Vietnam!!

Hello, all! I'm in Vietnam right now with Dad and Jesi. So far we are having a great time, even though we haven't done much on our first day here.

Jesi and Dad had a long day yesterday. They left Portland, stopped in San Francisco, and then headed to Seoul where I met up with them. Here are a few pictures stolen from Jesi's camera for you to get a taste of their adventure.

Food on the flight.



Daddy looks tired...



So he slept.



I met up with them in the Incheon airport. Yay!! I finally got to see my Chicky!



We had a few hours at the airport so we went and walked around this little museum in the airport. Jesi made a rubbing of a picture and we did some stamping things.



Aaannd THIS is who I was so excited to see... *sigh*



Gratuitous "myspace" shot of the sisters.



Then we landed in Shanghai. They would only check our bags through to Shanghai so we had to go through immigration. My passport confused the heck out of them what with me traveling with two people who started in the U.S., an E2 visa for Korea and then a visitors visa for Vietnam. The guy was asking me questions looking all confused and then turning to the girl next to him and laughing and whispering questions in Chinese. We didn't have visas for China so they had to take us aside and make calls to get us approved to enter the country so we could get our bags and check in again.

While going through the Shanghai airport we saw a random Native American statue guy. What the heck?



On the airplane over to Shanghai, they gave us some good food. Some of it better than others...



We didn't care for the pickled radish stuff that tasted like puke (according to Jesi). The ham stuff looked questionable as well.



We finally made it to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam! Hooray! Jesi continued taking pictures all the way to the hotel. It was, like, 2am so no one was really out on the road.



The hotel lobby was a welcome sight.



Today we got up (more like Jesi jumped on the bed and woke me up) at 8:30 and went for the breakfast buffet at the hotel. This is what was for breakfast: assorted fruits, hash browns, breakfast rolls, half a dumpling of some sort, sausage, and a samosa! Yum!



Jesi is excited for yummy food. :)



After breakfast, we went and walked around town to see what there was. We got bored fast so we picked up snacks at the Circle K and headed back to the hotel.

Jesi swears by the M&M and Cheezit route. I tell her that is disgusting.



We also got a few things that looked just plain interesting. Okay... we got some chips that just looked interesting. The tomato ones tasted exactly like cream of tomato soup. It was good, but strange.



And this was Beijing Duck flavor.



Now we're just hanging out until Dad gets home. We'll go out to dinner, check out the mall, and grab some real groceries so we don't live off cheezits and chips all week. Jesi and I will probably venture out more tomorrow to do something more exciting than taking advantage of HBO. :)

Small Adventures

These past few weeks I haven't really been on any BIG adventures, just small ones. There are several reasons for this: I've been hanging out more with Tara because she is leaving soon *sniffle,* I've been subbing a lot for other teachers on vacation, and I've been getting ready for my own vacation next week.

Looking through my pictures from the last few weeks, I see that while I don't have a BIG adventure to tell you about, I can show you a bunch of pictures from my little adventures these past few weeks.

So this is a picture post! My favorite kind to read in other people's blogs so I hope you enjoy.

Adventure 1: Vietnam Embassy

I had to go to the Vietnam Embassy to get a traveler's visa for my upcoming trip with Jesi and my Dad. Every time I called, no one would pick up (I later discovered I was always calling during their two hour lunch break or after hours or on holidays) so I turned to the internet for directions on how to get there. Finding directions online to this place is very difficult. I finally found directions with a map that looked pretty straightforward. I was very excited... until I discovered that the stupid map led into an alley that contained only garbage and few things of interest. I was pretty upset.

I finally managed to get through on the phone and the woman gave me very explicit instructions on how to get there. It was in a completely different area from the map I found online.

Anyways, short story long, I made it and ended up getting me a visa to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (BAM!!). It was such a nice day that instead of trying to find a taxi back to the subway station, I decided to walk. I saw a bunch of really cool things along the way, too.

Here's a view of the hill. It was a very pretty day. A little warm on the warm side, but with my handy folding fan, I managed to stay cool.


I always see the strangest little statues walking around Seoul. This one had two crazy heads eating both ends of the bench. Om nom nom!!


There were several traditional looking houses along the way. Quite pretty.


For Mom, the Museum of Chicken Art!! Unfortunately, it was not open. Very sad. I would have liked to have an entire post devoted to pictures of chicken art for my mom. :)

Adventure 2: Itaewon

I realized once it started getting warm here that I have very few summer clothes! That's not good. It's very hot and muggy here and I did not fancy walking around in the same two or three outfits. I was recently lucky enough to find a very cute summer dress at H&M in Myung Dong (finding clothing in my size at H&M is usually a crap-shoot). However, my best bet for clothing my size is Itaewon. So I hit my favorite store, OKBT.

It's also one of the few stores that says "Plus Size" and not "Big Size." It might look small, but this is the best selection of cute clothes over size 12 that you will find in Itaewon.


The woman working there, Kelly, was super sweet and ended up finding me on Facebook! She said I was her most polite customer. Aw, how sweet. :) I ended up getting a nice summer shirt and a green dress that everyone at church loved. I felt super cute... though it kind of reminds me of something my mom might wear if it were in a different color! I still love it, though.

Then, because I've re-read at least 8 of the books I brought with me and I'm tired of begging around work for books I haven't read, I went to What the Book?! The wonderful foreign English new and used bookstore. I bought a used book for 3,000 won (about $3).


Adventure 3: Dongdaemun

I know I'm always going shopping, but what you MUST understand is that I usually do not spend that much money! Also, my bank account has, like, 3 times more money in it than it has EVER had at any one time. Granted, this money will all disappear once I get a car and start going to grad school... but STILL.

Anyways, my friend Tara and I wanted to go do something but it was late. The only thing we could think of that was opened late was Dongdaemun. Since I had only been once with Kendra and it had been totally closed at the time, we decided to go wander around the area.

Coming out of the subway, we saw the great Dongdaemun Gate. My picture really doesn't do it justice. It's really pretty.

We wandered a lot and saw some cute, cute clothes and shoes. We finally made our way into this building that had lots of stalls in it with clothes, luggage, wigs, etc. Very fun.


We stayed out pretty late and even when we left it was still pretty happening. I'm not used to that. I don't usually stay out that late and I was really surprised that so many people were still out and about! Looking at this picture, you might guess that it's, maybe, 9 or 10pm, right?

This is when we went home. At 2:30am.

Wow.



Adventure 4: Eating out. A LOT

I don't eat out a lot here. I have a strange schedule so I don't get to get together with friends to eat all that often. Eating at a restaurant alone is boring so when I do get opportunities to eat out with friends, I take them up on it.

I ate out at an Italian place on Saturday with Tara (spicy pane... delicious). Then on Monday, a teacher at work asked if I wanted to go out for dinner with her so we had barbecue which is always good. Then Tuesday I went and had lunch with Katelyn from church at this really great dumpling place in the mall. We discovered that we both have the same television obsessions (X-Men cartoons, Doctor Who, Sherlock, Firefly, Criminal Minds... were were geeking it up). Not to mention the delicious dumplings.

Then I went home and got ready to clean. This is how I felt about that idea.


Then I went out AGAIN for dinner with Tara! Soo much eating out! I will be sticking with stir fry and tuna for the rest of this week so I can spend money on shopping with my Chicky in Vietnam!

As part of an appetizer, they gave us these little multicolored corn balls. They tasted like Froot Loops on steroids.


Tara liked them.


And that's it! This weekend, Tara and I are going to try and hit Dongdaemun again for our last shopping hurrah since she leaves the day after I get back from Vietnam and I won't see her again until she meets up with us in Disneyland this October (she's from L.A.). We might try for Hongdae on Sunday after church; we'll see.

Then Monday I'm off to Vietnam!!

An illustrated version of why I'm still here

No matter where you are, what the subject, or who the student, teaching always has its challenges. Being in an unfamiliar country, far away from the support of friends and family, only adds to the stress of coercing unwilling pupils to learn and practice English.

Observe the transformation of a teacher after a particularly trying day.

Before Work. Love of children: High! Love of learning: High! Overall happiness: High! You might hear me say something like, "Let's get ready for fun and learning!"



After Work. Love of children: DANGEROUSLY LOW LEVELS! Love of Learning: DANGEROUSLY LOW LEVELS! Overall happiness: DANGEROUSLY LOW LEVELS! At this time, you might hear me mutter under my breath, "This school needs to hire an exorcist..."



I have to wonder: how am I able to forget how much I hated my job on the bad days and get back to a "before work" mentality? As much as I love sleeping (I need at least 8 hours of sleep to function normally), there is only so much slumber and caffeine can do to help.

So what is it?

Maybe it is my relaxation ritual involving face masks, comfort foods, and Harrison Ford movies...



... maybe the ridiculous amounts of trashy thrillers and juvenile literature I read...*



...maybe the joy of being able to tour a new place every week...



...or maybe...



Teaching is hard, no doubt about it. But there are always the golden moments when you can tell you are making a difference in a child's life.

And those moments are what make it worth all the bad days. <3



To see the comic version of this, go visit my gallery. :)

*Please note that I am not saying that "The Scarlet Pimpernel" is a trashy thriller. I used it here because I have reread that book at least 4 times since I have been here in Korea so I felt that it had to be included. It has been my favorite book ever since seventh grade so I suppose it could count as juvenile literature, though.