muju resort.

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.

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.

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.

jump.

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