I really am going to miss my kids a lot when I leave. Even the ones who drive me nuts. haha:) My birthday was yesterday. My parents sent flowers to me at school. They're beautiful! Thanks mommy and daddy! A lot of the kids gave me little cards and small gifts too. It was really sweet. I went to Outback for dinner with Kristina, Katie, and Abby. Abby got me an ice cream cake shaped like a little mushroom house. It was really cute:) Yummy too.
So the cave trip last weekend was a lot of fun. I'm really glad we went. We took the train late Friday night to the east side of Korea. It was a 6 hour train ride. This train had a little snack bar, computers, video games, massage chairs, and small noraebang rooms. We got off the train at 4:30 saturday morning. We were right by the beach. We had tofu soup for breakfast, then went to the beach to watch the sunrise. The water was really clear. We took a bus around to several places before going to the cave. We went to a fish auction/market. That was...interesting. We had a 40 minute hike to get to the cave. It was torturous. We were walking up super-steep hills, which later turned into lots and lots of stairs. We did get to see a nice waterfall along the way:) It was so nice to walk into the freezing cold cave when we finally got there. It was really big. There were quite a few stairs in there too, but its not as bad in the cold. Going back down the mountain was much faster. We got back on the bus, which took us to the train station and we had another 6 hour train ride back home. Like I said, it was a really fun trip and I'm glad I got to see the east side of Korea before I go home.

I know its been a while since my last post, so I figured I'd attempt to write a quick one before work. I guess most of you guys know my grandma just passed away. No one was expecting it, so it really came as kind of a shock. It's been hard for me being in Korea and not being able to be with my family. I was really upset about not being able to go to the funeral. I know everyone understood why I couldn't make it, but I still can't help but feeling like a bad granddaughter. Being in Korea has been amazing, but I knew when I took this job that I was going to miss things, both good and bad, that happened back home. I'm almost down to my last month here, so I will get to go home really soon. This weekend I'm going on a caving trip with Kristina, some of her family, Abby, and Katie. We're going to the east side of Korea, so we'll get to see the ocean over there too. Oh, and last weekend I finally did Dr. Fish. That's where you put your feet in a little pool and let fish eat the dead skin. It really tickled. Then this week at school, in one of my classes the kids were writing a thing about their favorite animal and one boy, Chaz, said his favorite animal was Dr. Fish. He drew a nice picture too. It made me laugh:)
Ok, time to get ready for work!

Bali: Part 3

Here we go again.
Friday we had another early start. We wanted to go to the safari place we had planned on going to on wed. We wanted to take the shuttle, but apparently you have to reserve your seat and it was full. We ended up getting a driver to take us. This place was so much better than any zoo I've ever been to. We got to pet a tiger, hold an orangutan, ride a camel, and feed and ride an elephant. It was so much fun:) We went back to the hotel after that where we got ready to go out for dinner and shopping. Shopping could be a little intimidating there. You walk into a store and the people are all over you trying to make you buy stuff. Then they give you a price that's way higher than you should have to pay. You could almost always get them down to half the price they originally asked for. I don't think I bought anything that night, but I helped barter with the people. That was fun.
Saturday was sad cause it was our last day:( We had to be out of our room by noon so we got up early to pack. Me and Abby finished, so we went out and did a little shopping. Checking out of the hotel took some time because Sarah had lost her wallet the night she arrived so she had called the US several times to get credit card stuff straightened out. They charged a lot for those phone calls, plus Kristina had to pay $80 for the toilet because she accidentally broke the lid when trying to save us from a cockroach. After that was all taken care of, we had lunch and then headed to the beach. Katie and Sarah went surfing, while Abby, Kristina, and I laid out and tried to get at least a little tan before going home. After a few hours at the beach, we went to do some more shopping. I bought a few dresses, some sandals, a wallet, and a few other things I don't even remember. Everything was so cheap. I kinda wish I had bought more. Bali has double stuffed oreos, so I really should have bought more of those than I did! haha:) We had our last dinner, then I think we did a little more shopping before going to the hotel where Justin and Sarah were staying since they were there a little longer. Me and Abby went out to stock up on oreos, but we were distracted by $5 manicures and pedicures so we never made it. When we finished there it was time to get our stuff and go to the airport:( Goodbye Bali! The flight home was long and uncomfortable. I didn't get much sleep at all. We got back to Korea around 11am sunday. I spent the rest of the day not really doing anything. In fact, most of my stuff is still in my suitcase. I'll get around to unpacking eventually. If you want to see pictures from my trip, check out facebook cause I don't really want to bother with putting them up here too.

Bali: Part 2

ok, deep breath...
Wednesday we had planned on going to this safari place, but Justin wasn't feeling well and he had really wanted to go. Maria finally called and came up with a plan for us. She's Indonesian so it was helpful to have someone who could somewhat speak the language. She got us a driver who would take us around all day for like only $30. First we went to take pictures out by some rice patties. It was really beautiful with all the green. We get a little nature-deprived in Korea sometimes. We stopped at a cute little place to have lunch. I had mie goreng ayam, which is fried noodles with chicken (ayam), vegetables, and egg. It was really good. After lunch, we went to a place called Tanah Lot, which was a temple out at the water. It was really beautiful, but we were kinda in a hurry cause we wanted to drive somewhere else to see the sunset and watch a traditional dance. We really were chasing the sun. We got there just in time to see the sunset. We watched the dance afterwards. It was basically a love triangle story. I took some videos which I will post on facebook later. After that, we went to another beach for a few minutes, then back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had a really late dinner. Abby got to the hotel shortly after we got back, and then it was time for bed.
Thursday, we woke up early again and met Maria for breakfast at a pancake place called Flapjacks. The food was good, but I'm not sure it was worthy of being our most expensive meal in Bali. After breakfast, we went out to the beach for a while, then back to the hotel to get ready to go to a monkey place. The monkey place was amazing. There were monkeys everywhere. The baby monkeys were soooooooooo cute. We stocked up on bananas on the way in. The monkeys would take them right out of your hands. Abby was holding a big bunch of bananas and the monkeys kept jumping all over her. One even bit her face. Luckily it didn't break the skin. After the monkey place, we stopped for lunch at a little place overlooking the rice patties. It was really nice. I had nasi goreng, which is basically the same as mie goreng except rice instead of noodles. After lunch we wanted to go silver shopping, but the place where our driver took us was really expensive, so we headed back to the hotel. Later we went out for cheap $5 massages then dinner at Sky Garden again. I split lasagna and a fajita wrap with Abby.
Ahhhhhh I'm so tired. I guess this is gonna be a trilogy. Good night guys!

Bali: Part 1

Bali was soooooooo much fun. I felt like our week there was way too short. We did so much, but there were still so many things we would have liked to do. I love Korea, but it was definitely nice to get away for a while.
I met Kristina and Katie early (7am) Sunday morning to take the bus to the airport. Our flight was was at 10 something, but it left kinda late. We were so confused on the plane because our tickets didn't have our arrival time, we weren't sure how long our flight was supposed to be (I think it took about 6 hours), and we weren't completely sure of the time difference (Bali's 1 hour behind Korea). I think it was 4 something when we got to Bali. Kristina's brother, Justin, also arrived in Bali around the same time as us, so when we finally found him, we got a couple of taxis to take us to our hotel. We definitely got ripped off by the cab drivers. We had no idea our hotel was like 5 minutes from the airport and we had no idea how much we should pay for that, so we paid 70,000 rupiah (about $7) for each taxi. We shouldn't have had to pay more than 30,000 per taxi. I wasn't even expecting them to drive on the left either. I guess most of the world does. It's kinda weird that Korea drives on the right. They aren't any better at driving in Bali than they are in Korea either.
The hotel was really nice. We could have used a bigger room. Our room was only meant for 3 people. We started with 4 people and by the end of the week we had 6. Anyway, we took our stuff to the room then we walked to the beach, then went swimming in the pool. I loved our pool by the way. It was soooo nice. We walked around a little and then had dinner at a place across the street from our hotel. Food is so cheap in Bali.
Monday we woke up around 11, which was the latest we slept all week. We didn't realize it was so late because it was so dark in the room, but I think we all needed the extra sleep. We headed to the store for towels and sunscreen, which we paid way too much for, then we headed to the beach. The beach near our hotel wasn't the nicest beach in Bali, but it was a beach. As soon as we walked out there, we were attacked by Linda, Lucy, Jenny, and all their friends trying to sell us their stuff. I seriously thought they weren't going to leave, but they finally did. You can't get away from people trying to sell you stuff. When you're walking down the street, there are people constantly asking where you are going and if you need transport. On the beach, people want to give you massages and sell you jewelry. It's crazy. Anyway, we stayed at the beach a while, then went back to the hotel where we had lunch by the pool then went swimming and laid out. Kristina's friend Sarah was supposed to be coming in that day, so we waited a while for her. She never came so we gave up and went out for dinner. The main streets for shopping, food, etc are called Poppies 1 and Poppies 2. Kristina had done some research and she found this restaurant called Poppies that she wanted to go to, so that's where we went. We had pina colada's in big dragon heads and I had pasta. It was really good. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel.
Tuesday we woke up at like 8:00 and had breakfast at the hotel. It was really good for continental breakfast. A driver from the hotel took us to a place where we got a package deal to go out on a glass bottom boat to go snorkeling, parasailing, and to a place called turtle island. We went snorkeling first. That was a lot of fun. The water was a lot clearer where the boat took us. Next we went to turtle island. On turtle island, we got to hold all these different animals including turtles, iguanas, snakes, eagles, bats, etc. I think the bat freaked me out the most. We had lunch on the island before heading back to go parasailing. I was really scared, but it was actually a lot of fun. It was really peaceful and quiet up in the air. After that we went back to the hotel and went swimming in the pool. Sarah got there. She had gotten mixed up on what day she was coming because of the time difference. Justin also had a few friends who were staying in Bali so we met up with them for dinner at a place called Sky Garden. Maria, a girl we know from Korea, was visiting family in Indonesia so she came too. The menu there was huge and all the food was sooo cheap. Katie, Maria, and I split a pizza, buffalo chicken salad, and crab dip.
Ok, I didn't think this was going to take so long. I'm gonna stop here so I can go to bed. I'll try to finish blogging about my Bali trip tomorrow.