Getting back to .... normal?

The view out of what will hopefully be my new apartment soon

Comfortably strange.  A good description for living in Korea.  When I returned to Jeju after an 8 month visit home, it felt like i'd never left.  There was a new building or two and a McDonald's where only a parking lot stood before.  But Waco seemed to have changed more than Jeju and felt more foreign to me the last time I dropped by.  I slipped back into Jeju life as easily as putting on a favorite shirt.  Same fun.  Same difficulties.  Same island.  Except for a few key differences.

The biggest is my new school.  My private school appears to have fantastic hours and small class sizes.  Right now the hours are 2:30-7.  They change randomly every month or two but thanks to the small student population, it doesn't look like they'll be too bad.  The biggest class size I will have when I start July 5 is 5 students.  There are even a couple private lessons.  Decidedly different than my Prague privates but privates non the less.  I spent 1 of 2 days shadowing classes yesterday.  The double takes many of the students did when they entered and saw me were priceless (think Looney Toons level).  One of the girls even shyly gave me some chips as a gift.  It was extremely sweet.

I've also found a new apartment.  It's on the 7th floor in a brand new building.  It's 1 block from city hall.  Perfect.  And it's 50 ft from the bus stop.  From there Vicky and I can catch the bus for a 10 minute ride that drops us right in front of our schools.  Double perfect!  It's big enough to comfortably house us both with our own sleeping rooms.  The view is great.  We can even get a cross breeze going (a luxury for those of us who've lived in one window studios).  It's actually so new that it won't be ready until probably this weekend.  Hopefully too the new building will not have trouble with mold or mosquitoes like my last one did (mold may have been the reason I was sick so much more last year than I normally am).  All in all, i'm excited to move in.  A couple pictures are included here.

Add to that Vicky arriving a week from saturday and the weirdly cold summer weather and it makes for an interesting return.  I'll send out another update when I actually get moved in and have the place.  For now i'm crashing on my friend Jeb's floor.  He has kindly allowed me to sleep, eat and keep my stuff here until the apartment is ready.  I'm extremely grateful.


Oh and for those of you who hoped that maybe the Koreans had stopped serving stuff with eyes and teeth still attached I say HA and HA again.  They're as kooky as ever.  At least this one tasted good :)

 Wasn't my dinner pertty? 

Once More Unto the Breach

Here we go again

Hey everyone.  Since I know you've been missing me (not true) and my updates (definitely not true), I have good news for you (yes I mean YOU).  After an 8 month hiatus, I am returning to Jeju Island in South Korea.  And this time i'm not going alone.  Meet Vicky.  My girlfriend of 6 months and soon to be fellow traveler.  

Say hi everyone

 Here she is looking out the window

Here she is smiling with me

 Here she is looking skeptically at me (she does this a lot.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with me)

For the next year we will be living and working in private schools called Hagwons in Jeju City.  The main differences between this and where I worked before are the hours, 2-8pm instead of 8am-4:30pm, and the fact that this is not a public school.  I explain some of the other differences later.  We will be teaching at two different schools that are located approximately 100 yards apart.  Very convenient.

My job starts 3 weeks before hers which is wonderful since it allows me to get there early, get set up and be there to meet her when she arrives to ease the transition.  I will be leaving around June 20th.  I'll post on here when I have exact information.  I'm really excited and can't wait to have someone to share my travels and experiences with.  Making good memories together is always better than alone.

For now I leave you with final shot of Jeju and hopefully a sense of excitement at what's to come.

Time for a break

Hey everyone.  Since I'm back in the US for now, i'm once again going to suspend writing this until I go abroad again.  After all, no one wants to read a travel blog about driving from one part of Dallas to .... another part of Dallas.

For those of you looking for information on Korea, please refer to the past year's posts for details.  Bye for now!

Getting lost in Hong Kong

At Victoria Harbor with Hong Kong Island in the background

When we last saw our hero he was charging boldly towards .... a lounge chair.  Ok so vacationing isn't exactly heroic but it sure can be fun.  Suffice it to say that most of the rest of my time on Bali was just like what I already described.  Relaxed, hot, and slow paced.

Before returning to Dallas though, i had one more stopover to readjust to Western life.  A stop in Hong Kong, a mix of the East and West.  Since i'm still in HK, my thoughts will be brief (since i'd rather be outside exploring).

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is probably the most densely packed city i've ever been in.  It has as many residents as New York but in 1/4 the space.  The streets at rush hour are a sea of humanity.  The buildings are tall, shiny and mostly new on Hong Kong Island.  Across Victoria Harbor in Kowloon, it's even more packed and the buildings are a bit older.  This is where Hong Kong starts to feel less like Singapore and more like Seoul or Bangkok.  If nothing else, the city definitely feels alive and doesn't just feel like a soulless concrete jungle.

 Overlooking Hong Kong from Victoria Peak

At Lions Point looking down

For my time, I've done a good bit of walking around.  Visited Victoria Peak (picture above).  Went and saw the Symphony of Lights show at the harbor at night.  Took the Star Ferry a couple times.  Wandered down the Walk of Stars (had to stop at the Bruce Lee statue of course).  And today I'm off to go browse Hong Kong's famous shopping.  Enjoy the pictures!

 The Hong Kong skyline at night

Cool huh?

Bruce Lee statue

 Preparing to fight in front of the Bruce Lee statue

Chilling in Bali

Sometimes life is pretty good

Just some quick thoughts on Bali and Nusa Lembongan (a smaller, less touristy island off the coast of Bali).

Bali itself is definitely a beautiful island.  There are beaches everywhere and gorgeous greenery galore.  There is also however a lot of trash just thrown away anywhere, a glut of tourist traps and locals who can be friendly but can drive you nuts trying to get you to buy something.

Sanur Beach on Bali

Everything here is either dirt cheap or crazy expensive.  Massages are $5 for an hour.  Dinners almost never cost more than 10.  Indonesian food rarely costs more than 3.  Housing can be found for around 10-20 within 2 minutes of the beach.  And some skill at negotiation can sometimes drop these prices even further.

But the resorts here charge crazy amounts.  And any place that lists the cost in American dollars usually doubles the price.  Booking ahead of time virtually guarantees you're overpaying and overpaying a lot.

After about 4-5 days on Bali, i moved over to my current location on Nusa Lembongan.  It's much less touristy, has better swimming beaches, gorgeous sunsets and is beautifully quiet!

Can you guess how sunset beach got it's name?

lol it also has the power turned off for the entire island from 7-5 everyday while they change the generator system for the whole island (or something like that).  Whatever the case, they will NOT finish while i'm here.

I will definitely say i'm thankful i speak English natively.  I had dinner last night with 2 German women, a young Estonian couple and an Indonesian dive master.  And everyone talked to each other in English.  Thank you lord for being born in the US!

Mushroom Beach on Lembongan

For the next two days my plans are some snorkeling, laying on the beach, reading, reading while laying on the beach, eating while overlooking the beach, hiking around looking for more beaches, ..... noticing a trend?  Partially this is because my room has no power during the day and therefore is too boring and too hot to stay in, so i MUST be outside.  But mostly it's because i like being a beach bum on vacation :)

My lot in life is tough one huh?