Vacation and Back

Where do I even begin? Since my last entry, a lot has happened: my parents came to Korea, I went to Tokyo with my parents, I went to Hong Kong and China with my parents, I went to Nepal and trekked around the Annapurna Himalayas with Tracey, I came back to Korea and had my first week of classes, etc.

Since chronological order is important to me, I guess I'll just follow in that order.

My parents arrived in Korea on January 24th. Before they got here, I went up to Seoul and then visited Amy Tseng in Hwacheon. I went back to Seoul the morning of the 24th to check into the hotel and then go to the airport to get my parents. It was actually REALLY nice to see them after so long. Granted, it's only a little bit of more time spent away from them than when I was in college, but so much has changed since I last saw them that it was just really great to see them again. Honestly, I was worried before they got here because I realized I was spending close to three weeks with them in Asia. While I will always love my parents, I also recognize that there is a time limit as to how much time I can spend with them before going a bit crazy. This time around though, things went great. Don't get me wrong, there were moments when I needed to take a break from them but overall, I found that I've learned to appreciate them so much more now as an adult. Now that I've "matured" or whatnot, I noticed so much more about them, their personalities, their habits, their strengths, their shortcomings, etc. It was so eye-opening. Some things I realized, in short:
-My parents are a hell of a lot more fun than I ever realized
-They are funnier than I ever remember
-They both trust me/rely on me and my knowledge and think that I know more than they do; they trust my input (they would make statements, then say, "Right, Ammy?" to see if I agreed or disagreed)
-They really do love each other, even if they show it in unconventional ways
-My dad is getting old and can't walk too long or for too far distances
-My dad is SO chill (I get this from him)
-My mom has a lot of energy (I get this from her)
-My mom walks FAST, my dad walks SLOW (and I walk at a pace somewhere in-between) so I have no idea how they ever dated
-My dad is frugal and cheap
-My mom is picky about food and likes fried foods
-My mom likes the outdoors and looking at pretty nature sights
-My dad doesn't seem to have much of a preference for much
-My dad takes up a lot of space when he sleeps
-My mom hates lines and will cut people in line
-My dad smells, REALLY. I need to introduce him to deodorant.
-My mom likes to drink a little bit and then claims she drank a LOT
-My dad can spot alcohol a mile away, especially when he's on the lookout for it
-My mom takes things to the extreme
-My dad makes a lot of random comments that are hilarious (I get this from him)
-My mom likes to copy me at times
-They act like little kids at times when they argue about things or make fun of each other
-They are very similar in that they both like to be right and act like they always know what's going on (even when they have no clue)
-My dad never admits when he's wrong and has a horrible sense of direction
-My mom likes to act helpless at times but also likes to act like she's a genius at times
-I love my parents A LOT

I spent a lot of time with them. When they got into Korea, I took them to all the touristy places in Seoul (all the palaces and whatnot) for a few days. From there, I took them to Geumsan so they could buy Ginseng. They really liked it there. From there, I took them to Mokpo where they got to meet my hometsay and see my school. The last stop was Busan where we did more touristy things before heading off to Japan. It was kinda cool that I got to do the touristy things with them while they were here because I hadn't done most of them before and now I don't have to do them again. Tokyo was a little overwhelming at points. When they were in Korea, I had a lot of control over what to do because of the fact that I live in Korea now and know how to get around, what to do, etc (more or less). When we were in Tokyo, I was without access to a phone (no internet/maps to look up stuff if I'm lost) and had never been to Japan myself so I was trying to figure it out while leading them. To be honest, I think I was more worried about making sure they were okay, getting fed, having fun, etc than myself. If I was with a friend in Japan or even by myself, I could go at my own pace and do whatever and be okay with it. Instead, I was concerned for my parents' sake. On the first day in Japan, I was overwhelmed with the train/subway transportation system. It's HUGE and rather confusing at first. Since its not operated by the government/central entity, but rather by private companies, there are a lot of different lines and ways to get places. Luckily, we were staying in Shinjuku, which is a major hub and had a lot to do around the area so my parents weren't too bored. We were in Tokyo for 4 days but I think we did almost all of the touristy things within 3 days. Tokyo was fine but it wasn't anything amazing to me; I think the experience of visiting Tokyo with my parents is a lot different than had I visited with friends though. I will note that Japanese people are EXTREMELY helpful and kind though. Knowing no Japanese and not always knowing how to get somewhere, I had to stop and ask people for directions a lot of the time. Everyone I asked would stop and help me. They would even go out of their way to make sure I got there. I remember asking one man who was going in the opposite direction for help; he stopped and walked me in the opposite direction of where he was going to a tourist information office about 50 meters away. Out of all the Asian countries I've been to so far, Japanese people are the kindest and most willing to help foreigners/strangers. From Tokyo, we went to Hong Kong, for a whole 8 hours. Long story short, I had purchased tickets from Tokyo to Hong Kong because my parents told me we had to arrive in HK by February 5th. They had booked for us to go on a tour in China with a tour group that was leaving on the 5th. What I didn't realize was that the tour group was going to depart HK for Shanghai and the tour was for Shanghai and other cities nearby. So why is this a big deal? Well, we had to transfer in Shanghai to get to HK so it was a waste. So what ended up happening was we left Tokyo for Shanghai (where we transferred) and then went to HK from Shanghai. We arrived in HK late at night (delayed flight), around midnight. By the time we got to the hotel that one of my relatives booked for us, it was around 2am. The plan was to leave to go back to the airport by 7am to catch a flight back to Shanghai with our tour group to start the tour. YEAH. It was very inefficient and unnecessary. It left my parents and me in a very cranky mood. I don't remember exactly where we went but I know we were in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, as well as a few other cities. My parents had fun, which was all I was really worried about. The tour was kinda boring to me but I didn't mind too much. The tour group would hit up 1 or maybe 2 tourist spots a day and also a factory where they sold us some product (jade, silk, pearls, tea). Other than that, we spent our time eating (very full and good meals) and sitting on the bus traveling to the next spot. It was also pretty cold in China. It was a five day tour; we arrived back into Hong Kong on Lunar New Year Eve. We went to the Lunar New Year Fair/Flower Festival that night. They sell flowers, balloons, trinkets, stuffed animals, food, etc. It's crazy. It's apparently this huge tradition that HK does every year. They are open until 6am or so or whenever they sell out of all their products. It was JAM PACKED with people. I felt like I was being herded through the entire thing.
The next day, on Lunar New Years Day, we took a bus back to China. We were going to Guangdong, the province where my parents are from. More specifically, we were starting in Enping, where my mom is from, and then traveling to my dad's old home. This was the first time my dad has been back to China since the 1980s when they took my brother back when he was a one year old. I could tell my dad was really excited and happy to be back. I could also sense his fear of the unknown. It was like watching a little kid and it was really endearing. I got to see most of my relatives that are still in China while back and while it was only for a few days, I really enjoyed and cherished the time I did get to spend with them. As I'm getting older, I think my family is getting more and more important to me. My family has always been important to me but I think my appreciation for them is getting stronger and stronger as I mature. When I leave for Nepal on the 15th, I actually didn't want to leave my parents. I found that I really enjoyed being with them and I also realized that this was the last time I would really spend an extended amount of time with them. Once I start my career, I won't have that much time for vacation or traveling with them. Thus, when I left for the airport, I found myself crying a little. There's also this realization that my parents are invincible and they are only getting older. If nothing else, I'm glad I spent some of my vacation with them.

From Guangzhou, I went to Kathmandu to meet Tracey. We were both flying into Nepal (she was coming from Vietnam) to start our planned Everest Base Camp trek. We had booked through Trailblazers online and the plan was to spend the night in Kathmandu and then fly out early the next morning to begin our trek. We had to fly into Lukla to begin our trek to Everest Base Camp. The problem was that the weather was bad and although our original flight time was 6:30am, we couldn't get a flight out. We waited until 2pm to find out all the flights to Lukla were cancelled for the day. From there, we went back to the hotel to stay another night and hope for better weather the next day. We didn't have better luck on the 17th. There were multiple concerns about this: if the weather was bad (snowstorm), it would make it even harder to trek; since we're already delayed a day or two, we don't know if we would be able to make it to the base camp; the potential that the weather could also be bad in a week and we wouldn't be able to get a flight back to Kathmandu to make our international flight back to Korea. So we went to the Trailblazer office and picked another trek--that is, the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) trek. It was supposed to be a lot less strenuous (it was an easy trek compared to the moderate Everest Base Camp trek). So, due to weather and conditions outside of our control, we started our trek through the Annapurna Himalayas. I do honestly believe everything happens for a reason and that hindsight is 20/20. While it's not fair to say that we wouldn't hated our initial trek or had a hard time, etc, I can say that I did enjoy the ABC trek we did. We walked through Rhododendron forests and mountains. I think we experienced so many different things, from temperature differences (extremely hot and sweaty to bitter and numbing coldness) to different scenic spots (flowers and forests to snow peaked mountains). We also passed by and stayed in mountain villages. Those were interesting. It's literally a bed and a table. The walls are usually a piece of plywood. The toilet is usually outside or inside (if you're lucky) and indoor plumbing isn't available. Showers are interesting too. Some places require you to pay but all the places we stayed at were gracious enough to not charge us. Still, there was a period of 4 days that I didn't shower because it was cold and the pipes were frozen (closer to ABC).
Here's how our journey went:
Start trekking in Nayapool 1100 meters
Day 1: Trek through farmlands and villages to arrive in Ulleri 2073 meters
Day 2: Trek through villages, farmland, and forest to arrive in Ghorepani 2855 meters
Day 3: Wake up and trek to see the sunrise over Himalayas on Poon Hill 3200 meters and get stuck in Ghorepani for an extra day due to bad weather conditions
Day 4: Scale ice before arriving in Tadapani 2630 meters
Day 5: See monkeys and a woodpecker before arriving in Chhomrong 1950 meters
Day 6: See mountain deer, and trek through ridges and mountains to arrive in Himalaya 2873 meters
Day 7: Arrive at Machhapuchhre Base Camp 3700 meters, where we are staying for the night but continue trekking up to Annapurna Base Camp 4170 meters in a white-out-can't-see-50meters-infront-of-me
Day 8: Trek back to Chhomrong 1950 meters
Day 9: Arrive in Syauli Bazar 1300 meters
Day 10: Arrive back in Nayuapool 1100 meters

Here are some pictures from the trip:
It was no doubt one of those adventures I will always talk about when introducing myself to a group of strangers. Not everyone can say they've done a 10-day trek through the Himalayas.

From Nepal, Tracey and I got back to Korea safely on March 1st. We decided to splurge and stay in a hotel instead of a hostel for Friday night before heading back to Mokpo later on Saturday night. I had a dentist appointment that Saturday morning and we also both wanted to go to the hair salon. Tracey got a keratin and straightener treatment while I got a perm. IT TOOK SO LONG. I've never done anything to my hair other than gotten it cut so sitting there for hours was painful. I was really happy with the result though!

I dreaded the beginning of school on Monday though. Even after a two month vacation, I wasn't looking forward to going back to school and teaching. Maybe it was the fact that I knew I would have 23 classes and over 800 students. Or maybe it was the fact that I hadn't lesson planned at all yet. Or maybe it was the fact that the third years, whom I loved, all graduated. It was a combination of things. The first day was a hot mess. I think it had to do with the fact that it wasn't just the first day for but also the first day for all the other teachers and the students, as well. I felt bad asking for anything or taking too much of my co-teachers' time since I knew they were probably really busy as well, prepping for their classes, getting settled, etc. It was exasperated by the fact that I found out my main co-teacher, Mr. Lee is now a homeroom teacher for a second year class and Mr. Cho is now the head teacher for all the first years (head of all the first year homeroom teachers, in addition to being a first year homeroom teacher himself). Between the two of them, I get all my information about the school, my classes, events and happenings, scheduling, etc. Now, I feel like I will be extremely out of the loop because they're both really busy. Mr. Cho even said to me that if I need anything, I'll need to go to Mr. Lee now. Funny thing is, Mr. Lee said that he's really busy now. My first main thought the first day was, "This is going to be a long and interesting semester." Regarding Mr. Cho, since he's now in charge of all the other first year homeroom teachers, he's spent a lot of time in the first year homeroom teachers' office, leaving me to myself in our office. On Friday, two students even moved his computer to his other desk in that office. This past week, I saw him only a handful of times in our office, and it was usually only when he sat down to eat his lunch. He's not there in the mornings when I come in, during breaks when I'm coming back to drop off and pick up stuff for classes, or when I leave for the day. With his computer gone, he has even less of a reason to come by our office. This means, I'm alone in my office, in the corner of the building, where no one comes (unless they have class in the next classroom over). There is no way I'm going to be plugged in this semester. I'm pretty worried about that. However, I do know that the third year homeroom teachers all love me. They're a bunch of ajusshis but everytime I come in, all of them stop and see what I need. They even feed me and tell me to come whenever I want, to just hang out in their office with them. I stopped by to see Mr. Kim, one of my English co-teachers, and though Mr. Kim was not to be found, one of the other teachers handed me two California oranges. Yep, the third year homeroom teachers are pretty awesome.

Other notes:
Seeing the Mokpo crew for the first time in two months was really nice. I didn't realize how much I missed them until I saw them again. I think final parting in July will be really hard.
I missed my homestay family. Although I really, really like them and care for them, and I can tell they care and worry about me, I think they're so chill, to the extent that I'm not sure how much they actually care. For example, when I go out, they don't contact me or check up on me, which is nice, but also a bit worrying. I know they worry though; I was out with Mokpo on this past Friday and came home a little after 1am. The lights in the living room were still on and my host mom and host brother were passed out in the living room. I knew that my host mom had tried to stay up to make sure I got home okay from this action. I shut off the lights for them and then proceeded to bed myself.
I can't believe there are only about 4 months and some left in my grant year. The Fulbright conference in Jeju is coming up (it's on my birthday! :D) so it just feels even more so like this grant year is flying by. Although I don't feel like I have anything left that I "need to do," I feel like I should try to experience some more things before leaving Korea. That being said, if I'm honest with myself, I feel like I am ready to go back to America and start the next step. I don't want to live in the future and miss being in the present, but I can't help but be excited to the next thing right now. I like Korea, I do, and it's been a great grant year, full of adventure and new experiences, but I'm glad I have something to look forward to when I head back home.

And Like That, A Week Into 2013

Well, 2013 has already started to move faster than I'd like. It's already more than week in...

Highlights of the beginning of 2013:
New Years Eve: I trekked up to Seoul with some Mokpo crew. We met up with some people and got lunch and then we left for Bridget's gathering/pre-game. Bridget's cousin has an apartment in Seoul but he was traveling with his wife so he left it in Bridget's hands. There were some appetizers, wine, music, and good company.

Afterwards, we split up. I was part of the earlier group who wanted to make it out to Hongdae before midnight. We met up with another ETA group at Bar Zen and that's where we rang in 2013. Some of Tracey's Rice friends were also there; two of them were visiting Korea from America. A bit after midnight, we went to the club, Harlem. Around 2:30am or so, I saw some of Tracey's college friends so I knew she was around. I was told she wasn't feeling well (too many drinks too fast) so I went to the bathroom. I ended up switching on and off with Jaeyon throughout the night watching her, holding her hair in the bathroom, etc. Around 5:30am, the remaining ETAs (minus Jonathan, of course) decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel. I half walked, half carried Tracey back and by the time I showered and passed out, it was 6:30am. Definitely a more party-toned New Years Eve, to say the least.

New Years Day: We woke up around 11am (not bad for sleeping at 6:30am) and met up with a bunch of ETAs for American brunch in Itaewon. Afterwards, most people went their own way but a few of us (Nic, Liam, Lizzie, Tracey, and me) went to the Korean War Memorial Museum, which was pretty cool. Afterwards, Tracey and I had to meet up Payal and Anna because Payal's family was in town and she wanted to introduce me to them. We met them at a restaurant while they were eating dinner; soon afterwards, they headed out to Incheon because they had an early flight back to the States the next morning. After we met them, Tracey's Rice friends met up with us again and we went out to dinner with them. At this point, other people started diverging as well. Nic headed back to Gumi, Payal and Anna went to Payal's hotel to plan some travel stuff, two of Tracey's friends left for their respective homes in Korea (one is also a teacher in Korea). I went with Lizzie to her hostel to pick up my bags, which I had dropped off earlier that morning so I didn't have to carry it all day. Afterwards, we (Lizzie and I) met up with Tracey, Eric (one of Tracey's Rice friends), Payal, Anna, Jet, and Vlad (Jet's brother visiting from Japan). From there, we planned on staying up all night until 7am, when Eric would have to go to the airport and head back to America. Our first stop was to a bar; it was a chill bar where we sat around with our drinks and just chatted without any loud music blaring. From there we grabbed some drinks from a convenience store and hit up a 노래방 where we sang for a few hours. Eric introduced a new drink to us--soju and coffee. It's actually pretty tasty. At this point, it was around 4:30am and I was starting to get hungry so we hit up the Taco Bell. Unfortunately, chalupas were not on the menu so I stuck with a grand crunch supreme (yes, these are important details for this blog). It was delicious. Payal and Anna were tired and Payal wasn't feeling so hot so they headed back to their hotel. Tracey, Eric, and I were planning on going to a DVD 방 where we could watch a movie before heading to the airport but we ended up going to a cafe instead. There were a lot of people up and awake surprisingly. There were at least a few other groups in the cafe too. Seoul is definitely an interesting place with insomniacs. Around 7am, we headed back to Eric's hostel to pick up his stuff and then we hailed to Seoul Station where he would be able to take an express bus to the airport. From there, Tracey and I headed to Payal's hotel, where we were gonna pass out for a few hours. I ended up passing out around 7:30am or so and then waking up around 11:40am to make it out in time for checkout at noon. What an interesting two days of 2013.

January 2nd, 2013: I can't remember much of what we did--probably cause we didn't do much that day. Anna left really early, before I even woke up, because she needed to spend time with her grandparents. Payal, Tracey, and I went to Myeongdong 명동 and got some lunch. Then we sat and chatted in a cafe while waiting for Lizzie to find us. Payal had to leave for Busan to pack before going back to America. We shopped around and Sarah Joo joined us too. After dinner, I left with Sarah to stay at her aunt's place for the night. The plan was to meet up with Tracey the next morning to go to Daejeon and spend a day or two there. I was also planning on meeting up with my host family since they were in Daejeon hanging out with my host dad who's starting a new travel agency office there.

January 3rd, 2013: Sarah and I headed to Seoul station early in the morning and met up with Tracey to take the KTX to Daejeon. When we got there around 2pm, we met up with Jonathan and got a late lunch. Then they took us to Yuseong Spa where I got scrubbed head to toe by an ajumma for 16,000won. It was so worth it. I felt so clean afterwards. From there, Nina met up with us for dinner at a burger place. The day was really relaxing and I definitely felt like I was on vacation since all I did was eat, sit in a spa, and eat. I didn't get any more productive after dinner either. We went to the center of downtown and waited in line at this club/bar thing. We must've waited for an hour and change. We weren't even sure if we'd get in because they don't let foreigners in usually. This was THE bar though and Nina said they play 80s and 90s Korean music with a few other songs mixed in. She didn't sell it well but it was actually a lot of fun once we got in. The DJ plays some chill music in the background and every group has their own table or what not (like a restaurant set up). There is a huge dance floor in front of the DJ though. Then every 15-20 minutes, the DJ darkens the room and plays dancing music and almost everyone hits the dance floor. After another 20 minutes or so, he goes back to the chill music and people go back to their tables and eat, chat, etc. It was a good time. The Koreans were definitely getting into it. Around 3am, we all split and headed our ways. Tracey and I were staying at Sarah's homestay place for the night. She's got an interesting set up. She's one of the few ETAs who lives in a home and she lives on the first floor while the rest of her homestay family lives on the third floor. She has her own apartment, if you will. Even when Sarah asked her homestay mom if it was cool if we stayed with her, her mom told her to do whatever she wanted because it was her apartment.

January 4th, 2013: I ended up not meeting up with my host family in Deajeon because they were far away at a mountain and it was going to be a hassle to get to them. The three of us ate lunch with Sarah's homestay family, who are really cool. They're a very dynamic and funny family. I actually think I could fit in really well with their dynamic if they were my host family. The host mom is a hoot and jokes around with her daughters, etc. It's hilarious and crazy to watch. After lunch, Tracey headed back to Seoul and I went back to Mokpo. It was nice to get back to my room and bed after a week of hostels and staying in other peoples' homes.

January 5th, 2013: I bummed around. That's about most of it. There were only a few Mokpo people around and they were busy so I just hung out with my host family, which consisted of laying around, watching TV, watching movies on my laptop, etc. I definitely felt like I was on vacation.

January 6th, 2013: After lunch with my host family, I went to Gwangju to meet up with Jaeyon. I had to take a bus out of downtown to meet her closer to her homestay in Suwon. We walked around Lotte outlets and saw the movie, Life of Pi. It was a pretty decent movie--very philosophical and thought-provoking. Liam was going to join us for dinner since he had soccer camp until 4pm. We met him at U-Square and went to TGIF's for dinner. Yes, I realize it's very foreigner of us. Afterwards, Jaeyon had to go home to bake cookies for her winter camp the next day. Liam and I went back to Mokpo and grabbed a drink before heading home. It was nice to just kick back and chat.

January 7th-9th (today), 2013: So the original plan was to meet up with Kathy on Monday and go snowboarding and hang out until Wednesday. I tried to reach her on Sunday night but she wasn't responding so I figured something might be wrong. She Kakaoed me on Monday morning saying she had gotten sick and had to go to the hospital. So my plans fell through on that. I ended up hanging out around my homestay. I've pretty much been the definition of a bum. I stay in my PJs a lot of the day and watch movies. I feel like it's not that bad though since it is vacation and I'm allowed to do this for a few days. It's not like this is going to be the rest of my vacation so I might as well make the most of it. I've met up with a few Mokpo kids and even gone to piano academy.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Seoul in the morning to make it to lunch with Tracey and her mom (who's visiting Korea for 10 days) and to a dentist appointment. Afterwards, I'm heading up to Hwacheon with a few other ETAs to go to the Hwacheon Ice Festival and visit Maggie. Then I'm gonna go back to Seoul on Saturday for a basketball game and a night of raging for Jonathan's birthday. On Sunday, I'm gonna go to Cheongju to stay with Anna for the night before we go snowboarding on Monday and Tuesday. Next Wednesday, I'll be in Busan and helping in Ben's Busan University's English class. Then I'll head off to Gyeongju for a temple stay in Golgulsa (it's a martial arts Buddhist temple, holler). Then I'll be back in Mokpo on the 18th to make it to the nurse's wedding on the 19th. It's gonna be a busy week and a half starting tomorrow. I'm excited. I'm sure I'll have a lot to blog about next time around.

Other random things: people keep getting engaged. Serena got engaged to Cole. It happened the day before Christmas, I think. I talked to her about it yesterday on webcam and she seems happy so I'm happy for her.

Goodbye 2012

I'm tired and have to wake up in 4 hours to get to the bus station and sit on a bus for a little less than 5 hours. I'll be ringing in 2013 in Seoul with some ETAs and two friends from college who are visiting relatives on their break (Andrew Lee and Ben Park). Yet, I figured I should have one last post before the new year.

There's a lot to say and I don't have the energy to say all of it but it's been a heck of a year. From graduating college to coming to Korea, it's easy to say that time flies by when only a few months ago only seemed like yesterday. It's hard to capture that fleeting memory though, hard to place it in its correct time and place.

2012 will be a year I will always remember. It was a year of milestones for me. A year of new chapters, which require ending of previous chapters. I became newly single at the beginning of this year, after being in a relationship for a little less than 4 years. I graduated from the great University of Michigan. I went to Kenya and got a taste of entrepreneurship work. I decided to pack up my life for a year and move to South Korea to teach English. I lost two grandparents in a span of two weeks. It's been quite the year.

Now, I don't want to be cliche and make absolutely enormous new year resolutions that I won't keep. I'll try to keep it simple. Every year, I never make any resolutions or pacts to myself. I figure I should try this year.

My 2013 New Year Resolutions:
1. Pray more often.
2. Read the Bible at least for 5 minutes a day. Baby steps.
3. Write down at least 3 things I am thankful for pe r day. (I already bought a small notebook that I will carry around in my bag for this!)
4. Smile and laugh more (I know this is vague but this is the best I've got).
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I'm ready for 2013. Let's hope it's also a year of many milestones. Cheers.