X-mas in Korea

Hey everyone! Last week was officially my 10th month in South Korea! The months and seasons have gone by in a blur and it's the final push to the end of my contract. I'm getting very excited to come home. It's crazy to think that in two months I'll be done at my school, moved out of my little apartment, and saying my goodbyes to Korea.

However, I'm still here for a while, so I should tell you about December in Daegu instead of day dreaming about the future :) It's Christmas time, even in Korea. I've been told that during previous years Christmas has not been a big deal for Koreans and there were very few public decorations. Christmas was more of a date night for young couples rather than a family holiday. Each year it seems to be getting more and more popular, particularly among the shops and department stores. The coffee shops around town are especially festive. Koreans seem to love their commercialization of foreign holidays just as much as Americans, so there are a plethora of ugly holiday sweaters for sale and bizarre shop displays.

Please note the sweater the Korean passer by is wearing.

Still less creepy than many other mannequins around town.

I've always been a sucker for pretty Christmas lights, so I quite enjoy all the blinking decorations and fake Christmas trees around downtown. Even the city trees are getting all glitzy for the season. 

Oooooh, shiny!

This will be my first Christmas away from home. I almost missed one a couple years back, but thanks to the persistence of +Connie  I was able to arrive home in time for Christmas dinner. It's a little sad that I won't be spending the holiday with loved ones, but I know I'll soon be home to see everyone. Instead  I'll be spending my Christmas day with my adopted expat family, so it shouldn't be too lonely.

Festive Fall Flora and Fauna

Alright, this post leans heavily on the flora mentioned in the title, but if you look carefully you may be able to spot some bipedal apes here and there. It was undeniably autumn when I started this post, but I fell behind on blogging just as leaves fall from their branches. In a whirlwind of leaves, family visits, a couple of Thanksgivings and just a dash of snow, winter is here. The temperature this week hasn't been too bad but I know it can't last. Fall is gone, but it is not forgotten. Lets take a few moments to remember the good times before we venture further into the cold...

The Daegu arboretum featured a chrysanthemum festival that I went to twice! I went with some friends on a Sunday, and the following Wednesday my school took a teacher's outing there. I won't complain about two trips in one week. It's nice to experience the fresh air and atmosphere of the festival. During the festival they have large living flower sculptures of animals, buildings, and even a dragon. The pathway is lined with potted plants and walls of flower buds. The normally quiet arboretum is crowded with people viewing the flowers and fall foliage. I went at the beginning of the festival, so most of the flower sculptures were packed with buds only just starting to bloom. Later on I'm sure they were bursting with flowers...

My fellow 6th grade teachers strutting through the park.

These were taken more recently downtown when +Connie  and M came for a visit.

I'm in love with the variety of shapes and sizes Chrysanthemums come in.

Herb Hillz

Earlier this month I finally went to check out Herb Hillz, a local eco theme park. They have gardens, strange art pieces, a little carnival area, and zip lining! I came for the zip lining with my friend Chélyn.

We chose the King Kong course, which is entirely above the ground around the park and takes about an hour to complete. After a quick safety demonstration entirely in Korean we were set loose on the course completely unsupervised. We just had our ill-fitted helmets, gloves, safety harness, and each other.

We were the only two people on the King Kong course at the time, so we got to take our time psyching ourselves up to complete the obstacles. We started up a rock wall and then made our way through various obstacles in the canopy. There were nets, rope ladders, zip lines, and even a snow board you had to jump on to go between two trees. Even while strapped into a safety harness, some things were challenging to mentally overcome. The zip lines themselves are pretty fun but a little stressful towards the end of your ride. It's all fun and games until you realize you have no breaks and you will be hitting this padded tree to stop. After impact you need to recover fast enough to grab the rope to the platform before you start sliding backwards into zip line purgatory (center of the line, no momentum). Over all really fun, and completely do-able.

It's Official...

I have decided not to extend my teaching contract in Korea. My original contract is up February 25th, at which point I will be  leaving my school. I've been in Korea for 8 months, and I enjoy my school and students very much. I still look forward to my remaining months teaching. I have very fair pay and this is without a doubt the best job I've had thus far in my working life. However there are many factors pulling me back to California. If I were to stay in Korea it would be mostly for financial reasons, and that's just not good enough.

Daegu is fun, but it's not really an environment I want to stay in. For one, the air is trying to kill me. I've had year round allergies far more severe than anything back home. I live in a concrete jungle and I miss gardening and fresh air. The weather here is also not ideal for me to be as active as I'd like. The majority of the year keeps me indoors, either huddling for warmth, or sprawled out under the AC.

More important are my reasons for coming home. I miss my friends and family. I'm a pretty independent person when it suits me, so I wouldn't say I'm homesick... I'm not moping around unable to enjoy my time away from home, but that being said, I want to go home. Travel is fun, and I want to continue to explore the world, but I've found I like it best while spending time with the people I care about. Turns out moving half way around the world is not very conducive for that, go figure.

Don't worry though! I still have many upcoming adventures I hope to share. I've got about 4 more months of Korea, a winter vacation, and post contract travels in the works. Now I've just got to plan it out and save like crazy! Plane tickets don't buy themselves you know. Expect me back in the States around April 2014 :)

How can I stay away from a tummy like that for another year?!

Japan Part III

Friday was my last day in Kyoto before heading back up to Tokyo for the weekend. We made a lunch reservation in Gion at a restaurant called Takuma. Locals don't usually eat in Gion because it is too expensive, but they will go for a special occasion. This restaurant was recommended to me by my local couch surfing friend because it had quality traditional Kyoto cuisine, a great location, and a very reasonable price for lunch. Lunch was a set menu that came in two price options about $30 or $50. Being on a travel budget we got the $30 option.

Takuma is tucked in a row of other restaurants along the canal. The building itself is rather narrow and there is only one row of seating along the bar. From your seat you can watch the chefs prepare everyone's courses, along with prepping food for later. It is amazing to watch all the little details it takes to cook and plate your meal. Only one chef spoke a little English, but the old man cooking in front of us was very helpful in motioning how we should eat each course.

Japan Part II

Day two in Kyoto I got to meet up with +Aubrey and +Philip and go adventuring together. I really wanted to go back to Arashiyama, so we all hopped on a train and rented some bicycles! I really love Arashiyama because it's on the outskirts of town and the building are smaller and more traditional. It's still touristy, but really quite lovely and set along side the river. The roads were easy riding and we only rode about three minutes until we decided to stop at a random temple. Tenryuji temple just happenes to be a world heritage site and had a garden to stroll through that actually dumped us out into the bamboo grove we were going to seek out.

We explored further by riding along the river for a while. Unfortunately the usually serene river was still running high from the typhoon and flooding earlier in the week, so the water was rapid and murky brown. A lot of the little shops I had wanted to walk around and explore were still busy cleaning up from the flood. Along the river was practically a construction site of people working digging up bricks and removing damaged floors. I still loved my visit, and I realize that not being able to enjoy the shops is a really minor inconvenience for me compared to the destruction caused to the locals.

Japan 2013 Part I.

Last month I had the pleasure of revisiting Japan during a brief holiday from work. With only five days to go out and explore, I decided to go back to Kyoto for the majority of my trip. Kyoto is easily one of my favorite cities I've been to throughout my travels. It has so many beautiful temples and gardens and traditional crafts that my mind practically bursts with inspiration. This was my second trip there and I'm still not satisfied with the amount of time I've spent there. I'm already envisioning a third trip in my future to go back and fulfill my other goals. Third time's the charm, right?

Alright, getting back on track. I flew into Tokyo late on a Tuesday night with plans to take the train Wednesday morning to Kyoto. While I was waiting for the shuttle bus to my hotel, I met a lovely couple also on vacation from teaching in Korea. They suggested I look into a cheap flight instead of the bullet train which is notoriously expensive. I checked the prices on my phone and found a flight through Jetstar the next morning to Osaka for nearly 1/3 the price of a train ticket. Sold! It also happened to be the same flight the couple was taking, so the next morning we caught the shuttle back to the airport, took a plane to Osaka followed by a train to Kyoto together.

For this trip I decided to try out Airbnb.com  for my lodging. Airbnb is a website where people will rent out their extra rooms or apartments to travelers for a fee. Some are just like a bed and breakfast where they will cook you a meal, and other are a little more hostel style. You can even rent out a private apartment for a very reasonable price if you find the right host. The place I stayed at was very inexpensive and hostel style. The owner was a nice lady who uses her second home to rent out to travelers. Some rooms are for permanent tenants(usually local students), some are private rooms for multiple people. I was in a room with two other girls but we all had beds which was nice. The metro I needed to take was closed down because of flooding from a typhoon they had just days earlier, so the owner was kind enough to drive down to the train station and pick me up in person. She also brought up some traditional sweets for the guests to try since it was the moon festival. I look forward to using Airbnb more in the future.

You can see how high the flood waters were by the grass that was ripped out and caught on the bridge.

My first day in Kyoto consisted of walking around, and going to the Traditional Handcrafts Museum. The Museum was pretty cool but didn't allow any photography inside of the building. Certain displays included professional artists sitting and doing their work in person for visitors to see fist hand. After that I met up with a local from Couch Surfing and we got dinner and walked around Gion. He showed me all sorts of interesting places and talked about Geisha history and traditions. We even spotted some Geishas walking around the area. My new friend also recommended a traditional Kyoto restaurant to try out later in the week for lunch (Look for it in Part III).

While walking around Kyoto it is easy to stumble upon many temples and shrines. I think visitors poured water on the lion statue for good luck.

Wishes at the temple written on wooden ornaments that are then hung below a tree.

Gion at night. The lights look so pretty on the canals going through the neighborhood.

Entrance to a very famous Geisha house.

The entrance to Takuma, the restaurant I will return to shortly.

Cat Cafe in Seongnam Seoul

Hey look! A post with cats to distract you from the fact that I have not been posting!

I've been feeling a little feline-deprived since leaving my cat Geronimo behind back in February. Luckily, Korea has a solution for those who need some kitty loving but don't have the means of keeping one of their own. I present to you, the Cat Cafe. Cat cafes are places where you can have a drink and cat companion too. 

Behold! The kitty snuggles!

From what I've been told about cat cafes, the quality can really vary depending where you go. This particular cat cafe was near perfect. It was clean, there was no smell, and it had a wide variety of friendly cats of various ages. There were a lot of toys and climbing structures to stimulate the cats as well as provide them an escape from the humans. Even +Steven enjoyed the little beasts. They also had complimentary lint rollers on your way out to hide the evidence. I say near perfect because there was nobody on hand to slap the teenage boy that was tormenting the cats. +Aubrey would have been more than happy to take that job.

When you come in you get to wear some sweet cat slippers, use some hand sanitizer, and order your preferred cafe beverage. While the the drinks are being made you start to mingle with the locals.

Won't you join us?

  

Eventually an employee came over to us and gave us some cat treats to hand out. That made us incredibly popular for a few minutes.Then they left us for the small children with treats. Easy come, easy go I guess. I had a wonderful time and will be going back for sure!

Yes, that's it. Come to me, my kitties!

Stop hogging the Camera Stevie!

Owl cat on the lookout.

Owl cat on the lounge.