Autumn already!?!

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How people treat you is their karma.

How you react is yours.

-Wayne Dyer

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why hell-O there!!

can't believe that i only found time to update this blog one time last month!! that is directly a result of travel, TRYING to keep up with my marathon training, making sure to get as many autumn climbs in as possible before the weather slides away AND of course, my new long-hours position as "educational team manager" (will look good on a resume, but had been a LOT of extra work!).

So, excuses out of the way, let me try to recount the last few weeks.... the obvious highlight to be our week-long trip to Hong Kong and Macau over Korean Thanksgiving!!

Fall came fast and it has been made VERY apparent that summer has left the building! We dropped probably 40 degrees (F) as a daily average in the last month! school has been busy, crazy and AWESOME all at the same time. My prediction was right and we are in fact heading it a wonderful direction with the new staffing - gaining student enrollment all the while!

Weekend nights in Daejeon have been long and eventful but without anything extraordinary to write home about a couple weeks later... SO.... let's get right into the highlight of the last few months (or longer)........ CHINA!!

This was not your ordinary China visit however; we didn't see the Great Wall, or any temples, or eat tons of Chinese food or even see that much Chinese culture to be completely honest! this was a trip to the "World City" of Hong Kong and the Asia's "Las Vegas", Macau!! Hong Kong and Macau are special regions of China where they are actually kind of an independent nations but still provinces - maybe kind of like Guam is to the U.S.? You do not need a Chinese visa to enter, they each have their own currency and they are islands off of the mainland. The passport flooded with stamps as you hop between the two and even on our layover in Beijing each way!

At first it was to be me and muc heading over there just the two of us, later to meet up with Sarah who would be coming back to Asia after a visit home to Alabama. At the last minute (almost literally) our Korean-American buddy Jason booked some airfare and hoped for the best!! After some confusion at the airport, multiple flight delays and a LONG run through the Beijing airport to make our connection (isn't it ALWAYS at the last possible gate???), we arrived and Hong Kong on time and with Jason following just 20 or 30 minutes behind us.

after the long day of traveling chaos (it's always more fun that way!) we needed a beer before we even left the airport! this was our first taste of the Chinese currency and cost of living... about a dollar for these tall boy TsingTao's!!!

We navigated our way through a bus ride, a subway trip with 2 transfers and then the city streets following directions from our couch surfing host who we'd (of course) never met, Sean. We got there fine but then got no answer when we knocked on the door. We labored to find a payphone and hoped that we had left him a message but we really had no idea what we were doing. we sat outside the apartment complex and waited for a bit. We tried to figure out which room would be his from the outside counting up to the sixth floor and then saw a face peering out the window down at us. "Sean?!" we yelled and he motioned for us to come up. We had found our place!!! he was also hosting a German and a Czeck guy. we had a couple beers as we got to know each other in his tiny flat and then crashed on the floor of his main room. The next morning, we felt quite a bit of an imposition as his poor mother got ready for work around us at 6 in the morning! we made plans to meet up with Sean for the evening but headed to find a hostel for the next night.

We decided to spend the day by cruising over to Macau and had an absolute RIOT!! the short time that we had there became more of a planning and preparation day for our imminent return. We priced hotels and got the lay of the land between partying and gambling all the while!! Sarah would HAVE to come and see this place. It is JUST like Vegas in many ways but had enough differences to still know for certain that you were NOT in southern Nevada. Anyways, the real stories from Macau will come up soon here on our return overnight visit.

So we would head back to Hong Kong in time to meet up with Sean and the Czeck guy - who called himself John for the sake of not having us butcher his real name. We headed into downtown Hong Kong - aka, the most diverse nightlife scene I have ever been a part of. we threw down on a hooka at a 'bacco bar had a couple of dirt-cheap street beers, a kebab and finally got ready for the real get-down. Having been inspired by what looked like a traveling cast of RENT dancing in the streets, we decided to shred a dance-floor of the small, narrow but long bar with the loudest music. Jason rocked us with some tequila and we took over the dance floor - entirely and completely! The motto of the night clearly had become, "we'll never seen any of these people again..... LET'S PARTY."

The shsisa bar, Downtown Hong Kong. Jason, muc and Sean left to right.

The tiny streets feel like a deep valley between the TOWERING buildings on either side, people moving and smiling all around you, the tightly packed bars have about 15 feet of street front each. lights, beer, dialects, music, vibe - this is Hong Kong!!

Jason taking in the views on Repulse Bay Beach - the most misleading name since Iceland.

We were out until probably 5 that night and came back to the hostel to find our bags had been neatly placed in our newly acquired room as promised by "Momma", the owner of our hostel who obviosly lived there in a room no bigger than a closet.
As a matter of fact, no rooms in Hong Kong were bigger than a closet. The hotel rooms literally the size of a decent walk-in closet and the bathroom so small you'd have to sit sideways to do your buiness because the whole room was barely as wide as the toilet! Elevators we no bigger than 4 by 4 feet but somehow crammed 6 to 8 people in them regularly. I hadn't thought it was possible to have a city feel more Asian than Seoul, but HK blew it out of the water!!!
He headed for the beach on the next day and it was some much needed awesomeness and relaxation! a heaven-sent Pizza Hut saved us from the rain.

After the beach i had the excited pleasure of going to meet Sarah at the airport!!! My timing was luckily perfect and I met her just as she was walking through customs!! we made our way to the hostel and exchanged a handful of stories on the way.

Out for drinks and watching some incredible classic rock cover bands from the best seat in the house! this calls for shots!! (thanks muc!)

I was excited to get to tell Sarah the good news. We were going back to Macau the next morning!! she'd never been to vegas and had no idea what she was in for!! away we went as promised and a few hours later were checking into the Hard Rock Hotel in Macau!!!!! it didn't take long to get excited about what was in store for us after we walked into our strip-view 25th story hotel room - what would have been considered a suite in many places.

look closely. reflection shot! :)

taken from our window!

We went and saw a Cirque Du Solei show at the Venetian. It was mind-blowingly entertaining - especially condering the ongoing buzz and bottle of rum we snuck into the show with us. Here's us with some of the venue workers after the show.

Our one night in Macau was for the RECORD BOOKS. I have absolutely no idea how we did not have a visit from security to our room, how we managed to stay awake until 8 in the morning given the frequency and volume of alcohol, and i certainly have no idea how i actually WON a couple hundred bucks at the hold'em tables at 7 something AM after all this. There were fuzzy bits, but one thing that i know is.... it will forever be a night that i want to repeat!!!!
The next morning we got back to HK and had about 24 hours left in our stay! we spent our time doing some essentials...

Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor. They do a nightly show where the buildings light up kind of in sync to the music playing on the speakers on our side. It was pretty cool but had been built up too much in our heads that it turned out to be a bit of a let-down.

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The subway system was hyper-efficient. You could get anywhere in the city within a couple of blocks. you have to transfer a lot, but everything is self-explanatory and you never wait more than 3 minutes for a train!! it was, however; BUSY. much moreso than Seoul's subway system even which i thought to be crazy.

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Wildest subway moment of my life: last time on it... heading to the airport during rushhour and we're on a transfer at their central station. We are coming down the escalator into what looks like a human zoo - backpacks and Sarah's massive suitcase along for the ride. we get to the bottom of the escalator and realize that there is NOWHERE to go. The ground below us is still moving and there are bodies stopped in front of us. We have no say in the matter as we're piled on their backsides and then start to feel the people behind us getting piled onto us. No one can stop, but no one can go!! we're piled in there like a pop concert floor just leaning against the people next to us to keep ourselves standing as more and more people are streaming down the escalator behind us. we looked back and saw people bailing - jumping the railing trying to get off of the escalator and someone else must have wisely hit the emergency brake. a few minutes later we were packed on a train in much that same fashion until we got near the airport. I'll never forget how small and helpless it made me feel to just be one ant in the herd that day. Truly was a classic travel moment so far in my life.

muc packed on in at Hong Kong Central Station, September 2010.

THIS IS HOW YOU HONG KONG!!!

I've just started my 8th month in Korea and life has never been better!! work, school, play, training, frisbee, climbing, friends, relationship................. it's very obvious to me that this has been the best decision of my short life so far! I can't wait to see what comes after this!!!!!!

Thanks for reading my journal! :) GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

work and play!

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Dream as though you will live forever;

live as though you will die today.

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-A classic fave by James Dean

Hello friends and loved ones of the universe!! it's been a long time since i've written anything which leaves me with TONS to say... work, life and play in Korea; things have been changing quickly for me! let's get those interested parties up to speed!!

WORK: the most drastic changes have taken place at work! to sum it up, with a whopping 6-months tenure at my school, i am the most veteran'd employee. The only person (of the 12 or 14 employees) who has been there longer than me is our owner!! It only takes one month of experience to make you the 3rd most tenured employee in the company - talk about turnover!! We've replaced EVERYONE but me in the last two months which landed me a promotion to 'Educational Team Manager'! I took it with slight hesitation knowing the state of things as all of the pieces get tossed into the air while trying to fix the gaping holes left by certain previous staff members.

I have been a week into my new role now and things are crazy! we are putting in long hours while we get everything organized for a veritable re-birth; revamping everything at exactly the same time. Soon the 8 am to 8 pm shifts will give way to a nice, comfortable, fully functional school.... SOON! In the meantime, i'm enjoying the new challenges and fast-paced school days! and the kids are still JUST as cute and willing to make it all worth-while as they always have.

LIFE: things are going fantastic as they have been! Sarah is finishing her first complete year and heading home for some much-needed R & R, family time and her beloved Alabama Football!!! She will be back in Asia about 10 days later to meet up with me and muc in Hong Kong during a 5-day stint starting September 18th! Korean Thanksgiving or "Chuseok" is our benefactor for the excursion. I have been LOVING Korea's many holidays and taking full advantage; this one will be NO exception! After Hong Kong, Sarah will start a 5-month bid at the other Kids College in our city. This way, we both will finish at the end of February and have all types of big things in mind for what happens after that... after some months at home, our outlandish possibilities include Japan, Australia, Taiwan, even Dubai was recently recommended, or who knows what else may present itself? maybe we'll be feeling weary by then and thinking about the idea of HOME?? :) the fun part is not knowing for now!!

The marathon is now only about 6 weeks away. per usual, I should be thinking about starting to taper down my training but instead am 'really planning to get more into it soon'. Who has time for this training business?? The sad thing is however, that this is almost certainly the most-prepared i'll have ever been coming into a full marathon! I was doing great a month ago and following my plan until a low, dull kind of grinding pain in my knee took me off of my system!! Vinnie, my training partner for the race, suggested starting an Omega 3 (or fish oil) regimen that has worked wonders!! it's like an internal lubricant for the joints and bones, so finally training is back on.... whenever the hell i find some time, that is!!!

Also, i recently joined the Daejeon City Ultimate Frisbee team!! It is reasonably competitive as far as i can tell and we have our first games this coming weekend in Daegu. it's a traveling league so we'll be in a new city with new people every weekend in October! really looking forward to the league and everything that will be involved!! it seems like it will be comparable to a college 'club' team, and you should start seeing photogs of the festivities soon!

PLAY: The last time i wrote, it had been months since we had spent a weekend in Daejeon without hitting the road.... now I have spent 3 of the last 4 right here in our town!! most nights are a blur of silliness kind of mashing together so i'll just highlight one long and eventful Saturday night as an example:

we started out by tracking down a German microbrewery here in town. a friend of ours had told us about an all-you-can-drink/salad and snack bar from 5 pm to 10 pm on Saturdays all for what you'd expect to pay for a few good beers - about $16!! I'd say we got our money's worth a few times over as our party grew and grew throughout the evening (i think we had a dozen before the day was done?). We played some recently popular 'international catch phrase'!! - turns out that Americans have a HUGE advantage since the game is pointed directly at our culture, society and slang. It also turns out that Americans are the most competitive (who knew??) with many disputed points and shoddy hand-offs... one of our 'discussions' resulted in a waiter coming over and making us balloon animals to chill us down!! just the way i like it! :)

Gettin' down at WeisenHaus in Wolpeyong Dong (about one or two blocks west of CGV movie theater and Daejeon's Government Complex; On the left-hand side; down one flight of stairs). Best beer and special that we've found so far!

Then we moved on to drunken bowling where we smuggled in some traditional Korean rice whiskey (called Soju) to keep things going. Then came a real Korean favorite; Club FM. Club Family Mart or club FM basically means that you sit at picnic tables outside of the local convenience store in the middle of the downtown 'scene' area and drink beer for a third the cost of those inside the bars around you. it is the source of unmatched people watching, un-intelligible BS'ing and absolutely no bar-closing ever. After a number of hours there, Sarah headed back to crash at my place while I stayed out..... for a LOOOONG time. soon we found ourselves in one of the bars dancing up a storm and entertaining ourselves freely as the ONLY people in the bar at 6:30 in the morning.

Jinny's Pub spared no expense in entertaining us as their only patrons. this flame-spitting bar tender was proof of that. This picture shows the only shot I took in a 16-hour beer bender... i have no idea what it was at 7 in the morning.

We left the bar to find that some of our friends were still at the Family Mart! man, those guys are crazy, i'm- ah, forget it, i'll join them "for one"! ................ two hours later Sarah called in hopes that i was still alive and asking why i had just come home and then left again?? I told her she must have been dreaming but that i'd be there shortly; afterall, it was getting a little late... ;)

We would find out the next day that the reason she thought i had come home was that someone came into my apartment while she was there sleeping!!!! seemingly out of drunken confusion at first, but then decided to rifle through Sarah's purse and a pair of my pants (?!) in the hallway and then would throw the stuff back just inside my door after taking what they wanted!!! luckily they must have been one of the dumbest S.O.B's in the universe and missed my computer, a couple of I-pods and some of Sarah's jewelry within a few steps of him. They took a stack of 'cards' out of Sarah's wallet but they all would turn out to be coffee club/business card type junk.... while she had active bank cards tucked slightly more away in the wallet!

at first glance we tallied the damage at about 11 dollars and a free coffee!! - EXTREMELY luckily for us! then when Monday morning came and i was heading out for work I realized that he'd stolen my black shoes too!!!! some ratty pair of black dress shoes were missing from my entryway! i wish i could have heard the guys internal conversation on that one - "forget the i-pod... i want those loafers!!"

later in the day, i was bitchin to my colleagues about the nerve of some drunken idiot coming and stealing my shoes when Tel - a Welsh co-worker who lives in my same building - said that he'd noticed a pair of black shoes in the building on his way down that morning. hours later, when i'd get home, i sure enough recovered my shoes in the stairwell of my apartment!! i wore them to work the next day wishing they could tell me their story all the while. i guess they didn't fit the guy?!

easily one of the most bizarre 16-hour beer binges i've ever experienced and although almost nothing was actually stolen in the end; it robbed me of some of my high faith in the Korean people. It made me feel violated and vulnerable. but ultimately, Sarah was safe (thank God!) and there were no real consequences.

One curious observation of the whole thing was this; even the Korean thief seemed considerate of his victim's convenience! think about it: who would take the time to put the rest of the purse back inside the door? who would put the shoes back somewhere that i might find them the next day? make up your mind... are you a piece of s*** or not?!? .... *ah* Korea.

random tidbit too strange to leave out: a 'claw game' like you'd play to win stuffed animals at ChuckyCheese... the rub? you're playing to win live lobsters!!?! this was as close as i've come to culture shock since i've been here!

Finally, we got out of town this past weekend to meet up with our Busan couch-surfing buddies, Ross and Kelsi! Remember the ones that live on the islands to the south?? Marilyn ended up joining out crew at the last minute and we blasted our way through the 6-hour train/bus/taxi rides for 24 glorious hours on the beach and one last chance at a sunburn before summer winds down. Ross and another friend made it out to meet us after a major recovery effort on his part from the night before, but Kelsi unfortunately never found her way! best wishes to those two as they finish their year and head back to the US for now!!!!

Sinji!! the most beautiful island, perfectly timed weather, the finest, smoothest sand and fewest people combined to make the best beach experience of Korea so far! Not to mention, free camping anywhere in the sand without being bothered!!

THIS is the life!!

I hope everything back home is going really truly incredibly well!! I can't believe i've been here already for 6 months and am officially more than halfway through my contract. time. live good and keep me posted on what's going on back home on facebook please!!! nothing but love! thanks for keeping up on me!!! :)

a

Vacation in Korea!

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Politicians lie;
The media hypes;
Meteorologists guess;
Trust your experience.
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Hey peoples and love ones of Earth! a ton to catch up on and i shall do my best before it becomes too big a task that i never do it, or before i just forget everything that happend altogether. well, now that i think of it, i've already forgotten most, but here's what i still have bangin' around the old noggin from the past couple of weeks.......
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to start off my vacation and finish Sarah's, we headed up to yet another beautiful and exciting camping/climbing area with Jake and Kyung Ah. The place is called Gahnyeon and seemed to be a haven for camping and swimming as any and ALL open grass or sand was pounced on and coverd up with thousands of tents overnight. we got our tents down late on Friday night and we were already forced to the more remote area where we were 2 of the only 3 or 4 tents there.... less than 24 hours later, we suddenly barely had room to walk since the place had exploded with tents like dandelions. A small string of shops and restaurants have sprung up over the years to accomodate all of the campers along the beautiful and perfectly swim-able river that runs through the park. camping was less than $2 per night for each tent and freshwater swimming seems a bit of a rarity here so the place was PACKED on a busy summer vacation weekend!!
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while the river, campground and shops were all nice additions to our situation, those were hardly the reason that we were there! each morning, we would pack up our gear and head across a long foot-bridge to the other side of the river where they laid a stunning chunk of rock!! we must have run upwards of 10 or 12 routes both days including busting out the headlamps for my first ever night-climbing session!! The weather did just what we needed it to, and we - once again - put in a bid for BEST weekend.......
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Sarah and our new climbin' bud/righteous schwenny, Heidi heading out to that breath-takingly sexy rockface you see in front of them. look close and you can spot a couple of other climbers already on the wall.
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the man, Jake, headin' up a tricky little start just to see if he could maneuver his body into the yoga-like position required to hit this.
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We were so thankful for Jake and KA to have brought us to this spot... seemed like a pretty well-kept secret since there were almost NO other foreigners included in the 1000's of bodies that were camping here. We even had a few of the Korean climbers remark to us in their broken English... "How did you find this place?!?" seeming to marvel that we had been in country only a number of months and were already at their secret gem of a crag!
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This picture shows nothing of the tents that sprung up. this is actually the more desolate area of the campground! if this were in the main area, there would be a tent or TWO stuffed between my red there and those other green ones next to it... you could barely walk between them!
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Down underneath the footbridge. easy to see why so many people head to this spot!!
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The majority of our crew here enjoying a traditional Korean BBQ dinner after a looooooong first day of climbing - but still with night climbing to come! left to right is Jake, Kyung Ah, Hyeon Ho (sp?) and Sarah, of course. :)

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i will be SURE to get back to this location before my time in Asia is finished!!! the trip was action packed and cause enough for a recovery day on Monday! luckily for me, i had just that while Sarah headed back to work, the poor thing!!
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part of my monday off would be to try to sort out just what I should like to do with my following days off - remember that I was truly just beginning my vacation time at this point since the previous had been crammed into just a weekend! as I was considering what to do, I noticed a post by my good friend and fellow Minnesotan, Marilyn - for the record, she is the one that first suggested the idea of coming here to me as a real possibility. Anyways, her post said something about traveling around South Korea, unsure exactly where, for the next few days.... i quickly sent her a text for her to let me know where she ended up and that maybe i could meet up with her somewhere along the line. She did me one better however in calling me right back to say that she still hadn't left and that I should just join her the next day heading south to Busan and Gwangju!

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I had been been to Busan only for a few drinks on an extended layover with a friend and never seen Gwangju, this seemed like - on no uncertain terms - the answer i had been looking for! I knew only of her plan that she had arranged 'couchsurfing' plans so we could stay cheaply - this merits an explaination, i know! http://www.couchsurfing.org/ is an utter fit-of-brilliance that helps you find FREE places to stay with proven, tested, vouched for awesome people that are willing to give you a key to their house and usually show you around the city too! you can search just about any city in the world and find a place to crash for nothing! I know what you're thinking (Mom, in particular ;)) it sounds crazy and dangerous, but it's tried, tested and true! I plan to be an active user of this site for years to come!!

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And so, easy as that, we arrived at our host's house the following day. He was a dood named Chris from the northwestern US, in fact. he showed us multiple sleeping options including a double bed for Marliyn and a matress on the floor for me! blankets, pillows, hot shower, kitchen, internet, AC... the place was fully loaded and it seemed to be Chris' pleasure to host us!! he showed us all the places on his googleearth map that we might be interested in and set us loose in Busan along with the one other couchsurfer who was staying with him....

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Enter, Peter. Peter is a Hungarian dood that has been traveling the world via hitch-hiking and couchsurfing for more than a year now!! WHAT A CONCEPT!!! his original plan was to invest 4 years of his life this way eventually circumnavigating the globe back to Budapest! a silent observer of people and cultures everywhere he went, he was brilliant, open-minded and experienced. These are the kinds of people you meet while you're traveling that really reinforce the sense that what you're doing is right!!

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The first few days blurred together a bit but were a mash up of beautiful - but as crowded as i've ever imagined - beaches, city lights, bars, games, sight-seeing and just all around great times!! one main highlight worth detailing: one night, while relaxing on Gwangali beach, we were fortunate enough to land next to a group of Sri Lankan men playing percussion on their recyclables, clapping and singing the night away with korean booze and fireworks. The seemed as happy and fun-loving as any group of guys could be so we eventually merged our group with theirs for a bit after we'd caught something of a buzz ourselves.

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After singing a couple songs with them and even my solo performance of Sublime's "What I Got", their story came out. They come to Korea for 2 year stints to work manual labor from 8am to 11 pm everyday. Except they get a break on the weekends and only have to work 8 hours Saturday and Sunday (slackers!!). These guys said they get a total of 5 days off each year and they were directly in the middle of that vacation the night we happend into their company. These guys blew my mind and if that didn't just blow yours, you're not reading carefully enough; go back and try again! 90-hour weeks for 360 continuous days!!! I just wish the world could consider that the next time someone would otherwise start to bitch about not having coffee provided for them at their air-conditioned office building in Anytown, Anycountry - I know i'll certainly remember them!

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The Sri Lankan guys! see the white food container with chopsticks in the foreground? that's one of their drums they were playing all night. ah, the enjoyment of life if refreshing, isn't it?? These guys will be considered rich when they return to their country because of the insane hours their pulling at the moment,... and why shouldn't they be!? You'd consider them rich already if you saw them enjoying their night!
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The next days, we'd meet up with dozens more AWESOME people including Ross and Kelsi who joined our couchsurfing crew at Chris' pad. They are also from the Pacific Northwest, but have had an experience entirely unique to the other foreigners i've met here in Korea. They are based on a tiny island with a few thousand people living on it and where they are the ONLY foreigners. They take ferries each morning to the different islands around theirs to teach English to kids who will most likely never need to know the language since they will probably spend their entire lives there as fishermen just as the rest of their families do and have done in the past. it was really cool to hear how vastly different of 'Korean' lives they've lived barely a couple hundred miles away! we plan to go and visit them on their beautiful islands soon so this shouldn't be the last you see or hear of them in this blog!
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top left is Ross, then across the front is Kelsi, Peter, Marilyn, Me, Sarah and our host, Chris on our last bar night in Busan. YUP, Sarah finally made it down there to meet us for the weekend!! :) oh, and you may have noticed that we still haven't left Busan... we loved it and Chris just kept being more than willing to host so what was set out to be a couple day stint, turned into almost a full week!!
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A fantasy of a little spot we found for some rocky swimming, sun bathing and just general observation of beauty! we spent almost our entire last day here at this spot off of Song-cheong Beach.
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just a few hundred meter from our rocky oasis was the insane-o chaos of Busan beach life as seen above. notice that you can't see any sand on the beach?? just umbrella tops as far as the eye can see!! this is a typical beach scene in the south! I'm glad they didn't seem to know about our spot!!

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Here is me, Sarah, Peter and Marilyn in Blowfish Bar. This is a spot owned by a New-Yorker right smack in the middle of Song-cheong beach and had the best double cheeseburger i've found in Korea by far!! track it down if you're ever in busan!
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It was an eye-opening, refreshing and beautiful trip eventhough i had at first been dispointed to not be leaving the country! who needs to leave when you have all this right at your fingertips??!?
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As I sign-off, i know that the majority of the people who read this blog are already up at Kilworry and the thought of missing that has made me homesick most of this week!! This is only the second time in my entire life that i've had to miss our August week at the cabin and it hurts just as bad this time as the first... maybe a little bit worse in fact! i miss you and hope that you don't get to read this until you come back after a long peaceful week of family, relaxation and NO COMPUTERS! Drink one for me though, if you do get this!! I love you guys!!!! :)
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breaking news to go out on: muc and I have formally booked Hong Kong for 5 days in late September and hope to be adding some schwennies to that party soon! LIVE ON!!!!!
aw

mud and climbing!!

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You can't break out of a circle
that you never knew you were in.
-Connor Oberst
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Update time: last I wrote, i was heading to the world-famous Boryeong Mud Festival over on the west coast here in South Korea. this is something i've known of for years since seeing pictures on old college friends' facebooks or wherever them and their friends from all over the world partying on a beach CAKED in thin grey clay mud. i was intrigued at least and then suddenly found myself here and within range of it so it was a MUST ATTEND.
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We filled two full buses with friends and acquaintences and headed out early on Saturday morning after having partied nearly all night just before. we made the best recovery attempts we could muster and jumped back into an out of this world experience! we checked into our hotel, fuel'd up on food and beer and headed down the shore not really knowing anything about what we were doing - we knew only that we were looking for, of course, MUD.
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And find mud we did! primarily in the form of a massive tent area that looked like a war-zone. there were massive clay pits in the middle of the tents and civil-war style clay-ball flingers on either side standing about 25 feet apart. i jumped right in and up to the front lines where i quickly got separated from all of my friends and found myself getting pelted in the face - eyes, ears, mouth, nose, everything included - point blank by complete strangers. it was a bizarrely awesome experience despite itself!!
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I lasted in the front lines for about 20 mintues before i limped away and found everyone else. this is when i also got the news that one of my good friends, Vinny, had gotten split open when a nameless flying rock tagged him in the side of the head!!! finally, it became more obvious (than it should have been already) that what we were in the middle of was NUTSO.
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having made it out relatively unscathed, i can look back and say that it was one of the most FREE experiences i recall. completely animalistic 'lord of the flies' style chaos... but in a way that you could simply walk away from it at anytime and have no real consequences... aside from sand in your, well, everywhere!
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Sarah and I headed for the sea for a quick rinse, lost more friends, regrouped with others and finally went to check out the slightly more tame area. this is where we found the mud slides, mud wrestling, mud prision... put the word mud next to any noun or verb and you could pretty much do it!
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Most of my pictures from the event ended up being of strangers because when we were covered in the stuff, obviously it was tough to use the camera. if i ever went back or gave advice to someone who was, i would say to absolutely buy a waterproof disposable camera and you could get some intensely wild pics. this one is the mud pit free-for-all!
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After we cleaned up, we had a couple of beers, played some carnival games, ate some dinner and headed back for a rest. There was plenty to do that night around the area but took it somewhat easy compared to the 24 hours that had preceeded. That was the last time we were covered in mud that weekend. Every foreigner in Korea was (as well they should have been) there... go your first year you come here - you will have an incredible experience but probably never want to go back!! Thanks to Ring for setting it all up! :)
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Then back to another week flown by at work! the months are piling up in a way that never ceases to amaze me (just like always happens). I've been here almost 5 months now and have been in love with the entire experience. i've experience most of South Koreas larger cites, coasts and foods; i can phonetically read and am starting to be able to communicate very basic ideas in Korean; and feel well-versed as a kindergarten teacher! i would absolutely recommend this for any 20-something that isn't sure what the next step is; or anyone who is just plain bored with what they are doing!
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my work life has been as fun as ever! we have a blast and it is extremely rewarding to see the kids improving before your eyes as the months pass! we are currently looking to replace my two co-workers who both have less than a month until their notice is up and they move on to their next steps. I hope we can fill the spots soon!!! what are YOU doing these next 12 months?? ;)
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Then came the first weekend since sometime in may where we had absolutely no plans! it was kind of refreshing - the openness of the idea - but still, not wanting to waste anytime at semi-douchey 'foreigner bars' here in Daejeon, we rounded up some climber schwenns and headed out of town Saturday morning. We had no idea really where we were going, but did know that we were in the able and experienced hands of our friend Jake - an Aussie that's been here in Daejeon for almost a decade now - Climber extrordinaire and all around solid schwenn. He and his Korean-native wife, Kyung Ah picked us up at the subway station across town and we headed south.
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A few hours later we were on the island of Geoje-do and were making our way up the trailhead until we found our crag. Already close to 2000 ft above sea level, this gorgeous piece of rock looked super inviting towering out above the trees. After a quick refresher course from Jake, I lead up the first pitch with Sarah belaying me on her own! (she's a VERY fast learner!) and jake over to my right about 10 feet. The climb was steady - nothing too tricky or dangerous so was a perfect warm up / refresher.
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The view started out amazing and only improved from there! soon we were at the top of the quick 2-pitch and looking out over the bays, harbors and a dozen islands scatered around the sea - all right about eye level with the clouds across the bay! it was an amazing spectacle, a beautiful feeling and a place that I will forever want to go back to.
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We were the only ones who had this incredible view which made it all the better; there was only one way up to the top and it was certainly the road less traveled. You had to earn it and now you are reaping the benefits. THIS is why rock climbers go rock climbing.
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We hung out at the top for about an hour taking pics and resetting our gear to for the rapel back down to earth. It was a day filled with many firsts for Sarah; her first real rock (as opposed to climbing gyms like at Stout and Vertical Endeavors), her first multi-pitch and her first rapel; shown below! she is very adventurous, out-doorsy and an extremely fast learner so she did fantastic as I knew she would! Very glad to have a great gal that can share all of these things with me! :)
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Sarah rap'ing down Ae Bawi over the southern shore of Geoje-do!
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The Deajeon crew up on top! great peeps!! - We headed back down, found a traditional korean motel - where you sleep on the floor with blankets provided - right on the beach in the village you can see below the rockface and took it easy for the night. Fried chicken, home-made humus, and their home-brewed beer on the sea after a long day of travel and climbing..... THIS IS LIFE!! :)
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Jake made a an awesome pancake breakfast the next morning and we headed back up the same rock for another few pitches and a look around. After that, it was frisbee on the beach and a sleepy trip home after dinner. Absolutely a fantastic weekend!!
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The week since then has FLOWN by but was highlighted by a minor league baseball game date last night at Hanbat stadium with Sarah! they lost 9 to 2 but it was still fun. the fans stay true and intense all the way to the end... down by 7, 2 outs, and an 0/2 count in the bottom of 9 and the fans are still going nuts!! really great to see such optimism and support and always a ton of fun!
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This weekend begins a 10-day vacation for me (starting in a number of hours from when i'm typing this!) and there are many plans for more of the same. We leave for Jirisan mountain tonight and will get a full weekend of climbing, camping and beaches in there! - very excited to pitch the tent for the first time since i've been in Korea and I've heard only great things about the place so I should have some great pics come Monday morning.
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After that, i'll still have an entire week of wide open excellence! I took too long trying to book plans so the airfare, even for a 2 hour flight, jumped up to over 600 dollars on average! Now the plan is to maybe scope out the last bits of Korean areas I haven't made it to already and maybe get some serious training done for my marathon. I am in full swing and feeling great with 12 weeks to go until Chuncheon Full!! Stated goal range: 3:15 ~ 3:20. Bring it on!!
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Life is great! Hope to catch you guys on the phone soon! It has been far too rare that I've been able to.

Peace an' love!
aw

Time marches on.

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Time is FLYING by as it always will do.
I figure the only way to keep up with it is to learn to fly too! :)
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I left off just before the Ansan half marathon a couple weeks ago and i think that most of you few that read this probably arleady know the scoop... but that's never stopped me before!
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Ansan is a 1.something million person city on the coast up outside of Seoul a little bit. We made it into town early in the afternoon on Saturday and had plenty of time to look around, eat a delicous carb-loaded dinner, relax and get a good nights sleep - all the opposites of my race prep for the last 'half' a month ago! I felt truly ready. I hadn't felt this poised for a perfect run since high school cross country.

The busy and dense downtown of Ansan, South Korea. Plenty to do and see as is the trend over here.
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Race morning came and everything was on track. We were the first ones there and felt fine. The rain was clearning up and I had nothing but a personal record in mind. Sarah had made a last minute decision to go ahead with her run eventhough she had the 2nd degree burn the size of a silver dollar on the top of her left foot from the 'hair straigtener incident' a few days before. the 10K that morning would be her first race in years! Both excited and ready to do something amazing, the race started and soon proved to have other plans for us.
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Here come the excuses: the most humid conditions I have EVER run in made everyone's legs feel like cement by maybe the 5 or 6 mile mark..... except we had no idea where any mile (or kilometer) mark was becasue there was absolutely NO indication of how far you were along the entire course!!! i've never seen anything like it. Those markers let you know your pace, give you short-term but significant goals to pick off one-by-one and keep you going. Never had a clue the whole race!! Top it off with only having five water stops on a half marathon course in July! AND the 5th one was OUT of water by the time the first 20% of runners came through! This was the first of my 5 half marathons that I ever walked even a step - and I walked much more than only one step.
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However; at long last.... the stadium and finish line came into view and the horrific course became a memory. I never even looked at my official time but it was around and hour and 51 minutes - right about the worst half i've ever run. Nonetheless, another half under the belt and many lessons learned!! Perhaps the most important thing that I took from this race is a serious hunger to run like a world champ in my next runs to make up for it! Sarah was able to fight through the foot pain and finish her 10K too! What a gal! ;)
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There's the exhausted finishers with their medals and great senses of relief.

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Next in line-

Aug 24: The King of the Mountain in the southwest of Korea: 18K up, along the top and back down the other side of a 2400 foot mountain! for charity and going to be a BLAST!

October 29: Chuncheon Full Marathon, will be my thrid full, but only the first where i'm even remotely near to prepared properly! can't wait to see how I actually do?? life goal remains.... QUALIFY FOR BOSTON.

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Then last weekend we headed for The Seonudo Islands along with Adventure Korea - our righteous tour group that we've found over here. This was a trip primarily planned as a biking trip since there are only a handful of cars on the islands. The islands are tiny, touristy and connected to a whole string of beautiful islands that are accessible only by narrow bicycle bridges. true getaway feeling, extreme beauty, some light hiking and biking all for dirt cheap! :) actually, the weekend was a gift from my lovely girlfriend anyways so even a better deal for me than most! ;)

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Easily the most extreme tides i've ever seen! the shores draw back almost a mile to the point where you can walk to other islands! on the islands, they call this the 'Moses miracle'. Really a cool thing to witness though! you can see the boat landlocked by more than a hundred meters is anchored down. :)
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excuse us little guy... just passing through and want no trouble! 3 inch spider that looked like one mean S.O.B!!

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A great little spot that we found as we ventured out to the little ports around the island. Was an awesome experience!

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What's next? tomorrow morning we leave for the Borean (spell check??) Mud Festival!! a giant party on the beach when the soils and clays turn into pure mud due to the raininess of the season. We are going with a group of about 60 foreigners on a bus that includes mainly everyone we know in Daejeon. it will no doubt be a complete and total RIOT! (but we'll be safe, Ma!) ;) tons of pics of mud wrestling and general mud-cakedness will be popping up on facebook in a few days, to be sure!

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after that, i have two more weeks of work and then our 1 week summer vacation the first week of August! not sure what yet, but pretty sure something incredible has to happen! will work with the budget on that one!! After vacation, BOTH of my coworkers are heading elsewhere so we're going to shuffle the chips and see how things land at work! i'm optimistic. ;)

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thanks for checkin in with me! miss you guys badly, particularly on the 4th of July! better drink SEVERAL up at Kilworry for me next month!!!!

Vacation at home (and much more)

I just can't help but wonder how almost another month has gone by since i've put any updates on here. Seems strange to write too much about my trip home since i'm sure most of the people that read this were right next to me almost the whole time. I'll give the brief rundown though if only to commit the awesomeness to official record!
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I left my apartment at 5 something on Friday morning. Almost 24 hours later i got home at 1 pm the same day! It felt like i had been traveling for a week yet only 8 hours had passed on the clock! things like that really make you realize what a man-made fabrication time actually is!
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My dad picked me up at the airport, took me to get my tux fitted and finally i got to get home and see the family and my little blue kitty! I unpacked and had only a couple of hours to settle in before it was time to start setting up for the poker game at my parents' house that would take place as the start of tony's bachelor party. We had a SOLID group of brothers, and brother-like cousins and friends; and even one adventurous uncle Deaner! Tony cleaned house all-around by taking down the tourney, the prizes Brian chipped in and a bunch of money donated to him from the guys - just the way we all would have had it, i imagine tonz! We headed for a bonfire and drinks at Broey's house, spent a couple hours at the Sherwood Lounge and then back to Broey's where it was every-man-for-himself to find a place to crash.
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It was the first time EVER that all four of us brothers got to party together and an uncontrolable riot of a night!! Hugemongus thanks to Brian and Joe for putting everything together while i was struggling from the other side of the world!!!! was a great night with most of the best guys i know!
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The rest of the week was a whirl-wind barage of my favorite people, places and restaurants without hardly stopping to breathe! i even got to see not one, but TWO Twins game at the wonderous Target Field tuesday and weds nights! We even ran into one of my favorite teachers ever, Mr. Doepner, who happens to be the biggest collector of Twins gear in the history of Twins gear and also the curator of Target Field! i had no idea, but it proved to be to our advantage when he gave us the VIP intimate tour of the different areas of the new park!

Taken just moments after ariving at our seats for the first time at Target Field.


We are 2 and 0 when i am in attendance at the park! ... they'll have to give me season tickets next year if this continues!!
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Thursday was the wedding rehearsal, dinner and then some late night swimming at tony and michelles beautiful apartment in Woodbury. ...... which brings me to.... THE WEDDING!! :)
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The cermony was beautiful and ran smootly. I really enjoyed the fact that it was at Blessed Sacrament in St Paul - the same church where i used to attend grade school, was an alter server and sang in the choir. very nostalgic and comfortable being there!! the priest commented as the ceremony concluded on 'Tony and Michelle's beaming happiness and energy that they give off' and noted that they were the 'happiest looking couple he'd ever married'!! I couldn't agree more guys! :)
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We put the 'PARTY' in 'wedding party' (just for you tonz) as we got onto our trolley - cooler locked and loaded - and headed into St Paul for pictures at Mears park and the capital. with the buzz rolling, we piled into the coolest reception hall i've ever been to! It looked more like a fancy restaurant/dance club than it did a hall for rent! I was thrilled to see hundreds of family, including DOZENS of tiny little Adrians i hadn't seen forever, one Smiley Marie out walkin' and dancing around, my nieces-in-law JJ and Em and Nearly all of the 50 odd cousins that I have. It turned out to be, truly, one of the best nights of my life!! Thanks to my parents and Michelle's awesome family for making it all possible!! Picture perfect!!!



the very talented and super cool friends of tony any schmelle's; The Limns. Put on an awesome show and must have played for almost 4 hours it seemed like?? everyone was having such a blast that we had a tough time ever letting them off the stage! such a great addition to the party!!



This has recently become one of my more favorite schwenny photogs! love these two for all time!! :)



Finally, we were able to let go and allow the guys in the band to pack up their stuff as we took over and belted out a few of our favorite tunes... then they picked their instruments back up and played behind us! if you missed the late-night karaoke, you should feel great shame!! ;) a fantastic finish to the eve.
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Through a brilliant appearance from the wedding singer (Mr. Broey Hart!), limbo, congo line, crowd surfing, hours of dancing and dance-offs, karaoke and 10 hours of drinking, you'd have thought we'd be about ready to crash, right?... that's why you don't party as hard as we do! 3 hours after bar-close and after having had more than one gentle conversation with the hotel security guard; the day was done. it is certainly on the all-time list!! :D

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I made it back to the D a few days later and jumped right back into work to the realization that we had no supervisor - she had walked out with a one day notice while i was away! I managed my way through what was left of the week and was starting to get caught up. Our weekend plans for a King of the Mountain Race in the South West of the country were foiled by severe weather so we packed up and headed east instead toward Pohang where we met up with one of my good friends from college, Amy Matthews. Luck would have that it was her birthday the following day! That fact combined with the South Korea and U.S. world cup games happening in the middle of the night, AND a nice hot following day to spend playing beach volleyball at the beach made for an awesome last minute substitution plan!! Thanks Amy!!! great to see ya! ;)

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Then came a true work-place disaster. An over-night flood of a bar two stories above our school caused me to be greeted by ankle-deep standing water throughout most of our school! with a few buckets, some extra hands and a whole lot of teamwork, we managed to somehow carry-out the entire school day! one of the leakiest spots in the building happend to be our teachers' office and there seemed to be a steady stream coming down directly over my desk all night!!! All of july's books, finished graded homework, my schedules.... everything totally ruined. Of course it happens on end-of-the-month testing and recording day... and when we have no supervisor. DISASTER. although there was a strange feeling of accomplishment in over-coming the chaotic circumstances, i hope to NEVER go though anything like it again!!! things are now getting back closer to normal now.....
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The school week is finished now here just hours ago and i head into a 4th of july weekend again filled with travel, new places and a half-marathon PR in mind! The 'Ansan Li-Ning Half' will get conqured on Sunday! Hopefully Sarah can run her 10K that she's registered for despite a 2nd degree burn on the top of her foot acquired from her hair straightener the other day!! poor thing; i told her that her foot hairs looked fine curly!!! ;) We are doing great and she can't wait to someday meet everyone back home!!!
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HAVE AN INCREDIBLE 4th at the cabin!!!!!! i will be there in spirit! love you guys!!!!
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aw :)

Mama, I'm comin' HOME!

Okay, where did i leave off?? After the Seoul weekend and the 3 or 4 days recovery time for my legs that followed, the weekdays were spent showing Katelyn and Sandy (Sarah's mom and sis) around Daejeon. We showed them our favorite places to eat, play darts, get a drink, and of course.... let little fish nibble the dead skin off of your feet. :) Dr. Fish is a little cafe that has such fish and everybody seems to love it if you can get past the overwhelming tickle sensation at the start. Sandy was the biggest gamer at the fish farm and the fish seemed to think her feet to be the tastiest by far.

The gals seemed to have fun in Daejeon (where I live, in case you didn't know that) but then they took advantage of Sarah getting a few days off and headed to beautiful Jeju Island where I would meet up with them on Saturday.

In the meantime, I took advantage of yet another random holiday.... Election day. Anyone who knows what a thick Asian accent would sound like pronouncing Election day should be smiling already... "June 2nd, no school. ERECTION DAY!" my boss told me excited a couple of weeks before! we foreigners had a lot of fun with that one! we celebrated the important national holiday by going out after Dr. Fish on Tuesday night. A big dinner started our buzzes rolling and then we moved on to our new favorite hot spot downtown - the local convenience store!! That's right, they have picnic tables set up on their patio so you can buy beer and sojo (Korean rice whiskey) for dirt cheap inside and then hang out on there all night for free. it's a perfect place for culture-watching and just relaxing all summer - no crappy American music all night either!!

Last stop that night was back to back "Noray-bong" (i guess you would pronounce it). These are karaokee rooms where you rent out a private room for you and about 6 to 8 of your closest and least vocally talented friends and sing your hearts out for HOURS. as always.... bring your own beer!! :) I walked (i use the term loosley) home at dawn and enjoyed my wednesday off!!

Friday after school i headed directly to the train station and bolted south where i was treated to some impressive South African hospitality from my friend Paul who lives in Busan. He met me at the train station and showed me around the new city utill about 3 am. We had a blast and i will be hard-pressed to ever find that kind of hospitality again.... he made himself a bed on the floor and insist that i take his bed! Cheers, man! I owe ya one!

I headed off to the airport after a few hours of sleep and finally made it to Jeju Island around 1 pm on Saturday afternoon. The Alabamian ladies met me at the gate and we bolted to soak in as much as we could in my less-than-24-hour stay there. Jeju is THE tropical vacation spot for Koreans... kind of like if Hawaii was a $65 flight away from the U.S.



We ate lunch on this patio first stop when i got there. BEAUTIFUL weather and views everywhere!!



You find this little statue guy EVERYWHERE on the island... he's aparently some god or protectorate of the island in their ancient beliefs?? I couldn't figure out why they shaped his head like the tip of a penis, can you???

an inviting path leading down to a scenic waterfall....... see below :)

As always, the picture never comes CLOSE to capturing the size, beauty or feeling of the waterfall. It was 100+ feet high and more than 30 across. immediately behind you on the other side was the sea, a rocky volcanic beach and 3 or 4 foot waves crashing in. this was one of my favorite stops on the quick trip!

The Hyatt - Jeju. Look at it perched up on the rocky bluffs above the sea. We didn't stay there, but we did enjoyed an incredible dinner inside and it was a gorgeous property. Strangely, their tourist season here is strictly july and august so many things were still closed, including our hotel's pool still (which they highly over-advertised)! so the gals may have crashed the hyatt for more than just dinner. :)

When we finally got to our hotel, it was close to midnight and when we went to check into our new room, they only had one left... the honeymoon suite! we all stayed in style the last night and enjoyed our massive balcony atop the hill overlooking the sea, jacuzzi tub and spacious living room! The entire week, Sandy and especially Sarah made SURE i didn't pay for anything (not so much as a bus fare)!!! Thank you both for the past two weekends - i had a BLAST!!!!

Now, i'm ready for bed, suitcase packed behind me except for the laptop that i'm typing on! my loooooooong journey starts at 5 am Korean time and ends at 1 pm the same day in minneapolis where my mom and dad are picking me up! it seems strange that only 8 hours will pass on the clock but i will have been traveling for almost 24! -- more bizarrely; my final flight from Tokyo to MSP leaves Tokyo at 4 pm on Friday.... i arrive home after 13 hours have passed and it's actually 3 hours EARLIER on the clock. TIME WARP. :) all of this equates to June 11, 2010 being the longest day of my life.... almost 40 hours long!

I love you all and will see you so soon i can taste it!.... and it does NOT taste like chicken afterall.