It's Been Awhile...Hello China

Well, it's been just over four months since my last post. This is partly because nothing has been happening...and because a lot has been happening.

Since arriving back in Korea from my visa extension trip to Taiwan, not too much happened. Just lessons, hanging out, and not a lot else to report. But that all changed about two weeks before I was supposed to leave for China. Insert major drama, stress, fear, and uncertainty with one fail swoop of a wrong turn.

The ol scoot, at the "junk yard" after it all

Saturday, July 7th, on our way home from dinner with a friend, a car made a u-turn in front of us and Steve had to lay the scooter down in order to prevent us from hitting the car. This resulted in a broken left arm for me and a fractured L2 vertebra and two bulging discs for Steve, not to mention some road rash for each. This also resulted in a week and a half in the hospital for me and double that for Steve. Hospital time is bad enough at home, but in a foreign country? It's slightly terrifying. Not to mention the police reports. Insurance. Oh, and me over-staying/having to extend my visa. All with a massive language barrier. For the seven weeks between the accident and leaving Korea, the accident and all its after effects consumed our lives and didn't leave much time for anything else of interest or substance.

Despite all I could/can/might come up with as the negatives of the accident and how much it consumed our lives and every moment of our days up until we left Korea practically, we survived it. It could have been worse. And we are stronger (or getting stronger) from it. As a couple. And as people. Plus, we got even closer with a few key people in Korea who we couldn't have made it through the whole thing without. And we also met some really interesting and wonderful people because of it too. So when I stop to look back to eight weeks ago when we were laying in hospital beds, scared, alone, worried, and in pain, I can safely say that I can see the shock waves from the rock thrown in the pond finally fading, and I am trying to see myself come back into a balanced place.

Goodbye Korea:@the airport

That balanced place is life on the road. A life of travel. And that is where I am and have been for the past week. We did make it, out of Korea, and to China. First stop Beijing. A big, bustling city that should really be much dirtier than it is, given how many people are there. Though, truth be told, I didn't see much of the city because what I needed was rest when I arrived. My body had officially given up its defenses and had let an invader take me down. I arrived in China with a major head cold and feeling weak and incapable of much other than sleep. So that is what I did, for three days. Then a bit more for the fourth day, just for good measure. But after four days, it was time to get a move on a see some things and do some things. So I finally drug myself out of bed and onto the streets!

Our bed in the guesthouse

We had a difficult time getting taxis, getting to where we needed/wanted to go, and getting train tickets. This was terribly frustrating but when one door closes...well, the other one opened up for us to end up on a 4 hour train south and west of Beijing, directly followed by a 2+ bus ride to our ultimate destination of Pingyao: an ancient, walled city. We were taken to a lovely guesthouse with a lovely, cozy room for three nights. Though it rained yesterday, and the city is overly touristy at times and in some of its ways, it is a much needed respite for a couple of weary, yet fresh travelers.

The windows of our room. Beautiful.

We are coming up on our third night here and are intending to extend our stay at least a few more nights, just to soak it up and relax a bit more before we continue on (or possibly back, depending on how things go). I'm also hoping during the next few days to start our new joint blog about this new leg of our adventures. So keep an eye out for that in the coming days (hopefully!)!!

One of the many openings in the wall to lead to another compound

One of the main streets of the city

Outside a local bookstore

A park in the middle of the walled city

A back street along the wall of the city

Looking down one of the busy streets

Driving-(forces)/[extra]-Room in my Backpack

Now for the last installment of my time in Taiwan:

From inside, as its raining and the spa is filling

I left off soaking in the hot spring spa on the back patio of our room, and that's exactly where we picked back up in the morning. It had been raining and the rain was still hang overhead, coming and going with its intensity. But that didn't stop us from refilling the spa with fresh hot spring water and climbing back in. Only this time to be able to fully indulge and enjoy our stunning view.

An attempt at a panoramic view of the private backyard/patio from the hot spring spa itself

 After requesting a late checkout, soaking up some more hot spring time, we got ourselves ready and back on the road. Today would be a day of driving. Driving the coastal road up, then taking the mountainous, inland road back down before we had to return the rental car and get on our night train back to Taipei.

We stopped to take photos of the coastal views. We saw literally hundreds of cyclists participating in some sort of a race. And we took a pause to head down to the beach (which we had yet to actually visit, though we were on an island!) and play in the sand and water. But mostly, we just took in the view. The beauty. The tranquility of wind in hair, forward movement, world flying by wonder that I usually experience when on a scenic drive with the windows down.

It must be mentioned now that for the life of us, we could not figure out how to get the iPod jack to work for/with our iPods...so, with this said, there was no music to our road trip. But, on this particular occasion, in this particular country, with this particular travel companion...it wasn't the least bit bothersome or irritating (ok, perhaps initially it was irritating as I was bound and determined not to let a frickin car stereo system beat me...bet then again, let's face it, this wouldn't be the first time...nor will it be the last, that technology has overpowered me).

We took our time, in no rush at all, just seeing what we could see. Just driving. We drove for nearly seven hours; some stops were made, some wanderings done, but mostly just driving--not covering more than 200km total. Just driving for the sake of driving. No destination in mind. Just to see what was out there. It was very beautiful. Very peaceful. Very much the kind of vacation I love.

I can't say which part of the drive was best, the coastal road up or the mountain and valley winding road back down to Taitung, as they were both equal yet different in their beauty and splendorous views. We simply kept repeating over and over as we drove "Beautiful. Beautiful."

But like all good things, this too had to come to an end. We had to return the car and get our train. We were shown even more kindnesses with free rides and door-to-door drop-offs, and we got ourselves some good ol' American dinner (McDonald's) and got ourselves back to the train station plenty early enough to get our bags and get our night train to Taipei.

It was a 7 hour train ride and though I remember little of it, I do remember not sleeping much/well either. But, we were both awake and bags in hand when our stop came (as this train was not terminating at our destination as our previous trains had, so we had to know when and where we were to be getting off at--perhaps not the easiest feat at 5:30 in the morning with a restless night's "sleep"). The other problem with taking an overnight train in Taiwan is--besides being sleep deprived from the non-sleep-accommodating conditions on the train of no sleeper car, non-fully-reclining seats, unmovable, super hard armrests, and last but not least, bright ass lights on the WHOLE trip--that once you arrive at 5:30 in the morning, even in Taipei City, nothing is open and you're exhausted and just need food, and coffee, and sleep, and somewhere to leave this God-forsaken bag you've been lugging about!

So it's no surprise that most of the morning in Taipei is a bit of a blur (as it was supposed to include some shopping pre 1pm flight, but with the time it takes getting to the airport and being exhausted and it being a Sunday, we finally just gave up) but there are a few things I can tell you. We almost fell asleep at the table of the cafe where we had breakfast. We did manage to find lockers in the subway to stash our bags in. We almost fell asleep at a Starbucks table in the underground, unopen, shopping mall. And we found ourself a little friend.

As we were walking for breakfast, this scrawny, cocky character of a street dog began to follow us. He almost seemed to perk up instantly as we passed by as if to say, "Hey, you two seem to know where it's at and look like you're dog lovers! Bet I can score some breakfast out of this deal!!" As we are dog lovers, and not completely stupid (despite being sleep deprived), we quickly caught onto what was going on. So after about 20 feet we stopped, dead in our tracks. And our new little friend stopped as well, almost as comically as Tom being busted following Jerry and doing the hands behind his back, nose up whistling, kind of pacing in place thing. He simply sat down and began looking around, but never at us.

Busted.

"Just lookin at this building..."

So we began again, and so did he. And we stopped, and so did he. With the same, comical act as before as if to say "What? I was just checkin out this crack in the sidewalk. Fascinating, really, how the curve of the crack...Oh, they're going again!" So we lost interest in our search for breakfast, and the crushing weight of our delirious exhaustion seemed to disappear, if only for a little bit, as we laughed steadily and loudly at the actions of this street-smart, wise-guy Taiwanese street dog. It is this dog that I will most fondly and outstandingly remember from that last, tired day in Taiwan.

After all was said and done, we made it to the airport, to our plane, and back to Korea with no issues, no missing of transport methods due to tardiness, but very, very tired. So when we finally arrived home, to our less than spacious, not-as-nice-as-some-of-our-accommodations-in-Taiwan apartment, I slept. I slept long and I slept hard. And while I slept, with my bag still fully packed, all the beautiful feelings and memories and moments of Taiwan came out and curled themselves up in my brain and in my heart. And when I woke, they came out of me visibly and energetically: beaming and fresh and full of love for travel.

As I began to unpack my bag, I realized how much I had brought back to Korea with me. I brought back a lightness that I had been trying to bring about in myself for weeks, months really. I brought back a feeling and a desire to readily live the next 90 days in Korea and excitedly see what lies ahead of those 90 days. I brought back the ability to see, appreciate, and even marvel at the beauty that is the Korean countryside. I brought back new eyes and a new heart. Or perhaps, I just brought back the me I came here as over a year ago. All these things, these are the treasured souvenirs I brought back with me from Taiwan. But who knew I'd bring all this back and not even need to make extra room in my bag.

This is the Life: Eat, Sleep, Repack, Sightsee, Repeat

In an effort to keep this at a readable length, here's episode two of three of Taiwan: days three and four.

After sleeping in and almost oversleeping checkout time, we hustled to get ourselves together and ready for some sightseeing. We left our freshly repacked bags with the nice gentleman who ran the hotel and we made our way to the subway to check train times heading east on the island, to the less developed part of the country. Then conveniently enough, we stumbled upon rentable bikes just outside the subway station as we were about to make our walking trek to the Lotus Pond, so we rented a couple of bikes (complete with bells and baskets!) and we took the leisurely jaunt through a park and some city streets until we reached the "pond". I use quotations because this pond is HUGE! More like a small lake, really. It has at least seven temples/statues/pagodas along its shoreline. It was very impressive.

Our rented bikes

Dragon and Tiger "temples" or towers

temple across the street from the pond 

Buddhist warrior god shrine

another pagoda and dragon

Buddha temple 

It actually took us much longer than planned to ride around the pond and stop to see all the monuments, so after having the bikes for a few hours, we decided it was time to head back, pick up our bags, eat something, and catch a train heading east and north. By the time we got back to the hotel, the night market was already up and running, so we went back in and got a few treats, then grabbed our bags and we were off to the train station and an evening train to Taitung (tah-tongue). A very nice man helped us get our tickets (as the man selling tickets spoke no English) and we were on our way.

Funny thing about the trains in Taiwan: no matter the time, distance, or duration, the lights never go off. This makes for some difficult sleeping, especially since the lights are very bright. But we made it to Taitung right at midnight and took a cab into the city (the train station is located on the very outskirts of the city). We asked our taxi driver (or rather, a helpful young man who spoke some English told our taxi driver) to take us to the closest hotel in town that was also cheap, and he did. It wasn't as cheap as we had hoped for, but it would work for the night. The woman working the night shift spoke no English (are you beginning to see a reoccurring theme here on the eastern coast?) but we got ourselves a room and headed to bed.

After catching a few hours of sleep, we packed our bags again, left them with the woman at the front desk (different woman who DID speak English--what a relief, we were beginning to think we had made a bit of a mistake journeying over to the other side of the island) and when in search of food. We also decided to go back to the train station and see about renting ourselves a scooter. Unfortunately, it turns out you must have a Taiwanese drivers license in order to rent a scooter...but a car on the other hand, that is just fine to rent with an international license. So, we settled on renting a car and taking a night train to Taipei the following night (to counterbalance the cost of the car by not having to pay for a room for the night). 

At about 5:30pm we had rental car keys in hand, 10:30pm train tickets pre-purchased for the next night and were ready to roll! The weather was beautiful, so first things first, a drive about the place with all the windows down. Then it was off to find some food. After eating a somewhat hodge-podge of a dinner (chow mein, sashimi, and tubules, which is just very small squid and boy were there a lot of them!) at a traditional aboriginal restaurant (just means they dress up and do dances really...) we hit the road again. We were in search of some hot springs.

We stopped at a few different hotels to check for rooms and prices but quickly found ourselves back in the car as the rooms were either all full or nearly 300USD a night! A little more than we'd bargained for. But we kept at it. Finally, around 9:30pm we found a little place that seemed quaint enough. We asked price (about 50USD/night) and then asked to see the room. It was simple yet nice, but the kicker was when he walked us through to the back patio and our own, private hot spring spa. Sold. We'll take it! 

So after bringing in our bags, we immediately began pumping the pipping hot, sulfur smelling water into the tub so we could get in! We sat in the spa for nearly two hours that night, just enjoying the sound of the cicadas and the water. Now this is the life. 

Sunset on our drive along the coast

Lots to be Proud of

I said goodbye to the world of cyber connectivity, to my apartment for the past year, and to Korea and jumped on a plane bound for Taipei, Taiwan last last Tuesday. This trip was most specifically and practically for a visa run so that I could stay in Korea for another 90 days--but it turned into so much more!

I will try to post this trip and it's updates in a few, smaller posts as opposed to one GIANT posting full or blah blah blah and tons of photos. But I can now see the problem with traveling without connection to the rest of civilization--I now have to play catch up, but do so in a some how non-overwhelming way. So here goes: Days 1 and 2 of Taiwan.

I have to start by saying that I'm incredibly proud of myself for so many reasons about this trip--First of all, I was packed HOURS before we left! In fact, I had my backpack almost completely packed days prior to departure, it was only the last few things and toiletries that were thrown in before leaving the apartment Tuesday morning. This is a big accomplishment for me! Usually I am still throwing things in the bag as I am being forced out the door. AND, usually I extremely over pack. This time, I was gone for 6 days and only took my school-sized backpack and my messenger bag as a carry-on/for daytime carrying of cameras and maps and water and the like. This is so HUGE for me! I'm getting better. See, old dogs and new tricks and all that, and I'm living proof that it IS possible!

The next feat of amazement was that we arrived early for the bus to the airport. EARLY I tell you! And when I say early, I mean like 20 minutes early. Therefore, we ended up being early to the airport for our flight. Suffice it to say that this trend of earliness ran through the ENTIRE trip. It truly is amazing. It IS possible for me to be on time. Never would have imagined it to be so.

But, now onto the trip itself!

Creepy pink bunny welcoming us to Taiwan

We arrived in Taiwan expecting to run into a lot of difficulty as most everything we read/heard was that English was not prominent throughout the country and our Chinese skills are, well, at a zero. But boy were we surprised! Not to be too over zealous, as we did run into many people who's English level was quite low to nonexistent, but everyone at least tried to communicate with us or to get someone who could speak some English to help us. And they were all so kind with our attempts to communicate with them in Chinese!

The first things we noticed were 1) how green the country is. There is a lot more grass and vibrant green trees and plants than our surroundings of late here in Korea. And 2) that they use and have English letters and words EVERYWHERE. Even on their license plates!

It is quite easy to maneuver around the city of Taipei as there are lots of maps (with English translation below the Chinese) and all the street names are printed in both Chinese and English, as well as most all of the business names. So after fairly easily finding our hotel, we took a little bit of a nap and then headed out for some sight seeing of Taipei 101 (the second tallest building in the world now that the Burj Khalifa has opened in Dubai).

 Then it was onto the night markets for some strange new foods like durian, pig knuckle, and snake!

Goose heads

BBQ'd snake

Durian is the yellow, spiky fruit to the left

assorted pig parts, including tail and knuckle

We also tried snake soup and Steve drank snake blood and snake urine (shots), which I was not interested in sampling.

After eating breakfast at our hotel, we packed up and headed south on a train--also very easy to use because it is all translated into English as well. We took the five and a half hour trip to the second largest city called Kaohsiung (pronounced cow-shung). It was very similar to Taipei in both energy and easy of navigation. It took us a few hours of walking around, but we finally found ourselves a hotel right at the edge of the largest night market there, and then found us some dinner--some of the best hamburgers I have had in over a year. It was beautiful! 

We then made our way into the night market for some more strange and new foods. This time we had chicken heart, Steve ate chicken butt (not delicious he reported back), and we had pig brain soup. We also ate a delicious milk/shaved ice and fresh fruit dessert that was so good, we got another one before we left the following day! 

there are at least two pig brains in that bowl

So that's it for days one and two in Taiwan. The biggest achievements thus far are my packing skills overall, my timeliness, and my ability to suppress my gag-reflex. That's a lot to be proud of!

Time on My Side

Funny thing about having all this time on my hands--I actually have time to write an entry for my blog. Interesting how that works out. It's also interesting that after sitting down and having a good heart to heart with the child within who has been feeling so without, I've got some pleasant news to report. I've seen a real positive difference in my demeanor and attitude the past few days.

This morning was like a breath of fresh air for me. Today is a public holiday, in that it is general, local election day here and nearly everyone has cancelled lessons and the like and is off work (or at least the school teachers are) so Steve has gone to Busan and I am here just hanging out. But before dropping him at the bus stop this morning, we sat down, just like so many mornings before, and ate breakfast at the table, looking out the window. Only this morning was different for me.

As I looked out the window at the familiar sight of the mountain standing opposite our building, I smiled to see a sight I haven't seen since my early months here in Korea. As I almost mindlessly stared out the window I realized that the tops of the mountains were hidden from view in a damply comfortable blanket of thick fog this morning. This was one of the sights I so enjoyed when I first arrived in Korea. You see, we have fog in Kansas. But not like this. There is something mystical and magical about being below the fog and watching it move. Seeing it hang, cling to the trees, the mountains, the world that stands above you. At least it is for me. And I found myself smiling at the sight of the grey mist of usual gloom that hung in front of me. I enjoyed the remainder of my breakfast and took Steve to catch his bus.

I had donned my rain boots this morning, so when I came home, instead of going inside, I took advantage of my waterproof gear and the lovely weather (lack of wind and the sun trying to poke its way out through the clouds) and took a stroll in the water on the beach. With the water lapping at my ankles, safely, warmly, and dryly tucked inside their waterproof coverings, I lazily moseyed down the shoreline and found myself smiling at all the sea shells scattered at my feet. Then I soon found myself doing something I haven't done in my time here in Korea, living near the beach. I was picking up the unusual shells! After walking the length of the beach, I had successfully collected quite a handful and scared or at least greatly disturbed the seagulls that were gathered along the way.

I made my way back to my apartment, cleaned off my shells, made some calls home, did some dishes, and in general just enjoyed the feeling of lightness and calm that I've been sitting in all morning. Looks like all this time on my hands turned out to be time on my side after all. Happy hump day, beach combing, chilling at home, day to me.

The Inner Child and Growing Up

I'm finding myself two weeks out of work and still not in a happier place with Korea or Koreans. In fact, if anything, I am finding myself more frustrated and irritated. I am almost certain that this has to do with the fact that somewhere in my mind the words "it's been a year, contracts up, let's get the heck OUT of here!" keep rattling about. Funny how you can tell yourself something, like almost bribe yourself--"If you just stick it out this long, go this far, do just this much, then I'll give you a treat, a present, a prize!!"--and even though plans change along the way, some part of you still holds on to that original promise. I think that's what I'm doing. I want my damned prize please! I've put in my time and I'm ready to travel!

Silly little inner child, hush and sit down and be still. You know as well as anyone that plans have changed and you're just gonna have to hold your horses, as my mother used to say. Traveling's not going anywhere, last time I checked.

So in traditional Korean fashion, these two weeks have both flown and crawled by. I feel like I haven't accomplished much of anything, yet the time has still melted away.

Since finishing at GEV there has been a nice day of rest, a few days of lessons, errands, and tasks, a trip to Seoul for some birthday fun, more lessons, rescheduling of lessons, changing of lesson times, sorting out payments, a full week of workouts, a handful of rainy days, some REALLY windy days, visitors from Busan, lots of foreigners on the beach, some rumors spread and revealed (about/to me), and adjustments made on both Steve and my parts on the new living situation. I have also had to take moments to be thankful and appreciative, quiet and still, and just in a general sense, soothe the child within that wants so badly to be out of Korea and on to what was promised 12+ months ago.



I've also had moments of feeling very distant from those I once felt so close to, no matter the amount of measurable space between us. To say the least, Korea has been yet another huge opportunity for me to see growth, and reveal areas that require more growth, in and for myself. Good thing I've got some extra time on my hands to work on that.

The End

Well folks, this is it. The end of my 12 month contract at GEV and teaching in Korea. Above you can see the whole crew that I have been working with for the majority of my time here. New people come and old people go, sure, but these were the ones I spent my last weeks and months with.

Besides the fact that I'm extremely happy to NOT be going to work every day, things are pretty much the same. I'm still tired of Korea and Koreans and the way things work and go here, but, I'm here for a little while longer, so best to keep a positive attitude, or at least fake it till I can make it.

I am now doing private English tutoring (which is technically illegal, but when has that ever stopped me?) throughout the day and afternoon time, then spending time with a special someone for the rest of the time. As it's only been two days since my contract ended, I haven't quite got an unemployed schedule down as of yet, but I'm working on it. I plan for it to include a minimal amount of sleeping in, a healthy dose of working out and running, with some intermittent English lessons. Sounds about right to me. 

So for now I can tell you that plans stand at this: Taiwan for 5 days to travel but more importantly to get a new visa, as my working visa expires in April and in order to stay, I need a new one. After that, it's private lessons and working out/running until end of July, and I'm hoping somewhere between the running, the working out, and the lessons I can figure out what the heck I'm going to do after July. It was supposed to be backpacking SE Asia. Then PADI IDC/IE Instructor training. Then both. Then neither. So I'm really hoping I get a better handle on what's coming in the next few months.

What I can say with some certainty is that I have no plans of coming back to the States any time before July 2013, so don't expect me before then. But who knows, I just might surprise you ;)

Better Late...

I've come to the realization that though my blog entries are few and far between, there is little "few" about them. So I am going to try to post less text, more photos, and hopefully more frequently--as I am beginning to realize that though people tell me I should write a book about all my travels, no one wants to read it unless it actually IS a book.

Perhaps I can keep the interest if I scrap the length. So, here goes.

Since finding out that my contract would not be extending at my current school, I have been finding future (and current) sources of income to help cover the cost of food and such, as well as paying for the monthly payments back home. At first I was worried that I wouldn't find enough to keep my busy/fully funded. Now I am worried that I have bitten off more than I can fit into my schedule for the next three weeks while still working.

I have also been looking into LASIK surgery and battling back and forth as to my decision on the matter. It's so cheap here, but for some reason I'm still hesitant. So, for now, I will continue to hold off I think.

Mind those squirrels. What a dent they make!

My birthday has also come and gone. It was a very emotional time for me. Feeling very homesick and missing everyone oodles made for a soppy mess of a birthday girl at dinner and an early turn in for the night. But, the weekend following proved to be enjoyable despite the homesickness. We rented a car and drove around the whole island, finally getting to see all of the island I have called my home for nearly a year now! Though it was overcast and grey mostly all weekend, it was calming and comfortable and made me very happy and thankful.

As part of a belated birthday gift, I got a new haircut and style from my dear friend Maggie. I wasn't sure how the Koreans would take it, but whether they like it or not, I'm rockin it and I love it!

So, I am now 28 years old, too busy for my own good, have a sassy new hairstyle, and only have just over three weeks of work at my current school. And such is life in Korea--fast and ever changing.

Trick Art exhibit. Bad nakey angel baby. No, no.

Getting carried away