we don't make plans here. nope.

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.

***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!

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.

'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.

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??

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. :)