Tokyo on a whim!

This was a vacation on a whim if I've ever seen one!  Aaron and I decided last week that we should spend 5 days of our 6 day Chuseok vacation in Tokyo!  It seemed as if we purchased the tickets, pinned down a hostel, and packed our bags (or in this case suitcase!) and we're off in a blink of an eye!  

Since I began writing this blog over 2 1/2 years ago, I have never missed a complete documentation, in blog form, of an overseas vacation!  So, you might have wondered why you weren't getting the scoop while we were gone on this trip to Tokyo.  Well, this time I decided that I was going to force myself to chill, relax, spend far less time on my computer, and not worry about remembering and recounting all the details of the trip!  Don't get me wrong, I love doing it, and thrive off of putting together pictures and creating a story for my family and friends to enoy!   But this time, I wanted the trip to just be about me and Aaron, not the blog!  So, that's what I did. :) 

I couldn't leave you completely out of the loop though.

With that said, I'm home now, and loaded some of my favorite pictures from thet trip. Most are loaded on facebook if you want to see the whole shabang!

Aaron and I had such a great time together in Tokyo!  This was our first vacation away from the beach, and solely spent in a big city, which was a completely different feel!  I even got to wear heels and a dress one day!  We ate fancy dinners and cheap ones, walked miles and miles and miles everyday, people watched, watched Elvis impersonators dance at the entrance of a park, played Japanese Pachinco, went to the zoo, talked and laughed a lot, lounged in parks, took photographs, rode bikes, ate at McDonalds one too many times (It's so cheap!), paid for 5 minutes showers everyday, slept on the floor, gambled (kind of), ate yummy noodles, went to shrines and temples, played Japanese style arcade games (which are super fun!), drank coffee, did a little shopping, saw the city from the 45th floor of a highrise building, and ultimately fell more in love in the process of it all!  Can't beat a trip like that!

Just so you know... there's one more day to tell about!  When I have some extra time, I'll load some pictures from Tokyo Disneyland, which is where we spent our last full day! 

I may or may not still be on a bit of a high from it all! :)

It's raining packages!

I am blessed with some of the most fantastic, creative, inspiring, caring, forgiving, understanding, supportive, loving, encouraging, funny, and thoughtful people to call my friends!  I am literally blown away sometimes by their love!

My love language (the way I feel most loved by people) is through words of affirmation and small/thoughtful gifts.  So when people compliment me or send me a little something in the mail, it makes me feel like a million bucks, and VERY LOVED!  In the past month alone, I've had three packages arrive on my desk at work, from 3 different friends!  I don't know what I did to deserve all this love, but I will say, I am incredibly thankful!

The first package to arrive were these delicious Butterscotch See's Candies (from my sweet friend Karyn Hill in Arizona).  She knows I'm obsessed with these and that I can't get them in Korea, so she and her son Austin have gone out of their way TWICE to send me some! :)  Love you guys!  Thank you!  

 

Then, my darling friend (and old college roommate in Orange County, CA) Krista Palmer, sent me a gorgeous card, handmade by a woman living in a Nairobi slum, who, with her friends, make these cards in hopes of transforming their lives and community!  I adore anything handmade, and absolutely love when the proceeds from their sales go back to people in need around the world. Thank you for your sweet note, and the gorgeous card Pestoni!  I love you!

Then, today, my co-teacher Monica handed me a package from my old college friend Bri Moore in Boston! http://www.briana-moore.com/ She's also a fabulous photographer by the way! She had bought and sent me this darling card, which she said reminded her of Aaron and I, (love it!), and this book, "One Day", which she recently read and thought I would love because of where life has taken me in recent years. She said I'll laugh, cry, groan, and cheer!  Sounds like my kinda book Bri! I can't wait to jump into it!  Thank you friend!  Maybe it'll even make it into my backpack for Tokyo tomorrow!

Then, as if that wasn't enough love coming my way, Aaron and I went to dinner at a fancy restaurant last week, and were served loose leaf tea after the meal!  I instantly fell in love with it, but didn't have a strainer or loose leaf tea to use at home.  I had seen a picture of one of these little tea houses, and thought they were so cute, but had no idea where to find them!  Aaron had found one and surprised me with it a couple days ago!
I was so excited!

It's the little things that brighten my day!

"I get by with a little help from my friends."
- John Lennon

Yeong-do Meet Up # 3

A couple months ago, Aaron, Meagan and I came up with the idea to get on Facebook and invite all the English teachers working on the Island to a little get together, so we could all meet each other!  Island people should stick together, right?!  Tonight, we had our 3rd get together and met some great newbies who just arrived in Korea a couple weeks ago!   

We met up at an awesome little Dak-galbi restaurant, where you can grill your own meat at the table!  Seriously delicious!!  We all ate until we couldn't possibly eat anymore, and each only owed $9!  Such a deal!  

The 4 boys... Craig, Aaron, Phil, and James.

and the girls... Meagan, Me, and the Roxanne's.  

(sorry, I only brought my phone to take pics with tonight... hence the crappy quality.)

After dinner, an Irish couple: Dave and Susan, and a sweet girl names Ali who also live on the island, came and met us for some bowling across the street!   For $3,50 a game (including shoes) it's a sure way to have a cheap laugh and a great time getting to know each other!  Really, why do bowling shoes always have to look so lame?!

 

The score boards... guys on the left screen, girls on the right!

You're looking at the two best bowlers of the night!  I don't know that that's necessarily something to boast about, but fun none the less!  And for the record, I beat Aaron by 18 points!   That's right!!

Can't wait for our next big get together!

Funny Chuseok gift set!

It's officially the week of Chuseok here in Korea, which always makes me want to shout from the rooftops, "Bring on the funny Chuseok gift sets!"  

Before lunch today, my school's Administration presented me with this lovely bag from Lotte Department Store (a VERY overpriced store that I love to walk through, but never buy anything at!)  I did the good ole' lift and shake game to guess what it was... 

It was REALLY heavy, so I thought maybe shampoo?  Soap?   Juice?  I was wrong!

...No wonder I've gained weight since moving to Korea!  Maybe it's because I receive huge boxes of oil for holidays!  Yes, that's 1800ml's of oil in that box!  Eeekkk!  

Thank you Dae Gyo Elementary School!

UPDATE: Sept 7th
I just got back from lunch, and ANOTHER box of cooking oil was on my desk!  Really?!

  
I know it's the thought that counts, but why would anyone need this much oil?   Okk said a typical Korean family will use an entire bottle of oil to cook 1 holiday meal!  OH MY GOSH!  According to the label on this box, that's 14,860 calories worth of oil!  I think I'll be inquiring about the exchange policy at my local Home Plus this afternoon! 

Secret Code!

If any of you are facebook friends of mine and / or Aaron's, you may have noticed that we've recently been posting messages, written in Korean, on each other's walls, like this one below!  I know, at least one of you (mom!), was probably curious what it said and tried to translate it!  If you did, you probably laughed as hard as we just did when we tried!  I was laughing so hard that sound wasn't even coming out!   

The reason why it doesn't make sense when put into an online translating program is because it's NOT Korean words! We write English sentences with the Korean alphabet to practice phonics... You can only read them if you know how to phonetically read Hangul (the Korean alphabet!)  Pretty tricky, aren't we?! 

My personal favorite from this correspondence, is the message that translates as:

Update: ttaenkeuseu Fall Dinner, Tuna! U.S. Forest Time Can U Neck seom we ttaet deojenteu Mech Tech tteoro op U.S.!  LOL!

*** For the record, I never mentioned anything about an update, Fall, Tuna, the forest, a neck, or the U.S!  Now this is what I call a successful secret code!