Christmas in Busan & My First Day of School!

So much to write! Let's start from the beginning. I had a normal Christmas, you know, if that involves taking a 3.5 hour bus ride to Busan with three girls you hardly know to stay for the weekend. As strange as it may sound it was much better than I had expected. I took a cab by myself to the bus station and was the first one to arrive. I soon met Holli and we had a strange breakfast at 'Paris Baguette' which consisted of some sweet bread thing with weird mayonaissey covered pizza style toppings. On the plus side, it was pretty tasty and another strange food to put under my belt.

The bus ride was quite interesting. Regretfully I didn't take any pictures of the Korean country side (I had figured I could on the way back, but we ended up coming back late instead). It's just mountains everywhere, some small villages, and lovely scenery. However, I'd say the most interesting part was when Felicity ('Fliss' for short) was so ungodly hung over that she puked in a quart size ziplock bag about 4 minutes from our midway stop. It was quite possibly the most horrendous smelling vomit and almost made me puke too. I felt bad for the Koreans on the bus that had to sit and listen to us loudly yap for a few hours and then smell her vomit. I'm sure it gives us Westerners a great reputation, haha. At the midway stop I tried to order a corn dog but ended up getting some weird pancake thing (that I successfully returned) and solidified even further my frustrations with trying to order food here. It's come to the point where I just want to eat the lunch I get provided at school, and something from the convenient store for dinner, or maybe Ramen, they've got some damn good Ramen in Korea. I think I could definitely save some money that way too.

Once in Busan we took the Subway (yes, my first time in a legitimate Subway) to our hostel we were staying at. That is also a first for me, I've never stayed in a hostel and it was way better than I had expected. On our walk there we got to see the area we were staying and it was super populated and cute and lots of stuff everywhere, which is a common Korean thing. Our Hostile was a 3 or 4 bedroom apartment that had like 8 beds in each room but it was really cute and the owner was super nice. First on our agenda was food, and it was damn delicious. I had my first pasta in Korean and it was good and spicy (and not in the Korean spicy way!)

We then embarked on our first adventure; going to a temple! Our hostel was right next to the Subway station so we got in one and found our way to the temple. I have to also note that I am incredibly happy with the diligence these girls had in successfully finding our tourist spots. I can just imagine if I went by myself, I'd probably just stare at a map for 4 hours until finally giving up and going home. I mean, not only is it a new city and huge, but it's written in Korean! Luckily I'm getting better at reading it, but have no idea what it means. Anyways, by the time we made it to the temple it was dark out so the pictures weren't as clear, but here:

I've seen from afar some classic Korean style buildings but this temple was so incredibly intricate and huge and beautiful, it was definitely something I'll remember. It was on top of a big hill too so you could see the lights of the city when you looked off. We went inside but you can't take pictures when people are praying, and they were. It's a little strange to be a part of any religious ceremony to me, but I quietly observed and took in the intensity of my surroundings.

After this we headed back to our hostel and met someone who was staying in the room with us as well. We invited him to our favorite past time, eating, and together enjoyed some Indian food. As a few of you may know, Indian food is like crack cocaine to me. I can eat like 10lbs of it before I get full. This food was delicious, but not as good as back home when you hit up the buffet and have like 15 styles of slop to choose from. Mmmm slop. We then ventured out to see a bit of the night life. We were apparently staying by a University so there were many young people bars. The first one was super cute and we decided to order a pitcher of beer. However, our point to something on a menu and say "chuseyo" aka "I want" tactic resulted in this giant tube of cheap tasting beer. On the plus side, it provides an ample amount of beer. Down side, it tasted like ass.

Diana and Fliss decided to head home early. Obviously after the good puke that afternoon Fliss wasn't up for a night on the town, so me and Holli and our new hostel friend walked around, had a few beers, and ended up at the oh so cleverly named "Ghetto Club Bar". Luckily, their idea of ghetto is far different than ours. It was Christmas night and they had a 5,000 Won entry fee (like 5 bucks) that included two free drinks. They played some hip-hop, we drank our drinks, and headed home for the night.

I woke up to Saturday which was by far the most awesome day EVER. We got up and headed towards Haeundae Beach, which is a very popular and beautiful beach in Haeundae. While taking a little video we spotted quite the sight. Check it out, and keep in mind, it was maybe 50 degrees Fahrenheit, which was very nice for Xmas, but not THAT nice.

After exploring the beach a bit we got on a boat ride to tour the coast of Busan and got some amazing pictures and a big Seagull attack (or five). It looks like he's as big as the building right here:

Seeing all of Busan from the ocean was amazing and really made me wish I would have moved there instead. But, as I soon found out there are some great things about being in Gwangju. It's more of an authentic Korean experience. Finding non-Korean food or English speakers is way harder to do. I've already met many children who have never even spoken to an American or Native English speaker before. Busan is also much more touristy, which I think would get old pretty fast. I do feel like I'm having the authentic Korean experience and hope it continues to be great here in Gwangju. But here's a few more pictures random boat pictures.

And another good thing about Busan was having Mexican food! I feel so deprived already and I've only been here a week and a half! For lunch we decided to devour a boat load of Mexican food and probably drink 4 times that much in Margaritas. It's for sure I've never had that many Margaritas in one afternoon/evening but it was great. The four of us had a good chance to chat about everything under the sun.

As far as Western culture goes we varied a bit. Fliss was from England, Diana was from Canada, I was from the North of the US and Holli was from the South. Our mix of accents were great and apparently I have one hell of a strong Minnesoooootan accent. We ended up running into a few other foreigners, some English and Scottish boys and they showed us out to a crazy cool Busan night club. We were completely underdressed because we were wearing our site seeing clothes and as usual all the Korean girls are dressed to impress. Meanwhile we were wearing tennis shoes and jeans. Either way, we ended up getting a good glimpse at the Korean night life. This video was taken while we were heading to the next bar. Holli had a few drinks and was quite enamored by the food that sits out on the street. It's kinda silly but we're both girls who've rarely traveled and the little things like walking down the street with crazy food just sitting around is quite entertaining.

Okay, I need to finish this up. Sunday = Extreme hangover and seeing the Busan Aquarium. Not too impressive, especially in that state, but I did take some neat pictures. We ate some more food, sat around on the beach lifelessly, and finally made it home by midnight last night.

Today was my first day teaching. The kids are adorable, and I got to give them names. My favorite one belongs to Dexter. Everyone thinks its hilarious, and so do I. Ok. I could go more in detail of today but obviously I'll have a year to talk about this job. Long story short: Busan is awesome. Korea is lovely. I made great friends and had an amazing time. The End.

Busan was awesome

But I'm too tired to explain why. Stay tuned...

For those of you that aren't big on reading..

I've got some videos today! (You're welcome Dad). I don't blame him though, videos are way more entertaining. However, while I wait for those videos to upload, I'll give a bit of a run down on my last few days.

School wise, there hasn't been any school really. I've spent this entire work preparing for next week because that's when the school is opening. Essentially, this means doing a whole lot of nothing and spending WAY TOO much time explaining the song "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" to my boss and co-workers. It sucks because my boss worries way too much. She wanted me to literally do an intense choreographed set for the Itsy Bitsy Spider and she wanted me to practice it. I explained to her that it is just a fun chant and by no means do I need to practice a song I've known since I was, oh, 3?

Last night I went to a book club holiday party for a club I plan on joining. Got to meet a few more ladies, eat delicious food, and have them take pictures of me in really bad angles (see facebook). On the plus side, we played secret santa and I won a bottle of wine and two wine glasses which literally doubles the amount of glasses I had in my cupboard. And, once again I took the bus home by myself (EXCITING!).

Today was by far the most.... interesting day and uninteresting day at the same time. Basically there was nothing for us left to do at school so I sat around for 8 hours and played with Queeny, Andy (neither are their real names, but the American ones they got in school... yeah.. I know, Queeny? Is she a rap star? haha) and Shi-Hyo. Anyways, I've come to realize why so many people in American have adopted Asian children, they're fuckin' cute. I need to figure out how to pop one of those guys out, even though I don't think I could keep a child in my shoebox apartment (or in my life for that matter) for too long. When I first met Shi-hyo he bowed super low and said "Annyong Haseyo" which is Hello in English and literally he's like, a foot tall, maybe a foot and a half. He's the smallest walking person I've ever seen. He's 21 months old and runs around at a million miles an hour and I want to steal him. Here's me and Queeny trying to get him to bow and say Annyong again, but it didn't work. Either way he's a cutie. All three of those kids are my Boss's Neices and Nephews and my Coworkers kids (we keep it in the family over at iSponge Academy, minus my white ass).

Then they got into the Bugles and had a Bugle monster fight?

Keep in mind, the extent of their English knowledge is about the extent of my Korean knowledge (aka none). So spending time with them is even funnier because they talk to me and assume I understand and I do the same with them. So its just a big mess of jibber jabber. Oh, and Shi Hyo just crawled himself up on the computer and started moving the mouse around in Microsoft Word like he was doing something, so I had to take a few pictures of that!

After about another 4 hours of doing absolutely nothing I finally got to go home... or so I thought.

I had promised my boss that I would go to a Christmas event with her, she later informed me it meant going to her church with her and I would have felt bad backing out. So, immediately after school I hopped on the iSponge minibus and headed towards my boss' house. She lives with her parents about 20 minutes away in the country. After having dinner with her family I was glad I agreed to go and (gasps) even attend church with them. Don't worry, I didn't convert! But once I came into her house I was greeted with giant smiles on very very little old people. Her parents were so pleased to have me come and I could tell with their constant grins. Unfortunately, our ability to converse is very limited, so I just enjoyed the massive amounts of food and the traditional Korean house. In case you're wondering, here's a little glimpse of what was going on.

After eating I was given a bag of to- go boxes filled with Kimchi (the NUMBER ONE Korean dish), some tasty spinach thing, and some chewy dried fish thing, and 3 tomatoes. All together, I totally did well with this dinner date.

Last, but certainly not least was my two hour church visit where a million Korean kids did a bunch of skits that I couldn't even begin to understand. On the plus side, they were super cute and Queeny and Andy went to the church so I got to see them sing. Oh, did I mention being a white person in Korea is like being a celebrity? I was seriously grabbed and talked to and stared at the entire walk out of the church. I almost felt bad because I assume they thought I was their for the religious experience, but I was just there as an observer. It was definitely interesting to see a Korean church. It's not too different from the states, except ALL the old ladies have short permed hair, no exceptions! It kind of smelled like old lady too. Anyways, this has taken far too long to write and it's probably far less interesting than my day actually was, but oh well. Off to get some sleep and head to Busan for the weekend. This should be fun!

Doing boring stuff in America vs. Doing boring stuff in Korea

Korea wins. Although the last few days have had no real highlights, there have been plenty of moments that have been exhilarating.

Example One: Buying a table. In America this is an everyday procedure. You hit up your local Ikea, Walmart, etc. Purchase the table, haul it in your car, assemble and WALA! Here, when there are literally 12 stores per one side of the block, all stuffed full of random things, with signs you can't understand, buying a table can be very difficult. Not to mention, I don't have a car (which turned out not to be a problem actually). So, after work on Monday my boss asked if I needed help with anything and I felt that this simple table and chair set would really make my shoebox come together like a proper home. For those who need a visual of its placement, see my prior video of my apartment and imagine moving that awkward hanger thing on the right of my room behind my tv, and plop a table and two chairs where that was. All I had to do is go to not One, not Two, but Three furniture stores all within one block of my house and find the perfect fit. And, as I hinted towards before, they deliver it for free! Luckily my boss was there to help me because I probably would have tried to awkwardly haul that thing out with the two chairs in three trips. I can just imagine the Korean shop owner laughing at my misery.

Now for Example Two: Taking the city bus. In America this is definitely not something to write home about. But here it's like climbing Mount Everest. However, once again I can't take all the credit for this remarkable feat. I had help from my new friend. She explained to me what bus to take (#1) and what the name of the stop was by her house. When we discussed this she had said that the bus stop for the #1 was right by my house, but there are like 1,000 stops by my house... So I stopped into my school at around 7:30 (my boss works 12.5 hours a day so she was still there!) and asked her if she knew where the stop was and which direction I get on. Not only did she take me to the stop herself a few blocks away but she also waited for me to get on and even told the bus driver where I was going. Luckily some other old lady was listening to my boss talk because the bus driver didn't tell me when it was my stop, but I could kinda, sorta, decipher it over the loud speaker. Actually it just sounded more like "blahblahblahblahhamneeeda" because they put "hamneeda" on the end of practically everything. Needless to say, I made it there and back in one piece and got to see a good 25 minute chunk of Gwangju!

Another thing in Minnesota that I wouldn't be too excited about is getting on the bus to somewhere 4 hours away (ie Duluth). But here, I'm going to be taking a little mini weekend trip to Busan. Feel free to Google it, it's Korea's second biggest city, it's in the South Eastern region and should be fabulous. I'm going with three other lovely gals I met last Saturday night and I'm sure we'll have a great time. On the down side I'm worried that I'm blowing through all the money I brought a bit fast, but starting a new home is always spendy. Not to mention, I will eventually be making a fair amount of cash and I always have that money I got from selling my car. Hey, when in Korea... (or is it 'When in Rome'?) You get my point.

For tomorrow I have a Christmas party/bookclub meeting in one lined up. Luckily it's at the same apartment I stopped by today so i will know how to get there and back! I will probably meet another 5 or 6 people and enjoy cookies and other Western delights. I should be getting to bed now, it's midnight and the latest I've stayed up in a while, which is actually good because I keep waking up at 5am!

I LOVE KOREA!

Everyday just keeps getting better and better! Yesterday I finally got to do some venturing out, and it was quite awesome. After not eating shit for like a day I woke up and showered and headed out to explore. I really only walked like 3 blocks, but there's so much to see in just three blocks that that's all I needed. As opposed to going to one of the many restaurants around, I stopped at the MiniStop convenient store and bought this:

I have no idea what this package container of deliciousness was, I just know it was filling and only 2,500 Won ($2.13)! I know for sure it had kimchi and rice and some other kinda orange kimchiish thing and like a beef patty stif fry? It was my first purchased food from the convenient store and it totally topped those SuperMoms Tuna Sandwiches at home, and probably cheaper too! I also bought some beef jerky, but that's not exciting. There's corner stores literally EVERYWHERE here, I've already been to three within a block radius of my house.

After my individual adventure around those three exciting blocks I met up with Lucy and Chris and we went to have Tea before dinner. I had a green tea latte, it was super good, and we also had some rice cakes. They were tasty, but kind of weird/bland. Probably not something I would purchase on a regular basis, but still cool to try. The cafe was super cute and pretty dead so we had some good chats before going out and having some dinner/drinks. Another neat thing with the latte's here, they always do little designs on the top:

Rice cakes are in the middle, look at the cool wood style chopsticks!

After our lattes we went to a bar and Lucy and Chris explained to me the eating/drinking culture in Korea. Basically there aren't any (or maybe just a few?) bars that just serve drinks. It's absolutely essential to have food when you drink here. If you go to a place that serves food, and you don't order, they always at least give you popcorn or more if you stay longer. The free snacks usually start small (like popcorn) and can get to be as big as a whole pizza if you order enough pitchers. Oh, yeah, the pitchers were HUGE!

At this bar I met another person and the four of us enjoyed our massive pitcher, compared stories of our life back home (which I think will be a common subject over here) and laughed it up. We had to make it short though because the whole reason for this night out was for the monthly foreigner dinner that my recruiter organized. There were about 20 of us all sitting on the floor in a side room of a restaurant eating Shabu Shabu and drinking Soju and beer. My first time having this amazing dish, and definitely will not be my last.

A quick explanation of how this works. You get that big pot on the left there filled with broth, then the lady comes around and dumps a plate full of vegetables in it. Basically like onions and mushrooms and stuff. I don't really know, it's new to me too. You take some bites of that and dip it in the two sauces over there on the left. Then you take the beef on the right and put it in the boiling pot (because there's a stove top on your table) Then you take that out and eat some of that too. Everything here is like family style and everyone digs in, it reminds me of my days working at Figlio eating preshift food with all my coworkers. Then they bring out some noodles you can put in too, and finally they bring you some fried rice and you can eat that with the left over broth. I ate so much, but never got that sick full feeling like you get in America when you eat a big meal. We drank a lot too, Soju was going around like crazy and beers were constantly coming. In Korea you don't wait for your server to come to you, you yell for them to come to you (no, it's not rude - and theres no tipping either). So there were plenty of "Cho-geeyoooo"s or "Yo-geeyoo"s because that's what you say for their attention. Once again, I have no idea what the spelling is on that one. In a lot of other restaurants too you get a button and you just press that to get them to come to you. Oh, P.S. Sitting on the floor sucks, but having a HUGE meal with basically unlimited drinks for 14,000 Won ($11.92) is AWESOME.

After that, the party started. I got to meet so many other foreigners and it was so crazy because we went to bars where it was basically ALL white people. Since I've been in Gwangju I haven't seen any other white person besides Lucy's boyfriend, and seeing all of them together was nuts! I got to meet some awesome people and added plenty of new numbers to my phone to help with the socializing here. I also found out that I live in a pretty nice area, its within walking distance of the downtown area. Oh yeah, here's downtown. It's crazy bright and in Korean fashion, packed with shops everywhere.

I would hate to have this guy's job..

And long story short, the rest of the night was spent meeting loads of new people, drinking it up, and having an amazing time. Most people are just as I had hoped, basically a lot like me. I mean, all of us made the decision to pack up and leave our homes and make a new one in Korea, and they all love it here! I hope it continues to be as great as these first few days and I can't wait to see all that this country can show me!

On a funny note, this was above the toilet, I just had to take a picture!

Early Mornin' Riser

Who would have thought I'd be a morning person? Back at home it was normal for me to get up at 5:30 and I hated it every morning. But, when the weekends would come around I'd be up bright and early at 7:00 ready to call my friend Sara (also an early riser) and discuss whatever needed to be discussed at that unholy hour. Back when I waited tables, even suggesting such an early wakeup was blasphemy. Today, unfortunately due to jetlag, I was up at 4am. On the plus side, I was able to chat with a few buddies back home because it was just mid afternoon there. On the down side, I don't think i'll be able to stay up too late tonight and I have my first official social event! I'm going to a big dinner full of foreigners and English speaking Koreans and I'm sure afterwards we will mingle around the downtown area (which I'm apparently close to) and drink it up. Everything is so stimulating it exhausts me. I came home around 4pm yesterday and was asleep by 8pm. Some things that really have stuck out to me so far:

1) The way I have been treated as a foreigner is amazing. It's sad to think of how in America people just look the other way when they know someone isn't understanding English or is having a hard time. Here, they are helpful, kind, and so excited to have a different face in the community. I literally haven't seen another white person (or black person for that matter) in the street.

2) Free stuff. Yes, free stuff! If you buy certain things you get free stuff, if you're new to the corner store you get free stuff, I think the pure fact that I was a white girl I got free stuff. So far, so awesome!

3) They don't heat hallways (like in apartment buildings, or any building) and it gets damn cold. They're lucky it doesn't get much colder than 20 some degrees here because they'll freeze to death. Oh, and did I mention the heat comes up through the floor? I had remembered reading about that before, but for the life of me I couldn't find my heater - because it doesn't exist! Oh, and all the lights in hallways are motion sensor so they don't waste electricity.

4) Views. Judging by my apartment, and it's placement to the other apartments, it's sad to say that a window with any sort of light/view is non existent. Oh well, at least it's close to the school!

Now, I will leave you with a cheesy popular quote that definitely was my motto in making this decision.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

I'm pretty sure this is the smallest apartment in Korea..

But it's free! So i can't complain. On the plus side, I will be more proactive about getting out and about, because I have a feeling I'll go insane if I'm here too long.

MoJo's in SoKo... FINALLY!

Okay, well as you last heard I was sitting in the airport in Seattle getting ready to go to Japan. Here's a quick run down of the terrible travels that ensued. The flight from Seattle to Japan actually wasn't that bad. It was.. oh, I don't know, like 9 hours? I watched three movies, two of which I really wanted to see. The final, however, sucked. Time Travelers wife - I would not recommend. I mean, how does somebody just time travel? Anyways, that's besides the point, Inglorious Basterds and 500 Days of Summer were pretty decent.

Once I was at the Japanese Airport I was so confused as to what time it was, I'm assuming it was late, all I know is that I was tired and hungry. I went to a little restaurant that had a smoking lounge, had some gyoza, Sapporo beer, and a few cigs and met some other travelers. They were on business there getting shwasted and were very intrigued by my journeys, which was cool to talk about. Then I got on my flight over to Korea and slept like a baby the entire way through (it was only 3 hours). The flight attendants were super cute and spoke English, Korean, and Japanese!

Now, here comes the shitty part. I missed the last bus to Gwangju because I arrived at 11:30pm. So, I had to spend the night sleeping terribly on benches in the Airport.. and it was cold! I woke up around 5am (assuming I ever REALLY slept that night) and tried to look decent. I took the 6am bus out of Incheon Aiport to Gwangju and met a really nice Korean boy that lived in New Zealand for 4 years and was just coming home to Gwangju now. He helped me somehow lug my giant suitcases into the bus and smoked with me during our one stop. I slept a little on the bus, it was about 4 hours, but it was just hard.

Finally I arrived at the bus station and I met my recruiter, Lucy, and her British boyfriend, Chris. Seriously, I don't know what I would have done without that girl yesterday. She took me to lunch, we went shopping and got some essentials, and she helped me out with some essential Korean words and customs. My director ended up meeting us a few hours later with my new co-teacher. Also very sweet but not nearly as fluent in English as Lucy so it was a bit hard to communicate at first. They took me to my apartment, which is literally a shoebox, but it's all mine, it comes fully equipped with a bed as well!!!!! Seriously a beautiful sight after the last few days of traveling. Anyways, I finally showered and got situated and had to go to dinner to meet my other Korean teachers. We had Chinese food and it was damn delicious. Nothing like the Chinese food at home. It actually kind of reminded me more of Japanese food. Anyways, everyone was super sweet and so excited to meet me and it made me feel so good. I was supposed to get internet hooked up after that, but the dude never came, so I finally got some rest (12 hours to be exact).

Yes, I know this is long and mundane but my parents read this too so I have to keep them updated. Plus, I couldn't call them until a few hours ago so now they know the scoop.

And now for the rundown this morning. I went to the school, met up with the director again and we did a little more shopping, took some pictures of the school, and got my internet hooked up, and here I am! So, without further adieu, here are some visuals of this crazy adventure:

First, my school - it's super cute!

And now for the shoebox, er, I mean, my apartment!

Or not.. I can't figure out how to upload on Youtube yet and I have to go get my phone soon. Oh, FYI, my washing machine just stopped and it sang a jingle to me for like a minute when it was done, kind of like a cell phone ring. Peaceout kids!

There is a God..

And she comes in the form of a cute little Asian lady at the Massage Booth by my Gate in the Seattle Airport. I woke up this morning after about 10 hours of sleep and it felt like someone spent the night punching my shoulder blades... hard... without stopping.. all night! I'm sure the combination of stress, two heavy carryons, and two incredibly heavy packed luggage hasn't helped my back. But as I came up the elevator to my Gate I found God. On the downside, I only paid for 30 minutes because I obviously don't want to spend all of my money on a massage and I could probably have used another 4 hours in that massage chair.

Anyways, I'm sitting waiting for my plane to board, and its HUGE. I'm talking GINORMOUS.

See below:

My masseuse said that it's two levels, I just pray to God (or should I say, her) that I have a window seat and they play a good movie.

Oh, and while I was taking the little shuttle train to my gate there was a louds

peaker talking in Japanese and I totally understood it! I'm a Japanese pro! Juuuust Kiddding.

Alright, we will be boarding soon, and I have to pee, and I still want to post a few pictures of my final hours in Minneapolis.. But once again I can't figure out this Blogger thing. I'm sure I'll have loads of alone time in a day to figure it out, so until then, all you get to see is my Big Plane.

So tired, and only half way done.

Well, here I am, sitting in a hotel in Seattle, watching The Devil Wears Prada, and about to fall asleep before 7pm. I'm sure you're wondering how I got myself into this sad situation, since I should have been half way to Korea by now...

MINNESOTA WINTER - THATS HOW!

That 6:15 flight from Mpls to Denver this morning ended up being more like a 7:15 flight, which in turn made me miss my Denver to Seattle flight, and the pattern continued as I missed my Seattle to Incheon (Korea) flight. Did I mention they only have a flight to Korea every other day on Asiana Airlines? Yes. So I did what I'm good at: crying. I cried my ass off to the United Airlines people, made them purchase me a hotel AND a meal ticket, and somehow they figured out a way for me to leave tomorrow instead of Wednesday. Actually, it's kind of exciting because I'm going from Seattle to Tokyo to Incheon and even though it's just trotting through the airport, it will be super neat to have my feet touch Japanese soil. It will be a little taste of the trip there I'll take sometime in my year in Korea. Oh yeah, I'M GOING TO KOREA! It still doesn't seem to set in that I'm doing this, but yesterday was probably the biggest reality check of them all. I had a lovely brunch with about 15 of the best people ever and after a few brunch cocktails the tears started pouring. I basically don't even remember the last time I cried so damn hard. I have pictures too, but I'm currently half asleep writing this in my king size bed and I'm ready to close today and hope for a better tomorrow!

Gwangju or Bust!

Well, it's coming down to the final hours, or should I say days? A week ago today I had a fabulous going away party. Is it bad that I think the parties I throw are the best? Well technically Amelia/Franna threw it, but I'm really only saying that because everyone that comes I love and it's a damn good crowd (at least in my opinion). We had tons of tasty food (thanks again to all the friends who brought/made stuff) and a keg of Minnesota's best, Grainbelt Premium. I took a ton of pictures, but haven't quite decided how I'm going to be dealing with pictures on my blog, so I've posted a few.

Now it's really time to get to business. Unfortunately I'm procrastinating on that business by typing this blog entry, woops. I'm not worried, I work best under pressure, which can be emphasized by the fact that I have to do all my packing, and move everything out of my apartment by Sunday night. Then I've got two days of work, one day to relax, which I'll probably spend shopping, and then I'm on the Megabus. My dear friend Amelia has offered her company on my 8 hour long bus ride to Chicago on Thursday morning to get my Visa. Then I come back late Friday night, and then we just wait (probably 3-4 days?) before flying out. We still don't have the ticket, but I figure they're waiting until after I get that Visa process taken care of.

So, stay tuned. Hopefully this blog does its job and keeps me connected to everyone back home, and maybe provides some insight for people just like me who are planning to do this. Now it's time to get to work!!