Camping.

Spring has finally arrived in Korea, after one of the longest winters ever, or so i'm told. The first weekend it was around 60 we decided to take advantage so we packed up our stuff and headed 3 hours south to Songnisan National Park. We got there and had a nice meal of bi bim bap, pajeon, and rice wine (makgoli) and then found our campsite. Rebecca and I had bought a tent at the market the night before and it turned out to be a good purchase. After we set up our tents we headed to the Buddhist temple in the park. There was a huge buddha, which was really impressive, plus some of the oldest buildings in Korea. We walked around, took a buncha

pictures, and hung out by the river.

After the temple the women (Rebecca and I) headed back to camp to make guacamole while the boys went to town to buy beer. That's how it's supposed to work right? After we ate our snack of amazingness, we turned to our task of building a fire. It took all of us a really long time to get a fire started, but after lots of effort involving fanning it with a frying pan we got it going. We stayed up telling ghost stories and drinking around the campfire. Now let's just say that it wasn't the best night's sleep I've ever gotten. The water we had with us was frozen when we woke up so I'm guessing it was around 35 degrees that night. We were all freezing. But we survived. That Sunday morning was Easter so we set up our easter egg dying kit, hard boiled some eggs on the fire, and dyed away. We cooked brunch and then packed up and headed to Seoul. It felt really good to get out of the city for the weekend, plus I love camping. Hopefully there will be many more camping trips this summer.

pen pal letters

This week in class I am having my kids write letters to American students that I am "actually going to send to America". The letters have obviously been hilarious so I though I'd share my favorite ones...

To: Friend

Hello! My name is Dong Ju-Shin

What is your name?

I am 15 years old and I live in Gwangju, South Korea.

In Korea, it's spring here.

How's the weather in America? and where do you live?

You! Girl? or Boy?

I am a boy.

And I love to eat the brain of monkey and bear's bile.

Taste it ~ it's very good for body.

Do you know "Rain" who is a famous singer in the world.

He is my father

And my mother is lady gaga.

I'm mixed person. HaHaHa.

And my grandfather is 200 years old. He is the oldest man in the world. But he is very healthy, yesterday he got the baby.

My hobby is playing outside with my friends.

How about you?

It's time to say "Bye~Bye~Bye"

I hope to you send a letter to me.

ps. Would you like to go to Africa with me?

here are some other notable quotes:

"Korea's president in Lee Myeong Bak. I don't like him. He looks like a mouse."

"kimchi is very famous korean food. I don't like it but it is sold to Japan."

"Dok Island is Korean's. But Japanese people calling Dok Island is Japan's. You should know the Dok Island is our land."

"I know lady gaga... she is very nice!"

"My nickname is Goddess because I have many secret."

"I want to be a fly." (he meant pilot)

"I have not girlfriend. maybe you are girl become my girlfriend please"

"I learn English, because my message know every world people."

"my hometown is another world"

"my favorite food is fork"

"my favorite dream is get tall"

"I smart, elite."

"I am 14 yewsold"

"fuck japan"

"you may think our people only study and sleep less"

"girls and women aren't quiet and feminine, we are brave, powerful more than boys!"

"i'm 185cm and 46kg. I'm not finish diet... let's diet together."

"i respect Newton"

"i look like is puppy"

"P.S. If you are a solider, I'm sorry to hear that."

"He is my friend. He looks like panda. He got the polio in 1999 when he 3 years old but he is healthy now. bye~"

"I don't know who you are so I love you"

ahhh Korean children... love em

nom nom nom

I thought I'd do a post on Korean food, since it is what I eat for almost every meal and you all with have to deal with me eating it all the time when I get back. In almost neighborhood there is a restaurant that sells the Korean version of "fast food". It's sort of like the American Diner, me and my friends always go to them after a night out, or I pick up takeout on my way home from work. Here are some of my favorite foods to get at a place like this...

Kim Bap (김밥)
Kim bap is Korea's version of sushi. Kim means seaweed and bap means rice in Korean. I call it ghetto sushi because of the random things they put in it. Kim Bap doesn't have raw fish in it like sushi, instead it has fried egg, veggies, fake crab, ham or spam, and then something you choose. My favorites are tuna (참치 chamchi) or cheese (치즈 chee juh). When I say tuna though, its like the canned tuna you eat on a sandwich at home.. and the cheese is just like Kraft Singles. Hence, why I call it ghetto sushi.

Jjigae (ㅈ지개)
Jjigae is a spicy soup that comes in many variations. My favorite is Kimchi Jjiage which is spicy broth with kimchi cabbage in it. It also usually has tofu and zucchini in it. It's pretty spicy and has a lot of flavor to it, so for cabbage soup it's actually really enjoyable.

Bi Bim Bap (비빔밥)

Bi bim bap is probably my favorite Korean food, which seems to be true for almost all foreigners. Bi Bim means mixed vegetables and Bap means rice so it translates to mixed veggies and rice. Basically it's a bowl with rice on the bottom, topped with veggies (the traditional being mushrooms, spinach, carrots, radish, lettuce, zucchini, soy bean sprouts, and cucumber) and then with a huge dollop of spicy bean paste hot sauce, and finally a sunny side egg on top. The way to eat it is to break the egg up and mix the whole bowl up really well so when you take a bite you get a little of everything. This dish is pretty spicy as well, which I why I love it.

Mandoo (만두)
Mandoo is a Korean dumpling. They are really delicious and Koreans eat them plain or sometimes put them in their soups or with ramen.

Ddokkbokki (돜봌이)
Ddokbokki is Korean rice cakes in spicy sauce. When I say rice cakes I don't mean like quaker oats. Rice cakes are rice ground down into a paste and molded into things, kinda like pasta. They're chewy and have an interesting texture. This is one of the only Korean foods that is really just not good for you.

Kimchi (김치)

Kimchi is the most famous Korean dish. Koreans are more proud and protective over this one aspect of their culture than you can imagine. Kimchi is a crunchy vegetable (traditionally cabbage) fermented in really spicy sauce. My favorite isn't the cabbage kind, but instead made with raddish. Basically what I have learned is that kimchi isn't really a main food item, but more of a way to break up the meal. It's sort of like when you go to a perfume store and they make you smell coffee beans in between perfumes to clear your pallette. Kimchi works kinda the same, it's a crunchy and spicy pause in between main food dishes.

There is obviously more Korean food than this, these are just a sample of the kinda things I eat on a regular basis. I would venture to say that these foods are the college kid's diet because they're all really cheap. A roll of kim bap costs me 2,500 won ($2) and a whole bi bim bap costs me 5,000 won ($4). Eating in Korea is really cheap. I actually really love the food here, which I am happy about. Happy eating in America.

kpop update

for those keeping track there are some new songs out:

firstly, my favorite group Girls Generation has a new song called "Oh!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzVFyWNzjtE&NR=1

in this song they talk about how they love "opa" which in Korean means "older brother" but thats a loose translation because it's used to show respect to any older man, and girls call their boyfriends it as well.

also, i am kinda obsessed with a song called "Marshmallow" by IU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_6WgsXMXkE

and lastly, my other favorite group 2NE1 (pronounced 21 or two N E one) has a new song called "Try To Copy Me".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCPFvY4ZbLM

In the chorus they say "Iro Kay" a lot which translated means "like this" when you are telling someone to do something. kinda like "do it this way". thats a word i've learned!

back in the land of kimchi and converse

I've been back from vacation now for over 2 weeks. It already feels like forever though. From now until the end of July I only have 2 days off, so it's gonna be a long haul.

The first weekend I was back I decided to pick up my Korean traveling weekends again. Rebecca and I decided to go to a national park area in the middle of the country. We took a bus on Saturday morning and it took around 2 hours, when we got there we found a hotel and then

headed out on our adventures. First, we went to a cave and took the tour, which was cool. We were headed out of the cave when we noticed a sign for clay shooting so we of course were

intrigued. In Korea, a civilian owning a gun is illegal so they have a certain fascination with them. My dad has shotguns in Michigan and I have shot them before, but Rebecca had never shot a gun. We got to the range and the Koreans who worked there probably thought we were

crazy... i mean, just imagine two American girls walking into a gun shooting range in Korea. But we got right down to business. The guns in Korea and the whole process was definitely different than in America. First of all, the guns had no safeties on them, you loaded them, shut it, and it was loaded and ready to be fired. I hit 4 out of 10 clay pigeons which is a personal rec

ord for me. haha. After we shot the guns the men even took pictures of Rebecca pointing the barrel at the camera, which I knew my dad would NEVER let happen with his guns.

After the shotguns we decided to head to a temple nearby.... nearby being what we thought. We got in a taxi and after about 15 minutes started to count the money we had on us. We counted out 26,000 won which was including all of our coins. We started freaking out once the meter hit around 23,000 and eventually had to tell the cab driver to stop and explain to him in

broken Korean that we didn't have enough money to keep going. The cab driver laughed at us and told us he would take us the rest of the way. Nice people do exist! We got to the temple and were a little freaked out since we had spent every last won (literally) to get there. We joked in the cab that we would have to go to "Buddha's ATM" at the temple to take out money so we

wouldn't be stranded. As we walked into the temple we looked to our right and inside the

temple walls was A BANK! We were so lucky that this Buddhist temple was apparently a

modern one and had a bank inside. So random! Anyways we took out cash, and with the

newfound assurance we wouldn't be stranded in a random Korean Buddhist temple or walking home we headed in. This temple is one of the coolest ones I have seen so far in Korea. It is built into a valley and you had to walk up steep hills to get to the top buildings. The view from the top, therefore, is really stunning with the rest of the temple below you.

The next morning we had planned on going paragliding, but the weather was kinda crappy so we decided against it. We want to go back to this area once it's warmer out. Instead we took a walk across a huge bridge near the hotel, and then we went to a place called Aqualand.

Aqualand is an indoor waterpark/sauna and it was really funny. We spent most of our time there sitting in the hot tubs outside, since the actual waterpark was literally crawling with Korean children.

After our day at the waterpark we went out for some pizza and beer and then watched Indiana Jones in our hotel. We went to bed and I woke up at 5AM to watch the USA vs. Canada hockey game, which was really exciting, but sadly we lost. We headed back to Seoul that morning and went to our favorite spot - Myeongdong - and met up with our friends John and Q. The first ever H&M had opened in Seoul 2 days prior and we wanted to check it out. There was a red carpet, line, and the whole shabang but just like H&M in America it was kinda lame. Q is Korean and knows some of the better spots to shop so he introduced us to some new stores off the beaten path which was fun. We went out for sushi and then went home. School started officially the next day.

Hopefully I'll be doing more traveling and interesting things like this instead of just going out in Seoul every weekend now that it's getting warmer out. Chao for now.

Philippines!!

I had 12 days back in Korea after Thailand, which were pretty rough. Coming down off the vacation high is never fun sitting behind a desk in 30 degree weather. Luckily, I was heading right back to the beach!

The Phillippines are a weird mix of Asian and Western. The Spanish ruled there for a long time so a lot of their food and culture is very European. The language is also very interesting. The actual language is their own, but I could understand parts of it that were definitely Spanish. In the Philippines they also all speak Enlgish for the most part. It was weird to see all the signs everywhere in English, and have the radio be in English as well. The country itself was very interesting and you can tell there are deep issues happening politically and culturally. I did not feel very safe all the time, especially in Manila. Overall though the people were REALLY friendly and helpful, and didn’t seem to resent or be annoyed with tourists like they did in Thailand. Anwayssss here is what we did:

I left for the airport right after work on Friday the 12^th. My flight was direct from Seoul to Manila and took 4 hours. I got in pretty late, but I met up with my friend Erin who is teaching English in China at our hotel. We went right to bed to wake up the next morning to take another flight. We flew to the city of Kalibo which was 45 minutes away. When we got there we took a minibus for an hour and a half across the Philippino countryside. It was very beautiful with mountains and rice fields right along the beaches. At the end of our ride we took a small ferry boat over to the island of Boracay.

Boracay is a very famous vacation spot in SE Asia and is known for its beautiful beaches. When we arrived we took a “trike” which is a motorbike with a sidecar attached down to White Beach, which is the tourist central location on the island. We checked into our hotel and headed out exploring. White Beach was an amazingly gorgeous beach lined with tons of little restaurants and shops and the water was literally turquoise. We decided to stop at a place with lounge chairs right on the beach and ordered some daquiris. That night we watched the sunset with some beers (San Miguel) and then got ready to go out. The nightlife in Boracay is really fun and we met some Americans that night.

On this day we decided to rent a moped. This is where the story gets interesting. So we rented our moped and the rental guys asked me “you have driven one before right?” of course I said “yes!!” (which was a lie) and hopped on thinking it would be really easy to pick up. I was wrong. I hit the gas and we literally flew into oncoming traffic. Luckily I hit the brakes in time, but the entire street was laughing at us. The moped rental guy decided it would be best to take me to a side street and teach me how to drive. After about a minute I picked it up and we were off on our adventure. I had finally gotten the hang of driving the moped when the streets turned into dirt roads. These weren’t just plain dirt roads, which would have been okay, these road were full of potholes and ravines and I literally would have killed us if I had tried to drive down it. Some Philippino men who had seen us drive by had estimated this, so they came up behind us right as we were about to turn around on their own moped and offered to drive ours. So that’s how we hired our 2 tour guides for the day. They drove us around the island to all the great locations, which we never would have seen if I were driving. We went to a bat cave, puka shell beach, and the island overlook. At the end of the day I drove the moped back to town and turned it in… we survived unscathed.

That night was Valentines Day and so we decided to have a nice meal on the beach. There were sandcastles on the beach that said “Happy Valentines” which was cute. We decided that of all nights this would be our night off since we had big plans for the next morning.

We woke up early and rented a sailboat for the day. The sailboat took us out and all the way around the island. On the East side of the island it was so windy it felt like we were on a rollercoaster. The boat drivers stopped in the really choppy water and said “okay snorkel time!” and Erin and I were like ohhhhh no way. So they took us to the other side and we snorkeled there instead. The water is so clear it was really cool even though the coral was pretty far down. The sailboat ride was really nice and relaxing. That night we went out but nothing especially exciting happened, although it was fun.

The next day we spent our time on the beach, simply relaxing under umbrellas with a book and a banana smoothie. We watched the sunset with a bottle of wine and some hummus & tabbouleh, which I had not had in 6 months. It was amazing. That night was our last night on Boracay so we headed out to the bar called Summer Place and danced all night.

The next day we had to head back to Manila, which meant a ferry ride and then the minibus. I had to fight back throwing up on the entire minibus ride, which was no fun at all, but hey it happens. When we got back to Manila we headed into town, but to be honest, Manila feels very unsafe. Even when just driving between terminals at the airport the cab drivers told us to lock our doors. Anyways, we found a Wendy’s (which don’t exist in Korea) and, therefore, I had to have it. While we were eating our Wendy’s some little boys came up to the window and knocked on the glass pointing to their mouths. I felt like such an American pig chowing down on a hamburger right in front of them so after I was done I bought two hamburgers and brought them outside with me. I handed the bag to the kid who had been at the window the whole time and him and his twin brother TOOK OFF with it. That’s definitely what I would have done if a foreigner had bought me Wendy’s… I wouldn’t’ share that!

I caught my direct flight back to Seoul and got back to my apartment. Overall it was a really fun week and I’m glad I decided to make the trip. I am very thankful my school gave me an extra week off that most other people didn’t have. Now it’s back to the grind at work, I only have 2 days off until July, so I’m back to the grind for sure. My parents are coming to visit in May, which I am excited for, and this summer should be really fun in Korea. That’s all for now, I promise I’ll update more frequently.

THAILAND

So here begins my blog about Thailand. Thailand is probably now my favorite country in the world, and I am seriously considering moving there. It’s the first place I’ve been that really made me feel like I needed to be there. The food, thepeople, the buildings, the smells…everything about the country spoke to me. I know that sounds really cheesy, but I honestly haven’t loved a country as much as I loved it there. Anways, here is what we did.

Bangkok: Our trip started Saturday morning when we flew to Bangkok from Seoul with a layover in Beijing. When we got to Bangkok we immediately got in a cab and headed to Khao San Road. Khao San Road is the famous road in Bangkok known as the “backpackers ghetto.” Basically it’s a small road (about 7 blocks) full of hotels, shops, massage parlors, bars, and anything a foreigner in their 20’s could want. We wandered around to a few hotels before we found one with room and threw our stuff down and headed out. Our first stop was a bar where we ordered a “tower” of Chang beer and some pad thai, we also enjoyed some grasshoppers as dessert.

The next morning we headed to the JJ market, which is one of the biggest markets in the world. It was cool to walk around there and see everything for sale – from fake ray bans to puppies to clothes. After the market we headed back to Khao San Road for some dinner and drinks. We met some Thai boys that night who took us out to a different part of Bangkok, to really nice clubs full of Thais. We even met the most famous Thai celebrity, Sririta Jensen, who we saw on billboards for the rest of the trip.

The next day was our temple day. Our first stop was the temple of the Big Buddha, with a Buddha that was probably 100 feet tall. After that we went to the Grand Palace, which is Bangkok’s biggest tourist attraction. The Grand Palace was incredible and one of the coolest buildings I have ever seen. Everything in the place was sparkling with gems and crystals and covered in gold. If I were ever a queen I would definitely want my palace to look like that and not like Buckingham or something haha. After the grand palace we went to Wat Pho, which houses the Reclining Buddha, a massive Buddha taking up the whole interior of the temple in the reclining position.

The next day we took a riverboat around the canals that Bangkok is built on and then checked out of our hotel. We boarded a bus bound for Chumphon, which is in the middle of the country around 9pm. We pulled into Chumphon at 5am and had to wait until 7 for the ferry to

Ko Tao. The sunrise in Chumphon that morning was really beautiful and we knew it was only going to get better in the islands.

Ko Tao: We arrived in Ko Tao after a long night of travel from Bangkok and found what became one of our best hotels of the trip. The 6 of us all fit into a bungalow right on the beach. The beach was literally our front yard, plus the most popular bar, Lotus, was right next door. The first day in Ko Tao we were all just really excited to be in the sun and on the beach so we beach bummed it for most of the day.

That night we had dinner on the beach, and all of the restaurants on the beach have barbeques set up every night with fresh seafood to choose from. We ordered some tiger prawns and crab for the table, which was good. That night we started out at one of the many bars that set up tables and cushions right on the beach. In Thailand, the most popular way to drink alcohol (for tourists haha) is out of buckets. So we ordered a few buckets of drinks and had a good night out at Lotus.

The next morning we woke up early to rent a longtail boat for the day. The first stop on the boat was called Shark Bay and we got to snorkel with some black tipped reef sharks, which was really cool. After that our boat took us to a small island right off the coast of Ko Tao called Ko Nang Yuan. When you see postcards or imagine paradise, this is what they are of. The island was actually 3 islands linked together by 3 sandbars. We spent the day snorkeling with hundreds of fish that we fed ritz crackers and enjoying the atmosphere. On the way out we hiked to the top of the biggest island for an amazing viewpoint.

That night we were having some drinks at a bar with beanbags right on the beach when an American we had met the night before told us about the best snorkeling spot on Ko Tao. We had planned on leaving early the next morning but we decided to hold off on leaving until the afternoon in order to go snorkeling one more time. Therefore, the next morning we rented another longboat and headed out snorkeling again and it was really cool – with sea anenomies, clown fish, and huge brain corals. After the snorkeling the longtail boat took us right to the peir where we caught a ferry to Ko Phangan.

Ko Phangan – Ko Phangan is the most notorious of the islands on the east side of Thailand because of the famous Full Moon, Half Moon, and Black Moon parties that occur. We got there and checked into our bungalows and decided to head out to Haad Rin for the night. Haad Rin is the beach where the full moon party takes place and is the tourist central location on the island. We went out not really expecting much, but ended up having a great time with foam parties, buckets, fire limbo and breathing, new Canadian friends, and late night ocean swims

The next day we hung out at the beach at our hotel and that night was the Half Moon party. The Half Moon is like the little brother to the Full Moon and isn’t held in the same location. The Half Moon was held in the jungle, not on the beach, and when you walk up there are fluorescent things in all the trees, a live DJ, and thousands of people. The Half Moon is basically like a rave, and everyone decorates themselves in body paint that glows in the dark. It was a really fun night, but definitely one of the most touristy things there is to do in all of Thailand.

The next day we were tired so we slept in really late and then hung out at the bungalow. That night we went for Mexican food, which was REAL, and it was so good.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to the pier to head to the next island, Ko Samui

Ko Samui: Ko Samui is the biggest of the 3 islands and even has an airport on it. The ferry ride over was interesting when the boat got hit by a huge rain storm, but we made it and headed to Chaweng Beach. We found a hotel and decided to go to a temple on the island. Wetook some moped taxis over to the Big Buddha temple for an hour, which was really cool. We got blessed by a monk and the temple itself was really beautiful. That night we went to the beach and met some Finnish boys. We played some drinking games of trivia with Finland vs. America, which was hilarious.

The next morning we had a “safari” trip. On this trip we got to ride elephants, take a jeep ride through the jungle, and see some other touristy things. The safari also took us to an animal park where we got to hold baby tigers. The animals at this park were kind of sad, however, and we saw a monkey show where the monkeys were wearing makeup and dresses, which was kind of upsetting.

After our jungle safari we went out to dinner to find out that it was Australia Day, which is basically like our July 4^th. Thailand is full of Aussies on vacation so the island was crazy that day/night. We decided we needed to take full advantage so we headed out to a club called Blue Mangoes. The night was really fun and we met tons of Australians.

The next day we were planning on going to Phuket. This is when heading into vacations like this with no hotel reservations or real solid plans is beneficial. We had heard nothing but bad things about Phuket so we decided to stay in Ko Samui for another night and then go to another island that we heard was amazing the next day instead. That night in Ko Samui we watched the sunset on the beach with some white wine and had a great dinner. We called it an early night since we had to wake up at 6AM the next morning.

The next morning began our adventure to Ko Phi Phi. We were picked up at 6am by a van and literally went from a van, to a bus, to a ferry, to a bus, to a tuk tuk, to a bus, to a ferry, to a bus. We probably switched modes of transportation around 10 times. But we eventually made it around 3pm to Ko Phi Phi.

Ko Phi Phi: Ko Phi Phi is on the West Coast of Thailand, right near Phuket. It is one of the places most heavily destroyed by the Tsunami of 2004. The island is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We had two nights on Ko Phi Phi and for the first one we went to a beach bar. I jump roped with a jump rope on fire!!

The next morning we hung out on the beach and then rented a longboat to take us to the nearby uninhabited island of Ko Phi Phi Leh. For those of you who have seen “The Beach” with Leonardo Dicaprio, a movie about the perfect beach, it was filmed here. We went to Maya Bay, which is a small beach in a bay completely flanked by huge cliffs. When you see postcards of Thailand, this is what you’re seeing, Maya Bay. We hung around on the beach for a long time and it was a perfect last day in Thailand.

The next morning we caught the 11am ferry to Phuket and got on a plane back to Bangkok. We had a long layover in Bangkok so we went back to Khao San Road to spend the rest of our baht and have some drinks before vacation was officially over. We took the red eye from Bangkok to Beijing and continued back to Seoul.

Overall, this was one of the best 2 weeks I’ve ever had in my life. Thailand is an amazing country and I had the best time ever. Coming back to Korea has been a real struggle. I am very thankful and amazed that I get to be doing things like this, especially the first year after I graduated from college. We were joking that vacations like the one we had are the dream vacations they give away on game shows like Jeopardy. I really do feel like I’m living the dream.