Today was a chill day in preparation for tomorrow’s wedding. I had a lovely work morning at the Guam Hive enjoying time to catch up on emails and indulge in a BBQ pork waffle sandwich, strawberry spinach salad, and delicious homemade ice cream. The afternoon was spent at the beach and losing track of time. But after a quick sprint back to the air bnb to change close and a sprint down 3 blocks, we were able to make it into a gentle stretch yoga just as the doors were closing sweat running down our faces. Yoga is interesting, especially after I have not done it for some time. I never realize how tight I am until I start to move and focus on something as simple as my breathing. No thoughts to distract, no tasks ... read more

Today was the last of the nine days of Nobena for Jules’ family. This means a very large celebration of prayer, food and community gatherings. The Nobena is a celebration of Jesus and due to the large Spanish influence here Mary as well. The Techa came in again and read the prayers and there were more songs than the previous days. Then there was the eating. The spread put our Thanksgiving to shame. There were 4 tables of food, a fully roasted pig, a table of desserts and then the Bonelos (a yam based donut). I was lucky enough to go through the food line with Cam and her daughter Frankie who advised me to go minimal on the carbs and stay away from the American dishes because I can get them any time. Not only ... read more

Today we were given the task of getting Jules out of the house early so her sisters could get ready for the surprise wedding shower and out of the house. Easier said then done, but only 10 minutes late we were out of the house. The tricker part was getting Jules to let us go to the shower. With the Guam hospitality, letting guests walk anywhere is not acceptable. Plus Jules was on a mission to get Shelby a pair of normal flip flops so she would get out of her chacos. Quote unquote ”Those are so embarrassing for me! Everyone will know you aren’t from here and make fun of you.“ From there getting her to drop us off was far from easy, but again only 10 minutes late we were at the shower. It ... read more

We went in search of an animal cafe. These cafes are scattered around Seoul and each has an animal speciality: dogs, cats, raccoons, meerkats, goats and so on. Where these animals come from I am not sure. We decided to go check out the meerkat cafe mainly because neither of us knew what exactly a meerkat was. For once, we found the spot without getting lost first. But I was not prepared for what we walked into. Shoes are left at the door and everyone is given slippers to wear to protect the animals. The cafe doesn’t serve food or coffee (so I decided cafe is false advertising). You can purchase bottled beverages which maintain appropriate sanitation for both the animals and humans. The first shock was the cafe had more than just meerkats; there was ... read more

This may go on record of the longest day of my life. We left Kathmandu last night and our first play had a movie station for each seat. Now normally, I am not the movie person but after 2 months of almost no tv, I felt like a kid on Christmas morning. I ended up picking an incredibly sad movie (note to self read the summary first ’tear jerker‘ is a hint to pass). This had to be followed up with two documentaries: the truth about exercise and the rise of vertical farming (I recommend this one). All was well and good going into Seoul, found our hotel and was excited to check in a take a nap at 9 AM. The unfortunate part was we couldn’t check in until 3 PM. WHAT TO DO!!!??? Shelby ... read more