I'm not staying the night. Period. We, us 4 foreigners, are taking a bus back together friday night around 9. I think the Korean's are offended but they need to understand that is not what we view as OK in western work culture...another prime example of personal bubble space being lost in translation! haha
• Yesterday - a few of my coworkers and I traveled to Andong, a traditional Korean folk village. A reminder of their not so distant, rural past. Andong is famous for their jimduck, this rural village, and Andong soju which is 45% compared to the regular 18% soju. We first went to the mask museum near the village, we saw lots of Korean masks and other masks from all over the world, mostly Asia though. Some were really cool, some were a little creepy! The Hahoe village is famous for their masks. After the museum we had Andong jimduck for lunch and then headed over to the village and caught the end of a traditional Korean mask dance. It kinda creeped me out they way they were moving around all slow and weird, it's hard to describe, something you'd just have to see. After the mask dancing we wandered around the village, people still actually live in the village but most people have satellite tv and phones nowadays. Nevertheless, it was still cool to see what traditional Korean houses look like and the countryside was beautiful and revitalizing. It was nice to get out of the city for a change. We had a really fun day and headed back to Daegu around 6, had indian food for dinner, and then watched the Grinch back at Jeremy's house while sipping on some soju! 
• Today I picked up my own little xmas tree! They only had pink and black to choose from when I got there, at first I was disappointed, because I wanted a normal christmas tree but then I was like, "oh what the hell!" When and where else in time am I ever going to have a chance to have a pink xmas tree! I find it so fitting for here in Korea because everything is very cutesy! So I did it! I bought the pink tree and decorated it in silver and white! :) Picture below! 

Mask Dance.

Hahoe Folk Village.

Korean Traditional Mask! 

Group Photo! Justin, Emily, Me, and Jeremy!

Andong Mask Museum.

Over the past few months, I've really toned it down on the drinking front, I've made it a point to only have drinks on the weekends, helps me to save money, and keeps me in good shape, I'm taking a break from the rockstar party life that I was living in September! I've also noticed that as I start doing more things and make more friends it becomes harder and harder for me to save money! I'm still saving but could probably do better at it....shopping has become my guilty habit. I've also started to consider a 2nd year here recently. The benefits that this job/lifestyle offers are just too good to walk away from easily, especially with the job market looking the way that it does back home...If I decided to stay another year though, I'd prefer to do it in Seoul or thereabouts. Seoul is definitely a city that I could live in for a year no problem. Daegu is too conservative for my style! I also recently committed to 3 months at the gym, go me! 

Future highlights! - On another note, the new girl that will replace Jeremy, Leslie is scheduled to arrive on December 27th/28th and I will be hosting her in my apartment for 2 weeks until she can move into Jeremy's. I'm not sure what I'll be doing to bring in the New Year yet besides working on New Year's Eve, whatever happens after work though must be massive. I have a feeling 2011 is going to be my year and I need to bring it in nicely! haha .............aaaaaand on another VERY exciting note...my friend Heather from my Greece study abroad trip is living in Australia right now and will be traveling to South Korea on January 26th to stay with me for a little over a week! She's coming here to visit me and I couldn't be more excited!! After her week here we will travel together to Hong Kong, China for lunar new year because I just so happen to be on vacation then! I got an awesome deal on a plane ticket and I'm very excited to travel with her again! I can't wait till she arrives! It's going to be grand! I will be doing winter intensive classes from Jan. 3rd-29th so Hong Kong will be a sweeeeet reward for working crazy 10 hour days again! :D  

Merry Christmas everyone & Happy New Year! Stay tuned for Heather & Annie do Hong Kong, should be a good one! <3 xoxoxo 

The Philippines

34 hours of travel + 6 islands + $150 over budget = An adventure in Paradise!

Our trip started after work Tuesday night around 2:00 am Wednesday morning technically. We caught the 2:20 bus to seoul, in which they employ a crazy bus driver that can get you there in 3 1/2 hours and that's including a 30 min. stop! Usually a solid 4 hour trip. Once we arrived at Incheon we got all checked in and before we knew it I was drugged on my oriental medicine and we were flying through the air! That oriental medicine is some beautiful stuff! We arrived in Manila around 11:30, paid an entrance fee into the country - 200 pesos and proceeded to the domestic terminal where we took a short flight to Cebu in the southern part of the Philippines called the Visayas. From there we had to take a ferry to the island of Bohol where we would be staying for the 1st night. As soon as we arrived we started looking for the same tour guide that our friends recently had on their trip to the Philippines. Luckily, the taxi driver that we had knew him! Must be a small island! He let us use his phone to call and set up a tour time for the next day! The first night we were supposed to stay at this place called Nuts Huts. It's in the Lonely Planet travel guide book but there wasn't really a lot of information about the place. However, when our taxi driver asked us if we had a flashlight and I replied with "for what?" I started to get a little nervous. He said, "Well for the path in case there's a snake or something." Right then and there I was ready to turn back to the port city we landed at and get a hotel room! My 3 biggest fears are: Flying in airplanes, spiders, and then snakes. I don't enjoy any of these things in the least bit! After 17 hours of travel I was exhausted and walking through the jungle in the pitch black dark with just a flashlight was the last thing I wanted to do with a sprained ankle. However, that's exactly what happened.

The guy dropped us off near a wooden sign with some paint that said "Nuts Huts" ---> That way 750m. It was a dirt path that was muddy, with lots of rocks, not a path I wanted to walk with a sprained ankle by any means. Our little flashlight was barely enough light for both of us so I had to resort to using my iphone. Once again, thank god for that little piece of technology that has saved me in so many situations. We walked for what seemed like 30 mins. when in all reality it was probably 15. We finally saw a sign and the longest staircase I've ever personally witnessed. We started our descend and before we knew it we had arrived. As we were checking in I saw the biggest lizard that I've ever seen and I snapped a photo of it at the exact time that it decided to consume a large grasshopper for dinner! Very cool picture! After we got checked in we went about ordering some food and this strange guy showed us to our "hut" and when I say "hut", I literally mean "hut". This place was like something out of adventure land in the magic kingdom at disneyworld. Closely resembling something out of Swiss Family Robinson treehouse - RUGGED! I was not in the least bit thrilled. We climbed up this bamboo thing to our hut and once inside the reality set in that I was going to have to sleep here, there was no going back, we were in the freaking Jungle! I've never actually been in a jungle so it was pretty interesting and scary all at the same time. I saw these yellow things hanging from the ceiling and asked Karissa what that was all about, she of course replied with, "those are our mosquito nets silly!" EEK! We threw our stuff down, and headed back to the main hut for our dinner. I will say that whatever they made for us was probably the freshest food I've had since being in Asia. Fresh picked green beans, carrots, and beef with rice. I'm not sure if I was just starving or what but, I ate every little speckle of food on my plate and I've never been so happy to have white rice in my life! After dinner we headed back to our hut, which was surprisingly named the "baghdad hut." I'm not sure if she put us in that one cause we were American or what, seems kinda racist to me though! haha Even though I was tired, there was no way I was going to be able to sleep without a drink or two so Karissa and I cracked open our first bottle of Rum. I was enjoying a drink when Karissa yells from the bathroom, "Annie! There is no handle on the toilet, how do I flush the toilet?" I go over to survey the scene and quickly realize that there is no handle and then I notice the bucket of water beside the toilet with a huge dipping pan. I put two and two together and combined with my experiences of being without electricity many, many times in WV due to god only knows what, I showed Karissa how to flush a toilet without electricity! She was impressed to say the least and wanted to know how I knew that! My only response was, 'I grew up in West Virginia, would you expect any less!?" After a good laugh I explained to her that you just have to fill a toilet up with enough water, quickly, to make whatever is in it go down, and after losing power in the middle of nowhere at least 3 times a winter,  I know all tricks of the trade when it comes to this kinda crap.

Chocolate Hills

Me with the Tarsier!

I probably got a good 3 hours of shut eye that night in the jungle and when the sun rose at 5:50 am the next morning, I jumped out of bed ready to start the day if it meant leaving the jungle and all of the bugs that came with it behind! It was interesting to see this place in the day light, I mean we literally stayed in a tiki hut in the jungle. Brutal. We had to climb that terrible staircase that we came down the night before which was not enjoyable. Who wants to do a stair-master at 6 am? After we made it back out to the main ride our tour guide picked us up and chauffeured us around in his car all day showing us everything there was to see on the island of Bohol. Our first stop was the man made forest. This is where, 750 years ago, a nearby town planted all these mahogany trees in one area. It has since then become a protected area with the tallest trees I've ever seen! Next, we headed to the hanging bridge made entirely out of bamboo. We walked across the river and back and sipped fresh coconut juice and ate coconuts! Quite the island experience. Then we headed to the Chocolate Hills, one of the natural wonders of the world, and Asia. There were over 1000 of these little mound-like hills that turn a brown color May-August and resemble little hershey kisses! They were mostly all green when we were there but there were still 1 or 2 that had some brown patches.  After that, we visited a butterfly sanctuary where we learned about butterflies and moths and the followed that up with a friendly visit to the smallest primate in the world, the tarsier! I thought he was the cutest thing in the world, very strange looking, but still cute just because they are so small! I was excited because I got to hold him and let him crawl all over me but, Karissa felt differently, she held him for 30 seconds and was done! (pictures on FB) Next we headed for a river cruise, it was pretty much exactly like the jungle cruise at disneyworld except there was a buffet with food on the boat!  I felt like I was sailing down the Amazon at one point. The jungle is a very mystic place. Next we saw the oldest Catholic church on the island and then the Blood Compact Statue where hundreds of years ago the Spanish and the Filipinos made peace. There is still a very heavy Spanish influence in the Philippines.  Their language has many spanish words and the fact that the majority of the population is still Roman Catholic speaks volumes when you think about the scary Muslim influence there. Our entire tour was awesome, we saw so many things but around 2 pm, Jojo drove us over to Panglao island where we would spend the next 3 days of our vacation on the beautiful, white sand, clear water, Alona Beach!

When we arrived at the hotel, the didn't have our reservation. Right then and there I was regretting our decision to stay there. They finally gave us our room, thank goodness I made a print out of the confirmation page! The staff was extremely rude to us and Karissa and I refused to eat at the hotel restaurant because we were afraid they would spit in our food. We got into our room and just wanted to shower and relax before having dinner. Well, we couldn't get the shower to work and that was when we realized that there was no telephone in our hotel room. What kind of hotel room doesn't have a telephone!?! They also didn't have a hair dryer on property. Like, hello? I didn't know we were paying hotel prices to stay at a hostel! Even hostels have hair dryers to borrow! No blankets either, just sheets, the safe didn't come with clear instructions, and the beds were literally like rocks. Being a hotel person, I was pissed to say the least but whatever, we decided we weren't going to let it ruin anything. We headed out and hand picked our dinner, rabbit fish, fresh from the ocean! It was a great end to our day! We enjoyed some rum and coke while looking out onto the beach and then called it a night because we had a boat tour at 5:45 am the next morning.

I've chosen to title this day of the trip Island Hopping on the Holy Family with Captain Johnny!

Virgin Island

 We got up around 5:30! Please don't ask why I was rising so early on vacation. I haven't seen these kind of times since last spring when I was still attending university and working a full time job and I'm still trying to figure out why I wanted to put myself through that agony. Anywho, we boarded this small boat called the holy family, (the main seat  had "Jesus Christ" in red paint all over it) with our captain for the day named Johnny. We had me his cousin the day before at the restaurant we ate at and he volunteered his cousin to take us out for the day on an tour. Our first stop was dolphin watching. I've never seen dolphin's in their natural habitat, only in aquariums, so the first time I saw a dolphin leap out of the water I was amazed! Just watching them swim around the boats full of people who had come to watch them have their breakfast was an experience in itself! After that we proceeded to the first island on our tour where we jumped off the side of the boat and snorkeled over the most amazing coral reef! I've only seen coral reef like this in aquariums and seeing it up close and personal and actually touching it and getting close to the fish was just unbelievable! It was one of the prettiest things! Coral reef is so colorful and alive, who knew such real beauty lurked so close to the surface! I wish I could do more stuff like that on a regular basis back home. Close to the end of snorkeling I think I got stung by a jelly fish and then not even 1 minute later, Karissa did too! We were finished anyways so we boarded the boat again and headed to inland to the island where we Karissa shared a beer with Johnny and I tried some cocnut wine! The next island was called the virgin island, they call this because it's hard to get to, and hard to get out of! (At least that's what captain johnny told us!) haha It was basically just like a sandbar out in the middle of the ocean, it's obviously a newer island and you could tell that it's still forming, it had maybe 1 or 2 little tiny trees and some grass growing in some of the sand. It's pretty cool seeing something like that that you know is still in the process of developing. 10 years from now, I wonder how much bigger it will be? The small little island was full of starfish galore! I had a blast with them and decided at one point it would be a good idea to spell out all of our initials in starfish! Captain Johnny also gathered some sea urchins from the water for us to try. He did the dirty work cracking them open and I had the disgusting pleasure of eating one. I'm not a fan of slimy fish like mussles, clams, oysters, etc. So the sea urchin didn't settle well with my tastes. Nonetheless, it was an experience and took me straight back to my greece days of eating fresh clams with lemon juice fished out of the ocean by the sexy swedish intern. haha Those were the days! After all that excitment, we headed back to the main island, grabbed a quick lunch, and took a much deserved nap before showering and enjoying a bottle of rum and coke before dinner!

 We had another great dinner that night, fish again, this time white snapper and parrot fish, I also had the traditional Filipino dessert called Halo Halo, it was like ice cream in a bowl of corn-flakes with jellies, it was strange but parts of it were enjoyable. Some sexy guys also sent over a tequila shot that i took like a champ even though I hate tequila! The terrible downpour of rain prevented our night from getting much wilder, we were in bed again by 9:30 like 80 year old grandma's!

The next morning we slept in till about 9 o'clock then had a lovely breakfast before embarking on our scuba diving adventure! We met our scuba instructors at the dive shop around 10:30 and then headed out on the boat to the same small island that we went snorkeling at. It's supposedly some of the best coral reef in the area. We dove on the other side of the island though. The oceans were really rough on the way out and we were worried about diving in the conditions but our guide said that it would be fine. Once we arrived we immediately got into the water and started our lesson. I'm not sure if I thought there would be a minute to gain my composure or what? All I knew is that this was really happening and I was nervous! We learned how to do a mask clearing, which is scary, and our airway clearing as well as a few other necessary things. Before I knew it, we were going down! I was nervous that I would need to come up for something? I'm not sure why but the thought of being 10 meters under and not being able to just go up to the surface for some air is a little unsettling for me! As soon as it started though I was so distracted by the beautiful things that I was seeing that I didn't even notice what was going on, grass on the sea floor, so many bright and colorful fish, I saw Nemo and all of his friends! The ocean is just full of life! It was awesome seeing these things in their natural habitat as opposed to in an aquarium, you can practically reach your hand out and touch them without them being too scared! Being our first dive and all, our instructors went with us of course and held on to us and sort of guided us, really nice of them honestly because I could have easily gotten lost! I was a little claustrophobic at some points but I managed to stay calm. Karissa and I had purchased an underwater camera but it's hard to take pictures when you are trying to think about breathing! The pictures that came out are on facebook if you'd like to see more! We went down 10 meters (30 feet) and were under for about 30 mins. It's the most amazing world under the sea and I can't wait to do it again! I'm going to put it up there on my list of "the coolest things I've ever done!" If you ever have the chance to go diving, it's worth every penny, luckily, we didn't have to pay that much compared to what it would cost in most places because everything is cheap in the Philippines! Great experience! After we dove we had to wait for these annoying chinese people to go, they spoke hardly any English, I can't imagine being a diving instructor for people who barely speak English! Scary! So, in the meantime, Karissa and I snorkeled a little bit and went inland and sat on the beach for a while, it was fun! The boat ride back was equally as exciting and rough, at one point I thought we were going to capsize, it was like something off deadliest catch! I've never been out in the ocean on a boat when the waters are rough like that! Thrilling! After we returned we got 9 dollar hour long body massages on the beach! They were fabulous!! :) So cheap and probably better than some professional massages I've had done in the states.  After that we did some shell searching on the beach, had a light snack and then went for showers before dinner. Our food that night was not the best, we wanted tuna like Ahi Tuna, instead we got grilled tuna and it tasted like something out of a can! We had some drinks at a bar that night and started a conversation with some Swedish lady that spends her winters there as a diving instructor, she eventually started to bore us and  the nightlife was not huge on this small island so we headed to bed around 12.

Our final morning was spent lounging on the beach, but not without some fruit pancakes and eggs first! I had mango, pineapple and banana pancakes for breakfast! Delicious! We relaxed on our beautiful white sand beach complete with crystal clear blue waters and starfish all around! Next we showered, checked out and waited for our tour guide from the first day, JoJo, to pick us up! He arrived and took us back into the jungle for our last adventure....zip lining! Basically what happens is they harness you all up and send you flying across this river gorge on a tiny little cable! Scary to say the least! Being so adventuress the past few days though, I actually found it quite fun, almost like a roller coaster! On the way back to the port JoJo stopped in this small town and we got to witness a Filipino cockfight. A HUGE tradition in the Philippines on a Sunday. JoJo said it's what all the men in the town do and I believe it because the place was chocked full of nothing but men, the only women I saw were the ones outside cooking the dead chickens! It was sweaty and stinky but we stuck around for at least 20 mins. to see some action, it's quite a brutal sporting event. They tie knives around the chickens' legs, get them mad at each other, and then let them fight to the death! I posted a lovely video on facebook if you dare to have a look. After all that excitement we headed to the port where our 17 hours of travel began again! We didn't have much money left so when we got to the airport I thought to ask about having to pay an exit fee since we had to pay an entrance fee...turns out...we did and it just so happened that we had no more cash, and between us an American Express card that wouldn't work in any machine and my Mastercard which i didn't know the pin number for and our Korean bank cards. It was not a pretty situation. We scrounged up enough Korean won between the two of us to pay the fee to get out of Cebu and agreed that when we got to Manila we would have to come up with a different plan. Well, when we arrived we tried every ATM machine with no luck, we were in a panic and explained out situation to the foreign officers but to no avail. They were actually kind of rude to us so we had to go over and talk to our airline, they suggested we ask fellow passengers on the same flight to loan us some money until we could pay them back in Korea!! She wanted us to be beggars!? Karissa and I were at the mercy of Koreans!! NEVER a good thing in our opinion! However, they brought up a translator, thank god, because lord knows any Korean over the age of 16 does not speak hardly any English, all they know is hello and make it a point to let you know every time you pass one of them on the street. Luckily the translator woman worked her magic and these nice business guys just handed us the money like it was pocket change. We promised to pay them back but just looked at us with this confused look, I'm guessing it was because they didn't understand us but whatever. So, we board the plane, I have some oriental medicine and the next thing I know, our red eye flight has landed and it is 6 am Seoul time! We get off the plane, took forever to get through passport control because of the stupid Chinese people not having their paperwork in order. **PEOPLE** If you are traveling to another country, make sure you have the correct documentation upon arrival, after a 4-5 hour flight you'd think they'd have this shit together, but then again, it is China. Anywho...after we made it through we couldn't find our generous Korean friends! We looked everywhere and waited forever and eventually we just gave up! Thank god for their kindness though or I'd probably still be stranded on that island!!

What a great vacay! Seoul is next! Stay Tuned! :)