Being the first to admit just how non-political I am, I will also tell you that I am proud of my right to vote and do not understand the reasoning behind those who choose not to exercise that right.
Being so far away has removed the daily discussion of politics in the upcoming election, however, each day there is election coverage plastered on the television, plastered on the radio, internet and billboards.
I read the news each day as if I am peering over the ocean at the USA, watching and waiting, waiting to hear the economy is good, the war is over, there are jobs, there is universal health care, there is less poverty, and each day there is nothing, only news of the coming recession, the gun violence, the death toll in Iraq.
I only know what is important to me in my life, what values I hold close to my heart and who I would like to see as our next president.
I want a president that I respect. A president I feel will not only begin change, but will ignite this change instantaneously. I want a president who stands by his words. I would be lying if i said I didn't want a president that was somewhat hip, that could relate to me and my needs more so than a 72 year old man. I want a president that isnt afraid to say "I inhaled" and is able to admit that they too where an adolecent once. I want a president who does not pretend that he came from a different breed of man kind, a different mold and different class, I want a president who doesnt hide behind his faults but writes them in large letters for us all to see. I want a president I would like to call my friend and have dinner with, I want Obama!!!
3.17.2008
3.02.2008
4 time zones in a nutshell
It's Monday and I find myself back at work, tired from lack of sleep and anxious to just get on with it. But, it seems as if the fifth graders are yet to move to 4th grade, it is as if they are on a stand still. And so, a brief update on our long short vacation!!!
We left Korea a little over a week ago bound for England. After 24 hours of traveling we landed in Heathrow and headed to Daniels dad's house. We were meant to rent a car but with a few technical difficulties we were unable to do so. A few train stops later and Daniels brother-in-law Marcus and niece Clarissa picked us up at the train station. We headed back to the house where we met Daniels sister Deborah and nephew Guy. We spent the night in Caterham, waking up early the next morning to sort out Daniels visa.
The next morning after a few hours sleep we headed into London, dropped Daniels information off and had an "English Breakfast" at Prince Albert's Pub. After we ate Daniel promptly grabbed my arm and dragged me through London pointing to various landmarks, telling me what they were and then as we approached the next mark, eating his words and explaining that this place was in fact really it. In a few short hours we were able to see Big Ben, The London Eye, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby and no changing of the guards. We jumped back on train and headed an hour south to Chatham where we picked up Daniels sisters car. Deborah and Clarissa gave us a brief history of Chatham, the old cathedral, the castle, the tunnels which still run from one end of town to the other. The churches in England are amazing and each carries its own history, its own story. The church in Ludlow has the heart of a King beneath the alter, the church in Hereford has the remains of a knight in stone.
Now here is me, who has never driven on the left hand side of the road, or used my left hand for anything other than smoking a cigarette while driving, finding myself using my left hand for shifting, driving on the left hand side of the road, trying to avoid on coming traffic. Amazingly, although it takes a lot of concentration, it is a lot easier than it sounds. We made it the hour back to Caterham and jumped back on a train for London. (5pm- 4 hours of travel, 6 major sights seen, English Breakfast eaten, Pint for breakfast drank)
When we arrived in London we went to Charring Cross to meet one of Daniels childhood friends, Wes and his girlfriend Laura. There was an amazing show at Club Heaven, System 7 and some guy from the Orb, so we headed there and got back to their place around 2. The one and only time I got to ride in a taxi in London and it was the most hilarious experience.
We woke up around 9am the next morning and got back on the train to Caterham, showered and began our drive to Daniels mom's in Leintwardine. What was supposed to be a 5 hour journey turned out to be a seven hours journey. Through the countryside you are surrounded by nothing by fields and sheep, it is the most beautiful sight. The lanes are little more narrow then they are in the states which made it a bit of a challenge to navigate the biggest little car I had ever seen through the country, but we did it and made it to Daniels moms around 7pm.
Daniel's mom and step-father live in a small village Leintwardine, about an hour east of Wales, where the butcher the baker and the candle stick maker all drinks pints together in the evening. Where there are no police men, no "commercial" buildings, one small grocery store which is also the gas station and where each house comes with character, history and a story to be told. Daniels house has no number, it is simply "Sunny Bank on Dark Lane". His mother is amazing as is his stepfather, kind, brilliant and welcoming! They live on Dark Lane with their Springer Spaniel Blake who loves to sit in the car and chase rabbits.
(side note: as I write this it is 9:40am, one hour into the school day, I just went up to the fifth grade hallway, there is still not a teacher in sight. There is a soccer game in the hallway, a chair race at the other end and not a teacher in sight!)
The next morning we woke early to head to the next town over, Ludlow. I realized that Daniel had always said he was from Ludlow, a lie, it is as if I was to say I was from Georgetown, I am not. I am from Newburyport and he now is from Leintwardine, as small as it is. We parked our cars and walked through the common, similar to Maudsley, through the hills that look over at the old castle and down the hill to the Mill town that sits on the river.
Ludlow is a town that has all of the characteristics of the towns you read of when you studied Medieval Times. The streets are small and crooked, each building has its own character. The castle stands in tact and if you use your imagination you can see yourself living in that era. We had lunch in the Church Inn and visited the church near by, went to the cheese shop and purchased some "Stinking Bishop", the smelliest cheese I have ever eaten, delicious but smelly. It was amazing to be surrounded by so much cheese having come from the land of no cheese. I found that English meals are largely based on eating french fries, known to them as chips, bread and beef. It was a welcome change from kimchi and rice. Next stop, Wales.
There is no sign telling you that you have left England and entered Wales, the country where there are more sheep than people. There are sheep everywhere...EVERYWHERE! The land is lush and green, no a normal green, but a beautiful bright green. We drove an hour to Daniels brother Chris' gallery, Gallery on the Usk. The Usk is a river that runs through the small town, a town where Daniel lived for a little while. His brothers Gallery is amazing, stocking the most beautiful and one of a kind items from Artists all around the world including Daniels sister Helen!
We ate dinner with Chris and met his friend Alan, a world traveler with a magnificent knack for decorating. Close to his house there is a bridge, on either end there are two steel bars that are just wide enough to fit the small car we were driving through, the bridge zig zags all the way across the river for when this bridge was created the zigzags left a place for carriages to back into so another carriage could pass. While there we saw the grandchildren of Prince William and Harry's nanny, a sort of Welsh royalty, playing in the street. That was the closest I got to the royal family.
The next morning we woke up early and headed on a little day trip while Daniels mother and step-father prepared Christmas dinner. Hereford is a small town which reminded me a lot of Newburyport, small quaint shops, brick streets and all the shopping I needed. It was amazing to be surrounded by shoe sizes that exceeded size 5, pants that exceeded size 3, all things not ruffly and tacky. We stopped off at The Spread Eagle Pub for Steak and Guinness pie and made it back to the car before the rain began.
Daniel was in the Philippians for Christmas and I was in Korea so Daniels mom created a Christmas in February for us complete with all things Christmas, Daniels brother and his friend Allan. We had goose, delicious and tasting a bit like a red meat turkey. Christmas Pudding, England's version of Kimchi, the older it is the better, a rich dessert that is soaked in Brandy. Christmas cake, brussel sprouts and Parsnips. and Christmas crackers.
After dinner we headed down to The Sun Inn, otherwise known as Flossies, a small pub that resembles a house, where the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and all the village people meet to drink and talk of the goings on in town. The owner, a 97 year old woman who sits in a chair for most of the night until one of the villagers, they rotate, come to put her to bed. It is in this pub that the Mayor is elected, or more so chosen. The mayor wears a necklace made of rope and trinkets that people attached over the years and as part of their initiation they wear a squirrel fur cloak . The best part of their system is the way the mayor is chosen, in the simplest of ways, the current mayor chooses who he wants to take his place.
The next morning we woke up early to go and hear the bells rung at the church. Each Sunday eight people meet and pull large ropes that extend into the ceiling. At first it seems as if there is no rhyme or reason however, after a bit you see that there is a method and the music they make is beautiful. Daniels step-father John is a bell ringer, he rings the heaviest bell of all.
Later in the afternoon we drove to a small town outside of Birmingham where we saw Daniel's sister Helen's exhibition at the glass museum. She is a well known glass artist who creates hand blown and etched cameo glass. Her work has been featured in movies such as Sense and Sensibility. The glass is amazing and Daniel and I had the chance to pick our favorite piece that we want as a wedding gift. You can see her work at http://www.helenmillard.co.uk/. We left the museum and headed north to North Bridge for lunch and a trip to a traditional candy store.
The next morning we woke up early enough to watch Hot Fuzz, a movie it seems is based on the village where Daniels mother lives and then we were off on our journey back to Caterham. What should have been another five hour journey soon became an eight hour journey due to our lack of directions. We arrived back in Caterham and met Daniels Dad for dinner before meeting his Uncle Steve and Aunt Gil for a pint.
The next morning we were off for London to pick up Daniels visa and do some shopping. We wandered around Oxford Circle, Soho, Covent Garden, Parliament, the London Eye and ate some traditional Cornish Pasteys while watching some street entertainers. The night we met Daniels friends, Coincidence Steve and Wes with their girlfriends for a Mexican dinner. We jumped back on the train and got home just before midnight to get up for our flight in the morning.
I cant believe how expensive England is, although a beer may only be 4 pounds, that is actually 8 dollars. The transportation system be it trains or the tube is privatized so the prices are ridiculous. For a hour long journey it cost 25 pounds, the equivalent of $50USD for the two of us and at the start of the journey the train was late leaving only because they "couldn't find the driver". There are many catches to using their system, if you buy a return ticket you pay one dollar more as opposed to double, it is more expensive before 9:30 and if you book weeks in advance the price is almost half what you would pay on the day of. On the other hand the similarities between England and the places where I grew up are endless and aside from the difference in speech are virtually the same. There are many of the same cities, Ludlow, Worcester, Leomenster, and the architecture and cobble street roads are the same. As Daniel says, we just want to be like the British.
As we walked to the train station we realized that we had enough money left to take a taxi to the airport, call it Daniels intuition or our laziness but had we taken the train we would have missed our flight, the entire way to the airport on the radio we listened to all of the problems on the tracks because of delays. Lucky for us we arrived with plenty of time to spare. Heathrow is the worst airport in the world. Instead of assigning gates as most airports do, they have 4 areas where everyone crams into seats surrounded by overpriced stores. Instead of having you take your shows off and putting them through x-ray with your bags, you go through a separate x-ray machine that is only for shoes making the lines longer and your aggravation greater.
12 hours later we exited the plane in Hong Kong, tired and headed to our hotel. One of the main reasons I was so excited about going to Hong Kong was to meet with the woman who would be making my wedding dress for half the cost of buying it in the states. I picked out my fabrics, got measured and was told it would be ready in a month! Back to Hong Kong I will go in June with a few friends for a short weekend, hoping my sister and friend from home can join us, a long flight for a weekend, but it would be amazing to see them!
We spent the remainder of the day on Kowloon Island, an island saturated with people, crazy amounts of people, yet it is clean and maintains a sense of order. The stores all seem to be either posh or horrible with no middle ground. We took a night ferry back and visited a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant for dinner. It was amazing, in the section of Hong Kong known as Soho, the hipper part of the island, we had Peking Spare ribs, Pan Fried Mutton, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Chinese Fire Juice. A trolley ride back found us and hours walk away from our hotel and a bit lost.
The next day we slept late and didn't get started until 3pm. We took the MTR to Admiralty and walked to the Victoria Peak Tram Station. Victoria peak is the highest peak in Hong Kong, by day you get a sense of the lay out of Hong Kong and by night you have a free ticket to the most amazing light show. Hong Kong is the land of all things bright, every electronic maker in the world has a large sign the screams their name, Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp the list goes on and on, at night it is a sky of advertisements.
We stayed on the peak for dinner eating at Bubba Gump's Shrimp and walking around the mall that sits on the top of the peak. The tram which brings you up has been operating for many years and is a bit of an exciting ride, at times you are on a steep incline, if only it would move a little faster.
Hong Kong wasn't really all I hoped it would be. I expected to fall in love instantaneously, maybe regretting that I had chose to live in Korea rather than Hong Kong, instead I found myself thinking I could never live there. It may have been that we were only there for a short time or that we were on the back end of an amazing and action packed vacation in a different time zone, I think with a little more time it would have been more enjoyable. The city self seemed a little hard to navigate, with so much to see and so many ways it seemed you could get there. They are however, in many ways more efficient, when you go to the Airport Express Train you can check your luggage right there making your trip to the airport much more comfortable without all your luggage. The people seemed short, not as pushy as they are here in Korea, but shorter. I am looking forward to my trip back to pick up my wedding dress in June, hoping to see a bit more.
And so, we are back, in Korea wishing we weren't here, wishing we were still on vacation, wishing we had gotten a chance to visit the states and see my family and excited to head back to the UK sometime soon.
We left Korea a little over a week ago bound for England. After 24 hours of traveling we landed in Heathrow and headed to Daniels dad's house. We were meant to rent a car but with a few technical difficulties we were unable to do so. A few train stops later and Daniels brother-in-law Marcus and niece Clarissa picked us up at the train station. We headed back to the house where we met Daniels sister Deborah and nephew Guy. We spent the night in Caterham, waking up early the next morning to sort out Daniels visa.
The next morning after a few hours sleep we headed into London, dropped Daniels information off and had an "English Breakfast" at Prince Albert's Pub. After we ate Daniel promptly grabbed my arm and dragged me through London pointing to various landmarks, telling me what they were and then as we approached the next mark, eating his words and explaining that this place was in fact really it. In a few short hours we were able to see Big Ben, The London Eye, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby and no changing of the guards. We jumped back on train and headed an hour south to Chatham where we picked up Daniels sisters car. Deborah and Clarissa gave us a brief history of Chatham, the old cathedral, the castle, the tunnels which still run from one end of town to the other. The churches in England are amazing and each carries its own history, its own story. The church in Ludlow has the heart of a King beneath the alter, the church in Hereford has the remains of a knight in stone.
Now here is me, who has never driven on the left hand side of the road, or used my left hand for anything other than smoking a cigarette while driving, finding myself using my left hand for shifting, driving on the left hand side of the road, trying to avoid on coming traffic. Amazingly, although it takes a lot of concentration, it is a lot easier than it sounds. We made it the hour back to Caterham and jumped back on a train for London. (5pm- 4 hours of travel, 6 major sights seen, English Breakfast eaten, Pint for breakfast drank)
When we arrived in London we went to Charring Cross to meet one of Daniels childhood friends, Wes and his girlfriend Laura. There was an amazing show at Club Heaven, System 7 and some guy from the Orb, so we headed there and got back to their place around 2. The one and only time I got to ride in a taxi in London and it was the most hilarious experience.
We woke up around 9am the next morning and got back on the train to Caterham, showered and began our drive to Daniels mom's in Leintwardine. What was supposed to be a 5 hour journey turned out to be a seven hours journey. Through the countryside you are surrounded by nothing by fields and sheep, it is the most beautiful sight. The lanes are little more narrow then they are in the states which made it a bit of a challenge to navigate the biggest little car I had ever seen through the country, but we did it and made it to Daniels moms around 7pm.
Daniel's mom and step-father live in a small village Leintwardine, about an hour east of Wales, where the butcher the baker and the candle stick maker all drinks pints together in the evening. Where there are no police men, no "commercial" buildings, one small grocery store which is also the gas station and where each house comes with character, history and a story to be told. Daniels house has no number, it is simply "Sunny Bank on Dark Lane". His mother is amazing as is his stepfather, kind, brilliant and welcoming! They live on Dark Lane with their Springer Spaniel Blake who loves to sit in the car and chase rabbits.
(side note: as I write this it is 9:40am, one hour into the school day, I just went up to the fifth grade hallway, there is still not a teacher in sight. There is a soccer game in the hallway, a chair race at the other end and not a teacher in sight!)
The next morning we woke early to head to the next town over, Ludlow. I realized that Daniel had always said he was from Ludlow, a lie, it is as if I was to say I was from Georgetown, I am not. I am from Newburyport and he now is from Leintwardine, as small as it is. We parked our cars and walked through the common, similar to Maudsley, through the hills that look over at the old castle and down the hill to the Mill town that sits on the river.
Ludlow is a town that has all of the characteristics of the towns you read of when you studied Medieval Times. The streets are small and crooked, each building has its own character. The castle stands in tact and if you use your imagination you can see yourself living in that era. We had lunch in the Church Inn and visited the church near by, went to the cheese shop and purchased some "Stinking Bishop", the smelliest cheese I have ever eaten, delicious but smelly. It was amazing to be surrounded by so much cheese having come from the land of no cheese. I found that English meals are largely based on eating french fries, known to them as chips, bread and beef. It was a welcome change from kimchi and rice. Next stop, Wales.
There is no sign telling you that you have left England and entered Wales, the country where there are more sheep than people. There are sheep everywhere...EVERYWHERE! The land is lush and green, no a normal green, but a beautiful bright green. We drove an hour to Daniels brother Chris' gallery, Gallery on the Usk. The Usk is a river that runs through the small town, a town where Daniel lived for a little while. His brothers Gallery is amazing, stocking the most beautiful and one of a kind items from Artists all around the world including Daniels sister Helen!
We ate dinner with Chris and met his friend Alan, a world traveler with a magnificent knack for decorating. Close to his house there is a bridge, on either end there are two steel bars that are just wide enough to fit the small car we were driving through, the bridge zig zags all the way across the river for when this bridge was created the zigzags left a place for carriages to back into so another carriage could pass. While there we saw the grandchildren of Prince William and Harry's nanny, a sort of Welsh royalty, playing in the street. That was the closest I got to the royal family.
The next morning we woke up early and headed on a little day trip while Daniels mother and step-father prepared Christmas dinner. Hereford is a small town which reminded me a lot of Newburyport, small quaint shops, brick streets and all the shopping I needed. It was amazing to be surrounded by shoe sizes that exceeded size 5, pants that exceeded size 3, all things not ruffly and tacky. We stopped off at The Spread Eagle Pub for Steak and Guinness pie and made it back to the car before the rain began.
Daniel was in the Philippians for Christmas and I was in Korea so Daniels mom created a Christmas in February for us complete with all things Christmas, Daniels brother and his friend Allan. We had goose, delicious and tasting a bit like a red meat turkey. Christmas Pudding, England's version of Kimchi, the older it is the better, a rich dessert that is soaked in Brandy. Christmas cake, brussel sprouts and Parsnips. and Christmas crackers.
After dinner we headed down to The Sun Inn, otherwise known as Flossies, a small pub that resembles a house, where the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker and all the village people meet to drink and talk of the goings on in town. The owner, a 97 year old woman who sits in a chair for most of the night until one of the villagers, they rotate, come to put her to bed. It is in this pub that the Mayor is elected, or more so chosen. The mayor wears a necklace made of rope and trinkets that people attached over the years and as part of their initiation they wear a squirrel fur cloak . The best part of their system is the way the mayor is chosen, in the simplest of ways, the current mayor chooses who he wants to take his place.
The next morning we woke up early to go and hear the bells rung at the church. Each Sunday eight people meet and pull large ropes that extend into the ceiling. At first it seems as if there is no rhyme or reason however, after a bit you see that there is a method and the music they make is beautiful. Daniels step-father John is a bell ringer, he rings the heaviest bell of all.
Later in the afternoon we drove to a small town outside of Birmingham where we saw Daniel's sister Helen's exhibition at the glass museum. She is a well known glass artist who creates hand blown and etched cameo glass. Her work has been featured in movies such as Sense and Sensibility. The glass is amazing and Daniel and I had the chance to pick our favorite piece that we want as a wedding gift. You can see her work at http://www.helenmillard.co.uk/. We left the museum and headed north to North Bridge for lunch and a trip to a traditional candy store.
The next morning we woke up early enough to watch Hot Fuzz, a movie it seems is based on the village where Daniels mother lives and then we were off on our journey back to Caterham. What should have been another five hour journey soon became an eight hour journey due to our lack of directions. We arrived back in Caterham and met Daniels Dad for dinner before meeting his Uncle Steve and Aunt Gil for a pint.
The next morning we were off for London to pick up Daniels visa and do some shopping. We wandered around Oxford Circle, Soho, Covent Garden, Parliament, the London Eye and ate some traditional Cornish Pasteys while watching some street entertainers. The night we met Daniels friends, Coincidence Steve and Wes with their girlfriends for a Mexican dinner. We jumped back on the train and got home just before midnight to get up for our flight in the morning.
I cant believe how expensive England is, although a beer may only be 4 pounds, that is actually 8 dollars. The transportation system be it trains or the tube is privatized so the prices are ridiculous. For a hour long journey it cost 25 pounds, the equivalent of $50USD for the two of us and at the start of the journey the train was late leaving only because they "couldn't find the driver". There are many catches to using their system, if you buy a return ticket you pay one dollar more as opposed to double, it is more expensive before 9:30 and if you book weeks in advance the price is almost half what you would pay on the day of. On the other hand the similarities between England and the places where I grew up are endless and aside from the difference in speech are virtually the same. There are many of the same cities, Ludlow, Worcester, Leomenster, and the architecture and cobble street roads are the same. As Daniel says, we just want to be like the British.
As we walked to the train station we realized that we had enough money left to take a taxi to the airport, call it Daniels intuition or our laziness but had we taken the train we would have missed our flight, the entire way to the airport on the radio we listened to all of the problems on the tracks because of delays. Lucky for us we arrived with plenty of time to spare. Heathrow is the worst airport in the world. Instead of assigning gates as most airports do, they have 4 areas where everyone crams into seats surrounded by overpriced stores. Instead of having you take your shows off and putting them through x-ray with your bags, you go through a separate x-ray machine that is only for shoes making the lines longer and your aggravation greater.
12 hours later we exited the plane in Hong Kong, tired and headed to our hotel. One of the main reasons I was so excited about going to Hong Kong was to meet with the woman who would be making my wedding dress for half the cost of buying it in the states. I picked out my fabrics, got measured and was told it would be ready in a month! Back to Hong Kong I will go in June with a few friends for a short weekend, hoping my sister and friend from home can join us, a long flight for a weekend, but it would be amazing to see them!
We spent the remainder of the day on Kowloon Island, an island saturated with people, crazy amounts of people, yet it is clean and maintains a sense of order. The stores all seem to be either posh or horrible with no middle ground. We took a night ferry back and visited a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant for dinner. It was amazing, in the section of Hong Kong known as Soho, the hipper part of the island, we had Peking Spare ribs, Pan Fried Mutton, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Chinese Fire Juice. A trolley ride back found us and hours walk away from our hotel and a bit lost.
The next day we slept late and didn't get started until 3pm. We took the MTR to Admiralty and walked to the Victoria Peak Tram Station. Victoria peak is the highest peak in Hong Kong, by day you get a sense of the lay out of Hong Kong and by night you have a free ticket to the most amazing light show. Hong Kong is the land of all things bright, every electronic maker in the world has a large sign the screams their name, Samsung, Panasonic, Sharp the list goes on and on, at night it is a sky of advertisements.
We stayed on the peak for dinner eating at Bubba Gump's Shrimp and walking around the mall that sits on the top of the peak. The tram which brings you up has been operating for many years and is a bit of an exciting ride, at times you are on a steep incline, if only it would move a little faster.
Hong Kong wasn't really all I hoped it would be. I expected to fall in love instantaneously, maybe regretting that I had chose to live in Korea rather than Hong Kong, instead I found myself thinking I could never live there. It may have been that we were only there for a short time or that we were on the back end of an amazing and action packed vacation in a different time zone, I think with a little more time it would have been more enjoyable. The city self seemed a little hard to navigate, with so much to see and so many ways it seemed you could get there. They are however, in many ways more efficient, when you go to the Airport Express Train you can check your luggage right there making your trip to the airport much more comfortable without all your luggage. The people seemed short, not as pushy as they are here in Korea, but shorter. I am looking forward to my trip back to pick up my wedding dress in June, hoping to see a bit more.
And so, we are back, in Korea wishing we weren't here, wishing we were still on vacation, wishing we had gotten a chance to visit the states and see my family and excited to head back to the UK sometime soon.
2.10.2008
And so it is....Angst on a Monday morning
And here I sit, Monday morning after two months of vacation wondering why exactly I am here. No classes have shown up to class and it is freezing, tow numbing cold and this is the first week back and last week before "Spring Vacation". Korea, land of disorganization, putting you out and playing follow the leader.
Getting ready to pack for England and Hong Kong and feelign the coming pressures of getting ready for life. Just realized that in a few short months the wedding will be a year away. That soon, it wont be so far off. We will be stopping off at the seamstress in Hong Kong, well Ill be stopping, Daniel will be waiting outside, to have my dress made. Ill fly back in June and pick it up and step one is complete. I cant wait. I dream of torches and music, everyone I love and shots of soju, a laid back celebration, no hussle bussle.
And so I will sit, I will sit and wait for another hour or so, then I give up and am heading back to my other school to find out what lies ahead this week!!!
Getting ready to pack for England and Hong Kong and feelign the coming pressures of getting ready for life. Just realized that in a few short months the wedding will be a year away. That soon, it wont be so far off. We will be stopping off at the seamstress in Hong Kong, well Ill be stopping, Daniel will be waiting outside, to have my dress made. Ill fly back in June and pick it up and step one is complete. I cant wait. I dream of torches and music, everyone I love and shots of soju, a laid back celebration, no hussle bussle.
And so I will sit, I will sit and wait for another hour or so, then I give up and am heading back to my other school to find out what lies ahead this week!!!
12.16.2007
Dear Santa...
***note to self: please click on the white boxes if the images are not coming up!
This year my demands are simple, they are not complex like the ride in your sleigh I asked for year after year, instead, this year I want a ride in your Ford F150...I want an iced coffee to go along with it please.
This year I want some comfy pajamas, not the set I received once with a giant cartoon character down the front that my sister lived in for years, instead, I want a nightgown with Jem and the Rockers identical to the one I had as a child, only in my current size please.
I am not asking for a car this year, however, a jet or small to mid sized plane will do. The tempo kicked the bucket and isn't a floatation device and therefor will not make it across the Atlantic.
This year I will not make crazy demands for things like Foosball tables and treadmills as I have "supposedly" done in the past, instead, I would like all of you to come here...seriously.
This year I do not want barbies, dolls, My Pet Monster or a single Carebear, I want only my fiancee back for Christmas.
I am returning the "Sweater Dress" outfit I once received with a Green, white and purple cow strewn across the front, the "cow bell" strategically placed on the nipple, and I am instead requesting you send me the coat that Santa told Mrs. Clause was fugly..just for a good laugh.
I do not want jewelry only a final look at the silver shelled necklace that is "so me".
Instead of smoked Turkey I would like the Mrs. Clause, slow roasted option.
Instead of cougal with bow ties I would like cougal with egg noodles the way it should be.
Instead of Christmas in Korea....I would like Christmas at home.....
That is my wish for next year!
This year my demands are simple, they are not complex like the ride in your sleigh I asked for year after year, instead, this year I want a ride in your Ford F150...I want an iced coffee to go along with it please.
This year I want some comfy pajamas, not the set I received once with a giant cartoon character down the front that my sister lived in for years, instead, I want a nightgown with Jem and the Rockers identical to the one I had as a child, only in my current size please.
I am not asking for a car this year, however, a jet or small to mid sized plane will do. The tempo kicked the bucket and isn't a floatation device and therefor will not make it across the Atlantic.
This year I will not make crazy demands for things like Foosball tables and treadmills as I have "supposedly" done in the past, instead, I would like all of you to come here...seriously.
This year I do not want barbies, dolls, My Pet Monster or a single Carebear, I want only my fiancee back for Christmas.
I am returning the "Sweater Dress" outfit I once received with a Green, white and purple cow strewn across the front, the "cow bell" strategically placed on the nipple, and I am instead requesting you send me the coat that Santa told Mrs. Clause was fugly..just for a good laugh.
I do not want jewelry only a final look at the silver shelled necklace that is "so me".
Instead of smoked Turkey I would like the Mrs. Clause, slow roasted option.
Instead of cougal with bow ties I would like cougal with egg noodles the way it should be.
Instead of Christmas in Korea....I would like Christmas at home.....
That is my wish for next year!
12.12.2007
Convictions
And so it has been a while, a long while, since the last time I sat in front of this computer and felt compelled to write, to write about my days that seem to meld into one, my nights that are too short and now, the familiar feeling of missing Daniel that has once again found its way into my life. He will leave tomorrow for a two week trip to the Philippians and although the time will be well spent, I am hoping to fill my nights with writing and my days with staying at work and working, something I do not often enough, missing him is always hard, hard like missing home, and I dread it.
It is creeping into the New Year so fast, winter is here, fall is gone and one of the best years of my life is a mere breath away from being last year. This year I realized alot about me, I fell in love and I became more aware of the people around me and the qualities they posses that make me love, envy and respect them.
My father has just recently taught me the art of strength. Although I have always looked to him as a beacon of strength, only now do I realize how deep that strength is. To have two roads in lying in front of you and not only choose the one less traveled by, but the one which holds no map, has no direction and is left to be guided by you and you alone, to choose that one is an act of courage.
My mother has also shown me a kind of strength, the strength that shines through in times of trial, a strength that can only be found when doing something for the person you love most in life. When you are able to support someone through a decision, a decision that may affect your life, when you know it is the best decision for them, supporting them in itself is strength in its strongest form.
With Christmas coming I find myself missing home, missing the snow, my sister and my friends. I am both eager to go home and scared of the future. I am anxious to just get on with it and apprehensive about my role in the world. It will all fall into place as it always does, three years ago I would have never pictured myself here, in a small city in the south of Korea, sitting in my apartment wishing I wasn't sending my fiance off on a holiday, no, this would be the last place I would have put myself.
It is creeping into the New Year so fast, winter is here, fall is gone and one of the best years of my life is a mere breath away from being last year. This year I realized alot about me, I fell in love and I became more aware of the people around me and the qualities they posses that make me love, envy and respect them.
My father has just recently taught me the art of strength. Although I have always looked to him as a beacon of strength, only now do I realize how deep that strength is. To have two roads in lying in front of you and not only choose the one less traveled by, but the one which holds no map, has no direction and is left to be guided by you and you alone, to choose that one is an act of courage.
My mother has also shown me a kind of strength, the strength that shines through in times of trial, a strength that can only be found when doing something for the person you love most in life. When you are able to support someone through a decision, a decision that may affect your life, when you know it is the best decision for them, supporting them in itself is strength in its strongest form.
With Christmas coming I find myself missing home, missing the snow, my sister and my friends. I am both eager to go home and scared of the future. I am anxious to just get on with it and apprehensive about my role in the world. It will all fall into place as it always does, three years ago I would have never pictured myself here, in a small city in the south of Korea, sitting in my apartment wishing I wasn't sending my fiance off on a holiday, no, this would be the last place I would have put myself.
11.07.2007
diamonds?
I don't know what it was today but something brought me back to a morning in July, maybe it was the funny mood I woke up in, the funny mood that makes Daniel crazy, but something happened that brought me back to July 11.
It was a morning when I woke up next to Daniel in Lindsey's room while he was visiting on a summer break and he looked at me and asked "what do you want for your birthday?".
I had answered this question more than a few times in the weeks prior to this morning, on the beach, in Boston, over a few drinks. On this morning however, I let "I want diamonds" slip out between my lips.
"Really?" he asked looking a bit perplexed and relaxed all in the same motion, "Really" I answered in the high pitch tone I have taken on in Korea when saying that word, usually replacing the "r" with a "l".
"Well then lets go look at diamonds."
Trying to act as if there weren't 400 butterflies running rampant in my stomach I quickly took a shower and got dressed. Not knowing what the day would bring I called my mother, snuck onto the back porch and whispered in the phone.."we are going to look at diamonds".
Twenty minutes later I found myself in a quaint jewelery store, or more boutique, a place where each ring is one of a kind, no two rings are the same. I had seen rings in magazines which I always thought would be the one I would one day have placed on my finger, but after looking at the second ring, in the first case, two rows down from the top, I knew it was that ring I wanted to have on my finger forever. Always having been a woman who isn't affected by diamonds in the way many girls are, never wishing I had one and never spending alot of money on jewelry becuase I was fearful I would lose it, I wasn't aware of the feeling that comes with finding a piece of jewelry, one that will hold so much meaning and is breathtakingly beautiful. I then knew as I placed the ring on my finger that feeling.
Moments later the ring went back in the case, we walked out of the boutique and my heart stayed behind? I walked out on to the sidewalk trying to hide my disapointment wondering if this was all a surreal dream, was the man I had fallen in love with simply playing with my heart? Was this some crazy joke, a joke on my pretend birthday day.
We went to lunch and spoke of...I don't remember, I don't remember because I think I was still thinking about the ring. I was still thinking about whether I wanted to spend my life with him...something I hadn't even thought of prior to that morning, only three hours before I found myself in that jewelry store.
Was I crazy? We had been together for five months. We had only met each other nine months before that morning when I walked into the library in a country I had been in only a week and saw him standing behind a pile of books. I had gone into that library every day for three weeks after that, looking to run into the handsome boy in the grey jumper. Over the next few months we would see each other, each time a smile swept across our faces in the sort of way that your eyes know to blink, we didnt tell ourselved to smile, it was the only reaction we knew.
Now that the thought had been dangled in front of me and ripped away in one fluid motion, I realized I did want that. I realized that the comfort, attraction and affection I felt for him was genuine and not the unhealthy forced feelings I had felt in the past.I was sure...I wanted to spend my days and my nights with him, I wanted to grow old with him and most imporatantly, I wanted to love him forever.
We finished our lunches and headed to one of my favorite restaurants for some drinks, a restaurant that sits two brick sidewalks and one one lane road across from the jewelry store. We ordered our drinks and talked of our dinner plans for that evening, where we would eat, what we would do and in the middle of a normal pause in any conversation he looked at me and said "I want to buy that ring for you. I want to marry you".
Usually, I am someone that cant say "OK, this is what I want". This time however, I just sat silently and nodded my head.
"I'm going to go see how long it would take for them to make it your size."
And off he went, walking across the street and into the store leaving me with the summer breeze blowing in my face.
I ordered another sangria and nervously drank it quickly. As I was finishing it I saw him emerge from the store a few minutes later.
" Go see what size you are."
"Huh?" I asked, the butterflies becoming anxious to escape.
"It will take an hour. Just go."
And off I went. Walking across the street and into the store.
The man had barely got the ring back in the case when he saw me walk in, smiling, slowly losing the ability to contain my excitement. He sized my finger, smiled and I walked back across the street to where he sat, in the open doorway of the restaurant.
"All set?" He asked.
"Yes" I answered.
"I'm going to go buy the ring" he said as he got up from his stool.
And he got up, walked across the street and into the store leaving me in the doorway of the the restaurant all over again.
Through the door and around the glare of the summer sun I could see only his reflection. I could see him pacing, I could see him giving a card, questioning the card, looking for another card and then I saw him leave the store, empty hands and head hung in defeat, my heart sank. Had he changed his mind in the five minutes since he left me?
"It wouldn't work. My card wouldn't work" he stated, disapointment seeping from his voice.
A quick trip to the bank to assure the overseas company that this wasn't a "suspicious" transaction and we were right back where we began. I was in the doorway of that restaurant, sangria in hand with the cool dusk air blowing on me as he was walking away, across the street and in to the store. I sat anxious, wondering if this was all a dream, yes we are both impulsive people, but...come on.
Before I was able to rationalize anything in my head I realized I had found the most amazing man while running in search of myself. I had abandoned all I knew only nine months before this moment, I had run searching for an answer and escaping my own demons, looking for everything but love for once in my life. And...what I found was amazing...my best friend. A man who treats me with respect, kindness and with whom I feel safe from the world. A man who I respect and who I look to with respet and admiration. A man who loves me for everything I am and I the same.
He reappeared, bag in hand and I instantly awoke from my haze,
"You cannot tell anyone about this. I have to ask your father and I will do that first. Seriously."
"Can I tell my mom?"
"No, no one", he answered in a stern and shaky voice.
We arrived back at my parents house to shower and get ready for dinner. I walked in, smiling ear to ear, letting the butterflies I had held captive all afternoon encircle me. "Come with me" I whispered as I leaned over my mothers shoulder.
The following hours were spent enjoying amazing champagne and amazing food, enjoying each other and the decion we had made together, enjoying some of our last hours together before we were separated for 2 months and rationalizing how he was going to go about telling my father.
Hours later he sat on my porch with my father. My mother and I sat in the bathroom, peeking out the window, watching as his face turned a little more pink, as he rubbed his hands on his jeans a little harder and as he began to speak in a more broken and anxious tone. In the midst of a pause in conversation he stated "I want to marry your daughter."
"You what?" The look on my fathers face was one of disbelief and immediate stress. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, I want to marry her. I love her."
"I'm going to bed. Goodnight". And my father got up and walked across the deck making it into the house and into the kitchen with Daniel behind him "Ray, wait, you cant go to bed."
My father realized that indeed he was serious, returned to the porch and they talked and laughed.
An hour later I found myself with Daniel kneeling in front of me...asking...
"Would you marry me?"
It was a morning when I woke up next to Daniel in Lindsey's room while he was visiting on a summer break and he looked at me and asked "what do you want for your birthday?".
I had answered this question more than a few times in the weeks prior to this morning, on the beach, in Boston, over a few drinks. On this morning however, I let "I want diamonds" slip out between my lips.
"Really?" he asked looking a bit perplexed and relaxed all in the same motion, "Really" I answered in the high pitch tone I have taken on in Korea when saying that word, usually replacing the "r" with a "l".
"Well then lets go look at diamonds."
Trying to act as if there weren't 400 butterflies running rampant in my stomach I quickly took a shower and got dressed. Not knowing what the day would bring I called my mother, snuck onto the back porch and whispered in the phone.."we are going to look at diamonds".
Twenty minutes later I found myself in a quaint jewelery store, or more boutique, a place where each ring is one of a kind, no two rings are the same. I had seen rings in magazines which I always thought would be the one I would one day have placed on my finger, but after looking at the second ring, in the first case, two rows down from the top, I knew it was that ring I wanted to have on my finger forever. Always having been a woman who isn't affected by diamonds in the way many girls are, never wishing I had one and never spending alot of money on jewelry becuase I was fearful I would lose it, I wasn't aware of the feeling that comes with finding a piece of jewelry, one that will hold so much meaning and is breathtakingly beautiful. I then knew as I placed the ring on my finger that feeling.
Moments later the ring went back in the case, we walked out of the boutique and my heart stayed behind? I walked out on to the sidewalk trying to hide my disapointment wondering if this was all a surreal dream, was the man I had fallen in love with simply playing with my heart? Was this some crazy joke, a joke on my pretend birthday day.
We went to lunch and spoke of...I don't remember, I don't remember because I think I was still thinking about the ring. I was still thinking about whether I wanted to spend my life with him...something I hadn't even thought of prior to that morning, only three hours before I found myself in that jewelry store.
Was I crazy? We had been together for five months. We had only met each other nine months before that morning when I walked into the library in a country I had been in only a week and saw him standing behind a pile of books. I had gone into that library every day for three weeks after that, looking to run into the handsome boy in the grey jumper. Over the next few months we would see each other, each time a smile swept across our faces in the sort of way that your eyes know to blink, we didnt tell ourselved to smile, it was the only reaction we knew.
Now that the thought had been dangled in front of me and ripped away in one fluid motion, I realized I did want that. I realized that the comfort, attraction and affection I felt for him was genuine and not the unhealthy forced feelings I had felt in the past.I was sure...I wanted to spend my days and my nights with him, I wanted to grow old with him and most imporatantly, I wanted to love him forever.
We finished our lunches and headed to one of my favorite restaurants for some drinks, a restaurant that sits two brick sidewalks and one one lane road across from the jewelry store. We ordered our drinks and talked of our dinner plans for that evening, where we would eat, what we would do and in the middle of a normal pause in any conversation he looked at me and said "I want to buy that ring for you. I want to marry you".
Usually, I am someone that cant say "OK, this is what I want". This time however, I just sat silently and nodded my head.
"I'm going to go see how long it would take for them to make it your size."
And off he went, walking across the street and into the store leaving me with the summer breeze blowing in my face.
I ordered another sangria and nervously drank it quickly. As I was finishing it I saw him emerge from the store a few minutes later.
" Go see what size you are."
"Huh?" I asked, the butterflies becoming anxious to escape.
"It will take an hour. Just go."
And off I went. Walking across the street and into the store.
The man had barely got the ring back in the case when he saw me walk in, smiling, slowly losing the ability to contain my excitement. He sized my finger, smiled and I walked back across the street to where he sat, in the open doorway of the restaurant.
"All set?" He asked.
"Yes" I answered.
"I'm going to go buy the ring" he said as he got up from his stool.
And he got up, walked across the street and into the store leaving me in the doorway of the the restaurant all over again.
Through the door and around the glare of the summer sun I could see only his reflection. I could see him pacing, I could see him giving a card, questioning the card, looking for another card and then I saw him leave the store, empty hands and head hung in defeat, my heart sank. Had he changed his mind in the five minutes since he left me?
"It wouldn't work. My card wouldn't work" he stated, disapointment seeping from his voice.
A quick trip to the bank to assure the overseas company that this wasn't a "suspicious" transaction and we were right back where we began. I was in the doorway of that restaurant, sangria in hand with the cool dusk air blowing on me as he was walking away, across the street and in to the store. I sat anxious, wondering if this was all a dream, yes we are both impulsive people, but...come on.
Before I was able to rationalize anything in my head I realized I had found the most amazing man while running in search of myself. I had abandoned all I knew only nine months before this moment, I had run searching for an answer and escaping my own demons, looking for everything but love for once in my life. And...what I found was amazing...my best friend. A man who treats me with respect, kindness and with whom I feel safe from the world. A man who I respect and who I look to with respet and admiration. A man who loves me for everything I am and I the same.
He reappeared, bag in hand and I instantly awoke from my haze,
"You cannot tell anyone about this. I have to ask your father and I will do that first. Seriously."
"Can I tell my mom?"
"No, no one", he answered in a stern and shaky voice.
We arrived back at my parents house to shower and get ready for dinner. I walked in, smiling ear to ear, letting the butterflies I had held captive all afternoon encircle me. "Come with me" I whispered as I leaned over my mothers shoulder.
The following hours were spent enjoying amazing champagne and amazing food, enjoying each other and the decion we had made together, enjoying some of our last hours together before we were separated for 2 months and rationalizing how he was going to go about telling my father.
Hours later he sat on my porch with my father. My mother and I sat in the bathroom, peeking out the window, watching as his face turned a little more pink, as he rubbed his hands on his jeans a little harder and as he began to speak in a more broken and anxious tone. In the midst of a pause in conversation he stated "I want to marry your daughter."
"You what?" The look on my fathers face was one of disbelief and immediate stress. "Are you serious?"
"Yes, I want to marry her. I love her."
"I'm going to bed. Goodnight". And my father got up and walked across the deck making it into the house and into the kitchen with Daniel behind him "Ray, wait, you cant go to bed."
My father realized that indeed he was serious, returned to the porch and they talked and laughed.
An hour later I found myself with Daniel kneeling in front of me...asking...
"Would you marry me?"
11.06.2007
...and my eyes go numb
Side note: this photo is to demonstrate Fan Death. It is said, that to explain many deaths which people believe were results of alcholism, binge drinking, too much soju consumption, police officers and doctors and the powers than be created "Fan Death", if someone was to fall asleep in front of a fan they would die.
Another afternoon, staring at this screen and fighting the urge to take a brief nap at my desk. What a change from last year, hours, schedule, people.
My hours...the are horrible for me who is not a morning person, 9-5...up at 7:15 is not good for my soul.
The people are wonderful, each day telling me how wonderful I am and filling my head with kind complements, "teacher you are so beautiful"...."teacher you have kind eyes"..."teacher i love you"....other teachers come in to my office, look at me, speak a bit in Korean to someone else and then look to me and say "your re more beautiful each day". Although I know they could be lying...I don't think I have ever entered a job in the states and had my co-workers tell me such things.
I teach four lessons a day. Each lesson is prepared for me, I download it, print it out and tweek it a bit then execute it four times in a row each day. Go figure, by 12:20 I am finished, by 12:25 I am at lunch with Daniel and by 1:35 I am back in my office trying to stay busy.
One downside...in the summer...there is no AC. In the winter, there is no heat and there are open windows and doors EVERYWHERE! I don't get it. Come one people, it is freezing!
Tuesday thru Thursday I am at my city school which is situated between "old down town"...seems newer than the "new down town" but I don't ask questions and the University where Daniel works. So each day we go to lunch at our favorite "Wory Mandu" where the grandmother like woman welcomes Lea with open arms (I have begun preparing Daniel for America when they will not be so welcoming to dogs in restaurants).
We then grab a coffee or a "fruits juice" from "Sand and Food", this sand which shop owned by a nice couple who's children attend my school. There seems to be an influx of coffee shops opening lately, with names ranging from "Tom n'Toms"-
the logo is very similar to that of Starbucks,to Tom's House- also another variation of Starbucks, Holly's Coffee, Coffee Holiday, Coffee Agoshi- which means old coffee man and our friend Eun Su's family recently opened "Ti-Amo", an Italian coffee and gelato cafe (the lemon is amazing and is the closest thing I have found to sorbet in this country). Today, as we stood outside Sand and Food we noticed a new sign inside "Tom's House" and a new sign to match going outside. Wondering if corporate Korea had taken over this mom and pop store we asked. As it turns, they are simply upgrading their product as it seems that these days there is more of a demand for coffee than for sandwiches. It seems lately Daniel and I fall asleep talking of what we will do with the future...we will go to the states and then what? For how long? What will we do for work. I think his angst is a little greater then mine being that he will be staying at my house for a bit in a new country, however, I too am beginning to feel the stress of moving back. Korea is a wonderful place to go to get away from it all, to do some soul searching and try to figure out which direction o go in. However, going in that direction is the hard part.
So, it is 3:30pm now, I will drink my third green tea, check my facebook, check my email and then slither out the door around 4:15....
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