Making progress in our prep to leave

 Sunset at Tap Dong Harbor

Last time I said I was working on a massive to-do list before we leave.  That's still true but we're making good progress on it.  Most of the major tasks from it are finished (find a place to honeymoon, pick and reserve our 22 hostels/hotels, figure out exactly how to get from one city to another, get visa extensions, choose what color elephant we want to ride at our wedding, etc).

Sunrise seen from our roof

We're now working more on the things we have to do to leave.  Ie)  Shipping home suitcases, getting our pension refund, planning how to smuggle our new Korean children off the island (we only took the smart, cute ones), putting things up for sale online, etc.  Fortunately, none of that is too hard.

Down by the ocean in Tap Dong

More of Tap Dong at sunset

The random funny story of the week comes to us courtesy of the local taxi drivers.  Five of us were splitting a taxi headed for the beach when we realized the meter wasn't running.  Our friend Ron decided to make up a song about it.  He began singing, "Hate being in a taxi, when the meter ain't running.  Being overcharged sucks and I know the drivers lying."  It was at this exact moment that the driver chimed in, "Good song!".  We all completely lost it then.  The one Korean girl in the car told the driver he made a funny comment.  He beamed with pride.  We laughed harder.

Vicky's dream come true

This week the goals are 1) go to the pension office to get our refund  2) find out more information about the attractions in the cities we're going to visit.  Specifically, when are they open, how much do they cost and is there a way to skip the lines  3) figure out how to release the kids we've held captive to keep them from causing trouble in our classes  4) figure out if we can ship our suitcases home without being charged an arm, a leg and possibly our firstborn child.

Jeju City Park, behind the Culture and Art Center

And on the happiest note yet, only 2 weeks until we begin our crazy "Returning to America" tour with stops in Seoul + 20 European cities before returning to good ole Texas for the remainder of the year.  The phrase "I can't wait" is nowhere near strong enough to express how we both feel about this.  See you soon, I hope.

The Tap Dong oceanfront seafood restaurants framed by the fading light above Halla Mountain

Who knew not working would be so much work

A peaceful evening out hiking

Ok so it's been a bit since my last update which seems inexcusable since I stopped working two weeks ago.  On the contrary I say, the last two weeks have been extremely busy.  The first week was spent entirely researching potential honeymoon destinations (I carefully looked at over 150+ hotels all over the Caribbean).  We haven't booked our place yet but we're pretty sure we know where we want to go.  It's on a small island off the coast of Cancun, Mexico.  It has all the beauty of the Mexican Riviera and none of the supersized hotels, drunken idiots and danger.  It's quiet, on the beach, small and it has an awesome two-person jacuzzi on the balcony facing the Caribbean Sea.  They even provide transportation from the airport to the island and back for free.  In short, it's our kind of place!

Out for a hike with our closest friends on the island, Matt and Yun Jung.  And fyi, he's 5 years younger than me.  I know, I didn't believe it either when he first told me.

It was a lovely twilight

This last week has been devoted to wrapping up loose ends.  I got both Vicky and I visa extensions so we can stay until our lease expires and our flight leaves.  Today I got 4 moles removed from my back because it's incredibly cheap to do it here ($80 for all 4) and because we wanted to make sure they were harmless and not a sign of skin cancer (an unlikely possibility but it never hurts to be safe).  We've also started reserving our hotels in Europe so we don't show up and get stuck trying to decide between the smelly room, the room with no AC or the 3am party room.

Vicky was very excited to finally be taller than me

And so ends another lovely Jeju summer day (where was this sky all winter??)

Oh and the last couple days of school were fine.  Most of the kids were sad to see me go (one of the little boys was extra cute.  His name is Phillip.  He's an extremely smart 2nd grader.  For my last two days he followed me around between classes and kept saying "I'm sad.  You go.  I'm sad.").

This is him

On my last day I got paid everything I was owed (always a bit of a concern when dealing with private schools).  So now I'm working my way down a HUGE to-do list before we go.  Fortunately, I'm making good progress.  By the end of next week, I might have it down to 20 things left to do.

For now, enjoy another pretty picture of Jeju and I promise the next update will come sooner.

From time to time I'm awake at sunrise and this is what I see

My last week (or is it?) takes an unexpected twist

Jeju City at twilight

Last week took an unexpected turn when I asked my co-teacher to confirm that June 28th was my last day. Instead of confirming it, she asked if I would work through the beginning of August.  This caught me completely off guard and put me in a conundrum.  On the one hand, more money is always good.  On the other hand, so is more vacation.  Further complicating matters, is that fact that we'd be leaving after about a week in August and there is a ton to do to prepare for our departure, Europe trip and wedding.  So having more than one week off before we leave had much greater value to me than it would to most people in this situation.  And though we don't have a lot of money to spare, we have budgeted for all our expenses for the rest of the year with a comfortable cushion just in case.  So while the money would certainly be nice, it wasn't necessary to our survival.

After thinking about it, and getting some good advice, I opted to offer them a counter proposal.  I would work for two weeks in July for a small raise over my current salary.  I was in a strong negotiation position as I would be doing them a favor and I didn't mind using it.  My thinking was "either they accept my offer and I get more money and still get done early, or they reject it and I get even more vacation time.  I can't lose!"

I didn't hear back from my director until today (through my co-teacher since he speaks no English).  According to her he said that June 28th is my last day.  Don't know if he disliked the salary bump, the fact that I offered 2 weeks instead of almost 5 or if he was simply angry I didn't just say yes and do what he wanted me to do (as nearly all Korean workers would have done).

But, whatever the reason (his heart or his shoes), I get more vacation and I'm very enthused!

PS.  Bonus points to you if you recognize the reference in that last sentence.

Hiking Jeju Olle Trail 7 (or "about time the weather let us actually enjoy our island!")

The beginning of Olle 7. 

Last time I mentioned that I was going to look into the possibility of getting LASIK here.  After a couple appointments, I decided to wait to have LASIK done until we've moved to Taiwan (our probable next destination).  Since I would be having vision correction surgery for the second time, they wanted to do a procedure called LASEK which has a longer recovery time than LASIK and is a little more expensive.  I decided to wait mainly because I'd like to be able to go for followup visits and be close in case a touchup treatment is needed.  I doubt either is necessary but with my eyes, I'm taking no chances.

In the mean time, as some of you Eagle-eyed observers might have noticed in the photo above, I've started wearing glasses sometimes to help improve my distance vision.  They work well and are very cheap and easy to get here.

If you're curious about the picture above, we went out last Thursday (a holiday in Korea) and hiked the most famous Olle Trail on Jeju, Olle #7.  Parts of it are boring, flat walks through towns.  And the rest of it isn't much better, as you can tell from the pictures below.

See what I mean?  Boring huh?

Yawn

We were hoping it would get better at the end.  As you can see, it didn't.

Ok so maybe it wasn't so bad.  We went with our good friend EJ and her secret boyfriend Charles (which was interesting since he speaks absolutely no English).  The trail covered around 12 miles, almost 15 counting the walks to and from the bus.  We were sore, tired, starving and happy at the end.

Charles and EJ

A little hazy but I wasn't complaining about the view

Without a doubt, the highlight for the girls was meeting a small puppy along the walk. I'll let the pictures explain.

All together now ladies.....  AAAWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!

Now i'm excited because I have less than two weeks left.  And once I'm done ... I've got a month and a half of holiday on Korea's most popular vacation island.  I intend to use it well.

Part of the time will be devoted to selling our stuff, getting the details of our trip finalized, doing prep work for the wedding, researching possible investments, getting ready to leave and other tasks.  But a bigger part of that time will be devoted to kicking back, relaxing, practicing my photography and golf, going to the beach and otherwise just enjoying the heck out of life.

Safe to say, I can't wait!

Our last view of Olle #7

Flying from Europe to America cheap (or why didn't i think of that!)

Gorgeous.  A genius.  A gorgeous genius!

Vicky is a genius.  I lead with this because she solved a problem we'd been working on with a solution that i've used before but my dense self didn't think of for some reason.  We'd been trying to find the cheapest way home and had settled on a discount airline for around $740 since we couldn't find cheaper.  What Vicky thought to do was to check roundtrip flights instead of just one way.  Suddenly we found a US Airways flight for $673.  Score one for Vicky!

We now add that to the ultra cheap ticket to Istanbul we found for $414 and we've got the major legs of our Europe trip covered.  In fact, we've purchased all our flights for the trip (all 10 of them)!  And thanks to our employers paying for our flight home, we now get our flights to Europe and back to the US for free!!!  To quote Scrooge, "I like life.  Life likes me.  Life and I fairly fully agree.  Life is fine.  Life is good.  Specially mine which is just as it should be!"

Another reason why I love my life

On Jeju the weather has finally turned and heavy coats are being replaced by flip flops and polos.  We walk home after school every day and get out and hike or walk on the weekends.  The last few weekends have been UGLY which is why I haven't posted any new pictures.  Hopefully this weekend will be less hazy and more clear (but I doubt it).  Really good pictures will probably have to wait until my contract end (June 28th).  Then I can go out anytime it's nice and take pictures.

Colorful lanterns hung in front of the Jeju Culture and Art Center.  Why?  I haven't a clue.

The only mildly sad news I have to report is that I've noticed that my vision has regressed a little since my LASIK surgery 9 years ago.  It's not enough to inhibit my daily activities but it's still very annoying since I remember having perfect vision after the operation.  To correct this, I'm having an evaluation done on my eyes this Friday about the possibility of touch-up LASIK on my right eye (it's by far my dominant eye) since LASIK in Korea is both more advanced and cheaper than it is in the US.  Plus my eye conditions are by far the most common ones here, so the doctors have tons of experience dealing with my exact problems.  The price isn't too bad (around $650-750 per eye) so it's just a matter of if I'm a good candidate to go through it a second time.  I'll post more after my exam.

Finally on a random note, want to know how sleep deprived some of the kids are over here due to excessive school and studying?  Today my best student, English name Kyla, had the day off from school (but not from the academy where I teach).  She went to bed at 10pm and got up at 12pm.  And what did she do after sleeping 14 hours?  She took a nap before class at 6.  That is one tired kid!!!  Makes me glad I didn't grow up here.

But it sure is nice to live here when I'm older.

Europe trip plans start to take shape

Hamdeok from the Olle Trail (and you wonder why we like hiking here?)

Unfortunately, today starts with some bad news.  Our friends Randy and Ness were going to join us for 2 weeks of our Europe trip but I got an email from them that they had to cancel.  They had excellent reasons why but it naturally still makes both Vicky and I very sad.  I was really looking forward to the time with them.

Fortunately there's a silver lining at the end of every rainbow (wait ... what?).  In the process of looking at what effect their loss would have on our schedule, I discovered a way to fly to Europe for $100 less than expected AND we get to have a 3 day layover in Istanbul, Turkey.  So we're saving money and adding another cool city to our tour.  Not too shabby :)

Our full (but tentative) schedule now looks like this:

Istanbul, Turkey - 3 days
Munich, Germany - 3 days
Switzerland - 3 days
Budapest, Hungary - 2 days
Vienna, Austria - 2 days
Krakow, Poland - 3 days
Prague, Czech Republic - 5 days (We may have somewhere free to stay here)
Salzburg, Austria - 2 days
Venice, Italy - 2 days
Rome, Italy - 2 days
Florence, Italy - 2 days
Paris, France - 3 days
Barcelona, Spain - 2 days
Lisbon, Portugal - 2 days
Amsterdam, Netherlands - 3 days
Brussels, Belgium - 3 days (we have friends to stay with here for free)
Luxembourg - 1 day
London, England  - 3 days
Dublin, Ireland - 2 days (we might have a friend living here to guide us around)

Total length - about 7 weeks

Of course until we buy the plane tickets, this schedule is open to change but this is what our plan is right now.  It's not as long as I'd like in some places (Rome, Switzerland) but it's enough time to see each place and get a feel for it without moving at a breakneck pace.  It's also built around smart, low cost transportation options (nearly all of our connections between cities are less than $60, some quite a bit less).

A preview of happiness to come :)

I'll fill in more details as we solidify things but I'm sure you can see why we're so excited!  I've been to about half of these places (and loved all of them which is why we're going back to them) and Vicky has been to only a couple of them so most of this is new to her.  For us it's a trip of a lifetime (though not THE trip of a lifetime since we plan to take more like it) and we can hardly wait for it to arrive!

Oh and in case you thought I was joking last time about how Koreans dress for hiking, here's a picture from our latest trip out.  They were kind enough to pose with Vicky (and even asked me to email them copies of the picture).  Notice the clothes, the hats, even the mountain climbing sticks.

This is what a toned-down group of Korean hikers looks like.

And in the "randomly adorable stories" category, we have 2 of my second grade girls trying to explain why one girl has her head on her desk.  They pointed to her and another girl, then drew a heart on the board, then drew a jagged line down the middle and a second drawing of a heart split in two.  Given they're both 2nd graders (and thus will probably have made up long before I teach them again) this was easily the cutest way i've ever seen of explaining two friends having a fight.

The soft glow of sunset over Hamdeok

PS.  If we get good luck with the weather, we'll be heading out for more hiking this weekend.  And now that Vicky's early birthday present for me has arrived, an extremely light but steady tripod, we might even try to take some quality pictures together.  If we do get to try this, I'll post the results next time.  TTFN.

I'd almost forgotten I was living on a beach island

This is why I've missed Summer on Jeju (as always, click the pictures to make them bigger) 

Part of the fun of living in Asia is standing out.  Two prime examples occurred this last weekend.

The first was when Vicky and I walked into a restaurant we like to visit.  Without saying a word, the waitress brought us the drinks we wanted and started cooking our food.  When we go anywhere more than a couple times, they always remember us.  Can't imagine why.

The more random one was on Friday.  I was walking home from school and was about 100 feet from our apartment building when a delivery man walked up to me and handed me a package.  Confused, I looked down and saw that it was addressed to me and had our address on the package.  Apparently he's been to our apartment before, recognized me as I was walking by and decide to save himself the trouble of going up to the 7th floor. When did I become famous?  (When I became a 6'2 white guy on a small Korean island, that's when)

Hamdeok Soebong before we hiked it

Cool moss-covered rocks.  Just don't try to walk on them!

Smiling into the sun is not easy but Vicky does a great job of it here

But enough about how we blend in about as well as common sense in a political debate.  The rest of our weekend was spent out walking and exploring.  We did this because it's gorgeous here right now and because we want to get our bodies used to walking a lot.  A long cold winter means we were stuck inside for about 5 months straight and got out of shape.  Now that it's not miserably cold and windy outside, we're working to get ourselves back into shape and feeling good!

Vicky even decided to go local by wearing a tracksuit   Her's wasn't as colorful as most Korean hikers opt for (think bright neon colored wind-pants and jackets.  Like her sunglasses but all over)  (And yes they wear those even in summer. Sun protection) but it worked well for her.  It kept her comfortable and shielded the worst of the sun from her lovely, fair skin.

Which way to go?  We opted for both :)

To quote my students when posing for pictures, "Cheese-oo"

On Sunday we elected to pursue our goal by hiking part of Olle Trail 19 near Hamdeok beach.  In case I haven't mentioned it, the Olle Trails are a series of walking trails that circle the entire coast of Jeju.  They are a fantastic way place to go for a walk and see some beautiful scenery.  And as you can tell from the pictures, we did just that!

I really like this one

PS.  I did get my new camera and these are pictures from it.  Don't know if the difference shows much here but I'm really happy with it!

And as long as it keeps taking pictures like these, I'll keep being really happy with it!

Good news. North Korea is easing back on the rhetoric

Don't forget, click these pictures if you want to make them larger.

First the good news.  After weeks of increasingly strident and ridiculous threats, North Korea seems to be backing off their tough talk.  Though they made some threats yesterday, they were much less shrill and absurd compared to their previous statements. That's good news for the Korean peninsula which has been on edge for the past month.

However, this should not be mistaken for the North suddenly deciding to be nice.  More likely, they won't say much for a while and then they will commit a provocation.  This will partially be to allow them to claim a victory on national tv and partially to remind the world they are still here and we should all give them food and money as a reward for being good (yes this is also the mentality of spoiled children).  This provocation will most likely take the form of a small military strike against the South.  When and where this might take place is anyones guess.

 Hopefully not here

 Or here

This possibility isn't something we need to worry about.  It almost certainly won't lead to a war and might not even happen at all.

On a more personal note, I recently decided to buy a very high quality but portable camera.  I've been getting more and more into photography and came to the conclusion that if I'm going to be visiting dozens of countries and taking once-in-a-lifetime trips I want to take the best possible pictures of them.  This is also why I've been reading extensively about photography.  And before my more sarcastic friends can comment, yes I know it's not helping but it can't hurt either (unless I drop the computer on my foot again while reading)

Messing around with macro-photography

Basically, I have a great time doing it and it helps us preserve our memories of all these adventures.  It's just one more reason that I really can't wait until our trip through Europe (as though we needed more reasons to be excited)!  I'll let you know once I get the camera and can start posting pictures taken with it.

 Hopefully they'll look like this except, you know, better!

Vicky and I are both doing well.  I've got about 2 1/2 months left on my contract and Vicky has about 3 1/2.  As the weather has turned nicer we've started walking home from school and getting out and exploring on weekends.  I can't even begin to explain how nice it is to go outside and feel comfortable again.  After being cooped up inside all winter, Spring is heavenly!  As a bonus, I get to see more people starting in shock when they see they foreigners walking around their island (since we're easier to recognize when less bundled up).

Now I just need to get Vicky to wear her cat onesy out to dinner again and this time I can take pictures of people's reactions to her.  :)

The little town we saw on our long walk on Saturday (I forgot to mention, we took a long countryside walk Saturday)

What is North Korea thinking?

Watching the capitalists

Over the last couple days I've been getting worried emails because of all the threats North Korea is making. I'm going to address those concerns here to put your minds at ease.

The first thing to remember about North Korea is that their main priority is regime continuation.  Their leaders live like kings and they do not want to give that up.  And they know starting a war guarantees the death of their regime.

So they talk tough to build up their young leaders credentials with the military.  You must remember that in Korea age and seniority are very important.  So a 20something leader is going to have considerably less prestige and respect from the military than his much older father did.  To build up that respect, he has to talk tough and he has to act tough to win the military over.  And the only way Kim Jong-Un will keep power in North Korea is with the military's blessing.

So they'll bluster and threaten to reduce Seoul to "a sea of fire".  And they'll threaten to nuke New York (even though they can't even come close to doing it).  And they'll tell foreigners to "get out of Korea so you will not be killed in a war."  A few weeks ago they declared that they are now at war with South Korea  (technically it's been in that state for the last 60+ years).  And though all of that talk is bluster, there is a tiny bit of substance behind it.

After the bluster (when SK has dropped it's guard somewhat) they'll probably execute a small, very localized attack somewhere to prove how tough they are.  Perhaps like last time, they'll shell a small island with SK troops on it for a short time.  Or maybe they'll sink a ship like in 2010.  But they won't risk open war with SK and the US because they are guaranteed to lose.  And they know it.

Literally the only danger is one of escalation.  If the North executes one of their small provocations and the South strikes back hard (which they will this time), then the North might be tempted to respond with a stronger retaliation which could escalate into a resumption of actual war.  This is the worst case scenario.  They won't launch an all out first strike because of the desire to preserve their regime.

The good news is that the above is a worst case scenario and is easily avoided many different ways.  Though the North has "warned" foreigners to leave Korea, until the US or British embassies tell us to do the same we're staying here.  Right now the threat is all talk.  And both logic and all available information suggest that while the North seems crazy, they are very sane when it comes to keeping their own power.  And starting a war with South Korea is the one sure way to lose that power.

And if things do somehow go bad, we'll all be getting out as fast a possible.  The US embassy knows we're here and they will send planes to get us out if needed.  So relax everyone not living in South Korea.  Your friends and loved ones here are fine.

The DMZ border with South Korean troops guarding it during my visit in 2011

Big things are afoot (it's not my feet. I just washed them)

One hour after I proposed

 

As you can obviously guess, the last week has been crazy.  After proposing, we spent the rest of the weekend calling, emailing and meeting family and friends to tell them the good news.  The rest of the week was spent planning the wedding, hunting for a venue with plenty of help from my wonderful mom, writing essays for a class Vicky is taking, researching, etc.

After a weekend that was both productive and relaxing (i didn't think this was possible), I wanted to write and update you guys on our plans going forward.  Plus I wanted a chance to post more cherry blossom pictures since a storm blew them all away yesterday.  Boo!!!

No more sites like this :*(

Or this :*(

So with the addition of a wedding to an already complicated plan, this is what our updated schedule looks like for the rest of the year.

April-June - Keep teaching.  My contract ends at the end of June.
July - Vicky teaches until near the end of July.  I've got the month free for research, photography, beach trips and basically being on vacation on a beach island.
August - For the first two weeks we get to be bums as we prepare to move out and leave Jeju.  August 17th we fly to Switzerland to meet Randy and Vanessa for the beginning of our Europe trip.  They'll stay with us for the first two weeks before heading home.

We weren't the only ones enjoying the beauty

October - We get back to Texas on Oct. 3.  We will then have 5 weeks to furiously prepare for a wedding that will probably occur on November 10th (pending the venue we're looking at being available).  We also want to see lots of our friends (of course) and eat as many small portions of wonderful Texas food as possible (gotta stay in shape for the wedding but there's not a chance on earth we're skipping out on Mexican food and BBQ after being gone a year!)
November - After getting married in early November, we'll head off for our honeymoon and then probably end the month visiting my Grandparents in Arizona to see (or in Vicky's case meet) family.  We might try to sneak in another visit or two while we're at it but we'll see what happens.

By this time, I'll be married to her!

December - We chill in Texas enjoying the holidays with friends and family.
January - We'll almost certainly go abroad again, this time probably to Taiwan.  We haven't gotten the traveling bug out of our systems yet (and in case you were wondering, no I don't plan to live abroad permanently.  I just simply love to travel and this continues to be by far the best time to do it.  Once kids enter the equation down the road, trying to do this would be more complex by several orders of a magnitude.)

To say we'll be busy is a vast understatement.  That's actually the condensed version of our plans (the full version makes the US tax code look succinct).

The good news is all this planning will enable Vicky and I to have what will quite probably be the best year of our lives yet!  Hopefully if you're reading this, you'll be a part of what makes this year so great.

Out exploring and picture taking at Jeju National University

Once again, bonus points if you can ID the movie reference in the title.