double birthdays

i love that, in my head, everyone gets two days worth of birthdays. all day yesterday, i was thinking about mom and her birthday and hoping she was having a fabulous day since it was already the 27th here, and then today i'm still thinking about her birthday since its now the 27th there. that's pretty cool. double birthdays rule! :) i called her early this morning,(my late last night) and was her birthday wake up call. so fun!
funny story..... this morning on the bus, they were actually playing music in english, which was very appreciated. the song "november rain" by guns & roses came on, and for some reason i think of liane everytime i hear that song. why? should i remember and i just don't??? guns & roses has that effect on my sisters, i guess. "take me down to the paradise city..." reminds me of jess; and "welcome to the jungle" aka "bienvenidos a la jungle" reminds me of both and our puerto rican adventures. (remember the walkie talkies in the cars and driving mom and dad crazy??? ahhh, fun times!!) anyways, it was funny and i was singing along and the koreans were looking at me strange. but it made me happy and think of my little sister mokerhead, so it was all good! :)
and i finally figured out the verizon hogwash..... they suck, they can kiss the cell phone sphincter. so hopefully they won't be calling mom and dad anymore. seriously, i tell them eveytime i talk to them that i live in KOREA and its long distance to call their 800 number for me and i just want to get things settled and they need to stop charging me when i faxed my travel orders to them proving that i live here. so hopefully today it got settled. grrrrrrrrr...........................
oh, and luke is the crocheting master! he's made me all kinds of things before, but just yesterday he made me the coolest beanie!!!! it is the thick yarn and it has this little lip that goes over the back of my head and covers the ears and it is so warm! it's gotten pretty chilly here, especially when we leave in the morning, so his little beanie has been so great! :) he really is quite crafty!!!! i just love him so much, he's a keeper! :)
so, all in all, things have been going well. love you lots!

surfing

yes, we went surfing! yay!
our adventure started at 3:30 am saturday morning when the alarm went off. so sleepy. the car was already all packed, so we just got up, ate some breakfast and hit the road. it was actually quite nice, since there were very few cars on the road. we bought a good road map, and didn't get lost at all! :)
about halfway through the drive, luke and i switched because i was getting tired and couldn't drive anymore. the scenery was actually really cool. there were some rad tunnels, VERY long. and everything was really green and pretty.
we finally hit this town called Donghae and then went south from there (north is baaaaad, remember!) and went along the coast to find the waves. all along the coast there are these HUGE fences with these barbed wires along the top. no bueno!so, for the first few stops we could only look at the waves from afar. i guess it was left over from the war or something, because there was all this camo painted stuff too. very weird. and all these rocks were stuck into the fence along the way, we couldn't figure out what for.
we drove along and found a few spots, not deciding where to go, and finally, when we got about as far south as we wanted to go, we decided that a place that we saw about 3rd in our adventure was the best one to try. so, we headed back north.
we had heard rumors about the korean military not being too pleased with surfers, so when we got htere we moved as fast as we could to get our wetsuits on and get the boards ready. the air temp was pretty cold and it was a little windy, but surprisingly the water temp wasn't too bad. it was about the same as santa cruz in the winter so we were kinda used to it. the waves weren't that great, but hey, they were waves. the water was way shallow and then immediately got deep, and there was a sand bar out a ways that i will speak more about later. so, we caught some waves and were having fun. luke was doing great, as usual. it took a little bit to get back used to surfing, but he got it way faster than i did. :) and then some bigger waves started coming in. so, i decided that i'm going to try to get one, but only the foam part of it, which is usually a litle nicer than the actual wave. so, here i go, i'm ready, and, i swear, the wave doubled in size right before it hit me and it pummeled me into the water. well, remember the sand bar i told you about... i collided my head into it. seriously, where the sand bar hits it is only about 3 feet deep. good thing it was soft, because i hit it pretty hard and it drug my head along it. nice. so, i got a headache from that. right as i was recovering from the mayhem, i saw them...... the korean military guys coming our way. oh no!!!! were we in trouble, would we be told to leave???? they blew their whistles, and of course luke was thinking that if he was being kicked out then at least he would catch a wave on the way in. they blew their whistles about 5 zillion times at him, it was actually quite funny. so, when we got to them, they started speaking korean, shich of course we don't understand. eventually they drew a pictue in the sand and pointed to this little bar sticking out and we understood that we couldn't be on one side of the bar, we had to stay towards to other side. so, we weren't in trouble after all! :) we moved down the beach, but my head was hurting from the sand collision, so luke went out again and i stayed in and video taped him and took some pictures. the wind picked up more and the waves were getting choppier, so we eventually left. luke did really great though. he rode his longboard and his shortboard. even though the waves weren't that great, it made us happy just to be able to surf. :) while we were out there, people kept driving by and just staring at us. they probably hadn't ever seen surfers on their beach before. some waved and said hi, but i think most were just amazed. it was funny. when we were changing at the car, we got some very strange looks. haha.
we originally had planned on staying overnight and surfing again sunday, but we both had headaches adn were pretty pooped, so we decided to make the drive back. it really wasn't that bad on the way there, so we figured we could make it. the only problem..... gas. (in the car, haha) when we fill up on base, it is only about $1.95 a gallon, but out on the economy, they go by liters (i hate liters) and its about $1.50 a liter. so, when we were done filling up, it ended up costing us.... are you ready...... you really should sit down for this......... $65!!!!!!! OMG! i almost freaked out! but now i know that we can get a map from the military gas station here on post of all the military stations along the way so we can fill up there. i will never pay that much again! we also went through 2 toll booths, for a total of about $18 round trip. not too bad, we can handle that. :)
we got home around 5:30 pm. we did hit some traffic on the way back, but not too bad.
all in all, it was a good trip. it would have been nice to find better waves, but the waves we found were alright. we are so looking forward to hawaii at christmas time. real waves, warm water. ahhhh, the good life! :)

here i am

okay, okay, i know its been a while..... but i was seriously busy. but here is a way funny story of today's adventures:
this morning on the bus, we are driving through this crazy intersection where 3 lanes of traffic instantly merge into like 1 1/2 (seriously, the driving here is insane an dthe people drive like shiite, even the bus drivers and police) and it is around this left hand turn. usually, no big deal. today, however, the people who are going straight in the far right lane on the road we are merging on to decide that stopping is apparently not necessary and keep going, which makes all of us with the green arrow who are turning have to veer left a bit. well, some (most) drivers are way dumb and don't pay attention and there was this little tiny car on our left and a big trash truck in front of us, and they merged into each other. so then the tiny car was kinda stuck to the side of the big truck and we are all just holding up traffic in the middle of the intersection. oh, and by the way, korean drivers are OBSESSED with honking their horns, so you can just imagine the noise. but wait, it gets better.... while we are sitting there waiting for the truck and little car to move, the bus driver opens the door and starts yelling at a policeman who is standing right there on the sidewalk. hello!!! yelling! what?!?!?!?! of course we have no idea what he was saying, but it was definitely not nice. and would so not be allowed anywhere but crazy korea.
so, then this evening luke and i were looking through this newspaper type thing and it had an ad for all you can eat sushi on thursdays, and you know we can't resist, so we decided to check it out. it was at this place on base, right near my school. so, we go inside, and it is a buffet type thing, and a little fancier place then we expected, but we were okay compared to the rest of the crowd. the sushi was pretty good, but i've had better. but, the best and funniest part was the "live entertainment" provided. a man and a woman with a keyboard, drum machine, shaker, mics, and computerized background music. they sang some WAY funny songs. my favorite was "sweet home alabama" which, with a korean accent is the silliest thing i've ever heard. also, some spanish song (spanish words sounding korean), can't help falling in love, and some others. luke and i were trying so hard not to laugh, especially since we were right in front of them. it was hilarious! it was very lounge singer-esque and made us feel like we were right at home. :) bu then i bit my tongue really hard, while eating pineapple (which i shouldn't be eating anyway since i swell up) and it stung. ouchy. but still, it was a great date night. always an adventure. :)
the house is still not clean, sorry. but, we are going driving this weekend to the east coast to check out the ocean and hopefully surf. yay!we'll take lots of pics and send them soon. i really want to show you all what the house looks like! :)
and, as always, please keep your thoughts and prayers with jeanine and jared and their little baby simone. i love you all!
goodnight!

promise

i only have a second right now.... i have been SOOOOOO busy the last few days. but i promise i will blog a new post later tonight.
i am praying for little simone and keeping my thoughts with everyone. i love you all and will write more tonight! :)

merry christmas!!!

no, i am not calendar challenged..... we got our household goods! it was like an early christmas! let me just tell you how fun it was to open up all the boxes and find our old stuff, as well as all the new wedding gifts! SO FUN!!!!!!!!!! and we now have a bed to sleep in! yay! but, we are not yet finished with cleaning and setting up. we had some problems with hanging stuff on the walls at first. our walls are cement cinder clocks covered with this cloth wall-paper. so, hanging stuff was not going well and we thought we would need a masonry drill bit (like i even know what these things are--good thing i married a guy who knows about these things) but we found these weird nail things that are made especialy for cinder blocks. so, problem solved! :) and our goal was to get all the stuff out of the boxes so that we could get them all picked up and taken away, so there is a bunch of stuff all over the floor. but, none of our stuff was broken or anything (so far) and we only can't find a couple things. but we haven't gone through all the boxes all the way to the bottom, so the trinkets may stil be there. but the surfboards made it, the surf box made it, and the computer made it. seriously, i had heard horror stories from people here about how there stuff was damaged adn broken and couches were ripped.... luke and i must just be lucky, great people, because none of that crap happened to us. besides those few trinkets missing (which i'm thinking positively that we will find) everything is intact and great.
yay for us! pictures to be sent soon.... but we have to clean and finish arranging first. i will not send pictures of the house all messy... it is too cool a place and luke and i are vowing to keep it clean! :)

fireworks

can i just say i LOVE fireworks! they are always so pretty and cool and loud and awesome. and they remind me of my wedding! :)
last night when luke and i came out of the movies (around the world in 80 days-- way funny!) there were these huge noises outside. we could even hear them inside the theater, but we had no idea what they were.... with the current curfew we thought something crazy migt be going on. as soon as we got outside though, we could see them! they were lighting them right at the fire station on post, less than a block from the theatres! it was amazing! they were right on top of us!

it reminded me of when we were little in the the old house and the tripodis were there and we caught the desert on fire and cousin mark had to put it out. what a good boy scout! :)

but seriously, it was just awesome! and the booms were SO loud! and we could also see some going off on the river, off post, so we were surrounded! man, it was great! i guess its all part of the october harvest celebration going on around seoul this weekend.
i loved it! they need more of that! :)

wet japan

yes, japan was VERY wet. it rained continuously from the moment our plane landed until wednesday morning. POURING rain, not just drizzle.
so, we got in sunday evening and had a little reception at the hotel, with great food, which was nice since i didn't eat anything for dinner. the hotel was very nice, but i wish my room was on the opposite side. i faced the street, while the rooms on the other side faced the tokyo tower. very cool! so then, monday and tuesday were full of meetings about music teacher stuff. i learned some awesome new things, it was really cool. and i met some wonderful teachers and we exchanged ideas on all sorts of things. monday night, i went with these 2 teachers i met who are from yokosuka (pronounced yokoska) in japan to this great little restaurant with all sorts of different foods. we took the subway and a train, and the stop where we got off was the intersection that you always see on ads for tokyo with all the big lights advertisements and the huge walkways with masses of people. it was pretty cool, and from the station, you could look down on the intersection and just see a mass of umbrellas. it looked pretty neat. but i got pretty wet, even with my umbrella, and we opted to take a cab back after dinner. we didn't want to deal with walking in the rain anymore. :) on tuesday, i was going to find a sushi place, but it was still raining, and there wasn't one close enough for me to find. so i ate in the hotel with some other teachers. it was fun, and i really got to know them well. i like most of them a lot.... there are a few who i wouldn't mind not ever being around again. ;)
so, on wednesday, it finally cleared up........ but we had meetings in the morning, and then the bus ride to the airport was about 2 hours long, so we didn't get much time to se a lot of things. along the ride however, we saw tokyo tower, the bay, a beautiful scene of the city, and some other cool stuff. so, i got to see a little of it. next year, we have another training session, so hopefully luke will come with me, since it's longer, and i'll get to see more sights, since we'll have a few more days with hopefully better weather. wednesday was such a long day, though! by the time i finally got home to luke, it was 11:45 pm and i had to go to work thursday! i was so tired, but the kids were really great, because i think they missed me a little :) and they were really good for me.
then........ thursday luke and i passed our drivers tests! YAY!!!!!!! so, after school, we picked up the mimba mobile! i was so happy to see her! and the car people here had even washed her and made her all clean for me! so nice! so, we took her to the gas station and filled up, and drove home. let me tell you, i was not a very good driver at first. apparently i was a little crazy with the clutch, cuz the car jumped a little. hahaha. (but not as bad as when i tried to teach liane the stick shift!! i love you, teehan!) but i was fine by the time we started home. oh, and to get to our house, you have to go up this big hill, so that was a little scary, but we made it! even though we still plan on walking as much as possible, it is so nice to finally have the car available when we need it!
and...... our household goods are coming on tuesday! yay! we finally get our bed, and our furniture, and we FINALLY get to open the wedding presents! it's christmas in october! :) we'll finally get to decorate the house and put up pictures, and sleep in a bed!
this weekend we may be going to see a korean drum festival, some fireworks along the river, and some other cultural things. this weekend is full of activities in korea because it is the start of the autumn harvest. i learn new cool things about this place every day!
okay, gotta run, luke is making us spaghetti with meat sauce and garlic bread for dinner. he is the best cook! yummy!

infections

so, apparently i was pretty sick. i went to the doctor today, at this international clinic off base, and he diagnosed the following: tonsillitis, ear infection, and sinus infection. wow, great! i'm glad i finally went though, cuz this no hearing thing in my right ear is about to drive me nuts. i got 3 medicines and a nose spray to get me all better.
now, here is my current problem.... i was feeling much better on monday-wednesday. then the green stuff started up again, which is why i finally went to the doctor. and now, the sinus pressure is so intense that it is hurting my teeth and my gums. which leads to the problem... i have to fly on an airplane tomorrow morning to japan. so, i just know i'm going to get that crazy pain during takeoff and landing from the pressure on my sinuses (jess, i know you know what i'm talking about) where your tooth feels like its about to explode. yay! i wish dad was here to do that face pressure thing he does to me, it really makes me feel much better. :)
so, yeah, i'm going to japan in the morning! i'll take lots of pictures and stuff! even though i'll be at meetings most of the day, i'll still try to get out and see the city and stuff. i'm so excited! and, the best part is, its free for me! rad! but i'm really sad because luke isn't coming with me. so i have to be without him for 3 whole nights! no bueno! we are saving the money we would have spent on his plane ticket and getting him a new surfboard! :) he is so excited! and i'll scope out the place and see if it's worth going back there for one of our surf trips.
okay, i have to pack for the morning.... i'm not going to stay up all night packing like i usually do! nighty night! love you all!