one big and one little announcement

It's been too long again since I've blogged and of course lots has happened. So here it goes...

We've been debating for months whether we should stay in Korea for another year or go home and fight it out to find jobs and we've finally made our decision... we're staying for another year! AAHHH!!! something about seeing those words in print is just terrifying.

Its bittersweet for us as well as our families but they have been behind us all the way in this big decision. Yes, even our Mom's who miss us dearly did their best to support us even when they were very disappointed we wouldn't be home for the holidays. It just seems to be the wisest decision for us financially in the long run. We'll head back to the US in Dec. 2011 (that just sounds incredibly far away) with a very HUGE chunk of debt paid off (which includes credit card, school, and dentist) and have saved a large sum of savings enabling us to move to Portland, OR where we hope to plant ourselves for a while. It'll also enable us enough cash on hand to have enough time to find jobs, as I'm sure you all know its a tough market out there and we are not foolish enough to think we can just make it on fumes. We knew we'd need a large cushion if we were going to make a move to Portland and staying another year will ensure that.

We're very much looking forward to coming home and even more now that we have a bit of a direction. This next year will hopefully fly by now that we have a plan in place and a bit of motivation. We know at the end of the year we'll pat ourselves on the back and be glad we were able to extinguish a load of debt.

Since we're staying we also agreed we needed a Christmas vacation and a seriously amazing one at that. So we went to work (mostly Ben as this is his favorite thing in the world vacay planning) searching for somewhere we could go outside of Korea but that wouldn't break our budget. After much debate we decided on Thailand. We'll be spending an amazing week in Ko Chang (Island) in the Trat Province of Thailand. Its been labeled as the up and coming Phuket. Its got loads of things to do, places to see, and beaches to enjoy. We are sooo excited and are very much looking forward to a week of relaxation, fun, and recharging and honestly just getting the heck out of Korea for a bit.

I think we'll enjoy this vacay on a new level as we've already gotten to know on a very personal level about living in an Asian culture. We'll be able to more fully appreciate the differences in the cultures specifically food and language. We are very much looking forward to trying authentic Thai food and having Thai massages on the beach. Our hotel is very reasonably priced and so is the spa which I plan to take full advantage of. I can't remember the last mani/pedi I had, Thailand here I come!

We also plan to take to go snorkeling as well as experience elephant trekking. I was a bit apprehensive about the elephant trekking as I've read about how these poor elephants are going extinct and are mistreated bein forced to do shows etc. but we found a place that is committed taking care of the elephants and actually work with a non-profit organization to sell elephant paintings to raise money for their protection and conservation.

To say the least we've booked ourselves a week in paradise and can't wait to enjoy it. I say all of this not to brag but to assure our families that we'll be taking a break, taking care of ourselves, and enjoying our time abroad. Part of this whole experience is taking it all in stride, making the most of it, and enjoying what the world has to offer.

And now a drum roll for the little announcement...

We adopted a puppy 3 weeks ago!!! Some of you already know if you've seen the pics on our FB's but we most definitely needed to make a grand introduction on our blog.

Joey is a smart, sweet, mischevious little 6-month old Yorkie puppy we adopted from Animal Rescue Korea. Here is his adoption page that made us fall in love with him: http://www.animalrescuekorea.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4030

On Saturday, September 11 we made the trek to Gyeongsan (just outside of Daegu) to pick him up. It was a very rainy day and the train was late so it was a bit of a rough trip but we made it. It was a crazy day but so worth it. He did sooo great on the way home only a few whimpers the entire 2 1/2 hour bus ride home to Jecheon. And of course we will be taking him home to the States with us next year. Sadly this is a reality for many pets who get adopted by teachers who need some company during their year in Korea. They get adopted for the year than need a new home when the teacher decides they can't or don't want to take them back.

our first family pic - proud, happy, excited puppy parents

first bath we gave him, so pathetic

who me?

more pictures?!?!

sportin' my new sweatshirt and taking a nap w/ my blankey

*contented sigh* 

Am and Joey snuggling after a looong day traveling to my permanent home

Hi, my name is Joey and I'm adorable.

this is Joey's sleeping position, all fours in the air and tongue hanging out (wish I could have cropped me out of this pic)

Ben and Joey @ "church"

this is my fuzzy pillow/bed, Ricky the Racoon, and my bone

first visit to Urimji

a kind stranger took this pic after watching us struggle to do a self-portrait

me-n-my pup!

the first pic we ever saw of Joey that made our hearts melt

he looks like snoopy here, big ole black nose

whata cutey pie!

recovery from his hip surgery, poor baby and yet his cute little pink tongue is hanging out 

the incision and stitches

recouping

ready to play and full of trouble

wanna play?

snuggling in a blanket at my foster parents house

itty bitty fuzzy puppy

His story is sad but worth telling.  He was found on the streets in Daegu as a 3/4 month old puppy and taken to a shelter where he was given to a wonderful foster family (Nicole & Corey and their dogs Uni and Shiggy) to be cared for until he got adopted. They took such great care of him above and beyond to meet his needs physically but also emotionally. So thankful for people like you with such big hearts to care for down and out dogs who need medical care and than to be placed in loving homes.

His first visit to the vet showed there were significant problems with his back legs. X-rays showed his left femur was broken (and healed/fused together) and the doc decided it was best to leave it but his leg will always be about an inch shorter so he walks with a limp and tends to stand a bit like a tripod : ) we think its just cute. He also had a right side hip fracture. He was actually walking around on all this for sometime sadly. Thankfully his foster parents paid out of their own pocket for him to have the needed surgery to fix his hip. He now walks, jumps, runs, and plays without a second thought. Thankfully since they are apart of ARK they received donations from a few kind hearted people who wanted to help. We paid the rest of his surgery with his adoption fee.

Now that we have him I can't imagine him not being here. He has such a zest for life for having such a broken little body when he was found. I saw a show on TV the other day about animals in the streets and they were trying to rescue a dog and I had to turn the channel because I couldn't handle it. I kept thinking about Joey being on the street as a very small puppy and it brought me to tears. I look down at Joey and he's healthy, clean, fed, happy, and warmly rolled in a ball on my lap as I blog. That is the joy of adoption. It made me all the more glad we decided to adopt.

It was a perfect match. Joey fits right in with us and our life here. We decided we'd look into adopting a puppy because I'd have the time to train him and raise him to be a healthy balanced dog. Being home all day and not working he is the company I need to keep my spirits up and not be so lonely. It all just seemed to make sense so we pursued it and a week later we got the email that said Joey was ours! Of course there will be a never ending supply of Joey pics and hopefully video so you can see how funny he is when he plays with us.

So thats whats been going on with us. Thanks for all your love and support, it means more than you know. The cards, the letters, the emails and the boxes lift us emotionally when we're in the dumps cause we just want some comfort food. We could not be doing this with out you all!

A special shout out to Ian and Casey; they made it hope safely after an epic trip home. We miss you guys sooo much, this next year just won't be the same without you. We'd be happy to send you some kimchee or kimbap if you are going through too much withdrawl. Before we know it will be December 2011 and we'll be headed back to the States to see our families and than we're coming to Portland!

the tides of change

Our year here in Korea is flying past and we've come to the point when you begin to consider staying or start packing your bags to get the heck outta here. 

For us this has been a loaded question we've been thinking and talking through for the past month. Most foreign teachers here are single and just out of college. They aren't married and they are free to blow with the wind as they please. For us it's a bit different, as I am not teaching so we live on a one person budget in a one person home. Part of the fun of this kind of adventure is going places and getting to see and do things you could never do back home. Living abroad is not for the faint of heart but rather for the adventurous, curious, and endlessly flexible. 

The past month and a half for us has been full of adjustments. Our dear friends Ian and Casey took off on a whirl-wind world wide trip toward home. They covered southeast Asia than made their way across Europe and will be arriving home tomorrow, Friday Aug 27th. We have missed them so much. We hung out with them every weekend and even started a Sunday routine a few weeks before they left. All four of us would go running at a park near their building than come back to our place have dinner and watch a movie. It was so nice to be able to know we always had friends to hang out with on the weekends and not have to go to the bar just to be social. Alas, their time ended here (all to soon) and we are missing them but happy that they were still able to take the trip of a lifetime, even after a very disappointing year in Korea.

Ian and Casey (primarily Ian) is to blame in causing us to really consider moving to Portland, OR when we get back stateside whether in 2011 or 2012. Thus, we have been very anxious for them to return home and see how they adjust to American life as well as the failing economy and job market. 

All this to say we suddenly began considering staying in Korea for another year when Ben started looking for jobs back home. We've been doing all we can to stay abreast of whats happening with the economy and things just don't seem to be improving in the least. That was our thinking when we left, we go away for year get rid of some more debt than come back and things will be better. Alas, they are not and this has caused us to really re-think leaving our situation here in Jecheon. 

All in all we have it quite nice here. We have a tiny little apartment but it is air-conditioned, re-modeled, and safe. Ben has a WONDERFUL employer and boss, co-workers, and school. He has enjoyed the challenge of teaching and learned a lot about working with kids and being flexible. Together we've learned to live on a budget (and a very tight one at that), we've paid of a credit card and a medical bills, and we've grown closer to each other and God. What more could you want out of a year abroad? 

As we crunched numbers and began thinking about another year we were taken back at how much more we could accomplish by staying just one more year. If we stay we'll be debt free (minus a few school loans) and have saved about 10K, that is more than we had ever hoped to accomplish here. That would take us several years to accomplish back home because of the cost of living etc. 

If we decide to stay another year we would also be able to see and experience more of Korea. Personally, a year was surprisingly not enough time to see and do everything I wanted to do here. Last year had its surprises with Mom being diagnosed with cancer and an unexpected trip home and just being overwhelmed at adjusting to life abroad and living on a budget. It didn't allow us to do as much exploring here as we'd hoped. Ben would receive a substantial pay raise and that would allow us to pay off more, save more, and have enough to really be able to do some fun stuff here ie: skiing in the winter, more beach trips in the summer, trips to Seoul for Kraze Burgers and Starbucks etc. We would also plan to take a trip to a southeast Asian location to scare away some of the winter blues and soak in some more culture while we're on the other side of the planet. Its a must do if you live here for more than a year. There is just sooo much to do and see and explore over here outside of Korea and not taking that opportunity would be regretful.

We will hopefully be meeting with Mr. Lee soon in hopes of nailing out exactly what our next steps are whether we stay or head home. At the moment its looking like we will stay another year and knock out some more debt and stash some more cash. This decision does not come without hours and hours of late nights talking, going on long late night walks to talk, lists upon lists of pros and cons of staying or going, and lots and lots of prayer. We'd ask we your continued prayer as we finalize our decision but just wanted to give everyone a heads up on which direction we're headed. 

We have felt so loved and supported during this past year here as we've received boxes and cards and emails from family and friends. A huge THANK-YOU to all of you! We love you and miss you all sooo much and couldn't do this without you. 

another weekend in Jecheon

Summer break has come and gone and we are longing for fall and winter. The summer heat and humidity have been oppressive to say the least and we are impatiently looking forward to fall and winter. We've been told fall is short but gorgeous with the changing of the leaves. For a summer lover that I am I never thought I'd ever change but here I've come to long for winter or at least the cooler months. Summer has brought bugs, spiders, flies, centipedes, and endless terrible smells. In the winter most if any of those didn't exist and/or were much less potent.

Last weekend was the Jecheon International Film and Music Festival. We had modestly high hopes for it being an "International" festival however those were quickly dashed after we studied the list and descriptions of films available for the viewing. Most of the films were in Korea and than another large percent of them were about bands we'd never heard of. Nothing appealed to us in the least. We then decided to attended the "New Artist Discovery" which we happened to stumble upon while wondering down town. We knew there was suppose to be some kind of performance onto of a building but the map was so badly drawn we couldn't find it but lucked out by following our ears. There were 5 groups that participated. We genuinely were impressed and enjoyed the first 2 performances one was an acoustic guitar duo and another a odd funny band. The last 3 steadily went down hill.

an early shot of the stage before the show began

the logo all over town

band #1: two acoustic guitarists (?) the guy (pictured) also played this other instrument still have no idea what it is but it put a hose into his mouth and powered it via air than played this keyboard, kinda reminded me of a different version of an accordian.




last but not least the rappers - HAHAHAHAHA!!! we laughed our heads off at this pair 30 seconds later we had had enough and left so we don't exactly know who won the competition.


Lately I've been feeling a bit crafty and discovered craftgawker.com a good place to start for ideas. I found a simple pattern for a bracelet and they suggested using any number of materials and I had none of them. So I came up with my own. After digging around I found I had an extra pair of hiking boot laces and a random black shoe lace... perfect! I made Ben a bracelet and a key chain for his apt key. He was quite pleased to say the least. He's not one to wear man-jewelry (aside from the wedding ring) so I was tickle to see just how much he liked it.

This is my latest Korean hair cut. I took in a picture of Victoria Beckham's pob (Posh bob) and well... I came out with this. Its cute but not what I wanted. The lady has cut my hair twice now and she gets sooo unbelievably frustrated because its not pin straight and doesn't just fall into place. It took her forever to blow dry my hair with a itty bitty round brush than a flat iron all of which didn't work. The pic is after I tackled it the next day. The style I walked out with was utterly Korean short hair with wavey bangs and all. And of course you run into someone you know with the weird hair and blurt out "I just got my hair cut this isn't how I normally look!" Most people having lived in this city long enough to need a hair cut completely understand. oh well, tis life in Korea.

summer break part II

NOTE* being sort of lazy and taking sooo long to finally post these pics I posted I later realized that when it comes to chronology these are backwards; so the if that bothers you and you wish to know the order of it all start from the bottom and work up for this post as well as the other (summer break parts I and II) :)

this was our view... aaahhh relaxing!


we rounded out the week with a relaxing picnic under the Korean pines Sunday evening. There was hardly anyone to be found in this normally bustling picnic spot, understandably so as it was 90 degrees and ridiculously humid. The walk there was horrible but so worth it. I laid out on our straw mat and read while Ben went off exploring for a while.


My new fav frozen treat: vanilla milkshake in a pouch


Haven't seen a bus this dec'd out in side here yet. It reminded me of something you'd see in an India how they decorate everything, but mostly I just thought it was terribly ugly and funny. This was on our way home of Tour-de-Corea day 2.


View out from the Danyang bus terminal.


Connected to the Danyang bus terminal is this mini-museum in honor of the 2002 Korea Japan World Cup they hosted jointly. It had never been open when I'd been there so we were pleasantly surprised to be able to take a quick look as we waited for the bus to arrive.







Korean style camping in/on/next to the dammed up stream we swam in. This is precisely how many people die every year here because the summer is the rainy season and a few days of heavy rain and that becomes a river with a nasty current.


chili pepper rock!


a very very very old tree, Mr. Lee made sure I got a pic of it


a people only suspension bridge across the stream.


our swimming hole, it was refreshing and sooo beautiful


the sheer rock just above us was amazing, kids were climbing up parts of it and jumping off, it isn't very deep in some spots so it was actually quite dangerous for them to be jumping off a 10 ft high cliff


looking down the main street in the village


Mr. Lee's mother-in-law lives in a house directly across the street, it was sooo handy to have a place to change and a bathroom so close to the swimming hole


it was fairly busy the day we went but we didn't care because we were so hot and desperate to cool off


people brought their little grills and were cooking/eating 5 ft from the stream, they bring their sam-gap-sal (pork) and grill it along with kimchee and watermelon and... they don't picnic lightly.









It isn't proper to just wear a swim suit when swimming in a river/stream (sooo glad I noted that the previous day) so I wore my swim suit underneath a t-shirt and shorts. When I was changing Mr. Lee asked Ben in a panic if I was wearing a swim suit and informed him that this is not the beach, swim suits are for the beach only, got it.




a really cool old gong in an old Korean village Mr. Lee took us to @ Chungpung Lake




Mr. Lee explained that this was for weddings a long time ago. They would carry the bride in this "box" and she was not allowed to get out even to pee so there is a hole in the bottom of it with a bowl attached... enough said.






old school kitchen








Mr. Lee showed us around a good portion of the old Korean village. They use a portion of the village for film and TV production. On the other side of the lake are a few hotels and the most popular place to go bungee jumping. We hiked all the way to the top of the mount as pictured. The view was spectacular, promptly just before we reached the top my camera battery decided it was done for the day so I have no pics. We hope to go back again sometime as it was a beautiful place with so much more to check out.


another classic Ben pic, he fit right in with all the funny faces.


I loved these guys they all had different faces hand carved into the wood. I took a serious of pics of them up-close to capture their character.