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
Sunday, December 18, 2011
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
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Catching up
Hello everyone, let me start this off with saying I'm sorry it's been so long! I didn't forget about you all I've just been busy and then when I would have time honestly I just wasn't feeling it or was too tired to. Now that it's been a month plus since my last entry, I'm pretty sure this is going to be a long post to say the least.
So a lot has happened in the past month. Logan and I have been here now officially for 3 months and if you think that seems fast you have no idea how we feel! I swear I still have moments where I pause and think to myself "wow, I can't believe I'm actually in South Korea.....on the complete opposite side of the world where I NEVER in a million years thought I would be!" It's still pretty cool over here and we are still enjoying it, especially all the exploring we're getting to do. A few weeks ago we went on a day trip into the middle of Seoul and just got off the subway and started wondering around. We found the American Consulate and also stumbled across pretty big palace grounds but we didn't find that until it was starting to get dark so we're saving going in for another day trip sometime. The coolest part about the trip was we were stopped by another foreigner and his girlfriend and asked if we knew where a province called Itaewon was. Well I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before here but we have actually been there a few times so we could actually help them!!! Haha now I know that doesn't sound like a big deal but oh my gosh I was so ecstatic when we were able to tell them which subway lines and all to take to get there! It's the first time where we weren't the one's lost and trying to figure out where to go and were really able to help someone else, felt pretty cool! The weekend after that we ended up at the aquarium that is in this huge mall, it was pretty cool. Best part was they had this area where you put your hands into a tank and these little fish came up and nibbled at your fingers cleaning them. It felt so cool and weird, I loved it! We also found a huge puzzle at the mall and bought that to bring home and having something else to do besides play the few games we brought and watch things on line. A lot of you might not know this but I LOVE PUZZLES!! haha I mean love them, when I used to go visit/stay with my great grandma I would go wonder around the place and work on or help people with the different puzzles they had out around the different lobbies and lounging areas. Once I get started it's pretty hard to get me to step away and if I'm able to I can work on them for hours at a time and not even realize that hours have passed. Poor Logan didn't realize exactly what I meant by I LOVE PUZZLES! haha We first said we were just going to separate the edge pieces out the first night and then start the next day well of course I couldn't stop after separating so I started working on it and the next thing I knew the outside was put together and some of the inside and about 4 hours had passed! In the end we ended up putting this 1000 piece puzzle together in a little less than a week! It was great, I can't wait to get another one! Anyway, the week after that we went down to this area called Suwon. It has this great wall type thing that you can walk and surrounds the original city and also has old palace grounds inside the city as well. After getting lost a few times trying to get there we finally made it and walked some of the wall, ended up not doing it all because of time and the fact that it was all the same, and also went into the palace grounds to walk around. It was pretty cool seeing the buildings and how old royalty lived back in the day!
Ok so after all that excitement, this past weekend was our big vacation trip to Taiwan we had planned and had been counting the days down until we were going! Don't read too much into that last sentence when I say big vacation trip I'm not talking like a week long trip or anything. Our trip was actually only a Fri-Sun trip so Logan could leave and get his passport stamped again for Korea but the exciting thing was that WE had planned this trip all our selves! We had a lot of suggestions about where to go for a short cheap nice trip and looked into a lot of those places but Logan ended up finding a site for Taiwan and we were pretty much sold right away. No one had suggested we go there or stay here at this place, we decided on this place all by ourselves and planned the trip purely by looking up the area to see what was around. Sounds silly I know but we were proud of ourselves and excited that it was our first trip out of South Korea since being here.
Anyway, we left Friday early evening and landed around 9:30pm in Taipei, Taiwan and made it to our hostel around 11pm. We were a little worried about getting to our hostel because on the website they said that after the cab ride actually finding the hostel was the hardest part. Well we just must be amazing at reading directions because we didn't have any trouble at all finding it. The guy that checked us in, Coke was his name, was super nice and after we arrived informed us that we were actually not in the main building with community bathrooms and lounge but had upgraded us to the other building where we had our own nice room with its own bathroom. No up charge or anything and we were even on the top floor which I love just because I hate having people living above me. The best part besides having our own bathroom though was the BED!!! Oh my gosh this was the most comfortable bed that we had slept on since being in Asia it was like being back home, even better than you get in some hotels!!
Ok ok so enough about the hostel and the bed and all. So after checking in we went right around the corner that our hostel was on to a night market that was there, and I mean right around the corner not even 2 minutes to get there. This was my first time in a night market but of course with Logan living in China before he is far from a night market virgin and he was ecstatic about having one so close and just the street food that would be in it. The market was AWESOME there were all kinds of little shops up and down both sides of the street and little stands in between them selling all kinds of stuff. You saw shoes, clothes, TONS and TONS of jewelry, purses, art work, and of course souvenirs and not the cheap plastic crap you get at the over priced shop in the airport! All this stuff was pretty well made and for the most part cheap too. Then there were also the little stands or even big tarps in the middle of the street dividing the 2 sides where individual people sold all kinds of stuff too. One thing Logan taught me, which was great, was that most of the stuff you could even get cheaper than what they ask because they like and expect people to haggle!! I did it a couple of times but the first time I did I totally walked away with a little high. I mean come on if you looked at someone in the states and said "ehhh actually that's a little more than I was wanting to spend but thanks." they'll just say ok and walk away, here they actually pull out a calculator and say "ok ok well you seem like a nice person how about this?" then show you a lower price! If that's still too high you can even sometimes get them to go down even lower, it's awesome! Ok so besides all the shops with "stuff" there were also all kinds of food stands. Now this is what Logan has been looking forward to and has mentioned several times since moving over here because South Korea is not like he expected and does NOT have what he calls street food. I'm not sure I've seen more of a variety of food options when it comes to little food stands than I did there. You could get a whole squid skewered on a stick and cooked, any and every part of a chicken, meat kabobs, quail eggs, etc. Logan's favorite were the stands where you got an actual whole sweet potato skin and all that had been cooked and you just ate it like an apple or something and of course the dumplings. I will agree with him on the dumplings, they were nothing like what we get here and they were great! My favorite were the fruit stands, they had little fresh fruit stands with like at least 10 different kinds of fruit on them and you could just walk up and choose as many slices of fruit that you wanted. They would then cut it up into little bite size pieces right there and give it to in a bag with a toothpick and you could eat while walking around! Some of the fruit they had I had never even seen before and it was all so cheap that it was a GREAT way to try new things. We ended up getting a bag of fruit with 12 different bite sizes pieces and at least 4 different kinds all for about $1!!! It was all so fresh and good, I LOVED IT!!! I completely understand now why Logan was so disappointed about the lack of street food here now and agree with him that it kind of sucks! haha Anyway, we ended up staying out that first night until about 1:30 looking around that market before heading back to the hostel for some rest.
Saturday we woke up early already having agreed that we needed to make as much as possible out of our short trip and were out on the street again by 9am. Shortly after leaving the hostel we stopped to study the map for a second to figure out how to get to the subway when a nice older gentleman stopped and asked us where we were going and if we needed help. His english was great and he was so nice, he showed us how to get there and then asked us where we were from and told us to have a nice day and good luck on our adventure! This might not seem like that big of a deal but something like that really hasn't happened here in Korea and in fact it's hard to find or get people to speak to you in english sometimes so the fact that this guy just came up and asked us if he could help really made our day and made us feel really welcome. After getting to the subway we took it to the Taipei zoo where we were some of the first ones in after it opened that morning. We decided after going to the zoo here that we were going to try to go to a zoo every where we go so we were excited to see how this one compared. This zoo was great it was so beautiful that at times you forgot that you were looking at a zoo exhibit, some of them seemed like you were in a forest just watching the animals. I think maybe the zoo here in Korea was a little more impressive but the zoo there was definitely more pretty. After spending about 5 hours there we jumped back on the subway and headed to Taipei 101, the worlds 2nd tallest building that just recently got out done by a building in Dubai, pretty cool! We timed it to where we saw the city during the day right before dusk then at dusk and a little even at night time, it really was pretty. You could go to an observation floor inside on the 88th floor and then you could go up to the outside observation deck as well which was on the 91st floor. You could really see just how beautiful Taipei was from up there, mountains everywhere and very lush and green! Next we rode the extremely fast elevator down where our ears popped a couple times and jumped on the subway AGAIN and headed to Taiwan's largest night market. Now I thought the one we had seen the night before was big but WOW that was like a little alleyway compared to this huge market. We're talking several street blocks just full of people and shops and food! That last one was awesome but this one was AMAZING and turned out to be a perfect spot to pick out some gifts for people back home too! Also turned out to be the area where Logan decided to pick out a very pretty jade necklace that he lead me, and the woman selling it, to believe was for his mother but turned out was actually for me! :) It's beautiful with lots of little jade beads going up it and then a big jade ball that hangs in the middle with a few black strings that have little tiny clear crystals on the ends hanging from that. I love it and it's the first real piece of jewelry he's bought for me! :)
Ok so back to the market, at this point we had been on our feet going for over 12 hours and our dogs were barking BUT we were not done yet! We ended up finding this absolutely beautiful prayer temple that we of course had to stop and look around in. I don't think I've ever seen more vibrant beautiful colors together, we're talking blues, reds, greens, and of course tons of gold. It was amazing and we're so glad we had a chance to see that also before heading back. Shortly after looking around that we surrendered to our feet and decided to head back to the hostel. By the time we got back to the hostel we had been on our feet for 15 hours straight!! We were exhausted but totally felt like we had made the most out of our full day and were very happy with everything we saw!
Originally we had planned on getting up on Sunday and going to check out a temple or something easy before heading to the airport but sadly I woke up sick on Sunday. We ended up sleeping in a little and taking our time getting our stuff together, mostly because it was hard for me to move I felt so crappy, and just headed to the airport. While riding the bus to the airport Logan and I talked about our short but fun trip and both of us agreed that we will have to go back again sometime because there's just so much more to see and it's just so pretty. We even mentioned the idea of maybe looking into moving there next year to teach instead of staying here. That's a little ways away though I know and we definitely have a lot to consider and have other options to look into also but we both just loved it there! The people were all super friendly and seemed more willing and able to speak english with you, it was beautiful everywhere, there were tons of things to do, and as silly as it sounds it smelled MUCH better!! haha A lot of the times we were found ourselves saying oh my gosh that smells good not oh no hold your breath hurry!
*SIGH* So that's about everything big that we've been up to this past month, I know it's a lot! Like I said earlier though we are still obviously having a good time and we're both happy to be here. I hope you have all enjoyed catching up with me and I promise I'm going to work on this updating more often thing! :) Next I just have to work on updating pictures on facebook.....yeah one thing at a time, one thing at at time! ;)
Much love to you all,
S
So a lot has happened in the past month. Logan and I have been here now officially for 3 months and if you think that seems fast you have no idea how we feel! I swear I still have moments where I pause and think to myself "wow, I can't believe I'm actually in South Korea.....on the complete opposite side of the world where I NEVER in a million years thought I would be!" It's still pretty cool over here and we are still enjoying it, especially all the exploring we're getting to do. A few weeks ago we went on a day trip into the middle of Seoul and just got off the subway and started wondering around. We found the American Consulate and also stumbled across pretty big palace grounds but we didn't find that until it was starting to get dark so we're saving going in for another day trip sometime. The coolest part about the trip was we were stopped by another foreigner and his girlfriend and asked if we knew where a province called Itaewon was. Well I'm pretty sure I've mentioned it before here but we have actually been there a few times so we could actually help them!!! Haha now I know that doesn't sound like a big deal but oh my gosh I was so ecstatic when we were able to tell them which subway lines and all to take to get there! It's the first time where we weren't the one's lost and trying to figure out where to go and were really able to help someone else, felt pretty cool! The weekend after that we ended up at the aquarium that is in this huge mall, it was pretty cool. Best part was they had this area where you put your hands into a tank and these little fish came up and nibbled at your fingers cleaning them. It felt so cool and weird, I loved it! We also found a huge puzzle at the mall and bought that to bring home and having something else to do besides play the few games we brought and watch things on line. A lot of you might not know this but I LOVE PUZZLES!! haha I mean love them, when I used to go visit/stay with my great grandma I would go wonder around the place and work on or help people with the different puzzles they had out around the different lobbies and lounging areas. Once I get started it's pretty hard to get me to step away and if I'm able to I can work on them for hours at a time and not even realize that hours have passed. Poor Logan didn't realize exactly what I meant by I LOVE PUZZLES! haha We first said we were just going to separate the edge pieces out the first night and then start the next day well of course I couldn't stop after separating so I started working on it and the next thing I knew the outside was put together and some of the inside and about 4 hours had passed! In the end we ended up putting this 1000 piece puzzle together in a little less than a week! It was great, I can't wait to get another one! Anyway, the week after that we went down to this area called Suwon. It has this great wall type thing that you can walk and surrounds the original city and also has old palace grounds inside the city as well. After getting lost a few times trying to get there we finally made it and walked some of the wall, ended up not doing it all because of time and the fact that it was all the same, and also went into the palace grounds to walk around. It was pretty cool seeing the buildings and how old royalty lived back in the day!
Ok so after all that excitement, this past weekend was our big vacation trip to Taiwan we had planned and had been counting the days down until we were going! Don't read too much into that last sentence when I say big vacation trip I'm not talking like a week long trip or anything. Our trip was actually only a Fri-Sun trip so Logan could leave and get his passport stamped again for Korea but the exciting thing was that WE had planned this trip all our selves! We had a lot of suggestions about where to go for a short cheap nice trip and looked into a lot of those places but Logan ended up finding a site for Taiwan and we were pretty much sold right away. No one had suggested we go there or stay here at this place, we decided on this place all by ourselves and planned the trip purely by looking up the area to see what was around. Sounds silly I know but we were proud of ourselves and excited that it was our first trip out of South Korea since being here.
Anyway, we left Friday early evening and landed around 9:30pm in Taipei, Taiwan and made it to our hostel around 11pm. We were a little worried about getting to our hostel because on the website they said that after the cab ride actually finding the hostel was the hardest part. Well we just must be amazing at reading directions because we didn't have any trouble at all finding it. The guy that checked us in, Coke was his name, was super nice and after we arrived informed us that we were actually not in the main building with community bathrooms and lounge but had upgraded us to the other building where we had our own nice room with its own bathroom. No up charge or anything and we were even on the top floor which I love just because I hate having people living above me. The best part besides having our own bathroom though was the BED!!! Oh my gosh this was the most comfortable bed that we had slept on since being in Asia it was like being back home, even better than you get in some hotels!!
Ok ok so enough about the hostel and the bed and all. So after checking in we went right around the corner that our hostel was on to a night market that was there, and I mean right around the corner not even 2 minutes to get there. This was my first time in a night market but of course with Logan living in China before he is far from a night market virgin and he was ecstatic about having one so close and just the street food that would be in it. The market was AWESOME there were all kinds of little shops up and down both sides of the street and little stands in between them selling all kinds of stuff. You saw shoes, clothes, TONS and TONS of jewelry, purses, art work, and of course souvenirs and not the cheap plastic crap you get at the over priced shop in the airport! All this stuff was pretty well made and for the most part cheap too. Then there were also the little stands or even big tarps in the middle of the street dividing the 2 sides where individual people sold all kinds of stuff too. One thing Logan taught me, which was great, was that most of the stuff you could even get cheaper than what they ask because they like and expect people to haggle!! I did it a couple of times but the first time I did I totally walked away with a little high. I mean come on if you looked at someone in the states and said "ehhh actually that's a little more than I was wanting to spend but thanks." they'll just say ok and walk away, here they actually pull out a calculator and say "ok ok well you seem like a nice person how about this?" then show you a lower price! If that's still too high you can even sometimes get them to go down even lower, it's awesome! Ok so besides all the shops with "stuff" there were also all kinds of food stands. Now this is what Logan has been looking forward to and has mentioned several times since moving over here because South Korea is not like he expected and does NOT have what he calls street food. I'm not sure I've seen more of a variety of food options when it comes to little food stands than I did there. You could get a whole squid skewered on a stick and cooked, any and every part of a chicken, meat kabobs, quail eggs, etc. Logan's favorite were the stands where you got an actual whole sweet potato skin and all that had been cooked and you just ate it like an apple or something and of course the dumplings. I will agree with him on the dumplings, they were nothing like what we get here and they were great! My favorite were the fruit stands, they had little fresh fruit stands with like at least 10 different kinds of fruit on them and you could just walk up and choose as many slices of fruit that you wanted. They would then cut it up into little bite size pieces right there and give it to in a bag with a toothpick and you could eat while walking around! Some of the fruit they had I had never even seen before and it was all so cheap that it was a GREAT way to try new things. We ended up getting a bag of fruit with 12 different bite sizes pieces and at least 4 different kinds all for about $1!!! It was all so fresh and good, I LOVED IT!!! I completely understand now why Logan was so disappointed about the lack of street food here now and agree with him that it kind of sucks! haha Anyway, we ended up staying out that first night until about 1:30 looking around that market before heading back to the hostel for some rest.
Saturday we woke up early already having agreed that we needed to make as much as possible out of our short trip and were out on the street again by 9am. Shortly after leaving the hostel we stopped to study the map for a second to figure out how to get to the subway when a nice older gentleman stopped and asked us where we were going and if we needed help. His english was great and he was so nice, he showed us how to get there and then asked us where we were from and told us to have a nice day and good luck on our adventure! This might not seem like that big of a deal but something like that really hasn't happened here in Korea and in fact it's hard to find or get people to speak to you in english sometimes so the fact that this guy just came up and asked us if he could help really made our day and made us feel really welcome. After getting to the subway we took it to the Taipei zoo where we were some of the first ones in after it opened that morning. We decided after going to the zoo here that we were going to try to go to a zoo every where we go so we were excited to see how this one compared. This zoo was great it was so beautiful that at times you forgot that you were looking at a zoo exhibit, some of them seemed like you were in a forest just watching the animals. I think maybe the zoo here in Korea was a little more impressive but the zoo there was definitely more pretty. After spending about 5 hours there we jumped back on the subway and headed to Taipei 101, the worlds 2nd tallest building that just recently got out done by a building in Dubai, pretty cool! We timed it to where we saw the city during the day right before dusk then at dusk and a little even at night time, it really was pretty. You could go to an observation floor inside on the 88th floor and then you could go up to the outside observation deck as well which was on the 91st floor. You could really see just how beautiful Taipei was from up there, mountains everywhere and very lush and green! Next we rode the extremely fast elevator down where our ears popped a couple times and jumped on the subway AGAIN and headed to Taiwan's largest night market. Now I thought the one we had seen the night before was big but WOW that was like a little alleyway compared to this huge market. We're talking several street blocks just full of people and shops and food! That last one was awesome but this one was AMAZING and turned out to be a perfect spot to pick out some gifts for people back home too! Also turned out to be the area where Logan decided to pick out a very pretty jade necklace that he lead me, and the woman selling it, to believe was for his mother but turned out was actually for me! :) It's beautiful with lots of little jade beads going up it and then a big jade ball that hangs in the middle with a few black strings that have little tiny clear crystals on the ends hanging from that. I love it and it's the first real piece of jewelry he's bought for me! :)
Ok so back to the market, at this point we had been on our feet going for over 12 hours and our dogs were barking BUT we were not done yet! We ended up finding this absolutely beautiful prayer temple that we of course had to stop and look around in. I don't think I've ever seen more vibrant beautiful colors together, we're talking blues, reds, greens, and of course tons of gold. It was amazing and we're so glad we had a chance to see that also before heading back. Shortly after looking around that we surrendered to our feet and decided to head back to the hostel. By the time we got back to the hostel we had been on our feet for 15 hours straight!! We were exhausted but totally felt like we had made the most out of our full day and were very happy with everything we saw!
Originally we had planned on getting up on Sunday and going to check out a temple or something easy before heading to the airport but sadly I woke up sick on Sunday. We ended up sleeping in a little and taking our time getting our stuff together, mostly because it was hard for me to move I felt so crappy, and just headed to the airport. While riding the bus to the airport Logan and I talked about our short but fun trip and both of us agreed that we will have to go back again sometime because there's just so much more to see and it's just so pretty. We even mentioned the idea of maybe looking into moving there next year to teach instead of staying here. That's a little ways away though I know and we definitely have a lot to consider and have other options to look into also but we both just loved it there! The people were all super friendly and seemed more willing and able to speak english with you, it was beautiful everywhere, there were tons of things to do, and as silly as it sounds it smelled MUCH better!! haha A lot of the times we were found ourselves saying oh my gosh that smells good not oh no hold your breath hurry!
*SIGH* So that's about everything big that we've been up to this past month, I know it's a lot! Like I said earlier though we are still obviously having a good time and we're both happy to be here. I hope you have all enjoyed catching up with me and I promise I'm going to work on this updating more often thing! :) Next I just have to work on updating pictures on facebook.....yeah one thing at a time, one thing at at time! ;)
Much love to you all,
S
Saturday, September 3, 2011
10th Largest Zoo!!!
Hello everyone, I hope that you are doing well! It has been absolutely beautiful here in South Korea. The weather has changed and its been around the mid 70's some days and high 70's others but there has been a constant breeze making it even nicer out in the sun. This change in weather has made me so happy because it reminds me that soon it will start to get just a little cooler and the colors of fall will be among us and I'm excited to see all the different colors in the surrounding mountains. It reminds me of when my mom and I used to go camping down to the Lake of the Ozarks in the fall and all the trees were always a beautiful orange and red color with just a hint of green left, it truly is one of the most gorgeous times of the year!
Anyway, what is more perfect to do when the weather becomes nice like this? Go to the zoo of course, and that's just what we did yesterday! I had been told a little while back about the zoo in Seoul and that it was super nice so I decided to look it up and found that it was considered the 10th largest zoo in the world!! Umm hello, I was sold right then that we were going. It took us about an hour on the subway to get there but it took us directly to the entrance of the park so we didn't have to worry about getting off the subway and wondering around trying to find it. I quickly realized that when we got there I had actually been to part of the park before not knowing it was all one HUGE park. You see we go on field trips every Friday and a few weeks ago we went to an art museum that happened to be inside this park. The park its self is called Seoul Grand Park and I completely understand the grand part now. This park not only has a zoo, it has the art museum and a little theme park as well all inside it! I'll post a link at the end of this so you can take a look at this place, it really is pretty cool, this park is surrounded by mountains!
When we got there we understood right away why it was considered the 10th largest not to mention it might be one of the most beautiful parks we've even been to. To get to the entrance of the zoo you could either ride a tram car up OR you could take a ski lift...yes I said ski lift!! We decided to take the tram car only because at the time we weren't sure where to get the other tickets but it ended up being a really pretty ride so it was no loss to us. We saw all kinds of animals from all over the world and the best part was at the same time we were getting a nice workout because we were walking up and around this mountainous area the whole time.
Ok so I know you've all been to a zoo and its not a big deal, but this zoo just seemed different. The animals were just a little bit closer and a lot of them weren't behind huge thick glass that was too dirty to really get a good look. In almost all the monkey areas they were so close that if you stuck your hand out and the monkey did too you could actually touch the little guy! The animals were also a lot more active, we heard a tiger growling, very loud I might add, and also saw a couple of bears play fight/wrestle with each other for a good 10 mins before we finally left and they were still at it. It was also super quiet and kind of peaceful, no kids running around screaming or crying just people out enjoying the weather and animals with their families or friends.
One of the weirdest things that we saw, that I've never seen before, was in the bird of prey area. We were walking around this area with huge birds like different kinds of vultures and eagles and we came to this cage that had some kind of ugly looking vulture in it, I think it was a vulture at least. Anyway, you could get pretty close to the cages and this bird was walking back in forth in front of us when it dropped its head down and came up with a little dead/torn apart mouse and dropped it on the outside of the cages ledge. At first we were like awww no there goes your food buddy but then the thing stuck its head out through the bars of the cage! Now don't misunderstand me this thing did not have a small head and the bars were not super far apart. This thing wanted his food so bad that he turned his head every which way and managed to wiggle it through to get the mouse back. He was just standing there with his whole head and neck out looking at us like what I'm hungry then kind of wiggled a little and pulled it back in! haha it was so cool to see and if Logan or I would of had our hand out taking a picture or something I'm sure I'd be typing this all with a missing digit or two! So besides the birds, monkeys, tigers, and bears, oh my! ;) We also saw snow leopards, grey wolfs, hyenas, European flamingos (they're a really pretty bright orange pinkish color), sloths and several other animals. Because the park was set up in the mountains it also had amazing scenery with trails trees and flowers everywhere and a little stream that people were able to go down and play in or just relax by and have a picnic by. We spent 5 hours walking around this place and decided to take the ski lift back down to the parking lot. The ski lift is for sure the way to do it next time, it went over part of the park and a large lake as well as just the fact that you had great views of the surrounding area. Even after all the time we spent wondering around we still did not get a chance to see it all so we will be going back for sure and I can't wait!
Like I've said many times in this blog it was awesome and I really hope that some friends get to come visit us as well as my mom so we can take them back to see it for themselves! Now if you know me at all, you know that when I'm somewhere new and exciting and have my camera I will take tons of pictures, well this was no different, I took a ton and I promise that I will try to have them up on my facebook soon so you all can see them. Until then I hope you all are able to sit back and relax some. Lots of love until next time!
http://english.seoul.go.kr/cav/att/seoulzoo.php
Anyway, what is more perfect to do when the weather becomes nice like this? Go to the zoo of course, and that's just what we did yesterday! I had been told a little while back about the zoo in Seoul and that it was super nice so I decided to look it up and found that it was considered the 10th largest zoo in the world!! Umm hello, I was sold right then that we were going. It took us about an hour on the subway to get there but it took us directly to the entrance of the park so we didn't have to worry about getting off the subway and wondering around trying to find it. I quickly realized that when we got there I had actually been to part of the park before not knowing it was all one HUGE park. You see we go on field trips every Friday and a few weeks ago we went to an art museum that happened to be inside this park. The park its self is called Seoul Grand Park and I completely understand the grand part now. This park not only has a zoo, it has the art museum and a little theme park as well all inside it! I'll post a link at the end of this so you can take a look at this place, it really is pretty cool, this park is surrounded by mountains!
When we got there we understood right away why it was considered the 10th largest not to mention it might be one of the most beautiful parks we've even been to. To get to the entrance of the zoo you could either ride a tram car up OR you could take a ski lift...yes I said ski lift!! We decided to take the tram car only because at the time we weren't sure where to get the other tickets but it ended up being a really pretty ride so it was no loss to us. We saw all kinds of animals from all over the world and the best part was at the same time we were getting a nice workout because we were walking up and around this mountainous area the whole time.
Ok so I know you've all been to a zoo and its not a big deal, but this zoo just seemed different. The animals were just a little bit closer and a lot of them weren't behind huge thick glass that was too dirty to really get a good look. In almost all the monkey areas they were so close that if you stuck your hand out and the monkey did too you could actually touch the little guy! The animals were also a lot more active, we heard a tiger growling, very loud I might add, and also saw a couple of bears play fight/wrestle with each other for a good 10 mins before we finally left and they were still at it. It was also super quiet and kind of peaceful, no kids running around screaming or crying just people out enjoying the weather and animals with their families or friends.
One of the weirdest things that we saw, that I've never seen before, was in the bird of prey area. We were walking around this area with huge birds like different kinds of vultures and eagles and we came to this cage that had some kind of ugly looking vulture in it, I think it was a vulture at least. Anyway, you could get pretty close to the cages and this bird was walking back in forth in front of us when it dropped its head down and came up with a little dead/torn apart mouse and dropped it on the outside of the cages ledge. At first we were like awww no there goes your food buddy but then the thing stuck its head out through the bars of the cage! Now don't misunderstand me this thing did not have a small head and the bars were not super far apart. This thing wanted his food so bad that he turned his head every which way and managed to wiggle it through to get the mouse back. He was just standing there with his whole head and neck out looking at us like what I'm hungry then kind of wiggled a little and pulled it back in! haha it was so cool to see and if Logan or I would of had our hand out taking a picture or something I'm sure I'd be typing this all with a missing digit or two! So besides the birds, monkeys, tigers, and bears, oh my! ;) We also saw snow leopards, grey wolfs, hyenas, European flamingos (they're a really pretty bright orange pinkish color), sloths and several other animals. Because the park was set up in the mountains it also had amazing scenery with trails trees and flowers everywhere and a little stream that people were able to go down and play in or just relax by and have a picnic by. We spent 5 hours walking around this place and decided to take the ski lift back down to the parking lot. The ski lift is for sure the way to do it next time, it went over part of the park and a large lake as well as just the fact that you had great views of the surrounding area. Even after all the time we spent wondering around we still did not get a chance to see it all so we will be going back for sure and I can't wait!
Like I've said many times in this blog it was awesome and I really hope that some friends get to come visit us as well as my mom so we can take them back to see it for themselves! Now if you know me at all, you know that when I'm somewhere new and exciting and have my camera I will take tons of pictures, well this was no different, I took a ton and I promise that I will try to have them up on my facebook soon so you all can see them. Until then I hope you all are able to sit back and relax some. Lots of love until next time!
http://english.seoul.go.kr/cav/att/seoulzoo.php
Friday, August 26, 2011
When was the last time you participated in a war drill?
Hello everyone, sorry its been a little while since I've updated I've been busy with work and then ended up getting sick, which I'm actually still getting over! Let me also say real quick that getting sick over here really makes me miss my American drugs!! haha No I'm not talking street drugs or anything crazy, I'm talking that good but kind of gross tasting liquid stuff that is in all the stores back home; Theraflu, NyQuil/Dayquil, Robitussin, etc. I'm not sure if they have that kind of stuff over here but I haven't seen it yet and between Logan being sick a couple of weeks ago and now me we've used up all the liquid night time medicine that we brought over. Luckily my mom is not one to let a good sale pass her up, esp when it's, as she says, "cheap as dirt!" haha so we should have more meds on the way when she sends us a nice little package soon!
Ok enough of that, I'm here to continue where I left off of last time. So when I last wrote I ended with mentioning that I got to experience a nice little thing called a war drill. Now when you hear war drill what comes to mind? Honestly with me I think it's going to be like an earthquake drill back home, you know you hide under desk and hope nothing heavy falls on it! That's actually not the case at all. See the other week I was lining my class up to leave, around 2pm, to go down to the buses like normal but when we started to walk by the other classes one of the other teachers stopped and told me that it was a war drill right now so we had to wait to leave. Ummmm a what?? ok?? So I took the class back and sat them down and then went to ask if I had heard her right. Yup turns out I did. I also found out that South Korea has war drills every month on the 15th but that it was on a different date this month because of a holiday being on the 15th of the month. Any time there's a war drill every single car or bus or bike on the road has to stop and either pull over to the side of the road or if you're in the middle lane stop and turn off your car. No one is allowed to move and there are police at about all the intersections to make sure of that. Like I said earlier when I heard the words war drill just having all forms of transportation stop was the last thing I think I expected to see. It was definitely weird too, looking out the window and not seeing anyone moving at all, kind of erie.
One thing I've been told a couple of times since moving here is that if the Koreans aren't worried/panicked there's no reason for you to be. I figure that makes since and I have yet to see or hear any Koreans look or act worried about any kind of threat from the North and I feel completely safe where we're at. It kind of makes you stop and think though about the safety of America, I think we take it for granted sometimes. I mean I know that America is not the safest place on earth by any means. We have tons of violence that we commit against each other everyday and we have terrorists that don't like us very much. When was the last time though that we had a war drill back in the states because there was someone right next door to us that hated us so much they thought everything would be better without us there. I know you might not agree with me and that you might think that America is hated so much we should be constantly worried, and that's fine and also the beauty of being an American, you can think what you want. There are places in the world though that war drills and war are such a constant they don't know anything else. There are children growing up knowing what to look for on the ground so they don't get blown up and that are able to sleep with gun fire because they know if it's just a little crack it's not close enough to be worried about.
Ok before my mom starts freaking out reading this thinking we're in a horrible place I'll get back on track to South Korea. Let me be clear also, we are no where close to being in a place like the above. Yes we are some what close to North Korea but as I said the Koreans have assured me that there is no reason to not feel safe. I really do like it over here and really do feel safe I just wanted to maybe get you to stop and think about everything for a second. Also maybe stop and appreciate those Americans that help keep us safe and that sadly do know what war sounds like.
Ok now for a little side note about absolutely nothing to do with war drills. Walking around in Korea I've found that there are some smells you come across that make you want to run away screaming and buy a ticket to any place besides that area you were just in!! Now I'm not talking like living in Missouri and you happen to drive by the sulfur plants in K.C. and maybe drive just a little bit faster to get by the rotten egg smell. No I'm talking a smell that makes you want to gag and toss whatever food you had in your stomach right then and there! Imagine baby poop, vomit, and rotting food all mixed together!! Oh my gosh just typing it brings back bad memories...blahhh! I've encountered this smell a couple times since being here and it is definitely one thing I could go without. Logan says that's just Asia but I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that they just put all their trash out on the street in little bags and also all uneaten food out in seperate bags so its just sitting out in the sunn rotting away. Yumm I know right! haha They actually then have people that come around with carts and pick it all up, when I don't know because I never see them but it's always gone within a day or two and that's all that matters to me! Ok now that I vented about that as well I think I'm out of things to share for this round. Hope you all are having a good weekend and of course like always lots of love to you all!! :)
Ok enough of that, I'm here to continue where I left off of last time. So when I last wrote I ended with mentioning that I got to experience a nice little thing called a war drill. Now when you hear war drill what comes to mind? Honestly with me I think it's going to be like an earthquake drill back home, you know you hide under desk and hope nothing heavy falls on it! That's actually not the case at all. See the other week I was lining my class up to leave, around 2pm, to go down to the buses like normal but when we started to walk by the other classes one of the other teachers stopped and told me that it was a war drill right now so we had to wait to leave. Ummmm a what?? ok?? So I took the class back and sat them down and then went to ask if I had heard her right. Yup turns out I did. I also found out that South Korea has war drills every month on the 15th but that it was on a different date this month because of a holiday being on the 15th of the month. Any time there's a war drill every single car or bus or bike on the road has to stop and either pull over to the side of the road or if you're in the middle lane stop and turn off your car. No one is allowed to move and there are police at about all the intersections to make sure of that. Like I said earlier when I heard the words war drill just having all forms of transportation stop was the last thing I think I expected to see. It was definitely weird too, looking out the window and not seeing anyone moving at all, kind of erie.
One thing I've been told a couple of times since moving here is that if the Koreans aren't worried/panicked there's no reason for you to be. I figure that makes since and I have yet to see or hear any Koreans look or act worried about any kind of threat from the North and I feel completely safe where we're at. It kind of makes you stop and think though about the safety of America, I think we take it for granted sometimes. I mean I know that America is not the safest place on earth by any means. We have tons of violence that we commit against each other everyday and we have terrorists that don't like us very much. When was the last time though that we had a war drill back in the states because there was someone right next door to us that hated us so much they thought everything would be better without us there. I know you might not agree with me and that you might think that America is hated so much we should be constantly worried, and that's fine and also the beauty of being an American, you can think what you want. There are places in the world though that war drills and war are such a constant they don't know anything else. There are children growing up knowing what to look for on the ground so they don't get blown up and that are able to sleep with gun fire because they know if it's just a little crack it's not close enough to be worried about.
Ok before my mom starts freaking out reading this thinking we're in a horrible place I'll get back on track to South Korea. Let me be clear also, we are no where close to being in a place like the above. Yes we are some what close to North Korea but as I said the Koreans have assured me that there is no reason to not feel safe. I really do like it over here and really do feel safe I just wanted to maybe get you to stop and think about everything for a second. Also maybe stop and appreciate those Americans that help keep us safe and that sadly do know what war sounds like.
Ok now for a little side note about absolutely nothing to do with war drills. Walking around in Korea I've found that there are some smells you come across that make you want to run away screaming and buy a ticket to any place besides that area you were just in!! Now I'm not talking like living in Missouri and you happen to drive by the sulfur plants in K.C. and maybe drive just a little bit faster to get by the rotten egg smell. No I'm talking a smell that makes you want to gag and toss whatever food you had in your stomach right then and there! Imagine baby poop, vomit, and rotting food all mixed together!! Oh my gosh just typing it brings back bad memories...blahhh! I've encountered this smell a couple times since being here and it is definitely one thing I could go without. Logan says that's just Asia but I'm thinking it has something to do with the fact that they just put all their trash out on the street in little bags and also all uneaten food out in seperate bags so its just sitting out in the sunn rotting away. Yumm I know right! haha They actually then have people that come around with carts and pick it all up, when I don't know because I never see them but it's always gone within a day or two and that's all that matters to me! Ok now that I vented about that as well I think I'm out of things to share for this round. Hope you all are having a good weekend and of course like always lots of love to you all!! :)
Thursday, August 18, 2011
South Korea so far
Ok like I promised, I am back to update more on what I've actually been up to since being here. I will be the first one to tell you that the first day after we got here and went out to walk around I almost went back to the room to cry! haha It was such a culture shock, I mean we go out and I can't read anything that's around us on buildings or signs, the food looks completely weird, and it kind of smelled funny!! Luckily that feeling really only lasted half that day and now I'm feeling much better about it all. So after spending the weekend getting moved in and settled I then started training/following Lauren around at school that Monday. The training was pretty easy and the kids were super friendly right away which made me feel a little tiny bit less nervous. At the end of the week, Friday Lauren invited us to go out for Galbi with her and a friend. Turns out Galbi, Korean BBQ, is awesome and I think one of my favorite things to eat here so far! It's so much fun too! The table has a big hole cut out of it and they bring over burning coals in like a cauldron type thing that fits in the whole. Then they lay a grate over it and bring out the raw meat, some seasoning, onions, and kimchi (pickled cabbage usually, not that great) and you cook everything yourself over the fire! Super fun and great to just relax with some friends and some beer while grilling! After the Galbi we then met up with a couple other foreign teachers over here and enjoyed a couple of beers before heading to what was called a room cafe, no that is not the technical name but that's the only thing in English on the sign. I have never been a fan of karaoke but this place was awesome! You get your own personal room with big plush couches and chairs, a big screen tv, crazy lights, and a ton of songs to choose from and of course microphones!! I had a blast! I even got dragged up to help sing girls just want to have fun and I think because we weren't in a huge bar I wasn't as mortified! haha I'm definitely making that a must for anyone that comes over to visit us!
Ok enough about that one night! After that weekend I actually ended up having a week off for summer vacation. We didn't end up doing anything partly because of lack of funds and partly because it's rainy season here and poured almost everyday except maybe 2! It was nice in a way because we were able to get more familiar with our area and all but also sucked because that meant I had a week off after only training for one week! What if I forgot everything? What if the kids forgot me or changed their minds about me?
By the time that next Monday rolled around I was freaking out on the inside for sure on the way to school!! Luckily I had Logan to walk me to school and tell me the whole way I was going to be ok and if I needed to cry he even pointed out the bathroom for me! haha That first day ended and I found that I only really wanted to cry a couple of times the whole day but never did so I called it a success. The kids remembered me for the most part and I remembered things once I started working. As the week continued it got better and better and I never cried once! I'm proud of myself on that one for sure considering how out of place I felt for awhile! My day consists of several different classes for either an hour or 30 mins. If I have an hour class I'm the art teacher, luckily we have the art projects already mapped out in a book they give you with supplies, and then the half hour I spend doing a class called Potato Pals. Potato Pals is with our 2 youngest classes, the youngest being about 3 or 4 and the second classes being about 5. They get a simple book that repeats basic sentences about things they do using potatoes as the characters. Our book right now is called In the Evening, so it says things like in the evening i come home, in the evening I do my homework, in the evening I walk the do and so on. This is BY FAR my least favorite class! The kids are so young they don't have a long attention span and they're constantly wanting to talk in Korean. This is definitely where I've learned the power of bribing with stickers, haha they LOVE them! Hey if it works why change it! These kids are at the school from 9:30-2:30 then in the afternoon we have elementary kids that come over. These classes aren't too hard except they like to talk so much its hard to get them to focus on work sometimes. The classes are 40mins each and I end up with 4 of them in the afternoon. Each class has its own English book that they work on and I go over with them, not too hard at all. I get a about 4 breaks the whole day where I'm able to relax or catch up on class work and I leave work at 6:30 M-Th and on Fri at 2:30!
Well it's getting late here and I have to get up early so I'm going to finish this up. Now that I'm getting used to it all its definitely not too bad at all and the kids are really starting to adjust to me and like me more so that makes it all even better! We haven't really done a ton more in the way of going out yet because we still haven't gotten paid and its been so rainy. We did make it out this past weekend to a pretty awesome place but honestly I think I'm going to have to save that for the next blog, I'm just getting to tired!!
I hope you're all doing well and I will write again soon about our latest going out event and to inform you all about War Drills! Yes I did just say war drills but before you freak out mom no we're not under attack and I promise its super safe here!! If the Koreans aren't freaking out no reason for us to! ;)
Love to you all!
Shawna
Ok enough about that one night! After that weekend I actually ended up having a week off for summer vacation. We didn't end up doing anything partly because of lack of funds and partly because it's rainy season here and poured almost everyday except maybe 2! It was nice in a way because we were able to get more familiar with our area and all but also sucked because that meant I had a week off after only training for one week! What if I forgot everything? What if the kids forgot me or changed their minds about me?
By the time that next Monday rolled around I was freaking out on the inside for sure on the way to school!! Luckily I had Logan to walk me to school and tell me the whole way I was going to be ok and if I needed to cry he even pointed out the bathroom for me! haha That first day ended and I found that I only really wanted to cry a couple of times the whole day but never did so I called it a success. The kids remembered me for the most part and I remembered things once I started working. As the week continued it got better and better and I never cried once! I'm proud of myself on that one for sure considering how out of place I felt for awhile! My day consists of several different classes for either an hour or 30 mins. If I have an hour class I'm the art teacher, luckily we have the art projects already mapped out in a book they give you with supplies, and then the half hour I spend doing a class called Potato Pals. Potato Pals is with our 2 youngest classes, the youngest being about 3 or 4 and the second classes being about 5. They get a simple book that repeats basic sentences about things they do using potatoes as the characters. Our book right now is called In the Evening, so it says things like in the evening i come home, in the evening I do my homework, in the evening I walk the do and so on. This is BY FAR my least favorite class! The kids are so young they don't have a long attention span and they're constantly wanting to talk in Korean. This is definitely where I've learned the power of bribing with stickers, haha they LOVE them! Hey if it works why change it! These kids are at the school from 9:30-2:30 then in the afternoon we have elementary kids that come over. These classes aren't too hard except they like to talk so much its hard to get them to focus on work sometimes. The classes are 40mins each and I end up with 4 of them in the afternoon. Each class has its own English book that they work on and I go over with them, not too hard at all. I get a about 4 breaks the whole day where I'm able to relax or catch up on class work and I leave work at 6:30 M-Th and on Fri at 2:30!
Well it's getting late here and I have to get up early so I'm going to finish this up. Now that I'm getting used to it all its definitely not too bad at all and the kids are really starting to adjust to me and like me more so that makes it all even better! We haven't really done a ton more in the way of going out yet because we still haven't gotten paid and its been so rainy. We did make it out this past weekend to a pretty awesome place but honestly I think I'm going to have to save that for the next blog, I'm just getting to tired!!
I hope you're all doing well and I will write again soon about our latest going out event and to inform you all about War Drills! Yes I did just say war drills but before you freak out mom no we're not under attack and I promise its super safe here!! If the Koreans aren't freaking out no reason for us to! ;)
Love to you all!
Shawna
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Why Pushing Play?
Ok so this is it I'm finally starting a blog! I know it's taken me long enough, after all we have been in Korea a whole month tomorrow!! Wow, a whole month....it really does not feel like it! I kind of feel like its really only been a couple of weeks and it makes me wonder how fast the rest of the time will go. Also I can't wait to see where all Logan and I will travel to in the rest of our time here in South Korea and what kind of adventures we will have together! I guess I should maybe back up just a little and explain how it is a girl from Missouri wound up to be living in South Korea just in case any of you don't know. I was born and raised in Missouri and PROUD to be a midwest girl, if you've never lived in the midwest you just wont get it but the people are just different. You can ask just about anyone from there that's spent time other places, they will tell you the same, people are different and the way of living is different. Not that there is anything wrong with other places but I know that that is where I want to raise a family. Ok ok I know you get it I like the midwest, haha I'll move on! After going to college in a small town up by the Iowa boarder I actually moved down to Florida. I know, why would someone that loves the midwest so much move there? Well it's simple really. When I was in my Jr year of college my mom married this wonderful man, Dale, and moved down there. I'll tell you all this right now, besides being a proud midwesterner I'm a HUGE momma's girl! I don't think I ever realized it either until she moved away. I love her so much she has always been there for me no matter what and I know she always will be! Hey she even came up to visit me when I was still in school and came out with my friends and I, yes my mom is cool! haha
Anyway, after college I wanted to be closer to her again so I packed up and moved to Fl also. I will admit now that I do like Florida for the most part and it was even better because one of my great friends, Jessi, moved down with me! So after moving to FL the only jobs I could find were serving jobs because I just didn't have the experience I needed for anything else out there. I started working at 2 different restaurants about a month after moving and continued working the 2 for year. After that I was lucky and got hired at the Ronald McDonald House in Jacksonville and I do mean lucky! When I first interviewed I was only 24 which would of made the youngest one working there and also unable to drive the van that we use to transport families that have no vehicle around. Well thanks to the very wonderful words of a friend that my mom and I new that worked there already they decided to hire me!! I was soooo happy I can't even describe! I remember walking out of there after they offered it to me wanting to scream and jump up and down, even if it was just part time and at nights it would allow me to get rid of one serving job!! I worked there for a little over a year and I LOVED IT!! Sure it was hard at times and sometime completely and totally sucked, esp when you spend time getting close to a family and a little kid and then they leave only to later pass away from whatever horrible disease they may of had. Even though that part sucked I will tell you right now if you're ever feeling down about your self or life go by your local Ronald House and volunteer. I'm serious, the energy and amazing spirit of these children that most likely are dealing with something you've never dealt with will put your life in perspective. I met some of the most AMAZING families there and I'm happy to say that I still keep in touch with some them as well.
Ok so I'm sure you're know all to the point of that's great Shawna but how did this get you to South Korea?! haha Sorry I tend to start typing sometimes and the next thing I know I've wrote a short story! Anyway, after about a year (around mid April) of working at RMHC I was really starting to get unhappy, not from the job don't get me wrong I loved the job I just wasn't happy with where I was at in life. Back in Oct. I had started dating this amazing guy (Logan) that I had been pretty good friends with for over a year and that was going great but otherwise I just felt like I was in rut. If I were honest with myself to I'd felt like that just about since I graduated from college. I mean come I had NO DESIRE to move to FL and continue to serve, I hated serving!! My job at RMH was great but even that too was still only a few hours a night M-F. I had to either move up there or find a new job! Well one day I saw on facebook that an old friend from church back in MO was asking if anyone was interested in teaching English in South Korea. I've always wanted to travel but really thought nothing would come of it if I just asked what the details were. Honestly I figured she'd give me the bare details, I'd say oh that's cool and nothing else would come it.....man was I wrong!! The next day I had an email from her saying "you would be perfect for the job here is all the info send me your resume and I'll get back in contact with you" You see she was already over there and her contract was ending and so she was having to find a replacement and her boss really wanted to hire someone she knew instead of bringing in a completely new person! Of course because I'm a momma's girl I had to talk to my mom and Dale right away and see what they thought and I'm pretty sure stunned is no where close to the right wording! haha I mean if you know me you'll know that I really like being around my friends and family and that just moving away to FL when I only knew my mom and family down there was a HUGE step for me, now here I was talking about picking up and moving half way across the world where I would know no one!! Yeah stunned is definitely not the right word. I of course talked to Logan about it as well and his first words were "well I go where you go so I'll of course come with if you want me to" omg yeah I pretty much awwwed out loud when he told me that and of course I said good because I would love for to come with! After talking to him about it and my mom and Dale everyone pretty much agreed that if I were offered the job yeah it would suck and I would miss friends and family but I would be INSANE not to take the opportunity! A couple of days after that Lauren (old friend whose spot I would be taking) got in touch with me and told me that Grace, boss lady, would like to offer me the job!! I'm really not sure how to describe the feeling I had when I read that email, I was excited and nervous as all hell too. It didn't even sink in until we were at the airport leaving either, I'm not going to get into that though because otherwise I'll be sitting here trying to type while crying! I had asked about and gotten the job all literally within 1 week....1 week. That's one week to think about it, inform loved ones about the possibility and decide to move half way across the world for a year!! I remember thinking did I really just decide this all within a week?!?! But at the same time when I went back to the restaurant to work the day after getting it I knew that I had made the right decision I could not wait for my last day there! I loved the people I worked with but I was just so tired of dealing with everything else and waiting on people that I was ready to snap at just about every table that had even just a minor problem....not a good idea and luckily I never did!
Anyway, now to why I named this Pushing Play. Like I said before, I had felt like I was in rut for awhile but in April of 2011 I stepped out of my box and excepted a job that I feel like is going to help me grow even more as a person. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my friends from college but I have always been so envious of them because of the things they were doing with their lives and how not in a rut they seem. Even if not true it was a feeling I hated. Now I feel like I'm finally doing something with my life, I'm no longer on pause waiting hoping that the right job just comes along or that the right guy comes along and sees me for who I really am or that you know maybe some day I'll be able to travel like I've always wanted. I have a wonderful guy that has helped encourage me to do the things I've always wanted to do and always had faith in me even when I wasn't sure I could do something. With the faith he and my family and friends had in me I was able to see the faith I have in myself and except this huge offer for a job and finally take a step in a direction I knew I would love. Time to stop talking about how I want to travel and I want a different job it was time to do it! I finally "Pushed Play" on my life again and I couldn't be happier that I did!
Now I'm sure most of you are like wow that's great Shawna nice little story but we want to hear about what you've been up to since then. Well sadly Logan is sick so I'm going to spend some time with him and besides I think I've wrote enough for my first blog don't you?! Besides, maybe this way it will get you to come back next time so you can read about what we've been up to since being over here!
Love to you all, esp those that have always believed in me, and I promise to post again soon and maybe even pictures eventually once I get the hang of this thing!
Love
Shawna
Anyway, after college I wanted to be closer to her again so I packed up and moved to Fl also. I will admit now that I do like Florida for the most part and it was even better because one of my great friends, Jessi, moved down with me! So after moving to FL the only jobs I could find were serving jobs because I just didn't have the experience I needed for anything else out there. I started working at 2 different restaurants about a month after moving and continued working the 2 for year. After that I was lucky and got hired at the Ronald McDonald House in Jacksonville and I do mean lucky! When I first interviewed I was only 24 which would of made the youngest one working there and also unable to drive the van that we use to transport families that have no vehicle around. Well thanks to the very wonderful words of a friend that my mom and I new that worked there already they decided to hire me!! I was soooo happy I can't even describe! I remember walking out of there after they offered it to me wanting to scream and jump up and down, even if it was just part time and at nights it would allow me to get rid of one serving job!! I worked there for a little over a year and I LOVED IT!! Sure it was hard at times and sometime completely and totally sucked, esp when you spend time getting close to a family and a little kid and then they leave only to later pass away from whatever horrible disease they may of had. Even though that part sucked I will tell you right now if you're ever feeling down about your self or life go by your local Ronald House and volunteer. I'm serious, the energy and amazing spirit of these children that most likely are dealing with something you've never dealt with will put your life in perspective. I met some of the most AMAZING families there and I'm happy to say that I still keep in touch with some them as well.
Ok so I'm sure you're know all to the point of that's great Shawna but how did this get you to South Korea?! haha Sorry I tend to start typing sometimes and the next thing I know I've wrote a short story! Anyway, after about a year (around mid April) of working at RMHC I was really starting to get unhappy, not from the job don't get me wrong I loved the job I just wasn't happy with where I was at in life. Back in Oct. I had started dating this amazing guy (Logan) that I had been pretty good friends with for over a year and that was going great but otherwise I just felt like I was in rut. If I were honest with myself to I'd felt like that just about since I graduated from college. I mean come I had NO DESIRE to move to FL and continue to serve, I hated serving!! My job at RMH was great but even that too was still only a few hours a night M-F. I had to either move up there or find a new job! Well one day I saw on facebook that an old friend from church back in MO was asking if anyone was interested in teaching English in South Korea. I've always wanted to travel but really thought nothing would come of it if I just asked what the details were. Honestly I figured she'd give me the bare details, I'd say oh that's cool and nothing else would come it.....man was I wrong!! The next day I had an email from her saying "you would be perfect for the job here is all the info send me your resume and I'll get back in contact with you" You see she was already over there and her contract was ending and so she was having to find a replacement and her boss really wanted to hire someone she knew instead of bringing in a completely new person! Of course because I'm a momma's girl I had to talk to my mom and Dale right away and see what they thought and I'm pretty sure stunned is no where close to the right wording! haha I mean if you know me you'll know that I really like being around my friends and family and that just moving away to FL when I only knew my mom and family down there was a HUGE step for me, now here I was talking about picking up and moving half way across the world where I would know no one!! Yeah stunned is definitely not the right word. I of course talked to Logan about it as well and his first words were "well I go where you go so I'll of course come with if you want me to" omg yeah I pretty much awwwed out loud when he told me that and of course I said good because I would love for to come with! After talking to him about it and my mom and Dale everyone pretty much agreed that if I were offered the job yeah it would suck and I would miss friends and family but I would be INSANE not to take the opportunity! A couple of days after that Lauren (old friend whose spot I would be taking) got in touch with me and told me that Grace, boss lady, would like to offer me the job!! I'm really not sure how to describe the feeling I had when I read that email, I was excited and nervous as all hell too. It didn't even sink in until we were at the airport leaving either, I'm not going to get into that though because otherwise I'll be sitting here trying to type while crying! I had asked about and gotten the job all literally within 1 week....1 week. That's one week to think about it, inform loved ones about the possibility and decide to move half way across the world for a year!! I remember thinking did I really just decide this all within a week?!?! But at the same time when I went back to the restaurant to work the day after getting it I knew that I had made the right decision I could not wait for my last day there! I loved the people I worked with but I was just so tired of dealing with everything else and waiting on people that I was ready to snap at just about every table that had even just a minor problem....not a good idea and luckily I never did!
Anyway, now to why I named this Pushing Play. Like I said before, I had felt like I was in rut for awhile but in April of 2011 I stepped out of my box and excepted a job that I feel like is going to help me grow even more as a person. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my friends from college but I have always been so envious of them because of the things they were doing with their lives and how not in a rut they seem. Even if not true it was a feeling I hated. Now I feel like I'm finally doing something with my life, I'm no longer on pause waiting hoping that the right job just comes along or that the right guy comes along and sees me for who I really am or that you know maybe some day I'll be able to travel like I've always wanted. I have a wonderful guy that has helped encourage me to do the things I've always wanted to do and always had faith in me even when I wasn't sure I could do something. With the faith he and my family and friends had in me I was able to see the faith I have in myself and except this huge offer for a job and finally take a step in a direction I knew I would love. Time to stop talking about how I want to travel and I want a different job it was time to do it! I finally "Pushed Play" on my life again and I couldn't be happier that I did!
Now I'm sure most of you are like wow that's great Shawna nice little story but we want to hear about what you've been up to since then. Well sadly Logan is sick so I'm going to spend some time with him and besides I think I've wrote enough for my first blog don't you?! Besides, maybe this way it will get you to come back next time so you can read about what we've been up to since being over here!
Love to you all, esp those that have always believed in me, and I promise to post again soon and maybe even pictures eventually once I get the hang of this thing!
Love
Shawna
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