Jeju-do, DMZ and other Korean Adventure Plans

I just booked the tickets for Eric and I to go to Jeju-do during his visit, we'll be on the island from the 26th-28th. The tickets were so cheap! Thanks to Lonely Planet, I found Eastar Jet, I'll probably use them for other travel as well--tickets to Thailand were half the price as on any other website.

The day after we get back, Eric and I will be staring down the guards of the North Korean Boarder (as long as nothing goes wrong and the non-refundable tour isn't canceled due to conflict).

I'm reading through the Lonely Planet Korea for things to do in Seoul, and trying to keep in mind that it will be freezing cold here.

Overall, I'm really excited and just a little nervous about how we'll bare the cold. I'm trying to make a list of all the weather-proofing I need to do (there's a breeze in my apartment, not just a draft, a breeze). I'll need to buy a space heater as heaters don't exist in Korea. And my shower doesn't push out hot water when on full blast, so I'll have to get that repaired (and I want to get that done before December for myself as with the space heater). The bathroom sink works fine, so I don't know what's up with the plumbing.

Tomorrow morning, I'm going out with a large group of teachers and friends of teachers to look at the fall colors (there are 40 of us and we chartered a bus to Chungbuk Danyang) and climb around in a cave. I made some soup for lunch tomorrow as I'm not eating rice at the moment and we'll be going to a temple for food.

Oh! And I got some Vega! Turns out Vegan Essentials does have it, I just couldn't find it because their search function isn't as good as Google. It's pretty sweet (stevia and chicory root, not sugar--I'm not eating sugar right now either), but the vanilla gets overpowered easily and I add cinnamon to the mix to get some spiciness into the mix. And I weighed in at 146.4lbs yesterday! That's without exercising and basically planning my meals around greens, and cutting out sugar and flour.

I am still in and out of mourning the loss of Worf, but I don't think it's hit me completely due to the distance. It was difficult watching an episode of Farscape that had a creature being hurt and the cries sounded like that of a kitten in distress. I don't understand what would make someone want to kill a cat, and I'm sorry Worf didn't get to live longer and share more Snuggie snuggles with me.

So much for the Philippines

The tentative trip to the Philippines has fallen threw due to ticket prices being 730,000 won. Now I'm looking at traveling around Korea and taking a quick trip to Japan by ferry when I reach Busan. I just have to work out where to stay. I'm thinking about braving the Couch Surfing experience and staying at temples, but I have to do more research. Either way, I'm excited for a week off! My goal: finish the lesson plans before the break.

This morning the wind and rain from a typhoon woke me up. The wind coming in through my vents and the open part of the building sounded like a tea kettle, angry thumping and a vibrating phone. Traffic was pretty bad, but I made it to work on time (since I don't have a morning class on Thursdays, start time's a little more flexible). Don't worry, I'm not in the middle of a storm, just getting lots of wind and rain from being on the edge of it.

I slept in, so I didn't get my 30 Day Shred workout in before school, but I made a tasty tofu scramble for lunch and a smoothie for breakfast. Good start to the day and there is still time to throw in that 20 minutes of working out.

I'm not going to continue with my private tutoring, I'm apparently not being paid much for it and I really don't have the time. In addition to it being grounds for deportation if any official folks find out. I just don't want to risk it. The kids are great and the parents are nice, but I could be practicing violin in that time.

~Veggie/Sarah