Advertisement
Published: August 14th 2010
Nearly a MONTH has flown by since my last post. Things have been very busy around here with summer intensives. We are teaching classes in the morning and all afternoon/evening. I work every MWF in the morning and Jake works every TR in the morning. We are at the school from 9am-1pm and then we have to be back at 3pm until 10pm. It makes for a long day....and long weeks! Also, we've traveled somewhere every weekend so we're nearing the point of exhaustion! But it's been so fun and I'm sad that summer is nearly gone. But that won't stop me from making the best out of the rest of it.
Since I've written, we went to Boryeong, which is a beach town a couple hours away on the coast of the Yellow Sea. They have hosted the Boryeong Mud Festival for 13 years now, which is a huge event visited by about 2.5 million people each summer. It consists of MUD and FOREIGNERS. It started with mostly American soldiers but now there are plenty of foreigners from all over the world either teaching or just vacationing. It's definitely "THE event" in Korea for foreigners. I realized it would
be a huge drunk fest full of loud Americans but because of all the hype, I didn't want to miss it.
The following weekend we went to Busan, which is the 2nd largest city in Korea. All I had really heard about Busan was that it's the best city in Korea and has great beaches so I was excited. It's the furthest possible city from Seoul, down at the opposite end and the opposite side of the country. However, the KTX train has made it a pretty easy trip. It goes on average about 200 miles per hour. Cheongju doesn't have a KTX station so we had to bus to Daejon (45 mins) and then catch the KTX to Busan (2 hours). Haeundae Beach is probably the most popular area in Busan...and you've probably seen pictures of it. It's pretty famous for being absolutely packed. It's full of colored umbrellas and yellow tubes floating in the water. I'll add some pictures.
The next weekend I had my 1 month eye appointment. I can't believe it's already been over a month since the surgery. Time is flying! My vision is 20/20 in each eye so everything is going well.
I'm LOVING being able to see EVERY second of EVERY day 😊 Jake and I headed to Seoul and decided it was finally time to cave in and get cell phones. We were excited to go 1 year without them but I think it became a pretty big inconvenience. Maybe to other people even more than us. We kept hearing in Cheongju that foreigners CANNOT have pre-paid phones. We really wanted pre-paid because the only other option is signing a one year contract and paying for the entire year. I talked to a friend that is South African and she told me where to get the hook up. So we headed to Itaewon (foreigner central) in Seoul. We're happy to both have phones, especially for when our FIRST (and only?) visitor comes NEXT month! Jeanne is coming in September and this way we can give her a phone while she's here and keep the other one. Last weekend in Seoul, we met up with some friends (she is South African and he is from Ohio) and did some shopping in Myeondong and then headed to the 63 Building. It was the tallest building outside North America for a while but
now it's not even in the top 100. There is an imax, aquarium, shopping and an art gallery in it. We went to the top floor, which is the art gallery, and got a nice view of Seoul and the Han River.
The past few weekends were all super fun...it was so awesome running into friends in Boryeong! Friends could be one of the biggest things I miss right now....friends and Summer in Washington 😊 And Sofia...and my favorite twin brothers, and my whole family! Luckily, I got to skype with Nyrie, Lacey, and Emily this week so that helped 😊
Intensives end this next Thursday, Praise the Lord! Then on Saturday Jake and I are off to Jeju Island to celebrate! It is Korea's equivalent to Hawaii (I'll decide whether or not that's true when I see it...) It's a HUGE honeymoon and vacation destination and flights were full for weeks in advance. It should be pretty great and relaxing and beautiful! Until next time....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.113s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 10; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0767s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Jeanne
non-member comment
Hey, Bet!! It was so good to hear about your new adventures as always and I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes because I miss you guys so much! I can't believe it's been six months since I've seen you and a year since you lived with me. I cannot wait to get there! I'm so proud of you for making the most of your time. You are seeing it all! I love you!! Jeanne