Struggling

So, I'm trying to prepare some stuff for the impending start of the new school year. For those of you who don't live in Korea and already know this, March marks the start of a new school year, so I will be getting new 1st graders starting March 2nd, and my 1st and 2nd graders will now be 2nd and 3rd graders. I am really looking forward to the new semester, mostly because after having been here for 6 months I am starting to figure out what kinds of things work well with my students, and what kinds of things simply do not work at all. Mostly, though, I just really like teaching, and I really like learning how to be better at teaching.

Unfortunately, my school gives me virtually no guidance regarding the information I should be teaching. Additionally, I don't really know what kinds of things my students are learning in their other English classes. Moreover, there are no universal requirements across middle school education in our district or whatever, so I can't even look at a master list and say, hey, I need to cover simple and continuous present past and future, adverbs and prepositions of movement. Instead, I'm left to my own devices to decide what the students should learn. This is frustrating and difficult.

I spent much of last semester attempting to create basic conversational lessons (talking about weather, making plans, etc.) but found that students had often learned a different (and often equally appropriate OR wildly incorrect) way of responding. As such, my one day lesson only served to confuse them further.

So, I've decided to thoroughly change my approach. I'm considering spend about 3-5 weeks (depending on student interest, difficulty of grammar, variety of applications) on a single grammatical construction such as the past tense (simple and continuous) or questions (yes/no and w-questions) and extending the lesson on said grammar rule to various applications. I'd also try to maintain a primary and auxiliary grammar focus.  For example, I would spend the first week introducing vocabulary that will be used in the upcoming lessons, and discussing the basic grammar rules. I would probably include some sort of basic vocabularly reinforcement game like bingo/word search/crosswords/jumbles/etc this week. The following week, I would introduce the grammar (simple present) and discuss how to make it, blah blah blah, then do some sort of activity for the majority of the class. The following week I'd add the auxiliary topic (adjectives or frequency words, or transition words) and do another speaking activity. The last week, which would be optional, depending on interest, would be some sort of fun review game or something.

I just feel like the students need more time with each grammar topic than my once/week lesson can provide. My biggest concerns are as follows:
1. How do I make week one, which is mostly vocabulary and review and introduction, more fun?
2. What kinds of topics do I prioritize?
3. How do I analyze the efficacy of my lessons in this way? How much is too much of the same topic, and how little is too little?
4. How the hell will I find ways to teach the progressive tense in a practical/useful/fun manner?

Since I learned this stupid language from birth, the progressive tense was just meta-cognitively added to my grammatical repertoire, and so teaching it seems so exceptionally difficult.

God, I need to somehow learn how to actually teach English.

Please pardon my word vomit here.

xoxo,
A

Yet another reason why I love Korea so much

k, so Variety Shows are really popular here in Korea. Basically, Korean celebrities (often kpop artists) will go on these shows and perform silly tasks/competitions (like the big bang video I posted earlier), or perform their songs, or parody other artists. So, here, are some people in 2PM & 2 AM on Seung Seung Jang Goo (Win Win) recreating the Brown Eyed Girls Abracadabra Dance as the "Dirty Eyed Girls" Also, immediately following Taeyeon, the leader of SNSD, does part of the Gee dance with Jo Kwon (from 2AM- the crazy one) and Taecyeon (from 2PM- my favorite, in the white/cream colored sweater, omg, LOVE HIM). It's pure hilariousness. For reference I will first post both the Abracadabra and Gee videos so you know what it really looks like (note: these are the stage versions not the actual M/Vs). Then, the last video is from Seung Seung Jang Goo. This stuff just cracks me up so hard.

ENJOY!

Also as a side note that isn't really important, but really exciting for me personally is that the teachers' bathroom at my school just got a fancy new hand dryer so now I don't have to used the toilet paper to dry my hands.

Plus, it's loud at my school. Students are here, but I don't know why.

That's all for me now,

A

My first ever Hot List

 1. John Steinbeck.
On Saturday morning on the subway I finished reading John Steinbeck's Cannery Row. It was an incredibly quick read (Started reading on Thursday, finished on Saturday... reading maybe an hour to an hour and a half/day), but impeccably well-written. I think John Steinbeck is rising to become one of my favorite authors of all time. In this novel we are introduced to Cannery Row, in Monterey, California. This small town gets by on fish canning, Lee Chong's tiny store but abundant supply of goods (and goodwill), Dora's Bear Flag whorehouse (operating illegally and under the protection of large charitable donations by the proprietress, the stunning, red-haired Dora), Doc's benevolence, and the sneaky, fool-hardy but good-intentioned actions of Mack and the boys up at the Palace Flophouse. This is certainly the best read I've had since coming to Korea, and I highly recommend it to those of you who enjoy fiction. This book runs very similar to Grapes of Wrath, without all the extra bulk. This is a story of the lives of what could very well be twenty or so real people in a real place.

 This man is my new hero/idol/obsession/favorite author

I'm hoping to pick up East of Eden or Tortilla Flat sometime soon. Both are supposed to be incredibly well-written, and having already read Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, Cannery Row, and The Pearl, I feel like I must immediately absorb all of the rest of this great authors literary cache. Seriously, I become increasingly convinced that John Steinbeck is the true American writer of the 20th century.

It's unfortunate that English books are so damn expensive over here. I MUST go to What the Book? a.s.a.p.

2. Dumbfoundead.
A Korean American rapper from Koreatown, LA, California, this guy has hilarious rhymes, and his latest song, a collabo with Sam Ock, is basically on repeat for me these days. I've watched about a dozen rap battles he's done with grindtime, a battle rap organization in the States, and seriously, he is the funniest battler out there. He's clever as can be, and the music he's produced reflects that. "Hollyhood Rats" and "Rapper Os" are absolutely hilarious, and Night Riders and Different Galaxies are just brilliant. Also how can you hate on a guy who samples audio from the 1990s classic, Home Improvement?

3. Hello Kitty.
Seriously, I'm part embarassed by this newfound obsession, part completely okay and happy about it. I just can't get enough of this unbelievably cute little cat. It's particularly ironic given my absolute aversion to the species, but with that little pink bow, and the cute clothes she's always got, I just can't say no. Maybe this is just me attempting to relive my childhood, but everytime I see something Hello Kitty related, I pause and look and seriously think really do need a hello kitty toilet seat cover, or a hello kitty license plate (you  know, for the car I don't have).

4.McDonald's coffee
This only makes my list because I get it probably 4-5 times/week. I just can't say to no to a little java, and it's about the only place I can get decent coffee in my area. To get any where else, I have to take a bus or subway, and that's a pain, so every morning before school I go to mcdonalds to get my fix. I have coffee at home but it's instant, and that kind of sucks.

That's all for now folks. The only reason I made this list was for Cannery Row. I had to share it's amazingness with everyone. Plus, y'all, dumbfoundead is pure freaking genius.

A good weekend.

I had a really good weekend, which was certainly welcome. Went to B1 in Itaewon with the oppas. This is always a wonderful time at they have VIP cards and get us in for free (it was just me and beth and the boys). We get to skip the line and we get a table and bottles. We had champagne and a couple bottles of tequila. I got real drunk and danced the night away.

Frisbee practice was good. It's finally warm enough here that practice isn't totally unbearable. Today's high was about 48 degrees, tomorrow's high is supposed to be 50!!!

Also, today, I saw a 20 year old guy do the ENTIRE dance to Oh! by SNSD (also, Girls' Generation). It was spectacular. Absolutely spectacular.

An assortment

So today I got off work early. My co-teacher, whom I call Mrs. Oh and is like my second mom, asked the vice-principal if I could go home early today. He said yes, so here we are.

So at about 12:30 I left school, with my new stuffed giraffe (thanks mom&dad!) under my arm. Got home, dropped off giraffe-y poo, and headed back out in search of food. I didn't really want korean food (even though I had some of the best donkasu in my life near Arts Center yesterday before Korean class) so I was kind of on the hunt for something different. I went to Sorrento (this mediocre italian chain) but the waiters were nowhere to be found, so I didn't get seated and I bounced.

While walking around, I almost gave up and headed to the nearest korean restaurant, but luck smacked me right in the face. Well, almost. I saw this japanese restaurant and walked towards it, but it was almost empty, and there were lots of plaques that certified the restaurant was "good for international visitors" which basically means is over-priced and not very good, so I quickly walked away. While headed away from the japanese restaurant, I stumbled across a sign that read La Famiglia. ITALIAN food! Well, here, italian food is usually a shot in the dark. More often than not it's pretty sub-par or just average and really really expensive. I was feeling optimistic though. Walked over, and headed up the stairs. I was pleasently surprised to see the red painted walls on the stairwell up, decorated with small pictures of various pasta dishes and a worn white metal banister. Went inside and found a restaurant that was small (max seating: 30 maybe) and cozy, without being overly done-up or cutesy, the eternal blessing and curse of Korea. White walls, blue plush chairs, snapshots of the restaurants OWN food, small pots of herbs on a wide, bright windowsill, and four glass jars of various pastas: ziti, bowtie, spaghetti, and the like. I ordered the Pane (pasta alfredo in a bread bowl) and a cider. This was the lunch special. For 11,000 won, I had a hearty pasta dish with a just spicy enough alfredo sauce and a mildly sweet bread bowl. Another couple who was there ordered a pizza that looked positively DELISH. The only real downside was that the garlic bread they also gave me was painfully sweet, as is traditional and accepted here in the land of the morning calm (and sugar and garlic combinations). I had a wonderful lunch, alone, but wrapped up in John Steinbeck's Cannery Row which thus far has been nothing less than a beautiful piece of fiction just like all of his other works, which I'm truly falling in love with.

Here are the pictures for you ravenous people you:

 

Afterwards I did my usual, that is, studying Korean at a coffee shop for a couple hours. Here are some various pictures I've taken over the last few days/weeks, but haven't yet posted anywhere.

you know, this is how ALL my afternoons look these days. Earmuffs, coffee, korean. Add an ipod to the mix and you've got it!

 

Early morning on my walk to work. You can see the moon.

 
 

These are the Valentines I made for my friends here in Incheon. The one on the left is a BIG BANG card, and the one on the right, 2PM. Kpop reppin'

 
 

I'm finally figuring out how to do my own-make-up. My hair, which is crazy here, is a different story. This was when I went to the club the day before v-day.

 
 

Mmmmm, Valentines Day Dinner at Outback

 
 

Converse shoe sculpture (it's suppose to look like a converse shoe) at COEX mall in Seoul.

That's it for me here!

xoxo

A 

 

Hello Kitty is so hot right now.

God, I am on a blogging frenzy, but I want you all to know that for my birthday (t-minus 70 days on the dot), if you can all pool your money and buy me this, I think I'd be happy forever. No, seriously.

And if it's out of your pricerange (I'll have you know there are 950 dollar diamond and garnet pendants with hello kitty on the website too), a mousepad would also be lovely. I really want one. ^^

k thanks.

A decade in 7 minutes.

I know it's hardly the new year anymore (unless you are on the lunar cycle, in which case I'm right on time), but I just saw this for the first time and thought it was pretty interesting. I don't think I realized how much happened between 2000 & 2010. Also, I suddenly realized, this decade represents my most formative years. I am not a 90s baby, I'm a y2k baby.

For real.

Today I learned that I am really really happy.

No, seriously. Not just the giddy, something good just happened kind of happy, but rather the, you know, I just realized how good I have it kind of happy.

And damn it feels good to be back.

Have I told any of you that in 2.5 weeks my parents and MY SISTER are going to be here? Because they are and I'd like to remind you.

Random shit.

I got a spectacularly kickass sweatshirt from EmPolham tonight with Miranda. She also got a tight sweatshirt. I can't wait for the weather to be a tiny bit warmer so I can rock the sweatershirt as outerwear not as a base layer. I really wish that the website wasn't trash, so I could link a picture up.

Also, my tooth hurts. I hope it stops hurting soon because I don't want to have to see a doctor.

Also, also, I get to see Ara soon, which is wonderful since I haven't seen her in over a month!

How come I'm still not sick of this place? I feel like something is wrong with me because I just don't miss the States at all. I don't even crave American food anymore. Sure, when I eventually visit home, I'll eat lots of American food, but I just don't miss it.

Valentines Day

While my Valentine's Day started horrifyingly bad, it turned out pretty good, with Outback steakhouse (sirloin steak, medium rare, heaven), hilarious conversation, adorable coffee house and perfect iced americano, and then watching tegan & sara videos for like 3 hours until 2:30 a.m. Seriously, their concert banter is hilarious and the music is absolutely addicting. If you want some funny stuff to occupy several hours of time, I highly recommend footage from the Manchester shows. Here is a video of them performing Monday Monday Monday, appropriate because it's Monday here:

GYM!

I finally ventured out to find the gym in  my apartment complex and boy am I ever glad I did. I worked out for just over an hour today and I feel GREAT! Will be doing that much much more. *^^* I will take a video of my new-found gym later for you all to see...

FUEL

These girls mean everything in this world to me. If there is one reason I would not stay in Korea another year, it is because I will miss these people too much. Also, please watch how FUCKING SICK they are.



personal favies:
1. Dani score; 00:55
2. Pav rip; 1:02
3. Jenna D; 1:22
4. Kate Lay-D; 1:26
5. Dani flop; 1:38 hahahaha
6. back to back layout grabs Jackie and Kate; 1:40
7. Kate huck to Meg deep; 2:46
8. The pretty pretty flow starting at 3:18
9. PAV CALLAHAN; 3:44

Bangkok Hat Tournament

If you don't read this post, at least please scroll down to the bottom of this post and watch the video. Seriously, you won't regret it. Or maybe you totally will. Warning: it's in korean, but I don't think that matters (there are vietnamese subtitles too, if that'll help anyone).

So Saturday morning, got up bright and early to head over to the fields. We had to be at the fields at about 7:30 a.m. We met up with Sam at 7 at Suk 11, and grabbed a taxi to the fields, which were on an army base type thing. There were lots of people carrying around m16s and shit.

Anyways, got my jersey, and watched Sam's first game, since Bekah, Adam & I all had first round byes. We warmed up a bit together, then parted ways for our own games. My team was composed of players from all over Asia, including people from: Korea/US (me), Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Australia. That was pretty tight. Our team had a lot of potential to be quite good (individually a number of pretty good players) but we just never really hit our stride at all, and really never clicked as a team, which is unfortunate because the people on my team were really really cool.

We played four games on Saturday and went 2-2. Not terrible, not great.

One thing I would like to say about the Bangkok Hat Tournament is that it was expensive, but good god do they take care of you. For my 70 USD, I got 2 days of ultimate, a disc, a jersey, a t-shirt, the most amazing electrolyte replenisher in the whole world (I think I nearly overdosed on day one.... there is a three pack/day maximum, I had my three... felt GREAT!), bags, lotion (omg, it smells so good), two parties (one which was BANGIN') plus tons of delicious thai and western food. On Saturday AND Sunday we had lunch AND dinner provided for us, and that was awesome. I pretty much stuffed my face the entire weekend. Whenever I wasn't playing I was doing one of two things: eating food, or downing electrolyte replenishers like fun dip candy (that's EXACTLY what it tasted like).

After play on Saturday, headed back to Suk 11 to shower up and get ready to hit up the party. Theme was old school, so we were supposed to dress up like someone from the past, but I didn't really do that. I did a half-assed 80s impression. I just wanted to look cute for once in Thailand. And I did, if I do say so myself.

At the party, they had free finger foods, plus pretty much all the alcohol you can stomach and then some. There were jello shots and local beer, plus free wells/shots all night, PLUS an ice luge. Needless to say, I drank my fair share (although, in my defense I hadn't had so much as one sip of alcohol the whole trip up to this point).

Games all day Sunday. My team sucked it up. 1-2, not so hot.

Sunday evening bekah and adam left, so I was alone. T_T Well, not really because I made new friends! I had to check into my new hostel (it sucked, soi 1 guesthouse, don't stay there), and then I went back to Suk 11 to meet up with Alvin. Alvin is from KL and played on my team at the hat. We walked around and got mcdonalds for dinner (samurai pork burger is almost the same as the korean bulgogi burger) and then he helped me bargain for gifts for my coteachers. He was much better at bargaining than I was, so we got a good deal, and continued on. Just kind of wandered around Bangkok and ended up taking the subway back to Sukhumvit road, where we were both staying. Said goodbyes.

Monday morning, woke up, mis-read the time, took a taxi to the airport, saw a motorcade for the kings family and a terribly bad car wreck, and arrived at the airport four hours early for my flight.

As wonderful as Thailand was, I sure was glad to get back to Korea.

Now, what you've all really been waiting for. I swear to god, Big Bang is the most amazing thing ever put on this earth. Seriously, god help me if I ever see any of them walking down the street. For evidence, this video:


[Vietsub] Big Bang - Intimate Note Ep 2 [360kpop] - 3/7
Uploaded by 360kpopmv. - Click for more funny videos.

Tutting

Now that blogspot is allowed on my work computer I can share with you exactly how I've been spending my afternoons. Now, don't get me wrong, some days I work in the afternoon, but most days, I don't. Today, I've spent the better part of my after lunch time (for some reason we only have class Mon-Weds and even then it's only for the first half of school, until lunch) watching breaking, popping, locking, and tutting videos. This is one of my favorites:

VICTORY!

Somehow, by some stroke of luck or magic or the gods smiling brightly down upon me, blogspot got un-blocked from my work computer. This means that I will now start a deluge of viral posting about anything an everything I come across online.

First, I bought this coat. I have no fucking clue if it'll fit because I bought it online and it's Korean. Also, I couldn't find a place to specify a size, so I just specified the size (XXXXXXXL, please) on a delivery note. haha. Hope that works. I used Korean.

Second, to rub it in just a tiny bit, today I got gifts from my students: a headband, a billion pictures of my dearest beloved big bang (including some solo shots of Taeyang, the sexiest man on the planet, and sticker pictures!!), plus 7 valentines day cards. ^^

Third, to those of you who follow and aren't also living in korea, this is my latest music obsession: T-ara

Bo Peep Bo Peep



Like the Beginning (처음처럼)

My 100th post, and Day 1 in Bangkok.

Congratulations to me for hitting post 100 here in Korea. It's been a good run so far. Today I talked to a friend about how it's entirely possible that I will never leave this country. Ever. Maybe not likely, but possible. What does this mean? a million more blogposts from Yours Truly.

So anyways. On Thursday morning, we slept in until about 9:30 a.m. and grabbed breakfast. Checked out of our bungalow and got a taxi to the pier. Waited at the pier for about 10 minutes before catching another long-tail motor boat back to Krabi Town. Hopped in a taxi to take us down the bus station where we would *hopefully* drop our packs and wander around a bit for the 8 hours or so we were prepared to have before our bus headed out. Instead, we had a bit of an almost disastrous experience with that as the taxi took a meandering route, stopping to drop off propane tanks and finally dropped us off NOT at our bus station. Instead, it took us to some tourist information center who called our bus station which said, "oh, we can send a taxi over to pick you up at 4 (It was 11:30 or so at the time). We had decided pretty unanimously that we didn't want to do anything strenous and the information center told us we could leave our bags there. So we did just that and found a coffee shop/restaurant that served the following: REAL milkshakes, ice cream sundaes, spaghetti, thai food, iced (and hot) coffees, club sandwiches and GRILLED CHEESE, with bacon. Can you guess what I ordered? It was delicious. Grilled cheese, and a chocolate sundae. Ain't nothing better. We had about 4 hours to kill but were pretty tired and Bekah was feeling pretty sunburnt at that point, so we didn't want to walk around too much. So what did we do? Only our favorite activity of the trip: Uno. For like 2 and a half hours. The other hour and a half were spent napping or eating, mostly eating. Our taxi finally came and then stopped to pick up some 8 or so other people from various hostels in Krabi.

Got to the bus station still a full hour early. at this point, we started to throw around a bit. Threw for quite some time, but I was getting really hot, so I relaxed in the shade for the last fifteen minutes until the bus arrived, a full 30 minutes late. We departed roughly an hour behind schedule and hoped on the bus. 2 hours to the same place we went before. Then 11 more hours to Bangkok. We got into Bangkok around 5 a.m. There were very few cars on the road, and it was exceptionally dark. We wandered around for a bit (we didn't exactly have anywhere to go, unfortunately. We decided, hey, we should go to the national park. That's probably a good place to relax and maybe catch some z's before the sunbreaks. So we head over there, pausing for mobile toilet buses and photo ops with Korean language signs. As we approach the park we discover that it is a place for rest, if you are a stray animal, trash, a tourist bus, or homeless. There was virtually no grass and the whole area was simply depressing to walk through.

However, we passed the "park" and hit the wall that surrounds the National Palace and watched the sunrise over the palace. We then went for a walk to see what our breakfast options to discover no restaurants open till 8 a.m. and it was only 7. So we walked around the city for some time. we stumbled upon a port area market, where they were selling tons of fruits, drinks and other things. Also, We saw dozens of Buddhist monks walking through the area and watched as numerous buddhist followers purchased foods and offered them to the various monks walking around, bowing at their feet and giving them flowers. It was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Then, while walking, we saw this stunning walled in area with beautiful statues, and such. It looked a lot like a wat, but we couldn't find any religious markings. Then we discovered it was an elementary school. We walked inside and just enjoyed how beautiful everything was. The intricate painting of the moldings and undersides of roofs, the colorful spirals of tile leaping up buildings. It was stunning. And to think, a group of 5-9 years olds call this place their school. It was amazing. Positively amazing.

Then, hungry as can be, we headed back to this thai restaurant near the entrance to the palace, and we grabbed some thai food for breakfast and took our time relaxing in a/c and peace. Then we headed out across the street into the national palace area. I was wearing a knee length skirt and bekah and adam, shorts, and we were all turned away, instructed to change into pants. Luckily, our packs were with us and we were able to just throw on the one pair of pants we brought with us to Thailand. We entered the area, and saw a small guard changing march and then discovered that tickets to see the grand palace were 350 baht. That is only 10 dollars, but we were running a bit low on cash (I have about 1000 baht left for three and a half days, and 350 baht was a lot) Plus our packs were heavy and it was incredibly crowded. I'd have liked to have gone, but it just didn't work out for us. Instead, Bekah and I headed outside, bought some ADORABLE matching sundresses (complete with elephants on them) and then hopped in a taxi to head to our hostel.

Our hostel, Suk 11, was AMAZING. It wasn't the cheapest hostel in bangkok, those are on khao san road and run you as like as 4 dollars/night, but my single room (oh my gosh, a whole room, bathroom, shower all to myself!) was 500 baht, which comes to about 13 bucks per night. Not too bad. Also, Suk 11 probably has the best ambience I've ever seen in a hostel. It was SPECTACULAR. I loved staying there. Plus our rooms had a/c. A double was 900/night, and they had triples as well. If you are ever going to bangkok and are looking to stay away from, crowded, dirty, noisy khao san road, I'd highly recommend Suk 11, on Sukhumvit Soi 11.

Got into our hostel, and basically passed out. Mind you, we had taken an 11-hour bus ride through the night to get to Bangkok and arrive at 5 a.m. and had been up for pretty much the whole thing. I slept, and then woke up and got some subway, for the first time 6 full months. Came back, showered, napped more, and then got ready for the tournament registration party.

En route, we stopped at this fantastic, albeit slightly pricier restaurant and ordered sandwiches, my first real sandwich (excluding pb) in 6 months. Mine had fried egg, delicious cheese, and ham, on foccacia bread. Oh. My. God. Delicous. It was probably the most satisfying meal we'd eaten because it was huge and we were really really hungry. Plus, sandwiches are tough to come by in Korea.

Then headed to restaurant for registration. Checked in and in line met this guy named Sam who happened to have traded jersey with adam at college nationals the previous may. What a small world. He lives in Northern Thailand, working for a non-profit, installing renewable energy on the burmese-thai border. He went to Stanford and looked freakishly like TJ McCourt. He was super cool and ended up kind of hanging out with us for the whole weekend. Had a beer, chatted it up, and then headed back home around 11 to get some sleep.

That's it for now... Tournament weekend coming soooooon!

Sorry

No Thailand updates just yet. Just wanted to check in and share with you all that I am so incredibly happy today. I'm just all smiles and giggles and it's so nice to feel really really really good. Love you all!

Poor posting- Days 3&4 in Koh Yao Noi

So I haven't been quite as efficient as I'd hoped in my posting about Thailand, but that is largely because I got really quite sick last night, running a fever, not sleeping at all and then proceeding to take a 4-hour nap in the middle of the day today until RIGHT NOW. But I'm back on the scene, bitches. I will finish up with my time in Koh Yao Noi the best I can. This post will include LOTSA video.

On Wednesday morning I woke up quite early (as I did all vacation) and I headed to the beach to write in my journal. I sat on a swing and just kind of soaked in the fact that I was in Thailand, on this beautiful island. I had just missed the sunrise, and I vowed to myself that I would wake up even earlier the next day in order to see it. It was beautiful outside that morning, just starting to warm up, but not too hot just yet, to make it uncomfortable.

Most of the day Tuesday we just bummed around the beach doing a whole lotta nothing. Enjoyed being in the sun thoroughly, even though I was slightly burnt from the day before. Luckily, I lathered on the aloe and sunscreen the rest of the week and managed to get wonderfully tan without any burning. We threw quite a bit on the beach (we did this pretty much everyday I think). Drank delicious fruit shakes. Lazed around all day. I believe this is the day I got my first ever Thai Massage. It was AMAZING. Here are some pictures, and a video of the ocean & beach that I took that morning:

 

 

Also on Tuesday, I spent some time by myself relaxing and enjoying the island without Bekah and Adam (who spent an awful lot of time sleeping and doing NOTHING on the island). I laid out on the beach for a little while and then headed to the beachside food vendors for a fruit shake. While drinking the shake a young Thai boy came up to me, speaking Thai, and decided he would play at my table. He and I built this rock/shell/extraneous trash pathway. It's hard to explain, but he was adorable and sweet and just wanted someone to play with him, which is exactly what I did. ^^

Wednesday was the most fun day we had, in my opinion. I woke up extra early to see the sunrise, sometime around 6 a.m. Before heading to the beach, I took a quick video of the roosters that woke us up bright and early every morning. You can't see them, but you can definitely hear them. Ignore my crazy voice. I was really tired and had JUST woken up.

I headed to the beach shortly thereafter and sat on "my" swing and took in the sunrise while journaling some more. The colors were beautiful and we had a perfect view of the sun rising over the island cliffs in the bay. It was at this moment that I realized, "oh my god, my life is so good." Also, I thought a bit about how lucky I am with my job in Korea and my overall situation. Some of my friends don't like their jobs, their schools, their apartments, their co-teachers, or whatever, but my life in Korea really is pretty satisfying on the whole. Here are the pictures:

 
We rented kayaks in the mid morning and kayaked over to Koh Nok, which means Outside Island. It was not too far from the beach where we were staying. It was just far enough to be moderately strenuous to get there, but not exhausting. Bekah and I were together in one kayak and Adam handled the other one.I had to do the steering, which turned out to be much harder than I anticipated, but I got a hang of it about 3/4 of the way through, hah. While kayaking, we saw two jellyfish, one that was super tiny and another that was pretty decent sized. When we got to the island we discovered that it was positively stunning. Unlike the rocky low-tide waters of our "home beach," this beach has perfect sand, and cool, clear water. There was only a small patch of beach, and the rest of the island was bordered by steep, sheer cliff drops into the water. There were two other semi-attached island type things that were also stunning. Shortly after we arrived, Adam spotted a baby octopus that had washed ashore. He was trying to make his way back into the water and we watched anxiously, prepared to help if he couldn't make it. After struggling for about 2 minutes against shallow breaks, he finally caught a larger push of water and jetted off into the great blue sea. It was awesome. Then we waded over to the outcropping of islands to take some pictures and explore a bit. In the water, we saw tons of fish, and even when the water was hip high, we were able to see clear down to our toes playing in the sandy bottom. We also saw numerous sea slugs lounging on rocks in this area. We couldn't go too far because it looked terribly buggy. However, we were able to get some really great pictures:

 

 

After that, Bekah and I laid out a bit while Adam explored the island. Then we threw for about a half hour or more. It was pretty sweltering at this point and we decided to head into the shade for some snacks. We ate sugar crackers (big thick square crackers topped with plenty of sugar-- so good!) and potato chips and relaxed for a little while, cooling off in the shade. Then we decided to head back to our home beach as it was late afternoon and we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get back and relax. Kayaked home, and returned the kayaks, showered and headed to "The Little Place" for dinner, which was a small roadside outdoor restaurant that was really cheap and DELICIOUS. I had the best fruit shake EVER there, and had the best pad thai of my life there.

After dinner, we headed back to the beach because there was a small beach party going on. They had laid out lots of blankets and tables and set up a makeshift bar, and had music playing and a big fire and tiki lights and the waves were coming in for high tide and the stars (which you never see in Korea, EVER) were out and bright, and it was so cool/relaxing. We didn't stay too long, maybe an hour, before heading back. We were pretty exhausted from our day out.

That's it for days 3&4. Soon I will be posting about the journey back to Bangkok (horrible), and the hat tournament we played in (amazing).

xoxo
A

Koh Yao Noi Days 1&2

So we got to Krabi by bus around 9 a.m. and took a longtail motor boat out to Koh Yao Noi which took about 30-45 minutes. It was hard to tell exactly how long it took as I spent the entire vacation without a watch, and with my cellphone not working at all (it wouldn't even register the local time, so it was 12:00 a.m. always). I loved that I didn't have a watch and it only became nerve-wracking/possibly deleterious during the weekend when we were playing in the hatter and I was in a single room alone and had to wake up at 6:20. Actually, my body clock worked just fine as I woke up almost every morning between 6 and 7 a.m. (which is between 8 & 9 am Korea time). On the boat was this cute little goat, which was all tied up in a bag, presumably in order to prevent it from walking around and bugging the passengers, which consisted of me, Adam, Bekah and one older Thai man. The boat trip took us through Phang Nga Bay, which is situated between Krabi (on the east) and Phuket (to the West). In Phang Nga Bay alone there are over 60 small islands laden with steep, rocky cliffs and small patches of beautiful white sand beaches. The boat ride, needless to say was pretty cool, and I kept thinking to myself, "oh my god, I'm in Thailand," and more than that, "holy shit, I'm only here because I'm teaching English in South Korea." I don't think anything has made me more grateful for my life in Korea than this trip. And this is not because I didn't like Thailand and Korea is much better or anything, just because I am so incredibly lucky to have the opportunities I have had through my job. Seriously.

Anyways, we landed on Koh Yao Noi and took a taxi to a bungalow place called Coconut Corner. However, they were all booked for the next couple days, so we were a little nervous about having a place to stay. Luckily, the old woman who worked at Coconut Corner told us she had a friend who had bungalows and that the taxi driver would take us there. HOORAY! The bungalows were 800 baht/night (just over 20 bucks/night) but that was for all three of us together, so it was about 7 USD/night, which is outrageous. We had a private shower and bathroom, plus plenty of room and a REFRIGERATOR.

Took it pretty easy on Day 1. Scoped out the beach and had some food. We also napped quite a bit because the busride was not particularly restful, given the bumpiness at 3 a.m. and the cramped quarters for 14 hours. The beach near our bungalow was just okay, really rocky at low tide and the water was really salty, warm and a bit murky, but frankly, I was just thrilled to be out of 0 degree (Celsius) temperatures for once and the beach didn't bother me one bit. Some pics from day 1 at the beach:

The next day we decided to rent bicycles from this place called Sabai Corner, which is run by an Italian ex-pat and is the oldest still-running bungalows on Koh Yao Noi. We did a half-day rental, and started biking. What Bekah and I hadn't previously realized was just how hilly Koh Yao Noi was. I was at a distinct disadvantage given my bike being entirely too small for my 187 cm frame. With the pedal down, my legs were still thoroughly bent, meaning I had to work twice as hard to pedal, and on the lowest gears, my feet kept slipping off because there was no resistance. gah. Anyways, we hit one big hill in the first 20 minutes or so, and Bekah and I both had to get off our bikes and walk them to the top of the hill. The downhill portion was pretty easy, though. We got to the pier where we had been dropped off the day before and spent some time relaxing and taking lots of pictures:

 

Then we continued northward, and hit an even larger and steeper hill. It was at this point (halfway up the hill, walking defeatedly, with no peak in sight) that Bekah and I realized that the north only got hillier and more difficult to bike and that it would be better for our self-esteem (and my impending asthma attack) to not continue on. Adam was bummed, but he went on without us and we turned around and biked down the hill and on towards our bungalow. We stopped at our bungalow and got our beach towels and put down some empty water bottles and hit the road again, this time southward. We were wearing just our bathing suit tops and shorts because it was so hot and we didn't want farmer's tans, but as we continued southward, we began to feel a bit uncomfortable as the women became more and more veiled (the island is predominantly Muslim) and seemed to stare at us as we biked by. After a little bit, we turned around and headed back to the beach. We biked towards our bungalow and hit the beach for a little bit. Laid out some, swam/floated/waded in the water a bit, and then headed to a beachside food vendor for some fruit shakes (fruit smoothies, really). Adam met up with us then.

We returned our bikes and ate dinner at Sabai corner that night. I had mediocre pad thai, but Adam & Bekah had otherwise very good dinners. Went back and slept at the bungalow after a long, hot (30+ degrees C) day of biking and such.

Actually, that night Adam and Bekah went out to the beach, where I discovered this lovely friend, who was a lot larger than the picture makes him look. I had to wait for Adam and Bekah to get back because I was a bit afraid. T.T Look closely!

Days 3 & 4 on Koh Yao Noi coming up soon!

xoxo
A

First couple days in Thailand!

So here is my recap of Bangkok before we left to go to the island of Koh Yao Noi. I must warn you there isn't much of any interest. But I will post it none the less.

Flew in on Jin Air, a discount airline whose only route is ICN (seoul-incheon) to BKK (Bangkok). The airline is small, obviously, but the flight attendants dress so awesomely. They all wear lime green polos, with blue sweaters, jeans and maroon converses. So laid-back and cute.

After landing, I met up with Bekah and Adam. We hit up some shopping mall to get bekah a new battery for her watch. I saw the best thing there:

 

Me and an advertisement with 2PM!!!!!!! omg, love.

Then, we headed to the train station to catch our bus down to koh yao noi. We had to wait a bit at the station, and we got some snacks.


Then it was a 13-hour journey on a bumpy bus to southern Thailand. Not a lot of sleep but that's okay, I was amped to be getting to a BEACH!

More details about Koh Yao Noi and BKK coming SOOOOON!

xoxo
A