Gwangalli Beach, Busan

Over the weekend we went to Busan to visit with some friends and for Spencer to play in soccer tournament. We stayed with our friends in the Gwangalli beach area and it was like a little slice of Korean heaven. I loved everything about the place! First of all, our friends live about a block away from this:

Beautiful, no? :) The bridge lights up at night with little color changing lights. It's gorgeous! I wish I took a picture of it but it was rainy when I saw it at night. Bummer.

Number two, Gwagalli has a variety of cafes, restaurants, and bars along the beach. For the price of a cup of coffee, you can sit in the shade for a couple hours enjoying the cool sea air. There is some great people watching to be had, and what better place to do it from than from the second story of a coffee shop?

Another great part about our beachy weekend get away was our friend's cat, Oscar. Oscar is a loaner kitty that Courtney is watching while her friend does some traveling for a couple months. I'm honestly not very much of a cat person but I instantly fell for this guy.

He has got to be one of the most chill cats, ever. And his hair is just awesome. He's like a tiny grey and white lion! He's a gem.   

Also, here's a few more photos from the weekend, just for fun.

futsol tournament

art in the metro

Gwangalli Beach, it's definitely not secluded!

The Highs

This is a great idea!

Gwangalli street sign

heading home to Suncheon, bus terminals as far as the eye can see!

Korean Photo Poses

One of the greatest things about Koreans is the way they pose for photos. Just smiling isn't good enough for them. They feel they should invoke what they are feeling, some creativity, or silliness into their photos. It's silly but actually really fun!

Here are a couple of our friends, Kaylee and Jeremy, showing some of the poses for you.

Photos by Miss Katie High.

View from the Top

When we were in Seoul for Spencer's birthday, we went to a cafe and took these pictures using the mirror on the ceiling. I think they're great! I love using things around us to create unique and interesting shots of every day life. I need to keep my eye open for more opportunities like this. Hope you enjoy!

Sloshball in the Park

Last weekend we went to Seoul to hang out with some cool people and play sloshball in the park to celebrate Spencer and Allie's birthdays. 

If you don't know, sloshball is just like regular baseball, or in our case kickball, but you drink beer the whole time. To be able to pass second base, you have to down a beer first. Some people play that you have to drink a beer before you bat, too. People on defense have to have a beer in their hand and yeah, it's hard to play with a beer but it's super fun!

second base and Kyle kicking in the background

We had a great time entertaining the Korean families enjoying the park with us. One group of old guys even clapped whenever someone made a particularly good catch. We played for about 4 hours and never kept score. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and celebrate the births of some great people.

I was too intent on playing and didn't even take my camera out but Katie took a bunch of pics so all these are hers. Thanks Katie!!

Katie, in all her glory

One Year in Korea

 
I'm not going to lie, this year has been a bit crazy. Living in another country creates all kinds of exciting adventures and frustrating differences. My best friend told me before I left that Korea is like a roller coaster--there are great highs and low, lowly lows. She was so right. There were times when I loved it and times when I wanted to just get on a plane and go anywhere but here.

Even through all that, I'm so happy we came to Korea. Not only are we able to work at a steady job with a good income but we are able to live in a foreign country while doing it. Since we both love to travel, this kind of lifestyle is exactly what we want. We want to make exploring and travel the biggest part of our lives.

Granted, working for a hagwon in Korea we don't get much vacation time, but we are able to learn what it's like to be an expat. I'm sure this won't be the last country we live in as expats. In fact, we're already planning to do a work/holiday visa in Australia. :) My adventurous spirit can't sit still for too long!

When I start to get antsy and ready to move on to the next adventure, I try and remember to relax and enjoy every moment because I'm living my dream life.

Living in the Moment

Some of the happiest people I know are those who focus on the present. They seem to always think the future can wait and the past is where it belongs, in the past.

I've been trying to implement this mindset into my life but it's more challenging than you think. I've realized that I'm constantly thinking about the future. I'm a planner, and I'm always thinking of places to go or different life paths to take, which isn't a horrible trait to have...but I think if you live in the present you can change your life. 

By being mindful of the present, you can make the most of your time. If you experience every moment, it will feel like you are really living instead of just going through the motions. I've found that I notice more things around me, I'm more engaged with my students, and I'm more grateful for the good things in my life.

To get  myself in the present, I'll literally tell myself things like, "I'm riding my bike. I feel strong. The breeze is so refreshing." I just tell myself what I'm doing and then I try and think of adjectives to describe it. It's so simple but has been effective in getting my mind out of the negative aspects of life in Korea and focused on all the great things we have here. There is joy in every day and I'm trying to notice it and be grateful for it.

I have to work at it everyday, but it's worth it. Instead of feeling sullen and unhappy in our last five months, I hope I'll be able to enjoy life. I'm trying to change my mindset and make myself a more happy person.

After all, that's what it's all about: being happy.  

The Green Tea Fields of Boseong

Almost a year into our stay here and we still have a handful of things left to do on our Korean bucket list. Last weekend we decided to knock one out by taking a trip out to a little town nestled in the mountains called Boseong.


Boseong is home to the largest and most popular green tea farms in all of Korea. There are lots of different farms in the Boseong area but the most famous and tourist friendly one is called Daehan Dawon. Daehan Dawon was established in 1957 and has about 5.8 million tea plants.

It's definitely a place to escape the big city and enjoy the sights and smells of nature. It had rained the day before our trip and smell of the wet soil and clean air was so refreshing. There are great, big trees everywhere that were planted back in the late fifties to make a "shelterbelt" for the tea plants and it was so nice to meander through the trees around the fields. With the number and variety of trees, it's going to be absolutely stunning in the fall.

At first, we went the wrong way. Up this path:

We walked a little while, found some wild strawberries, and then realized we were probably going the wrong way when we didn't see the iconic rows of tea plants and went down. The silliest part was, we learned to read Korean and some of the few words we know in Korean are the words for green tea. I'm just so used to never understanding signs here that we didn't even bother to stop and read the path markers! Oh, well. The accidental path was actually really gorgeous and we found the strawberries so that was cool. Getting lost is usually quite fun, really!

After that, we read some signs and found the tea pretty quickly. Man, was it a sight to see!

We visited early in the morning to beat the June heat and the crowds. I'm so glad I forced myself to get up early on a Saturday. Not only was the weather perfect but we got to get some great photos without people photo bombing us. By noon, the place was pretty crowded and we started to make our way home. 

Of course, we had to stop by the shop before we left and they had a bunch of souvenirs for sale (a lot of it made in Thailand or China). We bought a big bag of whole tea leaves from the farm itself for 5,000 won (about $5) and a couple green tea milk shakes for the walk back through the trees to the road.