It's Time to "Hang Loose"

Hang Loose is the main slogan of Hawaii. There is not fast speed, just slow and relax. No rushing and make sure you have fun is their mentality. I'm just gonna say...that is A-OK with me! After leaving the high energy-high paced cities of Korea, we are certainly gonna soak up the down time and life of leisure! ;)


Jon's parents are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary (that's right...40th!!!!! whoo hoo!) and they have so generously treated us to a trip to Hawaii. Tomorrow is their Anniversary and they are going out on an elegant and beautiful dinner cruise to celebrate!  The hotel they booked for us is called the Marriott Edition. (Here's their website with pictures if you're interested http://www.marriott.com/hotels/photo-tours.mi?marshaCode=hnleb&pageID=HWHOM&imageID=0)
Quite definitly the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at next to the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. I can't say that one is better than the other, they are just in different leagues. The Edition is the most modern place I've ever been. (Jon and I both love modern) ;).

Our flights went well and we were delighted to finally be off them when we got to Hawaii. We first had a 3 hour flight to Japan and then a few hour layover there. After coming from Korea's main airport, Jon and I were already trying not to judge Japan with too hard of a standard lol. Korea has impressed us on MANY different levels and areas so when we got to Japans airport we were kinda disappointed. Not only was it just SO much more humid, but it was a lot older. But I won't judge;) Japan helped me out by letting me get a tiny phone charm since I'd been wanting one;)

Our second flight allowed me the time to sleep....NOT. Try 3 movies and you've got it right. Ya that's right 3. I sometimes sleep great on planes and then other times not so much. This was one of those times, plus I wanted to see all those movies so I decided to go with that;) What was funny was we left Japan at 7:45PM on the 1st of July, and landed in Hawaii at 7:45AM on 1st of July. So we got to spend the 1st of July all over again! :)

Hawaii is beautiful and inspiring with its' grandeur, lush green mountains on one side, and the blue-green ocean on the other. Such a perfect place. I didn't expect but I have definitely been experiencing some culture shock after leaving Korea. The Korean culture is one of respect, honor, and hard work. I grew to love the way everyone treated each other. Even the young women working in the parking garages were there to direct you to your spot while wearing the most gorgeous suits and heels, and bowing to you while you entered. Who does that in America??? Not to bash my country at all, but wow...I come back where Americans are and am just astounded at the difference. I think we can work on our manners and maybe cleanliness as well. ;)

Anyway, back to Hawaii. We are literally a few hundred feet from the Ocean on Waikiki Beach, and have a beatiful balcony with a view of the ocean and marina fully of gorgeous sail boats. I have always thought that sailboats are just so elegant and graceful looking. The epitome of beauty. I have to ride on one someday.

The hotel not only has a single serve Keurig coffee maker in our room, but they also refill our Artesian water bottles ever day. I have noticed that they even come into our room during the day while we are out to refill our ice or towels or even the coffee we used besides the time they do room service. And if you want, they provide you with a complimentary preloaded ipod if you don't have one and were going to go for a jog. Pretty sweet;)

Jon and I have greatly enjoyed lounging around in the plush and HUGE white robes they have for us here. For some reason they just make you want to relax more and never take them off:) We decided to live here for the rest of our life...I think we can do it right?;)

Because we have been so busy traveling around for the past 2 months, we are completely ready to just relax and lay on the beach so we haven't planned that much for Hawaii. I'm sure there are a ZILLION and one things to do here but we are mainly interested in the relaxing part;) There are however 2 things we have already made plans and reservations for and those are, see a Hawaiian Luau (of course), and see Pear Harbor (absolutely).

I will post pictures soon. Right now I'm off to dream land so that I can get up and sleep by the pool;) heh heh busy busy.

Goodnight All!!

One month later -_-

She was teaching me how to eat with "gusto!"

Kimchi eating party;)

Seoul Forest. Such a natural, beautiful place in the middle of such a gigantic place.

The newly opened artificial floating island! Amazing at night...and very romantic:) There might have been a lot of kisses that night:)

Chansoon teaching me how to make homemade Gimpop!!! MMM.

Waiting at a little coffee shop for the Hillsong Concert to start

It was just a LOT crowded.

Daily life

Jon and I have truly been enjoying the daily life here in Korea. Other than sightseeing, we have been enjoying some of the peaceful aspects of our stay here.

Chansoon has been teaching me how to cook Korean meals (yay!!!!!) and I am planning on getting the recipes/cooking on video so that I will always remember the way you cook them.

She has taught us many Korean tips on eating healthy, such as:

• Eating cabbage EVERY morning to help digestion, skin, weight management and cholesterol
• Eating tomatoes to prevent cancer and get the needed nutrients and antioxidants. (Also helps with digestion)
• To increase blood flow...have WARM water EVERY night. Also, avoiding cold water as much as possible because of it's ability to lower your internal body temperature, which in turn, can impact your immune system.
• Eat Korean sweet potatoes as much as possible. Again, just for the nutrients that it provides.

So, we have been snacking away at all of those things....:) It's nice because if you do eat healthy and eat as much raw vegetables and fruit...you can AFFORD to have some luxury snacks every once in a while:) (dark chocolate being my FAVORITE!) 

Study time! Chansoon helping me with lesson planning! Fun with phonics!:)

Bus ride...These buses are out to kill you. You LITERALLY have to hold on for you life. Not even kidding. THANKfully we got a seat for this ride lol. whew

Another restaurant. This time: All you can eat Kalbi. Jon and Jim were in heaven

Time is flying!

I can't believe it has already been two weeks!

It's crazy. I found out that I have been averaging over 100 pictures per day when we go out sightseeing. This in fact makes it very difficult for me to have to choose which pictures I'm going to include on my blog, and furthermore, have to decide which ones I'm going to write about.


So you can see, it has been quite perplexing;) With how busy I have been over here it has been amazing that I have had time to even blog at all, so that it at least something lol. EVERY time I go out of the country or travel around I seem to always forget that I need write things down or take pictures, and then when I get home...I'm like "man, that FLEW by and I have already forgotten so many things!" So this time around I'm trying to carry a notebook with me so I can at least jot a few things down so that I won't forget them.

Journaling is way out of the question because although I have always loved journals (they way they look-their main purpose) I just never hit it off with them. This has provided me with literally dozens of journals over my lifetime that have maybe 1-10 pages max written in them lol. I'm thinking blogging or just jotting down a few notes here and there might be my better bet.

I of course say to myself that I will be one of those moms someday that will blog every detail of my child's life and will be of course the most talented of all, but alas, I must be realistic lol. Sigh....we'll see though;)

Jon and I have having the best time ever. His parents are MOST generous and we have loved getting to get to spend this time with them. Living so far apart for so many years has made it difficult to spend time together, so this trip has been a real blessing in allowing for some quality time!

The culture here continues to surprise me and I learn new things every day. Chansoon continues to explain signs and banners as we travel along and is a wonderful translator. I can't imagine being able to do all that we are getting do without her language abilities. Jon and I would probably have had to stick to the main tourist spots and to those famous tour buses;) haha

This weekend Jon and I are getting to see Hillsong United live in the Olympic park in Seoul. We are VERY excited to say the least and are determined to get Hillsong T-shirts:) Then the next weekend all four of us are going to be taking the Air Force guided tour to the DMZ border between North and South Korea. This is probably one of the things that we are most excited about it. It is literally witnessing history because Korea is the last place to have a DMZ. Germany's wall came down of course in the 80's so that the line between North and South Korea. I am particularly excited to find out that the DMZ will stamp your passport when you go there so that is exciting.

We planned this trip as soon as possible to get it out of the way...haha..JUST in case North Korea does something stupid again. This way we don't run the risk of not getting to go if they shut it down in between now and then.

We enjoyed lots of touring and sightseeing with Chansoon's high school freind Mrs. Young Ae Yoon. She was very sweet and treated us to this ice-milk-fruit dessert!

At a Korean flower market. Literally building after building of beautiful flowers. I could have spent WEEKS there!

Somebody was just a little sleepy;)

Dr. and Mrs. Lee treated us to a gourmet lunch that was out of this world. They were the sweetest couple. I enjoyed visiting with him about Korea's history. A brilliant man!

At the grave of 3rd President Chung-hee Park. Ruled from 1961-1979 A most revered president responsible for changing the Korean Economy for the good.

My new pair of earings:) They were so beautiful;)

Anyon Haseyo!!

This was my superb meal: mandu, kimchi, Korean cake, and cucumber salad.

This is why I don't want to drive in Korea!

Having a lovely conversation in Korean;) 

The South Tower that overlooks Seoul. This is our 4th famous tower to visit! Empire State Building, London Eye, Eiffel Tower, and Seoul Tower.

Standing on the Geographical Center of Seoul

Tradition Korean dress. I personally think their hat looks like a pilgrim hat. funny huh?

mmm...dukbokki. The noodle looking things in the red sauce is dukbokki. Hot and spicy rice cakes in a Gochujung sauce.

One of the few phrases/words I have learned in Korea so far is "Anyon Haseyo", Korean for Hello. I may not be able to converse with Koreans, but hey, at least I can give them a nice greeting right? lol:)

A few new experiences ;)

 

Inbetween stops there are these vendors that wheel their little carts in the subway cars and start selling their wares....This time--cucumber peeler !

Market day!

Songtan has a market day on every day that ends with a 4 or a 9. Yesterday was the 24th, allowing me the experience of my first market day;) WHOO HOO!

I've never seen so much kimchi in all my life;)

There were beans, grains, fruits, vegetables, pastries, fish, OCTOPUS, squid, clothing, shoes....etc. etc. I'm not talking about a few streets of vendors....almost the ENTIRE city turns into a market. We made our way down endless streets, and past by hundreds and hundreds of shoppers. It was QUITE the experience. Unfortunately, I did not remember my camera so I'm stealing a few of Jim's and I will definitely go again to the market and take some more pictures;)

Many different types of Kimchi.
We got some for our dinner and decided to go with Oi kimchi (oi kimchi is a kimchi made out of cucumber).
For those of you who don't know, Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented dish that is made of vegetables and varied seasonings. The most popular is made out of cabbage, green onions, and cucumbers. I happen to love it and am really glad, otherwise I wouldn't really fit in that well here.