Deck the halls...!!

Dudes, seriously. I LOVE Christmas.

I'm the artistic director for my friend's Christmas card so we went shopping in Namdaemun for props. We ended up at Alpha, the most awesome art store ever, and I got some stuff to personalize our stockings. Here are the (effing awesome) results:

Thanksgiving

I am a very happy camper right now. I'm in bed with Claudie, listening to Christmas carols and chatting with friends online. I'm wearing an awesome SF Giants World Series Champions t-shirt and sipping Peet's Holiday blend, sent to me by my lovely friend Sara J. Sundays are awesome.

Last night, my friends and I celebrated Thanksgiving. For a few of us, it's the last one we'll have in Korea and that made it a little extra special. As we sat around eating the (absolutely amazing and delicious) turkey and stuffing, I thought about how 4 years ago, I didn't know these people existed and now they're my family away from home. It's amazing how that happens. Same thing with my friends at university and I'm sure it'll happen again down the road.

My flatmate is a really closed off person. He doesn't open himself up to new food, new places, or new people (notable exception is when he travels). He's been miserable in Korea right now because most of his friends left and he won't open up to new people. I am very glad I'm not like that and I feel like my life has been so rich and good because I have so many people I care about.

I sat down on Thursday and had a big think about what I'm thankful for this year and I was really humbled by how blessed I've been. I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday, too.

On the border: The DMZ

I've got a checklist of certain tourist things I need to do before I leave the Land of Morning Calm and one of them was visiting the DMZ. My flatmate's gf was visiting from Turkey so Dan asked if I wanted to join them so early (really really early) Saturday morning, the three of us trudged down to the USO and caught a bus to Paju.

The first part of the tour was the best. Since we went through the USO, we got to go on a tour of the Joint Security Action fort/camp thingie. We got to go into these little guard houses that literally straddled the border between North and South Korea so I've now technically been to North Korea! I got to take a photo with a South Korean guard...



After that, we got a lot on the history of the base and of the post-armistice conflicts that have arisen. The camp itself is named after an officer named Bonifas who was killed by North Korean soldiers when he was supervising his men chopping down a tree that was blocking a view of a guard house. From one check point, we were able to see the propaganda town in NK that flies one of the largest flags in the world.

The second part was lame and not worth writing about. Sorry.

Overall, I'm glad I went. I can now say that I've been to North Korea! Here are some more photos:

The Last...

Fall has always been my favorite time of year here in Seoul and as this is my last one, I am finding myself stopping to appreciate everything.

A couple week ago, I ran my last 10K in Korea. It was perfect. The weather was just right for running in a t-shirt and shorts, the course was a loop around the river, the race shirt was awesome, and there was a great after-party. It was so perfect that as I left the race, I got a bit choked up and stopped to look around and soak it all in.



Yesterday, Charles and I went to the last home FC Seoul game of the year and therefore my last. We had an amazing time and though I've been suffering through an absolutely epic hangover, it was worth it. We cheered, chanted, shouted, drank, and took loads of photos. Again, an absolutely perfect end that made me feel teary.

World Series Champions!!!!!

I know this lil' blog is mostly about my time in Seoul or travels but...The Giants won the World Series!!!! Holy poo!!!!

I'm a casual fan but a lifelong one. I'm horrible about keeping up when I'm not in San Francisco but I go to a game every chance I get and there's a lot of love there. I am so happy for people like my papa, who has passionately supported the team his entire life. In no particular order, my favorite Giants memories...and one bad one....

-Apparently, I went to my first game at Candlestick when I was 3 months old. My dad bundled me up in a blanket and snuck me in.

-I spent my 21st birthday at AT&T Park, drinking beer and watching the Giants with my dad. It was awesome.

-Papa Bear took Julia and I to a game when we were about 11 or 12 and gave us each $20 for food. We ate our way through Candlestick and we both ended up puking everything up.

-When I was 18, I left San Francisco to go to university in Philadelphia. The last thing my dad, my sisters, and I did together as a family before I flew out was go to a game. Incidentally, this would be the last game I'd go to at Candlestick. I had the picture of us up in my dorm all four years of college.

-Just this past May, I had 6 days in San Francisco and on my last night, Julia and I went to a game. We sat in bleacher seats and got drunk and cheered our asses off. It was so much fun and I am so glad I got to go to one game during their championship season.

-I once chucked a baguette at a Dodgers fan's head during a game. Ugh, I HATE the Dodgers.

-Speaking of...I was at a game against some East Coast team and the Sacramento Kings vs LA Lakers game was on a monitor and my entire section started chanting "BEAT L.A.!" It was awesome.

-The Bad...You can go up to any Giants fan and say "Remember 2002?" and they will shudder. The Giants were 7 outs from a World Series championship and the effing Angels rallied to win. Game 7 and the Giants choked. I was in Philly at the time and didn't know any other Giants fan and I had to cry into my beer all by myself. It was awful, so gut wrenching.

This season has been incredibly bittersweet. I am so thrilled and happy for the team and for San Francisco but damn, I have never ever been this homesick in my entire life. Thank goodness for Facebook, it was made me feel very connected to my friends and family in the city. I'll never forget reading the score on my iPod and bursting into tears in the hallway of my school. I still get weepy when I think about it. Just incredible.

The Beginning of the End

Well, boys and girls, here it is. The countdown to the end of my time in Korea finally begins.

I had been planning on leaving this March for a while but sometime this spring I thought it would be better if I signed another contract. The other night, I was looking at job listings and was seriously unenthusiastic. Then, my flatmate popped into my room to tell me that he's leaving in March, moving to Istanbul because he wants to be with his girlfriend. That's when it hit me, I really really really really didn't want to be here another year, all the money in the world wasn't worth it, and I wanted to go home.

So I'm going home!

My contract is finished on Feb. 28th, I get my last paycheck on March 10th, and I am flying out on March 11th. I have a little less than 5 months to go and I am busy making lists and beginning the moving process and it's all very very exciting.

I kinda wish I had known last spring was going to be my last spring in Korea. There were things I would have made more of an effort to do and see but ah well. Though I've loved my time here, I'm ready to go.

On Pins and Needles

What better time to get back to blogging than right after my very first acupuncture appointment?

Picture this: Seoul. June 2010. Maebong Station. I was walking up the stairs of exit four, enjoying my Monday morning treat (mocha latte) and thinking about how smokin' hot nearly all the players on the Spanish national team are. I was thinking about how silky David Villa's hair would feel when I tripped up the stairs and nearly landed flat on my face. I had stuck my left hand out in front of me, trying to save my face and my coffee, and landed on it with all my weight.

Ow.

I somehow made it to school and went straight upstairs. I screamed for Charles and he wrapped up the wrist and gave me instructions on care. I followed them, swelling went down, I was able to do my K-pop dance routine with no problem. I thought that was the end of that.

My little finger had other ideas. About two weeks after the incident, I was teaching the youngest class and my wrist began to throb painfully after doing the hand motion for the itsy bitsy spider song. After the pain went away, my pinkie was numb and stayed that way until today. Last night, it started hurting even more so I finally went to the acupuncturist.

Now, as some of you know, I freak the eff out around needles. Last summer when I had to go to the emergency room because of bronchitis, they took out blood and I nearly fainted. I loathe needles so naturally I was apprehensive of this whole "acupuncture" thing but it turns out, I had nothing to be afraid of. The first part was like any other doctor's appointment and then I went into a room full of beds. First, the nurse put this metal massage thingie on my pinkie and got it all relaxed. Then the "oriental doctor," Dr. Yoon, came in and straight away I told her about my needle fear. She was was very sympathetic and told me to lie on my side and face away from her.

I could feel the needles going in but it didn't hurt, at least until she got to the pinkie. That freaking killed. She left me alone for about half an hour and no joke, I was so relaxed that I fell asleep! Dr. Yoon had to wake me up to kick me out. All this for less than 25,000 won. Not bad at all.

The pinkie still feels a bit weird and it started throbbing when I went for my run this evening so I might go back if it doesn't improve.