Finished

Well, this blog is over. We're done with Korea, and we're done with the relationship. You can continue reading Tiffany's solo posts at here carolina blog, link provided on the right of the page. See ya.

The pictures in our last blog update, in addition to the video posted, are from the Gyeongnam FC soccer match we went to this weekend. We went with Meagan and Nick, our Canadian friends whom we've mentioned here already before. It was a fun time. The home team is pretty terrible, but we drank with some Dutch people who know how to have a good time. Maybe the home team was drinking before the game, who knows.

Anyways, here's an email I recently sent to my dad.

The Caps are do or die tonighit. I am very excited, as you can
imagine. I've been trying my best to follow the games online
(sometimes I can find a video feed, sometimes I'm stuck with radio
broadcasts). They've really built an exciting team.

Tiff and I are excited as well. We really miss home and our family
and everything. Tiff and I are even considering taking a short trip
to Pennsylvania before we leave for costa rica. Nothing's finalized
though. We'll let you know.

I do have lot's of time to read. Besides novels, I've really been
enjoying Nietzsche. You know, he was the one who basically coined the
term "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Really
interesting guy, and his writing is really fascinating. I'm also
keeping up on game theory, listening to a Protege' of the late John
Nash named Scott Gomez, who is a professor on the subject. Gomez is
actually a really enthusiastic and fun professor. The only problem is
he sometimes is referring to charts that you are only listening to,
which can be hard to follow on audio. Luckily you can just rewind a
little (I often have to listen to a section a 3 time to understand,
but if I don't get it by then I just give up and move on) I also
really like wired.com, tnr.com, news.bbc.co.uk, washingtonpost, nyt,
foxnews, huffingtonpost, and foreignpolicy.com. I got kind of bored
of politico.com after the election, and only check economist.com
occasionally. It's just been kind of depressing reading too much
about the economy lately, I suppose. So I guess I've had a whole lot
of free time lately but I feel very fortunate to be able to access any
information, really. But, I'm coming home soon and from there I'm
going to be making a decision about what to do with the next year,
narrowing it down to probably 3 choices - Japan, Korea, or government
work as a Contract Specialist (which seems to be hiring in almost all
sections. One thing I noticed about that job is that there is alot of
turnover year to year, which means there's often job openings, meaning
it's pretty safe. It seems to still be in demand on usajobs.gov).
Each option has it's advantages and disadvantages. I'm in the
enviable position that I can probably get a job no matter which option
I choose, although worst case scenario I will get a job at my second
choice.

These are my thoughts. I realized some of this email other people
will want to read, so I'm just going to put some if it as our blog
post, I think.

Nothing too private in this email, just wanted to share a bit. I know I'm not a big contributor when it comes to writing on the blog, so I thought I'd post this.

~Evan

Gyeongnam FC Soccer Fun

T&E

Birthday part two and three sort of :)

So, movie with the Korean teachers. Ji Young (probably my favorite teacher as she's pretty funny and probably the nicest) picked me up at 8:50am. Tired, yes. But all that beside we drove off to pick up our other teachers. Ji Young has just gotten her license so she's still new at driving. In the positive light she errs on the more cautious side of things, rather than going nuts as most drivers here do. So off we went our first stop was Su Leh, but she was still sleeping and said she'd meet up with us later.

We kept moving in the direction of City 7 in Changwon the next city over. We met up with the other teacher with a car Kyung Hee, and made out way into the parking garage. I think for me the Korean parking garage is an experience all its own. The parking at City 7 is under the entire facility so it's huge...absolutely ginormous. We go down a big hill and into the darkness...I mean there are lights everywhere but for about five seconds it's really dark. The floor is sort of a laminate material so as you drive around it's all squeaky. Compare it to wearing tennis shoes on a brand new rubber floor. There are two levels to this garage and we happen to be on the 3rd. We park and head towards the theater. funny thing is when we get there the theater is dark still and the employees are still getting ready for the day!

The movie I was going to see was "Knowing" with Nick Cage. I had seen it the weekend before with Evan but the sound was so high and it was on an IMAX screen, and I hid my eyes a lot. Finally we get out tickets (mine was free! Yay birthday present!) and popcorn and drinks and go inside. I wont go into details of the movie but I kept my eyes open the whole time.

After we went to lunch at a sort of grill restaurant. We all ordered Galbi cheese bokoombap. It's fried rice with chicken and cheese. This particular place made it a bit on the salty and spicy side. However, despite these set backs we ate the entire dish. All in all the plate it was fried on was probably 18in in diameter. In Korean style we went to coffee after the meal, STARBUCKS!

We ordered (another birthday present!) and sat down. Two of my teachers ran away for a moment and came back with two pieces of cheesecake and candles. Then all my teachers sang 'Happy Birthday" in English, with clapping (Korean thing...I like it it makes it more fun to sing) and a bit quietly since we were in a public place. The cake was great and I couldn't have asked for a better start to my day.

...except...

On the way home we got veered off course by a truck because it wouldn't let us merge into a ramp so I got to see some back roads which was super fun with all sorts of bumps and hills. At school I had all my classes, but it was fine. I got a goodbye card from the sweetest little girl Annie. She has a broken arms so for the past month has been doing everything with one arm...bless her heart it's adorable. My bad kids weren't that bad; Elena one of my smartest students in the best class I have brought me a birthday muffin with candle. It really made my day. I'm not sure if I mentioned it but mid-term exams are going on and most students don't come to academy, especially the older students. So it's was really great she came, her school hasn't had the English mid-term yet so I wasn't expecting it at all.

Later, we went to Jazz. I found out who my secret birthday present was from and had a Sam Adams from Mr. Lee. I never really tell people about my birthday, its always been more of an intimate thing with me. I'm not too big on having a huge crowd or doing something particularly special. Just being with people that care is enough.

The best ones I've had were my 16th which I spent with my swim team and family, 18th when my family and best friends "surprised" me. All of my birthdays in college were special for different reasons. Either my parents came to visit, or my friends treated me out or surprised me. I don't want to go into my 21st...lets just say my friends really wanted me to have fun...even my 22nd was perfect.

The birthdays (all two of them) that I've spent with Evan have been great. This one especially was wonderful. I'll remember it always and am glad to have such a happy day begin the conclusion of my Korea adventure.

T&E

Birthday, Korean style, Part I

So its only been my birthday for two hours so far but it's off to a good start. After school Ev and I went to GS Mart and got materials needed for a delicious spaghetti dinner. After watching the new episode of South Park and enjoying the meal I got to open my present! Someone decided to be clever and use duct tape as wrapping paper...I can't figure out who but it's fascinating that they knew I loved duct tape.

After opening my present and seeing it was my very own Big Bang (a super popular and not too shabby Kpop boy band. I jam out to it.) card wallet, I was a bit disappointed. I know that's not what you're supposed to say but I went through all that duct tape, it was a hard fought effort. Although, looking at it now...it's pretty sweet.

Well I didn't have to say anything when Evan, a.k.a. Trickster McGee commented "Oh you thought that was your only present? Well, if this is what I got my mom (holding up the gift) then...who is this for?" Upon which I got all giggly and excited. Again it was a duct tape wrap job. Under the tape was a bag. Under the bag was another bag. Under that bag was...another bag. And under that bag was, yes, another bag. But this one was white with pink polka dots; inside was a pretty pink box with a bow (I love ribbons and bows) and inside was a gorgeous gold necklace with diamonds surrounding an opal. I absolutely LOVE Opals. I love it so much! I don't make a big deal out of birthdays since you're only as old or young as you feel and act. But I've had two birthdays which Evan has been a part of and both are equally special for different reasons. We're best friends and I'm so happy to have him with me especially on my birthday.

So that's it for part one. I'm going to the movies tomorrow with my Korean teachers (the ones I work with, I declare if I had Korean teachers I'd probably be fluent by now) so I feel there's going to more of a story since from what I've seen of birthdays there's cake, singing, clapping and candy giving. Awesome.

Till then,
Tiffany

T&E

Weekend Wedding

This Saturday Evan and I were invited to our friend Shaun's wedding in Jinju. I remember meeting Shaun our first week here, he had a Korean girlfriend (her English name is Ellie) and was always really stand up guy.

Jinju was about an hour away from Masan and we left that morning on a bus. Arriving in Jinju was a refreshing experience. It's located on the edges of a river (they have a lantern festival every year and float paper boats) so there is a beautiful view and just not something we see in "Dream Bay" all the time.

We got out of the bus station and made our way to the riverwalk. It was a gorgeous day with lots of sunshine and an occasional breeze that made it perfect. We were wearing our best wedding outfits and strutted up to Jinju Castle, where the wedding was to be held.

The castle wasn't the type of castle you think of in the Western sense. There were sprawling grounds and lots of people went just to enjoy the day or paint pictures. Normally you had to pay a small fee to enter due to the fact that there were several building of historical importance and a museum to up keep. However, because we said we were going to a wedding they just let us right inside. There were a lot of temples and a lot of areas to sit and relax. Evan and I started wandering around just looking at the scenery. The castle is right on the edge of the river and is really pretty. We saw a group of traditional re-enactors getting ready and practicing their formations and drums. We walked to the back of the grounds where we met our friends Eric, Steve, Jeff, Johan and the groom himself. They told us that we had passed all of the preparations by walking the back way. we all walked together towards the wedding area. As it turned out they were the groomsmen, which meant that they got to wear sweet traditional outfits and carry Shaun in a traditional sort of carrying seat.

The wedding itself was held in a sort of outdoor amphitheater. There were lots of kids running around and lots of places for them to play. All of our friends were standing around on the stone steps that surrounded the middle where the wedding was going to take place. We found a nice spot and waited.

We didn't have to wait long until we heard drums, which meant that the bride and groom were on their way. Traditional drummers led a procession of sorts into the middle. These guys (and two girls I think) were so cool. First of all they had this hat that had a rod and ribbon on it so if they moved the head the correct way the ribbon moved in the desired direction. The costumes were beautiful and they were really good at the whole choreography while drumming thing. Then the parents of the bride and groom were led in.

And that's the end of that chapter.


T&E

Just a few tiddly-bits

I got a new camera yesterday, which is very exciting to me. I've taken some pics around my town of Masan, but in the coming days I'm going to continue wandering around town taking more shots. It seems like a nice camera, and I got a glowing review from someone at a bar last night when they told me they had a similar model and it's JAWSOME! He didn't use that word exactly, though. In any case, that's something to look forward to.

Tiff and I are looking forward to our journey in Thailand that will begin at the end of April. We'll stay in Bangkok till May 6th, then on to Pattaya, then probably to Phuket, then travel north and from there into Laos and/or Cambodia. The second half of the trip isn't planned entirely because it will be contingent on how long we spend in Pattaya and Phuket and then how long we stay in Thailand overall.

Hope we still have a few occasional readers after leaving you out to dry so long with no updates. For that, I apologize. If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them. For example people often ask why they get lost in my eyes, like staring into the endless ocean or at a perfect sunset. That's probably the number one question I get.

~E