Vacation continued....

Re-posted from July 31, 2010

like i said vancouver was awesome! not only did we get to spend time with abby, jason and little anneke but we also got to see rich, shannon and jen! they too taught english in korea while we were there. rich and shannon came over for a couple bbqs at the sauchuks and we biked around the seawall and went out to eat twice with jen. the first time went to this awesome little japanese place called guu with garlic. there are apparently 4 different guu restaurants and each one specialized in a different spice/taste like garlic! it was packed and the servers just yell your order from your table to the people in the kitchen! it was a really lively and the food was awesome! it's like an izakaya which basically serves tapas styles dishes. we got garlic udon noodles, okonomiyaki (fried veg. pancake), octopus balls (like meatballs but with octopus!) and mackerel. it was all super delicious! the second time we ate with jen we went to a ukranian place where we had cabbage rolls stuffed with meat, perogies, sausage, and relishes. yuuuummm!

we ate at really nice restaurant the day we went to deep cove! we got a lamb ragout appetizer that came with pita bread and jens and i split a lemony buttery seafood mix of scallops and crab that came with risoto and vegetables. soooo goood!

i just love food!  

we spent a few days on vancouver island and it was really nice! we stay in abby's mom's condo that's right by the water in nanaimo and it was amazing! i loved it! alex met us out there and it was great to see him again. we all just hung out, they swam a bit but it was too cold for this texan! lol we ate at a mexican place that literally floats on the water and the food was really good. californian style mexican (which basically just means it was healthier than tex-mex lol). we spent our last full day in victoria (the major city on the island) and they happened to be having this huge classic car show lol so i took some pics for my dad. we went to the wax museum which was cool at first and then it creeped me out. i don't understand the necessity of displaying wax figures in darkened rooms with thunder and creepy voices playing really loudly lol wax figures are weird enough on their own! we ate lunch at the pub where abby's sister works and got a wonderful reuben sandwich and good beer! we saw the gorgeous empress hotel and parliament building! then we dropped alex off at the airport and headed back to nanaimo. it was a good day!

our last half day on the island we went with the sauchuks to visit the van keorklies (i have no idea how to spell their name lol) abby grew up near this couple and they're really awesome people! abby actually names her daughter (anneke) after the woman. i think they're from holland and they survived a concentration camp growing up! now they're in their 80s and live in this gorgeous eco-friendly wooden house in the woods on several acres (don't remember how many). they have a garden and plants everywhere! it's just an absolutely amazing gorgeous place and i wish i could live there! lol we took a walk through the woods with anneke v.k. and she showed us where she has to break open a little dam that this beaver keeps building in their stream every day lol they said he (and or his family of beavers) have been trying to build a dam there for years and years but they have to break it open daily so it doesn't flood. but the v.k.s have a very zen attitude toward all things so they just go out there and make a little break it in everyday so the water can get through. it was awesome to see this 80 something year old woman out there with a hoe hacking away at this beaver dam! lol

when we got back to the house we had a very european style lunch: bread, cheese, sausages and fresh raspberries picked right out of their garden mixed with yogurt! it was so good! i knew that they gardened organically so i asked anneke how they keep the bugs off their crops without pesticides and she just said- well the bugs have to eat too! lol abby also told me that they never bother taking the bugs off the raspberries before they eat them lol "extra protein!" i guess after surviving a concentration camp you don't worry much about those kinds of things!

i loved their house though. they told us that it totally burned to the ground a while back but they had the plans for the house so they just had it re-built exactly the same way! only they added a few more eco-friendly features like geo-thermal heating, bamboo floors, etc. even their compost heap was cool! their kitchen is upstairs so just outside on the balcony they have a little chimney that goes down the side of the house right into another little wooden house where their compost is! so they just step outside the kitchen and throw their food waste down this little chimney! so cool!

we wanted to stay there for days but it was time for jens and i to catch the ferry back to the mainland so we could get the train down to seattle!

so we said our goodbyes to them and then we said our goodbyes to abby at the terminal cuz she was staying there to visit more with her mom. jason went back with us though because he was gonna have a visit with his parents. once we got back to vancouver we parted ways with jason and took the train down to seattle where we met up with the langs! jens went to high school with ali (duke) lang and jens and i actually went to her wedding in 2004 when she married patrick lang. they live in a suburb a little outside the city-center of seattle.

i love their house too! it's on a hill so it has a split level basement where half of it's underground but the other half isn't. so you can in through a door into their basement or you an go up some stairs into the main part of the house. their master bedroom is in the basement. on the "first" floor there's a kitchen dining, guest bedroom, guest bathroom and office, and then they have an upstairs loft which is their living room! it's so cool! and i love the way they've decorated it! it's mostly ikea furniture, very modern, soft colors. very nice! the guest bath made me feel like i was in a ritzy hotel! lol

we only had 3 days in seattle so i feel like i still don't know THAT much about it but it was still a good visit. the first day we went to pike's place market which was huge and awesome! i saw a crab thrown! lol i saw the original starbuck's coffee there too. it was packed but there didn't seem to be anything exceptional about it lol we bought a bunch of fruit to eat during our stay and some vegetables to grill with the langs one night.

after that we went to the mind-blowing library! it's SO COOL! it's super modern and has a "book-spiral" like the floors spiral up and up and up so that their collection can be continuous! they also have a "red hall" and a "mixing room" and all kinds of crazy stuff that is better represented by photos which i will eventually add to facebook lol

after the library we stopped by the pink gorilla, formerly known as pink godzilla, video game store so jens could look around.

for dinner went to to big bowl- a vegetarian thai place that had the best fake meat i've ever tasted! then we all took the underground tour! to learn more about the seattle underground go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Underground

it was interesting and fun! (and funny because we took the "adult" tour lol) afterwards we got a drink and headed back to the house.

our second full day we went to freemont with ali and saw the troll under the bridge! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemont_troll we ate indian for lunch and then we met up with patrick and took a hike in the woods which was quite nice (other than the tons of mosquitos lol) then we drove over to some waterfall that was HUGE! the biggest one i had ever seen in person. i unfortunately can't remember the name of it but i could ask ali if you're really interested lol

we grilled that night and it was de-lish!

our 3rd and last full day in seattle we toured a winery with ali. it was the first time we had ever done it and i wouldn't mind doing it again! you get free wine at the end! woohoo! we also did a survey of 3 different reislings for free and they were all really good. we ended up buying their dry reisling. (yeah there are DRY reislings!)

next we went to an awesome boehm's candy shop started many years ago by mr. boehm's who was from switzerland (i think). they make handmade chocolates and candies and they are OUTSTANDING! we actually got to see some women making some chocolates by hand through the window. jens and i bought chocolate caramel pecan turtles and they were YUM!

that night we ate at a pub and then we stayed the night with ali's sister, kat, because the lang's had to leave the next morning bright and early to fly to north carolina!

the next day we trained down to portland!!! i think i need a whole separate post for portland so i'm gonna stop there and go clean my house! :o) until next time!

ps- thanks to all our friends who let us stay with them and showed us around the awesome cities where they live! it was great fun and we really appreciate it!

Vacation in Vancouver-BC-Canada, Seattle and Portland

Re-posted from July 15, 2010

i've been wanting to update for a while now but haven't had a chance and now we're on vacation!

we're visiting some friends (the sauchuks) that we met in korea who live in vancouver, b.c., canada and it's been really fun! the first couple days we just hung out and then we started siteseeing. we've been to the imax theater, granville island which has a huge, amazing local market, chinatown, gastown (historic district), stanley park, we biked along the seawall as huge waves were crashing up against the wall, saw some amazing views of the mountains, city and water, went to the aquarium, deep cove for swimming (very cold!), art gallery, a bit of shopping, eating out at awesome little restaurants (japanese, chinese, fancy seafood, ukranian, fish and chips, etc.), we've cooked out a few times and hung out with 3 other friends we met in korea too! it's been a little mini reunion :o)

vancouver is AWESOME! i absolutely love it! the only things i don't like about it are it's way more expensive than texas and it can get pretty cold even in july! it was really sunny and warm the first few days but then it got really chilly for a few days! i had to wear the hoodie i brought and i actually would have been fine wearing a winter sweater! lol so weird! but most days have been really nice. it's great to get away from the scorching texan summer!

but if not for those two things i would totally live here. it's my ideal city. there are tons of things to do and see, the natural scenery is gorgeous, you can see mountains in the distance all around, there are some really interesting and fun neighborhoods, lots of ethnic restaurants, great shopping, great public transit (trains, buses, etc.), people biking and walking everywhere, great bike parking, you can take bikes on trains and buses, there are huge parks right in the middle of the city where you feel like you're not even IN the city!, etc. it just really easy to get around the city without a car and there are tons of areas people actually WANT to walk around. it's like a different planet than arlington, texas!

not to mention there's recycling, farmer's markets, local produce and eco-friendly stuff all over the city!!! I LOVE IT!

i'm hoping portland is just as cool but less expensive cuz jens and i really wanna move there. from what i've heard it's like a mini vancouver and somewhat cheaper. so we're anxious to visit!

tomorrow we're going with the sauchuks to abby's mom's condo on vancouver island. should be really nice! our friend alex is gonna meet us out there too which will be fun. i actually took over his job our last year in korea. unfortunately his wife can't come too but maybe we can at least call her or something while we're there. after a few days jens and i are gonna train down to seattle and stay with one of his old high school friends and her husband there.

we flew into seattle and then bused up to vancouver at the beginning of our trip and we were able to spend a few hours there so we were already able to see that it's a pretty cool city. only reason we aren't really thinking of living there though is it's further north. portland is far south enough and inland enough that it doesn't get too cold or snowy.

so we'll spend a few days on vancouver island, a few in seattle and then we'll train down to portland and spend about 5 days there. can't wait!

we'll return to arlington july 29th! then it's back to "real life" lol

Yoga and Scarborough Faire

Re-posted from June 17, 2010

so we've been doing yoga at the ymca down the street. it's literally like 2 minutes away which is nice.

jens and i got memberships at the ymca during our first week back i think. that in itself was a bit of culture shock because the girl that helped us talked SO FAST i could barely keep up! lol it was such a strange feeling. i was so used to talking really slowly to people in korea and having them talk really slowly to me...sometimes incredibly slowly...sometimes so slowly i would finish people's sentences for them just to get on with it lol but this girl at the ymca was talking 90 miles a minute and i just stood there in a daze trying to take it all in. we successfully signed up and paid for 6 months though.

jens started working out there right away but i don't think i tried yoga until our 3rd or 4th week back. i went by myself the first time but i liked it so much i convinced jens to try it with me the next time and surprisingly he went and liked it! jens has always told me that would never do a yoga class with me because he doesn't like the class atmosphere. it makes him uncomfortable. but the yoga class is done with the lights off and nice music and it's not about competition at all so you can kinda be in your own little world and not worry about what anyone else is doing. that's part of why i like it so much. you go at your own pace. you do what your body can do.

the instructor is great! she's very aware of everyone in the room and is always helping people, giving tips and reminding everyone to go at their own pace and not push themselves to injury. she's serious most of the time but you an tell she has a goofy/silly side too. she makes jokes, etc.

the class is mostly women. other than jens there's only one other man that comes to every class. he might be in his 70s. then there are a couple other guys that show up randomly. i don't think jens cares though.

overall it's a great class and i'm really liking it! i'm to the point now where i don't wanna miss it which i didn't think i'd get to this soon lol i may try a zumba class in the future and i might just workout up there sometimes but for now i'm focusing on yoga. one step at a time!

last month jens and i went to scarborough faire with joel and katie and it was awesome! i hadn't been in years since i hadn't been in texas in the summer in years! it was sooo hot and sunny but it was great! it was much bigger and more built-up than i remember it. like a virtual medieval town! and i LOVED all costumes i saw people wearing. i would love to have a few of them lol some of them are a little out there and not really my taste but i like the traditional dresses and the fairy costumes!

we watched various shows- singers, musicians, fire whippers, fire eaters, acrobat types, christof the insulter (the best! lol). we looked in a bunch of shops that had handmade costumes, artwork, jewelry, ceramics, puppets, and tons of other stuff. and we OF COURSE got a big, wonderful, delicious turkey leg! omg! best i've ever had! we also got a fruit ice, some king's nuts (a must!), a reuben sandwich, german potato salad and beer! yumyumyum! it was a great day! i took lots of pics which i will post eventually :o)

i was so happy to be able to go there because i went every once in a while growing up and always loved it so it really made me feel like i was home! :o) i didn't have a whole lot of culture shock while i was there aside from certain people wearing things they really should not wear in public lol i dunno what some people are thinking when they get dressed to go somewhere! and i thought the fake accents were a little silly but other than that nothing really stuck out.

anyway, i must be going. until next time!

First month back in the states!

Re-posted from June 1, 2010

here are a few things we did our first month back:

our welcome back party! it was may 1st (one week after arriving in texas) and we really had to scramble to get things ready for it. waiting one more week would have been helpful but we got it done and the party went off without a hitch! :o) the main thing we had to focus on before the party was getting stuff OUT of our little house that we did not want and putting things IN (from storage) that we did want. that was quite a task let me tell you! the pack-rat gene runs in my family and even though my mother had already gone through my grammie's old house and taken out boxes and boxes of stuff jens and i still filled about 10 more boxes with things that either weren't our style or we just couldn't use. don't get me wrong, i've kept several things of my grammie's and i like them and i enjoy using them...but there's only so much you can keep!

the party was on a sat. and people started arriving around 1pm i believe. we didn't put the food out right at first because we wanted more people to arrive before we did so. i think we got the food out around 2pm and we had lots of it! smoked ham and turkey for sandwiches, bratwurst and hamburgers plus sides that our guests brought: cole slow, potato salad, pasta salad, fruit, chips, etc. i also put out some homemade salsa that my mom's friend adelita showed me how to make :o) and jens's mom made an awesome chocolate cake!!! the food was wonderful and the company was great!

it was awesome to see everyone again. i didn't get to talk to any one person for very long but it was a good way to at least SEE everyone at once lol now that we live here for good we can go and visit longer with individuals over time which we've already started doing.

it's such a different feeling this time around- since we're not just visiting. i think all our family and friends feel the same way. they keep saying- "i can't believe you're actually here for good! i keep expecting you to have to leave but you're still here!" or "i get excited everytime you come over cuz...YOU'RE HERE! lol" it's funny...we feel the same way. we have to keep reminding ourselves- we live here for good now so we don't have to rush and do everything all at once or see people every single day - we can take our time!

everyone liked our little house. we got it cleaned up pretty well for the party. we've done so much to it since then too. gotten more boxes from korea, emptied more boxes in storage, put things away, put up decorative stuff- plus we got a full-size couch with a pull-out queen size bed!

our friend joel also took some family pictures at the party. some of my family members had already left unfortunately but we got a few which was nice :o) the weather was absolutely beautiful that day which we were so happy about because the forecast had said rain. some of my family stayed til late in the evening and a few of our friends stayed til late into the night. we partied aaalll day and aaall night lol it was really fun though! we had some games for people to play like frisbee, horseshoes, bubble wands and badminton. jens, joel and ben played drunken 3-person badminton at one point which was pretty hilarious! it was a great time overall!

another thing we did in may was go to central market. i told my kroger's grocery store story but central market was even crazier! we spent 4 hours there cuz the place is so humongous! I LOVE IT! there are new wonders around every corner! fruit and vegetables i've never seen before (or at least haven't seen in over a year! lol), lots of fresh herbs, artisan bread galore!, what feels like miles and miles of cheeses, hundreds of wines and beers, an all natural/organic/eco-friendly cosmetic/bath section to die for!, locally made bbq sauces and honeys, handmade sausages, huge filets of salmon, samples of food throughout the store, a cafe with food that made me drool, a gelato station that made my eyes bug out and gorgeous flowers of all kinds! amazing! love, love, love that place! i would have spent even longer if jens had let me lol we got tons of yummy stuff and just went home and had a foodfest lol

we got a few things for mother's day which was the next day. it was the first mother's day we were home for in at least 3 years! jens's mom and dad were out of town so we just celebrated with my family that day. i had my grandaddy, dad and mom over for brunch and we ate awesome cheeses and crackers, homemade guacamole, a pasta salad from central market with tomatoes, cucumbers, greens and edamame, hummus, olives, homemade caprese salad, and lots of fruit! it was really nice :o) i got my mom and my grammie flowers and after we ate we went up to the home where my gram lives and gave her her flowers and cards. she really liked them! :o)

mother's day with jens's family was the next wed. night. jens's dad cooked a bunch of delicious food and we gave jens's nana and mother cards and flowers and had a lovely evening of talking and looking at pictures. it was fun!

alright that's all for now. i've got to run!

Update and grocery shopping experience

Re-posted from May 25, 2010

ok i have a little bit of time so i'm going to try to update you :o)

we've been home a little over a month now and we've gotten quite a bit done! the state of the house fluctuates because as soon as i get everything put away a few more boxes arrive from korea for me to unpack lol it definitely keeps me busy though and i think we'll only receive a couple more boxes and that'll be that! we'll have all our stuff in one country!

i'm almost done going through all our boxes in storage too. we should hopefully be having a garage sale next month. just have to check with my mom on her work schedule. we'll probably end up having 2-3 garage sales. there's just so much stuff we need to get rid of! after living in korea for 3 years i'm realizing there are a LOT of things i've had since high school (and before!) that i really don't need anymore lol plus my mom is really wanting to down-size on all of her stuff. it'll be good for both of us to purge all this extra junk!

so that's what i've been focusing on lately. it's been like a full-time job so i haven't looked elsewhere for work yet. jens did the written test for the fort worth fire dept. and he thinks he did really well. we find out this week if he passed it and if he can move on to the physical test which will be within a couple weeks. it would be so awesome if he got that! here's hoping! as for me i'm in no hurry to find a job. right now i just wanna get our house in order and help my mom get hers in order, etc. after we're done with all that i'll think about jobs. i can't pin-point exactly what i wanna do. all i know is i'd love to be involved in the local eco-friendly community. i already have a few contacts so that's good. i'm not so much concerned with money as i am with just doing something i really wanna do, ya know?

anyway: here's a reverse culture shock story for you:

the first time we went to the grocery store we just went nuts! we went to kroger and were pleasantly surprised at their selection! of course, we were coming from korea so we weren't hard to please lol some of the differences between korean grocery stores and american are: in korea a store that only has groceries will be fairly small (like the size of a wal-greens or smaller) and most everyone has one within walking distance (which is nice). there are also big grocery stores that have a wider selection but they are 3-4 stories and are more like wal-mart in that they have lots of non-food items also. the first thing that stands out about an american grocery store is you most likely have to drive to it and it has an enormous parking lot out front. the distance from the street to the front door is almost as far as i would walk from my apt. to the grocery store in korea!

in korea there are lockers at the front of the store for extra bags or your dog (if you happen to have it with you). you just put in a 100 weon (or about 10 cent) coin in the slot which enables you to get the key and you get your coin back later when you open it. same goes for the grocery carts- you put a 100 weon coin in to unlock it from the row of carts and you get your coin back later when you put the cart back. now, i dunno why but all the carts i ever used in korea were much nicer than the ones in america. they just seemed better maintained or newer. the ones in america have all seemed really rickety or down-right impossible to use lol they're bigger though!

so- we went into kroger and were automatically mesmerized by the produce section! there's an entire wall of organic produce! including things we can't get in korea at all such as: huge, cheap bunches of cilantro, fresh mint, tarragon, thyme,  purple cauliflower, mini cauliflower, nice, big, good-looking bunches of asparagus, cheap green beans, tomatillos, guava, passion fruit, artichokes, limes, texan ruby red grapefruits, and BERRIES! lots and lots of berries! blueberries, raspberries, blackberries (and strawberries- which you CAN get in korea) i have to say though- korea totally wins out on strawberries. the ones we got at kroger unfortunately tasted like cardboard in comparison :o/ we just grabbed wildly and all these wonderful things and then moved on to the organic pre-packaged foods section which was equally awe-inspiring!

there were more kinds of organic cereals at kroger than there are of just regular cereals in korea! koreans don't really seem to be cereal-eating people. they've got corn flakes, green tea corn flakes and chocolate cereal at most places and then 2-3 tesco brand cereals at the big home plus (wal-mart-type store). we immediately grabbed some cinnamon shredded wheat squares that were to DIE for! lol i know that sounds crazy but korea really changes your taste buds lol other foods we were excited about: brown rice (koreans think white rice is superior), basmati rice (have to travel a ways and pay a lot for this in korea), brown basmati rice (non-existent in korea), various kinds of whole wheat pasta! (i think there was one kind in the stores in mokpo), many different kinds of yummy-sounding chips! (no more shrimp or squid flavored chips for me!), tooooons of different kinds of tea...tea that actually sounds good that is! in korea they've got green, black, barley, corn, multi-grain and other boring or gross sounding teas lol

and that was just in the organic section! i think an hour had passed by the time we got to the regular part of the store and another hour or more passed before we were done lol

some other general differences: the aisles are nice and WIDE! i felt like i was constantly bumping into someone or something with my cart in korean stores. they have limited spaces so they have to build up instead of out and everything is really close together. this has resulted in people getting used to bumping into each other so much that they don't even say anything when they do it lol in america we have lots of land so we can build out, space things far apart and rarely bump into each other. when we do we MUST apologize. how dare someone get in our bubble! lol

we have TONS of selection in america. we have 100 different brands of cereal and 5-10 different flavors of each brand! it takes forever just to pick out cereal! although i suppose after you live here a while (or if you've just lived here your whole life) you get to know what there is and what you like and then you can just go straight to what you want and pick it up. but if you're suddenly confronted with more cereal than you know what to do with it's a bit daunting! i would LOVE to plop a korean person in the middle of an american cereal aisle and just watch there reaction lol i have a feeling there would be bugged out eyes and lots of OOOWAAAHHHs! lol

another difference in america is you don't have guys screaming at you through a karaoke mic/speaker about their specials on watermelon or meat or fish! good grief i can't tell you how many times i went downstairs to the food floor at home plus and immediately ran through the produce section to get away from the watermelon man. i had to cover my ears it was so loud! trust me dude- if people want watermelon they will buy it. you don't need to yell at them for them to do so! it's RIGHT THERE when you get off the escalator! i like the very subdued announcements over the pa system they have in american grocery stores. it's very....non-deafening!

i also enjoy being able to buy normal cuts of chicken, fish without bones in it and nice, big fresh shrimp! in korea the butchers randomly hack up chickens so that the pieces are completely unrecognizable, the fish ALWAYS have all the bones in and sometimes the head and eyeballs attached and the shrimp is just not fresh. i think they must have to get it from far away.

we, of course, have many more kinds of bread and bread products since we're a bread-eating country and not much of a rice-eating country. korean people usually just eat bread as a snack. it's always white or white flour based and really fluffy. they're not into whole-wheat or multi-grain or bread with OOMF!

after going through almost the entire store we made it to the cheese aisle! AH glorious cheese! korean people aren't really a cheese culture. they have american slices and "pizza cheese" (which we call plastic cheese) and a few select "fancy" cheeses like expensive brie, camembert and parmesan. and if we were feeling really ambitious we'd take an hour-long bus ride to another town and go to a specific foreign foods store to buy a big block of $20 cheddar lol well those days are gone! we bought about 7 different kinds of cheese while we were there: cheddar (of course!), monterey jack, feta, a blue cheese, provolone, parmesan, and a creamy herb and garlic goat cheese that was my favorite! sooo goood! we were in cheese heaven! lol

after the cheese came the wine and the beer! wines we would pay $15 for in korea were only $5 here! insane! we got a couple bottles of wine and a couple 6-packs of beer. are you wondering if they sell korean beer here? no, they don't. know why? cuz it's awful! lol their most popular beer is called hite but we've taken to calling it shite. we most likely got shiner that day at kroger and maybe something else.

we were finally done shopping and we were super excited about all our purchases including our alcohol! :o) then a man came up to us and said...uuuhhh you know it's against the law to buy alcohol before noon on sunday right? and were like whaaatt? no! (we were still waking up at the crack of dawn at this point...still getting over jet-lag and so we were at the store really early! lol) stupidly we had to put our alcohol back. it's not like we were gonna chug two bottles of wine and two 6-packs and then go to church! lol so dumb!

we went and checked out and were surprised again when we BOTH had to be carded! we were NEVER ONCE carded in korea anywhere, at any time. they're SUPER lenient about alcohol there. you can buy it anywhere, at any time and drink it anywhere at any time. you can walk down the street and drink. you can drink in the park. once i was offered a shot of strong blackberry wine AT SCHOOL at 10am! i drank soju (like vodka) at my korean elementary school after students had gone home almost every wednesday after the teacher's volleyball game with my co-workers! lol totally different culture! anyway, it was a good thing i had my passport with me because i lost of my texas driver's license like two years ago lol

they bagged our groceries, we took them to the car and put them in our nice, spacious trunk! in korea when we had our scooter we had to be careful about how much we bought because we had to fit it all onto the scooter. we got really good at fitting tons of stuff on there though. korean grocery bags are about 3-4 times the size of american ones and they're stronger. we'd fill 2-5 of those, hook a couple on the front floor board and i'd hold the rest and off we'd go! it was fun seeing korean people staring at us with all our groceries piled on the scooter! we've fit a chair, an ironing board, an amp, guitars, the dogs and all sorts of stuff on that thing! we were really sad after it was stolen. then we really had to be careful how much stuff we bought cuz we'd either have to carry it onto the bus or to a taxi.

another little thing about bagging groceries in korea: when you're going through the check-out line you have to tell them how many bags you want and then you have to pay for them (i think it's only like 5-10 cents a bag). i think we should do that in america! i heard they were going to and it fell through or something. the best thing to do of course is to bring your own bags. i can't believe people aren't doing that more now that they're selling them all over the place and we're running out of the oil to produce plastic ones! such a shame! anyway, in korea you have to bag your groceries yourself which i totally don't mind but i hate the fact that they rush you through the line. as soon as they're done scanning your stuff they want you to pay so they can move on to the next person, i've even had them start checking out the next person before i even pay! so you have to really scramble to hurry up and get your stuff in the bags which is pretty nerve-racking. i like being able to take my time!

overall it was an awesome shopping experience and we've really been enjoying all the foods we can buy and make here :o)

until next time!

Whirlwind

 Re-posted from May 6, 2010

wooooo it's been quite a whirlwind since we got back to texas almost two weeks ago! there's so much i want to write about but there's still SO MUCH else i have to do! i'll try to at least write some today. might be easier if i do it in list form...

reverse culture shock so far:

-everything is huge!

-we have to drive pretty much everywhere

-everything is far apart

-walmart is evil but oh so cheap! i just can't resist! :o/

-it's super windy! don't remember it being that windy...maybe because we're on the plains and there aren't tons of big buildings to block the wind?

-it's already getting REALLY hot!!! oh nos!

-you have to have a driver's license and car insurance and inspection tags and registration tags and you have to get gas and aaalll that mess! lol

-i've been overwhelmed by selection at nearly every store.

-i almost didn't remember how to check out groceries here lol it's not that different but enough to get me a bit frazzled. the belt automatically pushes your stuff to the end, there's a store card for nearly every store and they always ask you for it, you do the debit card machine yourself, someone else bags your groceries, they'll put it in plastic automatically unless you tell them not to and they don't move on to the next person until you leave! lol

here's a more positive one: 

-people are really nice! they ALWAYS say sorry even if they don't really need to. even if they just have to walk somewhat near you to get by!

-and it's nice to be able to understand what the salespeople are saying- things like how can i help you, have a wonderful day, etc. and i can actually ask them to help me find something and understand what they are saying! that's really nice :o)

other things i'm loving!:

-i have a little house! (no apt. neighbors!)

-i have a little porch! (we've been eating a lot of meals out there and it's sooo nice!)

-we share a HUMONGOUS yard with my parents- tons of trees, plants, grass and flowers. everything is SO green right now! and the dogs LOOOOOVE running around in it all day long. can't wait to start a garden!

-we have a spacious living room/kitchen so it'll be easy to have parties.

-the kitchen is so much nicer than any kitchen we ever had in korea- more counter space, more drawers, 4 burners! a regular oven! aaahhh it's heaven! :o)

-our bed is like sleeping on a cloud compared to a korean bed!

-we have a huge walk-in closet! no more packing stuff away in suitcases for a season lol

-we have a washer AND a dryer!

-the bathtub is huge compared to our korean one and the water gets hot within a few seconds. no more turning the hot water off and on and waiting on it and not being able to have one person showering and one person doing dishes at the same time lol

-i like having a car even though i do wish i had other options too.

-ALL THE WONDERFUL FOOD OPTIONS! you can get pretty much anything here!! it's so great! same goes for drinks and alcohol!

-the sunny warm weather!

-the shopping options

and the list goes on!

things i've gotten done:

-went through all my grammie's stuff out at "the bungalow" (our house) and boxed up what we can't use.

-unpacked our suitcases and lots of boxes we had in storage.

-found lots of wedding presents we hadn't been able to use since our wedding!

-put stuff away and now our house is more livable :o)

-ordered a driver's license and debit card.

-got a computer, phones, food, misc.

still need to:

-go through a TON more stuff out at my parent's house

-have two or more huge garage sales

-do yoga

-change our weon!! (still haven't done that! lol)

-start a garden

-get dogs' tags

etc.etc.etc.!

hopefully it won't be too long before i write again! :o)

Back in TEXAS!

i don't wanna write much cuz it's late but i'll do a short entry to get you updated :o)

i couldn't have had a better last night in korea! it was AWESOME! went to eat with friends, then went to a bar, a noraebang, and another bar and just danced and sang the night away! it was SO much fun! best way to do it! i was literally dancing with people as i said goodbye to them :o) no time for getting sad and crying! lol

that's where the fun ended though cuz we took a bus up to seoul and it was horrible! 5 hours of our driver driving like a bat out of hades! and he had the heater on full blast so it was like a sauna on there! we couldn't sleep at all and i felt totally sick by the time we got to the airport :o/

got the dogs checked at quarantine, checked our bags and dogs, got a snack and got straight on the plane!

the flight was much better than the bus ride! although i couldn't eat much because i kept feeling nauseated from lack of sleep. wasn't too bad though- we ate, we read, we slept a little, we watched movies, etc. i love korean air's entertainment selection- it's amazing! i watched the lovely bones and whip it- both good!

we arrived at dfw at about 8:30am local time, went to immigration, got our dogs and bags (dogs did great! no accidents! lol), went through customs (they took our dog food and treats but no biggie), and then met up with our parents! it was great!

we immeditately took the dogs to the pet relief area in the parking garage so they could go to the bathroom. it's a little 3x4 foot space with wood chips and a fake fire hydrant lol so funny. jjang peed like 6 times lol

got back to the house and the morning was pretty chaotic- we let the dogs run around the yard and they met mom's big dog, cheyenne. then mom surprised me with her new puppy which i didn't know she had! she got a teeny tiny little yorkie about a month ago- her name's diva and she literally vibrates constantly lol i swear she never stops moving even when she's peeing lol so funny! sadie is doing good with the other dogs but jjang is NOT. he's being a little turd! he's just being too aggressive and barking too much. hopefully he'll calm down after a while. we went out and saw our little house we'll be living in!

if you don't know- my dad built a little apt/guesthouse onto the back of their garage for my grammie several years ago and recently she had to move into a home for round the clock care so the house is vacant. i'm really grateful we're able to live out there. we call it the bungalow. anyway quite a bit of my grammie's stuff is still out there so we have to go through it, take stuff out, unpack our stuff and put it away. it's gonna take some time but it's starting to come together. i'm excited about making it our own.

i absolutely LOVE the yard! it is SO WONDERFUL to have a yard. if you've never been without one then you just have no idea just how great it is to have one lol it's amazing. i feel like i live in a park lol and the dogs having a great time to of course. they're outside so much and they haven't peed in the house but once. i'm sure it was jjang and i'm not sure why he did it cuz the door was open to the outside. i was asleep so i'm not sure when it happened but he may have been sleeping, woke up and just randomly peed in the middle of the floor lol other than that they've done great though!

so back to our first morning- we let the dogs out, saw the house and had a brunch with grandparents, parents and siblings. it was wonderful! eggs, bacon, homemade raisin bread, blueberries, strawberries, grapefruit, coffee, apple butter, honey we bought in laos- yum!

we unpacked a little the first day and then took a long nap! woke up about 6pm and went to jens'a parents' house for dinner with them and his sister jill. they got a new puppy about a month ago too- a welsh terrier named hugo. so cute! the dogs played in the yard while jim grilled amazing sausages from central market (one had apple in it and it was delicious!), eggplant, mushrooms and squash. we ate it with homemade wheat bread and a salad made from veggies from their garden. oh my goooooooooooooooooooooooooosh! i was in heaven!

after leaving there we came back to the bungalow and jens had joel over and we sat on the porch and ate CHEESE that joel brought. thanks joel!!! i think it was...edam? i don't even know i just started devouring it lol

i went to bed at 11p and jens went at 2a and we both got up today at 6am.

we ate a quick breakfast and then went on an EPIC grocery trip! lol i had to take pictures throughout of course lol SO MUCH VARIETY!!!! so much cereal! and bbq sauce! and beer! i think we were there 2-2.5 hours! we wanted to get beer and wine but a guy working there said you can't buy it before 12pm on a sunday! LOL LAME! first culture shock moment lol

we came back and had to empty the pantry before we could put stuff away. then ben and vivienne came over and we ate some of the goat cheese and crackers we bought and chatted on the porch before viv had to go to school.

then ben helped us pack/unpack stuff. we got a slow start but overall we got quite a bit done today. all the stuff we don't want is almost outta the house and my mom emptied two of our suitcases for us today. so that's good! a big problem though is my mom took all my gram's plates, pots, pans, and utensils out of the kitchen so we could put ours in but ours are still in storage and we haven't had time to get to them yet lol so we've been borrowing stuff from my parents/just cooking out at their place lol we're gonna be in limbo for a couple weeks i'm sure. there's so much stuff to go through before we find our plates, etc. lol

it's crazy but it's ok! lol we're just loving being HOME!!!!

we got iphones and they're AMAZING! i've been having fun playing with that and jens bought all the parts for the computer he's going to build. we got a 28 inch comp screen lol it's gonna double as our tv! we won't have network or cable tv out at our place but we're used to just downloading shows and watching them on the comp so i think it'll work out fine. if we really wanna watch something on regular tv we can just go over to my parents' house.

we went out to eat with my parents tonight at pho 21 (vietnamese) and it was really good. jens just about fell asleep at the table though since he got less sleep than me last night lol

i'm probably staying up too late now- it's after 1am. so i'd better go! gotta get a lot more done tomorrow! goodnight!