Hello everyone, let's start with a little honesty......I'm obviously not good at keeping up with this blog! haha Every time I say I'm going to try to get better at updating but I never do, sorry! I wont make that promise again this time but I'm not planning on never writing anymore either, basically don't expect it to change I guess. :)
Anyway, since last time I have been up and down and things have been crazy and calm. Our new school year started in March and it has been crazy trying to adjust to new students and the lack of english they know as well as the fact that they don't know the rules at school. They are starting to do better now and calm down but there are still days I just want to pull my hair out while screaming at the top of my lungs "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!" Don't worry though I never do that! I'm also teaching six year olds instead of 7 year olds this year so that has taken some getting used to as well. For the most part most of my kids are pretty cute though and I have a couple that are super smart so that makes it nice.
Outside of work I have been adjusting to coming home to an empty house. At first it was a little hard but now it's gotten a lot better. Weekends I've taken advantage of the nicer weather and gone exploring and hung out with friends around here. Definitely had some really good time lately over the weekends! Last weekend we had a BBQ over at Nic and Laurens and just hung out, ate and sat outside. It was so great and the food was AWESOME!!! Can not wait to do that again. The next few weeks are already full of things going on, I LOVE this spring weather. Next weekend looks like we'll be going to the Russian quarter, then its May and the first weekend we're going on a teachers over night to an island on Friday then Saturday me, Lauren, Nic, Bob, Justine (new teacher), Erin and who ever else are all going to the international food festival, SUPER excited about that. The second weekend in May Lauren, Erin, Justine, and I are all going down to Busan for a girls weekend! The last two weekends the Ditty's will be here so I'm sure I will be seeing a lot of them. So yeah as you can see going to be a busy few weekends and I'm excited for it!
Like I said earlier though not everything has been all up. On Easter I found out that one of the most amazing, beautiful, cutest little boys I knew passed away. As most of you know I worked at the Ronald McDonald House before coming over here. While working there I got pretty close to a family that was there often. Jenn and Travis are AMAZING parents and they have the cutest and smartest children also so it was of course very easy to fall in love with them all. Their youngest, Gabe, was only three and had been fighting cancer for about 2 years before he passed away. Being over here and not being able to go to the funeral or just go give them a hug was really hard. I was angry and sad and honestly still am a little. I don't understand why things like this happen to such wonderful children. This is not the first time I've dealt with a child I was close to passing but it never gets easier. I know they are no longer in pain and that that is a good thing but it's still hard. I will never forget the children and families I've met from that place and think about them often.
Ok now before I start crying again let's move on to my very exciting plans that I am making! Summer vacation is coming up fast, it's the week at the end of July first of August. I am going to Malaysia and to Singapore!!!! I am SO SO SO VERY EXCITED about it too! I'm leaving Friday the 27th and flying into Kuala Lumpur and then staying there for two nights then up to Penang island where George Town is at and staying there for a few days and after that down to Singapore where I will finish the trip off staying there for a couple more days before flying back to Korea! Right now I only have the flight to KL booked but I have a few things in mind that I want to do and am slowly making a list of things to see and do. This will be first trip alone and I thought I would be nervous but instead I find myself overly excited and can not wait to wander around exploring and hopefully meet some cool people along the way.
I think that is about all for now. If not sorry, I have a headache and had to stop in the middle of this to skype with mom and grandma so I've also lost motivation to keep writing more! haha sorries! ;) Anyway, hope everyone is doing well I love and miss you all!
S
Friday, April 20, 2012
Saturday, March 10, 2012
New chapter
Today was the day, the day that Logan left to move to China and the day that I officially became completely single and living alone in South Korea. Now I've had to say goodbye to loved ones before this of course, but never to someone that I still love and will probably always love and that was still alive but just moving on. To put it simply today was hard. Because he left early I thought maybe I could go back to sleep and just deal with all the feelings later but turns out that doesn't work. All I kept doing was staring at his place in bed and hearing the words he said to me before he left over and over again in my head. "I'm sorry I'm leaving you here. I love you. Please try to be happy." These three simple sentences just made me remember again why it was I loved him. When I would fall asleep I would soon wake up with the feeling of it just being a dream. Honestly this whole day has felt a little like a dread, a dream I never thought I would have.
I've never been the one to trust guys or had many guys make me feel like I deserve the world and that they are lucky to be in it with me. He has made me feel like that way more times than I can could ever count I think. As much as it hurts now I know that I am extremely lucky to have felt this way and I still thank God that he brought him into my life. I know that I will find happiness again and I know that I will love like that again. As hard as these past couple of months have been at times I'm really not sure that I would change them. I have cried and I yelled and voiced how I feel about all of this, the main thing being that I never thought this would happen and I was sad about one of my best friends going away and leaving me here all alone. In the end though we started out as best friends and we are able to end as still pretty good friends. I really believe that if we would have been back in the states when we ended things we wouldn't of been able to remain friends. These past couple of months have been nice to slowly adjust to things and to just work on keeping the friendship when everything else was falling apart.
Was today hard? Yes today was hard. Yes the next few days, weeks, maybe months will be hard. I'll get used to being here alone though and I will get over it. I'm strong and I have great friends and family that are here for me so I know I will. I also still have a passion to travel and see things in the world I never thought possible. I will never forget the good times that I was able to have traveling around new places of the world with a good friend, in case I start to I definitely have enough pictures to remind me! Now though starts a new chapter of my life. A chapter where I will get to see just how strong I can be. A chapter to make life long memories of things that some people only dream of doing. I will admit today I am a little not ok but tomorrow is another day, and a new day at that....bring it on.
Cheers to change and friends and family that help you deal with it...cheers to another new chapter!
S
I've never been the one to trust guys or had many guys make me feel like I deserve the world and that they are lucky to be in it with me. He has made me feel like that way more times than I can could ever count I think. As much as it hurts now I know that I am extremely lucky to have felt this way and I still thank God that he brought him into my life. I know that I will find happiness again and I know that I will love like that again. As hard as these past couple of months have been at times I'm really not sure that I would change them. I have cried and I yelled and voiced how I feel about all of this, the main thing being that I never thought this would happen and I was sad about one of my best friends going away and leaving me here all alone. In the end though we started out as best friends and we are able to end as still pretty good friends. I really believe that if we would have been back in the states when we ended things we wouldn't of been able to remain friends. These past couple of months have been nice to slowly adjust to things and to just work on keeping the friendship when everything else was falling apart.
Was today hard? Yes today was hard. Yes the next few days, weeks, maybe months will be hard. I'll get used to being here alone though and I will get over it. I'm strong and I have great friends and family that are here for me so I know I will. I also still have a passion to travel and see things in the world I never thought possible. I will never forget the good times that I was able to have traveling around new places of the world with a good friend, in case I start to I definitely have enough pictures to remind me! Now though starts a new chapter of my life. A chapter where I will get to see just how strong I can be. A chapter to make life long memories of things that some people only dream of doing. I will admit today I am a little not ok but tomorrow is another day, and a new day at that....bring it on.
Cheers to change and friends and family that help you deal with it...cheers to another new chapter!
S
Monday, February 6, 2012
How do you move on....?
So I have a question for you all. How do you move on...move on from where you go I go? How do you move on when you still love that person? How do you let go of promises that he would always be there and love you and some day put a ring on your finger? How do you let go of all the hopes and plans you'd made with that person for years to come and walk away ok? One day at a time.
I'm going to keep this short, but if you haven't guessed yet I'm in for a pretty big change over here in Korea. When first preparing to move over to Korea I was as high as a bird. I had this wonderful job, I was getting ready to be able to travel and see things like I'd always wanted and I had this wonderful guy that was moving across the world for me! I still have a wonderful job and I'm still able to travel to awesome places but in a month the last thing will be changing. At first it was one of the hardest decision I ever had to make, but even then I knew it had to be done. I still love him and I know he still has strong feelings for me but we have realized that we both want different things and that he is in fact not ready to be in any form of relationship at all. I have always, and still want, to be married some day and even though I didn't in my youth I now also want a child to go along with that. Logan has realized that he does not want that. Now don't get me wrong, I am NO WHERE close to wanting that now or any time soon really, just some day.
What I'm scared most about all this is what a HUGE change it is going to be to get my head to wrap around it all. He has been by my side for more than 2 years now in one form or the other, boyfriend or best friend. He has become my person I tell everything to over here, the person I talk to every day, and my travel partner. I'm scared of being away from my mom and my best friends after he leaves. I'm afraid that I will be too scared to do the traveling that I want because I worry about traveling by myself. I can't let my fears keep me from doing what I want though. I have made friends over here and I have skype to talk to my mom every weekend or more if needed and I have the best friends back home that will email me or skype whenever also. I have decided to stay over here for another year even just to try and prove to myself that I can do it alone. Now that my parents have bought tickets to come visit next year too I have something huge to look forward to. I'm going to try and make a trip around Korea by myself sometime to help get over my fear of traveling alone and sometime I will get my self to another country or 2 for a vacation.
So even though I am scared and my heart is seriously hurting right now I'm trying to keep it together. I know I will have hard days, probably even days or moments where I start crying again because I miss him, but it's what was right in the end. The answer to my question, how do I move on, I'm going to start with one day at a time. I don't know what else to do and right now that's all I can do. I will tell you though I miss terribly the days of when I could curl up in my moms lap while she played with my hair and told me it will all be alright then gave me a kiss it was all better. This growing up thing sucks big time at times and is more painful at times than they tell you.
One day at a time,
S
I'm going to keep this short, but if you haven't guessed yet I'm in for a pretty big change over here in Korea. When first preparing to move over to Korea I was as high as a bird. I had this wonderful job, I was getting ready to be able to travel and see things like I'd always wanted and I had this wonderful guy that was moving across the world for me! I still have a wonderful job and I'm still able to travel to awesome places but in a month the last thing will be changing. At first it was one of the hardest decision I ever had to make, but even then I knew it had to be done. I still love him and I know he still has strong feelings for me but we have realized that we both want different things and that he is in fact not ready to be in any form of relationship at all. I have always, and still want, to be married some day and even though I didn't in my youth I now also want a child to go along with that. Logan has realized that he does not want that. Now don't get me wrong, I am NO WHERE close to wanting that now or any time soon really, just some day.
What I'm scared most about all this is what a HUGE change it is going to be to get my head to wrap around it all. He has been by my side for more than 2 years now in one form or the other, boyfriend or best friend. He has become my person I tell everything to over here, the person I talk to every day, and my travel partner. I'm scared of being away from my mom and my best friends after he leaves. I'm afraid that I will be too scared to do the traveling that I want because I worry about traveling by myself. I can't let my fears keep me from doing what I want though. I have made friends over here and I have skype to talk to my mom every weekend or more if needed and I have the best friends back home that will email me or skype whenever also. I have decided to stay over here for another year even just to try and prove to myself that I can do it alone. Now that my parents have bought tickets to come visit next year too I have something huge to look forward to. I'm going to try and make a trip around Korea by myself sometime to help get over my fear of traveling alone and sometime I will get my self to another country or 2 for a vacation.
So even though I am scared and my heart is seriously hurting right now I'm trying to keep it together. I know I will have hard days, probably even days or moments where I start crying again because I miss him, but it's what was right in the end. The answer to my question, how do I move on, I'm going to start with one day at a time. I don't know what else to do and right now that's all I can do. I will tell you though I miss terribly the days of when I could curl up in my moms lap while she played with my hair and told me it will all be alright then gave me a kiss it was all better. This growing up thing sucks big time at times and is more painful at times than they tell you.
One day at a time,
S
Friday, January 27, 2012
Let's try this again.....Hong Kong!
Ok so I'm sitting here listening to a massive mix of music, mostly Tegan and Sarah, Florence and the Machine, and songs from Grey's Anatomy. As my best friend Laura knows I am totally a music whore! haha Meaning I like having music playing when I'm doing almost everything and I love being quizzed or quizzing others on classic rock....just like my mom did to me growing up! So what's the point of this? Well I have actually already tried writing this blog but my stupid computer decided to act up at the end causing me to lose it all and really making me mad in the process. Needless to say because the last one was so long I was not in the mood to start over again at that time. But now with the music playing, the quietness of the apartment and smell of bleach (I cleaned the apt) I figured I would try
again!
Laura and I living it up at the Palms
So Hong Kong in a nut shell....walnut or Brazilian nut size of course! Ok so here we go, after landing we soon figured out that our bags had been put on a different flight for the way over causing us to have no luggage except the backpacks we were wearing for the whole first night. Being stuck in a sweater walking around in semi nice weather, like low 60's, and then having to sleep in jeans and a huge shirt you bought as your first souvenir is not that great. Luckily we were so tired we passed out right away and awoke to have our bags back with us the next morning. So now what did we do while there after getting our bags? Let's see, we went to a theme park that had lots of animals too and wondered around there, not too great BUT we did get to ride a ski lift type thing to the top of the park that had wonderful views of a beach and islands and the shore line below. We did some night market shopping by our hostel, which if I did not say already smelled of Indian food the whole time! haha The best part in the night market was all the little stands with little old ladies or men selling sex toys or sexy clothes! haha One of my favorite things we did was when we went to go see the worlds largest bronze Buddha. We stood in line for longer than an hour and then rode another ski lift thing over mountains and water for like 25mins just to get to the thing! It was really awesome, and after climbing around 300 stairs to the top it was incredibly peaceful and quiet and had an amazing view as well. I really did love that day, and it was the perfect weather too, 70s!
Another day we did some shopping at this street market called Ladies Market, AKA amazing market!! haha We are talking blocks of tent stand with all kinds of stuff like shoes, clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, purses, scarfs, luggage, etc. And EVERYTHING I bought there I paid almost half the asking price because you were able to haggle it all down.....awesome!! Another great thing we did was go to a little tiny restaurant, tiny as in like seats 30, and have some amazing dumplings! This place actually has a 1 Michelin star rating also and Anthony Bourdain went to eat at this place on his The Layover show! This place is so popular that Logan's dad had gone to wait in line at 9:30, it opens I think 10 or 10:30, and there were 60 people in front of him. He got us a number and we had to come back an hour later! They had these little biscuit type dumplings that were a little sweet tasting and then on the inside had BBQ pork.....YUMMM!! Now with all the walking we were doing my feet were KILLING me. I was either walking with my toes curled up or on like the sides of my feet sometimes because they hurt so bad. Luckily I had a great idea and then Logan was great enough to find a place and pay for us to get a foot massage. That foot massage was definitely a love hate thing that's for sure. On one side I hated it because the guy was so rough on my feet but on the other side I loved it because it felt so good after he would let up and when he was finished! We also rode a little old tram car up the side of a mountain to go to Victoria Peak, a great place to over look the city. Sadly it was pretty cloudy that day but we could still see pretty well, the view was really nice.
Ok now for New Years. Logan's dad had left that morning so after that we just wondered around and then went out to eat at this GREAT Mediterranean type place. The food was soooo good!! After that we found that it had cooled down a ton so we decided to run back to the hostel and get our heavier coats. We started out walking along the boardwalk so we could see the lights on the water and all, got half way and found that the police had it blocked off half way to cut back on crazy high traffic in the middle. Sooooo
Well that was our trip in a nutshell. Sorry if you think it lacked detail but like I said this is the second time writing this up so I'm not feeling the super long details. Everything since being back has been a big mixture of feelings for me with some things going on here. My mind has been constantly thinking over questions that I have. Most of the questions I don't like and some scare me but if I think too long about them they tend to drive me nuts so I try not to think about everything too much. I know you're probably wondering what "everything" is that I'm talking about and some of you know and others don't but I'm not going to get into it now. Let's just say a big change is going to be happening for me in March. That's for another time and a couple glasses of wine maybe. Just know that I'm ok and not to worry I'll continue to be ok, life threatening.
Hope everyone is doing good back home and if you ever plan a trip to Asia to do some traveling definitely make time to stop by Hong Kong, it's pretty great!!
Love to you all,
S
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help
again!
So Hong Kong in a nut shell....walnut or Brazilian nut size of course! Ok so here we go, after landing we soon figured out that our bags had been put on a different flight for the way over causing us to have no luggage except the backpacks we were wearing for the whole first night. Being stuck in a sweater walking around in semi nice weather, like low 60's, and then having to sleep in jeans and a huge shirt you bought as your first souvenir is not that great. Luckily we were so tired we passed out right away and awoke to have our bags back with us the next morning. So now what did we do while there after getting our bags? Let's see, we went to a theme park that had lots of animals too and wondered around there, not too great BUT we did get to ride a ski lift type thing to the top of the park that had wonderful views of a beach and islands and the shore line below. We did some night market shopping by our hostel, which if I did not say already smelled of Indian food the whole time! haha The best part in the night market was all the little stands with little old ladies or men selling sex toys or sexy clothes! haha One of my favorite things we did was when we went to go see the worlds largest bronze Buddha. We stood in line for longer than an hour and then rode another ski lift thing over mountains and water for like 25mins just to get to the thing! It was really awesome, and after climbing around 300 stairs to the top it was incredibly peaceful and quiet and had an amazing view as well. I really did love that day, and it was the perfect weather too, 70s!
Another day we did some shopping at this street market called Ladies Market, AKA amazing market!! haha We are talking blocks of tent stand with all kinds of stuff like shoes, clothes, jewelry, souvenirs, purses, scarfs, luggage, etc. And EVERYTHING I bought there I paid almost half the asking price because you were able to haggle it all down.....awesome!! Another great thing we did was go to a little tiny restaurant, tiny as in like seats 30, and have some amazing dumplings! This place actually has a 1 Michelin star rating also and Anthony Bourdain went to eat at this place on his The Layover show! This place is so popular that Logan's dad had gone to wait in line at 9:30, it opens I think 10 or 10:30, and there were 60 people in front of him. He got us a number and we had to come back an hour later! They had these little biscuit type dumplings that were a little sweet tasting and then on the inside had BBQ pork.....YUMMM!! Now with all the walking we were doing my feet were KILLING me. I was either walking with my toes curled up or on like the sides of my feet sometimes because they hurt so bad. Luckily I had a great idea and then Logan was great enough to find a place and pay for us to get a foot massage. That foot massage was definitely a love hate thing that's for sure. On one side I hated it because the guy was so rough on my feet but on the other side I loved it because it felt so good after he would let up and when he was finished! We also rode a little old tram car up the side of a mountain to go to Victoria Peak, a great place to over look the city. Sadly it was pretty cloudy that day but we could still see pretty well, the view was really nice.
Ok now for New Years. Logan's dad had left that morning so after that we just wondered around and then went out to eat at this GREAT Mediterranean type place. The food was soooo good!! After that we found that it had cooled down a ton so we decided to run back to the hostel and get our heavier coats. We started out walking along the boardwalk so we could see the lights on the water and all, got half way and found that the police had it blocked off half way to cut back on crazy high traffic in the middle. Sooooo
Well that was our trip in a nutshell. Sorry if you think it lacked detail but like I said this is the second time writing this up so I'm not feeling the super long details. Everything since being back has been a big mixture of feelings for me with some things going on here. My mind has been constantly thinking over questions that I have. Most of the questions I don't like and some scare me but if I think too long about them they tend to drive me nuts so I try not to think about everything too much. I know you're probably wondering what "everything" is that I'm talking about and some of you know and others don't but I'm not going to get into it now. Let's just say a big change is going to be happening for me in March. That's for another time and a couple glasses of wine maybe. Just know that I'm ok and not to worry I'll continue to be ok, life threatening.
Hope everyone is doing good back home and if you ever plan a trip to Asia to do some traveling definitely make time to stop by Hong Kong, it's pretty great!!
Love to you all,
S
"You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
― Kathryn Stockett, The Help
Hong Kong 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
So it's starting to get colder here and even though I'm from the Midwest and I know what cold is, after living in Florida for a few years my body has seemed to forgot about how it feels to be so cold. Although I am starting to think that it's just not something you get used to. I mean come on, who really enjoys the numb freezing feeling on your face when you're out running around and the best of course is then when you start to get hot in all your layers but you're face is still freezing!! haha Ok so anyway I think you get it, it's getting cold.
This past Friday my school went sledding for our field trip and oh my gosh was the sledding part fun! It hasn't really snowed much here though so we were actually sledding on fake snow but you would of never known if you didn't look around to the surrounding bone dry areas. Because our school has little 4-5yr olds they had to go down with either a teacher or an older student. This worked out perfectly for me because I got to have Kate as my sledding buddy. If there were to be one child that I could take home with me Kate would be it. She is the cutest little girl in the world and I love her tons. Lately she's been enjoying pointing out little things that I might have that are similar to hers and telling me "same Shawna Teacher" with the biggest smile! It melts my heart every time for sure. Anyway, back to sledding, we were able to go down 3 times together before we had to go but every time we would get to the bottom and she would stand up and look at me and say "one more time!" She loved it and giggled most the way down each time. It's been so long since I have been sledding that I'd forgotten how much fun it was and definitely forgotten how much kids love it. Even though it was cold that day I'd say that it ended up being a pretty great one.
Enough of that, Christmas is right around the corner for us all and man did that sneak up for me. I swear it still feels like at times that I've only been here a couple of months not going on over 5 months now! I keep expecting to wake up and have it hit me hard that I'm not going to be home for Christmas this year. I'm not going to be able to curl up on the couch with my mom and relax while watching the Grinch or something and then go have a nice Christmas get together with friends from back home. So far though nothing like that has hit me. I haven't been really sad and haven't even cried once. I do think though that when next weekend gets here and it's actually Christmas weekend that it will change but thankfully we have skype so I will be getting to unwrap presents with my mom on Christmas and at least still see her. Logan and I have a nice little Christmas tree up on our kitchen table that mom sent us and a few presents around it that helps make it feel like that time of year in our apartment at least. Two days after Christmas we are heading off to Hong Kong until the 1st of the year and I am so excited I'm about ready to burst. This will be the first time I'll be celebrating New Years in a foreign place and is also supposed to be one of the top places in the world to celebrate so that alone is reason for excitement. However, I am also super excited about all the shopping and all the different food as well as meeting his dad for the first time. Even though I am sad and miss my friends at times I really am so happy that I am here and getting to experience these once in a life time things.
I wish all of my friends and family a very very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year and knowing me I will not be back to update until after Hong Kong.
Love to you all,
S
This past Friday my school went sledding for our field trip and oh my gosh was the sledding part fun! It hasn't really snowed much here though so we were actually sledding on fake snow but you would of never known if you didn't look around to the surrounding bone dry areas. Because our school has little 4-5yr olds they had to go down with either a teacher or an older student. This worked out perfectly for me because I got to have Kate as my sledding buddy. If there were to be one child that I could take home with me Kate would be it. She is the cutest little girl in the world and I love her tons. Lately she's been enjoying pointing out little things that I might have that are similar to hers and telling me "same Shawna Teacher" with the biggest smile! It melts my heart every time for sure. Anyway, back to sledding, we were able to go down 3 times together before we had to go but every time we would get to the bottom and she would stand up and look at me and say "one more time!" She loved it and giggled most the way down each time. It's been so long since I have been sledding that I'd forgotten how much fun it was and definitely forgotten how much kids love it. Even though it was cold that day I'd say that it ended up being a pretty great one.
Enough of that, Christmas is right around the corner for us all and man did that sneak up for me. I swear it still feels like at times that I've only been here a couple of months not going on over 5 months now! I keep expecting to wake up and have it hit me hard that I'm not going to be home for Christmas this year. I'm not going to be able to curl up on the couch with my mom and relax while watching the Grinch or something and then go have a nice Christmas get together with friends from back home. So far though nothing like that has hit me. I haven't been really sad and haven't even cried once. I do think though that when next weekend gets here and it's actually Christmas weekend that it will change but thankfully we have skype so I will be getting to unwrap presents with my mom on Christmas and at least still see her. Logan and I have a nice little Christmas tree up on our kitchen table that mom sent us and a few presents around it that helps make it feel like that time of year in our apartment at least. Two days after Christmas we are heading off to Hong Kong until the 1st of the year and I am so excited I'm about ready to burst. This will be the first time I'll be celebrating New Years in a foreign place and is also supposed to be one of the top places in the world to celebrate so that alone is reason for excitement. However, I am also super excited about all the shopping and all the different food as well as meeting his dad for the first time. Even though I am sad and miss my friends at times I really am so happy that I am here and getting to experience these once in a life time things.
I wish all of my friends and family a very very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year and knowing me I will not be back to update until after Hong Kong.
Love to you all,
S
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Date night and a Korean wedding
So turns out I haven't gotten any better about updating on a regular basis....sorry about that. We haven't really been up to anything exciting and I now have a routine thats basically wake up, go to work, go home eat dinner and relax. Most weekends we try to go out and do at least a little something on Sat but nothing I've felt the urge to run home and type about. Lazy maybe but oh well, I'm updating now!
Since last updating Lauren and her boyfriend Nic have come back and we are both very happy about that. They've been here for about a year and half already and just got back from a little vacation but now that they're back we have more people to hangout with. Best part is that Logan and Nic and a couple of the guys have started having guys nights so that gives him a chance to get out and relax without me and I can do the same with Lauren! They have a pretty great apartment that they found also. It has TWO bedrooms and a decent size kitchen area....almost like in the states!! Considering our place is about the size of a dorm room we are both VERY jealous. I did find out though that our lease might be up in April so if we decide we're going to stay here for another year we would have the chance to move and maybe find a bigger place also! Just finding a place that had a door to separate the bedroom would be AMAZING!!
Anyway, this weekend we decided to have a date night Saturday night which was long over due. Logan took me to this nice restaurant that was buffet style but the buffet was huge with lots of good options and also had free wine included in the buffet. Yup you heard me, free wine! It was great! After stuffing ourselves at dinner we walked over to the cinema and saw the movie Immortals. I love just about anything that has to do with the Greek Gods so of course I liked it a lot. When it was finished we then came home put on a facial mask and finished the night watching a little Robin Williams comedy. It was a very nice night and I definitely can't wait to go back to the restaurant and get more free wine! Haha
Today one of the Korean teachers from my school was getting married so we went to that with all the other teachers. Logan was not thrilled to be going but at least he got a great meal out of it! haha It was not a traditional wedding so that was kind of a let down but it was still different than back in the states. The bride was in a side room before the wedding and people were encouraged to go in and take pictures with her and let me tell you she looked so beautiful. The wedding and dinner were in the same place, we just all sat at the big dinner tables for the whole thing. After they finished the ceremony we were then served a 5 course meal not including the dinner rolls they brought out first! We started with a WONDERFUL fresh mozzarella and tomato salad, then a soup that was like a potato puree that was pretty good, next was the main course a huge beef sirloin with a large prawn on the side a creamed spinach and a potato cake minus the prawn the rest was pretty good, after that they had a noodle soup that was really not that great, last we had a really awesome chocolate mouse with a really good ice cream on the side. By the time we finished I think it's safe to say everyone was pretty well stuffed. That all took a little more than an hour and after the dinner it was over. No dancing or cake sharing or throwing a bouquet or anything. You came, you watched, you ate, and then you left. Definitely a lot shorter than I'm used to but totally ok with it for today, I was just not in the wedding mood. Weddings these days really make me wonder and think about where I'll be in 5 years. I know that I am not ready to be married. I'm just not at that point in my life yet but it's such a weird feeling trying to think about getting to that point in your life some day when you're not there now. Where will I be in 5 years? What will my life be like, will I be settled or still wondering around? I hate these questions and I hate thinking about them these days too. However, on days when you've got a wedding playing out in your face its hard not to think about it......
Ok so enough of all that! That was my weekend nothing extremely exciting but definitely got some good food and those of you that know me know I'm a fat kid at heart and that I love good food! haha
Now real quick to those of you that do know me and that I call friends, this past Thursday was Thanksgiving in the states. We did not celebrate over here but I want you to know that I miss you all and love you all very much and that I am very thankful for each and everyone of you. To my mom and family I LOVE you more than anything and can't wait for the day that I get to see you in person again but just know that I am doing good and I am so very very thankful for you as well! <3
Lots of love to you all,
Shawna
Since last updating Lauren and her boyfriend Nic have come back and we are both very happy about that. They've been here for about a year and half already and just got back from a little vacation but now that they're back we have more people to hangout with. Best part is that Logan and Nic and a couple of the guys have started having guys nights so that gives him a chance to get out and relax without me and I can do the same with Lauren! They have a pretty great apartment that they found also. It has TWO bedrooms and a decent size kitchen area....almost like in the states!! Considering our place is about the size of a dorm room we are both VERY jealous. I did find out though that our lease might be up in April so if we decide we're going to stay here for another year we would have the chance to move and maybe find a bigger place also! Just finding a place that had a door to separate the bedroom would be AMAZING!!
Anyway, this weekend we decided to have a date night Saturday night which was long over due. Logan took me to this nice restaurant that was buffet style but the buffet was huge with lots of good options and also had free wine included in the buffet. Yup you heard me, free wine! It was great! After stuffing ourselves at dinner we walked over to the cinema and saw the movie Immortals. I love just about anything that has to do with the Greek Gods so of course I liked it a lot. When it was finished we then came home put on a facial mask and finished the night watching a little Robin Williams comedy. It was a very nice night and I definitely can't wait to go back to the restaurant and get more free wine! Haha
Today one of the Korean teachers from my school was getting married so we went to that with all the other teachers. Logan was not thrilled to be going but at least he got a great meal out of it! haha It was not a traditional wedding so that was kind of a let down but it was still different than back in the states. The bride was in a side room before the wedding and people were encouraged to go in and take pictures with her and let me tell you she looked so beautiful. The wedding and dinner were in the same place, we just all sat at the big dinner tables for the whole thing. After they finished the ceremony we were then served a 5 course meal not including the dinner rolls they brought out first! We started with a WONDERFUL fresh mozzarella and tomato salad, then a soup that was like a potato puree that was pretty good, next was the main course a huge beef sirloin with a large prawn on the side a creamed spinach and a potato cake minus the prawn the rest was pretty good, after that they had a noodle soup that was really not that great, last we had a really awesome chocolate mouse with a really good ice cream on the side. By the time we finished I think it's safe to say everyone was pretty well stuffed. That all took a little more than an hour and after the dinner it was over. No dancing or cake sharing or throwing a bouquet or anything. You came, you watched, you ate, and then you left. Definitely a lot shorter than I'm used to but totally ok with it for today, I was just not in the wedding mood. Weddings these days really make me wonder and think about where I'll be in 5 years. I know that I am not ready to be married. I'm just not at that point in my life yet but it's such a weird feeling trying to think about getting to that point in your life some day when you're not there now. Where will I be in 5 years? What will my life be like, will I be settled or still wondering around? I hate these questions and I hate thinking about them these days too. However, on days when you've got a wedding playing out in your face its hard not to think about it......
Ok so enough of all that! That was my weekend nothing extremely exciting but definitely got some good food and those of you that know me know I'm a fat kid at heart and that I love good food! haha
Now real quick to those of you that do know me and that I call friends, this past Thursday was Thanksgiving in the states. We did not celebrate over here but I want you to know that I miss you all and love you all very much and that I am very thankful for each and everyone of you. To my mom and family I LOVE you more than anything and can't wait for the day that I get to see you in person again but just know that I am doing good and I am so very very thankful for you as well! <3
Lots of love to you all,
Shawna
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Making plans for the future!
Hello everyone and happy Halloween to those celebrating!! They don't really celebrate over here like they do back home but turns our some English schools, including mine, do at least have little Halloween parties so I had a fun little Friday. The little kids looked so cute all dressed up, definitely just made me want to keep a couple of them even more! haha Anyway, I said I was going to try to blog more and it has been less than a month this time since the last one so I think I'm doing ok. Well since last writing we have made some exciting plans and also celebrated an exciting moment!
Alright, so first we have planned our Christmas vacation!!! Originally we were talking with our friend Lauren who is coming back over here about possibly taking a vacation together somewhere with her and her boyfriend. The four of us were looking into the Philippines or islands around there but they ended up deciding in the end that they were going to stay in Korea to save up money for the next vacation that is going to be at the end of Jan. They have been gone for about 4 months traveling around and this will give them more time to save money back up. This actually ended up turning out to be perfect because we started looking into other options and found that going to Hong Kong was actually pretty cheap, definitely a lot cheaper than going to the islands. Hong Kong is also still south of Korea so its supposed to be a lot warmer still and Logan's dad lives in China already so it would be easier for him to come meet up with us. After looking more into flights and hostels and talking to his dad we decided on shortening the trip to not the whole 9 days we were off, it's of course cheaper to not fly on Christmas anyway, and booked our trip for 5 nights 6 days including being there for New Years Eve! Flights plus staying at a nice hostel all for around $500! I'm super excited and can't wait to get more traveling in, Logan has been before but not since he was in his early teens so he's excited to go back also. I'm also of course a little nervous because after talking to his dad more he has said he is game for coming down with his girlfriend (around my age) to meet up with us for some time. Now I'm not even going to get into how I reacted to having dinner with Logan's mom for the first time but let's just say it wasn't that great. I'm really hoping since I've actually seen him via skype several times and talked to him that it won't be that bad. Plus I'm pretty sure that his dad doesn't or didn't ever blame me for things that happened in Logans past so that should make it easier as well. Either way it's always a little nerve racking to meet the parents for the first time in person so I'm hoping he still likes me after. One thing that Logan keeps telling me will be a bonus is that they're probably going to leave me and the girlfriend alone for some time and since she is Asian I should be able to get some killer deals on things because Asians apparently haggle like nobodys business over there. haha we'll see, I haven't really talked to or seen much of the girlfriend via skype but she seems pretty nice. Not sure what all we're going to do yet besides the night markets again of course, this big garden/zoo type thing, and then going to see the worlds largest bronze buddah. We're also going to be able to watch the fireworks and light show that buildings put on for New Years on the bay which should be super cool and pretty we just have to find the right place to ring it in!
So that was one plan that we have made now for the second plan. Ever since going to Paris earlier last Sept. I have been craving to go back. I had heard the expression before "I left my heart in Paris" but never understood it. Honestly I was expecting it to be great and to love it but figured I would still leave not understanding that phrase and be ok if I went back or ok if I didn't. All I can say is wow was I wrong. I understand it now completely and I am ok with being one of those people that says "I left a part of me in Paris." I know most of you won't understand this at all, but have you ever been somewhere before that made such an impression on you that it makes you emotional when thinking back on it. I get that way when thinking about my trip to Washington D.C. and going to the Holocaust museum there but that's really it. Now maybe I'm just a lot more emotional in my older age or I might just be weird, and yes I know I'm not old I'm just older than I was, but things really do effect me differently than they used to and Paris is one of them. When I think back to Paris I can perfectly see the different streets I walked with a pretty cool lady I met for the trip named Judy. I can see the expressions on my grandma and moms face when we ventured out on and we saw something amazingly beautiful or tasted the greatest ice cream ever! I swear to you that if I went back now to where we stayed I think I could get around to some of the places we wondered to. People have said that the French are rude and mean but we never came across that, they were nice and friendly to us. I have some of the greatest memories from that trip and just thinking back makes me even tear up at times because I want, no I CRAVE to go back there! It's like it hurts to think that I wouldn't be able to go back sometime, I have to go back and I have told Logan this several times before. When I went Logan and I were not together yet but I thought about him nonstop while being there and what it would be like to wonder around the city with him or what it would be like to be able to bring him back here with me some day and show him around myself.
Enough about Paris though that's not what this is completely about. Since being over here it has become easier to save up money and cheaper to travel around than it is in the states so today I came up with a plan. Now those of you who know me well might know that I'm really not good at making plans for very far in the future. I'm not sure why it's always been hard for me but I'm slowly becoming better at it. Today after talking to Logan and getting him to agree as well I came up with a plan for us that I am VERY excited about and if we stick to it I will be very proud about. We are going to work hard teaching and taking tutoring jobs if they come around for 2 years straight, either here or after a year here moving to somewhere else to do the same, and each month we are going to put a good amount of money into a hide away "jar" that we will NOT touch! Now we are also continuing to put money into savings back home that we wont touch but then also having a separate savings here too and after the 2 years we are going to go travel around Europe!! I am so so excited about this, we even both went ahead and put a couple hundred away for this Oct. even though it is over, we want to get every little bit we can in! We don't have a set amount for each month but have agreed if we're tutoring for that month so have extra money coming in that we maybe put a little more into the savings for that month. I know that there's a chance this still won't be enough after two years to really do much but for now I am excited and hell bent on making it work! This is the furthest away plan I've ever made, not to mention I'm also counting on Logan and I being together in two years still, that alone is crazy and exciting for me to think about. :)
So those were the plans that we've made. The exciting new is that we celebrated our 1 year anniversary this weekend. I know not as exciting at you were probably thinking but for me it is pretty exciting. I NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS thought that I would be where I am at now with a man that I love this much. I'm also not sure that I would be here if it weren't for him to be here supporting me and telling me I can do it every step of the way. Like I said, not a big deal for you guys but a big deal for me and an even better feeling when we're putting money away for a trip 2 years from now, just a nice feeling.
Ok ok enough with the gushy after all I'm not a Hallmark card! haha ;) Well that's about all I have for now so I am off to curl up with my book before bed.
Hope everyone is doing well and lots of love,
S
Alright, so first we have planned our Christmas vacation!!! Originally we were talking with our friend Lauren who is coming back over here about possibly taking a vacation together somewhere with her and her boyfriend. The four of us were looking into the Philippines or islands around there but they ended up deciding in the end that they were going to stay in Korea to save up money for the next vacation that is going to be at the end of Jan. They have been gone for about 4 months traveling around and this will give them more time to save money back up. This actually ended up turning out to be perfect because we started looking into other options and found that going to Hong Kong was actually pretty cheap, definitely a lot cheaper than going to the islands. Hong Kong is also still south of Korea so its supposed to be a lot warmer still and Logan's dad lives in China already so it would be easier for him to come meet up with us. After looking more into flights and hostels and talking to his dad we decided on shortening the trip to not the whole 9 days we were off, it's of course cheaper to not fly on Christmas anyway, and booked our trip for 5 nights 6 days including being there for New Years Eve! Flights plus staying at a nice hostel all for around $500! I'm super excited and can't wait to get more traveling in, Logan has been before but not since he was in his early teens so he's excited to go back also. I'm also of course a little nervous because after talking to his dad more he has said he is game for coming down with his girlfriend (around my age) to meet up with us for some time. Now I'm not even going to get into how I reacted to having dinner with Logan's mom for the first time but let's just say it wasn't that great. I'm really hoping since I've actually seen him via skype several times and talked to him that it won't be that bad. Plus I'm pretty sure that his dad doesn't or didn't ever blame me for things that happened in Logans past so that should make it easier as well. Either way it's always a little nerve racking to meet the parents for the first time in person so I'm hoping he still likes me after. One thing that Logan keeps telling me will be a bonus is that they're probably going to leave me and the girlfriend alone for some time and since she is Asian I should be able to get some killer deals on things because Asians apparently haggle like nobodys business over there. haha we'll see, I haven't really talked to or seen much of the girlfriend via skype but she seems pretty nice. Not sure what all we're going to do yet besides the night markets again of course, this big garden/zoo type thing, and then going to see the worlds largest bronze buddah. We're also going to be able to watch the fireworks and light show that buildings put on for New Years on the bay which should be super cool and pretty we just have to find the right place to ring it in!
So that was one plan that we have made now for the second plan. Ever since going to Paris earlier last Sept. I have been craving to go back. I had heard the expression before "I left my heart in Paris" but never understood it. Honestly I was expecting it to be great and to love it but figured I would still leave not understanding that phrase and be ok if I went back or ok if I didn't. All I can say is wow was I wrong. I understand it now completely and I am ok with being one of those people that says "I left a part of me in Paris." I know most of you won't understand this at all, but have you ever been somewhere before that made such an impression on you that it makes you emotional when thinking back on it. I get that way when thinking about my trip to Washington D.C. and going to the Holocaust museum there but that's really it. Now maybe I'm just a lot more emotional in my older age or I might just be weird, and yes I know I'm not old I'm just older than I was, but things really do effect me differently than they used to and Paris is one of them. When I think back to Paris I can perfectly see the different streets I walked with a pretty cool lady I met for the trip named Judy. I can see the expressions on my grandma and moms face when we ventured out on and we saw something amazingly beautiful or tasted the greatest ice cream ever! I swear to you that if I went back now to where we stayed I think I could get around to some of the places we wondered to. People have said that the French are rude and mean but we never came across that, they were nice and friendly to us. I have some of the greatest memories from that trip and just thinking back makes me even tear up at times because I want, no I CRAVE to go back there! It's like it hurts to think that I wouldn't be able to go back sometime, I have to go back and I have told Logan this several times before. When I went Logan and I were not together yet but I thought about him nonstop while being there and what it would be like to wonder around the city with him or what it would be like to be able to bring him back here with me some day and show him around myself.
Enough about Paris though that's not what this is completely about. Since being over here it has become easier to save up money and cheaper to travel around than it is in the states so today I came up with a plan. Now those of you who know me well might know that I'm really not good at making plans for very far in the future. I'm not sure why it's always been hard for me but I'm slowly becoming better at it. Today after talking to Logan and getting him to agree as well I came up with a plan for us that I am VERY excited about and if we stick to it I will be very proud about. We are going to work hard teaching and taking tutoring jobs if they come around for 2 years straight, either here or after a year here moving to somewhere else to do the same, and each month we are going to put a good amount of money into a hide away "jar" that we will NOT touch! Now we are also continuing to put money into savings back home that we wont touch but then also having a separate savings here too and after the 2 years we are going to go travel around Europe!! I am so so excited about this, we even both went ahead and put a couple hundred away for this Oct. even though it is over, we want to get every little bit we can in! We don't have a set amount for each month but have agreed if we're tutoring for that month so have extra money coming in that we maybe put a little more into the savings for that month. I know that there's a chance this still won't be enough after two years to really do much but for now I am excited and hell bent on making it work! This is the furthest away plan I've ever made, not to mention I'm also counting on Logan and I being together in two years still, that alone is crazy and exciting for me to think about. :)
So those were the plans that we've made. The exciting new is that we celebrated our 1 year anniversary this weekend. I know not as exciting at you were probably thinking but for me it is pretty exciting. I NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS thought that I would be where I am at now with a man that I love this much. I'm also not sure that I would be here if it weren't for him to be here supporting me and telling me I can do it every step of the way. Like I said, not a big deal for you guys but a big deal for me and an even better feeling when we're putting money away for a trip 2 years from now, just a nice feeling.
Ok ok enough with the gushy after all I'm not a Hallmark card! haha ;) Well that's about all I have for now so I am off to curl up with my book before bed.
Hope everyone is doing well and lots of love,
S
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