Six Months of Travel: Thailand [February 2013]

After my 12 months in Korea, after surviving a real winter and after saving some money, an adventure was needed.

 

It started off in Thailand, where I met a few of my friends from Korea for a week in paradise. We stayed in a villa on the island of Koh Samui. With a rooftop pool. Please & thank you. We barely managed to survive with our endless beaches, nighttime markets and getting lost in the rain, but we made it. As tourists do, a trip necessity was the Full Moon Party. With our neon shirts and body paint, we fit right in! 

 

After our luxury week, I set off to Bangkok for a solo journey, with a last dinner with Lauren, Troy and Vinny to see me off. I made it to Koh San Road, which quickly went from a friendly tuk tuk driver helping me find a hostel to a marriage proposal to him trying to molest me. Cue me calling Rob to bawl my eyes out. After surviving my first 24 hours of traveling alone in Bangkok and not feeling too keen, I manned up and made my way to Chiang Mai. Thank goodness, because Bangkok almost ruined this beautiful country for me. Not only did I spend a day at the Elephant Nature Park, I met a great couple, changed plans to stay at their hostel and went out with the group to a night market. 

 

Now here's where I jump up and down—Tiger Kingdom! We saw the littlest tigers (less than six months) and the biggest female tigers. One of the big females took a liking to one of the guys I went with, following him around the pen and making us all a bit nervous. They. Are. Massive. And photogenic.

 

And let's not forget the food. Cheap. Fast. Delicious. Filling. A nice combination of street food and restaurant meal.

   

I still need to make my way down to Phuket to enjoy southern Thailand and surrounding areas, so I'm not done with the Land of Smiles quite yet. Up next is my two months at home! x

Au Revoir! Adios! Anyeong! Arrivederci!

Needless to say, I'm not in Korea anymore. January brought on a month-long school break, which meant being able to relax at home in January; my head teacher was my favorite person that month. Unfortunately, the boyfriend wasn't so lucky, and I ended up being quite the housewife. Cue grocery shopping, washing dishes and doing laundry for two. Don't think that I'm complaining! Heating was on nonstop and I somehow found myself with an entire apartment acting as my closet.
February came before I knew it, along with my last two weeks of "school" in Korea. Those of you who knew my schedule during my second semester in Korea can attest to my usage of quotation marks. I taught a maximum of ten lessons each week for my last semester. And yes, I still turned down the contract renewal for the easiest job that I will ever have.

Most of the children were lovely and the job wasn't difficult, but Gyeongju isn't for me. It never felt like home, even with the great friends that I made there. I want to live in a place that I'm comfortable in and smile thinking about. That doesn't mean not getting lost or having to ask for help or not knowing what kind of meat ends up on your plate. I love those experiences wherever I am. But after the first six months, it definitely felt like a one-year deal.

I'm beyond blessed for the experience. For my first time living outside of California (let alone the United States), no major crisis happened where I felt the need to book an immediate flight home. It exposed me to so many new types of experiences, foods, people and different sides of myself. It also allowed me to reflect on how I lived in the states. WOW did I spend a lot of money online shopping.

Even after all of my badmouthing about Korea, every cloud has a silver lining. Or in this case, a few. Not only am I still friendly with people in Korea, but I'm also enjoying traveling the world with my boyfriend. And. AND. The cherry on top is that my younger sister is looking into being an ESL teacher as well. See? My stories couldn't have been that bad if she's still interested.

This still only brings me to mid-February.

More to come x

Mark Twain: An educational journey

Explore. Dream. Discover.

Just soaking up my winter break days that are not filled with mindless desk warming, classes or camp and counting down to Thailand, my trip back home and future travel adventures.

Full comic (among others) can be found here.

New Year Resolutions: 2013 Edition

I had a really short fuse growing up. So one year, I told myself that before I got angry at someone and spat out something obnoxious, I would breathe and slowly count to ten in my head. 

Maybe it only worked for that year. Or maybe I'm a calmer person because of it. Either way, I'm a bit fond of year-long goals. 


2012 Resolution: Visit five new countries—Check.

Korea. France. Netherlands. Germany. Philippines.


2013 Resolutions:

Visit five new countries; live in one.
Read another Steinbeck novel.
Be more open; say yes, even if my initial reaction is no.

Holiday Season: New Years!

I am anti all things cold, particularly this Korean winter, where they keep saying that each day is "the coldest one of the season"...until the next one comes along.

With that being said, I just had my favorite NYE celebration to date. In the Philippines.

Not only were we able to spend our days day drinking in the sun and swimming in the ocean, but we also ended up making a bff for the trip, Mark. We started off our last day of 2012 by having Mark take us to some hot springs and do an intense rock climb to A WATERFALL in Alegria. We had to use three guides (15-year-old boys, obvs), a ladder (super safe) and follow their steps to basically not die, but it was definitely worth it.

After playing a few games of shithead with Rob, we went off to celebrate NYE with Mark and his family. Yes, a man who we had just met a couple of days ago invited us into his home to celebrate with his entire family. We drank, ate, sang and lit fireworks with the locals of this small town, and I could not have been happier.

Also. The lechon manok (whole roasted chicken) that is sold in the streets is perfection. Each vendor has their own secret sauce/spices that they use, so we tried both of the ones in town. I'm done with Korean food; I need more of this immediately.

Hope you all had a great start to 2013! Looking forward to seeing you soon.

xo

Korean Lessons 101, Courtesy of David So

Full of extra syllables for your viewing pleasure.

#merrychristmaseve

xo

Holiday Season: Thanksgiving

Cheers to the holiday that celebrates all of the foods that are the most difficult to find in Korea! As most holiday weekends do, Thanksgiving started off strong, with a trip to the bars on Thursday to celebrate the Gyeongju waygook community and a birthday.

Needless to say, double gin & tonics made my Friday difficult…until my head teacher canceled all of my lessons, let me nap until lunch and then sent me home to feel better. He could clearly see through my façade of “No, I’m okay. Are you suuuure that you want to watch movies today? Okay, maybe that is best…” And it set the much needed, relaxed tone for the rest of my Friday. Just another reason to give thanks!

Saturday was reserved for the Thanksgiving feast, hosted by Jessica and Spencer. With over 25 people, it was quite the event! Like any traditional Thanksgiving, there were endless amounts of food and drink. It’s things like Saturday night that make me smile: Even in a country that most of us will only be in for a short time, we’ve formed such unique relationships with one another. Regardless of my seemingly bipolar feelings for Korea throughout the year, I’m really thankful for the relationships that have happened here.

Hope you spent the holiday weekend with your loved ones & enjoyed every minute of it! I can’t wait to spend my first few weeks in the states re-celebrated the holidays of the past year!

xo

Holiday Season: My Birthday!

Birthday girl!

So I'm officially old and busted in my MID TWENTIES. Jesus when did this happen. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that in the past few years, I graduated from UCLA, had a real person job and moved to a foreign country. 

Friday could not have started off any better—western breakfast! Then during school, my head teacher canceled half of my classes and gave me a present, calling me a "strong and mature woman." (I know, right? Of course I am.) As per any usual Friday night in Gyeongju, dak galbi dinner lived up to its glory, as did the soju shots that accompanied it. Not only did my friends sing Happy Birthday to me with a cake at the bowling alley, but then round two of the cake + singing combo happened at Cocos. I mean, seriously. How am I this lucky to have met such wonderful people? And I obviously beat everyone at bowling (bowling skills almost match my pool skills, duh), in case you were wondering.

Dak galbi birthday dinner!

A few friends and I continued the celebration in Daegu on Saturday. Not only did we get Mexican food (obviously including margaritas and, my personal favorite, tequila), but shots and bag drinks were at every turn. I ended up running into another birthday girl, who—upon seeing my empty hands at one point—bought me two bags of who-knows-what to enjoy. Um, clearly my hangover was dedicated to her. MK and I also had the pleasure of beating David and Juan at darts—cherry on top!

Celebrating in Daegu

I really want to thank everyone who took the time out of their day to send me well wishes, both in Korea and abroad. The letters and packages from around the world and the celebrations in Korea made this so special. I was a bit nervous about my first birthday away from home, and you all made it so lovely. I'm beyond thankful to have all of you in my life, whether we only chat a few times a year or every day. Truly blessed.


PS My mother decided to have a "surprise birthday party" for me back home. My dad, mom and Amanda went to Farrell's to celebrate. Yep. The photo below shows cutouts of me and Kristina...at the restaurant... Looking. Good. And clearly wanting some of that dessert.

Really flattering photo of me and K

xo

The Start of the Holiday Season

November is finally here! Also known as Movember, Thanksgiving month and, most importantly (!!!), my birthday month.

It'll also mark my nine month anniversary in Korea. Damn.

The holidays are an emotional time for everyone. Especially me. Ask my family; I cry during TV shows. 'Tis the season for loved ones, parties and an endless supply of food and alcohol. As I celebrated Halloween on a booze cruise in Seoul this past weekend—while blocking out a boy's "game recognizes game, girl" sad attempt #swag—I started remembering all of the adventures I have during the October-January timeframe:


Halloween in San Diego. Costumes. Thing One and Thing Two will forever be remembered. As will secret keeping.

My birthday in Vegas. Bottle service? Why not. Every time? Tradition.

Thanksgiving and Christmas. With family and friends. Cooking and baking and laughing. Experiencing joy. And, without fail, my mom's burnt cookies.

NYE in Vegas. I mean, it's NYE. In. Las. Vegas. Best friends and sparkle dresses. What's not to love?


But this year, I'm here. It's not the physical locations that I'm going to miss (okay, maybe a little), but the people and the feelings. These holidays are filled with fun and positivity and togetherness.

So on that note, I came up with my birthday present list. If you're in Korea, I want a hug. Not a we're-drunk-girls-and-love-everyone hug or a half-assed, side-armed hug. A legit, I-like-you-as-a-person hug. I miss those. Or if food is more of your thing, either french toast, pancakes or a grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup will do. If you're in another country, letters will be perfect.


Sidenote: Since coming back to school for second semester in August, I have yet to have a full schedule of classes. Something I'm thankful for? Check!

xo

"For your health"

My head teacher has this habit of trying to save my life.

During the summer, with the aircon blasting and making the humidity slightly tolerable, he would open the doors and windows. To even out the classroom and outdoor temperatures? To waste energy? To screw with the foreigner? No idea. Now, with the temperature dropping INTO SINGLE DIGITS already, I am holed up at my desk using two blankets, with no heater (it's not "cold enough" yet, after all) and the windows open. In case any of you are in this situation too, rest assured that it's all with your best interests in mind:


Head Teacher: Let's maybe open the windows (meaning that he is going to open the windows).
Me: But Teacher Park, I am very cold (motion that I am in my coat and still freezing).
Head Teacher: (Having finished opening the windows, has proceeded to the classroom doors and corridor windows) Do you know why we must do this? Very important.
Me: No. I don't understand. It is very cold outside.
Head Teacher: Circulation. It is for your health. If there is no circulation, you get sick. You will be very sorry.
Me: ::cries while slowly getting pneumonia::


It sounds like it came from the same group of ideas as this Korean-specific fan death mystery.

So, see parents? When it would be 100+ degrees during the California summers and I'd leave the windows open with the air conditioning on, I was really just looking out for you guys.

xo