playing catch up

So it has been one week of events that I have yet to document, so this post might be a long one!


Current Location: still in Korea
As my last few days in Korea slowly tick away, I figured I should catch up on the past week or else one week will turn into 2 and before I know it I will be so behind on my journaling/blogging that I will never catch up. 


Thursday Sept 23-->Meeting more family for the first time!

My grandma's sister (the woman to my left) lives in Bukhansan, which is a mountainous area about 45 minutes outside of Seoul. My mom's cousin (the person taking the photo) picked us up at the metro station, and we were off on another adventure. The last memory that my mom and Aunt Shin have of this cousin is when he was just an infant and therefore it was quite an interesting reunion. Catching up on an entire life worlds apart is impossible to do within a day, but somehow they managed to get an understanding of our lives and so on.

Upon arrival at Emo's, we were greeted by my great uncle. My mom and Aunt Shin ran right up to him as if they were young children again...apparently looked exactly the same as they had remembered him. So, similar to all of our other family encounters in Korea, the first thing we did was eat. We had a traditional Korean food spread with various veggies, meats, seafood, casseroles, etc. Sitting on the floor with this new surrounding, I found myself oddly comfortable. Koreans seem to really value family, whether it be distant cousins or immediate family, it is a priority in their society. Even though I had just met this family, they opened their home to me and made me feel more welcome than I would have ever imagined. It was wonderful...

Following lunch, we set off for a hike. Now, I accidentally left out that Emo's house was basically at the base of the mountains-her backyard was Bukhansan National Park, which was very convenient for us.

And so we were off...all 8 of us. Mom's cousin and uncle happened to be very well versed with all of the trails on the mountain, and apparently they had even contributed to building some of the trails/stairs. The weather was beautiful (a little hot) and the views were incredible. There is nothing like spending quality time with family and enjoying mother nature...

 
Along the way, we ran into a beautiful Buddhist temple that was set aside from the main trail. Peaceful and quaint, I almost would rather trek to this temple versus the one we visited last week.
The climb down was quite interesting...we climbed down steps for what felt like hours. Holding Aunt Shin's way to ensure her depth perception didn't fail her, we walked down more than a few hundred meters worth of steps.

When we got back to Emo's, we loaded up 2 cars and drove to their youngest sons home. Here we met another one of my mom's cousins (who was not born when they left Korea, so it was the first time for Aunt Shin and Gina to meet him), his wife, 3 year old daughter, and mother-in-law. From here we went to a traditional Korean restaurant. We walked into a muddy courtyard, walked up to our room, slipped off our shoes and sat on mats on the floor. 3 separate tables of food were brought to us:

Again, the constant theme of Korea seems to be FOOD...food all the time! The meal was great, company was entertaining, and the location was an experience. After this, mom's cousin drove us back to the hotel where we all climbed into bed and passed out!

Friday Sept 24: Gina and Shin's last day.


We decided on doing the city tour earlier in the week and never got around to it, so on their last day, it seemed like the right thing to do since we had no other plans. The city tour consisted of purchasing a bus ticket that would allow you to get on and off certain stops where you could stay as long as you'd like and catch the next bus that came around. Basically it is a means of transportation around the city and you are your own tour guide. This worked out perfectly for us, because that's exactly how we like to explore cities.


First stop: Korean War Memorial
This year marks the 60 year anniversary of the Korean War, and for that, we received free entry as foreigners. Come to find out, this is the largest war memorial in the entire world, and wow did it feel like it.

The outdoor display alone consisted of all the tanks, airplanes, guns, helicopters, etc that were used during the war. I have been to quite a few war memorials, and never have I seen this extensive of a display-and we were even allowed to get in and look around the equipment. After walking around for 2 hours we were done and headed to Itaewan. 

Itaewan is known as the area where the US troops would hang out and due to this, most signs are in English, and the whole neighborhood is catered towards tourism and foreigners. Walking up and down the streets it does not feel like Asia; besides all of the Korean people, you wouldn't even know you were outside of the US. The first store we stopped in was to look at leather jackets because Aunt Shin was in the market for one. And there it was, gleaming in the fluorescent lights of the store. She put it on and we all knew it was the one...a perfect balance between trendy and classy, ensuring it would never go out of style. When the salesmen told us the price, we all looked at each other slightly disappointed and dragged our feet out of the door.
Continuing to walk up and down the streets, Aunt Shin thought about it and justified the price and we definitely helped. It was a very unique jacket and I personally have never seen one like it before-so after popping in a few different stores we went back, bargained a little, and ended up getting a better price than he had initially asked for. Perfect-hopefully she'll be the talk of the town when she rocks it! I'm sure she'll get tons of compliments! (wish I had a picture of her in it!!! GRR)


Next stop was a huge shopping center next to Dongdaemun Fashion Center (the name of the building started with a P but I cannot remember) Talk about shopping center-this place was SO overwhelming...I love to shop, but even this was sensory overload for me. The first 2 floors were layed out with tiny little boutiques (probably close to 30 on each floor) where the designer/owner would eye you down as soon as you touched/entered their little area. The clothes were some of the cutest clothes I have ever seen and were surprisingly very cheap compared US boutiques. I felt one shirt on display and all of a sudden I was attacked by this woman: she handed me the shirt in my size, a pair of shorts, a scarf, and before I knew it I had an entire ensemble to try on for her. She was like my own personal stylist-thankfully nothing fit right so I didn't feel obligated to buy anything and we went on our way. After getting an overdose of browsing through clothes we weren't going to buy, we headed back to the hotel for happy hour and relaxing. We ventured out to try and buy a gift for Ah Jah Si, but unfortunately everything was closed by that timet, and instead we went to Namdaemun to feast on noodles one last time :)

Saturday Sept 25: solo travels begin
First thing we did in the morning was treck my pack to Ah Jah Si's before Gina and Shin left, so I wouldn't have to do it by myself. (basically Gina wanted to make sure I didn't draw too much attention to myself with a pack larger than I am) We dropped it off, returned to the hotel to check out, and went to Namdaemun for one last walk around and snack (YUM mandu). 
It's funny because after 1 week in Seoul together, we were all ready to go our separate ways. It was just time...we were starting to get on each other's nerves and man, my mom was irritating me. I kind of feel bad for how we left each other-I snapped at my mom while waiting with them in the lobby for the airport shuttle over something so stupid-so Gina if you're reading I'm sorry :)
As I walked away from the hotel, I did start to feel pretty sad. I don't really remember the last time we went a full 3 months without seeing each other, but there is a first for everything. We had an amazing time in Seoul together and I'm sure in December I will be more than excited to see Gina and Aunt Shin again for some quality r&r time.


After we separated, I decided to climb Namsan this time (last time we took the cable car).

Again, the view was beautiful and the weather was perfect. The night proceeded to be quite relaxing and I had some much needed alone/breathing time.


Sunday Sept 26: Traditional Korean Village
My "cousin" (really my mom's cousin's daughter) Chung Loc who teaches English here in Korea, took me to a traditional Korean village. Her, her boyfriend, and I traveled about 40 minutes to get to a Korean Folk Village in Yong-in City. 

It was a cute little place that was entirely geared towards tourists, but I still enjoyed it quite a lot. We got to see a few performances including a traditional wedding, a man walking on a tight rope? and some boys riding horses...

We walked around the village for a while and then left to have dinner back at Ah Jah Si's. SeoYeun (another "cousin") was already there, and wow it was nice to see a familiar face. SeoYeun spent about 3 weeks at my house in Manlius 4 years go, so it was good to see her and catch up. We had dinner and then I hung out with her and chatted for a few hours. She is extremely proficient in English and apparently fluent in Japanese and in the process of learning Chinese-I'm quite envous of her linguistic skills...


Monday Sept 27: Back to Bukhansan
Before my mom left, I had decided I wanted to go back to Bukhansan and hike a more intense mountain in the park. So, around 6:30 am i hopped on the subway and arrived at Emo's house around 8 am.
I was welcomed with breakfast (obviously) and by 9 am I was off on the trail with my mom's cousin as my guide. 

I had NO idea what I was getting myself into. They had drawn me a picture of 4 different mountains and asked me to pick the one I wanted to climb-obviously I picked the highest peak thinking it couldn't be THAT bad...ha, joke's on me...
As we started off on the endless upward climb I started to wonder how high this mountain really was. With a huge language barrier between my "uncle" and I, we hiked onward in silence. It was extremely peaceful and enjoyable until we hit the stairs. Both of us kept on trekking thinking the other was fine, but finally we took a break and both of us were clearly DYING. Perspiration is an understatement for him...we weren't even half way up the mountain and he was drenched. I also was feeling pretty heated, but thankfully was not dripping sweat-I was just short of breath and could feel my heart beating at a rapid pace. 
Eventually we climbed on pausing for breaks every once in a while. With about 1 km away from the peak he told me to leave him behind-his calves were hurting and he didn't want to hold me back...so I climbed away for what felt like forever

With the peak in site, I decided to wait for him...we had started this together and I figured it only seemed right for us to reach the top together.

AH! We made it!! I have since been informed that this is the 4th highest mountain in Korea, so I feel pretty accomplished about this. We were literally amongst the clouds. When we got to the top we could hear the chanting of monks resonating through the mountains and it was almost more zen-filled than the temple we visited last week. I have way more photos, but do not want to fill up the entire blog of pictures of Seoul and mountains-be on the lookout for an album very soon.
It's funny writing about this because when talking to my mom and aunt shin, neither of them really remembers Seoul being surrounded by mountains...as I look around everyday, all I can see are mountains haha. The city is perfectly placed within a chain of mountains and it is so beautiful and picturesque.
The decent was just as difficult as the climb...surprisingly we made it down without falling down any steps or slipping on the rocks. Phew-5 hours round trip and we were back at Emo's sitting down for lunch-obviously more food!
I proceeded to pass out for 2 hours on the couch and was woken up to National Geographic in Korean! After hanging out for some time, we piled into Uncle's car and headed out for dinner (eating again...). Once dinner was completed, Uncle drove me home to Ah Jah Si's and I passed out in a second-it was quite an exhausting day!


Tuesday Sept 28: Changdeok Palace
This was a day for exploration-I started off at the Changdeok Palace...

Perfect weather and some quality alone time in a very peaceful place-YES. I walked around the palace grounds giving myself a private tour and settled down in the gardens next to a coi pond where I wrote in my journal and just relaxed.

After a few hours here I decided to head out-I ended up at Dongdaemun market shopping. In Korea there is a weird policy where most places do not allow you to try on clothes, so basically you see it, if you like it then you buy it-so me being the consumer I am, found a skirt that looked awesome on the hanger so I bought it. I don't remember my exact justifications for the purchase, but either way I have zero room in my pack for any more clothes, and after trying it on at Sara's apartment I clearly did not think it through-it was more of an impulse buy. typical. Oh well-now I have a long black skirt to wear around the world...
Around 6:30 pm I met up with Sara at her subway stop and she showed me her place! It is probably the cutest, most economical studio I have ever seen. The practicality surpasses any apartment I have ever seen before; it is fully equipped with a kitchen, washer, plenty of cabinet space, a desk, dresser, large bed, and full bathroom-I loved it!! Props to you Ms. Park-you have quite the spot in Seoul!
From there we ventured to Itaewan for dinner with her cousin Jennifer. Greek food YUM-after having Korean food (basically rice and kimchee) for breakfast lunch and dinner, it was a nice break. Meeting Jennifer was awesome-the three of us chatted about the world's problems and have formulated some proposed solutions if anyone cares to hear them...haha kidddinggg, no but really :) Basically we dined and had some deep conversations that were much appreciated-good company is always pleasant and meeting new people is half the reason I travel.
After dinner we separated from Jennifer and wound up in Sinsa-don (spelling is incorrect I think) which is probably one of the cutest streets I have come across in Seoul. It reminded me of something I would see in California somewhere-a narrow street lined with small clothing boutiques, nice restaurants, trendy coffee shops, plenty of bars, and made for good people watching. We walked up the street and found a cute bar where we sat on the 2nd floor with our own window and balcony to look over the street. Again, good company and flowing conversation about life made it a fun night! 
Unfortunately we had to say goodbye, but it was awesome re-connecting with her and especially since we got to do it in the motherland! I cannot wait to see her again-hopefully it will be sooner than later...


Wednesday Sept 29: YOGA YOGA YOGA
FINALLY CAUGHT UP! YAY this is today...so, I had my yoga Africa Yoga Project fundraiser in Seoul today! Seoul Salutations!! I had 43 students and raised close to $500! It was definitely an experience seeing as as how I haven't taught since the end of August and it was in a totally different language (I had a translator thankfully). But it was awesome-the yogis were great, super supportive and very accepting! I love how the yoga culture is consistent from country to country (at least from my experiences). The only thing that threw me off a little bit was that everyone practices in these tiny little outfits that resemble more of a bathing suit than work out clothes. They all thought it was odd that I was in pants and a tank top...but either way it was quite an event and such an awesome experience!

Here is my fundraising page again if you can help at all that'd be awesome!!!!
https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/ayoga/donation.jsp?campaign=7


Ok I'm finally done with this book of a post!! Namaste and have a wonderful day!! Off to Australia on Friday!

the ultimate bath house experience

this next post is not going to even come close to summing up the experience we had at the bath house. Also, this is not meant to be inappropriate in any way, I am merely trying to clue you in on the events that occurred...oh and there are no pictures for obvious reasons.


It started after eating our Thanksgiving meal...we mentioned that the three of us planned on going to a bath house on Friday, and then it turned in to us going that day with my mom's cousin. 


A ten minute walk from the apartment and we were beginning the bath house adventure. As soon as you walk through the door you are handed a pink ensemble consisting of pants and capris, 2 small green hand towels, and a key. Unsure as to what to do, we walked to our lockers and started to undress. Gina, Aunt Shin, and I were all set to walk into the bath area with the pink outfits on when their cousin stopped us (I mind you she was completely naked): we were not to wear ANY clothing. The three of us looked at each other and awkwardly giggled, each of us with the "are we really gonna do this" look on our faces. YES of course we were going to do it...so we walked back to our individual lockers and undressed for the 2nd time. This time we walked towards the bath area in the nude, trying to be discrete about it, but unfortunately the minuscule towels were not covering anything.


Phew, that was a big step out of the comfort zone. Little did I know the next series of events would basically be leaping miles outside of my comfort zone...


Walking through the doors of the bath area felt like walking through the doors of the first day of high school. Completely unsure as to what to expect and worrying way too much about how I looked and what other people would think.

First step in the bath house process: shower/rinse before entering the sauna/steam room/or any of the tubs. Immediately to the left of the entrance was a line of about 12 showers (very locker room like) where we were provided with a scrubber and an exfoliant. Awesome. I was standing next to my 3 relatives hovering around the age of 50. Still completely unsure as to how to go about this whole process, I followed emo's lead: scrub.rinse.sauna. 


The sauna read close to 66 degrees Celsius. As soon as I walked through the doors I knew I was going to be uncomfortably hot. The sauna was basically a little cave with some wooden stools and benches to sit out. The ceiling and walls were constructed with specific materials in order to provide the driest/hottest temperature possible. A special clay covered the ceiling and a type of wood covered all of the walls leaving a dark and very cave-like ambiance. There were 2 other women in there with us, and one of them immediately commented on us. She must have sensed our uncomfortable energy and said something to gina about her hair. We then proceeded to chat a little in English and she asked us where we were from and such. This got me thinking...is it really normal to have sauna small talk? As I sat there on my wooden stool, I kept thinking about how this was so "normal" for them. Lounging in this sweltering room willing to spark any conversation with the next nude person...hmmmm quite interesting.


But either way the lady wanted to make sure that I remembered her even if it was as "the woman with 2 stomachs." She grabbed her stomach while saying this and we all burst out in laughter. She kept chatting with us talking about weight gain and hair styles and other personal feminine things...I suppose bath house small chat isn't so bad.

Sweating profusely in a room with ladies double my age was getting a little overwhelming, so after making eye contact with Aunt Shin and looking towards the door, we decided to bail on the sauna. Emo walked right over to one of the larger pools and started scooping small dishes of the water on to her body then jumped into the pool. I hopped right into the pool and was very shocked. My entire body tensed up...the water felt like ice. It must have been close to 50 degrees F colder than the sauna. Watching Aunt Shin and Gina pop into the water was hilarious. If any of you know Gina Lee, her and cold water do not mix. Her face was priceless; mouth wide open while letting out an extremely loud yelp- I couldn't help but die laughing. 


After less than a minute in the freezing bath, we made our way over to the "normal" tub. The temperature felt quite similar to that of a bath I would take at home...so there we were, the 4 of us in the nude finally getting comfortable.


Emo suggested we get a body scrub done and at that point we were so far into the experience we figured why not. While waiting for the woman who performs the scrubs to arrive, we put on our pink jump suits and laid in the lobby area. We ordered some shaved ice and lounged on the mats while indulging. It felt very roman like...hanging out at a bath house while being served flavored shaved ice and just chatting. I could definitely get used to that lifestyle...


Aunt Shin was the first to head to the body scrub. I only got to see the end of it, but was slightly mortified by what I was about to get into. I soaked in the hot bath as her scrub came to a finish and it was quite a site to watch. This little topless Asian lady dressed in black, see-through shorts showing a thong was standing over my aunt scrubbing ferociously away.


My turn. I hopped up onto the pink, patent leather table and it began. She started on my legs and began peeling away at my skin. Using a rough cloth, the woman peeled about 2 layers of my dermis off...my entire body. She touched on about 98% of my body. At certain points (like when my legs were close to being spread in front of her) did I feel slightly uncomfortable, but then I figured, this is her job, she must see tons of types of bodies on a daily basis and it was irrelevant how I looked at that point. As the scrub neared the finish, the woman lathered my entire front with oil then asked me the flip, at this point I literally thought I was going to slide right off of the table. A bucket of water was splashed over me and i got one last scrub down and I was done. I stepped off the table in a daze, a little discombobulated and had to laugh. WOW. I have had the pleasure of receiving the Maple Sugar Body Scrub at The Spa at the Mirror Lake Inn, but this took the term "body scrub" to a whole different level. 


After this, I quickly showered and rinsed off all of the oil...I then proceeded to return to the lounge area and order an ice coffee. Gina finished her scrub about a half hour later and when all of our eyes met we just died laughing. Each of us were thinking "did that really just happen??" This post does not even do our experience justice, and to be honest, I don't think I could put the experience down in words...it was hilarious/uncomfortable/awesome all in one. 


This became quite a laughing point through our trip...when looking back on the week with Aunt Shin and Gina, the bath house might take the cake on the biggest culture shock we took part in. I loved it...we had quite the Korean Thanksgiving to say the least.


Quick update: so it's Sunday morning and Gina and Shin left yesterday...what an awesome time we had...I will post another blog about the remainder of our trip in the next few days

taking it all in

location: still in Seoul

10:05 am on Tuesday the telephone rings in the hotel room and all 3 of us are still completely passed out. We were supposed to be up and ready to meet Ah Ja Ci in the lobby at 10. We were more than late. We all hopped right up, swiftly got our stuff together and were out the door within in 20 minutes. I must say, we were all very efficient and for 3 ladies to get ready in 20 minutes, it was quite a miracle.


And we were off. The pouring rain was not going to stop our adventure. We took the train to the Dosunsa Buddhist Temple where my grandma used to take my mom and aunt. 

This was one of the most incredible places I have ever been; labeling it peaceful does not do it justice. This place was on a level of Zen that I have never experienced. There were monks chanting, people praying and bowing, candles being lit, mountains in the distance and waterfalls flowing. Numerous statues of Buddha and other idols were strategically placed all over the grounds and a stream of prayer lanterns covered one courtyard (shown above). The temple was magical; everything you could imagine about a practicing Buddhist temple was there. 


After this, we took a bus back to the hotel. During this time a ridiculous rain storm hit Seoul and some of the streets/subways were flooded. At one point on the trip back water on the street was so high that it came in through the bus doors! It was basically a flash flood in some neighborhoods on Seoul-we later found out that an accumulation of 257 mm in 12 hours (10.1 inches).


Due to the rain we decided to stay inside and lounge for a while. Sara came and met us at the hotel and we went to market from the first night. We found this dumpling place my mom was looking for and sat down. Almost immediately after ordering 2 mondu plates, they were placed on our table! It was the fastest service you could imagine! MMMMMMMM the mondu were absolutely delicious and we devoured them pretty quickly. We left just as quickly as we had arrived and wandered the market for a while before returning to the hotel. 

We had Italian food and had some quality ladies time! This is proof that Laday and I hung out :)


Today-Wednesday September 22
Chuseok-Korean Thanksgiving
8:45 arrival at Ah Ja Ci's house for the traditional Chuseok traditions. This was my first ever Korean Thanksgiving, so I was quite intrigued. I had no idea what to expect. When we walked through the door and we were met with a table fully covered with Korean food. My kind of holiday...

Come to find out all of this food was for the ancestors. Korean Thanksgiving is all about ancestors. Ah Ja Ci lit incense and then proceeded to open the front door in order to let the ghosts of our ancestors in. Then the praying began. Ah Ja Ci's great grandfather was the first person to be prayed to. Each ancestor is bowed to 3 times and poured sake and presented with various rice dishes. There is a methodology as to how to go about feeding the ancestors, but it was quite confusing and too hard for me to write. Three generations of ancestors were prayed to and fed in about 20 minutes. Then it was time for the family to eat.


We feasted on all sorts of food including meat, fish, vegetables, rice, soup, and even sake at 10 am. It was amazing. I feel like all I keep talking about on this trip is the food, but words can't even begin to describe how incredible the Korean food I have been eating is. 

Good food/Good company-it was a wonderful first Chuseok for me!

Time for bed now-next blog will be about the most authentic bath house experience possible! It would take me too long to write about it now, but today we did go to a Korean bath house and had quite the culture shock!
Off to see Gina and Shin's Emo (auntie) tomorrow!

korealand

i love asia

Current location: Seoul, South Korea

Wow. Since my arrival in Seoul, I have been moving non-stop. We landed in Korea at about 3:30 pm on Sunday afternoon and since then it has been a constant stream of events.

Once we checked in and unpacked and got settled a little bit, we all knew we had to get out of the room or else we would fall asleep right away. I have learned from past experiences that it is essential to stay up until it is night time wherever you are in order to adjust to the time difference. Knowing this, we decided to head out and get some dinner. We ended up in the Myeongdong about 10 minutes from the hotel. This place was alive. People are streaming through the alley ways making their way from store to store. There were people everywhere. Thousands of stores, restaurants, and street vendors provided quite a site.

We ended up stumbling on a small restaurant that had a sign for Bibim Nangmun and decided to check it out. There was a line up the stairs to the entrance way, confirming the fact that it must be good. Restaurants paste the streets of Seoul, but we figured as long as the place is crowded, it must be good. So we indulged on noodles and Bal Nag Ji (shown below). This consists of duk (rice rolls), squid, onions, peppers, hot sauce, and other various Korean vegetables-absolutely delicious but VERY spicy.

After our meal, we just walked around the area and did some exploring. One main observation I found was that Korean's have some of the cutest fashion I have ever seen. The streets are plastered with tons of small boutiques with the most adorable clothes which are surprisingly WAY cheaper than the US

After some wandering, we headed back to the hotel and ended up crashing for the evening.

Monday morning

Due to jet-lag and the lack of adjusting to the time difference (13 hours) I woke up at 6 am. I pranced down to the gym and ended doing yoga in a huge studio all by myself. It was wonderful.

We had all the intention of going on a city tour for the day but when we tried to buy tickets, we learned that they were closed on Mondays.

So working around this, we started on a quest to find my mom's old elementary school and house. Wow, this was quite an adventure. We started on foot towards the area of the school and to my surprise, ended up finding way easier than I had thought.

 

These two ladies were quite a site to watch. Aunt Shin has not returned to Korea since they left 36 years ago, and so watching them interact while reminiscing very interesting. They were like giddy little girls chatting about how they used to play on these stairs and look over the edge and be scared of this bathroom and so on. I soaked it in like a sponge. I have never seen my mother act this way; she was a little chatterbox, spewing out all of these memories that she had of the school.

We continued on a very long treck to find their old house. Along the way we got lost, so lost in fact that when we asked people for directions, they replied saying we were close to a half hour from where wanted to be! Here is a picture from Kyunghee Gung-a place we stumbled upon when we were lost

Finally, after hopping into a cab, we found it. The house no longer is standing, but both my mom and Aunt Shin remembered the street. Sidenote-the weather became increasingly hot and by the time we found the street of their old house we were roughing it. We headed back to the hotel and dropped some of our layers off and went out for lunch. 

Namdaemun Market was the place to go. We stepped into a small alleyway and were immediately beckoned by many women to eat at their "station." They grabbed at us and kept asking us to eat at their spot. We finally settled into a small 5 person station and ordered Kal Gook Su. 

YUM! Absolutely delicious and less than $4. Following lunch we walked around a little bit, ended up climbing a mountain and taking a cable car to Namsan Tower. The view of Seoul was beautiful. The mountains surround the city and it almost reminds me of Rio minus the ocean. 12 million people live in Seoul, and from the views up there, Seoul is almost overwhelming large.

Right after this, we headed back to the hotel for some down time. Gina and I went to the pool to swim and hit the hot tub while Aunt Shin layed down for a nap.

Around 3:30 we started off on our way to visit my mom's Ah Jae Si (uncle). After figuring out the subway system, we made it. Their home was about 45 minutes from the hotel and absolutely wonderful. Upon arrival we were greeted by Ah Jum Ma (auntie) and we sat on the couches and began chatting. Pictures were brought out and the conversation never subsided. I ended up falling asleep for about an hour and a half and was awoken when it was time to head to dinner. 

Its interesting meeting family that I've never met before-considering I cannot really communicate with them, it makes it even more of an experience. Either way, it ended up being hilarious and a few hours with great company. We ate at a small local restaurant, sat on the floor, and I even tried rice wine for the first time. Below is a picture of my mom, aunt, mom's uncle, mom's aunt, mom's cousin, and me outside the restaurant!

AFTER all of that, I called Sara and met up with her at her metro stop. From there we proceeded to go to an Irish pub for some drinks. It was awesome seeing a familiar face in a new city and catching up with her was great. It had been since our Vietnam/Taiwan trip in March and our lives have drastically changed since then. It's funny how we had chatted about meeting up in Korea at some point and both of us kind of brushed it off like "haha wouldn't that be fun"-but the fact that it became true is pretty cool. I would have never expected the next time for us to see each other would be in Seoul! 

We went to club Eden which was in the basement of the Ritz Carlton. The main reason we went there was because all week foreigners get in for free. But on a Monday night, the place was looking pretty dead. We waited it out and our night ended up being quite hilarious and made for good people watching. Around 1 am we departed and both went home.

Ok that is plenty of writing and just one day of events-It is Wednesday morning right now about 6 am-i can't sleep) and we are celebrating Korean Thanksgiving today!!! Tons of food and some more family...

pack lite-live long-travel far

current location when writing: United flight 893, seat 18F, flying over the Rockies

current location from post: Seoul Korea

Total flight time: 5 hrs 40 mins JFK-San Francisco, 13 hrs 23 mins

First thought: why can’t my body control my body temperature every time I fly?! I feel like every single time I set foot on a plane, I am constantly hot then cold then hot then fine and so on. It is extremely uncomfortable and annoying, and currently I am a little over-heated. I wish my body would just figure it out and keep me at a constant temperature. Thanks hypothalamus UGH.

And now it has really begun. The 2:45 am wakeup call this morning came easier than I anticipated. Mark Glauser, being the saint he is, drove Aunt Shin, Gina, and I to the airport and grandpa tagged along. It’s funny how crowded the streets of NYC are still streaming with traffic at the hour of 3:30 am. I suppose that isn’t that uncommon. With bars never coming to a close, it is easy to stay out, and I know I’m guilty of staying out well past 3:30 on visits to the city. 

The past few days have flown by in a whirlwind of events. Have you ever felt like you lived multiple days all in one 24 hour period? Starting with Tuesday, I feel like I have lived more than a week within 4 days. I think that it has to do with the amount of people you interact with as well as the various activities you end up doing, but this time felt much more hectic than usual. Each day began the same: woke up a little later than anticipated and prepped for an entire day out. Meg and I were averaging about 12 hours away from the UES each day we were in town. 

From shopping, site seeing, people watching, meeting up with friends, and fine dining, oh and more shopping, I think we did as much as we possibly could while in town. Constantly on our feet, things got a little tiresome, but that goes without saying in Manhattan. A huge thanks to Steve and Mins for the futon and hospitality-it was wonderful to be back in the UES!

Thank goodness Meg and I are such good friends because I have found there are expectations when you play tour guide to a friend. I sent her on her way at Penn Station on Friday feeling like we had conquered as much of the city as our bodies could handle. We had sushi and drinks with Ian (the original 3 muskateers), explored Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, and the East Village with Julia-quick snap of the 2 ladies in Little Italy-

dined in Union Square with Minnie, Tank, Lucas, and Ferri, shopped in mid-town with Minnie, people watched for a bit in Grand Central, dined in the WAY upper east side with more good company, and STILL had time to do tons of damage to our wallets by ourselves.

Looking back, it really was a lot jam packed in those few days. I loved it. I saw all the people I needed to see before I left and really enjoyed myself. Leaving the city on that note really got me thinking about the company you surround yourself with. Even though we spent a good amount of money, it was the free activities that will really stick in my memory. While sitting in Union Square waiting for Min to get out of work, Meg and I had some of the silliest conversations sitting there people watching. “And the little one, I’ll put her in my pocket and take her with me” 

Exploring the various neighborhoods with Julia and Meg led to hilarious topics and a good amount of free entertainment. Specifically in Little Italy, all of the hostess’ would attack us asking us to eat at their restaurants, and Julia simply replied “NO we’re on a diet THANKS” when really we were in search of a cheap sushi place to pig out at.

Jackpot!!!! $1 menu sushi-50% off rolls-$2.25 Sapporo

Random moments such as these two examples really make me realize how great it is to be surrounded by good company. No matter what sort of situation we’re in, we always find some way to entertain ourselves and make each other laugh and smile. During my trip, this is one thing I am really going to miss-my friends. Although I will be meeting up with people I know in each country, I still will be spending a good amount of time alone. 

Enough of that negative-ness Kristen Glauser.

As I sit here distracted by the views from my window, I can’t help but begin to plan my next adventure. The mountains are beautiful and just solidifying the fact that I would LOVE to move west very soon. If I ever decide to settle in the US, out west will be where it is. But I need to focus on now. Right now I am about to take on quite an adventure, and I better be careful before I get too ahead of myself. 

I am about to have quite an experience with 2 awesome ladies. I am getting the pleasure of tagging along the first return trip to Korea for Aunt Shin since they moved to the US; I cannot wait. I will be meeting family I never met before and also meeting up with Ms. Sara Park herself. It has been entirely too long since I have been separated from my Korean twin and I hope Seoul will be able to handle us.

That seems like a sufficient amount of writing for right now. 

One last thing: PLEASE help my fundraiser! Even if all you can donate is a few dollars, anything will help! I had a conversation with one of the coordinators from AYP and my workshop is also going to include setting up blogs for all of the AYP instructors in Nairobi-be on the lookout in November!

https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/ayoga/campaign.jsp?campaign=7