Happy Canada Day!

I know what you're thinking, "Canada has a day? How did you hear about such things?" Well, it's strange really. Since moving to Korea, roughly a million bazillion miles from Canada, I've met tons of Canadians! Oddly enough, when I lived in Minnesota, a few feet away from Canada, I never met a single Canadian. I'd like to go ahead and dedicate this post to my favorite Canadian, Dominique Colucci, who is living the Candian dream as we speak, and is greatly missed in the 'Ju. Not that this post is going to have a lot of content, but I suppose you can't get any shorter than the last one.

Look at that Canadian Love!

So the big news this week is about Summer Vacation #2. I had spent the last however many months mentally preparing to go to The Philippines and spend maybe $300 or so on the ticket and get some pretty cheap beach side hostel. Well, turns out that if you wait until last minute, like I usually do, tickets go up drastically in price. It's now about $1000 to get there, not including the cost of room & board.

After realizing that my summer plans had been sabotaged because of my laziness I began to feel quite sad. I spent the majority of the beginning of the week in a slump, trying to figure out how to get out of this country without breaking the bank. Finally, it dawned on Fliss and I that nobody in their right mind wants to go to Japan, BUT WE DO! So, we checked Travelocity and found a flight and hotel for 7 days for just under $600. I know what my Mom and Dad and other paranoid readers are thinking, "Noo, the radiation, the earthquakes, don't go!" Well, I'm going to the bottom Island, Kyushu, to a city called Fukuoka and is practically equidistant to my home in Korea (give or take a bit) so I'm not too worried.

So Thursday morning I booked the package and I'm pumped and ready to leave the first week of August. I also have the second week of August off too but haven't decided what to do yet. I think I'll just relax at home and enjoy a quiet non-travel vacation. As far as our destination is concerned, it's actually a long anticipated trip. I started studying Japanese when I was in 7th grade, took a stint of Chinese in High School, and then Japanese again in Community College and the University of Minnesota. I ended off my college career with an intense summer course (one year in two months) and graduated with a firm grasp on the Japanese language. Things have since changed dramatically. I barely remember some key phrases and get caught up thinking in Korean if I try to speak it. So for the next month I am going to pop open the books and see if I can get any useful phrases embedded into my brain.

This particular city is also quite significant because I had been wanting/planning to move to Fukuoka basically since taking Japanese at the U of M. I researched the city and it seemed awesome because its on the beach, it's an old meets new Japanese metropolis and the pictures always looked amazing. While we did get the whole deal for a portion of what I would have spent if I was coming from America (about $2,000) I'm still worried about the expensiveness. So, if any of my dear readers would like to contribute to my pre-birthday (August 10th) Japanese Summer Vacation just let me know!

What else is new? Not much. Since I've came back from Berlin I've completely changed my schedule from being super busy, to doing nothing at all, working a rugged 5 hours a day. Basically I currently love my life and my awesome schedule. I did take a minor pay cut, but I still have a more than livable wage and hours upon hours to paint my nails, study Korean, go to the gym, read, and watch countless episodes of whatever my current TV fetish is.

As always the weekends are jam packed with fun with the gang. Emilie, who I love dearly, is always good at taking pictures so I'll post a few. I'll also post again in a few days about my heartbreaking devastation because of her leaving. But not now, I can't think about that until after she's gone! For tonight, we will have one last hurrah, and once again say goodbye to an amazing friend that I met in Korea.

Katie's Birthday Party last week, looking super cute with her man Krish.

Erica and Indy, two new awesome friends who have been hanging out with the group!

Me, Em, and Fliss singing our heart out to Adele (they had a new song at the noraebang!)

One of many pictures prompted by strange scenarios. "Imagine you are a monkey and she is trying to steal your bundle of bananas!"

Fliss, Katie, Me, Erica, and the lovely Louisa, who is also a new friend. All out for Katie's Bday!

"Omg?! You are so funny! No you are so funny!" I actually think this picture was also prompted by a scenario, but we do look cute!

And that's all folks!