My last days in Korea

So, as my time in South Korea comes to an end, I thought I would post some of the things I will miss about this amazing country, but to be fair, I am also going to vent about the things I will not miss. And the things I miss about back home.

I will miss street food, like dduk boki, red bean pastries, chicken kabobs, and more. But I will not miss dried squid and silk worms being sold on the street. The smell is unbelievably horrible.

I will miss the amazing and efficient transportation system that can get you anywhere in the city cheaply. I will also miss cheap taxis that are more abundant than in New York. I however horribly miss my car and jumping on the freeways back home, car pool lanes especially. I will also not miss greedy taxi drivers that do not want to take you home at 5 in the morning after the bar because your place is too close even if it is pouring rain or below freezing outside.

I will miss the seasons. It was my first time ever experiencing fall and spring. They are absolutely beautiful and I will never forget the red orange and yellow leaves, or the pink cherry blossoms. But I will not miss the freezing winters and can't wait to get back to cali where we consider 45 degrees really cold!

I will miss how sweet and generous parents are here. I have recieved so many gifts and people going out of their way to help me. But at the same time I will not miss crazy mom's who make your staff cry and accuse you of not caring, or who bully the other moms. God! they are crazy here.

I will completely miss walking down the street and being in my own world because I don't know what anyone else is saying. The few times I have been around English speakers I want to shout 'STOP TALKING' because I can't help but listen to their conversations.

I will miss all of the amazing shopping and cute fashion. I can't wait to walk off the plane and I hope everyone can recognize right away I spent a year in Korea just by what my closet now consists of. However, I will not miss being laughed at because my feet are too big and no one carries my size, or being told the size of the shirt is 'free size', in other words '1 size fits all' because although I am not fat at all, in Korea I am definitely not '1 size fits all'.

I will not miss being pushed around on the bus or subway. When someone needs to get by so they can get off you would think they are pushing you because they dont' know how to say 'move please,' but that is not the case. As it is now known to my friends and I it is just being 'koreaned' out of the way, as they hardly ever say 'excuse me' to anyone.

I will NOT miss men women and children spitting on the street everywhere.

But, most of all I miss my family and friends but will horribly miss all of the amazing people I have met here: Kyung-yun, Song, Do-yeon: the 3 Kroean TA's I was able to work with. There are so many amazing things about this country I will miss and I want to thank everyone who taught me and shared with me along the way.

Vietnam and Hong Kong

So, this Christmas I spent in Vietnam. I got to go with my good friend Priscilla who i met here in Korea. She is a nurse in the army. I also got to meet my friend Dan who i met in Kroea. He was a teacher at my school but is now teaching in Vietnam. So we first went to Ho Chi Min, where Dan took us to an amazing restaurant. He took us around the city and taught us how to cross the street full of hundreds of scooters without dying. The scooters do not stop for you. You just have to start walking slowly and not stop. We survived so he must have been a good teacher. From there we jumped straight on a 6 hour bus to Mui Ne beach! The beach was not as pretty as some of the other beaches I have been to in Southeast Asia, but I loved that my hotel was right on the beach. I had to walk a whole 10 steps to reach sand from my room. I also loved that there were very little people so we did not have to fight for a bench to lay on or just overhear people's conversations. So Christmas day was spent sleeping, reading, lounging, buying pearls from women selling them on the beach, and getting massages. And, of course, more food! We could only spend a day, however cuz we had to catch a flight to Hanoi. So after another bus ride back to Ho Chi Min and an afternoon walking around and dodging scooters we headed to Hanoi. But not before Dan and Priscilla decided to try some of the local food which involved fried bees and lizards. NO JOKE. I did NOT eat any! lol Hanoi we spent the first evening shopping!!! You would not believe how much you can spend on souvenirs that cost about $1-$4. The next day we jumped on another bus to Ha Long Bay. We took a boat ride through the bay. It was beautiful, unfortunately it was very foggy and chilly that day. That didn't stop us from going kayaking and adventuring through a cave though!! Back in Hanoi, Priscilla enjoyed a city tour while I did a cooking class!!! They took me through the local market full of disgusting food I will not elaborate on but I did not eat any of it. But I learned how to make an amazing fish bbq, beef bbq, chicken salad, and eggplant salad. That night we went to a traditional water puppet show. It was really interesting as the stage is water and the puppeteers are behind a curtain. The controls of the puppet are a stick that is hidden under the water. That next morning we were off to Hong Kong!

Hong Kong was an amazing, big busy city. I hate to say I was really impressed and surprised by the diversity of the city. I am so used to Korea where it is a rarity to find anyone that is not korean other than teachers and army. We did some bargain shopping, always fun, buying knock off designer purses and shoes. I have decided I don't particulary like Chinese food compared to other ethnic foods because it is so greesy but the food was still good. The city is horribly expensive, and they love to charge you for EVERYTHING!! But I survived. We got to meet up with another teacher, Hunter and watch fireworks for new years, although we didn't get a great view. And we partied the night away. We did also get to see a giant Buddha statue up on a hill. You have to take a 20 minute cable car ride to get to it.

Overall, it was a great holiday!

Festivals, Festivals everywhere

The weather in the Fall in Seoul is amazing and the people know it so there are a cluster of festivals from the mask festival (all about masks with performances from different countries), to HiSeoul (with more performances from different countries, but many of them giant puppet costumes), and a fireworks festival. Enjoy