6710 Grand

There wasn't much I hated about Korea (no Venti Starbucks was high on the list) but one thing I did was the bathroom. Part of it was that I just didn't understand. But the larger part was that it was just...annoying. First, imagine your shower. It might have a curtain or a door, but it's enclosed in some way. Now, add your toilet, sink, towell rack--everything else in the bahroom. That's right, put it IN the shower. Now, take away that enclosure. Poof! You have a Korean bathroom. Why? Why not close it in? Why not give it it's own floor so that you're not walking around in the bathroom in the evening when everything is still wet from your morning shower. Like any other Asian country that I know of, shoes aren't worn indoors. There's always a ledge or something to keep your shoes on when you walk inside (even in resturants!). In the bathroom, however, you're expected to wear shoes. Why? Because the floor is wet! You bring your flip flop...

I never in my life thought I'd travel to Korea. Yet here I am in the VERY small town of Uljin (Ool chin). It is perhaps one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I'm here with Nick--it's his new home. I know--crazy. But as anyone who's following knows, we never stay anywhere for long. This is our latest adventure. We've been in Arizona for three years--that's longer than anywhere else except for the places we were born. Time to move forward. I have experienced more in these last three days than perhaps the last year. I've tried new foods, stayed in weird hotels, met amazing people and seen a place that I hadn't known existed. I've felt the stares of the locals and heard their whispering as I walk by. I've never really felt like a minority before, but here, I most certainly am. Everyone knows we're not from around here. They can tell by looking at us. And they try to help. We were nearly stranded in a subway station without our luggag...

A big adventure is on the horizon! Nick is moving to South Korea...next week! While it's all very exciting, the entire process has been frustrating. A lot of "hurry up and wait". The biggest hurdle (so far) has been in obtaining a work visa. You can visit South Korea without a visa for up to 90 days, but they kind of expect you to have a return ticket. We've been unsure of a lot of things from the start, but when things got moving, they moved fast. In a matter of days, we've received a start date, itinerary and airline ticket from Los Angeles to Seoul. Ready to go, right? Not so much... We live in Phoenix, not Los Angeles. And still no work visa. More waiting... Less than one week before his expected start date, we're told that we should have a visa number by the end of the week. Then, we need to visit the Korean Consulate...in Los Angeles. We have to convert the visa number to a real visa (whatever that means). At this point, we're contemplating our opti...