Twists N Turns of Fate

faces never forgotten

2009-07-29T11:35:00.023-05:00

the final chapter

2009-07-28T07:32:00.008-05:00

I honestly doubted at times that I would make it to this night, and as you can see from this picture Chris most certainly doubted he would make it!!! So, I'm sitting at my computer looking out over a messy, rainy Ulsan with only 1 more day left to teach. You honestly cannot imagine the emotions that I'm feeling right now. Oddly enough, I'm really nervous. I'm not really sure why I'm nervous...can't pin point it...but I feel it.

We had the first round of goodbyes today. It was a little emotional, but I think I had prepared myself pretty well! The kids were sweet! Of course, some of them were really happy to say goodbye, and I'm not gonna lie I was very happy to finish up with some of my little trouble makers, too.

Over the weekend, we hit up the last of our favorite spots in Ulsan, and we even made it to the beach again. I laid out in the sun for the first time in over a year, but Chris got really bored. So, we didn't stay out for very long. Probably best, cause I'm sure my pasty white skin probably couldn't have taken much sun! One of my students said to me today, "Teacher, your face has a tan, but your arms and legs are so white!" They don't hold anything back. It's definitely a humbling experience to work with children because they're just so honest :)

Thank you all so much for all of your love and support over the past year! Your cards, emails, care packages, voices, faces and prayers have carried me through this journey! I love you all more than you will ever know, and I appreciate you, friends and family, more now than ever before!

I'm off to finish up some packing and cleaning. I'll try to post again before leaving, but if not, I will see you all soon. I won't have a phone. So, if you want to get in contact with me either email or call my parents house or Mom's phone...I'm sure she won't mind!

Seoul pics as promised

2009-07-19T11:36:00.020-05:00

it's true...you really can use a visa anywhere

view from Seoul Tower

worn out and hot

rice paper paintings

I love this picture!!! They start 'em young with the cameras :)

yummy Greek food...lamb skewers

doctor fish...they eat the dead skin

Gyeongbokgung Palace

I jumped in on this man's picture...he does not look happy about it :)

North Seoul Tower

Chris loved this elephant...I tried to get him to ride it :)

sumo wrestling....so funny :)

digital price tags...now that's efficient

embracing the moment in time

2009-07-19T09:51:00.007-05:00

This weekend I officially started counting down the days. 10 more days are all that are yet to be experienced in Korea, and the feeling is surreal. I can't help but become a bit reflective as the days dwindle. The emotions that I'm experiencing are somewhat overwhelming. Change is always inevitable in life, but for some reason I feel that I'm at a major crossroads, which is so terrifying. The idea of coming home feels kind of like that wife swap show, you know where the mom and wife changes cities, families and jobs. Then she goes about the daily routines of some person she doesn't even know. I'm crazy excited to get back to the life I packed up and left at this time last year, but I'm also really nervous and a little sad to leave my kiddos and co-workers whom I've grown to know and love. I have truly enjoyed being in the classroom with students this year, and I think this whole experienced has helped me to realize that I AM a real adult. As a 20 somethin year old woman who isn't married but IS far from a child, you sometimes wonder where exactly you fit. So many of my friends have gotten married in the past couple of years, and some have even had children of their own! I couldn't be happier for friends when I see them find happiness, but to be completely honest... it's a little scary because I know this means I'm getting older! I think this year has shown me that I don't have to always have to fit into that perfect woman mold. I don't have to rush through life or push forward any faster than I'm comfortable with in order to embrace this life that God has given me! I'm so thankful for the peace of mind that this experience has given me with myself and my own place at this point in time. I can only pray that as I come home and life changes that the peace I have right now will always be with me!

I'll try to keep you all updated over the next week or so as we say all of our goodbyes to Korea.

PS-- pics are from the weekend...we took our last weekend trip to Haeundae beach in Busan

Good for the SEOUL

2009-07-13T09:05:00.007-05:00

This weekend we took a much needed trip to Seoul. The city is quite impressive, and we greatly appreciated the cultural diversity that we experienced while there. We met quite a few people from many different areas of the world on our short visit. We also indulged in a variety of different ethnic foods! We had Greek, Arabian, Italian and of course some good old ole Western cuisine ^^so tasty^^ We're trying to quickly pack on some pounds in the final weeks of our stay in Korea, while hitting up all of our favorite restaurants. We made our way around Seoul and saw a majority of the famous sights in a matter of 48 hrs. and were completely exhausted as a result. We only messed up on the subway once, which ended with the lights going off and the very nice subway operator returning us to the station that we were suppose to exit at...oppps! You all are probably not familiar with all of the Seoul hot spots, as I was not before living in Korea, but we visited the Namdaemun Market, Insadong, Itaewon, Gyeongbokgung Palace, 63 building (to see views of the city lights by night) and Seoul Tower (for the views during the day). It was truly a rushed trip, but we beat the rain and got in all of our "must sees" in before the monsoon came! On Sunday, it rained and the wind blew like crazy. I did not pack appropriately, and unfortunately I only had a little sun dress to wear that ended up blowing around and showing my booty to a group of foreign guys^^way embarrassing^^ I'm sure everyone around me found it very entertaining that I was a weird dance in order to try and keep my dress down and my umbrella over my head, but it was quite stressful for me! We ended up eating a nice lunch, and then doing a little souvenir shopping before we headed back to Ulsan. We slept the better part of the bus ride back because we were worn out!!! More pics to coming soon.

Daydreaming on Independence Day

2009-07-05T08:21:00.015-05:00

I know, I know...I'm getting really bad about updating on here^^ really sorry^^ It's just that anxious feelings are starting to kick in about coming home, and it's been hard to sit down and put my thoughts into words. I feel like I'm constantly thinking or day dreaming about what it's going to be like to sleep in my own bed or just sit in the living room and talk to my family. Everything sounds so exciting and overwhelming. However, I know that you all are very curious what we've been doing lately! Let me back up and say that the weather has shifted in Korea. It is now summer, and summer in Korea is typically wet. When we arrived last year it rained every day and was really hot and humid, but thankfully, it has yet to get hot and humid like I remember.However, the rain has started, and it's actually kind of nice to hear thunder and see lightening. I didn't realize how much I missed storms! Not only has the weather shifted, but our schedules at school have also changed for the last time. Our semester came to an end last week, and there was a little program where the kids sang songs that they had learned over the course of the semester. It reminds me of how sweet they are when they get up there being so cute while they singing their little songs. Some days they frustrate me so much, and then other days the thought of never seeing their sweet little faces again just breaks my heart. Which reminds me, a couple of weeks ago we got a surprise package of goodies from Chris's mom, Sheila. It had a lot of snacks and things from home that we miss, and the students have loved it too because we've been sharing candy with them. Thanks Sheila!!! Everyone has enjoyed the treats, and they are holding us over until we get home. There is a lot that has happened since my last post that I don't really have time to write about. So, I'm just gonna share some pictures, and you can use your imagination to fill in some of the blanks from the events!

belly dancing

decided to try a back walk over for the 1st time in about 6 years...on the rocks

NO...I didn't fall!!! BUT a mosquito did attack me in my sleep leaving me with an alien like growth on my head that scared all my students :)

Little Jade hits Chris up for nerds everyday!!!

my Get On 2 class sings "Oh, my soup!!!" classic made up song :)

this picture just screams Korean beach :)

love tattoos from my Get On 5 girls

Well, I'm off to bed now. I hope all of you had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!! Chris and I celebrated by sharing some patriotic songs with Korean friends in the karaoke room and watching that Transformer movie...the karaoke was amazing like always, but the movie was way too long!!!

ummm...I'm Lovin' It

2009-06-14T00:00:00.009-05:00

This weekend was pretty low key. It was nice because I was able to be really productive! Saturday, we went to the open market. I always enjoy Saturday market days because I'm able to buy a lot more. Thankfully, summer yields more variety in food. I bought fresh corn, cucumbers, eggplant, beans, watermelon and rice (of course) along with many other weekly staples. I have the corn and beans cooking right now! It reminds me of the smell of Kentucky summers :) If you walked into my kitchen right now, you would most certainly be able to tell that I'm a southern girl, one might even think that I was a farmer. I think I want to have a garden down the road of life! My Mamaw has always had a garden, and Mom has told me a number of times that I'm a lot like my Mamaw (probably the best compliment anyone has ever given me...Mamaw is the most amazing woman EVER). It just seems like knowing I grew my veggies from the ground up would make a meal seem very rewarding. Not only am I excited about the thought of having a garden someday, but I also spent the bulk of my weekend cleaning... exciting ehh??

The cleaning process started after returning from the market. I spent a couple of hours working on it, and then I took a break and went out to eat. We broke down and had McDonald's Mc Flurries for dessert! We've resisted McD's for the entire time we've been here because it just seems to be such a stereotypical American thing to want Mc Donald's. Every time we pass one there are a number of foreigners, and it just seems to scream, "American people are fat!" Yes, we became those fat Americans this weekend, and Chris really showed his US pride as he ate two Mc Flurries! He did however go for the green tea Mc Flurry. Green tea is the probably one of the most popular flavors in Korea. They have green tea everything! It's a little odd to me, but Chris loves it.

After our little break in the work day, we came back and finished up my cleaning day by mopping. Chris helped me with this task because it's awful and takes forever. I pretty much have to turn my apartment into a bubble factory for an hour and a half and then go back and try to get rid of all the suds...fun times! I didn't finish cleaning everything until 1 this morning. I had planned to go hiking with some friends, but when I got a text at 8:30 this morning I just couldn't budge. Well, I'm off to finish cooking. Hope you all had a great weekend!

US Bound Wish List

2009-06-12T11:28:00.022-05:00

As you all know from many past posts, things are a little different in Korea than at home. I can't say that I have truly been deprived of anything that I've needed. However, there have been so many things that I have wanted but I just haven't bought because of the inconvenience of shipping from the US to Korea and then having to worry about transporting back once the time comes to head home. I have bought as little as possible in Korea as well because I just know that there will be an urge to buy many things once I'm back home. I'm in the process of creating a wish list, but I'm trying to be reasonable at the same time. I periodically find myself browsing different websites trying to figure out what it is that I'm just dying to spend money on once I get home. Today's post is very superficial, but I can't help it! I'm getting pretty pumped about the things that I haven't got to do or buy while living in Korealand. Here's a glimpse of some of the things on my US Bound Wish List:

eyebrow waxing--not happened all year due to language barrier

phone--I would love to have an iPhone, but I think I may have to stick to Verizon as my carrier. So, I don't know if that's gonna be possible???

tires--I know this seems out of place on my list, but my car honestly needed new tires before I left home. I put it off because I knew it wouldn't be going anywhere all year, but it's probably unsafe to drive at this point!

swimsuit--Victoria's Secret swimsuits are the greatest! Actually, I think it may be the models that really make the them look so good. Who doesn't wanna look like that on the beach!

perfume--I brought one bottle with me. I loved Very Sexy before coming here, but after a yr of the same smell...HATE IT! Nothing personal if you love that stuff.

quality mascara--I'm not an eye make-up person for the most part, but I bought some mascara here. It looks great for the first 30 minutes, but after that I always regret having used it...eww!

clothes--I know this is very general, but I've been wearing the same things over and over so much that I could never look at any of it again! I really don't know what's "in" right now, but I can't wait to get home and walk through a mall!

heels--My height has always warranted heels for almost any occasion. Teaching is completely different! teaching+walking a lot=short Amber :) I can't wait to throw on a cute pair of heels with jeans. Which leads me to my next item...

jeans--All of my jeans are torn at the bottom because they drag the ground since I wear flats all the time. I may splurge for True Religion. I've always wanted them, but just never wanted to drop the money. Either way, I can't wait to get new jeans...I don't think it will really matter what brand they are!!!

collision doritos--buffalo and blue cheese to be more specific! O man, I've had dreams about those chips
whitening toothpaste--I think my teeth have gotten yellow in Korea. Probably all the coffee I drink to keep me going at school.

watch-- I've never really been a die hard watch fan, but for some reason I find myself looking at them all the time. I know the yellow isn't that practical, but I just love it!

* Disclaimer* I'm extremely aware of the difficult financial times going on in the US and the world, and this post is only a reflection of my excitement for things that I have missed over the past year :)

the first of many goodbyes

2009-06-11T18:54:00.006-05:00

Well, I feel like we have reached a major turning point in our time in Korea. The goodbye process has begun, but not because we're leaving. This week a fellow foreigner friend left to go back home. Well, she's going to travel some on her way, but she's gone from Korea. Kristen was a teacher at another ELC, and she had been in Korea for a month and a half when we got here. I was not extremely close to Kristen, but I thought a lot of her. I woke up this morning feeling so anxious for her and all the changes that she's about to go through. I wish her the best in everything she does. Here are a few pictures from her goodbye party.

Kristen is the girl on the far left in the picture below. After dinner we went to a karaoke room...very fun!

Sunshine Makes Me Smile :)

2009-05-31T09:33:00.012-05:00

It's so nice that no matter how good or how bad of a day you might be having the sunshine always makes it better. Today was a great day in Korea! The sun was shinning, and we took full advantage of it and spent the day at the beach! This was the first true summer beach day we have had this year. It was great, and there was even a Sand Festival! There were many different sand castles, or I should probably say "sand sculptures" because the majority of them were not castles at all. The beach was more crowded than what you usually see back home, but I think this was mainly due to the fact that the sculptures were taking up all the room on the beach! Supposedly in August, the most popular beach in Korea has a tendency to draw a crowd of close to a million people. We will not be venturing out to take part in that chaos!

As soon as we arrived at the beach I bought a huge sombrero looking hat. This had absolutely nothing to do with thinking I would look cute in a hat that was 10x's the size of my head! It was very embarrassing because I felt like people were looking at me. Plus, it was so big and the area had so many visitors that when I was walking people would knock into it and jar my head :) I'm sure they were thinking, "Dumb and ridiculous looking foreigner!"Anyway, back to my point... I am sooooo WHITE right now that the reason I was wearing the hat was because I had this fear of being badly sun burnt! This probably seems crazy to those of you who know how easily I tan, but for some reason I've become much more reluctant about tanning since being away from the US. Maybe it's just because most Koreans do not want to be darker but lighter, and they all carry umbrellas around to shade themselves from the sun. OR, it could be that having just turned 24, I know that aging happens naturally. So, there's really no need for me to help it along! Whatever the reason is, I know it's better for my skin to be white even if it looks much better with a tan. I guess I'll wear the hat and look stupid for now. However, I'm sure as soon as I see all of you and your fresh summer bronzed skin, I may have a change of heart.

We searched for sea creatures on these rocks...Chris found a tiny crab!

Our entire day was very relaxing! I enjoyed every moment of being outside and under the sun. The transport back was not as enjoyable. However, it was humorous! See, we made it to the station just in time to buy a ticket and hop on the train, but all of the seats were sold out! We had to buy a standing ticket, but we were both so exhausted that we ended up sitting in the floor behind the last seat in our car. Yet AGAIN...we look like stupid foreign people!!!

Wii

2009-05-30T10:08:00.007-05:00

Tonight we went to a Wii Cafe with some friends! It was so much fun. I have to admit that the business concept is very clever. They sell you coffee and then put you in a room with as many Wii games as you can possibly imagine. Obviously, after consuming caffeine, people are not gonna want to quit playing. Here are a couple of pictures from the night!

I'm not sure if it's possible to look normal while playing Wii.. at least we don't! :)

Party Like It's Ya Birfday

2009-05-23T08:08:00.007-05:00

As long as I can remember, May has been a month of celebrations. Not only is my birthday coming up next week, but my brother, Alan Craig's birthday is on the 20th. A.C. and myself are exactly one week short of being exactly 2 years apart. Alan's son, Cullen was born the day before his birthday on the 19th, and it doesn't stop there. It's always seemed that everyone I know has a birthday in May! I have 2 cousins with birthdays in May, Kelly and Dustin...Happy Birthday!!! Then, 2 of my best friends in the world also have birthdays in May, Lauren and Ashley. I've included some old pictures of some of my birthday buddies as a tribute to all the May birthdays. I know most of your big days have past, but here's to you guys...Love you and Happy Birthday!

My favorite birthday boys (this picture was taken around Christmas '07)

Greatest friends a girl could ask for, aka"La and Ash."

Lauren and I have been friends since before I can even remember. Our friendship was destined to be a forever thing. Our parents were great friends before our existence was ever imagined. The Mom's got pregnant around the same time, and then we were born 3 days apart. We've experienced so many steps of life together, and now, she even has a baby girl of her own. I can't imagine my life without La!

Ashley and I met one summer via Casey (Case, I love you too!!!). I was coming out of the Jay relationship and on my way back to UK, but I needed a roomie. She was coming out of the sorority house and also needed a roomie. I think we bonded as I applied sunless tanner to her nearly naked body before heading to the lake (this was the first time we ever met...haha). We aren't very shy. I'm so thankful that God brought Ash into my life at the exact time that I needed her most. We lived together from that semester until we both graduated!

I feel so blessed to have the greatest group of friends and family! Happy Birthday to all my May Birthday people, and Happy Birthday to anyone I may have forgotten this month or any other time this year. I'm sure I have probably missed a lot of birthdays unintentionally. I should also add that the pic of the girls was taken on a cruise our senior year of college, as was this party picture. I thought this looked so fun that it had to be included in my "party post" :)

Don't you just love cruises??? :)

Rain over Ilsan

2009-05-23T00:26:00.006-05:00

Last weekend, we planned to go to Ilsan beach with Andy and Jen to eat some fresh seafood. It ended up raining. So, it really wasn't the best beach day, but we decided to go anyway! I'm glad we did, but we're gonna have to go back sometime when the weather is nice. The seafood was wonderful. We went and picked out what we wanted from actual fish tanks, and they scoop the fish up, kill it and cook it right there! We picked 2 large fish, and we ate one round raw (sashimi style) and the other was fried. They were both really good, but you can't ask me to compare raw fish to fried, obviously the fried had much more taste! They were both really good, and as with any Korean meal, we got a ton of sides! The restaurant was seaside, and even though it was raining, we got to watch the waves roll in as we ate...big plus :) After eating, we trekked up a ton of stairs and made our way back into this national park. At the end of our long walk was a treasure that was well worth the walk. It was probably the coolest natural scene that I've been exposed to while in Korea. It was all of these rocks sitting on the water, and there were trails and a bridge built so that you could walk out onto the rocks that were in the water. It was really beautiful. Unfortunately, on the journey there I lost my camera battery. I wasn't able to get pictures on my camera. :( When I talk Chris into putting his pics on the computer, I'll do a recap from pictures he's taken over the last couple of months.

my apologies

2009-05-15T22:05:00.008-05:00

I know, I know...I have completely neglected my blog for over a week now!!! Sorry... I will try to give you a quick run down of what has been going on in our lives over the past week or so.

Last weekend , we went to the movies to see Star Track. I was not very excited about going, but I actually ended up enjoying the movie! After the movie, we went out for coffee with this Korean couple that we met, Andy and Jen. They are so much fun, and they both speak great English. Then on Sunday, we went to Eonyang cave. We even got to take a little boat ride inside the cave! It was a lot of fun, but the best part about Eonyang was the scenery! The cave is up on a mountain, and all around you can see green!!! It was so nice and pretty, and the air was even fresh and clean! After the cave, we played pool, but I'm awful at pool. Anything that requires hand eye coordination is really just not my thing, this my explain my driving record :) Then we were introduced to a new Korean meal by our new Korean friends! I can't remember what the name of the meal was, but I do remember the repercussions of the meal! It was blowing and breathing as if I were a woman in labor (this was seriously the spiciest meal I've had in Korea) followed by awful stomach pains, which lasted all night long!!! On a side note, I do not understand why people so this to themselves! i enjoy spicy food for the most part, but when it is so hot that it really hurts....WHY? I've asked myself this the entire time I've been in this country, and it is still a mystery to me. I have students who by these hot snacks, and bring them into my class and then make ridiculous noises because of how spicy it is. I ask "Why do you eat it then?" And they always respond, "Delicious." I laugh and say "Whatever, but don't ask me if you can go get water!" I know it sounds harsh, but I usually give in when their faces start turning red and it looks like tears my follow! Such a mean teacher...MWAHAHAHA!!!

Let's see...what else have we been doing??? Oh, we watched a mountain burn! I know, that sounds awful, but it was actually entertaining. I hope no one got hurt! We spent about an hour up at the sky park on the 17th floor just watching huge clouds of smoke roll off of this mountain, and then they sent out the helicopters that drop water from the sky. I had never seen this in person, so it was actually really neat!

In other news, Teacher's Day was also this past week! It was such a good day because the students made us feel very appreciated. We got all kinds of goodies like: fresh bread from the bakery, flowers, lotion, body spray, hair clips and lots of really sweet notes. Not to mention, a parent bought this huge cake for all the teachers, which sat right beside my desk all day long! I managed to only eat 2 huge pieces! I don't know why the cake always sits beside my desk, but I'm not gonna lie...I kinda like it! All the other treats we get always sit at the other end of the teachers office and I always feel awkward if I want to get seconds because I feel like everyone notices. However, the cake (which I happen to prefer more than Korean rice dough cake) is always right beside me..what a great desk I got :) An interesting observation that I have made while teaching is that the students that bring me gifts are typically not the ones that I would expect gifts from. You see, since I have been teaching, I've had about 4 or 5 students who have brought me a number of gifts throughout the year. In most cases, these have been students that seem to cause more problems in my classes! I've decided that the parents realize that their child is a little bit on the difficult side, and thus, they feel the need to compensate with gifts!!! Listen to this note that I received from a parent on Teacher's Day and you tell me if you think I'm right.

Dear Amber,
This is Ji Won mother. I am happy you are teacher of my
daughter. I hope you know she is apple of my eye. You may sometimes
think she spoiled because of this. I hope for you rebuke
her when she is wrong~ I do not mind.
Have a happy teacher day,
Ji Won Mommy

Last, but not least...Chris got a bad haircut!!! So, I had to include a picture :) He decided to go to a different place than he normally goes, and he ended up being sorry that he did. She gave him the Korean cut, where it looks like she just cut a circle around his face. It's not awful, but it's not what I would call a good cut either...hahaha!

Take care and keep in touch,

~Am :)

cooking in Korea

2009-05-03T03:04:00.021-05:00

Today was a market day. We always go and buy fresh vegetables and every now and then fish or chicken at the open markets. The market just so happened to fall on a Sunday this week, and we decided to spring for a new tasty seafood treat! Chris bought this LIVE octopus before I could tell him NO. I knew exactly what would happen, and I really didn't want to deal with the mess and the ordeal that would come with taking a living and moving octopus home. We got home and immediately googled how to prepare an octopus. What did people do when they didn't know what to do before there was google...this boggles my mind every time google saves me! It was a bit of a mess, but we did it.

Well, Chris has a tendency to be a sissy when it come to things of this matter. So, I was actually the one to hold and rip all of the insides out of the octopus, but wait...he wants me to mention that he did cut the eyeballs out. I might add that he did this WITH SCISSORS, after I searched and found them with my bare hands. I'm not really sure if killing and preparing octopus for dinner constitutes another notch in my "domesticated ability belt." Maybe this is just a reflection of my family's redneck nature and Kentucky upbringing! Either way, we ate a delicious octopus dinner tonight.

Have I mentioned that I've recently decided my ultimate goal in life may be to have my own cooking show? I think all of the cooking of new and different foods I've done while living in Korea has really taught me a lot. Hopefully, I will not be sucked back into boring meals after returning home, and I can continue to be an adventurous cook. Look out Rachel Ray, here I come! I know... I'm a dreamer :)

So, exactly how do you prepare octopus?

First, it starts out with a live octopus. This is a bit frightening, notice Chris using scissors and chopsticks to remove it from the bag!

Then you flip it's head inside out, this is where all of the organs are located. They must come out!!!

Next, you get rid of the eyeballs, and I went on and cut it's head off!

Then it's ready to boil.

After it boils, it should look like this:

Then you cut all the tentacles off, soak it in a marinade and fry or grill the meat. Unfortunately, I dont have a grill :(

ENJOY!!!

Recap and Reality

2009-05-01T22:56:00.005-05:00

First of all, I feel so much more content after coming back to Korea. It was so nice to be able to get away and do something different. It was also especially nice to be away from our school and the kids for a few days. The trip was truly refreshing, and that's what a vacation is suppose to be, right?

Upon arriving back in Korea, we are right at our 3 months to go mark! I think we are going to go on and talk to the director of our school in the next week or so about how he wants us to go about booking our flights home. We're not exactly sure what day will be our last day of teaching because our contract was suppose to be from Aug 11-Aug 10. However, there are 10 "vacation days" in our contract that have not all been used up, and we were told that whatever we did not use would just allow us to finish up that much earlier. Everything will depend on what our director tells us about the specific dates, but we are thinking that we should be back in the states no later than August 11th!

I know you all are probably curious about our trip, and like I said before, it was great! We had a few minor hold ups. Before we ever left Korea, I tried to take a produce knife on the plane. I put my laptop bag through the scanner, and a man looked at me and said in his broken English, "Do you have a knife in your bag?" I laughed and said, "No." He then pointed to the computer screen, where there was a big knife in my bag. It still had not clicked in my mind that I had really brought a knife, tucked away in the bottom of my bag, to the airport. So, I said, "That's not my bag!" He then pointed to the red bag which had made it's way in front of me and says, "Isn't that your bag?" Immediately, I turned to Chris with a fearful look on my face, and he says, "What's wrong?" I go, "There's a knife in my bag, the one I take to school to cut apples with." I was so sure that they were gonna pull me in a room and interrogate me about why I would be trying to sneak a knife onto an airplane, but instead they just threw it away....thank goodness! We finally made it onto the plane, and the weather was suppose to be bad! We were prepared for a bumpy ride, but it started out just as smooth as any other plane ride. We had a little snack on the plane. It was kimchi gimbap. I don't particularly like this Korean dish, but I opted to eat it because I was really hungry. We didn't know how long it would take to get to our hotel once we got to Japan, and I didn't want to starve. Trust me, that would have been a much better option then what was to come...if only I had of known. After we ate, Chris took a little cat nap for about 20 minutes, and then we ran into some turbulence. The plane ride was almost over, but the last 15-20 minutes got kinda rough. It wasn't bad but just took your stomach away. I've been on worse rides before, but for some reason I started feeling really queasy. Chris had his barf bag out just waiting for me to throw up. However, I managed to get through it without a horribly embarrassing incident. We then navigated through the city and to our hotel, which ended up taking a couple of hours because the airport is an hour and a half train ride outside of the city. I had a horrible headache the entire time, but it wasn't until I got in the hotel room and laid down that I realized how bad it really was. Once I laid down, I could not get back up. I slept for a good 3 hours before moving, and then it started... I was running back and forth to the bathroom vomiting all night long. It was awful! I just knew that I was gonna be sick and ruin our entire trip. Chris managed to find me some really overpriced headache medicine, and I sipped on carbonated water (yuck...I hate all things carbonated). After about 8 hours, I was ready to go. I still didn't feel great, but I felt good enough to start our adventures! Good grief, I have the worst luck ever. I still don't know what caused the sudden illness, but we just assumed that I was food poisoned on the plane. Let's just say that Korean food on an airplane mixed with a little turbulence makes a deadly combination!!!

We managed to see a whole lot while we were in Tokyo, thanks to a lot of planning ahead. We started out by visiting Odaiba (the picture from the previous post). This was probably my favorite part of the trip because it was absolutely beautiful. Odaiba is a man made island that sits in Tokyo Bay. The views of the famous Rainbow Bridge were perfect, and the weather was great. We spent most of our first day just walking around and enjoying the scenery. There was a replica of the Statue of Liberty, a great beach with a public picnic area behind the beach and so many really neat Star Track looking buildings. The trip involved a lot of transport because we wanted to see as many different areas as possible. We tried to be creative in our travel to make the transport time as fun as the rest of it. We ended up traveling by plane, boat, bus, water bus, subway, train, rope way and cable car. WHEW... No wonder we were exhausted at the end of each day! One day, we traveled 2 hours outside of the city (via the famous Bullet Train/Romance Car) to the mountainous village town, Hakone. Hakone is where most people go to see the best views of Mt. Fuji. It was such a quaint and sweet area of Japan, and we enjoyed the nature outside of the city. I forget how much I miss the beauty of the color green, which I don't see much in Korea. We visited the Tokyo Tower one evening, which looks very similar to the Eiffel in Paris. We also went up in a few of the sky scrapper observatories to see the city from the sky. We tried to eat moderately during the day because it's extremely expensive to eat out, and you get very small portions. However, at night we splurged and ate some really nice meals. Chris and I both love food, and we especially love sushi. So, we were not going to let money keep us from eating well in Japan. One night we ate in a sky restaurant on the 59th floor of the Sunshine City Building. This place was beautiful! I tried to snap a couple of pictures, but I honestly felt like it was a little tacky to be the typical tourist snapping pictures in such a beautiful place. I guess some times you just have to savor and enjoy the moment and not worry about capturing the photograph. Chris often tells me this!!! Anyway, we did take a lot of pictures. I thought the easiest way to share them would be to combined them into a slide show. I will warn you, it is close to 11 minutes long(it says 13 minutes but it's not really), and there's music...So, you may want to wait to watch it if you are in a hurry!

I ♥ Tokyo

2009-04-29T08:18:00.008-05:00

Well, we are back to the land of Korea. The trip was wonderful, but there were a lot of bumps in the road! However, nothing could have rained on our parade while we were in Japan! Tokyo was far better than I ever imagined. I don't have the energy to write all about our adventures at the moment, but I wanted to let you all know that we have safely made it back to our home in Korea. We'll be going back to work soon. So, I need to put all of my stuff put away and get myself back in real world mode...booo!!! I promise to have some pictures and stories up for you people very soon. The picture above seems to really capture the feeling of the city. This is in Odaiba (man made Tokyo island). Behind us is the Rainbow Bridge, which stretches from the heart of Tokyo city out to the most amazing and futuristic looking place you've ever seen!

packed, pumped and ready to race

2009-04-23T21:39:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that we are off to Tokyo! Everything is packed and we are ready to go. I'm taking my computer, so maybe I'll get in a quick blog at some point on the trip. If not, I am sure to inform you of how everything goes when we return. I have the camera ready to go and a couple of batteries charged. Hopefully, we'll get some great pics to share with you, too!
I'm a little nervous because I called the hotel to confirm our reservations, and it took somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. The problem was that I had to give the man my name, so I obviously had to spell it out. I would say "A-M." He would say "A-N".... no "A-M like man!" Finally, when we got past the M, the B sounded like a D, as did the E. UGGHH...Chris just sat there and laughed at me. I'm sure this took longer than it actually took me to learn to spell my name as a child. We may be in for a very confusing vacation. Chris has left all of the planning up to me, saying, "I don't care what we do. We can do whatever you want!" Yeah, more like he knew it was gonna be difficult, and he didn't want to deal with it! Anyway, here's a little preview of the subway system that we are going to be trying to navigate. This is the very simplified version because I couldn't get the detailed one to upload correctly. If you ask me it looks like one big maze. If I can get us around Tokyo, then maybe it's time for me to start thinking about The Amazing Race!

"So, here's the deal" :)

2009-04-20T11:30:00.011-05:00

Well, I think I kind of let the cat out of the bag in my last blog! I finally have a plan for my life when I get back to the states in August. I'm truly excited about everything that is to come, and with that being said...DUN DUN DUN...I'm going back to school!

I'm gonna be attending Murray State in August. I'll be getting my Master's in Business Administration. I have to be honest, I was a little torn between two loves, but I've decided I'm just gonna have to go with my gut on this one. My first love will always be UK. You see, I'll be true to the C-A-T-S for the rest of my life. I'm extremely proud of my Alma mater, and my blood....well, it will always be BLUE. However, I've been away from home for right at 9 months now, and when I return, I actually wanna be close to home. I want to be able to make frequent trips and spend lots of time with my family and friends in Western Kentucky because I really haven't spent much time there in the past 3 years. I guess home really is still where my heart is, and for now, I think I wanna be close!

In addition to going to school, I will also be working as a graduate assistant for the Dean of the MBA program. He offered me this position after becoming acquainted via email, and honestly this was one of the deciding factors! I did not want to go back to school without any source of income, and though this will not give me a lot, it should provide me with everything I need. My job will consist of many different things, but the bulk of my time will be devoted to research in business development, economics and educational systems in under developed areas in Africa. When I first found out that the job would consist of a lot of research, I was really turned off. Then, I found out that the research was in an area that I am extremely interested. I think it was at that point that I realized God was saying, "Go for it, Am!"

I'm not really sure what the future will hold, but the plan is to live and attend school in Murray for about a year. Getting through the program shouldn't take too long, and then from there we'll just wait and see where life takes me! The past couple of months I have really struggled with what I should do when my contract ends in August, but my prayers were answered all in a couple of emails. It's really awesome how things always seem to just fall into place, even when it seems like you have no clue what the next step should be.

I hope you all know how much you mean to me and just how much I appreciate your love, support and prayers! Now, get excited because I'm coming home for at least a year. And just to prove my faithfulness...

I dont care how bad of a basketball season we've had ...they're still my CATS!!!

weekend rambles

2009-04-18T00:22:00.004-05:00

Thanks to Kat, a fellow teacher and friend at school, I'm proud to report I ate a whole bowl of Mac N Cheese today! I then ate the last of the Doritos that Mom sent a couple of weeks ago. I'm now stuffed to the max! I'm still feeling pretty bad with this bug, but finally I got so hungry that I woke up from a nap this afternoon actually thinking about food, which I haven't done all week. It was soooo yummy, and hopefully this means I'm on the road to recovery. Doritos may not be the most nutritious snack, but whatever it takes. Unfortunately, this is gonna be another healing weekend for me because I have to be better by next weekend when we leave for Tokyo. I'm trying to plan out what we are going to be doing so that we dont waste time when we get there, but we may end of doing a couple of guided tours if it's really hard to navigate.
On another note I got my haircut this morning. It was supposed to be just a trim, but in true Korean fashion, the woman proceeded to take oooo probably 4 inches off of my hair. I dont really care because I still have quite a bit of length, but I showed her with my hair and fingers that I wanted only the ends barley snipped. What if I did care? I guess it wouldn't have made a difference because that same 4 inches of hair would be laying on the floor in her shop. So, I guess it's good that it really didn't make a bit of difference to me :)

Lastly, I was tagged by Jacki at http://countingmyabundantblessings.blogspot.com/. I'm suppose to list a few details about myself for all my readers. Here goes:

**8 Things I'm Looking Forward To**
1. being reunited with family and friends in August (that alone is way more than 8)

2. summer days at the beach

3. taking the longest bubble bath in my life once I'm home

4. driving my car down the boulevard (let's hope I still remember how to drive)

5. Tokyo trip

6. sleeping in my nice and comfy bed

7. going back to school (MBA program at Murray State upon returning home...more details later)

8. good ole American food

**8 Things I Did Yesterday**
1. took jeans to a seamstress

2. secretly drank coffee and pretended it was tea (Chris gets mad if I drink coffee while I'm sick!)

3. called a friend but didn't get an answer (Brooke Riley....answer your phone!)

4. mad one of my students cry

5. ate cabbage like Mamaw makes it

6. listened to the same song on my ipod like 12 times

7. talked to Mama on skype

8. blew my nose so many times that I still look like Rudolph today

**8 Things I Wish I Could Do**
1. have a positive attitude all the time

2. speak Korean

3. go get Toll House chocolate chip cookie dough out of my fridge

4. spend as much time with Cullen as I do with the kids at school

5. have a conversation with Jesus in flesh and blood

6. teleport home for a day or so

7. always say "at least I tried"

8. grow about 3 inches taller :)

I thought that this was fun, and something that you all might find entertaining! I was suppose to do 8 TV shows I watch, but I don't watch 8 different shows!

ewww...SICK!

2009-04-15T09:31:00.002-05:00

For the past week, Chris and I both have been trying to fight off some kind of bug. I've had a fever off and on, and it just seems like mine isn't going away. Fortunately, I went to a different doctor today, one who speaks good English. He gave me some antibiotics, and told me I had some kind of infection in my throat. Thankfully, I had my tonsils removed before coming over; so maybe this won't stick around too long. The hardest part about it is he told me that raising my voice is only going to irritate my already inflamed pharynx. It's so hard not to raise my voice though when the kids are being loud. I hate to take a day off, but if it comes down to it, I'm gonna have to so that I can get better. There isn't a whole lot else going on around here. We've just been taking it easy. Only 10 more days until we leave for Tokyo, so I'm trying to get better so that I'm not run down for the trip.
Hope everyone has a great rest of the week...it's hump day!!!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T00:00:00.006-05:00

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE! I'm so thankful for this time of the year. The sacrifice that was made by Jesus on the cross is something that I never want to take lightly. For some reason, I always think of my flaws and sins more at this time of the year. I guess it's because I know that I am part of the reason that Jesus had to die on that cross. The song that I always think of when I think of Easter is "Feel the Nails." I've included the lyrics of the chorus, and I hope you will join me in reflecting on the cross this Easter!

"Does he still feel the nails

Every time I fail

Can he hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again

Am I causing Him pain

Then I know I've got to change

I just can't bear the thought of hurting Him"

Chris stayed up all night long, and he managed to capture the Easter Sunday sunrise over Ulsan. I thought it was so beautiful. Hope you all have a great Easter weekend!

Special Little People

2009-04-08T10:26:00.007-05:00

The weather has been so nice this week that I took one of my classes out for a picnic! I have one class in particular that's really great. They just so happen to be called my "Special Class." All this really means is that they use different books, they're at the academy a little longer, their parents pay more money and every now and then we do out of class activities. I love every minute I spend with my special class! It's made up of only 3 students, sooo awesome!!! Being that there are only a few kids, I really fell like I know a lot about each of them. I know I'm not suppose to have favorites, but I do...opps! Here are a couple of pictures from our class picnic. The girl with glasses is Jenny (Gi Won), the other is Leah (U Gina) and the boy is Henry (Jael)... and this is definitely the only class where I know their Korean names. Can you tell they are special in my book?

Sping brings cherry blossoms

2009-04-05T06:30:00.010-05:00

It's finally looking like spring in Korea! The country is grey for a good portion of the year, but not this week! Every corner of town greets it's people with soft hints of pink. There are cherry blossom trees blooming across the country and Ulsan. Chris and I took full advantage of the beautiful weather and the cherry blossom trees this weekend by making a trip to Geyong ju (Korea's Culture City). There was a cherry blossom festival going on, and I have to admit the cherry blossoms warmed my heart! Geyong ju has lots cherry blossoms, and all the stereotypical Korean things like temples, museums, parks, etc. We mainly enjoyed the park and nature today, as it was a beautiful day to be outside. We had already experienced Geyong ju in the fall, and we did a lot then. Today, we acted like Koreans, which means we walked around and took pictures of anything and everything! It's so nice to capture the beauty in nature after the cold winter is gone. Chris, on the other hand, was not too enthused with the cherry blossom trees. He goes, "You mean we have to travel an hour to look at the same trees I can see outside of my bedroom window?" Agghhh...he just doesn't get it! "Yes, Chris we do!" We took so many good pictures, but I hate to bore you with all of them. So, here are a few of my favorites.

The highlight of Chris's weekend was not the cherry blossoms, but a new sushi bar discovery we made on Saturday night. I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty excited too! This sushi bar had such a relaxing and chilled atmosphere, and the taste of the sushi was similar to what we have back home. I'm so curious what the sushi will be like in Japan. When we were planning to come to Korea, we thought that the sushi would be amazing. However, after arriving and trying out a few sushi restaurants, we decided that the sushi in the states was what we preferred. I guess Japan will be the true and ultimate test of sushi. I'm really hoping that the "real deal" is more like the stuff from back home, but I'm guessing Korea has taken some tips from it's neighbor. Don't worry, I'll be sure to give you all the down low on what we think of true Japanese sushi....I'm sure it will be wonderful!!!
The only other news I have is something that the world probably has absolutely no interest in hearing, but sometimes I have to include memories of Korea that I want to preserve for myself. As we were out and about this weekend we saw a girl who is a new employee at our school. OK...we saw her, but she didn't see us :) I'm not gonna mention her name. However, she seems nice, but I don't really talk to her much. The funny thing is she always seems to be clinging and flirting with whatever guy is around or giving them some kind of really uncomfortable seductive eye...YES, at work!!! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when we saw her she was again hanging on to the arm of some guy, and not any of the guys from our school! I say all of this not to point fingers at one particular person, but to leave myself with a reminder of how Korea and it's culture (eight months in) is still a mystery to me. Korea claims to be a reserved culture, but females wear little to no clothes, there's one park in particular dedicated to the anatomy of the male body (if ya know what I mean), and couples are extremely affectionate in public and I'm talking young couples. Maybe my perspective is off, but I just don't sense that the culture is anymore reserved than back home.

I'll leave you with my favorite picture from the weekend. This little boy was so cute with his rice cake. His mom kept trying to take pictures of him, but he just wanted to stare at us foreigners... PRECIOUS!

Bringing bootylicious back

2009-04-01T20:51:00.004-05:00

It's been one of the best weeks ever!!!! I got a box of food from Mom this week, and it was like Christmas! I opened it to find Lucky Charms, Doritos, a couple of taco kits, Easter candy, and a number of things I had been needing but just couldn't find in Korea. We got off work and opened the Doritos and Lucky Charms and just indulged for a while. Then we made chicken tacos for dinner last night. It was soooo good! Sour cream would have absolutely made the meal, but it will be a little while before we get that. No worries, we're floating on cloud nine every time we take out that bag of Doritos. Thankfully, Mom sent 2 bags, since one family size bag of Doritos was never enough for anyone! We are trying to make them last, but I'm tempted to finish them off every time I take a bite of all that goodness. I also received a gift from one of my student's mothers yesterday. It was a cake!!! That was dessert last night. Now THIS is how you pack on the pounds! Maybe I can get a little booty back before I come home :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

~Am :)

Lights, Camera, Action!!!

2009-03-29T08:59:00.007-05:00

I just wanted to share this with all of you. I just happened upon a few videos on my computer from back in the summer before I left home. I was mostly trying to figure out how my web cam worked, but I got a few with my family and Cullen in them. This is one of my favorites. I love it when Cullen says, "Amer's sillwe." Also, if you pay close attention you an hear Scott ask Mom something about insurance in the background. Oh the images and sounds of home...I love them all :)

You'll have to scroll down to the bottom of the page and pause the music to hear the video. Then push the play button and hopefully it will work!!!

Here's to Productivity

2009-03-29T02:28:00.003-05:00

Wow, it has been an extremely productive weekend! I'm not really sure how that happened. I had no intentions of being productive this weekend; I figured it be like every other weekend.

Yesterday, we were gonna go skating because one of our students told us this was the last week we could ice skate in Ulsan. However, we ended up going to the open market, and buying a lot of food and then coming back, cooking and watching TV. Normally, I don't relax well. I have a tendency to get bored and need something to do. I guess there was quite a bit that I needed to do around the house that I hadn't realized. I started looking over my resume and I made some adjustments and updates to it. I think I'm going to start sending it out to some personal contacts pretty soon, and in the next few months, I'll actually start sending it to businesses. We still have a while left in Korea, and I'm really not sure which direction I will go in once I get home. However, I'm trying to start thinking about my options. I'm also seriously considering pursuing my master's in business. It's just that the job market is pretty rough right now; so, I know that it would be advantageous to go on and get my MBA while the economy is in bad shape. That being said, I went on and started the application process in case I decide to go that route. The downside of starting school is that I won't have any time to adjust to being back in the states. The program would start a few days after my plane lands in the US! I'm sure this would make my life very stressful in the beginning, but it would cut down on the "downtime" of the transition. I'm pretty sure I've asked before, but I will ask again: Please, please, please say a little prayer for me if you think about it, as I have a hard time when it comes to these kinds of decisions!!!

On a different note, I'm sitting at the computer, drinking my tea and blogging in a nice clean house!!! I spent all afternoon cleaning. I hate cleaning, but I love a clean house! Solution...hire a full time maid-- I'm not gonna lie, if I ever get rich I'll pay someone really, really well (because I know it's a hard job and not fun for anyone) to clean my house. Unfortunately, I don't see that scenario becoming my reality anytime soon...darn :) Either way, it's extremely satisfying to be in a tidy habitat! I'm off to do a little more laundry...I'm washing my sheets! Don't you just love that first night of clean sheets....AMAZING!!! I miss being a kid and having those nice clean sheets without the effort of having done them myself:) Thanks Mom, you really are the greatest, and I mean it!!!

P.S. I also tried to spice up my blog a little bit, hope you like it. The pictures are some of my favorite things about Korea!!!

~Tokyo here we come~

2009-03-26T12:35:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited!!! I had to tell the world...we just made arrangements to go to Tokyo next month!!! I can't wait. We're not exactly sure what all we'll be doing there, but we've got a month to figure it out. If anyone has been there and wants to make suggestions, please feel free. Here's a picture of Mt. Fuji in the background of the skyline!!!

not in the job description

2009-03-22T06:58:00.018-05:00

I told you we had an eventful weekend! YES...this is me a few students...AT MY APARTMENT!On Sunday afternoon, four of my students showed up on my doorstep...now this gives new meaning to the phrase "taking work home with you." Thankfully, they were really nice students, and we had a great time! I just never ever imagined that they would come to my house. Here's how the whole ordeal began: Last week, I was waiting for my bus, and a group of students walked by on their way home. They stopped and talked to me and asked me where Chris was. He was still at school, and I said, "You wanna come to my house and cook me dinner?" The girls of course responded, "Yes, teacher, yes!" Then, Friday at school the same girls asked what floor I lived on. I told them I lived on the 5th floor, and they said, "Ok we'll come to your house on Saturday." I thought they were joking, and I quickly told them I wouldn't be there because Chris and I would be in Busan.
Sunday rolls around, and I'm just watching a little TV when my phone rings. It's Julie, a student from my TOSEL Jr. class(in Korea foreigners don't get caller ID, so I had no clue who it was), "Teacher...insert long pause....Teacher...it's me Julie, you know me Teacher." By the way, "Teacher" is my actual name these days. I know Julie, I know about 15 Julie's because all Korean kids have the same English names. "Teacher, I'm on the 5th floor." Ooookkkaaayy...what the heck do I do? First of all, how do all my students seem to mysteriously have my cell phone number, and second of all, how did she know where I lived...I didn't even tell her the name of my apartment building!!! I went to the door to look and see if this was for real or a joke. It was for real. There they were, four cute little Korean girls standing in the hall way! I felt very awkward in my polka dot pajamas and zit cream still on my face, but let them in regardless. I wasn't sure exactly what was going on, and I'm pretty sure they had never just shown up at a teacher's house before from their timidness in the beginning. All Koreans bring some kind of gift when they come to your home; so, the girls came bearing gifts of chamchi gimbap (a Korean appetizer) that evidently I had said I liked in class at some point. We ate our gimbap, and then I asked them what they wanted to do. I didn't really like the idea of them being at my house because it just seemed kinda odd. So, we asked them if they wanted to go to an arcade down the street. Their response was that there mothers did not like them going to arcades because of all the smoke in the atmosphere.... hmmm...sounds a little fishy to me, being that all Korean kids practically live in arcades. I'm pretty sure they told their mothers this was some kind of study session because they all had their books for class. Anyway, Chris and I been planning on going to Ulsan Grand Park soon, and the girls loved the idea! We weren't sure what bus we were suppose to take, and the girls, though they are Korean, could not figure it out. I have to often remind myself that they are children, even though they know a lot more about surviving in Korea than we do. Thankfully, Kristen (a foreigner friend) came walking down the road just as we were in the midst of our confusion. She told us what bus to take and where to get off, ahhh...I've gotta email her a big thank-you, I think I may have just ran off without saying bye. Everything just seemed so chaotic and stressful because we were trying to keep up with four kids, and we weren't even sure that their parents knew where they were or that they were with us. I think I've mentioned before that Korean children are much more independent than children in the US, and parents often allow their children to go places by themselves. It seems so odd and irresponsible to me, but things are just very different in regards to safety here. As far as I know, things went really well. We made it to the park, and the girls played while we carried their bags and coats. Well, that's not entirely true...we had some fun of our own, too! I know God didn't make me pint size without expecting that I take full advantage! The trip was even a bit educational because at the park their was this science fair going on so we walked through and let the girls do some of the activities. I have the girls in class today. I can't wait to see if they act different after being to my home and also see what in the world they say to the other students. They made sure to take pictures on their cell phones so they could prove that they had truly been to my house. Once again, only in Korea does your work hop on a bus and seek you out at home!
As funny and suprising as it was to have the girls show up, we really did have a lot of fun with them. Hopefully, they will realize that we're really not that old, and we've both still got a lot of kid left in us. Notice the Korean woman looking back at Chris like he's crazy!!! I love it :)

Hope all is well back home! I miss you guys like crazy!!!

~Am :)

Sally sells seashells by the seashore...

2009-03-22T05:16:00.009-05:00

Oh...what a weekend!!! The weather has been nice and there's a hint of spring in our parts of Korea. Thus, the beach was calling our names! We made our way to Busan and enjoyed ourselves very much. A couple of hours were spent just relaxing at the beach, and then made our way through the food stalls right behind the water. We were really tempted to eat lobster at one of these little places, and we'll definitely go back soon to follow through. However, all week long we had talked about a certain Mexican restaurant that we were gonna visit but ...when it came down to it, we changed our minds :) The place we had planned on going looked more like a bar than a restaurant, and we were really in the mood for a hearty meal. I'm sure we will end up going there at some point because Mexican does still sound amazing, but this weekend we ended up eating Turkish again. We really love Turkish food! Chris is a fan because Turkey is in such close proximity to Greece, and me, well...I just love all food in general. Not to mention, the quality of lamb seems to be better than the quality of beef in Korea.
Busan is nice because the city is about 3 times as big as Ulsan and has many more options for food and entertainment. There are also a lot of foreigners in Busan, which is kind of nice, but very different considering we are no longer use to seeing many people that resemble us. The best part about Busan is the beach!!! I'm such a beach bum, and I can't wait until the weather is nice enough to lay on the beach and get in the water. Speaking of which, Chris made a friend on the beach that called himself "the Korean Jay Leno." He was pretty much crazy. At first, I didn't know what to think of this man, and then he referred to me as a "foxy babe" and Chris as a "boyish Hugh Grant." I mean seriously, what the heck do you say to that? Finally, I realized that he was trying to get a reaction out of us when he told us that, "Making love to a mermaid is no fun." What...did I hear this man correctly? Yes, judging by the look on Chris's face, I had heard him word for word. I just went with it....I think I laughed more during this 30 minute conversation than I have in a very long time. I had to take a picture, not that I would ever in a million years forget this man, even if I tried. Naturally, Chris threw up the peace sign because this is what so many people do when they take pictures in Asia, and Jay says, "What the heck does that mean...VICTORY?" O wow...I still don't know what to think of this man!!! I'll let you be the judge :)

By the end of the night we were absolutely exhausted. We made our way back to where we take the direct bus home, and we saw our bus pulling away. Chris thought he was gonna be the hero of the story, and so he jumps off the curb and almost out in front of the bus. We see Koreans do this all the time, and it never works for them! I'm not sure why he thought it was gonna work for him. I almost had a heart attack thinking he was gonna get hit by the bus, as the bus driver honks his horn and keeps driving. Thankfully, we look up and saw another bus sitting there waiting for us to hop on and take our seats. Usually at night they turn the lights off, but for some reason, this bus driver left the lights on all the way home. Whatever...I already get stared at everywhere I go. Why not wear my sunglasses at night?

Only in Korea

2009-03-14T10:49:00.007-05:00

How in the world do the weekends go by so fast when those weekdays drag by so slow? I guess I shouldn't complain, but it's a bit sad to be so close to Monday again... ah well. It was a good weekend, but not a lot of news to report. We did the usual: went out to eat, shopped a bit, and I finally got to redeem my free coffee at my favorite coffee shop!!! I know, it's sad that a free coffee was the highlight of my weekend:)

We were on the verge of a little more excitement. Yesterday, Chris went looking for his long lost friend. Remember when I posted the picture of the dog that he wanted so badly to make his own? Well, we were back in that same area, and Chris decided he would go try to find the dog. There was a gate that was closed half way, and it was behind this gate that we had seen the dog the last time. So, Chris opened the gate and walked down beside this florist. I tried to warn him to come on, but you know how men are; he didn't listen to me! Just then, the owner of the florist came running out of the shop and started screaming Korean. Once the angry Korean man saw Chris's face (from the back he is often mistaken for a large native), he kinda laughed a little. Then he took his cell phone out of his pocket and without dialing a number said, "Police, police." This was followed up by the man throwing his arms up as if he were holding a shotgun and firing at Chris. It was a bit humorous, and the funniest part was Chris turning bright red and bowing to the man in attempts to express his regret for invading the man's personal space.

That's the best I've got for now :) I promise to bring you all more interesting news as soon as the weather is nice and we can get out and explore. For the time being, you're stuck with the simple stories of our everyday lives and occasional "Only in Korea" stories!

White Day

2009-03-14T01:25:00.005-05:00

Ok...for those of you who despise Valentines Day, you would hate this country. There are 4 different holidays dedicated to romantic relationships in this country. There's Pepero Day; this is when couples give each other pokey sticks. A pokey stick is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate, and they're very tasty. They also celebrate normal Valentines Day on Feb 14th, but in Korea, only girls give guys gifts and such on this day. Then, there's White Day, which is today...Happy White Day!!! This is the day when guys are suppose to do something special for the ladies. We'll see if Chris goes all out for White Day. I'm guessing not, we both think it's crazy that there are so many love holidays. The last of these days is actually called Black Day, and it's the funniest to me. This day is for those people who are single. It's a "screw you, Love" kind of day, hence the name "Black Day." Anyway, at school yesterday, I got a number of gifts, mainly candy and a rose, from a couple of different male students. It was so cute and funny at the same time because it was so obvious that they hated to give me something for fear of what there peers might think. Their mothers were clearly the ones behind the thoughtfulness of the gift, way too cute!!! I had to get a picture of one of my favorite students, Ed, as he presented me with his gift. He was so embarrassed, and the picture made it worse. Oh well, I couldn't help it!

Travel bug!!!

2009-03-12T21:13:00.004-05:00

I know what you're thinking...Yes, I'm not in the states, but it's just that being in one place too long really calls for some kind of trip. Maybe it's all this talk I've been hearing of cruises and Florida vacations that really makes me wanna lay on a beach all day long. The weather is gradually getting warmer here in Korealand, but it's not time to break out the swimsuits yet, DARN! Either way, Chris and I are thinking we're gonna get out of the city for a day or two very soon. Unfortunately, this weekend the weather is gonna be a little cooler than we had hoped. So, we'll probably wait and go somewhere next weekend. We've been hearing about an amazing Mexican restaurant that's in a town pretty close by, maybe we'll go there. Either way, we're gonna take a little Spring Break of our own. Oh college, why did I not realize that you were so amazing...is that you that I hear calling my name?

Speaking of college, I'll leave you with a picture taken a couple of years back about this time of the year. Chris and I were both still in college, and he was about to leave to go to Australia; so, we bought a bunch of junk food and headed down to the lake to watch the sunset!!!

a new discovery after a very bad day...

2009-03-06T22:49:00.006-06:00

Well, I'm not going to put you all through the misery of all the details from my awful day at school. I will just say, there were tears and if Chris had not been around to calm me down I would probably be on a plane back to the US right this minute. Anyway, after a long day I refused to cook so we ate out at the restaurant in the building where we live. Afterwards we made our way up to the 17th floor because I had been wondering if our building had roof access. Chris swore that there was no way there would be access to the roof on the 17th floor, but I am pleased to announce that HE WAS WRONG! In fact, there's a sky park up there. We have lived here for 7 months now and we've just discovered this...where have we been? I don't think anything could have possibly made me happier after such a grueling day. As you can imagine, the city is ver polluted, and the air seemed so much cleaner from 17 stories high. Chris was not quite as enthused about the sky park as I was. He has an extreme fear of heights; so being up there made him a little nervous. How I ever convinced him to skydive is beyond me!!! I took a few pics from up there...so the pictures are of Muego Dong...the area of Ulsan where we live. After our little adventure to the sky park, we made our way to Paris Baguette (a Korean chain bakery/coffee shop that just opened up across the street). We got a couple of desserts and then we walked home, only to turn around and go back for more cream puffs...these things are so stinkin good!!! There are two sitting in the fridge right now that are tempting me oooo so badly. I'm trying to resist because Chris said we should take them downstairs to the little old woman and man who own the restaurant that we ate at, but I'm thinking that they sound really good as an encore to the 2 bowls of Special K I just finished!!!!

Well, I'm out for now, but I'll try to update you all on what the weekend holds. Happy Saturday!!!

~Am

the last name may be cursed

2009-02-20T23:53:00.009-06:00

I just talked to my brother on the phone for the first time since being in Korea! I've talked to him on Skype when he's at my Mom's house a number of times, but every time I call him I can't get him. When his ring back tone started playing it made me feel nice and close to home, I couldn't help but smile as I listened to "I'm a Country Boy." Any of you who know AC know he really is a country boy. The first time I called, I didn't get him, and then I tried my sister because I thought they would be together this weekend, but no answer from her either :( Finally, I sent a text to Alan via www.vtext.com/ (This is awesome, it's where you can go online and send a text through Verizon's website.). I just told him I missed him and loved him and he best answer my call next time. He replied "call back." When I called him back he informed me that he and Amanda where in fact together and had both just ignored my phone calls because the number was blocked. I'm the middle child; they've always picked on me :) It was so nice to get to talk to both my brother and sister, but it really made me miss them.

Now on to the what we will call "The Luck of the Schamps." During our conversation, Alan informed me that after the huge ice storm his electricity was out for over a week. When it was finally fixed, the electric company made a mistake and sent a lot higher voltage through his outlets than what it was suppose to be. AC heard what he referred to as a "cannon goin off behind the house." Unfortunately, all of his TV's and his washing machine wouldn't work after this incident. The electric company told him he was actually lucky that his entire house didn't burn down...scary! This is just one example of the luck that my family seems to have. Amanda, on the other hand went out of town about a month ago, and her car caught on fire, which left her stranded for a number of days before she could get it fixed. When she finally did return home, a pipe in her freezer had burst and her entire house was flooded because she had been gone and it continually ran out into her house until she returned home. She had just put new hardwood floors down throughout her entire condo, which were ruined. I felt soooo bad for her. She really had a rough couple of weeks. My Daddy had a much more serious scare recently. He was working on finishing a house that he's building back when the ice storm hit. The electricity was out at this house, and for some reason he needed it to stay warm. So, he was trying to hook a generator up. Evidently, generators are dangerous because they release carbon monoxide fumes into the air. Well, Dad passed out in the room with the generator, and had to be drug out of the house by a worker that he had with him. Thankfully, there was someone with him because if not, he would have never gotten out. See....I'm not lying!!! These are are common occurrences if you're a Schamp.

I have no clue when this started, but my earliest recollection of the curse being evident in my life took place when the three of us were small children. You see, Mom and Dad were still married at the time, and it was a Sunday morning. We were all ready for church, and Dad took us kids down to the car while Mom was still in the house. I think the phone may have rang, and Mom yelled out for Dad to come back into the house. Dad had turned the car on to warm it up because it was snowing outside. Alan was really young, so he was strapped into his car seat and Amanda and myself were probably bouncing around the car. Dad took off back into the house, and I guess Mom was on her way down to the car. Amanda and I, probably about 4 years old and 8 at the time, decided that we needed to see out the windows (they were covered in snow). I, with all my 4 years of knowledge began looking for the windshield wipers. Well, let's just say that my driving has not changed alot since then, and I knocked the car into reverse instead. The driveway sat on a hill, so the car immediately started to roll backwards, picking up speed as it rolled. Amanda bailed out. She swore for the longest time that she fell out, but I distinctly remember her saying ,"I'm gettin outta here, you can't drive AMBER." Mom and Dad were both chasing the car by this point. So, they probably saw their precious little 8 year old Amanda plunge from the car and fall to the ground, as the car wheel ran over her leg. I'm sure they thought the worst!!! The car finally hit a tree or maybe it was Dad's old race car (can't remember), but it stopped and AC and I were still in the car, me at the wheel and he in his car seat. But poor Amanda was laying in the snow. Miraculously, no one was hurt! Amanda's leg must have sunk down in the snow as the car rolled over it, and she was left with only bruises and tire tracks on her legs. I don't really remember the details after all the commotion, but for some reason I think we still made it to church! Not sure if I was punished. Maybe Mom and Dad were so glad everyone was ok that they let it slide??? They should've know right then that this was only the first of many collisions that their children would have over the years.

God is obviously watching over my family and myself. As I look back over many similar freak accidents that have happened to each of my siblings and myself over the years. It's kinda scary to think about how on so many occasions a slight change of events could have hurt or even taken one of our lives. The truth is... I don't really believe in luck or curses, but I do believe that there is a God who watches over us everyday. Thankfully, He has protected me and my family despite our own stupidity, recklessness and the last name :)
Sorry, I was so long winded, just needed to talk about my family today. I've been missing them a lot lately!!!

Going to the chapel and we're....NOT :)

2009-02-15T20:33:00.013-06:00

Finally, we got to dress up! I haven't gotten dressed up in a dress and heels in over 6 months. For a girl, this is kind of a big deal (or for me at least it is). When you put on a dress and heels and wear makeup, it just makes you feel prettier! So, I was so excited when we got an invitation to a fellow teacher's wedding. Anna is the sweetest girl, and we had no clue she was even engaged until we got our invitation. Her wedding was the perfect event to follow up Valentines Day, and she looked absolutely beautiful. You know how weddings make you feel all nice and loving, well it's no different in Korea. The actual event was quite different than what we are use to, but the loving feelings were all the same.

For starters, weddings in Korea take place in a wedding hall. Wedding halls usually have a number of areas where different couples are getting married throughout the day. There are lots of people! The couple and their guests use the wedding hall, and then they move on, and it's another couple's turn. When the guests first arrive at the wedding, they go to the "waiting area". This is where the bride and all her beauty are on display. People come in, view and obviously make a huge fuss over the blushing bride. She sits there and smiles and talks to the different guests as they give their congrats. The guests also go and officially make their presence known by giving a monetary gift, and in return you receive a meal voucher for the reception. Then it's time for the ceremony. You see, no one makes a big deal about the number of guests you invite to a ceremony here. The people who get there first go in and take a seat, and after the seats are full people just stand. There are also a couple of flat screens on the wall right outside of the wedding hall where people stand out there and watch if there isn't enough room inside. It was really funny to me because right before the bride walked down the aisle there was this really loud music that reminded me of the music that you might hear if you were at Rupp about to watch the CATS play ball (which I'm really missing at this time of the year). I couldn't help myself, I looked at Chris and said, "Are you ready to rumble?" This was followed by brief neon light show, and then the music changed to a more formal arrangement and the bride started down the aisle....so entertaining, but once again Korea wins the tacky award :) The reception is a huge event where everyone eats a buffet style dinner, but all of the different weddings guests are together. There was no wedding cake, which surprised me, and we only briefly saw the bride and groom after the ceremony. They don't go and eat at the reception, which I thought was kinda sad because they didn't get to enjoy the food...it was awesome. Instead, they were getting ready for the next ceremony, the Korean traditional ceremony. All I know about this ceremony is they wear the traditional dress of Korea (as pictured to the right), but I have no clue what it's like because this is a much more private event for family.

It was so interesting to see a wedding in a culture so different from ours. Maybe I'll bring a little Korean tradition to my wedding when I do make it to the chapel! HAHA...just kidding, don't worry I'll just go watch the CATS play if I start craving a light show and the rumble song :) In conclusion, Anna looked beautiful, and I'm so happy for the newlyweds! Their wedding was such a pleasant ending to our Valentines Day weekend.

Korea, my love <3

2009-02-15T04:39:00.013-06:00

OK...So maybe this title is exaggerated a little, but it was such a nice Valentines Day! I'm not gonna lie, I have mixed emotions about a single day in the year when love fills the world from east to west. It seems that love should fill the world each and every day of the year! However, realistically speaking, I'm aware that we need a day to be reminded of our affection for those loved ones who hold a special place in our hearts! This is exactly what Chris and I did on V Day. We had fun together and were reminded of why we enjoy each other's company so much!

Our Valentines Day was just a classic date night with dinner, a little shopping, some photo booth fun and a movie. I've been wanting to see "He's Just Not That Into You" since I read about it online a few weeks back. It's a chick flick, and it has a power cast. Not to mention, I enjoyed and had to force myself to live by the book after being introduced to it in college. Unfortunately, I too, have met a few guys through out the years that just weren't that into me :) Anyway, there have been no previews on TV for this movie to come to Korea. So, I thought I was just gonna have to wait and see it a couple of months down the road. Much to my surprise, when we went to the movies to see that Benjamin Button movie,the lovey dovey chick flick had made it our way!!! Chris said we could watch the other movie another time, and so I got to see it. We actually both enjoyed it (or he at least acted like he did). I was so happy, it really made the day!

In true Korean style, we made our way to a photo booth after the movie. We had seen this place a while back, but never ventured in to see exactly what all the hype was about. I should back up for a moment to explain a little something about Korean culture. You see...people are extremely obsessed with their appearance (even more than what would be considered normal in the US). Everywhere you go you see women (and men for that matter) snapping pictures of themselves: on buses, in supermarkets, in restaurants, in the doctors office and even in the restrooms!!! Ok...yes, I'll admit it, I will occasionally snap a picture of myself to make sure I don't look really creepy, but NOT while I'm sitting in Starbucks or in a public restroom...this is just too far. Also, these people are crazy about stickers with animated characters and anything shiny, it's sooo tacky! This being said, a Korean photo booth session takes all of these things and combines them. You go in and cheese it up, then you pick your favorite shots, then you use a computer to glam your photos up with glitter and virtual stickers. It's about 15 minutes and 5000 won worth of Asian heaven. It really was fun, or maybe it was just really funny. Either way, here's what we walked away with, stickers with our faces on them...oooo Korea :)

We didn't even make it to the end of the night before someone else had captured Chris's interest. We came upon this beautiful dog, but don't worry I wouldn't let him take it home! He often has to remind me that I shouldn't buy new clothes because of the fact that we have a plane ride and two suitcases standing between us and home. This time it was me reminding him of the difficutly in making extreme purchases while abroad. The fact that the dog practically knocked a Korean woman down by jumping on her and then licking her perfusely, only added to the affection that we instantly had for this dog. If there wasn't a big ocean standing in the way, we would definitely have a dog today!

Valentines Day did not end here, but this is all I have time for now...more to come later!

Birthday & Shisha Celebrations

2009-02-07T22:40:00.010-06:00

What a fun weekend!!! It started out with a birthday party for a friend and co-worker Kat (who is from Iowa) on Friday night. The night was filled with lots of cake, ice cream and sparklers, which is very typical for birthdays in Korea. It is also tradition to come up with some kind of strange concoction for the birthday girl or boy to drink. It is usually something awful, similar to a fear factor drink and the person cannot refuse the drink or this means they will have a year of bad luck. I'm pretty sure Kat took the bad luck!!!

Last night we made our way to the Turkish restaurant that I'm pretty sure I've talked about before. We went with a group of teachers and some Koreans, and had a really great time. The Turkish restaurant is nice because not only can you have an amazing dinner and dessert, but you can also smoke a hookah or shisha. Now let me explain exactly what a shisha is for those of you who may worry. A shisha is a smoking device that originated in Egypt, and is very popular among the middle eastern countries. You can smoke a variety of herbal fruits, and they have a very nice taste. It's nothing like smoking a cigarette, and it's not illegal or harmful to your health....so don't worry! I found a picture online of a shisha . I forgot to take one at the restaurant because I was too busy trying to capture all of our attempts at becoming dragons for the night :)

Thankful for the adventure

2009-02-01T22:09:00.002-06:00

As I woke up this morning, and took a look at the weather I couldn't help but feel a sense of thankfulness!!! It seems like the coldest weather has now passed in Korea, and we should be cruising into spring in no time. As much as I have tried not to complain (especially via blog), the winter has been a very though season for Chris and myself being abroad. It seems that we found ourselves in a funk. The weather made travel difficult, the holidays were a bit sad and lonely, and numerous times we really just wanted to pack up and head home. However, as the weather is slowly changing and we near our half way point, we've found ourselves much more optimistic. Other foreign teachers warned us about the "season" that we went through. Most of our friends that have been here longer than us also went through a similar season. It's said to come around your third or fourth month in Korea, and it usually lasts a couple of months. So, maybe it truly had nothing to do with winter, maybe it was more of a stage that we had to endure while living here. Either way, I'm so glad that the weather is beginning to change and our outlooks are changing with the weather. We're looking to the future and trying to decide what the next step will be when our contract ends in August. Will we come back home? Will we stay another year? Will we go somewhere else...back to school...back to work...back to the US??? So many questions. So many decisions. So many options!!! Please pray for us as we have a lot to think about over the next few months. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, today I'm just thankful for this grand adventure we call life!!

2009-01-30T10:47:00.004-06:00

This a picture taken at our school with all the ELC teachers and staff. It's ok if you're thinking it; I've been told that I'm beginning to look like an Asian on numerous occasions :)

New Years...agian!!

2009-01-24T23:01:00.005-06:00

I'm so excited because I'm blogging for the first time using my own Internet!!! I'm sitting on my couch (not at the cold window) which was the only place I could pick up wireless prior to getting my own. It's wonderful!!! I woke up this morning and watched a movie online without having to endure pauses every 5 minutes. This is an important purchase that I should have made as soon as I got to Korea, but what can I say? I am my parents child, and yes, they both have instilled in me an importance for thriftiness. However, that being said, I'm sure both of my parents will be pleased as this should make communication even more simple!!!

On the Korean home front we have a major cold front passing through. We're on our second vacation in the past month, both of which the weather has been terrible. We are celebrating the Lunar New Year with the eastern world this week. School is out, and the majority of businesses will be closed for the next few days. So, we are left with not a lot to do. O well, we've decided to sit around and be very lazy during this break. Thankfully, we will be using the handy dandy world wide web to catch up on all the new releases from the states. As boring as it may sound... I'm gonna be honest...I love staying home and just watching a good movie! Our travels are being postponed until our next break. Chris and I both hate the cold weather. So, we couldn't justify traveling at this time of the year, knowing that we wouldn't get out and see as much as we possibly could because of the cold. We've scheduled some "personal time" off in the spring, and hopefully the weather will be nice at that point, and we will go exploring more in Korea and Asia.

I didn't really have real news for you guys. Just wanted to say hi, and let everyone know that I have real Internet now.

새해복 많이 받으세요!

( Sae-hae-bok ma-ni pa-dŭ-se-yo)

Happy Lunar New Year!

~Am :)

Recap

2009-01-19T06:24:00.012-06:00

Sorry that I slacked off on writing over the past couple of weeks! My internet has been cutting in and out. I'm afraid that I need to stop being so cheap and break down and buy it, but it's so hard for me to do since I can usually get it. Anyway, I guess I should back up a couple weeks to get you all up to speed.

We had a wonderful holiday season, and our vacation time was so aaaamazing. We ended up going out of town for New Year's. We made a trip to Busan where we ate a wonderful Turkish restaurant. It was quite possibly the best food I've put in my stomach since August. We both at so much that we could hardly walk when we left. The owner of the restaurant was there, and he came over half way through our meal and offered us a free appetizer. It was something new that they were putting on there menu, and being that we were foreigners, they wanted our opinion :) It was wonderful, and then we added dessert on top of that!!! The trip out of town was a much needed change in our routine. I can't wait til summer, when we'll hopefully make more frequent trips to Busan to hang out on the beach!!!

We also went bowling!!! It was a lot of fun, but neither of us are any good at bowling. I will say, that I did better of the two us. However, this isn't saying much at all. Regardless, it was fun, but a little embarrassing. You see, when you're the only white person in a place you get a lot of stares no matter what you are doing. So, the fact that we are white made everyone look at us while we bowled, which obviously brought attention to the fact that we were not any good.

Last but not least, we had massages. Well, we thought that they were gonna be massages, but they actually ended up being facials. This was quite possibly the most humorous thing that I've witnessed since being in this country. Picture this: Chris, a facial, a pink mask, a Korean woman saying "just relax" over and over again, and lots of lotion (which he hates). OOOO, it was great! As you may know, Chris is awkward enough when it comes to things of this matter. Throw a language barrier in the mix, and this made great comedy. I can't decide which was the best part. At one point, Chris's woman got lotion in his eye, which caused him to start crying!!! When she finally realized why he was crying, she whipped out her handy dandy eye drops, and squirted them in his eyes before he had a chance to realize what the heck was going on. Then, the very last thing that she did was pull his arms back over his head and then sling them forward. I cannot possibly explain how funny this entire ordeal was!!! So, to help you better understand I have included some pictures.

The remainder of our vacay was spent just relaxing, watching movies, eating at many different restaurants, and shopping. Which reminds me, we found our new favorite place to shop, E-Mart. This is the closest thing that Korea has to a Wal-Mart. It has a great meat department, where we found ground pork!!! We've now grown accustom to pork burgers. Hey, it's the closest thing we've found to a hamburger, for under $10 a pound. We also found these awesome freshly baked blueberry bagels. I'm so glad we discovered E-Mart. This was the extent of our break. We've been back at school for a couple of weeks now, but we get another break next week. YIPEEE!!!!

blame it on Korea

2009-01-05T07:42:00.009-06:00

A couple weeks ago Chris and I had to have a health check for work. We went with a number of other foreign teachers to a nearby hospital. Myself and the other girls that we teach with were all shoved into a closet where we were to told to undress. We did as we were told, and then we pranced around the hospital in our almost exposing purple gowns. We went to all the different stations: we had our eyes, ears, heart, weight, and height checked. We gave a urine sample, and they took our blood. Unfortunately, when the woman drew my blood she had to stick me about 6 times before she got anything out of me. This was the extent of our health check, very normal. Anyway, I haven't thought another thing of it until I got a print out of the results. I couldn't read any of it because it was all in Korean, but I could see that a few of the categories were outside of the normal range. This sparked some interest. So, I had someone translate the categories for me. I'm anemic, which I've known for a while now, and I've always had really low blood pressure. So, I wasn't surprised by either of these. However, I was shocked that my cholesterol was high. This is surprising because I've never had high cholesterol, and I've always ate anything and everything I've ever wanted. Since we've been in Korea, my eating habits have actually changed for the better. So, why my cholesterol would be high now....I haven't a clue. I'm probably just over reacting, and I'm sure it isn't that big of a deal. But nevertheless, I'm a bit worried. I've lost weight since coming here, and though I'm not the best about monitoring the foods I'm eating, I know I don't eat an extremely fatty diet. I'm so frustrated because I have no clue where this is coming from!!!! I've been on the computer all night reading about the causes of cholesterol problems, and none of this makes any since. The main causes are a fatty diet, heredity, alcohol consumption, excess weight, and little physical activity. I don't drink. My weight is very normal, and I walk just about everywhere I go. I blame this on Korea since I can't come up with any other explanation!!! For lack of a better solution, I'm gonna put myself on a low cholesterol diet, and start using the gym at my apartment. Then, I'm going back to the doctor, and I'm gonna have it checked again. The last thing I need is a heart attack at 23....good Lord I must be a redneck!!!

Vacayeah!!!

2008-12-30T07:22:00.003-06:00

We are finally on vacation....YEAH!!! Though our schedule is nothing to complain about, we have most certainly been ready for a break for a while now. We are very excited to have some time off so we can do whatever we want or nothing if that's what we want. We're going to start our break right with couples massages!!! We're going to have them done tomorrow, and after that we'll think about what the rest of the week holds. We were gonna go to Seoul, but it's suppose to be really cold here this week and Seoul is pretty far north. So, we may go to Busan instead. Who knows...we're just excited to have time off!!!

HaPpY nEw YeAr!!!!!

a look at our Christmas

2008-12-26T23:50:00.018-06:00

SO...We actually had a really good Christmas even though we didn't get to be home with all of you. This is a quick look at all the different events and festivities from our Christmas in Korea!!!Also, a special thanks to all the emails, cards, gifts and deposits made that helped make our holiday feel at little more familiar. We love you all and hope you had a blessed Christmas.

Christmas comes to Korea!!!

2008-12-21T08:36:00.011-06:00

Christmas is just around the corner, and we are anticipating a different kind of Christmas than we're use to. As I've mentioned before, it doesn't feel the same as being home during the Holidays, but Christmas time has finally made it's way to Korea!!! The decorations are now up and the Christmas music is blaring everywhere we go. We're still going back and forth about what we will do. It's so weird to try and come up with something to do on Christmas instead of visitng with family. This is our tentative schedule as of now. Our Christmas celebration will kick off on Christmas Eve with a program at school. We do work on Christmas Eve, but the day will be filled with Christmas cheer as our students entertain us by singing traditional Christmas songs with their little Korean accents. Then after we get off of work Chris and I are going to start our own little tradition of making a Pumpkin Pie together!!! For the main event, Christmas day, I think we are going to have lunch at a really nice restuarant. We've also thought about having massages done somewhere. It would be soooo amazing to get a good deep tissue massage. Have I mentioned that the beds here are so hard that my legs fall asleep every night...ridiculous!!! Christmas night there's a special service at church that we're going to attend. Which I'm sure will be followed up by some kind of dinner with friends. Friday, the 26th will be back to work, but again this will probably be mainly a fun day for the kids to show off their new Christmas presents! That night after work we have a Christmas party with some of the other foreign teachers and some Korean friends. That's pretty much what we have planned for now, but who knows how it might change. Sounds like were gonna be pretty busy, but the week following Christmas is vacation, so we'll have plenty of time to rest up!!! I'm trying to convince Chris that we should go to the nicest hotel in town for a day just so I can soak in a tub for hours upon hours and get my bath fix in...boy do I miss my bath!!!

Dinner and a movie

2008-12-21T06:18:00.011-06:00

It was such a long week. Everyone around me has said the same thing. I think this is probably due to the fact that we are anticipating our time off of school and anxious for all the festivities surrounding Christmas to begin. We took it easy this weekend because we had so much to do this past week. We had to be up early almost every morning which really hurt due to the extreme changes our sleeping patterns have undergone.

On Saturday night we tried out a new restaurant called Ashley. It was a grill and buffet, and this was the first place we've been in Korea that kinda had a Southern feel to it. We saw the place last week but were not hungry at the time. After we passed it up, we kept thinking about it over and over. All week long we talked about the unlimited supply of cheesecake on the dessert buffet that we couldn't help but notice. So, it wasn't even a question as to what we would do on Saturday. We made our way to the "old downtown" region in Ulsan, and we went straight to Ashley!!! Chris's first plate consisted of fried potato wedges, sweet potato casserole, fried rice and 3 pieces of cheesecake. Can we say carb overload? I couldn't help but crack up when I watched him take his first bite...cheesecake. We are definitely adding to the world's view of all Americans being over indulgent people as we binge every time we see anything that looks like good ole American food.

After filling up, we made our way to the Mega Box movie theatre, where we watched Yes Man, with Jim Carey. We thought it was really cute, and it was a nice escape from all things Korean, except there was a Korean girl in the movie and a few lines of Korean as well...we had no clue. This was the only humor in the movie that the Koreans actually understood. Obviously we appreciated the cultural humor much more because of our given situation. For about an hour and a half I actually forgot where I was...it was kinda nice :)

All in all we had a great weekend. We're really anxious for this week to begin and all the Christmas activities and breaks to begin!!!

4 month list

2008-12-12T21:28:00.003-06:00

Well, we've hit our 4 month mark and we came up with a list of things that Korea has brought into our lives. We've obviously found aspects of Korea that we love and other aspects that we don't love so much. Regardless, Chris and I have both grown so much in these past 4 months , and for this we are thankful:

neon lights
sitting on the bus and older women randomly stroking your hands, face and hair or having a monk sing to you...that was classic
not so friendly older women literally shoving you out of their way on the sidewalks and in stores
our favorite Korean dishes: Chamchi Gimbap (Korean version of tuna sushi), Dak bok em bap (Chicken Fried Rice with cheese), and of course any Japenese food (which is much better than all Korean food)
our not so favorite Korean staples: Kimichi (fermented spicy cabbage), red pepper paste, pig intestines, bugs... and don't forget the red bean desserts
pencil cases and stationary! the pride and joy of the kids and a constant distraction in class
parents sending their children over to you in restaurants and such to practice their English
the pervading stench of fish, garbage and sewer
the confident boost... because you are always a beeeautifull girl or handsome maan to anyone you come in contact with
men in shiny suits sleeping in the streets after a night in the bar
the waffle lady, who stands in a street vendor stall right outside the apartment selling waffles and these wonderful creme filled pastries all day everyday
our most used Korean phrases: "assah" awesome, "jinja" are you serious?, "ego ul mayo" how much is it
and what would we do without the classroom favorites: "hajima" don't do that, "anja" sit down, and "joyounghihay" be quiet
restaurants and coffee houses completely decked out in princess pink and purple
instant coffee served anywhere and everywhere
open markets and truck vendors driving through the streets shouting and selling everything from garlic to fish to computers to beer
"the squat" as we like to call it, a common Korean resting position that really looks like what we would call "popin a squat"
bean sprouts, Chris's only source of survival for about 3 weeks when we first got here
body image: a new found appreciation for our bodies pre-Korea (about 35 lbs. heavier combined), and our skewed perspectives after being surrounded by the thin Koreans
toilet paper, covering all of your basic needs at home, work and in the restaurant (no napkins on these dinner tables); the bathroom is just an afterthought as a place of use
fashion, the 80s reborn! with a little added class
excitement and joy when you see someone who looks like you and talks like you...you talk even if there's nothing to say just because it makes us all feel more at home
cleaning my bathroom by spraying it down with scolding hot water
talking to Mama while she gets ready in the morning and my day is coming to an end
a new appreciation for the kisses she blows me every time we say good bye
girls in strange, nearly naked outfits dancing and shouting on the sidewalks and in stores ...no this is not a form of exotic entertainment, this my friend is how the Koreans advertise :)
random festivals for music, pottery, mums... they come out of the woodwork to go to these things
scooters, the scariest thing you could possibly look up to see coming at you as you walk on the side walk
SKYPE, email, facebook, myspace, and blogs which allow me to keep in touch with all of you
understanding what it means to be a minority and actually experiencing racism
the adventures of cooking a western meal when the supplies are non existent
Paris Baguette, Tours Les Jour, Baskin Robbins, and Tiamo...our favorite places to get dessert, we keep them in business over here:)
bus drivers who drive as if they shouldn't have a license and make me aware of death on an everyday basis

There are many more things we could list, but we've gotta stop somewhere!!!

address

2008-12-09T20:57:00.002-06:00

I've had a lot of people asking for a mailing address lately. Please do not feel as if you need to send us anything!!! But for those of you who insist, here it is:

ELC, 3FAmber Schamp
846-1, Guyeong-Ri, Beomseo-eop
Ulsan, South Korea
689-852

coffee shops and Korean diaries

2008-12-06T10:59:00.012-06:00

So, the entertainment these days has changed a bit. It's getting pretty cold here in the land of many Koreans. Not having a vehicle forces us to spend a lot of time outside waiting on buses to travel back and forth between work and home or walking anywhere else we need to go. Thus, the result is, we don't go as many places, and when we do, we opt for warm indoor locations. We've found ourselves in nice and cozy coffee shops more and more frequently, and though coffee is ridculously overpriced unless you buy the instant coffee (which I admit, I do while at school on a regular basis). We try to stay away from Starbucks and instead enjoy some of the Korean coffee shops. This isn't because we wouldn't love that o so familiar Green Tea Latte and Pumpkin Cream Cheese muffin. The reality is, Starbucks is completely out of our price range in this country, a simple latte rings in at close to 6,000 won, which is the equivalent of about $6.00, and this is smaller than a tall size. Yeah... so, when you pull through the drive thru at Satrbucks Monday morning, first of all thank God for your vehicle and the nice heater in it, and second remeber that you could be paying close to 6 bucks for a much smaller drink filled with many more calories (they don't believe in light options in this country either:)

I'm also learning to enjoy the simple forms of entertainment these days, such as my journal entries from the kids at school, or as they would call it, their "diaries" :) There are always interesting stories. Every once in a while a kid will vent about how they hate English, their teacher :), their parents or life in general, but usually they are fun and light hearted stories about the everday happenings in the life of a Korean child. This week, I read the cutest and funniest little journal entry that captured my heart because I could relate to what my child was saying. Instead of summarizing, I'll directly quote the diary, spelling and gramatical errors included, just so you can see a little bit of the English level that we're working with.

Meet Celia (This is her English name, all students who study English have an English name). Celia's about 9 years old, and she's is in my Jr. Special class, which is an upper level class for elementary students. Her writing goes as follows:

" <I saw mouse>
I saw a black mice today.
I scard mice.
I don't like mice

I want mice is no in the world

'God please kill mice!' "

I just thought this was too funny and too true. I can agree; I kinda wish God would kill all the mice in the world as well :) Thanks Celia, for bringing that joyful thought into my mind!!!

That's all folks!

~Am

Are you impressed???

2008-12-05T09:58:00.002-06:00

Hopefully you've noticed the changes that have been made. I'm not gonna lie, it took me a while to figure things out. Chris mad fun of me; he doesn't understand why it matters!!! But, I couldn't help noticing that my blog was extremely lame in comparison to the others that I like to read. In the end, Mr. Who Cares was impressed with the new gadets...hope you are too. Oooo Google, what would we do without you??? The look has changed a bit, but I still couldn't figure out how to create a personalized layout:( There's an Asian looking pic, one of my personal favorites since we've been here. Sorry about the music in the background if you're at work, guess you may need to mute the speakers. I even changed the world clock so that the time in Western Ky and SK shows. Check out the live weather update that shows the temp here in Ulsan. I always seem to get questions about the time and the weather...so here you have it!!! Hope this makes things a little more interesting and fun with the details. Anyway...that's all for now!!! I'm off to bed.
Good night world.

gobble gobble

2008-11-27T06:19:00.003-06:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING USA!!! Unfortunately, Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Korea since it's a US thing. It really isn't real to us the holidays are actually here because it's just not the same as being home with family. I've decided that the holiday season is more of a state of mind that we put ourselves in when the weather begins to change, the fall colors come out, we start planning get togethers and of course when we start seeing the Christmas decorations go up.
Fortunately, we have met some wonderful people while here. So, we did get to celebrate Thanksgiving. All the foreign teachers got together. We made true western Thanksgiving dishes, and we even had an outrageously priced turkey shipped here from the US. It was awesome to have a nice meal that seemed so familiar and reminded me of all you back home. I think spending this time away during this holiday season will forever change extent to which I am thankful for my wonderful friends and amazing family for every other holiday that I get to spend back at home! Chris and I are already trying to plan a way that we can be sure to be home for the holidays next year even if we decide to spend another year outside of the US. I forgot my camera on Thanksgiving, so I'm waiting for someone to tag pictures and then I'll try to put some up.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
Am :)

6th photo....ooo Ash :)

2008-11-21T08:01:00.005-06:00

Thank goodness for the Internet!!! The web has been a life saver for me as I've been able to keep in contact with friends and family via email, web cam, facebook, myspace and blogs. I always kinda thought the networking and staying connected devices were a little overrated to be honest. That is, until we got over here and these things made life so much easier.

Anyway, I hopped on the Internet earlier today to check out what my friend Ashley Rumsey (now) Hamilton was up to via her blog. Ash and I lived together 2 years during college, and have some awesome memories together. Ashley married her high school sweetheart Ryan this past summer, and I was so honored to get to be there and be a part of their wedding. Ashley's latest blog was a fun little surprise where she had been tagged by a friend and was suppose to post the 6th photo of her 6th album and tell about what was going on in the picture and to keep the fun going she tags others who would in turn do the same. She tagged me, so here's the picture:

I couldn't have been more happy than when I found this sweet picture taken a couple years back of me and little Cullen Wade!!! Cullen was probably about a year and a half, and I would've been in my junior year of college. Before Cullen learned to love trucks, guns and tractors he had a shoe infatuation. One day he made his way into Mom's closet and came out in black boots saying, "Amba's boots." Yes, a smart child he is!!! He had in fact found and slipped on boots similar to black boots I was wearing that particular day. Obviously we had to capture the moment!!! Man, a miss that little boy. He's growing up so fast, and becoming more and more of a little man everyday. I get to see him every couple of weeks or so on the web cam, but it's just not the same as putting my arms around him and giving him a big ole hug.

Well, here's to Ash, Cull and all the great memories of friends and family....and here's one more pic that I found in that 6th album that I had to include :)

Late's better than never :)

2008-11-08T03:25:00.013-06:00

Yes, I know it's a little late, but the Halloween festivities at our school were so much fun that I couldn't resist. Koreans don't really celebrate Halloween in general, but at most of the English academies the celebration is over the top. I guess since Halloween is so much fun for children they feel that it's nice to let the kids get in on the fun. Our entire day was filled with all kinds of different skits and presentations from the kids. Some kids sang, others danced or did short plays, and a few even shared instrumentals. It was so much fun to watch all our little Korean rug rats in the lime light. Chris, myself, and Kat (the new foreign teacher at our school) were all judges. We had to pick a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place for each age group. It was so hard not to be partial to all of our favorites in class. After the programs each group of kids got to go trick or treating at the local businesses. It was such a fun day and a nice change from our typical day.

More recently, we've done absolutely nothing!!! This is due to the fact that I have been sick for about two weeks now. This past week I finally broke down and went to the doctor, but unfortunately I think I waited a little too late. I didn't have a voice for most of the week. Thankfully, Chris was able to teach a nice portion of my classes for me. It's extremely difficult to teach children when you can't speak. This past weekend, I pretty much didn't leave the couch. I'm feeling quite a bit better, but I'm going back to the doctor today so that I can get one more round of antibiotics which will hopefully bring me up to par!!! I'm so extremely tired

of soup and orange juice at this point I just want some real food...even if it is Korean food.

That's all I've got for now...

Am :)

Thank the Lord it's over...

2008-11-05T01:24:00.004-06:00

Well...I'm not going to share my personal views on the political situation because I feel that far to many people have done this through the entire election process. However, I will say that as an American and follower of Almighty God it is now my responsibility to shower our soon to be Commander in Chief with as many prayers as I possibly can. Regardless of who you voted for, I hope you too will join me in praying for the Obama family as they make their way into our White House!!! After taking a look at the demographics of the outcome in this election, it's easy to see that it was my generation that brought Mr. Obama to his victory. All political issues aside, I am proud that the generation in which I'm a part of attempting to overcome the obstacle of racism, which has haunted our nation for so long.

Hope all is well back home!!! Bundle up, I know it's getting cold!!!

Am :)

seasons come...seasons go

2008-10-22T11:00:00.018-05:00

Well...good news, the seasons come and seasons go in Korea just like they do back home!!! Deep down, I'm a beach bum at heart. I love summer time and a nice tan, but as I get older my skin becomes more and more pale, and I've even grown accustom to a daily sun screen. Though my love for the beach and summer bliss will never leave me; in recent years I've grown more and more found of a beautiful fall day. The city is not a perfect scene to take in all the natural beauty that autumn has to offer, but still a place to enjoy the mild and pleasant days and slightly crisp nights. Over the past weekend, Chris and I took advantage of the beauty in this season when we visited a temple in Bulguska!!!

We left around lunch time on Saturday and had a full day. We traveled about an hour away by car with Willy and Una. The mountain side view on our ride was absolutely gorgeous. We first stopped at Willys parents home in "Culture City." We didn't get to meet his parents, but this was the first Korean home that we have visited outside of the city. It was shocking for us that there were cows in the front yard, and this was not a large front yard, I'm talking the front yard that you might find in front of a garden home. You walk out of the door and there the cows are, and they weren't even the family's cows.

Next, we made our way to Bulguska Temple. The temple and courtyard were so tranquil, a nice and calming relief from the day to day hustle of a typical Korean city. We got some great pictures of the Asian architecture displayed at the temple and the simplicity of nature on an awesome autumn day. Though I can not agree with the ideology of the Buddhism religion I greatly respect the setting and atmosphere that a temple creates free from common distraction. After walking around and checking out the temple and the many different methods of worship, we made our way to the courtyard where we had a Korean style picnic and were able to sit, relax, and just enjoy the environment.

Onward we marched! Our next stop was a random turn of events. We had planned to visit a park where a concert was going on, but on our way there we noticed a hot air balloon in the distance. Willy managed to find the place just as the last balloon ride was about to go up. We made it just in time to pay and load. We took a ride in a hot air balloon just as the sun was setting over the city. There was a large lake and the view and experience were both spectacular. A hot air balloon is one of those things that I had always thought would be really cool, and let me tell you...it was!!!

Last, we finally made our way to the park, where we enjoyed a Korean concert. There were local artist preforming and the park itself was so unique. The park was built in honor of a Korean king and it was set up as an exact replica of his place. There were many traditional Korean style buildings surrounded by water, but the nicest thing about it was that we were there at night and the lighting was amazing. There were lights down on the water that shined up on the building so that it created a reflection of the beautiful architecture on the water.

The day was absolutely perfect. It really couldn't have been any better. It was so nice to just take a day and get away from the city to enjoy the beauty of scenic Korea.

Hugs, kisses, and lots of misses!!!

ps Please remember my family as we have recently experienced the loss of a loved one. Scott's mother passed away this past week. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated.

2008-10-18T09:57:00.016-05:00

Pics from Chris's b-day, the market and some new Korean friends.....

here comes the weekend

2008-10-11T23:47:00.007-05:00

Last week Chris was sick, and this week I'm sick. I just have a cold, but a cold is much more complicated when you don't have a pharmacist that speaks English. Anyway, I think it's getting better. But unfortunately, we had to postpone our beach fishing trip like we had planed :(

Last night we met up with some friends and went out to dinner. Then we went to a PC room, which is just a huge room set up with all kinds of video games. I'm so bad at video games so this was mainly social for me, but Chris really enjoyed the PlayStation 3. Afterwards, we went to Latte Art, which I'm told that we have back in the states, but I've never been to one. It's a coffee shop where they make Lattes or Cappuccinos and they draw in the foam so that when you get your drink it looks like a piece of art. It was really neat, but I opted for tea because caffeine at night is not a good thing for me. I can't wait to go back during the day so that I can actually get my own Latte Art drink!!!

As far as other news, I received a package from Mom last week, and I finally got all the stuff put away. She sent me a number of essentials that I can't seem to find in Korea like: lemon-pepper season, protein bars, multi-vitamins, bronzer, and the winter clothes that I left at home because of the weight restraints on our flights over. Chris's Mom also included a birthday card with some pictures from over the summer when we went to Patti's. It was like Christmas to get everything at once like that. Thanks Moms, we love you both :)

That's about it for now. Already Friday, get excited!!!

BIRTHDAY WEEK

2008-10-06T20:20:00.007-05:00

Sorry, I haven't had much time to write :(

Someone very special once introduced me to the idea of "Birthday Week." That's exactly what I would call this week. Chris came first. Then Mom's 50th followed up on the 6th, and Mamaw's 90th was the 7th.

Chris was actually sick on his birthday, so we didn't end up doing a whole lot. We had the day off of work; so we ate at our favorite restaurant. Then we made a trip to the open market where we bought some squid, which was amazing!!! I got Chris a new sweater that he can wear over tee shirts and polos during the fall, and I surprised him with a homeade New York Style Cheesecake. It actually turned out really well :) That was the extent of the actual birthday, but we did end up doing dinner with some friends on Sunday night, once Chris felt better. And we really enjoyed the Korean style meal! Maybe we're getting use to things over here.

Mom's 50th birthday was celebrated with a surprise party at the house!!! Since she had no clue she obviously didn't warn me about the audience that we would have for our birthday call. This wouldn't matter if I was simply calling, but because we use Skype, there's no way to hide the fact that I role out of bed and call mom immediately to make sure and catch her before bed time back home. Yes, imagine waking up, and five minutes later being greeted by your entire extended family whom you haven't seen in some time. Scott's brother, Steve ,who has a personality fitting for a brother of Scott ;) said, "You aren't getting your beauty rest over there, are you?" O the joy of never knowing who will be on the other end of the webcam!

Mamaw also bad a birthday this week, and it was a big one for her. She turned 90 years old on the 7th. The fam celebrated her birthday on Sunday. They all surprised her by showing up at church and donating some things in her name and then doing lunch afterwards at DOTS. Happy Birthday Mamaw!!!

Too bad I couldn't be home for the celebrations. Even though things are great over here it's special times like these that make me miss home and most of all, my friends and family. Miss you all greatly!!!!

Am :)

ps I promise to get some pics up soon!

just the usual

2008-09-28T06:08:00.007-05:00

This week has been an ordinary week. We didn't really do anything too exciting. The news in the classroom is that the kids kept bringing baby chicks to class...yes, real baby chickens. I have no clue why our students think it's ok to bring a baby chicken to class with them, but for some reason it was acceptable to everyone except Chris and myself. The director of our school even took some time out of his busy day to come up with a cardboard box for one of the students to keep her baby chicken in. Chris, had a class that actually thought they should play with their chicken in the classroom. After about 10 minutes of complete chaos he decided to go find a Korean teacher to help settle his class down. When he returned with a fellow teacher all the students were quietly seated and ready to learn, and there was no chicken in sight. Chris then proceeded to question the students as to what they had done with this sweet little animal. They all pointed to his desk where a book sat on top of his clear zipper binder (where we keep all class documents). He picked up the book, and there sat the poor little chicken all zipped up inside his binder. Oooo the joy of our Korean kidos!!!

This weekend was also low key. We opted to just hang out on our hall...we feel as though we're living in a dorm due to the fact that we live right down the hall from each other :) And then on Saturday evening we made a trip to the Lotte Market, a grocery store on the other side of town that has more options than our neighborhood store. We did our shopping and then separated for a while so I could get a little secret shopping of my own done. I bought a spring form pan because I'm going to attempt to make a cheesecake for Chris's birthday, this coming Friday!!! And I don't mean the little thin pie size cheesecake, I'm gonna attempt the real deal 3 inch thick New York Style Cheesecake. I know, it's probably crazy considering we're in Korea and a don't even have an electric mixer, but who knows maybe it will turn out great, cross your fingers for me, but Shhh....don't tell him, it's a secret. Let's hope that he doesn't decide to visit the blog this week.

The only other news is that I got my teeth cleaned today!!! It was an interesting experience. They covered my eyes up which was kinda creepy, but all in all it was the same as back home. I walked away with that same fresh and clean feeling, and I paid a lot less :)

Not much more to talk about for now.

Love you all and miss you greatly,

Am :)

bean sprouts and pig fat

2008-09-23T08:10:00.012-05:00

It's Tuesday night here, and this was our short day. What that means is, today we went in at 3:30pm and got off at 8:00pm. We've grown to love Tuesdays and Thursdays almost as much as Fridays!!! Today was a fairly normal kind of day. I got up around 10 o'clock this morning and had a woman come to my apartment and do something to my gas line...who knows, but she said she would be back in 6 months :) After showering, I met Chris and we made our way to the market where we made a few new purchases. Everything is inexpensive in it's own time around here. Obviously, when things are in season you can get them cheap, but when they aren't you pay BIG!!! Evidently, apples are in season right now because we got a really good size bag for only 2,ooo won ( about $1.80). We also bought bean sprouts because in finally coming to the realization that Chris really doesn't like Korean food, he also discovered that he really does like bean sprouts over the weekend...go figure. I'll explain later!!! After the market, we went to Fasillo!!! This is the seafood, shabo shabo, and sushi buffet that I think I've mentioned before. We love this place, and it's conveniently located about three doors down from our apartment tower.

In other news, we had a nice relaxing weekend. We didn't do a lot. However, we made plans with some co-workers on Saturday evening. We made a trip to Monsu Stadium and park. This is a huge stadium and park that was built in order to host the 2002 World Cup soccer games. That being said, the park and stadium was really nice. It's huge. There's a rose garden and inside the stadium there's even a tradition Korean wedding chapel. After visiting the stadium we moved on to dinner, which is where the major epiphany took place. We thought that our good friend Willy, a native Korean and fellow teacher at ELC was planning to take us to this Korean Barbecue that we've been hearing about, but instead he took us to eat Sam Gibson. This is a popular Korean meal where you fry pork, mainly fat, right there at your table and wrap it up in lettuce, dress it with a mystery sauce and then, in my opinion... stomach it. If you're name is Chris, you don't even try to stomach it, you just say, "I can't eat this." And then proceed to find anything amongst the 20 odd side dishes that you might "be able to eat." What he came up with was bean sprouts! And boy did he eat some bean sprouts! I'm pretty sure the owner brought him three different refills of bean sprouts. You'd think he'd never want to look at another bean sprout in his life, but to my surprise, he wanted to buy bean sprouts at the market today! If anyone has any idea how to cook a bean sprout or possibly season a bean spout, any advice would be appreciated:) After our lovely bean sprout and pig fat dinner we moved on to the karaoke room. Karaoke is a popular social event in Korea, and so our native friend had to show us the ropes! Willy, who is very serious at work. He's a teacher and second in line to the school director. We'll just say he cut lose. He sang, he danced, he entertained!!!

Willy by day on the left and Willy by night on the right :)

The night was a blast, but we called it quits early because the bean sprouts were unfortunately not that filling! On our walk home we stopped at a Korean style fast food joint, where we enjoyed one of our favorites, deep fried octopus. It's so good. We then finished the night off at the bakery across from our apartment buillding. Chris had carrot cake which was amazing. I unfortunately had a not so good pick; it looked like a cookie but tasted like rubbery goo. On Sunday, out of frustration, I bought some ingredients and began baking at home. No more being hungry for us, we'll eat snickerdoodles everyday if we can't find food in Korea. That's our life over the last few days!!!

I'll try to find something else to write about other than food, I know it's becoming quite repetitive...sorry:)

Later Tater (ok maybe I'm just hungry)

Am :)

a long eventful weekend

2008-09-18T05:10:00.015-05:00

Going back to work after a long weekend is always horrible, and it's no different in Korea. We took a short trip to Busan and visited the Huyandae Beach over the weekend with some friends. We spent a day at the beach, and even though we didn't venture into the water it was such a beautiful and calming atmosphere that we enjoyed our time there regardless. We also got to wittness a Korean style wedding on the beach, which was kinda neat. While in Busan we also met some new friends that live really close to us!!!

We ate KFC for the first time in Korea and though it was a little spicy it reminded us of the good ole SOUTH!!! We also had a nice dinner at a quaint little Turkish restaurant in the city, which ended up being an interesting experience. As we walked through the doors we walked into what seemed like a different country. We heard more languages than we could possibly count or recognize. At our table alone there were: two Russians , two Persian Canadians, two Americans (yours truly), and a Korean. That's four different languages all conversing at one table, not to mention the Turkish waitress who was doing her best to communicate in broken Korean! WOW, talking about cultural collision!!! The dinner and company was fabulous. The other adventures of Busan included a lesson on the Korean subway system and bartering with the street salesmen for a Louis Vouiton purse; they have great knock offs here!!! The trip to Busan was a huge success and we can't wait to go back again.

The weekend didn't end with the Busan trip. There was a foreigners festival held at Ulsan University so that all the foreigners had something to do over the long weekend. We made our way up to the university and enjoyed a number of events at the festival. We also had a free Korean cafeteria style meal, which was descent :) But our favorite part of the festival was the song and dance competition. Everyone who competed in the competition sang in Korean and the MC spoke Korean the entire time, which confused us a little bit. Of course, we being Americans think everything should always be done in English!!! Anyway, the contest was so funny. The guys would go crazy and the girls had a ridiculous amount of energy (and this is coming from me). For such a reserved culture, they really know how to let lose and entertain. The festival ended in a riot because there were a number of prizes that were to be given away by drawing, and a group of people didn't like the way the MC was conducting the drawing. I'll admit it was a little shaddy, only Vietnamese and Philipino names were being called and every now and then the MC would look at a name and then put it back. I seriously doubt he really cared who won the mass packages of Ramen noodles or the area fans that were being given away, but nevertheless, people became angry. So, then everyone in the building for Sri Lanka got up and began shouting and booing for a while, and when nothing changed they all left. This was so intersting because we never think of racism occuring between the different Asain races, but it is in fact very common around here. No one ended up fighting, that we know of at least. But once again, we were very entertained.
Tuesday, we decided that we would splurge and go to this seafood and sushi buffett that we have been hearing people talk about. It was absolutely amazing. All you can eat seafood and sushi is like a dream come true for Chris and myself. We literally ate until we could not eat any longer, and then we finished the night out at a singing room. This is a tiny little karaoke room that you can go in and sing until you can not sing any longer. Ater about an hour in the hot little room, we decided that seafood buffett and karaoke room are not two events that work well together.

The weekend was wonderful. We greatly enjoyed the time off, sightseeing and time to just chill a little and take it all in. Back to work now, and it's almost the weekend again....yahoooo!!!!

Our 1st Chuseok

2008-09-10T09:32:00.006-05:00

Chuseok, this is the Korean holiday that's most like our Thanksgiving, or that's what we've been told. Either way, it's the most important holiday in Korean culture, which means we get a long weekend! Of course, Chris and I hear Thanksgiving and we think this means an awesome meal; come on, don't tell me food doesn't come to mind when you think Thanksgiving. So, we've been anticipating an invite from one of our closer Korean friends to a traditional Chuseok gathering. That is, until we used the handy dandy, world wide web and googled images of a Chuseok meal, and this is what we found.

YEAH, I KNOW...this is nothing like Thanksgiving!!!We decided that we were glad our friends had not extended a hospitable invite to the foreigners, and we went on and made our own Chuseok plans just in case we did get a random last minute invitation. Instead, we are going to make a trip to Busan's famous Hyundae Beach (the best beach in Korea) with some other not-so-Chuseok kind of foreigner friends :) Even though we're not doing the traditional Chuseok, we're extremely excited about our long weekend, which we just found out includes paid days off for both Monday and Tuesday (we were only expecting Monday off)!!!

Happy or Merry Chuseok Everyone!!!

A week of changes

2008-09-06T20:26:00.007-05:00

Well... this week has been a week of changes. We were at school last week when the director of our school approached us to sit down for a talk. In Korea, they don't really discuss a lot with us foreign teachers so we were like OK. He proceeded to tell us that we were being moved to a different school with ELC that's about 10 minutes away. At first, we freaked out!!! We didn't want to move to a different school!!! We had just begun to get settled in this one. Anyway, we went and talked to the director at the new school. He was actually the person who we had communicated with and been hired by before ever leaving the US. He assured us that everything would be fine and that we would love his school. He was right!!! We completed our first week at the new school and so did everyone else. It is a brand new school with state of the art equipment and resources. It has an amazing view of the mountains, and we have better hours. Chris and I have also been put in charge of a class called the "Genius". We are the only two teachers that this class has. So, we have complete control of how we want there class to work. We're really excited about all the changes even though we were reluctant about everything in the beginning

Over the weekend, we made a trip to Chinae with some friends (the old downtown of Ulsan). The area was very colorful...even more than the typical Asian scene!!! We actually ended up eating Chinese, and it was ok but def not our favorite. Chris found a Disney character, Daphne Duck and thought he had to have a picture for some reason. After dinner we found ourselves in a board game hall. This is a place you go and they have hundreds of boardgames. They give you a noisy hammer and every time you play a game and someone loses you hit them on the head with the hammer. YES, I know what you are thinking CHEESY!!! You are right, we've decided that the Koreans have no shame, and no understanding of looking like an idiot.

Not a lot more going on here. O...but I did get a haircut!!! Well, not really, I just got bangs. Tell me what you think....I haven't really been able to decide if I like em or not. And Chris is absolutely no help!!! Be honest...bangs or no bangs?

~AM :)

Beach Day!!!

2008-08-31T02:35:00.010-05:00

Anticipation has been driving us crazy so we finally made a trip to the beach!!! The beach was much like beaches in the US. There were lots of people, and there were vendors set up on the beach renting umbrellas and beach chairs. There were also places where you could rent a jet ski or ride on a banana boat. However, you are always aware that aren't in the US because the Koreans go into the water in tee shirts or many of them are even fully clothed. We decided to go in our swimsuits because we didn't have a change of clothes, but you do fill much more conscience of your near nudity when you're the only ones without clothes. We were not prepared at all for a beach day because Chris and I both only brought one towel each and neither of us wanted to take the towels that we use everyday down to the beach to get all sandy. So we just got in the water and enjoyed the waves instead of laying on the beach. The landscape surrounding the water is beautiful. There are mountains in the distance come right up to the water in places. After we finished we had a little difficulty finding a place to clean up. We searched for showers or at least a place to wash our feet off, but there was nothing in sight except for what appeared to be a small baby pool. We're still not sure exactly what the mini pool was intended for, but we used it to wash our feet and the bottom half of our bodies! Later, we discovered that in Korea the showers are provided across the rode from the beach by different businesses in hopes that they might attract you into their store or restaurant. After cleaning up a little we looked around for seafood, but because of our inexperience in ordering food in Korean, we opted for chicken wings as a safe bet. Later, we visited a small corner bakery shop where we had dessert. There are awesome little bakeries all over the place. They've definitely become our favorite indulgence in Korea! It was a great day at the beach!!!

Sorry we only took one picture, we'll try to do better next time.

~Am :)

OUR KOREAN KIDS :)

2008-08-24T05:32:00.007-05:00

This past week was our first week of teaching in South Korea. By Friday, I think we were getting the hang of things in the classroom. Our job at the English academy is to teach the children the correct pronunciation of the English language. Most of the students already know the grammatical rules and spelling of the language, but it's our job to teach them how to use what they already know in order to competently speak the English language. The students have Korean teachers who have studied English since they were young children, but pronunciation is one of those things that even a well educated Korean will always find difficult. This is why they hire us!!! They want the students to regularly hear a true native English speaker in hopes that they will pick up on the correct ways to speak the language.

I have 8 different 33 minute classes everyday, and then the next day I have a different set of 8 classes. All together, I have about 200 different students in the classroom! Chris has fewer classes than me, but he has a couple of "project classes." Project classes are just blocks of time when you don't have a class where you do different projects to help the administration at the school. We go in around 2 pm, but the first bell doesn't ring until 2:15. We have 3 minutes between classes and 10 minutes between some classes. We also get a 15 minute break where the school provides a lunch, which is more like a snack for us :)

The kids are great. They can be a handful at times, but they never allow us to get bored. Sometimes they play tricks on us just because they can. Chris was entertaining some of his students this past week by attempting to speak Korean only to find out later that the kids were really teaching him curse words and making him repeat them. He thought the kids loved him as they smiled and giggled each time he attempted their language. Instead, Chris was really cursing at his students which was very amusing to the students!

That's about it for now, until next time.

Am :)

The Adventure begins...

2008-08-18T20:19:00.015-05:00

In case you're wondering, yes...we did find the Ethernet cord and no...we did not have Internet after the long and drawn out search.

OK...so I know what you're thinking, "You left the states a week ago, and the adventure is beginning now???" Well, this
past week is what Chris and I have called "survival week," in which we spent the bulk of our time figuring out the basic necessities of life. We found grocery stores and food that our bodies would not reject. We located a place where we could get Internet access since we DO NOT have it in our apartments yet. We've figured out how to dispose of trash, which is a completely different system. Let me tell you, it was a difficult and trying week, but finally it's over. We have the basics down!!!

Having what we thought to be the hardest part behind us. We decided that on Sunday afternoon we would go out into a different part of the city and see what it had to offer. A couple of people from our school told us what bus to take in order to get to the area that we wanted to go to, and so, we jumped on a bus and headed out to Samsun Dong. This is the main downtown area in Ulsan. We rode the bus until we got to an area that appeared to be a happening place and then we got off. We ended up at a shopping center called the Lotte Department Stores. As we made our way to each of the different floors, we found that there are a number of different things at a department store in Korea. They had everything from fresh produce to household appliances. We did not do much shopping, but it was very tempting because everyone dresses so fashionable around here. However, on the bottom floor of the department store there was a grocery store and food court. The grocery store had a larger selection of foreign items than the grocery store near the apartments; so, we splurged a little and bought pancake batter!!! Next,we decided against eating dinner at Outback, and opted for something a little more authentic, but yes, Ulsan has an Outback just like the one back home (just a lot more expensive because it's foreign). We ended up eating at a place called Marchie where you get a card at the door and walk around picking anything from breakfast foods to cappuccino or desserts. Each station that you get something from stamps your card, after you finish your dinner you take your card back to the front and pay for whatever stamps you received. Dinner was great!!!
There is also a large farris wheel on the top of the department store that we thought about riding, but we decided we would leave that for another day. Instead we just walked through the streets a little more. We found a few more familiar places like a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts and of course, Starbucks. By the time we had walked around it was getting dark. Even though we were nervous about navigating back to the area that we're most familiar; we decided it was time. We made our way to a bus stop, and we sat there for about an hour before we figured out that the bus we were waiting on was not coming to the stop we were at. We then got some help from a man who spoke very little broken English. He pointed us in the direction of another bus stop, where we spent maybe 2 minutes before our bus arrived. The bus ride was very long. We probably took the most illogical route home possible, but we made it!!!

That, my friends was our 1st adventure out in the city!! Everyday here in South Korea is a new adventure for us. Like a child, things have become new and exciting and at times even a little scary.

Lots of Love,

am :)

everyday obstacles

2008-08-14T00:07:00.008-05:00

Well, we're here!!! We finally made it. The plane rides were excruciating, and we were constantly rushing so that we didn't miss our flights. Everything worked out just fine. We arrived in Ulsan around 10pm on Monday night, so I thought I would get plenty of sleep and easily adjust to the drastic change in time. Boy was I wrong!!! The first night I didn't get any sleep at all. I'm still waking up very early every morning, but I'm sleeping a little more every night!!!

The apartment complex that we live in is very nice. Anytime we mention the name of the building they think that we are very wealthy. It's a high rise apartment in a great location. The view is amazing, and it's equipped with the latest technology. There's a security camera that turns on when someone rings my doorbell. I can see the person standing at my door while sitting on my couch in the living room. Also, there's a mini flat screen in the kitchen, and my faucet at the kitchen sink comes on when you brush your foot over a sensor. The only issue now is figuring out how to work everything since the buttons and directions are all in Korean:) Either way, I'm very thankful because my place is so much nicer than I had ever expected.

The school we are working at is nice. There are lots of people who speak English, which we are learning to appreciate more and more. We like the other teachers (but they do seem to have a small case of apartment envy, everyone else has older apartments).

The language barrier here makes everything a challenge. A simple task like going to the grocery store can take a lot of time and money if you don't know what you are doing...WE DON'T!!!! We search and search for certain items and never seem to find them. Like wheat bread for instance, it's nearly impossible to find. We've bought everything but wheat bread in this attempt. Finally, just yesterday we found a bakery that had one small loaf of wheat bread. We thought we had found gold!!! Another item that we have yet to find is an Ethernet cord, never even thought of bringing one of the 4 I have at home!!! We spent probably 2.5 hours yesterday looking for a cord just to see if we might have Internet. The first store was closed, and the second didn't what we needed. The man at this store was gracious enough to write down the name of the store that we should look for and point us in that direction. However, when we got there and found a young man who did speak a little English, he told us they did not have one, but he too pointed us to another store. Everyone here wants to help us; so, this guy wrote "Ethernet cord" in Korean....or I guess I should say, we think that's what he wrote. Anyway, the same thing happened over and over again until we finally came upon a store in which we think we saw what we were looking for hanging on the back wall!!! Unfortunately this was only through the window because they too were closed :) The journey continues....

God is speaking mounds to me with each obstacle and each victory, even if it is just wheat bread!!! Even as I struggle to accomplish the small things in life, I'm learning more and more each day and hopefully this will make me a stronger and more complete individual!!!

James 1:2-4
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

Keep the emails coming, and I'll keep trying to find that cord so maybe I can post a little more frequently!!!

MISS YOU ALL!!!!

Am :)

hellos, goodbyes, chaos, customers, and most importanly a baby!!!

2008-08-05T13:46:00.013-05:00

I feel as though I'm falling behind with this thing already after checking out a few of my friends blogs. Maybe I just have very ambitious friends who are really great at keeping up with this blogging thing :) Yeah, that makes me feel a little better.

In preparation for the events to come I am trying to focus on visiting with as many people as I possibly can, packing and working lots of hours . All in all, I'm becoming exhausted both physically and emotionally. It just seems that my life is full of so many obligations until the moment I step foot on the plane. It's not that I don't want to do all the things that I've committed to, it's just that I have a tendency to overwhelm myself by taking on too many things at one time.

As of this weekend I've said some goodbyes to a few friends and my 3 year old nephew Cullen, who may just be the hardest for me to leave. He's just so young and he grows so fast. I know the next time I see him in person he will have changed so much.

On the flip side, I got to welcome a new baby into the world over the weekend!!! Lauren Johnson, a best friend of mine since before I can even remember gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Alyvia Layne Johnson!!! Alyvia weighed 8 pounds and 13 ounces and she was 21 and 1/4 inches long. She is absolutely precious. Congrats La, I'm so proud of you!!! You're gonna be the greatest MOM ever!!!

As for any other news, there's not alot. I'm extremely sore because I went to the lake with my dad and brother yesterday. They are both master skiers, but because I'm not they love to get me on the tube just to see how long it will take to throw me off. I couldn't have been on the thing anytime, but boy am I feeling the burn in my arms today.

So long until there's more to write about.

~Am :)

Almost time...

2008-07-31T11:28:00.001-05:00

Each day that passes is another day closer to the BIG departure day. I can't help but count down the days until the moment I'm soaring across the Pacific!!!! It's a bittersweet time for me as I prepare to be away from home, family and all the things that are familiar to me. On the other hand, it's so exciting to see what God has in store on the other side of the world. The plan is to live and work and just do life in Asia for a while. OOO...and Chris is going too :) We are both going to be teaching English to young children in Ulsan, South Korea .

This is for those of you who don't know much about South Korean geography. Ulsan is located along the southeastern coast of the Korean Peninsula. It's about 45 minutes outside of the second largest city in the country, Busan. All of South Korea is only about the size of Indiana; however, the country is home to over 48 million people. You can find us on the on the water facing the Sea of Japan, this is a picture of Ulsan below.

You just wouldn't believe everything that goes into leaving the country for a year. First, it was finding an employer, then it's the visa application process, and now we're working on cancelling our phones, transferring bank accounts, packing for an entire year with only two pieces of luggage, and tying up all the other loose ends that arise. P.S. If anyone needs a car I'm trying to sell mine!!! We have about 10 more days to go and so much more to get done. Feel free to give us a call or stop by and help us pack if you feel so inclined, but as soon as we leave the continental US our phone numbers will no longer be working. We should have easy internet access to help us keep in contact. Anyone interested in chatting or web cam can visit http://www.skype.com/ to set up an account.

I'm gonna do my best to keep the blogging up and keep everyone informed on what's going on with us in South Korea. Stop by and visit every now and then if you want and let us know what's going on in your life too!!!

~Am :)

Contact information:
Amber email: abs_2194@hotmail.com or amber.schamp@gmail.com
skype name: am.n.asia