Wave goodbye

It's time for a fond farewell to another flurry of adventures, and a warm welcome to an upcoming year of experiences.

Yes, I did road trip for 2 weeks along the coast in a big circle encompassing Texas to Maine, Ohio to Florida and all those little states in between. Baltimore was the original goal, but by the time I was there, the north was too close to pass up.

Then (a separate venture), I flew through Washington... had a good time.

And now I am still recovering from those 5 weeks in Nicaragua (all of which was chronicled elsewhere, sorry). But I return now to start up the next chapter -- a year long experience *fingers crossed* - returning to South Korea as a student.

But of course, this close to departure (tentatively Friday)... I am still waiting on my visa... haha!

I'm not saying I want all of you to know everything... but I might grace this blog with a few more pictures here and there. All of the other stories will have to be on the DL...

Catch me later!

Hey you.

Guess who's traveling?

Yeah, that'd be me.

Here's the line up to look forward to:
--- June.
- Possible road trip to Eastern USA
- Washington state

-- July
- Nicaragua (till August!)

-- August
- (late) South Korea! A whole year this time. At least, that's the goal. :) Trials and tribulations of a silly foreigner.

Until then!

July 10 (Sat) - The end.

Today was my last full day here in South Korea.

I imagine I will be very busy spending the last of my foreign currency and packing all of the other gifts. We'll have to leave for the airport in the later part of the afternoon to get there early. Though, I don't really want to sit around in the Korean airport's terminal area ... all alone :( (xD)
It just makes me ponder my stay.

Honestly, I'm just glad I was able to see Aimee :) We had a very good time. It's not like we'll see each other again any time soon. Sure, my language skills didn't improve as much as I'd dreamed - but I got a lot of good experience. Asia's an entirely different cookie. Before I get lost in pondering and summing things up though - let me show you today's food...

Breafast - ramen. I got the less spicy one out of the goodness of her heart xD Had "Korean pickles" and anchovies.

We so lazed around today - we must be crazy. But I was really craving some aloe juice, so we went out and got some - along with a few food gifts and bakery goods.

I guess this was my lunch: leftover mocha bread (good investment), a creme filled pastry (like a croisont?), a fried and sugared stick of.. dough? I thought it was tapioca when I bought it. XD (I had seen it elsewhere and it looked about the same)... then I also got a Coke company's cold coffee in a can.. it's only like.. 30 cents. xD; I just wanted to use my coins. :P

Then dinner was.. fried rice and eggs... and then the same sides - just added a vinegary korean pickle xD

We also bought lots of ice cream when we went out earlier:

But I didn't actually try this yet. I imagine it'll be pretty good. I've had the flavor, just not this brand. Maybe I'll eat it tomorrow. I'm so full! Three whole meals today. xD

So, like I said - prolly won't have time to post tomorrow. Actually, I might not even get to chronicle the last part of my trip. I'm not sure if I'll have access to a computer with internet. But - I will try!

Next stop: Washington state - Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia. Lovely area. I hope the weather's nice. But, even if it's all clouds - it's not like it's very different from the clouds here.

The sunshine hangs around the south. :)

Well! Here's to the next exciting chapter. I love packing - it's just sad to say goodbye...

:x

July 9 (Fri) - Concert

We were out pretty late tonight, so I'm keeping my post very concise.
(so tired - my eyes are red :O)

Firstly, started the day with a spiffy breakfast: Leftover Paris Baguette breads.. Just now trying Aimee's choice - bread with cheese through it... the cream soup and yogurt.

I spent my morning packing some more and planning.. reading, etc.
Leisurly.
Then we left for a concert in Sinchon (near Hongdae).
Took a bus their, then the subway...

I took a pic of the tickets before we used them.. subway was lame though - stood the whole 40 min. Same with on the way back. Total, it was about 80 min using public transport to get to our location.

Nice view though :)

We made it fine and found her friend.

It was so exciting :) Lots and lots of Korean teenagers... and then Kyunglim (the friend) showed me to a lot of people (or vice versa) xD Pretty entertaining. :) Gave a high five to a random guy (well, someone's friend - random to me.. xD)

The whole group performed various songs here and there.

Here's the stage-- that's Kyunglim singing :).. her song was actually a popular American song.. don't remember the name, but I recognized it xD?

It was especially entertaining when they would sing in English.. not just because I could understand it - but because sometimes I didn't... crazy accents :) One of the acts was actually an eminem rap song..?? was missing some prepositions though xD But only a native would've noticed. It worked for the crowd :)

A few hours more of standing and it was all over ;o

Of course, after a long day- we were hungry again.. so we stopped at Paris Baguette in Gangnam (after the subway - before the bus).

I got white bread with melted cheese and a peice of meat inside... (didn't realize it had meat :( ) and then peanut creme bread! :) Still- all good.

With that.. well, we took our ride home. There was a hoard of people, so we were seperated, but still got seats. Whew! Another 40 min of standing wouldn't have been fun ;(

Tomorrow's plans are light.

The money on my bus card is almost gone, and I don't want to refill it xD

We'll probably rest (I'll actually sleep this time)... and maybe go out for Karaoke? I hope so.

:D

July 8 (Thu) - Library

Nothing too crazy today.
We slept in - I packed up some stuff, organized, planned life and played my gameboy before we left for downtown.

Breakfast was nice with lots of side dishes today - the 3 new ones are the oden with onion and broccoli (good!), the sour/sweet cucumber stuff in the small dish on the right of the oden and then the potato kimchi (good!!) below that. :)

After we ate, we left for the bus. Our plan was to check out a library and get a library card for Aimee... the ride was a bit farther than to our usual stop in downtown, but it was still inner-city.

Here's a shot of the outside - pretty normal. The inside looked just as it ought to. Lots of book shelves. The only different thing (the cool part) was that they had self-check out stations... where you scanned your card and then stacked your books all at once under a bigger scanner. :o Pretty interesting.

It was a small library, but they still had a few English books. Interesting choices, too. Mostly classics and Oprah book club books xD, but they had some contemporary stuff too. Just popular stuff. Still - only a bookshelf full. I couldn't find any language books :(.. only a turn shelf with various dictionaries. (Though, some were Spanish and German). Maybe they were in the other section? Dunno - but if that's all they had.. no wonder no one would want to study languages xD.. borrring?

They did have a nice series translated into Korean on foreign countries though :0 It was called Culture Shock? Lots of nice pictures... xD (all I could understand)

After the library, we walked back near the bus station to try a new cafe: Caffe Ti-Amo xD. It was also a gelato place.

See?
So, I just got a lemon flavored gelato:

Pretty presentation, and not even as expensive as it could have been (not cheap - mind, but cheaper than other cafes). Of course, although the flavor was great (tart), the texture was a little uneven. Still, Aimee said her mocha was amazing; smooth. She almost bought another to go xD

They also had a pumpkin sandwich on their menu. I was about to try it, but then we found out it was discontinued ;( Too bad. But it's actually fairly common here?

Anyway - after that, we took another inner-city bus back downtown.. stopped at a bakery (Tous les Jours? - Paris Baguette's competition)... and transfered for free on another bus back home.

Dinner felt extravagant xD... grilled cheese, eggs, and the two breads I bought- with milk, homade cappuccino and strawberry jam? (for the grilled cheese) xD The bread on top (browner) was a mocha raisin bread - very good. Not too sweet, not too expensive. Filling and tasty :).. the bottom longer one was a sweet potato and pumpkin bread? xD.. it was actually sweeter and filled with a rice cake. :) It wasn't too flavorful. Still good, but I preferred the mocha.

Tomorrow's another day.

I think I'll exchange some more money... xD I mean, I wanted to get more gifts! It's not like I won't be able to spend it.. hahhhh.

Now, we're gonna watch a movie or two... talk.. relax.. and sleep.

:)