Just Horsing Around

Yesterday, we had our big trip with J's unit to a Korean Folk Village, which ironically enough was called Korean Folk Village. I was super stoked for this trip for a few reasons, the main one being that it was free, and the second one being that we could actually meet and hang out with other people he kinda works with. I mean all of our friends have either already left, or will be leaving soon, and with two years to go I see our time here being kinda lonely unless we befriend new people.


So yea, our trip started out kind of rainy, and by that I mean it was pouring out. Luckily once we got on the bus and started heading to our first stop it actually cleared up, and would stay that way until we came home. The first place we stopped at was Pyeongtaek Sea Port, we learned about the shipping industry in Korea, and even got to go on a boat ride. (Doesn't this sound like a school field trip?) Since it had been so rainy earlier they only allowed a few people to go on top of the boat, so you know I had to make sure I was one of them, and all I but pushed J out the door to reach those steps. =) 


After the boat ride we had lunch at a bulgogi house. This place was super cute, and like most Korean restaurants you have to sit on the floor. This place was different than others we had been too since the floor was actually cut out at the bottom so your feet had a place to go so it was like sitting at a table with chairs without actual chairs. Oh, and the bulgogi was amazing, as is typically the case.

Once we were done with lunch we went to a Korean Folk Village. I was so excited to be here because the place just seemed so interesting. Plus, there were horses, and you could ride them. I suppose saying you could ride them is an overstatement because you pay for your ticket and the man leads you around the track on the horse, but whatever, I was on a horse. Unfortunately, I have no actual pictures to commemorate this event because J had decided that his ice cream cone was way more important than me riding a horse, a horse that I named Mister Ed even though she was a female, but she liked her new name, and we bonded. After all of the excitement from the horses, we got to see traditional Korean performances, which included drums, a tightrope walker, and horse stunts. 

I'm On A Boat!!

I've neglected this thing for far too long. I guess I was worried that if I actually took the time to write something it would just turn into whining, but since I posted something complaining about how miserable the heat's been making me I feel confident enough to update my adventures now.


Somehow our Adventure Saturdays have turned into Adventure Sundays (I'm blaming the time difference and the whole being in the future thing) and this past Sunday we headed up to Seoul to ride speed boats on the Han River. Our latest trip was replacing the much anticipated trip to the water park which was rained out the day before. Damn you, Monsoon! So, we picked up two of our friends from the gate and made the trek to the Seoul. Once we parked the car we picked up some snacks and headed to the nearest train station to head to the pier. I'm not even going to lie, I was so nervous about this train thing because the last one we had to get on went UNDER the Han River. Um what? How can the subway go under the river? This thought had completely blown my mind. I mean I know there's one in New York, and there's tunnels and all in the states where you're actually driving under the water, but I just don't understand how it's possible. What happens if there's a leak? You're trapped and you die, that's what. Obviously we arrived at the pier safe and sound since I'm writing this, but still you never know.

Walking to the pier.

View from the pier.

So, once we made it to the pier we paid our 10,000 won each (which is roughly $8.48 thanks to my won to dollars app on the Bb for allowing to me calculate that so quickly) suited up in our little life vests and we were off on the boat. OhMyGoodness whipping around on that boat was so much fun. I wasn't worried about falling overboard and drowning one bit, that's probably more due to the fact that I'm a great swimmer. What I was worried about, though, was falling into that nasty ass water and heaven forbid that shit get in my mouth and on my face and whatever else. No ma'am, I was not feelin that. I'm not even sure how polluted the water is actually, but it's the fact that it's a river, I can't see the bottom of it, and it's in a city. I mean Korea has pollution from China rolling on in when the wind blows just right, so who knows. I'm just saying, I didn't avoid any and all contact with water from the Neuse River back home, to come to Korea and suddenly grow a third arm from a splash of water reaching me over the sides of the boat, and if said water got on my body, I was fully prepared to bathe in Bleach anywhere surface cleaner when I got home. Just kidding..or am I? On a similar note, I also managed to successfully avoid the Tar River in Greenville, during several Ecology labs back in the day.


So after our spin on the speed boat the guys that came with us decided they were going to go out on the jet skis. Obviously, I wasn't feeling that idea for myself since we just saw a girl return from her ride and she was soaked from head to toe. As it turns out, you couldn't actually drive the jest skis yourself, so you would be at the total mercy of the driver, and if he wanted to soak you he could. After waiting around for their turns, the driver (would they be called drivers, maybe operator?) of the jet ski set up another one at the end of the dock and just as one of our friends was about to hop on the back, the guy realizes he doesn't have the key. Unfortunately for him he was a little too late in his discovery as he started to drift further and further out into the river. 

Still searching for that key.

After a brief rescue mission by two of the guy's co-workers that was quite comical our friends finally got their rides and we headed to KFC. It definitely wasn't an American KFC, there was no mac and cheese, and no snacker. I did have a tasty bulgogi chicken sandwich, that reminded me of the bulgogi burger from Mcdonald's, except you know this was chicken.

Hot and Bothered

After walking around all day in the sweltering heat (maybe it wasn't all day) and coming home to this hot ass apartment, I've come the conclusion that my life somewhat resembles a Miss Goldilocks, from The Three Bears (I really hope that the name of that story). Only, there's no wildlife here, aside from Theodore, but there sure is a whole magnitude of weather that I feel I'm just not equipped to deal with. 


Remember, when I first got here and I complained about how freaking cold it was. And how being so cold is completely unnecessary and I don't know how people in Alaska deal with it on the regular. Oh wait, I do, apparently they hunt moose out of helicopters in order to avoid the cold just like that woman who was nominated to be Vice President (I refuse to to put her name on here). All I have to say is winter is too cold.


Fast forward to spring. Oh, spring, I used to love you. The weather was starting to warm up, cherry blossoms were in bloom, and yellow sand was in the air.  Ugh, yellow sand. I am not missing that insanity. I didn't think I was going to survive it. I thought for sure I was going to stop breathing in the middle of the night from how congested my nose, and even my lungs felt. I still don't think I'm breathing as clear as I used to now. All I'm saying now, is spring has too many allergens.


And now, here we are in summer. It's so unbearably hot. Korea needs to invest in cheaper forms of air conditioning, and that shit needs to be throughout the house. None of this single stand up unit mess. I need cold air in every room. And don't even get me started on monsoon season. It started raining last Thursday morning and finally tapered off around 2 am Sunday morning. I had never seen so much rain before, let alone that much rain without any thunder. It was so strange and so humid. The humidity was so bad, it felt like I was camping. Everything had an extra damp feel going on, and it was not pleasant. Let's just say our single ac unit has been getting a work out these past few days. I can't wait for summer to be over, I know back in the states I wouldn't be saying such things. My time would be spent lounging around the pool working on my tan and enjoying the sunshine. If it were ever completely sunny here I'm sure I could motivate myself to do take up this lovely activity, but alas that is hardly ever the case. Damn you, monsoon season! Can I just say, that summer is too hot, or would that be too redundant?


I'm really hoping that fall is going to be good. Here's to hoping for a cooler autumn, one that will be juuuussst right.

Love Locked

Saturday marked the first day of our four day weekend, so J and I decided that there was no other way to start it off than to take our Adventure Saturday trip up to Seoul. I had been dying to go to Seoul Tower since I first got here, and since our trip to the zoo was kind of rocky we decided from now on we would drive ourselves so we could do our own thing. Luckily for us someone had told J about a bus you could catch that would take you to some of the best tourist spots in Seoul. For 10,000 won (a little less than $10) you could ride the bus all day and visit whatever it is you want and catch another bus later on.


We immediately decided that our first stop was going to be Seoul Tower. Once we reached our stop we pretty much have to climb a mountain to get to the tower. I'm saying this hill is so steep, it was more like climbing up the wrong side of a slide. Once we were at the top we bought our tickets and headed inside to take the elevator up. I got completely distracted by this Hello Kitty game, so J decided to make himself useful and buy some snacks while I dug around for change to play. The game looked like one of those crane machines that you can find in Walmart that has all of the stuffed animals inside except it has the cute little Hello Kitty prizes sitting on shelves and you're supposed to knock them down with a stick. So yea, not like the crane machine at all actually. In the end I couldn't find any change so I could only stare at the machine in awe and try to knock down the cute little Hello Kitty prizes using my telekinetic powers. If only I really had them, I could've gone all Carrie on that thing; minus the pig blood, of course.

After I gave up on the game, we took the elevator up to the observation tower. The view from the top was incredible. It would've been a million times better if it wasn't so hazy out. I've come to realize that blue skies are a complete rarity around here, and it's an amazing thing when you actually see one. After we saw all there was to see, we headed back down to the second floor observation deck.

On the second floor viewing deck there's a fence that's set up around the perimeter, and this fence is covered with "Love Padlocks." This is why I so excited to visit the tower. There has to be thousands of locks hanging on this fence. Like any kind of lock you could imagine, padlocks, combination locks, bike locks.  The locks are linked together, and then locked to the fence to symbolize a couple's eternal love. After they're locked you're supposed to throw away the key, and they actually have specific places for you to throw them out, since metal keys aren't such a good thing for birds. J had joked that people who used combination locks wanted to keep their options opened, so if things didn't work out they were coming back to take their lock down. That boy is so optimistic. Ever since I found out about it, it's been my mission for us to put up our own locks, and so we did. =)

Our initials (of course someone had to have camo)

Our wedding date 1-1-09 (painted with nail polish)

It's Raining..It's Pouring

And it has been for the past three days. It's not even like a thunder storm kind of thing. It's just rain, rain, and more rain. Sometimes it comes in HUGE downpours and other times it's just that annoying drizzle kind of thing. But, that doesn't change the fact that it's been three days of this. I thought monsoon season didn't start until the end of June? And I don't know why, but every time I hear the word monsoon I always picture that big wave of water coming after Jack and Rose in Titanic. Stupid Rose, if she would've sat up on that board Jack didn't have to die. Just saying.


On the bright side, the rain seems to have taken care of that pesky yellow sand. That whole thing has become super ridiculous. I have to mop the floors every other day, and Swiffer in between moppings because that stuff covers everything. It just floats right in through the open windows and coats the tables, counters, and everything else. I almost forget what it's like to breathe clearly. 


Oh well, if it keeps raining like this I suppose I won't have to worry about breathing, I'll have to worry about drowning instead.


P.S. I definitely just noticed how to label these posts. 

An American Girl in Korea

So, I've decided to do a little name change around here. Partly because I've been watching Sex and the City in preparation for the new movie coming out at the end of the month, and the last two episodes of the series were called 'An American Girl in Paris'. It seems quite fitting. Well, except for the whole Paris part, since I'm not living in Paris, but Korea. So yea, now the title is An American Girl in Korea =)

Seoul Grand Park Zoo

Last week J and I decided that we were finally going to sign up for one of the ITT tours, so we broke out the huge list that has every trip for the entire month listed on it, and we finally decided on the Seoul Grand Park Zoo. Heading to the zoo has become somewhat of a tradition for us, it's something that we would do every couple of years usually during spring break and it was typically us and his whole family. There's just something nice about actually getting to spend time with people you care about, and getting to see some of the cutest animals ever. Animals you would never get the chance to see unless you could afford a trip Africa to go on safari, or to the south pole to see penguins. I love going to the zoo, even if I really stop and think about how sad the animals must be to live in captivity they still have to have a great life knowing that nothing could really harm them. At least that's what I tell myself to not get down on the whole experience.


So, Saturday was the big day. We woke up at 6:30 in order to get ready, and have breakfast before we had to catch the bus at 8:45. No big deal, we made it to the bus on time and as we were sitting and waiting for the tour guide to take our bus tickets, I'm looking at our camera and notice the memory card isn't in there. Dun..dun..dun.. J was deleting old pictures off of it earlier and forgot to put it back in before we left the house. Luckily, we keep a camera in the car in case we have some sort of incident with the car and we can take pictures of it. So obviously, I make him run back to the car to get that SD card, and he gets back on the bus just in time for her to collect our ticket.  It's so sad, nothing ever goes as planned on our adventures.


Our tour guide was super cute. Apparently, there's a zipper factory not too far from where we live. Check your pants, if it says YKK it was made here. (It's the building with smoke coming out of it in the background, I forgot about it when we drove by. It turns out I have the attention span of a fly).

So, about an hour later we were at Seoul Grand Park. How excited was I to see a KFC across the parking lot? If you guessed super, you would be correct. It really is the little things that get me. Buying our admission tickets proved to be a little tricky. They had all of these different packages you could purchase to take a tram to the entrance or the sky lift. I'm not too sure what we bought, but there's a strong possibility we bought both. Who knows? But, we did take the tram up to the entrance. 

Once we were there, we got in another line to buy tickets to the dolphin show. That was the thing I was looking forward to the most, hands down. All of those years I lived in Florida, and I never once made it to Sea World, so here was my chance to kinda make up for it. I mean, you can always see lions, and tigers, and bears (Oh my) how often do you get to see sea mammals doing tricks? So, after an hour of walking around and seeing those cuties I like to call elephants, it was time to make our way to the Dolphin Theatre.

As, we were waiting for the show to begin they had some little cartoon thing talking to the audience, and then people started clapping. You know, that slow clap that turns into a rhythmic masterpiece. And then it hit me, we're not going to have a clue what's going on, because it's going to be Korean. Oh, well. The sea lions and dolphins were amazing nonetheless. So, I really can't complain. I can be confused about the snacks they were selling though, such as the corn on the cob on a stick. It was quite interesting. It wasn't until J pointed out later on, that people ate the WHOLE thing. The middle part included. Crazy stuff, I tell ya.  I think by far the greatest snack of the day was the waffle with honey, or the double ice cream cone thing. After the dolphin show was over, we wandered around the zoo for the rest of day. And not too long after that our camera ran out of memory. I was really sad about that because there was a baby animal nursery that had a lot of cuties in there. All in all, I'd have to say it was a successful trip.