The biggest change for me is that my two best friends John and Anne left for a three month tour of South East Asia, came back for 10 days, then left again and are now back him in the good ol' US of A. This has been the biggest change for me since John and I spent more than half of our free time together and always went biking/adventuring on the weekends. We have many traditions that we do together including Sunday bike and hike and Wednesday game nights. You can see some of the amazing pictures in my albums.
After John and Anne left I moved into their apartment which is nicer than my old one. It is just up the street but more friendly and homey so I have been able to have people over more.
The best part of the recent changes is what I did last weekend; my first real vacation since I came to Korea! Working at my academy we do not get many vacations. In fact only two per year where we get Monday and Tuesday off for the Lunar New Year and Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok 추석). Last Lunar New Year I did go snowboarding which was surprisingly empty and awesome, and last Chuseok I went to Busan to see my friend Amber. Both were very lazy restful weekends.
This Chuseok I decided to go to the Hawaii of Korean; Jeju-do (A Korean island to the south of the mainland). It was incredible! We friend Peter and I left after work on Friday and took the subway to Seoul to meet up with 75 other foreigners and a couple of Koreans and took three all night charter buses down to the southern tip of Korea (Mokpo) then we took a ferry to the Jeju. We arrived Saturday evening and Peter and I went for a swim in the Sea. We swam out to an island, felt how awesome we were then swam back to find the tide had come in and washed away our shirts and sandals.
Day 2 It was a loud night as we had a Tropical Storm Kulap and well as a lot of thunder in the 6 person room with 2 people (Peter including) snoring quite loudly. We woke up early to board the bus to hike through a lava tube. It was cold and wet and the power went out briefly leaving us in the dark in a cave full of girlish screams (also Peter). Then back to the bus to head to a trick art musuem (meh) and then off to another ferry to see Udo Island; a very tiny island off of Jeju. Luckily the weather cleared by this point because one of the main purposes of this island is to take ATV's all over the island, riding along the beach and then hiking into some massive caves (which it is now be goal for Korea to go back and spend the weekend camping in the caves). Then we got back on the ferry and hiked up Crater Mountain on Jeju which gives get another glorious view of the islands and the sea. After that we headed back to our hotel/beach area (oh btw, the hotel was right on the beach) and
Day 3. It was a lazy day were Peter and I got up and walked barefoot to the minimart down the street to buy new sandals. Then we rented some kayaks for the day (for about $15) and spent the afternoon with an American couple just soaking up the sun and yes having some seaside beers. Once we were finished for the evening we bought some Roman Candle fireworks and had a good ol fashioned Roman Candle fight. Much fun had by all.
Day 4 Woke up at 6 got and the bus and headed home. We got back to Seoul around 9 PM and Peter and I took a cab back to Ansan, then went to the jimjilbang (Korean sauna) for a good soak to wash out all the sand from our places.
And that was my awesome vacation! I look forward to doing more very soon. And one thing I didn't mention was the absolutely enormous amount of wonderful people from all over the world that I met. Peter called me a jabber-jaw because I was talking with everyone. He has only been here a couple months. I'm not accustomed to speaking to new English-speakers.
Well if you are still reading now I applaud to your-stick-to-it-iveness. The next thing in live for me is to keep on working. my contract is up in June still but after this sweet taste of vacation awesomeness I feel like I might need to take a quarter sabbatical and visit some beautiful beaches somewhere. A month would be awesome. It has been difficult to meet so many great people only to have them leave and go back home or even just leave and go on amazing vacations to Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, China, Japan etc..
Oh, man?!?! I just checked my last post and I haven't posted since some of the most spectacular news:
I PAID OFF ALL OF MY STUDENT LOANS!!!!
Part of the reason why I haven't taken any trips till now is because I have been so crazy about saving money to pay off all of my student loans as being in debt is a terrible feeling for me. I paid them off a good 9 years in advance. I RULE! So now all the money I am saving here will go to savings as well as an awesome several month vacation around the world.
Sorry if there are grammar/spelling mistakes. This was written during classes as a stream of consciousness and i want to go home now.
