Vacation and back to school update

It’s been so long since the last update and I thought I would be better about updating… OOPS!!

 So the last update ended right before our vacation so let me catch everyone up!

We arrived in Phuket, Thailand around 1am after two short flights and a layover in China. Not wanting to search for a reasonable price for a taxi we decided to just go with someone in the airport. Probably not the best price but it was convenient. The way people drive in Thailand can make you a little car sick or just nervous for your life. If there are laws for the road I don’t think anyone follows them. The cab ride was about an hour with a solid 15 minutes in Patong, trying to find our hotel. Of course the person working the front desk was not answering the phone and this cab driver had no idea where to go, even stopping to run in places to ask other people if they knew. Finally we found it!! We got settled and went straight to sleep so we could wake up early to explore. 

The next day we walked around and looked at all the shops on the street. We caught on quick not to be to impulsive with our shopping since almost all the stores had the same thing for different prices or a softer/weaker salesmen. We also learned that just by saying no thank you or walking out of the store will help you get the price you want ;) haha! After looking in a few stores we ate breakfast and headed straight for the beach. The water in Thailand is perfect. Warm water, nice size waves and clear to the bottom. As soon as we got in the water we knew it was going to be an amazing week. What made our trip perfect was renting a scooter. We were able to travel all around Phuket and see things that I know wouldn’t have been possible without it. We stopped at every beach on the west coast, found beautiful restaurants, ate some pretty amazing street food, got really cheap Thai massages and of course saw amazing sights! Let’s go back to the massages though. A thai massage cost around 10 dollars so we had to take advantage. By the end of the week Adam had gotten 9 or 10 massages and I had 8 plus a manicure and pedicure that also only cost 10 dollars. The thai massage takes a lot out of you. They stand on you, stretch you, twist you, they even crack areas of your body I never knew were possible to crack! Because it’s a lot on your body we spread them out and got some oil massages, fish foot baths and aloe treatments in between. This was definitely our kind of vacation! Thailand has such a calm atmosphere...at least during the day! Everyone we met was so kind and willing to help us with directions. I'm glad we choose to spend the whole time in Phuket. It was such a relaxing week and the perfect way to unwind from our jobs ;). 

We got very lucky with the weather while in Thailand. There were scattered storms but they always happened while we were inside or as soon as we got back to the hotel with the exception of one! The day we left it was pouring down rain, so much that our flight was delayed a little.

After leaving Thailand, Indonesia had a lot to live up to! We arrived in Bali around 8ish and headed straight to our hotel in Kuta. Driving up to the hotel we were very happy. The pictures on the website did not do it justice. The lobby was outside next to a pool with a swim up bar. There was also a nice dinning area outside with a restaurant open 24 hours. When we got settled in the hotel room we noticed there was no remote. I called down to tell them that the remote was missing but I guess only the deluxe rooms came with remotes. This was not okay so we upgraded to a deluxe room for 20 dollars. The difference between these rooms was huge, it was not just a remote that was missing from our first room. The deluxe rooms had recently been renovated and were a lot nicer. The beach was a close walk from the hotel with many shops and restaurants along the way. Kuta is a big foreigner spot, mostly Australians and surfers. The waves in Bali were bigger than any I have ever seen. Swimming was kind of out of the question unless you are willing to fight the current, which we did and got a small beating! We were able to rent a scooter in Bali which again made the trip that much more exciting. Our favorite spot we found was Uluwatu. A temple we stumbled across on was most definitely an exciting part of the trip. Pura Uluwatu is a temple that has roaming monkeys who are very cute but not so nice. The monkeys are good at stealing items that aren't secure to your body so we made sure to hide our cameras, sunglasses, and my purse. After a little hike, I had made a wrong step which resulted in the strap of my flip flop breaking. Dragging my shoe made me a little uncomfortable around the monkeys, I knew they were eyeing it! One monkey in particular had more than his eye on my shoe and with one little charge I was crying in a corner while the monkey had my shoe in his mouth. After calming down I yelled to Adam to take pictures! The shoe got tossed around and eaten up and I was barefoot until leaving the temple. As we were walking to our scooter I found one  flip flop. Right size, right foot... perfect! Probably another victim of the monkeys. Close to the temple was an amazing surf spot all built on a cliff. We found a nice restaurant here with a perfect view of the sunset. 

  We both feel so incredibly lucky to have traveled to two amazing countries. 

It has already been two months since our vacation. Second semester is going by a lot faster than the first semester. There hasn't been any changes at work other than getting more comfortable. The students have opened up more and we have gotten the hang of lesson planning and teaching. 

September, Adam turned 23!! We celebrated by going white river rafting and ATV riding before we left on vacation. It was a package deal that didn't turn out to be exactly how it was advertised but we still had a great day! The second weekend of September was the Korean holiday, Chuseok. Unfortunately, we had little time to plan a trip so we just spent the weekend relaxing and babysitting the kitten! Our friend Meagan, who had watched the cat while we were away, had gone to Japan for the holiday so we took the cat with hopes we could find him a home. We were successful, and the cat now has a family!

October started off with Cheryl and Alex visiting! Adam and I went up to Seoul to meet them early Saturday morning. We spent the three day weekend exploring Seoul and catching up. We took them to Gyeongbukgung, The N tower, a few traditional Korean restuarants and we visited the Japanese prison for Koreans during their occupation. After a wonderful weekend in Seoul we were happy to bring them down to Busan! We took them to our favorite Korean BBQ resturant, Haedongyongsura temple, Geumjeong fortress, and while we were at work they were able to do their own exploring! It was hard to say goodbye for a second time but we are so grateful that they made the long journey! The next week started all events for the Busan International Film Festival, or BIFF! This festival is a well known for film makers all around the world with more than 350 films from 70 countries shown!  We were able to see a Japanese film, Star Watching Dog, and an French animation film, A Monster in Paris, both in an outdoor theatre that was built specifically for this years festival. After BIFF started the annual Firework Festival. In the past the festival has only been three days but this year it was nine. The first weekend we watched a firework contest between Japan, China, Poland and the U.S. Each country had a 15 minute show and each one was spectacular! On the final day there was an hour and a half firework show! It started raining but the show wasn't cancelled. It was also Halloween weekend and the night we dressed up but we didn't bring an umbrella. We couldn't miss the show so we stood out in the pouring rain, costume and all and watched the best firework show we've ever seen. October was a busy month to say the least and we are starting off November taking it easy. 

We are still having the time of our lives and enjoying every minute of living in Korea! We miss you and love you all!!

                                                                     THAILAND

                     

                                                                         BALI

FIREWORK FESTIVAL...watch until the end!! 

July and August update!!

An update...FINALLY!! It's been awhile since our last post and a lot has happened! We hit our 6 month mark this week. I know we say this every update but time sure is flying by! 

I celebrated my birthday at the end of June. Being away from home for a birthday is hard but celebrating it in Korea made it so special. Keeping the tradition alive, I celebrated for three days! Lot's of food, presents, packages from home, and our first Korean baseball game.  Koreans sure do love their baseball!! Busan's baseball team is the Lotte Giants and Adam got us tickets in the "Danger Zone". This meant we were as close to the field as you can get along the first base line. It also meant we had to sign a paper waiving liabilities for any foul balls to the head... EXCITING!! We only had one close call which lead to a hole in my poncho. Instead of feasting on hotdogs, their food of choice is chicken! Delicious chicken I might add. Despite the rain, the stadium was packed with enthusiastic Koreans and a cheer/dance team pumping up the crowd in between innings. Along with the baseball game, Adam also got me a happy tree that we named... Happy. The tree is growing so much everyday. 

July was the last month of the semester and as the teachers were finishing up their work we were preparing lessons for Summer Camp. Summer break is 6 weeks long and we have to hold an English camp for 3 of those weeks. The weekend before the last week of school, we went to the 14th annual Boryeong Mud Festival. This festival started as an event to spread word about the cosmetic benefits of this mud and has now turned into one of Korea's biggest festivals. The main idea was to get as muddy as possible. They had a mud prison, mud obstacle courses, mud sinks with paintbrushes, wrestling ring and then the ocean a few feet away to wash off and start all over again :). The night ended with a lovely firework show. This was a perfect way to celebrate the end the semester. 

We are now finishing up our last week before our vacation. I had 3 weeks straight of camp and then this week I'm just sitting around and reading to any students who want to listen :). Adam had a week of camp, one week of sitting around, and then two more weeks of summer camp. We leave Friday for Phuket, Thailand and then to Bali, Indonesia. We have been planning this trip for so long, it's hard to believe it's already here!

Adam and I started walking at night which has allowed us to explore more of the area we live in. Something I love about Busan are the streams in the middle of the city. There are tracks along the stream with exercise equipment every mile or so. It is so peaceful that you forget you are living in a big city. Last week we were on our walk when we heard a loud crying from a bush. We searched and searched and finally we saw a black kitten but couldn't get to her because the bushes were too thick. She looked so scared that we couldn't leave her. An hour and a half and plenty of bug bites later we managed to rescue the kitty. We brought her home, washed her, fed her (tuna...not a good idea), and built her own little room in hopes that we could find someone to take her. After a few days and real kitten food she got very comfortable with us. She looks a lot healthier from when we first found her and definitely more playful. She is the most loving kitten and loves to snuggle and rub her face against ours. It is nice to have that love from an animal since we miss our pets back home. Unfortunately we are not able to keep her because of our situation so we are in the middle of trying to find her a good and loving home.

Now it's off to Thailand!! We will update the blog early september and we will try to write more these next 6 months ;).  We love you all and miss you terribly.

Summer is here...

and so is the rain!!

The first weekend in June there was a sand festival at Haeundae beach (the beach closest to us) to kick off the beach season. This year the beaches were opened earlier than normal and will be closed later. The morning started off with a fighter jet show and we had perfect seats... the roof of our apartment building!! We discovered that the roof was a perfect observation point when earlier in the week we watched a surprise firework show! The fighter jets were so close to us, it was unreal... and scary at some points for Ashley :). The beaches were filled with tons of people, beach activities, stages, sand sculptures and more people. It gave us a good idea of what we should expect once summer is in full swing. Haeundae beach is known for the tens of thousands of visitors it brings every weekend, making the beach experience a little less enjoyable. At the end of the boardwalk we found the Busan International Dance Festival with companies from all over the world, including Chicago!! The stage was outstanding with the ocean as it's backdrop. We went to the sand festival and the dance festival both Saturday and Sunday.

School has been going by quickly and now there are only 4 more weeks left until summer break/summer camp. We had our open classes (evaluation class) which seemed to be more nerve-wracking for the experienced Korean teachers than it was for us. Now the students are in full study mode for the upcoming tests at the end of the semester. We finally got our summer camp schedules figured out and will soon start planning our summer vacation which we plan to spend in Thailand and Bali. We are definitely looking forward to traveling and experiencing even more of the world.

We've made friends with the owner of a BBQ restaurant that has recently opened up down the street from us. He lived in London for 2 years so he speaks English well. Last night we decided to grab dinner there before heading out for the night and ended up getting free beers and drinking with the owner for a couple of hours.

Korean men seemed to love Adam. A co-worker of his, who Adam plays volleyball with every week, invited him to play with a club team every other Saturday. The game is followed by dinner, drinks and sometimes arm wrestling.

Last weekend, in search for a massage, we came across a new jimjilbang ( a public bath house/spa). We love our jimjilbangs and this one was very nice. This one was a little less luxurious than the last but more authentic. We were able to get an hour and a half massage for 60,000 won (about $55) that included a full body wrap, face wash, mask and a korean lady beating the crud out of you, in a good way of course. At some points in the massage there were 3 ladies, each working on a different limb. Massages here are very intense and well worth the money. We are very excited to try out another jimjilbang that is just up the street.

For these past 4 months Korea has been so good to us and we are loving every minute of it. We love you and miss you all!!

Seoul and everything else!

 A lot of time has gone by since the last blog! Teaching has been going really well. We are pretty comfortable and things have become a little more routine.

A few weeks ago we both had Sports Day at our schools. Sports Day is a pretty big deal, with weeks of preparation. Even a few English classes were cancelled so the students could practice their dances for the big day. The school is split into two teams, Blue and White. Both parents and students compete in a series of activities. Parents seemed to be more competitive then the students resulting in multiple wipe outs... it was hard/funny to watch!! The day ends around 12 and the teachers stay to eat some delicious Korean food!

After Sports Day was our first break. We spent 4 days up in Seoul eating, exploring and of course relaxing. Seoul was a lot more crowded and busier then Busan. We took the high speed train from Busan to Seoul, which took about 2 hours. We arrived late friday night and only had time to make it to the hotel and fall asleep. The next day we spent navigating the complicated subways and exploring a little of downtown Seoul. That night there was a parade for Buddha's Birthday so we found a spot along the side of the street where it was going to pass by. The parade was very cool to see with some interesting floats, however it was a little bit long as we were standing and watching for over 2 hours. After the parade we went to a college-town-type area around Hongik University, had dinner, and then went back to the hotel. Sunday we went to Gyeongbokgung (the palace of King Sejong). The palace was really neat with beautiful gardens and buildings with very intricate wood carvings and paintings. After Gyeongbokgung, we went to a different area of downtown and visited the Seoul N tower (a tall tower on the top of a big hill that overlooks the city). Here they had the "lovers lock wall" which is basically a fence full of locks that couples have written on, so we bought a lock and put it on the wall before going to the top of the tower. We then headed to Itaewon (a foreigner district in Seoul) and had dinner while watching a soccer game before heading back to the hotel. Monday was a walking/shopping/exploring day (and we also managed to squeeze in a massage :D). I managed to find a 4 story Forever 21 followed by an H&M and was very excited! Monday night we spent exploring a little more of Itaewon before going back to the hotel. Tuesday we slept in and then went to the train station to head back to Busan. It was the strangest feeling being on vacation from what already felt like vacation!

Now we are back in school for another 8 weeks until summer camp starts.  It is amazing how fast time is going!

Cherry blossoms came and cherry blossoms went!

The spring in Busan so far has been so nice. The trees quickly started to fill up with cherry blossoms in the beginning of April and they are almost all gone now! The weather is starting to warm up but the breeze is still here and still pretty strong! Work has been going well and in a week and a half we have our first break for Children's Day and Buddha's birthday. 

We visited the Busan Aquarium a few weekends ago. It was right on the beach and only a 5-10 minute walk to get there! The aquarium was three stories and full of the usual fish, sharks and sea horses. They also had jackass penguins and a small clawed otter family. The otters were so funny, following each other around in a line and then spending 20 minutes just rolling around and scratching! 

The next weekend we walked up Dalmaji Hill to look at all the cherry blossoms. We wish they didn't have to come and go so fast!  The pictures we took just don't do the view any justice. We found a trail that took us through the woods overlooking the ocean. At one point on the trail we found amphitheater and a kitten waiting for the show :). Walking home we stopped at a restaurant that has live music most nights... unfortunately not the night we went in. We both got a delicious seafood pasta, a cheese platter and a bottle of wine. 

Last weekend we went to Spa Land at the Shinsegae Department Store ( the worlds largest department store). We weren't quite sure what to expect but anything with the word spa in it couldn't be bad. It cost 14,000 for four hours and you could stay an extra two hours if you got any service/items worth more than 10,000. The first part of the spa you are given some pretty snazzy outfits to wear and then led to the locker rooms. Connected to the locker rooms are saunas, pools and bathing areas. There were a variety of different pools including sodium bicarbonate pool, sodium chloride pool and pools with varying temperatures. In the mens bathing area there was a bed pool and in the women's bathing area was an outdoor spring pool.  After cleaning up and relaxing a little we put on our robes and then met up in the lobby. Everything else in the spa was co-ed. There were a dozen different rooms, each with a different health benefit. The rooms included an ice room, a charcoal room, an ocher room, a roman steam room, meditation rooms, relaxation rooms with t.v.'s, a restaurant, a dvd room, a stretching room, a massage chair room and then a section for spa services. We both got a neck, shoulder and foot massage and then afterwards sat in the massage chairs for about 20 minutes. If you go on a weekday night (after 8pm) it only costs 7,000 won, so this past friday night we went again :).