.

birthday parties and nori bang.

2009-03-26T09:02:00.000-07:00

so. i've been here a little over 4 1/2 months. and i must say, tonight was the most fun i've had since being here. it was one of my korean band member's (un-i 2) birthday... so. we went to the studio after work and ate some chicken, pizza, and cake... and then proceeded to nori bang... for over 2 hours.

i cannot begin to explain the foolishness and childish ways that took place, but let's just say there was an immense amount of dancing, mask wearing, harmonizing, shouting, and all around idiocy that took place. sara, myself, and our new co-worker from new zealand (who informed me they call themselves 'kiwis'...) went with my band members and sam - who is the best korean singer i've ever heard... and likes to wear horse masks and shove the microphone down his long horse mouth...

you can only imagine the extreme behavior that took place. but the best part was there were no barriers. it was just 7 people hanging out, singing tunes and being stupid. the last song we sang was 'we are the world'...

and that summed it up. not that being stupid made us the world. ha. but that here i am... on the south tip of korea... singing mariah carey and michael jackson songs with my best buds - who before i came here knew nothing about me, nor i them. and i think that's freakin awesome.

much love from so-kor,

kam-dogg millionaire. ha. (i'm a hoot... i know)

pros and cons in month 4.

2009-03-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

hello my loyal readers. my profound apologies for my lack of updates. life here moves at a fast pace... and one that doesn't console my procrastination tendencies. i often think of updating things, and wish i would have shown you my incredible experience i had with my boss' family celebrating the lunar holiday (over a month & 1/2 ago). but, you creative souls, just imagine an abundance of korean food at 6 in the morning, lots of bowing, betting on korean game play, and madagascar 2 in full korean.. and then imagine all the pictures you know i took, and there, my friends you will have the full event.

a lot has happened since i last wrote in. my opinion of where i am changes quite frequently upon the day. some days i wake up aching for familiarity that i grew so overly fond of in the great state of texas. other days i'm fully embracing this culture i ruggedly threw myself upon and all of its benefits. routinely, and all in my head of course, i come up with numerous pros and cons. and in the aforementioned, it depends on the day as to which side i'm leaning towards. this week, it's been a mixture. however, i'll lay it out so you can fully comprehend.

in america... you go to a restaurant... and even if it's new...you can read the menu (and most of them have pics anyway) or ask the waiter/waitress to explain what the dish is. if it is the wrong thing, you can explain that they messed up your order and they'll take it back and fix it. when you order something, it is usually all brought out together and you eat as one... with individual plates. somewhat of a "if you wanted this, you shoulda ordered it yourself mentality..."

in korea... we get told we need to branch out, try knew things, new places, new foods, and with a subconscious of a bit of reluctance, i uphold to those terms and undergo the sometimes grueling and even moreso annoying experience(s). example a: you go to a restaurant... the menu is in korean (of course). but hey, that's okay, we look for pictures and ask for 'anmepta' (not spicy) and take the korean waitress' word for it... only to be told what i decided on they aren't cooking that night. so, with a bit of annoyance i pick something else. "okay... i'll try this!" i say with newfound enthusiasm! and after i say it, i think okay, this will be much better anyway. her response "no. sorry. not today." i unabashedly roll my eyes and let out a laugh similar to that of 'are you freakin' kidding?!' so finally, i decide okay, whatever, i'll just take this here dish. and just as i am easing myself into a state of non-frustration... she responds in a familiar tone that i just really don't like. "no, sorry. not tonight." holy mother of pearls. i want to throw this skinny lady out the window with her menu of things that restaurant isn't serving! example b: in america, if they get your order wrong, you explain to them that hey, it's not right and they'll fix it. here... what you get put on the table... is exactly what you get to eat. no questions asked. that is that. doesn't matter if the simple aroma from the spice dish that they swore wasn't spicy is resonating your nostrils and making you cry... all that matters is you have your tiny glass of water and if your foot can reprieve itself of falling asleep in indian style position, long enough for the wake-up calls of immediate and transitory water refills. that's all you can hope for.

it isn't all bad though. here are the pros...

- incredible views. i live in a place of insane beauty. Jesus is all over this place, man. i am a 5 minute walk away from the most beautiful coastal scene no picture could remotely express. there are mountains galore to climb and there are over 120 islands to visit this summer. not to mention, the white water rafting, para-sailing, jet skiing, and scuba-diving... along with the intense amount of hours i plan to become a beach bum and get my sweet tan. so see, it's not all that bad, really, i live in one the most beautiful scenic parts of the world.

- swell people. i have never in my life met so many hospitable people. everyone is so respectful towards each other, and most especially towards me. i get bowed to non-stop and really find it quite humorous. i enjoy bowing, actually, and am quite afraid i'll take it back with me to the states. there is something about it, though, that says hey i'm really acknowledging YOU. sara actually bowed to an american a few weeks ago. ha. but yea, the respect level here is out the roof.

- 3K1A - this is my side project. it is my little korean band. we are called 3K1A. any guesses as to the name?

think...

keep thinkin.....

c'mon you hampered in thought... it's actually pretty easy.

okay, fine. THREE KOREANS. ONE AMERICAN. (3K1A...comin SOON) <--that's our slogan for now! ha

yes. that is right. since i first got here i started going to a studio of a friend of my boss' brother ( i know, it sounds complicated). anyhow, aside from previous beliefs my enthusiasm would die down, it just enhanced my desire to go. so i go there, every day.. for a couple hours. and we play music. together. i took drum lessons for 3 months and then switched to guitar to become more proficient with it. so, i play the electric guitar and sometimes drums, my teacher plays the bass, uni-2 ('uni' is what you call an older female whom you are close to... and there is uni-1 and uni-2.) plays the acoustic/electric, and uni-1 plays primarily the drums. and then we swop singing. we also swop languages to the songs. in the beginning we learned a song by a korean artist... i'm just glad i can read music! then i convinced them to learn the song yellow, by coldplay, (of which they all smiled in adoration upon first hearing the beautiful serenade!) anyhow, now we are onto another sweet korean tune. i love it. and waking up every morning knowing i get to go hang out with them and just jam and laugh makes it all worth it.

-the people i meet/other foreigners. recently we've had the opportunity to meet a new set of foreigners. they had their parents send them 14lbs of blocked cheese. and we others, whom haven't had cheese in the longest time, had a ball eating 4 lbs of it, and really look forward to the rest of it... ahh, cheese. ya just don't know whatcha got till it's gone. anyhow, yes, the people. they are a hoot. some of the most raw and honest people i'll ever meet. one, of which, is leaving next week. i think he is being replaced by a new zealander (fingers crossed) so that'll be wicked cool. almost every friday we go bowling, play bball saturday (which you know makes my heart leap!) then have brunches and dinners occasionally on sundays. they are truly a big part of why it is so easy to not be homesick.

- the kiddos. these kids...they are somethin' else. i adore them. and their adoration for me is nothing short than of that of mine for them. they reciprocate love like it's unheard of. each day they eagerly go to class (most of them, mind you) and can't wait to just talk to you in the halls. they are truly geniuses. their IQ could triple that of any child their age in the states. korea might not have the best food, but they understand the idea of smart little kiddies. i will be extremely sad to have to say goodbye to those kids. one, most especially, stole my heart from the beginning - ruby. she is incredible. so smart. so much life and conversation in her.

-pen-pals. that's right. i love getting letters from chums and responding later than i'd told them. ha. but i do it, eventually. it means something to me... a lot, really, that people go out of their way to make a conscious effort to send me something... and write down my 7 ong-filled address that makes you use four envelopes b/c you left out something or misspelled something on the first three. it's an appreciation that i'll always have. so if you write me, or send me something, please know how thankful and appreciative i am, and how much it helps being so far away.

- chopstick usage. that's right. i'm a bad ass. watch out. :)

however, with all good things there comes the annoyance and CONS:

- FOOD. never before, nor ever again once i leave korea, will i ever have as much rice intake as i do here. seriously, with EVERY meal. EVERY SINGLE ONE. the fresh fish markets is not a play on words.. it is most exactly what you think. if you even hint at a fish and they catch you, they grab it outta the batch (wiggly and all) and precede to chop it's head off right there... with the tail still wiggling... blood.... it's a site i could most assuredly do without seeing ever again. and if that isn't bad enough, they scale the fish, slice it open, rip out the cuts, cut it up into pieces then hand it to you... all being done by an old korean lady who is probably like 80. it is intense. the smell of fish here... some days is too much.... and then there is the fact that everything here is layered in spice. i swear. maybe the fish are even caught in a net coated in spice. it is inescapable. :(

- you know the only octopus i've ever seen before coming here was in the little mermaide. now, she wasn't a pleasant lady, i realize, but still... to see a live octopus being boiled. the little sucker thingy-ma-bobs... it gives me chills simply thinking about it. what ever happened to good ole' ham-n-cheese?! c'mon!

- language barrier. i ought to start off by saying i have learned the korean alphabet (all the flippin' tiny symbols, mind you!!) and can read korean...(without the knowledge of WHAT it is i am reading.. that is still to come) and have learned enough conversational words and things to make a conversation go not so counter-clockwise to swimmingly, but decent enough. but still, there are some days where i just want to be able to go into a store and ask a question and not get the "are you russian" question. i'd really like to be able to teach the kids better and explain to them better in their own language. i think that's what drives me to learn as many classroom words as i can. you just don't pay attention to all the chatter around you, until none of it is remotely comprehensible.

- exchange rate. as a lover of money, i officially hate the green pieces of crap. i send money home each month to pay off my oh-so-kind credit card debt... and there's no telling how much money i've lost going from korean won to dollars. it's just mind-boggling. it's at the worst it's ever been. hallelujah for timing! haha. depending on how the exchange rate is when my contract is up, will be a big part of deciding whether i stay or not.

-i miss my dog!!!! no explanation is needed for this. i genuinely miss coming home and being greeted by my buddy. knowing even if everyone in the world was pissed at me or annoyed with me or whatever hasty feelings i was attracting that day, that he would knowingly pee in excitement of my arrival. i see him each morning on skype and he thinks my mom is me. but i can't wait to get home to him. i really miss him.

so yea. life here. it's full of trivial and really not so trivial things. i feel like sara and i are extremely lucky to be where we are with who we are. i have had a smooth sail since being here and know it's because God is extremely good to me. i think of all of you often and wish i was better at updating this and my picture site.. and just all around snail mail. i really miss sonic. i mean... serious serious withdrawals. i've yet to enter the shock and shaking syndrome... but time tells me it's not far away. ha.

okay, this was my effort at an informative update for you all... but i didn't really tell you much but other than what i like and dislike. stay tuned for an announcement of my bands tour...

SIDENOTE: my mother's birthday is coming up on the 30th of march... so PUH-LEASE... go give her an over the hill hug or a dead daisy or something. :) (kidding mother! ha) but really... give her a hug for me.

sah-rang-heh (i love you),

kami

muju resort.

2009-01-26T19:17:00.001-08:00

hello my loyal followers. it seems as though once again i have failed you as a host and delayed my postings due to my adventurous spirit continuing to explore this wonderful culture and this beautiful coast i so incredibly live on. i've come to realize, as should you, that it will be a repetitive fault of mine. oh well. it could be much worse.

anyhow, i had the great opportunity to get to go to a famous ski resort in muju, called no other than.. wait for it... wait for it... muju resort. yes sir'ee bob. and what a fantastic time i had! i opted to not ski, though, as i have no ski clothes here and it was quite expensive for just an afternoon... (though i am still kickin myself for being a pansy and not just goin' for it), so sara and i rode the gondala (big ski lift that takes you to the top) to the top and went and took pictures. we also, as you will see, took a bus to a souvenir plaza and i found a phenomenal carousel to suffice my inner child on. anyhow, here are some pics. enjoy.

i wanted this hat that the guy was wearing. i ALMOST bought it... he has a polar bear chillin' on his head. i mean... c'mon... that's rockin'.

when i first reached the top, my immediate thought was 'ey... SNOW ANGEL, BABY! so... that is exactly what i did. i plopped right down on the ground and preceded to make a snow angel. afterwards, i decided to do my infamous jump picture...showing off the lovely view, of course.

sara and i were very cold. very. very. ve-eh-ehhh-ry cold...so we went inside and did the following:

i had a coca cola, my peanut butter ritz crackers that mom so sweetly sent me, some diget crackers that are famous in korea, and i read jane eyre, all while defrosting my sorely frostbitten toes and fingers. good times!

next. sara and i took a bus to the souvenir shop... and i found a beautiful black beauty to ride on a children's carousel. and since i am american, they let me! oh what pleasure my soul received in going in circles on the little black beauty that i chose. after walking around, however, i saw this quaint little indian man whose only dream in life, was not to conquer the enemy tribe that has been killing his own.. ohh no. it was also not to see how many buffalo he could kill and weapons he could make from their bones. no way. it was, as you can see, to be kissed on the cheek by a beautiful american woman. and so... who am i to deny a man's only wish in life? HA.

who can resist this face? seriously. she is ah-dorableeee. and learned to ski so quickly. next time i will appease the masses, and myself, and go skiing alongside this charming little gal, ruby.

my drum teacher, jun, also took about 15 of his students to the ski resorst. this is his son below - who, might i add, looks absolutely NOTHING like him. at all. not one bit. it is quite funny. but yes, here is my drum teacher - he is quite the looker. now, if only he were bigger in stature and was not married. haha.

and this is the group that went from ILS. it was a lot of fun, and i am always excited when we are asked to accompany our boss and his family to anywhere. the next post will be about our trip to experience a REAL korean new years at our bosses families house in jinjue. what a blast.

that's all folks. i'm still livin' and learning and doin' the best i can here. time goes so quickly when you work in the evenings, it really does. i rarely have time for homesickness, but i do have time to miss my impending affection for sonic and chick-fil-a. and macaroni and cheese. and real chicken friend rice... not this no-tasting plain sticky rice stuff they got here. but i am learning to cook, and have cooked recently for my friends here with great results and requests of seconds. SHOCKER. maybe i AM like my mother, after all. how well that would work out for me! :D i miss that lady. she is a hoot. if you see her, please give her hugs for me, and tell her how weird she is - i am sure she is missing me telling her that back home. ha.

much love from the shores of korea,

kami

i REALLY suck at updating.

2009-01-13T05:46:00.000-08:00

okay. so. i admit whole-heartedly that i am terrible at updating this thing. it has been over a month so my apologies. i think i have two people who read this... so i'm not that upset at disappointing those two.

anyhow... over christmas and the new year i went to seoul. i could tell from the moment i got on the bus that our trip would be stellar.... 'silent night' was playing. in english! woop! anyhow, here are an overwhelming amount of pictures from my time spent in seoul. if you'd like to see the entirety of the horde, go to my picha site and do just that. HERE

so. sara and i climbed up the mansan tower (the huge tower in seoul); apparently lovers go up to the top and lock up their promises to each other... "do not throw away your key".... i don't know why... but i thought it was hilarious.

and here is my view from the top! very beautiful!

funny story: one year for christmas jimmy gave me a preserved grasshopper key chain. i threw it into the fire. and yet, i found it's relatives here in korea. good times. good times.

i was callin' home to let maw know what a great time i was havin'...

I FOUND A DR. PEPPER... and it rocked my FACE off. ahhh I MISS THESE!!! and sonic... i cannot even think to talk about how much i miss my route 44 trips to sonic. how are they still in business?!?! ha

NIGHTLIFE OF SEOUL

the nightlife of seoul is somethin' to be talked about. i've never seen so many neon lights in my life. i felt like i was hangin' out in a light bulb... too bad i forgot my sun glasses in tongyeong. anyhow... check 'em out.

amy and i were walkin' like flash.

steve and i were tryin' on hats in myeondong, and then i saw this cute little man...and he grabbed my behind. he was NOT as innocent as he seemed. ha.

LOTTE WORLD - INSIDE/OUTSIDE AMUSEMENT PARK = FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!

i was givin' the rock'n'roll sign when the camera took a picture of me on the inside roller coaster... which gave me huge whiplash. that sucker was inteeeense. shoo'.

CHURCHOLA

so. my uncle is onboard of a church in south korea - it is, if i am not mistaken, the biggest methodist church in the world, or at least in all of korea. the sunday service i attended there were over 4,500 people. what a ride. we were given translator ear pieces where an incredibly hot british voice told us what the bishop would say. that guy had me from "welcome to kwanglim..." ha. anyhow. luckily, i was able to meet with bishop sundo kim and he took my friends and i to a luxurious meal... i haven't ever seen so many plates in my life... seriously. it was ridiculous. i wanted to tell him that i would be JUST as happy if he took me to burger king... since i am not a fan of the korean food.. but i just smiled and pretended that i loved it all and that my lips really weren't burning off from all of the spicy foods. ha. anyhow here is it. he was a cutie! i will go again in spring and stay on prayer mountain - i am SUPER excited about that!

the church was Ha-UUUGE! and isn't he adorable?!?! i know. standing next to him gave me an inferiority complex! ha

OLYMPIC PARK

most people don't know that seoul held the 1988 olympics... so we got to take a stroll and see the 'world peace gates' and the torch. they have a temporary skating rink that we stopped by as well. super cute.

i loved the father holding his little girl. so cute! and this was the front where the torch was and the front of the gates. it was definitely a sweet sight to see and i felt proud to be there.. even at times skipping around pretending that i was a runner. operative word - pretending!

ITAEWON ENGLISH DISTRICT

oh itaewon... the foreigner highlight. there is a district in seoul that makes the hearts of foreigners pitter patter to the inward sounds of 'beenie weenies' and 'mac and cheese'... i found this place. look at that freakin' HUGE can of ketchup! holy toledo, batman... they aren't messin' around! i didn't buy anything, though that took much discussing inside my head. ahh, it was just fun to go in and see ENGLISH written on RECOGNIZABLE FOOD! ahhh.

AND FINALLY... NEW YEARS, BABY.

i have had 24 new years in my life.... most of which haven't been spent doing much. last year i was skiin' in the alps.. er.... new mexico. this year... i was in seoul - a city bigger than new york, mind you. it was the most interesting experience i've ever had. we arrived at the 'OI' bar... and it looked something like a 70's lounge that austin powers would be hanging out... with felt pillows to sit on around a tree trunk with lit candles.

after the new year count down, we all danced danced danced... and on the way home, i came across this bar....

HO BAR II... which was on the other street of HO BAR VI. ha. no worries maw... we didn't go in.

so yes. my week was spent ridiculously on the go. it was bitterly cold, but i had a great time. it was nice to get out of my small city and see the big town for a while, but i am definitely glad i live where i do. i love it here. so i will sign goodbye with a picture of me and some random guy who tried to literally run away with me on the streets of seoul.

adieu. good-bye. adios. anyong. peace out.

k-dubb.

i suck at updating.

2008-12-15T05:48:00.000-08:00

i know i know... i suck at updating. but i will ease the sting with a multitude of pictures beginning with my ruby.

ruby: kami teacher. when are you going back to texas?

me: oh not for a long long time. long time. we have almost an entire year together.

ruby: hoo-rah! that is an excited scream kami teacher. very excited scream.

i love her. oh how i adore her, so!

alright..welp, there's no secret here - i suck at updating this thing. life is moving in the fast lane here in korea. it really is. the weeks fly by and the weekends are spent discovering more of what korea entails. so here is a quick, in my kam-way quick, synopsis of the past two weeks.

FIRST: WORST BIRTHDAY PARTY I HAVE EVER BEEN TO IN MY ENTIRE LIFe. EVER!!!

i love korea. i do. but they do things ridiculous here. and the first birthday party is done up insanely. thousands of dollars are spent on the first birthday. my co-worker, jun's, son turned one a couple weeks ago and he asked us to go to his party. sara and i named him ben b/c we can't pronounce his korean name. all of my co-workers and directors came to support. here are a few pics...

1. 2.

1. this is jun, his wife, and son, ben. they are all decked out!

2. this is un bear ( whom sara and i have deemed 'hannah' ) she is one of my co-workers daughters. she is two years old... and she certainly acts like a two year old. but she is a doll. except when she brought me baby squid... where i did all but throw up in my mouth. DISGUSTING.

1. 2.

1. un bear (hannah) LOVED picking on sara. this picture was the highlight of my day. hahaha. look at the fear on sara's face!

2. this is the face off. hannah vs. sara.... look at hannah's tiny little fist. haha. she was precious! terrible twos... they ain't kiddin. haha. great entertainment!

AND THIS...

was the worst time of my life. absolute worst.

this crazy bitch (pardon the french... but there are no other describing words... trust me, i've thought about it) learned my name and decided she would try to drag me to the front of the stage. (where, mind you, 60 korean strangers were staring at me. so... she goes off in korean and then i think i hear my name. i look at sara puzzled b/c i don't quite understand why... and all my other co-workers didn't get it either.

AND THEN... this crazy lady grabs my camera out of my hand, gives it to sara and literally drags me up on stage. ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME???

so there i am... standing there...looking just as confused as the 60 pairs of strange korean eyes staring at me were... wondering what is going on. and the crazy lady says, "Sing Happy birthday!" so.. i'm thinkin.. eh, okay, i can sing that without a little embarrassment. so i sing, and then try to go sit down. but noooo. this feakin spaz grabbed my arm, stood in front of me, and told me to sing a pop song. i think she and i argued back and forth for around 3 minutes about how i was NOT going to sing a pop song. (the entire thing lasted 10 minutes. the longest most painful 10 minutes of my entire existence - NOT FREAKING COOL!!!) in the end, though, i sufficed with a christmas carol and made sara come up and sing it with me... to the room full of strangers... who were just as confused as i was.

i was pissed. that lady was crazy. literally. she was crazy. no one knew what to think of her and her retardation tactics of making me stand up there. i felt like an american puppet. sing american. dance american. make a noise american. not cool. NOT. COOL. AT ALL. i dreamt the following night that i pushed her down the stairs. that is how much i disliked that moment! she better hope i can't distinguish her one day from one of the other 150,000 koreans walking around....

moving forward....

this is yin sun si park. i think. one of the GOOD things that actually came out of that cracked out party, was that i had the opportunity to meet a band that has a studio here in town. where i was invited the following day to come record some music.

that is the studio i record in. and there is me singing. haha. not the coolest of pictures.. .but remember i am not the one taking it! :)

i think the best thing out of it all is that now each day i take drum lessons. so every day from around 11am-12:30 i take drum lessons. the guy in the picture - he is my drum teacher. but he also teaches piano and guitar... and it is his studio where it all takes place in. it's a pretty phenomenal place. it's so nice to be around real musicians here... i get free drum lesson and all i do is teach him english. i totally got the better end of the deal! boom-shaka-laka!

TONGYEONG MARATHON:

- since i did not get to tongyeong until early november, i missed the sign up period. i was bummed. i'm still bummed i couldn't share in that experience. but there is one in march, so i am awfully excited to attempt the 10k. (hoping i don't break my foot again... good ole' insurance if i do!) anyhow, all of our foreign friends (the actual americans/canadians) here were in it. two of them ran a 5k, two of them ran the 10k, and two of them ran the half marathon (around 13 miles). so sara and i went and cheered them on... with awesome signs..

1. 2.

1. WE SPOTTED OUR AMERICAN (AND CANADIAN) FRIEND!!! they were so happy! we were so happy! out of the 1,000's of runners... we saw 'em! haha.

2. sara and i were excited to be around such craziness!

now....

I AM A MILLIONAIRE... in won.

- i have never in my life seen that many 0's in my bank account. insaaane. ha. so in lieu of getting our first paycheck, we hit up some american culture - pizza hut. good times, good times!

PEPPERONI PIZZA, BABY! oh man. after eating so much rice... my taste buds were in heaven! korean pizzas are quite funny... they wrap them in bows...easier to carry, i reckon. it's quite cute. i think america should do it... it made me happy. carrying my little leftovers like it was a present from santa.

TRiP OUTTa town: CHANGWON and hike numba dos.

this weekend sara and i had the opportunity to get outta town for a day. our directors had to go to changwon to get some books, and they offered to take us and drop us off at the big ole' mall. my ears perked up at the first hearing of this... and it proved to be a wonderful wonderful time!

1. 2.

1. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES... IN KOREA?! really?! you KNOW it must be good then!

2. me and my fellow posse... all the little korean children and myself love to jump on the tigers... yes, i am very mature... i know.

1.2.

1. my engagement picture to a sculpture man. oh yes. one day... FAR FAR FAR away....

2. i got ruby hooked on the chocolate chip fraps... her parentals will thank me one day.. haha

i didn't find much at the mall, neither did sara. but we DID find a starbucks (which we drank at twice) and a mcdonald's which i ordered a fabulous big mac at. oh such delight. it doesn't take much for me you know... just a small taste of america. though i haven't eaten mcdonald's in years back home... something screams 'DO IT FOR AMERICA' each time i see one.. ha

HIKE TIME.

our director and his family go hiking each sunday. it was the same mountain sara and i hiked up the first time... but this was a direct route... instead of the 3 hours around the actual mountain that sara and i attempted. the hike was beautiful. i always have fun hiking and being in the mountains... my back isn't a big fan...but i enjoy it. so here are some pics of that...

1. 2.

1. the view from the top. so beautiful. at 8 in the morning... in the freezing cold... totally worth it... maybe? ha

2. all in the family: my boss and his family. we love them to pieces. they have been so good to sara and me. they really have. i don't think i am nearly as deserving as such great people to be around here in korea. Jesus really does look out, mayne. he really does!

you know... when you hike up a mountain... everyone wants to jump rope. yep.

jump.

so yes, as you can see... the time is going fast. it seems so unreal to think i've been here over a month already. time really does fly here. i think working in the evenings really makes it better. i couldn't have picked a better place to be in than right here with all these people. this year is going to rock. christmas is around the corner and sara and i will be going to seoul. uncle j is on board a big methodist church there, so i can't wait to go there. it's the largest methodist church in the world (i think). that's pretty stellar. christmas eve will be spent watching all the christmas movies with the other foreigners drinking eggnog in our pajamas, and then we head the next morning to seoul. we will also spend new years there, as well.

let the fun times keep on rollin'!

i am a lucky girl. life is wonderful. christmas isn't done up here real big, so it doesn't make me feel like i'm missing anything back home. however, if anyone feels like sending me something nice.. say... mac-n-cheese or something tasty... please feel free to! haha.

much love chum-a-roos,

kam-dogg

it's all just a game of charades.

2008-12-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

**there will be no pictures on this post, strictly just text.

anyhow, i decided that living here is just one big game of charades. every day i find new ways to attempt to get my point across in what i want to say, or what i want to order in a restaurant. the language barrier is quite humorous at times. my co-workers and i all find new ways to explain things to each other; whether it be writing on the whiteboard and trying to get the right pronunciation, or drawing a picture, or just blatantly giving up and saying forget it. ha. i really like the whole 'you really have to want to say something' or else you keep your mouth shut. it works for me, since i'm usually quite the talker. ha

as i write, i am listening to a christmas radio station on itunes. i just love itunes; what a wonderful creation. tongyeong doesn't particularly go big or go home for the christmas holidays. i think they might get the day off, but it's nothing like it is in the states. and i quite adore the commercialism of christmas. the cheery and joyful holiday cheers, seeing wreaths on doors and christmas lights beaming at night. i miss waking up and being able to see my christmas tree at home all lit up with my old ornaments on them. mom is a very nice lady for keeping them. haha. one christmas i didn't have any money (which has become a routine for me during holidays), so i drew and colored all the looney tunes in space jam and made them into ornaments. i think that was in 7th grade. they are STILL on the tree. haha. i will also miss seeing my stocking up. i will make my own!

sara and i are going to seoul for christmas with our friend, amy. we are pumped up! we will spend christmas day on a bus and the night in asan - where amy lives. the next morning we will go to seoul to live it up! it is unreasonably cold there, though, so i'm frantically searching for warmer clothing. it was 9 degrees last night here... er, at 3 this morning. i think all the other foreigners here will also be going to seoul, so we will all meet up on new years eve and have a par-tay! who can say they celebrated new years in seoul? (minus the millions who actually live there, mind you) that will be a riot! can't wait, can't wait!

one last thing before i go. every friday myself, along with the rest of our gang, go bowling. it's quite entertaining. i am 'the train' and sara is 'phantom power'... i'm thinking about actually finding some neon head bands and getting our nicknames put on them. the bowling alley is great. i think i most look forward to friday nights. we bowled last night until 2 in the morning, then went and had 2 plates of chicken at some korean place i can't pronounce. those are the highlights of my week. bowling. who would have thought korea had bowling? they even have pros who bowl on the other lanes... they get a lot of X's and /'s... BUT... they go over the line every time, so it took all of me not to go over there and tell them they wouldn't cut it in the states. i might just get 120, but i don't cross the line!

okay, nothing important in this here message. just a thought of holiday cheer and love i wanted to send your way. sara and i are about to go to e-mart (the local wal-mart) and get a few things. tomorrow there is a HUGE marathon here (of which i am bummed i wasn't here in time to enter), so we will go and cheer on our friends running in it. i am told it is going to be huge. my camera will be in my hand. oh yes.

if you haven't checked out my picture site, you should do so. i add ALL the pictures i take here. so if you get bored or have about an hour to rummage through them, check it out.

here, y'all!

okay. much love my people. much love from korea,

kam

so there was this mountain...

2008-12-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

anyong my people! anyong! sara and i decided to venture out and climb

this mountain (this is the view from the top)

and this... is the story of how we got to and from this bloody view. not as easy as one would hope... especially with the special-ed lewis and clark (sara and me) attempting to climb it... here goes.

FIRST off.. I found Jesus. everyone clap.

Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! yep...he's big here in tongyeong.

no really, he's a big dude. haha.

i should probably explain that sara and i are reading from a korean map.. with symbols and all. we don't know where the hell to start so we just pick route A or B. well, we chose route A. this route did not have a path. it was brush and dirt and ladders that were stitched together with pipe and some wire and cracking wood. whew how trustworthy i was to walk five feet up on that puppy. sheesh! anyhow - these are the views a third of the way up the wrong side of the mountain...

1. 2.

1. so there was this bell... and i'm probably going to have 800 years of bad luck for messing with it... but the orneriness (why is that word spelt like that?? it took me FIVE spell searches to find the correct spelling... seriously webster...seriously!) within me couldn't resist. i just had to! i also had to...

2. throw leaves at sara. we haven't seen this kinda foliage since last fall in texas. it was the first reaction i had when i saw it. like a child, i am, no doubt. LEAVES! LEAVES! LEAVES! I MUST THROW LEAVES!

i forgot to mention that throughout the mountain, there are probably 100's and 100's of cabbage crops... just randomly up the mountain. sara and i fought the brush going up as much as we could, but we got to a point where we had to attempt a new route... off course. haha. and there... well there... my life was freakin' lit up!

I FOUND SOME SWINGS!!!

do you even have any comprehension of how excited i was? i felt like i was 4 all over again... i didn't have to share the swing with anyone (i could fight off any little koreans that wanted it...). that swing was MINE! wahooo! wahhoooooooo. wahoooooooooo!! wheeeeee! so friggin' awesome.

BUT FINALLY. after about 3 hours going all the way around the mountain to get up to the top.... we found it!

1. 2.

1. here it is. the view we were hoping for. the 3 hours of an attempt to hike that mountain paid in full. (i should also mention that the ladies at the bottom 'hoola-hooping'... those are HARD PLASTIC TUBES. they are not the tiny little plastic ones... they are ridiculous. koreans are crazy! get to the top of the mountain and hoola-hoop, do push-ups, have stretch stations... ha. they know what they are doing!)

2. this lady was hoola-hooping... her little hands were above her head and she was moving her hips as though she'd just been listening to a britney spear's re-make. it took a while, but i FINALLY convinced her to take a picture with me. she was so cute!

1. 2.

1. i have this odd obsession with jumping off of things. it gives me great joy. and my adrenaline pumps insanely when i jump from high places...on top of mountains, no less. i WISH you could have heard how freaked the guys behind me were when i jumped. i think they thought i was committing suicide. hahahaha. oh what fun!

2. i figured since the older people were trying this hoola-hoop thing... that i could most definitely do it. that puppy almost broke my foot when it came down. holy toledo. kudos for grams and gramps doing that... it ain't easy, folks!

1. 2.

1. sara and i on top of the mountain. you should go to her blog to see her "YES I MADE IT" face.. it was priceless!

2. A PUPPY CLIMBED THE MOUNTAIN. and my heart stopped. he looked just like b-man as a puppy. so i had to pay some extra special attention to him and his little t-shirt. haha. koreans do love their little dogs... it's the big dogs they eat. :(

1. 2.

1. i forgot to mention, that all the way throughout the hike, probably every couple kilometers or so, they have a stretch/work out station. here you can do sit-ups, chin-ups, eat lunch, get your water refreshed, SWING, teeter-totter, and even... stretch your back. look to picture 2.

2. this was the back stretcher. all who know me know i had reconstructive back surgery two years ago... so this was quite the treat to stretch my back like THIS! haha. who does that? at the top of a mountain? really?? really??

so then. we decided we'd attempt the climb down... and experiment with a new route...

1. 2.

1. we got VERY lost. we actually ended up on the exact opposite side of town that we needed. here, i think we found the only cow in all of tongyeong. bless her heart! i wanted to go up and scratch her head and tell her i loved her.

2. this was the result of much MUCH delusion. 4 1/2 hours of climbing and getting lost... you'd get excited and make shadow puppets too!

1. 2.

1. the koreans would give sparky a heart attack if he saw how they wired things.... stay away small children, stay away!

2. this was sara and my reaction to our 3 mile hike BACK to town after we found a random route down it that led us to the opposite side of where we wanted to be. but hey, we weren't defeated... because.....

ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM! ICE CREAM!!!

everyone needs some ICE CREAM after a hike like that!

so. that is my sunday in a nutshell. sleep in, hike all day, ice cream for dinner, it's life at it's peak! hahaha. it was a wonderful experiment. i do believe, however, that next time i will go with someone who actually understands the signs that probably told us "WRONG WAY STUPID AMERICAN"...haha.

life here is still going wonderfully. i love it. i love my work. my directors. my co-workers. the food is growing on me, but i am saving my appetite for christmas, where i will go to seoul. sara and i, along with our friend amy who visited us a couple weeks ago, are all going to seoul for our Christmas vacation! woop! there they have AMERICAN Food.. EVEN AN OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!!! HOLY MOLY! HERE I COME STEAK AND KETCHUP AND MASHED POTATOES AND KETCHUP... OOOH AND ROLES! AND DIET DR. PEPPER... OH ME OH MY MY MOUTH IS WATERING.... wahhhhh. haha.

okay. i should get ready for my day. i should also say that sara and i are official LEGAL tongyeong residents. we received our immigration cards yesterday, and also opened up a bank account. we are legit, baby! wah hahaha. and we are both awfully, awfully excited! my next blog i will update pictures of all of that goodness.

until then my people.

anyong,

-kam

my korean thanksgiving.

2008-11-29T18:25:00.000-08:00

hello all! yesterday we had our korean thanksgiving. there were americans, frenchman, and canadians consuming the food. unfortunately, there were around 20 people, so the food we accumulated wasn't in extremes, but it was just right i'd say. poor ole' sara didn't even get any chicken. BUT. i made some KILLEr mashed potatoes! (sara helped) the following was my evening in pictures.

1. 2.

1. this is my christmas decoration! isn't he cute! i love him. and he makes my apartment smell delectable!

2. me cooking my mashed potaotes. oh yes, even with a christmas mit.

1.2.

1. mike and christine were nice enough to let us have it at their home - this was the view! SPECTACULAR!

2. and then there's elizabeth, my artistic friend who likes to clean. i say aside from the art degree, she and sara are one in the same with their anal cleaning. :)

1.2.

1. full house i'd say! full house! thank goodness for heated flooring!

2. it's not a korean thanksgiving without the rice cooker goin'...

1.2.

1. a little bit of sangria can make anyone's thanksgiving merry.

2. these are lauren's SWEET sweet potatoes! they were scrumptious... and even from looking at them you gain a kilogram.

1.2.

1. it is also not thanksgiving in korea if you don't take off your shoes before stepping in the door. oh yes. i like that! (but only when i wear my slip-ons)

2. going around saying what we are all thankful for (mom, i mentioned you and the family. and chums, i mentioned you as well)

3. a special cheers to the people who went back home (barb and greg)

my thanksgiving was delectable. coke zero (zero, zero seven), mashed potatoes, chicken, and corn. (i couldn't afford to buy and ketchup... i know, i know. i am a cheap-o. but i DID pretend that there was ketchup on 'em)

and this was the beautiful beautiful view on the way home. the bridge lit blue every few minutes and the reflections on the ocean was something spectacular!

so that, in a nutshell, was how i spent my korean thanksgiving. it was nice to meet some new faces from different countries and to show them how we'd usually celebrate our holiday. minus the whole, turkey, taking off your shoes, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream bit. it lasted for around 6 hours. the cooking, the eating, and the playing of games. everyone went out afterwards, but i was beat. so i came home, watched a movie, spoke to my motha, and slept 'til noon! wahoo!

and now sara and i are going to go take on one of the numerous mountains! yipee-ky-ay-aye.

much love,

kami

thanksgiving in korea.

2008-11-27T05:38:00.001-08:00

happy day of thanks my friends. happy thanksgiving!

this is my favorite class. they are 6/7/8 year olds. they are brilliant. we wanted to wish everyone a happy thanksgiving back home!

and this is tom - my genius i'm always talking about. he is a hoot. a pure genius. this is the future of korea, and he calls me "silly kami teacher".

NOW. we all know that thanksgiving is an americanized holiday, so korea doesn't celebrate it. but when i told my director it was thanksgiving and we'd usually be stuffing our faces, she went and bought sara and i some fried chicken (with ketchup for me) and pepsi cola. it was awesome. here is the before and after.

even ruby got in on the action. do you SEE the smile on my face? i was thrilled. fried chicken. ahhh. no rice! just fried chicken and ketchup! amaaazing!

what a nice gesture. and a tasty one, at that. this thanksgiving has gone by quickly. these three weeks have gone by extremely fast. and it isn't until the holidays come 'round where time is seemingly slow. i can only wish i were with my family; overindulging on turkey and ketchup and aunt ann's rolls. oh and pumpkin pie and whip cream. whew. but i most definitely enjoyed our fried chicken we received. these people are insanely kind. no where else would that happen. no where else.

happy thanksgiving to all. i got a little sentimental and made a little podcast for everyone.

click here to listen :)

happy day of thanks to you all! and goodnight from korea.

much love,

kamiiii

unofficially official.

2008-11-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

hello all. how goes it this fine thanksgiving eve? my hope is you are all cozying up by a warm fire and thinking of the following delectable meal to come. envy stems within me simply thinking about it! haha. since i do a lousy job at updating this thing, i thought i'd give it a go 'round and share some humorous stories of today.

FIRST. the korean 'parking system'... somewhat strange. it would NEVER fly back in the states. i'm afraid guns would fire if we tried to park like they do back home. everyone blocks everyone in here - but ... they live their cards on their dashboards to call for them to come move their cars. this guy in the picture was impatient and tried to move the car he has his hand on. except the car kept rolling backwards. so he had to hold it until the owner came out. i don't think i've laughed that hard in a long time. just picture this man pushing the car and then having to hold it so it won't roll back... good times.

today we went to the immigration office to fill out paperwork for our immigration registration card - which makes us legal citizens of this great country - south korea. we will hopefully get them back within a week, and then we can open up a bank account. i'm just excited to be considered an actual citizen of south korea. few and far americans can say they've been korean citizens. well that's probably not true. but i am at least officially, and for the time being - unofficially official. wahoo!

anyhow, on our way back from the immigration office, my director took sara and i to a look out point in tongyeong. it was pretty friggin' awesome. the following are pictures of what i saw...through a camera lense.

i feel like all these pictures become monotonous after a while, so i just wanted to put up a couple. the right picture is our director pointing out a hiking point for sara and i to take on. i am looking forward to that puppy, let me tell you..

sometimes i feel like i should pinch myself. that this reality i'm lving in is a false illusion and i will wake up and hit my head hard on the coffee table after a long restful REM sleep. but the reality of missing thanksgiving makes it real again. bah humbug.

SECONDLY. funny store of the day.

i got told today by my korean co-teachers that the kids think i am filipino and mexican. haha. the fact that i am not blonde hair blue eyed makes them feel that i am not american. so along with my diet, my heritage has drastically changed since coming to korea. ha. filipino? really? i can't imagine what they will say when i get tan in the summer. hahaha. oh children of korea. how cute you all are... except when you won't shut up and let me talk. haha.

and here is ruby again.. we have a good time.

this picture is my favorite. two peas in a pod we are! i love her to pieces (wow, i sound like my mom!) :)

don't let that face fool you. she loves me. haha.

ruby is awesome. her english is outstanding for a 6/7 year old. i am having mom send me some books for her and i to read together and some pencils with her name on it. she will have a cow... or a pig, since that is the main animal here. haha. she is just a doll. she went out last night and bought me a pen and marker just because she thought i needed one. she spent her own money she saved. how do you thank a 6 year old for spending their own money on you? she is adorable. i cannot think of how sad i will be to leave her. so i'll just think about how stellar of a time we will have this year.

seems odd i've been here three weeks. man they have flown by. they really have. the weeks seem to go incredibly fast when you work the evenings. this weekend we will celebrate our own thanksgiving feast with the american foreigners. i'm pretty pumped up about that. it won't remotely compare to the normal webb/smith holiday feast... but dang...it's all i have to cling to. i am also bummed that this is the first time in 5 years i will be missing out on the 'black friday' shopping day. what an adrenaline rush that is! most definitely!

on another note, here is a picture of my knees. if you know me at all, you are then aware that i am incredibly clumsy. i frequently hit my head, trip and fall, bump into things, and wake up with extravagant bruises of which i enjoy boasting about of their regular occurrence on my body. but this past week...holy moly people. i busted soo friggin' hard. we regularly meet at the wabar - it is a foreign hot spot. on my behalf, though, i was unfamiliar with the flooring and it was very dark so i couldn't see the step that i would undoubtedly miss. but let me just say... i entered with a bang. a loud loud bang. and it hurt. very badly. so these are my knees now.

they don't look nearly as bad as they did. whew. bless their lil' ole' heart.

okay. ha. this post was of nothing of importance, i just thought i'd update to appease the mass. or at least, my mom. she likes it when i update. it is officially thanksgiving for me. oh how thankful i am for the souls who've crossed my own. oh how thankful i am.

i love and miss you all deeply. (but not enough to come back...so eat some ketchup 'n turkey for me!) :)

-kami :)

our first visitor!

2008-11-23T05:15:00.001-08:00

always a child's dream to ride front row seat on the vespa.

WE HAD A VISITOR! WAHOOOOOOOO!!!

this is amy. amy rice.

this weekend we had a visitor - amy rice. she went to college with sara at wayland, and is teaching in asan. she speaks practically fluent (so i think) korean and how splendid it was to have a translator! we could order what we wanted, buy what we wanted, get to where we wanted. it was almost surreal. needless to say, we had a ball this weekend. so i won't say much else but answer with pictures.

the fish in the left wasn't so lucky. and the fish on the right... has a thumb?? really?? WEIRD!!!! who knew??

i recently have a new obsession - jumpin off of things. this time, i drug amy with me!

we decided we'd show amy our market. what a treat. this place smells of... well... nothing like you can imagine. like i've said before... it makes me ache for the smell of the feedlot back home. not kidding. some moments throughout it my knees go weak and i get an image in my head of what it could possibly be like to be like dorthy and have the power to click my ruby red heals and be somewhere else. whew. anyhow. here is the market today.

these ladies don't mess around. they are awesome. they do this on a daily basis. rubber boots, rubber gloves, big ole' knife in hand ready to gut, scale, or beat any fish you decide you want in your belly.

and this is the dollah store. or you know, the 1,000 won store. right dab in the center of the market. i try to go there as minimal as possibly. i'd rather spend a little more money and have quality lungs and miss out on the beating of the live fish. :(

1. 22.

1. amy showin' sara all the goods the market has to offer.

2. this fish committed suicide. i would too if i knew that my future held scaling and being beaten by a wooden bat. rip you little fishy. rip!

1. 2.

1. i loooooved this lady. i named her ethel. she did NOT want her picture taken....i didn't really think she could chase me, though, so i thought i'd take my chances. what a ca-yutie!

2. these were the street ladies. they would blow their whistles like nobody's business anytime someone fouled up in the streets. i had amy beg them to take a picture with me! they were so cute. pretty sure they felt extremely awkward. haha.

and then....

we went to the coast. again. and witnessed how crazy cool Jesus' imagination is.

amy and i found an abandoned boat. we jumped off this one, too. haha.

and last but not least. the left - korean socks are ca-razy here. they have people who sell them in trucks just like the ice cream man. it's insane. so sara bought me a pair of santa socks. since amy had hers on we all decided we'd sport them in a pic. woop! good times connecting.

eating our last meal with amy - until CHRISTMAS!

so. i thought i'd spare your eyes from my usual writing tactics and post pictures instead. this weekend was spectacular. new connections, new friendships. we are actually planning to meat amy in seoul for christmas and hang out for a week or so. what trouble we will most undoubtedly cause! hoo-rah!

also. BOOMER SOONER. atta' boys.

much love from my little apartment. i'm starting to get a bit sad i won't be there for thanksgiving. it only hits me when i think about it, so i do the best i can to not think about it. but dang... eat some turkey and ketchup for me, please!

much love friends. much love.

-kam-dogg.

we don't make plans here. nope.

2008-11-18T16:21:00.000-08:00

and this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship... with myself... and korea.

korea does things big time. (this is for show... i do not even like coffee....however, if this puppy was actually filled with sonic diet dr. pepper.. i think it'd faint and drink the entire thing)

the elderly do not retire. instead, they find it in their right mind to walk with 100's of pounds of trash or whatever they can find and wheel it on the streets. it's quite amazing, actually. kudos cute korean lady. kudos!

the second picture is right outside of the hansan hotel - where sara and i stayed the first few days we were here. it kind of looks like an old film camera picture quality. guess that's what i get for drinking that huge cup of coffee. wait, what?

INSERT STORY HERE---->

so this sunday sara and i had planned to visit hansan island. we'd heard it was beautiful, so we were awfully excited to get to visit. we invited one of our directors (sara1) to come with us. however, sunday at 1 she showed up saying that we were all invited to eat dinner at a cabin of one of our students on another island. so... how could we resist? now. direct eyes downward for pictures to follow event.

we don't have these sights in texas. nope, not like this. (no worries my texan loves, they don't beat our sunsets here, either)

this picture instilled in me a heavy desire to scream out 'WADE IN THE WATER CHILDREN..." LA LA

lalalala

everyone now... .

waaade in the water. waaade in the water children. waaaade in the water. lala

the dogs hang out on rooftops here. most likely escaping becoming dinner. no worries, we had pork and beef. ha. i did name this dog sally jessie. and said a few prayers for it's livelihood.

this was our deluxe meal! the koreans go ALL out. spent like $150 one ONE meal. ONE meal. a ton of pork (galbi ---which i looooove), beef (which is super expensive since it's hard to find), shrimp, clams, fish...etc. all for us. pretty neat that people we don't know would go out of their way for us like that. they asked us what our favorite meals were back home, so i said grilled chicken and mashed potatoes with ketchup - and they are going to make that for us next time we visit. WHO DOES THAT?!?!?! friggin' saweeet!

and this is henrietta. i looooved henrietta.

we found an abandoned boat. i had to convince the children to be courageous and fearless (big vocab words for them) and to take the journey with me and be my crew mates. then we decided to jump victoriously. actually, i wanted to jump and they were easily convinced. haha. i love these kids. we have a great time together. they have my heart. it belongs to them solely. i look forward each day to go to work and to see their faces. i think that is why i want to do be so much fun for them - b/c most of them go to school every night until 10 or 11 then wake up and repeat the routine, so when we get them, they are so sleepy and agitated... i just know i'd want to have someone who had some fun with me, so i do the best i can. they are pieces of work, though. an odd feeling i have when i realize i hold the future of korea in my hands... they are smarter than me most of them. ha. one of my favorite students is TOM. now. tom told me this the other day:

"kami teacher. when you speak korean to us, although it is superb in dialect and tonality, you aren't really supposed to are you? (then makes an 'X' with his arms - which signals the NO statement) but if we promise not to tell anyone, can you keep doing it anyhow? i love your korean accent."

HE IS 7 people. SEVEN YEARS OLD.

that boy would do circles around the other 2nd graders in the states. all these kids would. the are incredible.

in other news. i think i received a concussion yesterday by bonking my head on the friggin' car door. i decided throughout that experience that my clumsiness and clutziness is a direct result of my overwhelming sarcastic nature. it's punishment. but the ache is gone in my head, and now my shoulders and neck will heal eventually, so i think it's worth it to be sarcastic. i work with probably the only sarcastic korean i will ever meet. her name is sharon and she is a hoot. did i mention how great my co-workers are?

AND THANKSGIVING. THANKSGIVINg. THANKS-GIVING. is next thursday. so we are all coming together (all the foreigners) and going to create an american thanksgiving in korea, welcoming the feast of food that will most undoubtedly be there. i might even try to cook something. operative word - try. :)

that's all i know. i gotta get ready to run some errands before work. sara is officially in her apartamento so we are both finally feeling what it's like to have our own space and really become a local. life is good. i am lucky.

miss all my texans,

kamiiiii

survival of the fittest.

2008-11-15T00:36:00.001-08:00

***WARNING. PREPARE YE EYES. PREPARE..'tis a long one, folks!!***

so.

this is arney. he and i got well acquainted on one of my morning runs. arney likes long walks on the beach and loves fleetwood mac.

this food was left for the birdies. i asked about this method. the people of korea feel like since nature gave them these products, that they should give back to nature. so they leave food for the animals. quite nice. once i discovered this method, i tried to make arney aware of the provided meal for him and his posse... but they split on me.

and there... they go. thanks guys! 'ppreciate cha!

hey. wanna know somethin'.....

i live here.

cool 'eh? yes, i know.

what a week. that is all i really know to say. what a week!

what a week.

i survived my first week of teaching in tongyeong...with flying colors, mind you. it was somethin' else. i'm already head-over-heels in love with my kiddos, and i've been here a mere week. they had me from, "hello kami teacher." (saying 'teacher' after the name is a form of respect. even my boss calls me kami teacher. "oh kami teacher. you are very clever and your hair is pretty kami teacher." it's so cute. ha.

moving forward, though....

this week absolutely flew by. we only had about 4 classes a day, but now we have our new schedule.... and i will be busy for sure. i am excited, though. it gives me new faces to see and new souls to love. i'll be teaching around 35 classes a week. some of the classes meet every day, some m,t,w,th, some of them t,t,f, and so on and so on. so each class we have has a certain criteria of curriculum that needs to be used - a LOT of lesson planning. but i am looking forward to it. i just love these kids. and i love my korean co-workers. they are the most helpful by far. they teach me korean, too. my little girl ruby quizzes me almost every day. if i give her class homework, she turns around and makes up a korean quiz for me. so far i can say the following:

nae irrum kami immida (my name is kami)

young o hajul a seyo (do you speak english)

nae manhakuk moth ay yo (i do not speak korean)

hajimal (don't do that---something i love to say to the kids!)

nae/annio (yes, no)

kamsamidah (thanks)

an young ha sey yo (hello)

an young ka sey yo (bye)

earl mah ye yo (how much is it)

mianhamida (sorry)

satang (candy)

babu (silly)

just the basics, but i am trying! since we are obvious foreigners the kids here go crazy with excitement when they scream out HI at us. so i start answering them in korean and telling them they should speak english in korean. they go nuts. it's hilarious. this is an awfully tough language to learn, but i am hopeful i can find a class to learn through maybe at the beginning of the year. we'll see! if not, i've already learned my survival korean so i am good.

since the weeks seem to fly by, the 'thing to do' here is to go.... BOWLING. yes. you read correctly. bowling. and i think i had one of the most fun times i've had in a very long time. when you go in, you take off your shoe and hand it to the 'shoe lady' and she looks at it and gets an idea of what size shoe she thinks you wear, then hands it to you. it is quite humorous. i wear a 65. anyhow, something i've also forgot to mention. there are around 15 foreigners or so in tongyeong - at least teachers, i mean. so when new ones come off the boat, we get excited to meet them. so last night we met two more from boston and minnesota. i am pretty pumped up about the people i've met here and will continue to meet. there is nothing like meeting new english speaking people. it's pretty much like this : oh hi. you speak english. you understand me. i understand you. let's be friends, shall we? then the rest is history. these are people i will most undoubtedly cherish for years to come. some stellar souls for sure. unfortunately, one of them departed entirely too soon to go back to canada, EH'...but penpalry is in the works. anyhow, after bowling, of where i was deemed 'the train' b/c i have a knack for just chunking the ball as hard as i can down the isle, we went to what i like to call 'the soup kitchen'... where we had chicken soup. now, you americans... this was no normal chicken soup. i can't even think of words to describe how they enjoy spicing things up... it's insane. but they serve you around 20 bowls of side dishes (which i'm sure i'd love if i actually liked their contents), and then a bowl of soup with chicken still on the bone - and you pick off the chicken with your chop sticks and place the bone in the big bowl at the center of the table. seeing that many bones... made me wish i could have the strength to become vegetarian. holy toledo. lotta' bones. i just ate the spicy chicken and doused it in the sticky rice hoping it'd take away the spice. it did clear up my lungs, though. whew!

i will say, though, i like the idea of taking your shoes off when you enter into restaurants, and apartments. i do that with my apartment, and i think it keeps it quite clean. the rest of the mess.... is my fault. ha. i am still not quite used to sitting on the floor. my back doesn't like that. it debates with my head the idea of the usefulness of chairs. ha. taking shoes off, though - i dig that. but, that's not why i am writing. i wanted to tell you what kind of day we had today. a day of failure, but of a happy ending.

start NOW.

so today. i woke up around 10, not having gotten in from bowling and soup until around 3am. and i decided that i wanted to try domino's pizza. i know, i know. but i've had my share of porridge and soup and rice and spicy foods... so i wanted something reminiscent of home. something. and i'd heard domino's was out of this world here. so we hail a taxi. (taxi's are super cheap. SUPER cheap. like 2 bucks across town, so we take them a lot. ha) anyhow, we explain to him .. DO-MI-NO'S... DO-MI-NO'S. three syllables. he says he can take us. we feel...victorious! hoo-rah! my stomach lies in eager anticipation for what it will partake on.

and then. we end up at the bus terminal across the hill. DO-MI-NO'S? TER-MI-NAL. three syllables. that's ALL they have in common. not particularly sure how that happened, but first failure was laughable. a bit perturbing, but a happy attitude we had nonetheless because we were at e-mart (the wal-mart of tongyeong). so we go with it. and let me tell you, saturday's are my FAVORITE 'round these ropes. it is FREE SAMPLE DAY EvERYWHERE!!! and kami loooooves free food. i could have stayed in there for an hour going from plate to plate, but they were eyeing me suspisciously.. as they should have. i was sucking them dry. what can i say? i don't get paid until next month - a girl's gotta eat. haha. i will say, though, that i cannot wait until i can really go shopping there. they have everything! everrryyyything! so exciting! they have a ton of hats. i am excited about that. i love hats. the upstairs had around 10 pianos that i tried out. apparently the lady who was in charge didn't like them to be touched (b/c people don't need to try out pianos before they buy them... i guess you just stare at them and hope they are in tune to perfection?? these koreans... i tell ya) anyhow..she came over and mumbled something in korean at me the first time i started playing, but she didn't accomplish much because i just kept on going. and THEN. OF ALL THE THINGS... seriously...

that tiny lady came over to me in her little buttoned vest and slapped my hand and told me HA JI MAL (don't do that!) ra-huuuude. i was not happy. i told her she was mean in korean (a phrase the kids taught me this past week when i gave them extra homework. wah ha). i have to say i've never been hand-swatted before. stupid lady. it's a piano. i was playing it. i suppose it's better to stare at. my apologies lady. however, after finding two little pads of paper for 800 won ('round 75 cents) we decided we'd try and take the bus back to our headquarters. so sara and i prance to the other side of the crazy busy street with fingers crossed no koreans have an inner desire to run over any americans, all to realize that... the map is in pure korean. no way jose do we know what that sucker says. so again, we hail a taxi. DO-MI-NO'S. DO-MI-NO'S! COME ON! DO-MI-NO'S.

and i am happy again. eagerly awaiting one more time the aroma of a thin crust pepperoni pizza. holy moly i was pu-umped! i kept saying to him DO-MI-NO'S in hopes he really knew where he was going. surely we wouldn't end up at another terminal. as i stare out the window i'm fairly certain we are headed to victory. then he stops at a place called "Mr. Pizza...who loves women". seriously. again? what don't you get about do-mi-no's friggin' pizza. i don't want mr. or mrs. or dr. pizza. i just want domino's. however, after much deliberation sara and i take on mr. pizza. took a while to explain to them how repulsed i'd be if they put anything but just cheese and MEAT pepperoni (last time i ordered pepperoni pizza in prague... it was jalapeno covered peppers... my heart sunk then, and i didn't want dejavu to occur). after about 15 minutes of waiting the final result was here. recognizable pizza. i suppose my stomach had higher expectations knowing i was going to eat at domino's and wasn't that sufficed with mr. pizza who loves women. (not joking about the title, that's the name! ha) after a second failure, i decided i needed to treat myself. what else can i do? let's celebrate the defeat with some baskin robins! and i did just that. baskin robin's and a pepsi. and all of a sudden the frustrations of the misunderstandings were all gone. i was happy again. belly full of semi-decent pizza and ice cream and sipping slowly on a carbonated beverage. we also decided we'd check out the 1000 won store ($1 store). only problem is... it's right dab center in the middle of the fish market. and that is a place that to an extent makes me ache for the smell of cow crap back home. the smell of the market is atrocious. holy crap. atrocious. and some of those little fishies are alive still. it took all of me not to try and convince them that those fish felt the blades of their knives and to just say no and eat peanut butter. but alas, i didn't. there was some neat stuff at the 1000 won store, but i shall wait for that as well. simply observing. i found one store, though, that ohhh man, it will become my favorite. the blankets/comforters here are outrageously comfortable. i found a set for around 38,000 won that will be my first purchase once i get my check. (no worries mom, i'm still sending money home) the set was bright orange and just absolutely beautiful. they are a 'svelt' type material. and underneath has tiny little dots that keep the covers from coming off'a ya when you sleep. what a terrific invention!! i love mine at my apartment, so i am most definitely sending one home! i also stopped at lotte mart to get some more peanut butter - i was out. so life is back to normal for me again. i have peanut butter. i am okay. life will be good.

ha. this was probably the longest post EVER. sorry. if you've made it thus far... congratulations. if not, i don't blame you. i'll try and update throughout my weeks, but it's a bit crazy and the weekends are all i have. i took some sweet pictures yesterday morning of which you can see right... now.

these are outside of my apartment. :)

on my way to the ocean. just my scenic daily view. nuttin' special... :)

the rest are from my morning quiet time . whew-baby. talk to me Jesus!

i looked for a message in a bottle, and even tried to send one myself, but it was a failed attempt. there's always the next 51 weeks, though....

okay folks. that's all she wrote. sara and i are going to go to han-san island tomorrow - that will embark our 2nd out of 120 islands to visit. so i'll be sure to update on that one with multitudes of pics and stories.

'til then. i love you from korea!

-kami :)

I AM IN PARADISE!

2008-11-11T05:34:00.000-08:00

PICTURES AND UPATE...FINALLY.

it has been less than a week since i have come to tongyeong, and yet, i feel like i have found a new incredible home. the people are amazing, my co-workers and bosses are amazing, my new friends are amazing, the town is amazing. amazing seems to be the operative word. i am finally moved into my apartment and have started teaching. but here are some pics first!

well. i found the PB AND J! if at nothing else, i have this !

the market during the day. holy crap it smelled like dirty raw fish. i don't think i'll go there unless i HAVE to.

i think i found michael jackson....head on towel, face mask covering, and white gloves...

THIS IS WHAT I SEE EVERY DAY!

this is the ocean. it's about a 5-10 minute walk away from where i live. and it's absolutely breathtaking. holy toledo. it's phenomenal. some days i feel like i'm going to wake up and hit my head on the coffee table. but it isn't a dream, this is my headquarters! fishing is HUGE here...hence the 'coastal city'.. ha. i'm going to go fishing sometime... but i throw them back. those poor little things.

I FOUND A BASKETBALL COURT. it's right down the street from me. I.AM.ELATED!

and now. the pictures of the infamous dinner. haha. last saturday my boss took sara and i out to a traditional korean meal. it was quite interesting. korean meals consist of slipping your shoes off before you enter the rooms, sitting on the floor on tiny and really non-existent padding, and putting around 40 bowls on the table, with one heat plate to heat your meat or whatever of choice. this night, we got pork. we told our bosses that we are from texas...and texans love their meat! and...

****IMPORTANTE FOR EVERYONE WHO KNOWS MY UNRELENTING PICKINESS****

i have been friggin' AWESOME with venturing out. so far i have tried ANCHOVIES (which are insanely distasteful, green tea cake (which is just weird) kimbop (which is okay, but not one i'd choose on a regular basis, and seashell (which has a slimy inside that people get out with a tooth pic and eat...and i downed it. the following pictures are of that evening of dinner.

ruby is my bosses little girl. she is 8 in korean and 7 in american years. and she is my new best friend! she teaches me korean every day and i teach her class english. so if i give them homework, she turns around and gives me 'korean homework'. haha. we are going to have a stellar year together! she LOVED anchovies and shell...and i wanted to be open-minded and try them both. so here are some pics of me trying the shell... ga-ross.

i don't know why i am trying this..... nothing good can possibly com out...

you have to pick it out with a tooth pic... i couldn't do it right so she grabbed it from me and did it for me. haha.

trying the shell... bleh!

I AM FINISHED! i did it! i did it!!

and these are anchovies. ruby LOVES them. i hated them. the lone anchovy on the fork's name is ralph. i ate him. but he got the last laugh b/c he was dispicable. i mean absolutely horrid. i had to down two bags of skittles to even get the taste out of my mouth! ya-huck!

sara and me and our boss and his family at the restaurant. fun times.

***NATIONAL PARK SITE SEEING****

this is the national park look-out scene. ryan and sara (our bosses) took us to see it before dinner. THIS IS WHERE I LIVE PEOPLE! ARE YOU KIDDING?!?! so beautiful! there are about 120 islands to see, and i plan to see every which one! but only in due time.

ruby. such a cutie!

ruby and me hanging out and being silly. i needed at least some sort of proof i was there. so...here it is!

if that doesn't suffice the soul...views like that... then i'm not sure the soul is affeaseable! i feel like i'm literally walking in paradise. i finally am moved into my apartment, of which i'll take pictures this coming week when it's nice and clean (and sara2 (my friend) is living with me until next week so her apt. can get cleaned out). but trust they are coming. i really love my apartment, too. it's very fitting and i can't wait to make it my home! woop! i have been walking a lot and feel like i finally have my bearings. this all seems way too good to be true. i'm not real sure how to absorb it all but to say it's somewhat like a lucid dream. even the teaching part... it's so surreal.

which brings me tooo... the teaching.

i love love love love love my school. and kids. and co-workers. and bosses.

this could be the 'honeymoon' stage, if you will, but it's a wonderful one, nonetheless! everyone is so helpful and nice to me and sara. there are 3 foreign teachers (english teachers) and 4 korean teachers. the classes are around 40 minutes and the kids go from foreign teacher to korean teacher and visa-versa. the korean teachers are primarily in charge of teaching them the grammatical part, and we do a lot of conversational english and literature. and the kids. they are something else. those poor kids. they go to public school from 8 or 9 until around 4, then go to different private schools at night - sometimes until midnight even. they don't really get a chance to be kids; which makes me want to do an even better job of teaching. i want to make it enjoyable for them, and i think i do. they keep me entertained so i try to do the same. haha. my boss is taking it light on us and introducing us to the program slow so we can really grasp it, so our load isn't that heavy. next week we will get our 'real' schedules. i am excited for that! i have a couple 1:1 lessons that i enjoy, as well. one of them is with a girl named iris who is taking the TEFL test on the 25th. she is brilliant. these kids are absolutely amazing. they are so respectful (most of them haha) and they love to learn. my favorites, though, are the smaller 1/2 graders. they light up the room. i will take pictures of them sometime this year and show you them all. one boy imparticular's name is tom. and he is certified genius. he decided he'd randomly explain to the class what participles are and how we use them on a daily basis. (he is 7) haha. it's crazy. i love it!

sara and i woke up early today to go to the hospital and get checked so that we can receive our foreign immigration cards. these cards allow us to be a certified resident of Korea. with them, we can get insurance, a cell phone, etc, etc. so we had to get an eye/ear test, blood pleasure, pee in a cup (over a SQUAT toilet - hahaha), get our blood taken and so on. it was fast. just took an hour and we were back in business. the government wants to make sure we didn't bring any crazy american epidemic into their country. good idea. :) today was also 'pepero' day. november 11th is known in korea as pepero day - all the kids go and buy pepero with their own money and bring it to the teachers. pepero is basically a chocolate covered stick. they are pretty good! but i've had my share of them haha. i think i got like 8 boxes full. those kids are somethin' else. i cannot imagine having to leave them in a year. so i'll just concentrate on getting at least a year with them instead!

okay, i have rambled long enough. and my eyelids are heavy laden. i haven't been able to sleep very well these last few days, so i'm hoping i will get around to getting my schedule back on track. it is an odd transition, though. sleeping until 9 or 10, hanging out and walking to the ocean or just around the city, then going to work from 2-8, then hanging out again. a tough, tough life. i cannot wait to keep doing it! :D

i love love love love love you all much!

-kami

***TEACHING****

PICTURES of FLIGHT.

2008-11-11T05:22:00.000-08:00

'ey guys! i'm a bit abashed at how poor i've done at updating my blog, but time flies when you're having fun! and that is most exactly what i am having. here are the pictures that needed to go with the last post.

alaska from atop. so beautiful!!

me and yoda, jr. he enjoyed the view just like i did!

playing the guitar in japan! who else can say that? (minus the guitar players in japan!)

this is why i am ADHD!

SUSHI FOR DINNEr, ANYONE?

these are just a few of the pics i took of my flight. seeing alaska was absolutely beautiful! it was insane how incredible the view was. now that i've finished uploading these pics, i'll write about my time in so kor thus far! (look up for next blog) :)

love you all,

kam-a-lam-a-ding-dong.

hangin' on a jet plane.

2008-11-07T17:46:00.000-08:00

as i sit here i am disciplining myself for having just eaten the airplane mashed potatoes and 'roast beef'...that's what they called it, anyhow. i am fully aware that i am headed to asia, as on two of my meal plates i have been provided with a side of sushi. this simply ensures my idea that i will, most assuredly, starve to death. however, the mashed potatoes weren't actually that bad. i am, however, kicking myself for not bringing any ketchup like i should've.

i have on my winter coat, ear warmers, and two blankets, and my nose feels as though it has previously belonged to that of an arctic snowman - chilled to the touch. any minute now i am expecting to see visible breaths 'round the plane... annnny minute.

i've befriended one of the flight attendants named lisa. she helped me to find a temporary home for my guitar for the flight. she also gave me two big bags of the best mixed nuts i've ever tried and two cokes. i must say, though, that if my witty banter and sarcasm is visible to an outward member on an airplane... then i am in awfully big trouble. sarcasm runs through my veins, and she told me to be careful about it. haha. oi vey!

you know, i have been on six overseas flights in the last two years. and this one, by far outweighs them all. the turbulence is never-ending and is very much so ever-present. it is, what i would imagine, a level 4 earthquake to be...if you were sitting on the floor the entire time strapped in a children's seat...for 14 hours. after watching my first movie, swing vote, i decided that my ADHD could not possibly contained any longer. so i preceded to begin my first round of 'isle walking'. it was quite an adventure let me tell you. the turbulence going on provided a similar notion to that if i were surfing. or what i would imagine being inside a 90 year old man's body consumed by parkinson's would be like... bless his lil' ole' heart! i put my hands out and closed my eyes and pretended to be doing just that. i think i should take up surfing this summer. i am certain that the waves of the ocean cannot beat that of a 500 mph flight in place of mind-numbing turbulence. i pretended to surf until the looks from my fellow passengers uprooted my self-consciousness. thanks guys.

( 3 hours later)

i have walked up and down the isles around 8 times now, and have been stopped by the same elderly man who for some unapparent reason whole-heartedly believes that i am the flight attendant that can fulfill his passenger dreams. his wife viciously corrected him the first time informing him that my wardrobe [which consisted of jeans, tshirt, big red coat, and ear muffs] did not uphold the known stewardess apparel. the second time she apologized and punched him blatantly in the gut. such a lovely couple they were.

(2 hours later)

i am currently watching the dark night. oh heathy sweetheart, how i miss you so! seeing him perform brings up such unheard of emotions! (sarcasm...) no, but really. he and i would have made extremely adorable babies.

right now we are flying over alaska. sara told me to go look outside and by-golly... it was absolutely beautiful. i took a crap load of pictures of which i'll have to post later since i'm using her computer. but i have never in my life seen such visions that i saw from 3800 feet above! i even brought yoda, jr. to see the view. an i am fairly certain that the flight attendants are somewhat annoyed with my ADHD. i can only sit for so long, though. oh look...the bering sea!!! ahhh. neat-o.

if nothing else, though, throughout this 14 hour flight i have been assured that karma is NOT to be messed with. just last night i was laughing hysterically when drew berrymore had her elbow nailed by the food cart in 'the wedding singer'. so funny to watch. absolutely NOT funny to partake in. my poor funny bone... it's all laughed out.

okay, i ought to close and attempt to sleep a bit. if only the plane's habitual 'ticking' would quit and i could submerge myself in deep REM. if only...

much love my people. next i write i'll be on asian soil. saweeet action!

-kam-dogggg.

buh-bye chick-fil-a, hello seaweed??

2008-11-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

in exactly 7 hours i will be soaring high in the sky listening to stellar tunes serenade me as i make my way to my new adventure. i am not apprehensive whatsoever. i am simply ready. (psychologically speaking. i haven't finished packing yet.... procrastination is what i do best) this is an adventure i've been waiting to take on for quite some time now, so to fully comprehend that it's coming to grips is somewhat mind-numbing. it seems absolutely unheard of to think that next time i post i will be on the opposite side of the world... 15 hours ahead of your time [considering you will be reading this from the states].

also. history was made tonight. obama won. i am only hoping the change he so eloquently claims to be able to make in all his speeches...that his capability to make it will uphold to it. i hate to be a skeptic, but ....ha. OH YEAH. i am, however, sad that chuck norris didn't win. that's who i voted for. i'm not a fan of either candidate, really, so i went for chuck. i feel like he could defend any foreign affair thrown his way. :)

as i write neurotically, i am going over all of the things that haven't been packed that need to be packed, and whole-heartedly hoping and praying that the scale is gentle on my bags at the airport. a year is a LONG time to pack for... especially when i'm about 80% sure i won't be purchasing any clothing. unless i shrink 6 inches and become malnourished. 'ey...could happen. ya never know.

okay. i love you all. amarillo you have been, for the most part, extremely good to me. i've met wonderful people with wonderful spirits who i will carry with me forever. i undoubtedly will miss my family and close chums, but i am so anxious for the future. this is the time of our lives. and right now, after i get done packing...and soaring in the blue sky... will be mine. life starts NOW. cheers to that!

much love,

kam-dogg. :)

last two weeks.

2008-10-31T23:06:00.000-07:00

the past two weeks have been... great. first there was the beautiful week of concerts. marcus dawes on sunday, SLEEPING AT LAST on monday, and... PHIL... WICKHAAAAAM on thursday!! holy mackerel. what a week. the pics below are at phil's concert.

hi. phil. let's be friends!

moving forward: after the week of concerts, sara and i finished the final leg of our visa race and went to houston for our interview. it was quite interesting. the entire time throughout my little 15 minute interview, the consulate found out i was a graphic designer, and decided he wanted to turn my interview sheet over and sketch an idea he had that he'd been wanting to have designed. it was quite interesting for sure. haha. i thought he was just kidding, but after checking my e-mail... let's just say we are on a first-name basis. unfortunately i don't have nearly enough time to work on that...being as i'm leaving the country in FOUR DAYS!!! Wahoooo!!

if nothing else, though, aside from the silly interview and ridiculous drive...there was the container store! few people know this about me... but i have an obsession with certain water bottles i found a few years back. i take them everywhere with me. unfortunately petey chewed them up so i've been without for quite some time. thanks to sara's good eye, though... that no longer has to happen. LOOK AT MY GREAT FIND!

you just can't even fathom how pumped up i was/am to have found these great bottles! and they're only $4!! such a small price to pay for relentless satisfaction! :)

Here it is. the beautiful beautiful piece of paper i've been waiting to have in my hands for the past two months...

I GOT MY VISA!!! THEY ARE ACTUALLY LETTING ME LIVE IN THEIR COUNTRY FOR A YEAR???

those crazy koreans! :D

i leave next wednesday, november 5th at 7:10 in the am. that is awfully early and will prove to be a tiring day, but my heart is spinning with excitement. it is almost surreal to think this time next week i'll be on an entirely different continent for at least a year. how much growth will take place! wa-hoo!

alright. my cat, kitty, decided to crawl upon my keyboard so i'm assuming i ought to catch some shut-eye and pay some attention to the poor lass.

much love,

kam-dogg.

pictures and update.

2008-10-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

i love this kid!

this is brody. one of my oldest chums 3 year old son. he only smiles for me. apparently. and boy when he does... it melts my heart. this is the picture he took of us. his momma, sarah, just had a little baby boy in september so i got to take their family portraits at the park.

now. i took about 400 pictures of all of them, but brody is just too adorable not to post the photos of him. what a cutie.

moving forward:

sara and i found out that we are leaving (unofficially officially) november 5th! yeaaa boiii. to say i'm ready to go is like saying snow is kinda white - it's quite the understatement. i'm going stir-crazy waiting. all of our visa paperwork is chillin' at the embassy, so now we wait on them to email us with a date and time to do our interview. after that, we're free to enter korea for a year with no worries...aside from the ideas of non-enjoyable food. i'm incredibly anxious to start this period of my life. i think it's going to be absolutely wonderful. korea is one of the most beautiful secrets that no one knows about. so hopefully, after i get there and take pictures, i can spread the word.

on another note, i went to a sleeping at last concert that had the ability to make me want to weep for days. they were monstrously incredible. holy mackerel. amaaazing. i took a picture with the adorable lead singer, and talked to his mother (my future mother-in law). i think we will really enjoy korea. :)

hope this finds you all boomingly well.

take care,

kam-d0gg.

wahooooooiiieeee!!

2008-10-16T19:35:00.001-07:00

'eya pals, chum-a-roos, buddies'0 mine.

great news! i am leaving the great state of Texas at 6:02 in the WEE mornin' of november 7th for Korea! from ama i fly to dallas, TOKYO FREAKING JAPAN, then seoul, so kor around 9 in the pm. i'm unsure at this moment about how we get from seoul to tongyeong, but i'm simply in sheer delight that we are finally going!!

(all we have to do now is go to houston and get our visa final....cross yo' fingers that all works out well!)

yippeeeee! wahooooo! yeehaaaw! allllriiiighty! damn straight!

my excitement is obvious! i shall update more once i know. i'm just ready to goooo!!

*anyone who wants to hook me up with a few benjamins for my south korean adventure, please feel free. i accept checks, credit, cash, gift cards (which go into cash)... hahaha.

much love my people,

kam-diggity-dogg.

booo.

2008-10-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

i have a little time before my next photo shoot, and wanted to write real quick. so here goes.

seldom are there times in my life where my soul realizes a soul i'm seeing for the first time with the recognition of a long lost friend; perhaps that of a sister/brother from a previous era i can't recall. anyhow...it is a rarity amongst times, so when it does happen, i like to cash in on it as quickly as possible. just the idea of it puts me in a whirl of excitement. even so that dr. seuss' "oh the places you will go" book cycles inside my mind to upcoming thoughts of conquering the foreign land ahead. i digress. i feel as though i found a kindred spirit over the last month. someone who i was sure would make my time in korea that of the most enjoyable kind. but yet news continues to ramble about their disappearance the second i arrive. even more so, my arrival begets their departure. that's not supposed to happen. not like that. and that, in itself, is enough to bring me to tears. granted, it was only a feeling of connection i was sure of, but nonetheless - i was sure of it, without a reservation in sight. now, i'm a firm believer in all things happening for a reason, but i'm still totally bummed that the chance is gone for an assured soul connection.

i know of nothing else to say but that my disappointment is too much right now.

bah humbug. bah. bah humbug.

live now.

2008-10-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

i freakin' LOVE music - with deeply rooted, untamable love. love. love. love. it is pulsing within me as i write. i'm actually typing in rhythmic style to my beloved beloved phil. phil wickham. ooh, baby.

i love even more emphatically hymns. they soothe parts of me i wasn't aware needed soothing. phil, at this exact moment, is singing at the top of his lungs 'how great thou art'... and it's amazing to me, that God gifts people with these kinda talents to bring people closer to Him. that is so rad. and it's something i don't take nearly enough advantage of. the story goes something like this:

i am not a fan of compliments. for some unknown reason they just don't bode well with me. hearing them makes me feel unheard of amounts of awkwardness. so to avoid such nonsense, i hide my skills and talents under a prickly bush and hope no one comes in their direction. i say prickly because it's not comfortable - not using my talents, i mean. i don't like the fact that i hide the greatness within me. i think all the time about how exceptional it'd be to just stand on the corner in an open box with an open heart blaring at the top of my lungs whatever is on my heart. such could also be said for the art i could create. i'm fully aware that art and music are the two things in life i was meant to create. some people are great chefs, of this i am not remotely close to. i can count on beanie weenies and that's about as far as i go in that direction. some people are great presidents. i couldn't tell you any of their names or parties, so again, not my thing. some people are doctors and vets and the 13 years of college type of people, i get antsy just sitting in church for 50 minutes.

[actually... to tell you the truth, in high school i was in the health occ. program where i was able to be involved in different hospitals/procedures/surgeries/clean-up extravaganzas, etc. and there was one point where i was helping with a hysterectomy. yes. you read correctly. a hysterectomy. and the lady was coming out of a coma as the doctor was stitching her up. yes. disturbing, i know. but all the while, while her legs were starting to flinch, all i could think about was how bored i was and how i wanted to be drawing or doing something 'productive'...]

that right there gave me sheer evidence that medicine wasn't my knack. since i was a wee pup, all i've loved is drawing and music. i remember thinking how proud i was that all the other kids in preschool sucked at coloring and that i could color perfectly inside the lines. granted, it'd take me all day but i was bound and determined to have the best plastic place mat out of my class! i remember how terribly heartbroken i was when we had a robbery occur at our house while we were out of town... and the ONLY thing stolen was my karaoke machine. yes. this is not a lie. they only stole my karaoke machine. (do not even attempt to say that they were trying to make a point...i sang boysIImen beautifully back then..ha) i think i cried for days. it still ticks me off. jerk faces! why would you steal a kids karaoke machine? that's like taking my left hand. i mean, i didn't really need it...but it was awfully useful. gah-lee. ruthless robbers. why bother to steal our big tv or movies or furniture... everyone wants a karaoke machine, apparently! (sorry...i'm still bitter. i've yet to let that go. i just loved it so...) ha. moving on.

all this to say, really, that God instills within us snippets of who he is in all of his glory and perfection. and when we use that glimpse to its fullest... creation happens. and the way we feel when we use those segments of him - it's unexplainable. i can say without a doubt that the joy i feel after i've painted something that needed let out of me, or after i've written a song that i know could change anyone who read it ... it's phenomenal. it really is. but it's a shame, as well...because i, alongside everyone else, rarely tap into the potential we have within us. potential just bursting at the seams to get out! beauty is all around us, but even more so it's deeply rooted within us. sometimes we are ashamed to have such beauty when we don't feel it ourselves, and other times the world tells us it's not good enough so why bother. there are a multitude of reasons as to why we don't let it out, but none suffice us because the reasons we hide can't compare to the reasons why not to. we're just scared little sissies. well. i am. i'm a pansy. the nerves i feel when i have to sing in front of a crowd... it could make the strongest soldier's knees wobble. i get absolutely terrified. just thinking about it the butterflies in my stomach are starting to form a clique. or the vulnerability i feel when i show someone my paintings or drawings or songs i've written... sometimes ...it's just too much.

but what would happen... persay... if we became a people that fully comprehended the idea that vulnerability begets other vulnerability? what would happen if we let out that inner child within us that aches to create something beautiful out of something ugly? what would happen if we put our focus not on politics, or bad memories or feelings, and focused solely on the good that could come out of it all? what kind of world would we live in? what would we do if we helped out our neighbor a little more? if we mowed their grass a few times a year, or raked their leaves, or baked them cookies? what would happen if we paid for a stranger's groceries, or gas a few times a year? oh the lives that we could change!!! simply thinking about it has me in a ball of excitement. you can't change the nation until you change your neighborhood. and that begins with us.

it all starts with we. with me. with you. with I. what would happen if i let other people read my songs that speak for me when words can't? what would happen if i let people hear me sing more often or if i drew something and gave it to someone who didn't expect it? what would happen if you let people see the you that sits so comfortably in your closed-in walls? what would happen if you let go of the past in hope for a beautiful future? how do we hope for huge change but resist it within our selves? we can't. it has to start with we. with you. with me. with we. i'm so sick and tired of these month-long passion binges we get on after church camp or after something great happens. we are on fire and then it sizzles to smoke that fleas shortly after. enough is enough. time is of the essence. Jesus is coming. and i refuse to be one of the people who tells him i didn't have enough time to show people who He is. i refuse to tell Jesus that i didn't use all the ounces of his greatness he instilled in me. i cannot. i will not. i'm made for great things. it's about time i started acting like it.

you were made for great things - things unimaginable to any human. freaking act on it, already. we have to keep each other accountable. we're all we've got. Jesus is coming. maybe not tomorrow or in fifty years from now. but he's coming. and when he does. i will most assuredly NOT be the one saying i could have, should have, but didn't.

no. time is off the essence. live right now. we were made for better things.

live now.

fix you.

2008-10-08T18:43:00.001-07:00

as i type, i'm staring at my guitar and listening to the dulcet voice of chris martin so sweetly serenading me from his song 'fix you'. this song, ohhhh this song. i think i'm on the tenth go-round of it, with at least ten more to go - a ballad that brings my soul to levels of familiarity previously forgotten. this past year has been extremely potent; filled with tremendous ups and flailing downward spirals that i, at times, wasn't sure i could make it out of. and yet, here i am....

words fail me when recollecting past times. times that fill me with unrestricted laughter, times where the butterflies in my stomach tended to fly in v-formation, and even times where i cried so hard i wasn't sure the swelling in my eyes would ever go down. ha. the moments that shaped me, molded me. some were amazing spirit-lifting times and some sucked balls. some made me radiant with a joy unknown to most humans and some left me in a rut that took months to smile after. but they were my battles and my battle wounds. and unfortunately, there were times where the ricochet caught close-by friends that i never intended to come anywhere close to fire range to begin with. and i think, more than anything, knowing others were wounded in my battle is the hardest to swallow. you see, it's okay if i get hurt - i'm aright with that. but when the people i care about the most get swept up in the destruction of it all, those are the memories you tend to be haunted by. and those ghosts pursue with a relentless passion; they don't mess around. ha. those are the sorrys that eat you alive; the ones where you know you don't deserve responses for. but i think somewhere, deeply ingrained in our minds we know, or at least we hope, that people are originally good. and that somewhere down the line we tend to get thrown off balance and it makes us to things that are absolutely retarded and out of character. how great then, to know that grace is sufficient in the end. how great to be able to cling to a hope that cleanses the blood-stained sheets to whole 1000 thread ct. satin white. to know that even if the people you love the most, who you've unmistakably hurt the most, can't clean the slate... that Jesus does. Jesus does. and afterwards - he completely and utterly forgets, as though it never happened. oh to be able to forgive with the type of forgiveness that coincides with forgetfulness. that is power. that is high power. and it is beautiful, and so hard to come by. mainly, because it's so undeserved. i'm at the top of the list of people who don't deserve that kind of forgiveness. and sometimes... it's just too much to bare. the reality of it all...it's just too much. but then i'm reminded that the deed is already done and all i can do is pick myself up, dust off the dirt, and trust that i'm not alone in the battle. that no matter what stupid ass thing i do - God loves me with an uncountable love that no mornoic thing i do could come close to taking away.

he loves because he is.

he knows no other way.

and sometimes...the knowledge of all of that is entirely too much for me to bare. and tonight, is most definitely one of those nights.

may you all feel the warmth and assured embrace that i feel at this very moment.

goodnight,

kami.

gone gone.

2008-10-07T07:30:00.000-07:00

i'm so ready to gooooo.

i'm. so. flippin. ready. to be. gooooone from this retched town!

all the papers will be in the mail in the next two days, and then the waiting process shall continue. but my part will be done, and that makes me happy. maybe even want to do a little dance.

i'm only hoping the embassy is swift in us getting in and we can leave the country by roughly oct 25. i'd like to see what korean halloween is all about. hahaha.

(definitely gonna make sure i get a mask before i leave.... it'd be fun to scare the little children over there. haha)

that is all. i hope you are all just booming with success and happiness. wow, that sounded like a pledge to enter into congress.

good day all,

kami

political schmitical.

2008-10-02T21:40:00.001-07:00

I MISS COCA LITE!!!

but that's about all i miss of praha. well, the castles were cool to look at, but i can't say i miss the begrudging czech-a-roonies.

*disclaimer: what i write will most likely annoy, aggravate, or plain just piss off a lot of other artists, as i knowingly jump into the known stereotype the world has on us... at least in the political aspect. OH...and please please please please for the love of hey-sus, do not respond to my post with how wrong you think my opinions are. i'm not looking for debate - if i wanted to, i'da called you by now. this is just my thoughts. ranting is what this here great blog is for. much love.

continue if you want, but turn away if you already have bad feelings... ha.

being an art major... i just flat out don't much care for political schematics. this is not to say i should care more, and really ought to, but growing up politics never really mattered to me. what mattered to me was whether or not i colored prettier than all the other people in my class, or if i could design my name in a cooler way than the other kids in art class could. i cared about creating things and delving into my imagination in every way possible. i also was, and still am absolutely in love with basketball. it is a game that flows through my veins. my entire family and really my entire childhood, evolved around sports and our imaginations. and really, politics never fit into that. there were no discussions on presidents or senators around our table. we didn't take family ski trips or an adventurous road trip to see where the president sleeps at night. the only times i even remotely discussed politics was in school, and even then i rarely spoke about it because i was too busy doodling where my notes should have been.

all this to say, that my opinions have grown, but still remain the same in a sense. i'd be lying if i told you i could name all the issues going on right now. all i'm even aware of is the war in iraq and the plummeting stock markets. (three cheers for greedy little bastards!) anyhow, i salute all the people who do care about the politics, as it is crucial in the world we live in - and will continue to be undeniably significant in our future and will no doubt affect everyone from here on out. but really...as blatantly honest as i can put this - i just don't give a damn. i trust that God will put whoever is needed where he/she needs to be. i trust that my life will still go on as he intends it to go on whether or not palin sits in the oval office or not. my focus hasn't ever been politics and economy. and i'm aware this will affend some people...but really, my outlook on life extends far above what soul sits in the pretty little white house and which bill he/she decides to veto. i care about the NOW. i care about what i do or don't do that has an immediate and lasting effect on all those in my life and to come in my life. i care about my attitude and my outlook on every situation i come into. i deeply care about the people in my life and what i can do to make their lives better and happier. i care about expanding my knowledge in most all things... but not politics. i love to read. love it. but if you want to see haste tears ream from my eyes..you will put a book full of mass political news. the passion i have to create art runs and hides when i even see the word politic. the adrenaline that pumps in my veins when i play a close basketball game...it ceases when i hear news on what one campaign bashes the other about. i just. do. not. care. i should, i know this. but i don't. and i'm afraid, very well aware even, that nothing will change in that area.

my focus is about the people in my life, the people outside of it, and how to positively affect the two. my focus is on Jesus and showing people that he is big enough to create the earth, but loves being small enough to sit with his creations; that he eagerly awaits the moment we look to him. my passion is music - it literally pulses in me. every beat, every effectual lyric, every knee-weakening bridge that i hear... i absolutely cannot get enough of it. my passion is art. in the creation of it, the witness of creation of it, the expression of it, the movement of it, the history of it... i cannot get enough of art. it is everywhere. without it, we are blank. our canvases are empty with no sight of color. i love the excitement i get when i pick up a paintbrush and see a blank canvas, knowing that what i will create is screaming within me to get out, and the feeling of accomplishment i receive when i finally let it out. art is without a doubt the best legal drug there is and the high it creates is very hard to come down from. i love how people see black and white; that gray rarely exists to most. but that even with a ton of white and a little of black, or visa versa, you still get gray. i love how people are ingrained with different facets that all represent the ounces of Jesus he instills in us, and that if we call upon them... he will be represented. even if we are unaware. i love old people. i think they are full of knowledge and stories that we are too vacuous to listen to. and i love family. and the idea of family. how we are hand picked to be with our families no matter the case. some are screwed up royally, and some seem seamless. but imperfections are there. and i love imperfections because they allows us to realize our vulnerability; our rawness that we've tried to hide since day one. how stupid. if we could only realize that vulnerability begets other vulnerability.

i digress. the point of this rant was really to say i don't care too much about politics; that i think life is full of things we should put our focus towards with more immediacy than the term "republican" or "democrat". life is full of crap. why do we need to choose people to tell us this with their own selfish motives?? this is where my "liberal" thinking comes in: people will do what they want to do. they'll make wrong decisions and mistakes...but they are theirs to make. that's how we learn. we can do the best we can to help them avoid it, but judgement is absolutely NOT ours to make. not at all. we are all sinners. we're all screwed up - we are all damaged. so i guess the thing i've never understood is how does making other people and their belief on things...how does making them feel like shit help us become a 'united nation'? it just doesn't. i've thought and thought and thought about it... and it just doesn't. i've fallen into the mold of judging others because they don't agree with my thoughts on things or because they don't believe in God for one reason or another... but really... all i can do is play my part in this chess game and do the best i can to SHOW people my belief. actions. if we really wanted to become a nation under God... we'd start acting on it. because talk is cheap. and that's all i've heard my entire life. lennon and mccartney understood completely when the wrote let it be.

just let it be. and enjoy the ride while you can. try to make positives out of your pictures. they're always there. we just gotta look a little harder for 'em... sometimes even with a microscope.

much love from my living room,

kami.

update update update my people.

2008-09-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

updaaaate. we have been existing on this planet officially for 24 years. one year shy of a quarter of a century. dang. we are old. here is how we celebrated our birfday!

hey bubby...we are old, huh? let's fight

and here goes that idea....

we love our momma!

i decided that this year i wanted an ice cream birthday cake! mom called and they had too many for her to choose from, so i got the duty of going and picking out our cake. only to find out that after i'd put it in the freezer, bub went to look at it and the freezer didn't close all the way.... hence... the following pictures.

disclaimer: it melts!!!

outcome: crap they weren't lying....

kendall and my reaction to our melted ice cream cake....

i love my petey boy! he's so cute! and camera shy for sure.

this is my mother. she's probably, nay she IS the greatest lady alive. and it took about 15 pictures for her to keep her eyes open for a picture. maybe it's old age... who knows. haha. (kidding mom)

alright. now that the pics are posted, i've been home for two weeks and am finding myself overwhelmingly bored. i've probably walked/ran an accumulated 50 miles in the past two weeks. which sounds great... but it's awfully sad when i'm so bored i'd rather walk to 8 miles to hastings than to sit in my house. haha.

however, i've got GAAA-REEAAAT NEWS!!! I HAVE A JOB!!!!! sara and i landed a position at an elementary school in Tongyeong - it's on the south coast and is absolutely beautiful! it's literally the bottom little tip of south korea! i posted a link so you can check out the beautiful abyss of where i will be existing for the following year. check it out. it looks freakin' beautiful! let me say, though, if i get there and the pictures are false advertisement... imma sue 'em! haha. click the link!

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY SOUTH KOREAN HOME!!!

trust that i will take about 6000 pictures in the first few months i'm there, so you will get to see how beautiful it really is. tongyeong is about 5 hours from seoul and just a ship ride away from china, japan, taiwan, and thailand! it'll be great! since we have the job already, we are just waiting to get back our criminal background check from austin; where it is being apostilled. after we get all of our paperwork, we will send it to our school and that process will take around 10 days. once we hear back from the school, we will go to the houston embassy and do an interview with them and we will get our visa within a week of that. then it's off to south korea we goooooo!

i've been doing my research on the foods there, and i'm about 84.55612% sure that i'm going to somewhat starve to death. korea is well-known for spicy food... i don't even dare try the salsa at mexican restaurants. so i've decided i'm taking one bag of clothing, and one bag of pure food. i'm still in the investing stage of what to bring, but if you have any ideas, please feel free to share them! ha. right now, though, i'm going to enjoy my american food and sonic happy hour!

speaking of which, i need to get my daily diet docta peppa on!

much love from the 'rillo,

kam-dogg.

homeward bound.

2008-09-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

well, well...i am home.

i had meant to update this when i got home, but having been home i've had just enough time to recuperate and eat american food. first chick-fil-a, then sonic... you can guess the rest. it's been delightful. i thought i'd post up some pictures i took the last day/night out in praha. i actually have a link with some of the pictures i took throughout my time in praha, so feel free to check it out.

CLICK HERE MY PEOPLE!!

moving forward - here are some last remembrance pics in prague, czech republic.

these old ladies. they were somethin' else. i outwardly said, "oh me y'all are so cute" and the one on the right gave me a hug just b/c i spoke english! i love old people!!

i decided to experiment with my camera and put it on manual, so each one of these are adjusted iso and aperture - for you photography geeks. ha.

the prague castle at night. BEAUTIFUL!!!! we don't have these sights in the states. ha.

night pictures are fun. people are a lot more respondent in pictures when it's evening, than during the day. granted, they probably can't see me... but hey, it works for me! ha.

now - the following are explorator pictures with movement. i almost got ran over three times by trying to take these... but they were totally worth it! ha.

so that was the last night in praha. i had quite a bit of fun. honestly, i could have stayed and taken pictures all evening. i can't get enough of photography. especially when the results are awesome. i just love it. i think since i am home for a few weeks i'll be doing some photo shoots, so let me know if you or someone you know is wanting something done. i.e. senior portraits, engagements, etc.

on another note, i shall explain why i am home. for those who haven't kept up with my blog (shame, shame, tisk, tisk!), we were, to say the least, caught up in a web of trickery by the school i went to. the certificate we got is good for eastern europe, but not so much for western europe...which is where my beloved italia resides. i think the main guy is in denial that we are calling him out on his bs, as he refuses to address his lies. ha. anyhow, since the options for italia were slimming, we started looking toward asia. at first i was thinking thailand or taiwan, but we decided since we were going to go to asia, we needed to go where we could make the most money...i.e. - south korea. they pay for our flights there and back, all our accommodation, and give us spending money for food. so yes, i will be headed towards south korea here in a few weeks once i get all my visa documents in order. i have everything sent off, so it's just a matter of waiting to hear back from them, and then going for an interview at the korean embassy in houston. (assuming houston is still a city after the whole 'ike' thing. ha.)

so yeah. that's my plan. korea for a year, save up and pay off loans, and then have a set amount to stand/sit/squat/lean or whathaveyou on until i get another job in italia. this way i can buy some time until i get a job in italia, and be okay with not having a job immediately. sounds like i have it all planned out, but i'm literally just hoping to get these papers done and fly to korea ha. obviously, my plans haven't fallen accordingly, but Jesus is pretty sweet on his end of the fulfillment...so i'm not that disquieted about it all.

i am happy to be home for a few weeks. it's nice to see my family and friends, (and my animals!!!) and get to re-pack the necessities. basically, i was out of ketchup. haha. though, i am unsure as to how much ketchup i will need in asia. here i come rice! here i come slimfast! haha. so it'll be good. i'm rapidly getting more and more excited about it all. Jesus' time is everything, and i couldn't be happier with the results of just letting him be the pilot. it's nice, actually.

so that's all i got. nothing inviting or exciting, really. just some last minute pictures and a small update. i will post pictures and stories of these next couple weeks. in the mean time, if you are here in amarillo, please get in contact with me and let's share stories. i have so many to share! praha was an amazing experience... though the people weren't too friendly. if anyone is wanting to listen, i'm definitely wanting to share!

these last two pics are just for fun on the airport/flight home.

just say 'no' to parallel moving escalators.

though i was excited to come home... we didn't get to watch our own movies or be in control of anything. and the stewardists wouldn't leave their station, so i couldn't sneak and get extra goodies. but i did get a sweet red silk eye mask and some free tequila. haha.

good to be home,

kamiiiii

the dancin' lady and FREE WATER!!!

2008-09-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

so. since we have had a lot, and i mean a lot, of down time... yesterday we went exploring and found the dancing lady building. it's quite beautiful. i took a ton of pictures, like always. but if you look, you can actually see the 'man' building gliding the 'woman' building. it's quite beautiful. mmhmm. here dey are.

i love it when he holds me like he does.. la la laaa

and a peak under her skirt. :)

after the dancing lady we made our way to some american food - TGI FRIDAYS! yessss!!! i've been waiting all this time to go there in hopes they would get my favorite meal there (jack daniel sesame chicken strips ---phenomenal!), so we finally went. AND WE HAD FREE WATER!!!! FREE WATER!! did you hear me?? FREE WATER!!! it was a big deal! so i took a picture with our very own pitcher of water... and with my favorite meal!

FREE WATER!!!!WOOO!!!

what a meal! anyhow, afterwards we just walked around and took pictures. i seem to have my camera glued to my face. it's okay, though, i don't mind! these pictures will come in handy when i'm 104 and wanting a reminder of my time in prague.

the czech "doggie bags" are quite different than that of the US....

our handy dandy movie theater!

WHEN PIGS FLY....

if at first you don't succeed...try using ski poles. haha.

the last picture is of a place that tries its darndest to take advantage of wee americans. they tried to rip me off...but i fought back. and the results of my fighting back are as follows:

coca lite, baby. coca lite with crazy colored shoes.

so yeah, my life is pretty dull as of late. sara and i are going to the embassy tomorrow to discuss our options on whether or not we need to return home. i'm hoping we don't, but chances are likely we might. and i really wouldn't mind coming home for a few weeks - my birfday is comin' up and i'd really like to spend it with my other half! but yeah, please keep us in your prayers when you think of it. our lives are in the palms of the big man upstairs, so i'm not too worried. i'd just like an answer... ha.

much love from praha,

kam-bizzle.

i'm still standing!

2008-09-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

please watch this video. THIS IS WRITTEN ON MY HEART.

"when the world is falling out from under me

i'll be found in you, STILL STANDING

when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees

when time and space are through

I'LL BE FOUND IN YOU."

the lyrics to this song are on the bottom, please read them and listen to the song again. you will walk away changed. i would hope, anyway.

on another note, first thing is first: here are some pics from these last few days.

here in the czech republic, we are gangsta. ya feel me dogg?

except for cute old ladies on benches... i wanted to wrap her up and send her home as a gift. what a cutie!

she was my favorite, though. absolutely adorable. i offered her my seat and she refused it. she told me she would stand as long as her old legs allowed her.

these next few pictures are of nusle - a suburb of prague. sara and i took a day trip here and this is what i saw.

1. 2.

1. taekwondo wtf?? just an every day sign here in prague.

2. shoulder cats...they're the new thing here.

3. your average porta potty just chillin' in wenceslas square. they go big or go home!

a street in i.p. pavlova. it's pretty amazing.

the jan and jan memorial outside of the czech museum.

since it was sara's birthday, we decided to actually accomplish a few things that day. first, we went and tracked down the infamous apple stroodle that samantha brown (the incredibly lucky chick who gets paid to travel and talk about it on the travel channel) suggested. since we have been here, this has been on sara's to-do list. however, funny story i thought i'd share on the way. as we were walking up the hill to get to this delectable treat... out of nowhere i suddenly hear the titanic theme being protruded from a piano. i couldn't figure out where it as coming from for a while, but all i could pay attention to was the sound of the keys on the piano being pounded with such velocity that immediately portrayed the climax of the impending song. ahhh, so glorious!! so i started to (loudly, mind you) sing along and the indulge myself in the usual titanic conversation, "don't let go jack! never let go jack!!"(an oscar nominee performance had anyone been paying attention no doubt). but i just thought that strange. walkin' down a czech neighborhood and we hear the titanic theme being played in a piano studio. how awesome. that song has been stuck in my head for two days now, and because of it, i am trying to watch it on youtube. what a lovely day. okay, here are the pics from the dinner...

me and lenny. the photographers of our class.

me and saraaaa.

and finally....

i guard my coca lites with my life. with them and Jesus, everything is okay.

alright, so these past few days have been filled with sending a relentless amount of resumes and emails to schools all over. it seems as though we are going to be in one of three predicaments. they are as follows.

1) we have to come home and get our papers for the work visa. i.e. background check, speak with the embassy.

2) we can start work in october, and then go and have a 'pre-vacation' in italy somewhere before we leave. (otherwise, we would just be staying in prague in a hostel... at least if we go to italia, we can see things and it will be cheaper...and a lot more beautiful!!!(at least to me)

3. (and this is the one we are hoping for) we can get work immediately, once we hear back from a few places. it really all depends on the schools requirements of documents we are expected to have.

so, as you can see, it isn't peaches and cream right now. but, i am a firm believer that things will work out exactly as they are planned. i know that God isn't leaving us out to dry, as he has provided us a place to stay for at least another week. so right now, it is a waiting game. we wait. and we wait. and we cross our fingers and wait. and we pray and cross our fingers and wait. and we wait.

as far as i am concerned... i am still hopeful. i think that's just how my spirit is. i know things are going to be okay, even if it isn't the first place i wanted to go or having gone as quickly as i'd preferred. but i'm fully aware that we will be where we are meant to be if we are patient and wait on the Lord. and right now, that is all i know to do. so i'm reading his Word, praying, mediating, eating peanut butter sandwiches, sending emails, listening to stellar good music and obnoxiously singing along with it..and smiling. genuinely smiling. because i know i'm being taken care of. and that is something i'm afraid far few people can comprehend here. so if nothing else, then i will boast in the fact that Jesus has me in his hands and i am able to rest in the promise that his plans for me are better and wider and brighter and more beautiful than i can even comprehend. b/c he's great like that. Jesus, I mean. and i love him. and being here, if nothing else, has brought me into a new understanding of the greatness and vastness of Jesus. that he is big enough to make the latitudes and longitudes stretch across the entire earth... but he's small enough to hold me in my uncertainty here.

so i leave you with that. that's all i know to say ha. i have been watching reruns of the wonder years, and might i say that whenever we get situated... wherever we get situated... that'd be a great birthday present... (hint, hint). though, if you were to send me anything, it would be another yoda... as the one i brought here was viciously kidnaped and most likely brutally tortured before encountering an unheard of czech death. bless his jedi soul. ha. (if nothing else, i hope you can all see that my imagination hasn't gone, as mom would say, 'hay-wired'!)

love and miss you all,

kamiiii

here i am. double-fisting it on the metro with some coca lites. i tell you, as long as i have them, i am okay. haha. coca lite and JEsus. it gets me through! :) much love from praha!

if you didn't watch the video above, please do so now. the lyrics are written on my heart. they are ingrained there. here they are. listen to the video and read them. let them soak up into your bones. my prayer is that what i feel about this song you too can feel the same - exactly where you are doing whatever it is you are doing.

shadowfeet - brooke fraser

walking, stumbling on these shadowfeet

toward home, a land i've never seen

i am changing: less and less asleep

made of different stuff than when i began

and i have sensed it all along

fast approaching is the day

when the world has fallen out from under me

i'll be found in You, still standing

when the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees

when time and space are through

i'll be found in You

there's distraction buzzing in my head

saying in the shadows it's easier to stay

but i've heard rumors of true reality

whispers of a well-lit way

You make all things new

when the world has fallen out from under me

i'll be found in You, still standing

every fear and accusation under my feet

when time and space are through

i'll be found in You.

when time and space are through

i'll be found in You.

sad realization.

2008-09-01T14:28:00.001-07:00

THE CZECHS STUFFED BAMBI.

i had a sad realization today. as we were walking through the czech museum, they had quite a collection of stuffed animals. (and no, not the ones that come in the crane machines...) and as i was walking through, i found this. bambi. freaking bambi. the czechs killed and stuffed bambi. had i known this prior to coming here, i just don't know if i could have gone through with it. my life is now changed. ha.

on a more serious note, i think our direction and route has changed. sara and i are looking into korea now. ha. yeah, i know i know. not my initial plan. but my plans always fall through anyhow, and if the Lord takes us there then he's got a plan and we will be just fine. and i will get super skinny from all the rice i will eat. if we go where we think we might go, they have an OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE!!!!!! and i still have some ketchup left... so i will totally go there first thing. ha.

love and miss you all. will update when i know anything.

much love from praha,

kam-dizzle-dizzle.

fleeting days.

2008-08-31T09:10:00.004-07:00

first thing's first: pictures of the last few days!

test preparation method:

red bull, apple, and coca lite. this is the way of a champion!

i've developed an odd habit of stalking old people to take their picture. they are just the cutest little things ever. maybe it's b/c i miss all my oldies in the choir... who knows? anyway, here are a few pictures of oldies for you.

this lady is so cute. i wanted to go hug her. but czechs don't like to be touched. or smiled at. or said hello to.

this old man was a cutie, also. he had a striped little cane that reminded me of Christmas.

friday we had our final exam(s). one was on grammar and one was on methodology. i'm pretty excited that i studied for hours material that wasn't on the test. (insert sarcasm) but if anyone needs to know the 6 types of pronouns...i know them all. ha. on another note, here are the rest of the pichas.

this chocolate egg knew czech, english, and how to give a thumbs up.

APPLE STROODLE! i didn't eat anything all day, and if you cannot tell from the expression on my face - i was pumped up about this baby! it was delectable, too. they said it came with 'ice cream' but a tiny little miniature spoon full was all i received. i think the chef ate the other half.

my brit and aussie. they are the best!

my teacher olga. she is probably the shyest person i've ever met in my entire life. i think i scared the crap out of her with my outgoing-ness. but she smiled even still for the camera! much love olga!

my aussie. this is marek. he and i fought like a couple that'd been married for 25 years. but he loved it. :)

sara and i with our favorite englishman, dan.

this is william. he's from connecticut.

this is andrew. orneriness runs in our veins! he and i were like two peas in a pod (what an idiom!). we were the entire class. (sorry classmates... you know we were the charisma that made that class what it was.)

okay. so there are just a few pictures from the last outing we all had as a group. it was actually a great evening. i forgot to mention that there were only 4 girls in my class and 9 guys. hence, all the pictures with the guys. haha. it was great. guys are much much better than girls! ha.

on another note, we are sending out resumes to asia like crazy. we've heard back from a few of them, but it is still up in the air. please keep praying that we go where the Lord wants us to go. tonight all our roomies move out! hallelujah! hahahaha. guys are great and all, but living with them was an experience to me. it will be nice not to have people eat my food. haha. sara and i are looking forward to the peace and quiet these next few days will bring. (amongst the frantic collaboration of forwarding email resumes and contracts)

i don't know much else. tonight we are going to go hang out with will. (the crouching tiger guy in the picture) he has been living in prague for a year. i'm not sure what we are going to do, but it'll be fun. life is never dull when i am around. haha.

okeydokey.

much love from praha,

kam-dogg.

whadda week.

2008-08-27T12:14:00.000-07:00

hey guys and gals! my apologies on the delay again... it's been a crazy hectic week. i will get into more details later, but i wanted to share these pictures from sunday that we took.

this is my new best friend richie. i ALMOST ALMOST stole him from this poor old lady. oh man he was so cute!! (no worries petey, he had nothing on you... except really soft fur)

i think the local metro riders were NOT a fan of me. they kept staring at me and giving be dirty looks. i even more enjoyed it b/c of that factor. i have about 20 pictures like this. FANTASTIC!

i still hate escalators. but i love starbucks. somedays, when all i have to eat is peanut butter and jelly... i go to this starbucks, and i think of home and how the food in america is much better. but that the frappicino i got will suffice me until i return to good food land.

a two person bike. HOLY MANOLY i almost stole it!!

this is the municiple court - it is where all the orchestras go and play. i almost went to hear gershwin the other day, but it was too expensive. darn the luck.

this is at namesti republiky. i probably spelt that wrong, but i'm too lazy to go look it up. anyhow, it is a national geographic exhibition. i look at them like every other day. i am just fascinated. these pictures are absolutely ABSOLUTELY amazing. i could stare at them for hours. this is why i want to work for national geographic!! one day! one day!

this was FUN. i have been eyeing the bottom pilot mask for like three weeks, and finally went and tried them on. the top is of an old air force mask. just call me buzz light year, y'all!

these pics below should be presidential slogans!

1. 2.

1. We all realized that we all bring out the best in each other, so why would you want to stop?

2. PEACE IS THE WAY.

KAM!!! A BOOK IN CZECH ABOUT ME. so awesome!

this is actually a book. how pathetic. i suppose anyone can write a book!

the leaning tower of treeza... hahahaha.

they don't mess around with these marionettes. freakin weird.

a.pinocchio was greeting all of the tourists walking by. he was a swell dancer, he was!

b. they have those russian dolls all over the place. freaks me out!

c. i wanted to buy this shirt in bulk, but i couldn't afford it, and it didn't have SHE instead of HE.

prague. oh yes. bridges, trams, coca lites and policie. can't get enough of 'em.

they don't mess around with their graffiti! they go big or go home! let's do this in amarillo!

this is a monument dedicated to the students who were clubbed to death by the police. it was a pretty intense monument for sure.

alright. so it has been a crazy last week. sara and i have come up against several obstacles with our job searching. we have been continually mislead by the school we are at. the "job guidance coordinator" hasn't even been here for half of our course, and pretty much fed us continual lies to get our money. sara and i are now at the end of our course, finding out that our certificate is basically ONLY valid in eastern europe. which is NOT italy or spain..or france or anywhere where we told him we wanted to go. there isn't much we can do now, though, as we are at the end of the course and tomorrow is our final exam(s). so instead of complaining about how pissed off i am that our resources here suck and that the main guy is the most convincing liar i've ever met... i'm just going to ask for prayers that sara and i find a good job wherever we need to go. even though i cannot wait to NOT recommend this place to everyone i speak with. which, in itself, is unfortunate b/c the teaching was superb, but the resources and higher-up people were awful. a shame. a shame.

also, i just thought you'd like to see the amount of stairs we climb every day (like 4 times a day) to get to our classroom. oh yes. every. single. day.

i don't know much else, other than to just ask for prayer that Jesus puts us where we need to go, in a sweet place where i won't have to eat pb and j every day. i think since italy and spain are out of the question, we are headed to look at japan or thailand. hopefully once we score a secure job, i can RETAKE the CORRECT course and go back to italy/spain the following year. but in the mean time, we just need a job! haha.

alrighty. i miss you all and hope this finds you boomingly well!

there's a picture of my feet to tide you over! :)

-kami :)

four years of maternity leave!

2008-08-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

hello all. this will be quick, as i am barely able to keep my eyes open. oh how i love that tylenol pm! anyhow.. i just thought this was an interesting conversation between me and my advisor, alena:

me: alena, what do you do now? i don't see you teaching much and you aren't ever here... so do you work part time or something?

alena: i'm still on maternity leave.

me: but your kid is four years old.

alena: oh yes, we get four years. the government pays us every month for four years after we have a child. my friends are smart and spread it out. have a kid and rest for a few years, then have a kid and rest a few more... and before you know it, the have 12 years of maternity leave. czech really supports us mothers!

WOW!!! i mean, as opposed as i am to the czech language and the food here... i do believe i am going to move here when i start a family and have the government pay for me for years. but in the mean time, i should sleep and tell you one last thing.

you haven't really lived until you hear an adorable little 3 year-old kid shout out, "ciao!" over and over at you. my heart belongs to him now.

blessings my people,

kam-dogg.

whadda week!

2008-08-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

howdy folks. my apologies on the lack of updates this week - i've been a bit busy as of late. however, the weekend has presented itself, and i am found sitting on the balcony staring out a praha 5 (my living quarters) wondering how easily time flies.

tuesday i had the mere privilege of getting to see one of the most amazing AMAZING a-freakin-mazing bands play in prague - sigur ros. they absolutely blew me away. there were times throughout some of their songs where i literally was unable to move - it was an out-of-body experience. here are just a few pics from that night.

sooo freakin' pumped up!!

the seat i was in wasn't that popular of a choice, but i still managed to sneak some great pics in the " no cameras allowed" concert. you cannot tell kami webb that pictures aren't allowed. that's just insane. might as well tell me ketchup is no longer produced - i refuse to believe it! i caught a lot of their concert on video, but that is something that i will keep on the DL... i'm not real sure how the czech police would react if the found out it was illegal footage. here is one last pic of that night:

these are my favorite shoes. and they are dying. they literally have a hole in their soul. mother, please send more immediately.

that night was just spectacular!!! this past week was just spectacular, period. this week is history for this city - 40 years ago this past week the soviets invaded czechloslovakia. it was 40 years ago this thursday when chaos filled the streets of this city. as i strolled along wenceslas square, there were numerous booths, stages, musicians, posters dedicated in rememberance of that day. thursday night, we decided to go out and take a look, and these are just a few pics of that.

this last pic is the memorial dedicated to jan palach - his story is something. my roommate, tyler, wrote a beautiful song inspired by jan - please go listen to it. it's beautiful.

TAKE A LISTEN.

it will move you to tears.

1. this is the metro we use every day. it is something else. sara and i actually got stopped by the police on our way to make sure we had our passes. i BEGGED them to take a picture with me to have proof - but they all rejected me....whadda let down!

2. this picture is quite humorous. the lady to the left was wearing a see-through dress with her white thong showing. it was something else. the way people dress now-a-days.

so - that about wraps up how this past week was spent. aside from being in class from 9-5 every day - you don't need visuals of that. i would ask, however, that you pray that the Lord provides direction for where sara and i are meant to go. i know he will, so i'm not particularly worried about it - it'd just be nice to have an answer quickly, considering we have one week of classes left. haha.

and now....

i saved this for last. when i went to edit this... i noticed two strange figures that were in it. there wasn't a light behind me, so it's not mine or anyone elses shadow... but there are two shadows looking as though they are holding hands staring at the picture. it is crazy. there isn't ANY photoshop on this. just straight ghosts! ha.

i am going to an outside movie theater, so i ought to go get ready. have a splendid weekend chums.

miluji te (milooeetay),

kam-dogg

a memorable metro ride.

2008-08-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

i've been thinking a lot here lately about the adaptation of things. how we, as humans, are the most primitive species to adapt so quickly into whatever society we are thrown into. sometimes we adapt for survival of necessity, sometimes for desire, sometimes due to pressure or called-for circumstances, and sometimes because we have no other way to remain the same and not change. so we adapt and become a different version of our previous selves. and this morning, on the metro, i was abruptly reminded of the process of it all. here's my, or rather my familiar strangers, story.

i got on the metro with my handy-dandy ipod playing louder than my ear-drums initially preferred, but nonetheless, like any other day. except at one particular stop, a nice old man came and sat beside me. i'm a peculiarly observative person, so i looked over and analyzed him for a bit... and then i noticed a small tattoo on his arm. i knew immediately it was from a nazi concentration camp, so i shook my head indifferently. apparently, he noticed and he pointed to it and started going off in czech. it took me a few seconds to respond with "no rozumim cesky" (i don't speak czech), so he asked me "mulivite anglitsky or espania" (do you speak english or spanish)... and man, my face lit up! i am shocked no one heard me scream YES, but it felt like i yelled it at the top of my lungs. and then my life proceeded to change.

he went on to tell me that he was taken captive in auschwitz and all his family but his brother died. the stories he told me were insane. anyhow, for the next 20 minutes he told me about the camp and how he migrated from poland after he got out to the czech republic. he said he and his brother were the only ones out of his family to make it out, but afterwards were separated and he has been trying this entire time to locate him. he then went on to tell me that he was here (in prague) during the velvet revolution and about vivid details he remembered about it. i didn't want to interrupt him, but i thought i would pose a question and see about his response. so i asked him what he was most grateful for throughout it all - just in reflection of his life. yes - a deep question from a stranger, but i felt that since he spent most of his life wrapped in discrimination, persecution, and in just plain pain (whether physical, emotional, or mental), that i wanted to pose a question and get him to focus for at least a few minutes on what good could have possible come out of it. and then he told me this:

"there were a lot of things that happened in my life that really messed up the way i saw people. my father told me at a young age that whatever circumstances presented themselves... that i was called to adapt to them; that it would shape me and mold me into a man. not the ordinary everyday man you see on the streets, but a strong-willed, whole-hearted, genuine and kind man. and i am not going to sit here and say i would do it again, because i wouldn't. the stuff they did to us in auschwitz was humiliating and degrading. and it took me a long time not to be angry or resent the people who did it to me and my people, but i forgave them and am a better man because of it. not because of the torment and all that i went through, but because i am man enough to acknowledge a mistake for what it is worth and know that whatever hovers over my head is nothing compared to what hovers over theirs. it took me a long long time to realize that most people aren't filled with hate. that we just need to love each other and respect. i cannot say what it would be like had i realized this a long time ago and put it into effect then, but i can do the best i can now to do just that. so incase no one has told you they loved you and you are meaningful - trust me when i say that you are."

oh. em. gee. i cannot begin to explain the way he made me feel when he said that. the butterflies and chill bumps i had then are still arising as i type. it was just beautiful. his story was beautiful. and he shared it with a stranger from amarillo, texas. my life is changed forever. because of one man's drive to survive and adapt, a small american soul is changed.

don't ever underestimate the soul sitting beside you. they have all the power in the world to change your life.

what a day.

thinkin' of you all and your impact on my life,

- kami.

creepy tower take one.

2008-08-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

hello chums and chumettes. monday is closing in on me, so i thought i'd update quickly with a few pictures of sunday's adventure before i forget. so - sara and i decided we would go to the "creepy tower"... better known here as the TV tower. it is the most controversial piece here, as the locals absolutely HATE it. it is an eye sore for sure, so i cannot disagree with them. it is an ODD ODD ODD conceptual idea and i'm unsure as to the extracting of it. it has these alien babies crawling up it... it is odd. but on the way there we took an escelator in the metro, and i found a cute cute cute cute cute little old couple taking it up as i was going down, so i snapped a picture of them. look below.

isn't that the cuest little thing ever? it's quite hard to see b/c it isn't that big of a file, but it is so cute. i just wanted to give them big ole' hugs. i didn't though... czechs don't like to hug americans... or say hello. anyhow, here are a few pics of what i saw on my way to the tower.

HOW THE HECK DID HE GET THESE PANTS ON??? and good luck gettin' them off fellah.

these two pics are for jimmy. a puppy great dane... ha.

they were besties. :)

and now, the main event. check this creepy tower out.

these are outer shots of the place... look at the alien babies crawling up it... so weird.

1. 2.

1. i am literally saying, "what the h-e-double hockey sticks?!?!"

2. i felt like such a bad (insert word here that mother asked me to remove) here.... haha

unlike petrin hill, thankfully, this place had an elevator. it was quick and painless to ride that puppy up to the 8th floor and get some of the most beautiful shots of praha (it's what the actual name of prague is)

father/son duo. absolutely adorable

these were just a couple pics i got. trust that i have a multitude of them, but it takes entirely too long to download them on here, so these will have to suffice until i get my picasa site up to just post all my pictures up for you all to see. :) that will come in due-time.

on another note, i have an interesting story for you all. i'm a bit annoyed, actually. tonight we went to a sports bar to get some french fries and ketchup. i was craving something american. i'm literally living off of pretzels, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, snickers, and coca lite. the latter two i reward myself with...when i finish off another round of the former mentioned. yes. anyhow, when we got the bill, they charged us a different price than the menu showed us. so when i asked the guy, who said he knew NO english, he went behind the bar and grabbed this hand-typed menu with the items we had ordered and told us this was the menu they had now, and that was how much the meal was. (which was more than the actual menu showed). i tried arguing with the dude, but he just said the real menu wasn't out yet, and continued to tell me i was going to pay from this flopped out pre-made sheet that he didn't show us when we actually ordered. wtf?!?! not cool. i told him that that was false advertisement and we weren't obligated to pay a price that wasn't listed on the actual menu, and even told him that they don't need to have a menu that isn't right on the table, but he just grabbed it from me and put it back on the table. i don't think he appreciated it. even though it was just like a $1 difference, it really bugged me! i am going to take a czech person in with me next time and see if they try that again. stupid stupid man! blast him!

anyway, that is about all. i DID get to use my ketchup i brought - i stuffed that puppy into my purse and used it accordingly! it was fantastic. now if i can just get the czech republic to open up a mrs. baird's bread factory, chick-fil-a, and sonic.... i'd be a happy happy camper!

in the mean time, i ought to catch some sleep.

arrivaderci my peops, arrivaderci!

- k-dubb.

the bone collector.

2008-08-16T15:44:00.000-07:00

hello faithful readers! boy do i have pics and stories for you! welp, yesterday was pretty crazy. we headed off in the wee hours of the mornin' to kutna hora. i've never even heard of this place before, but when i heard what they were known for, it was an absolute must to go and check it out.

basically, before i post pics, i thought i'd inform you on what little i do actually know about it. they gave us a little sheet that gave a detailed story about what had happened, but i was too busy taking pictures to really take time to read it. so, here's what i know:

after the plague, kutna hora had around 40,000 bodies/skeleton remains chillin' in the crypt. the man who bought the land, told this guy to do something useful with the bones. well. the dude, whose name i can't remember, did just that. he made a church out of it. mmhmm. a flippin' church out of human remains. it was the most beautiful/freakiest thing i've ever seen. to know that the bones i was staring at belonged to living humans who faced similar tribulations and trials i do now... and there i was staring at heaps and hoards of them. check them.

here we are on our way.

and here is what i saw on the rainy walk to get there.

now. here is the bone collector. or, familiarily known as "kutna hora"

1. this was the opening arch entryway. yes. mmhmm. human bones people.

2. i actually set off the alarm by taking this picture... apparently you aren't supposed to reach and touch the bones... who knew?!?!

3. i wasn't sure whether to smile or be frightened...

4. sara and i with the coat of arms made out of bones. oh yes. what a great place to take an anatomy class.

1. 2.

1. oh. that's just me underneath the chandellier made out of human remains, no big deal.

2. the actual "sanctuary" of the church.

3. i named this skeleton martin. he and i became good chums.

i think one of the coolest parts about the church aside from the obvious bone factor, was the surrounding tombstones. there were hundreds of them just chillin' on the church grounds. i found a really neat one that had a crazy clear reflection... and i went to town. i think i am ADD, as this entertained me for what seemed like 20 minutes! here they are.

oh yes. flippin' cool.

moving forward, the weather throughout our time there wasn't anything towrite home about. it was pouring rain. and my choice of foot ware for the day failed me miserably. i love my cons, but they do not love rain. however, here are a few fun pics of the rest of our time .

1. sara and i were really excited we could get our semi-matching umbrellas out. we decided they were cousins. mine is much cooler, but i didn't want to hurt the feelings of the umbrella, so i pretended to be just as excited for it as for my own. :) haha.

2. this is my great friend dan. he is from london and has a killer accent. he uses words like "rubbish, famished, cheers" etc. etc. i'm trying to get him hooked on y'all... but he's a tough cookie to crack.

3. i think this is probably one of the coolest pictures i've seen in a while.

4. we were waiting on our train...

AND. NOW....

WATCH THIS VIDEO!!

i think it's pretty self-explanatory... but how flippin' cool is this puppy?

lets talk to govna' perry and get him to make these mandatory in texas!

needless to say, yesterday was quite fun. i think sara and i are about to go to the tv tower (where it has creepy lookin' babies crawling up it...expect more pichas) or go to this church where mozart played some huge organ - who knows. ha. we might go check a futball game out, which means soccer for those of you not in "the know"... but who knows what lies ahead.

it's always an adventure with me, ha.

cheers,

k-webb.

things i've discovered about european living...

2008-08-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

hello all. happy friday...well, it's friday for me. we have a 4 day weekend basically. i am a bit bummed to report we didn't end up getting to go to budapest. it was about 100 bucks to go, and i decided that i would have had to sell my liver, or convince sara to sell hers, so we are taking multiple road trips to outter czech cities instead. whadda bumma. ho humm. what can ya do? i almost put in my last 5 koruna (crown - the currency here) in a casino tonight at a metro station, but thought it wouldn't be worth the chance of being 5 koruna poorer.

i did decided, however, as i was waiting on my lesson with josef, my one-on-one english student i am teaching, that i would make a list of things that i have discovered odd, or rather unusual at least to me, about european living. here goes:

the word for no here is 'nay' and every time i say it i feel like a horse.... "would you like some gum?" NAAAAY.
they all think that when you spit dip out of your mouth it hits a bucket and goes "ping"... yeah.
everyone thinks we ride horses in texas and have shootouts and saloons.
the metro is phenomenal... but not at 5pm when the majority of people get off work and get on the metro... and all subconsciously forgot to put on deodorant... or take a bath...
this place has a history...and it means something to them. i love that.
instead of flies here, they have bees, and they think absolutely nothing of them. they just go on about their business.
motorcycles are just as obnoxious here as the are in the states.
beer is cheaper than water... but in order to drink it all day they have it at a low concentration. thoughtful 'eh?
no country outside of the US believes in freaking refills... this perturbs me greatly. and because of it, i have learned to ration the amount i drink during a meal - not a fun thing to learn.
clothing is always wrinkled (i'd fit in well here, maw)
unlike in Texas when i solute someone in their native tongue, they just look at me like i'm an idiot.
i can say whatever i feel like wherever i feel like saying it and not be cautious of anyone getting upset... b/c chances are, they don't understand a word i'm saying!
for some odd reason, they are absolutely obsessed with this goolash crap. i suppose if i'd been fed it from a bottle as a wee pup like them, i'd enjoy it just as much. yick. disssssgusting!
there is an odd selection of clothing around here. one of which sara and i deemed the "skants" catagory, as it was a pair of pants extremely baggy to the knees then as tight as a cucumber all the way down the legs - - - how that chick was walking was unbeknownst to me.

these are just a few of the things i've come to discover. there are a myriad of others, but this list will suffice until later. in the mean time, i ought to get some shut eye. hope you are all doing mind-numbingly (<-- great adjective, 'eh?!) well!

dobry noc,

- kam-dogg.

oh happy day, happy day!

2008-08-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

hello all!

today has been pretty spectacular. i had my second lesson with vladimira and it went superbly. she was just great. we went over modal verbs and word order in sentences. she is going to be out of town next week, so she begged if we could do two lessons the following to make up for it. how odd that she cannot get enough of learning the english language. that's spectacular to me.

today we had another teacher come in. her name is olga! not many people can say they actually know an olga. but i can. ohhh olga. ha. she was really nice, and her approach to teaching i found easy to pay attention to. tomorrow she is going to teach us about cv's and how to make our resumes and whatnot. fun times that'll be.

on another note, tonight as i was coming home from my lesson, i listened to this playlist an old friend made me a while back, and it had this song called "the highest and the greatest" by tim hughes. and all of a sudden my hands were up and i was dancing in the metro. the few times i opened my eyes i was being glared at by the fellow praguers and one of them started laughing. i could have cared less, though, b/c all that was on my mind was the lyrics to the song:

wake every heart and every tongue

to sing the new eternal song

and crown him King of Glory now

confess Him, Lord of all

you are the highest

you are the greatest

you are the Lord of all

angels will worship

nations will bow down

to the Lord of all

a day will come when all we sing

and glorify our matchless King

your name is unrivalled stands alone

you are the Lord of all

let every heart

let every tongue

sing of Your name

let every heart

let every tongue

sing, sing, sing

lifting you high, higher and higher

after i heard these lyrics i couldn't help but put my hands up. i was literally dancing down the isles of the metro. it was so awesome. and despite the belief of the surrounding people, Jesus was all over that place. it was just incredible. the holy spirit was all over that place. it didn't matter if anyone else on that metro believed, all that mattered was Jesus was there and i was singing to him. i couldn't help but to just dance and throw my hands up. i'm sure it was a scene to the viewers, but for that moment in time, all that mattered was it was me and Jesus. that's how i want it to be every single moment of the day. just me and the King. lifting him high.

ahhh. it was so incredible. i thought that i was going to come here and struggle with finding Jesus, but i've found him more apparent here than anywhere. maybe it's because i'm searching a little harder, but even still, he's all over Prague. and i'm hoping by the end of my time here, he will be all over a little more of it.

goodnight chum-a-roos,

kam-dogg.

transitions.

2008-08-12T09:06:00.000-07:00

so here i am. looking out from the balcony of my flat into the abyss that is prague, listening to robbie seay, bethany dillon, desperation band, and hillsong. mmm good stuff. today i had what i consider to be one of the only decent meals i've had since i arrived. granted, it would have been absolutely incredible had the restaurant had ketchup. seriously - - WHO DOESN'T HAVE KETCHUP??!?! c'mon people!!

last night was the most beautiful and brilliant storm i think i've ever been of witness to. flashes of purple, green, and orange lit the sky and the ground shook as the thunder roared. i don't know what was better, the storm or watching the local praguers (my new name for local civilians) sprinting for cover from the downpour of rain - Jesus was all over it. what a refreshment it was. and let me say, the smell of rain in amarillo is almost as incredible as it is in prague. almost.

anyhow. as i was sitting on the metro on the way home from class today, i got to thinking about transitioning; how i up and left the only home i have ever really known in to flee to makeshift homes to suffice until i find another real one again. and it is strange - the feelings and emotions that this brings. i had imagined that i'd get terribly homesick, but i am not at all. i feel as though the people i have met, and my real world prague flat mates, have soaked up any previous notions of what it would be like if i were at home at this very moment; and all of a sudden none of it really matters anymore. i am here. living in prague, czech republic. sharing air with the praguers and tourists. i think i'd be awfully miserable anywhere but where i'm supposed to be. now, i am not certain whatsoever on where i'm headed after this month, but i do know that this is where i am being molded and shaped by the Lord; and the idea that the future is unknown isn't overwhelming the idea that i will go where i am intended to go. hallelujah for that!

on another note, as i was listening to my ipod, you have stirred my soul by robbie seay came on. and it got me thinking about all the surrounding people. and how, if the facts are right, that of the few hundred on the metro, less than three knew and believed in Jesus. that about killed me. i wanted to scream and shout that Jesus loved them and that he is the healer of the healed, the curer to the sick, the father to the orphans. but i couldn't mumble a sound. i just started sobbing. i ached for them; for them to understand that there is a being who waits in eager anticipation for their recognition of his free grace and adoration to just love his children. that his love is so tangible if they just grab for it - that he'll answer - that he grabs right back. i mean, there are days where Jesus' love just takes my breath away; days where it is abundantly clear that his love is sometimes just too much for me. and i wanted to shake all the faces i saw today and tell them that, but i couldn't say a word. i just cried for them. just thinking about it now makes me sick to my stomach. i cannot being to imagine how Jesus feels when he continually receives this rejection, but i tasted it today and i hated it. and i don't ever want to feel that way again.

so i'm on a mission. i want to represent. the reflection of Christ i've previously been is shameful, but the one i desire to be is something i think that could possibly shake things up. and i'm fully aware i won't start a velvet revolution again in the streets of prague...but if i can love even a smidge of the way Jesus did, and expand the kingdom with even one soul - then it'll all be worth it. nothing will be lacking.

goodnight friends,

kami.

a sad day in yoda land.

2008-08-10T12:24:00.001-07:00

WATCH VIDEOS BEFORE READING:

explanation #1: we miss american food. like seriously... we miss it. ha. so, we thought we'd see if we could get dominoes to deliver via skype. good times. i couldn't quit laughing...ha. pay close attention to the girl on the other line...not the brightest crayola in the bunch...

explanation #2: i thought it'd be fun to roll down the hill...and relive the days of my youth. end result: i'm not as smooth as i thought.

explanation #2: i came across a priest rapper dude. it was bizarre. very bizarre. take a listen. (make note of the little recorder player - elementary music did him well!)

we decided today we would tackle the city again, so the following are details/pics from the way today went!

here is yoda, ewen, and me on the way to our adventure (sara is behind the camera)

but i needed a drink from my AMAZING water bottle (mom...send some more)

(ewen was just as excited as i was to have my water bottle!)

today we went and climbed petrin hill... i think that's what it is called. i could be wrong - that is capable every once in a while... rarely, but possible. it was a lovely little climb up the hill to get there, and then 300 steps up the little mini-eiffel tower, that looked something like this:

once we saw this...we decided we would attempt to climb it. all 299 steps. during the midst of the battle, i thought i was getting dizzy b/c everything was moving; all to discover that it was actually moving with all the people going in and out of it. not cool. the view, though, was unreal. and here are several pics of mine and yoda's experience while we were up there....

yoda is on my shoulder pimpin it up. what a little cutie.

afterwards we roamed around the gardens and i met a nice nun named damarisa or something to that affect. she was a sweet gal...except...after taking a picture with yoda and me...yoda's hand went missing.

i am unaware if she was the actual theif, but... i cannot imagine where his little ole' hand would have fallen off otherwise. so this is the last known picture of yoda with both hands... bless his tiny green heart! and there she is just walking away... possibly with a valuable piece of my boi yoda.

now, realizing that a piece of my yoda was missing, we went and roamed the gardens... in attempt to find the little green fingers. and mom, i wanted to pick all the roses and send them to you. however... after much contemplation, i thought that this would result in getting arrested for trespassing...and then i wouldn't be able to send you the flowers anyway and i'd be in jail. and that wouldn't get us anywhere. humph. so. i took a picture of one, and then of ewen looking at one...

it was quite beautiful - and a wonderful work out! maw - my cute little payless van shoes are dying. i am literally nearing the stage of walking a hole in my sole (of my shoe, not my soul-soul). so, from now on until then - i plan on walking in just them. it will be something to say i've walked a hole in my sole. i don't know why... i just want to. on the way back, we came across the ugliest dog i have possibly ever seen in my entire life. poor little fellah/or fellette. here it was:

told you - it was hideous looking. ha. made me miss ole' petey. give him lovin' for me mom. the dogs here just aren't up to par. i say "ciao pes" to all the dogs here - which is hello doggie...i think?!?! all the pet owners look at me like i'm a stupid american, but the dogs deserve some american loving. speaking of animals, i forgot to mention that as we went through the pet store yesterday, i taught a czech bird english! HOW ABOUT THAT?! he could say 'ahoy!' (which is hello in czech), and i taught him to say 'HELLO'! so if everything else falls apart, i will have accomplished that!

on another note, we went home shortly after our 6 hour walk/climb fest and i watched the prestige. and now am writing to you all. we have to memorize czech for our all-czech lesson tomorrow. there is nothing like having a teacher come in and speaking nothing but czech for an hour and a half. it is insane. a lifetime experience, no doubt.

okay, i should close and get to bed. we don't have to be at school until 1 so i get to sleep a bit. bring on the lunesta! :)

much love from the csesky republiky,

kam-dogg.

OH: two things i forgot to mention:

1. we got another roommate. yes, we are like the REAL WORLD PRAGUE. he is a real georgian boy if i've ever met one. he and i get along spectacular, though, and he is freakin hilarious (he is the one in the video at the top calling skype). so yes, now we have two atlantans, two texans, and a scottish lad. and yoda. without a right hand.

2. i think we might go to budapest next weekend. we found some cheap bus tickets and thought why not?! so, look for pics/updates sometime from that. ciao now!

when peeing was free.

2008-08-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

watch before you read. mm mm mm. la di da.

yesterday was superb. first - i slept in. yep. until 11:16 and 29 seconds. my eyes opened immediately afterwards. i decided i would eat the rest of my subway sandwich...but our refrigerator here is odd and likes to randomly shower it's contents with an unheard of amount of water...so it was soaked. boo. the only decent food... a goner. ha.

sara had a lesson so after she got back we went and wandered like the nomads we are. the title of this blog should explain it all - when peeing was free. i had to pay like 50 cents to use the restroom facilities...and then more if i wanted to use toilet paper. pretty cool, 'eh? oh how much i miss open restrooms and REFILLS!! good gracious i'd like a free refill just once. ha. on another note...i went and got my pictures developed and stamps so i can send them as postcards. i am creative i tell ya. actually, i'm just cheap... and don't want to spend money on other peoples pictures. ha. so. if you would like a kami-original, please click HERE for my e-mail and you shall receive one. yep. you shall. if i have enough stamps. i only bought 15, as they were extremely pricey... so, first come first serve, i reckon.

as we were walking through the center, we came across this wedding that had just taken place. i took a few pics, but i could only imagine how amazing their pictures were going to be...being in the middle square of prague and all. take a look.

we came across this jazz group that was playing. now - look here you st. stephen celebration singers...they sang glory, glory, hallelujah! half in czech and half in english...and i recorded it just for you. hopefully you have already seen it, as it is at the very top! it was AWESOME! :)

we walked around quite a bit, until we wondered upon a photography gallery displaying the famous works of Ladislav Bielik - the photographer who captured the infamous picture of the bare-chested man standing in front of the tank at the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; basically emulating the highest form a resistance against the russians - by far, the coolest gallery i've ever been to. i could have stayed in there for days. here are a few pics of the highlights throughout the day...and then my YODA extravaganza! czech 'em:

1. 2.

1. MOM - i found a Wall-E poster! but they call it VALL-I. i thought of you mom!!

2. starbucks gets me through...mmm.

3. i thought this was interesting graffiti! ha. (close your eyes you conservatives!!)

and more.

1. 2.

1. yoda's first metro ride.

2. yoda took over sara's coffee. no, seriously - he made her give it to him. then the rest of the day he kept trying to use his powers on the czechs. apparently the don't get star wars humor b/c they kept looking at him funny.

3. yoda and me chillin' in the coffee shop. we tight.

1. yoda was trying to talk to the ducks. he got really upset that they didn't respond and couldn't understand how place mats at chinese restaurants weren't made to converse. bless his lil' ole' heart.

2. yoda wanted his picture taken at the metro station on the way home. he told me he wanted to capture the essence of the moment.

later that evening we decided we would go out dancing. oh what an experience that was. these czechs...they don't mess around, i tell ya. it was a five-story club by the river. one floor had rap, one floor had techno, and so on and so on. dancing was fun, though. i did hear the worst pick-up line ever, though. i would post it, but it would undoubtedly repel you all. i found it humorous, though. he kept stealing my hat, as well. he was a frenchman. ohh those frenchmen! at around 4 we decided we would attempt to go home...and on route i got my be-hind slapped and blown a kiss by a boy who looked to be about 15. i would have socked him, but he couldn't even grow peach fuzz above his lip, so i didn't see it worth it. he slapped an american behind. way to go kiddo.

after finding the right tram route, we ended at home... smelling like a czech club and sleeping until noon. today we lounged around and hung out most of the day. and now i am here. sittin' in the living room waiting for the tylenol pm to come into affect.

i miss you all mucho,

k-webb

welcome weekend.

2008-08-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

my first week of school is ova. finito. done. peace out.

hallelujah!

it was a week of firsts for sure. first time to learn czech, first time to eat disgusting DISGUSTING goolash or however you spell it ...should just be spelt like ga-ross. (like guh-rose). my mother informed me of how super proud she was of my punctuation and capitalization on my blog. i think knowing it bugs her...makes lowercasing everything that much FUNNER. (hahahaha... 'more fun').

anyhow. first time teach an english lesson to a foreign student....or, to a czech student. first time to see prague and the castles. first time to live with a musician, a scottish man with a killer accent...who only brought 3 t-shirts with him...(seriously...couldn't/wouldn't/shouldn't do it!!). tonight i had the privilege of playing in a 3-on-3 basketball game. i dont know if it's all czechs...but these czechs sucked at ball. i was like you have got to be kidding me. my scottish roommate ewen (u-win) and i played with them. now, granted, he sucked too. but it was quite interesting being a part of that group. i felt like i was watching the special olympics...it was fun, though. i think i will go to the supermarket and buy a basketball tomorrow. we have a bball court outside our flat, and it would be fun to shoot and beat all the czechs. perhaps i can bet them and then steal their money with my mad skills. it's only fair...they took my money today at lunch.

this whole food thing here blows. it just sucks a big one. when i see spaghetti...i think of spaghetti...you know...pasta and sauce. their spaghetti...noodles and a pile of spinach with quail eggs. are ya kiddin me? seriously. i almost threw up in my mouth. so i ate bread. yep. i got to pay 13 bucks for a meal i didn't eat. at least i got a coca lite. i did, however, find a SUBWAY on the way home and devoured into one of their turkey and cheese sandwiches; which, might i add...is much better than the ones in the states. one point for czech. too bad the rest of the food here blows. i was on such a roll...ha.

after class today i had my first meeting with Josef (YO-SEF)...or "joe." and throughout our conversation, i found out that he plays soccer every single night, loves traveling as much as i do, and doesn't believe in God. seriously. what a bummer it is to find out that ALL these czech's are missin' the sweet love of hey-sus. i'm hoping that throughout my time with them, i can shed some of the light of Jesus to them; that if nothing else they can sense something different about me that they want to have (and not just my lovely ralph lauren scent). haha.

tomorrow i plan on going and printing off some of my pictures and mailing them as postcards. neat-o 'eh? i know, i know. we have the day off! YEA BOI. actually, the school is open in the morning if we want to work on our lesson plans. luckily for me...i am a procrastinator...so i don't need to go this early. that'd be weird. haha. my mom just keeps getting prouder and prouder of me, i'm sure. ha. speaking of, christopher norton - my mother informed me you were one of the 6 finalists? what is this world coming to? your competition must blow. hahahaha. i tease, i tease. congratu-freakin-lations. that's fantastic. i will inform the czechs and we will throw a party when you win. i will also somehow talk to the czech papers and have them write a story about you. be looking for a long-distance call in the next few days...and get a translator. i will give you a heads up:

hello - "dobry-den"

that's about all i got on the czech language. it is not cool. it hates americans...as do most czechs. today we almost got eaten alive by a mean waiter. then he asked where we were from and i told him Texas and all of a sudden he was our friend. everyone loves a texan. :)

alrighty, i miss you all and love you to the moon and back...and maybe even to jupiter...which was a planet when i was your age.

ciao people,

kam-dogg.

this is my "if i don't get a freaking decent meal i'm going to jump off this building face." :)

whadda day!

2008-08-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

hello my people!

or should i say "dobry den!" (dobreeden)...that's HELLO! another czech word i've learned. so far i can count to four and say a few things/phrases. not that it will get me very far in another country aside from the czech republic..but hey, whatev.

today was good/has been good. so far it is about 8:30. i just had my first one-on-one lesson with my student. her name is vladimira. she is a fun gal. she wants to learn grammar and writing. oh what fun that'll be! it is odd that we as americans run away from subjects such as these, but she is running toward it. odd how that works. we talked quite a bit about religion and she told me that the soviet pretty much ruined the idea of church for the people; and that the fear is still in them about going to church. how sad is that. it is quite a shame for sure.

hopefully i can do somethin to fix that at least within her.

anyhow, today in class i was supposed to prepare a 20 minute lesson for a local czech student. so i wrote one over prepositions... and the student did not show up. neat-o. so we had to pretend to be students who couldn't understand english... and we taught them...a subject they already knew. hopefully the czech students show up tomorrow. i don't have to teach in class until the week after next! woop! relaxation time! ha.

i am excited, though, b/c on my way home i found this place called municiple court, and the are basically a HUGE orchestra...and they are playing gershwin on the 20th! i am sooo excited to go! the are playing all his good songs like rhapsody in blue, summertime from porgy and bess, shall we dance, etc. etc. WOOHOO! so incase i forget, please remind me of that! it is like 45 bucks to go...but when am i going to get to go see that again? so that is my convincing.

okay, i have to go edit some pichas. talk with you all later!

promised pichas.

2008-08-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

heya chums. here are a few of the pics i was telling you about. the first of them are of the prague castle and the cathedral...look at that stainglass! i'm tellin ya st. stephen - talk to stan... i want st. stephen to be like this when i get back! haha. anyhow. enjoy!

these are a couple of the metros. pretty neat-o, 'eh?

this was the view from the castle/bridge tower. isn't it beautiful? oh yes. absolutely stunning.

this reminded me of my motha. it was cute. she and i will be walking like this one day...her with the cane, of course! :)

where to begin??

2008-08-04T14:21:00.001-07:00

hello my people?! or should i say AHOY! (they actually use that...it's not just a pirate myth..."ahoy matey") it's odd just going around saying "ahoy!"...and unlike Texas...they do NOT respond; they just look at me like i have one eye and a cane for a leg. haha. the czech language is odd i tell ya. whomever was in charge of making the language up, needed to be rung around the neck. they had no intentions of anyone learning their language aside from wee pups from birth. you see, today we had our first czech lesson....all in czech. not a lick of english. i kept looking at her with puppy dog eyes hoping she would empathize with me and at least answer our questions in english, but she just kept repeating "norozumim anglitsky"...which means i speak no english. i kept saying "norozumim czech"...but she did not like that. ha.

the lesson was intense. not gonna' lie. she went entirely too fast...ha. i tried to write down as much as humanly possible, but my poor little broken finger finally relented and refused to go any further. our class is very diverse. we have people from australia, romania, russia, scotland, london, new york, connecticut,washington, atlanta, and texas. it's quite the mix for sure. we actually ended up adopting the scotland lad, as he was living in a hostel and unsure about a home. we have room..we are cheap and wanted rent to be cheap, and who could resist a scottish lad? besides, he will keep our other roommate, tyler, good company. we have a nice mix in here.

yesterday was quite the day as well. sara and i woke up and went to the infamous castle on top of the hill. as we were walking into the cathedral, they were starting a catholic mass. wow is that a story! i have only been to two catholic mass' in my life...and they were in english and i didn't much know what was going on then; much less for it to be in a foreign language. it was humorous, to say the least. at one point, they began singing what i would assume to be czech hymns or whatever songs they sing. sara and i didn't want to be left out, so we started to sing.....we just went with watermelon and aligator. here's the thing, though...it's much easier to mesh those with english songs than songs that are in czech. it was interesting to say the least. the little priest guy was a cutie. old little man he was. they have incense that they use and he was so consumed by it at one point he started coughing...which almost started a riot of laughter from our amused pew. after the mass we went and toured the rest of the castle and waited until noon to watch the switching of the guards. that was neat-o. i will post pics tomorrow, as our little roommate ewen is waiting for us to leave his spot in the living room so he can rest. after walking around for a few hours, we went to an english church called faith community and had worship with them. it was quite good if i may say so myself. it was neat to think that all over the world people were worshiping the same Jesus i was. some of them in small churches in texas, some underneath african canopies, some in prison chapels, and some in afternoon english speaking churches in prague. none of that really mattered, though...just that it was all about solidarity. that was cool to me. i will say, however, that there is one significant difference between europe and american churches. afterwards in amarillo, we never went to the beer gartens (as though we'd have one). they do that here. ha. so we accompanied the other american folk to a close beer gartens where they enthralled themselves in good conversation and local beer. unfortunately, i do not like beer, so i had a few shots of absinth. wait...that's a lie. ha. i had raspberry something or another lemonade, which tasted much more like flavored gingerale - not my thing.

it was a full day, to say the least. and now, i am sitting in our prague living room listening to my roommate tyler play the guitar and sing on the balcony. what a talent he is. the breeze is gentle and life is good. class is intense, but i know it will be absolutely beneficial. we actually start our first one-on-one english lessons on wednesday. yeah...lot of preparation they gave us! i have josef and vladimira. did i mention that my roommate was singing and playing the guitar on the balcony? well. he is. and it's quite a way to end the overwhelming past few days we've had.

i will post pictures tomorrow either in the morning or later in the evening after class. ewen (my new scottish roommate) is asleep on the couch, and i feel as though he deserves his bed (which is in the living room...the only place i get wireless).

i miss you all and think of you often,

kami

the run around day 1.

2008-08-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

heya chums and chumettes.

today we had the chance to go to the center of prague, where all the castles are. we didn't really have much time to get lost and see everything, so i plan on doing that probably sometime this weekend, as during this next week school will start and i'll be awfully busy. it was fun, though. it's amazing how many american restaurants we've seen: mcdonald's, subway, hotdog stands (of

which we ate dinner tonight!!!), and TGI Friday's. interesting i thought.

anyhow, i don't know much but that i'm awfully tired and we are meeting the main admissions guy tomorrow in the afternoon! until next post, enjoy these few pics!

( this is the window view from my room. kinda looks like miami vice...)

i will post more once i have a chance to get lost in the middle of prague.

until then my people, until then.

much love,

k-webb

oh the life of a foreigner.

2008-08-01T04:02:00.000-07:00

so i am sitting here...in our cozy little czech apartment staring out the window. it looks like a scene out of miami vice...minus all the whole criminal aspect. i'll post pics of what it looks like later on. in the mean time, i thought i'd share some fun stories with you all on the whole traveling aspect. so here goes:

i knew it'd be a great flight when i walked on board and coldplay was playing, following colbie caillat. good stuff. i was lucky enough to get the two-people seater on the outside of the isle. funny story...i'm a popular girl, as two men fought over sitting next to me. too bad they were old and balding; apparently one of them wasn't able to read his ticket stub - i just thought i was popular. humbling moment. haha.

for those of you who are unaware, i have been looking for a traveling gnome to take with me all over. however, with no luck, i sufficed with a traveling YODA. and he's pretty pimp. below are some pictures of our adventures on the plane.

the ones on the bottom are the stewardesses. they were nice enough to participate. i had to control yoda, though, b/c he managed to find the heineken...and star war figurines and alcohol DO NOT mix.

the flight went smoothly as can be expected, though. tiny children attempted to make me lose my mind, and one almost succeeded as i thought about what it'd feel like to open the tiny window and throw him out. but, nonetheless, we made it safely to amsterdam...where i found the following:

COCA FREAKING LITE. ooo yes!

once we arrived at prague, we went for our luggage. where...mind did not show up. this wasn't a good thing, you see, as i packed all my winter clothing one one bag, and all my shorts and tees and bathroom entities in the other. now ya see, my winter clothing arrived just safe and sound. only problem - apparently there is a HEAT fest going on here as it is like 90 degrees. so we called and bugged the baggage claim people until finally it arrived late into the evening. and miraculously enough, as i went outside to go and wait for them to bring it, the guy was standing there waiting on me. halleuljah! so, needless to say, all is right with the world and i can officially start my journey!

ah. an important event i somehow forgot to mention. since i am not a fan of airport food, i didn't eat much on the plane but what yoda found me (not the heineken...he found candy, too. ha) for some odd reason, i was craving italian food. i dont know why. i just knew i didn't want potatoes and goolash or whatever. so, we found a little italian joint not too far off. oh boy howdy. they do not like americans i tell ya. i can understand, i reckon, b/c we sound like a bunch of idiots trying to pronounce their language that they obviously want no one else to learn as it is impossible unless you are taught from birth, but the looks we received were quite interesting. i thought about spaghetti...but i went with the pizza. PEPPERONI pizza. i asked her if she knew what that was and she shook her head with certainty. i felt confident. and then she brought out this:

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?!

i about had a cow when i saw this. i shook my head, and tried to confirm to the waitress that that SO was not what i ordered. she said yes, PEPPERS. umm...wow. for anyone who knows me, you are fully aware of my discontentment with anything remotely spicy. (joppa knows this best, as they all love spicy...and i failed as a spicy employee) it's just not my jam. i'm incapable of expanding my pallet to the spicy side of the world. i convince myself, or my taste buds, rather, that i am too spicy to begin with. ha. no, but seriously...this was not cool. she took it away and i tried to convince her that i wanted MEAT pepperoni, all to bring it back saying i couldn't exchange it. fifteen bucks for a meal i did not eat. faaaantastic. such is life in a foreign country!

afterwards we came home and got settled in. i also forgot to mention the time we had trying to find our apartment. there we were...walking around lugging our 50 pound luggage behind us trying to find the one place that could remotely console our aching bodies. after multiple attempts to say "mulvete anglisky" (do you speak english), and multiple rejections, sara finally found someone who could point us in the right direction. it is a pretty secure little joint. you have to unlock two doors to even get to our apartment door (which is 4 flights up), then double unlock our apartment door. our apartment is fairly nice, actually. i slept so hard you could have run me over with a bulldozer, sold my body to india, and sat me next to osama and i still would have been out.

we just went and ate our first czech meal at a little place around the corner. it is funny i tell ya - they drink beer like italians drink wine and americans drink coffee. at one particular table, a man was sitting all by himself, and three other men went and took over the other side of his table and just went about their business. i thought to myself how unheard of that would be in america. to just go to someone's table and take over with your friends. ha. good times. anyhow, we somehow managed to order potatoes and chicken. i had to ask the waitress three times for ketchup, until she finally brought me a lousy excuse of czech republic ketchup...now i know to take my ketchup with me everywhere i go! for some reason, i keep trying to speak spanish to these people, in hopes one of them might particularly know it. i fail, of course, as they stare at me with even more amusement. but i try. being over here makes me excited to go back to ITALIA!

our third roommate tyler comes in later on today, and after he gets settled in we are going to go to the supermarket and stock up the house. i think czech food is nice and all, but i'm fairly certain i could and will probably live off of peanut butter and jelly and apples. hello slim fast! haha. as long as i have coca lite in my life, things are going to go superbly!

we start school on monday, and meet with the main guy tomorrow to pay off the rest of our school. remind me to write that off of my taxes. holy mackarol. i am so ready to get things started going. we live in prague 5, and the main part, or castle-esque, part of prague is in prague 1. so hopefully we can go and i can take some sweet lookin' pics!

miss you all and hope this finds you well!

much love,

k-webb.

d-day...in a day. ha.

2008-07-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

i leave soon. very very soon.

an aurora of emotions i haven't remotely had time to soak up. as i lay here all i can think about is all i have yet to accomplish in preparing for take-off. ha. my room is a mess, my bags aren't packed, my lists aren't checked off, my people aren't hugged.

good-byes suck. they just flat out blow; especially when i am fully aware of the transformations that are going to take place until the next meeting. that the faces i say bye to will be dancing to a new song next time we meet again. it is exciting, but disappointing to an extent in the fact that i won't be around to see their steps progress, or that they will not be beside me on my adventure as well.

i think more than anything i am just absolutely grateful. so many people invest themselves in my life that aren't ever thanked or good gosh, rewarded in my circumstance! ha. anyone who can put up with me...willingly...deserves quite the medal. ha. so here is my last minute thank you.

webster obviously didn't have you people in his life, or he would have made up better words than "thanks" and "you rock". but thanks....you rock.

next time i write, i will be sitting in a new home.

cheerio,

k-webb

oh how he loves.

2008-07-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

singing in church this morning, i decided i'd pay attention to the actual lyrics. the song selection was most definitely up to par. the latter song is one that has the capability to bring even the darkest demons into shutter mode. it was called "oh how he loves us." the story behind the song is unheard of. but the lyrics are whew... amazing. basically referring to the moment we come face to face with the Lord and how he wraps his arms around us with relentless pursuit of just holding his children.

anyhow, as i was devouring the lyrics, i couldn't help but to imagine how much pleasure it brought to Jesus to hear us sing those words to him. i imagined him dancing unabatedly over his people; with crazy intense unmanageable choreography. few songs have lyrics that reign true to the real meaning of what it means to come face to face with Jesus and the moments intertwining throughout, but oh how he loves us...it captures the very essence of those brief moments.

you see, i've been dislocated for so long that i somehow along the way lost my desperation for the Lord. i grew so desperate to see his face and feel his matchless love, that i became weary of it's actual existence. the ambition i had to be sought out by the Lord was overshadowed by what i saw as the lack of it. i was so determined to wait for action by Jesus that i'd dismissed my own participation in the relationship. i couldn't hear the beauty of the silence because i paid too much attention to the surrounding chaos. but he was there. waiting on me. that's what i love so much about Jesus - he doesn't push us. he will wait until we are ready; the epitome of patience he is.

these last few months i've had the chance, well..no other option, really, but to fall silent into the arms of stillness. i've been waiting to hear what it is the Lord wants to say...all but forgetting that sometimes he just wants to hold me. so i jumped. head first. with concrete shoes on into the arms of the one who just wants to love me. to wrap his arms around his broken child and let me know that i am worth so much more than i can comprehend; that sometimes it takes lyrics written by a hurting and confused soul to explain what it is Jesus wants to tell us.

oh how he loves us. oh how he loves us so.

much love people,

k-webb

impact.

2008-07-19T00:20:00.000-07:00

it seems odd to me that in 10 days i will be gone. all the familiarity i've grown to know in my 23 years will be futile and i'll be reluctantly forced to grasp onto this thing called "new". my heart is very unsure about this idea. sure we all embrace it once it has come and gone and we can look back on the learning experience of it all, but the process of it is one that on some days leaves you aching for the home you grew to know so well.

so as i reminisce, the one thing that is on my mind is if i made an impact. if i made a difference. because as far as i'm aware, the only person who will legitimately miss me is my motha...who...as we all know, has to. ha. i think i COULD have made a difference...and that i whole-heartedly intended to do so, but as i reflect back on my time spent here, i feel as though it was all for not. that not a soul will miss what it was i brought to the table. this makes me sad. (and trust i'm not self-loathing, this is pure frustration on my lack of showing Jesus more than anything) i'm not sad in the idea that i'm not going to be missed, but rather the impact that i could have had wasn't strong enough to leave its mark on the world to walk away changed. that i missed showing everyone i could as much Jesus as i could.

you see, i am a screw-up. i mess up quite frequently. this is a character flaw i am very well aware of. i make mistakes that tragically ruin the impact i potentially could have had on people. sometimes with words, sometimes with actions, and sometimes with a mixture of the two. i get too emotionally attached in relationships and don't think clearly throughout them; sometimes damaging it entirely. and the harder i try to avoid these catastrophes, the more i seem to coward into them.

i want more with my new life, though. i want to show the world a slice of Jesus they haven't EVER seen. ever. i know i'm capable of this type of impact; that Jesus is capable of using me to the greatest extent possible. that is something that goes without question, it is just a matter of me being able to let go of what i used to be, for what i CAN become; of letting the idea of who i WAS dissipate out the window and grasp on victoriously to the transformation of who i will become.

there's so much i want to accomplish while i'm overseas. so many places to see and PICTURES TO TAKE and people to meet. but aside from these, all i want to do is tell people about Jesus. to be so devoured in the holy spirit that itis recognizable the minute i enter the room, or coffee shop, or cobble-stoned streets. less than 1% of people believe in Jesus. over 60% are atheists and agnostic, and more czechs believe in UFO's than Jesus.

so here is to hoping it goes up to 2% by the time we are done with it.

dueces my people, dueces.

k-webb.

Czech One, Two.

2008-07-06T20:22:00.001-07:00

Less than 3 weeks until I am off to the great abyss that is Europe. I started this to keep peops updated and post some pichas that don't always make it on my website.

So. Here's to the wonderful road ahead....

Peace.

k-webb.