Human Interactions

I recently described dating to J as 'like trying to navigate a mine field with no map.'  I was talking to S and said the same thing.  Both of them agreed with me.  The more I think of it, though, the more I think this is true for all human relationships/interactions.

We're all mines, if you will - none of us knows what will set the other off, or how bad the damage will be.  Generally speaking, we will all have misunderstandings and issues at one point or the other, and we can't be sure if the relationship will be able to recover.  Either way, it's irrevocably changed.  Some relationships get stronger, others just end, but both people are usually left with emotional scars.  So I think it's just interacting with other humans that is like trying to navigate a mine field... maybe for dating it's just that the mines are closer together and/or the explosions are more frequent and/or we're more invested so we feel things more than in casual friendships.  

Now, with this being said, we must address the scars caused by past explosions.  The problem, as I see it, is that we live in an age of distractions and healing is painful.  We don't want to feel the pain, we don't want to acknowledge the hurt, so we repress it all and distract ourselves with whatever we can and we carry these festering wounds with us.  Now we have hurting people trying to distract themselves with other hurting people and then one of the mines explodes causing further damage and now both carry new wounds which start to fester and the cycle repeats.  In order to move forward and to truly heal, we have to break the cycle.  Unfortunately to break the cycle and heal your own wounds is an extremely painful, unpleasant, lonely, crap box of a process to go through.  Add on to that the fact that healing is not a linear process and you will have setbacks, and this idea becomes a REALLY hard sell.  Not only that, but from my own experience I've found that one can only go so far alone and then one HAS To have these interactions again in order to break old habits.  Dating in my mid 30's is much different than in my mid 20's.  And MAN, I wouldn't want to EVER go back to that.  

Another difficulty is figuring out what each of us actually wants out of these relationships.  It seems like if we were honest with ourselves about this, it would be easier to be honest with others as well.  As a woman, I've been told for ages not to tell a man that I want a relationship and/or kids, and/or... and/or... and/or... you get the idea.  It seems there were a lot of rules about this stuff when I was growing up, but now the internet has acted as a great equalizer.  On a dating app it's easy to tell someone 'I just want a good time/good night." and then they have the information they need to make an informed decision about if they want what you're offering.  Same thing about looking for a relationship - assuming people are being honest.  I hear that paid sites do more of that for you in the first place, but I'm not quite willing to go there yet.  Anyway, my social experiment continues and is as fascinating as ever!  I do think that all human interactions could be described as navigating a mine field with no maps - people are volatile and it can be SO EASY to screw up and get people mad at you somehow. 

Anyway, that's what I've been thinking of lately.  I'm glad for all those who have withstood my explosions and remained my friends :)  I'm also going to try to break my habits of letting things build up to volcanic levels.  :*  MUAH!  Much love to all!!

I'm back to good :)

Yep, the storm has passed, the issues have been recognized and named, which makes them SO much easier to deal with.  I even allowed myself to be sad for a few days, which is probably the healthiest thing I've done for myself in a while.  I still have an ideal of how the world 'should' work (I know, I know, don't get me started), and I'm working toward accepting it for how it is/identifying where I can change it.  It's been an interesting road of introspection and healing that I've put myself on, and even when it's painful... well, better to rip off the bandage and clean out the festering putrescence before cleansing it and wrapping it up to heal properly this time.  It's just harder to do when the wound is emotional rather than physical.  However, I know I'll be better for this.

As an aside, I wish I had occasion to use 'putrescence' more often.  What a fantastic word... it literally oozes in my head when I think of it.  I can almost smell the word.  (No, I'm not on drugs/drunk, I just really love certain words - it's a side effect of being a bibliophile.)

It's been nice to feel like me again.  I even sometimes think I look like me.  The WTF line between my eyes will probably become a mainstay, so there's that.  I do like the hairstyle - it's so easy and I'm so lazy.  I had to laugh at J - I found a lip ring, so I was wearing it and I sent a pic to her.  She was... not a fan.  So the other night she told me under what circumstances the lip ring would not... detract... from my face.  I laughed and laughed.

So not much has happened so far this week.  Well, let me amend that... not much has happened that I've been at all a part of/privy to.  There was some kind of drama that went down, but I was home watching netflix and talking to people on Kakao (a messaging app that everyone in Korea uses).  Once again, introversion leads to peaceful life.  LOL.  My computer at work had issues, but they have been (mostly) sorted.  J and I have pretty much decided that we need to have a friend date every week to go for Indian food.  That's right - I friggin' LOVE Indian food.  I've had the butter chicken and some kind of vegetarian dish, a ton of naan... and I usually finish her biryani with chicken.  There's a great Indian place close by and they don't close until 10.  I'm also cooking a lot - last week I had 3 co-workers over for food, and I cooked for 2 of them.  The last one cooked for me cuz it was chicken fajita nachos.  I think tonight I'm going to make chicken and sauteed Brussels sprout pasta with a Parmesan and mozzarella cream sauce.

Let's see, I was able to catch up with my bestie back home, and Dad, Carole, and I had a great call on Monday (my time).  It makes my heart happy to hear that they miss me so much that they want me to come home on a break sometime next year.  Hehe... I mean, it's still nice to hear that my family wants me around sometimes.  Oh, I'm also getting to the point where I'll start applying for gov jobs.  I imagine I could stay in Korea for about another 3 years before even getting a job with the gov, but that gives me time to learn more than 5 Korean words, right?  (Hello, goodbye, thank you, older brother, older sister, for those who are wondering.)  The weekend may or may not involve getting Halloweeny in Seoul - so stay tuned for pix/updates.

On another note - I love wearing clothes that fit, but MAN I get distracted by how good I'm looking.  LOL - I've reached the 'lock up your sons' and 'DAMN I look good' stage of weight loss.  About 25 lbs to goal, then I'm going to throw away my scale, live on one meal a day, and enjoy my life.  That's right, it's a lifestyle, not a diet.  Unless I want to gain everything back, in which case I can go back to eating 3x a day.

Shopping = crap

I hate clothes shopping, with two exceptions: when it's post-margaritas with my bestie going to Torrid, or when it's one of those days and I need to be around like-minded folk and see weird stuff and I go to Earthbound Trading Co.  That being said, I psyched myself up, promised myself post-shopping margaritas and went to Seoul at 10am on Saturday to look for jeans, leggings, and undies. 

My first stop was H&M - I was hoping that a Swedish co might have some western-sized clothes.  No luck, but I was able to find a couple decent bras, at a decent price.  So I called it a win.  There was a Lush across from H&M, so to Lush I went.  I walked in and was shadowed by a saleswoman, who I ended up feeling a bit sorry for.  I needed only one thing and I knew exactly what it was, she showed me, I grabbed what I needed, paid and left.  I could tell she wanted to do the Lush thing where they convince you that you need all kinds of other stuff, but I still have stuff from LAST time I went there.  I got out with JUST my shampoo - another win.  Across from Lush was Zara - no luck... a lot of no luck.  So then I wandered... found a Forever 21 that had everything 75% off... wandered around, no luck/it was terrifying. 

At this point, Meyongdong was awake and getting to be rather full of people.  I decided it was time to bail.  So on to Itaewon I went.  I had found a place via the Google that had Western sizes.  I found it by walking down some kinda sketchy stairs.  I walked in and the lady who owns it asked what I was looking for.  I told her jeans, she asked my size, then started pulling jeans off the rack for me to try.  I confirmed what size I am, but they had NO boot cut.  The jeans were all skinny or straight legs.  So jeans were a bust.  However, she did have black leggings, and skirts.  I tried about 5 different skirts and ended up buying 2.  The thing was the price.  Two skirts and 2 pairs of leggings were 100,000 won.  A part of me choked.  Then I remembered shopping in the states I've dropped that at Torrid and Earthbound.  Don't even get me started on how much I've spent on Amazon.  I don't go clothes shopping often, so OF COURSE it's going to be a bit expensive.  I also will be ordering jeans and stuff from Amazon after the 1st of the month (that way I don't have to pay the CC until Dec). 

The best thing is that I now have different things to wear to work!  I've been wearing the same things for about 8 mo now, and it was time for an update.  Also when Mom sends my sweaters from home, I'll have good leggings to wear with them.  Hehehe... so all in all it was good.  I knew it would be tough finding jeans, as I am NOT shaped like an Asian.  In fact, the lady was funny because when I was checking out she looked at me and went, "You are small on top, but big on bottom."  And I went "Yep, that's why I just needed leggings and skirts!"  These skirts would even show my knees if I wore them without leggings... maybe that'll be my goal for next summer.  LOL - well, with the blue one... the purple one is wool.  I did enjoy shopping alone. 

So after that I waited for A to come meet me at Vatos, we had lunch then went on for a few beers and then went home.  I did laundry and watched The Crow and then went to bed.  I think the movie tonight shall be Ghostbusters 2.  Hehehehe.

Anyway, that's my adventure in clothes shopping in Asia.  I'm hoping that I won't have to do that again for a WHILE!  ;) 

Shopping with T

So one of the things about living here is that you say something like "We should TOTALLY go to Costco together" and then... months pass.  Seriously, like friggin' MONTHS!  It's not like either of you forgot or anything, but suddenly weekends get filled up, people get busy, life happens, and then... it's like the sun breaks thru the clouds... you talk, you realize you both have a free weekend/day, the stars align and IT HAPPENS!  I'm sure this happens a lot in the states, too, but for some reason things seem to be... amplified in Korea.  It's quite strange, but there are so many feels to sort thru and we all do it in different ways and sometimes we just forget to check on each other. 

Anyway, last Saturday I took a bus to T's place, then we got on another bus to Costco.  It was fun to see that big, familiar sign that heralded so many shopping trips with Jess and Doug. 

 Walking into that store was like walking into a time/space warp to back home.

 Except there were more Korean people... lol.

 We went straight to the food part.  T and I both fancied a slice of pizza.

 As you can see, some of the fares are quite the same... some not so much.  I don't know if you can see it, but the soup is abalone, the ice cream is milk ice cream (per T it tastes like... milk), and they have some kind of weird Korean calzone/burrito thing that looked interesting and I'll be getting next time I go.  You can also see the pork cutlets in the curry sauce on the far right side of the screen. 

 I got a 'combination' pizza.  That's what they apparently call their supreme.  It was SO GOOD!!

 And then there are these... as you can see by the lady demonstrating, you crank at one end and fresh, raw onions come out the other end.  As my friend Long told me, they will eat a mound of onions with ketchup and mustard... I saw it myself.

 Christmas already - see, American as can be!

 But then there were things like this that seemed not American at all.

 And you have to be careful of Asian sizing.  Now T and I did find some wonderful jackets.  They are soft on the inside and they were Kirkland brand, so they were American sizes.  She got one in a lovely purple color and I went for - light blue.  J/K, you know I got the black one. 

 Downside of shopping in Korea - we had to take the bus back to T's and then I had to take another bus home.  So all of the purchases had to be carried in Little Buddy and my tote.  The good news?  It worked.  The bad news... no bad news, it worked!  Although T's chicken did leak a bit when she punched a hole in the plastic (not on purpose!). 

 You can see the mound of onions on the plate closest to me.  No clue what was on the sushi they were enjoying, either. 

 A cute little statue outside of the Costco.

So that was our adventure at Costco.  We went to our separate homes, put away our groceries, I froze a bunch of sausages and cheese, secure in the knowledge that I will have stir fry goodness for MONTHS! 

The next day, I went back to meet up with T and go shopping for sweaters for her.  I was also hoping to find jeans, leggings, and/or undies since as previously stated, I've shrunk.  While waiting on T, I went to a store called Art Box and found... HALLOWEEN stuff!!  I have 2 headbands, one with a witch hat and one with bat wings and horns, a mask that looks like Jack Skellington's mouth, nail stickers, temporary tattoos, and a ring holder for the back of my phone so that the chances of me dropping it are slightly less.  Then we went for food.  We went to a curry place that she had been to before. 

The process was, you choose your curry (I went with eggplant and rice) then you choose how spicy (medium spicy) then you choose your add-ons (onions and garlic are free, then I went with a cheese pork cutlet).  I was a little surprised that they had forks, and it also came with miso soup.  The small dishes you are seeing on the side are pickled radishes.  

After this it was your typical shopping trip.  I didn't find any jeans or leggings, but I did find some decent lipstick, clear nail polish, and even a lip ring.  That's right, a simple horseshoe lip ring is WAY CHEAP here, so I got one.  When I got home, I put it right thru the hole in my lip, then I did a happy dance.  I felt a little more like me.  It's the little things that sometimes you have to hold on to when everything else has changed.

So it was a successful day for T, and for me it was nice to hang out with her, so I'm calling it a win as well.  Now I'm psyching myself up for a shopping trip to Seoul on Sat, supplemented with a cat cafe and a Vatos run.  Between Forever 21, H&M, and some small little place in Itaewon that advertises Western sizes, I'm hoping to have some luck.  If not, I'll go for plan C... Amazon.  I'm just nervous about ordering jeans online... after all, we all know women's sizes are regulated and standardized (queue eye roll).  

I must say, I feel much better after posting some of the things I've been dealing with.  I know that these changes are good, and I will learn what angles to take my pix from, and I'll even reassure my friend that my boobs don't look any smaller (it is the mark of a really great friend when she knows your psychosis when it comes to your body and does everything she can to make you feel better/laugh about it).  I'm on orders from her to find a good bra.  LOL.  I will learn how to live in a smaller body... and I may even get back into doing yoga to help burn off the thighs.  S has mentioned training me once or twice, but I think I'd rather join a boxing gym or something around here.  I don't want to have to tell him "oh crap, I forgot to go to the gym again... for the 7th time... this week."  Some people like accountability...  me not so much.  

Anyway, have a great rest of your week, I'll keep you updated on the jeans/leggings situation, and happy October-ween!  Hehehe - iiiiiit's SCHPOOOKAY SEASON!!!

National Hangul Day

So this Wednesday was another free day.  Which works out for me, classes-wise.  I've got my Tues AMs for grading writing notebooks back.  Woot!  I didn't do much on the actual day.  Got up late, went to Gangnam in Seoul to have a coffee date (German dude, leaves next week - nice enough, and interesting to talk politics with), came home, made stir fry teriyaki sausage and cabbage, had a couple glasses of wine, watched Firefly, then went to bed.  All in all, it was a nice, relaxing day.

So this post is going to be less about what I did on my day off and more about changes.  You see, while I was walking to an earlier bus stop in order to secure a place on the bus (yes, we have to do that sometimes) I realized that my undies were falling down.  The elastic is fine, which means I'm officially needing smaller undies.  Which means that I've reached the "crap, I have to go shopping for clothes" stage of my weight loss.  For those who are wondering, it's been 19 months since I started intermittent fasting and I'm down about 80-ish lbs, (officially) under 200 for the first time in my adult life, and loving the feeling of not having to worry about 3 meals a day.  Since I've been obsessively tracking my progress, I can tell you that I've got a good 40-50 lbs that I can play with before anyone ever says 'you look like you've lost/gained weight.'  This can be a good or a bad thing, depending.  I always knew I carried my weight well, but this has just kind of proven that once I have cheekbones, it's hard to tell anywhere else.  For those who are wondering, yes I have about 30 more lbs to go, no I'm not starving myself, yes I read about the science behind it, no I won't go into it unless you ask and then I'll just point you in the right direction, no I don't want to hear any concerns about my goal weight, yes I'm eating well.

Technical specs - I generally do OMAD or ADF (One Meal A Day or Alternate Day Fasting).  I limit my eating to a 4-8 hour window depending on the day/how I'm feeling.  I don't deny myself any foods once my window is open.  During the fast I have black coffee and water.  This actually fixed my prediabetic blood levels - I'm down to normal now.

Before:

 Kinda during:

 Now:

HOW IS THIS MY FACE?!

I have been saying for a few weeks/months (S can tell you exactly cuz it's usually to him) that I need to go shopping for some jeans that fit.  I'm just nervous about 1) the cost and 2) finding something that will fit and 3) the blow to the ego trying to find something that fits in ASIA!  I have a fragile relationship with my body... and clothes shopping can tend to throw me into a depression like you wouldn't BELIEVE!!  Especially since there is no JESSICA and no TORRID and no EARTHBOUND TRADING CO here!!  On the other hand, this has been a 19 mo process and I FINALLY need new clothes, so I can look at this as a good thing, right?!

One of the unforeseen benefits of fasting is realizing just how much I use food/drink to make myself feel better.  Before coming to Korea I wanted to EAT ALL THE THINGS!  Thanks to fasting, I was forced to realize that the reason I wanted to eat all the things was because I was freaking out about coming here for a year.  Now sometimes it's bad because I do still drink and I need to be sure to eat something before I drink any alcohol.  Yes, I've not always made the best decisions.  Story of anyone's life right there.  I've also realized just how much of life revolves around food - we use it for celebrating, for feeling better, for gifts, for damn near everything.  I do have to say, some days when I'm stressed (such as today) I consider having an earlier window.  Just writing this post has brought on an emotional headache.  Siiigh... thank God for Excedrine.

I had a convo with my older sis that kinda revolved around this.  As she put it, I'm 'winning the battle with food.'  Which could be true, but I feel like I'm losing the battle of healing emotionally/spiritually.  All I see is how far I still have to go, how much I truly need to let go, and I'm scared of letting go of it.  It's like I have a fistful of razor wire that's been there for as long as I remember, and while I don't like the pain of holding on to it, I'm more afraid of losing the familiarity of that pain.  I want to say that I'll be ok, because I always am, but allowing myself to feel the pain, to remove the wire, and let the Lord heal what He will... what am I without the bitterness and pain?!  Why be willing to open myself up to that pain again?  How can I show trust when so many have betrayed that trust?  I have the kind of heart that will do anything for someone who is important to me, and that's brought me a lot of pain and some amazing friends with similar hearts.  For some reason, I still think that people are obligated to treat me the way that I treat them, which is nuts.  It's never true - I can't expect everyone to have the same heart that I do!

From a psychological perspective, I know that most of the time when someone has treated me like crap, it didn't even come from a place of malice.  Most people are just so wrapped up in their own lives/worlds that they have no clue how their actions affect others/me.  What I need to do is to let people know when their actions have caused me pain in some way instead of repressing everything until Mount BoozeyMandi erupts.  Apologies to my friends for my bad habit of keeping my mouth shut when something bothers me.  My theory is that healing will come as I get out of my comfort zone (and confronting friends is about as far out of my comfort zone as I can get) and engage with people (old and new)... as long as I have the option of BH weekends at least once a month.  This weekend I'm going to Costco with T, next weekend will be apple picking with A, the following weekend is free unless there's something Halloweeny going on.

So here's the last thing about change that I'm dealing with/is causing me issues.  I don't recognize my face anymore.  Ana tells me that I need to work on my angles because I've lost so much weight that how I used to take pix no longer is required.  Jess taught me about taking pix from above so that there wouldn't be a double chin - so that's what I do.  Now when I see pix of myself, I see a stranger.  I know it's me, but between the weight loss and the haircut it's not me.  I don't think I have a good way of putting this... you know those pictures of the man in the moon where it's a half moon and the features are really obvious?  That's how I feel my face looks in pictures now.  Big nose, sharp chin, no hair to hide behind... I do think my eyes don't look quite as hooded as they did before, which is kinda nice... I HAVE EYES.  LOL.  On the one hand, I feel like the old me... on the other hand, I feel totally different.  I am a bit nervous about my goal weight, too - you can't tell in pix, but there are plenty of places on me that have room to shrink... I'm just not sure if all of it isn't going to come from my FACE!  My thighs are just as big as ever, my ankles are still all swollen (that's been true since college, so no I'm not preggers)... I hate my legs.  When the familiar is being overweight, how does one really adjust to a new normal?  I thought doing this slowly would help, but I'm knocked for a loop now just as much as I was when I lost all the weight going to the gym (Jess has the bridesmaid dress trying on pix that freaked me out then... I thought my head was too big for the rest of my body).

I guess this is the post that tells you not everything is all 'Skittles' as Mo would put it.  I'm pretty sure I'd be dealing with these same kinds of things if I were in the states (maybe not the dating app thing - if I were home, I'd still have a dumb phone), but there I'd have Mo to call whenever I felt like it and Jess, Doug, and Ana to give me hugs... Gracie and Cake for cuddles... random bartenders to talk to... ability to call home when I want... long road trips to get my head straight... church ladies to lean on... Gparents to go see at Thanksgiving... regular shows for moshing... sigh... I feel like a big ol' mess.  Where is Mr. Clean when you need him?!  Hehe... I need a good night of movies, pizza, and wine.  Yay for payday being today, I may splurge on something delicious... or pick up gimbap on the way home and make roasted brussels sprouts for dinner.  (Update: J and I went out for Indian food and it was AMAZING.)

Oktoberfest and Jinju Lantern Festival

Yep, you read that right.  There is an Oktoberfest celebration in Korea.  It was down on Namhae Island (which, by the way, also has an American village and MAN did I want to see that too).  One of the hard things about booking trips in Korea is that there are usually multiple companies that are bringing people to the same festivals.  I think I saw 3 or 4 different ones for Oktoberfest and the lantern festival.  Is one company any better than the other?  I suspect not, however, the people that you get on the trips are really what make or break 'em.  Turned out that only about 6 of us signed up to leave from Seoul, so instead of having the private chartered bus, they put us on a public one.  When I originally floated this idea, a bunch of people seemed interested.  As time went on, only S ended up coming with me.

So S and I got up SUPER early to get on the bus to take us to the bus terminal where we were going to meet up with the rest of the group.  I hate to say it, but it was kinda easy for the chick who had the tickets to find us... we don't exactly blend in if you know what I mean.  Any time you go somewhere with a guy in a kilt, people are gonna notice (at least him, anyway).  Perhaps that's been part of the issue I've been having lately... people notice S and J, I'm just background... merits more thought, but I digress.

The public bus was nice and spacious, and we were on it for about 4 hours.  Then we got dropped off at a bus terminal and the Enjoy Korea bus came to pick us up.  From there, we got down to Namhae in a couple more hours.  We checked into the pension, met our roomies for the night, and quickly checked out the beach.

The pension was really quite nice... I liked the set-up - our room was actually disconnected from the rest.

 My artsy pic of the boat out front with the sign in back... hehehe... look at how pretty this place is!!!

 Walking to the beach along a river/spillway

 I just love the water and the mountains, not gonna lie.

 Fun bridge to the camping area.  You can call me bougie for staying at the pension, it's ok.  But frankly, I like being able to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without having to put on shoes!

 Palm trees!

 The beach was really nice, the sand was great and the water wasn't too cold, even in Oct.

 The obligatory selfie... and yes, I met ONE guy who knew who Trivium are.

 Me and S - again, obligatory selfie.

 We found it!  Told you!!!

 Like many fests anywhere you go.

 So much stuff/food/drink.

 I thought the kegs were fun.

 Just in case you're wondering exactly where this was.

 SAUSAGES!

 They were either really good, or I was really hungry.  Maybe a little of both.

 The view.

 The stage - they were doing songs from Grease... in Korean.

 This is normal - so many umbrellas.

 I GOT A PRETZEL!!!  I mean, it wasn't the best and there was no cheese sauce to dip it in, but I wanted beer, sausage, and pretzel and I got all of them!  Also the view from Kunst was amazing.

 I love the flowers.

 M and S - M is with T and they are from England.  They were a lovely couple and it was quite nice hanging out with them.  This is before M became a bit of a celebrity... he won the stein-carrying contest.

 I just loved seeing German signs in Korea... I mean, technically it's no different than seeing English signs in Korea, but it still tickled me.

 Here's M and S after they were roped into competing.

 One of their competitors... apparently trying NOT to get beer all over himself... which M showed us is NOT the way to win this thing.

 S realizing what is expected of this.

 S kinda determined that getting beer all over himself wasn't worth it, but M stepped up.

 We were REALLY scared for him here.  So there were a few rounds before M was actually crowned, and S and I wandered off in search of drinkable beers.

 I did see a Korean woman in a durndel.  At this point, the party got a little wild and I'm sure you can all fill in the blanks.  So we're going to say that the rest of the evening was quite fun, drinks were had, drunken shenanigans happened, and the next day we all woke up - in some cases the worse for wear, some of us still wondering how we ended up with a black eye (on the upper hand, it looks like some really cool eye shadow).

 The next day I wanted to be one with the beach, so I went back down and spent some time listening to the waves, allowing myself to feel, and continuing to work on some of my internal issues that alcohol just can't fix.

 I love this pic... pretty sure I didn't come away with any of the bugs that were climbing on the rocks, either.

 Then it was off on about a 2 hour bus ride to the Lantern festival.  I learned that S loves dinosaurs... I'm guessing he was telling me all the real names of them - outside of the hits, I never really knew their names.

 We crossed the main bridge about 5 times, just wandering until the sun went down.

 I liked this one in the day and at night.

 Trying to get an artsy pic of the palace with the dragon lantern - S tells me he got a good one at night, mine ended up slightly blurry so this is as good as it got for me.

 I love the trees... almost got a pic of S with all the greenery, but he was wearing green so it kinda woulda been a kilted elf shot... which now that I think about it, might have been fun.  LOL

 Another dragon and palace pic.

 The lantern tunnel during the day.

 DRAGON!

 Another DRAGON!

 I like how he looks like he's going to eat the people in the background... I asked S if he wanted that kind of pic... he opted for...

 Something a bit different.  No dino is gonna eat HIM!

 So by now the sun was going down, the lights were coming on, and we headed back over the bridge.  I like the boxing kangaroos.

 There were so many lanterns, trying to get good pix was a bit challenging.

 But look how cool the dragons were all lit up!!!

 I mean, SO COOL!!!  And the lights moved!!!

 So did the elephant's eyes, but I didn't get any videos... waiting on S for that.

 I like the colors - yep, that's me, Ms I Like Black saying the colors can be fun.

 Belle and the Beast - let that be a lesson to you, guys.  Give her a library, women love libraries.

 Golden pig made a lot more sense at night.

 Again, a bit artsy, so sue me.

 See why I liked it at night, too!  So cool looking!!

 Had to get the horsies for my mom, my aunt, the generations of cowboys on that side of the family... the fact I miss riding, you know.

 The lantern tunnel at night - so cool.

 This is on the hill above the river, we walked around here a bit in the day and came back at night.  Glad I did, cuz this is where the monster lanterns were!!

 Oh, and TELL me this isn't a great shot of the moon in the trees.  Unfortunately you can't really tell it's only a half moon, but it still felt Halloweeny - thanks S for having me get the pic.

 Seeing the world from different angles.

 "Kappa?  Cappuccino?  Nah, makes me hyper."  Of all my movie references that S gets, that one went over his head.  Sigh... uncultured swine.

 It was pretty awesome, not gonna lie.

 DRAGONS FOR ALL!!!

 I think wolfman stepped on a lego.

 Another fun bird.

 It took me too long to realize that these ones had smiley faces.

 And then we went to the palace side and found Olaf.

 As well as a bunch of Korean heritage scenes.

 More random dinos.

 Kimchi pots.

And I'm not totally sure what this is, but I thought it was fun and super Korean, so I added it.

That was more or less it.  This was Sunday night, so we had to go back to the bus which took us to another station.  We caught the express limo bus to Seoul.  Let me tell you - I want EVERY trip I EVER take from now on to be on these buses.  The seats reclined to where you were almost totally laying down, and they were built so that if you did that, you wouldn't be laying in the person behind you's lap.  There were only about 20 seats on the bus, each one had it's own screen that you could sync to your phone so you could watch your Netflix or whatever on a larger screen.  USB charging stations, free water from a cooler right inside the door, I mean - HEAVEN after a couple days of very little sleep.  Once we got to Seoul we took a taxi back, which was a bit pricey, but better than being stuck in Seoul overnight.

All in all, it was a good weekend (mystery bruises and all).  I feel like the hour or so I spent on the beach watching/listening to the waves was good for my soul.  It's good to have a friend that gets most of my references... even if not the ones from TMNT The Movie 3.  Sigh... so disappointing.

So back to work on Monday.  The good news is that we have Wed off this week (to celebrate the creation of the Korean national alphabet - Hangul).  The best thing about that is that our writing notebook day will go back to being Wed, which means that I'll have Tues AM back to grade the ones that I don't get to on Mon.  Not sure what Wed will hold, but I'm sure I'll let you know one way or the other.

I can tell you that I'm dealing with the transitional nature of being here - it's just things that we can pretend are forever back home are obviously not going to last here.  Some of you know how hard it is for me to get close to anyone, and knowing that nothing is permanent (except perhaps some friendships) is wreaking havoc in my head.  Ah, to embrace the futility of existence without becoming depressed or bitter - that's the jam.  LOL.  Love to all my dear readers - especially those who felt the need to check on me this week.  You are appreciated more than you know, I love you to the moon and back, I love you with all my butt (cuz you know, it's bigger than my heart).  Hehehe - j/k, I love you with all that I am - all wonderful, weird, messed up, broken, joyful, bitchy, loving parts of me.  Hugs from Korea, here's to us.