so little time
well. it's september. i honestly can't believe it. this has been the fastest year of my life, i think. i'm not ready to come home. there's so much left to do here. i'm going to hong kong the first week in October, the 3rd through the 7th, over the Chu'seok holiday. i think i'm going to go to cambodia and vietnam over the christmas break. or maybe singapore and cambodia and vietnam. i've hardly seen any of korea, either. i want to go back to jeju and hike a couple mountains, go back to busan, explore some of the islands here, see more of the countryside, explore more of seoul.
yikes! though, fun yikes. *o*
people at work are starting to think about moving home. most of them are going home. rod hasn't decided yet. he might stay for a bit longer, or else he's going home and we'll do a long-distance thing for a bit. hooray for skype! i am excited for you guys to meet him. at some point in the next 15 months, i think he's going to try to come to minneapolis for a bit. he is going back to college to get his education degree, which in canada you get after your 4-year undergrad. he'll go into a one or two year program, so if things keep going well it will be back and forth between canada and minnapolis for a bit.
it's making me a little glum, all of this change. i wonder if i'll ever do well with change? i'm going to miss some of my co-workers. am really going to miss rod. i'm also starting to think about what i am going to miss when i go home. walking back to work yesterday after i grabbed some take out bibimbap, i took a moment and watched people carrying on with their daily lives. it's so different here. i love watching people. the area where i work is so peaceful. you always see elementary kids on bikes or walking in groups, touting the latest kid fashion in backpacks. middle and high schoolers wander in their school uniforms, lugging these tiny backpacks overflowing with paper and books. a middle aged man who runs his fruit and vegetable stand out of the back of a truck sits in the sun, waiting for a customer. (i buy my tomatoes from him.) an older woman selling homemade kimbap out of two giant softpack coolers sits shaded under a tree and chats with her regulars. my school is located next to a home for elderly people, so you always see old men and women with the most fascinating faces sitting outside on benches, watching life swirl by. sometimes the men play a game that looks similar to go, except the pieces are larger, fewer, and some are marked with an x.
i'm going to miss my students. i'm going to miss being able to eat really good restaurant food for $3 or $4 a meal. i'm going to miss having everything stay open 24 hours. i'm going to miss living somewhere with so much activity, so much life!
although, i have a feeling that when i go to Hong Kong, Seoul is going to seem a bit dull afterwards. ~lol~ never content. ~grin~
more thailand photos.
love to you.
~s
karon beach:
beach guard?
view from our hotel room on karon:
first of many gorgeous sunsets:
we took the john gray's sea canoe tour by starlight in Phang Na Bay our Saturday in Phuket. by far the best tour i've ever been on. they care about the environment and gave so much inforamtion about the limestone caves (hongs), the mangrove forests, the animal life, it was just an incredible day. and it even rained on and off all day. here are a few photos.
long-tail boat in harbor at Ao Po:
limestone island in phang na bay:
one of the guides, taking a rest:
going into the first hong:
inside the hong, mangrove tree roots:
rod and ib, our guide. ib was so awesome! we weren't allowed to paddle at first, but we had an hour later in the day to paddle on our own:
into the wild, looking for monkeys (or giant fruit bats):
inside a cave:
a not very good photo of inside the largest cave, where we didn't have to lay flat in the canoe. this is the insect bat cave. all of my bat photos are blurry. :(
the hongs were so beautiful. a little perspective:
when we went paddling on our own, rod and i ended up on this deserted beach:
our canoe:
rod and i with our kratong. ib made most of it, but we helped. :)
letting our kratong go (rather blurrily):
yikes! though, fun yikes. *o*
people at work are starting to think about moving home. most of them are going home. rod hasn't decided yet. he might stay for a bit longer, or else he's going home and we'll do a long-distance thing for a bit. hooray for skype! i am excited for you guys to meet him. at some point in the next 15 months, i think he's going to try to come to minneapolis for a bit. he is going back to college to get his education degree, which in canada you get after your 4-year undergrad. he'll go into a one or two year program, so if things keep going well it will be back and forth between canada and minnapolis for a bit.
it's making me a little glum, all of this change. i wonder if i'll ever do well with change? i'm going to miss some of my co-workers. am really going to miss rod. i'm also starting to think about what i am going to miss when i go home. walking back to work yesterday after i grabbed some take out bibimbap, i took a moment and watched people carrying on with their daily lives. it's so different here. i love watching people. the area where i work is so peaceful. you always see elementary kids on bikes or walking in groups, touting the latest kid fashion in backpacks. middle and high schoolers wander in their school uniforms, lugging these tiny backpacks overflowing with paper and books. a middle aged man who runs his fruit and vegetable stand out of the back of a truck sits in the sun, waiting for a customer. (i buy my tomatoes from him.) an older woman selling homemade kimbap out of two giant softpack coolers sits shaded under a tree and chats with her regulars. my school is located next to a home for elderly people, so you always see old men and women with the most fascinating faces sitting outside on benches, watching life swirl by. sometimes the men play a game that looks similar to go, except the pieces are larger, fewer, and some are marked with an x.
i'm going to miss my students. i'm going to miss being able to eat really good restaurant food for $3 or $4 a meal. i'm going to miss having everything stay open 24 hours. i'm going to miss living somewhere with so much activity, so much life!
although, i have a feeling that when i go to Hong Kong, Seoul is going to seem a bit dull afterwards. ~lol~ never content. ~grin~
more thailand photos.
love to you.
~s
karon beach:
beach guard?
view from our hotel room on karon:
first of many gorgeous sunsets:
we took the john gray's sea canoe tour by starlight in Phang Na Bay our Saturday in Phuket. by far the best tour i've ever been on. they care about the environment and gave so much inforamtion about the limestone caves (hongs), the mangrove forests, the animal life, it was just an incredible day. and it even rained on and off all day. here are a few photos.
long-tail boat in harbor at Ao Po:
limestone island in phang na bay:
one of the guides, taking a rest:
going into the first hong:
inside the hong, mangrove tree roots:
rod and ib, our guide. ib was so awesome! we weren't allowed to paddle at first, but we had an hour later in the day to paddle on our own:
into the wild, looking for monkeys (or giant fruit bats):
inside a cave:
a not very good photo of inside the largest cave, where we didn't have to lay flat in the canoe. this is the insect bat cave. all of my bat photos are blurry. :(
the hongs were so beautiful. a little perspective:
when we went paddling on our own, rod and i ended up on this deserted beach:
our canoe:
rod and i with our kratong. ib made most of it, but we helped. :)
letting our kratong go (rather blurrily):
posted by smochs at 1:25 PM
4 Comments:
I'm so jealous of all of your traveling! :) I'm glad you're having a good time, though. Didn't a year seem like a long time, before you left? And now it's not long enough--isn't that always the case? Stay healthy!
aieeee, mel, i am addicted to traveling. i am tempted to try to save a bunch of money and go around the world for a year. ~lol~ but, i don't think that will happen, 'cuz of my money saving skills and 'cuz i want to see everyone at home, not to mention seeing rod. oh well. i'll do it in short spurts while i'm here. god, i can't believe how fast this year is going by. it's so crazy. is it going by fast at home, too?
We've been redecorating the dining room for 8 1/2 months.
waaaaaaaaaa.... does that mean it's been really fast & you've not had time to decorate, or it's been slower than sludge and it's taking forever? ~lol~
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