My Last Post

In all the anticipation and excitement of coming back home I didn't have time to fully grasp the fact that I'm actually going to be leaving Korea after a quick yet memorable year. During my time I've gained many acquaintances, a few good friends, valuabe life experience, and a couple of extra sets of love handles. And of course there are going to be many things that I will miss, and some not miss as much.

I will miss...

- some great people.

A group of cool people. From the top left going clockwise. Lawrence, Charlotte, and Margo.

Fangshu.

One of the co-teachers. Haha He's a nice guy but I probably won't miss him as much but wanted to put up his picture.

My main co-teacher and the best one! Her name is Yoo InHee. I will miss her a lot. She was so helpful, fun and nice person.

- my kids!

One of my students, Yoon EunBi, made that for me.

The third graders card to me.

The second and first grade cards to me.

These are the second graders at Gammul middle school.

The third graders.

The first graders.

- hearing ringtones of the newest chart topping Korean pop song coming from by 50+ year old Ahjushis' cellphones.

- the shower-toilet bathrooms. It's so convenient because when you're taking a shower and need to go...you can.

- the cheap stuff. I'm going to miss the satisfying and tasty meal that cost about 4 U.S. dollars. Medicine is also a steal. I had to buy a (warning: might be a TMI moment) corn remover for my foot and it was about 1.50 U.S. dollars. Transportation, especially taxi cabs were so cheap. I averaged about $20 a month on my gas and electricity bills...combined!

- no tipping...for anything! Food service, taxi rides and deliveries.

- flipping through the channels and getting really excited to find NBA basketball on TV!

- haircuts! They cut and wash your hair! And when they shampoo your hair, they use this scruber thing and it feels so good.

- the Simpsons speaking Korean.

-my cool Alien Registration card!

I have to relinquish it at the airport or else...

- Korea's funny FCC. I was watching an American movie or show and they censored a man smoking a cigarette but didn't think it was necessary to censor another man snorting coke.

I will not miss...

- my bad kids.

- the price of meat.

- how all American food taste sweet; from the sweet non-cheese flavored Cheetos to Burgers with sweet sauce.

- the many 'different' and 'unique' girl groups out there. I mean even 10 is a lot but when there's like 50 of them, EVERY month, it's get a little out of hand. It's getting to the point where 20 years from now, kids are going to be in the playgrounds (or PC bangs), making fun of each other because their mom wasn't an idol.

- mean bus drivers.

- walking in my neighborhood and randomly being punched in the face by the smell of manure.

- dirt basketball courts.

- NBA basketball commentating by Korean commentators AND no Knick games.

- the crappy phone company (KT Show) I had.

I took my frustration out on the phone. I went all 'Office Space' on that badboy. =D

It's been a great year. It's been fun blogging. I hope everyone enjoyed! See you guys soon!

My First Foreign Country Final Part

So this is my final post for my trip to Japan. This post will include BOTH the final full day and the last official day in Japan. Once again please excuse my English!

TOKYO

The first couple of days in the Osaka area I went to many traditonal/historic places. The days were jam-packed with these places. The few days spent in Tokyo were in cities and more relaxed. On the final full day we met up with some of Lawrences Japanese friends (who are really awesome and nice people) and they showed us around.

First stop was Harajuku located in the north western part of Tokyo.

Good cheap food here.

Cold Udon!

Deep fried thingy.

The sweet rice ball thingy.

These are flashdrives.

So are theses.

Mickey Mouse? There were actually other famous characters that had this weird face on it.

This store had a lot of nice things.

Saw this crazy looking guy. How come the NYC wackos aren't as friendly?

They close off the streets to cars during certain times of the day so that pedestrian can walk freely.

This was Shibuya. I found out that Kara had a performance on the streets there...after I came back. Just my luck.

Kim Yuna!

So many people in Tokyo that the sidewalks are just not enough to hold all those Japanese shoppers.

Then we had (an expensive) dinner at this samurai restaurant.

Before we entered our booth, they had like a 10 second mini performance with swords, enthusiastic showmanship, and weak grunting.

Sake!

Sidedish!

Some kind of fish!

Chicken on a stick!

Fried shrimp ceasar salad!

Broth! Brown = Soy Sauce based and Orange = Kimchi based

Pork, chicken, mushrooms, and other vegges!

It was really good. Afterwards we put in ramen noodles!

Then we went to this sky scrapper. I think it's the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building.

View from the building.

They had this at the gift shop. It looks like he should be saying "Oh no you DI'INT!"

Last stop was this coffee shop? place for dessert!

This beautiful thing was my dessert! I thought from all the walking and sweating I did in the hot sun would make me lose some weight, but I realized because I stuffed my face with delicious yet fattening food like this I actually gained weight. COOL!

That was our final night in JAPAN! =(

The Final Day

The last day we roamed around the area of our hostel. We saw people filming in the area.

I thought maybe I should casually try to get on camera, like pretend to buy something or ask the shop owner if I could use the bathroom or something, but didn't think I could be as slick Will and Tyriq were trying to get in Bell Biv DeVoe's video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUv-b1zTSVs

After that we ate breakfast, packed up, headed to the airport, and then flew back to Korea. It was a hectic and exhausting trip but a great experience. I swore off traveling to other countries but maybe I'll have a change of heart. I've been to NYC (haha), Seoul, and Tokyo. Maybe Paris next...? Hope you enjoyed!