Let’s Get…. Political

The world waits with bated breath to see what President Obama will do with his First 100 Days in Office. It’s important for him to make smart moves, as the whole country is depending on the economy to get better or something to just CHANGE. Personally, his first handful of days in office have made my idealistic little liberal heart swell up with pride. It’s been awhile since I’ve looked at decisions coming out of the White House (say oh, my entire adult life?) and agreed with them from a values standpoint. From the promise to close Guantanamo Bay, the envoy already sent for talks in Israel, the lift of the federal funding ban on abortion education, to finally, FINALLY! taking a wider perspective on relationships with Middle Eastern countries. It feels like a breath of fresh air and a modern take on the global world we live in, rather than the extremist views held by the former administration that were unfortunately passed on to the country at large for a time (or so it felt).

From a travel standpoint, it’s been simply lovely to be greeted by strangers with a fist pump and OBAMA! call instead of the range of emotions that usually came with being associated with the U.S. in the past few years. Mind you, this is only my personal experience, but I know plenty of Americans who have felt the same way. Clearly once you have a conversation it’s easy to see personal opinions and differentiate the traveler from the political decisions made by the country they came from, but I’m talking simple first impressions. Bottom line: I’m just impressed with the 180 that has happened in the White House. Keep those great decisions coming, Mr. President.

(I have a few posts brewing about Japan and of course will be posting photos and stories soon. Loveloveloved it!)

안녕히 가세요 Korea…. Konichiwa Japan!

I’ve got my mental checklist (actual bag packing happening after this Sex in the City episode), my Tokyo-Kyoto train booked, the hostel booked in Tokyo and Kyoto, and the dog is boarded until Wednesday. I love trips! I wish I had more time to explore Japan, but with the Korean won at its current rate I won’t be throwing yen around anytime soon. 4 days should stretch the budget quite enough! I’ll be back next week to let you know how the trip went, and of course post photos!

The title is in Hangul, the Korean language alphabet. It says Annyong hee kaseyo which means Goodbye! and of course Konichiwa means Good Day in Japanese, though I don’t know the alphabet there

Self Improvement Updates

Week 1: Resounding success. Ran wayyy more than 3 times, I think 6 times? Anyway, good start.
Week 2: Badbadbad. Ran once. Scale was mean to me. To be fair, it was a tough week at school. We had a field trip AND administered the end-of-the-year tests. But! Success on starting to study French again, so not a total failure.
Week 3: Monday off to a good start, ran today and planning on running tomorrow both ways. Studied Spanish last night and remembered many of the verbs today. Will keep repeating.

Need to keep on track on these goals, so far doing ok. Does anyone happen to know of an online calorie tracker that has foods from other countries? Of course I can’t really calculate Korean food (or Indian or Thai, my main foods here) accurately on the ones I’ve been trying. Life.

Mother Tongue

Speaking the english language is brilliant. I love it, and I wouldn’t have the opportunities to travel as extensively without the jobs I can get by speaking it. But I’ve always had this desire to know another language, and I don’t feel quite right not being able to communicate while I travel. It’s kind of a respect thing, and I would like to be able to at least make an effort. I studied French in high school but then didn’t make time in college. I picked up passing phrases by traveling, and I halfheartedly taught myself to read Korean. I only know about 10 phrases (and a handful of random words) in Korean, which is terrible since I live in the country. To be fair I spend the majority of every day surrounded by English (since I work at an immersion school) but I still don’t feel quite right about it.

Adding to my goals for this year, I am going to start making a concentrated effort to study languages. I got the program Rosetta Stone and have found a few language packages on the internet. While I know that it isn’t a perfect program, for me it is already better than buying a book. The program is interactive and teaches in a way that tries to immerse you in the language instead of allowing you to associate back to your native language. I’ve been doing a review of French to try to gauge where to begin in those lessons, and have done introductory lessons in German and Spanish. I haven’t been able to find Korean lessons, but I will keep trying because I know they exist! My co teacher is all over me to get on with my Korean learning, and keeps texting me in Korean to boost my learning. I know that isn’t the most effective, so I need to find the lesson!

Of course I will keep the interwebs updated of my language efforts. I’m kind of taking the Korean mentality with studying on with this new project. Some of my students study three languages or more, so I’m going to try with the self-improvement. So far, the lessons are easy and enjoyable, and the native speakers on the program make it easy to repeat. I’m so happy that my laptop has a built in microphone so I can do the speaking lessons too! I’m not expecting fluency or any such crazy thing, but more comfort with a number of languages, and the enhanced ability to communicate while on the road. Looks like I’ve got to make my way back to Europe!

Flowers and incense: Bangkok, Thailand

Of course can’t remember which wat…. but this actually MAY have been the city shrine… memory… failing. Anyhow, I love all the colors and textures in the temple offerings in Thailand. Double plus good for the photo practicing.

Best news ever: I’ll be heading to Japan for the Lunar New Year! Japan is mega tons expensive, so I’m glad to be doing just a short trip even though I know that I will want to go back to explore more fully. It will be my first trip with my dear friend Kaitlyn (if you dont count Seoraksan, I suppose), who is leaving Korea at the end of February. Korea will become a much sadder place, to be certain. We’re excited to visit Tokyo and Kyoto, but mostly excited for the fashion. Korea’s colored tights have nothing on the Harajuku girls, so we’re hoping to pick up some inspiration!

Any advice on must-sees for a quick trip? We’ll be a day and a half in Tokyo and 2 days in Kyoto. Definitely the most money I’ve paid for a quick trip, but it should be well worth it for a chance to see another corner of Asia, and some much needed quality time with my dearest Kaitlyn.

Tridge: Midland, MI, USA

Not so much a travel photo as a…. home photo! The tridge is the claim to fame in Midland MI, where I spent the first 18 years of my life. Anytime a Midland native brings someone new around, the tridge is one of the first things we show. I’m not sure if there are other “tridges” out there, but ours spans the meeting place between the Chippewa, Pine and Tittabawassee Rivers. Not the first place you’d want to swim because of Dow Chemical Company just a few miles upriver, but of course we’ve all been in anyway (that’s why we glow in the dark). I felt it was time to post a photo of somewhere I’ve been a billion times before, instead of a travel photo!

Have an enjoyable evening (or morning on the other side of the world)!

Wombats in Steve Irwin’s Zoo: Australia

I love wombats. They are so cool. The only one I’ve seen in the wild was when I went camping near the Jenolan Caves and one ran out in front of our car. Luckily the darn thing was fast because we never saw it coming!

Doing well on goals: ran to work today. Posting. Writing. All good stuff.

The Grand Palace: Bangkok, Thailand

After cloudy weather in Koh Phangan, Bangkok seemed an island paradise. Of course, one laden with street food (awesome), heaps of temples (also awesome) and  of course, prostitutes of vague sexual orientation (more interesting than awesome….). One of the few things I got to see on my quickie in Bangkok (1 night! 2 days more/less) was the Grand Palace. I looked every part the dirty backpacker with an old Burning Couch jersey (no tank tops allowed), baggy Thai pants, and of course carrying everything on my back with a camera around my neck. Hot stuff, let me tell you. Our “guesthouse” was dingy and the shower never got quite warm, but it was a cheap and wonderful way to see a city I’ve been curious about for some time now. Conclusion: must come back, hopefully for a lengthy stay. I’m sure there will be more posts to follow as I collect my wits and my photos, but here is just a small taste of my 500+ photos. Sweet perception courtesy of Daniel’s wide angle lens (really ought to start adding to my lenses…)

Anyhow, enjoy the snippet and I’ll be writing a lot more often due to that pesky goal of mine. GREAT goal I might add. Have a lovely evening!

So this is the New Year…

I rang in 2009 on Koh Phangan, Thailand. My traveling companions, friends both new and old decorated one another with florescent body paint and got down to the business of welcoming the new year with dancing and drinking cocktails made in buckets. We acknowledged the strike of midnight in Seoul, and then had the true revelry 2 hours later, at midnight in Thailand. Even though the celebration took place in the sand we still opted for the obligatory party dresses. Daniel and I took some pretty sweet photos of the celebration on his camera, but he isn’t back yet so those photos will have to wait to be posted. Now for a classic year-in-review type survey

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

2008 was a huge year of firsts, the biggest being the joint venture of graduating from university and moving to Seoul, South Korea

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I’m really not sure… I generally opt for some bland “self improvement” thing with no measurable goals, so I will be making some solid goals this year in order to actually see improvement.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No one close to me, my friends are all off doing other things, haha

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Yes, unfortunately

5. What countries did you visit?

Moved to Korea, visited Thailand and Canada

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

perhaps a more defined sense of direction? I’ve got lots of goals and dreams but they are all over the place. or maybe I’ll just pick one to pursue at a time and not worry about it

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I’m not much good with remembering dates, but I’ll remember events forever

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

My proudest accomplishment is of course my degree, and having the wisdom to turn down the jobs in America and come abroad as I’ve always wanted to

9. What was your biggest failure?

Nothing huge that comes to mind, but of course there are small failures that come with trying anything new. I’d say I’ve learned a lot about teaching through those small failures.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a lot of sickness in the first few months of living in smog, but that seems to have mostly straightened out.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Hands down, my Canon 450d.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

OBAMA

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

some people who were part of the presidential campaign drove me a little nuts…

14. Where did most of your money go?

Traveling, Korean fashion, camera, exploring Korea

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

So many ‘reallys’ for just one question…. but gosh I guess I get really excited abotu a lot of things, but the biggest being

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

of course Nobody by the Wonder Girls b/c of how often they play it here!

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder? happier
b) thinner or fatter? ugh, a little bit fatter. must.remedy.that
c) richer or poorer? much richer, but that isn’t saying a lot because this time last year I was home from Australia and lacking a job….

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

More writing, both here and to my friends at home.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

I wish I’d done less being lazy.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Christmas was spent en route to Koh Phangan from Bangkok, and then having a drink at our resort with my coworkers

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

As corny as it sounds, I fell in love with my students. I never though I would like this job as much as I do, and they receive all credit for that

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Grey’s Anatomy, Six Feet Under (downloaded episodes, obviously), ANTM

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Not HATE, but there are a few new people I’m not terribly fond of. That’ll happen with meeting so many people in a year.

24. What was the best book you read?

Agh I couldn’t pick a favorite, I read a little too much. Right now I’m really enjoying Infinite Jest, but I’m not even half finished with it. It’s a bit all over the place but parts of it are very funny.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

K Pop….. ha ha ha

26. What did you want and get?

A teaching job and a dog

27. What did you want and not get?

Gosh something pretty small, since it doesn’t come to mind.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Wall-E!

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 22 and I went to a short shorts and sunglasses party at a co-op in East Lansing. Kind of a fun mess if I remember correctly

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

More opportunity for travel from Korea. Unfortunately not too many breaks during the teaching year

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

OMG Korea Has Blessed Me With Multicolored Tights

32. What kept you sane?

The friends! The old ones as always, and I met some pretty damn fine individuals this year.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Hmmmm well since Ryan Reynolds didn’t come out with anything new (that I know of) I was pretty directionless with my celebrity passion

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

The appalling possibility that anyone with as little experience and know-how as Sarah Palin could incite support from a vast amount of people. I was in a constant state of shock, awe and disgust pretty much the entire time. (and of course laughing at the SNL jokes… classic)

35. Who did you miss?

I miss all my loves from home… the one unfortunate part of all our ambitions

36. Who was the best new person you met?

My co-workers at Reggio are pretty high on my list

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

All the higher education in the world will not prepare you to teach young children, experience is priceless.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

An old, but great lyric: 

“I wish the world was flat like the old days | and we could travel just by folding a map | no more airplanes or speedtrains or freeways | there’d be no distance that could hold us back”

And now for those measurable goals…

New Year’s Resolutions 2009

1. Write more often (2x a week at least, photo posts don’t count!)

2. Lose 15 lbs. (run to work 3x a week at least, cook at home more often)

3. Learn to read Korean, for real. Finish memorizing the alphabet and work to get faster.

I tried to make very measurable goals and hopefully in writing them here I can track my progress and keep myself in check better than I would otherwise.

Happy New Year!