Happy Anniversary!
As for returning back to Korea, I'm leaving Friday and will arrive Saturday night. I know I'm going to be jet lagged, and am not looking forward to having only 1 day to recoup before going to school on Monday!
Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts
Thursday, August 19, 2010
USA Vacation
During my 25 days in the USA for summer vacation, I did a lot of nice things with my family and ate some great food! The big event that happened while at home in WI was going to my grandparent's 60th anniversary! We had a family reunion weekend filled with family, food, and fun times. Here they are with their cake!
Happy Anniversary!
As for returning back to Korea, I'm leaving Friday and will arrive Saturday night. I know I'm going to be jet lagged, and am not looking forward to having only 1 day to recoup before going to school on Monday!
Happy Anniversary!
As for returning back to Korea, I'm leaving Friday and will arrive Saturday night. I know I'm going to be jet lagged, and am not looking forward to having only 1 day to recoup before going to school on Monday!
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Malaysia Trip Planning
It's time for me to take another trip :) For my last 5 days of vacation, I will be taking a one week trip to Malaysia. I've been doing lots of research of what I want to do, so here's the outline. I'll be doing this trip on my own, and therefore have lots of freedom to do exactly what I want, when I want. Here's what it looks like so far.
February 12th- fly out of Incheon at 11 am, arrive in Kuala Lapur at 4:50 pm. There's a few time changes in there, I think flying time is around 6 hours. I plan on sleeping for most of it! That evening, I will stay at the Red Palm hostel, which is located in Bukit Bintang, the center of the city. It should be a great location, and the reviews on hostelworld.com sound great. I've also read that I need to buy a taxi coupon from the arrival hall at Sentral Station because otherwise taxi's may rip you off.
13th- I'll leave the hostel early in the morning and go to Puduraya Bus Station, where I need to buy a "transnational express" bus ticket to Kuala Perlis. Kuala Perlis is so far north it almost touches Thailand. According to Mapquest, that will be about 5 1/2 hours away. From Kuala Perlis, I'll take a 1 hour ($4) ferry ride to the tropical island of Langkawi. I'm so excited to get there! That evening, I will be staying at Hotel Helang. I've emailed the hotel two times now to send me my confirmation, but haven't heard back. I was so worried about getting a hotel, with it being Chinese New Year (2010- year of the tiger!) that I'm sure I booked it... I hope. However, there are still rooms available if I did infact somehow miss that minor part of planning! I don't know how I could have forgotten, so fingers crossed. I wish I could stay in this hotel!
14th, 15th, 16th- There is lots to do on Langkawi, most revolving around the 4 best white-sand beaches. Snorkeling in the marine park, scuba diving, jet skiing, mangrove tours, eagle feeding, shark feeding, alligator and snake park, canopy tours, hiking, kayaking to nearby islands (!), spas (I think the Ishan spa sounds fabulous!), and parasailing. I've read lots of places it is easy to rent a scooter, so I'd love to do that, maybe for two days so I can check out all the beaches. The pictures look fantastic and I just hope it looks that good in person. I'm also really dying to go snorkeling again after the awesome experience I had in the Philippines. And of course, there's plenty of bars, restaurants, and shopping. I really want to get a nice cold Pina Colada at a bar where you can stick you feet in the sand under an umbrella... mmm sounds great to me. This is Pulau Payar Marine Park, where I hope to take a day trip to snorkel!
17th- I'll check out of the hotel, and take a ferry to Georgetown. I have a feeling I may never want to leave the island though! It should take about 2 1/2 hours to get to Georgetown, and I'll stay at Huttonlodge. I haven't done much research about this town yet, but I think there is lot of Spanish influence here.
18th- The next day, I'll take a bus back to Kuala Lampur, where I will again stay at Red Palm. I'll use my freetime for sightseeing there. Apparently the city itself isn't very large, about the size of Gwangju. I really want to see the petronas tower. I've heard it's like going to Seattle without seeing the Needle. Here's what it looks like. It reminds me of a movie, though I can't remember what. I feel like it had Catherine Zeta-Jones in it though.
19th- I'll have all day on the 19th to sightsee more in KL. Maybe even do some shopping. I need to go to the airport in the early evening since I catch a red-eye flight at 11:30 pm. I'll get back technically on the 20th (Saturday morning) at 6:45 or so. I imagine hitting up the jimjilbang in the bottom of the Incheon Airport would feel amazing after sleeping on the plane. Ahh just a few more days left until I'm here:
February 12th- fly out of Incheon at 11 am, arrive in Kuala Lapur at 4:50 pm. There's a few time changes in there, I think flying time is around 6 hours. I plan on sleeping for most of it! That evening, I will stay at the Red Palm hostel, which is located in Bukit Bintang, the center of the city. It should be a great location, and the reviews on hostelworld.com sound great. I've also read that I need to buy a taxi coupon from the arrival hall at Sentral Station because otherwise taxi's may rip you off.
13th- I'll leave the hostel early in the morning and go to Puduraya Bus Station, where I need to buy a "transnational express" bus ticket to Kuala Perlis. Kuala Perlis is so far north it almost touches Thailand. According to Mapquest, that will be about 5 1/2 hours away. From Kuala Perlis, I'll take a 1 hour ($4) ferry ride to the tropical island of Langkawi. I'm so excited to get there! That evening, I will be staying at Hotel Helang. I've emailed the hotel two times now to send me my confirmation, but haven't heard back. I was so worried about getting a hotel, with it being Chinese New Year (2010- year of the tiger!) that I'm sure I booked it... I hope. However, there are still rooms available if I did infact somehow miss that minor part of planning! I don't know how I could have forgotten, so fingers crossed. I wish I could stay in this hotel!
14th, 15th, 16th- There is lots to do on Langkawi, most revolving around the 4 best white-sand beaches. Snorkeling in the marine park, scuba diving, jet skiing, mangrove tours, eagle feeding, shark feeding, alligator and snake park, canopy tours, hiking, kayaking to nearby islands (!), spas (I think the Ishan spa sounds fabulous!), and parasailing. I've read lots of places it is easy to rent a scooter, so I'd love to do that, maybe for two days so I can check out all the beaches. The pictures look fantastic and I just hope it looks that good in person. I'm also really dying to go snorkeling again after the awesome experience I had in the Philippines. And of course, there's plenty of bars, restaurants, and shopping. I really want to get a nice cold Pina Colada at a bar where you can stick you feet in the sand under an umbrella... mmm sounds great to me. This is Pulau Payar Marine Park, where I hope to take a day trip to snorkel!
17th- I'll check out of the hotel, and take a ferry to Georgetown. I have a feeling I may never want to leave the island though! It should take about 2 1/2 hours to get to Georgetown, and I'll stay at Huttonlodge. I haven't done much research about this town yet, but I think there is lot of Spanish influence here.
18th- The next day, I'll take a bus back to Kuala Lampur, where I will again stay at Red Palm. I'll use my freetime for sightseeing there. Apparently the city itself isn't very large, about the size of Gwangju. I really want to see the petronas tower. I've heard it's like going to Seattle without seeing the Needle. Here's what it looks like. It reminds me of a movie, though I can't remember what. I feel like it had Catherine Zeta-Jones in it though.
19th- I'll have all day on the 19th to sightsee more in KL. Maybe even do some shopping. I need to go to the airport in the early evening since I catch a red-eye flight at 11:30 pm. I'll get back technically on the 20th (Saturday morning) at 6:45 or so. I imagine hitting up the jimjilbang in the bottom of the Incheon Airport would feel amazing after sleeping on the plane. Ahh just a few more days left until I'm here:
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Philippines Trip Day Three
On my third day in Manila, it didn't seem like we did much but we were busy the whole day. We got picked up at 9 by one of Tita Oma's coworkers, who took us to her office in a Jeepney. Neither Joe nor I really knew why we were going there, but we learned to just take things as they came and not ask questions. When we got there, we realized we would go to the airport to get Joe's mom at 11. In our free time, we took a walk to the bay. It was nice to see the water, even though it wasn't very pretty!
Joe is a pretty funny guy, so when I met his mom for the first time outside the airport, he said, "Mom, this is Marge, my wife." She laughed. Then he followed that up with, "And she's in her second trimester" as he proceded to rub my stomach. Apparently, Joe does this with lots of his friends back in LA, so it wasn't strange to her!
Between picking up Joe's mom and his friend Kenny from Japan in the afternoon, we went to the duty free store. This was like no duty free store I'd ever been to! It wasn't even in the airport! It was like a regular department store, but it was 2 stories. It had everything there! I could have gotten some nice things had I wanted, but instead I opted to get the essentials- toothpaste, conditioner, and peanut butter! His family again refused to let me spend the $10 on these things! And I tried really really hard to pay!
After getting Kenny from a different terminal, we went back to Intramuros. Later, we crammed 13 people on the family Mitsubishi. I'm not even sure how that is mathematically possible! There were 6 in the back trunk area (all the middle school boy cousins), 4 in the middle, and 3 in the front seat. Wow. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that! We were off to Star City, and thankfully dropped some people off on the way.
Star City is a large amusement park/arcade with a roller coaster, bumper cars, ferris wheel, karoke, food, meri-go-round, climbing wall, haunted house, kids rides, games, etc. So it was the 6 boy cousins, Joe, Kenny, and myself. Just one of those 6 boys had more energy there than Joe, Kenny, and I combined. I felt old! All I wanted to do was sit down and rest my feet! Thankfully I had a chance to at Dr Fish, where the fish in the tank came to eat the dead skin off my achy feet.
The tour guides:
Here is the outdoor portion of the park:
Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2219385&id=59501140&saved#/album.php?aid=2219210&id=59501140
Joe is a pretty funny guy, so when I met his mom for the first time outside the airport, he said, "Mom, this is Marge, my wife." She laughed. Then he followed that up with, "And she's in her second trimester" as he proceded to rub my stomach. Apparently, Joe does this with lots of his friends back in LA, so it wasn't strange to her!
Between picking up Joe's mom and his friend Kenny from Japan in the afternoon, we went to the duty free store. This was like no duty free store I'd ever been to! It wasn't even in the airport! It was like a regular department store, but it was 2 stories. It had everything there! I could have gotten some nice things had I wanted, but instead I opted to get the essentials- toothpaste, conditioner, and peanut butter! His family again refused to let me spend the $10 on these things! And I tried really really hard to pay!
After getting Kenny from a different terminal, we went back to Intramuros. Later, we crammed 13 people on the family Mitsubishi. I'm not even sure how that is mathematically possible! There were 6 in the back trunk area (all the middle school boy cousins), 4 in the middle, and 3 in the front seat. Wow. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that! We were off to Star City, and thankfully dropped some people off on the way.
Star City is a large amusement park/arcade with a roller coaster, bumper cars, ferris wheel, karoke, food, meri-go-round, climbing wall, haunted house, kids rides, games, etc. So it was the 6 boy cousins, Joe, Kenny, and myself. Just one of those 6 boys had more energy there than Joe, Kenny, and I combined. I felt old! All I wanted to do was sit down and rest my feet! Thankfully I had a chance to at Dr Fish, where the fish in the tank came to eat the dead skin off my achy feet.
The tour guides:
Here is the outdoor portion of the park:
Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2219385&id=59501140&saved#/album.php?aid=2219210&id=59501140
Monday, January 4, 2010
Philippines Trip Day One
My trip to Manila with my friend Joe from Incheon was amazing! I didn't have any specific plans for when we were there, I just knew I wanted to sightsee and make it to the beach. I had no idea how much I'd get to do in just one week. His family was also amazing! We got on fabulously and had lots of fun together. They spoiled us for the week with a free place to stay, free food, and drove us all over the city and on our day trips. I really felt like part of the family.
We started off our trip nice and early, waking up in Joe's semi-dirty/lived in studio apartment in Incheon on the floor (he broke his bed somehow) at 5:30 am. We needed to grab a taxi by 6 to drive over the 7.6 mile newly constructed Incheon Bridge to the airport (total cost- 40,000 won!). When we got to the airport, we were not sitting next to each other, but by the time we got to the gate, we were seated next to each other- in business class, might I add! We got bumped up for free, I'm assuming because they thought we were on our honeymoon! It was a much welcomed suprise, and after we had breakfast, we slept the rest of the way.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by some members of Joe's family, including his mother's sister, Tita Oma, and her husband, Uncle Eddie. They drove us to the historical part of town, called Intramuros. This part of town in basically in the center of town, close to lots of action. It is quite charming because of the old city wall. Unfortunately, the Spanish vibe faded quickly by where we were staying into more of a slummy area. His familiy was great enough to put us up for free in one of their properties. It was a restaurant, laundrymat, and internet cafe rolled into one, run by some members of the family. I'd later find out how important (and large!) Catholic Filippino families can be!
Here's our place in Intramuros:
We then drove to San Juan in Manila, where Tita Oma and Uncle Eddie lived. At first, I thought they were lower-middle class, but then realized it was just normal housing. They are living a comfortable life style close by other family in a 3 story house with a rooftop garden and excellent view of the city. We were there just a sunrise and were able to get some good pictures. The neighborhood itself was filled with people, noise, and cars. I'm not sure how I'd get any sleep staying in that area, so it was lucky they had space for us at Intramuros.
View from the rooftop garden:
By that point, we were hungry, so we jumped in the family Mitsubishi and went to Esplanade right along Manila Bay. This area was at least a mile and a half of boardwalk, restaurants, cafe's, and shop right along the bay. At night, it was very pretty. For dinner, Tita Oma went to a seafood market and bought some squid and shimp. Then, our restaurant prepared it for us and we had a nice, late dinner. I enjoyed watching the thousands of people and the hustle and bustle of the crowd. At the end of dinner, Joe and I were exhausted, so as soon as we got to Intramuros and unpacked, we fell asleep quickly on some matresses despite the humidity from the day and the hanging laundry drying in the same room.
Family Pic looking exhausted and sweaty, but having fun!
Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2219385&id=59501140&saved#/album.php?aid=2219187&id=59501140
We started off our trip nice and early, waking up in Joe's semi-dirty/lived in studio apartment in Incheon on the floor (he broke his bed somehow) at 5:30 am. We needed to grab a taxi by 6 to drive over the 7.6 mile newly constructed Incheon Bridge to the airport (total cost- 40,000 won!). When we got to the airport, we were not sitting next to each other, but by the time we got to the gate, we were seated next to each other- in business class, might I add! We got bumped up for free, I'm assuming because they thought we were on our honeymoon! It was a much welcomed suprise, and after we had breakfast, we slept the rest of the way.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by some members of Joe's family, including his mother's sister, Tita Oma, and her husband, Uncle Eddie. They drove us to the historical part of town, called Intramuros. This part of town in basically in the center of town, close to lots of action. It is quite charming because of the old city wall. Unfortunately, the Spanish vibe faded quickly by where we were staying into more of a slummy area. His familiy was great enough to put us up for free in one of their properties. It was a restaurant, laundrymat, and internet cafe rolled into one, run by some members of the family. I'd later find out how important (and large!) Catholic Filippino families can be!
Here's our place in Intramuros:
We then drove to San Juan in Manila, where Tita Oma and Uncle Eddie lived. At first, I thought they were lower-middle class, but then realized it was just normal housing. They are living a comfortable life style close by other family in a 3 story house with a rooftop garden and excellent view of the city. We were there just a sunrise and were able to get some good pictures. The neighborhood itself was filled with people, noise, and cars. I'm not sure how I'd get any sleep staying in that area, so it was lucky they had space for us at Intramuros.
View from the rooftop garden:
By that point, we were hungry, so we jumped in the family Mitsubishi and went to Esplanade right along Manila Bay. This area was at least a mile and a half of boardwalk, restaurants, cafe's, and shop right along the bay. At night, it was very pretty. For dinner, Tita Oma went to a seafood market and bought some squid and shimp. Then, our restaurant prepared it for us and we had a nice, late dinner. I enjoyed watching the thousands of people and the hustle and bustle of the crowd. At the end of dinner, Joe and I were exhausted, so as soon as we got to Intramuros and unpacked, we fell asleep quickly on some matresses despite the humidity from the day and the hanging laundry drying in the same room.
Family Pic looking exhausted and sweaty, but having fun!
Facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2219385&id=59501140&saved#/album.php?aid=2219187&id=59501140
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Safe Journey
I am back from a wonderful but exhausting holiday! I spent time with my host family on Christmas Eve, traveled to Incheon on the 25th, and was in the Philippines for a week. Then, I flew back and spent the night in Incheon. Tonight I'm finally back at my place!
Many exciting things have happened in the last week and I can't wait to share them with you, however, it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to do a post before Tom and Mike come on Tuesday for a 2 week visit! I'm so excited to see them I probably won't sleep much these next few nights either :)
Many exciting things have happened in the last week and I can't wait to share them with you, however, it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to do a post before Tom and Mike come on Tuesday for a 2 week visit! I'm so excited to see them I probably won't sleep much these next few nights either :)
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
One Week Out
Well, here I am, just one week short of leaving. I have secured my E-2 visa, as well as my flight for the way over. I didn't have any problems getting the visa, and they were able to process it within a few days. Of course, I checked the mail every day until it arrived.
I got my plane ticket from Priceline. I was orignially going to fly out of Minneapolis, until I found that I could spend the same amount of money, but save about 10 hours by flying out of Chicago O'Hare. I'll be flying on Asiana Airlines. I leave at 1 am central, and arrive at 5am at Incheon International. It is a 14 hour direct flight, and I will be crosssing 14 time zones.
When I arrive at the airport, I'll meet my EPIK guide. They have 20 different busses to pick up the 500+ EPIK participants leaving the airport at different times during the day. The first bus leaves at 7:30 am, and that will take me to our orientation site, Jeonju University.
Jeonju University (http://www.jj.ac.kr/) is located in Jeonjusi, Jeollabukdo in the Southern portion of the country. We will be there from August 19-28th. We'll have dinners with everyone, a variety of classes and guest speakers, and movie nights. I'll also be able to see a traditional Korean village on a field trip. From there, we will go to our respective providences, and start at the schools August 31. I'll find out during orientation at what school and grades I'll be teaching.
Packing is almost done. I've got two large suitcases and one carryon. It has been difficult packing because I need to pack for 4 different seasons. I thought I had it pretty well organized, until I read that EPIK recommends packing one suitcase with what I will need for orientation because there may or may not be enough room at the university for two large bags. There is a separate storage area for excess baggage.
The only paperwork I am still waiting on is my residency certificate. This is needed so I do not have to pay the Korean income tax. After some confusion, I finally found what I needed at the IRS website. I'll need to have my parents mail it to me as soon as it arrives because I need it by September 25th, when I receive my first paycheck.
At this point, the only thing I have left to do is say my goodbyes, which I'm not looking forward to. Hopefully I'll be able to Skype with close friends and family to keep in touch. :) Pray for my safe travels next week!
I got my plane ticket from Priceline. I was orignially going to fly out of Minneapolis, until I found that I could spend the same amount of money, but save about 10 hours by flying out of Chicago O'Hare. I'll be flying on Asiana Airlines. I leave at 1 am central, and arrive at 5am at Incheon International. It is a 14 hour direct flight, and I will be crosssing 14 time zones.
When I arrive at the airport, I'll meet my EPIK guide. They have 20 different busses to pick up the 500+ EPIK participants leaving the airport at different times during the day. The first bus leaves at 7:30 am, and that will take me to our orientation site, Jeonju University.
Jeonju University (http://www.jj.ac.kr/) is located in Jeonjusi, Jeollabukdo in the Southern portion of the country. We will be there from August 19-28th. We'll have dinners with everyone, a variety of classes and guest speakers, and movie nights. I'll also be able to see a traditional Korean village on a field trip. From there, we will go to our respective providences, and start at the schools August 31. I'll find out during orientation at what school and grades I'll be teaching.
Packing is almost done. I've got two large suitcases and one carryon. It has been difficult packing because I need to pack for 4 different seasons. I thought I had it pretty well organized, until I read that EPIK recommends packing one suitcase with what I will need for orientation because there may or may not be enough room at the university for two large bags. There is a separate storage area for excess baggage.
The only paperwork I am still waiting on is my residency certificate. This is needed so I do not have to pay the Korean income tax. After some confusion, I finally found what I needed at the IRS website. I'll need to have my parents mail it to me as soon as it arrives because I need it by September 25th, when I receive my first paycheck.
At this point, the only thing I have left to do is say my goodbyes, which I'm not looking forward to. Hopefully I'll be able to Skype with close friends and family to keep in touch. :) Pray for my safe travels next week!
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