Kimchi

4-1 Ok, so tonight has been an interesting night. I finally decided to open the Kimchi that I bought. With it I sauteed some onions and hand a bottle of H20; sadly I did not make it through all of the Kimchi as the quantity I pulled out was too much and I'm still gettin used to the texture. It certainly cleared up my sinuses on a good note. After I washed the dishes the bell rang which is actually a chirping sound. At the door was Bomi and my landlord and they came in and we talked. The LL took the cable box that was left from the last teacher and Bomi said I'd have a new one next week! Then Bomi said she would pick me up at 8:30 in the morning for school and we'd figure out the bus I'll be taking.
She said we'll have an hour to prepare the lesson for the day, which is great b/c I wasn't sure what to teach yet. We have classes tomorrow and on a really cool note I can go to class on 2 Saturdays a month for extra vacation days! Also tomorrow we'll be getting my results from the hospital, getting the ID card ordered, looking for a blanket, etc. I'm thinking of going to bed already and it's only 7:55pm.
4/2 So, it's the big day; my first day of teaching in Korea. Bomi picked me up at 8:30 and we headed to school. We have an hour before class so I get on Facebook and chat with a few people and respond to messages as well. For the classes I ended up showing them my video from Montana and they really loved it especially the Bison! I also showed them my video at RDI doing our breakdancing routine, they were impressed. We also watched Allison's Christmas play from 2nd grade; I knew that she would love knowing that. I chatted on FB throughout the with dad and friends and even listened to a little music on you tube, a little Black Stone Cherry and Eddie Vedder.
I was able to score a dvd player but sadly I forgot that their dvds and players are coded for region 3 and so the dvds I brought the the States will not work here. I will have to pick up a few dvds here to watch. After school we came to my apt to get my receipt from the hospital and drove to Pocheon and once we arrived at the hospital we didn't have the proper quality picture, so we drove to a photo mart and got my picture taken. After getting the copies of my picture we went back to the hospital and got my stamp for health assesment, yeah I'm healthy! From there went about 40 min to another town to apply for my ID card. There we gave them my money and passport and we raced back to Ildong as Bomi had a dinner party to attend. Now I'm back in Ildong and I bought my 1st bottle of rice wine, a coke and some beef jerkey. Hear in a minute I'm heading to the bus station to greet Steve and I'm excited to see a familiar face.

April Fool's

(4-1) I guess April's fools was on me this morning as I rose at 6:30ish and couldn't get back to sleep. Of course I starting nodding off last night around eight and I'm sure that helped with my early waking. I slept well even though I still woke up every couple of hours. I had another bowl of cereal this morning and of course I've been playing Yahtzee. I've lit my candle I bought and I'm thinking about taking a walk later and maybe grab a drink. I've opened my bedroom window and as I write I'm listening to the birds converse on this foggy, misty morning. I think I'll do a puzzle. So, I decided to lay down and work on a puzzle and I fell asleep for a couple hours. I laid around for a while and finally I took a shower and walked over to the main road. Thought I'd go to Family Mart, and grab a drink and a snack.

On the way to the store I see my LL and we exchange waves; Bomi tells me the LL like it that I wave and smile at him when I see him in town! Once in the store the clerk surprises me with a "Hello" and then asks if I'm an English Teacher and where. I tell her that I am an English Teacher and at Undam Elementary School. After walking around a bit I settled on a Coke and Cheetohs. Walking out the lady says "Bye Bye" and I reciprocate. I would walk around like yesterday but it's raining and I decide to head back to the apt. Now that I'm back I've been doing the same as the past two days, puzzles and yahtzee. I'm going to work on what I'll teach in my first day. I believe I'll try to teach them about me and things that I enjoy. I'd love to show them my Montana Video too. I'm actually nervouse b/c I'm not sure exactly when to be at school or how to get there. I'm not sure how to get on the right bus but I'm sure I'll figure it out. Well, off to work on my lesson plan.

On a surprising note I opened my Cheetohs while playing yahtzee, in which I finally broke into the 400's (421), and noticed that they looked different. I realized in the store there were several flavors, but I thought I'd but original. After opening the bag I looked on the front and noticed it said Barbeque and had a picture of a steak over a BBQ pit. I will definitely be purchasing these in the future as they are delicious. For class I've decided to write about me, my family, hobbies, foods, etc. I've also been thinking about my bday which is a week from this Saturday on the 10th. So, I've declared that I shall start celebrating my bday when the 1oth starts here and not stop until it ends back home some 38 hours of celebration! Maybe I will go see Steve in his town next weekend for that.

Yahtzee and Sudoku

(3-31) It's interesting being here in Ildong, Korea. It's not a bad thing but I'm not used to no roommate, no phone, no internet, and no tv, especially right now when I know a total of two people in all of Ildong. Bomi was sick today and we didn't go to school, which is somewhat dissapointing as school is my only way to connect right now with the outside world! It was funny as the Landlord came up so Bomi could tell me that she would not be picking me up today and we tried to communicate and I did get that he was asking me how I liked the heated floors. In Korea, the heat comes from the floor under the mats they put down that make it look like wood flooring, it's definitely different than what I used to but pretty neat. Afterwards I decided to cook lunch in which cut up some mushrooms and an onion. It was actually more of a snack than lunch, but I enjoyed it. I then went back to where I've spent most of my time these first few days, Electronic Yahtzee and Sudoku puzzles!

Around 12:30, I needed to stretch my legs and got dressed to go for a walk. It was raining so I through on my jacket and Voyagers hat! I made certain to pay attention as this was my first time out alone and I did not want to get lost. I thought about getting a dvd if not too expensive and saw a store where they sell/rent them and may try it out later. While out I walked a ways up and down the main strip checking out the shops. I stopped at the big grocery store and bought a coke, water, and a bowl for my cereal. I was proud as I knew how to pay for things now and I had my 1st purchase on my own. I took my stuff home and put the bowl in the sink to wash, sipped on the coke and then put it and the water in the fridge.

After playing Yahtzee for a while, I grew tired of it and decided to explore my new town some more. I took my camera this time so I could snap a few shots of town. I walked in the direction of my school first and took pics of the bank and the grocery I visited earlier today. After about 1 mile I turned around and walked a couple miles the other way. I took a few more pics including one of a Presbyterian Church; there are a lot of Christians in Korea and I've been told it is right there with Buddhism as the main religion. I then came back to the apartment and resumed my Yahtzee and puzzles. I hope we can go into Seoul tomorrow and I can get a dvd player or charger for my Ipod. I also want some tacs to hang up my Montana poster and WKU flag. I'm excited also for Steve's visit this weekend, hopefully we can catch up and explore a bit.

Getting acclimated to my surroundings

So, I have now slept in my apartment one night and it's not too bad, especially considering I don't have a blanket or regular pillows, just the ones from the love seat. I originally woke up at 8:30 this morning and hung around the apartment playing electronic Yahtzee and worked on a Sudoku puzzle, completing my first in Korea. I fell back asleep for a while and got back up around 11:15 to iron my clothes as my co-teacher Boomi was picking me up at Noon to see the school and meet everyone. Once we were at the school I truly felt like a rock star as the kids were all saying hi, waving, and wanting to shake my hand! We had lunch in the cafeteria which consisted of Kimchi, spinach, and Pork as the appetizers and rice and soup which are the main course, always. I very pleased that I really enjoyed the lunch. I wasn't worried about finding enough to eat here as it is a meat eating country, I was just worried a little about the spicy food and so far so good.

After lunch we checked out the the room in which I will be teaching in during this year. I got to see my desk and the books I will be using and I learn that I will also be teaching music during the year and I find that very exciting to share my love of music. I was able while in class to get online and share with the world that I had indeed made it to Korea and to share that my school was awesome. I had expected to have several messages but had no idea to the extent that it truly was and I'm very thankful that I have so many people that care for me in this world. After watching "The Blind Side" three times in the past week I realize how lucky I am to have so many people in my life and realized truly how many people don't have anyone in this world and how sad that really is.
After school we went to the bank so I would have some Korean currency, Won. From there we had to go to the hospital for my drug test, eye/hearing exam, and blood test. It cost $53 for this and once we finished there we stopped at a store to get some things for the apartment. I bought some cookware, alarm clock, candle, shampoo, towels, TP, and detergent. To end our traversing for the day we stopped at the grocery store where I picked up some Kimchi, PB&J, Candy, Bread, a Mountain Dew, grapes, milk, cereal (Corn Flakes), cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, etc. We then shuffled over to my apartment and "talked" with the landlord a bit. I decided I would come to school again tomorrow (Official start is April 2). Again, Boomi will be here at noon to pick me up. After they left I put everything away and went back to yahtzee and puzzles. I might wait until tomorrow to begin exploring my town of Ildong, home to about 10,000 people.
It was fun today to have and use Korean currency and easy to learn how to pay as 1000 is close to $1. They also use the same numbers as we do in the US so it's easy to just look at the register and see 5000W and know what to pay. I also took pictures of everything I bought today to post when I find a uploader as I left mine in KY. I can't wait to hang up my Montana map and get a Korean one as well. Soon I will get picture frames for the pictures I brought. For now I've placed them throughout the apartment. Tomorrow I think I'll show Boomi my Montana slideshow! Well, 'til next time.

Flying the friendly skies

As I sit here eating an apple on Singapore Airlines listening to the "Into the Wild" soundtrack I decided it was time to write a little in the journal. I wanted to write aout my adventure that is this day so far. First, I need to thank dad for getting up to drive me to Nashville at 4am when he didn't get in from his trip to South Carolina until close to 1am. I know he was exhausted and I'm sure the pouring rain didn't help as well.
When we arrived at the airport in Nashville we were too late and I missed my flight! However, the ladies at American Airlines (AA) were beyond nice and helpful and were able to get me on the next flight to Dallas, which was to leave at 7:05 and most importantly would still get me to the Incheon airport in Korea on time and it only cost me $50 to make that happen, very much worth it. I also learned that you don't pay luggage fee for international flights which seemed werid. So, I loaded my luggage onto the scale and what do you know, it's too heavy. So, I open the bag and start pulling clothes that I don't need: Charlie's sweat pants, ah probably don't need them; Pineapple shirt, hate to but it's staying with you dad. So, after a little trial and error we were able to get the suitcase under weight. Wow, even our suitcases in America are overweight.
To keep everything in balance though, I made sure to keep my hot pink Hawaiian shirt, you know so I'll make sure to stand out. I'll have to say that I fell in love with the AA lady as she was very nice and helped me more than I would ever expect especially at 6AM. Once we were able to get that situated I walked Dad and Allison back to the van to say goodbye. Allison is happy now that she doesn't have to fight for "shotgun" in the van, but I have a feeling she wishes she did. After saying goodbye I went through security and boarded my plane for Dallas. Normally I don't talk a lot to the people on the plane but the man next to me, He had him a guitar (Forrest Gump reference for you slow polks). We chit chatted a little and I asked him about the gutar and he said he was a song writer and that he predominately wrote country songs. I told him he was in the right city then! I enjoed discussing today's country vs old country and we also talked about my trip and he was very nice and encouraging. Then we talked about how it's hard for some people back home in KY to understand why someone would fly across the world to teach English.
As to why I'm doing this I will have to discuss later. After we landed in Dallas I bought a Code Red(Mt. Dew) and waited to get my boarding pass. I met an older layd that said we all looked like crap in a way only an elderly lady could say and you not be offended. It reminded me of someone and gave me a warm feeling inside. The flight from Dallas to SF was interesting as I fell in and out of sleep in the last row of the plane with an engine right next to me, for 4 hours! When I arrived in San Francisco I headed towards the International Wing. Right before I walked into that wing I stopped and had a junior whopper combo at Burger King, I should have just waited! I was concerened as I approached the counter as I didn't have a boarding pass yet. The lady at the counter said I shoule have got there earlier as they didn't have a ticket for me yet. Adding to my fun was that I didn't have a baggage ticket and they didn't know where my luggage was just yet. She asked me to come back in 20 minutes, so I sat down for a while and then decided to use the bathroom before my 13 hour flight. when I came out of the bathroom they were calling my name over the intercom and I hurried over to the counter and they had my ticket and my luggage, hooray!
Every since I stepped foot on the plane it has been awesome. I have a tv and have already watched Law Abiding Citizen, which I would strongly recommend! Next I watched Precious, in which words cannot come close to describing. For lunch we were given Chicken which lad lima beans, caulifloer and other veggies along with a hot roll and butter, salad, brownie, a coke and water. I told the guy next to me that my grandmother would be happy as I had a hot meal and bread. She was always asking me if I'd had a hot meal. I forgot to mention that I had to pee like right when I got on the plane, but I was lucky that the guy next to me was great and I went and used the bathroom for the first time on a plane. Since then I've been writing this and talking to the lady to my right who is also a really nice person.
For the rest of the flight I chatted with the people next to me some and tried to help the lady with her tv set and we didn't have the best of luck. I also watched part of the movie 2010 and also just tried to relax a while before we landed. It was very weird leaving basically in daylight and having daylight the entire trip and also when I landed. Once off the plane I followed the signs to go through immigration and to pick up my luggage. It's very handy that all of the signs are in English as well as Korean. I stood in line for about 10 minutes and I handed the lady my passport and received my first stamp! Afterwards I rode the escalator down to the luggage claim and waited for my suitcase. I always have a part of me that worries that the luggage won't be there, especially this trip when I'm so far away from home. However, after a few minutes I found my luggage and met a guy named Joshua Nardi that was doing the same thing as I and he would be teaching in Seoul.
I gathered my things and walked outside to look for someone to be holding up a sign with my name, and it was the first one I see. This was the first time I'd ever had anyone waiting for me at an airport with a sign. We walked to the bus taxi and put my things in and headed for Ildong where I'll live. The airport is in Incheon and it's a little ways from Seoul and then Ildong is a small town and it's about an hour or so from Seoul. With the traffic it ended up taking us about two hours to reach Ildong in which the long day caught up with me and I nodded in and out of sleep. On the ride in I wasn't for certain exactly where we were heading so I just sat back, relaxed and slept. Once were arrived in Ildong I picked up my things and met my co-teacher Bomi and my landlord and his wife. My building is three stories high and I live on the top floor. They give me my keys and show me my apartment and everything in it. It's a nice apartment with a good sized tv and everything else I need.
In Korea the heating system is mainly in the floor, which is nice when you get up at night. I talked with Bomi for a while and another English teacher stopped by and we discussed everything. They helped me find my way to the FamilyMart, which is a conveiniant store, where I picked up a bottle of water and a loaf of bread. Afterwards they left for the evening and I put everything away and tried to sleep althought it was much of a success. 'Til next time.

Back Home

Ok, I believe in my last post I described everything up to arriving home. Since arriving home there's been a lot of sitting around the house since I don't have transportation. It's turned out to be a blessing as I've been able to spend a lot of time with my family, especially Allison and I've really loved helping her with her homework . During my time here at the house we've enjoyed a little more snow than we usually get here and Allison, Dad, and I have taken advantage of that as we built us a snow man Allison titled "WKU" and we also spent some time sledding in the back yard. It was fun to watch Allison go from being scared to do go with me and then watching her the next day go down by herself head first!

During my time home I've also been able to spend some time with one of my best friends, Kyle Gott, and it was good times as always. We had a little going away celebration for him recently as he was heading to Little Rock to help run a campaign. I've also hung out with my other good friends and had a great time with Kyle Bunch, Michael Cook and his Wife Valerie as we had a few drinks and played Wii at Kyle's house. Most recently several of us met at El and had dinner. It was a great time to chat and catch up before I head across the pond for a year.

Hanging out with my family has always been very important to me and has become more and more important as I get older. We had a bowling party in Leitchfield a few weeks back and it was great to bowl and hang out with everyone, especially Cooper, Grant, Griffin, Dalton, and Carter! To celebrate Dustin's Birthday/ Charlie's departure to the Marines we met at Mancino's and had a great time.

Sorry as this entry is rather sporadic, my mind is kind of all over the place. I've finally gotten my Visa for Korea and I just purchased my ticket to Seoul, Korea for March 28th. I now simply have to hopefully find some extra funds for the trip and pack my clothes,etc. Luckily I have a new suitcase that Aunt Betty recently gave me. I think I'm going to pack my hiking backpack in it as I plan on doing lots of hiking while there. I also plan on taking a few books with me to read and show the kids. I also have Beth's Ipod to borrow and I've been adding tunes onto the computer to fill up the Ipod so I have music to jam to on the flight as it will be somewhere around 14 hrs!

I've also got to turn off my cell phone and sirius radio before I leave as well as drop my truck insurance in June when the policy ends. Anyway, I think I'm going to get back to adding music to the Ipod. 'Til next time.

Into the Wild

Ok, so it's been a while since my last post. I am now back in the great state of Kentucky with my family. How I got back here turned out to quite the story, and like every rode trip it didn't go as planned (not even close!). My last weekend in Montana turned out to be better than I could have imagined. After packing up my belongings in Great Falls I said goodbye to my home of a year and headed over to the capital, Helena, to Brendan's to hang out with some good friends. I was able to make some new friends as well as see Josh, Jill, Claire, John Haley, Everit, and Megan again (My profile pic is from that night).

The next day we left early to head over to Yellowstone early so we could do some snowshoeing! We arrived in Gardiner just outside of Yellowstone to pick up the snow shoes and they were in a bit of shock when we told them we needed 9 pair! After the shock washed off we proceeded to enter the park through Roosevelt's Arch in which is enscribed: "For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People", which was drawn from a speech given by President Roosevelt on April 23rd, 1903. Some cool facts about the park are that it was the first National Park in the world, not just the U.S. The arch is 50 ft high, The rocks were hewn from basalt, a volcanic rock, quarried locally, and Cost for the Arch was $ 10,000.00.

During the winter time there is only one road open so your options for driving are limited but your options for exploring are limitless! We stopped in to talk to the ranger and decided on snowshoeing up to Tower Falls. While there wasn't a real need for the snow shoes on this hike, I think it's always fun to wear them, although from now on I need some snow pants and to not wear jeans! Along the way we checked out Calcite springs which is in a beautiful area. Once we arrived to Tower Falls it was definitely worth the hike as it was mostly frozen but there was still a trickle of water coming down!

After leaving the park we headed back to Livingston where I had left my truck and I gave everyone big hugs and headed to Bozeman to pick up Chuck for our great adventure together! After picking up Charlie and making enough room for him we had dinner at Mckenzie River and then spent the night at my friend Eliza's place, thanks again Eliza! The following late morning we headed to the edge of town and stopped at the Pop Stand for lunch. After lunch we headed towards Yellowstone as I was going to take Chuck there to experience Yellowstone for the first time. Again, we stopped in Gardiner for the Snowshoes and proceeded to enter the park. I was most excited to show him the hot spring at boiling river that you pass not too far after entering the park. I'm not sure the name of the spot but we took the same trail that several Vista's and I took not too long after we first arrived in Montana a year earlier. We were very wise on this day to have snowshoes as this path had not been traveled on near as much and the

shoes were much needed in spots. We met a nice group of women at our turn around spot, as they took our picture with the Bison in the background, and of course we returned the favor!

Again, I was most looking forward to showing Chuck the hot spring, but I also really wanted him to enjoy the animals and the park did not dissapoint. We were able to see Bison, Elk, Big Horn Sheep, and a wolf! We had cut it a little short and didn't get to spend as much time as we would have liked at the hot spring but Chuck still said it was his favorite part of the visit, thought so. After leaving the park we stopped in Bozeman to pick up suppplies, which meant me using the last of my food stamps! Once we filled up on goodies we got on the road and made great ground the first night as we sadly drove out of Montana and stopped about 2 hours outside Salt Lake City (SLC) at a little Store/Rest area. I tried to sleep but I was too restless and the snow was starting to come down so I decided to get on the road and get ahead of the storm. Here I had decided to do something I don't much care for, driving in the snow at night.

Once the sun started to rise however things were pretty good, although we did hit rush hour traffice in SLC. From there we were headed to Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah to check out the scenery and maybe camp for a night. Our dreams would be a little dashed though as once we got close to Bryce Canyon National Park it was basically closed due to the fog and heavy snow. We did get to enjoy some of the scenery just outside the park, such as Red Canyon, which I really enjoyed. The upside to not getting to Visit Bryce was that we could almost make to our next destination now before dark, Las Vegas! I had really wanted to visit my cousin Jenna and her fiancee Joe back a few months earlier while visiting Zion and the Grand Canyon but didn't quite make. However, I made sure to make it a stop this time!

Our visit to Vegas couldn't have went better, well other than less rain, as we were able to spend three awesome days in Vegas. I'd have to say the drive crossing into Arizona before you get into Nevada is one of the prettiest drives I've ever gotten to see! We spent some time on Fremont Street and checked out the light show. While there we had a shrimp cocktail at a casino (where they evidentally started the shrip cocktail in Vegas). I was also able to show Chuck the water show at the Bellagio which is one of the best things to see in Vegas! During our stay I was also able to spend a few hours with my good friend the Mailman aka Ben and I was also able to meet his friend Kristen(SP?). Although we were leaving that morning I stayed and hung out with Ben at the casino until about 4:30 and I'm very happy I did as trouble lurked in the not too far distance! I was also able to win $40 on the slots before I left the casino.

After leaving Vegas is where our fun really began as the rain we encountered in Vegas was nothing to what we were about to experience! As I mentioned earlier there was rain, as one of the biggest rain storms ever was moving through the Southwest; so much for taking an easier route home! While we were DRIVING through Arizona it actually rained 8 inches on us and to put that into context 8 inches of rain is what they USUALLY received in a year!

We were able to get through the rain ok and avoid the three feet of snow they were getting in Northern Arizona as we moved through the Phoenix area. Late in the evening I decided to stop and grab a burger and that's when the trouble began as my truck began smoking! Luckily we were right next to a Wal-Mart and we filled up the fluids an decided to sleep a few hours and let the truck rest as well. During the middle of the night the wind thought it would be funny and decided to slam a shopping cart into the truck scarring both Chuck and myself to death! The next morning the truck started pretty smoothly and we THOUGHT we were in luck. However, after getting on the highway the truck really started smoking and it just shut off. Here I was able to use my new TomTom to give my exact location when I called 911 for the first time in my life. Why 911 you ask? Well, it was 6 in the morning, none of the tow trucking companies on my list were evidently open and I really didn't want to spend too much time stuck on the highway. Luckily we met a very nice man, whom come to find out is the Great, Great, Great Grandson of the founder of Bryce Canyone National Park which I found to be very cool .

We got the truck towed to a town called Safford, which was still in Arizona and is home to some of the nicest people I've ever met. While spending hours on trying to figure out what to do to get home we watched the weather channel inform us of the storm and of the 3 more feet of snow that Flagstaff was going to get! They were calling it the "Western Wallop", which irked me more than anything I belive, what a dumb name. We decided to get a hotel room for the night and went with the one that had a pool, hot tub, and sauna; we needed it. Here's where you never know how things are going to turn out. That night was one of my favoite nights as Charlie and I had one of the times where you laugh so hard you almost soil yourself and you laugh until you cry as we ate our pizza, drank drinks, and talked on the phone with dad. The most enjoyable times often come during times you wish you weren't going through.

Well, I bought two tickets through Southwest Airlines as we were luckily only 85 from Tuscon and Chuck arranged for the cab to get us there. I crammed as much in my truck as possible and grabbed my hiking pack, guitar, wet clothes blag, and something else. The next morning we jumped in the cab and departed the town that gave such great laughs in our hotel room and outside where apparently a business had moved and moved next to "Berger King". We arrived at the Tuscon airport, where we had our next big laugh. As I check my carry on I noticed I had forgotten to take out my fillet knife and it had passed through the security check in, Holy Crap!

Well, luckily no one ever found out about the knife and we were able to make it back home to Kentucky. Later I'll detail what's happen since I've made it back to KY. For now, farewell.