Six Months of Travel: England [June-August 2013]

Needless to say, the accident changed our plans considerably. Instead of spending the summer hiking through forests and lounging on beaches, we made our way to Norfolk, England, to lick our wounds and recover from the thrashing. First time meeting the parents/family after a major accident? Sure.

We spent the first month being 80 years old, taking daily naps and rarely leaving the house, except for the occasional doctor appointment.

But after the recovery period, we ventured out and took advantage of everything England had to offer.

Castles? Check.
English breakfast? Check.
Beers in a park? Check. 
Football match? OBVIOUSLY. ...even if it wasn't Man United.


And. I have a new obsession. Give me English tea. With. Milk.

Okay, I lied. Two obsessions. Why can't America have more cider??

Bali, Indonesia—Injury of Summer 2013

We were just getting into a routine in Bali. We were about to pay for our apartment. I had started a hot yoga class. We even had a favorite restaurant!

Then, on the last weekend of May, our motorbike and a taxi collided in the early morning hours, leaving the boyfriend and I to become reallllyyy close with the road.

Six Months of Travel: Indonesia [May 2013]

After spending a couple days in Kuala Lumpur with nothing overly fantastic to report, we made our way to Bali, Indonesia. Since Rob had lived in Indonesia before, he stepped up as tour guide, speaking the language and everything. We stayed in Kuta for a few weeks and traveled around the island via motorbike, with the highlight being our week-long trip to Ubud (monkeys, ew) and Lovina (dolphins, yay). By and far, our favorite place was Dreamland, a beach about a 30-minute drive away with fewer tourists and a much nicer atmosphere. Many a sunny day was spent here.

Dreamland

Tanah Lot Temple

7AM photo in Lovina for dolphins

 We originally planned on staying in Bali for over a month and were finally able to get a newly built apartment in Seminyak (an area near Kuta with our favorite restaurant and a dish from the heavens—red snapper grilled in a banana leaf with balinese herbs and spices YUM). We moved in as soon as we got back from our island trip up to Lovina; it really was a great week. There was air-conditioning, our own kitchen area, wifi and then...disaster.

Six Months of Travel: California [March-May 2013]

Oh sunshine and Mexican food, how I had missed you.

The first month home was spent seeing family & friends. And eating In N Out. Lots and lots of In N Out. Anyway. So many reunions! I sincerely missed having so many girlfriends, as most of my friends from Korea are men. There were brunches, happy hours, themes, Vegas trips and country music/dancing attempts. And with every single one of them/you, nothing had changed. It was as if I had seen everyone one week ago, not one year. I'm incredibly thankful that you all have put up with my random disappearances over the year. I'll be back, and look forward to seeing you all again soon!

Then the boyfriend came to visit for a month. Ladies & gentlemen, we have another Panera obsession on our hands. A place with soup, salad and sandwiches is basically made for him. We spent our days tanning and our nights drinking whiskey. Summer vacation in California is absolute perfection, and ours included daily trips to Santa Monica and LA, a week-long road trip up and down the coast to San Francisco, beach trips and a final weekend in San Diego!

We said our goodbyes at the beginning of May and set off again. Back to SE Asia, we go! x

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