Iain came to visit from China. (which eventually will be a blog in itself) His reasons... it was his birthday present to himself, to see Dani and me, and to use the Sara Bareilles ticket we bought for him for his birthday present! Here are some of the live videos from the concert.
Let the Rain
King of Anything
Many the Miles
Uncharted
After the amazingness that was the show, Iain went on a hunt to find Sara. He really wanted her autograph. He is a video of his outcome...
Monday, May 30, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
close our eyes and just enjoy the ride
"mychaela, you are sort of a train wreck"
kid you not, i have heard this saying on three different occasions from three different people. this makes me feel loved.... though there is a perfectly good reason for me being called a train wreck. i have had a week of accident after accident.
monday:
while straightening my hair, i managed to catch part of my ear in the heated part and burn it. i have done this before, multiple times actually. and every time the same thing happens. i jump, drop my straightener, go find something cold for my ear and start cussing. it's getting ridiculous.
tuesday:
i realized that since being in korea i haven't worn heels. now this doesn't seem like that big of a deal except i went from having MANY heels and wearing heels ALL the time to now only have 2 pairs of heels wth me and never wearing them. so i decided i would wear them to work. not that it would really matter because we wear our inside shoes and not the shoes we actually wear to school. BIG mistake. i walk to work everyday. i didn't think this would be a big deal since i wore them all the time at home. by the time i got to work i had a huge blister on my right pinky toe. so much pain. i have never had a blister from shoes before.
my coteacher informed me we were going to take my tax paperwork to the tax office after school. so i reluctantly put my heels back on (with my blister covered with bandaids) this did nothing. my blister only grew. i ended up stopping at a friends apt on the way home and she thankfully gave me flip flops to wear the rest of the way home.
also on tuesday i managed to give myself the largest bruise i have had since i was nailed with a softball by a line drive hit my junior year of college. here's what happened: my co-teacher and i were walking back to the classroom from the office and we were both trying to jump and touch the ceiling. i came close and my teacher wanted me to try one more time. so i ran and went to jump, lost my footing and landed directly on my hip. i was wearing my TOMS (which have no traction) and the floors are very dusty which makes them slick. thankfully the only other person to see this was my co-teacher. she felt awful for making me try one more time. i got an instant bruise that has only grown and darkened over time.
what a wonderful bruise i have given myself.
kid you not, i have heard this saying on three different occasions from three different people. this makes me feel loved.... though there is a perfectly good reason for me being called a train wreck. i have had a week of accident after accident.
monday:
while straightening my hair, i managed to catch part of my ear in the heated part and burn it. i have done this before, multiple times actually. and every time the same thing happens. i jump, drop my straightener, go find something cold for my ear and start cussing. it's getting ridiculous.
tuesday:
i realized that since being in korea i haven't worn heels. now this doesn't seem like that big of a deal except i went from having MANY heels and wearing heels ALL the time to now only have 2 pairs of heels wth me and never wearing them. so i decided i would wear them to work. not that it would really matter because we wear our inside shoes and not the shoes we actually wear to school. BIG mistake. i walk to work everyday. i didn't think this would be a big deal since i wore them all the time at home. by the time i got to work i had a huge blister on my right pinky toe. so much pain. i have never had a blister from shoes before.
my coteacher informed me we were going to take my tax paperwork to the tax office after school. so i reluctantly put my heels back on (with my blister covered with bandaids) this did nothing. my blister only grew. i ended up stopping at a friends apt on the way home and she thankfully gave me flip flops to wear the rest of the way home.
also on tuesday i managed to give myself the largest bruise i have had since i was nailed with a softball by a line drive hit my junior year of college. here's what happened: my co-teacher and i were walking back to the classroom from the office and we were both trying to jump and touch the ceiling. i came close and my teacher wanted me to try one more time. so i ran and went to jump, lost my footing and landed directly on my hip. i was wearing my TOMS (which have no traction) and the floors are very dusty which makes them slick. thankfully the only other person to see this was my co-teacher. she felt awful for making me try one more time. i got an instant bruise that has only grown and darkened over time.
what a wonderful bruise i have given myself.wednesday:
wednesday i was doing good until about 4pm. then i managed to slam my finger in one of my desks drawers. there was definitely a very loud "dammit" that came out before i could catch myself. a few of the teachers jumped and turned to look what was wrong. needless to say the last 30 minutes of work was spent with my hand under an ice pack unable to do anything.
thursday:
at this point in the week i didn't give myself much hope for making it through the next 12 hours without doing something. the only thing that bothered me all day was my hip. i kept bumping it (and still do) i was wearing flip flops until my blister was healed so that was fine.
after work dani and i met up in myeongdong to do some shopping. with summer coming we are both in need of some summer clothes. we made it the whole shopping trip and were on our way to dinner when i got this shooting pain from my left leg down around my shin. the more we walked, the more it hurt. sitting down during dinner helped, but as soon as we walked, it was shooting pain again. by the time i got home i had to limp from the subway to my apt cause it hurt so bad.
what did i do this time? i have a shin splint. i walk everywhere i go, which wouldn't be a bad thing except i have been wearing old navy flip flops all week, which mean no support. so now when i walk there is a shooting pain all the way up my shin.
the conclusion i have come to... i'm falling apart. so yes i guess you could say i am a train wreck.
wednesday i was doing good until about 4pm. then i managed to slam my finger in one of my desks drawers. there was definitely a very loud "dammit" that came out before i could catch myself. a few of the teachers jumped and turned to look what was wrong. needless to say the last 30 minutes of work was spent with my hand under an ice pack unable to do anything.
thursday:
at this point in the week i didn't give myself much hope for making it through the next 12 hours without doing something. the only thing that bothered me all day was my hip. i kept bumping it (and still do) i was wearing flip flops until my blister was healed so that was fine.
after work dani and i met up in myeongdong to do some shopping. with summer coming we are both in need of some summer clothes. we made it the whole shopping trip and were on our way to dinner when i got this shooting pain from my left leg down around my shin. the more we walked, the more it hurt. sitting down during dinner helped, but as soon as we walked, it was shooting pain again. by the time i got home i had to limp from the subway to my apt cause it hurt so bad.
what did i do this time? i have a shin splint. i walk everywhere i go, which wouldn't be a bad thing except i have been wearing old navy flip flops all week, which mean no support. so now when i walk there is a shooting pain all the way up my shin.
the conclusion i have come to... i'm falling apart. so yes i guess you could say i am a train wreck.
Monday, May 23, 2011
and i won't lie, let's call this what it is, an impatient girl waiting on an empty wish
Warning: this blog will be extremely long... 4 days of vacation crammed into one blog.
Day 1: Saturday (including Friday night)
Friday night we left the Gimpo Airport and arrived on Jeju around 8pm or so. Once we got off the plane, we made our way to the main area where there were maps and brochures galore. We proceeded to start taking all the brochures we could grab, got a map for the island and was pointed in the direction to find a taxi to take us to our mimbak (hostel). By the time we arrived it was pitch black and around 9pm or so. Once we got settled we laid out all of our brochures and tried to make up a plan of what we were going to do over the next 3 full days. After coming to some sort of agreement on a plan, we decided we needed to get something to eat. and i needed to find shampoo/conditioner. We made our way down the road and found a 7-11 (they are everywhere in Korea) and managed to find some food, drinks and i found shampoo/conditioner. After making it back to the room, we all managed to fall asleep at some point.
Our "dinner" the first night
our cute place the first night :)
The next morning we all woke up, showered and were ready for the day. We managed to pack up our bags as we were staying at a different place for the next two nights on a different part of the island. We left our bags in the office and set off to explore. Since Bree booked the plane tickets and the ferry tickets and Misty booked the train tickets back, I was dubbed "Map girl" for the trip. Somehow the girl with the worst sense of direction was made map girl. Luckily I only had to hold the maps, not necessarily direct us by using them. Our first stop was the Glass Castle.
After the Glass Castle, we figured we should head back in the direction of our room to pick up our stuff and head south to find our next place. On the way there we decided that it had finally turned out to be a super nice day, with the clouds and sprinkles finally gone, the sun was out and it was warm. So we headed to the beach! I have never seen water so blue before! It was gorgeous. We spent a good amount of time there.
After the beach we made our way back to our room, picked up our bags and made our way to the bus stop to head toward our next destination. Along the way, we were able to get some nice views of the water. Once we made it to Seogwipo(ish)(we were close to there) we found a tourist information office and managed to get pointed in the right direction towards our second place of sleep for the next two nights. Once we finally found it, we unpacked a little, did some changing and headed out again. We decided we would head the the World Sex Museum.
After the museum, we headed to find food. Jeju is known for their Black Pig meat and their Horse meat. We all agreed there would be no eating of Horse, but we wanted to find a place for Black Pig. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a good dinner. We headed back to our room and planned for day number two in Jeju.
Day 2: Sunday
Once we were up and around in the morning, we realized our plan for the day wasn't going to work. We were going to head to the east side of the island and check out things over there. Well we made it to the tourist information center to figure out the bus route. Turns out it was going to be much harder to get to that side of the island than we had originally thought. So we went with plan B. We were going to head down to one of the ports and head down to Marado, one of the tiny islands a little south of Jeju. You are able to walk around the entire island in about 2 hours. Once we made it to the port, we saw the ticket office, and the line that looped around inside and all the way to the outside. Misty made her way in there and learned that there was engine failure so the ferry wasn't going to Marado that day. Well there went plan B. By this time it was already early afternoon and both of our plans were scraped.
Plan C it is then. We climbed back on the bus and stopped at a temple that we passed the day prior. We walked around the temple and then made the climb up to the cave that help a stone buddah. From the temple, we again got back on the bus and made our way further east to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were awesome! Very pretty.
After spending what was left of the day enjoying the waterfalls, we headed to find food. We found a pretty good Chinese food place down the road from where we were staying. And by Chinese food, I mean Korean Chinese food, which is different from Americanized Chinese food, which is what I am used to. But it was pretty good. From there we made our way back to our room to pack up and get ready for a trip up north for our final full day on Jeju. Our goal was to be out of the room early enough so we would have most of the day. We had to make the bus, make it to Jeju city and find a place to stay for the night. Which we weren't worried about.
Day 3: Monday
The next morning, we made it out the door, only to have to run down the street as we saw the bus pulling away. Thankfully the bus stopped a bit down the road and let us on. When we left it was raining. We were sort of disappointed because we really didn't want out last day on Jeju to be rainy. Thankfully once we made the 45 minute ride to Jeju city, it was sunny and pretty warm! We got off and luckily found another tourist information booth. The lady was able to give us a map and point us in the directions of some motels.
Motels in Korea are funny. Most of them are considered "Love Motels". And yes this basically means they are open so people can use the rooms for the night to do what they please. Upon walking into what would be our future place for the night we found an entire bookshelf in the lobby that was dedicated to a substantial amount of pornography. Once we made it to our room we found red lights in all four corners. And Misty managed to find a vending machine on the 4th floor of what.... yep that's right dildos. Talk about funny. Definitely wasn't expecting that, but apparently it's normal.
Once we were settled it was time to find Loveland. We arrived at Loveland and were pretty excited about it. Everyone we had talked to before our trip told us we had to go and see Loveland no matter what. Loveland in itself should be it's own blogpost, but I don't have the time.
sculpture entitled "Desire"
After Loveland, we wanted to find a beach. I read in one of the many books/maps I was carrying that there was a black sand beach somewhere on the island, so I wanted to find that. Gorgeous. The sand was super hot at first, but we adjusted and the water was wonderful. After being on the beach for a while, we walked around the area and came across a market. I have never seen so many oranges in one place. They were everywhere. Oranges and pig parts. Seriously. As you can see below they had giant whole pig heads, just sitting out to purchase. Yuck.
Day 4: Tuesday
This day was dedicated to taking the ferry from Jeju to the mainland and then the KTX (train) to Seoul and the subway home. Basically it was 12 hours of travel that could have been done in an hour on the plane. We took the ferry because all the flights were booked when we got around to going. Overall it was a great trip! As of right now the next trip in the works is over summer vacation... Thailand!
Day 1: Saturday (including Friday night)
Friday night we left the Gimpo Airport and arrived on Jeju around 8pm or so. Once we got off the plane, we made our way to the main area where there were maps and brochures galore. We proceeded to start taking all the brochures we could grab, got a map for the island and was pointed in the direction to find a taxi to take us to our mimbak (hostel). By the time we arrived it was pitch black and around 9pm or so. Once we got settled we laid out all of our brochures and tried to make up a plan of what we were going to do over the next 3 full days. After coming to some sort of agreement on a plan, we decided we needed to get something to eat. and i needed to find shampoo/conditioner. We made our way down the road and found a 7-11 (they are everywhere in Korea) and managed to find some food, drinks and i found shampoo/conditioner. After making it back to the room, we all managed to fall asleep at some point.
Our "dinner" the first night
our cute place the first night :)The next morning we all woke up, showered and were ready for the day. We managed to pack up our bags as we were staying at a different place for the next two nights on a different part of the island. We left our bags in the office and set off to explore. Since Bree booked the plane tickets and the ferry tickets and Misty booked the train tickets back, I was dubbed "Map girl" for the trip. Somehow the girl with the worst sense of direction was made map girl. Luckily I only had to hold the maps, not necessarily direct us by using them. Our first stop was the Glass Castle.
"This theme park is all decorated with glass. It is amazing and fun to see polished glasses get softer like stretched bubble gum. Supersized works of art from all over the world made from glass are on exhibition and there is a glass garden and a place where you can experience glass crafts as well."This place was awesome! Everything was glass. sculptures, statues, trees, flowers, fish, frogs, everything. We went inside first and managed to end up in the gift shop area first. Which turned out to be great because each one of us ended up making our own glass necklaces. They had an area where you could pick you design and color of glass and with the help of a professional, we were able to make our own necklaces. They each turned out awesome! From there we made our way outside where we were greeted with an over abundance of glass. We walked through the park, following the signs and came across some amazing things. Here are some pictures:
After the Glass Castle, we figured we should head back in the direction of our room to pick up our stuff and head south to find our next place. On the way there we decided that it had finally turned out to be a super nice day, with the clouds and sprinkles finally gone, the sun was out and it was warm. So we headed to the beach! I have never seen water so blue before! It was gorgeous. We spent a good amount of time there.
After the beach we made our way back to our room, picked up our bags and made our way to the bus stop to head toward our next destination. Along the way, we were able to get some nice views of the water. Once we made it to Seogwipo(ish)(we were close to there) we found a tourist information office and managed to get pointed in the right direction towards our second place of sleep for the next two nights. Once we finally found it, we unpacked a little, did some changing and headed out again. We decided we would head the the World Sex Museum.
" In World Sex Museum, you can enjoy cheerful and humorous expressions regarding sexual matters from various cultures in different countries."This museum, was not as great as we had hoped. We had more fun taking pictures with the statues outside the building that with what was inside the building. It was just just a warm-up for what Loveland was going to bring us on Monday.
After the museum, we headed to find food. Jeju is known for their Black Pig meat and their Horse meat. We all agreed there would be no eating of Horse, but we wanted to find a place for Black Pig. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a good dinner. We headed back to our room and planned for day number two in Jeju.
Day 2: Sunday
Once we were up and around in the morning, we realized our plan for the day wasn't going to work. We were going to head to the east side of the island and check out things over there. Well we made it to the tourist information center to figure out the bus route. Turns out it was going to be much harder to get to that side of the island than we had originally thought. So we went with plan B. We were going to head down to one of the ports and head down to Marado, one of the tiny islands a little south of Jeju. You are able to walk around the entire island in about 2 hours. Once we made it to the port, we saw the ticket office, and the line that looped around inside and all the way to the outside. Misty made her way in there and learned that there was engine failure so the ferry wasn't going to Marado that day. Well there went plan B. By this time it was already early afternoon and both of our plans were scraped.
Plan C it is then. We climbed back on the bus and stopped at a temple that we passed the day prior. We walked around the temple and then made the climb up to the cave that help a stone buddah. From the temple, we again got back on the bus and made our way further east to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were awesome! Very pretty.
After spending what was left of the day enjoying the waterfalls, we headed to find food. We found a pretty good Chinese food place down the road from where we were staying. And by Chinese food, I mean Korean Chinese food, which is different from Americanized Chinese food, which is what I am used to. But it was pretty good. From there we made our way back to our room to pack up and get ready for a trip up north for our final full day on Jeju. Our goal was to be out of the room early enough so we would have most of the day. We had to make the bus, make it to Jeju city and find a place to stay for the night. Which we weren't worried about.
Day 3: Monday
The next morning, we made it out the door, only to have to run down the street as we saw the bus pulling away. Thankfully the bus stopped a bit down the road and let us on. When we left it was raining. We were sort of disappointed because we really didn't want out last day on Jeju to be rainy. Thankfully once we made the 45 minute ride to Jeju city, it was sunny and pretty warm! We got off and luckily found another tourist information booth. The lady was able to give us a map and point us in the directions of some motels.
Motels in Korea are funny. Most of them are considered "Love Motels". And yes this basically means they are open so people can use the rooms for the night to do what they please. Upon walking into what would be our future place for the night we found an entire bookshelf in the lobby that was dedicated to a substantial amount of pornography. Once we made it to our room we found red lights in all four corners. And Misty managed to find a vending machine on the 4th floor of what.... yep that's right dildos. Talk about funny. Definitely wasn't expecting that, but apparently it's normal.
Once we were settled it was time to find Loveland. We arrived at Loveland and were pretty excited about it. Everyone we had talked to before our trip told us we had to go and see Loveland no matter what. Loveland in itself should be it's own blogpost, but I don't have the time.
"As the only love theme park in Korea, Jeju Loveland is a place where love oriented art and eroticism meet. Jeju Loveland breaks the traditional taboos surrounding love, and is a place where the visitor can appreciate the natural beauty of love."If you have not seen my pictures on Facebook, then let me explain. Loveland is focused on a theme of sex, running sex education films and it features 140 sculptures representing humans in various sexual positions. There are also other parts such as large male and female parts statues. Needless to say it was a very entertaining park to walk through and take pictures.
sculpture entitled "Desire"
Day 4: Tuesday
This day was dedicated to taking the ferry from Jeju to the mainland and then the KTX (train) to Seoul and the subway home. Basically it was 12 hours of travel that could have been done in an hour on the plane. We took the ferry because all the flights were booked when we got around to going. Overall it was a great trip! As of right now the next trip in the works is over summer vacation... Thailand!
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